Henry’s chief governor. The reliable chronicler Roger
of Howden alone reports that the power vacuum was
filled in 1176 when “The lord king of England, the
father, gave Ireland to his son John.” Other accounts
record this occurring at Oxford in 1177, which
Howden also reports, noting that Henry made John
king of Ireland “having a grant and confirmation
thereof from Alexander the Supreme Pontiff,” which
suggests some prior preparation. Howden concludes
his account by stating that “after the king, at Oxford,
had divided the lands of Ireland and their services, he
made all those to whom he had entrusted their custody
do homage to himself
and
his son John, and take oaths
of allegiance and fealty to
them
.”
Understandably, given his youth, the evidence for
John’s involvement with his new lordship in these
years is nonexistent. It was only when worries started
to mount in the early 1180s that Hugh de Lacy, lord
of Mide (Meath) (who had recently married Ruaidrí
Ua Conchobair’s daughter) intended to make himself
king in Ireland, that it became urgent to send John
there. In the winter of 1184–1185, Lacy was recalled
and Archbishop John Cumin of Dublin was sent ahead
to prepare the way. The annals record for 1185 that
“the son of the king of England came to Ireland with
sixty ships to assume its kingship,” and Howden writes
that, at Windsor on March 31, Henry “dubbed his son
John a knight, and immediately afterwards sent him to
Ireland, appointing him king,” while the Chester annals
record that John “started for Ireland, to be crowned
king there.” He did not, however, possess a crown as
Pope Lucius III refused Henry’s request and it was
only late in 1185 that his successor, Urban III, “con-
firmed it by his bull, and as proof of his assent and
confirmation, sent him a crown made of peacocks’
feathers, embroidered with gold.” By this point, how-
ever, John had returned from Ireland in ignominy and
the crown was never worn.
Giraldus Cambrensis accompanied John to Ireland
in the same ship, having been sent by his father to
record, as duly emerged, the history of the colony to
date, and the new beginning that was anticipated. But
despite Henry’s careful and costly preparations, Giraldus
claims the expedition “came to nothing and was totally
unsuccessful.” According to his uncorroborated and (as
one of the Geraldine pioneers in Ireland) not unbiased
testimony, the first mistake was made almost the
moment John disembarked at Waterford, where “the
Irish of those parts, men of some note, who had hith-
erto been loyal to the English and peacefully disposed”
came in peace and accepted him as their lord. But, in
a famous incident, they were mocked by John’s
youthful entourage, being pulled about by their beards,
and consequently “made for the court of the king of
Limerick [Ua Briain]. They gave him, and also the
prince of Cork [Mac Carthaig], and Ruaidrí of Connacht,
a full account of all their experiences at the king’s son’s
court... They held out no hope of mature counsels
or stable government in that quarter, and no hope of
any security for the Irish.” They deduced that greater
injustices would follow and therefore plotted to resist,
and “to guard the privileges of their ancient freedom
even at the risk of their own lives.”
This evidence is bolstered by charters issued dur-
ing John’s visit, including a grant to Theobald Walter
(ancestor of the Irish Butlers) and Ranulf Glanville
(John’s former guardian, justiciar of England) of
lands that later developed into the earldom of
Ormond. Other lands in County Tipperary were
assigned to William de Burgh (brother of Hubert,
later justiciar of England). In addition, John built
castles at Lismore, Ardfinnan, and Tibberaghny, pro-
voking opposition from Domnall Mór Ua Briain,
who, having voluntarily submitted to Henry II in 1171,
now (because of these speculative grants on his king-
dom’s borders) attacked Ardfinnan and Tibberaghny.
Also, Diarmait Mac Carthaig was treacherously
killed in 1185 parleying with Theobald Walter’s men
at Cork. Instead of a triumphal procession through
his new lordship, Howden observes that John “lost
most of his army in numerous conflicts with the
Irish,” failure to pay his troops led to widespread
desertion, and, after less than eight months, he
returned to England penniless.
Apart from being ill-behaved and ill-advised, the
expedition was undoubtedly spoiled by de Lacy, the
annals observing that John “returned to his father
complaining of Hugh de Lacy, who controlled Ireland
for the king of England before his arrival, and did
not allow the Irish kings to send him tribute or hos-
tages.” Hugh’s death in 1186 cleared any obstacles
in John’s way. “When King Henry heard of it,” say
the Chester annals, “he prepared to send his son John
once more into Ireland.” Around Christmas 1186
papal envoys arrived proposing to crown John in Ire-
land, but when John was at Chester awaiting a favour-
able wind for the voyage news arrived of the death
of his brother, Geoffrey of Brittany, whereupon
Henry recalled John. Ireland remained therefore a
kingdom without a king; its would-be ruler, as long
as his father lived, preferred the style
filius Domini
Regis
(even in Irish charters) to
Dominus Hibernie
,
which was not always employed.
After 1185, John’s powers of lordship were heavily
circumscribed, and only after his father’s death could
he adopt a more interventionist approach. At Chinon
in Touraine, where Henry died in July 1189, John
granted Hubert Walter “all
my
vill of Lusk” (Co.
Dublin). The witnesses included Bertram de Verdon
and Gilbert Pipard, who both soon received grants ofJOHN (1167–1216), KING OF ENGLAND