KILKENNY
continued through the Middle Ages as a church dedi-
cated to St. Patrick, it was eclipsed in importance dur-
ing the seventh and eighth centuries by the newer
church of Canice. In 1111, at the synod of Ráith Bressail,
St. Canice’s became a cathedral. By the middle of the
twelfth century, Kilkenny was one of the principal
residences of the Mac Gilla Pátraic kings of Osraige
and, when the Anglo-Normans arrived in 1169, it was
the largest and most important inland settlement in the
southeast.
Although an Anglo-Norman castle existed by 1173,
when it was burnt by Domnall Mór Ua Briain, king of
Thomond, it was not until the 1190s that an enduring
Anglo-Norman settlement was established. William
Marshal was a key figure in this regard. He came to
Kilkenny in 1207 and granted its first charter. He
obtained land from the bishop to enlarge the town, and
he founded the Augustinian priory of St. John, which
dominated the eastern bank of the town until the Disso-
lution. Marshal’s most enduring contribution, however,
was the construction of a stone castle of quadrangular
plan with massive, circular, corner towers. It func-
tioned as the administrative center of the lordship of
Kilkenny, passing in succession from the Marshals to
the de Clares in 1248 and to the Dispensers in 1317,
before being sold in 1391 to James Butler, third earl
of Ormond, whose descendants lived there until 1936.
Kilkenny was a twin town throughout the Middle
Ages. The pre-Norman settlement, known as Irish-
town, remained a separate borough with the bishop
of Ossory as its lord. It was dominated by St. Canice’s
Cathedral, a Gothic structure initiated by the dio-
cese’s first Anglo-Norman bishop, Hugh de Rous
(1202–1218). The Anglo-Norman town, known as
Hightown or Englishtown, was laid out along a sin-
gle main street linking the castle with the cathedral
and was given its own parish church dedicated to
St. Mary. About 1225 a Dominican priory was
founded, and a Franciscan house was added between
1231 and 1234. In 1231 an urban administration was
established with a sovereign (Latin superior) as its
head. Over the succeeding centuries this body
obtained market rights and jurisdictional privileges
for the town that enabled it to surpass Irishtown in
wealth and influence. The hinterland is excellent
corn-growing country, and there were at least six
mills in Kilkenny from the early thirteenth century.
It was also an important center of cloth production,
brewing, and iron-working. At its maximum in the
late thirteenth century it is estimated that the com-
bined towns had a population of about 4500. After
1300, the numbers declined. Kilkenny was devastated
by the Black Death in 1348 and 1349, the effects of
which were vividly described by the local Franciscan
chronicler, John Clyn. Suburbs were abandoned,
extramural chapels were demolished, and some bur-
gages remained waste into the first quarter of the
fifteenth century.
Kilkenny was a major venue for meetings of the
king’s council and parliament, one or the other of
which convened there on at least thirty-four occasions
between 1277 and 1425. The most famous (or infa-
mous) gathering was the parliament of 1366 presided
over by Lionel, duke of Clarence, which promulgated
the statute of Kilkenny. The urban culture of the thir-
teenth and fourteenth centuries was vehemently hostile
to the native Irish, viewing them as “natural enemies.”
This attitude evidently relaxed during the fifteenth cen-
tury, when the Liber primus Kilkenniensis, the oldest
town book, records burgesses and craftsmen with
Gaelic surnames. A key factor in the process of Gaeli-
cization was the purchase of Kilkenny by the earl of
Ormond in 1391. This broke the link with English-
based lords and introduced a family that had built up
its power base by the skilful management of the Irish
in the march of Tipperary. The fifteenth century was a
period of urban consolidation characterized by subtle
social and economic changes, reflected topographi-
cally by redevelopment and reconstruction. After 1425
there is evidence of a demand for building space within
the walls and, after 1460, both major bridges and
almost all the town gates, mural towers, churches, and
religious houses were rebuilt. These developments
coincide with the emergence of an oligarchy of about
fifteen families that dominated the town into the early
modern period.
JOHN BRADLEYReferences and Further Reading
Bradley, John. Kilkenny (Irish Historic Towns Atlas 10). Royal
Irish Academy: Dublin. 2000.Kilkenny Castle from the Rose Garden. © Department of the
Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dublin.