Richard attempted, for a time, to maintain his expedi-
tionary settlement. It was from the start under great
pressure, protected by a greatly reduced military
capacity. The collapse of the fragile peace was has-
tened by many factors. These included the unresolved
difficulties between Gaelic Ireland and the lordship,
the ambitions of local lords, the crown’s dependence
on Mortimer as lieutenant, the conflict within the Irish
administration, and the financial and political prob-
lems in England that demanded Richard’s attention.
In late 1397, with the Irish lords of both Ulster and
Leinster once more at war, Richard was already plan-
ning to return. His second expedition, in June and July
1399, again brought a significant army to Ireland, but
in less favorable circumstances. The campaign in
Leinster was already in difficulty when the venture
was cut short by news of Bolingbroke’s return to
England in arms against Richard. The bulk of the
expeditionary forces withdrew in haste and disorder
from Ireland, leaving behind a vulnerable lordship
and, for both Gaelic Ireland and the Anglo-Irish com-
munity, a message of royal impotence. Richard’s Irish
aspirations ended in failure, both for himself and for
the English interest in Ireland.
DOROTHYB. JOHNSTON
References and Further Reading
Curtis, E. Richard II in Ireland, 1394−5, and Submissions of
the Irish Chiefs. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927.
Johnston, Dorothy. “Richard II and the Submissions of Gaelic
Ireland.” Irish Historical Studies, 12 (1980): 1−20.
———. “The Interim Years: Richard II and Ireland, 1395−99.”
InEngland and Ireland in the Later Middle Ages: Essays in
Honour of Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven, edited by J. F. Lydon.
Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1981.
Lydon, J. F. “Richard II’s Expeditions to Ireland.” Journal of the
Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 93 (1963): 135−149.
Saul, Nigel. Richard II. New Haven and London: Yale Univer-
sity Press, 1997.
See alsoAnglo-Irish Relations; Chief Governors;
O’Néill; Ulster, Earldom of
RINGFORTS
Ringforts are the most ubiquitous, abundant and, iron-
ically, among the less-studied monuments on the Irish
landscape. Over 45,000 have been identified, the dens-
est concentrations occurring in north Connacht, north
Munster, part of south Leinster, and in a band extend-
ing from south Antrim, through Monaghan and Cavan
in Ulster, southwest into the Leinster county of Long-
ford. They tend to be located on sloping ground in the
well-drained soils of lowland areas.
A ringfort is essentially a circular or near circular
space, which in some instances is raised above ground
rounded in turn by a ditch. The interior was reached
via a causeway across the ditch and a gate entrance in
the bank. In the manner of a property boundary, the
“ring” generally defined the perimeter of a homestead
and encompassed and protected a dwelling or group
of dwellings. Where the surrounding bank or banks of
a ringfort are built of earth the term rathis given to
the construction, while the words caisealandcathair
are generally used to describe ringforts made of stone.
Unlike their earthen counterparts, stone forts tend not
to have an external ditch. The word lios, which is
frequently embraced in Irish place names, refers to the
interior of a ringfort, while urlannis the term given to
an open space in front of a ringfort. Most ringforts
have one bank, but there are some with two or three
banks and intervening ditches. The bank would have
been augmented by a timber palisade, a quick-set
hedge (hawthorn), or a sturdy growth of bushes and
trees. Ringforts vary greatly in size from approxi-
mately 27 meters to 75 meters in diameter internally,
but the average rathtends to be 27–30 meters and, in
general, stone forts tend to have smaller diameters. It
is argued that the size of ringforts and the complexity
of their enclosing banks suggest something about the
status of their occupants. Larger ringforts appear to
have accommodated the highest grades of society and
to have attracted a clustering of smaller ringforts
around them. A feature often found in ringforts is a
souterrain, or underground passage, generally con-
structed of stone but also created by tunneling into
natural rock or compact clay. Souterrains provided
refuge for the inhabitants of ringforts and were also
possibly used as storage facilities.
Ringforts constructed in the early medieval period
essentially enclosed single farmsteads engaged in pas-
toral farming. This interpretation of their primary func-
tion is especially borne out by the results of Lynn’sBallyconran Ringfort, Co. Wexford. © Department of the Envi-
ronment, Heritage and Local Government, Dublin.RICHARD II