Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- 1 The effect of Scandinavian raiders on the English and Irish churches: a preliminary reassessment
- 2 The changing economy of the Irish Sea province
- 3 Cults of Irish, Scottish and Welsh saints in twelfth-century England
- 4 Sea-divided Gaels? Constructing relationships between Irish and Scots c. 800–1169
- 5 The 1169 invasion as a turning-point in Irish-Welsh relations
- 6 Killing and mutilating political enemies in the British Isles from the late twelfth to the early fourteenth century: a comparative study
- 7 Anglo-French acculturation and the Irish element in Scottish identity
- 8 John de Courcy, the first Ulster plantation and Irish church men
- 9 Coming in from the margins: the descendants of Somerled and cultural accommodation in the Hebrides, 1164–1317
- 10 Nobility and identity in medieval Britain and Ireland: The de Vescy family, c. 1120–1314
- Bibliography
- Index
8 - John de Courcy, the first Ulster plantation and Irish church men
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- 1 The effect of Scandinavian raiders on the English and Irish churches: a preliminary reassessment
- 2 The changing economy of the Irish Sea province
- 3 Cults of Irish, Scottish and Welsh saints in twelfth-century England
- 4 Sea-divided Gaels? Constructing relationships between Irish and Scots c. 800–1169
- 5 The 1169 invasion as a turning-point in Irish-Welsh relations
- 6 Killing and mutilating political enemies in the British Isles from the late twelfth to the early fourteenth century: a comparative study
- 7 Anglo-French acculturation and the Irish element in Scottish identity
- 8 John de Courcy, the first Ulster plantation and Irish church men
- 9 Coming in from the margins: the descendants of Somerled and cultural accommodation in the Hebrides, 1164–1317
- 10 Nobility and identity in medieval Britain and Ireland: The de Vescy family, c. 1120–1314
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In an important article Seán Duffy highlighted that John de Courcy, although traditionally described as having hailed from Somerset, in fact had important connections with the north of England, more particularly Cumbria, via his maternal relatives, and that he drew many of the tenants for his lordship of Ulster from that region rather than from Somerest. The filiations of the religious houses which he founded in Ulster similarly reflected a Cumbrian connection. John de Courcy shared with Richard fitz Gilbert, earl/lord of Pembroke/Strigoil, alias Strongbow, and with Hugh de Lacy the distinction of having succeeded to a virtually intact pre-Norman Irish lordship: just as Strongbow succeeded to the lordship of Leinster, and Hugh de Lacy to that of Mide, so John de Courcy acquired the Dál Fiatach kingship of Ulaid. What distinguished de Courcy from either Strongbow or Hugh de Lacy, however, was his status prior to his intervention in Ireland, for, unlike either of these men, John de Courcy, whom Giraldus described as ‘pauperum et mendicum’, was not a tenant-in-chief of the English crown. That distinction had a bearing on the creation, the settlement, and ultimately, also, his loss of the lordship of Ulster.
Just how limited de Courcy's resources were before his intervention in Ireland is reflected in the fact that historians have failed to identify landholdings of de Courcy in England beyond a modest manorial estate in Middleton Cheney in Northamptonshire, which came to him via his maternal relatives.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Britain and Ireland, 900–1300Insular Responses to Medieval European Change, pp. 154 - 178Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999
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