By GERALD
DE BARRI

(1147-1220?),

a kinsman of
the Fitz-Ger-
alds and
Fitz-

Stephens, the

leaders in the opening years of the invasion of Ireland. Gerald was born in Wales, and trained for the church at St. David's, and at the University of Paris. Twice he vis

ited Ireland,

once in 1183,

and again in 1185 as chaplain and tu

tor to Prince John. A little

later he published two works on Ire

land, the Topographia, and the

Expugnatio,

which form our principal source of information on Irish affairs of that time. Gerald wrote

as a partisan,

and his state

ments cannot be accepted implicitly, especially in

matters which concerned his

kinsmen, but he was mas

22. The Conquest of Ireland in the
Reign of Henry the Second

Happy would this island have been, long since would it have been vigorously and successfully subdued from end to end, long since reduced without difficulty to systematic order and kept well in hand by the building of castles from sea to sea in commanding situations on every side, had it not been for the royal edict which cut off the supplies of the first invaders; or rather, perhaps, I should say if domestic plots had not so prematurely recalled the king from that proud and noble expedition which he conducted himself in person. Happy, too, if the worth of the original conquerors had been only appreciated as it deserved, and the care and conduct of the government been committed to the strong hands of those brave and trusty men.

For the natives of the land at our first coming had been astounded and thrown into consternation by the startling novelty of the event, and were terrified at the speed with which the archers shot and at the might of the heavy menat-arms. But delay — which ever brings danger in its train -, the protracted, dilatory, and feeble character of the conquest, and the unskilfulness and cowardice of procurators and governors who only lulled their own side into a false security, all combined to give them heart. Moreover, by gradual and careful training in the use of the bow and other weapons, by learning caution and studying the art of ambuscade, by the confidence gained from frequently engaging in conflict with our troops, lastly taught by our very successes, these Irishmen whom at first we could rout with ease, became able to offer a stout resistance.

...

The Irish have four prophets, Moling, Berchan, Patrick, and Columba, whose writings are in Irish and still extant among them. They speak of this conquest, and all pro

ter of a popu

lar, vivacious style, and gives a fairly comgraphic and plete account of Ireland, . . and of its invasion by the Norman

nounce that it will be terrible, entailing many battles, a
long struggle, and much bloodshed, which will continue
into the times of far-distant generations. Indeed, they
hardly allow that complete victory will be attained by the
English, and the island be entirely subjugated from sea to sea
and planted with castles, before the Day of Judgment. . . .
I speak from my own knowledge; and to the truth of
what I say I can bear witness from personal experience.
Inasmuch as we insolently spurned the loyal advances made
to us by the natives who met us first, since God at all times
shatters the proud, by our conduct on that occasion we
deterred not only them but all the chief men of the island
from uniting with us in the ties of friendship. . . .
In addition to the above reasons, the lands of the friendly
Irish, who from the first arrival of Fitz-Stephen and the
earl had faithfully stood by us, contrary to our promises we
took away and gave to new-comers from England; while
the ejected natives at once joined our enemies and became
hostile spies, guides for them instead of as formerly guides
for us, all the more dangerous from our previous intercourse.
The custody, too, of the castles and maritime towns with
their adjacent lands, and the control of tribute therefrom
which should have been expended for the public good and
to the detriment of our adversaries, were entrusted to mere
lucre-hunters, who skulked behind their stone walls, gave
themselves up to continual drunkenness, and aimlessly
squandered and wasted right and left to the ruin of the
burghers and the advantage of the foe.

There was this also besides the other mischiefs, that directly the king's son appeared in the land, among a people who were warlike, hostile, rebellious, and savage, a people in short in no mood to yield obedience, both the civil government and the military command got into the clutches of men who had in their composition more of the thief than the soldier, knights of the carpet rather than knights.

1185, and ruled five months.

Vergil,

Eneid, VI,

853.

John was in his nine

teenth year.

of the field, rascals intent less on attacking the enemy than on looting the good citizens. Men, I say and marchers, forsooth, such as Fitz-Aldelm and his like, under whom both Wales and Ireland since he was governor in each had to bewail their decay. For they were fellows who neither kept faith with the subdued nor struck the slightest fear into their opponents; strangers to that noble sentiment of higher minds which prompts us "To spare the humbled and beat down the proud," but rather on the contrary, their way was "leaving the foe unharmed, the vanquished to despoil." Whence it happens that nothing has been done to establish a settled state of things in the island, either by making incursions into the hostile districts, by the erection of castles, or by the opening up of the forest-roads the "ill ways," as they are commonly called - for the security of passengers by felling and removing the trees.

The bands of mercenaries followed the example set by their betters, and behaved in the same way as their masters, giving themselves up to wine and women and taking good care to keep inside the towns on the seaboard. Thus the inland parts, which lay nearer to the enemy, and are called march-lands (perhaps Mars' lands, from Mars, would have been a better name for them) were left entirely deserted and unprotected, and the undefended villages and fortified posts situated between the marches and the coast were abandoned to rapine, slaughter and fire. In the growing insolence of the new-comers, the veteran soldiers of the early leaders were slighted and regarded with scant favour; but kept in the background and held their peace, waiting quietly to see to what all this extravagance and disorder would eventually lead. . . .

Now all these grave disorders, though due in a measure to both causes, still are to be imputed to evil counsels even more than to the tender years of the king's son John. For this, which had always been a rude and savage land, required

trained and experienced minds to mould it into shape. To any realm you will, no matter though it may long have enjoyed a healthy state, with a child-king comes woe; how Eccles. x. 16. much the more then if an ignorant and untaught people be committed to an ignorant and untaught stripling prince !

Giraldus Cambrensis, Expugnatio Hiberniæ, Lib. II, cc. xxxiv, xxxvi. Translation by F. Barnard, Strongbow's Conquest of Ireland (London, 1888), 123–133.

23.

A Picture of London (circ. 1173)

Of the Site thereof

Among the noble cities of the world that Fame celebrates the City of London of the Kingdom of the English, is the one seat that pours out its fame more widely, sends to farther lands its wealth and trade, lifts its head higher than the rest. It is happy in the healthiness of its air, in the Christian religion, in the strength of its defences, the nature of its site, the honour of its citizens, the modesty of its matrons; pleasant in sports; fruitful of noble men. Let us look into these things separately.

Of Religion

per

There is in the church there the Episcopal Seat of St. Paul; once it was Metropolitan, and it is thought will again become so if the citizens return into the island, unless haps the archiepiscopal title of Saint Thomas the Martyr, and his bodily presence, preserve to Canterbury where it is now, a perpetual dignity. But as Saint Thomas has made both cities illustrious, London by his rising, Canterbury by his setting, in regard of that saint, with admitted justice, each can claim advantage of the other. There are also, as

F

By WILLIAM
FITZ-
STEPHEN.
See No. 20.
Fitz-Stephen
was a native

of London

and lived there much

of his life, and

he wrote with the love and

exaggeration
of a citizen.
The begin-
nings of Lon-
don go back
to an early
date. Even
before the

Roman con-
quest there
was probably
a British
the place

settlement at

don almost

Saxons Lon- regards the cultivation of the Christian faith, in London and the suburbs, thirteen larger conventual churches, besides lesser parish churches one hundred and twenty-six.

disappears from history. Although not destroyed it is rarely mentioned in the records. Gradually it grew in importance, and in the eleventh century it became the capital and the leading city of the realm.- For

map and description see Norgate, England under the Angevin

Kings.

In 1083 the church of St. Paul was be

gun on the site of the

church said to have been founded by Ethelbert in 610. "S.

Paul's was the rallying point as it had been the nucleus of the municipal life in London." Norgate. This

was true for many centuries.

The White

Tower, keep of the Tower of London, was begun

about 1078.

Of the Strength of the City

It has on the east the Palatine Castle, very great and strong, of which the ground plan and the walls rise from a very deep foundation, fixed with a mortar tempered by the blood of animals. On the west are two towers very strongly fortified, with the high and great wall of the city having seven double gates, and towered to the north at intervals. London was walled and towered in like manner on the south, but the great fish-bearing Thames river which there glides, with ebb and flow from the sea, by course of time has washed against, loosened, and thrown down those walls. Also upwards to the west the royal palace is conspicuous above the same river, an incomparable building with ramparts and bulwarks, two miles from the city, joined to it by a populous suburb.

Of Gardens

Everywhere outside the houses of those living in the suburbs are joined to them, planted with trees, the spacious and beautiful gardens of the citizens.

Of Pasture and Tilth

Also there are, on the north side, pastures and a pleasant meadow land, through which flow river streams, where the turning wheels of mills are put in motion with a cheerful sound. Very near lies a great forest, with woodland pastures, coverts of wild animals, stags, fallow deer, boars and wild bulls. The tilled lands of the city are not of barren gravel but fat plains of Asia, that make crops luxuriant, and fill their tillers' barns with Ceres' sheaves.