Strongbow in Ireland and the Angevin empire

The charter evidence

Marie Therese Flanagan

This book explores the career in Ireland of Strongbow, the first Anglo-Norman lord of Leinster, in the broader context of his interests and that of his family within the Angevin empire where he held lands in England, south Wales and Normandy. It draws on a body of documentary evidence that has not been sufficiently exploited in tracing the beginnings of the colonial advance into Ireland from 1167 onwards. Strongbow’s charters are genuinely contemporary by comparison with the principal narrative accounts which date from around 1190, a generation after the intrusion of the first invaders. The charters of Strongbow’s father, Earl Gilbert of Pembroke, are included for the light they shed on what exactly Strongbow inherited from his father in Pembroke. The charters of Strongbow’s mother, Countess Isabel, highlight the family’s landholdings in Normandy, while two charters of his wife, Áife, shed light on her role as a widow sustaining family interests and adroitly negotiating across legal and cultural boundaries between Ireland and Britain. Last but not least, a charter of Strongbow’s sister, Isabel, in which she anticipates that she could become heir to his estates, highlights that until Strongbow married Aífe in 1170 he was in the precarious position of not having a legitimate heir to succeed him.

Marie Therese Flanagan is professor emeritus, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, QUB.