Year by Year
Explore Year by Year articles from the most modern historical year back to the oldest.
3,295 Articles Archived
Carnfree Succession
Archived: 26 October 2026
In 1225, Connacht was devastated by a succession war after Cathal Crobderg Ó Conchobair’s death. Toirrdelbach, son of Ruaidrí Ó Conchobair, was inaugurated at Carnfree with support from Áed Ó Néill and Connacht allies, but Áed mac Cathail regained power through Anglo-Norman, Thomond and local assistance. Campaigns centred on cattle, territory and hostages, displacing communities and bringing plunder, killings, drowning, hunger and exposure. Alliances repeatedly shifted, while church and secular lands suffered alike. A second rising failed, forcing Ruaidrí’s sons back to Ulster. Fever, disrupted harvests and ploughing compounded destruction, leaving Áed restored but Connacht socially and economically shattered severely.
Cathal Crobhderg
Archived: 26 October 2026
In 1224, Cathal Crobhderg Ua Conchobair’s death at Knockmoy ended a Connacht reign and enabled his son Áed’s swift, but contested, succession. Cathal had combined authority with diplomacy towards Henry III, seeking security for Connacht and recognition of Áed. Meanwhile William Marshal suppressed Hugh de Lacy’s rebellion, retaking Trim Castle through campaigning supported by Anglo-Norman and Gaelic allies. Áed joined these wider struggles, attacking castles and resisting rivals backed by Áed Ua Néill. Church life included Cathal’s Cistercian burial, learned clerics, and the arrival of Dominicans. War, weather and livestock disease disrupted agriculture, exposing dependence on cattle, supplies and alliances.
Clonmacnoise Fire
Archived: 26 September 2026
In 1223 Ireland remained politically fragmented, with Henry III’s lordship concentrated in towns and lowlands while Gaelic rulers retained regional power. William Marshal’s Welsh campaign and Hugh de Lacy’s return heightened uncertainty in Ulster and Meath. In Connacht, local men captured William de Lacy’s built crannog. Clonmacnoise burned, destroying churches and valuables, though church construction continued at Tech Sinche. Episcopal deaths, resignations and elections altered ecclesiastical leadership, while Connacht lost clerical and political figures. Raiding, hostage-taking and violations of sanctuary exposed local conflict. A severe September wind damaged standing oats, underlining agricultural vulnerability. Annalistic dates and accounts require cautious interpretation.
Lacy's Return
Archived: 26 September 2026
In 1222, Ireland remained politically divided between Gaelic lordships and the Anglo-Norman lordship, whose authority was strongest in eastern and south-eastern towns and castles. Hugh de Lacy’s return exposed fragile royal control: Henry III restored some inherited lands but retained Ulster, while annals link de Lacy’s alliance with Áed Ó Néill to raids, Culrathain’s destruction and negotiated terms at Dundalk. An exceptional great wind damaged buildings, woods, churches and ships, disrupting rural, maritime and commercial life. Annals also record ecclesiastical deaths, elite benefaction and moral judgement. Farming, trade, kinship, warfare and religious institutions bound together a connected yet uneven society.
Dublin Justiciar
Archived: 26 September 2026
In 1221, Ireland remained divided among Gaelic rulers, Anglo-Norman lords, royal officers and church institutions. Geoffrey de Marisco was removed as justiciar amid concerns over revenues, and Archbishop Henry of London returned to office, strengthening crown oversight from Dublin. Marisco nevertheless led a destructive expedition into Desmond, ruining crops and building a castle at Mag Rátha. Papal legate James visited, addressing ecclesiastical affairs and prompting resentment over clerical payments. In Connacht, Diarmait Ua Conchobair’s seaborne bid for kingship ended in his death, exposing succession tensions. The death of scholar Diarmait Ua Cú Lecháin attests to religious learning and manuscript production.
Connacht Frontiers
Archived: 26 September 2026
Ireland in 1220 comprised competing lordships, Gaelic kingdoms, ecclesiastical communities and growing towns rather than a unified polity. Walter de Lacy’s attempted castle at Áth Liag was abandoned after Cathal Crobderg Ua Conchobair intervened, demonstrating limits to frontier expansion. Connacht’s succession remained insecure as a rival claimant sought western maritime support. At Derry, the successor to St Columba’s office prompted disputes resolved through local consent and Armagh’s arbitration. Papal intervention, church consecration and episcopal death illustrate religious connections and instability. Annalistic dating differs for several events. Trade, farming, crossings and markets linked regions, while conflict shaped movement, supplies and authority.
Marshal Succession
Archived: 26 September 2026
In 1219, Ireland’s power remained fragmented among Gaelic kings, Anglo-Norman lordships, churches and Henry III’s wider dominions. William Marshal died, prompting a managed succession in Leinster under Isabel de Clare’s continuing inheritance, supported by officials including seneschal Walter Purcell. In Munster, Diarmait Mac Carthaig captured Henry Butler’s Timoleague castle and its hostages, exposing colonial vulnerabilities. Domnall Mór Ó Domnaill secured submissions in northern borderlands, while Cathal Crobderg Ua Conchobair exercised authority in Connacht amid Richard de Burgh’s competing claims. Ecclesiastical deaths and succession, alongside papal involvement in the Ferns dispute, underscored church influence. Events revealed shifting, contested lordships throughout Ireland.
Marshal's Regency
Archived: 26 September 2026
In 1218, Ireland remained a patchwork of competing royal, Anglo-Norman, Gaelic and ecclesiastical powers. Under Henry III’s regency, William Marshal’s Leinster interests shaped lordship government, including regulation of shipping. His land dispute with Ailbe, bishop of Ferns, exposed conflict between royal procedure, papal intervention and Irish clerical rights. Annals recorded northern killings, a failed Meath raid into Connacht and burning at Athlone, demonstrating frontier insecurity. Deaths and successions confirmed resilient local kingships. The consecration of Boyle Abbey, church administrators’ careers, pilgrimage, and losses among poets and scholars also reveal religious patronage, learning and communal institutions amid persistent nationwide political contestation.
Crown Control
Archived: 26 September 2026
In 1217, Ireland was a fragile lordship governed for the child Henry III from Dublin, alongside powerful Anglo-Norman magnates and resilient Irish kingdoms. Royal orders promised liberties to loyal subjects, promoted markets, Waterford settlement, land claims, engineers, castle defence and exchequer control. Strategic tensions surrounded the Lacys, Carrickfergus and Carlingford. Government policy sought English dominance in senior church appointments, despite continuing local influence. Annals record Irish fishermen killed on Man, Anglo-Norman raiding near Armagh, retaliatory cattle seizures and a favourable harvest. Marriage, commerce, ecclesiastical links and maritime travel connected communities, but coercion, exclusion and contested authority exposed the Crown’s reach.
Lordship Transition
Archived: 26 September 2026
In 1216, Ireland remained divided between Gaelic lordships, the Anglo-Norman Lordship and wider Plantagenet rule. King John’s final orders concerning Walter de Lacy’s estates illustrated royal administration and cross-channel aristocratic ties. After John died, the child Henry III inherited the Lordship, governed through councillors, William Marshal and Dublin justiciar Geoffrey de Marisco. Castle-building and Robert Travers’s disputed appointment at Killaloe exposed coercive colonial expansion. Church affairs linked Ireland closely to Rome through vacancies, papal interventions and diocesan reform. Gaelic rulers maintained authority, including Cathal Crobhdearg’s Ballintubber foundation, while annals recorded killings and legal scholarship, revealing overlapping jurisdictions, allegiances and cultures.
Some records do not yet have a verified historical year and are awaiting chronological placement.