[315] King of Ireland.—­During the reign of Richard all the public affairs of the Anglo-Norman colony were transacted in the name of “John, Lord of Ireland, Earl of Montague.”  Palgrave observes that John never claimed to be King of the Irish; like Edward, who wrote himself Lord of Scotland, and acknowledged Baliol to be King of the Scots.

[316] Accounts.—­Gilbert’s Viceroys, p. 58.

[317] FitzHenri.—­His father was an illegitimate son of Henry I. When a mere youth, FitzHenri came to Ireland with the Geraldines, and obtained large possessions.

[318] Pension.—­One hundred pounds per annum.  Orders concerning it are still extant on the Close Rolls of England.—­Rol.  Lit.  Clau. 1833, 144.  It is curious, and should be carefully noted, how constantly proofs are appearing that the Irish bards and chroniclers, from the earliest to the latest period, were most careful as to the truth of their facts, though they may have sometimes coloured them highly.  Dr. O’Donovan has devoted some pages in a note (Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 139) to the tales in the Book of Howth which record the exploits of De Courcy.  He appears satisfied that they were “invented in the fifteenth or sixteenth century.”  Mr. Gilbert has ascertained that they were placed on record as early as 1360, in Pembridge’s Annals.  As they are merely accounts of personal valour, we do not reproduce them here.  He also gives an extract from Hoveden’s Annals, pars port, p. 823, which further supports the Irish account.  Rapin gives the narrative as history.  Indeed, there appears nothing very improbable about it.  The Howth family were founded by Sir Almaric St. Lawrence, who married De Courcy’s sister.

CHAPTER XIX.

Quarrels of the English Barons—­The Interdict—­John crushes and starves an Archdeacon to Death—­King John’s Visit to Ireland—­He starves the Wife and Son of Earl de Braose to Death—­Henry de Londres—­The Poet O’Daly—­Obituaries of Good Men—­Henry III.—­Regulations about the Viceroy—­The Scorch Villain—­Scandalous Conduct of the Viceroys—­Three Claimants for Connaught—­Death of Hugh Crovderg—­Felim O’Connor—­Henry’s Foreign Advisers—­Plots against the Earl of Pembroke—­He is wounded treacherously—­His Pious Death—­Misfortunes of the Early Settlers—­De Marisco’s Son is hanged for High Treason, and he dies miserably in Exile.

[A.D. 1201-1244.]

King John was now obliged to interfere between his English barons in Ireland, who appear to have been quite as much occupied with feuds among themselves as the native princes.  In 1201 Philip of Worcester and William de Braose laid waste the greater part of Munster in their quarrels.  John had sold the lands of the former and of Theobald Walter to the latter, for four thousand marks—­Walter redeemed his property for five hundred marks; Philip obtained his at the point of the sword.  De Braose had