The Treaty of Windsor (1175) was a territorial agreement made during the time of the

Norman invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly san ...

. It was signed in

Windsor, Berkshire Windsor is a historic market town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated west ...

by King

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...

and the Ard Rí or High King of Ireland,

Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair Ruaidrí mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair ( Modern Irish: Ruairí Ó Conchúir; anglicized as Rory O'Conor) ( – 2 December 1198) was King of Connacht from 1156 to 1186, and High King of Ireland from 1166 to 1198. He was the last High King o ...

( Rory O'Connor).

Treaty

Overall, the agreement left O'Connor with a kingdom consisting of Ireland outside the provincial

kingdom of Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ire ...

(as it was then),

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

and a territory from

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

Dungarvan, as long as he paid tribute to Henry II, and owed fealty to him. All of Ireland was also subject to the new religious provisions of the papal bull

Laudabiliter ''Laudabiliter'' was a bull issued in 1155 by Pope Adrian IV, the only Englishman to have served in that office. Existence of the bull has been disputed by scholars over the centuries; no copy is extant but scholars cite the many references to ...

and the

Synod of Cashel The Synod of Cashel of 1172, also known as the Second Synod of Cashel,The first being the Synod held at Cashel in 1101 was assembled at Cashel at the request of Henry II of England shortly after his arrival in Ireland in October 1171. The Synod ...

(1172). O'Connor was obliged to pay one treated cow hide for every ten cattle. The other "kings and people" of Ireland were to enjoy their lands and liberties so long as they remained faithful to the kings of England, and were obliged to pay their tribute in hides through O'Connor. The witnesses were Richard of Ilchester, Bishop of Winchester; Geoffrey, Bishop of Ely; Laurence O'Toole, Archbishop of Dublin; William, Earl of Essex; Justiciar Richard de Luci; Geoffrey de Purtico, Reginald de Courtenea (Courtenay) and three of Henry's court chaplains. The ''

Annals of Tigernach The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (abbr. AT, ga, Annála Tiarnaigh) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish. Many of the pre-historic entries come from the 12th-centur ...

'' recorded that: "

Cadla Ua Dubthaig Cadla Ua Dubthaig, second Archbishop of Tuam, 1161–1201. Ua Dubthaig was member of a Connacht ecclesiastical family originally from Lissonuffy in what is now north-east County Roscommon. The family produced a number of abbots and bishops. ' ...

came from England from the Son of the Empress, having with him the peace of Ireland, and the kingship thereof, both Foreigner and Gael, to Ruaidhrí Ó Conchobhair, and to every provincial king his province from the king of Ireland, and their tributes to Ruaidhrí." The Annals also listed the ongoing violence in Ireland at the time.The Annals of Tigernach
§T1175.17 The text reveals a misunderstanding of the scope of the treaty and the matters agreed by the two kings that soon proved fatal to the peace of Ireland. Henry saw O'Connor as his subordinate within the

feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...

, paying him an annual rent on behalf of all his sub-kings; O'Connor saw himself as the restored High King of Ireland, subject only to a very affordable annual tribute to Henry.

Treaty Text

Outcomes

The treaty broke down very quickly, as O'Connor was unable to prevent Norman knights carving out new territories on a freelance basis, starting with assaults on Munster and

Ulaid Ulaid (Old Irish, ) or Ulaidh ( Modern Irish, ) was a Gaelic over-kingdom in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages made up of a confederation of dynastic groups. Alternative names include Ulidia, which is the Latin form of Ulaid, and i ...

in 1177. For his part Henry was by now too distant to suppress them and was preoccupied with events in France. In 1177 he replaced

William FitzAldelm William FitzAldelm, FitzAdelm, FitzAldhelm, or FitzAudelin was a Anglo-Norman nobleman from Suffolk or North Yorkshire. He was the son of Adelm de Burgate, and an important courtier who took part in the Norman invasion of Ireland. Courtier In 1165 ...

with his 10-year-old son Prince John and named him as Lord of Ireland.

References

External links

{{wikisource, Treaty of Windsor 1175 History of Berkshire Windsor, Berkshire 1175 in Ireland 1175 in England 12th-century treaties Peace treaties of Ireland Windsor 1175 Treaties of medieval England

Treaty

Treaty Text

Outcomes

See also

References

External links