Meiler fitz Henry and the 1207 Royal Settlement of Desmond
type: CreativeWork
description: Previous assessments of Meiler fitz Henry’s tenure as justiciar of Ireland (c.1198-1208) have tended to focus on his role in managing relations between the English Crown and its leading colonial magnates in Ireland. This thesis aims to broaden that narrow perspective and provide fresh insight into Meiler’s career by examining a set of land grants relating to Desmond (South Munster) that were issued by the Crown at the council of Woodstock in November 1207, and whose design owed much to fitz Henry’s influence and initiative. It begins with a brief overview of Meiler’s early career and rise to the office of justiciar, before discussing the policy he pursued in Desmond during the period 1200-08, where he curtailed baronial power and, from 1204, worked to augment royal authority and lay the groundwork for the introduction of shire government. The grants of 1207 marked the culmination of Meiler’s southern project. Each of the grantees ((I) David de la Roche, (II) Richard de Cogan, (III) Henry, Maurice, Eneas, and Audoen fitz Philip, (IV) Philip de Prendergast, and (V) Robert fitz Martin) are examined in turn. These men were all drawn from Meiler’s extended political circle, they and/or their family members often sharing with Meiler and his kinsmen origins in the Pembroke March and intimate links during the early years of the Irish conquest, which were subsequently bolstered by marriage, tenancy (including in Desmond), and service in fitz Henry’s government. As well as his Geraldine kinsmen, the grants reveal the importance of Meiler’s seldom-noted de Ridelesford relatives (the children of his sister, Mabel) in facilitating him to foster these personal and political connections. The deeds also demonstrate how Meiler and the Crown harnessed fitz Henry’s social network to win key supporters for the justiciar in his struggle against the baronial rebellion then ongoing in Ireland. Many of the grantees or their family members held strategic lands within the dissident liberties…
abstract: Previous assessments of Meiler fitz Henry’s tenure as justiciar of Ireland (c.1198-1208) have tended to focus on his role in managing relations between the English Crown and its leading colonial magnates in Ireland. This thesis aims to broaden that narrow perspective and provide fresh insight into Meiler’s career by examining a set of land grants relating to Desmond (South Munster) that were issued by the Crown at the council of Woodstock in November 1207, and whose design owed much to fitz Henry’s influence and initiative. It begins with a brief overview of Meiler’s early career and rise to the office of justiciar, before discussing the policy he pursued in Desmond during the period 1200-08, where he curtailed baronial power and, from 1204, worked to augment royal authority and lay the groundwork for the introduction of shire government. The grants of 1207 marked the culmination of Meiler’s southern project. Each of the grantees ((I) David de la Roche, (II) Richard de Cogan, (III) Henry, Maurice, Eneas, and Audoen fitz Philip, (IV) Philip de Prendergast, and (V) Robert fitz Martin) are examined in turn. These men were all drawn from Meiler’s extended political circle, they and/or their family members often sharing with Meiler and his kinsmen origins in the Pembroke March and intimate links during the early years of the Irish conquest, which were subsequently bolstered by marriage, tenancy (including in Desmond), and service in fitz Henry’s government. As well as his Geraldine kinsmen, the grants reveal the importance of Meiler’s seldom-noted de Ridelesford relatives (the children of his sister, Mabel) in facilitating him to foster these personal and political connections. The deeds also demonstrate how Meiler and the Crown harnessed fitz Henry’s social network to win key supporters for the justiciar in his struggle against the baronial rebellion then ongoing in Ireland. Many of the grantees or their family members held strategic lands within the dissident liberties…
author: Scollard, Nicholas
language: en
keywords: Medieval Ireland, Irish history, British and Irish history, King John, Meiler fitz Henry, Anglo-Norman Ireland, Colonial government, Political history, Land grants
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date published: 2025
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:47:19Z
provider: University College Cork
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University College Cork

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/10468/17971