2.8: The Norman Invasion of Munster (1177AD)

In November 1177, two veteran Norman commanders, Robert FitzStephen and Milo de Cogan, marched into the Kingdom of Desmond to claim the lands granted to them by King Henry II. With the assistance of a rival member of the MacCarthy dynasty, the Normans advanced on Cork. But was the city peacefully surrendered, as Gerald of Wales claimed, or violently conquered and plundered, as the Irish annals suggest? In this episode of Irish History Tales, we examine the Norman conquest of Cork, the displacement of its Ostman inhabitants, and the foundations of the medieval city that would emerge under Norman rule. Meanwhile, Domnall Mór O'Brien of Thomond seized the opportunity to invade Desmond, while Philip de Braose attempted to claim his own royal grant: the Kingdom of Limerick. As rival Gaelic kings fought one another and Norman armies pushed deeper into Munster, Dermot MacCarthy faced an increasingly desperate struggle to preserve his kingdom. Drawing on medieval Irish chronicles, Gerald of Wales and the research of historian Henry A. Jefferies, we explore a turbulent chapter in the Norman invasion of Ireland.