Invasion 1169

May 2nd, 2019, marked the 850th anniversary of the first landing in Co. Wexford in 1169 of the Anglo-Norman adventurers enlisted by the king of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada. Their arrival marked the start of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. Within two years, Henry II would become the first reigning English monarch to set foot on Irish soil. In what was arguably the single-most consequential event in Irish history, King Henry formally brought the island under the lordship of the English crown, a constitutional relationship that endures to the present day in the case of Northern Ireland. The proceedings of the national conference marking the anniversary of that event are collected in this volume.

Peter Crooks is senior lecturer in medieval history at TCD. He is founding academic director of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland and a member of the Irish Manuscripts Commission. Seá n Duffy FTCD is professor of medieval Irish and Insular history at TCD and chairman of the Friends of Medieval Dublin.