Editing Counties of Ireland (section)

====Lordships====
With the arrival of [[Cambro-Norman]] knights in 1169, the [[Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland]] commenced. This was followed in 1172 by the invasion of King [[Henry II of England]], commencing English royal involvement.

After his intervention in Ireland, Henry II effectively divided the English colony into liberties also known as lordships. These were effectively [[county palatine|palatine counties]] and differed from ordinary counties in that they were disjoined from the crown and that whoever they were granted to essentially had the same authority as the king and that the king's writ had no effect except a writ of error.<ref name="Falkiner174">{{harv|Falkiner|1903|p=[https://archive.org/details/proceedingsroya29acadgoog/page/174/mode/2up?view=theater 174]}}</ref> This covered all land within the county that was not church land.<ref name="Falkiner174"/> The reason for the creation of such powerful entities in Ireland was due to the lack of authority the English crown had there.<ref name="Falkiner174"/> The same process occurred after the Norman conquest of England where despite there being a strong central government, county palatines were needed in border areas with Wales and Scotland.<ref name="Falkiner174-5">{{harv|Falkiner|1903|p=[https://archive.org/details/proceedingsroya29acadgoog/page/174/mode/2up?view=theater 174-5]}}</ref> In Ireland this meant that the land was divided and granted to [[Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke|Richard de Clare]] and his followers who became lords (and sometimes called earls), with the only land which the English crown had any direct control over being the sea-coast towns and territories immediately adjacent.<ref name="Falkiner175">{{harv|Falkiner|1903|p=[https://archive.org/details/proceedingsroya29acadgoog/page/174/mode/2up?view=theater 175]}}</ref>

Of Henry II's grants, at least three of them—[[Leinster]] to Richard de Clare; [[Lordship of Meath|Meath]] to [[Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath|Walter de Lacy]]; [[Lordship of Ulster|Ulster]] to [[John de Courcy]]—were equivalent to palatine counties in their bestowing of royal jurisdiction to the grantees.<ref name="Falkiner175"/> Other grants include the liberties of Connaught and Tipperary.<ref name="Falkiner175-6">{{harv|Falkiner|1903|p=[https://archive.org/details/proceedingsroya29acadgoog/page/174/mode/2up?view=theater 175-6]}}</ref>