Editing Lordship of Ireland (section)

===Perennial struggle with Gaeldom===
{{main|History of Ireland 1169–1536}}
[[File:Ireland 1450.png|thumb|right|The Pale (grey) in 1450]]
{{History of Ireland}}
The Lordship thrived in the 13th century during the [[Medieval Warm Period]], a time of warm climate and better harvests. The [[feudal system]] was introduced, and the [[Parliament of Ireland]] first sat in 1297. Some counties were created by [[shiring]], while walled towns and castles became a feature of the landscape. But little of this engagement with mainstream European life was of benefit to those the Normans called the "mere Irish". "Mere" derived from the Latin {{lang|la|merus}}, meaning "pure". Environmental decay and deforestation continued unabated throughout this period, being greatly exacerbated by the English newcomers and an increase in population.

The Norman élite and churchmen spoke Norman French and Latin. Many poorer settlers spoke English, Welsh, and Flemish. The Gaelic areas spoke Irish dialects. The [[Yola language]] of [[County Wexford]] was a survivor of the early English dialects. The [[Kildare Poems]] of c. 1350 are a rare example of humorous local culture written in Middle English.

The Lordship suffered invasion from Scotland by [[Edward Bruce]] in 1315–1318, which destroyed much of the economy and coincided with the [[Great Famine of 1315–1317|great famine of 1315–1317]]. The [[earldom of Ulster]] ended in 1333, and the [[Black Death]] of 1348–1350 impacted more on the town-dwelling Normans than on the remaining [[Gaels|Gaelic]] clans. The Norman and English colonists exhibited a tendency to adopt much of the native culture and language, becoming "Gaelicized" or in the words of some "[[more Irish than the Irish themselves]]". In 1366 the [[Statute of Kilkenny]] tried to keep aspects of Gaelic culture out of the Norman-controlled areas albeit in vain.  As the Norman lordships became increasingly Gaelicized and made alliances with native chiefs, whose power steadily increased, crown control slowly eroded.

Additionally, the [[House of Plantagenet|Plantagenet]] government increasingly alienated the Irish chiefs and people on whom they often relied for their military strength. It had been a common practice for the Norman lordships as well as government forces to recruit the native Irish who were allied to them or living in English controlled areas (i.e. [[Leinster]] including [[County Meath|Meath]] and [[Kingdom of Ossory|Ossory]], [[Munster]] and some parts of [[Connacht]]). This was easy to do as the native Irish had no great sense of national identity at that time and were prone to [[Mercenary|mercenarism]] and shifting alliances. But the Irish chiefs became increasingly alienated by the oppressive measures of the English government and began openly rebelling against the crown. Some of the more notable among those clans who had formerly cooperated with the English but became increasingly alienated until turning openly anti-Norman and a thorn in the side of the Dublin administration were the [[Kingdom of Uí Failghe|O'Connor Falys]], the [[MacMurrough-Kavanagh dynasty]] ([[Kingdom of Leinster]]), the [[Byrne]]s and the [[Moore (surname)|O'Mores]] of [[County Laois|Leix]]. These clans were able to successfully defend their territories against English attack for a very long time through the use of asymmetrical guerrilla warfare and devastating raids into the lands held by the colonists. Additionally, the power of native chiefs who had never come under English domination such as the [[O'Neill dynasty|O'Neills]] and the [[O'Donnell dynasty|O'Donnells]] increased steadily until these became once again major power players on the scene of Irish politics. Historians refer to a Gaelic revival or resurgence as occurring between 1350 and 1500, by which time the area ruled for the Crown – "[[the Pale]]" – had shrunk to a small area around [[Dublin]].

Between 1500 and 1542 a mixed situation arose. Most [[Irish clans|clans]] remained loyal to the Crown most of the time, at least in theory, but using a Gaelic-style system of alliances based on mutual favours, centered on the [[Lord Deputy]] who was usually the current [[Earl of Kildare]]. The [[Battle of Knockdoe]] in 1504 saw such a coalition army fight the [[Clanricarde|Burkes in Galway]]. However, a rebellion by the 9th Earl's heir [[Silken Thomas]] in 1535 led on to a less sympathetic system of rule by mainly [[English people|English-born]] administrators. The end of this rebellion and [[Henry VIII]]'s seizure of the Irish [[List of monastic houses in Ireland|monasteries]] around 1540 led on to his plan to create a [[Kingdom of Ireland|new kingdom]] based on the existing [[Parliament of Ireland|parliament]].