Ireland up to the famine
E ngland ’s conquest of Ireland began as do most things in Ireland , a vendetta, embroiled in complex tribal politics and wrapped in unbridled passion. Between the years 1140 and 1168, Ireland , then an unaligned nation of warring tribal states, was wracked in a brutal struggle for power between two powerful forces. One side was led by Dermot MacMurrough (Diarmait Mac Murchadha), the powerful king of Leinster, the other by his enemy Rory O'Connor (Ruaidhri O Conchobhair), king of Connacht . Finally, O’Connor managed to chase MacMurrough out of Ireland and into the court of King Henry II of England . That one, simple, act changed the course of Irish and English history forever and opened the doors for the Norman invasion in 1169. The word invasion isn’t exactly accurate, not in the sense we know it today. The Normans , and for that matter, the English, never actually invaded Ireland , a more apt description would be that they entered quietly through the backdo