ABSTRACT
Society in Ireland during the eleventh and twelfth centuries was in a state of flux. The establishment of a number of coastal towns, initially by Scandinavians, of which the most prominent was Dublin, meant that Irish goods were able to be marketed abroad in much greater quantities and much more regularly than before. Political affairs were marked by the rise to power of a small group of pre-eminent provincial kings, whose military power allowed them to suppress lesser kingdoms within their areas, and to contend for a position of supremacy over their peers, as so-called High Kings of Ireland. Their power was based on controlling armies (a steady increase in the length and ferocity of wars followed) and on their vast herds of cattle, which they used to buy support from other lords. They captured cattle in war and, along with them, slaves; both could be marketed through the Scandinavian towns for silver to be used for display and for buying more support. The twelfth century saw a determined attempt to transform the traditional Irish Church institutions into ones in line with the rest of Europe, most notably in the introduction of new monastic orders and territorial bishoprics, leading eventually to a network of parishes over the country.
