ABSTRACT
The century after about 1225 contrasts with the drama of the preceding 50 years. The only major conquest by the English was that of Connacht, in part seized by the king, but the greater part conquered by Richard de Burgh at the head of a federation of barons which saw success in 1235. There were other seizures, in Ulster and in Clare for example, but they were not on the same scale as that of Connacht or of the events of the preceding 50 years. The expedition of King John, and the subsequent dealings between the barons of Ireland with him and his son, resolved the question of who would be the dominant force in Ireland decisively in the king’s favour. For most of the period the English supremacy was not seriously challenged, except on a local basis, by Irish lords, and within the English lordships the king was recognised as supreme. One of the features of the period, therefore, is the absence of fighting for long intervals, especially in the south-east, until the start of troubles around the Wicklow mountains towards the end of the thirteenth century.
