Hugh Tyrrel (Anglo-Norman: Huge Tyrel), 1st Baron of Castleknock (died 1199) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and crusader who played a prominent part in the Norman invasion of Ireland and took part in the Third Crusade.
He was born in Hampshire, England, the son of Hugh Tyrrel the elder, who held substantial lands in England, and was also lord of Poix-de-Picardie in France. Their ancestor Walter Tirel (died after 1100) is notorious as the killer (although whether the killing was murder or accident is still a matter of debate) of King William Rufus. On the death of his elder brother Walter, in about the year 1170, Hugh succeeded to all his father's estates.
In 1169 when Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, nicknamed Strongbow, invaded Ireland on behalf of Henry II of England, Tyrrel accompanied him. [1] . Strongbow and Tyrrel were 2nd cousins, great grandchildren of Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare. By 1172 he was described as one of the right-hand men of Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, who conferred on him the feudal barony of Castleknock. He built Castleknock Castle, possibly on the site of an earlier fortification.
When de Lacy left Ireland to join the King in France, he made Tyrrel Constable of Trim Castle. In 1173 the Lordship of Meath was invaded by Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, High King of Ireland, and Trim Castle was besieged. [2] A poet records Tyrrel's urgent appeal to Strongbow: "Through me the baron sends you word, Old Hugh Tyrrel of Trim, That you aid him in every way". [3]
Tyrrel was forced to evacuate Trim, but Ruaidrí soon withdrew and Tyrrel quickly reoccupied the castle and strengthened its defences; the same poet records: "Hugh Tyrrel went to Trim, And refortified his fortress, And safeguarded it with great honour". [1]
Despite their earlier friendship Tyrrel and de Lacy quarrelled in 1185: de Lacy accused Tyrrel of despoiling the monastery of Armagh and carrying away its valuables. Elrington Ball considers the accusation to be most unlikely, noting that Tyrrel was renowned as a benefactor, not a despoiler, of religious houses. In particular, he made a substantial grant of lands in present-day Phoenix Park to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, whose Irish house was at Kilmainham. [3]
Though described in 1173 as "old Hugh Tyrrel" he was clearly not too old to participate in the Third Crusade, where he was known, for no clear reason, as "the Grecian knight,” and was present at the Siege of Acre in 1189-1191. He died at Selincourt in Picardy in 1199.
He married firstly Isabel de Vignacourt and secondly Marie de Sennarpont. He had issue by both marriages, including Richard, second baron of Castleknock. [3]
Trim Castle is a castle on the south bank of the River Boyne in Trim, County Meath, Ireland, with an area of 30,000 m2. Over a period of 30 years, it was built by Hugh de Lacy and his son Walter as the caput of the Lordship of Meath. The Irish Government currently own and are in charge of the care of the castle, through the state agency The Office of Public Works (OPW).
Fingal is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished for administrative purposes in 1994. Its name is derived from the medieval territory of Scandinavian foreigners that settled in the area. Fingal County Council is the local authority for the county. In 2022 the population of the county was 330,506, making it the second most populated council in Dublin and the third most populous county in the state.
The title of Earl of Ulster has been created six times in the Peerage of Ireland and twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since 1928, the title has been held by the Duke of Gloucester and is used as a courtesy title by the Duke's eldest son, currently Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster. The wife of the Earl of Ulster is known as the Countess of Ulster. Ulster, one of the four traditional provinces of Ireland, consists of nine counties: six of these make up Northern Ireland; the remainder are in the Republic of Ireland.
Castleknock is an affluent suburb located 8 km (5 mi) west of the centre of Dublin city, Ireland. It is centred on the village of the same name in Fingal.
Risteárd de Tiúit was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and a member of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke's Irish invasion force, and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. His part in the original invasion is acknowledged in The Song of Dermot and the Earl, which recorded his grant of land in the western part of Meath under the authority of Hugh de Lacy in Trim.
The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land in Ireland over which the monarchs of England then claimed sovereignty. The Anglo-Normans claimed the invasion was sanctioned by the papal bull Laudabiliter. At the time, Gaelic Ireland was made up of several kingdoms, with a High King claiming lordship over most of the other kings. The Anglo-Norman invasion was a watershed in Ireland's history, marking the beginning of more than 800 years of British rule in Ireland.
de Lacy is the surname of an old Norman family which originated from Lassy, Calvados. The family took part in the Norman Conquest of England and the later Norman invasion of Ireland. The name is first recorded for Hugh de Lacy (1020–1085). His sons, Walter and Ilbert, left Normandy and travelled to England with William the Conqueror. The awards of land by the Conqueror to the de Lacy sons led to two distinct branches of the family: the northern branch, centred on Blackburnshire and west Yorkshire was held by Ilbert's descendants; the southern branch of Marcher Lords, centred on Herefordshire and Shropshire, was held by Walter's descendants.
Ballygall is a small suburban area located between Glasnevin and Finglas, on the northside of the city of Dublin, Ireland. It is also a townland divided between the civil parish of Finglas and that of Glasnevin. It was settled by Vikings in the 11th century, and later by the Cambro-Normans.
Events from the year 1177 in Ireland.
Events from the year 1186 in Ireland.
Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, 4th Baron Lacy, was an Anglo-Norman landowner and royal office-holder. He had substantial land holdings in Herefordshire and Shropshire. Following his participation in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, he was granted, in 1172, the lands of the Kingdom of Meath by the Anglo-Norman King Henry II, but he had to gain control of them. The Lordship of Meath was then the most extensive liberty in Ireland.
Hugh de Lacy, 1st Earl of Ulster was an Anglo-Norman soldier and peer. He was a leading figure in the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century, and was created Earl of Ulster in 1205 by King John of England.
Walter de Lacy was lord of Meath in Ireland. He was also a substantial land owner in Weobley, Herefordshire, in Ludlow, Shropshire, in Ewyas Lacy in the Welsh Marches, and several lands in Normandy. He was the eldest son of Hugh de Lacy, a leading Cambro-Norman baron in the Norman invasion of Ireland, and Rohese of Monmouth.
Sir Richard de Exeter was an Anglo-Norman knight and baron who served as a judge in Ireland.
Isabel de Clare, suo jure4th Countess of Pembroke and Striguil, was an Anglo-Norman and Irish noblewoman descended from Aoife Macmurrough and Richard de Clare and one of the wealthiest heiresses in Wales and Ireland. She was the wife of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who served three successive kings as Marshal of England. Her marriage had been arranged by King Richard I.
The barony of Castleknock is one of the baronies of Ireland. Originally part of the Lordship of Meath, it was then constituted as part of County Dublin. Today, it is in the modern county of Fingal, Ireland. The barony was originally also a feudal title, which became one of the subsidiary titles of the Viscounts Gormanston.
Róis Ní Chonchobair, Princess of Connacht and Ireland, Lady of Meath, fl. 1180.
Meiler FitzHenry was a Cambro-Norman nobleman and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland during the Lordship of Ireland.
The Lordship of Meath was an extensive seigneurial liberty in medieval Ireland that was awarded to Hugh de Lacy by King Henry II of England by the service of fifty knights and with almost royal authority. The Lordship was roughly co-extensive with the medieval kingdom of Meath. At its greatest extent, it included all of the modern counties of Fingal, Meath, Westmeath as well as parts of counties Cavan, Kildare, Longford, Louth and Offaly. The Lordship or fiefdom was imbued with privileges enjoyed in no other Irish liberty, including the four royal pleas of arson, forestalling, rape, and treasure trove.
John fitz Richard was an Anglo-Norman soldier, Baron of Halton and hereditary Constable of Chester. Historical records refer to him as "John, Constable of Chester". He died at Acre in the Holy Land.