The Song of Dermot and the Earl | |
---|---|
by Unknown | |
Translator | G.H.C. Orpen |
Written | early 13th century |
First published in | 1892 |
Country | England |
Language | Anglo-Norman |
Subject(s) | Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland |
Genre(s) | chanson de geste [ disputed – discuss ] |
Form | Heroic couplet |
Meter | Iambic tetrameter |
Rhyme scheme | aa bb cc ... |
Lines | 3459 |
The Song of Dermot and the Earl (French : Chanson de Dermot et du comte) is an anonymous Anglo-Norman verse chronicle written in the early 13th century in England. It tells of the arrival of Richard de Clare (Strongbow) in Ireland in 1170 (the "earl" in the title), and of the subsequent arrival of Henry II of England. The poem mentions one Morice Regan, [1] secretary to Diarmaid mac Murchadha, king of Leinster, who was eyewitness to the events and may have provided an account to the author. [2]
The chronicle survives only in a single manuscript which was re-discovered in the 17th century in London. [3] The work bears no title in the manuscript, but has been commonly referred to as The Song of Dermot and the Earl since Goddard Henry Orpen in 1892 [4] published a diplomatic edition under this title. It has also been known as The Conquest of Ireland and The Conquest of Ireland by Henry II; in the most recent edition it was called La Geste des Engleis en Yrlande ("The Deeds of the English in Ireland").
This section of the poem has been translated from Anglo-Norman French by G.H.C. Orpen (Trinity College, Dublin) from the Carew 596 manuscript and covers lines 3129 - 3161 (see Skryne and the Early Normans (1994) [5] by Elizabeth Hickey. p. 31).
Original Anglo-Norman | English translation |
De Huge de Laci vus conterai, Cum il feffa ses baruns, | "Of Hugh de Lacy I shall tell you How he enfeoffed his barons, |
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Diplomatic edition Hereward the Wake was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and a leader of local resistance to the Norman Conquest of England. His base when he led the rebellion against the Norman rulers was the Isle of Ely, in eastern England. According to legend, he roamed the Fens, which covers parts of the modern counties of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk, and led popular opposition to William the Conqueror.
Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, also Lord of Leinster and Justiciar of Ireland, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman notable for his leading role in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. Like his father, Richard is commonly known by his nickname, Strongbow.
Anglo-Norman literature is literature composed in the Anglo-Norman language and developed during the period of 1066–1204, as the Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of England were united in the Anglo-Norman realm.
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Dearbhfhorghaill (1108–1193), anglicised as Derval, was a daughter of Murchad Ua Maeleachlainn, king of Meath, and of his wife Mor, daughter of Muirchertach Ua Briain. She is famously known as the "Helen of Ireland" as her abduction from her husband Tigernán Ua Ruairc by Diarmait Mac Murchada, king of Leinster, in 1152 played some part in bringing the Anglo-Normans to Irish shores, although this is a role that has often been greatly exaggerated and often misinterpreted.
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George Carew, 1st Earl of Totnes, known as Sir George Carew between 1586 and 1605 and as The Lord Carew between 1605 and 1626, served under Elizabeth I during the Tudor conquest of Ireland and was appointed President of Munster. He was an authority on heraldry and the author of Carew's Scroll of Arms 1588, Collected from Churches in Devonshire etc., with Additions from Joseph Holland's Collection of Arms 1579.
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.
John of Worcester was an English monk and chronicler who worked at Worcester Priory. He is now usually held to be the author of the Chronicon ex Chronicis.
Ascall mac Ragnaill meic Torcaill, also known as Ascall Mac Torcaill, was the last Norse-Gaelic king of Dublin. He was a member of the Meic Torcaill, a Dublin family of significance since the early twelfth century.
Andrew Coltée Ducarel was a French-English antiquary, librarian, and archivist. He was also a lawyer practising civil law, and a member of the College of Civilians.
Goddard Henry Orpen was an Irish historian. He attended The Abbey School, Tipperary and graduated from Trinity College Dublin.
Henry John Todd (1763–1845) was an English Anglican cleric, librarian, and scholar, known as an editor of John Milton.
Adam de Feypo is first mentioned in The Red Book of the Echequer 1166, p283 (England) as being one of the knights of Hugh de Lacy in Herefordshire, England. He was possibly a castellan of one of the de Lacy castles on the Welsh border. As the holdings of de Feypo in Herefordshire appear to have been modest it is no surprise that he reappears in Ireland in 1171 where there are great 'possibilities'.
Affreca de Courcy or Affrica Guðrøðardóttir was a late 12th-/early 13th century noblewoman. She was the daughter of Godred Olafsson, King of the Isles, a member of the Crovan dynasty. In the late 12th century she married John de Courcy. Affrica is noted for religious patronage in northern Ireland.
Seán mac Ruaidhri Mac Craith was an Irish historian known as the author of Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh.
Adam de Hereford was one of the first generation of Norman colonisers in Ireland.
The Composition of Connacht, or Composition of Connaught and Thomond, was a 1585 agreement between, on the one hand, the Gaelic and Gaelicised chiefs of Connacht and Thomond and, on the other hand, the English Dublin Castle administration of the Kingdom of Ireland, which replaced the multiple existing levies with a single tax on land holdings. The Composition was a form of surrender and regrant, a part of the Tudor reconquest of Ireland. The English leaders were Sir John Perrot, as Lord Deputy of Ireland, and Sir Richard Bingham, as Governor of the Presidency of Connacht.
Ragnall Mac Gilla Muire was a twelfth-century leading figure of Waterford. He was one of several men taken prisoner by the English in 1170, when Waterford was captured by Richard de Clare. Ragnall is noted by a fourteenth-century legal enquiry which sought to determine whether a slain man was an Ostman—and thus entitled to English law—or an Irishman. Ragnall may the eponym of Reginald's Tower.