For five years de Lacy harried de Courcy, until he received intelligence that for Good Friday de Courcy’s tradition was sit in vigil in the church without his armour.
![carrickfergus castle. carrickfergus castle.](https://9968c6ef49dc043599a5-e151928c3d69a5a4a2d07a8bf3efa90a.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/128641-6.jpg)
This was no small task – de Courcy had not been sitting idle the last 22 years, and had built himself a powerful kingdom. So as soon as he ascended the throne King John commissioned Hugh de Lacy, a Norman lord living south of Dublin in Carlow, to bring de Courcy to heel. Not to mention that to allow a man who had sworn fealty to his father to set up his own kingdom set a dangerous precedent. John had been made Lord of Ireland in 1177, the same year that John de Courcy had set off to conquer Ulaid, and so in his head it was his lands that de Courcy had usurped. In 1199, however, Richard died and his brother John became king. Richard was himself as a French lord, and barely even concerned himself with his English possessions, never mind Ireland.
![carrickfergus castle. carrickfergus castle.](https://shapedbyseaandstone.com/sites/default/files/CarrickfergusCastle8280.jpg)
Of course, the only reason John de Courcy got as far as he did in the road to independence was the apathy of the English King of the day, Richard “the Lionheart”, towards his Irish adventures. He married a princess of the Kingdom of Mann (now the Isle of Man), and seemed to be making definite moves towards setting himself up as King of a new Norman kingdom.Ī statue of John de Courcy, currently on display in Carrickfergus Castle. Clearly he saw the potential for trade with the north of Britain that the ideal situation provided, and so on the rock of Fergus he made his capital. That done, he built himself a castle at the mouth of the great sheltered harbour that was at the time known as Carrickfergus Bay, but which today is called Belfast Lough.
CARRICKFERGUS CASTLE. MAC
After several battles he defeated the King of Ulaid, Ruadhri Mac Duinnshleibhe, bringing to an end the ancient kingdom that once Cuchullain served.
![carrickfergus castle. carrickfergus castle.](https://res.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/image/upload/w_1200,q_75,c_fill/v1594046817/attractions/c/carrickfergus-castle-092e16a0/shutterstock_369582047.jpg)
He took 22 knights and 300 footsoldiers, and set off – without, crucially, bothering to seek permission from the King. In 1177, six years after he came from Ireland, John decided to head north and make himself a king.
CARRICKFERGUS CASTLE. FREE
The Norman lords had chafed under the gradually increasing power of the crown in England, and each sought to carve themselves a private fiefdom, free of Henry II’s power. John had come to Ireland with Richard de Clare, better known as Strongbow, at the invitation of the former King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada. Carrickfergus Castle as it would have been in Norman times.Ĭarrickfergus Castle was built by John de Courcy, a Norman lord in the 12th century, as part of his bid to become an independent King of Ulster.