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By 1166, there was widespread civil unrest. The king of Leister ( the biggest of the five ares) Rory O`Connor lost power and went to England to ask for help. Henry II. ( king of England) was glad to find a reason to interfere in Irish matters and so he allowed Leincester`s king to enlist soldiers from Wales. In 1170 a small but well equiped army arrived let by Strongbow (an Anglo-Norman adventurer). His modern weapons were far superior to anything the locals had so he easily overcame them. In 1172 the island became a part of Britain. By the Treaty of Windsor O`Connor, the high king accepted Henry II. as his overlord and restricted his own style to that of king of Connaught.
The Normans built big fortresses, wich the Irish people could not conquer, because they had littel war experience. But after a time the Normans could not maintain their own culture, the consequence of wich was that Normans picked up their language, culture, custome and traditions of the natives. They were afraid the Normans were "becoming more Irish than the Irish themselves".
Britain was not happy to see that, and so passed two laws; overroling the Irish parliament.
- The Normans were not allowed to speak Irish anymore.
- Mixed Marriages were forbidden.
The king took this measure to stop integration, but there was only limited success.
At that time the importance of the towns rose and there was a flourishing trade between the Normans and the Irish people. Edward III. declared a law against that trade and against every relation to the native people e.g. the Normans had to keep their English names.
During the firth half of the 15th century Ireland was, in effect, ruled by the three great earls, of Desmond, Ormonde and Kildare, who combined to dominate the Dublin goverment.
In 1485 the House of Tudor gained power on the island.
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