seamus dubhghaill

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The Treaty of Windsor (1175)

The Treaty of Windsor, a territorial agreement made during the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland, is signed in Windsor, Berkshire on October 6, 1175 by King Henry II of England and the High King of Ireland, Rory O’Connor (Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair). The witnesses are Richard of Ilchester, Bishop of Winchester; Geoffrey Ridel, Bishop of Ely; Lorcán Ua Tuathail, Archbishop of Dublin; William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex; Justiciar Richard de Luci; Geoffrey de Purtico, Reginald de Courtenea (Courtenay) and three of Henry’s court chaplains.

Under the Treaty, O’Connor recognizes King Henry II as his overlord and agrees to collect tribute for him from all parts of Ireland. Henry agrees that O’Connor can be king of the areas not conquered by the Normans. But O’Connor cannot control the territories of which he is nominally king. Henry and his barons annex further land without consulting O’Connor.

Overall, the agreement leaves O’Connor with a kingdom consisting of Ireland outside the provincial kingdom of Leinster (as it was then), Dublin and a territory from Waterford Dungarvan, as long as he paid tribute to Henry II, and owed fealty to him. All of Ireland is also subject to the new religious provisions of the papal bull Laudabiliter and the Synod of Cashel (1172).

O’Connor is obliged to pay one treated cow hide for every ten cattle. The other “kings and people” of Ireland are to enjoy their lands and liberties so long as they remain faithful to the kings of England, and are obliged to pay their tribute in hides through O’Connor.

The Annals of Tigernach record that: “Cadla Ua Dubthaig came from England from the Son of the Empress, having with him the peace of Ireland, and the kingship thereof, both Foreigner and Gael, to Ruaidhrí Ó Conchobhair, and to every provincial king his province from the king of Ireland, and their tributes to Ruaidhrí.” The Annals also list the ongoing violence in Ireland at the time. The text reveals a misunderstanding of the scope of the treaty and the matters agreed by the two kings that soon prove fatal to the peace of Ireland. Henry sees O’Connor as his subordinate within the feudal system, paying him an annual rent on behalf of all his sub-kings. O’Connor sees himself as the restored High King of Ireland, subject only to a very affordable annual tribute to Henry.

The treaty breaks down very quickly, as O’Connor is unable to prevent Norman knights from carving out new territories on a freelance basis, starting with assaults on Munster and Ulaid in 1177. For his part Henry is by now too distant to suppress them and is preoccupied with events in France. In 1177 he replaces William FitzAldelm with his 10-year-old son Prince John and names him as Lord of Ireland.


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Birth of Theatrical Producer Hilton Edwards

hilton-edwardsHilton Edwards, an English-born Irish actor, lighting designer, and theatrical producer, is born in London on February 2, 1903.

Edwards begins his career acting with the Charles Doran Shakespeare Company in 1920 in Windsor and then joins The Old Vic in London, playing in all but two of Shakespeare‘s plays before leaving the company a few years later. Trained in music, he also sings baritone roles with the Old Vic Opera company.

After touring with various companies in Britain and South Africa, Edwards goes to Ireland in 1927 for a season with Anew McMaster’s company and meets McMaster’s brother-in-law, Micheál Mac Liammóir. As he tells an interviewer once, both men want a theater of their own. Mac Liammóir wants it to be in Ireland and Edwards does not care. “I don’t care about nationalism, I care about the theater,” he says.

Edwards and Mac Liammóir co-found the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 1928. The two men’s talents are complementary. Mac Liammóir is an actor, designer, and writer. Edwards is a director, actor, producer, and lighting designer. Edwards produces and directs more than 300 plays at the Gate, ranging from the works of Aeschylus and Sophocles, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Henrik Ibsen to the comedies of George Bernard Shaw and Richard Brinsley Sheridan and new Irish plays, by such authors as W.B. Yeats, Brian Friel, and Mac Liammóir.

In New York City in 1948 Edwards plays in and directs John Bull’s Other Island and directs The Old Lady Says No and Where Stars Walk. In 1961 Edwards takes a two-year leave from the Gate to become the first Head of Drama at Telefís Éireann. A year later, he wins a Jacob’s Award for his television series Self Portrait.

Edwards appears in 15 films, including Captain Lightfoot (1955), David and Goliath (1960), Victim (1961), and Half a Sixpence (1967). He also writes and directs Orson Welles‘s Return to Glennascaul (1951). However, he is primarily known for his theatre work. He is nominated for a Tony Award in 1966 for Best Director of a Drama for Philadelphia, Here I Come!

Hilton Edwards dies in a Dublin hospital on November 18, 1982. Edwards and Mac Liammóir are the subject of a biography, titled The Boys by Christophor Fitz-Simon.