Irish Arts Review

Waterford: patronage and positionAuthor(s): John BradleySource: Irish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 28, No. 3 (AUTUMN [SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER 2011]),pp. 99-102Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23049506 .

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Waterford

Waterford s C ultural Quarter

■ jt '• C 4

HI charts Waterford city's is K

development into one of the most prosperous

towns of medieval Ireland

1 The Walled City of Waterford c.1373: St John's River, Reginald's Tower and Christ Church are discernable. Detail from the Great Charter Roll. Courtesy Waterford Museum of Treasures

AUTUMN 2011 I IRISH ARTS REVIEW 99

Waterford

Position

JohrtfBradley

1 The Walled City of Waterford c.1373: St John's River. Reginald's Tower and Christ Church are discernabte. Detail from the Great Charter Roll. Courtesy Waterford Museum of Treasures

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An Order of Parliament*

A THAN K SGI VIN G: Together with a

DECLARATION The ind Hft/ou: of it.

Vet fince that Wonderful and unexpected ViAory, which the Lord was pleafed the laft Parliament! l-orces tlien in DMih, againfl tlmt numcrot* and potent Army under Omtmd which and their Army then on their way for hcL»d% Hut the Lord, who had made fo opentway for them, would them, to carrv on and nerfert that WotL which himielf had to eminently begun in thit admirable by a Worm thrrftKd the Mount a,™: The fame gracious Hind hath gone along fro* time to time with his them many V.rtoncs, giving in many ftrone Cities, Towns, Caftlo and Gariforoino their put Difficulties, furmihinnfeafonable Supplies, and dtfmaym.,-the hearts of the

2

ADMON I TIONS BY THE SVPREAME

COVNCELL OF THE CONFEDERA T

CATHOLICKS OP 1REAND,

fto all hitMijcfUet CiirhA.ll Loyill Sub).a. of th« three King? Homo at l~tsti , and f J\gain/l » Stltmi t and CfTnuu fumed by the malie

, _ "»niparticmth«P*ilun>cntoi injUW. 41 Mf,.t*»?* DttLoAtu, ,[,W tugbk In(idud Cmmt

«MU M rtfiumtu.

*iw«d by Command of tlx (aid Suprtame Council, a' v' **rfn4 by TtmM !♦.;</, itf. im, i(43.

2 The Order of Parliament proclaiming a day of thanksgiving on 30 August 1650, to celebrate the fall of Waterford to parliamentary forces. Courtesy Waterford Museum of Treasures

3 A proclamation by the Confederate Irish Parliament (1642-8) published at Waterford. Courtesy Waterford Museum of Treasures

U The mayors of Dublin, Waterford, Cork and Limerick c.1373: these are the earliest images of Irish mayors and their order reflects the hierarchy that prevailed in the roll of the medieval Irish Parliament; Waterford takes second place to Dublin

Diarmait

Mac Murchada, King of Leinster, captured Waterford in 1170. He was assisted by an Anglo

Norman force under Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare,

better known to us as Strongbow. Shortly afterwards,

Richard married Mac Murchada's daughter, Aoife, thereby

becoming a member of the royal family of Leinster, with the

likelihood that he would succeed as king because Diarmait

had no direct male heirs. The victory meant that Mac

Murchada now controlled two Hiberno-Scandinavian towns,

Wexford and Waterford, and he would shortly control a

third, Dublin. With the revenues from such a tax base he

would be in a position to challenge for the

high-kingship of Ireland. Unfortunately

for him, he died before he could realize

this dream and his death caused an inter

national crisis. Traditionally, Ireland (and

Mac Murchada) had been friendly to the

king of England but it was unlikely that,

if left to his own devices, Strongbow

would be. Strongbow was a longstand

ing political opponent of Henry II, the

king had refused to recognise him in his

rank as an earl, and Strongbow had

defied Henry by coming to Ireland with

out his permission. With the threat of an

independent and antagonistic Norman

kingdom on his doorstep, there was little

for Henry II to do but to invade Ireland.

Henry landed at Waterford in the autumn of 1171 with a

large army. His aim was not to fight the Irish but to put

down any dreams of Anglo-Norman independence. In the

event, this was unnecessary because Strongbow made a full

and abject submission. In return, he was recognisd as Lord

of Leinster but the towns of Dublin, Waterford and Wexford

were taken from him and retained by the king. This ensured

that Strongbow would have difficulty creating a power base

that might support claims to the kingship of Ireland, while it

also meant that three of the plum prizes in Ireland went to

the king. In this way, Waterford became a royal city.

It is difficult to evaluate the transition from Hiberno

Scandinavian town to Anglo-Norman city. Mac Murchada

would have had supporters within Waterford and there

would have been others who welcomed the trading opportu

nities provided by the Anglo-Norman presence. In 1174,

however, there was a revolt by the Ostmen (literally 'men of

the east', the name by which the Hiberno-Scandinavians in

Ireland referred to themselves). The Anglo-Norman Governor

of Waterford and at least two hundred others were killed.

The revolt was suppressed, however, largely because the for

mer royal family of Waterford remained loyal to the Anglo

Normans. The result was the expulsion of the Ostmen from

within the walls. Thirteenth-century accounts refer to a

'king's town' (the old Hiberno-Scandinavian town) and 'a

town of the Ostmen'. The latter was probably the origin of

100 IRISH ARTS REVIEW I AUTUMN 2011

2 The Order of Parliament proclaiming a day of thanksgiving on 30 August 1650, to celebrate the fall of Waterford to parliamentary forces. Courtesy Waterford Museum of Treasures

3 A proclamation by the Confederate Irish Parliament (1642-8) published at Waterford. Courtesy Waterford Museum of Treasures

U The mayors of Dublin, Waterford, Cork and Limerick c. 1373: these are the earliest images of Irish mayors and their order reflects the hierarchy that prevailed in the roll of the medieval Irish Parliament; Waterford takes second place to Dublin

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Water ford's Cultural Quarter

the development of a new extension along the axis of

Barronstrand Street, Broad Street and St Michael's Street.

This linear, north-south plan, with streets such as St Patrick's

Street and St John's Lane running westward from it, was the

major Anglo-Norman contribution to the layout of

Waterford. It was enclosed in the 13th century and the city

eventually had fifteen gates and twenty-three mural towers

on its circuit of walls. One of the most impressive fortifica

tions was Reginald's Tower, which was commenced around

1200 as an imposing fortress that would be the seafarer's first

glimpse of the city. It had an enclosed ward on the town side,

probably occupying the site of the old Hiberno-Scandinavian

of England and some of the chief governors of Ireland. For

a time, between about 1270 and 1330, Waterford was the sec

ond city of Ireland with an overseas trade that often surpassed

Dublin's. Waterford's trading links were primarily with Britain,

Flanders and France, and wine was its major import. In the

later Middle Ages, when war between England and France cut

off the trade with Bordeaux, Waterford's merchants sought out

new sources of wine in Spain and Portugal. By the end of the

Middle Ages Waterford possessed a quayside that was almost

a kilometre long beside which it is said that sixty ships could

dock. Originally, however, the quays were privately owned

with a private harbour or jetty at the end of each plot of land

THE CITY'S GROWTH DURING THE 13TH CENTURY WAS BASED ON ROYAL PATRONAGE AND ITS POSITION AS A MAJOR SEAPORT AT THE CONFLUENCE OF THREE RIVERS, THE SUIR, NORE AND BARROW

5 The 13th century Franciscan Friary, locally known as the 'French Church' because of its subsequent use by French Huguenots ©National Monuments Photo Unit

fortress known as Dundory, and it also had a walled harbour

on the riverside. It is an impressive structure even to this day.

Waterford developed into one of the most prosperous

towns of medieval Ireland. The city's growth during the 13th

century was based on royal patronage and its position as a

major seaport at the confluence of three rivers, the Suir,

Nore and Barrow, which penetrated into the heart of

Leinster and Munster, and watered about one fifth of

Ireland. King John's Charter of 1215 ordered that all ships

entering Waterford Harbour must unload

at Waterford, a privilege that was the

cause of a prolonged dispute with New

Ross, Waterford's great commercial rival.

New Ross was established about 1200 by

William Marshal, Strongbow's successor

as Lord of Leinster, so that he might have

a port of his own, thereby reducing the

customs and dues he paid going through

Waterford. Inevitably a row developed.

New Ross had the advantage of being

much further in from the sea on a naviga

ble stretch of the Barrow and, accord

ingly, transportation costs were cheaper.

Waterford, on the other hand, was a royal

city and it had the ear of the king. The

argument lasted until the 16th century

and it is in many ways reminiscent of the

'Shannon stop-over' controversy in our

own time, but in this instance Waterford

won and New Ross went into a decline

from which it has never recovered. A

remarkable survival from this time is the

'Waterford great charter roll', compiled

in 1372-3, which lists the rights and

privileges of the city and is illustrated

with a schematic depiction of Waterford

(Figs 1&4) as well as images of the kings

that adjoined the Suir. It was only after 1377, when the city

was attacked from the riverside, that a defensive wall was built

along the harbour. A unified quayside was subsequently con

structed outside these fortifications. The defences were in much

better condition in 1495 when the supporters of Perkin

Warbeck, a pretender to the English throne, laid siege to the

city. They attacked from the sea with cannon mounted on

ships. After eleven days and the sinking of some of Warbeck's

ships, however, the siege was lifted. In gratitude for the actions

AUTUMN 2011 I IRISH ARTS REVIEW 101

5 The 13th century Franciscan Friary, locally known as the 'French Church' because of its subsequent use by French Huguenots ©National Monuments Photo Unit

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that had saved his throne, Henry VII gave the city the motto

Urbs Intacta Manet Waterfordia ('Waterford remains the

untaken city'), which is still emblazoned on the city's arms.

The Reformation marked the beginning of over two cen

turies of religious turmoil while the Dissolution of the

Monasteries in 1541 transformed the physical appearance of

the city. Ireland was too peripheral for the London govern

ment to take much interest in the progress of the Protestant

Reformation and by the time it did (in the 1580s), the cause

was lost. Waterford's merchant classes had developed the

practice of sending their sons to the Continent to be edu

cated as priests. Superficially, however, all appeared well and

restoration of Catholicism. All hopes were dashed, however,

with the triumph of parliament, the execution of Charles I

and the declaration of a republic in England

Oliver Cromwell besieged Waterford with a parliamentary

army in late November 1649 but the absence of artillery, the

severity of the weather and an outbreak of dysentery among

the troops forced him to raise the siege. Waterford did not sur

render until August 1650, when Cromwell had returned to

England, but by then the die was cast. The Catholic citizenry

knew that their properties were forfeited because they had

taken up arms against parliament. The axe fell in 1653 when

all Catholic house-owners were evicted together with their

IN GRATITUDE FOR THE ACTIONS THAT HAD SAVED HIS THRONE, HENRY VII GAVE THE CITY THE MOTTO URBS INTACTA MANET WATERFORDIA ('WATERFORD REMAINS THE UNTAKEN CITY')

the city received charters from Edward VI, Mary and

Elizabeth I. Around 1610 the Dublin government began to

take religious conformity more seriously and required all

mayors to take an Oath of Supremacy that accepted James I

as head of the church. Gradually the old merchant families

were ousted from office and replaced by new men. The

process was resented and it was an ongoing source of enmity

between the rival groups, which came to the fore during the

1640s, in the period known as the 'Confederation of

Kilkenny'. Taking advantage of the Civil War in England, the Catholic-Irish merchant and gentry classes formed a par

liament that professed loyalty to the king but sought the

families and most of the labouring class. Some accepted com

pensatory land in Connacht, those who could moved to their

country estates, while the majority relocated outside the walls.

The new Cromwellian settlers liked their town houses but,

in general, they were not good businessmen. Most came

from farming or service backgrounds and if they knew any

thing about anything, it was the army. Nonetheless, they

were a tenacious breed, resisting the Restoration and the

reforms of James II to continue as a Protestant oligarchy into

the eighteenth century and beyond. H

John Bradley is a senior lecturer in the Department of History at the National University of Ireland Maynooth.

102 IRISH ARTS REVIEW I AUTUMN 2011

6 FRANCIS PUCE 1647-1728 WATERFORD, COUNTY WATERFORD, FROM ACROSS THE RIVER SUIR c.1698 ink and wash on paper 29x56cm Photo © National Gallery of Ireland

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