them in little stead.

[Sidenote: A.D. 1167.]

Such was the situation of things in Ireland, when Dermot, King of
Leinster, having violently carried away the wife of one of the
neighboring petty sovereigns, Roderic, King of Connaught and Monarch of
Ireland, joined with the injured husband to punish so flagrant an
outrage, and with their united forces spoiled Dermot of his territories,
and obliged him to abandon the kingdom. The fugitive prince, not
unapprised of Henry's designs upon his country, threw himself at his
feet, implored his protection, and promised to hold of him, as his
feudatory, the sovereignty he should recover by his assistance. Henry
was at this time at Guienne. Nothing could be more agreeable to him than
such an incident; but as his French dominions actually lay under an
interdict, on account of his quarrel with Becket, and all his affairs,
both at home and abroad, were in a troubled and dubious situation, it
was not prudent to remove his person, nor venture any considerable body
of his forces on a distant enterprise. Yet not willing to lose so
favorable an opportunity, he warmly recommended the cause of Dermot to
his regency in England, permitting and encouraging all persons to arm in
his favor: a permission, in this age of enterprise, greedily accepted by
many; but the person who brought the most assistance to it, and indeed
gave a form and spirit to the whole design, was Richard, Earl of
Strigul, commonly known by the name of Strongbow. Dermot, to confirm in
his interest this potent and warlike peer, promised him his daughter in
marriage, with the reversion of his crown.

[Sidenote: A.D. 1169.]