Dermot, King of Leinster, doing homage to Henry II.
Ireland was divided into several kingdoms; and, in King Henry’s time, their kings quarrelled sadly with one another. And one of them came to Henry, and begged him to go to help him against his enemies. But Henry had too much to do at home. However, he said that, if any of his barons liked to go and help the Irish king, they might. And the Irish king, whose name was Dermot, promised that if they could punish or kill his enemies, he would call the King of England Lord over Ireland, and that he and the rest of the Irish kings should be his servants.
Then the Earl of Strigul, who was called Strongbow, and some other noblemen, gathered all their followers together, and went to Ireland to help Dermot; and, after a great deal of fighting, they conquered that part of Ireland opposite to England, and drove the people over to the other side; just as the English had driven the Britons to Wales. From that time Ireland has always been under the same king with England.
You remember, I am sure, that one part of Britain is called Scotland. Now, at the time I am writing about, Scotland had kings of its own, and was more like England than any other country; but it was much poorer, and the people were ruder and wilder.
The king of Scotland, named William the Lion, having heard that King Henry was in Normandy, thought it would be a good opportunity to take an army into England, to rob the towns and carry away the corn and cattle; and so he did. But several of the noblemen and bishops got together a number of English soldiers and marched to the North, and fought King William and took him prisoner.
William was sent to London, and King Henry would not set him free till he had promised that, for the future, the kings of Scotland should be only under-kings to the kings of England; and from that time the kings of England always said Scotland was theirs; but it was long before England and Scotland became one kingdom.
I do not think this was quite good for England, though the English drove the Scots home again, because it made many quarrels and wars between England and Scotland. As I have now mentioned the best part of Henry the Second’s reign, we must end our long chapter.
