Waterford Waterford Ireland

…Waterford, …

Viking raiders in 853 had first established a settlement near present Waterford.

It and all the other longphorts had been vacated in 902, the Vikings having been driven out by the native Irish.

The Vikings, led at first by Ottir Iarla (Jarl Ottar), return in 914  to conquer much of Ireland.

Ottir is particularly associated in Ireland with raiding and conquests in the province of Munster.

The Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib describes him raiding there alongside Ragnall and associates this with the Viking settlement of Cork.

Their base for this activity is Loch dá Caech or present day Waterford.

Later the same epic describes Ottir conquering the eastern part of Munster from his seat at Waterford, but it is unclear if he ruled it as king outright or was in any way subject to Ragnall, because the annals offer a different chronology.

The Vikings of Waterford have erected stone fortifications in the shape of an isosceles triangle, at the apex of which is the structure known as Reginald’s Tower, constructed in 1003. (After performing numerous functions over the years it is today is a civic museum. It is Ireland’s oldest urban civic building, and the oldest monument to retain its Viking name. To this day, it remains Waterford's most recognizable landmark. It is believed to be the first building in Ireland to use mortar.)

…Waterford and …

Henry lands with a large fleet at Waterford in 1171, becoming the first King of England to set foot on Irish soil.

This marks the beginning of English and later British rule in Ireland.

Both Waterford and Dublin are proclaimed Royal Cities.

…Ireland.

Here he finds support from Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Desmond, and lays siege to Waterford, but, meeting resistance, …

Ferdinand and Isabella had become convinced by March 28, 1497, that Perkin Warbeck's significance was waning and war between England and Scotland must be avoided.

Doctor Puebla, in London, had been instructed to placate Henry VII, who had heard that Ayala was credulous in believing the Scottish account of the situation.

James IV still refuses to hand Perkin, his guest, to the English.

Henry VII considers the offers made at Jenyn Haugh by the Earl of Angus and Lord Home as inadequate and asks the Bishop of Durham to press James IV to surrender Perkin before negotiations for peace commence.

James relents soon after the meeting with the Bishop of Durham.

Now wishing to be rid of Warbeck, he provides a recently impounded French ship called the Cuckoo, captained by a reluctant hired Breton called Guy Foulcart, who in July 1497 returns Perkin in shame to Waterford.

The under-equipped Perkin once again attempts to lay siege to Waterford, but this time his effort lasts only eleven days before he is forced to flee Ireland, chased by four English ships.

According to some sources, by this time he was left with only one hundred and twenty men on two ships.

Stukley, undeterred by his failure to purchase lands in Ulster, had been appointed seneschal of the lands in the possession of the ancient Kavanagh clan in the southeast of the province of Leinster, and had some say in the controversial land claims of his adversary, Peter Carew (who succeeds him in that office).

He had gone on to buy lands from Sir Nicholas Heron in the adjacent County Wexford, and had been appointed by Sidney to the office of seneschal there, but the queen objected to the appointment and in June 1568 he had been dismissed in favor of Sir Nicholas White.

Stukley had fallen prey to the disputes between Sidney and White's patron, Sir Thomas Butler, which had resulted, in the following year, in a rebuke to Sidney by the queen for his use of Stukley in the negotiations with O'Neill.

Stukley had in June 1569 been committed to custody in Dublin Castle for eighteen weeks, on White's information that he had used coarse language against the queen and supported certain rebels.

He had again been acquitted, and in October 1569 the authorities had released him.

He had been suspected of proposing an invasion of Ireland to King Philip II of Spain, and soon after his release he had offered his services to Fénelon, the French ambassador in London.

He returns to Ireland in 1570, where he fits out a ship at Waterford and makes a great show of his piety, proceeding through the streets of the city on his knees as he offers himself up to God.

He sails from Waterford on the seventeenth of April, supposedly for London, but his real destination lies at Vimiero, in Portugal.

He has twenty-eight men on board, but only the sole Italian knows their course.

The army marches further south, while Essex goes to Mallow on a mission to procure supplies.

He rejoins his men with a MacCarthy ally, but by the time they reach the heart of Desmond rebel country, the Sugán Earl has gone into the field.

The river Blackwater is forded at Affane, and at a council of war in Essex's tent Norris is allowed eleven hundred foot and a company of horse to pursue the war in Munster.

Essex marches unhindered eastward through Lord Power's country to Waterford city, where he is received with two Latin orations and a joyful concourse of people on June 21.

The army is now ferried out of Munster and back into Leinster, an operation that takes a frustrating length of time.

Essex himself on June 22 leaves Waterford.