Erens and counties

STRONGBOW'S MONUMENT, CHRIST CHURCH, DUBLIN. -Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, nicknamed "Strongbow," because of his strength and skill in archery, was the chief, and most accomplished, of the band of Norman adventurers that invaded Ireland on the invitation of Dermod MacMurrough, the traitor King of Leinster, during the years 1169-72. MacMurrough eloped with his wife of O'Ruarc, Prince of Breffni, during the latter's absence on a pious pilgrimage. This led to the adulterer's flight from Ireland, and the subsequent fatal invasion of the Normans.

	TRIM CASTLE, COUNTY MEATH. -Trim, Gaelic Ath-truim, the Ford of the Eldertrees, was so called because of a grove of elders, or boortrees, that grew near the ancient ford across the river Boyne, which flows near the town. The castle which appears in the picture is perhaps, the finest remaining specimen of Anglo-Norman military architecture in Ireland. It took the place of the fortress originally erected by De Lacy, one of Strongbow's lieutenants, in 1172, which was attacked and destroyed by King Roderick O'Conor in 1173. It was again erected and again destroyed, during a civil war between the De Lacys and De Clares, in 1220. Soon afterward, the castle was rebuilt, presumably by the heirs of De Lacy, and notwithstanding many sieges, the remains are still imposing and even formidable.
It is thus technically described: The north-eastern side is 121 yards long and is defended by two towers at the angles and two intermediate. The west side is 116 yards long and was guarded by a center and flanking towers. The third side is 192 yards in length, defended by six flanking towers. In the center rises a massive and lofty "conjon-keep" -such as Scott was fond of describing in his poems and romances. This keep has walls twelve feet thick and the smaller towers have walls about half the thickness. Here met many of the parliaments of the Pale, and it was the prison of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and his nephew, Henry of Lancaster, afterward Henry V. of England, when a mere boy, in 1399. They were immuted by Richard II, who really hed them as hostages. The Duke of Wellington, when Captain Wellesley, represented the borough of Trim in the Irish parliament.
	STRONGBOW'S MONUMENT, CHRIST CHURCH, DUBLIN. -Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, nicknamed "Strongbow," because of his strength and skill in archery, was the chief, and most accomplished, of the band of Norman adventurers that invaded Ireland on the invitation of Dermod MacMurrough, the traitor King of Leinster, during the years 1169-72. MacMurrough eloped with his wife of O'Ruarc, Prince of Breffni, during the latter's absence on a pious pilgrimage. This led to the adulterer's flight from Ireland, and the subsequent fatal invasion of the Normans.
The poet Moore has immortalized the episode in his well known ballad, "The Valley Lay Smiling before Me." Strongbow, after making nominal conquest of Leinster, married Eva, the heiress of MacMurrough, and laid claim to a large portion of Irish territory, which he held with the strong hand. This great Norman chief was a polite as brave says his biographer, Cambrensis, "what he could not effect by force, he accomplished by soft words and fair promises." He died not many years after the invasion and was interred in Christ Church, which he had aided in restoring. The roof fell in and wrecked the original monument during the fifteenth century, but the latter was re-erected by Sir Henry Sydney, Lord Deputy, during the reign of Elizabeth. The full length effigy shown in the sketch is alleged to be that of Strongbow, while the half length figure is said to represent his son, who, for cowardice or disobedience in battle, was cut in two by his affectionate sire.