The Statutes of Kilkenny

The Statutes of Kilkenny were thirty-five acts passed in Kilkenny in 1366 by Anglo-Irish Parliament. Lionel, duke of Clarence, passed the Statutes of Kilkenny five years after his arrival in Ireland when the English perceived a weakening of English domination at this time. They prevented English settlers in Ireland from adopting native Irish customs (“The Statutes of Kilkenny” 791-799).

History

The Anglo-Normans were not immediately successful when they invaded Ireland in the late 12th century. The result was more of a gradual colonization, maintaining power through native alliances (“Writing in Ireland” 213). The Anglo-Normans established these alliances with the Irish by adopted Irish customs such as fosterage and gossiprid, a fraternal association between a lord and his client for protection and patronage. By the fourteenth century the adoption of these Irish customs had become a point of concern for the royal government because of the divided loyalties that had formed and because they were seen as one of the causes of gaelicization (“Fosterage” 183).

Purpose

There was area in Ireland called the Pale where the English colonists held the strongest English influence and considered all outsiders enemies (“Ireland”). In as early as 1297, when many English rulers began using Irish language and customs, these colonists proposed the Statutes of Kilkenny. The Statutes of Kilkenny forbade the use of Irish language, intermarriage between the native Irish and the native English, the English fostering of Irish children, the English adoption of Irish children, use if Irish names and dressing like the Irish in order to maintain the difference. (“Gaelicization” 191). Those who did not know how to speak English were required to learn, along with many other English customs including sport. For example, many English colonists had adapted the Irish game of hurling, but they were forced to give it up and play with English bows and lances instead ("Writing in Ireland" 214).

Result

Although the effort to keep the independence of the Anglo-Norman settlers continued, the Statues of Kilkenny were highly ineffective. English authority was not fully redeemed until the Tudor reconquest of Ireland in the sixteenth century (“Writing in Ireland” 213). The Statutes of Kilkenny ultimately helped to create the complete estrangement of the two “races” in Ireland for almost three centuries (“The Statutes of Kilkenny” 792).

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“The Statutes of Kilkenny.” Encyclopedia of Irish History and Culture. 1st ed. Thompson Gale 2004.

Waters, Keith. “Fosterage.” Medieval Ireland An Encyclopedia. 1st ed. Routledge 2005.