County Kildare in the province of Leinster, Ireland, was first defined as a diocese in 1111, shired in 1297 and assumed its present borders in 1836. Its location in the Liffey basin on the main routes from Dublin to the south and west meant it was a valuable possession and important theatre of events throughout Irish history.
Ancient history An inland town on Ptolemy's map of Ireland in 100 AD may be Rheban on the Barrow River, according to the only written records from pre-Christian County Kildare. The estimated date for the abandonment of the sacred pre-Christian site of Knockaulin/ Dún Áilinne is 400 AD, the traditional date for the foundation of the monastery at Cill Dara is 490 AD, the date for the death of the first Bishop Conlaed ua hEimri, (St Conleth) is 520 AD and the estimated date for the death of the foundress St Brigid (Irish: Naomh Bríd), is 524 AD (also dated 521 and 526). Her death has been traditionally celebrated on 1 February, which is also the pre-Christian festival of Imbolc. The rise of Kildare sept the Uí Dúnlainge after 633AD helped promote the cult of St Brigid, as she was related to that dynasty, giving her status as one of three 'national saints' of Ireland and increasing the status of the two monasteries where they had influence, Kildare and Glendalough.
The first hagiography of St Brigid, Vita Brigitae, already containing familiar wonder tales such as the story of how her cloak expanded to cover the area now known as the Curragh of Kildare, was compiled in 650 AD by Cogitosus for Faolán mac Colmáin, the first of the Uí Dúnlainge kings of Leinster. In 799 AD, a reliquary in gold and silver was created for the relics of Conlaed (St. Conleth). Further south, the death of Diarmait (St. Diarmuid), an anchorite scholar and founder of Castledermot, created a second major monastic site in the county. There were also about 50 local saints associated with pattern days and wells in the county. Kildare is home to five surviving round towers at Kildare town: Castledermot, Old Kilcullen, Taghadoe near Maynooth, and Oughter Ard near Ardclough.
Kings of Leinster The Uí Dúnlainge claimed descent from Dúnlaing, son of Enna Nia. Their positions as Kings of Leinster were unopposed following the death of Aed mac Colggan in the Battle of Ballyshannon, on 19 August 738. The dynasty then divided into three kindreds, amongst which the kingship rotated from c.750 until 1050. This is unusual in early Irish history, according to Professor Francis John Byrne of University College Dublin, for it was the equivalent of "keeping three oranges in the air." 14 Uí Meiredaig kings (later to become the O'Tooles) were based at Mullaghmast/Máistín 9 Uí Faelain kings (later the O'Byrnes) were based at Naas/ Nás na Ríogh and 10 Uí Dúnchada kings (later the Hiberno-Norman FitzDermots) were based at Lyons Hill/ Líamhain. The influence of the family helped secure place-myths for prominent Kildare landmarks in the heroic and romantic literature such as the Dindeanchas, Dinnshenchas Érenn as one of the "assemblies and noted places in Ireland"
In 833 Vikings raided Kildare monastery for first of sixteen times, the second and most destructive raid following three years after, and the power of the Uí Dúnlainge waned after the battles of Gleann Mama, beside Lyons Hill in the north of the county in 999 and Clontarf in 1014. After the death of the last Kildare-based King of Laighin, Murchad Mac Dunlainge, in 1042, the Kingship of Leinster reverted to the Uí Cheinnselaig sept based in the south east.
In the Gaelic-era "Triads of Ireland", Kildare was described at line 4 as: "The heart of Ireland".
End of the Abbacy In 1132 Kildare monastery was destroyed by Diarmait Mac Murchada /Diarmait MacMurrough, King of Laighin, when he forced the abbess to marry one of his followers and installed his niece as abbess. It was the end of the only major Irish church office open to women, in 1152 the Synod of Kells deprived the Abbess of Kildare of traditional precedence over bishops and when the last abbess of Kildare, Sadb ingen Gluniarainn Meic Murchada, (niece of Diarmait Mac Murchada), died in 1171 the Norman invasion of Ireland brought the famous abbacy to an end. Gerald of Wales/ Giraldus Cambrensis visited Kildare in 1186 and described the (later lost) Book of Kildare as the "dictation of an angel." He also recorded the sacred fire of Kildare, the pagan nature of which was subject of iconoclastic suspicion as early as 1220 when it was extinguished by Henry de Londres, archbishop of Dublin. According to folklore, it was rekindled and continued to burn until the Protestant Reformation in 1541.
Boundaries
Origins as diocese The first attempt to define the borders of Kildare was in 1111 when a sphere of influence for Kildare diocese was defined by the synod of Raith Bressail. For a short time Kilcullen was also a diocese.
Initial Norman structures After the Cambro-Norman invasion removed the Uí Dúnlainge dynasty from power in 1170, Diarmait Mac Murcada's Norman allies led by Strongbow divided Kildare amongst themselves: the Barony of Carbury to Meyler FitzHenry, Naas Offalia to Maurice Fitzgerald, Norragh to Robert FitzHereford and Salt (Saltus salmonus – Salmon Leap, i.e. Leixlip) to Adam FitzHereford. In 1210 Kildare became one of original twelve Norman counties of Ireland, originally known as the "Liberty of Kildare". The Normans introduced the feudal system which was the usual landholding system in western Europe at the time.
In 1247 the estate of Anselm Marshall was subdivided, Kildare was assigned to Sybilla (fourth daughter of William Marshall and Isabella, heiress to Strongbow and Aoife). Sybilla was already dead so the "Liberty of Kildare", including what is now counties Laois and Offaly, passed to her daughter Agnes and husband William de Vesci. In 1278 the "Liberty" (later County) of Kildare was restored to Agnes de Vesci. On her death in 1290 her son William succeeded to the Lordship of Kildare.
Beginning of the County In 1297 William de Vesci surrendered the "Liberty of Kildare" to the English crown. "County Kildare" came into being and was defined as such by an Act of the new Irish Parliament of Edward I.
Shortly afterwards De Vesci fled to France, leaving the FitzGeralds of Maynooth to become the pre-eminent family in the county. John FitzThomas FitzGerald, 5th Baron of Offaly, was created the first Earl of Kildare on 14 May 1316.
The Norman settlers also had their own literature. In 1200–25 the "Song of Dermot and the Earl" was drafted in Norman-French, and mentioned parts of Kildare. Soon after 1300 the "Kildare Poems" were written in medieval English.,
Changes in boundaries The 1297 boundaries of County Kildare included much of the present counties Offaly and Laois. These were shired as King's and Queen's Counties in 1556.
Final form County Kildare assumed its current borders in 1836 when it was reassigned three detached sections of County Dublin (including Ballymore Eustace) and one detached district of King's County (the western Harristown and Kilbracken), while a detached district of Kildare, around Castlerickard, was reassigned to County Meath.
Monastic houses The establishment of a Cistercian Abbey at Monasterevin by the O'Dempsey's in 1189 and an Augustinian priory in Naas in 1200 brought a new monastic tradition to Kildare. In 1202 Great Connell Priory Augustinian priory, set to become one of the finest in medieval Ireland, was founded by Meyler FitzHenry. In 1223 the last Gaelic bishop of Kildare, Cornelius MacFaelain, was succeeded by Ralph of Bristol and control of the church remained in Norman hands. In 1253 a Dominican friary was established at Athy and in 1302 a Franciscan abbey at Castledermot. In the early 14th century, the Kildare Poems, comprising some of the earliest written documents of English in Ireland, are thought to have been composed by Franciscan friars from Kildare.
The Fitzgeralds In the years leading up to the ascendancy of the FitzGerald family (1470–1535) Kildare became the virtual capital of Ireland. The Irish Parliament sat in Naas on twenty occasions between 1255 and 1484, and there were also sittings in Kildare in 1266–67 and 1310, 12 in Castledermot between 1264 and 1509, Ballymore Eustace in 1390 and Great Connell Priory in 1478. English King Richard II took the submission of Irish chiefs at Great Connell Priory in 1395. In 1481, Gerald FitzGerald, Gearóid Mór, eighth earl of Kildare, was appointed English King's Deputy in Ireland by Edward IV. The principles of the county, Edmond Lane, Bishop of Kildare, the Prior of Great Connell Priory and Gearóid Mór all assisted in the coronation of the Yorkist pretender Lambert Simnel in Dublin but were pardoned by the new king Henry VII after Simnel's defeat.
In 1488 Gearóid Mór became one of the first to use guns in Ireland, importing six handguns from Germany for his personal guard and using cannon to destroy Balrath Castle in County Westmeath. Gearóid Mór rebuilt Athy castle to secure his southern frontier in 1506 but died in Athy in 1513 from gunshot wounds received in an engagement with O'Mores and was succeeded by Gearóid Óg.
Even at the supposed height of their power, accusations by rivals that the family was plotting against Henry VIII bedeviled the FitzGerald dynasty. Gearóid Mór spent two years and Gearóid Óg 11 years in all as the King's prisoner in the Tower of London. In 1534 Gearóid Óg was recalled to London once more (February), leaving his 20-year-old son Silken Thomas in charge. Thomas declared rebellion (11 June) on false information that his father had been executed. In 1535 Maynooth Castle, stronghold of Silken Thomas, was bombarded by cannon for 18 days and taken by William Brereton. Rathangan castle was also taken before Thomas submitted in October. Despite a guarantee of personal safety, Silken Thomas and five uncles were executed in the Tower of London in 1537. Thomas's younger brother Gearóid was smuggled to Tuscany. The FitzGerald lands were confiscated and the biggest share-out of Kildare land since the Cambro-Norman conquest took place. In 1552 Gearóid the only survivor of FitzGerald family, was restored to his ancestral title and possessions.
Religious change After King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church in 1533 after his decision to remarry, the Pope appointed Franciscan Dónall O Bóacháin bishop of Kildare. When he died almost immediately Thady Reynolds was appointed and initially recognised by Henry VIII. Reynolds refused to break with Rome in common with most Irish bishops and while he continued to minister Henry VIII appointed William Miagh in opposition as the first Protestant bishop of Kildare. Some later documents refer to his 1550 successor Thomas Lancaster as the first Protestant bishop, partly because he was Kildare's first married bishop and partly because Henry VIII also disliked Lutherans until his death in 1547. By 1550 Edward VI was formulating a more Lutheran state religion.
When the English crown turned back to Catholicism under Queen Mary in 1555–58, Thomas Leverous became the first native Kildare bishop in 400 years, being of Norman descent. In 1558 the new queen, Elizabeth I, ascended the throne and as Leverous refused to take the Oath of Allegiance he was deprived of his see. Pope Pius V, in his papal bull Regnans in Excelsis, finally declared Elizabeth to be an illegitimate heretic in 1570, and from this point on it became harder for Kildare's landed families, most of whom were Catholic, to be simultaneously loyal to the queen and also to be observant Catholics. Kildare's numerous Norman families became known as Old English, to distinguish them from newer arrivals who conformed to the state religion.
Elizabethan Kildare