IRISH REMONSTRANCE

The remonstrance of the Irish princes was sent to the pope in 1317, setting out the ancient lineage of the Irish and the illegal nature of the papal grant, in 1155, of Ireland to England made by an English pope, Adrian IV (Nicholas Breakspear, d. 1159). The remonstrance protested the subjugation the Irish had endured because of the Norman invasion and occupation of Ireland. It detailed the usurpation of Church lands and dispossession of the Irish, the disregard of Irish law, and the closure of the English royal courts to those of Irish blood. It was a 14c claim to the ancient freedoms and independence of the Gael, while associating Gaelic Scotland with Ireland; it asked for Edward Bruce as king, claiming he was a descendant of Irish ancestors, and would thus be an Irish king, not a foreigner.