A King in All But Name: John, dominus Hibernie, frater regis, and Unconsecrated Rulership in Two Kingdoms, 1185–99.

Daines, Richard (2019) A King in All But Name: John, dominus Hibernie, frater regis, and Unconsecrated Rulership in Two Kingdoms, 1185–99. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This is a thesis of two parts, concerning aspects of the political structure of two kingdoms: Ireland and England. Its focus is the role of John, the youngest son of King Henry II, as a ruler whose ‘sovereign’ authority spanned both kingdoms during a period in which he was the anointed king of neither.

Part one, comprising chapters one and two, examines John’s rulership in England as the younger brother of King Richard I. Chapter one establishes the dynastic context of John’s vast collection of lands and rights in the kingdom and demonstrates how these rights – financial and judicial – were exercised. It argues that John operated an administration that was a discrete mirror of that of the king. Chapter two proceeds to analyse John’s extant charters to establish the nature of his position as a ruler in England during the early years of his brother’s reign. It demonstrates that his practical authority was often effectively royal in character.

Part two of the thesis examines John’s rulership in Ireland as dominus Hibernie. Chapter three analyses John’s Irish charters to establish how the nature of his authority in Ireland was communicated and understood before 1189. Chapter four explores the judicial prerogatives that John claimed in the kingdom and examines how Irish beneficiaries understood the continuity of their tenure after John became king of England. The chapter makes the significant conclusion that John’s authority as dominus Hibernie was continuous before and after 1199 and was understood as equivalent to that of an anointed king elsewhere in Europe.

The thesis thus redefines earlier understandings of John before 1199 and challenges existing interpretations of the political structures of two late twelfth-century kingdoms, and the relationship between them.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	15 Dec 2022 09:57
Last Modified:	15 Dec 2022 09:57
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/90186
DOI:

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