Norman Medieval

“hiberniores hibernis ipsos” – who said it first?

It’s a cliche about the medieval Norman settlers in Ireland that they rapidly became “hiberniores hibernis ipsos”, i.e. “more Irish than the Irish themselves”. I’ve seen this described as “an old saying” or “a medieval phrase” – but where does it come from? Who said it first?
Moghusai: D’oh! I didn’t ask for the history of the Norman invasion of Ireland: I specifically asked WHO FIRST SAID that phrase. If you know, I would be grateful if you would tell me. If you don’t, please refrain from telling me stuff I knew already.

The first King of England to dispatch troops to Ireland did so with the blessing of the Pope. The King was Henry II; the Pope was Adrian IV — the only Englishman to sit on the throne of Saint Peter.

Henry and Adrian believed that the Irish themselves required an introduction to civilization. But Henry didn’t act immediately on the Pope’s blessing. In the meantime, one of Ireland’s many kings, Dermot MacMurrough, was looking for outside help to further his political ambitions on the island. So, in 1167, he invited troops from England — they were French-speaking Normans who had settled in England after William the Conqueror’s invasion — to help him. Three years later, the Earl of Pembroke, also known as Strongbow, traveled from England to Ireland to fight alongside MacMurrough. He eventually married MacMurrough’s daughter, and when MacMurrough died, Strongbow succeeded him as king of the region known as Leinster, one of Ireland’s four provinces. The others became known as Ulster, Munster, and Connaught. Eventually, each province was subdivided into counties, for a total of thirty-two.

From the very beginning of the English presence in Ireland, the invaders regarded the natives as aliens and savages, and themselves as the keepers of civilization.

But many of the Normans who had marched with Strongbow and some who arrived later with Henry were of a different view. They remained in Ireland, formed settlement communities mostly along the island’s east coast, intermarried with the native Gaels, and assimilated into Gaelic Ireland. They were considered, in the phrase of that day, hiberniores hibernis ipsos, or “more Irish than the Irish.” Eventually, they would become known as Old English, as opposed to new English settlers who arrived in later centuries.

Norman Medieval Fair Daniel Bottoms