ain, he
did enough to shatter the power of the English nobility; and it was
mainly in consequence of his partial success that the authority of the
English government was, for some time to come, limited to a certain
district round Dublin, known about a century later as the English
Pale, the extent of which varied from time to time.

15. =The Statute of Kilkenny. 1367.=--As long as the French wars
lasted the attention of the English Government was diverted from
Ireland. In =1361=, however, the year after the Treaty of Bretigni,
the king's son, Lionel Duke of Clarence, was sent to extend English
rule. In =1367= he gathered a Parliament of the English colonists.
This Parliament passed the Statute of Kilkenny, by which the relations
between the two races were defined. Within the Pale English laws and
customs were to prevail, and even Irishmen living there were to be
debarred from the use of their own language. Beyond the Pale the Irish
were to be left to themselves, communication between the two peoples
being cut off as much as possible. The idea of conquering Ireland was
abandoned, and the idea of maintaining a colony on a definite part of
Irish soil was substituted for it. The Statute of Kilkenny was, in
short, a counterpart of the Treaty of Bretigni. In both cases Edward
III. preferred the full maintenance of his authority over a part of a
country to its assertion over the whole.

16. =Weakness of the English Colony. 1367--1377.=--It takes two to
make a bargain, and the Irish were not to be prevented from
encroaching on the English because the English had resolved no longer
to encroach upon them. The renewal of the war with France in =1369=
made it impossible to send help from England, and during the latter
part of the reign of Edward III. the Irish pillaged freely within the
English territory, constantly winning ground from their antagonists.

_Genealogy of the more important Sons of Edward III._

EDWARD III.
d. 1377
|
--------------------------------------------------
| | | | |
Edward, Lionel, John of Gaunt, Edmund, Thomas,
the Black Duke of Duke of Duke of Duke of
Prince, Clarence, Lancaster, York, Gloucester,
d. 1376 d. 1368 d. 1399 d. 1402 d. 1397

CHAPTER XVII.

RICHARD II. AND THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION.

1377--1381.