What did the Normans ever do for us ?
In 2027, much of Europe will mark the millennial birth of William the Conqueror with a continent-wide series of events under the banner of the European Year of the Normans. With enthusiastic backing from the Normandy region of France the initiative aims to celebrate the legacy of a people whose reach stretched from northern France to England, Ireland, southern Italy, and even the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Participating countries are being invited to reflect on the cultural political and architectural impact of the Normans a legacy that while largely shaped in the 11th and 12th centuries still echoes in everything from the castles that dot our landscapes to the legal systems that underpin our governments. But in Ireland the decision to take part in this celebration has sparked debate. It is perhaps no surprise that the proposal to mark the arrival of a conquering force should stir unease in a country with a long and painful history of colonisation.
In May 2025, the Irish government confirmed that Ireland would join the commemorations with the National Monuments Service taking the lead in coordinating events. These are expected to include heritage tourism initiatives academic symposia, educational resources, and cultural programming centred around places like Wexford and Kilkenny and Tipperary where the Norman presence is still tangible in the built environment. Yet not everyone welcomes the move Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh has called the idea offensive equating it to celebrating Oliver Cromwell or the reign of Queen Victoria during the Famine. He pointed out that the arrival of Strongbow in 1169 at the invitation of the Leinster king Diarmait Mac Murchada, marked the beginning of 900 years of foreign domination in Ireland.
For Ó Snodaigh and many like him celebrating the Normans risks romanticising invasion elevating the architecture and legacy of conquest while ignoring the cultural erasure and bloodshed that came with it. It is a valid concern the Norman arrival did indeed change the trajectory of Irish history. Within a few decades of landing in Bannow Bay, the Normans had secured much of Leinster and Munster establishing castles, towns and a new political order. With them came feudalism the introduction of English-style laws and a new power dynamic that tilted decisively away from native Gaelic rule. Some of Ireland’s most iconic towns and landmarks Kilkenny Castle, New Ross, Kildare town and even parts of Dublin owe their origins or development to this wave of conquest. At the same time history is rarely simple.
The Normans in Ireland did not remain aloof conquerors for long. Over the course of the following centuries many intermarried with the native Irish and adopted their language, laws and customs. By the 14th century, they had become in the words of contemporaries “more Irish than the Irish themselves.” Norman family names Fitzgerald, Brunkard, Burke, Butler, Walsh, and others became deeply woven into the fabric of Irish society. Today, one cannot travel far in Ireland without encountering their descendants their stone castles or the laws and institutions that trace back to their time. Still the question remains does this cultural and architectural legacy justify a celebration? Or should it be examined more critically as a reminder of Ireland’s long and often painful entanglement with foreign domination? For those in favour of commemorating 2027 the answer lies not in glorifying conquest but in acknowledging historical complexity. Heritage Minister James Browne has argued that the year offers Ireland an opportunity to engage with its past in a reflective and nuanced way highlighting how the Normans helped shape Irish society without erasing the violence of their arrival.
Events will focus not just on Norman castles and cathedrals but also on their long-term influence on law language, agriculture and even landscape consider the introduction of hedgerows for example or the transformation of landownership practices. Academic voices are also divided. Some, like Professor Seán Duffy of Trinity College Dublin have welcomed the opportunity to explore Norman influence in Ireland pointing out that understanding their legacy is no different from studying the Renaissance or the Roman Empire it is part of a broader European story. Others, like Dr Conor Kostick, prefer to separate the celebration of Norman-Irish heritage from any praise of William the Conqueror himself whom history remembers not just for his achievements but for the brutal methods he employed to secure them.
Meanwhile historians like Brendan Smith question whether the people we call “Normans” were ever really a cohesive ethnic or cultural group given their French identity and swift assimilation in Ireland. Public opinion appears similarly conflicted. A recent poll on TheJournal.ie found that nearly 60 percent of respondents opposed celebrating the Normans with around 40 percent in favour. This division suggests a nation still grappling with how to honour its past without sanitising it and with how to distinguish cultural inheritance from political trauma. Yet beneath the disagreement lies a remarkable fact the Normans did undeniably leave a profound mark on Ireland. Our landscape is etched with their castles our cities often grew from their towns and our surnames echo their presence. Even aspects of daily life how we farm, how we build, how we govern have roots in that medieval encounter.
To deny that legacy would be to ignore a formative chapter of our story. But to celebrate it without acknowledging the cost displacement, dispossession and the long shadow of colonial rule would be dishonest. As 2027 approaches Ireland faces a choice in how it participates. Will the commemorations be glossy showcases of Norman grandeur replete with re-enactments and romanticised imagery? Or will they offer a space for reflection, debate and education an honest accounting of how this group both enriched and disrupted the island they came to claim? Done well the Year of the Normans could be an opportunity to engage the public in meaningful conversations about identity, heritage and power. It could spark curiosity in schoolchildren inspire fresh academic inquiry and foster links with communities across Europe that share in the Norman story. Crucially it could also centre Gaelic voices and perspectives that have too often been marginalised in historical narratives.
In places like Wexford where the Norman story began with a landing on Bannow Strand local initiatives such as the “Norman Way” already tread a careful line between celebration and exploration. Small castles like Ballyhealy and Sigginstown speak to a legacy that is both architectural and deeply human. As part of the commemorations Ireland has the chance to spotlight these regional stories not as chapters in a tale of conquest but as windows into how history unfolds in all its messy complicated fullness. In the end the question isn’t whether we should celebrate the Normans. It’s whether we can tell their story and ours in a way that is honest, inclusive and mature. History after all does not demand our admiration. It asks only for our attention.
