Medieval Youghal

Abstract

Though a proto-town may have existed before the Anglo-French invasion, Youghal’s development as a town was in the early thirteenth century as a centre of settlement by Maurice Fitzgerald II – the principal borough of the manor of Inchiquin. Though it had borough status and was a centre of trade, little is known of it before the end of the thirteenth century when it was an important urban centre, commercially and strategically, and a very important component of the manor of Inchiquin – almost 61% of the manor’s revenue. Though there may have been earlier charters, the earliest surviving text of a charter of liberties (as distinct from more limited grants) is dated 1431 (confirmed 1462, 1485, 1496). It contracted in the later fourteenth century because of demographic decline (the impact of the Black Death) and the turbulence and instability generated by the Gaelic recovery. This in turn led to the rise of the great Anglo-Irish territorial magnates. By the late fifteenth century, the manor of Inchiquin including Youghal had fallen into the hands of the earls of Desmond, who promoted its trade and concessions from the crown and milked its revenues. This development was helped by a clear government policy of buttressing the port-towns as centres of ‘English’ influence in Ireland, and, in favourable economic circumstances, Youghal recovered in the later fifteenth century.