In the time of King Edward the Third the impediments of the conquest of Ireland are so notorious as I shall not need to express them; to wit, the wars which the King had with the realms of Scotland and France, but especially the wars of France, which were almost continual for the space of forty years. And, indeed, France was a fairer mark to shoot at than Ireland, and could better reward the conqueror.

That Sir John Davies was unquestionably right in emphasizing the part played by distractions elsewhere in the decline of the colony is vividly illustrated by Edward III's frank admission in 1359. As he departed for France, he conceded that he left England so ‘empty of armed power and destitute of lords, whereby there is no room to send men or money to Ireland at present, although it is said they are needed there’. The Dublin administration certainly believed men and money were essential and pressed urgently for the despatch of a military commander estofféz et efforcéz de gentz et tresore. By 1361 it had persuaded the King that Ireland was now ‘subjected to such devastation and destruction that unless God avert and succour the same it will be plunged into total ruin’. The situation was not perhaps as bad as that nor was the colony plunging to catastrophe with the celerity that some historians have suggested. Nevertheless there was a crisis situation and an extraordinary effort of defence and reform was needed from England.