High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Norman Ireland is a period in the history of Ireland when the island was dominated by the Anglo-Normans. After the Norman invasion of 1171, Ireland was under an alternating level of control from Norman lords and the King of England. Previously, Ireland had seen intermittent warfare between provincial kingdoms over the position of High King. This situation was transformed by intervention in these conflicts by Norman mercenaries and later the English crown. After their successful conquest of England, the Normans turned their attention to Ireland. Ireland was made a Lordship of the King of England and much of its land was seized by Norman barons. However, with time Hiberno-Norman rule shrank to a territory known as pale ("the Pale") stretching from Dublin to Dundalk. The Hiberno-Norman lords elsewhere in the country became Gaelicised and integrated in Gaelic Irish society.