1150-1169 Norman Conquest of Ireland

This twenty year period covers the reign of King Stephen of England at a time when the Chinese were developing the use of explosives in battle.

Frederick Barbarossa of Germany was Holy Roman Emperor and in this twenty year period there were four popes and three antipopes. Eugene III was Pope of Rome to 1153, followed by Anastasius IV to 1154, Hadrian IV to 1159, and then Alexander III who was plagued by three antipopes.

King Stephen died in 1154 and was succeeded by Henry II -- Henri of Anjou.

Henry II's wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was the richest woman in Europe after inheriting the Duchy of Aquitaine. She had previously been married to Louis VII of France and had accompanied him on the 2nd Crusade of 1147-1149.

In 1167 the first Norman conquest of Ireland took place -- 100 years after England had met a similar fate.

did christianity hold back western civilization?

While western civilization may have had Ireland as its cradle, it nevertheless evolved to become distinctively European - geographically, racially and culturally - and it remained geographically, racially and culturally intact for another 600 years, repelling Jews and Moslems and other non-Christian invaders.

At that time, Christianity was a repressive religion and it was used by the political rulers to make the masses do their bidding. It destroyed the pagan culture upon which the glorious Hellenic civilization and the Roman Empire was based, and definitely held back western civilization for centuries.

What brought western civilization out of a period that historians call the 'Dark Ages' was increasing exposure to the fabulous wealth and inventiveness of other civilizations - notably the Chinese through Marco Polo's travels between 1275-1292, and the Islamic nations through the Crusades of the same era.

The horrors of overpopulation and disease represented by the Black Death of 1348-1349 also had its impact.

The Christian Western civilization was looking decidedly primitive in relation to other civilizations.

An enlightenment was necessary, and the course it took brought out the best but also the worst in the white Christian populations.