Meiler FitzHenry

Meilyr FitzHenry (died 1220) was a Cambro-Norman nobleman and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland during the Lordship of Ireland.

Meilyr FitzHenry was the son of Henry FitzHenry, an illegitimate son of King Henry I, by Nest, daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, the last king of Deheubarth (South Wales). He was thus related to the noblest Norman and native families of South Wales. Robert Fitz-Stephen, Maurice FitzGerald, David FitzGerald, bishop of St. David's, and William FitzGerald of Carew were his uncles. Meilyr's cousins included Raymond le Gros, Gerald of Wales, prince Rhys ap Gruffydd, the famous Lord Rhys, and Henry II.

In 1158 his father, Henry FitzHenry, was killed in battle during Henry II's campaign in Wales. Meilyr, Henry's oldest son, succeeded to his father's possessions of Narberth and Pebidiog, the central and north-eastern parts of the modern Pembrokeshire.

In 1169 he accompanied his uncle Robert FitzStephen on his first expedition to Ireland. He first distinguished himself in the invasion of Ossory along with his cousin Robert de Barry, older brother of Giraldus Cambrensis. In 1173 the return of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke named Strongbow to England threw Ireland into revolt. Meilyr was then in garrison at Waterford, and made a rash sortie against the Irish. He pursued them into the woods, and was surrounded. But he cut a way through them with his sword, and arrived back at Waterford with three Irish axes in his horse and two on his shield.

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