What about a POD in 1185, if Prince John's (IOTL, of Robin Hood fame) first visit to Ireland had proved more successful? King Henry II had already obtained consent from the pope to have him crowned as King of Ireland, and the crown had already been made, but IOTL, the expedition proved to be a failure- a few snide comments making for bad PR from the start, the growing threat of Hugh De Lacy the Lord of Meath forcing his early departure (who was assassinated only seven months later IOTL- for the ATL's POD, this could easily happen earlier)- and John's coronation to the unused Irish throne was cancelled.
In an ATL where the expedition went smoothly, John would have been appointed King of Ireland instead of merely the Lord of Ireland, and Ireland would have been declared as a separate kingdom, instead of remaining a minor lordship under the rule of the unified Angevin Empire, and later under the rule of the Norman-English Crown. Indeed, given the line of succession, and how things played out IOTL, we could well see the exact opposite happening ITTL. As the next in line to the throne of the House of Anjou after the death of Richard the Lionheart, King John brings the holdings of OTL's House of Plantagenet together under the rule of his Kingdom, the Irish Kingdom. As to where the Kingdom of Ireland could go from there, just imagine... "
An Empire on which the sun never sets..."
