The Welsh March is the area most often cited as a point of comparison for conditions in the lordship of Ireland, but in the case of liberties the comparison cannot be extended far. The constitutional position of the great liberties of Ireland, created during the reign of Henry II, was much more clear-cut than that of the franchises of the Welsh March, established during the reign of Henry I: in Ireland, liberties were held from the king; and it was not necessary for Edward I to extend quo warranto proceedings there simply in order to make this point clear. Indeed, in Edward's reign numerous petitions requesting liberties or their restoration testify to the fact that actual and potential holders of liberties in Ireland knew where the butter to enrich their bread came from. Given this appreciation of the rights of the crown, it is worth asking why the reign of Edward I was such a difficult time for liberty holders in Ireland. Was it the case, following the broad outlines of McFarlane's argument, that Edward I had a policy for the liberties of Ireland, a policy that spelt doom and gloom for franchise holders? Otway-Ruthven may have thought so, for the picture she painted of irish franchise holders at the end of Edward's reign was fairly bleak, albeit accurate.