The Ireland List

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The Irish History Section

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... rehis.html

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Botany Bay
This article, like everything else posted on this site, is just an item of interest which was found and thought to be worthy of sharing with the Ireland Nail List Community.
Views on the Botany Bay Colony may be offensive to some, and the facts may be argued by others... but most of history is often found debatable by someone and offensive to a certain portion of the readers. A further warning should be posted that the reader should not be afraid to research "Any" topic which they are interested in using for their personal Family Histories. In Fact, those affiliated with this WEB Site stress the point of not taking just one side of the topic simply for convenience sake or because it seems the less offensive route to take.

Botany Bay is the place where Lieutenant James Cook landed in April 1770 -- there never was a Captain Cook on the Australian mainland, though he was a captain when he later visited Tasmania and New Zealand -- with his friends and crew on board the barque Endeavour. Two of his companions, Daniel Solander and Joseph Banks, were botanists, and they were entranced by the number of flowers blooming in what the calendar said was our late autumn. But while they were very good at collecting and identifying plants, the two were less effective in identifying good farming land.

The Quaternary alluvium (sand) around Botany Bay supported nice green swamps where poverty-stricken plants struggled for an existence, but the gentlemen botanists saw none of this, not when there was so much green around them. They gathered specimens, and Banks schemed to have this demi-Eden turned into a British settlement. It mattered little to him that the plants were growing on some of the worst soils to be found on this planet -- to him, it was a paradise of plants, and Cook was prevailed upon to change the name "Stingray Harbour" to "Botany Bay".

So when Banks rose to a position of power in England, he used his influence to send a settling fleet to Botany Bay, ready to create a power base for Britain in the South Sea. From here, Britain's navy would be able to refit, and perhaps ship yards could build vessels to fight against the French who were, after all, The Enemy.

Oddly enough, a French expedition put into Botany Bay just a few days after the First Fleet arrived, and fools often say that Australia nearly became French, on account of that arrival. This is wrong, for the French knew the British were settling in Botany Bay, the English knew the French would be popping in for a chinwag and a quick bite to eat, and the meeting was all arranged, long before either group sailed from Europe. In those days, scientists were above ordinary warfare, and the British government had instructed Arthur Philip to extend all courtesies to the French visitors.

What is important is that Botany Bay, for all that it is a fine harbour, was no place for a settlement -- no water, poor soil, poor anchorages, shallow shores -- and so Arthur Philip took off for the next major gap in the shore, and so discovered Sydney Harbour. Botany Bay was left alone, low swampy wasteland, where Sydney's airport would later be built -- you can see one runway jutting out into the bay -- and settlement happened further north, at Sydney. And so Sydney was formed, although to two generations of British criminal under-class, this land was "Botany Bay".

Botany Bay as a Penal Colony
Cathy Dunn
'If all Britain had in mind was getting rid of a few convicts, the choice of Botany Bay makes little sense; there must of been deeper motives for such a decision. Were there?'

As the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788, little did they know that historians in years to come would be disputing the real reasons for the British Government's plans to establish a colony there. The Botany Bay debate commenced amongst historians in the 1960s after Blainey's The Tyranny of Distance with his theory of Botany Bay as a colony for the supply and cultivation of flax and naval timbers, even though it was Dallas who was the first to question the 'absurd' traditional view back in 1952 with his consideration being given to the naval sea trade theory. The traditional view in the debate is that 'Botany Bay was the chosen place for the felon, the outcast, the offscourings of British society,' and Bartlett in 1976 wrote: There is no evidence that either Prime Minister Pitt or any member of his cabinet thought of Botany Bay as anything more than a convenient place distance enough for the safe disposal of social waste. This traditional approach is also supported by Atkinson who believes that 'Botany Bay was chosen for a convict settlement not because of, but in spite of the possibility that it might become a trading post.'

The idea of establishing a colony at Botany Bay started with the 'Matra proposal'5 in August 1783, even before the end of the War of Independence between America and England. James Matra who travelled with Cook to the South Seas in 1770, spoke of New South Wales as having good soil, advantages of flax cultivation, trade with China and others, the availability of timber for ships masts and Sir Joseph Banks support. Matra's idea was the possible new colony could be used by 'those Americans who had remained loyal to Britain in the War of Independence' such as himself, this idea however was rejected. He failed to mention or consider convicts, but later amended the proposal to 'include transportees (convicts) among the settlers but as cultivators in their own right rather than as forced labour' after an interview with Lord Sydney, Secretary of State for Colonies. Sir Joseph Bank 's actually had earlier suggested Botany Bay as a possible site for a British Settlement whilst aboard the Endeavour in May 1770.

Did the British government consider the type of labour force that would be required to establish a colony or was Botany Bay just seen as a solution to the ever growing number of convict hulks along the River Thames ? Governor Phillip soon after arriving in 1788 requested 'carpenters, masons, bricklayers' to help with the setting up of the colony along with many tools of the trades. Yet the proposal for the establishment of the new colony being 'Heads of a Plan' addressed the effective disposing of the convicts to the new colony, along with the cultivation of flax, required stores and provisions, clothing for convicts, how the objective of the convict colony overrides the costs involved, naval staff and such. With Britain continuing to send convicts to Australia for many decades, the cost involved in transporting convicts must have been less that dealing with the problem of the over crowded hulks and goals in England.

The tools sent with the First Fleet were of poor standard, with only twelve carpenters amongst the vast number of convicts. Womens' clothing was also of poor quality and quantity plus old aged and ailing convicts were sent. The bad planning and outcome does not support the belief of the non-traditional view of the reasons behind the decision to colonise Botany Bay: The 'great southern port' and the 'development of a flax industry for naval use' dreamed up by recent writers as the reason for the settlement rather than for the disposal of unwanted convicts seem to have been somewhat negated by this sorry account of inadequate supplies of even the most elementary equipment.

The traditionalist may well ask that if Botany Bay was planned to be the 'great southern port' why then did the first free settlers not arrive until 1793 on the Bellona, eight years after the arrival of the First Fleet, again adding more baffling options and outcomes to the Botany Bay debate. Governor Phillip was given instruction to cultivate flax: And as it has been humbly represented to us that advantages may be derived from the flax-plant which is found in the islands not far distant from the intended settlement...excellence of a variety of maritime purposes...an article of export...that you do send home (Britain) ... samples of this article...instruct you further upon this subject.

These orders have been part of the non-traditionalist's justification to their point of view. Traditionalist historians feel the possibility of the flax industry at Botany Bay was just a possible extra benefit to England when options for the convicts were being decided. Yet contracted tradesmen were still being sent to New South Wales in 1792 to help with the colony at Norfolk Island and others.Sparse flax producing equipment was sent out with the First Fleet 'which hardly indicates strong encouragement for any flax enterprise' or faith in the success of the new venture.

The traditionalist stands firm with the opinion that Botany Bay was only colonised to 'rid the nation's (Britain) prisons and hulks of convicts'. Frost believes the opposite is true. He has approached the Botany Bay debate by embracing the whole picture and the possible strategic plan with the Pitt Cabinet decision to set up a colony was for a number of motives; naval trade, supply of flax and naval timber from Norfolk Island and the fact the use of Britain's excess convicts (labour) may well help serve in these purposes. Frost also reviews the possible new political and economic benefits that may have been achieved if they were included in Britain's decision process in regards to the new colony. Botany Bay had already been surveyed by Cook in 1770 noting the (so called) natural resources available, by colonising at New South Wales, Britain would protect Cook's 'right of possession' over Botany Bay from the French and Dutch, thus giving them more positional power over the seas and any possible trade.

During the 1960s debate, Blainey (presenting the flax and naval timber theory) accused Bolton of giving confusing comments in summarising his theory and argument against the new ideas for the reasons behind the decision made about Botany Bay. Blainey believes of the logic behind the: British politicians (who) did not have to emphasise that flax and timber were vital to their country; it was too obvious to be spelled out. He accused Bolton of changing and misunderstanding the content and interpretation of his (Blainey's) research and writings. This trend seems to have been continued by other opinionators on the Botany Bay debate. During the 1960s disagreement: The fact that New South Wales was almost entirely a convict settlement tended to be overlooked. Both the 'flax and timber' theorists and the 'China route' party have had to admit that the early years of the New South Wales colony did not triumphantly vindicate their arguments.

The Botany Bay debate has been expanded by questioning the 1786 draft, unsigned letter to Hamilton, Under Secretary to Lord Lieutenant in Ireland. In this letter the convicts that were to be sent to Botany Bay would 'be employed in Cultivating Grain and other Vegetable productions for their subsistence'. A paragraph that features in this draft was omitted from the actual letter sent. In this the convicts are refer to as those 'dreadful Banditti' and the most intriguing statement in this omitted paragraph is 'But above all, the Cultivation of the Flax Plant seems to be the most considerable object' Roe has asked 'whether the significance of the paragraph (content) is either enhanced or diminished by its eventual omission is a very open question'.

Mackay is yet another who has expressed a view on the Botany Bay debate, commenting on other historians opinions. He argued against the strategic position of Botany Bay in relationship to naval trade. Like many, Mackay feels that the establishment of the colony was rushed and poorly done and 'crisis orientated' not a good start if the motives were really for naval trade and timber supply. After viewing many of what seems to be a circle of comments and opinions that form the Botany Bay debate, he then accused the non-traditionalists of: Distorting our records of the past, and sought to create a myth of a better national origin. They have also overestimated the capacity of governments in the late eighteenth century.

Mackay stills acknowledges that regardless of the 'shoddy' way in which Botany Bay was set up that 'from such inauspicious beginnings Australia grew to maturity and nationhood' which is part of our heritage. But is this really what the Botany Bay debate is all about? The question of exceptions has also come to play a critical role in the debate about the origins of the penal colony in New South Wales. Should the debate be confined to the reasons and available records of the decision making process as to why Botany Bay was chosen for a British Colony and not what actually happened at the new Colony?

Many of the opinions, assumptions and counter arguments presented in this never ending debate are supported with proof of the writer's belief and explanation. The actual decision process to colonise Botany Bay can be puzzling and more than twofold depending on the approach one has to the available documents and incorporating the outcomes of the new settlement. One aspect of writing about history is based on the availability and range of documents along with the approach and interpretation of them by the researchers. Historians of different gender, culture and backgrounds may well render different versions and/or opinions of the same source/s. And so the Botany Bay Debate will continue. What ever approach one takes, all agree that one of the results achieved by the decision to establish the Settlement was to relieve the pressure of the British authorities to find a solution to the ever growing numbers of criminals.

BOTANY BAY
Come all you men of learning,
And a warning take by me,
I would have you quit night walking,
And shun bad company.
I would have you quit night walking,
Or else you'll rue the day,
You'll rue your transportation, lads,
When you're bound for Botany Bay.

I was brought up in London town
And a place I know full well,
Brought up by honest parents
For the truth to you I'll tell.
Brought up by honest parents,
And rear'd most tenderly,
Till I became a roving blade,
Which proved my destiny.

My character soon taken was,
And I was sent to jail,
My friends they tried to clear me,
But nothing could prevail.
At the Old Bailey Sessions,
The Judge to me did say,
"The Jury's found you guilty, lad,
So you must go to Botany Bay."

To see my aged father dear,
As he stood near the bar,
Likewise my tender mother,
Her old grey locks to tear;
In tearing of her old grey locks
These words to me did say,
"O Son! O Son! What have you done
That you're going to Botany Bay?"

It was on the twenty eighth of May,
From England we did steer,
And, all things being safe on board
We sail'd down the river, clear.
And every ship that we pass'd by,
We heard the sailors say,
"There goes a ship of clever hands,
And they're bound for Botany Bay."

There is a girl in Manchester,
A girl I know full well,
And if ever I get my liberty,
Along with her I'll dwell.
O, then I mean to marry her,
And no more to go astray;
I'll shun all evil company,
Bid adieu to Botany Bay.

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The Archaeology of Ancient Ireland

Prehistoric Ireland. Little remains of Irish dwellings that predates the sixth century a.d. The abundance of wood and the difficulty of working stone with primitive tools undoubtedly accounts in part for this. In addition, the primitive farming practice of depleting the fields and then moving on to new ones made the laborious erection of a permanent stone dwelling unfeasible. Moreover, livestock constituted a major part of the wealth of the time, and the pasturing of flocks required considerable mobility, since the animals lived as foragers and were not, for the most part, fed grain from the laboriously worked fields. Furthermore, there were at that time no towns or even villages where artefacts might accumulate over a considerable period of time. At the most there were quasi-permanent encampments such as the royal sites of Cruachan and Emain Macha.

Burial sites, however, are another matter. Court graves and passage graves can be found dating from as early 3,500 years b.c. (Harbison 5-ff). A court grave (or court tomb) was divided into two basic parts: a long chamber which contained smaller compartments in which remains were deposited, and a large open-space or court at the entrance to the chamber. The court was semi-circular and marked off by large standing stones. The chamber was roofed by a stone mound which tapered toward the back. Presumably the open court was used for rituals associated with burial.

Variations on these burial sites are portal tombs or dolmens and wedge tombs. Portal tombs consisted of three or more standing stones capped typically by a large monolith and, with the exception of the portal, buried under an earthen mound. Erosion over the millenia--these structures were built between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago--has laid the stone skeleton bare, and the resulting structure gave rise to the term dolmen or stone table. These constructions were once thought to be the altars of the ancient Druids. Wedge tombs were similarly constructed but distinguished by their wedge-shaped burial chamber. These tombs were constructed between 3,500 and 4,000 years ago.

Passage graves (or passage tombs) consist of a burial chamber communicating with the outside by a passage of considerable length. Typically the passage is walled with large standing stones and roofed by large flat stones. The burial chamber may likewise be walled by standing stones but may be roofed with large flat stones if the span is not wide or, in the case of wide spans may have a corbeled roof. In the case of large tombs, the burial chamber may have several side chambers. Both burial chamber and passage are contained within an earthen mound, with the burial chamber near the center of the mound. These mounds may be quite large. The famous passage grave at Newgrange is contained within an oval mound with a diameter of around 300 feet. Along with Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, all located in the Boyne Valley near Drogheda, are perhaps the best known. Newgrange has been determined to be around 5100 years old (3100 b.c.) (Harbison 7). Other unexcavated mounds, mostly in the West, may also contain passage graves. Perhaps the best known of these is the massive one located on the top of Knocknarea, a mountain a few miles west of Sligo Town, which legend says contains the body of Queen Medb. This mound, like the passage graves of Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth, is associated with the ruins of a number of smaller passage graves.

Early Christian Ireland. As has been noted elsewhere, there is little archaeological evidence, aside from graves and some grave goods concerning prehistoric Ireland. However, on the basis of what we have learned about Ireland in the early Christian period--and assuming that known practices have antecedents in that time about which we know little--we can make some guesses about the late pre-historic period.

One practice which spans the late pre-historic period and the early-Christian period is writing in ogham. The introduction of ogham is, in fact, one of the events which marks the transition of Ireland from a pre-historical period to an historical one. Ogham is a uniquely Irish form of writing, and the earliest record of it is around 300a.d., several hundred years before the large-scale introduction of Christianity into Ireland. Named after Ogmios, the Celtic god of writing, ogham's basic characters equate with (and probably are based upon) the Roman alphabet. The actual forms of the letters and their relationships to one another suggest that Ogham may have evolved from the use of a tally stick, that is a notched stick on which crude records of quantities of, for example, grain or cattle could be kept or a rudimentary calendar inscribed. Once the notion that certain notches or groups of notches could stand for phonemes, it would be a short step to using a tally stick as a form of rudimentary letter. In any case, it is ill-suited for conveying any but the briefest of messages. Carved on the corners of standing stones, which is the form in which it has survived to the present, ogham is read from the bottom up, with the angle of the corner being the baseline. If the message is too long to fit on one side, then it is continued down the opposite edge. These inscriptions are typically ceremonial or monumental in nature and are not used for ordinary communication. Over three hundred ogham stones have been found in Ireland, mainly in the south and the southwest.

The introduction of Christianity into Ireland resulted as well in the introduction of the Roman alphabet in which the Irish language was recorded by monks, and this alphabet, with its greater flexibility, soon replaced ogham.

The remains of thousands of ring forts or raths can still be found in Ireland, although in recent years many have been damaged or destroyed for agricultural or commercial reasons. A ring fort was a small settlement of some sort surrounded by one or more earthen embankments in a roughly circular shape. The interior diameter can range from 50 to over 200 feet. The interior is sometimes sited on a natural or artificial mound. There may also be a souterrain, a subterranean room used probably for storage. The term "fort" is somewhat misleading since most of them were probably farmsteads for which the embankments (probably supplemented by wooden palisades) served as enclosures for domestic animals and protection against wild predators as well as a deterrent to attack from human beings. Some sites (for example, Tara) were associated with royalty and/or had ceremonial purposes.

Associated buildings were wooden or wattle and daub and for the most part have not survived. Some of these constructions may possibly date from the Iron Age, although few can be identified as having been constructed before the fifth century a.d. Nevertheless, on the premise that they didn't spring into being unparented, one must conclude that some more ephemeral form, perhaps a simple wooden palisade, must have been in existence at an earlier time. Since the time of their appearance follows the introduction of improved agricultural methods , which tended to cause farmers to stay and improve land rather than exhausting it and moving on, there may have been as well a corresponding tendency to develop more elaborate sites for the placement of buildings and animals.

Stone-walled ring forts or cashels are essentially the same as Raths except that they are surrounded by drystone walls rather than earthen embankments. There are even a few sites on which both techniques are used. Cashels are more frequently found in the west of Ireland where stone is more easily acquired and excavation in the stony earth is correspondingly more difficult.

Hill forts are very similar to ring forts, differing in that they are sited on hills and use the natural slope of the hill as an addition to the embankment.

Promontory forts, like hill forts, incorporate the local topography into their construction. Located on promontories with sheer sides, these sites require a wall or walls only on the side on which approach is possible. Unlike ring forts and crannogs, there is considerable evidence that many of these were constructed during the Iron Age and were then occupied (or re-occupied) during the Medieval Period.

Crannogs (from crann = tree) are lake or marsh dwellings. They may be located wholly or in part on natural islands, but they were frequently constructed on artificial islands built up of brushwood, clay, timbers, and stone held in place by pilings. These were often topped by defensive palisades. They ranged in size from 50 to 150 feet in diameter. They are inherently defensive constructions. Since they could be reached only by boat or footbridge, they generally couldn't shelter animals which had to be left on nearby dry land even during attack. Rising waters frequently covered the sites of crannogs, and the resulting waterlogging preserved the remains of buildings. As a result, a clearer picture of the buildings and day-to-day activities of these lake dwellers is available than is the case with those living in ring forts. As in the case of ring forts, there is little convincing evidence that these constructions existed prior to the fifth century a.d.

The earliest Christian buildings (i.e, churches and monastic buildings) were, like the dwellings of the inhabitants, wooden, and have not survived. However, beginning sometime during the eighth century a few stone churches were constructed, and by the eleventh century these became common. Early stone churches were characterized by structurally unnecessary projections (antae) which appear to be imitations of the preceding wooden structures. Later stone churches began to take on Romanesque characteristics, and in the early twelfth century, Cormac's Chapel was constructed as part of the ecclesiastical complex on the Rock of Cashel. This building was fully Romanesque. Beginning sometime during the tenth century, stone round towers were sometimes built in association with churches and monasteries. These towers had multiple functions, places for the ringing of bells, s, places of refuge in times of attack, and places to store valuables.

Food and farming. Archaeological evidence in this matter is meagre before the Christian era, and depends at its earliest stages on the study of plant pollen. Cereal grains--oats, barley, wheat--were an important part of the diet. Sheep, goats, and swine were also raised for food and leather (and in the case of sheep and goats, milk and wool or hair). Cattle, however, were the most important domestic animals, with milk and other dairy products furnishing very important staple foods. Meat from cattle was also important, but the absence of refrigeration made the slaughtering of a large animal a more occasional matter. Hides, too, were an important byproduct. There is little mention of chickens in the earliest legal texts (Edwards 59), and in general the importance of domestic fowl and eggs in the diet of the time is unclear. The potato was unknown in Ireland until it was brought back from South America at a much later time.

It is difficult to determine how much of a role hunting played in the food supply. At higher social levels, hunting was definitely a sport and a test of skill; one can speculate that the hunting of small animals and wildfowl was an important supplement to the diet of the lower classes, but there is little proof of this. Cattle were the measure of wealth in pre-Christian and early-Christian Ireland. The importance of cattle not only economically but also in terms of status is central to the greatest of Irish epics, The Cattle Raid of Cúailnge. Horses and ponies, though not generally raised for food, were raised in large numbers for racing and battle, and for transportation and light hauling. They were not generally used for heavy hauling or plowing because the horse collar was unknown in Ireland until near the end of the first millenium a.d.

Implements, armor, clothing, artwork:
Agricultural implements. The first light wooden plough or ard may have appeared in Ireland during the late Bronze age (Edwards 60). This was incapable of doing more than scratching the surface of the soil and required an elaborate process of cross-ploughing to prepare the soil. Sometime during the iron age, the blade of this plough would have been sheathed with iron. Sometime during the early medieval period, a plough with an iron-sheathed blade and coulter was introduced, probably from Roman Britain. The coulter was a narrow, vertically mounted blade that sliced the soil in front of the heavier plough-share and reduced the effort of ploughing. Sometime shortly after the introduction of the coulter plough, a wooden mould-board was added to the top of the plough-share. The mould-board turns the soil as it is cut and makes cross-ploughing unnecessary, resulting in a considerable saving in time and energy.

Besides iron-based hand tools and domestic implements of various sorts (ladles, pins, needles, punches, saws, etc.), a most significant innovation (during the seventh century a.d.) was the introduction of the horizontal water-mill, which made the milling of grain a much less labor- intensive process.

Pottery and glass. There is little evidence of domestic pottery before the seventh or eighth centuries (Edwards 74). This souterrain ware (so called because of its frequent presence in fragmented form in the souterrains of ring-forts) was hand made, pots being built up from clay coils rather than being thrown on a wheel. Little ornamentation was used. Imported pottery can be dated no earlier than the fifth century. Much of this, particularly the amphorae and other containers, undoubtedly contained substances such as wine or oil when imported. These imports came from as far away as the eastern mediterranean, some of the pottery being of Turkish origin. Glass was used principally for ornaments such as beads and bangles. Most of the glass made in Ireland was recycled from broken imported objects.

Armor. Irish warriors were only lightly protected. They carried a small round shield, probably made of wood and hide, with a metal boss or knob at its center. According to The Tain, they also wore body armor of stiffened hide and a "crested battle helmet" (Kinsella 148-150). It is unclear if this battle helmet was also of leather or contained metal. In any case, this is a description of the armor of an exceptional man; it is unlikely that the ordinary soldier would have had even this sort of protection. Chariot horses apparently were covered with a blanket of metal plates (Kinsella 147). Ordinary soldiers carried metal-tipped lances or spears while the aristocrats carried short swords (less than two feet in length) for use in personal combat. After the Viking invasions began, the Irish adopted the longer, heavier slashing sword used by the Vikings.

Clothing. Because of its perishable nature in a damp climate such as that in Ireland, little clothing survives from early periods. However, from available scraps and examination of such implements as spindles, some conclusions can be reached. The wool of sheep and goat hair were woven into cloth. The wool was often dyed before spinning. Flax was grown and processed into linen cloth in early medieval times. Tanning and leather embossing were known from early times, and leather bags undoubtedly served as containers for liquids before the common introduction of pottery. Remains have been found of rawhide shoes of the simple one-piece kind known as pampooties (these were still made and worn in remote parts of Ireland into the twentieth century. Fragments of more complex, multi-part shoes have been dated from early medieval times.

Artwork and manuscripts. Fine art as we define the term didn't exist in ancient Ireland. Artwork was decorative and, in the case of religious artwork, sometimes instructive. Cups, plates, reliquaries, book covers, brooches, pins, and decorated combs all have been found. Metal, wood, horn, and bone were used alone or in combination as the materials of these objects. While they have practical use, some have been ornamented with twisted and cast metal and set with precious stones or glass beads (which were considerably more valuable at the time than at present). Animal and human figures, as well as vines and leaves were also carved, cast, or forged as a part of these objects. Enamelling, that is the fusion by heat of a colored, opaque substance to a metal surface, was also used for decoration. Some of the most famous pieces, such as the Ardagh Chalice and the Tara Brooch appear to have been made in the late seventh or early eighth century(Edwards 137, 141).

Early stone carving was done by incising on stone slabs, and the figure of the cross was an important element in these carvings. By the late eighth century free-standing stone crosses began to appear. The earlier ones were primarily ornamented with various native Irish devices, such as interlace and spirals, etc. In later ones, human figures and scenes began to take on more importance, with scriptural scenes eventually becoming more dominant,but never entirely replacing, for example, scenes of hunting or depictions of prominent ecclesiastics or royal patrons. The earliest figural carvings tended to be relatively simple and in low relief, but as time went on, the carvings became more elaborate and in higher relief. The cross at Dysert O Dea, Co. Clare, depicts a crucified Christ and a bishop in very high relief. Free- standing figures, however, do not appear to have been attempted during pre-Christian and early medieval times.

Ireland has been justly famous for the splendor of its medieval manuscripts. It is not always clear whether these manuscripts have been inscribed in Irish monasteries in Ireland or by Irish or Irish-trained monks in Irish founded monasteries in England (e.g., Lindisfarne in Northumbria), and on the continent (e.g., Bobbio in northern Italy and St. Gall in Switzerland). Two of the most famous are in the Trinity College Library, Dublin, the Book of Durrow and the Book of Kells. The Book of Durrow , was made around 675. The most likely site of composition was Iona, according to Edwards (152), though it possibly was done in Derry or Durrow. One of the most famous and beautiful books in the world, the Book of Kells , was probably begun at Iona in the late eighth century. It is possible that it was finished at Kells.

Examples of painting, aside from manuscript illumination, have not survived in Ireland's damp climate. However, as is true of continental statuary and carving, at least some Irish sculpture very likely was painted and thus much more colorful than the gray stone which can presently be seen. We do know that paintings were used as church ornamentation at least as early as the seventh century. Edwards cites Cogitosus' Life of St. Brigit regarding the then- existing wooden church at Kildare, which Cogitosus says was "adorned with painted tablets." He also says that one entire wall was "covered with linen curtains and decorated with paintings" (Edwards 122).

[Fairlie]

Iron Age skeleton found during archaeological dig

Saturday, April 21, 2001
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/irelan ... 1/reg3.htm
The skeleton found on an archaeological dig on the Southern Ring Road in Co Limerick cannot be removed until the Wildlife Service has found a way to extricate it from a badger set.

Mr Frank Coyne, a director of Aegis Archaeology, a Limerick company, said that after gardaí were informed the skeleton was forensically examined and was of archaeological interest only. He said he believed the skeleton dated from the Iron Age, based on sites nearby.

"We got more than 20 flint tools and artefacts, including a barbed arrowhead, in the same field. That would indicate that activity in that area at least dates from 2,500BC."

The skeleton, found in the Ballysimon area, appears to be covered with flat slabs, as if formally buried in a pre-Christian tradition. But badgers, a protected species, have built a set underneath and around the skeleton. "We know it has been there for the last couple of months. We are waiting to get the go-ahead from the Wildlife Service," Mr Coyne said.

After excavation, the company will apply for a licence from the National Museum to take a sample from the skeleton and send it to a company in Miami which specialises in radiocarbon-dating.

Two sets of skeletal remains, recently found at a building site in Nenagh, are also due to be sent to the US.

They were buried in a north-south direction, suggesting that they were of pre-Christian origin.

The Southern Ring Road project involves the construction of a 14km dual carriageway around the east of Limerick which will connect the Dublin and Cork roads between Annacotty and Adare.

Mr Coyne said five sites of particular archaeological interest had been discovered on a preliminary top-soil plough when work began last summer.

One of the sites, a fulacht fiadh or burnt mount, contains the remains of a cooking place, normally associated with the prehistoric period.

A ring pin and a strap tag dating from the medieval period were among artefacts found and have been sent for conservation. "It is a curious find given that burnt mounts are generally not supposed to date from that period," Mr Coyne said.

Also uncovered at different sites were a medieval structure with a corn-drying kiln and a D-shaped enclosure containing glass beads, part of a glass armlet and funerary pottery shards with cremated bone.

"We got the top of a human skull which was associated with the glass beads and iron artefacts," Mr Coyne said. END

[Fairlie]

Viking raids came from Scotland says historian

By Éibhir Mulqueen, Midwest Correspondent

The Viking raids on Ireland in the 9th and 10th centuries were launched from Scotland and not from Norway as is commonly supposed, Prof Donnchadh Ó Corráin, of UCC's Department of History, claimed at the weekend.

At a conference on "Researching 9th Century Ireland" at Mount St Joseph Cistercian Abbey, Roscrea, Co Tipperary, he said the intensification of raids on the Irish coastline from 825 to the mid 900s could not have been co-ordinated from Norway. "You cannot manipulate a big fleet on the North Atlantic easily," he said.

He believed the Scandinavian raiders settled in north-west Scotland in the first quarter of the 9th century, which allowed the ruler there to send his sons to establish control over the independent Viking settlements in Ireland around 950. "In the second half of the 9th century they moved their headquarters to Dublin," he said.

From there, they continued their conquest of Scotland, taking over all of Pictland and capturing Dumbarton from the Britons. He said "Lochlainn", the name of the place they came from, was usually believed to refer to Norway. "But it means the Viking kingdom of Scotland. If you examine all the examples in the annals, the only area that features them all is the Viking kingdom of Scotland."

Dr Peter Harbison, an archaeologist and art historian, said the stone High Crosses may have come about as a result of the theft of metal crosses by the Vikings. "The stone High Crosses may have been put up, among other reasons, so that the Vikings could not run away with them."

The High Crosses, as well as carrying religious imagery, also have a political dimension, with inscriptions revealing the names of the high kings of the 9th and 10th centuries low down on the shaft. "The ruler who had the inscription put on crosses wanted to make sure it was seen by the people looking on the cross. And it was only in kneeling that they would get the political message, which is, 'Would you pray for me, the High King.' "

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/irelan ... /hom11.htm

[Fairlie]

Irish in History

From December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, Irish-born Confederate Gen. Patrick Cleburne commanded a division at Murfreesboro (Stone's River), Tennessee, site of one of the fiercest battles of the Western theater of the American Civil War. In early December 1862, the transfer of Confederate Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner had created a vacancy for a division command in Braxton Bragg's Army of the Tennessee. There was no man in that Army who could breath a word against the promotion of Patrick Ronayne Cleburne to that post, nor the promotion to major general that went with it. Usually the months of December and January were quiet times, with soldiers in winter camps, but Federal Gen. William S. Rosecrans intended to drive Bragg's army from Tennessee, winter or no. Bragg awaited his advance along Stone's River, just west of Murfreesboro. On the morning of the 31st, Cleburne's division was on the Confederate left. Attacking at dawn, Cleburne fell on the corps of Federal Gen. Alexander McCook, which held the Federal right, and drove the corps from the field. Federal Gen. Thomas Crittenden, observing from a distance, said it was the first time the Army of the Cumberland had ever seen such panic. A second line was formed by the Federals, but Cleburne's men drove them as well. They continued to drive the enemy until they ran out of ammunition and energy. Later, Confederate Corps commander William Hardee expressed his belief that if a fresh division had followed up Cleburne's, Rosecrans entire army would have been routed. Night fell, however, and the two armies brought in the New Year sleeping on their arms. Rosecran's army was badly whipped, but it stayed put on January 1st. Bragg was cautious and only probed to discover if the Federals were still there. The Federals had fortified their position to the west of the river, in front of Cleburne; Bragg decided to attack them east of the river. This attack, by Breckinridge, was successful at first, but was then met by 58 Federal artillery pieces and shredded. Bragg would retreat the next day. Though his army had abandoned the field, Cleburne's performance in his first battle as a major general had been outstanding. His eventual rise to corps command seemed certain, but factors away from the battlefield would prevent that.

On Jan. 5, 1871, the British in a general amnesty released 30 Fenian prisoners. Most of these prisoners were men who had either been swept up the British in 1865, when they suppressed the Fenian paper, The Irish People, taken part in the March 1867 rising, or been rounded up after the 'Smashing of the Van' rescue of Kelly and Deasy in September 1867. The British penal system of that time was brutal under normal circumstances, and the Fenians came in for much harsher treatment than the normal inmate did. Those Fenians still on the outside agitated constantly for the release of their comrades. The man most responsible for the release of 1871 was John 'Amnesty' Nolan, who thus earned his sobriquet. The names of many of the men released by William Gladstone's government are well known to those who have studied the Irish Republican movement. One of them was Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, as steadfast an enemy of English rule in Ireland as any who ever lived. After Rossa's death his body was returned to Ireland for burial, and his funeral in 1915 included the famous eulogy by Patrick Pearse, one of the seminal moments in the renewal of armed struggle for Irish freedom. Another Fenian released that day was John Devoy, who perhaps more than any other man would keep the struggle for Irish freedom alive among Irish exiles in America. The British government released the Fenians on condition that they exile themselves to the country of their choice and not return until their sentences had expired. Many chose to go to Australia, but Rossa, Devoy, John McClure, Henry Mulleda and Charles Underwood O'Connell, who had all been imprisoned together, chose to go to America and shipped together from Liverpool on board the Cuba. The so-called Cuba Five arrived in New York to a hero's welcome from the city's large Irish community and even received a resolution of welcome from the U.S. House of Representatives.

On January 12, 1729, Edmund Burke, one of the greatest political writers and orators in history, was born in Arran Quay, Dublin. Burke was the son of a mixed marriage -- his mother was Catholic and his father Protestant. Burke himself would later marry an Irish Catholic woman. Perhaps it was these two factors which led him to advocate a lenient policy toward Ireland for most of his life. Burke graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1748 and studied law at Middle Temple in London; however, he failed to secure a call to the bar and instead began a literary career. He wrote several books and was editor of the Annual Register before entering politics. In 1765, Earl Verney brought him into the House of Commons as a member for Wendover and within a short time his great speaking ability had transformed him into one of Parliament's most influential members. Burke was one of the leading advocates of compromise with the American colonies. His advice was not followed then, but after the British defeat at the Battle of Yorktown, he was one of the members who helped convince George III to end the conflict. Burke's view of the revolution in France was a much different story. He published Reflections on the Revolution in France in 1790, attacking the revolution's motives and principles. Many writers opposed his views, the most famous being Thomas Paine in his Rights of Man. Burke was a consistent advocate of Catholic emancipation, which politically damaged him, but he was never an advocate of self-rule for the Irish. Edmund Burke died in London on July 9, 1797. Many quotes from his writings and orations have come down through the years, perhaps one is most applicable to the situation in Ireland today: "All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter."

On January 15, 1861, Young Irelander Terence Bellew MacManus died in San Francisco. MacManus was born in County Fermanagh in 1811. He later moved to Liverpool, England, where he began a successful shipping agency. In 1843 he returned to Ireland and joined the Repeal Association and the Young Ireland party. During the Young Irelanders' brief uprising in 1848, MacManus joined Smith O'Brien and John Blake Dillon at Ballingarry, County Tipperary, where the only substantial armed action occurred. After the rising's suppression, MacManus was captured by the British and put on trial. Like most of the other Young Ireland leaders, he was sentenced to death, which was then commuted to transportation for life to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania). He arrived there in autumn 1849, but in 1852 he managed to escape to the United States along with Thomas Francis Meagher. While Meagher settled on the east coast, MacManus settled in San Francisco and decided to try his luck at his former business, working as a shipping agent. But MacManus' fell into poverty when his business failed, and his health rapidly failed as well. It was after his death, however, that he performed his most valuable service to the cause of Irish freedom. On learning of his death, American Fenian leaders decided to return his body to Ireland for burial. This would foreshadow the treatment given to Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa at his famous funeral in 1915 -- Irish Republicans rallying around the grave of a fallen comrade. Crowds of Irish gathered in New York as Archbishop John Hughes, like MacManus born in Ulster, blessed MacManus' body. Thousands greeted his body in Cork also, and crowds gathered at rail stations all the way to Dublin. But the church, in the person of Archbishop Cullen, refused permission for his body to lie-in-state at any church in Dublin. Thus, for a week MacManus' body lay in the Mechanics' Institute, while thousands passed by paying their respects. But Father Patrick Lavelle, a Fenian supporter, defied Cullen and performed the funeral ceremony on November 10, 1861. A crowd estimated at 50,000 followed the casket to Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery, and hundreds of thousands lined the streets. The MacManus funeral was a seminal moment for the Fenian movement -- it invigorated the nationalist movement in Ireland, just as Rossa's would 54 years later.

On January 17, 1860, Dr. Douglas Hyde, Gaelic scholar and first President of Ireland, was born at Castlerea, Co. Roscommon. Hyde was the son of a Protestant minister and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He had a great facility for languages, learning Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French and German, but his great passion in life would be the preservation of the Irish language. After spending a year teaching modern languages in Canada, he returned to Ireland. For much of the rest of his life he would write and collect hundreds of stories, poems, and folktales in Irish, and translate others. His work in Irish helped to inspire many other literary lights, such as W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory. In 1892 he delivered a paper to the National Literary Society, which he and Yeats founded earlier that year, titled 'The Necessity for de-Anglicizing the Irish people.' In 1893 Hyde founded the Gaelic League along with Eoin MacNeill and Fr. Eugene O'Growney; Hyde was its first president, holding the post until 1915. Under Hyde the League flourished, spreading across the island and revived not only the language, which was perilously close to disappearing, but also encouraged a rebirth of Irish dance and other aspects of Irish culture. With this rebirth of Gaelic pride came a rebirth in Irish nationalism. Hyde was also professor of Modern Irish at the National University from 1908 to 1932 and was the driving force behind the regulation making Irish a compulsory subject. Hyde did not want the Gaelic League to be a political entity, so when the surge of Irish nationalism that the Gaelic League helped to foster began to take control of many in the League and politicize it, Hyde resigned as president. Hyde took no active part in the armed upheaval of the 1910s and 1920s, but did serve as a Free State senator in 1925-26. In 1938 he was unanimously elected to the newly created position of President of Ireland, a post he held until 1945. Hyde died in Dublin on July 12, 1949. A common language is perhaps the most important bond any culture can possess, and more than any other person, Dr. Douglas Hyde was responsible for saving the language of the Irish people. And for that, all lovers of Irish culture must say, 'Ar dheis De go raibh sé.' (May he be at the right hand of God.)

VOICES

'Gen. Cleburne has been a Brigadier under my command for about a year, and he has given unmistakable proofs of military talent of a high order. He unites the rare qualities of a strict disciplinarian, a brave and skillful leader and a popular commander.' -- Part of Gen. William Hardee's recommendation for Patrick Cleburne's promotion to division command. "all day long ... Sweeny's Hotel and the approaches to it were the scene of the most lively excitement, caused by the congregation of numerous sympathizers. The green flag was flying from the highest flagstaff on the roof of the hotel.'

-- The New York Herald describing the excitement created by the arrival of the Cuba Five in New York in January 1871.

January - Eanáir

BIRTHS

1, 1818 - William Gamble (Union General - Co. Tyrone)
4, 1581 - James Ussher (Scholar and Archbishop of Armagh - Dublin)
6, 1794 - Frances Ball (Mother Mary Teresa - Founder of the Sisters of Loretto - Dublin.)
6, 1898 - Colonel James Fitzmaurice (Aviator - Dublin.)
8, 1871 - James Craig, Viscount Craigvon (Politician - Belfast)
12, 1729 - Edmund Burke (Political writer and orator - Arran Quay, Dublin.)
12, 1792 - Robert Patterson (Union General - Co. Tyrone)
17, 1860 - Douglas Hyde (First President of Ireland - Castlerea, Co. Roscommon)
19, 1787 - Mary Aikenhead (Mother Mary Augustine - Founder of Sisters of Charity - Cork City)
20, 1841 - James Armour (Presbyterian minister - Political activist - Ballymoney, Co Antirm)
20, 1902 Kevin Barry (Irish Republican) Dublin.
21, 1876 - James Larkin (Labor leader - Liverpool.)
26, 1799 - Thomas Charles Wright (Officer in Bolivar's army and founder of Eduadorian navy) Drogheda, Co. Louth.
26, 1904 - Séan MacBride (Revolutionary, Statesman - Paris.)
28, 1807 - Robert John Le Mesurier M'Clure (Explorer - Wexford.)
28, 1892 - David Mary Tidmarsh (WWI Ace, 7 kills - Limerick.)
30, 1845 - Katharine (Kitty) O'Shea (Mistress and later wife of Parnell - England.)
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

1, 1801 - Act of Union - Ireland and Great Britain form United Kingdom
1, 1892 - Ellis Island becomes reception center for new immigrants
2, 1602 - Spanish force in Ireland surrender to the English at Kinsdale
2, 1920 - Black and Tans are formed.
4, 1792 - First issue of Northern Star, organ of United Irishmen published in Belfast
4, 1969 - Civil rights marchers attacked at Burntollet Bridge, NI.
5, 1871 - 30 Fenian prisoners are released by the British in a general amnesty.
6, 1562 - Shane O'Neill submits to Queen Elizabeth, but rebels again within months.
6, 1946 - William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) hung by England.
7, 1922 - Anglo-Irish treaty approved by Dial Eireann.
8, 1873 - Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain founded.
9, 1708 - The Irish Brigade of France under Count O'Mahony helps capture the town of Alcoy in Spain.
10, 1922 - Arthur Griffith elected President of Irish Free State.
11, 1970 - IRA splits into Officials and Provisionals. (Provos)
13, 1800 - Daniel O'Connell makes his first public speech, opposing Union with England.
15, 1861 - Young Irelander Terence MacManus dies in San Francisco, CA.
16-17, 1871 - La Compagnie Irlandaise of the French "Regiment Etranger" fights with the French army at the Battle of Belfort in the Franco-Prussian War.
16, 1913 - Home Rule bill passes in Commons, defeated in House of Lords (Jan. 30)
16, 1939 - IRA bombing campaign begins in England.
17, 1815 - Marie-Louise O'Morphi, famous courtesan, dies in Paris.
17, 1861 - Lola Montez (Marie Gilbert), dancer and courtesan dies in New York.
19, 1920 - IRA attacks Drombrane barracks, Co. Tipperary.
20, 1773 - Don Hugo O'Conor named Commandant Inspector of New Spain.
20, 1897 - American Irish Historical Society established.
20, 1961 - John F. Kennedy inaugurated, first Irish Catholic US president
21, 1919 - First Dial Eireann meets, De Valera proclaimed Prime Minister though still in Lincoln Jail.
21, 1919 - War of Independence begins, 3rd Tipperary Brigade ambushes RIC patrol.
22, 1760 -Irish born Gen. Lally's French army, including his regiment of the Irish Brigade, is defeated by Irish born Sir Eyre Coote's English army at Wandewash, India.
22, 1972 - Éammon Broy, revolutionary, Police Commissioner, dies.
23, 1898 - United Irish League founded by William O'Brien.
26, 1942 - US expeditionary troops land in Northern Ireland.
27, 1975 - Mother Mary Martin, founder of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, dies in Drogheda.
28,1939 - William Butler Yeats dies in Monaco.
28, 1967 - Helena Moloney, republican and trade unionist, dies in Dublin.
29, 1794 - Archibald Hamilton Rowan, United Irishman, tried on charge of distributing seditious paper
30, 1863, Corcoran's Legion fights it first battle (battle of the Deserted House/Kelly's Story), near Suffolk, VA.
30, 1879 - Patrice de MacMahon retires as President of France.
30, 1900 - Irish Parliamentary Party reunites under John Redmond, incorporating United Irish League.
30, 1972 - "Bloody Sunday," thirteen killed by British paratroopers in Derry.
31, 1881 - Ladies Land League launched in Ireland.
31, 1913 - The Ulster Volunteer Force is founded by the Unionist Council.

[Fairlie]

How Ireland got its name

In the ancient times it was, this being the time of the Tuatha de Danaans. And we'd all be knowin' that the kings and the chieftains had their foin, clan gatherings. At this particular time there were three kings, Eathur, Teathur and Ceathur. They were, each having a bonny, wee wife. Their names were Banba, Fodhla, and Eire.

It was a time of peace and prosperity in the land. One hundred Ninety-Seven years passed without a war. The clan gatherings were peaceful affairs. So tame, it was, that even very good friends didn't argue. Not much for the story tellin', for we are not rememberin' the gatherings from the long peace.

The father of the three kings, was host of this particular gathering. "I'm wantin' to have a grand time this year," he thought. "A contest would liven the Gathering up." Ye'd not be knowing about the old man, ye say? Well, that's another story for another time.

When all the chieftains and captains and their families arrived, he announced that a name was needed for the green island they resided upon.

"It would be verrry nice," he said, "if the island were named after one of the queens of the island."

The announcement was greeted with a murmur of agreement, for the people were verrry peaceful and cooperative. They began to consider which was the most elegant, the most gracious, the most benevolent of the three women and which should have the honor. Thus began the week, with each one wantin' their own favorite. The old man was pleased and he thought The Gathering was already seemin' better.

Each queen set out to prove she was the worthiest one. For the entire week of the Gathering, never once, did they lose their temper nor were they heard to say an unkind word. When they went out, their silks and hair were beautiful and they wore foin gold. The eyes of the common people were dazzled at the sight, and they wondered how one could be chosen over the other, for they each seemed to glow in their own worthiness.

But, you see, the old man was verrry wily and clever. The last evening before the announcement, he visited each queen separately, in her private quarters.

"Ach!" he said, "It is YOU that are my favorite queen. I want it to be you the land will be named for, dear lass." Each queen, smiled ever so sweetly, when they heard the old man speak, perceiving she would be the one chosen. "So," the old man continued. "I will tell you how the name will be decided. Every morning the three of you go for a walk. Tomorrow, after you leave, I will announce to the assembly that the first queen who enters back through the gate of the Dun will win. If it happens to be you, my lass, the island will be known forever by your name. It is a verrry great honor."

The next morning, the queens prepared for their walk. Each one wearing their very finest dress and all the gold they owned. They walked leisurely, so their elegance could be seen. Out they glided, ever so serenely, through the gate of the town.

The people were told of the contest, and went to the ramparts of the Dun to watch the progress of the three queens. Many a comment was heard about the grace and beauty of the three women.

Very lady like, they were, as they walked out to the turning point. They turned, leisurely and elegant, for they knew they were being watched. They began the journey back to the Dun.

Banba was the first to pick up the pace and went out in front. Fodhla and Eire quickened their own steps. For a while, Fodlha took the lead, and the others quickened the pace, again. Unable to keep up at a walk Eire broke into a jog, kicking off her sandals. The others followed suit. Encumbered by her skirt, Banba picked up the hem and flung it over her shoulder. The other queens followed suit. They neared the Dun at a flat out run, leaning forward in the effort, they were, so they could inch out ahead of the others.

On the ramparts the people were beside themselves with amusement. Some were laughin' so hard they could scarcely stand. When the two behind grabbed the leader to pull her back the watchers slapped their thighs and tears of mirth ran down many a cheek.

When they were near to entering gate, their hair was flying and fion cloths disheveled. Did I mention that it had been a soft evening the night before, meanin it had been raining? Well, it had, and the entry to the Dun had been trod into mud. Through the slop the three queens ran, splattering the lovely silks and faces.

Ach, what a sight it was, never to be forgotten by anyone there, and a laugh it would always bring in the re-tellin'.

Now, ye'd all know who the winner was. The beautiful, elegant and verry ladylike, Queen Eire was the first through the gate. True to his word, the old man bestowed the name of Eire on the island, by which it is still known today.

So you see, a worthy queen, it was, our bonny land was named after, and one who brought joy and laughter, as well. Whether she enjoyed the laugh, herself, we'd not be knowin'

The United Irishmen, the revolutionary organization that led the '98 Rising, took its inspiration from the American and French revolutions which preceded it. Virtually all of the founders and leaders of the United Irishmen were Protestants, including the famous Theobald Wolfe Tone.

The Rising of '98 is one of the most tragic events in the history of a country whose middle name might well be tragedy. In the space of just a few short months that summer about 30,000 people were killed. Many of the dead were peasants who charged cannons armed with farm implements or crude pikes, and a significant number of them were women. The fact that so many would take the field so poorly armed, with so little hope of success, is another indication of just how far down the road to total despair England's corrupt colonial rule had driven the impoverished masses of Ireland.

The rebellion was put down with as much violence as the British Empire could muster. Many who tried to surrender were killed on the field and many more executed afterwards. When it was over the British government forced an Act of Union on the Irish people that would prove to be another sad and tragic legacy of England's misrule of their neighbors.

[Fairlie]

The Death of Brian Boru

April 23rd 1014AD
Following a chess game at the castle of Brian with Maelmordha, King of Leinster, the King left after feeling affronted....asked the Danes to again invade Ireland, and overthrow Brian.....the result is of a chess game gone bad .... Seamiuse

"To show the world that Brian wished not that his race and name should survive the liberties of their country, every member of his family who were males attended his standard- his five sons, his grandson, his fifteen nephews, and the whole body of the Dalcassion Knights, together with all the chiefs of North Munster. South Munster, also unanimously gathered around the Royal standard of Brian, not one absenting himself from the muster. The great steward of Lennox, the great steward of Mar, and many other Scottish Chiefs, repared also to the Army of Brian.

THE MARCH INTO LEINSTER

Surrounded by his Dalcassion Knights, Brian marched into Leinster at the head of about thirty thousand men in the beginning of April 1014, in three divisions, and was there joined by Malachy II., King of Meath. He encamped, as he had done the year before, in the war against Maelmordha, near Kilmainham. After both armies had viewed each other it was agreed to determine the fate of Ireland by a general battle on the plain of Clontarf. Brian offered the Danes battle on Palm Sunday, which they declined; but on Good Friday, they signified, by their dispositions, that they were about to open their attack.

Brian felt much grieved that a day so sacred to the Christians should have been destined for the work of death; but with dauntless spirit and a calm and confident exterior he issued orders for arranging his troops in order for battle.

THE ARMIES OF IRELAND

The right wing of the Irish Army was composed of the Dalcassion knights, the household troops of Ireland, heroic defenders of race and religion in that age, worthy successors of the ancient knights of former ages and worthy predecessors of the Ancient Order Of Hibernians of our own age. Next to the Dalcassion knights were the nobility of Munster, and Malachy, with all the forces of Meath. This wing was to be commanded by Brian's son, Murrough, and by the Prince of Ulster. In the left wing were the troops of the king of Connacht Tadgh Mor O'Kelly; in the center of this wing were the Knights of Connacht made up of warriors of the O'Kelly Clann of Ui Maine, the Damnonians, and on one side of them were several detachments from the troops of Arra, Coonach, Muscry, and Cora-Baisgne. The troops of South Munster, under their different chiefs, with those of the Deasies, formed the central division, were commanded by Cinn, the son of Maolmuadh, of the royal house of South Munster. Their ranks had been formed before daylight, and as the sun rose, Brian rode through the lines of his soldiers with a crucifix in one hand, and a drawn sword in the other; he reminded them of the day selected by the pagan invader to offer battle, and exhorted them to conquer or die. Standing in the centre of his army, and raising his powerful voice, his speech was worthy of so great a king and so good a man: "Be not dismayed my soldiers, because my son Donough is avenging our wrongs in Leinster; he will return victorious, and in the glory of his conquests you shall share. On your valor rests the hopes of your country today; and what surer grounds can they rest upon? Oppression now attempts to bend you down to servility; will you burst its chains and rise to the independence of Irish freemen? Your cause is one approved by Heaven. You seek not the oppression of others; you fight for your country and sacred altars. It is a cause that claims heavenly protection. In this day's battle the interposition of that God who can give victory will be singnally manifested in your favor. Let every heart, then, be the throne of confidence and courage. You know that the Danes are strangers to religion and humanity; they are inflamed with the desire of violating the fairest daughters of this land of beauty, and enriching themselves with the spoils of sacrilege and plunder. the barbarians have impiously fixed, for their struggle, to enslave us, upon the very day on which the Redeemer of the world was crucified. Victory they shall not have! from such brave soldiers as you they can never wrest it; for you fight in defense of honor, liberty and religion-in defense of the sacred temples of the true God, and of your sisters, wives and daughters. Such a holy cause must be the cause of God, who will deliver your enemies this day into your hands. Onward, then, for your country and your sacred altars!" ( From Annals of Innisfallen, Mooney, p436).

The brave and dauntless old king then held out his vigil crucifix in one hand and waved his gold-hilted sword with the other, signifying that he was willing and ready to die for the cause of Christianity and his native Ireland. He proceeded, amidst the wild shouts of his troops, towards the Dalcassions to take his station in the midst of them and lead the advance, when all the chiefs interposed, and implored him, on account of his great age to retire to his tent and leave the command to his son, the valiant and skillful Murough. Although bent with the weight of eighty-eight years of toil and covered with the scars of a hundred battles, the courageous old man protested that he was fit for command; but at last unwillingly allowed himself to be conducted to his tent.

The Irish army then called on their chiefs to lead them to the fight; the intrepid Dalcassians, the body-guard of Brian, raised the sunburst standard of Fingal- the "Gall-Greana," or "blazing sun," marked with arms of O'Brian, the hand and sword, bearing the inscription "Victory or Death." At eight in the morning the Dalcassians led the way with the right wing to attack, sword in hand, all dismounted, for the ditches in front of the Danish position prevented the charge of horse. At this moment the Meath legions retired suddenly from the field, leaving the Dalcassians exposed from the far superior number of the enemy's left wing. But Murrough, with great presence of mind, cried out to his Dalcassians: "that this was the time to win fame, for the greater the enemy the greater the glory!" And now the right was closely engaged with battle-axe and sword, spear and dagger, the left, under the command of the king of Connacht, with his Damnonian knights, hastened to engage the Danes of Leinster and their foreign auxiliaries while the troops of South Munster, with the Eoganachts, attacked the apostate Maolmordha and his degenerate subjects.

(For only reasons of typing it all, I will omit. for now the details of the battle. Suffice to say that Murrough lifted the standard of Fingal, and waving it yelled " Before the hour's end this standard will float over the Danish camp, or over my dead body!" The other chiefs were enriched again with vigor, and charged again the Danes........Thrown into confusion and panic, ranks broken the fled pursued to their ships by the victorious Irish... writes a spectator in the "Chronicum Scotorum.."I have never, beheld with my eyes, nor read in history, a sharper bloodier fight than this")

'The right arm of Murrough, swollen with the enormous exhertiona of his valor, forced him to halt beside a brook to bathe it with cool water. at that moment a straggling party of Danes, who were retreating from the field, accidentally came near, and one of them, a chief named Anrud, set upon him. But Murrough, though not able to raise his right arm, with a trip, prostrated him upon the dirt, and with his left arm actually dragged his coat of mail over his head, place the point of his sword on the Danes body, and, leaning on it with his own body, drove it through his enemy. While Murrough was so stooped over his foe the Dane snatched a scimitar from Murrough's girdle and plunged it into the breast near the heart of the brave son of Brian. The Dane immediately expired, and Murrough lingered until the following day, receiving all the rites and consolations of religion before his valiant spirit took its flight from earth.

This prince has been called the "Ajax of Clontarf," and truly he was the mould of an heroic age. according to the Munster Book of Battles, Prince Murrough was buried in the west end of a chapel in the cemetery of Kilmainham. Over his remains was placed a lofty stone cross on which his name was engraved. {Note: This cross fell from its pedestal in 1798. Under the base were found Danish coins and a fine sword in a good state of preservation, supposed to be that which the prince Murrough used at the battle of Clontarf. In 1843 this sword hung in the headquarters of the commander-of-the forces at Kilmainham}

Corcoran, one of the marshals of Brian, was the first to fly to the tent of the monarch with the intelligence of the death of his son Murrough. He found Brian kneeling before a crucifix; and the heroic old warrior, on hearing the sad news, though that the battle had been one by the Danes, and instantly said: "Do you, and the other chiefs fly to Armagh, and communicate my will to the successor of St. Patrick. But as for me, I came here to conquer or die, and the enemy shall not boast that I fell by inglorious wounds." At this instant, Brodar, The Dane, with a small party, rushing in their despair towards a small wood near which Brian's tent was erected, resolved, in the madness of his desperate rage, to be avenged for the defeat of his countrymen by killing the king of Ireland. The aged but heroic Brian, seeing them rush into the tent, seized his great two-handed sword, and with one blow, cut off the legs of the first Dane that entered. Brodar, entering next, struck Brian on the back of his head with his axe; but in spite of the stunning wound, Brian, with all the might strength for which he was renowned, by a fortunate stroke, cut off the head of Broder, and killed the third Dane that attacked him; and then calmly resigned himself to death. Thus, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, in the midst of conquest, fell one of the bravest, wisest, and noblest of all the kings of Ireland, whose reign exhibits the most splendid display of glory in all the annals of his country. His long life is a jewel which his country will wear forever, irradiating his glory upon the humblest of her sons........The Danes were pursued to their ships, Dublin was captured........It is said that the army of Brian set fire to houses long into the night so that they would have light by which to discover the fleeing enemy...........

The remains of Brian were conveyed to Armagh by the whole army. With Brian, some accounts say, went also the bodies of Murrough, Conaing, and Moltha; and that their obsequies were celebrated for twelve days by the clergy of Armagh, after which the body of Brian was deposited in a stone coffin on the north side of the high altar in the great cathedral, the body of Murrough, it is said, being interred on the south side of the church. The remains of Turlough, and several other chieftains, were buried in the old churchyard of Kilmainham, known afterwards as "Bully's Acre," where the shaft of an ancient Irish cross still, it is said, marks the spot."

[Fairlie]

Grace O'Malley 1530 - 1603
Ireland's Pirate Queen

The scourge of the high seas during the 16th century, Sligo-born Granuaile was a woman ahead of her time.

There came to me also a most famous feminine sea captain called Granny Imallye [who] offered her services wheresover I would command her, with three galleys and two hundred fighting men, either in Scotland or in Ireland. She brought with her her husband, for she was as well by sea as by land well more than Mrs. Mate with him&ldots;This was a notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland.
-Sir Henry Sidney
Lord Deputy of Ireland, 1576

This tantalizing cameo is one of many hidden among the swirls and flourishes of the Elizabethan State Papers. To 16th-century English administrators and military men, who by persuasion and by the sword came to conquer the land of her birth, this "notorious woman" provoked awe, anger, revulsion, and admiration.

But in Ireland, for more than 400 years, she was destined to remain a prisoner of indifference, as her unique contribution to the social, political, and maritime history of the country was ignored. Grace O'Malley, also known by her Irish name Granuaile (pronounced: Gron-yu-aYle), like her fellow Irishwomen of the time, fell afoul of the mainly male orientation of historical record and analyses. Further, as a woman who was once described by one of her male detractors as having "overstepped the part of womanhood," Grace did not conform to an acceptable political, social, or religious mold. It was my quest to rectify this neglect in the public's consciousness that made me set out on what was to become a most fascinating and rewarding voyage of discovery in search of the "real" Grace O'Malley.

My quest revealed a life that was indeed stranger than the proverbial fiction.

The Chieftain's Daughter

Grace O'Malley was born into Gaelic aristocracy in 1530, the only child of Dudara O'Malley, a chieftain of the Kingdom of Umhall, on Clew Bay in County Mayo. The O'Malleys differed from other Irish clans of the period in that they derived their living mainly from the sea. Poets, legends, and ancient annals trace the O'Malleys and their maritime expertise to the dawn of Irish history.

As custom dictated for the chieftain's daughter, Grace was married at age 15 to Donal O'Flaherty, the chieftain of Connemara. It was a politically motivated union, and for Grace, apparently was not a happy one. The union did, however, produce three children, two sons and a daughter. Donal's truculent disposition and his irresponsibility as a chieftain set Grace on her first step to becoming a major player in the political turmoil of Irish tribal politics. Donal's recklessness brought about his downfall and gave rise to one of the many legends about Grace. Despite Brehon law, which debarred women chieftains, Grace emerged as de facto head of her husband's clan and the accepted leader of his clansmen. This role was solidified after Donal was killed by the Joyce clan while defending Cork's Castle in Lough Corrib. Far from playing the grieving widow, Grace led her husband's clan in a counterattack and regained the castle. She demonstrated such personal bravery in the battle that the castle was thereafter called Hen's Castle, its present name.

The Pirate Queen

Having tasted power, Grace was determined not to be denied by either law or convention. She returned to Umhall, where she settled on Clare Island. Many of her husband's followers crossed tribal lines and joined her, but on land, she remained a "chieftain" without a kingdom. Instead, the sea would become her domain. With a private army of 200 men and a flotilla of galleys, described as being "rowed with 30 oars and sail&ldots;to defend her 100 good shot," Grace launched herself on a career of piracy and mercenary work that was to establish her forever as the "Pirate Queen" of Ireland.

The merchant ships plying the west coast from England, Spain, and France, with cargoes of wine, Toledo steel, salt, silk, and alum, made rich pickings. In vain, the merchant princes of nearby Galway city complained to the English Council. When they eventually sent an army to capture her, Grace routed them after enduring a 21-day siege.

To achieve even part of the crimes she is alleged to have committed, Grace had to be an accomplished seafarer. Operating in the harsh, all-male environment of the sea, a bastion as little encroached by women then as it is now, was not for the fainthearted. Conditions onboard were primitive; privacy was non-existent. To remain in control of her multitribal male crews and overcome the prejudices of native mores and chauvinistic pride required that she lead by example and possess a rare charisma. And from Dingle to Donegal, stories of her exploits bear this out.

In the English-controlled Pale Grace also made her presence felt when she kidnapped the heir of the Earl of Howth. The Earl, it seems, had incurred her wrath by refusing her the hospitality of his castle. Her ransom demand for his grandson's safe return was that the Earl and his descendants would forever set an extra place at his dinner table, a tradition honored in Howth Castle to this very day.

In about 1566, Grace decided to marry again. This time, however, she did the choosing, and a castle, rather than its owner, was the reason for her choice. Rockfleet Castle on the north shore of Clew Bay, a sturdy tower enclosed by a bawn and barbican and with a safe and deep anchorage, was owned by the chieftain of the Mayo Bourkes, Richard-in-Iron. Folklore maintains that Grace married Richard for "one year certain," a trial marriage that under Brehon law was permissible, and in vogue among the Gaelic aristocracy. When the marriage had reached the one-year duration, and when Grace had her men safely installed inside the castle, she locked her husband out of Rockfleet and shouted from the ramparts, "Richard Bourke, I dismiss you," thereby divorcing a husband while gaining a castle.

The couple was married long enough, however, to have one son, Tibbott-ne-Long (Toby of the Ships), born aboard Grace's galley. The day after his birth at sea, the ship was attacked by Algerian pirates, who often infested Irish coastal waters at that time. Without Grace to lead them, her men lost heart. The captain begged her to come up on deck to rally the men. "May you be seven times worse off this day 12 months," Grace swore at him, "who cannot do without me for one day." Storming onto the deck, sword in hand, she rallied her men to victory.

Trouble on the High Seas

Ten years later, in 1578, while leading a plundering expedition on the rich lands of the Earl of Desmond in Munster, Grace was captured and thrown into Limerick jail. Desmond handed her over to the English, who imprisoned her in Dublin Castle for a further 18 months--a period that was a living death for the fiesty Grace. Eventually she obtained her freedom by promising to bring her husband, who had gotten himself involved in a rebellion, to heel. But once she was free, she took a broad interpretation of her promise to the English. An official subsequently sent to collect taxes from her was given short shrift, Grace threatening, as he reported, "that she would fight with me before she was half a mile near me," rather than pay.

It is not surprising that the English were keen to bring Grace into the tax net. She had amassed a considerable fortune. Apart from the tolls she exacted from shipping and the payments for the importation of Scottish gallowglasses, she was also a woman of substance by land, having, according to her own reckoning, "1,000 head of cattle and mares."

Richard-in-Iron died in 1583, and Grace quickly established her rights to Rockfleet by simply gathering together all of her followers and taking up residence in the castle before either the law or Richard's family could deny her. Grace was now 53 years old and seemed determined to continue her extraordinary career. But onto the political stage strode the menacing figure of Governor Richard Bingham, the bête noir of her life.

As hostility between England and Spain intensified, English control of Ireland took on a new urgency, lest Spain use it as a back door to England. Bingham was one of the new breed of English administrators intent on bringing the Gaelic chieftains to their knees. He especially despised Grace, whom he accused of being "nurse to all rebellions for 40 years." Three times Grace rebelled against Bingham's cruel rule. He eventually captured her and, as she later complained to Queen Elizabeth I of England, "caused a new pair of gallows to be made for her last funeral." At the last moment the chieftains of Mayo submitted hostages to secure her release. When she heard that her second son, Murrough O'Flaherty, had been prevailed upon to side with Bingham against her, Grace was incensed.

In a fury, she set out to teach her son a lesson by attacking his castle and pillaging his town. But Bingham took his revenge, confiscating Grace's castle and horses. Fearing her ability and her considerable fighting power, Bingham then captured her youngest son, Tibbott, as a hostage, while her eldest son, Owen O'Flaherty, was murdered in the custody of Bingham's brother. Politics and Piracy

Time, as well as Bingham, had finally caught up with Grace. The remoter havens of Ireland were gradually being brought under English control, and a more accurate map of the country was commissioned, depicting with greater accuracy the names and territories of the principal chieftains. It is the most conclusive tribute to Grace's political status that she was included on this map, the only woman chieftain ever recorded.

When Bingham threatened to hand over Tibbott to the English, Grace realized that in order to save him she would have to go above Bingham's head and appeal directly to Queen Elizabeth I Her first petition is dated July 1593. Intrigued, the Queen sent her a set of 18 questions "to be answered by Grany Ni Maly." The answers provided by Grace give an interesting résumé of her life. Her deft replies were more than a match for the Machiavellian subterfuge of the Elizabethan court. But leaving nothing to chance, she followed her correspondence, sailing her ship from Clew Bay to Greenwich, determined to put her case to Elizabeth face to face. Despite the weight of evidence against her, Grace successfully elicited an audience with the Queen. Of similar age, and both women of power in a man's world, the elderly pair found they had much in common. Elizabeth was ultimately won over by the Pirate Queen and disregarded Bingham's advice that Grace should be thrown into the Tower of London. Elizabeth instead ordered Tibbott's release and accepted Grace's proposal, as she wrote, "to employ all her power to prosecute any offender against Us&ldots;and fight in Our quarrel with all the world," which, to Bingham's consternation, was Grace's ruse to return to her plundering ways, but this time under the Queen's protection.

Grace returned to Mayo in triumph. Bingham tried to circumvent what he considered to be his Queen's rashness, but he overstepped the mark and, in 1596, was recalled to England in disgrace. Grace promptly returned to sea and is recorded to have led an attack against the island of Barra in Scotland.

At this stage, the Ulster chieftains, O'Neill and O'Donnell, had joined forces with Spain against England. Grace, her galleys, and her men were eagerly sought after by both sides. Initially, she and her sons sided with the Ulster chieftains. But O'Donnell attempted to usurp Tibbott's power in Mayo, and forged an alliance with the English, fighting alongside them at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601. This campaign hastened the application of English common law to Ireland and ended the dominance of the chieftains in tribal Ireland.

Two years later, Grace died at Rockfleet Castle. She is thought to be buried in the abbey on Clare Island, beside the sea that had so sustained and enriched her throughout her remarkable life. Yet, while the legacy of Queen Elizabeth I would be passed down through the centuries, the story of Granuaile was, until recently, nearly lost. Now, with film and television projects about her life in the offing, it appears that Ireland's pirate queen has reclaimed her rightful place in history.

Granuaile Remembered

While Granuaile may have been forgotten in the past, the publication of her biography involved me in many new and exciting undertakings on her behalf. Among these projects include three television documentaries, innumerable articles for books and magazines, interviews around the world for television and radio, lectures, and conferences. The latter two brought me on a tour of 22 U.S. cities under the auspices of the Irish American Cultural Institute. I also helped design an interpretative center based on her life and times, and presently am overseeing a motion-picture screenplay that would bring her remarkable life to the attention of an even wider audience.

The famed Irish composer Shaun Davey's evocative "Granuaile Suite" enshrined her in music and song, while the Trinity Dancers of Chicago won the World Championship gold medal with a dance drama inspired by her life. Deep-sea diving clubs, yacht races, handmade Irish chocolates, women's support and self-help groups, including the Loyal Krewe Of Grace O'Malley (based in Tampa, Fla.) and the Granuaile Trust of the O'Malley Clan, which promotes the historical and cultural aspects of the clan, demonstrate that the number and range of undertakings associated with her seem never-ending.

The Descendants of Granuaile

Grace O'Malley's youngest son, Tibbott, was knighted in 1603 and was made the First Viscount of Mayo in 1627. Her descendants are mainly traceable through his line. Like their famous ancestor, many of them made an impact on their contemporaries.

Her great-great-great-granddaughters, Maria and Elizabeth Gunning, known as "the gorgeous Gunnings," took 18th-century English society by storm with their beauty. One married the Earl of Coventry and then the Duke of Hamilton; the other married the Duke of Argyle. In 1669, her great-great-granddaughter, Maud Bourke, married John Browne of Westport, whose mansion, Westport House, was built near the old O'Malley castle. Their descendants included Howe Peter Browne, the 2nd Marquess of Sligo, who, as governor of Jamaica (1834-36), championed emancipation of that island's slaves. The present Marquess of Sligo of Westport is Grace's 13th great-grandson. Claiming a similar descent is the film producer Lord Brabourne, married to the daughter of the late Lord Louis Mountbatten. With tragic irony, their son, Nicholas, a 14th great-grandson of Grace O'Malley, was killed with his grandfather, grandmother, and young friend off Mullaghmore Harbour in 1979, in waters once traversed by his famous ancestor.

Grace's descendants through her O'Flaherty and O'Malley lines are less certain. Confiscation and famine scattered the O'Flaherty and O'Malley clans throughout the world.