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A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND

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A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:08 pm

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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P.W. Joyce.

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:12 pm

PART I:

The Manners, Customs and Institutions of the Ancient Irish

THE IRISH LANGUAGE.



1. Dialects of Celtic. There are two main branches of the Ancient Celtic Language: The Goidelic, or Gaelic, or Irish; and the British; corresponding with the two main divisions of the Celtic people of the British Islands. Each of these has branched into three dialects. Those of Gaelic are:—The Irish proper; the Gaelic of Scotland, differing only slightly from the Irish; and the Manx. The dialects of British are: Welsh, Cornish, and Breton or Armoric. Of the whole six dialects, five are still spoken; the Cornish became extinct in the last century; and Manx is nearly extinct.

2. Three Divisions of Irish. It is usual to divide Irish, as we find it written, into three stages: I. Old Irish, from the eighth to the twelfth century. This is the language of the Irish found in the Book of Armagh, and of some few passages in the Book of the Dun Cow. II. Middle Irish, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, marked by many departures from the pure Old Irish forms. This is the language of most of our important manuscripts, described in next Chapter; such as the Book of the Dun Cow, the Book of Leinster, the Lebar Brecc, and the Book of Ballymote. III. Modern Irish, from the fifteenth century to the present day. This is the language of most of the Ossianic tales. The purest specimens are the writings of Keating. There is a vast amount of manuscript literature in Modern Irish.

3. Ogham was a species of writing in use in early ages, the letters of which were formed by combinations of short lines and points on and at both sides of a middle or stem line called a flesc. Scraps of Ogham are sometimes found in manuscripts, but it was almost always used for stone inscriptions, the groups of lines and points generally running along two adjacent sides of the stone, with the angle for a flesc. Upwards of 200 Ogham monuments have been found in various parts of the four provinces of Ireland; but they are far more numerous in the south and south-west than elsewhere.

Nearly all the Oghams hitherto found are sepulchral inscriptions. Where inscriptions have not been injured or defaced, they can in general be deciphered, so that many have been made out beyond all question. But as the greatest number of Ogham stones are more or less worn or chipped or broken, there is in the interpretation of the majority of the inscriptions some conjecture and uncertainty.

As to the antiquity of Ogham writing, the best authorities now agree that it is a survival from the far distant ages of paganism, and that it was developed before Christianity was heard of in Ireland. But the custom of engraving Ogham on stones, and of—occasionally—writing in Ogham characters in vellum books, continued far into Christian times. In the ancient tales we find it often stated that Oghams were cut on rods of yew or oak, and that such rods were used as a mode of communication between individuals, serving the same purpose among them as letter-writing serves now.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:13 pm

IRISH LITERATURE.


4. There are many passages in ancient writings proving beyond question that there was some form of written literature in Ireland before the advent of Christianity. In the oldest native literature it is expressly stated that the pagan Irish had books, and the statement is corroborated by an extern writer, a Christian philosopher and traveller of the fourth century named Ethicus of Istria; who, in a work he calls his "Topography," tells us that in the course of his travels he crossed over from Spain to Ireland, where he spent some time examining the books written by the native Irish scholars. This was at least a century before the arrival of St. Patrick.

Several circumstances indicate a state of literary activity at the time of St. Patrick, who, on his arrival in the country, found literary and professional men:—Druids, poets, and antiquarians.

5. After the time of St. Patrick, as everything seems to have been written down that was considered worth preserving, manuscripts accumulated in the course of time, which were kept either in monasteries or in the houses of hereditary professors of learning. In the dark time of the Danish ravages and during the troubled centuries that followed the Anglo-Norman invasion, the manuscript collections were gradually dispersed, and a large proportion lost or destroyed. Yet we have remaining—rescued by good fortune from the general wreck—a great body of manuscript literature. The two most important collections are those in Trinity College and in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, where there are manuscripts of various ages, from the fifth down to the present century. In the Franciscan monastery of Adam and Eve in Dublin are a number of valuable manuscripts which were sent from Rome a few years ago. There are also many important manuscripts in Maynooth College, in the British Museum in London, and in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.

6. Before the invention of printing it was customary in Ireland for individuals, or families, or religious communities, to keep large manuscript books of miscellaneous literature. In these were written suck literary pieces as were considered worthy of being preserved in writing—tales, poems, biographies, genealogies, histories, annals, and so forth—all mixed up in one volume, and almost always copied from older books. The value set on these books may be estimated from the fact that one of them was sometimes given as ransom for a captive chief.

7. The oldest of all these books of miscellaneous literature is the Lebar-na-Heera, or the Book of the Dun Cow, now in the Royal Irish Academy. It was written by Mailmurri Mac Kelleher, a learned scribe, who died in Clonmacnoise in the year 1106. As it now stands it consists of only 134 folio pages, a mere fragment of the original work. It contains 65 pieces of various kinds, several of which are imperfect on account of missing leaves. There are a number of romantic tales in prose; a copy of the celebrated Amra or elegy on St. Columkille, composed by Dallan Forgaill about the year 592, which no one can yet wholly understand, the language is so ancient and difficult; an imperfect copy of the Voyage of Maildun; and an imperfect copy of the Tain-bo-Quelna with several of the minor tales connected with it.

8. The Book of Leinster, the next in order of age, now in Trinity College, Dublin, was written in 1160 and in the years before and after. The part of the original book remaining—for it is only a part—consists of 410 folio pages, and contains nearly 1,000 pieces of various kinds—prose and poetry—historical sketches, romantic tales (among which is a perfect copy of the Tain-bo-Quelna), topographical tracts, genealogies, etc.—a vast collection of ancient Irish lore.

9. The Lebar Brecc, or Speckled Book of Mac Egan, also called the Great Book of Duniry, is in the Royal Irish Academy. It is a large folio volume, now consisting of 280 pages, but originally containing many more, written in a small, uniform, beautiful hand, toward the end of the fourteenth century, by the Mac Egans, a family of learned professors and teachers. The book, which contains 226 pieces, was copied from various older books, most of them now lost. All, both text and notes, with a few exceptions, are on religious subjects; there is a good deal of Latin mixed with the Irish.

10. The Book of Ballymote, in the Royal Irish Academy, is a large folio volume of 501 pages. It was written by several scribes about the year 1391, at Ballymote in Sligo, from older books; and contains a great number of pieces in prose and verse. Among them is a copy of the Book of Invasions, i.e., a history of the Conquests of Ireland by the several ancient colonists. There are genealogies of almost all the principal Irish families; several historical and romantic tales of the early Irish kings; a copy of the Dinnsenchus; a translation of the Argonautic Expedition and of the War of Troy.

11. The Yellow Book of Lecan [Leckan] in Trinity College, is a large quarto volume of about 500 pages. It was written at Lecan in the County Sligo in and about the year 1390, and contains a great number of pieces in prose and verse, historical, biographical, topographical, &c.

12. The five books above described have been published in fac-simile without translations by the Royal Irish Academy, page for page, line for line, letter for letter, so that scholars in all parts of the world can now study them without coming to Dublin.

13. The Book of Lecan, in the Royal Irish Academy, about 600 pages, was written in 1416, chiefly by Gilla Isa More Mac Firbis. The contents resemble in a general way those of the Book of Ballymote.

There are many other books of miscellaneous Gaelic literature in the Royal Irish Academy and in Trinity College, such as the Book of Lismore, the Book of Fermoy, the Book of Hy Many; besides numerous volumes without special names...
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:16 pm

IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL WRITINGS

14. Copies of the Gospels or of other portions of Scripture, that were either written or owned by eminent saints of the early Irish Church, were treasured with great veneration by succeeding generations; and it became a common practice to enclose them, for better preservation, in ornamental boxes or shrines, which are generally of exquisite workmanship in gold, silver, or other metals, precious stones, and enamel. Books of this kind are the oldest we possess.

15. The Domnach Airgid, or Silver Shrine, which is in the National Museum, Dublin, is a box containing a Latin copy of the Gospels written on vellum. It was once thought the enclosed book was the identical copy of the Gospels presented by St. Patrick to his disciple St. Mac Carthenn, the founder of the see of Clogher: but recent investigations go to show that it is not so old as the time of the great apostle.

16. The Book of Kells is the most remarkable book of this class, though not the oldest. It is a Latin copy in vellum, of the four Gospels, now in Trinity College, Dublin, and received its name from having been kept for many centuries at Kells in Meath. Its exact age is unknown, but it was probably written in the seventh or eighth century. At the present day this is the best known of all the old Irish books, on account of its elaborate and beautiful ornamentation, of which a description will be found in the Chapter on Art.

17. The Cathach [Caha] of the O'Donnells. According to a very old tradition this book was written by St. Columkille; and at any rate it has been in the family of his kindred, the O'Donnells, since his time. They always brought it with them to battle; and it was their custom to have it carried three times round their army before fighting, in the belief that this would insure victory; hence it name, Cathach, which means Battle-book. This venerable relic, covered with a beautifully wrought case of silver gilt and precious stones, may be seen in the National Museum, Dublin.

18. In Trinity College, Dublin, are two beautiful shrines enclosing two illuminated Gospel manuscripts, the Book of Dimma and the Book of St. Moling, both written in the seventh or eighth century.

19. The Book of Armagh, now in Trinity College, is almost as beautifully written as the Book of Kells. The accomplished scribe was Ferdomnach of Armagh, who finished the book in 807. It is chiefly in Latin, with a good deal of Old Irish interspersed. It contains a life of St. Patrick; a number of Notes on his life, by Bishop Tirechan; a complete copy of the New Testament; and St. Patrick's Confession, in which the saint gives a brief account, in simple, unaffected Latin, of his mission in Ireland, The Confession was copied by Ferdomnach from the very handwriting of St. Patrick.

In the year 1004, a highly interesting and important entry was made in this book. In that year the great king Brian Boru, arriving at Armagh, made an offering of twenty ounces of gold on the altar of St. Patrick. He confirmed the ancient ecclesiastical supremacy of Armagh, and caused his secretary, Mailsuthain, to enter in the Book of Armagh this decree, which is as plain now as the day it was written.

20. We have a vast body of original ecclesiastical and religious writings. Among them are the Lives of a great many of the most distinguished Irish saints, mostly in Irish, some few in Latin; of various ages, from the eighth century, the period of the Book of Armagh, down to the last century. The Lives of Saints Patrick, Brigit, and Columkille are more numerous than those of the others. Of these the best known is the "Tripartite Life of St. Patrick," so called because it is divided into three parts.

Besides the Irish Lives of St, Columkille, there is one in Latin, written by Adamnan, who died in the year 703. He was a native of Donegal, and ninth abbot of Iona; and his memoir is one of the most graceful pieces of Latin composition of the Middle Ages. It has been published.

21. Another class of Irish ecclesiastical writings are the Calendars or Martyrologies, or Festilogies — Irish Feilire [Fail'ira], a festival list. The Feilire is a catalogue of saints arranged according to their festival days, with usually a few facts about each, briefly stated. There are several of these Martyrologies. One is the Calendar or Martyrology of Donegal, written by Michael O'Clery the chief of the Four Masters, which has been published. The only other one I will notice is the Feilire of Aengus the Culdee, which is in verse, and which has been translated and printed.

22. The Book of Hymns is one of the manuscripts of Trinity College, Dublin, copied at some time not later than the ninth or tenth century. It consists of a number of hymns—some in Latin, some in Irish—composed by the primitive saints of Ireland.

23. There are manuscripts on various other ecclesiastical subjects, scattered through our libraries; canons and rules of monastic life, prayers and litanies, hymns, sermons, explanations of the Christian mysteries, commentaries on the Scriptures, &c.—many very ancient.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:17 pm

ANNALS, HISTORIES, GENEALOGIES.


24. Annals. The Irish chroniclers were very careful to record in their annals remarkable occurrences of their own time, or past events as handed down to them by former chroniclers. The annals are among the most important of the ancient manuscript writings for the study of Irish history.

The following are the principal books of Irish Annals remaining. The Synchronisms of Flann, who was a layman, Ferleginn or chief professor of the school of Monasterboice; died in 1056. He compares the chronology of Ireland with that of other countries, and gives the names of the monarchs that reigned in them, with lists of the Irish kings who reigned contemporaneously. Copies of this tract are preserved in the Books of Lecan and Ballymote.

25. The Annals of Tighernach [Teerna]. Tighernach O'Breen, the compiler of these annals, one of the greatest scholars of his time, was abbot of the two monasteries of Clonmacnoise and Roscommon. He was acquainted with the chief historical writers of the world known in his day, and made use of Flann's Synchronisms, and of most other ancient Irish historical writings of importance. He states that authentic Irish history begins at the foundation of Emania, and that all preceding accounts are uncertain (100). He died 1088.

26. The Annals of Innisfallen were compiled about the year 1215 by some scholars of the monastery of Innisfallen in the Lower Lake of Killarney.

The Annals of Ulster, also called the Annals of Senait Mac Manus, now called Belle Isle, in upper Lough Erne. The original compiler was Cathal [Cahal] Maguire, who died of small-pox in 1498. They have been published with translation.

The Annals of Loch Ce [Key] were copied in 1588 for Brian Mac Dermot, who had his residence in an island in Lough Key, in Roscommon. They have been translated and edited in two volumes.

The Annals of Connaught from 1224 to 1562.

27. The Chronicon Scotorum (Chronicle of the Scots or Irish), down to A.D. 1135, was compiled about 1650 by the great Irish antiquary Duald Mac Firbis. These annals have been printed with translation.

The Annals of Boyle, from the earliest time to 1253, are written in Irish mixed with Latin; and the entries throughout are very meagre.

The Annals of Clonmacnoise from the earliest period to 1408. The original Irish of these is lost; but we have an English translation by Connell Mac Geoghegan of Westmeath, which he completed in 1627.

28. The Annals of the Four Masters, also called the Annals of Donegal, are the most important of all. They were compiled in the Franciscan monastery of Donegal, by three of the O'Clerys, Michael, Conary, and Cucogry, and by Ferfesa O'Mulconry, who are now commonly known as the Four Masters. They began in 1632, and completed the work in 1636. "The Annals of the Four Masters" was translated with most elaborate and learned annotations by Dr. John O'Donovan; and it was published—Irish text, translation, and notes—in seven large volumes.

A book of annals called the Psalter of Cashel was compiled by Cormac Mac Cullenan, but this has been lost. He also wrote "Cormac's Glossary," an explanation of many old Irish words. This work still exists and has been translated and printed. Besides annals in the Irish language, there are also Annals of Ireland in Latin; such as those of Clyn, Dowling, Pembridge, of Multifarnham, &c., most of which have been published.

29. Histories. None of the writers of old times conceived the plan of writing a general history of Ireland. The first history of the whole country was the Forus Feasa ar Erinn, or History of Ireland, from the most ancient times to the Anglo-Norman invasion, written by Dr. Geoffrey Keating of Tubbrid in Tipperary, who died in 1644. Keating was deeply versed in the ancient language and literature of Ireland; and his history, though containing much that is legendary, is very interesting and valuable.

30. Genealogies. The genealogies of the principal families were most faithfully preserved in ancient Ireland. Each king and chief had in his household a Shanachy or historian, whose duty it was to keep a written record or all the ancestors and of the several branches of the family.

Many of the ancient genealogies are preserved in the Books of Leinster, Lecan, Ballymote, &c. But the most important collection of all is the great Book of Genealogies compiled in the years 1650 to 1666 in the College of St. Nicholas in Galway, by Duald Mac Firbis.

31. In this place may be mentioned the Dinnsenchus [Din-Shan'ahus], a topographical tract giving the legendary history and the etymology of the names of remarkable hills, mounds, caves, cairns, cromlechs, raths, duns, and so forth. Copies of this tract are found in several of the old Irish books of miscellaneous literature, as already mentioned in Chapter II. The Coir Anmann ("Fitness of Names") is another work explaining the names of remarkable Irish historical persons. It has been published with translation.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:19 pm

HISTORICAL AND ROMANTIC TALES


32. Of all our manuscript remains, romantic literature is the most abundant. In course of time a great body of such literature accumulated, consisting chiefly of prose tales. In the Book of Leinster there is a very interesting list of ancient historical tales, to the number of 187, which are classified into Battles, Voyages, Tragedies, Military Expeditions, Cattle-raids, Courtships, Pursuits, Adventures, Caves (i.e. adventures in caves), Visions, Sieges, Feasts, Slaughters, Exiles, and Lake eruptions. We have in our old books stories belonging to every one of these classes.

"Some of the tales are historical, i.e. founded on historical events—history embellished with fiction; while others are altogether fictitious. But it is to be observed that even in the fictitious tales, the main characters are nearly always historical, or such as were considered so. The greater number of the tales are in prose, but some are in verse; and in many of the prose tales the leading characters are often made to express themselves in verse or some striking incident of the story is related in a poetical form." *

33. A large proportion of the tales fall under two main cycles of ancient Irish history, which in all the Irish poetical and romantic literature were kept perfectly distinct:—the cycle of Conor Mac Nessa and his Red Branch Knights, and the cycle of Finn, the son of Cumal and his Fianna [Feena]. Conor Mac Nessa was king of Ulster in the first century, and lived in the palace of Emain or Emania. Under him flourished the Red Branch Knights, a sort of militia for the defence of the throne. The stories of this period form by far the finest part of our ancient romantic literature.

The most celebrated of all the tales is the Tain-bo-Cuailnge [Quel'ne], the epic of Ireland; which celebrates a cattle-raiding invasion of Ulster by Maive queen of Connaught in the first century (100). In connexion with it there are about thirty minor tales.

34. Of the cycle of Finn and the Fena of Erin we have a vast collection of tales : commonly known as the Ossianic Tales. Finn the son of Cumal lived in the third century, and had his chief residence on the Hill of Allen in Kildare. He was killed on the Boyne when an old man, A.D. 283; and of all the heroes of ancient Ireland he is most vividly remembered in popular tradition. He was son-in-law of Cormac Mac Art, king of Ireland; and under that monarch he commanded a militia or standing army called the Fianna of Erin (104).

The tales of the Fena are neither so ancient nor so fine as those of the Red Branch Knights : the greater number are contained in manuscripts not more than 100 or 150 years old. Six volumes of tales, chiefly of the cycle of Finn, have been published with translations. The best of them is "The Pursuit of Dermot and Grania," of which I have given a free English translation in my "Old Celtic Romances."

35. The battle of Moylena and the battle of Moyrath are the subjects of two historic tales, both of which have been published, the former edited by Eugene O'Curry and the latter by O'Donovan. What are called the "Three Tragic Stories of Erin," viz., the Fate of the Children of Lir, the Fate of the Sons of Turenn, and the Fate of the Children of Usna, have been translated and edited by O'Curry. I have myself published in my Old Celtic Romances free translations, without texts, of thirteen ancient tales; among them the Three Tragic Stories of Erin.

The great majority of those old tales still remain unpublished and untranslated.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:20 pm

THE BREHON LAW.


36. In Ireland judges were called Brehons; and the law they administered—the ancient law of Ireland—is now commonly known as the Brehon law. To become a brehon, a person had to go through a regular, well defined course of training.

The brehons were a very influential class of men, and those attached to chiefs had free lands for their maintenance. Those not so attached lived simply on the fees of their profession. It generally required great technical skill to decide cases, the legal rules, as set forth in the law-books, were so complicated, and so many circumstances had to be taken into account. The brehon, moreover, had to be very careful, for he was himself liable to damages if he delivered a false or an unjust judgment.

37. The brehons had collections of laws in volumes or tracts, all in the Irish language, by which they regulated their judgments. Many of these have been preserved, and of late years the most important of them have been published, with translations, forming five printed volumes. Of the tracts contained in these volumes, the two largest and most important are the Senchus Mor [Shan'ahus More] and the Book of Acaill [Ack'ill]. The Senchus Mor is chiefly concerned with the Irish civil law, and the Book of Acaill with the criminal law and the law relating to personal injuries.

38. At the request of St. Patrick, Laeghaire [Leary] king of Ireland formed a committee of nine persons to revise the laws:— viz., three kings, of whom Laeghaire himself was one: three ecclesiastics, of whom Patrick was one; and three poets and antiquarians, of whom Duftach, Laeghaire's chief poet was one. These nine having expunged everything that clashed with the Christian faith, produced at the end of three years a revised code which was called Senchus Mor.

39. The very book left by St. Patrick and the others has been long lost. Successive copies were made from time to time, with commentaries and explanations appended, till the manuscripts we now possess were produced.

The language of the laws is extremely archaic and difficult, indicating a very remote antiquity, though probably not the very language of the text left by the revising committee, but a modified version of a later time. The two great Irish scholars—John O'Donovan and Eugene O'Curry—who translated them, were able to do so only after long study; and in numerous instances were, to the last, not quite sure of the meaning. Even the translation is hard enough to understand, and is often unintelligible.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:21 pm

THE LAW OF COMPENSATION


40. The Brehon code forms a great body of civil, military, and criminal law. It regulates the various ranks of society, from the king down to the slave, and enumerates their several rights and privileges. There are minute rules for the management of property, for the several industries—building, brewing, mills, water-courses, fishing-weirs, bees and honey—for distress or seizure of goods, for tithes, trespass, and evidence. The relations of landlord and tenant, the fees of professional men—doctors, judges, teachers, builders, artificers—the mutual duties of father and son, of foster-parents and foster-children, of master and servant, are all carefully regulated. Contracts are regarded as peculiarly sacred, and are treated in great detail.

In criminal law, the various offences are minutely distinguished:— Murder, manslaughter, wounding, thefts, and every variety of wilful damage; and accidental injuries from flails, sledge-hammers, and all sorts of weapons.

41. Injuries of all kinds as between man and man were atoned for by a compensation payment. Homicide, whether by intent or by misadventure, was atoned for like other injuries, by a money fine.

The fine for homicide or for bodily injury of any kind was called eric [er'rick]: the amount was adjudged by a brehon. The principles on which these awards should be made are laid down in great detail in the Book of Acaill.

In case of homicide the family of the victim were entitled to the eric. If the culprit did not pay, or absconded, leaving no property, his fine [finna] or family were liable. If they wished to avoid this they were required to give up the offender to the family of the victim, who might then if they pleased, kill him: or failing this, his family had to expel him. and to lodge a sum to free themselves from the consequences of his subsequent misconduct.

In the Book of Acaill there is a minute enumeration of bodily injuries, whether by design or accident, with the compensation for each, taking into account the position of the parties and the other numerous circumstances that modified the amount.

42. For homicide and for most injuries to person, property or dignity, the fine consisted of two parts:—first, the payment for the mere injury, which was determined by the severity of the injury, and by other circumstances: second, a sum called Log-enech or Honour-price, which varied according to the rank of the parties: the higher the rank the greater the honour-price. The consideration of honour-price entered into a great number of the provisions of the Brehon law. This principle also existed in the early Teutonic codes.

To make due allowance for all modifying circumstances in cases of trial, called for much legal knowledge and technical skill on the part of the brehon: quite as much as we expect in a lawyer of the present day.

The principle of compensation for murder was not peculiar to Ireland. It existed among the Anglo-Saxons, as well as among the ancient Greeks, Franks, and Germans.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:22 pm

GRADES AND GROUPS OF SOCIETY


43. The people were divided into classes, from the king down to the slave, and the Brehon law took cognisance of all—setting forth their rights, duties and privileges. These classes were not castes; for under certain conditions persons could pass from one to the next above. There were five main classes:— (1) Kings of various grades from the king of the tuath or cantred up to the king of Ireland; (2) Nobles; (3) Freemen with property: (4) Freemen without property (or with very little); (5) The non-free classes. The first three were the privileged classes: a person belonging to these was an aire [arra] or chief.

44. The nobles were those who had land as their own property, for which they did not pay rent. Part of this land they held in their own hands and tilled by the labour of the non-free classes: part they let to tenants. An aire of this class was called a flaith [flah], i.e. a noble, a chief, a prince.

A person belonging to the third class of Aire, a non-noble rent-paying freeman with property, had no land of his own; his property consisting of cattle and other movable goods; hence he was called a bo-aire, i.e. a cow-aire. A bo-aire rented land from a flaith; thus taking rank as a free tenant; and he grazed his cattle partly on this and partly on the "commons" grazing land. The bo-aires had certain allowances and privileges according to rank. Among their allowances were a share in the mill and in the kiln of the district, and fees for witnessing contracts and for other legal functions.

45. The Brugh-fer or Brugaid [broo-fer: broo-ey] was an interesting official of the bo-aire class. He was a public hospitaller, bound to keep an open house for the reception of strangers. There should be a number of open roads leading to his house; and he had to keep a light burning on the lawn at night to guide travellers. He had free land and large allowances for the support of the expenses of his house; and he was much honoured.

46. The next class, the fourth, the freemen without property, were free tenants; they differed from the bo-aires only in not possessing property in herds—for the bo-aires were themselves rent-payers; and accordingly, a man of the fourth class became a bo-aire if he accumulated property enough. These freemen without property and the non-free classes will be treated of in next Chapter.

47. The people were formed into groups of various sizes from the family upwards. The family was the group consisting of the living parents and all their descendants. The Sept was a larger group descended from common parents long since dead. All the members of a sept were nearly related, and in later times bore the same surname. The Clan or house was still larger. Clann means children, and the word therefore implied descent from one ancestor. The Tribe was made up of several septs or clans, and usually claimed, like the subordinate groups, to be descended from a common ancestor. But as strangers were often adopted into all the groups, there was much admixture; and the theory of common descent became in great measure a fiction.

48. Septs, clans, and tribes were governed by chiefs: the chief of a tribe had jurisdiction over the chiefs of the several clans or septs composing the tribe, and received tribute from them. If the territory occupied by the tribe was sufficiently extensive, the ruling flaith was a Ri [ree] or king: the tuath or cantred was the smallest territory whose ruler was called a Ri. There were 184 tuaths in all Ireland, but probably all had not kings.

There was a regular gradation of sub-kingdoms from the tuath upwards. Some were very large, such as Tyrone, Tirconnell, Thomond, Desmond, Ossory, &c., each of which comprised several tribes.

49. Each of the five provinces—Ulster, Leinster, Munster, Connaught, Meath—had a king; this is commonly known as the Pentarchy. These five provincial kings had sovereignty over the sub-kings of their several provinces, all of whom owed them tribute and war service.

Lastly there was the Ard-ri or supreme monarch of all Ireland. He had sovereignty over the provincial kings, who were bound to pay him tribute and attend him in war.

50. The following are the main features of the ancient territorial divisions of the country. It was parcelled out into five provinces from the earliest times of which we have any record:— Leinster, Ulster, Connaught, and the two Munsters. Laighin [Layen] or Leinster extended from the Suir to Inver Colpa (the mouth of the Boyne); Ulaid [Ulla] or Ulster from the Boyne round northwards to the little river Drowes between Donegal and Leitrim; Olnegmacht or Connaught from the Drowes to Limerick and the Shannon; The two Munsters, viz., the province of Curoi Mac Dara from Limerick to Cork and westward to the coasts of Cork and Kerry, and the province of Achy Avraroe from Cork to the mouth of the Suir. It is stated that these provinces met at the hill of Ushnagh in Westmeath.

51. This division became modified in course of time. A new province—that of Mide or Meath—was created in the second century by Tuathal the Legitimate king of Ireland, who formed it by cutting off a portion of each of the other provinces round the hill of Ushnagh (101). Murthemne, now the county Louth, was transferred from Ulster to Leinster; the present county Cavan, which originally belonged to Connaught, was given to Ulster; and the territory now known as the county Clare was wrested from Connaught and annexed to Munster. The two Munsters ceased to be distinguished, and the whole province was known by the name of Muman or Munster. A better known subdivision of Munster was into Thomond or North Munster, which broadly speaking included Tipperary, Clare, and North Limerick; and Desmond or South Munster, comprising Kerry, Cork, Waterford, and South Limerick. In recent times Meath has disappeared as a province; and the original provinces remain:— Leinster, Ulster, Connaught, and Munster.

52. With the object of avoiding the evils of a disputed sucession, the person to succeed a king or chief was often elected by the tribe during the lifetime of the king or chief himself; when elected he was called the Tanist. The person who was generally looked upon as the king's successor, whether actually elected tanist or not—the heir apparent—was commonly called the Roydamna.

The king or chief was always elected from members of one family, bearing the same surname: but the succession was not hereditary in our sense of the word; it was elective with the above limitation of being confined to one . family. Any freeborn member of the family was eligible: the tanist might be brother, son, nephew, cousin, &c., of the chief. That member was chosen who was considered best able to lead in war, and govern in peace and he should be free from all personal deformities or blemishes.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:24 pm

THE TENURE OF LAND


53. The land was held by individuals in five different ways.

FIRST: The chief, whether of the tribe or of the sept, had a portion as mensal land for his support, for life or for as long as he remained chief.

SECOND: Another portion was held as private property by persons who had come to own the land in various ways. Most of these were flaiths or nobles, of the several ranks; and some were professional men, such as physicians, judges, poets, historians, artificers, &c., who had got their lands as stipends for their professional services to the chief, and in whose families it often remained for generations.

THIRD: Persons held as tenants portions of the lands belonging to those who owned it as private property, or portions of the mensal land of the chief; much like tenants of the present day: these paid what was equivalent to rent—always in kind.

FOURTH: The rest of the arable land, which was called the tribe land, forming by far the largest part of the territory, belonged to the people in general; no part being private property. This was occupied by the free members of the tribe or sept, who were owners for the time being, each of his own farm. Every free man had a right to his share. Those who occupied the tribe land did not hold for any fixed term, for the land of the sept was liable to Gavelkind (58) or redistribution from time to time—once every three or four years. Yet they were not tenants at will, for they could not be disturbed till the time or redistribution; even then each man kept his crops and got compensation for unexhausted improvements; and though he gave up one farm he always got another.

FIFTH: The non-arable or waste land—mountain, forest, bog, &c.—was "commons" land. This was not appropriated by individuals; but every free man had a right to use it for grazing, for procuring fuel, or for the chase.

54. The revenue of the chief was derived from three main sources. First, his mensal land, some of which he cultivated by his own labourers, some he let to tenants: Second, subsidies of various kinds from the tribesmen: Third, payment for stock as described farther on. But in addition to this he might have land as his own personal property.

Every tribesman had to pay to his chief a certain subsidy according to his means. The usual subsidy for commons pasturage was in the proportion of one animal yearly for every seven, which was considerably less than a reasonable rent of the present day. Probably the subsidy for tillage land was in much the same proportion.

A man who takes land must have stock:— cows and sheep for the pasture-land, horses or oxen to carry on the work of tillage. A small proportion of the tenants had stock of their own, but the great majority had not. Where the tenant needed stock it was the custom for the chief to give him as much as he wanted at certain rates of payment. This giving or lending of stock was very general, and from it the chiefs derived a large part of their income.

55. The tenant was called a céile [caila]. Some tenants were saer-céiles, free tenants: some daer-céiles, base or bond tenants. The free tenants were comparatively independent; the bond tenants had to pay heavy subsidies, which always kept them down.

The céiles or tenants hitherto spoken of were all free men. Each had a house of his own, the right to a share of the tribe land and to the use of the commons. In this sense the daer-ceiles were free men, as well as the saer-céiles.

56. The daer-tenants were bound to give the chief refection on visitation, called coinmed [coiney]; that is, the chief was entitled to go with his followers to the house of the tenant, who had to supply the company with food and drink. The number of followers, the time, and the food, were carefully regulated by the Brehon law, according to the amount of stock the tenant borrowed from the chief. But it was a bad and a dangerous custom.

The Anglo Irish lords imitated and abused this regulation by what was called Coyne and Livery. A military leader, when he had no money to pay his soldiers, turned them out with arms in their hands among the colonists to pay themselves in money and food. This was Coyne and Livery. No distinction was made; and the soldiers being under no restraint, plundered and oppressed the people and committed many other crimes. Many severe laws were passed against Coyne and Livery, but notwithstanding these, it continued to be practised by the great lords for generations. Bad as the Irish coiney was, Coyne and Livery was much worse.

57. The non-free people were those who had scarcely any rights—some none at all. They had no claim to any part of the tribe land or to the use of the commons; though the chief might permit them to till land, for which they had to pay ruinous rent. Their standing varied; some being absolute slaves, some little removed from slavery, and others far above it. The most numerous class of the non-free people were those called fudirs; they had no right to any land they tilled, and were in complete dependence—tenants at will, who could be put out at any time.

We know that Slavery pure and simple existed in Ireland in early times: and that it continued to a comparatively late period is proved by the testimony of Giraldus Cambrensis, who relates that it was a common custom among the English to sell their children and other relatives to the Irish for slaves; Bristol being the great mart for the trade. Slaves in those days formed a recognised item of traffic in Ireland.

58. LAND descended in three ways.

FIRST: As private property, in the usual way from father to children.

SECOND: By tanistry, i.e. the mensal land held by the chief went, not to his heir, but the person who succeeded him in the Chiefship.

THIRD: By Gavelkind. When a céile or free tenant who held a part of the tribe land died, his farm did not go to his children; but all the tribe land belonging to the sept was redivided or gavelled among all the male adult members of the sept including the dead man's adult sons. Gavelkind in a modified form still exists in Kent.

59. It should be remarked that all payments were made in kind: Cows, horses, sheep, or silver. A cow was the unit of value, and as such was called a séd [shade]. A cumal was equal to three séds.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:34 pm

IRISH MUSIC

60. From very early times the Irish were celebrated for their skill in music. Our native literature abounds in references to music and to skilful musicians, who are always spoken of in terms of the utmost respect.

During the long period when learning flourished in Ireland, Irish professors and teachers of music would seem to have been almost as much in request in foreign countries as those of literature and philosophy. In the middle of the seventh century, Gertrude, abbess of Nivelle in Belgium, daughter of Pepin mayor of the palace, engaged SS. Foillan and Ultan, brothers of the Irish saint Fursa, of Peronne, to instruct her nuns in psalmody. In the latter half of the ninth century the cloister schools of St. Gall were conducted by an Irishman, Maengal or Marcellus, under whose teaching the music school there attained its highest fame.

61. The cultivation of music was not materially interrupted by the Danish troubles. Giraldus Cambrensis, who seldom had a good word for anything Irish, speaks of the Irish harpers as follows:—"They are incomparably more skilful than any other nation I have ever seen. For their manner of playing on these instruments, unlike that of the Britons to which I am accustomed, is not slow and harsh, but lively and rapid, while the melody is both sweet and sprightly. It is astonishing that in so complex and rapid a movement of the fingers the musical proportions [as to time] can be preserved; and that throughout the difficult modulations on their various instruments, the harmony is completed with such a sweet rapidity." For centuries after the time of Giraldus music continued to be cultivated uninterruptedly; and there was an unbroken succession of great professional harpers, who maintained their ancient pre-eminence down to the seventeenth century.

62. It is only when we arrive at the seventeenth century that we begin to be able to identify certain composers as the authors of existing airs. The oldest harper of great eminence coming within this description is Rory Dall (blind) O'Cahan, who was the composer of many fine airs, some of which we still possess. Died 1600.

Thomas O'Connallon was born in the county Sligo early in the seventeenth century. He seems to have been incomparably the greatest harper of his day, and composed many exquisite airs. Died about 1700.

A much better known personage was Turlogh O'Carolan or Carolan: born at Nobber, county Meath, about 1670, died in 1738. He was blind from his youth, and ultimately became the greatest Irish musical composer of modern times. A large part of his musical compositions are preserved.

63. The harp is the earliest musical instrument mentioned in Irish literature. It was called crot or cruit, and was of various sizes from the small portable hand harp to the great bardic instrument six feet high. It was commonly furnished with thirty strings, but sometimes had many more.

The Irish had a small stringed instrument called a timpan, which had only a few strings—from three to eight. It was played with a bow or plectrum.

The bagpipe was known in Ireland from very early times: the form used was that now commonly known as the Highland pipes—slung from the shoulder: the bag inflated by the mouth,. The other form—resting on the lap, the bag inflated by a bellows—which is much the finer instrument, is of modern invention. The bagpipe was in very general use, but it was only the lower classes that played on it: the harp was the instrument of the higher classes.

64. The music of ancient Ireland consisted wholly of short airs, each with two strains or parts, seldom more. But these, though simple in comparison with modern music, were constructed with such exquisite art that of a large proportion of them it may be truly said no modern composer can produce airs of a similar kind to equal them.

65. It was only in the last century that people began to collect Irish airs from singers and players, and to write them down. The principal collections of Irish airs are those of Bunting, Petrie, Joyce, Horncastle, Lynch, and Hoffman. Other collections are mostly copied from these.

The man who did most in modern times to draw attention to Irish music was Thomas Moore. He composed his exquisite songs to old Irish airs. The whole collection of songs and airs—well known as 'Moore's Melodies'—is now published in one small cheap volume.

66. We know the authors of many of the airs composed within the last 200 years: but these form the smallest portion of the whole body of Irish music. All the rest have come down from old times, scattered fragments of exquisite beauty, that remind us of the refined musical culture of our forefathers. To this last class belong such well known airs as Savourneen Dheelish, Shule Aroon, Molly Asthore, The Boyne Water, Garryowen, Patrick's Day, Eileen Aroon, Langolee, &c. To illustrate what is here said, I may mention that of about 120 Irish airs in all Moore's Melodies, we know the authors of less than a dozen: as to the rest, nothing is known either of the persons who composed them or of the times of their composition.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:35 pm

IRISH ART

67. Penwork. In Ireland art was practised in four different branches:—Ornamentation and illumination of manuscript books; metal work; sculpture; and building. Art of every kind readied its highest perfection in the period between the end of the ninth and the beginning of the twelfth century. All cultivation degenerated after that, on account of the Danish irruptions and the Anglo Norman Invasion.

68. The special style of pen ornamentation was quite peculiar to the Celtic people of Ireland. Its most marked characteristic is interlaced work formed by bands, ribbons, and cords, which are curved and twisted and interwoven in the most intricate way, something like basket work infinitely varied in pattern. These are intermingled and alternated with zigzags, waves, spirals, and lozenges; while here and there among the curves are seen the faces or forms of dragons, serpents, or other strange looking animals, their tails, or ears, or tongues elongated and woven till they become merged and lost in the general design. This ornamentation was chiefly used in the capital letters, which are generally very large. One capital of the Book of Kells covers a whole page. The pattern is often so minute and complicated as to require the aid of a magnifying glass to examine it. The pen work is throughout illuminated in brilliant colours, which in several of the old books are even now very little faded after the lapse of so many centuries.

69. The Book of Kells, written in the seventn or eighth century, is the most beautiful Irish book in existence. Professor Westwood of Oxford, who has examined the best specimens of ancient penwork all over Europe, says:—"It is the most astonishing book of the Four Gospels which exists in the world: there is nothing like it in all the books which were written for Charlemagne and his immediate successors."

Speaking of another Irish book, Mr. Westwood says:—"I have counted [with a magnifying glass] in a small space scarcely three quarters of an inch in length by less than half an inch in width, in the Book of Armagh, no less than 158 interlacements of a slender ribbon pattern formed of white lines edged with black ones." The Book of Durrow and the Book of Armagh, both in Trinity College, Dublin, are splendidly ornamented and illuminated.

Giraldus Cambrensis when in Ireland in 1185, saw a copy of the Four Gospels in St. Brigit's nunnery in Kildare, which so astonished him that he has recorded a legend that it was written under the direction of an angel.

70. The early Irish missionaries brought their arts of writing and illuminating wherever they went, and taught them to others; and to this day numerous exquisite specimens of their skill and taste are preserved in the libraries of England, France, Germany, and Italy.

71. Metal work. The pagan Irish, like the ancient Britons, practised the art of working in bronze, silver, gold, and enamel. This primitive art was continued into Christian times, and was brought to its highest perfection in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

The ornamental designs of metal work were generally similar to those used in manuscripts, and the execution was distinguished by the same exquisite skill and masterly precision. The principal articles made by the artists were crosses; croziers; chalices; bells; brooches; shrines or boxes to hold books or bells or relics; and book satchels, in which the two materials, metal and leather, were used. Specimens of all these may be seen in the National Museum in Dublin. The three most remarkable as well as the most beautiful objects in the Museum are the Cross of Cong, the Ardagh chalice, and the Tara brooch.

72. The chalice was found a few years ago buried in the ground under a stone in old lis at Ardagh, in the county Limerick. It is elaborately ornamented with designs in metal and enamel; and was probably made some short time before the tenth century.

The Tara brooch is ornamented all over with amber, glass, and enamel, and with the characteristic Irish interlaced work in metal. Many old brooches are preserved, but this is by far the most beautiful and perfect of all.

The cross of Cong, which is 2 feet 6 inches high, is covered with elaborate ornamentation of pure Celtic design; and a series of inscriptions in the Irish language along the sides give its full history. It was made by order of Turlogh O'Connor king of Cannaught. The artist, who finished his work in 1123, was Mailisa Mac Braddan O'Hechan.

73. A great variety of gold ornaments may be seen in the National Museum, many of beautiful workmanship. There are several torques, all pure gold, one of which—found at Tara—is 5 feet 7 inches in length and weighs 27 ½ ounces. The torques were worn round the neck, but of many of the other articles the uses are unknown.

74. Sculpture. Artistic sculpture is chiefly exhibited in the great stone crosses, of which about forty-five still remain in various parts of Ireland. One peculiarity of the Celtic cross is a circular ring round the intersection, binding the arms together. Thirty-two of the forty-five existing crosses are richly ornamented; and eight have inscriptions. The elites of the stone crosses extend from the tenth to the thirteenth century. Besides the ornamentation, most of the high crosses contain groups of figures representing various subjects of sacred history. The ornamentation is still of the same general Celtic character that we find in metal work and in illuminated manuscripts, and it exhibits the same masterly skill and ease both in design and execution. One of the crosses at Monasterboice is 27 feet high.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:36 pm

DWELLINGS, FORTRESSES, ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDINGS

75. Dwellings and Fortresses. Before the introduction of Christianity, buildings of every kind in Ireland were almost universally round. The quadrangular shape, which was first used in the churches in the time of St. Patrick, came very slowly into use; and round shaped structures finally disappeared only in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. The dwelling houses were almost always of wood. The wall was formed of strong posts, with the intervening spaces filled with wicker-work, plastered, and often whitened or variously coloured.

76. The homesteads had to be fenced in to protect them from robbers and wild animals. This was done by digging a deep circular trench, the clay from which was thrown up on the inside. Thus was formed all round, a high mound or dyke with a trench outside: one opening was left for a door or gate.

These old circular forts are found in every part of Ireland, but more in the south and west than elsewhere, many of them still very perfect—but of course the timber houses are all gone. Almost all are believed in popular superstition to be the haunts of fairies. They are known by various names, Lis, Bath, Brugh [broo], Dun, Cashel, and Caher—the cashels and cahers being usually built of stone. Some forts are very large—300 feet or more across —so as to give ample room for the group of timber houses, or for the cattle at night. The smaller forts were the residences of the farmers. Very often the flat middle space is raised to a higher level than the surrounding land, and sometimes there is a great mound in the centre, with a flat top, on which no doubt the strong house of the chief stood. In the very large forts there are often three or more great circumvallations. Round the forts of kings or chiefs were grouped the timber dwellings of the dependents, forming a sort of village.

In most of the forts both large and small, whether with flat areas or with raised mounds, there are underground chambers, which were probably used as storehouses, and in case of sudden attack, as places of refuge for women and children.

77. Where stone was abundant the surrounding rampart was often built of dry masonry, the stones being fitted with great exactness. In some of these structures the stones are very large, and then the style of building is termed Cyclopean. Many great stone fortresses still remain near the coasts of Sligo, Galway, Clare, and Kerry, and a few in Antrim and Donegal.

78. For greater security dwellings were often constructed on artificial islands made with stakes, trees, and bushes, in shallow lakes: these were called crannoges. Communication with the shore was carried on by means of a rude boat kept on the island. Crannoge dwellings were in very general use in the time of Elizabeth; and the remains of many of them are still to be seen in our lakes.

79. Churches. From the time of St. Patrick downwards, churches were built, the greater number of wood, but many of stone.

The primitive stone churches, erected in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries are simple oblongs, small and rude. As Christianity spread, the churches became gradually larger and more ornamental, and a chancel was often added at the east end, which was another oblong, merely a continuation of the larger building. The jambs of both doors and windows inclined so that the bottom of the opening was wider than the top: this shape of door or window is a sure mark of antiquity. The remains of little stone churches of this antique pattern, of ages from the fifth century to the tenth or eleventh, are still to be found all over Ireland.

80. Round Towers. In connection with many of the ancient churches there were round towers of stone from 60 to 150 feet high, and from 13 to 20 feet in external diameter at the base: the top was conical. The interior was divided into six or seven stories, reached by ladders from one to another, and each story was lighted by one window: the top story had usually four large windows. The door was placed 10 or more feet from the ground outside, and was reached by a ladder: both doors and windows had sloping jambs like those of the churches. About 80 round towers still remain, of which about 20 are perfect.

Formerly there was much speculation as to the uses of these round towers; but Dr. George Petrie set the question at rest in his Essay on their Origin and Uses. It is now known that they are of Christian origin, and that they were always built in connection with ecclesiastical establishments. They were erected at various times from about the ninth to the thirteenth century. They had at least a twofold use: as belfries and as keeps to which the inmates of the monastery retired with their valuables in case of sudden attack. They were probably used also, when occasion required, as beacons and watch-towers. These are Dr. Petrie's conclusions, except only that he fixed the date of some few in the fifth century, which recent investigations have shown to be too early.

81. Later Churches. Until about the period of the Anglo Norman invasion all the churches were small, because the congregations were small. Towards the close of the twelfth century, when many of the great English lords had settled in Ireland, they began to indulge their taste for architectural magnificence, and the native Irish chiefs imitated and emulated them; large cruciform churches in the pointed style began to prevail; and all over the country splendid buildings of every kind sprang up. Then were erected—some by the English, some by the Irish—those splendid abbeys and churches of which the ruins are still to be seen, such as those of Kilmallock and Monasteranenagh in Limerick, Dublin (Christ church and St. Patrick's); Jerpoint in Kilkenny; Grey Abbey in Down: Bective and Newtown in Meath; Sligo; Quin and Corcomroe in Clare; Balintober in Mayo; Knockmoy in Galway; Dunbrody in Wexford; Buttevant; Cashel; and many others.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:37 pm

IRISH CUSTOMS

82. Arms and Armour. The Irish employed two kinds of foot-soldiers: Galloglachs or Galloglasses and Kern. The galloglasses were heavy-armed infantry. They wore a coat of mail and an iron helmet; a long sword hung by the side, and in the hand was carried a broad heavy keen-edged axe. The Irish never took to armour very generally, but preferred to fight in saffron linen tunics, which lost them many a battle. The Kern were light-armed foot-soldiers: they wore head pieces, and fought with a skean, i. e. a dagger or short sword, and with a javelin attached to a thong.

83. "It is curious that bows and arrows are very seldom mentioned in our old writings: and the passages that are supposed to refer to them are so indistinct, that if we had no other evidence it might be difficult to prove that the use of the bow was known at all to the ancient Irish. However the matter is placed beyond dispute by the fact that flint arrow-heads are found in the ground in various parts of the country." *

In prehistoric ages, hammers, axes, spear-heads and arrow-heads were made of flint or other stone. Next came bronze axes, spear-heads, and swords. Lastly, swords, daggers, and spears of iron and steel. Shields were made of wicker-work covered with hides; also of yew and bronze.

84. Chariots and Roads. Our literature affords unquestionable evidence that chariots were used in Ireland from the most remote ages. The war chariots had spikes and scythe-blades like those of the ancient Britons.

That the country was well provided with roads we know, partly from our ancient literature, and partly from the general use of chariots. There were five main roads leading from Tara through the country in different directions; and numerous minor roads—all with distinct names—are mentioned in the annals.

85. Boats. The ancient Irish used three kinds of boats:—small sailing vessels; canoes hollowed out from the trunks of trees; and currachs. The currach was made of wicker-work covered with hides. These boats are constantly mentioned in lay as well as in ecclesiastical literature; and they are used still round the coasts, but tarred canvas is employed instead of skins.

86. Mills. Water-mills were known from very remote ages, and were more common in ancient than in modern times. In most houses there was a quern or hand-mill, and the use of it was part of the education of every woman of the working class. The quern continued in use until very recently both in Ireland and Scotland.

87. Burial. Three modes of disposing of the dead were practised in ancient Ireland. First mode: the body was buried as at present. Second: sometimes the body of a king or warrior was placed standing up in the grave, fully accoutred and armed. Third: the body was burned and the ashes were deposited in the grave in an ornamental urn of baked clay.

88. Often that sort of stone monument now known as a cromlech was constructed, formed of one great flat stone lying on the tops of several large standing stones, thus enclosing a rude chamber in which one or more bodies or urns were placed. These cromlechs—which are sometimes wrongly called druids' altars—remain in every part of Ireland; and skeletons, and urns containing burnt bones, have been found under many of them.

A mound of stones raised over a grave is called a cairn. In old times people had a fancy to bury on the tops of hills; and the summits of very many hills in Ireland are crowned with cairns, under every one of which—in a stone coffin—reposes some chief renowned in the olden time. Sometimes these mounds were of clay. All contain chambers. The greatest mounds in Ireland are those of Newgrange, Dowth, and Knowth, on the Boyne, five miles above Drogheda.

At the burial of important persons funeral games were celebrated: these gave origin to many of the Aenachs or fairs.

89. Fosterage. One of the leading features of Irish social life was fosterage, which prevailed from the remotest period. It was practised by persons of all classes, but more especially by those in the higher ranks. A man sent his child to be reared and educated in the home and with the family of another member of the tribe, who then became foster father, and his children the foster brothers and foster sisters of the child. Fosterage, which was the closest tie between families, was subject to stringent regulations, which were carefully set forth in the Brehon Law.

90. Gossipred. When a man stood sponsor for a child at baptism he became the child's godfather and gossip to the parents. Gossipred was regarded as a sort of religious relationship between families, and created mutual obligations of regard and friendship.

91. Public assemblies. In early times when means of intercommunication were very limited, it was important that the people should hold meetings to discuss divers affairs affecting the public weal, and for other business of importance. In Ireland popular assemblies and meetings of representatives were very common, and were called by various names—Fes, Dal, Mordal, Aenach, etc. They were continued to a late period.

The Aenach or Fair was an assembly of the people of every class belonging to a district or province. Some fairs were annual; some triennial. According to the most ancient traditions, many of these Aenachs—perhaps all —had their origin in funeral games; and we know as a fact that the most important of them were held at ancient cemeteries, where kings or renowned heroes or other noted personages of history or legend were buried. Fairs were held at Tlachtga, now the hill of Ward near Athboy in Meath; Tailltenn, now Teltown midway between Navan and Kells; and at many other places. At all these meetings national games were celebrated.

92. The most celebrated of all the ancient meetings was the Fes or Convention of Tara. The old tradition states, that it was instituted by Ollamh Fodla [Ollav Fola]. It was originally held, or intended to be held, every third year; but since the fourth or fifth century, it was generally convened only once by each king, namely at the beginning of his reign.

This Fes was a convention of the leading people, not an aenach for the masses; and it represented all Ireland. The provincial kings, the minor kings and chiefs, and the most distinguished representatives of the learned professions—the ollaves of history, law, poetry, etc.—attended. It lasted for seven days, from the third day before Samin (1st November) to the third day after it. The delegates met to consider the Government of the country. The king of Ireland feasted the company every day: there was a separate compartment for the representatives of each province with their numerous attendants; and each guest had his special place assigned according to rank. The last convention was held here by king Dermot the son of Fergus, A. D. 560.

At the Fes of Tara, as well indeed as at all other important meetings, elaborate precautions were taken to prevent quarrels or unpleasantness of any kind. Any one who struck or wounded another, used insulting words, or stole anything, was punished with death; and all persons who attended were free for the time from prosecution and from legal proceedings of every kind.

* See my Irish Names of Places, Vol. II., Chap. XI.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:41 pm

PART II.

Ireland under Native Rulers

PART II.

IRELAND UNDER NATIVE RULERS.

(From the most ancient times to 1172.)

IN the beginning of this Second Part the narrative is legendary, like the early accounts of all other nations.

This period includes the Danish invasions, which never broke the continuity of the monarchy in Ireland as they did in England. It ended about 1172; for after that time there was no longer a supreme native king over Ireland.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:42 pm

THE LEGENDS OF THE EARLY COLONIES

[The whole of this Chapter is legendary, and the dates are quite fanciful].

93. Besides some fables about the landing of the lady Ceasair [Kasser] and her people forty days before the flood, our manuscripts have legends of five ancient colonies.

The Parthalonians: the first colony, A. M. 2520. The first man that led a colony to Ireland after the flood was a chief named Parthalon, who came hither from Greece, with his wife, his three sons, and 1,000 followers. He took up his abode first on the little island of Inish-Samer in the river Erne just below the waterfall of Assaroe at Ballyshannon; and afterwards on Moy-Elta, the level district between Dublin and Ben-Edar or Howth. At the end of 300 years the people of this colony were destroyed by a plague, which carried off 9,000 of them in one week on Moy-Elta.

94. The Nemedians: the second colony, A. M. 2850. After the destruction of the Parthalonians Nemed came from Scythia with his followers. These Nemedians were harassed by the Fomorian pirates, but Nemed defeated them in several battles. After some years he and 3,000 of his followers died of the plague.

The Fomorians were a race of sea-robbers, who, after the death of Nemed, oppressed his people and made them pay an intolerable yearly tribute. So the Nemedians, unable to bear their miserable state any longer, rose up in a fury; and a dreadful battle was fought on the sea beach near Tory Island, in which nearly all the combatants fell. And those who were not killed in battle were drowned, lor the combatants fought so furiously that they gave no heed to the advancing tide-wave which rose and overwhelmed them.

95. The Firbolgs: the third colony, A. M. 3266, came from Greece under the leadership of the five sons of Dela, who led them to Ireland. These brothers partitioned the country into five provinces, Ulster, Leinster, Connaught, and the two Munsters (50).

The Dedannans: the fourth colony, A. M. 3303, also came from Greece, and were celebrated for their skill in magic. As soon as they had landed in Ireland they burned their ships; and shrouding themselves in a magic mist, so that the Firbolgs could not see them, they marched unperceived to Slieve an-Ierin mountain in the present county Leitrim. Soon afterwards a battle was fought which lasted for four days, till the Firbolgs were defeated, and the Dedannans remained masters of the island. These Dedannans were in subsequent ages deified and became Side [Shee] or fairies, whom the ancient Irish worshipped (110).

96. The Milesians: the fifth colony, A. M. 3500. From Scythia their original home they began their long pilgrimage. Their first migration was to Egypt, where they were sojourning at the time that Pharaoh and his host were drowned in the Red Sea; and after wandering through Europe for many generations they arrived in Spain. Here they abode for a long time; and at last they came to Ireland with a fleet of thirty ships under the command of the eight sons of the hero Miled or Milesius.

The Dedannans, by their magical incantations, raised a furious tempest which scattered and wrecked the fleet along the rocky coasts. Five of the eight brothers perished; and the remaining three, Eremon, Eber-Finn, and Amergin, landed with the remnant of their people. Soon afterwards two battles were fought, in which the Dedannans were defeated; and the Milesians took possession of the country.

The two brothers Eber-Finn and Eremon now divided Ireland, Eber-Finn taking the two Munsters and Eremon Leinster and Connaught. They gave Ulster to their nephew Eber, and made Amergin chief poet and brehon of the kingdom.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:43 pm

THE KINGS OF PAGAN IRELAND

[In the beginning this Chapter is legendary and the dates are still little more than guesses. After the foundation of Emania we begin to have a mixture of real history (25). As we approach the reign of Laeghaire there is a constantly increasing proportion of fact: and the dates are approximately correct].

97. The brothers Eber-Finn and Eremon had no sooner settled down in their new kingdoms than they quarrelled and fought a battle (A. M. 3501), in which Eber was defeated and slain, and Eremon became sole king.

By far the greater number of the Irish Pagan kings after Eremon fell in battle or by assassination: a few only of the most distinguished need be noticed here.

98. Tighernmas [Teernmas], who began his reign A. M. 3581, was the first of the Irish kings to work gold. He distinguished the various classes of his people by the numbers of hues in their garments.

99. This king, we are told, was miraculously destroyed, with a multitude of his people, while they were worshipping the great national idol Crom Cruach on the plain of Moy Slecht in Brefney, on the eve of the pagan festival of Samin (1st November).

The mighty king Ollamh Fodla [Ollav Fola] — A. M. 3922—established the Fes or meeting of Tara; the proceedings of which were entered in the great national record called the Psalter of Tara. And he made laws for the whole country.

100. About 300 years before the Christian era, Macha of the Golden Hair, the queen of Cimbaeth [Kimbay] king of Ulster, built the palace of Emain or Emania, which for more than 600 years continued to be the residence of the Ulster kings. Here in after ages, the Red Branch Knights were trained in military accomplishments and deeds of arms. The remains of this palace are still to be seen two miles west of Armagh: it is now called Navan Fort, Navan being the pronunciation of the old Irish name N-Emain.

100a. Achy Feidlech [Fealagh], who ascended the throne a little before the Christian era, built the palace of Croghan for his daughter, the celebrated Medb [Maive] queen of Connaught, where the kings of that province afterwards resided. This old fort is in the north of Roscommon, and still retains the original name.

The king who reigned at the time of the Incarnation was Conary I., or Conary the Great. In his time occurred the seven years' war between Maive queen of Connaught and Conor Mac Nessa king of Ulster (33).

101. Some time in the first century of the Christian era the Attacottic or plebeian races, i.e. the Firbolgs, Dedannans, and Fomorians whom the Milesians had enslaved, rose up in rebellion, wrested the sovereignty from their masters, and almost exterminated the Milesian princes and nobles: after which they chose Carbery Kinncat for their king. But the Milesian Monarchy was after some time restored in the person of Tuathal [Toohal] the Legitimate, who ascended the throne early in the second century.

This king Tuathal took measures to consolidate the monarchy. Before his time the over-kings had for their personal estate only a small tract round Tara. But he cut off a portion from each of the provinces, and formed therewith the province of Meath, to be the special demesne or estate of the supreme kings of Ireland. He imposed on Leinster an enormous tribute called the Boruma or Boru to be paid to the kings of Ireland every second year. This tribute was never yielded without resistance more or less, and for many centuries it was the cause of constant bloodshed.

102. The renowned Conn Ced-Cathach [Kead-Caha], or Conn the Hundred-fighter, became king late in the second century (A. D. 177). His most formidable antagonist was the great hero Eoghan-Mor [Owen More], otherwise called Mogh-Nuadhat [Mow-Nooat] king of Munster, who having defeated him in ten battles, forced him at last to divide Ireland between them. For a line of demarcation they fixed on a natural ridge of sandhills called Esker-Riada, which can still be traced running across Ireland with little interruption from Dublin to Galway. This division is perpetually referred to in Irish literature: the northern half, which belonged to Conn was called Leth-Chuinn [Leh-Conn] or Conn's half; and the southern Leth-Mogha [Leh-Mow], that is Mogh's half. Conn was succeeded by his son-in-law Conary II, (A. D. 212).

103. From the earliest ages the Irish of Ulster were in the habit of crossing the narrow sea to Alban or Scotland, where colonies were settled from time to time. The first regular colony of which we have any reliable account was conducted by Carbery Riada, the son of king Conary. Hence that part of Scotland in which he settled got the name of Dalriada, i.e. Riada's portion. There was also a Dalriada in the north of Antrim, which still retains the old name in the form of Route.

104. Cormac Mac Art, or Cormac Ulfada (A. D. 254), the grandson of Conn the Hundred-fighter, was the most illustrious of all the pagan kings of Ireland. He founded three colleges at Tara, one for the study of military science, one for history and literature, and one for law.

After a prosperous reign, Cormac abdicated on account of the accidental loss of an eye, for no king with a personal blemish was allowed to reign at Tara (52). He retired to his kingly cottage, called Cletta, on the shore of the river Boyne; where he composed the book called Tegasg Righ [Ree] or Instructions for a king, and other law tracts, of which we have copies in our old manuscript Volumes: and here he died in the year 277.

In the time of Cormac flourished the Fianna [Feena] of Erin, a sort of militia, like the Red Branch Knights, in the service of the monarch. They were commanded by Cormac's son-in-law, the renowned Finn Mac Cumhail [Cool] who is remembered in tradition all over Ireland to this day. Finn's son was Oisin or Ossian the poet; the brave and gentle hero Oscar was the son of Oisin (34).

Cormac was succeeded (A.D. 279) by his son Carbery of the Liffey; who defeated the rebellious Fena in the battle of Gavra near Skreen in Meath, and dispersed them for evermore.

105. During the reign of Muredach (A.D. 881) his three cousins, Colla Huas, Colla Menn, and Colla Da-Crich [Cree]—commonly called the Three Collas—invaded and conquered Ulster, destroyed the Palace of Emania, and took possession of that part of the province lying west of the Newry river.

Niall of the Nine Hostages (A.D. 879) was one of the greatest, most warlike, and most famous of all the ancient Irish kings. Four of his sons settled in Meath, and four others conquered for themselves a territory in Ulster, where they settled. The posterity of Niall are called Hy Neill; the southern Hy Neill being descended from those that settled in Meath, the northern Hy Neill from those that went to Ulster. By far the greatest number of the Irish kings, from this period till the Anglo-Norman invasion, were descended from Niall through one or the other of these two branches.

106. At this time the "Picts and Scots" gave great trouble to the Britons and Romans in Britain. The Picts were the people of Scotland—a branch of the Goidels or Gaels: the Scots were Irish Gaels. In those times the Scots often went from Ireland on plundering excursions to the coasts of Britain and Gaul, and seem to have been almost as much dreaded then as the Danes were in later ages.

During the whole time of the Roman occupation of Britain we constantly hear—both from native and Roman sources—of the excursions of the Scots to Britain; and when the Roman power began to wane they became still more frequent. The most formidable invasions of all were led by Niall. He collected a great fleet and landing in Wales carried off immense plunder, but was forced to retreat by the valiant Roman general Stilicho. In one of Niall's excursions St. Patrick was brought captive to Ireland, as related in next Chapter.

It was in one of his expeditions to the coast of Gaul that Niall, while marching at the head of his army, was assassinated (A. D. 405) on the shore of the river Loire by the king of Leinster, who shot him with an arrow beside the river.

107. Dathi [Dauhy] Niall's successor (A. D. 405), was the last king of pagan Ireland. He too made inroads into foreign lands; and he was killed by a flash of lightning at the foot of the Alps. His soldiers brought his body home and buried it at Croghan (100a) under a red pillar stone which remains in the old pagan cemetery to this day.

108. Laeghaire [Leary] the son of Niall succeeded in 428. In the fifth year of his reign St. Patrick came to Ireland on his great mission. This king like many of his predecessors waged war against the Leinstermen to exact the Boru tribute; but they defeated him and took him prisoner. Then they made him swear by the sun and wind and all the elements that he would never again demand the tribute; and when he had sworn they set him free. But the very next year, A. D. 463, he invaded Leinster again; whereupon—so says the legend—he was killed while on his march by the sun and wind for having broken his oath.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:45 pm

SAINT PATRICK

109. It is commonly supposed that the druidic religion prevailed in pagan Ireland; but we know very little of the nature and ceremonials of this Irish druidism.

In the oldest Irish traditions the druids figure conspicuously. All the early colonists had their druids, who are mentioned as holding high rank among kings and chiefs. They are often called men of science to indicate their superior knowledge. Many worshipped idols of some kind: some worshipped water; some, fire; some, the sun.

They were skilled in magic—indeed they figure more conspicuously as magicians than in any other capacity—and were believed to be possessed of tremendous preternatural powers. They practised divination, and foretold future events from dreams and visions, from sneezing and casting lots; from the croaking of ravens and the chirping of wrens. They bitterly opposed Christianity; and we know that there were druids in the country long after St. Patrick's time, who continued to exercise powerful influence.

110. Our most ancient secular and ecclesiastical literature attests the universal belief in the side [Shee] or fairies, who, as we are told, were worshipped by the Irish. These were local deities who were supposed to live in the interior of pleasant green hills or under great rocks or sepulchral cairns, where they had splendid palaces. Many of these fairy hills are still known all over the country, each with its tutelary deity; and they are held in much superstitious awe by the peasantry.

The fairies were also believed to inhabit the old raths and lisses, so numerous through the country, a superstition that still lingers everywhere among the people.

111. In some places idols were worshipped. There was a great idol, called Crom Cruach, covered all over with gold, on Moy-Slecht (the plain of adoration) in the present county of Cavan, surrounded by twelve lesser idols, all of which were destroyed by St. Patrick. These thirteen idols were all pillar-stones; and according to our ancient authorities pillar-stone idols were worshipped in many other parts of Ireland as well as at Moy-Slecht.

112. We know that there were Christians in Ireland long before the time of St. Patrick, but we have no evidence to show how Christianity was introduced in those early ages. In the year 431, Pope Celestine sent Palladius "to the Scots believing in Christ" to be their first bishop. There must have been Christians in considerable numbers when the Pope thought this measure necessary; and such numbers could not have grown up in a short time. Palladius landed in Wicklow, from which he was expelled by the local chief; and he died soon afterwards in Scotland.

113. The next mission had very different results. "Although Christianity was not propagated in Ireland by the blood of martyrs, there is no instance of any other nation that universally received it in as short a space of time as the Irish did;" and in the whole history of Christianity we do not find a missionary more successful than St. Patrick.

114. It is pretty certain that Patrick was born either in Scotland or in Armoric Gaul: the weight of authority tends to Dumbarton in Scotland. His parents were Christians: his father Calpurnius was a deacon, and also a decurion or magistrate in a Roman colony. When Patrick was a boy of sixteen he was taken captive with many others and brought to Ireland about the year 403, in one of these predatory excursions, already spoken of (106), by Niall of the Nine Hostages. He was sold as a slave and spent six years of his life herding sheep on the bleak slopes of Slemish mountain in Antrim. Here in his solitude his mind was turned to God, and while carefully doing the work of his hard master Milcho, he employed his leisure hours in devotions. We know this from his own words in the Confession (19):—"I was daily tending the flocks and praying frequently every day that the love of God might be more enkindled in my heart; so much so that in one day I poured out my prayers a hundred times and as often in the night: nay, even in woods and mountains I remained and rose before the light to my prayers, in frost and snow and rain, and suffered no inconvenience, nor yielded to any slothfulness, for the Spirit of the Lord was fervent within me."

115. At the end of six years he escaped and made his way through many hardships and dangers to his native country. During his residence in Ireland he had learned the language of the people; and brooding continually on the state of pagan darkness in which they lived, he formed the resolution to devote his life to their conversion. He set about his preparation very deliberately. He first studied under St. Martin in his monastic school at Tours, and spent some time subsequently with St. Germain of Auxerre.

During all this time he applied himself fervently to works of piety; and he had visions and dreams in which he heard the Irish people calling to him to return to Ireland and walk among them with the light of faith. At length the time came to begin the great work of his life; and he repaired to Rome with a letter from St. Germain recommending him to Pope Celestine as a suitable person to attempt the conversion of the Irish nation.

116. Having received authority and benediction from the Pope he set out for Ireland.[1] On his way through Gaul news came of the death of Palladius, and as this left Ireland without a bishop, Patrick was consecrated bishop by a certain holy prelate named Amator. Embarking for Ireland he landed, in the year 432, on the Coast of Wicklow, at the mouth of the Vartry river, the spot where the town of Wicklow now stands, He was then about forty-five years of age. Soon after landing he was expelled from Wicklow like his predecessor; and coasting northwards and resting for a time at the little island of Holmpatrick on the Dublin Coast near Skerries, he and his companions finally landed at Lecale in Down. Dicho, the chief of the district, instantly sallied forth with his people to drive them back; but when he caught sight of them he was so struck by their calm and dignified aspect that he saluted them respectfully and invited them to his house.

Here the saint announced his mission and explained his doctrine; and Dicho and his whole family became Christians and were baptized: the first of the Irish converted by St. Patrick. He celebrated Mass in a sabhall [saval] or bam presented to him by the chief, on the site of which a monastery was subsequently erected, which for many ages was held in great veneration. And the memory of the auspicious event was preserved in the name by which the place was subsequently known, Saval-Patrick or Patrick's Barn, now shortened to Saul.

117. During the whole of St. Patrick's mission his invariable plan was to address himself in the first instance to the kings and chiefs. He now resolved to go straightway to Tara, where king Laeghaire and his nobles happened at this time to be celebrating a festival of some kind. Bidding farewell to his friend Dicho, he sailed southwards to the mouth of the Boyne, from which he set out on foot with his companions for Tara, and arrived at Slane on Saturday, Easter eve, A. D. 433. Here he prepared to celebrate the Easter festival, and towards nightfall, as was then the custom, lighted the Paschal fire on the hill of Slane.

118. At this very time it happened that the king's people were about to light the festival fire at Tara, which was a part of their ceremonial; and there was a law that while this fire was burning no other should be kindled in the country all round, on pain of death. The king and his courtiers were much astonished when they saw the fire ablaze upon the hill of Slane, nine miles off; and when the monarch inquired about it his diuids said:—"If that fire which we see be not extinguished to-night it will never be extinguished, but will over-top all our fires: and he that has kindled it will overturn thy kingdom." Whereupon the king, in great wrath, instantly set out in his chariot with a small retinue; and having arrived near Slane, he summoned the strangers to his presence. He had commanded that none should rise up to show them respect; but when they presented themselves, one of the courtiers, Erc the son of Dego, struck with the saint's commanding appearance, rose from his seat and saluted him. This Erc was converted and became afterwards bishop of Slane. The result of this interview was what St, Patrick most earnestly desired; he was commanded to appear next day at Tara and give an account of his proceedings before the assembled court.

119. The next day was Easter Sunday. Patrick and his companions set out for the palace, and on their way they chanted a hymn in the native tongue—an invocation for protection against the dangers and treachery by which they were beset; for they had heard that persons were lying in wait to slay them. This hymn was long held in great veneration by the people of this country, and we still possess copies of it in a very old dialect of the Irish language.

In the history of the spread of Christianity, it would be perhaps difficult to find a more singular and impressive scene than was presented at the court of king Laeghaire on that memorable Easter morning. The saint was robed in white, as were also his companions; he wore his mitre, and carried his crozier in his hand; and when he presented himself before the assembly, Dubhthach [Duffa] the chief poet, rose to welcome him, contrary to the express commands of the king. In presence of the monarch and his nobles, the saint explained the leading points of the Christian doctrine, and silenced the king's druids in argument.

120. The proceedings of this auspicious day were a type of St. Patrick's future career. Dubhthach became a convert and thenceforward devoted his poetical talents to the service of God; and Laeghaire gave permission to the strange missionaries to preach their doctrines throughout his dominions. Patrick next proceeded to Tailltenn, where during the celebration of the national games he preached for a week to the assembled multitudes, making many converts, among whom was Conall Gulban, brother to king Laeghaire, the ancestor of the O'Donnells of Tirconnell.

We find him soon after making straight for Moy Slecht, where stood the great national idol Crom Cruach, surrounded by twelve lesser idols. These he destroyed, and thus terminated for ever the abominations enacted for so many ages at that ancient haunt of gloomy superstition.

121. In his journey through Connaught he and his companions met the two daughters of king Laeghaire—Ethnea the fair and Fedelma the ruddy—near the royal palace of Croghan. The virgins inquired whence they came, and Patrick answered them, "It were better for you to confess to our true God than to inquire concerning our race." They eagerly asked about God, his attributes, his dwelling-place—whether in the sea, in rivers, in mountainous places, or in valleys—how knowledge of him was to be obtained, how he was to be found, seen, and loved, with other inquiries of a like nature. The Saint answered their questions, and explained the leading points of the faith; and the virgins were immediately baptized and consecrated to the service of religion.

122. On the approach of Lent he retired to the mountain which has since borne his name—Croagh Patrick or Patrick's hill—where he spent some time in fasting and prayer. At this time, A.D. 449, the seven sons of Amalgaidh [Awley] king of Connaught had convened a great assembly, to which Patrick repaired. He expounded his doctrines to the wondering assembly; and the seven princes with twelve thousand persons were baptized.

123. After spending seven years in Connaught, he visited successively Ulster, Leinster, and Munster. Soon after entering Leinster, he converted at Naas—then the residence of the Leinster kings—the two princes Ilann and Olioll, sons of the king of Leinster, who both afterwards succeeded to the throne of their father. And at Cashel, the seat of the kings of Munster, he was met by the king, Aengus the son of Natfree, who conducted him into the palace with the highest reverence and was at once baptized.

124. Wherever he went he founded churches, and left them in charge of his disciples. In his various journeys, he encountered many dangers and met with numerous repulses; but his failures were few and unimportant, and success attended his efforts in every part of his wonderful career. He founded the see of Armagh about the year 455, and constituted it the metropolitan see of all Ireland.

The greater part of the country was now filled with Christians and with churches; and the mission of the venerable apostle was drawing to a close. He was seized with his last illness in Saul, the scene of his first spiritual triumph; and he breathed his last on the seventeenth of March, in or about the year 465, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.[2]

The news of his death was the signal for universal mourning. From the remotest districts of the island, the clergy turned their steps towards the little village of Saul —bishops, priests, abbots and monks—all came to pay the last tribute of love and respect to their great master. They celebrated the obsequies for twelve days and nights without interruption, joining in the solemnities as they arrived in succession; and in the language of one of his biographers, the blaze of myriads of torches made the whole time appear like one continuous day. He was buried with great solemnity at Dun-da-leth-glas, the old residence of the princes of Ulidia; and the name, in the altered form of Downpatrick, commemorates to all time the saint's place of interment.

125. It must not be supposed that Ireland was completely Christianized by St. Patrick. There still remained large districts never visited by him or his companions; and in many others the Christianity of the people was merely on the surface. Much Pagan superstition remained, even among the professing Christians, and the druids still and for long after retained great influence; so that there was ample room for the missionary zeal of St. Patrick's successors.

[1] Some dispute his mission from the Pope.

[2] There is much uncertainty both as to St Patrick's age and as to the year of his death. I have given the age and the year that seem to me most probable.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:45 pm

EARLY CHRISTIAN IRELAND


126. Lewy the son of Laeghaire was too young at the time of his father's death to claim the throne, which was seized by Olioll Molt king of Connaught, son of Dathi, A.D. 463. But Lewy when he came of age raised a great army and defeated and slew king Olioll in the terrible battle of Ocha in Meath and took possession of the throne. This battle, which was fought in 483, was a sort of revolution. Olioll Molt did not belong to the Hy Neill. Lewy was of the Southern Hy Neill; and from this date, for 500 years without a break, the Hy Neill held the throne of Ireland.

During this king's reign (in 503) a colony was led to Scotland, the greatest colony of all, by three brothers, Fergus, Angus, and Lome, sons of an Irish chief named Erc. Fergus, commonly called Fergus Mac Erc, became king of the Scottish Gaelic colony, which before long mastered the whole country and ultimately gave it the name of Scotland (from the Scots or Irish).

127. Dermot the son of Fergus Kervall became king of Ireland in 544. In his reign Tara was deserted as a royal residence on account of a curse pronounced against it by St. Rodan of Lorrha in Tipperary. From that time forth the kings of Ireland lived elsewhere—each in his own province: and the place gradually fell into decay.

128. Aed or Hugh the son of Ainmire reigned from 572 to 598. By him was summoned in 574 the celebrated convention of Druim-cete [Drum-Ketta], now called the Mullagh or Daisy Hill, on the river Roe, near Limavady, which was attended by the chief men of Ireland both lay and clerical. St. Columba also and a number of his clergy came from Iona to take part in the proceedings, as well as the king and chiefs of the Scottish Dalriada. At this meeting two important questions were settled. The bards had become so numerous and so oppressive on the people by their insolence and exactions that king Hugh proposed that the order should be abolished and the bards banished. But at St. Columkille's intercession a middle course was adopted. Their number was greatly reduced, and strict rules were laid down for the regulation of their conduct for the future. The principal bards, or ollaves, had to employ themselves in teaching schools. The second question had reference to the colony in Scotland. Up to this it had been subject to the kings of Ireland: but at the intercession of St, Columkille it was now made independent.

King Aed, attempting to exact the Borumean tribute, was defeated and slain by Branduff king of Leinster at the battle of Dunbolg, near Dunlavin, in the county Wicklow.

129. Donall the son of king Aed Mac Ainmire ascended the throne, A.D. 627. A powerful Ulster prince named Congal Claen, who had been banished by Donall, landed on the coast of Down, after an exile of nine years, with a great army of auxiliaries—Britons, Saxons, Alban Scots, and Picts—and was immediately joined by his Ulster partisans.

Donall had been fully aware of Congal's projected invasion, and had made preparations to meet it. He marched northwards at the head of his army to Moyrath, now Moira in the county of Down, where was fought, in 637, one of the most sanguinary battles recorded in Irish history. It lasted for six successive days, and terminated in the total defeat of the invaders. Congal fell fiercely fighting at the head of his forces; and his army was almost annihilated.

130. The Irish kings had continued to exact the Boru tribute from the Leinstermen, who struggled manfully against it to the last. But at the earnest solicitation of St. Moling, Finaghta the Festive, who became king in 674, solemnly renounced the Boru for himself and his successors.

The generous action of Finaghta did not end the trouble. After the lapse of two reigns, the monarch Fergal demanded the tribute; and on refusal a battle was fought in 722 at the historic hill of Allen in Kildare, in which the royal forces were utterly defeated, and king Fergal himself and 7,000 of his men were slain.

But when Aed (or Hugh) Allen, the son of Fergal, became king, he engaged the Leinster army at Ballyshannon in Kildare, and nearly exterminated them; A.D. 738.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:46 pm

RELIGION AND LEARNING

131. The spread of the faith suffered no check by the death of St. Patrick; for churches, monasteries, and convents continued to be founded all over the country. The founders of monasteries in Ireland may be said to have been of two classes. Those of the one class settled in the inhabited districts, and took on themselves functions of education and religious ministration. Those of the other class gave themselves up to a life of prayer and contemplation; and these took up their abode in remote islands or mountain valleys, places generally hard to reach, and often almost inaccessible. Here they lived with their little communities in cells, one for each individual, poor little places, mostly built by the monks themselves. They supported themselves by the work of their hands, lived on hard fare, slept on the bare floor, and occupied their spare time in devotions. There was a very pronounced tendency to this solitary monastic life in the early Christian ages; and on almost all the islands round the coast, as well as on those in the lakes and rivers, the remains of churches and primitive eremitical establishments are found to this day.

132. The three patron saints of Ireland are Patrick, Brigit, and Columba or Columkille.

St. Brigit of Kildare was born about the year 455 at Faughart near Dundalk, where her father, who was a Leinster chief, then lived. She became a nun when very young; and soon the fame of her sanctity spread through the whole country. Having founded convents in various parts of Ireland, she finally settled—about the year 480—at a place in Leinster, where she built her first cell under the shade of a great oak-tree, whence it got the name of Kill-dara, the church of the oak, now Kildare. This became the greatest and most famous nunnery ever established in Ireland. She died on the 1st of February, 523. St. Brigit is venerated in Ireland beyond all other Irishwomen; and there are places all through the country still called Kilbride, and Kilbreedy (Brigit's church) which received their names from churches founded by or in commemoration of her.

133. St. Columba or Columkille of Iona was born in 521 at Gartan in Donegal. He belonged to the Northern Hy Neill, his father being grandson of Conall Gulban son of Niall of the Nine Hostages; but he gave up all the worldly advantages of his high birth for religion. In the year 546 he built the monastery of Derry; after which, during the next fifteen years, he founded a great number of churches and monasteries all over the country, among others those of Kells, Swords, Tory Island, Lambay near Dublin, and Durrow in King's county, the last of which was his chief establishment in Ireland.

In the year 563 he went with twelve companions to the little Island of Iona on the west coast of Scotland, which had been granted to him by his relative the king of that part of Scotland. Here he settled, and founded the monastery which afterwards became so illustrious. He converted the Picts, and he traversed the Hebrides, preaching to the people and founding churches wherever he went. After a life of incessant activity in the service of religion, he died kneeling before the altar of his own church of Iona, in the year 597, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and was buried within the monastery.

134. Besides the three Patrons, the following are a few of the most eminent of the Irish Saints: St. Ailbè of Emly in Limerick, who was ordained bishop by St. Patrick.

St. Enna or Endeus of Aran in Galway Bay; died about 542, This island was afterwards called Ara-na-Naemh [naive], Aran of the saints, from the number of holy men who lived in it.

St. Ciaran or Kieran, the patron of Ossory: born in the island of Cape Clear: died about 550.

St. Finnen of Clonard, the founder of the great school there: died 549.

St. Ciaran [Kieran] of Clonmacnoise, which became one of the greatest of all the Irish monasteries: died 549.

St. Ita, Ida or Mida, virgin saint, of Killeedy in Limerick; often called the Brigit of Munster: died 569.

St. Brendan of Clonfert in Galway, or Brendan the Navigator: born in Kerry: died 577.

St. Senan of Scattery island in the Shannon: died about 560.

St. Comgall of Bangor in Down, the founder of the celebrated school, which rivalled Clonard: died 602.

St. Kevin, the founder of Glendalough in Wicklow: died 618.

St. Carrthach or Mochuda of Lismore, where he founded one of Ireland's greatest schools: died 637.

St. Adamnan the biographer of St. Columkille; ninth abbot of Iona: died 703.

135. Among the vast number of Irishmen who became illustrious on the continent, the following may be named:—

St. Fursa of Peronne and his brothers Foillan and Ultan; Fursa died about 650.

St. Dympna or Domnat of Gheel, virgin martyr, to whom the great sanatorium for lunatics at Gheel in Belgium is dedicated: martyred in the seventh century.

St. Columbanus of Bobbio in Italy, a pupil of Bangor, founded the two monasteries of Luxeuil and Fontaines: expelled from Burgundy for denouncing the vices of king Theodoric; preached successfully to the Gauls; wrote learned letters; finally settled at Bobbio, where he died 615.

St. Gall, a disciple of Columbanus, patron of St. Gall (in Switzerland) which was named from him.

Virgil or Virgilius bishop of Salzburg, called Virgil the Geometer from his eminence in science: taught, probably for the first time, the rotundity of the earth: died 785.

St. Fridolin the Traveller of Seckingen on the Rhine: died sixth century.

St. Kilian the apostle of Franconia: martyred 689.

St. Cataldus of Tarentum, from the school of Lismore; seventh century.

Clement and Albinus, placed by Charlemagne at the head of two great seminaries.

John Scotus Erigena, celebrated for his knowledge of Greek: the most distinguished scholar of his day: died about 870.

136. In ancient Ireland education and religion went hand in hand, so that in tracing their history it is impossible to separate them. By far the greatest part of the education of the country was carried on by, or under the direction of, priests and monks of the various orders, who combined religious with secular teaching.

137. From the middle of the sixth century schools rapidly arose all over the country, most of them in connection with monasteries. The most celebrated were those of Clonard (in Meath), Armagh, Bangor (in Down), Cashel, Downpatrick, Ross Ailithir now Rosscarbery in Cork, Lismore, Glendalough, Clonmacnoise, Monasterboice near Drogheda, Clonfert in Galway, Glasnevin, and Begerin a little below Wexford. But almost all the monasteries—and convents as well—carried on the function of teaching. Some had very large numbers of students; for instance we are told that at one time there were 3,000 under St. Finnen at Clonard; and some other schools, such as Bangor, had as many. In those great seminaries every branch of knowledge then known was taught; they were in fact the prototypes of our modern universities.

In all the more important schools there were students from foreign lands; the greatest number came from Great Britain—they came in fleet-loads, as Aldhelm bishop of Sherborne (A.D. 705 to 709) expresses it. Many also were from the Continent.

138. Among the foreign visitors were many princes: Aldfrid king of Northumbria, and Dagobert II. king of France, were both, when in exile in the seventh century, educated in Ireland. We get some idea of the numbers of foreigners from the ancient Litany of Aengus the Culdee, in which we find invoked many Romans, Gauls, Germans, Britons, and even Egyptians, all of whom died in Ireland. Venerable Bede, describing the ravages of the yellow plague in 664, says:—"This pestilence did no less harm in the island of Ireland. Many of the nobility and of the lower ranks of the English nation were there at that time: and some of them devoted themselves to a monastic life: others chose to apply themselves to study. The Scots [i.e. the Irish] willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with food, as also to furnish them with books to read, and their teaching, all gratis."

139. In the course of three or four centuries from the time of St. Patrick, Ireland became the most learned country in Europe: and it came to be known by the name now so familiar to us—Insula sanctorum et doctorum, the Island of saints and scholars.

The greatest number of the schools were in monasteries; in these the teaching was not exclusively ecclesiastical; and young persons attended them to get a good general education. Some few schools were purely lay and professional:—for Law, Medicine, Poetry, or Literature. These were taught by laymen.

The highest degree of scholarship was that of Ollave or Doctor: there were Ollaves of the several professions: just as we have doctors of Law, Medicine, Philosophy, Literature, etc. The full course for an Ollave was twelve years: the subordinate degrees had shorter periods.

Men of learning were held in great estimation. They had many valuable allowances and privileges; and an Ollave sat at table next to the king or chief.

140. Great numbers of Irishmen went to teach and to preach the gospel in Great Britain, Wales, and Scotland.

On every side we meet with evidences of the activity of the Irish in Great Britain. Scotland was evangelized by St. Columba and his monks from Iona; and the whole western coasts of England and Wales abound in memorials of Irish missionaries. In the words of Mr. Lecky:—"England owed a great part of her Christianity to Irish monks."

Whole crowds of ardent and learned Irishmen travelled to the Continent, spreading Christianity and secular knowledge among people ten times more rude and dangerous in those ages than the inhabitants of these islands. Irish professors and teachers were in those times held in such estimation that they were employed in most of the schools and colleges of Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. To this day in many towns of France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, Irishmen are venerated as patron saints. Nay, they found their way even to Iceland; for we have the best authority for the statement that when the Norwegians first arrived at that island, they found there Irish books, bells, croziers, and other traces of Irish missionaries.

141. The term Comorba or Coarb was applied to the inheritor of a bishopric or other ecclesiastical dignity: the archbishop of Armagh is the coarb of St. Patrick: the archbishop of Dublin is the coarb of St. Lawrence O'Toole.

The land belonging to a church was called Termon land; it had the privilege of sanctuary. The manager of church lands was called an Erenach: a sort of steward, usually a layman.

142. For three or four hundred years after the time of St. Patrick the monasteries were unmolested; and learning was cultivated within their walls. In the ninth and tenth and the beginning of the eleventh century, science and art, the Gaelic language, and learning of every kind, were brought to their highest state of perfection But after this came a change for the worse. The Danish inroads broke up most of the schools and disorganized all society. Then the monasteries were no longer the quiet and safe asylums they had been—they became indeed rather more dangerous than other places—learning and art gradually declined, and Ireland ultimately lost her intellectual supremacy.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:48 pm

THE DANISH WARS

143. Towards the close of the eighth century the Danes began to make descents on the coasts of Europe. They came from Norway, Sweden, Jutland, and in general from the islands and coasts of the Baltic. They deemed piracy the noblest career that a chief could engage in; and they sent forth swarms of daring and desperate marauders, who for two centuries kept the whole of Western Europe in a state of continual terror.

144. Our records make mention of two distinct races of Galls or Northmen: the Lochlanns, i.e. Norwegians and Swedes, who, as they were fair-haired, were called Finn-Galls or White strangers; and the Danars or Danes of Denmark, who were called Duv-Galls, Black strangers, because they were dark-haired and swarthy. In modern Irish histories the term "Danes" is applied to both indifferently.

The Finn-Galls or Norwegians were the first to arrive. They appeared on the Irish coast for the first time in 795, when they plundered Lambay Island near Dublin, then called Rechru.

145. From that time forward they continued to send detached parties to Ireland, who plundered and ravaged wherever they came, both islands and mainland, and destroyed many of the great monasteries.

At first they came as mere robbers: then they began to make permanent settlements on several points of the coast, from which they penetrated inland in all directions; and wherever there was a religious establishment likely to afford plunder, there they were sure to appear.

About the middle of the ninth century they established themselves permanently in Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford, where they built fortresses.

146. Hitherto there was little combination among the Norsemen; but now appeared the most renowned of all their leaders—Turgesius or Thorgils—who, coming with a fleet in 832, united the whole of their scattered forces. Soon afterwards three other fleets arrived, one of which, sailing up the lower Bann, took possession of Lough Neagh; another anchored in Dundalk Bay; while the third occupied Lough Ree on the Shannon.

Tergesius established himself for a time in Armagh which he sacked three times in one month; and he posted parties at important points on the coast, such as Dublin, Limerick, Dundalk and Carlingford. After committing great ravages in the north, he placed himself at the head of the fleet in Lough Ree; and from this central station he commanded a large part of Leinster and Connaught, and plundered those of the ecclesiastical establishments that lay within reach—Clonmacnoise, Lorrha and Terryglass in Tipperary, and the churches of Iniscaltra in Lough Derg.

147. Although the Irish made no combined effort to resist the robbers, yet the local chiefs often successfully intercepted them in their murderous raids, and slaughtered them mercilessly. In 838 they were defeated by the Kinel Connell at Assaroe, by the Dalcassians in Clare, and by the Southern Hy Neill in Meath. During the Fair of Roscrea in 845, a great body of the Norsemen marched suddenly on the town, expecting little resistance and plenty of booty. But the people, meeting them as they entered, killed their leader with a great number of the rank and file, and put the party to the rout. But the whole sea continued—as the Irish record expresses it—to vomit floods of foreigners into Erin; they still held their grip on the main strongholds of the coast, from which they swept like a whirlwind through the country; and wherever they went the track they left after them was a belt of desert.

The career of Turgesius was at last suddenly cut short by the valour of one of the provincial kings. He was taken prisoner in 845 by Malachi king of Meath, who caused him to be drowned in Lough Owel in Westmeath.

This brave prince succeeded to the throne of Ireland in 846, as Malachi I. He followed up his success with great determination; and the Danes now suffered many disastrous defeats, not only by this king, but by several of the provincial rulers.

148. Aed or Hugh Finnliath, who succeeded Malachi in 863, routed the Danes in several battles. He was succeeded by Malachy's son Flann Sinna. For 40 years—from 875 to 915—a period nearly coincident with Flann's reign, the Danes sent no new swarms to Ireland, and the land was comparatively free from their ravages; though those already in the country held their ground in their fortresses along the coast, such as Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, and Lough Foyle. But during this time there were serious wars among the Irish themselves.

149. In the time of Flann Sinna flourished archbishop Cormac Mac Cullenan king of Munster. Very soon after he was crowned king, Munster was invaded and plundered from Gowran to Limerick—in 906—by the monarch Flann and the king of Leinster. Cormac attended by Flahertagh the warlike abbot of Scattery, followed the invaders and defeated the monarch in two battles. But in the year 908 he was defeated and slain in the great battle of Ballaghmoon near Carlow, where 6,000 of the Munstermen fell.

Cormac Mac Cullenan was the most learned Irishman of his time, and was deeply versed in the history, literature, and antiquities of his country. The works written by him have already been mentioned (28).

150. The heroic king Niall Glunduff who succeeded Flann in 916, routed the Danes in several battles. But he was at last defeated by them in a terrible battle fought in 919 at Kilmashoge near Dublin, where fell the king himself with twelve princes and a great part of the nobles of the north of Ireland.

151. Donogh the son of Flann Sinna succeeded Niall, and in the second year of his reign—in 920—he avenged the battle of Kilmashoge by defeating and slaughtering the Danes on the plain of Bregia north of Dublin.

During the reign of this king flourished Murkertagh of the Leather Cloaks, son of Niall Glunduff. He was one of the most valiant princes commemorated in Irish history, and waged incessant war against the foreigners.

In order to silence all opposition to his succession, he made a circuit of Ireland with a thousand picked men in the depth of winter, A.D. 941, when he knew that his opponents were unprepared to resist. For protection against the wintry weather each man was furnished with a large loose mantle of leather; and hence this prince has ever since been known by the name of Murkertagh of the Leather Cloaks. In this expedition he was entirely successful. He brought away the provincial kings or their sons to his palace at Ailech, where he kept them captive for five months, after which he sent them to king Donogh as a testimony of loyalty.

But Murkertagh was not destined to be king of Ireland. He was killed in 943 in an obscure skirmish at Ardee by Blacar the Dane, dying as he had lived, in conflict with the enemies of his country.

152. Malachi II., or Malachi the Great, as he is often called, the most distinguished king that had reigned for many generations, became king in 980. The year before his accession he defeated the Danes in a great battle at Tara where vast numbers of them were slain. Following up his success he marched straight on Dublin, which he captured after a siege of three days, took immense booty, and liberated 2,000 captives.

We shall now interrupt the regular course of our narrative in order to trace the career of the man who was destined to crush the power of the Danes for ever.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:49 pm

BRIAN BORU


153. Brian Boru the son of Kennedy, of the Dalgas race (157) was born in Kincora in 941. In 964 his brother Mahon became king of all Munster. At this time the Danes held the chief fortresses of the province, including Limerick, Cork and Waterford, from which their marauding parties swept continually over the country, murdering and destroying wherever they came. King Mahon and his brother Brian, finding that they were not strong enough to withstand them openly, crossed the Shannon with those of their people who abode on the open plains, and took refuge among the forests and mountain solitudes of Clare. From these retreats they carried on a relentless desultory warfare with the foreigners, during which no quarter was given on either side.

154. After a time both parties grew tired of these destructive conflicts; and a truce was agreed on between Mahon and the Danish leaders. But young Brian would have no truce: and he maintained the war on his own account against fearful odds, till at last he was left with only fifteen followers.

And now the king, Mahon, hearing how matters stood, and fearing for his brother's safety, visited him in his wild retreat, and tried to persuade him to abandon further resistance as hopeless. But all in vain: the young chief was not to be moved from his purpose. And he at length persuaded his brother the king to resume hostilities; and the two brave brothers collecting all their forces, formed an encampment at Cashel, from which they sent expeditions to ravage the Danish settlements all round.

155. Now when Ivar of Limerick, king of the Munster Danes, heard of this uprising, he was infuriated to madness; and making a mighty gathering of all the Danes of Munster he determined to march into Thomond and exterminate the whole Dalcassian race root and branch. Molloy king of Desmond and Donovan king of Hy Carbery (in the present Co. Limerick) basely joined and encouraged him; and bent on vengeance he set out from Limerick with his whole army for the encampment at Cashel.

156. When the Dalcassian chiefs heard of this they marched west, and met the enemy half way at Sulcoit, now Sollohod, a level district near the present Limerick junction, twenty miles from Limerick city. The battle of Sulcoit began at sunrise on a summer morning of the year 968, and lasted till mid-day, when the foreigners gave way and fled—"fled to the hedges and to the valleys and to the solitudes of the great flowered-covered plain." They were pursued and slaughtered all the way to Limerick, which now was taken possession of by the victorious Irish. After this decisive battle Mahon defeated the Danes in seven other battles, till at last he became king of all Munster.

157. It is necessary to observe that at this time there were two ruling families in Munster. The Owenaghts or Eugenians who ruled Desmond were now represented by Molloy, and afterwards by the Mac Carthys: the Dalgas or Dalcassians now represented by Mahon and Brian, and afterwards by the O'Briens, ruled over Thomond. It had been for many centuries the custom that the kings of the Eugenian and Dalcassian families should be alternately kings of all Munster.

158. Mahon's uninterrupted success excited the envy and deepened the hatred of Donovan, Molloy, and Ivar the Dane; and they laid a base plot for his destruction. In 976 he was invited to a friendly conference to Bruree, the residence of Donovan, who on his arrival seized him and sent him to be delivered up to Molloy and his Danish associates.

Molloy sent forward an escort to meet him in the pass of Barnaderg, near Ballyorgan, between the counties of Cork and Limerick, with secret instructions to kill him, while Molloy himself remained behind within view of the pass, but a good way off. And when he saw in the distance the flash of the naked sword, he knew the deed was done; and mounting his horse he fled from the place.

159. But this villainous deed only raised up a still more formidable antagonist, and swift retribution followed. Brian now became king of Thomond: and his first care was to avenge his brother's murder. Proceeding with his fleet to Scattery island where Ivar had taken refuge after the battle of Sulcoit, he slew him and his Danes. Next, in 977, he captured Bruree, Donovan's fortress, and killed Donovan himself, with Harold the son of Ivar and a vast number of their followers.

It was now Molloy's turn: and Brian, marching south in 978, encountered his army in Barnaderg, the very spot where the great crime had been committed two years before. Molloy was defeated with a loss of 1,200 men; and immediately after the battle he himself was found hiding in a hut and was killed without mercy by Murrogh the young son of Brian. After this last battle Brian was acknowledged king of all Munster.

160. Malachi, who we have seen became king of Ireland in 980, now grew jealous of the growing power of Brian; and to humble him he made an inroad into Thomond in 982, and uprooted and destroyed the venerable tree of Magh-Adhair [Moy-Ire] under which the Dalcassian kings had for ages been inaugurated. This led to a war of skirmishes and plundering expeditions, which continued with varying fortunes for several years.

During this period, Malachi never lost an opportunity of attacking the Danes. In 996 he swooped down on Dublin, then and for long after a Danish city, and plundered it. Among the trophies that he brought away were two heirlooms greatly prized by the Norsemen, the ring or collar of the Norwegian prince Tomar—who had been killed 148 years before—and the sword of Carlus, who fell in battle in 869. This is the incident referred to by Moore in the words:—"When Malachi wore the collar of gold which he won from her proud invader."

At last the two opponents, having crushed all other competitors, found themselves so evenly matched, that they agreed to divide Ireland between them, Malachi to be king of Leth Conn and Brian of Leth Mow (102).

161. Mailmora king of Leinster was not pleased with the terms of this peace, which placed him permanently under the jurisdiction of Brian. In the very next year—999—he and the Danes of Dublin revolted. Whereupon Brian marched northwards, and being joined by Malachi, encamped at Glenmama near Dunlavin in Wicklow. Here they were attacked by Mailmora and Harold the Dane of Dublin; and in the terrible battle that followed Brian and Malachi defeated them and slow 4,000 of the Danes and Leinstermen.

162. About this time Brian came to the determination to depose Malachi; and the better to strengthen himself he made alliance with those who had lately been his enemies. He married Gormlaith mother of the king of the Dublin Danes (Sitric of the Silken Beard) and sister of Mailmora king of Leinster; he gave his own daughter in marriage to Sitric; and he took Mailmora into favour and friendship.

His next proceeding was to invade Malachi's territory, in 1002, in violation of the treaty of four years before; and he sent to him to demand submission or battle. And Malachi finding he was not strong enough to resist, rode into Brian's encampment with merely a small guard and without any guarantee or protection, and telling him plainly he would fight if he had been strong enough, he made his submission. This was in 1002; and from that year Brian was acknowledged king of Ireland, Malachi going back to his own special kingdom of Meath.

163. And now after forty years of incessant warfare Brian devoted his mind to works of peace. He rebuilt the monasteries that had been destroyed by the Danes, and erected bridges and fortresses all over the country. He founded and restored schools and colleges, and took measures for the repression of crime. The bright picture handed down to us of the peaceful and prosperous state of Ireland from Brian's accession to the battle of Clontarf, is illustrated by the well-known legend, that a beautiful young lady richly dressed, and bearing a ring of priceless value on her wand, traversed the country alone from north to south without being molested—a fiction which Moore has embalmed in the beautiful song "Rich and rare were the gems she wore.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:50 pm

THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF


164. Since the battle of Glenmama the Danes had kept quiet because the king's strong hand held them down. But it was a forced submission; and they only waited for an opportunity to attempt the overthrow of King Brian. The confederacy that led to the battle of Clontarf was originated, however, not by the Danes, but by Mailmora king of Leinster.

165. On one occasion while Mailmora was on a visit at Brian's palace of Kincora,* a bitter altercation arose at a game of chess between him and Murrogh, Brian's eldest son; so that he left the palace in anger and made his way to his own kingdom of Leinster, determined to revolt. And he and his people sent messengers to O'Neill king of Ulster, to O'Ruarc prince of Brefney (the present Co. Leitrim), and to the chiefs of Carbury in Kildare, all of whom promised their aid.

166. The confederates began by attacking Malachi's kingdom of Meath, as he was now one of Brian's adherents. He defended himself successfully for some time, but he was at last defeated at Drinan near Swords by Mailmora and Sitric with the united armies of Danes and Leinstermen, leaving 200 of his men, including his own son Flann, dead on the Field. After this, Malachi, finding himself unable to defend his kingdom against so many enemies, sent messengers to Brian to demand protection. Moved by the representations of the king of Meath, and alarmed at the menacing movements of the Danes and Leinstermen, Brian and his son Murrogh marched north by two different routes, ravaging the Leinster and Danish territories; and in September, 1013, encamped at Kilmainham, intending to take Dublin by blockade. But the attempt was unsuccessful, for the Danish garrison kept within walls and the Irish army ran short of provisions; so that the king was forced to raise the siege at Christmas, and return home to Kincora.

167. Mailmora and the Danish leaders now began actively at the work of mustering forces for the final struggle; and Gormlaith, who was among her own people—having been discarded by Brian—was no less active than her relatives. Her son Sitric of the Silken Beard, acting under her directions, engaged Sigurd earl of the Orkneys, as well as Broder and Amlaff of the Isle of Man, the two earls of all the north of England, who promised to be in Dublin on Palm Sunday, the day fixed on for the meeting of all the confederates. Broder had once been a Christian, but now worshipped heathen fiends: "he had a coat of mail on which no steel would bite;" he was both tall and strong, and his black locks were so long that he tucked them under his belt. These two vikings, Broder and Amlaff, who had a great fleet with 2,000 "Danmarkians" are described as "the chiefs of ships and outlaws and Danars of all the west of Europe, having no reverence for God or for man, for church or for sanctuary."

There came also 1,000 men covered with coats of mail from head to foot: a very formidable phalanx, seeing that the Irish fought as usual in tunics. Envoys were despatched in other directions also: and Norse auxiliaries sailed towards Dublin from Scotland, from the Isles of Shetland, from the Hebrides, from France and Germany, and from the shores of Scandinavia.

168. While Sitric and the other envoys were thus successfully prosecuting their mission abroad, Mailmora was equally active at home; and by the time all the foreign auxiliaries had joined muster, and Dublin Bay was crowded with their black ships, he had collected the forces of Leinster and arranged them in three great battalions within and around the walls of Dublin.

169. The Irish monarch had now no time to lose. He collected his forces about the 17th of March; and having encamped at Kilmainham, he set fire to the Danish districts near Dublin, so that the fierce Norsemen within the city could see Fingall the whole way from Dublin to Howth smoking and blazing. And brooding vengeance, they raised their standards and sallied forth to prepare for battle.

On the evening of Thursday the 22nd of April the king got word that the Danes were making preparations to fight next day—Good Friday. The good king Brian was very unwilling to fight on that solemn day; but he was not able to avoid it.

170. On the morning of Friday the 23rd of April 1014 the Irish army began their March from Kilmainham at dawn of day, in three divisions; and the Danes were also in three divisions. Sitric the king of Dublin was not in the battle: he remained behind to guard the city. We are not told the numbers engaged: but there were probably about 20,000 men each side. The Danes stood with their backs to the sea: the Irish on the land side facing them.

In the march from Kilmainham the venerable monarch rode at the head of the army; but his sons and friends prevailed on him, on account of his age—he was now seventy-three—to leave the chief command to his son Murrogh. When they had come near the place of conflict, the army halted; and the king holding aloft a crucifix in sight of all, rode from rank to rank and addressed them in a few spirited words. He reminded them that on that day their good Lord had died for them; and he exhorted them to fight bravely for their religion and their country. Then giving the signal for battle he withdrew to his tent in the rear.

Little or no tactics appear to have been employed. It was simply a fight of man against man, a series of hand-to-hand encounters; and the commanders fought side by side with their men.

171. The first divisions to meet were the Dalcassians and the foreign Danes; then the men of Connaught and the Danes of Dublin fell on one another; and the battle soon became general. From early morning until sunset they fought without the least intermission. The thousand Danes in coats of mail were marked out for special attack: and they were all cut to pieces; for their armour was no protection against the terrible battle-axes of the Dalcassians.

The old chronicle describes Murrogh as dealing fearful havoc. Three several times he rushed with his household troops through the thick press of the furious foreigners, mowing down men to the right and left; for he wielded a heavy sword in each hand, and needed no second blow. At last he came on earl Sigurd whom he found slaughtering the Dalcassians. But Murrogh struck off his helmet with a blow of the right hand sword, bursting straps and buckles; and with the other felled him to the earth—dead.

Towards evening the Irish made a general and determined attack; and the main body of the Danes at last gave way. Crowds fled along the level shore towards Dublin, vainly hoping to reach either the ships or the city. But Malachi who had stood by till this moment, rushed down with his Meathmen and cut off their retreat.

The greatest slaughter of the Danes took place during this rout, on the level space now covered with streets, from Ballybough Bridge to the Four Courts.

172. We have related so far the disasters of the Danes. But the Irish had their disasters also; and dearly did they pay for their great victory.

After the rout of the Danish main body, scattered parties of Danes continued to fight for life with despairing fury at various points over the plain. On one of those groups came Murrogh, still fighting, but so fatigued that he could scarce lift his hands. Anrad the leader of the band, dashed at him furiously. But Morrogh who had dropped his sword, closing on him, grasped him in his arms, and by main strength pulled his armour over his head: then getting him under, he seized the Norseman's sword and thrust it three times through his body to the very ground. Anrad, writhing in the death agony, plunged his dagger into the prince's side, inflicting a mortal wound. But the Irish hero lived till next morning when he received the solemn rites of the church.

The heroic boy Turlogh, only fifteen years of age, the son of Murrogh, fought valiantly during the day in his father's division, side by side with his elder relatives. After the battle, late in the evening, he was found drowned at the fishing weir of the river Tolka, with his hands entangled in the long hair of a Dane, whom he had pursued into the tide at the time of the great flight.

173. But the crowning tragedy of the bloody day of Clontarf was yet to come. The aged king remained in his tent engaged in earnest prayer, while he listened anxiously to the din of battle. He had a single attendant, Laiten, who stood at the door to view the field; and close round the tent stood a guard. And now came the great rout; and the guards, thinking all danger past, eagerly joined in the pursuit, so that the king and his attendant were left alone.

It happened that Broder, who had fled from the battlefield, came with some followers at this very time toward the tent. "I see some people approaching," said Laiten. "What manner of people are they?" asked the king. "Blue and naked people," replied the attendant. "They are Danes in armour," exclaimed the king, and instantly rising from his cushion, he drew his sword. Broder at that instant rushed on him with a double-edged battle-axe, but was met by a blow of the heavy sword that cut off both legs, one from the knee and the other from the ankle. But the furious Viking, even while falling, cleft the king's head with the axe.

After a little time the guards, as if struck by a sudden sense of danger, returned in haste: but too late. They found the king dead, and his slayer stretched by his side dying.

174. As to the numbers slain, the records differ greatly. According to the annals of Ulster 7,000 fell on the Danish side and 4,000 on the Irish, which is probably near the truth. Almost all the leaders on both sides were slain, and among them Mailmora, the direct inciter of the battle.

The battle of Clontarf was the last great struggle between Christianity and heathenism.

The body of king Brian and that of his son Murrogh were conveyed with great solemnity to Armagh, where they were interred in the cathedral, the archbishop and the clergy celebrating the obsequies for twelve days.

175. After the battle of Clontarf and the death of Brian, Malachi, by general consent and without any formality, took possession of the throne. He reigned for eight years after, and gave evidence of his old energy by crushing some risings of the Danes—feeble expiring imitations of their ancient ferocious raids—and by gaining several victories over the Leinstermen. He died in 1022 in the seventy-third year of his age, leaving behind him a noble record of self-denial public spirit, and kingly dignity.

* Kincora was situated on the very spot now occupied by the town of Killaloe.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:51 pm

PREPARING THE WAY FOR THE INVADER


176. During the century and a half from the death of Malachi II. to the Anglo Norman invasion, Ireland had no universally acknowledged over-king. To every one there was opposition from some influential quarter or another; which the annalists indicate by the epithet "king with opposition" commonly applied to the kings who during this time aspired to the sovereignty. There were altogether eight "kings with opposition:"—Donogh, Turlogh O'Brien, Dermot Mac Mailnamo, Murkertagh O'Brien, Donall O'Loughlin, Turlogh O'Conor, Murkertagh O'Loughlin, and Roderick O'Conor. During the whole of this period Ireland was in a state of great confusion. The rival claimants waged incessant war with one another; and as a natural consequence, the country became an easy prey to the invaders when they came.

The annalists tell us that for some years after the death of Malachi there was an interregnum; and that the affairs of the kingdom were administered by two learned men, Cuan O'Lochan, a great antiquary and poet, and "Corcran the cleric," a very holy ecclesiastic who lived chiefly in Lismore.

177. Not long after the death of Malachi, Donogh king of Munster, son of Brian Boru, took steps to claim the sovereignty. He is ranked among the kings of Ireland, but he never made any attempt on Ulster.

After some years his nephew Turlogh O'Brien, with the aid of Dermot MacMailnamo king of Leinster deposed him; on which Turlogh became king of Munster; and Donogh, now in his old age, took a pilgrim's staff and fared to Rome where he died in 1064.

178. At the time of Donogh's deposition Dermot of Leinster was the most powerful of the provincial kings, so that he also is reckoned among the kings of Ireland. His most persistent opponent was Conor O'Melaghlin prince of Meath, the son of Malachi, who at last defeated and slew him in 1072 at the battle of Navan in Meath.

Turlogh O'Brien now marched north from Kincora and forced the kings and chiefs of all the other provinces and minor states, except Ulster, to acknowledge his authority. But when he attempted to reduce the Ulstermen they defeated him in 1075 near Ardee so that he had to retreat south. Some say that he ultimately forced Ulster to submit and pay him tribute. In 1086 this king died peacefully in Kincora.

179. Turlogh's son Murkertagh O'Brien succeeded as king of Munster. In the assertion of his claim to the throne of Ireland he had a formidable competitor, Donall O'Loghlin (or Mac Loghlin) king of Ulster, who belonged to the Northern Hy Neill and who now revived the claims of that princely family. These two men for more than a quarter of a century contended with varying fortunes for the throne of Ireland. Donall marched south in 1088 and destroyed O'Brien's palace of Kincora; on which Murkertagh retaliated by an expedition up the Shannon.

180. At last O'Brien had to acknowledge the supremacy of O'Loghlin. But he soon renewed the war; and in 1101 he marched north with an overwhelming army, destroyed Ailech or Greenan-Elly near Derry, the royal palace of the Northern Hy Neill, in revenge for the destruction of Kincora thirteen years before; and to make the demolition more humiliating, he ordered his soldiers to bring away the very stones of the building all the way back to Kincora. He made the whole circuit of Ireland without meeting any opposition, and brought hostages from every territory to his home in Kincora.

The struggle still went on; and five different times—from 1097 to 1113—when the hostile armies were about to engage, the archbishop of Armagh interposed and persuaded the kings to separate without bloodshed.

181. In 1101 Murkertagh granted the old city of Cashel to the church, and changed his own chief residence to Limerick, which after that time continued to be the seat of the kings of Thomond. The Rock of Cashel now contains on its summit the most interesting group of ruins in Ireland. In the year 1098 Murkertagh gave William Rufus a number of great oak trees from the wood of Oxmanstown near Dublin, wherewith was constructed the roof of Westminster Hall.

182. The long contest between these two powerful rivals—O'Brien and O'Loghlin—remained undecided to the last. They are both spoken of as kings of Ireland, reigning with equal authority, though O'Brien was the more distinguished king. Murkertagh, struck down with a wasting sickness, retired to the monastery of Lismore, where having entered the ecclesiastical state, he died in 1119. With him passed away for ever the predominance of the O'Brien family. Donall retired to the monastery of Derry where he died in 1121.

183. For the past century the struggle for supremacy had been chiefly between the O'Briens of Munster and the O'Loghlins or Mac Loghlins of Ulster—a branch of the northern Hy Neill. For the next half century it was between the O'Neills and the O'Conors of Connaught, ending in the triumph of the O'Conors, till the native monarchy was overthrown for ever by the Anglo Normans. Turlogh O'Conor, who at this time ruled over Connaught—the king who caused the Cross of Cong to be made in 1123 (72)—now put forth his claims to the supreme monarchy. He first reduced Munster and weakened it by dividing it, making one of the O'Briens king of Thomond, and one of the Mac Carthys king of Desmond. But the O'Briens proved formidable adversaries, and still retained at least nominal sway over the whole province. They not only disputed O'Conor's supremacy, but led successful expeditions into the heart of Connaught. And thus the wretched country continued to be torn by feuds and broils; so that, as the Four Masters express it, Ireland was "a trembling sod."

184. The most powerful member of the great Dalcassian family (157) at this time was Turlogh O'Brien who had an army of 9,000 men. O'Conor, determined on crushing him, marched south and caught him at a disadvantage, in 1151, at a place called Moanmore either in Limerick or Tipperary. In the terrible battle fought here O'Brien was defeated and his army almost annihilated: 7,000 of them fell, the greatest slaughter since the day of Clontarf. O'Brien fled to Ulster; but he never recovered this downfall.

185. Murkertagh O'Loglin or Mac Loghlin, prince of Ailech was now O'Conor's only opponent. In the same year of the battle of Moanmore—1151—he forced O'Conor to give him hostages. In 1154 O'Conor plundered the coasts of Ulster with a great Connaught fleet; but O'Loghlin met him with a Scoto-Danish fleet quite as large; and a naval battle was fought during a long summer day in which the Danish fleet was defeated and captured; but the Irish commander was killed.

186. King Turlogh O'Conor never relinquished the struggle for supremacy till the day of his death, which occurred in 1156. He was succeeded as king of Connaught by his son Rory, or as he is more commonly called, Roderick O'Connor. Not long after his election, this new king marched towards Ulster to assert his claim to be king of Ireland against O'Loghlin; who however met him in 1159 at Ardee and defeated him. After this O'Conor acknowledged O'Loghlin's supremacy and sent him hostages. But O'Loghlin was soon after (in 1166) killed in battle; and Roderick O'Conor having now no rival of any consequence was formally and solemnly inaugurated king of Ireland.

187. Though most of the great educational establishments had been broken up during the Danish ravages, many rose from their ruins or held their ground. Even to the beginning of the twelfth century Ireland still retained some portion of her ancient fame for learning, and we find the schools of Armagh, Lismore, Clomnacnoise, Monasterboice, and others still attracting great numbers of students, many of them foreigners. At this time flourished the two great scholars and annalists, Flann of Monasterboice and Tighernach of Clonmacnoise (24, 25).

188. Many grave abuses had crept into the church during the Danish troubles—nearly all caused by the encroachments of the lay chiefs: but they were all disciplinal irregularities: none in doctrine. The ecclesiastical authorities exerted themselves to correct these abuses; and their solicitude and activity are shown by a number of synods occurring about this time: in the one half century from 1111 to 1169, eleven synods were held at various places through the country.

In 1111 Murkertagh O'Brien caused a synod to be held at a place called Fid-Aengusa near Ushnagh in Westmeath, which was attended by the archbishops of Cashel and Armagh, and by 50 bishops, 300 priests, and 3,000 clergy of inferior orders, as well as by king Murkertagh himself and the chiefs of Leth-Mow.

Another synod was held about the same time at a place called Rathbrassil, at which the several dioceses all over Ireland were clearly defined; and it was ordained that the lands and revenues allotted to the bishops for their support should be exempted from public tax or tribute. The subdivision into parishes gradually followed. Some say that Fid-Aengusa and Rathbrassil were the same.

The most memorable synod of this period was that held at Kells in 1152, presided over by Cardinal Paparo the Pope's legate. Until this time there had been only two archbishops in Ireland, those of Armagh and Cashel; but at this council Dublin and Tuam were constituted archiepiscopal sees; and the Cardinal conferred the four palliums on the four archbishops, declaring that the archbishop of Armagh was primate over the others.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:52 pm

PART III

THE PERIOD OF INVASION

1172-1547.

IN this Third Part is told the story of the Anglo-Norman Invasion, beginning with the expedition of Fitzstephen and Prendergast, and ending with the reign of Henry VIII, the first English monarch who assumed the title of king of Ireland.

The conquest of Ireland, whose history we are now about to enter upon, might have been accomplished in a few years, if only proper measures had been adopted. Why it took so long was pointed out nearly three hundred years ago by Sir John Davies, an Englishman, who was attorney general of Ireland.

The force employed in the first instance was wholly insufficient for conquest.

The king did not reside in Dublin; and there was no adequate representative of royalty with state and power to overawe the whole people both native and colonial.

The great Anglo-Norman lords had too much power in their hands, and for their own selfish ends kept the country in a state of perpetual warfare.

Great tracts of land belonged to absentees living in England, who merely drew their rents and did nothing for the country.

But the most fatal and disastrous mistake of all was this. The native Irish, sick of anarchy, would have welcomed any strong government able and willing to maintain peace and protect them from violence. But the government, instead of treating them as subjects to be cared for, and placing them under the law that ruled the colonists, looked upon them as enemies, and refused them the protection of English law.

Henry II. did not conquer Ireland: it would have been better for both nations if he had. It took more than four centuries to do that—probably the longest conquest-agony recorded in history.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 6:58 pm

DERMOT MAC MURROGH

189. During the time that the two O'Conors were struggling with Murkertagh O'Loghlin, Dermot Mac Murrogh was king of Leinster. This Dermot, who was in after times often called Dermot-na-Gall (of the English), was a man of great size and strength, stern in manner, brave and fierce in war; and his voice was loud and hoarse from constant shouting in battle. He was cruel, tyrannical, and treacherous, and was hated in his own day as much as his memory has been hated ever since. His whole life was a record of violence and villainy.

190. In 1152, a few months after the battle of Moanmore, where he had fought on the side of O'Conor, he carried off Dervorgilla the wife of Ternan O'Ruarc prince of Brefney, while O'Ruarc himself was absent from home; and she took away with her all she had brought to her husband as dowry. O'Ruarc appealed for redress to Turlogh O'Conor king of Ireland, who in 1153 marched with an army into Leinster and forced Dermot to restore Dervorgilla and all her rich dowry. She retired after a little time to the abbey of Mellifont, where she spent the rest of her days doing works of penitence and charity, and where she died in 1193 at the age of 85.

191. So long as king Murkertagh O'Loghlin lived he befriended Dermot and secured him in possession of Leinster. But when that king was slain in 1166, Ternan O'Ruarc led an army against Dermot, composed of the men of Brefney and Meath, joined by the Dano-Irish of Dublin under their king Hasculf Mac Turkill, and by the incensed people of Leinster. Seeing that resistance was hopeless, Dermot, breathing vengeance, fled across the sea, resolved to seek the aid of the great king Henry II. of England.

192. Many years before this time Nicholas Breakspear, an Englishman who had been elected Pope with the title of Adrian IV., influenced by an unfair and exaggerated account of the evil state of religion in Ireland, given to him by an envoy of king Henry, issued a bull authorizing the king to take possession of Ireland. Some writers have questioned the issue of this bull. But the evidence is overwhelming on the other side; and there is no sufficient reason to doubt that the Pope, moved by misrepresentations, did really issue the bull, with the firm conviction that it would be for the advancement of religion and for the good of Ireland.

193. Dermot presented himself before the king at Aquitaine, in 1168, and prayed him for help against his enemies, offering to hold his kingdom of Leinster under him, and to acknowledge him as lord and master. The king eagerly accepted the offer; but being then too busy with the affairs of his own kingdom to go himself, he gave Dermot letters, permitting any of his British or French subjects that pleased to join the expedition.

194. With these letters Dermot proceeded to Bristol, where he engaged the services of Richard de Clare earl of Pembroke, better known by the name of Strongbow; on condition that the earl should get Dermot's daughter Eva in marriage, and should succeed him as king of Leinster.

At St. David's in Wales he engaged a number of the Geraldines, among them Maurice Fitzgerald and Robert Fitzstephen, to whom he promised the town of Wexford and the adjoining district. After this he returned to Ferns where he remained concealed during the winter.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND

PostThu Sep 15, 2016 8:01 pm

Tons of great info on this site now Fairlie great for posting on the groups instead of trawling the net :D :hacker:
My ipad controls my spellings not me so apologies from it in advance :) lol
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 8:57 am

THE FIRST ANGLO-NORMAN ADVENTURERS (1169-1171)

195. In the month of May 1169 a force of 100 knights and men-at-arms in coats of mail and about 600 archers, under Robert Fitzstephen and Maurice Prendergast landed at Bannow in Wexford with Hervey Mountmaurice, Strongbow's uncle. As knights and archers had attendants, the total force was about 2,000. Having been joined by Dermot and his son, Donall Kavanagh, with 500 horsemen, he advanced on the town of Wexford, which after a valiant defence was surrendered to them.

Then Dermot granted Wexford and the adjoining district to Robert Fitzstephen and Maurice Fitzgerald—the latter of whom had not yet arrived. He granted also to Mountmaurice the district lying between the towns of Wexford and Waterford. Dermot and his allies next attacked Ossory and forced its chief Mac Gilla Patrick to submit.

196. King Roderick O'Conor now at last became alarmed, and marched with a large army towards Ferns, where he found the king of Leinster and his foreign auxiliaries strongly entrenched. But the feeble-minded monarch, instead of promptly attacking the rebel king and his few foreign auxiliaries, made peace with Dermot and restored him to his kingdom, on condition—which was kept secret from his new friends—that he should send home the foreigners and bring hither no more of them; and Dermot gave his favourite son Conor and two other relatives as hostages.

But Maurice Fitzgerald landing soon afterwards, Dermot broke his promises, and with all the Anglo-Normans marched on Dublin, which the Danish king Hasculf Mac Turkill was forced to surrender to them.

197. At last Dermot resolved to make himself king of Ireland, and sent to Strongbow urging him to come over. On the 1st of May, 1170, Strongbow, not being yet ready to come himself, despatched a force of about 800 men under Raymond Fitzgerald, commonly known as Raymond le Gros, who fortified himself at a place called Dundonnell on the Wexford coast not far from Waterford.

Here they were soon attacked by a great army from Waterford; but Raymond defeated them, slaying 500 of them. And after the battle 70 of the principal citizens who had been taken prisoners were cruelly executed.

198. At last, on the 23rd of August 1170, Strongbow landed near Waterford with an army of 3,000 men; and being joined by the others, they captured the city of Waterford, slaughtering great numbers of the inhabitants. Then Dermot carried out his promise: and the marriage of Strongbow and Eva was solemnized.

199. Scarcely had the ceremony ended when tidings came that Hasculf of Dublin had revolted against Dermot. Whereupon Dermot and Strongbow, in this same year 1170, marched over the mountains with an army of 5,000 men; and when the Dublin citizens beheld this formidable army approaching, they were so terrified that they sent their illustrious and saintly archbishop Laurence O'Toole with conditions of surrender. A truce was agreed on till terms of peace should be settled. But even after the conclusion of the truce, Raymond le Gros and Miles de Cogan, with a band of followers, forced their way into the city, and falling on the unresisting citizens butchered them without mercy. Hasculf and a large number of his people made their escape on board ship and sailed for the Scottish isles; and Dermot and Strongbow remained in possession of the city. After this king Roderick caused Dermot's three hostages to be put to death.

200. The progress of the invaders began now to excite general alarm, and a synod of all the clergy of Ireland was convoked at Armagh, who came to the conclusion that the invasion was a judgment from heaven for the crime of Slavery (57). And the synod decreed that all English slaves should be forthwith restored to freedom.

201. In the Spring of the next year, 1171, the arch traitor Dermot died at Ferns in the 61st year of his age: and immediately after his death earl Richard had himself proclaimed king of Leinster.

202. The fame of the great conquests made by Strongbow got noised abroad, so that it came to the ears of king Henry. Fearing that Strongbow might make himself king, he issued an edict forbidding further intercourse with Ireland: and at the same time he began to prepare for his own expedition.

And now Strongbow, being in want of provisions and reinforcements, was reduced to dire distress; and the little band of Anglo-Normans were preserved from destruction only by their own indomitable bravery.

203. Hasculf Mac Turkill returned to Ireland in 1171 with a great army of Danes, and besieged Dublin. But the governor Miles de Cogan, sallied forth from the gate, and after a terrible struggle he defeated the Danish army, and slew the commander, a fierce Dane named John the Mad. Hasculf himself was captured and put to death.

204. But no sooner was this danger averted than there arose another much more formidable. The patriotic archbishop Laurence O'Toole persuaded the kings and chiefs to join in an attempt to crush the enemy. And numerous contingents began to march from every side towards Dublin; so that a great army was soon encamped round about the city, under king Roderick's command.

For two whole months (of 1171) the king let his army lie inactive in their tents; but they reduced the garrison to great straits by stopping all supplies. To add to the distress news came that Fitzstephen was surrounded by the Irish in his castle of Carrick near Wexford.

Driven to desperation they came to the resolution to attempt to cut their way in a body through the enemy. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the desperate little band, 600 Anglo-Normans with some Irish under Donall Kavanagh, suddenly sallied out and took the Irish completely by surprise; and the king himself, who happened to be in his bath at the time, escaped with much difficulty half naked from the field. The panic spread rapidly, and the various contingents broke up and fled. And the garrison returned triumphant to the city, laden with booty, and with provisions enough for a whole year.

205. Strongbow now marched south to relieve Fitzstephen; but he was too late, for Fitzstephen had been taken prisoner. Immediately afterwards he received a message from king Henry, summoning him to his presence. So hastily crossing the sea he presented himself before the monarch, whom he found with a large army preparing to invade Ireland.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 8:58 am

KING HENRY IN IRELAND (1171-1173)

206. On the 18th October 1171, king Henry landed at Crook a little below Waterford, with many of his nobles, and an army of 4,400 knights and men at arms. Counting attendants he probably had 10,000 altogether.

At Waterford he was met by Dermot Mac Carthy king of Desmond, who was the first Irish prince to submit and pay tribute; and the Wexford men delivered up to him in fetters Fitzstephen, whom in a few days he released.

207. Henry next marched by Lismore to Cashel where he received the submission of Donall O'Brien of Limerick and of many others of the southern princes. After this he returned to Waterford; and having taken possession of Wexford, he proceeded to Dublin, where he was received in great state. Here he was visited by most of the other Irish princes, all of whom submitted to him. Roderick O'Conor did not come, but he sent his submission: O'Neill of Ulster neither came nor sent submission. The Irish princes and nobles were invited to spend the Christmas with the king in Dublin; and they were astonished at the magnificence of the display, and much pleased with the attention shown to themselves.

208. Early in the ensuing year, 1172, the king caused a synod of the archbishops and bishops of Ireland and several Anglo-Norman ecclesiastics to be held at Cashel; in which certain decrees were drawn up for the regulation of church discipline. These decrees do not indicate any very serious state of religious corruption in Ireland, such as had been falsely represented to the Pope.

209. Henry now rewarded his followers by grants of large tracts of country, giving away the lands belonging to the natives without the least scruple. Leinster was granted to Strongbow, with the exception of Dublin and some other maritime towns; Meath—then much larger than now—to Hugh de Lacy; and Ulster to John de Courcy. In all the chief towns he left governors. He granted Dublin to the people of Bristol with De Lacy as governor, who is generally regarded as the first viceroy of Ireland.* Having completed these arrangements, he embarked at Wexford in April 1172, and returned to England.

210. After his departure his arrangements were all disregarded; and his followers did just as they pleased, plundering and harassing the unfortunate natives without mercy and without restraint.

The turmoil began the moment he had left. Ternan O'Ruarc, Dermot's old adversary, was killed by De Lacy in a fray during a conference. Strongbow, returning from a plundering raid through Offaly, was intercepted by its chief, O'Dempsey, and defeated, a great number of his men, with his son-in-law De Quenci, being slain. In the following year—1173—he was appointed viceroy by the king.

* The governors of Ireland at this time and for centuries after, were designated by various titles, such as viceroy, lieutenant, lord lieutenant, lord justice or justiciary, governor, etc. A person appointed to govern temporarily in place of an absent lord lieutenant or viceroy was designated deputy or lord deputy.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 8:59 am

RAYMOND LE GROS (1173-1176)


211. No sooner had Strongbow entered on his new duties as viceroy than troubles began to thicken round him. He found most of the Irish princes in revolt, and the money he had brought was soon spent, so that he had no pay for his soldiers. Mountmaurice was general of the army: but the soldiers hated him and demanded to have Raymond put over them, which was done: on which the new general led the men south and ravaged Offaly and the country round Lismore, carrying off immense spoils in spite of all opposition.

212. Raymond growing more ambitious with continued success, solicited in marriage Strongbow's sister Basilea: and he asked also to be made constable or commander of Leinster. But the earl refused both requests; whereupon Raymond threw up his post in 1174, and returned to Wales; and Mountmaurice was restored to the chief command.

213. And now (1174) Strongbow marched towards Limerick against Donall O'Brien king of Thomond who had revolted. But O'Brien and king Roderick intercepted him at Thurles, defeated him, and killed 1,700 of his men—the best part of his army. Strongbow fled to Waterford and shut himself up there, but was besieged and in great danger, till Raymond returned and rescued him. Then he gave his sister in marriage to his rescuer and made him constable of Leinster.

214. Raymond next made preparation to avenge on Donall O'Brien the defeat of Thurles. He led his troops, in 1175, to Limerick; and in the face of enormous difficulties he forded the deep and rapid river, stormed the city, and gave it up to slaughter and plunder. Then leaving a sufficient garrison under the command of Miles de Cogan he returned to Dublin.

215. Meanwhile Roderick, finding that he could not prevent the daily incursions of English raiders, determined to claim the protection of king Henry. Accordingly he sent three ambassadors to England, one of whom was archbishop Laurence O'Toole, and a treaty was arranged between the two kings. Under this treaty, which was signed at Windsor in 1175, it was agreed that Roderick was to remain king of Connaught, which he was to hold directly as vassal to Henry; that he was to rule the rest of Ireland also as vassal, except the portions held by the English colony; and that through him the other kings and chiefs of the country were to pay tribute to king Henry.

216. But now Mountmaurice secretly reported to the king that Raymond aimed at making himself king of Ireland; whereupon king Henry ordered that he should be sent to England. But even while Raymond was preparing to obey the command, news came that Donall O'Brien had laid siege to Limerick; and when Strongbow ordered out the army for its relief, the men refused point blank to march under Mountmaurice. So Raymond had to be replaced in command, and marching south he defeated O'Brien and recovered Limerick.

217. One day while he was in the south a courier arrived post haste from Dublin with an odd message from his wife Basilea:—-"Be it known to you that the great jaw-tooth which used to trouble me so much has fallen out. Wherefore return with all speed." She took this enigmatical way of telling him that her brother the earl was dead (A.D. 1176). Knowing well the dangerous position of the colony in Dublin, and fearing the Irish might rise if they knew of his death, she determined to keep the matter secret till Raymond should be present. Raymond understood the meaning and returned; and the earl was interred with great pomp in Christ Church Cathedral.

218. As soon as the king heard of Strongbow's death, being still jealous of the brilliant soldier Raymond, he appointed William Fitz Adelm de Burgo viceroy in 1176, with John de Courcy, Robert Fitzstephen, and Miles de Cogan to assist him. Raymond met them near Wexford, and having given them a most respectful reception, he delivered up all his authority to the new viceroy without a murmur.

After this we hear little more of Raymond le Gros in public life. He retired to his estates in Wexford where he resided quietly till his death, which took place in 1182.

218a. Among the families descended from the Anglo-Norman lords, the most distinguished were the Fitzgeralds or Geraldines, the Butlers, and the De Burgos or Burkes. The Geraldines were chiefly descended from Maurice Fitzgerald. There were two main branches: one in Leinster, whose chiefs became, first, barons of Offaley, then earls of Kildare, and lastly dukes of Leinster: the other in Munster, whose heads were earls of Desmond. The Butlers settled in Leinster, and their chiefs became earls of Ormond. The family of De Burgo was founded by William Fitz Adelm de Burgo: they settled chiefly in Connaught, and were of two main branches as told in Paragraph 262.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 9:00 am

JOHN DE COURCY (1177-1204)


219. The new governor was from the first disliked by the colonists: for he wished for peace and discouraged outrage on the natives; whereas war was what the colonists most desired, as it brought them plunder and sure increase of territory.

220. Among all De Burgo's followers not one was so discontented as Sir John de Courcy. He was a man of gigantic size and strength—brave and daring; and he now resolved to attempt the conquest of Ulster, which King Henry II. had granted to him five years before. So gathering round him a small band of about 320 knights and archers, who with their attendants made an army of about 1,000, he set out from Dublin for Ulster.

Passing northwards with all speed, he arrived on the morning of the fourth day—the 2nd of February 1177—at Downpatrick, then the capital of Ulidia. The adventurers were half starved as they entered the town; and now they fell upon everything they could lay hands on: they ate and drank, plundered, killed, and destroyed, till half the town was in ruins.

221. At the end of a week Mac Dunlevy prince of Ulidia came with a large undisciplined army to attack him. De Courcy nothing daunted, went out to meet them, and chose a favorable position to meet the assault. The Irish rushed on with tumultuous bravery, but they were not able to break the disciplined ranks of the enemy; and after a furious fight they were repulsed with great loss.

222. But the Ulidians continued to offer the most determined resistance. The valiant De Courcy battled bravely through all his difficulties, and three several times in the same year, 1177, he defeated in battle the people of the surrounding districts, But as time went on he met with many reverses, and he had quite enough to do to hold his ground. In the following year he was defeated near Newry with a loss of 450 men; and again he was intercepted in one of his terrible raids, and defeated by the Dalaradian chief Cumee O'Flynn. He escaped from this battlefield with only eleven companions; and having lost their horses they fled on foot for two days and two nights closely pursued, without food or sleep, till they reached a place of safety. But in several other battles he was victorious, so that as years went by he strengthened his position in Ulster: and as opportunities offered he built many castles.

223. In 1177, the second year of De Burgo's viceroyalty, Miles de Cogan invaded Connaught in violation of the treaty of Windsor; but he was defeated with great loss and driven back across the Shannon by king Roderick.

224. William De Burgo became at last so unpopular with the colonists, that king Henry removed him from the viceroyalty (in 1178), and appointed Hugh de Lacy in his place.

After De Lacy's appointment he married (in 1180) a daughter of king Roderick O'Conor. This marriage greatly increased his power and influence among the Irish, insomuch that it excited the jealousy and suspicion of the king, who in consequence dismissed him from his office. But in a few months he was reinstated: and he built castles all over Leinster.

225. The country still continued to be very much disturbed; and the king determined to send over his son prince John, hoping that his presence would restore tranquillity. The prince, then 19 years of age, landed at Waterford in 1185 with a splendid retinue and a large body of cavalry. He had the title of Lord of Ireland. His secretary and tutor was a Welsh priest named Gerald Barry, now better known as Giraldus Cambrensis, or Gerald of Wales, who afterwards wrote a description of Ireland and of the Anglo Norman invasion.

226. But Prince John soon raised the whole country in revolt by his silly and vicious conduct; and he even turned the old colonists against him. The Irish chiefs crowded to him in Waterford, both to pay him respect and to acknowledge him as their lord; but his insolent young associates — close shaven dandies — ridiculed their dress and manners, and insulted them by plucking their beards, which they wore long according to the custom of the country.

Incensed by this treatment the proud Irish nobles withdrew to their homes, brooding mischief. The settlements were attacked at all points; and the most active of the assailants was the valiant Donall O'Brien of Thomond. A great number of the strongholds were taken, and many of the bravest of the Anglo-Norman chiefs were slain. The colonists were driven to take refuge in the towns; and almost the whole of John's splendid army perished in the various conflicts.

227. When the country had been for some time in this state of turmoil, king Henry heard how matters stood, and at once recalled the prince, after a stay of about eight mouths, appointing De Courcy viceroy. The prince, both before and after his return, threw the whole blame of the disturbances on De Lacy; but De Lacy never lived to clear himself. One day in 1186, while with a few attendants he was inspecting his new castle at Durrow, a young Irishman suddenly drew forth a battle-axe from under his cloak, and with one blow struck off the great baron's head: after which he made his escape. This was done to avenge De Lacy's seizure of lands, and his desecration of St. Columkille's venerated monastery of Durrow (133), which he had pulled down.

228. During De Courcy's viceroyalty he invaded Connaught, burning and slaying after his usual fashion. But before he had advanced far into the province he was confronted by the two kings of Connaught and Thomond — Conor Mainmoy and Donall O'Brien — with their united armies. Not venturing to give battle to this formidable force, he retreated northwards, his only anxiety now being to save himself and his army from destruction. But when he had arrived at Ballysadare, on the coast of Sligo, the prince of Tirconnell came marching down on him in front, while his pursuers were pressing on close behind. Setting fire to Ballysadare, he fled south-east; but as he was crossing the Curlieu Hills he was overtaken by Conor Mainmoy and O'Brien, who fell upon him and killed a great number of his men; and it was with much difficulty he escaped with the remnant of his army into Leinster.

229. Two years later, A.D. 1200, he was tempted to try his fortune a second time in Connaught; but with no better result than before. He and Hugh de Lacy the younger were both induced by Cahal Crovderg to come to his assistance in the struggle for the throne. But the rival king, Cahal Carrach, caught the allies in an ambuscade in a wood near Kilmacduagh in Galway, and inflicted on them a crushing defeat, slaying more than half of the English army. De Courcy had a narrow escape here, being felled from his horse by a stone. Recovering, however, he fled from the battlefield northwards till he reached Rindown castle on the western shore of Lough Ree, where he proceeded to convey his army in boats across the lake. He had been a week engaged at this, when, on the very last day, Cahal Carrach pounced down on those that still remained at Rindown and killed and drowned great numbers of them; while De Courcy and the rest, being safe at the far side, made good their escape.

230. The chequered career of this extraordinary man ended in ruin and disgrace. Hugh de Lacy (the younger: son of the great De Lacy) took every means to poison king John's mind against him. He was proclaimed a rebel and a traitor; and De Lacy, now lord justice, was commissioned to arrest him. After several unsuccessful attempts De Courcy was at length betrayed by some of his own servants, who led De Lacy's men to his retreat at Downpatrick, where he was taken in 1204. Some records relate that his enemies came down on him on Good Friday, when he was barefoot and unarmed, doing penance in the cathedral of Downpatrick, and that he snatched the nearest weapon — a great wooden cross standing on a grave — with which he dashed out the brains of thirteen of his assailants before he was overpowered.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 9:02 am

KING JOHN IN IRELAND (1189-1210)


231. King Henry died in the year 1189 and was succeeded by his son Richard the Lion Hearted. Richard took no interest in Ireland, and left the whole management of its affairs to his brother John, who, in 1189, appointed Hugh de Lacy lord justice, in place of John de Courcy.

At this time and for long after, Connaught was in a miserable state of turmoil, partly from the contests of the members of the O'Conor family for the provincial throne, and partly on account of the interference of the barons, who always took advantage of the native dissensions to advance their own interests.

232. The disturbances began with the contention of Cahal Crovderg (of the Red-hand) and Cahal Carrach, the former the youngest brother and the latter the grandson of the old king Roderick. After a short struggle Cahal Crovderg triumphed, and in 1190 became king of Connaught. The old king Roderick himself, wearied with care, both public and domestic, retired for a time (in 1183) to the monastery of Cong; and though he subsequently came forth to resume his kingdom, he never afterwards played any important part in the government, and finally retired for life. In 1198 he ended his troubled career in peace and penitence in the same monastery.

233. In 1192 the English of Leinster invaded Munster; but Donall O'Brien king of Thomond defeated them with great loss at Thurles. To avenge this they crossed the Shannon to ravage Thomond; but O'Brien fell on them, and having slain great numbers, drove them back. This brave king Donall O'Brien died two years later (in 1194).

234. Cahal Crovderg, having ruled over Connaught for eight or nine years, was driven from his throne by Cahal Carrach aided by William de Burgo. After several vain attempts to regain his kingdom, aided by De Lacy and John de Courcy (229) Cahal Crovderg finally succeeded, in 1201, in slaying his rival, and reigned from that time forth without opposition. He was one of the most valiant chiefs of those times, and is much celebrated in the annals for his bravery, power, and justice. In the end of his life he retired to the abbey of Knockmoy where he died in 1224.

235. King Richard died in 1199 and was succeeded by his brother John.

The years immediately following the death of Donall O'Brien (in 1194) present a weary record of strife and turmoil. There were wars and broils everywhere, among both the Irish chiefs and the English nobles, causing wide devastation and misery among the people.

236. Even Dublin, the centre of government, felt the effects of the general state of disturbance. On Easter Monday, 1209, the dispossessed O'Byrnes and O'Tooles fell upon the citizens at Cullenswood near the city and killed 300 of them; from which Easter Monday was for many ages afterwards called Black Monday.

237. King John was kept well informed of the disturbed state of the country. What seems to have troubled him most, so far as Ireland was concerned, was that some of the great nobles, and notoriously the De Lacys and William de Braose, had thrown off all authority and made themselves, to all intents and purposes, independent princes, like John de Courcy. With the object of reducing these turbulent barons to submission and of restoring quiet, the king resolved to visit Ireland. He landed at Crook near Waterford, in the month of June 1210, with a formidable army. In the presence of this great force the country at once became quiet, and the two De Lacys, Hugh and his brother Walter, fled to France. De Braose also escaped, but his wife and son fell into the tyrant's hands, who had them starved to death in prison.

It is stated that the De Lacys had to work in France as gardeners for subsistence, but that the king after some time pardoned and restored them.

The king proceeded to Dublin, and from thence to Meath, where Cahal Crovderg visited him and made submission.

238. As John had no fighting to do, he employed himself more usefully in making arrangements for the better government of the country. Those parts of Ireland which were under English jurisdiction he parcelled out into twelve shires or counties: namely, Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Uriel (or Louth), Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary. He directed that in all these counties the English laws should be administered. But it must be always borne in mind that these arrangements, including the administration of the law, were for the settlers only, not for the natives, who were then and long afterwards outside the pale of the law.

The king returned to England in August 1210, leaving John de Grey lord justice, to whom he committed the task of carrying out his arrangements. During the remainder of his reign, Ireland was comparatively quiet.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 9:03 am

A CENTURY OF TURMOIL (1210-1314)


239. King John was succeeded, in 1216, by his son Henry III., who was then a boy of nine years old.

The century that elapsed from the death of John to the invasion of Edward Bruce was a period of strife and bloodshed, a period of woe and misery for the common people. There was as usual no strong central government, and the whole nation was abandoned to anarchy.

240. William Marshal earl of Pembroke married Isabel the only child of Strongbow and Eva, through whom he came in for possession of almost the whole of Leinster. Marshal died in 1219, leaving his titles and estates to his son William Marshal the younger. Between him and Hugh de Lacy a war arose in 1224, which continued till the whole of Meath was wasted. This is sometimes called the War of Meath.

241. While this warfare was going on, Connaught was in a state of strife which lasted for many years; and the struggles among the several claimants of the O'Conor family went on unceasingly: battles, skirmishes, and raids without number. The English, under Marshal, De Burgo, or others, were mixed up in most of these contests, now siding with one of the parties, now with another; but always keeping an eye to their own interests. And thus the havoc and ruin went on unchecked. Meanwhile the wretched hunted people had no leisure to attend to their tillage; famine and pestilence followed; and the inhabitants of whole towns and districts were swept away.

242. There was also a War of Kildare as well as of Meath. After William Marshal's death, his brother Richard, a handsome, valiant, noble-minded knight, inherited his titles and estates. He incurred the anger of king Henry III. and fled to Ireland. But Geoffrey Marisco, Maurice Fitzgerald, and Hugh de Lacy conspired to destroy him, hoping to share his vast estates. Marisco pretended friendship, and in 1234 arranged a conference on the Curragh of Kildare. Here young Marshal was suddenly attacked by De Lacy and the others, and being abandoned by Marisco, he was at length overpowered, wounded, and taken prisoner. He soon after died of his wounds; but his assassins gained nothing by their villainy.

243. Maurice Fitzgerald, who had been twice lord justice, marched with his army northwards through Connaught in 1257, resolved to bring Ulster completely under English rule. But he was intercepted by Godfrey O'Donnell, chief of Tirconnell, at Credran-Kill near Sligo town, where a furious battle was fought. The two leaders, Fitzgerald and O'Donnell, met in single combat and wounded each other severely; the English were routed; and Fitzgerald retired to the Franciscan monastery of Youghal, where he died the same year, probably of his wounds.

244. As for O'Donnell, he had himself conveyed to an island in Lough Veagh in Donegal, where he lay in bed for a whole year sinking daily under his wounds; and all this time the Tirconnellians had no chief to lead them.

There had been, for some time before, much dissension between this O'Donnell and Brian O'Neill, prince of Tyrone; and now O'Neill ignobly invaded Tirconnell. O'Donnell, still lying helpless, ordered a muster of his army, and had himself borne on a bier at their head to meet the enemy. And while the bier was held aloft in view of the Kinel Connell, the armies attacked each other near the river Swilly, and the Tyrone men were routed. Immediately afterwards the heroic chief died: and the same bier from which he had witnessed his last victory, was made use of to bear him to his grave.

245. Some of the Irish chiefs now attempted to unite against the common enemy, choosing Brien O'Neill for leader: but in 1260 they were defeated by the English in a bloody battle at Downpatrick; and O'Neill and a large number of chiefs were slain.

246. In the south the Mac Carthys of Desmond, seeing their ancient principality continually encroached upon by the Geraldines, became exasperated and attacked and defeated them in 1261 at Callan near Kenmare; after which they demolished numbers of the English castles. But they soon quarrelled among themselves, and the Geraldines gradually recovered all they had lost.

While this universal strife was raging in Ireland, Henry III. died, and was succeeded by Edward I. in 1272.

247. After the English settlement in 1172 there were two distinct codes of law in force in Ireland—the English and the Brehon. The English law was for the colonists; it did not apply to the Irish: so that an Irishman that was in any way injured by an Englishman had no redress. He could not seek the protection of English law; and if he had recourse to the Brehon law, the Englishman need not submit to it. About this time therefore the Irish several times petitioned to be placed under English law; but though both Edward I. and Edward III. were willing to grant it, the selfish Anglo-Irish barons always prevented it; for it was their interest that the Irish should be regarded as enemies, and that the country should be in a perpetual state of disturbance.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 9:04 am

EDWARD BRUCE (1315-1318)


248. The preceding hundred years I have designated a century of turmoil; but it was peace itself compared with the three and a half years of Bruce's expedition to Ireland.

The Irish people, especially those of the north, viewed with great interest and sympathy the struggles of their kindred in Scotland for independence; and Robert Bruce's glorious victory at Bannockburn filled them with joy and hope. Soon after the battle they requested him to send his brother Edward to be king over them. He eagerly accepted the invitation; and on the 25th of May 1315, Edward Bruce, accompanied by many of the Scottish nobles, landed at Larne with an army of 6,000 of the best soldiers of Scotland. He was immediately joined by Donall O'Neill, and by numbers of the northern Irish; and the combined forces overran a great part of Ulster, destroying everything belonging to the English that came in their way, and defeating them in several battles. Moving southwards, they stormed and burned Dundalk and Ardee; and at this latter place they set fire to the church in which a number of people had taken refuge and burned them all to death.

From first to last the campaign was carried on with great cruelty, and with reckless waste of life and property. All food except what was needed for the use of the army was destroyed, though there was a famine, and the people were starving all over the country.

249. The two leading Anglo-Irish noblemen at this time were Richard de Burgo the Red earl of Ulster, and Sir Edmund Butler the lord justice. The Red earl, who was by far the most powerful nobleman in Ireland, raised a large army, chiefly in Connaught, and set out in quest of the invaders. His march north through the Irish districts was perhaps more savagely destructive than that of Bruce.

Felim O'Conor the young king of Connaught had joined De Burgo and accompanied the English army. But he was recalled to Connaught to suppress a rebellion of some of his subjects. This weakened De Burgo, who was now attacked by Bruce at Connor near Ballymena and wholly defeated; and he returned to Connaught with the broken remnants of his forces.

250. A body of the defeated English fled eastwards to Carrickfergus and took possession of the castle, which they gallantly defended for months against the Scots. Soon after the battle Bruce had himself proclaimed king, of Ireland and formally crowned.

Marching next into Meath he routed an army of 15,000 men under Roger Mortimer at Kells; and at the opening of the new year—1316—he defeated the lord justice Sir Edmund Butler at Ardscull near Athy.

The harvest of this year was a bad one, and scarcity and want prevailed all over the country. Nevertheless the Scottish army, wherever they went, continued to ravage and destroy all they could not consume or bring away, multiplying tenfold the miseries of the people, both English and Irish.

251. Felim O'Conor, having crushed in blood the revolt in Connaught, now declared for the Scots. Intending to expel all the English from the province, he marched to Athenry with a great army; but was there defeated and slain in 1316 in a great battle by William de Burgo and Richard Birmingham. Eleven thousand of the Irish fell, and among them nearly all the native nobility of Connaught.

252. The band of English who had taken possession of Carrickfergus castle held out most heroically, and now Bruce himself came to conduct the siege in person. Reduced to starvation, the brave garrison at last surrendered on condition that their lives should be spared.

253. King Robert had come over to aid his brother; and early in the spring of 1317 they set out for Dublin with an army of 20,000, destroying everything in their march.

They encamped at Castleknock; but the citizens of Dublin took most determined measures for defence, burning the suburbs in their desperation, both houses and churches, to deprive the Scots of shelter; so that the Bruces did not think it prudent to enter on a siege; and they resumed their destructive march till they reached Limerick. But as they found this city also well prepared for defence, and as there was still great scarcity of provisions, they returned northwards after a short stay. They had to traverse the very districts they had wasted a short time before; and in this most miserable march vast numbers of them perished of cold, hunger, and disease—scourged by the famine they had themselves created.

254. Robert Bruce returned to Scotland; and in the autumn of next year, 1318, Edward again marched southwards, but was met at Faughart two miles north of Dundalk with an army much more numerous than his own, under Sir John Bermingham.

The battle fought here on Sunday, the 14th of October, 1318, terminated the war. The issue was decided chiefly through the bravery of Sir John Maupas, an Anglo-Irish knight, who made a dash at Bruce and slew him in the midst of the Scots. Maupas was instantly cut down; and after the battle his body was found pierced all over, lying on that of Bruce. The Scottish army was defeated with great slaughter. Bermingharn, with barbarous vindictiveness, had the body of Bruce cut in pieces to be hung up in the chief towns in the colony, and brought the head salted in a box to king Edward II., who immediately created him earl of Louth and gave him the manor of Ardee.

255. And so ended the celebrated expedition of Edward Bruce. Though it resulted in failure, it shook the Irish government to its foundation and weakened it for centuries. Ulster was almost cleared of colonists; the native chiefs and clans resumed possession; and there were similar movements in other parts of Ireland, though not to the same extent.

There had been such general, needless, and almost insane destruction of property, that vast numbers of the people lost everything and sank into hopeless poverty. The whole country was thrown into a state of utter disorder from which it did not recover till many generations had passed away. And to add to the misery there were visitations of famine and pestilence—plagues of various strange kinds—which continued at intervals during the whole of this century.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 9:05 am

THE STATUTE OF KILKENNY (1318-1377)


256. Edward III. succeeded to the throne of England in 1327, in succession to his father Edward II.

The Irish government emerged from the Bruce struggle weak: it now grew weaker year by year—engaged in defence rather than invasion; and the causes were not far to seek. The Irish, taking advantage of the dissensions and helplessness of the English, recovered a great part of their lands. The English all over the country were fast becoming absorbed into the native population.

257. There were two reasons for this. First: the colonists, seeing the Irish prevailing everywhere, joined them for their own protection, intermarrying with them and adopting their language, dress, and customs. Second: the government had all along made a most mischievous distinction between New English and Old English—English by birth and English by blood. They favored Englishmen and gave them most of the situations of trust, putting them over the heads of the Old English. This so incensed the old colonists that a large proportion of them turned against the government and joined the Irish all over the country.

These "degenerate English," as they were called, were regarded by the loyal English with as much aversion as the Irish, and returned hate for hate quite as cordially. So completely did they become fused with the native population, that an English writer complained that they had become Hiberniores Hibernicis ipsis, more Irish than the Irish themselves.

258. The whole country was now feeling the consequences of the Bruce invasion. There were murderous broils everywhere among the English themselves. At Bragganstown, near Ardee, Sir John Bermingham, the victor of Faughart, was led into a trap, in 1329, and treacherously slain, together with his brothers, nephews, and retainers, to the number of 160, by the Gernons and Savages. About the same time a similar outrage was perpetrated in Munster; when Lord Philip Hodnet and 140 of the Anglo-Irish were massacred by their brethren, the Barrys, the Roches, and others.

259. The uprising of the Irish became so general and alarming that, in 1330, the viceroy called in the aid of the powerful nobleman in the country, Maurice Fitzgerald, who was at the same time created first earl of Desmond. This only made matters worse; for Fitzgerald, after some successful expeditions, quartered his army, to the number of 10,000, on the colonists, to pay themselves by exacting coyne and livery (56). This was the first time the English adopted the odious impost, which afterwards became so frequent among them.

260. The Anglo Irish lords had now become so dangerously powerful that king Edward III. determined to pull them down and reduce them to obedience. He made three attempts by three different governors and failed in all.

The first was Sir Anthony Lucy, a stern Northumbrian baron, who was sent over in 1331 as lord lieutenant. He arrested, among others, the earl of Desmond and Sir William Bermingham. Bermingham, who was suspected of being implicated in a rebellious outbreak that had lately taken place in Leinster, was executed in the following year; and Desmond was released after 18 months' imprisonment. But Lucy was not successful in his main object.

261. In 1333 De Burgo the Brown earl of Ulster, then only 21 years of age, was murdered on his way to Carrickfergus church on a Sunday morning by Richard de Mandeville, his own uncle by marriage. The Anglo-Irish people of the place, by whom the young lord was much liked, rose up in a passionate burst of vengeance, and seizing on all whom they suspected of having a hand in the deed, killed 300 of them.

262. The murder of this young earl lost a great part of Ireland to the government, and helped to hasten the incorporation of the English with the Irish. He left one child, a daughter, who according to English law was heir to her father's vast possessions in Ulster and Connaught, about one-fourth of the whole Anglo-Irish territory.

The two most powerful of the Connaught De Burgos seized the estates, declared themselves independent of England, and adopted the Irish dress and language.

They took also Irish names, one of them calling himself Mac William Oughter (Upper) as being lord of upper, or south, Connaught; he was ancestor of the earls of Clanrickard: the other, Mac William Eighter i.e. of Lower or North Connaught, from whom descended the earls of Mayo. And their example was followed by many other Anglo-Irish families, especially in the west and south.

263. The English of the Pale were now so weak that they had to pay some of the Irish septs of their borders to protect them from the attacks of the natives. Payments of this kind subsequently became very common, and were called "Black rents."

264. After a considerable interval, Sir John Morris came in 1341 as deputy, to attempt what Lucy had failed in. He took back all the lands and all the privileges which either the king himself or his father had granted; and he re-claimed all debts that had been cancelled. But there came a much worse measure than this. The king issued an ordinance in 1342 that all natives, whether of Irish or English descent, who were married and held public offices in Ireland, should be dismissed, and their places filled up by English-born subjects who had property in England.

265. These measures caused intense surprise and indignation among the Anglo-Irish of every class. The earls of Desmond and Kildare refused to attend Morris's parliament, and in 1342 convened a parliament of their own in Kilkenny. They spoke openly of armed resistance and drew up a spirited remonstrance to the king. In this document they complained bitterly of the intolerable conduct of the English officials, exposed their selfishness and fraud, and represented that to their corruption and incompetency were due the recent losses of territories and castles. The appeal was successful: the king granted almost everything they asked for; and at the same time requested assistance from them for his French wars.

266. But after all this, still another attempt was to be made. Sir Ralph Ufford was now—in 1344—appointed lord justice, whose wife was Maud, widow of the Brown earl of Ulster. He turned out a most intolerable tyrant, and quite overshot the mark; and his wife was blamed for instigating him to some of his worst deeds. He seized the earl of Desmond's estates, hanged several of his knights, and threw the earl of Kildare into prison. But he died in the midst of his tyranny, "to the great joy of everyone;" and so fierce was the rage of the people against him, that his wife, who had lived with the grandeur and state of a queen, had now to steal away from Dublin Castle through a back gate, with the coffin containing her husband's body.

267. After his death Kildare was released, and joined the king at the siege of Calais in 1347, where he was knighted for his bravery. Desmond's wrongs were also redressed and he was made lord justice for life.

With these proceedings of Ufford's the attempts of the king to break down the power of the Irish nobles may be regarded as having terminated.

268. During all this time the people of the country, English and Irish alike, were sunk in a state of misery that no pen can describe. At this period the "black death" was in full swing, and was as bad in Ireland as elsewhere. Once it entered a house, all the family generally fell victims; and it swept away the inhabitants of whole towns, villages, and castles. The plague was not all: the people's cup of misery was filled to overflowing by perpetual war and all its attendant horrors. The inhabitants of the Pale were perhaps in a worse condition than those of the rest of Ireland; for they were tyrannised over and robbed by the soldiers.

The colonists, exposed to all sorts of exactions and hardships, and scourged by pestilence, quitted the doomed country in crowds—every one fled who had the means—and the settlement seemed threatened with speedy extinction.

269. In this critical state of affairs king Edward resolved to send over his third son Lionel, afterwards duke of Clarence, as lord lieutenant. This young prince had married Elizabeth the only child of the Brown earl of Ulster, and in her right had become earl of Ulster and lord of Connaught. With a force of 1,500 experienced soldiers he came to Ireland in 1361; and twice afterwards he came as lord lieutenant, in 1364 and 1367. Believing, after this much experience, that it was impossible to subdue the Irish, he caused the government, during his last visit—in 1367—to frame and pass an act of parliament—the celebrated Statute of Kilkenny—in order to save the miserable remnant of the settlement.

270. This act contains thirty-five chapters, of which the following are the most important provisions: Intermarriage, fosterage, gossipred, traffic, and intimate relations of any kind with the Irish, were forbidden as high treason:—punishment, death.

If any man took a name after the Irish fashion, used the Irish language, or dress, or mode of riding (without saddle), or adopted any other Irish customs, all his lands and houses were forfeited, and he himself was put into jail till he could find security that he would comply with the law. The Irish living among the English were permitted to remain, but were forbidden to use the Irish language under the same penalty. To use or submit to the Brehon law or to exact coyne and livery was treason.

No Englishman was to make war on the Irish without the special warrant of the government, who would conduct, supply, and finish all such wars, "so that the Irish enemies shall not be admitted to peace until they be finally destroyed or shall make restitution fully of the costs and charges of that war."

The Irish were forbidden to booley or pasture on those of the march lands belonging to the English; if they did so the English owner of the lands might impound the cattle as a distress for damage; but in doing so he was to keep the cattle together, so that they might be delivered up whole and uninjured to the Irish owner if he came to pay the damages.

According to Brehon law, the whole sept were liable for the offences and debts of each member. In order to avoid quarrels, the act ordains that an English creditor must sue an Irish debtor personally, not any other member of the sept. This at least was a wise provision.

No native Irish clergyman was to be appointed to any position in the church within the English district, and no Irishman was to be received into any English religious house in Ireland.

It was forbidden to receive or entertain Irish bards, pipers, story-tellers, or mowers, because these and such like often came as spies on the English.

271. The Statute of Kilkenny, though not exhibiting quite so hostile a spirit against the Irish as we find sometimes represented, yet carried out consistently the vicious and fatal policy of separation adopted by the government from the beginning. It was intended to apply only to the English, and was framed entirely in their interests. Its chief aim was to withdraw them from all contact with the "Irish enemies"—so the natives are designated all through the act—to separate the two races for evermore.

272. But this new law designed to effect so much, was found to be impracticable, and turned out after a little while a dead letter. Coyne and livery continued to be exacted from the colonists by the three great earls, Kildare, Desmond, and Ormond; and the Irish and English went on intermarrying, gossiping, fostering, and quarrelling on their own account, just the same as before.

273. The reign of Edward III. was a glorious one for England abroad, but was disastrous to the English dominion in Ireland. At the very time of the battle of Cressy, the settlement had been almost wiped out of existence—not more than four counties now remained to the English. If one-half of the energy and solicitude expended uselessly in France had been directed to Ireland, which was more important than all the French possessions, the country could have been easily pacified and compacted into one great empire with England.

274. Almost as soon as the English had made permanent settlements in Ireland the evil of absenteeism began to make itself felt. A number of speculators got possession of large tracts of lands; and while they lived out of the country and discharged none of the duties expected from holders of property, they drew their rents from their Irish estates and drained the country of its capital. Many attempts to remedy this evil were made about this time; and acts were passed to enforce residence: those who did not reside had to pay two-thirds of their income as fine. But these acts were evaded and produced no lasting results; and absenteeism has descended through seven centuries to our own times.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 9:06 am

ART MAC MURROGH KAVANAGH (1377-1417)


275. The man that gave most trouble during the reign of Richard II (from 1377 to 1399) was Art Mac Murrogh Kavanagh, king of Leinster, born in 1357. In early youth, even in his sixteenth year, he began his active career as defender of the province; and at eighteen (in 1375) he was elected king of Leinster.

Some time after his election, he married the daughter of Maurice Fitzgerald fourth earl of Kildare; whereupon the English authorities seized the lady's vast estates, inasmuch as she had violated the statute of Kilkenny by marrying a mere Irishman. In addition to this, his black rent—eighty marks a year—was for some reason stopped, soon after the accession of Richard II. Exasperated by these proceedings, he devastated and burned many districts in the counties of Wexford, Kilkenny, Carlow, and Kildare; till the Dublin council were at last forced to pay him his black rent.

276. Meantime Ireland had been going from bad to worse; and at last the king resolved to come hither himself with an overwhelming force, hoping thereby to overawe the whole country into submission and quietness. He made great preparations for this expedition; and on the 2nd of October 1394, attended by many of the English nobles, he landed at Waterford with an army of 34,000 men, the largest force ever yet brought to the shores of Ireland.

277. As soon as Mac Murrogh heard of this, far from showing any signs of fear, he swept down on New Ross, then a flourishing English settlement strongly walled, burned the town, and brought away a vast quantity of booty. And when the king and his army marched north from Waterford to Dublin, he harassed them on the way after his usual fashion, attacking them from the woods and bogs and catting off great numbers.

278. The Irish chiefs however saw that submission was inevitable. At a place called Ballygorry near Carlow, Mowbray earl of Nottingham received the submission of a number of the southern chiefs in 1395, and amongst them Mac Murrogh, the most dreaded of all. The king himself received the northern chiefs at Drogheda. Altogether about 75 chiefs submitted to the king and to Mowbray.

They were afterwards invited to Dublin, where they were feasted sumptuously for several days by the king, who knighted the four provincial kings, O'Neill of Ulster, O'Connor of Connaught, Mac Murrogh of Leinster, and O'Brien of Thomond.

279. In a letter to the duke of York, the English Regent king Richard describes the Irish people as of three classes:—Irish savages or enemies; Irish rebels (colonists in rebellion); and English subjects; and he says the rebels were driven to revolt by ill usage.

280. But this magnificent and expensive expedition produced no useful result whatever. As for the submission and reconciliation of the Irish chiefs, it was all pure sham. They did not look upon king Richard as their lawful sovereign; and as the promises they had made had been extorted by force, they did not consider themselves bound to keep them.

281. After a stay of nine months the king was obliged to return to England in 1395, leaving as his deputy his cousin young Roger Mortimer earl of March, who, as Richard had no children, was heir to the throne of England. Scarcely had he left sight of land when the chiefs one and all renounced their allegiance, and the fighting went on again; till at last, in a battle fought at Kells in Kilkenny in 1397, against the Leinster clans, amongst them a large contingent of Mac Murrogh's kern, the English suffered a great overthrow, and Mortimer was slain.

282. And now the king, greatly enraged, resolved on a second expedition to Ireland, in order as he said, to avenge the death of his cousin, and especially to chastise Mac Murrogh. Another army was got together quite as numerous as the former. In the middle of May 1399 the king landed with his army at Waterford, and after a short time he marched to Kilkenny on his way to Dublin. But instead of continuing on the open level country, he turned to the right towards the Wicklow highlands to attack Mac Murrogh: and here his troubles began.

Making their way slowly and toilsomely through the hills, they at length descried the Leinster army under Mac Murrogh, about 3,000 in number, high up on a mountain side, coolly looking down on them, with dense woods between. The king having forced 2,500 of the peasantry, whose houses he had burned, to cut a way for his army through the woods, pushed on, determined to overwhelm the little body of mountaineers. But he was soon beset with difficulties of all kinds, bogs, fallen trees, hidden gullies, and quagmires in which the soldiers sank up to their middle. At the same time the Irish continually attacked him and killed great numbers of his men. They could get little or no provisions, and hundreds perished of hunger and fatigue.

283. In this dire strait the army made their way across hill, moor, and valley, men and horses starving, and perishing with rain and storm; till at the end of eleven days of toil and suffering, they came in sight of the sea, somewhere on the south part of the Wicklow coast. Here they found three ships laden with provisions, which saved the army from destruction. Next day they resumed march, moving now along the coast towards Dublin; while Mac Murrogh's flying parties hung on their rear and harassed their retreat, never giving them an hour's rest.

284. But now Mac Murrogh sent word that he wished to come to terms; and the young earl of Gloucester was despatched by the king to confer with him.

When they had come to the place of conference, Mac Murrogh was seen descending a mountain-side between two woods, accompanied by a multitude of followers. He rode, without saddle, a noble horse that had cost him four hundred cows, and he galloped down the face of the hill as swiftly as a stag. He brandished a long spear, which, when he had arrived near the meeting place, he flung from him with great dexterity. Then his followers fell back, and he met the earl alone near a small brook; and those that saw him remarked that he was tall of stature, well knit, strong and active, with a fierce and stern countenance.

285. But the parley ended in nothing, for Gloucester could not agree to Mac Murrogh's demands. On the king's arrival in Dublin he made arrangements to have Mac Murrogh hunted down. But before they could be carried out he was recalled to England by alarming news; and when he had arrived he was made prisoner in 1399, and a new king, Henry IV., was placed on the throne.

286. After the king's departure, Mac Murrogh's raids became so intolerable that the government agreed to compensate him for his wife's lands. Two years later—in 1401—he made a terrible raid into Wexford, in which numbers of the settlers were slain. But this was avenged soon after by the English of Dublin, who in 1402 marched south along the coast, led by the mayor, John Drake, and defeated the O'Byrnes near Bray, killing 500 of them. For this and other services, the king granted to the city of Dublin the privilege of having a gilt sword carried before the mayor.

287. After a short period of quietness Mac Murrogh renewed the war in 1405, plundered and burned Carlow and Castledermot, two English settlements, and again overran the county Wexford. But now came a turn of ill fortune. The deputy Sir Stephen Scroope utterly defeated him in 1407 near Callan in Kilkenny, and immediately afterwards surprised O'Carroll lord of Ely, and killed O'Carroll himself and 800 of his followers. Altogether 3,000 of the Irish fell in these two conflicts—the greatest reverse ever sustained by Mac Murrogh.

288. This defeat kept him quiet for a time. But in 1413 he inflicted a severe defeat on the men of Wexford. Three years after this—in 1416—the English of Wexford combined, with the determination to avenge all the injuries he had inflicted on them. But he met them on their own plains, defeated them with a loss of 320 in killed and prisoners, and so thoroughly frightened them that they were glad to escape further consequences by making peace and giving hostages for future good behaviour.

289. This was the old hero's last exploit. He died in New Ross a week after the Christmas of 1417, in the sixtieth year of his age, after a reign of forty-two years over Leinster. O'Doran his chief brehon, who had been spending the Christmas with him, died on the same day, and there are good grounds for suspecting that both were poisoned by a woman who had been instigated by some of Mac Murrogh's enemies.

He was the most heroic, persevering, and indomitable defender of his country, from Brian Boru to Hugh O'Neill; and he maintained his independence for nearly half a century just beside the Pale, in spite of every effort to reduce him to submission.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 9:07 am

DURING THE WARS OF THE ROSES (1413-1485)


290. Henry V., who ascended the throne in 1418, was so engrossed with France that he gave hardly any attention to Ireland; so that there was little or no change in Irish affairs during his reign; and there was strife everywhere.

Matters at last looked so serious that in 1414 the king sent over an able and active military rnan as lord lieutenant, Sir John Talbot Lord Furnival, subsequently earl of Shrewsbury, who became greatly distinguished in the French wars. He made a vigorous circuit round the Pale, and reduced O'Moore, Mac Mahon, O'Hanlon, and O'Neill. But this brought the Palesmen more evil than good; for the relief was only temporary; and when the brilliant exploits were all over he subjected them, in violation of the Statute of Kilkenny, to coyne and livery, having no other way of paying his soldiers. No sooner had he left than the Irish resumed their attacks, and for years incessantly harried and worried the miserable Pales-men, except indeed when kept quiet in some small degree by the payment of black rent.

291. The accession of Henry VI, in 1422, made no improvement in the country, which continued to be everywhere torn by strife. Ireland was now indeed, and for generations before and after, in a far worse condition than at any time under native management, even during the anarchical period after the battle of Clontarf.

The people of the Pale probably fared neither better nor worse than those of the rest of the country. But to add to their misfortunes, there arose, about the time of the king's accession, a deadly quarrel between the Butlers, headed by the carl of Ormond, and the Talbots, headed by Richard Talbot archbishop of Dublin and his brother Lord Furnival, who came twice again to Ireland as lord lieutenant. This feud was so violent that it put a stop to almost all government business for many years.

292. Meantime in 1423 the Irish of Ulster made a terrible raid on Louth and Meath, defeated the army sent against them, and carried off great booty; till at last the inhabitants had to buy peace by agreeing to pay black rent.

In 1449 Richard Plantagenet duke of York, a prince of the royal blood and heir to the throne of England, was appointed lord lieutenant for ten years. He won the affections of the Irish both of native and English descent, treating them with fairness and consideration.

293. In an act of parliament of this time we have a frightful picture of the condition of the colonists of the Pale. In time of harvest companies of the soldiers were in the habit of going with their wives, children, servants, and friends, sometimes to the number of a hundred, to the farmers' houses, eating and drinking, and paying for nothing. They robbed and sometimes killed the tenants and husbandmen; and their horses were turned out to graze in the meadows and in the ripe corn, ruining all the harvest.

294. The parliament held by the duke in 1449, asserted for the first time the independence of the Irish legislature: that they had a right to a separate coinage, and that they were absolutely free from all laws except those passed by the lords and commons of Ireland.

295. The duke had not been in Ireland for more than a year when Jack Cade's rebellion broke out; on which he went to England in 1451 to look after his own interests.

296. For the past century and a half the English kings had been so taken up with wars in France, Scotland, and Wales, that they had little leisure to attend to Ireland. Accordingly we have seen the Irish encroaching, the Pale growing smaller, and the people of the settlement more oppressed and more miserable year by year.

But now about this time—1454—began in England the tremendous struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster, commonly known as the Wars of the Roses, which lasted for about thirty years, and during which the colony fared worse than ever. The Geraldines sided with the house of York, and the Butlers with the house of Lancaster; and they went to England with many others of the Anglo-Irish to take part in the battles. Then the Irish rose up everywhere, overran the lands of the settlers, and took back whole districts. The Pale became smaller than ever, till it included only the county Louth and about half those of Dublin Meath and Kildare. At one time not more than 200 men could be got together to defend it.

The duke of York was at last defeated at the battle of Wakefield in 1460, where fell a great part of the Anglo-Irish nobility and gentry; and he himself was taken and beheaded on the battlefield. The very next year, however—1461—witnessed the triumph of the Yorkists; and the duke's eldest son was proclaimed king of England as Edward IV., the first king of the house of York.

297. The Geraldines, both of Desmond and Kildare, were now in high favour, while the Butlers were in disgrace. These two factions enacted a sort of miniature of the Wars of the Roses in Ireland. In 1462 they fought a battle at Pilltown in Kilkenny, where the Butlers were defeated and 400 or 500 of their men killed. As a curious illustration of how completely these Anglo-Irish families had adopted the Irish language and customs, it is worthy of mention that the ransom of Mac Richard Butler, who had been taken prisoner in the battle, was two Irish manuscripts, the Psalter of Cashel and the Book of Carrick. A fragment of the Psalter of Cashel is still preserved in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and in one of its pages is written a record of this transaction.

298. Thomas the eighth earl of Desmond—the Great Earl as he was called—was appointed lord deputy, in 1463, under his godson the young duke of Clarence, the king's brother, who though appointed lord lieutenant, never came to Ireland. Desmond was well received by the Irish of both races. His love for learning is shown by the fact that he founded the college of Youghal, which was richly endowed by him and his successors; also a university in Drogheda; but this latter project fell to the ground for want of funds.

299. The Irish parliament passed an act in 1465 that every Irishman dwelling in the Pale was to dress and shave like the English, and take an English surname:—from some town as Trim, Sutton, Cork; or of a color as Black, Brown; or of some calling, as Smith, Carpenter, etc., on pain of forfeiture of his goods. Another and more mischievous measure forbade ships from fishing in the seas of Irish countries, because the dues went to make the Irish people prosperous and strong. But the worst enactment of all was one providing that it was lawful to decapitate thieves found robbing "or going or coming anywhere" unless they had an Englishman in their company. And whoever did so, on bringing the head to the mayor of the nearest town, was licensed to levy a good sum off the barony.

This put it in the power of any evil-minded person to kill the first Irishman he met, pretending he was a thief, and to raise money on his head. This indeed was not the intention of the legislators; the act was merely a desperate attempt to keep down marauders who swarmed at this time all through the Pale.

300. With all the earl of Desmond's popularity he was unable to restore tranquillity to the distracted country. He was defeated in open fight in 1466 by his own brother-in-law O'Conor of Offaly, who took him prisoner and confined him in Carbury castle in Kildare; from which however he was rescued in a few days by the people of Dublin. Neither was he able to prevent the septs from ravaging the Pale.

301. The Great Earl was struck down in the midst of his career by an act of base treachery under the guise of law. He was first replaced in 1467 by John Tiptoft earl of Worcester—"the Butcher" as he was called from his cruelty—who came determined to ruin him. Acting on the secret instructions of the queen, he caused the earls of Desmond and Kildare to be arrested; and had them attainted for exacting coyne and livery, and for making alliance with the Irish, contrary to the Statute of Kilkenny. Desmond was at once executed; Kildare was pardoned; and "the Butcher" returned to England, where he was himself executed soon after.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 9:09 am

POYNINGS' LAW (1485-1494)


302. The accession in 1485, of Henry VII., who belonged to the Lancastrians, was the final triumph of that great party.

At this time all the chief state offices in Ireland were held by the Geraldines; but as the new king felt that he could not govern the country without their aid, he made no changes, though he knew well they were all devoted Yorkists. Accordingly the great earl of Kildare, who had been lord deputy for several years, with a short break, was still retained.

303. But the Irish retained their affection for the house of York; and accordingly when the young impostor Lambert Simnel came to Ireland and gave out that he was the Yorkist prince Edward earl of Warwick, he was received with open arms, not only by the deputy, but by almost all the Anglo-Irish: nobles, clergy, and people. But the city of Waterford rejected him and remained steadfast in its loyalty; whence it got the name of Urbs Intacta, the "untarnished city."

304. After a little time an army of 2,000 Germans came to Ireland to support the impostor; and in 1487 he was actually crowned as Edward VI., by the bishop of Meath, in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, in presence of the deputy Kildare, the archbishop of Dublin, and a great concourse of Anglo-Irish nobles, ecclesiastics, and officers. But this foolish business came to a sudden termination when Simnel was defeated and taken prisoner in England. Then Kildare and the others humbly sent to ask pardon of the king; who dreading their power if they were driven to rebellion, took no severer steps than to send over Sir Richard Edgecomb to exact new oaths of allegiance. In the following year the king invited them to a banquet at Greenwich; and one of the waiters who attended them at table was their idolized prince Lambert Simnel.

305. A little later on reports of new plots in Ireland reached the king's ears; whereupon in 1492 he removed Kildare from the office of deputy. These reports were not without foundation, for now a second claimant for the crown, a young Fleming named Perkin Warbeck, landed in Cork in 1492 and announced that he was Richard duke of York, one of the two princes that had been kept in prison by Richard III. And he was at once accepted by the Anglo-Irish citizens of Cork.

It was chiefly the English colonists who were concerned in the episodes of Simnel and Warbeck; the native Irish took little or no interest in either claimant.

306. The king now saw that his Irish subjects were ready to rise in rebellion for the house of York at every opportunity. He came to the resolution, therefore, to lessen their power by destroying the independence of their parliament; and having given Sir Edward Poynings instructions to this effect, he sent him over as deputy.

307. Poynings' first act was to lead an expedition to the north against O'Hanlon and Magennis, who had given shelter to some of the supporters of Warbeck. But he heard a rumour that the earl of Kildare was conspiring with O'Hanlon and Magennis to intercept and destroy himself and his army; and news came also that Kildare's brother had risen in open rebellion and had seized the castle of Carlow. On this Poynings returned south and recovered the castle.

308. He convened a parliament at Drogheda in November, 1494, the memorable parliament in which the act since known as "Poynings' law" was passed. The following are the most important provisions of this law:

1. No parliament was in future to be held in Ireland until the Irish chief governor and privy council had sent the king information of all the acts intended to be passed in it, with a full statement of the reasons why they were required, and until these acts had been approved and permission granted by the king and privy council of England. This single provision is what is popularly known as "Poynings' law."

2. All the laws lately made in England affecting the public weal should hold good in Ireland. This referred only to English laws then existing; it gave no power to the English parliament to make laws for Ireland in the future.

3. The Statute of Kilkenny was revived and confirmed, except the part forbidding the use of the Irish tongue, which could not be carried out, as the language was now used everywhere, even through the English settlements.

4. For the purpose of protecting the settlement, it was made felony to permit enemies or rebels to pass through the marches; and the owners of march lands were obliged to reside on them or send proper deputies on pain of losing their estates.

5. The exaction of coyne and livery was forbidden in any shape or form.

6. Many of the Anglo-Irish families had adopted the Irish war-cries; the use of these was now strictly forbidden.*

In this parliament the earl of Kildare was attainted for high treason, mainly on account of his supposed conspiracy with O'Hanlon to destroy the deputy; in consequence of which he was soon afterwards arrested and sent a prisoner to England.

309. Up to this the Irish parliament had been independent; it was convened by the chief governor whenever and wherever he pleased; and it made its laws without any interference from the parliament of England. Now Poynings' law took away all this power and made the parliament a mere shadow, entirely dependent on the English king and council.

This indeed was of small consequence at the time; for the parliament was only for the Pale, and no native Irishman could sit in it. But when at a later period English law was made to extend over the whole country, and the Irish parliament made laws for all the people of Ireland, then Poynings' law which still remained in force was felt by the people of Ireland to be one of their greatest grievances.

310. During the whole time that this parliament was sitting the Warbeck party were actively at work in the south. But Warbeck had at last to fly; and the rest of his career belongs to English rather than to Irish history. In 1499 he was lunged at Tyburn, with John Walter, mayor of Cork, his chief supporter in that city.

311. A double ditch or wall was at this time built all along on the boundary of the Leinster settlement from sea to sea to keep out the Irish. This little territory was called the Pale; and it remained so circumscribed for many years, but afterwards became enlarged from time to time.

* The war-cry of the O'Neills was Lamh-derg abu, i.e., the Red-hand to victory (lamh, pron. lauv, a hand). That of the O'Briens and Mac Carthys, Lamh-laidir abu, the Strong-hand to victory (laidir, pron. lauder, strong). The Kildare Fitzgeralds took as their cry Crom abu, from the great Geraldine castle of Crom or Croom in Limerick; the earl of Desmond Shanit abu, from the castle of Shanid in Limerick. Most of the other chiefs, both native and Anglo-Irish, had their several cries.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 9:10 am

GARRETT, THE GREAT EARL OF KILDARE (1477-1513)


312. Garrett or Gerald Fitzgerald, who is known as the Great earl of Kildare, became the eighth earl in 1477. His sister Eleanora was married to Conn O'Neill chief of Tyrone (father of Conn Bacach). He was at this time in custody in London, but only on mere suspicion (308). The king now resolved to govern Ireland through him: but first brought him up to answer the charges. A whole crowd of enemies came forward to accuse him. He was charged with burning the church of Cashel, to which he replied, that it was true enough, but that he would not have done so only he thought the archbishop was in it. The archbishop himself was present listening; and this reply was so unexpectedly plain and blunt that the king burst out laughing.

The king advised him to have the aid of counsel, saying that he might have anyone he pleased; to which the earl answered that he would have the best counsel in England, namely, the king himself; at which his majesty laughed as heartily as before. At last when one of his accusers exclaimed with great vehemence: "All Ireland cannot rule this man!" the king ended the matter by replying: "Then if all Ireland cannot rule him, he shall rule all Ireland!"

Thus the great earl triumphed; and the king restored him, and made him lord lieutenant of Ireland. (1496.)

313. There was at this time a bitter war between the O'Neills and O'Donnells; and the earl often went north to aid his brother-in-law Conn O'Neill.

314. The most important event the great earl was ever engaged in was the battle of Knockdoe, which came about in this way. O'Kelly chief of Hy Many, having a quarrel with Mac William Burke of Clanrickard, applied for help to the earl of Kildare. Kildare and O'Kelly enlisted on their side the chiefs of almost all the north of Ireland except O'Neill. On the other side Burke, knowing what was coming, collected a considerable army, being joined by many of the native chiefs of the south, among others O'Brien of Thomond, Macnamara, and O'Carroll; and he awaited the approach of his adversary on a low hill called Knockdoe—the hill of tiie battle-axes—about eight miles from Galway.

The battle that followed, which was fought in 1504, was the most obstinate, bloody, and destructive fought in Ireland since the invasion, with the single exception of the battle of Athenry (251). The southern men, who were far outnumbered by the earl's forces, held the field for several hours; but in the end they suffered a total overthrow, with a loss of upwards of 2,000. The victors encamped on the battle-field for twenty-four hours; and the next day Galway and Athenry opened their gates to the earl.

315. On the accession of Henry VIII. in 1509 the great earl was made lord deputy. The next year, 1510, he set out on an expedition, which did not end so well for him as the battle of Knockdoe. Having overrun a good part of south Munster, he invaded Thomond, but was utterly routed near Limerick by O'Brien and Burke of Clanrickard, and saved himself and the remnant of his army by flight.

316. This defeat did not check the warlike activity of the earl. Two years later, in 1512, he captured Roscommon; after which he went north, took the castle of Belfast, and plundered the Glens of Antrim, the Scottish Mac Donnells' district. In 1513 he made an unsuccessful attempt to take O'Carroll's castle of Leap in King's County; and soon after died at Athy.
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Re: A CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND P. W. Joyce

PostFri Sep 16, 2016 9:11 am

GARRETT, NINTH EARL OF KILDARE (1513-1534)


317. After the death of the Great earl of Kildare his son Garrett Oge (the young) was appointed lord deputy by the king. The new deputy followed in the footsteps of his father. He defeated the O'Moores, of Leix, the O'Reillys, of Brefney, and the O'Tooles, of Wicklow; and he captured after a week's siege O'Carroll's castle of Leap, which had baffled his father.

Turning his arms next against the north, he took the strong castle of Dundrum, and captured and burned the castle of Dungannon.

318. This career of uninterrupted success excited the jealousy of some of the other Anglo-Irish lords, especially the Butlers, the hereditary foes of his house, who employed every means in their power to turn the king against him. But Kildare counteracted all these schemes so skilfully, that for a long time his enemies were unsuccessful; till at last Ormond managed to gain the ear of Cardinal Wolsey, through whose influence Kildare was summoned to England to answer charges of enriching himself from the crown revenues and of holding traitorous correspondence with the Irish enemies.

319. Soon after his arrival in England, Thomas Howard earl of Surrey was, at Wolsey's instance, sent to Ireland as lord lieutenant (in 1520). He marched north against Conn (Bacach) O'Neill, prince of the O'Neills of Tyrone, who had suddenly invaded the English settlements of Meath; but O'Neill retreated to his Ulster fastnesses, whither Surrey could not follow him. This chief made his peace soon after; and the king sent Surrey a chain of gold for him as a token of pardon and friendship.

Surrey next made peace between the earls of Ormond and Desmond, who had been actively keeping up the old feuds of their families. He took O'Conor's castle of Monasteroris; but O'Conor obstinately refused to come to terms, saying he would make no peace till the English were driven from the country.

320. In 1521 James earl of Desmond invaded the territories of two powerful chiefs of the Mac Carthys; but they defeated him at Mourne Abbey or Ballinamona between Mallow and Cork, and slew 2,000 of his men. In the end Surrey made peace between them.

321. From the very day of Surrey's arrival he applied himself to collect evidence against the earl of Kildare; taking down vague reports of every kind, aided all through by Pierce Roe of Ormond. Meantime Kildare married Lady Elizabeth Grey, a near relative of the king, which stopped for the time all further proceedings against him.

Surrey at last became heartily tired of his mission. He grew sick in mind and sick in body; and besought the king for leave to retire. This was at last granted; and he returned to England in 1521, after a stay of nearly two years.

322. In 1522 one of the ever-recurring feuds between the O'Neills and the O'Donnells broke out, and attained such magnitude as almost to deserve the name of civil war. The chief of the O'Neills, Conn Bacach, who had been inaugurated three years before, made a great gathering, determined to march into Tirconnell and bring the O'Donnells under thorough subjection. O'Donnell had an army very much smaller; but what he wanted in numbers he made up in generalship. After a good deal of skirmishing be surprised O'Neill's camp at night at Knockavoe near Strabane, and almost before the sentinels were aware of how matters stood, the two armies were fighting furiously in pitch darkness in the midst of the camp. After a long and fearful struggle, in which men found it hard to distinguish friend from foe, the O'Neills were routed with a loss of 900 men; and O'Donnell took possession of the camp, with an immense quantity of booty.

This battle of Knockavoe, which was one of the bloodiest ever fought between the Kinel Connell and Kinel Owen, did not end the quarrel. Kildare, who was Conn Bacach O'Neill's first cousin (312), tried hard to make peace; but in spite of his efforts the war continued for many years afterwards.

323. Let us now return to earl Garrett. When Surrey went back to England in 1521, Pierce Roe, earl of Ormond, Kildare's old enemy, was appointed lord deputy. The chief use he made of his power was to injure Kildare, several of whose castles he took and destroyed. But while he was still deputy, Kildare was at last permitted to return to Ireland; and as might have been expected, the feud now blazed up with tenfold fury; so that the king had to send over commissioners to investigate the dispute. Their decision was for Kildare; whom they appointed deputy in 1524 in place of Ormond.

324. Kildare was now directed by the king to arrest the earl of Desmond, who had been holding correspondence with the king of France about an invasion of Ireland. He led an army southwards on this unpleasant mission; but Desmond eluded pursuit, and the deputy returned without him to Dublin. It was afterwards alleged against him that he had intentionally allowed Desmond to escape arrest, which was probably true.

325. Kildare's enemies especially the two most powerful, Pierce Roe in Ireland, and Wolsey in England, still kept wideawake watching his proceedings and continually sending damaging reports about him. They succeeded at last so far as to have him summoned to England to answer several charges. He was not brought to trial; but at his own urgent request he was examined by the lords of the privy council: and he successfully defended himself against the bitter accusations of Wolsey, who, not being able to have him condemned, sent him back to the Tower.

326. Meantime things began to go on very badly in Ireland; and the Pale was attacked and plundered by O'Conor of Offally and several other chiefs. These disturbances were laid at the door of Kildare, who was openly accused of having, by messages from London, incited O'Conor and the others to attack the Palesmen.

327. But Kildare's extraordinary influence and good fortune again prevailed; he was released and restored to confidence. Sir William Skeffington was appointed lord deputy, and Kildare was sent with him to Ireland to advise and aid him. It was easy to foresee that this arrangement would not last long; for Kildare was too high and proud to act as subordinate to any English knight.

328. In 1531 Skeffington marched north against O'Neill. Kildare accompanied him to save appearances; for it is not to be supposed that he was earnest in taking part in a war on Conn O'Neill, his cousin and friend. There had been before this time jealousies and bickerings between Skeffington and Kildare, and while they were in the north, the old enmity between Kildare and the earl of Ormond, now earl of Ossory, almost broke out into open war. So this expedition, led as it was by divided commanders who hated each other heartily, was not likely to be very formidable; and on the appearance of O'Neill with his army, they did not wait to be attacked, but retreated southwards.

329. The enmity between Kildare and the deputy at last broke out openly; and the earl proceeded to England and laid his case before the king. The result was that Skeffington was removed, and Kildare became deputy once more.

As Wolsey was now dead, there was no single enemy that Kildare feared; and he used his great power unsparingly. He removed archbishop Alien from the chancellorship, and put George Cromer archbishop of Armagh in his place. He drew around him the most powerful of the Irish chiefs, and gave one of his daughters in marriage to O'Conor of Offaly, and another to O'Carroll tanist of Ely. He ravaged the territory of the Butlers in Kilkenny, and at his instigation his brother James Fitzgerald and his cousin Conn O'Neill entered Louth—a part of the Pale—burned the English villages, and drove away the cattle.

330. All these proceedings were eagerly watched and reported with exaggeration by Kildare's enemies; and at last the Dublin council, one of whom was the deposed chancellor archbishop John Allen, sent the master of the rolls, whose name was also John Allen, with reports to the king and to the English chancellor, Thomas Cromwell.

The result was that for the third time Kildare was summoned to England by the king to give an account of his government. There is some reason to suspect that he contemplated open rebellion and resistance; for now he furnished his castles with great guns, pikes, powder, etc., from the government stores in the castle of Dublin. At any rate he delayed obeying the order as long as he could. But at last there came a peremptory mandate; and the earl, with a heavy heart, set about preparing for his journey.

331. The Geraldines had become thoroughly Irish. They were always engaged in war, exactly like the native chiefs, they spoke and wrote the Irish language, read and loved Irish books and Irish lore of every kind, kept bards, shanachies, and antiquaries, as part of their household; and intermarried, fostered and gossiped with the leading Irish families. They were as much attached to all the native customs as the natives themselves; and when the Reformation came, they were champions of the Catholic religion. When we add to all this that they were known to be of an ancient and noble family, which told for much in Ireland, we have a sufficient explanation of the well-known fact that the native Irish were rather more attached to those Geraldines than to their own chiefs of pure Celtic blood.
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