/ /
' ///,/.
,/.-,
WM*
THE IRISH BEFORE THE CONQUEST.
LONDON : PRtHTRD IIT WTU.1AM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STKEKT
ANP CHARING CROSS.
THE STORY OF THE IRISH
BEFOEE THE CONQUEST.
FROM THE MYTHICAL PERIOD TO THE INVASION
UNDER STRONGBOW.
BY
M. C. FEBGUSON.
LONDON:
BELL AND DALDY, YOKE STREET,
COVENT GAEDEN.
1868.
MORSE
STEPHENS
PREFACE.
WE are told, in the Senchus Mor, that, when Saint
Patrick had completed the arrangement of that Digest
of the Laws of the Gael of Ireland, his coadjutor,
Dubtach, who was a Bard as well as a Brehon, " put a
thread of poetry round it." So, the writer of this little
Digest of the Irish Historical Story has endeavoured to
intertwine, with the trite detail of names and succes-
sions already often chronicled, whatever more interest-
ing incidents can be drawn from the new sources of
heroic and picturesque material laid open to the Eng-
lish reader by the labours of lately-deceased, and of
living, Irish scholars. If it be objected that a some-
what too favourable view is taken of a rude age and
savage manners, it may with truth be said that any
errors of sympathy are more than counterbalanced
by the undue contempts of which, for many ages, all
native Irish historic and legendary material has been
the object. And the writer believes that, in forming
an estimate of any national character, it is better to
err, if at all, on the side of sympathy and respect.
509961
iv Preface.
The Irish tradition, however rude, is the intellectual
food which has nourished in a long series of generations
the only literary life that has subsisted amongst them.
To the philosophic historian, no less than to the poet
and romance-writer, it is a material full of interest.
But the principal object to be hoped for in these pages
would be achieved, if the work should happily influence
refined and candid minds towards a more tolerant and
sympathizing view of the mental tastes and acquisitions
of several millions of their countrymen.
20 NorQi. Great Georges Street, Dublin.
December, 1867.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE MYTHICAL PERIOD.
I
Aborigines preyed on by African pirates. Colony of Partholan.
Colony of Nemed. Siege of Tor Conaing. Battle of the
White Strand. Arrival of the Firbolgs. Their works in
stone. Arrival of the Tuath De Danaans. Battles of Moy-
ture. Characteristic differences in Arms. Arrival of the
Milesian Scoti. Chivalrous conduct of the Scoti. Battle of
Tailti. The Scoti conquer the island. Its distribution.
The laws and social polity of the conquerors. The remains
of these races. Their influence on the West of Europe
CHAPTER II.
THE HEROIC PERIOD.
The alternate sovereignty of Kimbay and his brothers. Macha's
claim to succeed her father. Her conquests. Foundation of
Emania. Cova's usurpation. Story of Lavra Maen and
Moria. Conor MacNessa reigning at Emania. The Knights
of the Red Branch. The abdication of Fergus MacRoy.
Maev, Queen of Connaught. Story of the sons of Usnach.
Story of the Tain-bo-Cuailgne. The " Pillow Conversation "
of Ailill and Maev. The Boy Feats'* of Cuchullin. How
he got his name. How he took arms. His heroic conduct
a 2
vi Table of Contents.
PAGE
in the Tain-bo. His courtship of Eimer. The story of
Blanaid. Cuchullin's combat with his unknown son. Story
of Atharne. Story of Mesgedra and Conall Carnach. Chi-
valrous traits in both characters. Death of Conor MacNessa.
Story of the healing of Conall Carnach. Chivalrous con-
duct of Bealcu. Deaths of Conall, Fergus MacRoy, and
Maev . . 23
CHAPTER III.
THE ATACOTTIC PERIOD.
Reigns of Conari Mor and Criffan. Revolt of the Atacotti (Aitftcach
Tuatha), and massacre of the nobles. Usurpation of Carbri
Cat-head. Resignation of the crown by his son Morann to
the exiled legitimate heir. Restoration of the noble caste in
the person of Feredach. Second expulsion of the nobles.
Second restoration in the person of Tuathal the Acceptable.
Crime of Eochy, King of Leinster, against Tuathal's
daughters, leading to the imposition of the Boarian tribute,
or Born of Leinster. Rise of the Northern and Southern
Dynasties. Con Hundred-Battle and Moh Nuad divide the
island. Lea Con and Lea Moha. Battle of Moy Lena.
Chivalrous trait of Goll MacMorna. Ollioll Olum sovereign
of Lea Moha. His descendants .
CHAPTER IV.
THE OSSIANIC PERIOD.
The dream of Eatach. Battle of Moy Mucrive. Lugaid Laga and
the three Ferguses. The Battle of Crinna. Reign of Cormac
Mac Art. Story of Cormac and Ethni. The Fianna, or
Militia. Finn MacCumhal. Story of Dermid and Grania.
The death of Dermid. Oisin. The Ossianic Poems.
King Cormac's water-mill. His retirement at Cletty. The
burial of King Cormac. Battle of Gavra. Banishment of
the Three Collas. Their return, and failure to provoke King
Muredach to avenge his father's death. They destroy
Emania. Descendants of the three Collas. Crime, and dis-
appointed ambition of Mongfinn. Retrospect. Pictish
Table of Contents. vii
PAGE
origins. The sons of Umor, and the Firbolgs in the West.
Niall of the Nine Hostages. His expedition to Alba (Scot-
land) 100
CHAPTER V.
THE PATRICIAN PERIOD.
Niall's expedition to Armorica. Captivity of Patrick. His occu-
pations and thoughts. His escape. Niall's expedition on the
Loire, and death there. His descendants, the Northern and
Southern Hy-Niall. King Dathi. His expedition into Gaul.
Killed by lightning. His body earned home and interred at
Cruachan. Patrick's return as Apostle of the Irish. His
Easter eve at Slane. He preaches before King Laery at Tara.
Conversion of Laery 's daughters, Ethnaand Felimia*. Revi-
sion of the Laws, and compilation of the Senchus Mor.
King Laery killed " by the Wind and Sun." Patrick over-
throws Crom Cruach and his twelve sub-gods. Baptizes
JSngus, King of Munster. Diffuses the Gospel throughout
Ireland. Dies at Saul, and is buried at Down Patrick. The
clan system in the early Irish monasteries. The three orders
of the holy men of Ireland. The burial of Owen Bel, King
of Connaught. Succeeded by Kellach. Murder of Kellach.
Avenged by his brother Cucongelt. Final settlement of the
Dalriads in Scotland. Saint Brigid. Saint Kieran. Saint
Finnian of Clonard. Saint Finnian of Moville. Passion for
monastic seclusion. Story of Enda and Saint Fanchea.
Monastic remains of Aran. Clonmacnoise founded by Saint
Kieran. Murkertach MacErca. Dei-mid MacKervil. Re-
mains at Clonmacnoise. Saint Kevin. Glendalough.
Saint Brendan of Clonfert. His Legend 132
CHAPTER VI.
THE COLUMBAN PERIOD.
Saint Columba. His noble birth. A pupil of Saint Finnian.
Companion of Kieran. Kieran' s jealousy rebuked. Colum-
ba's copy of Finnian's Psalter. King Dermid's judgment in
favour of Finnian's copyright. Leads to the Battle of Cuil-
drevne. The MS. still in existence. Formerly the battle-
viii Table of Contents.
PAGE
standard of the O'Donnells. The bell of Patrick the battle-
standard of the Kinel-Owen. The crozier of Grellan the
battle-standard of the O'Kellys. Story of the emigrants of
the Clan Colla and Saint Grellan. Poem ascribed to
Columba. He goes into exile to I-colm-kill (lona), in penance
for his part in the battle of Cuildrevne. The Columban
Rule. Their time of celebrating Easter. The existing MSS.
ascribed to Columba. His metrical dialogue with Cormac.
He returns to Ireland to attend the Synod of Drumceat.
Objects of King Aedh in convening that assembly. The
exactions of the Bards. Story of King Guary and Sancan,
and the quest for the Tain. Columba intercedes for the
Bards, and aids the Dalriad king Aidan in establishing his
independence. His death 176
CHAPTER VII.
THE SCHOLASTIC PERIOD.
Intellectual progress of the Irish between the Convention of Drum-
ceat and the arrival of the Danes. Comparative paucity of
details in the local annals. Ampler information from conti-
nental notices. Defeat and death of King Aedh [at Dunbolg.
His son Maelcova resigns the crown to become a cleric.
Sweeny Menn Ard-Righ. Assassinated by Congal -Claen
at the instigation of Donall. Dream of King Donall. His
feast at Dun-na-n'geadh. Rebellion of Congal Claen and
battle of Moyrath. Story of Cuanna, who gives his death
wound to Congal Claen. Donall's favour to the church.
He founds the Abbey of Cong. St. Fechin's church
and mill at Fore. His ecclesiastic establishment on High
Island. Buidhe Chonnaill, " yellow plague." Other
epidemics. St. Adamnaii visits Ireland. His account of
the Holy Places, from the narrative of the pilgrim-bishop
Arculf. Expedition of Egfrid, King of Northumbria, to
ravage the coasts of Leinster. St. Adamnan visits York and
obtains the release of Irish captives. Story of Kenfalla.
Great schools of learning in Ireland. Armagh. Prince
Aldfrid's itinerary. Testimony of the Venerable Bede to
the learning and hospitality of the Irish. Poem of Donatus,
Bishop of Fiesole, illustrating the state of Ireland in his day.
Table of Contents. ix
PAGE
Testimony of Eric of Auxerre. Sweeny of Clonmacnoise
assists at the foundation of Oxford. His bell in the Museum
of the Royal Irish Academy. Irish " wisdom sellers " at the
court of Charlemagne. School of Lismore. St. Carthagh.
School of Bangor. St. Columbanus. His foundations in
Burgundy and Italy. His letters. Pre-eminence of Ireland
as the seat of scholastic education, even after the Danish
inroads. Testimony of the author of the life of Sulgen.
Opinion of Camden 202
CHAPTER VIII.
THE DANISH PERIOD.
Invasions of the Northmen. Rise of the Southern Hy-Niall.
Generous devotion and death of King Niall Caille. Story of
Turgesius. Tyranny of the Danes. Their foundation of
the seaport towns, and progress in commerce.' Norse influ-
ence on the local nomenclature. Intermarriages between
the Northmen and Irish. St. Olaf. Norse cruelties in the
propagation of the faith contrasted with the mild course
of the gospel in Ireland. Ancient tumuli on the Boyne
rifled by the Danes. King Malachy I. desires to make a
pilgrimage to Rome. King Aedh Finnliath. King Flann
of the Shannon. Story of his daughter Gormley. Cormac
MacCulinan, King-archbishop of Cashel. His church on
the Rock of Cashel. His Glossary. His Psalter. Rivalry
between the Eugenian and Dalcassian Septs of Munster.
State of Munster. Cormao instigated to war with Leinster
by the Abbot Flaherty. Makes his will. Battle of Ballagh-
moone and death of Cormac. Honourable conduct of King
Flann. Penance of Flaherty. Afterwards King of Cashel.
Succeeded by Lorcan, father of Kennedy, father of Brian
Boru. Kennedy admits the claim of alternate succession, ac-
cording to the will of Ollioll Olum, and yields the throne of
Cashel to Callaghan. Stratagem of the Danish chieftain
Sitric. Callaghan taken prisoner. Kennedy marches the
Munster troops to his rescue. Gallant conduct of Falvy
Finn. Deathof KingFlann. Niall " Black-knee." Donogh.
Murkertach "Pell- Cloak." His circuit of Ireland.
Table of Contents.
PAGE
Callaghan's second imprisonment. Donall O'Neill, son
of Murkertach, Prince of Aileach, becomes Ard-Righ. Sur-
names introduced. The great Sept of O'Neill descendants of
Donall . .229
CHAPTER IX.
THE DALCASSIAN PERIOD.
Reign of Malachy II. Defeats the Danes at Tara, and at Dublin.
His proclamation. Rivalry with Brian Boru. Rise of the
Dalcassian tribe under the leadership of the sons of Kennedy.
Struggles of Mahon and Brian with the Danes. Interview
of these princes. Assembly of the Dal-Gais. Battle of
Sulcoit. Sack of Limerick. Song of triumph for Mahon.
His murder. Brian avenges his death. Rules Munster from
Kincora. Battle of Glenmama. Alliances of Brian. Aspires
to the sovereignty. Malachy deserted by the Northern
princes. Submits to Brian. Generous conduct of the rivals.
Administrative genius of Brian. His magnificence. Mael-
murra, King of Leinster, insulted at Kincora. Conspires
with the Danes. Battle of Clontarf. Brian's army. Chi-
valrous conduct of the deposed King Malachy. Muster of
the Northmen at Clontarf. Brian's address to his army.
Encounter between Plait and Domnall. Interview between
Murrogh, son of Brian, and Dunlang O'Hartigan. Conflict
of Murrogh and Anrud. Death of Murrogh. His son
Turlogh drowned. King Brian in his tent. Is killed by
Brodar 255
CHAPTER X.
THE EVE OF THE CONQUEST.
King Brian and his son Murrogh interred at Armagh. Retreat
of the Dal-Gais. The Eugenian tribes separate from the Dal-
Gais. The men of Ossory demand hostages. Heroic conduct
of the wounded Dalcassians. The men of Ossory afraid to
attack them. The remnant of the Dal-Gais reach Kincora.
Results of the Battle of Clontarf. Malachy II. reascends
the throne. Donogh O'Brien. Flaherty O'Neill. Makes a
pilgrimage to Rome. Rise of the Leinster family of Mac
Table of Contents. xi
PAGE
Murrogh. Turlogh O'Brien deposes his uncle Donogh, who
retires to Rome and dies there. Turlogh sends Irish oak to
King William Rufus. Murkertach Mdr O'Brien. Rise of
the family of O'Conor in Connaught. Laxity of eccle-
siastical discipline. Synods held by Celsus, Gillibert, and
St. Malachy. Malachy's conversations with Pope Inno-
cent II. about the state of Ireland. Pope Adrian IV. an
Englishman. His Bull authorizing the invasion of Ireland
by the English King. Henry Plantagenet unable at the time
to avail himself of the donation. Abduction of Dervorgilla
by Dermid MacMurrogh, King of Leinster. He is deposed.
Seeks the protection of King Henry II., who gives him
letters of aid. Richard De Clare, Earl of Pembroke (Strong-
bow), embraces his cause. The sons and grandsons of the
beautiful Nesta. Henry FitzHenry. Meyler FitzHenry.
FitzGerald. FitzStephen. FitzBernard. De Barry.
Giraldus Cambrensis. His description of Dermid Mac
Murrogh. Effects of the Conquest 279
Note on the Sources and Nomenclature 294
THE IRISH BEFORE THE CONQUEST.
CHAPTEE I.
THE MYTHICAL PEEIOD.
No race which has left its impress on the history of
our globe has preserved its primitive traditions with the
same tender and jealous care as the Celtic, that early
swarm from the Japhetic hive which, the bardic tradi-
tions tell us, reached Europe long, long before the dawn
of authentic history.
Even then, the Celtic story affirms, there wandered
through the pine forests of lerne an aboriginal people ;
and its shores were the resort of Vikings, not from
Scandinavia, but Africa. The traces of a population
ignorant of the use of metals and of the practice of
agriculture have been found over all the west of Europe.
In Gaul and Britain the record of their existence is the
bone-cave and the drift-bank, where Nature has sealed
up their knives and hatchets of stone, along with the
half fossil remains of the elk, the cave bear, and the
elephant. In addition to similar evidences in Ireland,
bardic tradition tells us that the leader of these autoch-
- ; TftzZfitfi before tlie Conquest [CH. i.
thones, on the arrival of the first Gaelic swarm from the
East was named Cical.
Of Cical and his hunter tribes the varied lay began,
And how in Grecian galleys borne Maeonian Partholan,
Sire of great Slange* on a day, with sight of sail and oar,
Amazed the dwellers of the woods by Inverskene's shore.
Where first invasion first brought in the arts of life ; and how
Erin untill'd till then, from him received the spade and plough.
And who was Partholan ? and how came he to be
dignified with Greek associations ? the reader will ask.
The name, whencesoever derived, is indelibly imprinted
in the old local nomenclature of the country. The
traveller, taking the direction of Blessingtonfrom Dublin,
about five miles out of the city, passes a decayed village
called Tallaght ; and this name Tarn laclit, signifying a
" plague sepulchre," has been, from time immemorial,
used in the connection of the Tam-lacht of the people of
Partholan. For the constant tradition is, that the whole
colony brought into Ireland by this chieftain perished
in a great plague, and that a multitude of them were
buried in a common tomb at this spot; and tradition
also tells us that this plague had pursued Partholan as a
punishment for the guilt of parricide, under the sting
of remorse for which, he had become a voluntary exile.
Local tradition also had, from immemorial time, given
the name of Slange, son of Partholan, to the highest
peak of the Mourne mountains in Down, up to the time
when Slieve Donard acquired its present name, from
Domangart, a holy person of the sixth century, whose
hermitage occupied the site of the cairn of the buried
warrior on the mountain summit.
CH. i.] The Mythical Period. 3
Forgotten Partholan himself lies 'neath his royal mound
On green Moynalty, hushed at eve by drowsy ocean's sound ;
And clangorous song of flocks by night, when through the
wintry air
The wide-winged wild geese to their pools by Liffey's side
repair.
But promised Slangd, tombed aloft on that great mountain's
head,
Which now, since Domangart hath used the chamber of the
dead
For cleric rites, no longer owns its name of old renown,
Slieve-Slange, but Slieve-Donard sounds, awaits his calling
down.
However apocryphal the name of Partholan may
now appear, we must recognise the voice of a very
remote antiquity in favour of the story of the parricide ;
of the aborigines whom he invaded and civilized ; and
of the avenging plague before which his race, though
not his memory, has been obliterated.
And what of the African Vikings ?
They are known in the recollection of those early
times under the name of Fomorians. In the glossary
of King Cormac of Cashel, compiled not long after the
age of Alfred, this word is said to signify " under sea,"
in the sense of their ships being descried on the horizon,
rising, as it were, from beneath the rim of ocean, and
indicating their approach from the Atlantic rather than
the narrow seas. From whencesoever they came, they
were expert navigators, and their famous glass castle
upon Tor Inis, or Tory Island, may possibly have be($:n
a vitrified fort. Eound these walls of glass, and on
the strand beneath, was waged, we are told, one of the
earliest of the many " Battles of the White Strand,"
4 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. i.
which supply the place of the " tale of Troy divine" in
early Irish and Welsh bardic history. A new colony
of adventurers, led by Nemed of the same race with
Partholan, issuing from the high table-land of central
Asia, the cradle of the Aryan families of mankind, had
arrived, and subjected to the servile toils of tillage and
building, the remnant of the former population. But
the galleys of the " under sea" invaders still rose on
the horizon, and poured their troops of Fomorian
pirates on the thinly-peopled shores. The glass tower
of Tor Inis was the great stronghold of the strangers.
It was Neined with his chief warriors who crossed the
turbulent straits, and laid siege to the wonderful castle.
Fierce conflicts were waged upon the shore. The
combatants in their fury disregarded the rising tide
which overwhelmed them, the crew of one ship only of
the Nemedians escaping. Amongst those saved were
three chieftains of Nemed's blood, who, though no v
abandoning the country, were destined to re-people''
Ireland at a subsequent period.
They fought ere sunrise at Tor Conainn,
All day they fought on the wild sea-shore ;
The sun dropp'd downward, they fought amain,
The tide rose upward, they fought the more.
The sands were cover'd, the sea grew red,
The warriors fought in the reddening wave ;
That night the sea was the sea-king's bed,
The land-king drifted past cliff and wave.
Great was the rage in those ancient days,
(We were pagans then) in the land of Eire ;
Like eagles, men vanquish'd the noontide blaze,
Their bones were iron, their nerves were wire.
CH. i.] Tlie Mijtliical Period. 5
We are hinds to-day ! The Nemedian kings,
Like elk and bison of old stalk'd forth ;
Their name the sea king's for ever clings
To the " Giant Stepping Stones " round the north.*
We must endeavour to imagine the island during
these vicissitudes, under successive conditions of popu-
lousness and desertion, rude wealth and sterility, until
a new swarm of adventurers come upon the scene,
making their entrance also by the common avenue of
Greece. These are the Firbolg, exiles from Thrace.
They had been slaves, compelled, under the lash of
task-masters, to cultivate the terraces on the steep
sides, it may be, of Pindus or Hagmus. Each man was
provided with a leathern bag, in which he carried up
soil to these hanging gardens. Hence, say the Irish
traditions, the name of Firbolg, men of the bag. They
conspired, rose, and fled together, and a new infusion
of Greek characteristics was thus imparted to the Isle
of Destiny. Traces of the Firbolgs remain, not only in
the names given by them to different localities, which
are yet retained, but in the Duns and earthworks which
they erected. The western isles of Aran contain, in
admirable preservation to this day, the great stone
fortresses of Dun Conor and Dun .ZEngus, built at a
subsequent period by chieftains of this race.
Dun jEngus is a marvellous dry-stone erection. On
a promontory which slopes gradually upwards from the
landward side, and terminates in an abrupt cliff which
frowns over the Atlantic, a considerable space of ground
has been enclosed by a massive cyclopean wall. This
* From Inisfail, by AUBREY DE YERE.
6 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. i.
consists of three concentric rings of building, each
complete in itself, yet in immediate juxtaposition, and
well fitted for defence. The sloping landward side is
thickly studded with pillar-stones, firmly fixed in the
soil, intended, apparently, to act as a kind of chevaux-de-
frise, and embarrass the advance of an enemy on the
only avenue of approach.
It is inaccessible from the sea. The cliff rises
grandly above the wild Atlantic waves, which dash
themselves against its base, and threaten its total de-
struction ere long. It has evidently been largely under-
mined already. Part of the vast edifice has tumbled
into the deep water beneath. That which yet stands
overhangs the ocean abysses. A more grand and im-
pressive scene can scarcely be imagined. The utter
solitude of the spot : the boundless expanse of ocean,
dark-heaving and sublime : the old, old, stronghold
more ancient probably than any building now standing
in western Europe, counting its age not by hundreds,
but by thousands, of years powerfully impress the
imagination. The feeling is enhanced by the loneliness
of these rarely-visited and inaccessible islets of the far
west, which contain at present the huts only of simple
peasants, and ruins of the cells and churches of the
earliest Christian ecclesiastics. These are touching in
their simplicity and antiquity, yet appear insignificant
and comparatively recent, when compared with Dun
Dingus and Dun Conor, pagan strongholds of Firbolg
chiefs.
These erections belong, as we have said, to the
latest period of Firbolg history, when the tribe were
CH. i.] The Mythical Period. 7
closely pressed by their conquering kinsmen, and forced
from the rich provinces of the south and east, to seek
refuge in more remote and inhospitable districts. The
Firbolg blood to this day exists to an appreciable extent
in Connaught, and the outlying isles of the west. They
were a dark-haired and dark-skinned race, small in
comparison with their fair-haired foemen, whose supe-
rior physique, no less than their higher civilization, and
knowledge of arts and metals, assured them a speedy
supremacy.
For a third invasion remains to be chronicled. The
Tuath-De-Danaans, like their kinsmen the Firbolgs,
are said to be descended from Nemed through Ibath,
his great-grandson, one of the chieftains who, with the
ancestor of the Firbolg, escaped from the battle of Tor-
Conaing.
It is claimed for this people also, that they came from
Greece, but by way of Scandinavia. We may imagine
them to have pursued the course of the rivers which flow
to the Baltic, unless as their traditions seem to indicate,
and for which some slight probability may be traced in
the features of the country between the Don and the
Vistula that part of Europe was then under w r ater, and
the western portion, from the Carpathian mountains,
virtually an island, and the passage effected, as the
Argo is fabled to have performed it, by sea. The pre-
sent form of our continent would thus result from the
gradual elevation of the soil on the low-lying, flat,
alluvial plains of Poland and Eussia.
Nuad of the Silver Hand was the chieftain of the
Tuath-De-Danaans, when they encountered Eochy, the
8 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. i.
reigning Firbolg monarch, in the battle of the Southern
Moyture. The scene of the engagement is supposed to
be identified near Cong. The fugitive king was pur-
sued, overtaken, and slain, at Ballysadare, in the county
of Sligo. His cairn still exists, on the strand there,
and was formerly deemed one of the "Wonders of
Erin." Indeed the whole of this district of Sligo, as
well as the supposed field of Moyture itself, abounds
with stone monuments archaic enough to be co-eval
with the scenes and actors of whom we treat. Nuad is
said to have lost his hand in the battle, and to have
used a silver substitute, framed by the skill of Credne
Cerd, that is, the Smith. The mutilation, however,
incapacitated him for the throne, in accordance with a
law which prevailed to a comparatively late period, and
debarred any one who had a personal blemish from
reigning. The story indicates, at least, the mechanical
skill possessed by the Tuath-De-Danaans, which was so
inexplicable to the vanquished Firbolgs, that they con-
sidered their conquerors to be necromancers, or demons.
" The Battle of Moyture " has come down to us
from a period long prior to the twelfth century in the
form of a bardic tale ; one of those romantic pieces
which every well-instructed poet was expected to have
in readiness when called on to entertain an assembly
with song or recitation. It is one of a large class of
similar compositions, but distinguished from most
others by affording tangible evidence on a question of
great archaeological interest. In our great museums
the visitor may observe two classes of bronze weapons,
one being of broad, short, and comparatively clumsy
CH. i.] The Mythical Period. 9
proportions; the other slender, elegant, and of the
leaf-bladed or classic form. The Tale of the Battle
of Moyture v affords an unsuspected proof that, at
whatever time it was composed, the popular belief
among the Irish was, that weapons of the former class
were peculiar to the Firbolgs, and of the latter to the
Tuath-De-Danaans. It describes an interview between
the scouts of the adverse armies, who encounter one
another in a solitude. They plant their shields in the
ground, and, from behind these defences, commence
their colloquy. Acquiring greater confidence, they
then proceed to examine one another's arms, when the
distinction we have mentioned is referred to and com-
mented on. Now it is a remarkable fact, that in all
the sepulchral mounds of the kindred Belgic tribes of
Britain, the broad, trowel-like blades only have been
found, while the classic form of weapon is common
in North Britain, through which Irish tradition brings
the De-Danaan invaders. A belief in the magical
powers of these " God Tribes " lingers in the country,
where the fairies are still supposed to be their repre-
sentatives. To them tradition ascribes the bringing in
of the Liafail, or stone of destiny, on which the kings
were inaugurated at Tara. It is popularly believed to
exist at the present time, under the coronation chair of
the Sovereigns of the United Kingdom in Westminster
Abbey, having been brought thither from Scone, where it
had fulfilled a similar purpose for the Scottish monarchs.
Fergus, king of Scotland, of the Dalriadic (Irish) dy-
nasty, sent for it from Tara, desiring to be crowned on
this stone of destiny, which secured, that a sovereign
10 The Irish before the Conquest. [cu. i.
of the Scotic race should never fail to sit on the throne
founded on the Liafail. The prophecy has not hitherto
failed in its accomplishment, as Queen Victoria is a true
descendant of the Scotic line. Some of our antiquaries,
however, maintain that the Lia fail still remains at
Tara, and point to a standing pillar stone on a mound
yet remaining, as the veritable Stone of Destiny.
For the name of the Green Isle itself, we are indebted
to this people, Eri being the name of a daughter of
their race forming Erin in the genitive. Ogma,
another of the same family, is presumed to have
given name to that species of writing called ogham
formed by notches on the edges of stones : a form of
record which certainly was in use about the time of
the introduction of Christianity; while to the great
Dagda, one of their kings, is ascribed that marvellous
tomb on the banks of the Boyne, the mound of New
Grange. This amazing and most interesting monument
still exists in perfect preservation. It was opened and
pillaged by the Danes, in common with its neighbour
tumuli of Knowth and Dowth, and many other sepulchral
monuments in different parts of the country. The gold
ornaments which the ancient Irish buried with their
illustrious dead, were, no doubt, an irresistible tempta-
tion to the Viking freebooters of the ninth and tenth
centuries of our era. This vast mound, covering nearly
two acres in extent, and consisting of a conical grass-
covered cairn of small stones, and still partly sur-
rounded by a ring of majestic megaliths, is entered by
a passage formed of standing stones of considerable
size, guarded by a beautifully-carved cill or lintel at
CH. i.] The Mijtliical Period. 11
the entrance. This passage measures sixty-three feet in
length, and leads to a dome-roofed chamber. Almost
every stone employed in the construction of this, and
of the smaller chambers which open from it, .is not
only wonderful from its bulk, but is carefully orna-
mented with carvings in spirals, lozenges, and other
rude, but not ungraceful figures. The plan of the
sepulchre is analogous in general design to the
Egyptian pyramids. The cairn of stones and clay
covering the chambers and passage, corresponds in the
Celtic tomb with the angular sloping mass of the
pyramid. The conception is scarcely less grand, though
the mechanical skill and mass of material employed by
the eastern tomb-builders, were incomparably greater.
Bardic tradition seems to indicate this as possibly the
grave of The Dagda and his three sons. This powerful
monarch, " The Great Good Fire," is said to have ruled
for seventy years. His death is stated to have been the
result of a wound received long before at the battle
of the Northern Moyture. His grandsons, called
MacColl, MacKeact, and MacGrene, because they are
said to have worshipped the hazel-tree (Coll), the
ploughshare (Kedct\ and the Sun (Griari), had for
their respective wives, Banba, Fola, and Eri, from
whom our island obtained the names by which it is
known to the Bardic historians. The objects of
worship ascribed to the husbands of these ladies may
indicate an advancing civilization and practice of the
arts of agriculture ; but a fresh invasion of Erin by
another swarm of Celto-Scythic wanderers was impend-
ing, and the Tuath-De-Danaan were to be superseded
12 The Irish "before the Conquest. [CH. i.
as a dominant race, by the Milesian immigrants, after
they had ruled in Ireland for nigh two hundred years.
The Scoti or Gael, according to their traditions, like
the previous colonizers of Erin, traced their descent
from Magog, son of Japhet. Unlike the Firbolgs and
Tuath-De-Danaans, who passed through Greece on
their western route, this wave of Celtic immigrants
from their common home in Central Asia, claim to have
come by way of Scythia, Egypt, and Spain. Under the
leadership of Breogan, they won for themselves a footing
in Spain, and founded the city of Brigantium, near
Corunna, in Galicia. These adventurers, according to
their descendants' story (for we must remember we are
still in the region of tradition), impelled by famine,
which at that time ravaged Spain, resolved to seek
fresh fields and pastures new, and as a preliminary
step, sent forth Ith, son of Breogan, to visit Ireland.
He is said to have seen the island like a cloud on the
horizon, from the watch-tower of Brigantium. The
solitary vessel of Ith, with its crew of one hundred and
fifty men, landed in the north of Ireland. He found
himself able to converse with the people of the country
in their common Gaelic tongue. He informed them that
he had landed from, stress of weather only, without any
intention of settling in the country, but hearing that
the three grandsons of the Dagda, of whom we have
already spoken, were quarrelling among themselves
and desired his services as umpire, he advanced to
meet them, and having made his award, reproved them
for their strife, praising the fruitfulness of the soil of
Erin, and its happy temperature.
CH. i.] The Mythical Period. 13
Ith had set out on his return to his ship, when the
Tuath-De-Danaan kings, alarmed by his praises of their
country, which they thought indicated a probable return
to their shores with a larger armament, followed, and
gave him battle on the shores of Lough Foyle. Ith
placed himself in the rear of his little army, and bravely
protected their retreat to the ship. He was, however,
mortally wounded in the fight, but his people carried
his corpse to Spain, where his kinsmen, the sons of
Miled, the grandson of Breogan, excited by the outrage,
resolved to avenge his death.
The Milesians, with a fleet of thirty ships, each ship
carrying thirty warriors, their wives, and attendants ;
eight of the leaders being sons of Miled, neared the
Irish coast. The magical lore of the Tuath-De-Danaans
availed to raise a mist, and the spell-bound voyagers
were compelled to sail round the island before they
were able to land. This accomplished, they marched
on Tara, and there encountered the three sovereigns,
attended by their magicians. They demanded quiet
possession of the country, . or battle. MacColl,
MacKeact, and MacGrene, unprepared for either
alternative, offered to abide by the decision of Amergin, .
one of the sons of Miled, who pronounced that the
Milesians should again put to sea, for a distance of
nine waves or tonns, and then attempt a landing on
Erin. Should the Tuath-De-Danaans fail in preventing
this, they were bound by the verdict of Amergin to
yield the sovereignty of Ireland to the invaders. The
Gael were no sooner on the ocean than their fleet was
scattered by a terrific storm raised by the magical arts
14 The Irish before the Conquest. ICH. i.
of the Tuath-De-Danaans. The greater number of their
ships were wrecked, and their leaders perished in the
waves. Eber and Eremon, surviving sons of Miled, how-
ever, effected a landing, and in an engagement at Tailti
(supposed to be Teltown in Meath), completely subdued
the Tuath-De-Danaan princes, who perished with their
wives, Eri, Banba, and Fola. Two chieftains of the
victorious Gael fell in the pursuit, whose deaths we
record, as they gave names to districts long celebrated
in Irish heroic story ; Cuailgne (now Cooley), in Louth,
and the mountainous tract of Slieve Fuad (now the
Fews), in the county of Armagh. Such is the story of
the Milesian or Scotic immigration ; obviously not so
old, in its present form, as the events which it purports
to relate, but still a tale of very high antiquity ; and
characterized by one of the earliest traits of that
chivalrous spirit which has so strongly marked the
Eomantic school of European literature.
The victorious leaders at once proceeded to partition
the island. Munster was assigned to Eber, Leinster
and Connaught to Eremon, while Ulster was given to
Eber, son of Ir, son of Miled, who had survived the
shipwreck in which his father was drowned. Lugaid,
son of Ith the pioneer of the Milesians, had a territory
in Munster assigned to him. It is from these success-
ful adventurers that most of our native Irish families
claim to trace their descent. But it is singular that
while these Milesian representatives abound, and fami-
lies with Firbolgic ancestors are not unknown, no
race, clan, or family, existing at the present time are
reputed to have Tuath-De-Danaan blood in their veins.
CH. i.] The Mythical Period. 15
Among the most prominent Milesian kings we may
mention Tiernmas, of the race of Eremon. He is said
to have introduced the public worship of idols. Crom
Cruach, a hideous idol, surrounded by twelve smaller
divinities, was worshipped with cruel rites on the plain
of Moy Slaght, in that part of the ancient territory of
Breffny which now constitutes the county of Cavan.
Tiernmas was also the introducer of those parti-coloured
garments now represented by the tartan of the Scottish
Gael. The dress of a slave was limited by him to one
colour. A peasant was permitted to have two ; a soldier
or a noble, three ; while four colours were allotted to
the keeper of a house of hospitality ; five to a chieftain,
and six might adorn the robes of a king or a queen. It
is recorded that this sovereign possessed among his
household a refiner of gold, and we may not improbably
trace to this period some part of that excellence in the
workmanship in the precious metals for which the Irish
were so long celebrated, and of which such numerous
and varied specimens exist in the museum of the Eoyal
Irish Academy. The manufacture of silver shields,
designed as gifts to subordinate chieftains, and the
casting of silver coin, are recorded in the reigns of
successors of this monarch.
But a far more advanced state of progress is evinced
by the legislation of King Olav Fola, a prince of the
race of IT, who instituted the Convention of Tara. This
national parliament was held every third year, and to
it were summoned the classes illustrious in rank and
learning. The monarch entertained all comers for six
days, endeavouring, in the exercise of this frank hos-
16 The Irish before the Conquest. |_ CH - r -
pitality, to promote good feeling and friendly relations
among his subordinate chieftains, bards, and sages.
An inspection of national records, whose accuracy was
guarded with the most jealous care, is said to have been
one duty performed by the Feis of Tara, indicating that
the pagan Irish possessed the art of writing. Nor is it to
be supposed that^a people, with whom the transmission
of property, and indeed their entire social system, f
depended on their genealogical accuracy, would fail to
guard, by every possible means, against the intrusion
of error or corruption into the pedigrees, which were
the title-deeds of every proprietor. The invariable
custom of naming the father, grandfather, and even
more remote ancestor, of each individual who is the
subject of the bard or senachie's pen, shows how import-
ant family descent was held by the Gael. Their usage
of gavelkind, too, while it divided the property of a
deceased parent equally among all his sons, and resulted
in that minute subdivision which has been, on the whole,
injurious to the progress of civilization and centraliza-
tion, yet promoted the free development of the indi-
vidual, and that consciousness of equality which has
borne fruit in the courteous consideration for others,
resulting from self-respect, which to our own day is so
striking in the Celtic races. Michelet, in speaking of
this law of equality and equitable division, which charac-
terized the Celts of France as well as those of Ireland
and Scotland, observes : "As this law of precious equality
has been the ruin of these races, let it be their glory also,
and secure to them at least the pity and respect of the
nations to whom they so early showed so fine an ideal."
CH. L] The Mythical Period. 17
While the Norman genius developed the feudal
system, the Celtic developed that of the clan, which was
formed on the family type. Their kings were head
of the family, and held in patriarchal fashion their
council-courts in the open air, with the advice and
assent of their clansmen, who in the lands belonging
to the tribe had their equal and indefeasible rights ;
nor could the sovereign resort to war without their aid
and concurrence. The sovereignty itself was elective
in person, though hereditary in blood. When vacant, it
was to descend, according to their law of Tanistry, to
" the oldest and most w r orthy man of the same name and
blood." The Tanist, or heir-apparent, was generally}
but not necessarily, the eldest son of the reigning
monarch, while the younger members of the family
were designated Eoydamna, or "king-material." The
Tanist was generally named at the time when the
monarch was elected. To this law of Tanistry may
be ascribed, in part, those violent deaths which closed
the career of so many Irish kings. This, with that
tendency to subdivision which split the country into
several petty states, each with its separate ruler, who
rendered very equivocal allegiance to the Ard Righ, or
supreme monarch, resulted in that turbulence and
incessant party strife which, to so great an extent, form
the subject of the Irish and other early West-European
annals.
The professions of Druid, Bard, and Brehon were, in
the main, hereditary. The former combined the offices
of priest and physician ; the Bards were the poets and
historians ; while the Brehons transmitted and adminis-
o
18 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. i.
tered that code of laws which is known by their name,
and which, in its modes of procedure, is found to
bear an unexpected resemblance in many points to the
Common Law of England, both being probably to a
great extent sprung from the same primitive original.
The custom of fosterage was general, families of
rank undertaking the nursing and training in manly
exercises of the children of their chiefs. The mutual
attachment which sprang up between the foster parents,
brothers and sisters, and the scion of noble race who
had passed his childhood with them, was one of the
strongest feelings of the Irish heart, and led to in-
numerable instances of devotion which are scarcely
intelligible to us at the present day.
But it may be inquired, what tangible remains
still exist of these ancient times ? They are not few
nor unsuggestive. In addition to the bardic traditions
which have so far occupied us, we possess in the Celtic
tongue itself, the oldest spoken language in Europe, a
means whereby we can "repeople the past." Its
importance, in a philological point of view, is second
only to that of Sanscrit, a kindred tongue ; for we must
not forget that the Hindoos are a primitive emanation of
that Aryan race, moving southwards from their cradle
in central Asia, of whom the Celts are the earliest western
offshoots. Sanscrit ceased to be a spoken language
some 300 years before the Christian era, very much
about the period to which we have now brought the
history of the Celts of Ireland. But the valuable
knowledge to be gained from the Irish tongue is not
lost to us, for its written literature exists to our day,
CH. i.] The Mythical Period. 19
and is now, for the first time, diligently studied by
competent scholars. Few, indeed, are the men qualified
to explore the mine of wealth which belongs to us
in the Western Gaelic language. Its greatest Irish
interpreters have recently been removed by death.
But other labourers in this rich harvest daily arise
amongst us. German and French scholars are now
pioneering the way for Continental inquiry, and even
taking up their abode in Irish-speaking districts to
familiarize themselves with the use of this new key to
philological and ethnological knowledge. Let us hope
that among ourselves prejudices, ignorances, and
apathetic indifference to Irish subjects may pass away,
and in their stead the desire to do noble work for home
and their country inspire in the breasts of Irishmen
strenuous efforts to learn more and do more for the
honour of their native land.
In Ireland, also, to a greater extent than elsewhere,
existing remains, such as raths, forts, duns, cashels,
cairns, and cromlechs, abound on all sides, to instruct
the antiquarian inquirer. Our national museums and
libraries, too, are rich in objects of interest illustrating
this early period : stone, bronze, and iron weapons,
gold and silver ornaments, specimens of work in
metals, together with manuscripts of great importance,
and among these the most exquisite examples which
Europe can show of illuminated art. On Irish soil
may yet be examined the very oldest erections of
western Europe, from the rude cranogues, or lacustrine
habitations, built on piles artificially planted in shallow
akes, to the earthern forts and stone cyclopean duns*
20 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. i.
of the pagan period, such as we have already described ;
the frequent cromlech, also, of unhewn stones, some-
times of enormous bulk ; the tumulus, with its central
stone chamber, often adorned with hieroglyphical carv-
ings ; pillar-stones with ogham inscriptions ; Christian
churches, cells, stone huts, and graceful round towers ;
and sculptured crosses, all works of a primitive time,
and characteristic of a pure, unmixed, and isolated race.
And not on Irish soil only have the Gael of Ireland
left their traces. From the sixth century of the Christian
era, Irish missionaries have been the evangelizers of
Scotland and of France ; have laboured in the spiritual
harvest, in England, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia,
and Italy. The Irish saint, Columba, was the founder
of the monastic establishment on Hy, or lona ; " that
illustrious island, once the luminary of the Caledonian
regions, whence savage tribes and roving barbarians
derived the benefits of civilization the blessings of
religion." From lona went forth Saint Aidan, the
converter of the Northumbrian kingdom of his day,
and founder of Lindisfarne. Saint Columbanus, another
Irishman, evangelized eastern France. His disciple,
Saint Gall, instructed the Swiss in the truths of
Christianity. Columbanus established not only the
early seats of piety and learning at Luxeuil and else-
where, in Burgundy, but the Irish monastery also of
Bobbio, in Italy. It would be tedious to extend this
enumeration of illustrious names ; the deeds of these ?
and other benefactors of the world, will occupy us in
due time, when we have first considered that earlier
and most picturesque period of Irish story, whose pagan
OH. i.j The Mythical Period. 21
traditions, with "tramp of heroes in them," fill and
delight the imagination.
These enchanting themes, partly true, partly fabulous,
but wholly heroic, poetic, noble, and naive, will form the
subject of succeeding chapters. The race whose deeds
we would chronicle, have been named by the classic
writers, Celts. They did not so designate themselves ;
both in Ireland and Scotland they called themselves
Gael, and have ever been distinguished by a strong
sentiment of nationality. We shall take leave of them
for the present with this " Salutation :" *
Hail to our Celtic brethren, wherever they may be,
In the far woods of Oregon, or o'er the Atlantic sea
Whether they guard the banner of St. George in Indian vales,
Or spread beneath the nightless north experimental sails,
One in name and in fame
Are the sea-divided Gaels.
Tho' fallen the state of Erin, and changed the Scottish land,
Tho' small the power of MOD a, tho' unwaked Llewellyn's
band ;
Tho' Ambrose Merlin's prophecies degenerate to tales,
And the cloisters ot lona are bemoaned by northern gales,
One in name and in fame
Are the sea-divided Gaels.
In northern Spain and Brittany our brethren also .dwell,
Oh ! brave are the traditions of their fathers that they tell ;
The eagle and the crescent in the dawn of history pales,
Before their fire that seldom flags, and never wholly fails.
One in name and in fame
Are the sea-divided Gaels.
* By T. D. M'GEE.
22 The Irish "before the Conquest. [CH.
A greeting and a promise unto them all \ve send
Their character our charter is, their glory is our end
Their friend shall be our friend, our foe whoe'er assails
The past or future honours of the far-dispersed Gaels.
One in name and in fame
Are the sea-divided Gaels.
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 23
CHAPTEE II.
THE HEROIC PERIOD.
WE have sketched the mythical period of Irish story
as far as the reign of Olav Fola. This wise lawgiver
and ruler was of the race of Ir, that son of Miled or Mi-
lesius, who perished in the storm evoked by the magical
arts of the Tuath-De-Danaans. It will be remembered
that, according to the decision of Amergin, the invaders
had again put to sea, and retired to the distance of
" nine waves " from the Irish coast, when the storm
evoked by the magical incantations of the De-Danaan
Druids assailed them. Their fleet was dispersed, and
many suffered shipwreck when the elements thus fought
against them.
Ir, we are told, was buried on the Skellig rocks, off
the coast of Kerry. There the cairn which bears his
name probably one of the oldest sepulchral monu-
ments* in the western world may be seen to this day.
His posterity, in common with the descendants of his
more fortunate brothers Eber and Eremon, gave kings
to Ireland. From these three sons of Miled, and their
cousin Lugaid, son of Ith, the great Irish families trace
their pedigrees. From Lugaid claim to descend the
O'Driscolls, and other families in the south of Ireland.
24 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
Eber is the progenitor claimed by the Minister Clans,
the MacCarthy's, O'Briens, &c. From Eremon descend,
as they suppose, the O'Donnells, O'Neills, O'Connors,
MacMurroghs, and other great races in Ulster, Con-
naught, and Leinster : while the Magenises and their
kindred who ruled in that part of Ulster constituting
the present counties of Antrim and Down, then called
IHadh or Ulidia, derive their genealogy from Ir. It is
sometimes significantly asked, where are the descendants
of the captains and soldiery, if the existing population
are all sprung from the kings ? Obviously at some
point of the pedigree it departs from the truth : but it
is equally clear that that point is very high up in the
series.
The tribes descended from Ir contributed many
heroes whose deeds have a foremost place in ancient
story. Kimbay, in whose reign the palace fortress of
Emania was K founded an event which is assumed in
the annals of Tigernach as the starting-point of authentic
Irish history was a monarch of this race. So also
was his wife Macha, who caused the great fort to be
erected. The earthworks of Emania exist at the pre-
sent day.
At this period, about 400 years before Christ, three
princes, Hugh Eoe, or Hugh the Red, Dithorba, and
Kimbay, the sons of three brothers, claimed equal right
to the throne. A compact was made by which it was
decided that they should rule alternately -for seven years.
This agreement was confirmed by the guarantee of seven
Druids, seven Poets, and seven Champions ; " the seven
Druids to crush them by their incantations, the seven
CH. IL] The Heroic Period. 25
Poets to lacerate them by their satires, the seven young
Champions to slay and burn them, should the proper
man of them not receive the sovereignty at the end of
each seventh year/' This compact prevailed till each
had reigned three times in his turn. Hugh Roe was
drowned in the cataract of the Erne at Bally shannon,
where the falls at Assaroe still preserve his name.
His daughter Macha, the red-haired, claimed her
turn of the sovereignty in his stead, but Dithorba and
Kimbay refused to recognize any claim of succession in
a woman. Macha, so far from acquiescing in this de-
cision, raised an army, and defeated her opponents in
battle. Dithorba was slain, and his sons exiled. Macha
would not acknowledge their claims to the succession,
and founded her own rights from henceforth, on the
victory she had won. She married Kimbay, and so
disposed of all competitors except the exiled princes,
sons of Dithorba, whom she again defeated in battle,
enslaved, and compelled to erect for her the fort of
Emania. She marked out its site, says the tale, with
her golden brooch, from whence one fanciful derivation
of its name Eo-muin, a pin of the neck. After a lapse
of more than two thousand years, the remains of this
noble fort for part of it has been destroyed by neigh-
bouring farmers, who have used the soil for agricultural
purposes still exist near Armagh. ISTavan fort, as it
is at present corruptly called, covers upwards of eleven
acres of land. This is enclosed by a rampart of earth,
and deep fosse and dry ditch. On the summit of the
elevated and fortified ground stands a smaller circular
fort. Another may also be traced on a slope of the hill,
26 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
being both protected by tlie great rampart. The spot
well repays a visit. From its elevated position an ex-
tensive prospect of the fine country around Armagh,
stretching away to the Fews mountains, may be obtained.
Here we stand on a fortress of the Celt, which has had
a history for upwards of two thousand years. The ad-
joining townland of Creeve Eoe yet preserves the name,
and designates the site, of the "House of the Eed
Branch," a species of military college in which the Ulster
warriors were wont to assemble in those old heroic days,
and were there trained to deeds of prowess and daring.
Macha survived her husband Kimbay seven years,
ruling Ireland in undisputed sovereignty, till she was
slain by Kectaid. Her death was avenged by her
foster son, Ugaine Mor, or The Great, of the race of
Eremon, whose long and prosperous reign made his
name illustrious in the native annals, and, if we may
credit their testimony, known as a levier of tribute in
districts of Britain, and even of the continent of
Europe. Literature was cultivated in his time, and
his sons were " full of learning ;" one of them was the
" author of many ancient bard-maxims." Ugaine en-
deavoured to secure the throne to his own family,
exacting from his subjects an oath, "by the sun and
moon, the sea, the dew, and colours, and all the elements
visible and invisible," that the sovereignty of Erin
should not be taken from his descendants for ever.
For many generations his offspring, though stained
with the blood of kindred, held the supreme authority ;
but after the lapse of about three hundred years, the
races of Ir and Eber again became paramount.
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period: 27
Leary Lore and Cova, sons of Ugaine Mor by
Kesair, a Gallic princess, succeeded him ; the latter
obtained the sovereignty by the murder of the elder
brother and his descendants, which he accomplished
by treachery of a very base kind. Cova, who resided
at Dinree on the Barrow, feigned sickness, and was
visited by his royal brother. Leary received his
death-blow from Cova's dagger, as he leaned over the
pretended sick man, who consummated his cruelty by
the murder of Leary's family : the only member spared
was the grandson of the late King, Maen, who, being
dumb, was incapable of reigning.
Maen passed his childhood at Dinree, under the
guardianship of Ferkertne the poet, and Craftine the
harper, of his grand-uncle Cova. As he grew into
manhood he gave promise of great personal beauty and
symmetry. In a moment of excessive indignation at
an insult offered to him by a companion, Maen re-
covered his power of utterance. u Lavra Maen !"
(Maen speaks) was the exclamation of those around him,
and the name clung to him ever after. Meantime the
monarch at Tara heard of the wondrous event, and sum-
moned Lavra Maen to appear before him. His jealousy
having been increased by hearing from Ferkertne and
Craftine that the prince was the most munificent man
in Erin, Cova banished them from his dominions.
" The loss will be greater to you than to us," said
the harper.
" Depart out of Erin," said the monarch.
" If we can find no refuge in Erin we will," said they.
The exiles repaired to Munster, and received at the
28 The 'Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
court of the provincial king the customary hospitality,
no questions being asked. At length the king in-
quired into their story, and hearing that they had
been expelled by the Ard Eigh, made them welcome to
his care and protection. The king had a beautiful
daughter whom he guarded with such jealous care that
no opportunity of private conversation with the fair
Moria could be found by Lavra Maen, who had soon
become captivated by her charms. Craftine, the
harper, who was in the confidence of the young prince,
according to the romantic legend, took advantage of a
grand feast given by the king, and so delighted the
monarch and his guests by his music, that the lovers
were able to leave the room unperceived. As soon as
Craftine thought them out of hearing, he played on his
harp an air of so entrancing a nature that the king and
his guests were soothed into a profound slumber ; and
thus the young lovers had time to exchange vows of
mutual affection, and resume their seats at the feast,
before their absence had been observed. The queen,
remarking the change in her daughter's manner, quickly
divined the cause. Moria confessed her attachment to
Maen ; and his suit finding favour in the eyes of her
parents, the lovers were married, and Lavra Maen, at
the head of troops furnished by his father-in-law,
attacked and captured Dinree.
Cova, roused to action, marched from Tara, and
Lavra Maen, unable. to cope with him, set sail for
Gaul, having sent Moria, under the escort of
Craftine the harper, to her father's court. His faithful
wife did not forget the exile. She sent the harper with
CH. ii.] Ihe Heroic Period. 29
valuable jewels to her husband in France. Craftine per-
formed his mission, played an enchanting fairy melody
on his harp, and sang to it an impassioned lay which
Moria had composed to her hero. The Gaulish king,
touched by the grief of the young lovers, assisted
Lavra Maen with an auxiliary force, and ships to
transport them to Ireland. Maen landed at Wexford,
and marched on Dinree. He surprised and defeated
Cova, and took Dinree by storm. A Druid who was
in the fortress asked who had made the attack : " The
mariner," cried a voice from without. " Does the
mariner speak ?" here joined, and from this circumstance
the name of Lavra Loingsech (the mariner speaks) has
clung to Maen. This monarch for by the death of the
usurping Cova, Maen succeeded to his rightful inherit-
ance as heir of Ugaine Mor is claimed as the ancestor
of all the true Lagenian, or Leinster families of the race
of Eremon, with the exception of the O'Nolans, who
are descended from Cova. The province of Laighen
Leinster owes its name to him, being so called from
the Laighne or Spears, with broad heads, which Maen
introduced. A story similar to that of King Midas
is told of this monarch. His ears, it was whispered,
resembled those of a horse ; the barber, who became
aware of the fact, had his life spared only on promise
of inviolable secrecy. He whispered his tale to a
willow. The willow was cut down and carved into a
harp, and the instrument murmured forth the secret,
" Lavra Loingsech has a horse's ears."
Passing over many reigns of the descendants of the
great Ugaine, which were not marked by any memor-
30 TJie Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
able events, we approach the Christian era, which may
be taken as the culminating point of Irish heroic story.
At that period Conor MacNessa was reigning over
Ulster, at Emania, surrounded by the heroes of Creeve
Eoe, the gallant knights of the Red Branch, Fergus,
son of Roy his step-father, Naisi, Ardan, and Ainle,
sons of Usnach, Conall Carnach, Cuchullin (pro-
nounced Ku-Kullin), and many other champions, of
whom we shall speak at greater length presently. Maev
of Cruachan, the Semiramis of Irish history, was at the
same time ruling Connaught from her fort of Rath
Croghan, while her throne was defended by her husband
Ailill, Keth, son of Magach, Bealcii (pronounced
Bayal-Ku), and other Connacian heroes whose histories
we must not anticipate.
We return, therefore, to Fathna the Wise, father of
Conor MacNessa. This monarch, of the race of Ir,
fell by the hand of Eochy Feliah, a prince descended
from Eremon. Fathna left a young and beautiful widow,
Nessa, who in due time was wooed and won, on some-
what singular conditions, by Fergus MacRoy, the then
occupant of the throne of Uladh.
The legend has been versified, and to it we refer the
reader who may care to know the terms on which this
haughty widow consented to submit again to the yoke
of matrimony.
THE ABDICATION OF FERGUS
Once, ere God was crucified,
I was king o'er Uladh wide :
King, by law of choice and birth,
O'er the fairest realm of earth.
CH. n.] The Heroic Period. 31
I was head of Rury's race ;
Emain was my dwelling-place ;
Right and Might were mine ; nor less
Stature, strength, and comeliness.
Such was I, when, in the dance,
Nessa did bestow a glance,
And my soul that moment took
Captive in a single look.
* * * *
" Lady, in thy smiles to live,
Tell me but the boon to give,
Yea I lay in gift complete
Crown and sceptre at thy feet."
" Not so much the boon I crave :
Hear the wish my soul would have,"
And she cast a loving eye
On her young son standing by.
" Conor is of age to learn ;
Wisdom is a king's concern ;
Conor is of royal race ;
Yet may sit in Fathna's place.
" Therefore, king, if thou wouldst prove
That I have indeed thy love,
On the judgment seat permit
Conor by thy side to sit.
" That by use the youth may draw
Needful knowledge of the Law."
I with answer was not slow,
" Be thou mine, and be it so." *
From Lays of The Western Gael, by SAMUEL FERGUSON.
32 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
Fergus, happy in the society of the beautiful Nessa,
suffers himself to be gradually superseded by his
youthful substitute ; until Conor has acquired too
firm a hold on the popular favour to be dislodged from
the sovereignty.
The supreme king of Ireland at this time was Eochy
Feliah, the slayer of Fathna the Wise. He restored the
pentarchy, thus setting aside the arrangements made
about 300 years before by Ugaine Mor. He was the
parent of six daughters, of whom Maev was the most
distinguished ; she had been married to Conor
MacNessa, but left him and returned to her father's
court, who gave her in marriage to Tinne, one of the
provincial kings he had appointed in Connaught. He
re-edified the rath of Cruachan, employing for the
purpose a fierce tribe of Firbolgic origin, the Gowanree,
who were compelled to labour unremittingly at the
earthworks, and are said to have completed the dyke in
one day. Macv named her residence after her mother,
Cruacha ; and, on the death of Tinne, ruled Connaught
for ten years, with much vigour and ability. She
afterwards married Ailill, a Leinster prince, to whom
she bore seven sons, who were called the seven Manes,
and were distinguished as " Mane the motherlike,
Mane the fatherlike, Mane who resembled both,
Mane of little valour, Mane of great valour, Mane the
silent, and Mane of the boastful words."
But before we continue the history of Queen Maev,
we must advert to certain causes which in the meantime
had induced the ex-king of Uladh to seek an asylum at
the court of Cruachan. We have already alluded to his
CH. IT.] The Heroie Period. 38
abdication in favour of his stepson, Conor. This young
prince, as he grew up, tarnished his great qualities by
cruelty and treachery. He had educated a beautiful
damsel, keeping her secluded from all mankind till she
should be of an age to become his wife. Her name,
Deirdre, signifying alarm, had been bestowed at her birth
by. the Druid Cathbad, and was prophetic of the long
train of conflict and disaster to which her charms gave
rise. Notwithstanding the precautions of Conor, she
saw and loved Naisi, the son of Usnach. He was sitting
in the midst of the plain of Emania, playing on a harp.
Sweet was the music of the sons of Usnach great also
was their prowess ; they were fleet as hounds in the
chase they slew deer with their speed. As Naisi sat
singing on the plain of Emain he perceived a maiden
approaching him. She held down her head as she
came near him, and would have passed in silence.
" Gentle is the damsel who passeth by," said Naisi.
Then the maiden looking up, replied, " Damsels may
well be gentle when there are no youths." Then Naisi
knew it was Deirdre, and great dread fell upon him.
"The king of the province is betrothed to thee, oh
damsel," he said. " I love him not," she replied ; " he
is an aged man. I would rather love a youth like thee."
"Say not so, oh damsel," said Naisi, "the king is a
better spouse than the king's servant." " Thou sayest
so," said Deirdre, " that thou mayest avoid me." Then
plucking a rose from a briar, she flung it towards him,
and said, " Now thou art ever disgraced if thou rejectest
me." " Depart from me, I beseech thee, damsel," said
Naisi. " If thou dost not take me to be thy wife," said
D
34 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n-
Deirdre, " thou art dishonoured before all the men of thy
country after what I have done." Then Naisi said no
more, and Deirdre took the harp, and sat beside him play-
ing sweetly. But the other sons of Usnach, rushing forth,
came running to the spot where Naisi sat, and Deirdre
with him. " Alas !" they cried, " what hast thou done,
oh brother ? Is not this damsel fated to ruin Ulster ?"
" I am disgraced before the men of Erin for ever," said
Naisi, " if I take her not after that which she hath done."
" Evil will come of it, "said the brothers. " I care not,"
said Naisi. " I had rather be in misfortune than in
dishonour ; we will fly with her to another country."
So that night they departed, taking with them three
times fifty men of might, and three times fifty women,
and three times fifty greyhounds, and three times fifty
attendants ; and Naisi took Deirdre to be his wife.
After wandering through various parts of Ireland,
" from Easroe to Ben Edar, and from Dundelgan to
Almain," the fugitives at length took shelter in Scot-
land, where they found an asylum on the banks of Loch
Etive. The loss of three warriors of such repute soon
began to be felt by the nobles of Ulster, who found
themselves no longer able to make head with their
accustomed success against the southern provinces.
They therefore urged Conor to abandon his resentment,
and recal the fugitives. Conor, with no other intention
than that of repossessing himself of Deirdre, feigned
compliance. But, to induce Clan Usnach (as the
fugitives were called) to trust themselves again in the
hands of him whom their leader had so outraged, it
was necessary that the message of pardon should be
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 35
borne by one on whose warranty of safe conduct the
most implicit reliance could be placed. After sounding
some of his chief nobles who were of sufficient authority
to undertake the mission, among the rest Cuchullin,
and finding that any attempt to tamper with them would
be unavailing, Conor fixes on Fergus, the son of Boy,
as a more likely instrument, and commits the embassy
to him. But though he does not so much fear the
consequences of compromising the safe conduct of
Fergus, as of Cuchullin or the others, he yet does not
venture openly to enlist him in the meditated treachery,
but proceeds by a stratagem which, in these days, may
appear somewhat far-fetched, yet probably was not
inconsistent with the manners of that time. Fergus
was of the order of the Ked Branch, and the brethren
of the Eed Branch were under vow not to refuse
hospitality at one another's hands. Conor, therefore,
arranged with Barach, one of his minions, and a
brother of the order, to intercept Fergus on his return,
by the tender of a three days' banquet, well knowing
that the Clan Usnach must in that case proceed to
E mania without the presence of their protector. Mean-
while Fergus, arriving in the harbour of Loch Etive,
where dwelt Clan Usnach in green hunting booths
along the shore, " sends forth the loud cry of a mighty
man of chase." Then follows a characteristic passage :
" Deirdre and Naisi sat together in their tent, and Conor's
polished chessboard between them. And Naisi, hearing
the cry, said, ' I hear the call of a man of Erin/ ' That
was not the call of a man of Erin,' replied Deirdre,
' but the call of a man of Alba.' Then again Fergus
86 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
shouted a second time. ' Surely that was the call of a
man of Erin,' said Naisi. ' Surely no,' said Deirdre ;
* let us play on.' Then again Fergus shouted a third
time, and Naisi knew that it was the cry of Fergus, and
he said, ' If the son of Hoy be in existence, 1 hear his
hunting shout from the loch; go forth, Ardan, my
brother, and give our kinsman welcome.' ' Alas !' cried
Deirdre, ' I knew the call of Fergus from the first.' "
For she has a prophetic dread that foul play is intended
them, and this feeling never subsides in her breast from
that hour till the catastrophe. Quite different are the
feelings of Naisi ; he reposes the most unlimited con-
fidence in the safe conduct vouched for by his brother
in arms, and, in spite of the remonstrances of Deirdre,
embarks with all his retainers for Ireland. Deirdre,
on leaving the only secure or happy home she ever
expects to enjoy* sings a pathetic farewell to fair Alba,
the mountain, cliff, and dun, and her green sheeling on
the shores of Glen-Etive.
Barach meets them on their landing, and detains
Fergus, who reluctantly assigns his charge to his two
sons, Red Buine Borb and Ulan Finn, to conduct them
in safety to their journey's end. Deirdre's fears are
more and more excited; she has drjeams and visions of
disasters. She urges Naisi to go to Dunseverick or to
Dundelgan (Dundalk, the residence of Cuchullin), and
there await the coming up of Fergus. Naisi is in-
flexible. It would injure the honour of his companion
in arms to admit any apprehension of danger while
under his pledge of safe conduct. The omens multiply.
Deirdre's sense of danger becomes more and more acute.
CH. IL] The Herow Period. 37
Still Naisi's reply is, " I fear not ; let us proceed."
At length they reach Emania, and are assigned the
house of the Eed Branch for their lodging. Calm, and
to all appearance unconscious of any cause for appre-
hension, Naisi takes his place at the chess-table, and
Deirdre, full of fears, sits opposite. Meanwhile the
king, knowing that Deirdre was again within his reach,
could not rest at the banquet, but sends spies to bring
him word " if her beauty yet lived upon her." The
first messenger, friendly to Clan Usnach, reports that
she . is " quite bereft of her own aspect, and is lovely
and desirable no longer." This allays Conor r s passion
for a time' ; but growing heated with wine, he shortly
after sends another messenger, who brings back the
intelligence, that not only is Deirdre " the fairest
woman on the ridge of the world,''' but that he himself
has been wounded by Naisi, who had resented his
gazing in at the window of the Eed Branch, by flinging
a chessman at his head, and dashing out one of his eyes.
This was all that Conor wanted ; he starts up in pre-
tended indignation at the violence done his servant,
calls his body-guard, aiid attacks the Eed Branch.
The defence now devolves on the sons of Fergus. Clan
Usnach scorn to evince alarm, or interfere in any way
with the duties of their protectors. But Deirdre cannot
conceal her consciousness that they are betrayed.
"Ah me !" she cries, hearing the soldiery of Conor at
the gates, " I knew that Fergus was a traitor." " If
Fergus hath betrayed you," replied Eed Buine Borb,
"yet will not I betray you." And he issues out and
slays his " thrice fifty men of might." But when Conor
38 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
offers him Slieve Fuad for a bribe, he holds back his
hand from the slaughter, and goes his way. Then
calls Deirdre, " Traitor father, traitor son !" " No,"
replies Ulan Finn, "though Eed Buin Borb be a
traitor, yet will not I be a traitor. While liveth this
small straight sword in my hand I will not forsake
Clan Usnach !" Then Illan'Finn, encountering Fiachra,
the son of Conor, armed with Ocean, Flight, and
Victory, the royal shield, spear, and sword, they fight
" a fair fight, stout and manly, bitter and bloody,
savage and hot, and vehement and terrible," until the
waves round the blue rim of Ocean roared, for it was
the nature of Conor's shield that it ever resounded as
with the noise of stormy waters when he who bore it
was in danger. Summoned by which signal, one of
King Conor's nobles, coming behind Ulan Finn, thrusts
him through. " The weakness of death then fell darkly
upon Ulan, and he threw his arms into the mansion,
and called to Naisi to fight manfully, and expired."
Clan Usnach at length deign to lay aside their chess-
tables, and stand to their arms. Ardan first sallies
out, and slays his " three hundred men of might ;" then
Ainle\ who makes twice that havoc; and last, Naisi
himself ; and " till the sands of the sea, the dewdrops
of the meadows, the leaves of the forest, or the stars of
heaven, be counted, it is not possible to tell the number
of heads, and hands, and lopped limbs of heroes that
there lay bare and red from the hands of Naisi and
his brothers on that plain." Then Naisi came again
into the Eed Branch to Deirdre ; and she encouraged
him, and said, " We will yet escape ; fight manfully,
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 39
and fear not." Then the sons of Usnach made a
phalanx of their shields, and spread the links of their
joined bucklers round Deirdre, and bounding forth like
three eagles, swept down upon the troops of Conor,
making great havoc of the people. But when Cathbad,
the Druid, saw that the sons of Usnach were bent on
the destruction of Conor himself, he had recourse to his
arts of magic, and he cast an enchantment over them,
so that their arms fell from their hands, and they were
taken by the men of Ulster ; for the spell was like a
sea of thick gums about them, and their limbs were
clogged in it, that they could not move. The sons of
Usnach were then put to death, and Deirdre, standing
over the grave, sang their funeral song.
The lions of the hill are gone,
And I am left alone alone.
Dig the grave both wide and deep,
For I am sick, and fain would sleep !
The falcons of the wood are flown,
And I am left alone alone.
Dig the grave both deep and wide,
And let us slumber side by side.
The dragons of the rock are sleeping,
Sleep that wakes not for our weeping.
Dig the grave, and make it ready,
Lay me on my true-love's body.
Lay their spears and bucklers bright
By the warriors' sides aright ;
Many a day the three before me
On their linked bucklers bore me.
40 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
Lay upon the low grave floor,
'Neath each head, the blue claymore :
Many a time .the nohle three
Reddened these blue blades for me.
Lay the collars, as is meet,
Of their greyhounds at their feet ;
Many a time for me have they
Brought the tall red deer to bay.
In the falcon's jesses throw
Hook and arrow, line and bow ;
Never again, by stream or plain,
Shall the gentle woodsmen go.
Sweet companions ye were ever
Harsh to me, your sister, never ;
Woods and wilds and misty valleys
Were with you as good 's a palace.
Oh ! to hear my true-love singing,
Sweet as sound of trumpets ringing ;
Like the sway of Ocean swelling
Rolled his deep voice round our dwelling.
Oh ! to hear the echoes pealing
Round our green and fairy sheeling,
When the three, with soaring chorus,
Passed the silent skylark o'er us.
Echo now, sleep morn and even
Lark alone enchant the heaven !
Ardan's lips are scant of breath,
Naisi's tongue is cold in death.
Stag, exult on glen and mountain
Salmon, leap from loch to fountain
Heron, in the free air warm ye
Usnach's sons no more will harm ye.
CH. n.] The Heroic Period. 41
Erin's stay no more you are.
Rulers of the ridge of war !
Never more 'twill be your fate
To keep the beam of battle straight !
Wo is me ! .by fraud and wrong,
Traitors false and tyrants strong,
Fell Clan Usnach, bought and sold,
For Barach's feast and Conor's gold !
Wo to Emain, roof and wall !
Wo to Red Branch, hearth and hall!
Tenfold wo and black dishonour
To the foul and false Clan Conor !
Dig the grave both wide and deep,
Sick I am, and fain would sleep.
Dig the grave and make it ready,
Lay me on my true-love's body !
So saying, she flung herself into the grave, and expired.
Fergus, at the feast, heard the fury of the elements
and dash of waves, which warned him that the wearer of
the magic shield of Conor was in grievous bodily
peril :
Rang the disk where wizard hammers, mingling in the wavy
field
Tempest wail and breaker clamours, forged the wondrous
Ocean shield,
Answering to whose stormy noises, oft as clanged by deadly
blows,
All the echoing kindred voices of the seas of Erin rose.
Moaned each sea-chafed promontory ; soared and wailed white
Cleena's wave,
Rose the surge of Inver Rory, and through column'd chasm
and cave
42 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
Beaching deep with roll of anger, till Dunseverick's dungeons
reel'd,
Roared resjxmsive to the clangour struck from Conor's magic
shield.
You remember red wine quaffing, in Dunseverick's halls
of glee,
Heard the moaning, heard the chafing, heard the thundering
from the sea.
Knew that peril compassed Conor, came, and on Emania's
plain
Found his fraud and your dishonour, Deirdre* ravished, Ulan
slain.
Indignant at the violation of his safe conduct, Fergus,
having chastised the treachery of Conor, retires into
exile, accompanied by Cormac Conlingas, son of Conor,
and by three thousand warriors of Uladh. They
received a hospitable welcome at Cruachan from Maev
and her husband, Ailill, whence they afterwards made
many hostile incursions into Ulster, taking part among
others in the famous fray called in Irish tradition the
Tain Bo Cuailgne, or cattle spoil of Cuailgne (a district
in Louth), which originated in a dispute between Ailill
and Maev. This we shall give in the quaint and
humorous language of the unpublished MS. transla-
tion of the great Irish epic :
" On one occasion that Ailill and Maev had arisen
from their royal bed in Cruachan of Rath Conrach, a
pillow-conversation was carried on between them :
" ' It is a true saying, woman,' said Ailill, ' that a
good man's wife is a happy creature.'
" ' Why do you say so ?' said Maev.
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 43
" * The reason that I say so,' said Ailill, ' is because
you are happier this day than the day I espoused
you.'
" * I was happy before I knew you,' said Maev.
" ' It was a happiness of which we never heard/ said
Ailill ; ' we only heard of your being in the dependent
position of a woman, whilst your nearest enemies stole
and plundered, and carried off your property.'
" ' Not so, was I,' said Maev ; ' but my father
was arch-king of Erin, that is Eochy Fiedlech, son
of Finn, son of Finnoman, son of Finneon, son of
Finnlag (&c.). He had six daughters of daughters ;
viz., Derbrin, Eithne, and Ele; Clothra, Mugain,
Maev, myself, who was the most noble and illus-
trious of them : I was the best for gifts and presents of
them. I was the best for battle and fight and combat
of them. It was I that had fifteen hundred noble
mercenaries, soldiers ; sons of foreign chiefs ; and as
many more of the sons of my own landholders ; and
there were ten (men) with every soldier of them, and
eight with every soldier, and seven with every soldier,
and six with every soldier, and five with every soldier,
and three with every soldier, and two with every soldier,
and a soldier with every soldier. These I had for my
ordinary household,' said Maev ; * and for that it was,
that my father gave me a province of the provinces of
Erin ; viz., the province of Cruachan, where I am
called Maev of Cruachan. And I was sought in mar-
riage by Finn, son of Ross Euadh, King of Laighin,
and by Cairpri Nia Fear, the son of the King of
Teamair, and by Conor, son of Fachna Fathach. And
44 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
I was sought by Eochy, son of Luchta ; and I did not
go, because it was I that demanded the extraordinary
dowry, such as no woman ever before sought from the
men of Erin; viz.,. a man without parsimoniousness,
without jealousy, without fear. If the man who would
have me, were parsimonious, we were not fit to be united
in one, because I am good at bestowing gifts and pre-
sents ; and it would be a reproach to my husband that
I were better in gifts than he ; and it would be no
reproach now, if we were equally good, provided that
we were both good. If my husband were timid, we
were not the more fit to unite, because I go in battles
and fights, and combats, by myself alone ; and it would
be a reproach to my husband that his wife were more
active than himself; and it is no reproach if we are
equally active, but that we are active both of us. If
the man who had me were jealous, we were riot matched
either, because I was never without having a man in
the shadow of another. I have found that man ; viz.,
you ; viz., Ailill, the son of Ross Ruadh, of the men
of Laighin. You were not parsimonious ; you were
not jealous ; you were not timid. I gave you an
engagement and dowry, the best that is desired of
woman ; viz., the array of twelve men, of 'clothes ; a
chariot, with thrice seven cumhals ; the breadth of your
face of red gold ; the span of your left wrist of carved
silver. Should any one work reproach, or injury, or
incantation on you, you are not entitled to Dire* or
Eneclann f for it, but what comes to me,' said Maev,
* Dire was a fine for any bodily injury.
| Eueclann was a fine for satire, or reproachful words, &c.
CH. IL] The Heroic Period. -J5
* because a man in attendance on a woman is what you
are. 5
" ' Such was not my state,' said Ailill, but I had
two brothers, one the king of Temar, and the other
king of Laighin. I left them the sovereignty because
of their seniority. And you were not better for gifts
and presents than I was. I have not heard of a pro-
vince of Erin in woman-keeping but this province
alone. 1 came then, and I assumed sovereignty here
in succession to my mother ; for Mata of Murisg, the
daughter of Magach, was my mother, and. what better
queen need I desire to have than you, since you hap-
pen to be the daughter of the arch-king of Erin.'
" It happens, however,' said Maev, ' that my good-
ness is greater than yours.'
" ' I wonder at that,' said Ailill, ' since there is no
one that has more jewels, and wealth, and riches than I
have and I know there is not.' "
Ailill and Maev then commenced a comparison of
their goods and eifects for women at this time had
their dowries secured to them, and did not lose by
marriage their separate rights of property. Their jewels,
their garments, their flocks were compared, and found
to be of equal value and excellence, with one notable
exception only. " There was a particularly splendid
bull of Ailill's cows, and he was the calf of one of
Maev's cows, and Finnbennach (White-horn) was his
name ; but he deemed it not honourable to be in a
woman's dependence, and he passed over to the king's
cows." The queen was indignant, but hearing that Dare,
son of Factna, of Cuailgne, was the possessor of a brown
46 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
bull, a still finer animal than the white-horned deserter
of her drove, she despatched her courier, MacRoth, to
Dare, requesting of him the loan of the Donn Cuailgne
(the Brown one of Quelny) for a year, and promising to
restore him with fifty heifers to boot, a chariot worth
sixty- three cows, and other marks of her friendship and
high consideration.
Dare courteously complied with the request of Maev,
and prepared an entertainment for her envoys. During
the progress of the feast, some surly Connacian, in
reply to an observation on the happy termination of
their mission, observed, that it was as well that the
Ultonians had agreed to send with them the Donn
Cuailgne, as, if he had been refused, they would have
carried him back with them by force. This unprovoked
insult excited the just indignation of Dare. He swore by
his " swearing gods," that the Connaught envoys should
not now have the bull, either by consent or by force.
The messengers returned to Maev, and the disap-
pointed queen summoned her forces, and called on her
friends and allies, and the Ultonian exiles who had
found refuge at her court, to join in a foray, the object
of which should be the capture of the desired Donn
Cuailgne. Fergus MacEoy, and Conor's own son,
Cormac Conlingas, who had left Emania on the viola-
tion of their safe conduct to the sons of Usnach, brought
their contingent to the Connacian army. It was not
without much hesitation and many mental pangs, that
these noble exiles consented to take part in an expedi-
tion directed against their countrymen and former
friends. Maev led her armies in person. " A woman,
CH. n.] The Heroic Period. 47
comely, white-faced, long-cheeked, and large; gold-
yellow hair on her ; a short crimson cloak on her ;
a gold pin in the cloak over her breast; a straight,
carved-backed spear flaming in her hand." Such was
the appearance of this royal amazon when leading her
hosts to the fray. Ailill and his son Mane, who re-
sembled both parents, are thus described :
" Two great men with flaming eyes ; with golden
crowns of blazing gold over them ; kingly armour on
them ; gold-hilted, long swords at their girdles, in
bright silver scabbards, with pillows of chequered gold
on their outside."
Mane the motherlike, and Mane the fatherlike, as
follows :
"There came to me two soft youths there. They
were both alike : curled hair on the one of them ;
curled yellow hair on the other ; two green cloaks
wrapped round them ; two bright pins of silver in these
cloaks over their breasts ; two shirts of smooth yellow
silk to their skins ; white-hilted swords at their sides ;
two white shields with fastenings of fair silver on
them; two fleshy-pointed spears, with bright silver
ferules in their hands."
The itinerary of their journey exists, and is a docu-
ment of much interest, as the halting-places and daily
route of the Connaught armies may yet be distinctly
traced. Onward they marched, crossing the Shannon
at Athcoltna. and after many wanderings amid the un-
explored central fastnesses of the present Longford,
Leitrim, and Westmeath, arrived on the borders of
Ulster without molestation.
48 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
And now appears on the stage the heroic figure of
Cuchullin.
When 'mid ford on Uladh's border, young Cuchullin stands
alone,
Maev and all her hosts withstanding: "Now for love of
knightly play,
Yield the youth his soul's demanding let the hosts their
marchings stay.
Till the death he craves be given, and upon his. burial stone
Champion praises duly graven, make his name and glory
known ;
For in speech-containing token age to ages never gave
Salutation better spoken than, ' Behold a hero's grave.',,"
Cuchullin is the preux chevalier of Irish chivalrous
story. He possessed every quality of mind and body
proper, in the estimation of our ancestors, for a perfect
heroic character.
" These were the several and diverse and numerous
gifts peculiar to Cuchullin : the gift of form ; gift of
face ; gift of symmetry ; gift of swimming ; gift of
horsemanship ; gift of chess-playing and backgammon ;
gift of battle ; gift of fight ; gift of combat ; gift of
vision ; gift of eloquence ; gift of counsel ; gift of
blushing ; gift of paling ; gift of best leading from his
own country into a border country."
We must, however, extract from the epic of the Tain
Bo the picturesque incidents it relates of Cuchullin's
childhood (his " Boy-feasts," as they are called), before
we give the maturer deeds of his chivalrous manhood.
His mother, Dectire, was the sister of Conor Mac-
Nessa. His father, Sualtain, was a man of mediocre
CH. ii. J The Heroie Period. 49
talents. Their child. Cuchullin, was a hero from his
infancy.
" The little boy asked of his mother if he would go
to sport on the sporting green of Emain.
" ' This is too early for you, my little son,' said his
mother, 'until some champion of the champions of
Ulster accompany you, or some guardian of Conor's
guardians/to undertake your protection and safety from
the youths.'
" * I think that too long, mother,' said the little
boy, then ; ' and I shall not be arguing, but do thou
show me where Emain is.'
" * Far from you,' said his mother, ' is the place where
it is. Slieve Fuad is between you and Emain.'
" * I will myself make a guess of the way, alone,'
said he.
" The boy set forward, taking with him his imple-
ments of pleasure. He took his hurl of brass, and
his ball of silver, and his shooting arrows, and he took
his top-burned spear of frolic, and he began to shorten
his way by them."
The child was rudely handled by the youths who
were sporting on the green at Emain. The disturbance
reached the ears of Conor who was playing at chess
with Fergus MacEoy at the moment when the ag-
grieved stranger had turned to bay, and was chasing
five of his opponents. The king caught him by the
wrists.
" ' My dear little boy,' said Conor, ' I see no cause
that you have to attack the boys.'
" ' I have great cause,' said the little boy ; ' I have
E
50 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
not received the recognition of a stranger though I
have come from remote lands from the youths on my
arrival.'
" ' Then now, who art thou ?' * said Conor.
'"I am Setanta, the son of Sualtain ; I am the son
of Dectire, thy own sister, and it was not from you I
expected to be thus aggrieved.' "
Conor, with some difficulty, makes peace between
the youngsters. The education of his little nephew
progressed from this period. The next adventure re-
corded of him is as follows :
The following year Conor and a few select guests
were invited to a feast at the Dun of Culann, the smith,
who apologized for limiting his invitations " because it
was not lands or tenements he had, but his sledge, and
his anvils, and his hands, and his tongs." The king
accepts, and on his way to the abode of Culann, ob-
serves, with Fergus MacRoy who accompanied him,
the feats of his nephew and his companion youths who
were sporting on the plain of Emania
" * Alas ! O youths,' said Conor, ' happy the country
out of which the little boy that you see has come ;
if he knew the manly deeds as well as the boyish deeds.'
" ' It is not proper to say that,' said Fergus ; * because,
in proportion as the little boy grows, so will manly
deeds grow with him.'
" ' Let the little boy be called unto us, that he may
come with us to drink of the feast to which we are going,'
said Conor.
" ' I shall not go,' said the little boy.
" ' Why so ?' said Conor.
CH. IL] The Heroic Period. 51
" ' Because the youths have not had enough of play
and pleasure, and I shall not leave them until they
have had enough of play/
" ' It would be too long for us to be waiting on thee,'
said Conor, ' and we shall not either.'
" ' Go ye before us,' said the little boy, ' and I shall
follow you.'
" ' You do not know the way,' said Conor.
" * I shall follow in the track of the company, and of
the horses, and of the chariots.' "
So Conor went to the house of Culann, the smith.
The king and his company were served and honoured,
according to their degrees, their professions, their privi-
leges, their nobility, and their gentle accomplishments.
Green, fresh rushes were spread under them. They
began to drink and be happy.
Culann asked of Conor :
" ' Good, king, hast thou appointed with any one
this night to follow thee to this house ?'
" * I have not appointed indeed,' said Conor, because
he forgot the little boy with whom he appointed to
follow him.
" Why so ?' said Conor.
" ' I have a good chain-hound,' said Culann, ' and
when once his hound-chain is loosened, no stranger
dare travel within the same cantred with him, visitor
or traveller, and he recognizes no one but myself. He
has the power of an hundred in him, of strength.'
" ' Let the chain-hound be set loose, that he may
protect for us the cantred.' The chain-hound was
then se loose from this hound-chain, and he made a
52 The Irish he/ore the Conquest. [CH. n.
quick circuit of the cantred, and returned to the seat
where he always kept watch for the mansion. And
there he crouched with his head on his paws, and
fierce, cruel, churlish, dog-like was he that sat
there."
To return to the youths. "They were in Emain
until it was time for them to disperse. Each of them
went to the house of his own father and mother, nurse,
or tutor.
" The little boy now set out on the track of the com-
pany, till he came to the smith's house. He occupied
himself, to shorten the way, with his implements of
pleasure. When he came to the green of the house in
which Culann and Conor were, he cast all his imple-
ments before him but his ball alone.
" The chain-hound descried the little boy, and howled
at him so that the howling of the chain-hound was
heard throughout the surrounding territory; and it
was not a division of feasting he seemed inclined to
make of him, but to swallow him at once into the cavity
of his chest, through the capaciousness of his throat
and over the cartilage of his breast."
The child contends with, and kills, the formidable
dog. The noise of the conflict recalled to Conor the
appointment he had made with his nephew, and he
exclaims, in great distress of mind
" ' The little boy whom I desired to come after me
the son of my sister Setanta, the son of Sualtain, is
killed by the chain-hound.'
* They arose together, the renowned Ultonians, and
although the door of the court was standing wide open,
CH. IT.] The Heroic Period. 53
each of them made his nearest way out over the battle-
ments of the Dun.
" Though readily they all reached, quicker did
Fergus reach, and whip the little boy from the ground
to the rack of his shoulder, and he brought him into
the presence of Conor.
"And Culann came out, and saw his chain-hound
in divided fragments. It was a stroke of his heart
against his chest to him. He went into the Dun after.
" ' I am hajfpy at your coming, little boy,' said
Culann, ' on account of your mother and your father,
but I am not happy at your coming on your own
account.'
" ' What have you against the boy ?' said Conor.
" i It is not lucky that you have come to me to quaff
my ale, and eat my food, for my present hospitality
is hospitality cast away, and my life is a lost life.
Good was the family-man you have taken from me.
He guarded cows and flocks and cattle for me.'
" ' Be not angry of it, master Culann,' said the
little boy, * because I will pronounce a true sentence
in this case.'
" ' What sentence do you pronounce in it, my boy ?"
said Conor.
" ' If there is a whelp of the seed of this hound in
Erin, he shall be reared by me until he is of the
efficiency of his father. I shall be a hound to protect
his flocks, and his cattle, and his territory during that
time.'
" ' Well hast thou pronounced thy judgment, my
little boy,' said Conor.
54 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
" ' We would not ourselves,' said Cathbad (Conor's
Druid and Brehon) 'pronounce a better; and why
should thy name not be Cu-Chulain (Culann's hound)
in consequence.'
" ' Not so,' said the little boy, ' I prefer my own
name, Setanta, the son of Sualtain.'
" ' Say you not that, my little boy,' said Cathbad,
' because the men of Erin and Alba will tremble at
that name, and the mouths of the men of Erin and
of Alba shall be full of that name.' *
" ' I like, then, that it be my name,' said the little
boy, and it is from this that the famous name of
Cuchullin has attached to him."
The noble nature of the young hero displayed
itself the ensuing year, under the following circum-
stances i
" Cathbad, the Druid, was instructing his pupils by
Emain on the north-east, having eight pupils of the
science of Druidism with him. One of them asked
his tutor, what was the luck and prognostication of
that day on which they were. Was it good or was it
evil ? Then Cathbad said,
" ' The little boy who would take arms this day
would be noble and illustrious, but would be unhappy
and short lived.'
"He Cuchullin heard these words, though he
was at his sports on the south-west of Emain ; and he
cast away from him his implements of pleasure, and
went to the sleeping-house of Conor.
" * All happiness to thee, King of Champions !' said
the little boy.
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 55
" ' That is a salutation of soliciting something from
a person,' said Conor ; * what do you ask, my little
boy?'
" * To take arms,' said the little boy.
" * Who advised you, my little boy ?' said Conor.
" < Cathbad, the Druid,' said the little boy.
" * You shall not be deceived therein, my little boy,'
said Conor.
" Conor gave him two spears, and a sword, and a
shield. The little boy swung and balanced the arms
until he shivered them into crumbs and splinters.
" Conor gave him two other spears, and a shield and
sword. He swung, balanced, shook, and bent them
until he shivered them into crumbs and splinters.
" There were fourteen suits of arms that Conor
had for the service of the youths and princes : (when
any one of them took up arms, it was Conor that gave
him aggressive accoutrements : he had the gift of valour
in consequence :) however, this little boy shivered them
all into crumbs and splinters.
" * These indeed are not good weapons, my master
Conor,' said the little boy, 'my safety would not
come of them.'
" Conor gave his own two spears, and his shield and
sword to him. He swung and balanced, shook and
bent them, until he brought their points to their shanks ;
and the arms did not break, and they withstood him.
" ' These indeed are good arms,' said the little boy,
'they are my match. Happy the king whose arms
and accoutrements these are. Happy the country to
which he belongs.'
56 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. n.
" Then came Cathbad, the Druid, into the pavilion,
and said, ' Has he taken these on ?'
" ' He has, indeed,' said Conor.
" ' It is not the son of your mother I could wish to
see take them on this day,' said Cathbad.
" ' How now, was it not you that advised him ?' said
Conor.
' It was not I, indeed,' said Cathbad.
" ' What did you mean, you fairy sprite ?' said Conor.
' Is it falsehood you have spoken to us?'
" ' Be not you angry now, my master Conor,' said the
little boy ; ' because it is certain that it was he that
advised me. For his pupil asked him what luck there
was on the day, and he said, The little boy that would
take arms in it, would be the noble and renowned, and
would be unhappy, and short-lived too. Glorious fate !
though I were but one day and one night in the world,
provided that my history and my adventures lived
after me !' "
Cuchullin speedily fleshes his maiden sword. He
sets off in his chariot to seek adventures, and returns
to Emania with the bloody heads of the three sons of
Nectain ; wild deer bound to his chariot, and captured
wild birds fluttering around him.
But the most heroic achievement of the young warrior
was his series of single-handed combats with the picked
men of the Connacian armies led by Ailill and Maev in
person, when he defended the fords, and stopped the
onward march of the hosts of the Tain-bo, on the borders
of Ulster. He held these passes into the threatened
province for the chivalrous custom of the times per-
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 57
mitted none to refuse a challenge, nor the host to
advance till the result of the single combats should be
known till the Ultonians had time to muster their
forces, and arrive to give battle to the armies of Con-
naught in defence of their land and their cattle.
The Tarn Bo Cuailgne recounts at great length the
combats that ensued, in all of which Cuchullin was
victorious.
What, another and another, and he still for combat calls ?
Ah ! the lot on thee, his brother sworn in arms, Ferdiah, falls,
And the hall with wild applauses sobbed like women ere they
wist,
When the champions in the pauses of the deadly combat
kiss'd.
The youthful Ferdiah was most reluctant to engage
in strife with his former friend and companion Cuchu-
llin, for " with the same tutors they learned the science
of feats of bravery and valour ; with Scatha, and with
Uatha, and with Aife."
The name of Scatha, the Amazonian instructress
of these youths, is still preserved in Dun Sciath in the
island of Skye, where "great Cuchullin's name and
glory " yet linger. The Coolin mountains, named
after him those " thunder-smitten, jagged Cuchullin
peaks of Skye," the grandest mountain range in
Great Britain attract to that remote island of the
Hebrides, worshippers of the sublime and beautiful in
nature, whose enjoyments would be largely enhanced
if they knew the heroic legends which are connected
with the glorious scenes they have travelled so far to
witness. Cuchullin is one of the foremost characters
58 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
in Macpherson's Ossian, but the quasi-translator qf
Gaelic poems places him more than two centuries
later than the period at which he really lived. The
tendency of the public mind at present is somewhat
unjust to Macpherson. The repugnance naturally felt
at any literary falsification blinds many to the poetry
and beauty of his adaptations of the Gaelic legends,
which are associated with the name of Ossian. With
the exception of his alteration of names and localities,
framed in order to connect the traditions of the ancient
poet with Scotland, rather than with Ireland, he took
few liberties with his originals that were not fully
warranted by the character of the material with which
he had to deal. If he had honestly claimed for him-
self the authorship of the book, and acknowledged
himself an adapter, rather than a translator, he would
be entitled to high approval ; for amidst much that
is turgid and bombastic, there is grandeur, and pathos,
and sublimity, in the Ossian of Macpherson.
But to return to Ferdiah. His aversion to contend
with his former companion in arms, is at last overcome
by the satirists of Maev : " Ferdiah came with them
for the sake of his honour, for he preferred to fall by
the shafts of valour, gallantry, and bravery, rather than
by the shafts of satire, censure, and reproach."
The eventful morning of combat is about to dawn.
" Ferdiah's horses were harnessed, and his chariot
was yoked, and he went forward to the ford of battle.
And the day with its full lights had now come.
" ' Gopd, my servant,' said Ferdiah ; * spread for me
the cushions and skins of my chariot under me, here,
CH. IL] .The Heroic Period. 59
until I take my deep rest and sleep, here, because I
slept not the end of the night for anxiety about the
combat and battle.'
" The servant unharnessed the horses. He spread
the cushions and skins of the chariot under him.
" Cuchullin arose not at all until the day with all its
lights came, because that the men of Erin should not
say that it was fear or dread that induced him, if he
had arisen. And when day with all its' lights came,
he commanded his charioteer that he should harness
his horses and yoke his chariot.
" l Good, my servant,' said Cuchullin ; ' harness our
horses for us, and yoke our chariot, for he is an early-
rising champion who comes to meet us to-day, Ferdiah
MacDaman MicDare.'
" ' The horses are harnessed, the chariot is yoked ;
step you into it, and it will not disparage your
valour.'
" And then the strokeful, featful, battle-winning, red-
sworded hero, Cuchullin Mac Sualtain, sprang into
his chariot."
The heroes meet at the ford, and exchange greet-
ings, not unmixed with reminiscences of their happy
boyish days.
" * Too long have we remained this way now,' said
Ferdiah ; ' and what arms shall we fight with to-
day?'
" ' Thine is the choice of arms till night, this day,'
said Cuchullin; 'for it is you that first reached the
ford.'
"'Do you remember at all,' said Ferdiah, 'the
60 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
missive weapons we were used to practise with Scatha,
and with Uatha, and with Aife ?'
" * I remember, indeed,' said Cuchullin.
" * If you remember, let us resort to them.' "
Night arrives without any decisive advantage on
either side.
" * Let us desist now for the present, Cuchullin,'
said Ferdiah.
" * Let us, indeed, desist, if the time has come,' said
Cuchullin.
" They stopped. They threw their arms away from
them into the hands of their charioteers. Each of
them approached the other, and each put his hands
round the other's neck and gave him three kisses.
" Their horses were in the same paddock that night,
and their charioteers at the same fire. And their
charioteers spread beds of green rushes for them, with
wounded-men pillows to them.
"Their professors of healing and curing came to
heal and cure them, and they put herbs of healing and
curing into their cuts, and their wounds, and their
clefts, and all their wounds. Every herb and every
plant of healing and curing that was put to the cuts,
and wounds, and clefts, and all the wounds of Cuchullin,
he would send an equal division of them from him
westwards over the ford to Ferdiah.
" Every kind of food, and of palatable pleasant
intoxicating drink that was sent by the men of Erin to
Ferdiah, he would send a fair moiety of them over the
ford northward to Cuchullin."
Day after day the combat is renewed ; great wounds
CH. IT.] The Heroic Period. 61
are given and received. At last Ferdiah falls. ' Cu-
chullin laid Ferdiah down there, and a cloud, and a
faint, and a weakness fell on Cuchullin.' The hero,
exhausted by his wounds and long-continued strife,
and still more by the distress of mind caused by the
death of his loved friend, lies long on his bed of sick-
ness, and is unable to take part in the impending battle
between the Ultonians and the now retreating forces of
Ailill and Maev. His father visits him, and is thus
quaintly described in the poem :
" For thus was Sualtain. He was not a bad champion,
and he was not a good champion, but he happened to
be a big, good sort of person."
Cuchullin sends him to rouse the Ultonians. He
performs his embassy in the following manner :
"'You have been plundered by Ailill and Maev,'
said Sualtain ; ' your women, and your children, and
your youths, your horses, and your studs, your flocks,
your herds, and your cattle have been carried away.
Cuchullin is alone detaining and delaying the four
great provinces of Erin, in the gaps and the passes of
the country of Conaille Murthevne. * * * And if you
do not immediately avenge this, it will not be avenged
to the end of time and life.' "
Conor musters his hosts, but Ailill and Maev are
already on their way to Connaught ; the original cause
of the war, the Donn Cuailgne himself, being captured,
and led towards the pastures of Cruachan.
MacEoth, the herald of Connaught, is left to watch for
the foe, who might be expected to harass their retreat.
" MacKoth went forward to reconnoitre the great
62 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
wide-spreading plain of Meath. MacRoth was not
long doing so when lie heard something the sound,
and the tramp, and the clamour, and the noise.
" There was nothing that he could think it to be,
unless it was the. falling of the firmament on the face
of the earth ; or unless it were the salmon-abounding
blue ocean that flowed over the face of the world ; or
unless it was the earth severed from its earthly motion ;
or unless it was the forests that fell each tree into the
catches and forks and branches of the other."
The Ultonian hosts advance. The armies pass
that night on the plains of Slewen. At dawn of day
the battle begins. The disabled Cuchullin, longing,
but unable, to take part in the conflict, charges his
charioteer to give him tidings of the fight.
" Leagh had not remained long looking till he saw
the men of Erin all arising together, snatching up their
shields, and their spears, and their swords, and their
helmets, and pressing, each party the other, forward to
the battle.
" The men of Erin began, each of them, to hew, and
to cut down, to partition, to disjoint, to slaughter, and
to destroy each other for a long time.
" ' How is the battle fought now, my master Leagh ?'
said Cuchullin.
" ' Manfully is it fought,' said Leagh. * For though
I were to take my chariot, and Eu, Conall's charioteer,
were to take his, and though we were to drive in our
two noble chariots to meet each other through the
array of their arms, neither shoe, nor wheel, nor seat,
nor shaft of them could pass through, for the tightness,
OH. n.] The Heroic Period. 63
and for the firmness, and for the fastness with which
their arms are grasped in the hands of the warriors at
this moment.'
" ' Alas, that I am not of strength to be among them !'
said Cuchullin ; ' for if I were of strength my breach
would be conspicuous there to-day.'
" ' Hush now, my Hound/ said Leagh. * It is no
disgrace to your valour it is no reproach to your
honour. You have done bravely before now. You
shall do so again.' "
Cuchullin cannot be kept back even by the
entreaties of his attendant. His wounds are too fresh
to permit him to take an active part in the combat,
but he meets his ancient master and friend, Fergus
MacEoy, and adjures him, by his former promise to that
effect, no longer to take part against his countrymen
of Ulster, nor to avenge on them the wrongs he
had sustained from his step-son, Conor. Fergus, thus
appealed to, retires, and the Connacians accept his
retreat as a signal for leaving the field. They send on
before them the Bull which was the original cause of
their foray, and under the guardianship of Maev, who
courageously protects the rear of her defeated army
retire towards Cruachan. The finale as regards the
Donn Cuailgne is highly grotesque. " When he saw
the beautiful unknown country " (the rich pasture land
of Eoscommon) "he gave his three rounds of roars
aloud. But the Finnbennach of Ai heard him." This
was the Bull that had gone over from Maev's cows
because " he deemed it not honourable to be in a
woman's dependence," and he allowed no other beast
64 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. n.
" to dare to raise a roar higher than a lowing within
the four fords of Ai." So he raised his head on high,
and came forward to Cruachan to meet the Bonn
Cuailgne.
The Battle of the Bulls was as furious as had been
that of the Connacians and Ultonians, on their account.
After a terrible encounter, in which no one ventured to
intervene, the men of Erin " saw the Donn Cuailgne
coming past Cruachan, coming from the west, and carry-
ing the Finnbennach on his peaks and on his horns."
Having shaken off his defeated antagonist, the Bull
" turned his face to the north, and recognized the country
of Cuailgne, and went towards it."
Let us hope, notwithstanding the tragical end
assigned to him in the romance, where he dashes out
his brains in charging at a rock, that in his native plains
of Louth he found fresh fields and pastures new, and
that the readers who have followed his adventures in the
Tain bo Cuailgne shall be sharers in the blessing invoked
at the close of the poem ' on every one who shall faith-
fully study the Tain.'
Cuchullin also plays the part of hero in tales of
love and courtship which still exist among the unpub-
lished Irish MSS. in our libraries. His wooing of
Eimer, the beautiful daughter of Forgall Monach, a
personage who held a court of general hospitality at
Lusk, near Dublin, has many romantic circumstances
attending it. Having heard of the charms and accom-
plishments of the Lady Eimer, Cuchullin, accompanied
by his faithful Leagh, set out from Emania, and
discovered, on reaching her father's abode, the lady he
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 65
sought, in the companionship of others of her sex and
station, pursuing her customary sports and occupations.
Eimer was no less gifted than Cuchullin himself.
Hers, we are told, were " the gift of beauty of person,
the gift of voice, the gift of music, the gift of embroidery
and all needlework, the gift of wisdom, and the gift of
virtuous chastity." Her discretion was not inferior to
her accomplishments. She declined to listen to the
addresses of Cuchullin, alleging that she was but a
younger daughter. She enlarged on the virtues and
charms of her elder sister, and suggested that he
should seek her father's sanction, and become a suitor
to that lady.
Forgall was not disposed to part with either of his
daughters. In the guise of a stranger he presented
himself at the court of Conor ; praised the varied
feats and accomplishments which were exhibited in
honour of the stranger's visit to Emania, by the knights
of the Eed Branch, including Cuchullin himself, and
suggested to Conor that his young warriors should
complete their military education under the tuition of
Scatha, on the island of Skye. It was thus that
Cuchullin became the pupil of this remarkable
instructress, to whom he so often referred in after-life.
His sojourn in the Hebrides perfected him in all
knightly and manly exercises, and kept him far removed
from Erin, which had been the secret object of Forgall
in recommending the school of Dun Sciath.
Forgall's project was not so successful as he had
hoped. Eimer and Cuchullin found means of exchanging
vows of constancy, for by this time the hero had won
66 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n-
the fair lady's heart. He remained in Scotland till he
had acquired all that Scatha could teach, and then
returned to Ireland, to claim the hand of Eimer. On
his homeward route he played the part of a Perseus
to an Andromeda of Bathlin island, rescuing from
certain pirates a damsel exposed on the shore, and
destined to be their captive in lieu of tribute which
the islanders were unable to pay. Declining any re-
ward for his services in slaying the pirates, Cuchullin
hastened to Lusk, but the Lady Eimer was closely
guarded in her father's fortress. Cuchullin stormed
the fort, and carried her off in triumph, not without
the penalty of combats with their pursuers at various
fords and passes, in the line of country between Lusk
and Armagh.
Another romantic adventure in which Cuchullin
was concerned as one of the knights of the Bed
Branch, was an attack on an island called Mana, where
resided a most beautiful damsel named Blanaid.
Curoi MacDare, the leader of the Munster order of
chivalry, the Clan Degaid, as they were called, was
present on this expedition in the disguise of a grey-
coated clown, and gave valuable aid to the Ulster
champions, on condition that, should he succeed in pro-
curing for them entrance into the fort, he should
have his choice of all the jewels it contained. Success
being achieved, the clown in the grey garb named
Blanaid herself as the jewel he would claim, and on
Cuchullin disputing the point with him, Curoi suc-
ceeded in carrying her off by stratagem. Cuchullin
pursued him towards Munster, but being worsted in
CH. IL] The Heroic Period. 67
an encounter with Curoi, who inflicted on him the
double disgrace of " binding him in five-fold fetter,
wrists and ankles, wrists and neck," and cutting off his
long love-locks, he was compelled to return to Ulster,
and there await the growing of his hair, as this loss
was esteemed disgraceful for a man of Erin.
A year elapsed before Cuchullin's hair had grown,
when he again sought Blanaid. He found her on the
banks of the stream afterwards called the Finglas or
White-brook, in Kerry. Curoi's abode still exists, and
preserves his name, on the summit of Cahir-Conree, the
grand mountain which towers over Tralee. Blanaid
lamented her fate, and implored Cuchullin to return at
an appointed time and rescue her, at a signal agreed on
between them.
" But hearken, dear Cuchullin,
Heed well the words I say,
Gather thy forces far and wide,
And on the thirtieth day,
Encamped in yonder forest,
Watch well the river clear,
When its stream runs white, with main and might
Charge, as thou hold'st me dear." *
The scheme which Blanaid had imagined, was to
persuade Curoi to build for himself a fortress which
should surpass all the royal residences in Erin, and to
disperse the Clan Degaid in search of great stones for
the erection of this cyclopean structure. Ai the
moment when Curoi was alone, and defenceless,
Blanaid overturned into the river, pails of milk which
* From Goethe, by E. KENEALY.
(58 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
she had prepared for the purpose, thus making the
concerted signal for the attack of the fortress and
capture and death of Curoi. Her treachery did not go
unpunished. Ferkertne, the bard of the murdered
Curoi, followed her to Ulster. He found her, in
company with Conor and Cuchullin, on the promontory
of Ken-Barra. He approached her, twined his arms
around her, and sprang with her in this fatal embrace
over the brow of the cliff, into the wild ocean beneath.
Before taking leave of Curoi MacDare, we may
mention that his descendants still hold a high position
in his county of Kerry. O'Connell was a representa-
tive of this ancient champion of the Clan Degaid.
The glory and happiness of Cuchullin were clouded
in his after-life by a tragical occurrence, arising from
a sin of his youth. During his residence in Skye, he
loved, and abandoned, the Lady Aife. She bore him a
son, and trained her unconscious child to be the actor
in the schemes of vengeance which she nourished
against Cuchullin. The young Conloch was educated
in all martial exercises, and when fully perfected,
sent by his mother to Erin, with injunctions never to
tell his name, or refuse to fight a single combat against
the most powerful champion.
" Conloch, haughty, bold, and brave
Kides upon lerne's wave,
Flushed with loud-applauding fame,
From Dunsciaik's walls he came,
Came to visit Erin's coast
Came to prove her mighty host." *
Translated from the Irish by Miss BROOKE.
CH. u.] The Heroic Period. 69
.Conloch returned an insolent answer to the mes-
senger sent by Conor MacNessa, to demand his name
and purpose. He encountered, and defeated, several
champions sent by the king. At last Cuchullin
approaches. Conloch is moved by the yearnings of
natural affection, but still declines to tell his name
and lineage to the hero, whom he alone knows to be
his father. They fight, and Conloch falls. Ere he
dies, he reveals the fatal secret, and implores the
forgiveness of his parent. The grief of Cuchullin
ends only with his life. His death occurred ('tis said
in A.D. 2) at the battle of Murthevne, near Dundalk.
Here " the manly, beauteous champion fell ; it was not
the fall of a dastard." His death was avenged by his
kinsman Conall Carnach. When the event happened,
Conall was beyond sea ; but the widowed Eimer sent
to acquaint him, and to hasten his return, that he might
avenge Cuchullin. This great knight of the Bed
Branch found the head of the hero used as a, -hurling-
ball. He contended with, and slew those who had so
insulted the remains of his friend. Cuchullin's head
and right hand are said to have been buried at Tara.
Conall Carnach, this knight of the Eed Branch
who avenged Cuchullin, was of the race of Ir, son
of Miled. He was kinsman also to Fergus MacEoy,
through their common ancestor, Eury Mor, king
of Ireland from whom the Clan Eury derive their
name. He fills a foremost place in heroic story at
this period the commencement of the Christian era.
The courage and daring of these doughty champions
made them very formidable antagonists, and their sue-
70 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
cesses tempted them to seek occasion for a display of
their prowess. Nor was this overbearing and aggres-
sive disposition confined to the warriors of Ulster.
Even the bards of the northern kingdom presumed on
the warlike repute of its heroes, to insult and oppress
the less powerful chieftains of other districts. It is
recorded of Atharne, a poet at the court of Conor,
that he set out on a tour of visits to the other pro-
vincial kings, with the sole object of " picking a
quarrel " on behalf of the Ultonians with their weaker
neighbours. With this object he insolently demanded
the most costly gifts, which were yielded to him for
the sake of peace. Eochy, king of mid-Erin, actually
bestowed on Atharne his one remaining eye, which the
audacious poet demanded of the already mutilated
prince, little expecting his request to be granted, but
intending to fix a quarrel, should it be refused. Loch
Derg (on the Shannon) is said in the legend to have
derived its name (the Lake of the Red Eye) from
this circumstance. In Leinster, Atharne demanded
the gift of one hundred and fifty ladies, seven hundred
white cows with red ears, and other cattle. His un-
reasonable petition was accorded with such ready
alacrity that it aroused the poet's suspicions. He
therefore sent to Conor, asking from him an escort of
Ultonians, who should meet him at the boundary of
the respective kingdoms, and repel any attempt at the
forced restitution which he anticipated at the hands of his
Leinster escort, the moment they should be at liberty to
attack him without infringing the laws of hospitality.
These laws, which it would have been deemed dis-
CH. n.] The Heroie Period. 71
honourable to violate, protected Atharne and his ill-
gotten gains while in the territory of the men of
Leinster. It was at the ford of the Liffey at Dubh-
linn, the Hack ^pool which gives its name to Dublin,
that a causeway of hurdles was thrown across the river
for the transport of the flocks, from which the Irish
capital obtained its name of Ath CliatJi, meaning
" Hurdle-ford." Here for the Liffey was at this
time the boundary between Leinster and Ulster as
Atharne had anticipated, his late hosts, the instant he
had passed out of their country, seized upon ^their
women and cattle. A battle ensued, in which the
Ultonians succeeded in forcing their retreat to the Hill
of Howth, and carrying the cattle with them. From
the summit of Ben Edar, the poet cursed the land he
had left, and a blight fell on all things in Leinster,
which lasted till the outraged Atharne was persuaded
to remove his malignant infliction.
" Sing while you may, nor grieve to know
The song you sing shall also die :
Atharna's lay has perished so,
Though once it thrilled this sky
Above us, from his rocky chair,
There, where Ben Edar's landward crest
O'er eastern Bregia bends, to where
Dun Almon crowns the west :
And all that felt the fretted air
Throughout the song-distempered clime
Did droop, till suppliant Leinster's prayer
Appeased the vengeful rhyme." *
* From The Cromlech on Howth, by S. FERGUSON.
72 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
While the Ultonians, with Atharne, were encamped
at Howth, Conall Carnach made various onslaughts on
the Leinster men, urged by a desire to revenge the
deaths of his brothers, who had been slain during the
siege. He overtook and encountered Mesgedra, the
King of Leinster, vanquished him in single combat,
cut off his head, and carried the bleeding trophy with
him in his chariot. He had not travelled far when he
met Mesgedra's queen, Biiana, returning with an escort
of fifty ladies, from a visit to Meath. " Thou art com-
manded to come with me," said Conall, addressing her.
" Who has commanded me ?" replied the queen.
" Mesgedra," rejoined Conall.
" Hast thou brought me any token from him ?" asked
the queen.
" I have brought his chariots and horses," said Conall.
" He makes many presents ?" said the lady.
" Come into my chariot : his head is here too," re-
joined the champion.
" Give me liberty to lament for my husband," said
the bereaved woman, and then she shrieked aloud her
grief and sorrow with such intensity that her heart
broke, and she fell dead from her chariot.
The MS. story of the siege of Howth (Talland Etair),
from which we glean these incidents, contains, in the
midst of much that is barbarous and revolting, some
traits of generous sentiment worthy of being called
chivalrous, and well deserving the attention of in-
quirers into the sources of mediseval romantic liter-
ature.
Mesgedra, with a single squire, flying from the
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 73
pursuit of the Ultonians, reaches the ford of Clane.
Here they halt to snatch a moment's repose. " I shall
sleep awhile," said the charioteer, "and thou canst
sleep afterwards." "It is agreeable to me," said the
king, yielding the privilege of first refreshment to his
humbler companion. The charioteer sleeps, and
Mesgedra, looking at the river, is aware of a large nut
floating towards him. He divides the kernel, keeping
one half for the charioteer, and eats the other. At
this moment the charioteer awakens from " an evil
vision." " Is it a nut thou didst eat ?" he demands :
"hast thou left half for me?" "Catch the horses,
gilla" said the king. Then the charioteer resenting
the king's supposed ungenerous greediness, exclaims,
" He who would eat a little behind the back of a
hungry comrade would eat much," and in rash rage
drew his sword, and smote off Mesgedra's hand. " Evil
is the deed," said Mesgedra. " Open my hand : the
half of the nut is there." When the charioteer saw
that it was so, " he turned the sword against himself,
so that it went out through his back." At this moment
Conall approaches, from the opposite side of the ford :
" I am here," said Mesgedra. " What then ?" said
Conall. " What more," said Mesgedra, " save to
assail him of whom the debt is due, whatever be the
strait he may be in." "Prepare," said Conall. "It
is not true valour," said Mesgedra, " for you to fight
with a one-handed man." " So it shall be with me
also," said Conall : " my hand shall be bound to my
side," said Conall. Conall's hand was triple-bound to
his side. They fought. The river was red from them :
74 The Irish before the Conquest. [cu. n.
in the end Conall was the stronger. " Lo now, O Conall,"
said Mesgedra, " I know that thou wilt not depart
until thou bearest with thee this head : bear, then, my
head on thy head, and my renown on thy renown.."
When it is remembered that this was one of the tra-
ditionary " prime tales " known by every duly qualified
bard for ages prior to the twelfth century (for it is one
of those enumerated in the Book of Leinster, and the
Book of Leinster was compiled for Dermid Mac-
Murrogh in his youth), it will not appear necessary,
in the absence of evidence, to assume that the
Arthurian legend and the cycle of Armoric romance
could not have originated among the Celtic popula-
tions.
Conall buried Biiana, and the head of her husband with
her, having previously, in compliance with a barbarous
custom, extracted the brains, which were mixed with
lime, and made into a ball. This ball was deposited in
the House of the Eed Branch, at Emania, and was
destined to play an important part afterwards ; for a
prophecy existed that Mesgedra would avenge himself
on the Ulstermen.
On one occasion, Keth MacMagach, a Connaught
hero, and nephew of Maev of Cruachan, passing dis-
guised near Emania, observed two fools of Conor's
court playing on the green with the fatal ball, which
they had purloined from the trophy-house of Creeve Roe.
Keth, aware of the prediction, possessed himself of it,
and always carried it in his girdle, awaiting an oppor-
tunity of using it against Conor. This he obtained by
a characteristic stratagem, on a subsequent encounter
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 75
between the Connacians and the Ultonians, in which
Conor himself commandeth the northern forces.
Conor was vain of his personal symmetry and
beauty : " For there was not upon earth the shape
of a person like the shape of Conchobhar (Conor),
namely, in form, and face, and countenance ; in size,
and symmetry, and proportion ; in eyes, and hair, and
whiteness ; in wisdom, and prudence, and eloquence ;
in costume, and nobleness, and mien ; in arms, and
amplitude, and dignity ; in accomplishment, and valour,
and family descent."
The golden colour of Conor's hair is also recorded.
The wound in his head, received in the manner about
to be mentioned, was, according to the story, " stitched
with thread of gold, because the colour of Conchobhar's
hair was the same as the colour of the gold." Thus
gifted, and not unwilling to display his gifts, Conor
unsuspectingly acceded to a request made by some of
the Connacian ladies that he should approach them
between the armies, so that they might judge whether
fame had reported truly of his personal dignity and
martial bearing.
Keth disguised himself in female attire, and with
his sling and Mesgedra's brain-ball, stationed himself
among the women who awaited the approach of the
handsome king. Conor came within reach of the missile.
Keth cast the fatal ball from his sling, and imbedded it
deeply in the head of the monarch.
Conor's physicians hesitated to remove the ball, but
succeeded in restoring him to the use of his faculties,
and permitted him soon to resume his former habits,
76 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. 11.
only cautioning him against any violent exertion or
emotion, especially against indulgence in anger. On
this circumstance of the tradition, and the supposed
synchronism of Conor's death with the time of Our
Lord's crucifixion, has been founded a Christian legend
of singular but picturesque wildness. Conor, startled
by the supernatural darkness which accompanied the
Passion of Our Lord, inquires from his Druids of its
cause. They reply, "that Jesus Christ, the Son of
the living God, was at that moment suffering at the
hands of the Jews." " What crime has he committed ?"
said Conor. " None," replied they. " Then they are
slaying him being innocent ?" asked Conor. " It is so,"
said the Druids. Thereupon Conor, bursting into un-
controllable fury, drew his sword, rushed into an adjoin-
ing wood, and began to hew and hack the trees, suppos-
ing them in his frenzy to be the obnoxious Jews : and
the legend preserves, in archaic but characteristic
language, the rhapsody, or rhetoric, as it is called, pro-
nounced by him on that occasion.
" Good now," said Conchobhar ; "it is a pity that
he (Christ) did not appeal to a valiant high-king, which
would bring me in the shape of a hardy champion, my
lips quivering, until the great valour of a soldier should
be witnessed dealing a breach of battle between two
hosts. Bitter the slaughter by which there would be pro-
pitiated free relief. With Christ should my assistance
be. A wild shout has sprung at large : a full Lord, a full
loss is lamented ; the crucifixion of a king, the greatest
body, who was an illustrious, admirable king. I would
complain of the deed to the faithful host of noble feats,
CH. ii. j The Heroic Period. 77
whose vigilant, beautiful aid should be with the merci-
ful God to relieve Him. Beautiful the overthrowing
which I would give. Beautiful the combat which I
would wage for Christ, who- is being defiled. I would
not rest, though my body of clay had been tormented
by them. ... It crushes my heart to hear the voice of
wailing for my God, and that this arm does not come
to reach with true relief to arrest the sorrow of death
because I am told that it is dangerous for me to ride
in chariots without avenging the Creator." In the
midst of these excitements, the ball started from its place,
where it had remained imbedded in his skull, and Conor
fell dead on the spot. Another tradition ascribes to
the visit of Altus, a Roman centurion sent to demand
tribute of Conor, his knowledge of the incarnation
and mission of Christ.
To return to Conall Carnach.
His haughty and overbearing character displayed
itself at a feast given by a Leinster prince, MacDatho,
to the Connaught men and Ultonians. MacDatho was
possessed of a noble hound, which was envied by Conor
MacNessa as well as by Ailill and Maev. Afraid to
offend these rival sovereigns by yielding the hound to
either, MacDatho invited them all to a great feast.
His hospitable board was graced by a famous pig.
But who was to carve this dainty dish ? Keth Mac-
Magach and Conall Carnach contended for the honour.
At last it was conceded to the Ulster hero, who helped
his countrymen to the dainty morsels, tossing over the
forelegs of the pig to the Connaught guests. Of course
bloodshed resulted, and the poor hound fell victim to
78 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
their swords. We turn from this ignoble strife to a
more gallant combat between Conall and Keth, in which
the latter lost his life, and Conall was all but mortally
wounded. The scene was Slieve Fuad, now the Fews ;
the time, winter ; and Conall, though the victor, alone
and bleeding amid the drifting snowstorm, was captured
by the Connacian hero, Bealcu, who restored him to
health that he might afterwards avenge Keth in single
combat with Conall. The circumstances, with some
deviations from the rude original, have been amplified
into a dramatic ballad commemorative of this primitive
instance of chivalrous generosity.
THE HEALING OF CONALL CAKNACH.
O'er Slieve Few, with noiseless tramping through the heavy
drifted snow,
Bealcu Comiacia's champion, in his chariot tracks the foe ;
And anon far off discerneth, in the mountain hollow white,
Slinger Keth and Conall Carnach mingling, hand to hand, in
fight.
Swift the charioteer his coursers urged across the wintry
Hoarse the cry of Keth and hoarser seemed to come demand-
ing aid ;
But through wreath and swollen runnel, ere the car could
reach anigh,
Keth lay dead, and mighty Conall bleeding lay at point to
die.
Whom beholding spent and pallid, Bealcu exulting cried,
" Oh thou ravening wolf of Uladh, where is now thy northern
pride ?
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 79
What can now that crest audacious, what that pale defiant
brow,
Once the bale-star of Connacia's ravaged fields, avail thee
now ?"
" Taunts are for reviling women," faintly Conall made reply.
" Wouldst thou play the manlier foeman? end my pain and
let me die !
Neither deem thy blade dishonoured that with Keth's a
deed it share
For the foremost two of Connaught feat enough and fame to
spare."
"No; I will not! Bard shall never in Dunseverick hall
make boast
That to quell one northern riever needed two of Croghan's host ;
But because that word thou'st spoken, if but life enough
remains,
Thou shalt hear the wives of Croghan clap their hands
above thy chains.
" Yea, if life enough but linger, that the leech may make thee
whole,
Meet to satiate the anger that beseems a warrior's soul,
Best of leech-craft I'll purvey thee ; make thee whole as healing
can;
And in single combat slay thee, Connaught man to Ulster
man."
Binding him in five-fold fetter, wrists and ankles, wrists and
neck,
To his car's uneasy litter, Bealcu upheaved the wreck
Of the broken man and harness ; but he started with amaze
When he felt the northern war-mace, what a weight it was
to raise.
Westward then through Breiffney's borders, with his 'captive
and his dead,
Tracked by bands of fierce applauders, wives and shrieking
widows sped ;
30 The Irish before the Conquest. - [CH. n.
And the chained heroic carcass on the fair green of Moy
Slaght
Casting down, proclaimed his purpose, and bade Lee, the leech,
be brought.
Lee, the gentle-faced physician, from his herb-plot came and
said:
" Healing is with God's permission ; health for life's enjoy-
ment made ;
And though I mine aid refuse not, yet, to speak my purpose
plain,
I the healing art abuse not, making life enure to pain.
" But assure me, with the sanction of the mightiest oath ye
know,
That in case, in this contention, Conall overcome his foe,
Straight departing from the tourney by what path the chief
shall choose,
He is free to take his journey, unmolested, to the Fews.
" Swear me further, while at healing in my charge the hero lies,
None shall through my fences stealing, work him mischief or
surprise ;
And if God the undertaking but approve, in six months' span
Once again my art shall make him meet to stand before a man."
Crom their God they then attested, Sun and Wind for
guarantees,
Conall Carnach unmolested by what exit he might please,
If the victor, should have freedom to depart Connacia's
bounds ;
Meantime, no man should intrude him, entering on the
hospice grounds.
Then the burthen huge receiving, in his hospice-portal, Lee,
Stiffened limb by limb relieving with the iron fetter-key,
As a crumpled scroll unrolled him, groaning deep, till laid at
length,
Wondering gazers might behold him, what a tower he was of
strength.
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 81
Spake the sons to one another, day by day, of Bealcu
'" Get thee up and spy, my brother, what the leech and North-
man do."
" Lee at mixing of a potion : Conall, yet in nowise dead,
As on reef of rock the ocean, tosses wildly on his bed."
" Spv asain with cautious peeping : what of Lee and Conall
now?"
" Conall lies profoundly sleeping : Lee beside with placid brow."
" And to-day ?" " To-day he's risen ; pallid as his swathing
sheet,
He has left his chamber's prison, and is walking on his feet."
" And to-day ?" " A ghastly figure, propped upon his spear
he goes."
" And to-day ?" " A languid vigour through his larger ges-
ture shows."
" And to-day ?" " The blood renewing mantles all his clear
cheek through :
Would thy vow had room for rueing, rashly- valiant Bealcu !"
So with herb and healing balsam, ere the second month was
past,
Life's increases, smooth and wholesome, circling through his
members vast, *
As you've seen a sere oak burgeon under summer showers
and dew,
Conall, under his chirurgeon, filled and flourished, spread and
grew.
" I can bear the sight no longer : I have watched him moon
by moon ;
Day by day the chief grows stronger, giant-strong he will be
soon.
Oh my sire, rash- valiant warrior ! but that oaths have built
the wall,
Soon these feet should leap the barrier, soon this hand thy
fate forestall."
G
82 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
" Brother, have the wish thou'st uttered : we have sworn, so
let it be ;
But although our feet be fettered, all the air is left us free.
Dying Keth with vengeful presage did bequeath thee sling
and ball,
And the sling may send its message where thy vagrant glances
fall.
' " Forbaid was a master-slinger ; Maev, when in her bath she
sank,
Felt the presence of his finger from the further Shannon
bank ;
For he threw by line and measure, practising a constant cast
Daily in secluded leisure, till he reached the mark at last.
" Keth achieved a warrior's honour, though 'twas mid a
woman's band,
When he smote the amorous Conor bowing from his distant
stand.
Fit occasion will not fail ye : in the leech's lawn below,
Conall at the fountain daily drinks within an easy throw."
" Wherefore cast ye at the apple, sons of mine, with measured
aim ?"
" He who in the close would grapple, first the distant foe
should maim ;
And since Keth, his death-balls casting, rides no more the
ridge of war,
We, against our summer hosting, train us for his vacant car."
" Wherefore to the rock repairing, gaze ye forth, my children,
tell ?"
" 'Tis a stag we watch for snaring, that frequents the leech's
well."
" I will see this stag, though, truly, small may be my eyes'
delight."
And he climbed the rock where fully lay the lawn exposed to
sight.
en. ii.] Ihe Heroic Period. 83
Conall to the green well-margin came at dawn and knelt to
drink,
Thinking how a noble virgin by a like green fountain's brink,
Heard his own pure vows one morning, far away and long
ago;
'All his heart to home was turning, and his tears began to
flow.
Clean forgetful of his prison, steep Dimseverick's windy tower,
Seemed to rise in present vision, and his own dear lady's
bo wer.
Round the sheltering knees they gather, little ones of tender
years,
Tell us, mother, of our father and she answers but with
tears.
Twice the big drops plashed the fountain. Then he rose, and
turning round,
As across a breast of mountain sweeps a whirlwind, o'er the
ground
Raced in athlete feats amazing, swung the war-mace, hurled
the spear :
Bea'lcu, in wonder gazing, felt the parigs of deadly fear.
Had it been a fabled griffin, suppled in a fasting den,
Flashed its wheeling coils to Heaven o'er a wreck of teasts
and men,
Hardly had the dreadful prospect bred his soul more dire
alarms ;
Such the fire of Conall's aspect, such the stridor of his arms.
" This is fear," he said, " that n^ver shook these limbs of
mine till now.
Now I idly mourn that ever I indulged the boastful vow.
Yet 'twas righteous wrath impelled me ; and a sense of manly
shame
From his naked throat withheld me, when 'twas offered to
84 The Irish before the Conquest. [cu. n-
- " Now I see his strength excelling : whence he buys it : what
he pays.
Tis a God who has his dwelling in the fount, to whom he-
prays.
Thither comes he weeping, drooping, till the well-God hears
his prayer,
Thence departs he, soaring, swooping, as an eagle through
the air.
" Oh thou God, by whatsoever sounds of awe thy name we
know,
Grant thy servant equal favour with the stranger and
the foe !
Equal grace, 'tis all I covet ; and if sacrificial blood
Win thy favour, thou shalt have it on thy very well-brink.
God!
" What and though I've given pledges not to cross the leech's
court ?
Not to pass his sheltering hedges, meant I, to his patient's
hurt.
Thy dishonour meant I never : never meant I to forswear
Right divine of prayer wherever Power divine invites to
prayer.
" Sun that warm'st me, Wind that fann'st me, ye that
guarantee the oath,
Make no sign of wrath against me: tenderly ye touch me
both ;
Yea then, through his fences stealing ere to-morrow's sun
shall rise,
Y7ell-Grod! on thy margin kneeling I will offer sacrifice."
*' Brother, rise, the skies are ruddy : if we yet would save
our sire,
ivests a deed courageous, bloody, Avondering ages shall
admire :
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 85
Hie thee to the spy-rock's summit : ready there thou'lt find
the sling.
Ready there the leaden plummet ; and at dawn he seeks the
spring."
, Ruddy dawn had changed to amber : radiant as the yellow
day
Conall, issuing from his chamber, to the fountain took his
way :
There, athwart the welling water, like a fallen pillar, spread,
Smitten by the bolt of slaughter, lay Connacia's champion,
dead.
Call the hosts ! convene the judges ! cite the dead man's chil-
dren both !
Said the judges, " He gave pledges ; Sun and Wind ; and
broke the oath,
And they slew him : so we've written : let his sons attend
our words."
" Both, by sudden frenzy smitten, fell at sunrise on their
swords."
Then the judges " Ye who punish man's prevaricating vow,
Needs not further to admonish : contrite to your will we bow,
All our points of promise keeping : safely let the chief go
forth."
Conall to his chariot leaping, turned his coursers to the
North :
In the Sun that swept the valleys, in the Winds' encircling
flight,
Recognizing holy allies, guardians of the Truth and Right ;
While, before his face, resplendant with a firm faith's candid
ray,
Dazzled troops of foes attendant, bowed before him on his way. ,
But the calm physician, viewing where the white neck joined
the car,
Said, " It is a slinger's doing : Sun nor Wind was actor here.
86 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. n.
Yet till God vouchsafe more certain knowledge of his sovereign
will,
Better deem the mystic curtain hides their wonted demon's
still.
<{ Better so, perchance, than living in a clearer light, like me,
But believing where perceiving, bound in what I hear and
see;
Force and change in constant sequence, changing atoms,
changeless laws ;
Only in submissive patience, waiting accessHo the Cause.
" And, they say, Centurion Altus, when he to Emania came
And to Rome's subjection called us, urging Caesar's tribute
claim,
Told that half the world barbarian thrills already with the
faith
Taught them by the godlike Syrian Caesar lately put to death.
<c And the sun, through starry stages measuring from the Earn
and Bull,
Tells us of renewing ages, and that Nature's time is full :
So, perchance, these silly breezes even now may swell the
sail
Brings the leavening word of Jesus westward also to the
Gael."*
Conall died in exile. He had received a hospitable
welcome at the court of Cruachan, but had slain Ailill
by a cast of his spear, at the instigation of Maev, who
was jealous of her husband. Conall fled, but was pur-
sued and killed by the " Three Red-Heads," who were in
the service of the king. Fergus MacEoy had previously
fallen a victim to the not unmerited suspicions of Ailill,
as tradition tells that Maev had borne to the aged
hero three sons at a birth, from one of whom (Ciar) the
* S. FERGUSON.
CH. ii.] The Heroic Period. 87
county of Kerry derives its name. The occasion on
which this access of jealous hate occurred was when
Fergus was swimming in Loch Ein, in Eoscommon, a
lake not far from the royal residence at Eath Cruachan.
Maev was seized with a fancy to contend with him in
swimming, which so enraged Ailill that he commanded
one of his kinsmen to cast his javelin at Fergus. Maev
also met her death in the water, though not on this
occasion. She had removed during her widowhood to
the island of Inis-Clothran, in Loch llee. Here she
continued her natatory habits. Forbaid, son of Conor,
learned that it was her custom to bathe daily at a
spring on the coast of the island. He had the dis-
tance measured between this spot and the opposite
shore of Loch Eee. Eeturning to Ulster, he set up as a
mark at the ascertained distance, an apple on a stake, and
practised daily, till he could truly and certainly hit it
from a sling. Thus, habituated to cast unerringly at that
exact distance, he repaired to the eastern shore of Loch
Eee, watched his opportunity, and aimed a stone from
his sling, which struck Maev on the forehead ; and so
died this Amazonian queen, having survived all her
contemporaries, and reigned over Connaught for a
period, it is said, of eighty years.
88 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. m.
CHAPTER III.
THE ATACOTTIC PERIOD.
WE pass from the age of the heroes who surrounded
the thrones of Conor MacNessa and of Ailill and Maev
of Cruachan, to a period less prolific in chivalrous deeds.
The great revolt of the " Un-free " tribes, or plebeians,
mainly descendants of the conquered Firbolgs, and
sundry dissatisfied branches of the Milesian stock,
against the Saer Gael, or free tribes of the Gael, is
known in our history as the Revolt of the Atacotti. But
between the age of Conor and the civil war of which
we are about to speak, two remarkable names, at which
we would pause, occur on our list of kings. Conari
Mor, ancestor of the Ernaian tribes of Munster, ruled
Erin with impartiality and vigour. He banished from
his court all those whose disorders impeded justice,
not sparing his own foster-brothers, the four sons of
Donn Desa, a great Leinster chief. The outlaws took
to piracy on the seas between Britain and Ireland, and
having landed at Malahide while Conari was in
Munster, marched on Tara, devastating the surround-
ing country. On his return from the south, Conari
found the plain of Meath wrapped in flames. He
turned his chariot towards Dublin, and passing through
CH. in.] The Atacottic Period. 89
Lusk, crossed the Liffey, and repaired to Tallaght,
where lay the mansion of the great Brughaidh, or
Hospitaller, Da Derga.
The court of Da Derga, one of the six houses of
universal hospitality which then existed in Ireland, was
situated on the banks of the Eiver Dodder. Here the
monarch was welcomed and sheltered by his friend, Da
Derga. But the hospitable house was attacked by the
pirates, and, after an unavailing resistance, sacked and
plundered. Conari Mor and his small retinue were put
to the sword. The site where the court of Da Derga
stood is indicated in the name yet retained, Boherna-
breena Bothar-na-Bruigne or the Eoad of the Court,
in the county of Dublin.
The second king on whose career we would pause was
Criffan Niad-Nair. The " delightful adventures "
which befell him while on a foreign expedition, are
recounted in a poem ascribed to King Criffan himself.
He was brought by a " fairy " lady into her palace.
She bestowed on him a gilt chariot, a golden chess-
board, inlaid with transparent gems, a cloak of divers
colours embroidered in gold, a sword ornamented with
serpents, a shield embossed with silver, and various
other treasures which Criffan brought home with him
to his fort of Dun Criffan, on the Hill of Howth. The
dun was probably situated on that promontory of the
peninsula where the Bailey lighthouse now stands.
He also brought with him the fairy, Nair, whom he
made his queen. He only lived for a few weeks
after his return from his " fortunate " expedition,
having been killed by a fall from his horse. In the
90 The Irish he/ore the Conquest. [CH. m.
eighth year of this monarch's reign, according to the
Annals of the Four Masters, or the twelfth, according
to Keating, was born, in Judea, Our Saviour, Jesus
Christ.
About the middle of the first century of the Christian
era, the Patrician tribes of the Saer-Gael, becoming
more and more oppressive in their exactions, disgusted
the poorer Milesians, as well as the plebeian remnants
of the conquered races. The latter banded together,
and planned in such profound secrecy an uprising
against the dominant race, that no suspicion of their
designs was entertained, though their plans were
three years in preparation. These Aitheach Tuatha,
or Atacotti, invited the monarch, the provincial kings,
and great chiefs of the nation to a feast at a place in
Connaught, since called Magh Cru, or the Bloody
Plain. For three years they had stored up of their
produce, the materials for this lavish entertainment.
When the guests were enjoying the banquet and the
delicious music of the harp, the plot was consummated by
the entrance of armed men, who massacred them with-
out remorse or pity. Tradition states that three ladies
only escaped, wives of the provincial kings, Baini,
daughter of the King of Alba (Scotland), Cruifi,
daughter of the King of Wales, and Aini, daughter of
the King of Britain. These queens sought refuge at
their fathers' courts, and became the mothers of Fere-
dach, Corb Olum, and Tibradi Tirech; and thus the
Massacre of the Atacotti failed in its object, and repre-
sentatives of the slaughtered kings were born to inherit
the rights of their fathers. Meantime, the plebeians
CH. in.] The Atacottic Period. 91
had elected Carbri Kin-Gait, or the Cat-headed, to be
their monarch.
" Evil was the state of Ireland during his reign;
fruitless her corn, for there used to be but one grain
on the stalk : fruitless her rivers : milkless her cattle :
plentiless her fruit, for there used to be but one acorn
on the oak."
Carbri, who was an exiled son of the king of Loch-
lain (Scandinavia), reigned for five years. On his
death the throne was offered to his son, Morann, who
was noted for his wisdom and learning. Morann
declined the crown, and advised that the three legiti-
mate heirs should be recalled from exile. Then
followed a Restoration : Feredach was installed Ard
Eigh, at Tara of the kings. His descendant in the
fourth degree was the celebrated Con of the Hundred
Battles. Corb Olum was the ancestor, also in the
fourth degree, of Ollioll Olum, the great King of
Munster, while Tibradi Tirech reigned over Ulster.
Morann, who thus disinterestedly resigned all claim to
the throne, acted as chief Brehon, or judge, and, by his
wise decisions, won for Feredach the title of the "Just."
He is feigned to have had a chain which, when placed
round the neck of a guilty person, suffocated him,
while it expanded when placed on an innocent man.
The " Collar of Morann " is often alluded to in Irish
song and fiction.
Civil contentions were not ended, for a second revolt
of the Atacotti took place in this century. The
reigning monarch was killed at the instigation of the
plebeians, by the provincial kings at the slaughter
J)2 Tlie Irish before the Conquest. [CH. m.
of Magh Bolg, now Moybologue, in Cavan. Among
the names of these provincial kings we recognize a
son of Keth MacMagach, Sanb, King of Connaught.
The slaughtered monarch, Fiacha, had a posthumous
son, born in Scotland, who afterwards played an im-
portant part in our history as Tuathal Techtmar, or
the Acceptable."
Tuathal was twenty-five years old when he also was re-
called from exile in Alba. He defeated the "Unfree
tribes " in twenty-five battles, and convened the general
assembly, or Feis, of Tara. The nobles of the Gael
flocked to Tara, and there swore, according to the oath
exacted in former days by Ugaine Mor, that the sove-
reignty of Ireland should belong to him. and to his
posterity for ever. To this king is ascribed the erection
of Heath into a territory, to be the peculiar posses-
sion of the reigning monarch. Tlacta, Uisnech, Talti,
and Temhair, or Tara, were the capital places of the
kingdom of Meath. The first-named place was the
seat of their worship ; at the second a great annual fair
was held; at Talti a fair was held, where marriage
alliances were contracted ; while at Tara, law, history,
and genealogies were preserved. The " Psalter of Tara "
is alleged to have been an historic register kept there
even at this early period.
Eochy, King of Leinster, had married Darinni,
daughter of Tuathal Techtmar ; but on a subsequent
visit to Tara he applied for the hand of her sister, Fithir,
stating that Darinni, whom he kept concealed and
imprisoned, was dead. His suit was granted. When
he returned to Leinster with his bride, Fithir discovered
CH. in.] The Atacottic Period. 93
that her sister was yet living, and died of shame, while
the deserted first wife of the faithless Eochy died of
grief. Tuathal marched on Leinster to avenge the
wrongs of his daughters and the perfidy of Eochy. The
Lagenians, unable to cope with the forces of the Ard
Eigh, submitted to a heavy fine, which was exacted
every second year, and was called the Boromean
Tribute, probably from Bo, a cow, as the tribute was
paid by the Leinstermen in kine.
The Boromean Tribute became a fruitful source of
conflict, the Lagenians resisting its levy whenever they
found themselves strong enough to contend with any
chance of success, and submitting only when they were
powerless to resist.
The tribute was abandoned about the year 680, in
the reign of Finnachta the Festive, at the instigation
of St. Moling, but was reimposed in the eleventh
century by the great Brian, as a punishment for the aid
afforded to the Danes by the Leinstermen. Brian was
probably thence called Boru, a name of glory and pre-
eminence in the Irish annals.
Tuathal Techtmar fell in battle, after a prosperous
reign of thirty years. He was slain and succeeded by
Mai, a descendant of Conall Carnach. The sovereignty
of Ireland remained in this prince of the Irian line for
four years only, when the race of Eremon reasserted its
supremacy in the person of Felemy Eectmar, son of
Tuathal ; and, in the person of his son, Con of the
Hundred Battles, attained a permanent pre-eminence.
Before we enter on the important reigns of Con of
his son, Art and his grandson, Cormac we shall speak
94 The Irish before the Conquest [CH. m.
of the settlements effected by his brothers and their
offspring :
Felemy Eectmar left three sons. Con succeeded
him as Ard Righ, or supreme monarch. Eochy Finn
settled in Leinster, and received in fosterage Laeisech,
a great-grandson of Conall Carnach, whom he educated.
This young prince inherited the martial ardour of his
great ancestor, and ably commanded the united armies
of his foster-father and Cu Corb, the Leinster king, in
a campaign against the Munsterrnen, who were expelled
from the territory of Leinster. The grateful king
bestowed on his allies some of the repossessed districts :
Eochy Finn got a grant of the Seven Fotharts of
Leinster, to him and his posterity for ever. The
families of O'Nolan, and O'Lorcain, now Larkin^ are
his representatives. Laeisech received, as his guerdon,
that part of the Queen's County which was named,
from him, the territory of Leix. The chieftain sept
thus established took at a later period the name of
O'More, from Mordha " the Majestic," the twenty-
eighth in descent from Conall Carnach. Many other
privileges were bestowed by Cu Corb, in reward for
the important services rendered him by Laeisech.
He covenanted, for himself and his successors, that of
every ox or swine slaughtered by the monarch of
Leinster for his own use, the back and the ham should
be given as " curadh-mir," or champion's portion, to
the chieftain of Leix, who was also entitled to be one
of the privy council of the king, and distributor of his
gifts and presents. He had the privilege of leading
the van of the Leinster army when entering an enemy's
CH. in.] The Atacottic Period. 95
country, and to hold in battle the " bearna baeghail," *
or gap of danger. The chieftain of Leix paid no tribute,
with the exception of seven oxen, to be sent to the
hunting-booth of the sovereign ; but he covenanted to
maintain at his own cost forty warriors, always ready
for the service of the King of Leinster, who on his
part kept in his pay, and in constant attendance on his
person, seven followers of the chieftain of Leix.
The third son of Felemy Rectmar, Fiachna Sraftine,
was settled in the Desi of Tara, now the Barony
of Deece, in the county of Meath. His sons were
exiled in consequence of one of them, -ZEngus, having
killed his kinsman, Kellach, son of King Cormac,
by a cast of a spear, in the presence of the monarch
himself, whose eye was also transfixed by the weapon
of the angry JSngus, hence called " Dreadspear."
JEngus's safe-conduct had been violated by Kellach, on
whom he thus avenged his wrongs. Cormac MacArt
banished this family from Meath. The Desi settled in
Waterford, where their name is perpetuated to our
own day.
Having thus glanced at the settlement of the southern
Desi, we return to the eldest son of Felemy Rectmar,
Con of the Hundred Battles, who commenced his reign
A.D. 123. This monarch found a formidable antagonist
in Moh Nuad, or Owen Mor, an able prince of the
line of Eber. The great Owen had passed much of
his youth in exile. While in Spain he is said to
have married Momera, a princess of that nation, and
to have received, in the wars he had to wage for his
* Pronounced Barna Bayal.
96 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. m-
patrimony, valuable assistance from his continental
allies. He defeated Con in several pitched battles, and
forced him to yield the southern half of the island. The
Esker Eiada, a chain of low hills extending from Dublin
to Galway, was the division between the northern
Lea Con (Con's half) and the southern Lea Moha,
or Moh Nuad's half. With the single exception of his
successor, the posterity of Owen Mor ruled Munster
uninterruptedly for a thousand years, while Con's
descendants, the great families of O'Neill and O'Donnell,
held sway in most parts of Ulster up to the " Planta-
tion" of this province in the reign of James I. of
England and VI. of Scotland. Owen Mor had other
and more valuable qualities than those of military
genius. His prudence saved his subjects from suffering
during a famine, the account of which, however, seems
to be framed on the Biblical model ; and, like many
other portions of these traditionary tales, may be
referred to a comparatively modern origin. It is said
to have lasted for seven years, and to have been foretold
by a Druid. Owen, upon hearing of the prophesied
scarcity, made use of his fish and flesh-meat, while he
stored up his corn, and also bought up, to the extent
of his revenue, grain, which he preserved in his granaries.
Like Joseph also, he received the submission of those
who, in the years of scarcity, repaired to him for food. His
son, the celebrated Ollioll Olum, inherited much of his
father's genius. Owen the Great perished in the battle
of Moy Lena, or, according to some accounts, he was
treacherously slain in his bed on the eve of that engage-
ment, in which Con of the Hundred Battles was victorious.
CH. ra.] The Atacottic Period. 97
Con's forces were inferior in numbers to those of his
rival, Owen having a large Spanish contingent, under
the command, as it is said, of an Iberian prince. The
northern monarch determined .on a night attack, to
which all his chiefs agreed, with the exception of Goll
MacMorna,the Firbolg chief of the militia of Connaught.
" On the day that my arms were put into my hands,"
said the gallant Goll, " I swore never to attack an
enemy at night, by surprise, or at any disadvantage.
To this day I have adhered to my promise, and will not
break it now." The attack was commenced without
him, but, notwithstanding the advantage of the surprise,
the troops of Moh Nuad fought so well that Con was
well nigh discomfited. The morning dawned, and
Goll, no longer bound by his vow to stand aloof, attacked
the forces of Lea Moha, and Owen and his Spanish
ally fell under his avenging sword. The soldiers of
Goll raised the body of Owen on their shields, and
exposed it in triumph to the armies. The noble Goll
interposed : " Lay down the body of the King of
Munster," he said, "for he died the death of a hero."
The long and prosperous reign of Con was termi-
nated at last by treachery. Tibradi Tirech assassinated
him while the old king, who had entered his hundredth
year, was preparing to hold the Feis of Tara.
Conari the Second, son-in-law to Con, whose
daughter Sara he had married, succeeded him. This
prince was father of the three Carbris ; Carbri Muse,
from whom are descended the tribes of Muskerry;
Carbri Baiscin, the progenitor of noble families in
Clare; and Carbri Biada, giving name to the Dal
H
98 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. in
Riadic tribes of the north of Antrim, whose colonies in
Scotland are mentioned by the Venerable Bede. The
settlement first acquired by the Irish Gael or Scoti
among the Picts of Nor,th Britain, received the name of
Airer-Gaedhil, the district of the Gael, since corrupted
into Argyle, for this western part of Scotland was the
seat of the Dalriad colony. The blood of this grand-
son of Con of the Hundred Battles flows in the veins
of her gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria.
Soive, another daughter of Con of the Hundred
Battles, was twice married. By her first husband she
had a son, MacCon, and by the renowned Ollioll Olum,
her second husband, she was the mother of three
sons, progenitors of great Munster families, who have
contributed illustrious names to Irish history, and are
not without distinguished representatives even at the
present day. Owen was the ancestor of the Eugenian
line, to which belong the MacCarthys, the O'Sullivans,
O'Keeffes, and O'Callaghans, with their kindred
branches. Cormac Cas, the second son of Ollioll
Olum and Soive, had for his wife a daughter of the
celebrated poet, Oisin or Ossian, son of Finn MacCumhal.
From Cormac Cas is descended the great Dalcassian
race represented by the O'Briens, MacNamaras,
O'Gradys, O'Quinns, and other eminent native families
of Clare and Munster.
The representatives of Cian, third son of Ollioll Olum,
include, amongst others, the O'Carrolls, O'Meaghers,
O'Haras, and O'Garas. Of the latter family sprang the
illustrious patron of the O'Clerys, whose compilation,
known as the " Annals of the Four Masters," is dedicated
CH. HI.] The Atacottic Period. 99
to Fearghal O'Gara, chief of Cuil O'Finn or Coolavin,
in Sligo. " For every good that will result from this
book," wrote Michael O'Clery, in his dedication, "in
giving light to all in general, it is to you, noble Fearghal
O'Gara, that thanks should be given ; and there should
exist no wonder or surprise, jealousy or envy at [any]
good that you do; for you are of the race of Eber
MacMileadh, from whom descended thirty of the kings
of Ireland and sixty-one saints : and to Tadgh, son of
Kian, son of Ollioll Olum, from whom eighteen of these
saints are sprung, you can be traced generation by
generation."
100 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. rv.
CHAPTER IV.
THE OSSIANIO PERIOD.
ART THE SOLITARY succeeded his brother-in-law Conari
as Ard Righ, A. D. 166. He obtained his name, Aeinfer,
or the Solitary, being the only surviving son of
Con of the Hundred Battles, his brothers having
been assassinated by their kinsman, Eochy Finn. His
wife was Maev, and from her is named Eath-Maev,
near Tara. By a left-handed marriage with a beautiful
girl named Eatach, the daughter of a smith, he became
the father of Cormac MacArt, one of the most illus-
trious of our early kings. The future fortunes of
Cormac were foreshadowed, according to the story, by
a remarkable dream which his mother had previous to
his birth. She dreamed that her head was severed
from her body, and that from her neck grew a goodly
tree, which overshadowed the land of Erin. This tree
was prostrated by a sea which overwhelmed it, but
again from its roots sprang another stately tree, which
was in its turn laid prostrate by a whirlwind from the
west.
This vision was supposed to be fulfilled by the loss
of her liead, her husband, King Art, who shortly after
perished in the battle of Moy Mucrive. The stately tree
CH. iv.] The Ossianic Period. 101
which overshadowed Erin symbolized her distinguished
son, Cormac. The destroying sea, that fish-bone by
which this king was choked. The tree which sprang
from its roots, Cormac's illustrious son, Carbri Linear,
who again^ perished by the whirlwind which shadowed
forth his fate when contending with the Fianna Eirinn,
or revolted Militia, at the momentous battle of Gavra.
The battle of Moy Mucrive, in which Art perished,
was occasioned by the ambition of MacCon, son of
Soive, daughter of Con of the Hundred Battles, by
her first husband. He was consequently step-son to
Ollioll Olum, then King of Munster. This southern
kingdom was ruled alternately by representatives of
the races of Eber and Ith. When the former gave a
king to Munster at that time in the person of Ollioll
Olum the tribe of Ith, from whom MacCon was
descended, gave the Brehon and Tanist, or heir appa-
rent. Put this position did not satisfy the ambition of
MacCon. He was obliged, however, to fly from home
the time being unpropitious for his schemes and he
was accompanied by Lugaid Laga, brother of Ollioll,
who was displeased at the friendship which existed
between that monarch and Art the Solitary ; for Art's
father, Con, had caused the death of their father, Moh
Nuad, or Owen the Great. These exiles, aided by foreign
allies, returned to Ireland, and in the pitched battle of
Moy Mucrive, gained a signal victory. Art Aeinfer
himself fell by the hand of Lugaid Laga, and seven of the
sons of Ollioll Olum fell beneath the swords of their
half-brother's auxiliary troops.
MacCon, " son of the wolf-hound," for so his name
102 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. iv.
ignifies, as he was reported to have been suckled by
that animal, now ascended the throne. He made him-
self beloved by poets and men of learning, to whom
he distributed lavish gifts ; and met his death at a
place in Tipperary, whose name, Gort-an-oir the
field of gold records his munificence. He was trans-
fixed by the javelin of Fercheas, as he was leaning
against a pillar stone, engaged in his contributions to
the poets and Ollaves. This treachery was instigated
by Cormac Mac Art, but he did not at the time reap
any reward from the base act, as Fergus, a relative
of the murdered prince, surnamed " of the black
teeth," seized the crown, and, with his two brothers,
also called Fergus, caused the disqualification of
Cormac, for the time, by depriving him of his hair. The
Ferguses applied a lighted torch to the long tresses of
Cormac at a feast ; and no one having a personal blemish
could reign at Tara.
This injury was not irreparable. In due time the
locks of Cormac grew, and he sought to revenge him-
self on the three Ferguses. There is something very
characteristic in the story told of the way in which he
accomplished his object. He desired to secure the
services of the greatest champion of the day, Lugaid
Laga. This was that son of Owen the Great who had
embraced the cause of MacCon, and had slain the
father of Cormac, King Art, with his own hand, in the
battle of Moy Mucrive. Cormac sought him out,
and found Lugaid reposing in his hunting booth. He
pricked him with his spear. " Who wounds me ?"
cried the warrior. "It is I, Cormac Mac Art," re-
CH. iv.] The Ossianic Period. 103
plied the king. " Thou hast good cause for wounding
me, for it was this hand that killed thy father, Art
Aeinfer," rejoined Lugaid. " Award me an eric for
that deed," said Cormac. According to Brehon law,
if the family of a murdered man elected to accept a
fine for the blood-shedding, in lieu of claiming the
life of the murderer, they were at liberty to make the
election ; and, under some circumstances not explained,
the law applied to Lugaid. " I claim a king's head on
the battle field," said Cormac ; " the head of my enemy,
Fergus of the Black Teeth, who opposes my accession
to the throne of Ireland."
Lugaid Laga was compelled, by the custom of the
times, to comply with this demand of his enemy, Cormac.
A battle ensued, but Cormac took no part in the en-
gagement. With a few attendants he watched the
conflict from a hill overlooking the field of combat,
and while there, exchanged his royal robes with an
attendant, whose garments he assumed. His doughty
champion, Lugaid, forced to pay his eric, sought out
Fergus in the battle, conquered him, and returned to
Cormac or rather the disguised attendant who wore
his robes with the bloody trophy. " Is this the head
of Fergus of the Black Teeth," he exclaimed, casting
down the bleeding head. " Nay, this is but his
brother," said the attendant, falsely. Lugaid again
rushed into the battle, sought out and killed a second
Fergus, and brought his head also on his spear to the
king. " This is not the head of the King of Uladh,"
replied the disguised attendant. Lugaid again sought
the field, and bearing away the head of the surviving
104 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. TV.
Fergus, dashed it with such force against the breast of
the supposed Cormac, that his representative was killed
fyy the blow. By this stratagem Cormac disposed of
his formidable foes, and the Battle of Crinna as this
fight was called paved the way to his accession to the
sovereignty of all Ireland.
Notwithstanding these blemishes on the early career
of Cormac MacArt, his reign is one of the most
glorious recorded in the Irish annals. He maintained a
princely retinue, and kept kingly state in Tara. He
has the reputation also of having been a distinguished
author. Many institutes ascribed to him are to be
found in the books of the Brehon laws. He is there
treated as the author of the Tegasg High, or book of
precepts for kings, alleged to have been afterwards
transcribed by his son, Carbri Linear. In the great
Hall of Tara, erected by him, and of which the founda-
tions and fourteen doorways may still be traced, one
hundred and fifty warriors stood in his presence when
he sat down to the banquet. One hundred and fifty
cup-bearers were in attendance with one hundred and
fifty jewelled cups of silver and gold ; and yet, with all
this taste for magnificence, Cormac, in the choice of a
wife, consulted only the dictates of his heart. His
wooing of the fair damsel Ethni is highly romantic.
Cormac was ranging unattended through an oak wood
in the vicinity of Cennanus, or Kells. To this spot
had retired Buiked, a Leinster exile, with his wife and
foster-child, Ethni. They lived in the closest retire-
ment, for Buiked had impoverished himself, in his
Leinster home, by his open-handed and unbounded
CH. iv.] The Ossianic Period. 105
generosity. The " cauldron of hospitality " was con-
stantly on the fire, and all who entered his house were
made welcome. At last he found all his flocks and
herds exhausted; seven cows and a bull represent-
ing his remaining wealth. With this slender provi-
sion he retired to the oak wood at Kells, and here
Ethni tended her foster-parents, performing for them
all servile offices which were needed, with cheerful
alacrity. She was engaged in milking the seven cows,
when Cormac approached, unperceived, through the
wood. The king paused to contemplate the maiden.
She had brought with her two pails, into one of which
she milked the first half-draught from the cows, and
then, taking the second pail, she completed her task.
With these she returned to the hut of her foster-parents,
but speedily reappeared with two other pails and a
horn. She then directed her steps to a stream which ran
through the wood, and, with the horn, she filled both
pails one from the water which ran near the bank,
the other from the middle of the streamlet. These she
conveyed to the hut, and again appeared with a sickle
in her hand. She next proceeded to cut green rushes,
placing those that were long on one side. While thus
employed, and
" Duteous, in the lowly vale,
Unconscious of the monarch's gaze,
She filled the fragrant pail ;
And, duteous from the running brook,
Drew water for the bath ; nor deem'd
A king did on her labour look,
And she a fairy seem'd "
106 The Irish "before the Conquest. [CH. rv.
love and admiration and wonder filled the breast of
Cormac. He approached her, and asked of her for
whom she had made that selection of milk, and water,
and rushes. " The person for whom I have made it,"
she replied, " has a right to still greater kindness from
me, if it were in my power to render it."
" Of what name is he ?" said Cormac.
" Buiked Brugh," she answered.
" Is not that the Leinsterman who was so famed
throughout Ireland for his hospitality ?"
" It is," replied the maid.
" Then art thou his foster-child Ethni, daughter of
Dunlaing ?" said the king.
" I am," replied Ethni.
" In a good hour," rejoined the king ; " for you shall
be my married wife."
" The disposal of me does not rest with myself, but
with my foster-father," said the dutiful girl.
Cormac sought the hut of the impoverished Buiked,
won his consent to his marriage with Ethni, and
bestowed on his foster-father lands and gifts.
King Cormac had ten daughters. Two of them,
Grania and Ailbe, played a memorable part in Irish
story. Grania, "the golden-haired, the fleet and
young," was affianced by her father to Finn, son of
Cumhal, the great chief of the Fianna Eirinn, or Irish
militia, the Finn MacCool of Irish, and Fingal of
Scottish tradition. This military order, the Clanna
Baisgne as they were sometimes called, was instituted
for the defence of the kingdom against foreign foes.
For the winter months this standing army was quartered
CH. iv.] The Ossianie Period. 107
upon the people of Ireland. During the summer, they
lived by hunting and the chase, performing at all times
the duties demanded of them by the sovereign, putting
down public enemies, upholding justice, and preventing
robberies. It was no slight honour to be admitted into
this order of chivalry. Every candidate had to give
proof, not only of his military skill and personal activity,
but also of intellectual gifts. He should be a bard, and
have mastered the twelve Books of Poesy; and four
Gesa, or sacred injunctions, were laid upon each person
admitted into the Fianna.
The first injunction was, never to receive a portion
with a wife ; but to choose her for good manners and
virtue. The second, never to offer violence to a
woman. The third, never to give a refusal to any
mortal, for anything of which one was possessed. The
fourth was, that no single warrior of the Fianna should
flee before nine champions.
In addition to these vows of chivalry common to
all the members of the order, each warrior might
assume some particular geis, or obligation, by which he
would be individually bound. Their great commander,
Finn, in addition to his warlike accomplishments, is
said to have possessed the gifts of Healing, Poetry, and
Second-sight, which he won by his daring, from a fairy
lady, into whose palace he had well nigh entered, one
hand having passed her portals before she could close
them against the intruder. Finn, a hero, but no longer
a young man, when he was selected by King Cormac for
his son-in-law, failed to find favour in the eyes of the
beautiful Grania. His lieutenant, the "dark-haired
108 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. iv.
Dermid, of bright face and white teeth," reputedly the
handsomest man of his age, and bound by his peculiar
obligation to the service of distressed damsels, attracted
the attention of Grania, who, at the marriage-feast at
which she was to be united to Finn, cast herself on his
protection, or, in the language of the romance, laid his
"gesa" on Dermid, who was thus compelled, very
reluctantly, to elope with her. Grania gained the op-
portunity for her interview with Dermid, by drugging
the wine, with which, in compliance with the customs of
the time, the lady filled her richest drinking-cup. This
was sent by her to such guests as she desired to pledge.
From this honour she excluded Dermid, and when her
drugs had taken effect, she appealed to his gallantry
and manliness, to save her from the hated bridal by
making her his wife.
When Cormac and Finn awoke from their heavy
sleep and found that Dermid and Grania had fled, they
pursued them all over Erin. The lovers, aided by the
sympathy of friends, and their own good fortune,
avoided, by many hair-breadth escapes, a capture. Igno-
rant tradition has named from them, those ancient
monuments which abound in our country, and are
popularly called Cromlechs, or Druids' altars ; and, as
the supposed resting-places of the fugitive lovers are
called Ledba Diarmada agus Ghrainne, the Beds of
Dermid and Grania. '
King Cormac, thus thwarted in his desire to honour
Finn, consoled him by bestowing on him the hand of
his daughter Ailbe. Dermid, after many varying
fortunes and picturesque adventures, meets his death on
CH. iv.] The Ossianie Period. 109
the summit of the majestic mountain of Benbulben, in
the county of Sligo, from the tusks of a wild boar.
Finn arriving on the scene just before the death of his
rival, gives occasion to a passage in the Irish romance
of more than ordinary beauty and pathos, on which
the following poem has been constructed. Dermid,
notwithstanding the resemblance of his story to that of
Adonis, is not altogether a fabulous character. The
clan Campbell claim to be of "the race of Brown
Dermid, who slew the wild boar," which still figures as
the cognizance of the ducal house of Argyll.
THE DEATH OF DEEMID.
Finn on the mountain found the mangled man,
The slain boar by him. " Dermid," said the king,
" It likes me well at last to see thee thus.
This only grieves me, that the womankind
Of Erin are not also looking on :
Such sight were wholesome for the wanton eyes
So oft enamour'd of that specious form :
Beauty to foulness, strength to weakness turned."
DERMID.
"Yet in thy power, if only in thy will,
Lies it, oh Finn, even yet to heal me."
FINN.
"How?"
DERMID.
" Feign not the show of ignorance^ nor deem
I know not of the virtues which thy hand
Drew from that fairy's half-discover'd hall,
Who bore her silver tankard from the fount,
So closely folio w'd, that ere yet the door
Could close upon her steps, one arm was in ;
110 The Irish before the Conquest. |CH. TV.
Wherewith, though seeing nought, yet touching all,
Thou grasped'st half the spiritual world ;
Withdrawing a heap'd handful of its gifts,
Healing, and sight-prophetic, and the power
Divine of poesy : but healing most
Abides within its hollow: virtue such
That but so much of water as might wet
These lips, in that hand brought, would make me whole.
Finn ! from the fountain fetch me in thy palms
A draught of water, and I yet shall live."
FINN.
" How at these hands canst thou demand thy life,
Who took'st my joy of life?"
DERMID.
" She loved thee not :
Me she did love and doth ; and were she here
She would so plead with thee that, for her sake,
Thou wouldst forgive us both, and bid me live."
FINN.
" I was a man had spent my prime of years
In war and council, little bless'd with love ;
Though poesy was mine, and, in my hour,
The seer's burthen not desirable ;
And now at last had thought to have man's share
Of marriage blessings ; and the king supreme,
Cormac, had pledged his fairest daughter mine ;
When thou, with those pernicious beauty-gifts,
The flashing white tusk there hath somewhat spoil'd,
Didst win her to desert her father's house,
And roam the wilds with thee."
DERMID.
" It was herself,
Grania, the princess, put me in the bonds
CH. iv.] The Ossianic Period. Ill
Of holy chivalry to share her flight.
' Behold,' she said, ' he is an aged man,
(And so thou art, for years will come to all ;)
And I, so young ; and at the Beltane games,
When Carbry Liffacher did play the men
Of Brea, I, unseen, saw thee snatch a hurl,
And thrice on Tara's champions win the goal ;
And gave thee love that day, and still will give.'
So she herself avow'd. Eesolve me, Finn,
For thou art just, .could youthful warrior, sworn
To maiden's service, have done else than I ?
No : hate me not forgive me give me drink."
FINN.
" I will not."
DERMID.
" Nay, but, Finn, thou hadst not said
' I will not,' though I'd ask'd a greater boon,
That night we supp'd in Breendacoga's lodge.
Remember : we were faint and hunger-starved
From three days' flight ; and even as on the board
They placed the viands, and my hand went forth
To raise the wine-cup, thou, more quick of ear,
O'erheard'st the stealthy leaguer set without,
And yet should'st eat or perish. Then 'twas I,
Fasti i ig, that made the sally ; and 'twas I,
Fasting, that made the circuit of the court ;
Three times I cours'd it, darkling, round and round ;
From whence returning, when I brought thee in
The three lopp'd heads of them that lurk'd without
Thou hadst not then, refresh'd and grateful, said
' I will not,' had I ask'd thee, * give me drink.' "
FINN.
" There springs no water on this summit bald."
112 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. IT.
DERMID.
" Nine paces from the spot thou standest on,
The well-eye well thou knowest it bubbles clear."
Abash'd, reluctant, to the bubbling well
Went Finn, and scoop'd the water in his palms ;
Wherewith returning, half-way, came the thought
Of Grania, and he let the water spill.
' ( Ah me," said Dermid, " hast thou then forgot
Thy warrior art, that oft, when helms were split
And buckler-bosses shatter'd by the spear,
Has satisfied the thirst of wounded men ?
Ah, Finn, these hands of thine were not so slack
That night, when, captured by the King of Thule,
Thou layest in bonds within the temple-gate
Waiting for morning, till the observant king
Should to his sun-god make thee sacrifice.
Close-pack'd thy ringers then, thong-drawn and squeezed,
The blood-drops oozing under every nail,
When, like a shadow, through the sleeping priests
Came I, and loos'd thee ; and the hierophant
At day-dawn coming, on the altar-step,
Instead of victim straighten'd to his knife,
Two warriors found, erect, for battle arm'd."
Again abash'd, reluctant to the well
Went Finn, and scoop'd the water in his palms,
Wherewith returning, half-way, came the thought
That wrench'd him ; and the shaken water spill'd.
DEEMID.
" False one, thou didst it purposely ! I swear
I saw thee, though mine eyes do fast grow dim.
Ah me, how much imperfect still is man !
Yet such were not the act of Him, whom once
On this same mountain, as we sat at eve
Thou yet mayst see the knoll that was our couch,
CH. iv.] The Ossianie Period. 113
A stone's throw from the spot where now I lie
Thou showed'st me, shuddering, When the seer's fit,
Sudden and cold as hail, assail'd thy soul
In vision of that just One crucified
For all men's pardoning, which, once again,
Thou sawest, with Cormac^ struck in Kossnaree."
Finn trembled ; and a third time to the well
"Went straight, and scoop'd the water in his palms ;
Wherewith in haste half-way returned he saw
A smile on Derrnid's face relax'd in death.*
When Grania heard of the death of her husband,
she uttered " a long, exceedingly piteous cry." " And
truly my very heart is grieved," said Grania, " that I am
not myself able to fight with Finn, for were I so,
I would not have suffered him to leave this place in
safety." She summoned her sons, feasted them with
mead, ale, and strong fermented drinks, and when thus
excited, urged them to avenge her wrongs : " Oh, dear
children," said Grania, in a loud and bright clear
voice, " your father hath been slain by Finn MacCuinhal,
against his bonds and covenants of peace with him;
and avenge ye that upon him well." Thus speaking
she bestowed on them their father's weapons, and dis-
missed them to learn feats of arms, till they should be
old enough to measure swords with Finn.
When Finn heard of these projects for avenging the
death of Dermid, he summoned his Fians to concert
measures for repelling the meditated attack, but found
his warriors unwilling to aid him in a cause in which
they deemed him wholly in the wrong. In fact his
* S. FERGUSON.
114 The Irish he/ore the Conquest. [CH. IT.
ungenerous treatment of Dermid had disgusted his
friends, and among them even his own son Oisin.
" According as thou hast planted the tree, so bend it
thyself," replied Oisin, when refusing to bear out
his father in the course into which his jealous rage
had led him. Thus foiled, nothing was left to Finn
but to appease the anger of Grania. This fickle lady
was a prototype of Anne Neville, the widow of
Edward Plantagenet, whose wooing, by the murderer
of her husband, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, forms
so fine a scene in Shakespeare's " King Richard the
Third." In this ancient Irish romance of the Pursuit
of Dermid and Grama, Finn is represented as endea-
vouring to overcome the enmity of the widowed Grania,
with crafty cunning and sweet words. Grania, in
reply, like the widow of young Plantagenet, assailed
him with her keen, very sharp-pointed tongue. " Was
ever woman in this humour wooed was ever woman in
this humour won?" is a query equally applicable to
both. Grania yielded to the persuasions of Finn, the
suitor whose love she had formerly rejected. She
reconciled her sons to her new husband, and it is
recorded by the romance-writer that from thenceforth
Finn and Grania " stayed by one another till they
died."
The heroic tales and legends connected with the
Fians would fill a volume : much of this material is
now accessible to English readers, through the transla-
tions of the Ossianic society. To Ossian, or Oisin,
as his name appears in Irish story, are ascribed most
of the poetic remains attaching themselves to this
CH. iv.] The Ossianic Period. 115
epoch. But this mighty bard's name shelters many
compositions of much later date. Conversations with
St. Patrick, to whose days he is fabled to have lived,
form the 'subject of some of these poems. He appears
as a very incorrigible convert, his Pagan sentiments
strongly clinging to him. The fasts of the early
saints, were specially repugnant to his nature, and he
is represented as ever looking back with regret, on the
glorious days of his unregenerate youth.
" Alas ! were I in strength and vigor,
As I was exultingly at the harbour of Finn-tragh,
I should not be deafened in the church of the bells,
And I would put a stop to their droning.
" Alas ! were I in lusty might,
As I was against Fatha Chonain,
With Finn and his hosts by my side
I should not be listening to these howls."
It was in these disrespectful terms that Oisin is
supposed to have designated the Psalmody of St. Patrick
and his monks. But after all such is the force of
genius we conceive of Oisin rather as the Ossian of
MacPherson, or as in that still grander idealization of
him, and of our ancient story, for which we are
indebted to a living poet.*
Long, long ago, beyond the misty space
Of twice a thousand years ;
In Erin old there dwelt a mighty race,
Taller than Roman spears ;
* T. D. McGEE.
116 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. iv.
Like oaks and towers they had a giant grace,
Were fleet as deers,
With winds and waves they made their 'biding place,
These western shepherd seers.
Their ocean-god was Mananan MacLir,
Whose angry lips
In their white foam full often would inter
Whole fleets of ships :
Crom was their Day-god, and their Thunderer,
Made morning and eclipse ;
Bride was their queen of song, and unto her
They prayed with fire-touched lips.
Great were their deeds, their passions, and their sports :
With clay and stone
They piled on strath and shore those mystic forts,
Not yet o'erthrown ;
On cairn-crown'd hills they held their council-courts,
While youths alone
With giant dogs, explored the elk resorts,
And brought them down.
Of these was Fin, the father of the Bard,
Whose ancient song
Over the clamour of all change is heard,
Sweet voic'd and strong.
Fin once o'ertook Griann, the golden-haired,
The fleet and young ;
From her the lovely, and from him the fear'd,
The primal poet sprung.
Ossian ! two thousand years of mist a.nd change
Surround thy name
Thy Finian heroes now no longer range
The hills of fame.
The very name of Fin and Goll sound strange
Yet thine the same
By miscalled lake and desecrated grange,
Remains, and shall remain !
CH. iv.] The Ossianie Period. 117
The Druid's altar and the Druid's creed
We scarce can trace ;
There is not left an undisputed deed
Of all your race,
Save your majestic song, which hath their speed
And strength, and grace ;
In that sole song, they live and love, and bleed ;
It bears them on through space.
Oh, inspir'd giant ! shall we e'er behold
In our own time
One fit to speak your spirit on the wold,
Or seize your rhyme ?
One pupil of the past, as mighty soul'd
As in the prime,
Were the fond, fair, and beautiful and bold,
They of your song sublime !
To king Cormac we are said to owe the first erection
of a water-mill in Ireland. Mithridates, king of
Cappadocia, is reputed to have been the inventor of
mills, about seventy years before the commencement of
the Christian era. This memorable invention was
celebrated by a Syrian poet, whose verses have been
thus gracefully translated from the Greek :
" Ye maids who toil'd so faithful at the mill,
Now cease from work, and from those toils be still ;
Sleep now till dawn, and let the birds with glee
Sing to the ruddy morn on bush and tree ;
For what your hands performed so long, so true,
Ceres has charged the water-nymphs to do :
They come, the limpid sisters, to her call,
1 And on the wheel with dashing fury fall,
Impel the axle with a whirling sound,
And make the massy mill-stone reel around,
And bring the floury heaps luxuriant to the ground."
118 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. iv.
Cormac is said to have brought over Pictish artisans
from Alba to erect his mill at Tara. He had become
enamoured of Carnait, a beautiful maiden of the
Cruithni, who had been carried off from Alba on
some plundering expedition. Ethni, the lawful wife
of Cormac, treated Carnait with a severity inspired
by jealousy, and compelled the fair captive to grind,
with a quern, or hand-mill, nine pecks of corn each day.
Carnait, about to become a mother, was unable to per-
form this domestic drudgery ; she complained to Cormac,
and probably informed him of the use of mills among
her own people in Scotland. He sent thither for
skilled workmen. To this day a mill Lismullen
exists on the' supposed site of the ancient erection
of Cormac MacArt, and the present miller claims to
be the representative of the Pictish millwright, brought
to Tara by that monarch, to relieve the labours of the
beautiful Carnait.
Cormac maintained unwonted state at Tara, and
enacted that for the future the monarch of Erin should
keep in constant attendance on his person, a prince
of noble blood, a brehon, a druid, a physician, a bard,
an historian, a musician, and three stewards. His ban-
quets were on a scale of splendid hospitality. " Each
king wore his kingly robe upon him, and his golden
helmet on his head, for they never put their kingly
diadems on but in the field of battle only. Magnifi-
cently did Cormac come to this great assembly. His
hair was slightly curled, and of golden colour; a
scarlet shield with engraved devices, and golden hooks,
and clasps of silver; a wide-folding purple cloak on
CH. TV.] The Ossianie Period. 119
him, with a gem-set gold brooch over his breast; a
gold torque around his neck, a white collared shirt,
embroidered with gold, upon him ; a girdle with golden
buckles, and studded with precious stones, around him ;
two golden net-work sandals with golden buckles upon
him; two spears with golden sockets and many red
bronze rivets, in his hand, while he stood in the full
glow of beauty, without defect or blemish. The world
was full of all goodness in the time of Cormac, the
grandson of Con of the Hundred Battles : there were
fruit and fatness of the land, and abundant produce of
the sea, with peace and ease and happiness in his
time."
But Cormac was forced to abdicate, and leave his
royal palace of Tara, for the comparative seclusion of
his House of Cletty, near the Boyne ; having lost his
eye from the cast of that spear hurled by his kinsman,
uiEngus " Dread spear," as we have already mentioned :
** and it was not deemed by the nobles of Ireland
honourable or auspicious that any king disfigured by
a personal blemish should reign at Tara." It was in
the retirement of this House of Cletty that King
Cormac is said to have composed his regal Institutes,
the Tegasg High ; and here, after ages have been willing
to believe, abandoned the worship of idols, and refused
to pay homage to any but the one great Creator of
Heaven and Earth. " For I," said Cormac, " will offer
no adoration to any stock or image, shaped by my own
mechanic. It were more rational to offer adoration to
the mechanic himself, for he is more worthy than the
work of his hands." His death, occasioned by the bone
120 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. iv.
of a salmon, which stuck in his throat, was ascribed
by the Druids to the vengeance of their God, Crom
Cruach. Cormac directed that he should not be buried
at Brugh-na-Boinne, the resting-p]ace of his Pagan
"ancestors, but at Eossnaree, on the southern bank of the
Boyne, where he had first had his vision of the ap-
proaching light of a purer religion. The struggle
between the powers of light and darkness for the
possession of the dead king's body, is the subject of a
characteristic legend on which is founded
THE BUBIAL OF KING CORMAC.
" Crom Cruach and his sub-gods twelve,"
Said Cormac, " are but carven treene :
The axe that made them, haft or helve,
Had worthier of our worship been.
" But He who made the tree to grow,
And hid in earth the iron-stone,
And made the man, with mind to know
The axe's use, is God alone."
Anon to priests of Crom was brought,
Where, girded in their service dread,
They ministered on red Moy Slaught
Word of the words King Cormac said.
They loos'd their curse against the king ;
They cursed him in his flesh and bones ;
And daily in their mystic ring
They turned the maledictive stones.
Till, where at meat the monarch sate,
Amid the revel and the wine,
He choked upon the food he ate
At Sletty, southward of the Boyne.
CH. iv.] The Ossianic Period. 121
High vaunted then the priestly throng
And far and wide they noised abroad
With trump and loud liturgie song
The praise of their avenging God.
But ere the voice was wholly spent
That priest and prince should still obey,
To awed attendants, o'er him bent,
Great Cormac gathered breath to say
" Spread not the heds of Brugh for me
When restless death-bed's use is done ;
But bury me in Rossnaree,
And face me to the rising sun.
" For all the kings who lie in Brugh
Put trust in gods of wood and stone ;
And 'twas at Ross that first I knew
One, unseen, who is God alone.
" His glory lightens from the east :
His message soon shall reach our shore ;
And idol-god, and cursing priest
Shall plague us from Moy Slaught no more."
Dead Cormac on his bier they laid :
" He reigned a king for forty years,
And shame it were," his captains said,
" He lay not with his royal peers.
" His grandsire, Hundred-Battle, sleeps
Serene in Brugh ; and, all around,
Dead kings in stone sepulchral keeps
Protect the sacred burial-ground.
" What though a dying man should rave
Of changes o'er the eastern sea ?
In Brugh of Boyne shall be his grave
And not in noteless Rossnaree."
122 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. TV.
Then northward forth they bore the bier,
And down from Sletty side they drew,
With horseman and with charioteer
To cross the fords of Boyne to Brugh.
There came a breath of finer air
That touched the Boyne with ruffling wings ;
It stirred him in his sedgy lair
And in his mossy moorland springs :
And as the burial train came down
With dirge and savage dolorous shows,
Across their pathway, broad and brown,
The deep, full-hearted river rose.
From bank to bank through all his fords,
'Neath blackening squalls he swelled and boiled ;
And thrice the wondering gentile lords
Essayed to cross, and thrice recoiled.
Then forth stepped four grim warriors hoar :
They said, " Through angrier floods than these
Our link'd shields bore him once before
From Dread-Spear and the hosts of Deece.
" And long as loyal will holds good,
And limbs respond with helpful thews,
Nor flood, nor fiend within the flood,
Shall bar him of his burial dues."
With slanted necks they stooped to lift ;
They heaved him up to neck and chin ;
And, pair and pair, with footsteps swift,
Locked arm and shoulder, bore him in.
'Twas brave to see them leave the shore ;
To mark the deep'ning surges rise,
And fall subdued, in foam, before
The tension of their striding thighs.
CH. iv.] The Ossianie Period. 123
'Twas brave, when, now a spear-cast out,
Breast high the battling surges ran ;
For weight was great, and limbs were stout,
And loyal man put trust in man.
But ere they reached the middle deep,
Nor steadying weight of clay they bore,
Nor strain of sinewy limbs could keep
Their feet beneath the swerving four.
And now they slide, and now they swim,
And now amid the blackening squall,
Grey locks afloat, with clutchings grim
They plunge around the floating pall ;
While, as a youth with practised spear,
Through justling crowds bears off the ring,
Boyne from their shoulders caught the bier
And proudly bore away the king.
At morning on the grassy marge
Of Rossnaree the corpse was found,
And shepherds, at their early charge,
Entombed it in the peaceful ground.
A tranquil spot : a hopeful sound
Comes from the ever -youthful stream,
And still on daisied mead and mound
The dawn delays with tenderer beam.
Hound Cormac Spring renews her buds ;
In march perpetual by his side
Down come the earth-fresh April floods
And up the sea-fresh salmon glide ;
And Life and Time rejoicing run
From age to age their wonted way ;
But still he waits the risen Sun,
For still 'tis only dawning Day.*
* From Lays of the Western Gael.
124 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. iv.
This tradition must be of great antiquity, for it is
historically certain that Cormac's lineal descendant,
St. Columba, in the sixth century, erected a Christian
cell at Kossnaree on the spot where the king's body was
then believed to have been deposited by this supernatural
intervention of the elements.
Carbri Linear, son of Cormac and Ethni, assumed
the sovereignty of Ireland in the lifetime of his father,
whose blemish unfitted him to sway the sceptre of
Tara. He fell in the Battle of Gavra, A.D. 284. At
this fatal engagement Oscar, the son of Oisin, and
grandson of Finn MacCumhal, perished by the hand
of King Carbri, who was himself so severely wounded
by Oscar, that he did not survive the battle. The
Clanna Baisgne had sided with Moh Corb, King of
Minister, who was grandson to Finn, being the son
of his daughter Samhair: she had married Cormac
Cas, son of the great Ollioll Olum, and thus the blood
of Finn yet flows in the veins of the O'Briens, and
other families of the noble Dalcassian stock. Carbri
Linear had summoned to his aid, in his quarrel with
Moh Corb, the Clanna Morna, or militia of Connaught,
rivals of the Fians. Gavra is in the vicinity of the hill
of Skreen near Tara in Meath. The battle was fiercely
contested long and bloody. Oscar was entombed
in the rath which occupied part of the site of the
battle-field. " The great green rath's ten-acred tomb
lies heavy on his urn."
Carbri Lificar left two sons, Fiachaid and Eochy
Domlen. The former succeeded him, and was again
succeeded by his son Muredach. Eochy Domlen
CH. iv.] The Ossianic Period. 125
was the parent of three remarkable sons the three
Collas as they are called in our annals Colla Uais,
Colla Menn, and Colla Da Cree.
King Fiachaid had made his son Muredach com-
mander of his armies, and presumptive heir to the
throne. This aroused the animosity of his nephews,
the three Collas. While Muredach was absent with his
army in Munster, these princes resolved to give battle
to the king, thus deprived of his most efficient troops.
On the eve of one engagement Fiachaid was told by his
Druid, that if any of his nephews should fall by him or
his kinsmen, the posterity of that nephew should rule
in Erin ; but if he himself were slain, his descendants
should triumph. The aged king determined to die, and
preserve the throne of Ireland to his children.
Muredach ascended the throne vacated by the volun-
tary death of his father. He banished his cousins
to Alba, where the Collas, with three hundred warriors
who followed them into exile, were well received by
the Scottish monarch. After three years passed in
Alba, being warned in a dream that the time of ful-
filling the prophecy had arrived, they returned to Tara,
each bringing with him nine warriors only, in the hope
that Muredach would avenge on them his father's
death, and thus secure for their children, not his, the
sway over Ireland. They presented themselves before
the king. "Have you brought me any news, my
cousins ?" asked Muredach. " We have no sadder news
to relate," said they, " than the deed which we have
ourselves done, namely, the killing of thy father by our
hands." Muredach, however, knew the prophecy as
126 The Irish he/ore the Conquest. [CH. iv,
well as they did, and was resolved not to forfeit the
sovereignty for his offspring, by any deed of violence.
" The news you tell us is already known," replied the
king ; " but it is of no consequence' to you now, for no
vengeance shall be wreaked upon you therefor, save
that the misfortune which has already pursued you
shall not leave you." " This is the reply of a coward,"
said the Collas. "Be not sorry for it," replied the
king, " you are welcome."
It was an object with Muredach to find employment
for these daring and warlike kinsmen. He suggested
to them an attack on Ulster, and gave them as an
excuse for aggressive hostilities, the insult which their
common ancestor, King Cormac Mac Art, had received
at the hands of the Ultonians, referring to that burning
of his hair and beard, of which we have already spoken.
" That deed," said Muredach, " is still unavenged.''
Thus provided with a casus belli, the Collas marched
on Emania. Fergus Fogha, King of Uladh, was slain,
his capital plundered and burned, and the glories of
Emania and Creeve Koe were extinguished for ever.
Thus ended the Ultonian dynasty, overthrown by the
three Collas, after it had lasted for more than 600
years, A.D. 332. Orgiall, giving name to the present
territory of Oriel, was the name given to the " Sword
Land " so won by the Collas : it comprised the greater
part of the modern Ulster, Antrim and Down excepted,
which remained the patrimony of the Eudrician race of
kings, down to the conquest of Ulster, in the beginning
of the thirteenth century, by John de Courcy. The
descendants of Coll da Cree, the O'Kellys, after-
OH. iv.] The Ossianic Period. 127
wards of Hj Many, in Connaught, Maguires,
MacMahons, and others, occupied the district com-
prising the counties of Armagh, Monaghan, and Fer-
managh, down to the confiscation and settlement of
Ulster in the reign of James I.
From Colla Uais are derived the Lords of the Isles,
the Macdonalds of Scotland, and MacDonnells of
Antrim, and their kindred clans; while the ancient
inhabitants of Cremorne, in the County of Monaghan,
claim Colla Menn as their progenitor.
Eochy, son of Muredach, reigned over Erin for seven
years. He left children by two wives. Mongfinn, or
the fair-haired, had four sons. Of these Brian, from
whom are descended the O'Conors of Connaught, was
her favourite. To pave the way for his elevation to
the throne she poisoned her brother, Criffan, who
had succeeded her husband Eochy. She sacrificed her
own life to effect her ambitious schemes for her son,
for she drank herself of the poisoned cup that she
might induce Criffan to taste it. Her crime was
unavailing. No descendant of hers ruled Erin till after
a lapse of about eight hundred years. Then, Turlogh
More 0' Conor, of whom Mongfinn was ancestress, and
his son Eoderick, the last king of Ireland, filled the
throne up to the time of the English Conquest.
Criffan was succeeded by Nial of the Nine Hostages,
son of Eochy, by a daughter of the king of Britain
a stepson, only, of the guilty Mongfinn.
Nial had to fight for the throne thus made vacant.
He found a formidable competitor in Core, King of
Munster. This prince, from whom are descended the
128 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. iv-
O'Donoghue of the Glens, the O'Mahonys, 0'iAIoriartys,
and also the Lennoxes and Marrs of Scotland, at
length recognized Nial as sovereign, and received from
that monarch, in accordance with the custom which
enjoined such gifts to a former rival, one thousand
steeds, five hundred suits of armour, gold rings and
cups. This peace was granted to the entreaties of
Torna, the bard of Nial. He filled the endearing
position of foster-father to both these princes, and used
his influence with Core and Nial to secure peace for
his country.
The first military expedition undertaken by Nial, as
soon as he found himself firmly seated on the throne of
Erin, was directed to Alba. He desired to aid his
kindred, the Dalriad colony, who had settled in the
western district of Scotland, against the Picts or
Cruithni. The Irish colonists, aided by Nial, were
successful. These Scoti imposed their name on the
country, and Alba became from thenceforth known as
Scotland. To understand aright the relations of these
Dalriads and Picts we must revert to the earlier tradi-
tions, and recount the settlement of the Cruithni, whose
invasion of Alba is fixed at the period when Eremon,
son of Miled, was king of Ireland.
The Cruithni, according to their own tradition, were
a kindred race, and came from Thrace to Gaul. They
had fled from the oppression of a monarch who sought
to insult the beautiful daughter of their chieftain Gud.
They were well received by the Gallic king, for whom, say
their senachies, they built the city now called Poictiers.
The beauty of Gud's daughter reached the ears of this
CH. IT.] The Ossianie Period. 129
sovereign also, and the Cruithnian exiles had again to
fly from further insult. In a few long galleys they
reached the Irish shore. Criffan Sciathbel, the Fir-
bolg chief of Leinster, under Eremon, was at that
time waging war with savage tribes, whose use of
poisoned weapons was fatal to his soldiers. He
accepted these new auxiliaries, making an alliance
with the Picts, and availing himself of the skill of
their Druid, Trosdan, who cured the wounds of Criffan's
army by the simple application of a milk bath.
Eremon did not encourage the Cruithni to settle
in Erin, but suggested to them the conquest of Alba ;
and as they were unprovided with wives, he supplied
this want on condition that the throne should always
be held by right of the female. This remarkable
custom prevailed among the Picts to a late period.
They became eventually amalgamated with the Scoti,
or Irish colonists. The combined inroads of the Picts
and Scots on the defenceless Britons, when the Koman
legions evacuated their country, are familiar to all
readers of English history. " The barbarians drive us
into the sea the sea throws us back upon the barba-
rians," was the mournful wail of the Britons to the
Consul JEtius. The Romans returned for brief periods
to Britain to repel these warlike Caledonians, and
aided the Britons by the erection of those mighty
ramparts, whose vast remains yet attest the power and
mechanical skill of that great people.
When the Cruithni or Picts settled in Scotland
there already existed there a people of the Firbolgic family
These early inhabitants of Scotland found themselves,
130 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. iv.
like their kindred in Ireland after the Milesian con-
quest, pressed by the superior race into the extremities
of Alba and its outlying isles. From thence, still
pressed by the Picts, a number of them sought refuge
in Erin, and, shortly before the commencement of the
Christian era, rented lands in Meath, where they settled
under the protection of Carbri Niafer. This Firbolg
colony, called from their leader JEngus, son of Umor,
" the sons of Urnor," finding the rents they were forced to
pay exorbitant, migrated from Meath to Connaught, and
were welcomed by Ailill and Maev, then ruling at Crua-
chan. The clan Umor were located along the coasts of
Mayo, Galway, Clare, and the Aran, and other islands
of the western shores of Ireland. Their locale may yet
be determined by the names still extant of places
called after their leaders, jffingus, son of Umor, was
the founder of Dun ^Engus, that great dry-stone fort
which we have before described, yet standing on Aran
More, off Galway Bay; Cutra has left his name at
Lough Cooter, near Gort; Adhar at Moy Adhair, in
Thomond ; Measca, at Loch Mask ; and several other
similar examples might be added. On their settlement
in Meath Carbri Niafer had required and obtained for
them the guarantees of four great heroes, with whose
names we have made our readers already familiar
Keth MacMagach, Ross, Conall Carnach, and Cu-
chullin. When the sons of Umor abandoned his
territories for those of Ailill and Maev, Carbri called
on their sureties either to compel their return or to
fight the fugitives ; and accordingly the four heroes
demanded of Clan Umor either of these alternatives.
CH. iv.] The Ossianic Period. 131
The oppressed and impoverished Firbolgs chose the
latter, and selected four of their mightiest champions
to contend with the knights of the Red Branch and
the Connacian and Munster heroes. Conall the Mild,
son of jiEngus, son of Umor, was opposed to Cuchullin ;
Kimi Kethir-Kenn to Conall Carnach ; King to Ross ;
and Irgas-of-many-battles to Keth. The Firbolg
champions were defeated. Conall the Mild and his
father were buried under the cairn, called from him
Carn-Conaill. The others were interred in the " de-
lightful plain adjoining the Hath Umaill" which has
given name to the barony Burrisoole (Burris-UmaiF), in
the county of Mayo.
We shall return, in our next Chapter, to Nial of the
Nine Hostages, whose military expedition to Alba to
assist his Scotic kindred of the Dalriads in their wars
with the Picts has led us into this long digression.
132 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
CHAPTEK V.
THE PATRICIAN PERIOD.
A STILL more important expedition, if we consider
its after effects on the civilization of Ireland, and
through Ireland, of Western Europe, than any we have
hitherto recorded, was that undertaken by Nial against
Armorica, as the north-western districts of France were
called, in the fourth century.
Many captives, including children of noble birth,
were brought back to Erin by King Nial from this
plundering excursion. Among them was a boy of sixteen,
Succoth, the son of the deacon Calphurnius, and Con-
chessa, a near relative of St. Martin of Tours, with his
sisters Darerca and Lupida. His name, which is said
to signify " brave in battle," was afterwards exchanged
for that of Patricius, in allusion to his noble birth. But
the boy, destined to become the patron-saint of Ireland,
the great apostle and missionary St. Patrick, notwith-
standing his gentle blood, was sold as a slave, and
employed by his master, Milcho, in feeding cattle on
the mountain of Slieve Mis, in the present County of
Antrim. For many years the youthful Patrick tended,
amidst hardship, suffering, and isolation, the flocks of the
pagan Milcho. Amidst the solitudes of his mountain
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 133
dwelling light broke in upon his soul. The teachings
of his childhood, the meditations of his lonely youth,
the very desolation of his lot, prepared his mind for
the reception of those divine impulses, those spiritual
intuitions which elevate the being who receives them
above the vicissitudes of existence, and unite the soul
to its Creator.
" When I had come to Ireland," says St. Patrick in
his * Confessions,' " I was employed every day in
feeding cattle ; and frequently in the day I used to
have recourse to prayer, and the love of God was thus
growing stronger and stronger, and His fear and faith
were increasing in me, so that in a single day I would
give utterance to as many as an hundred prayers, and
in the night almost as many. And I used to remain
in the woods, too, and on the mountains, and would
rise for prayer before daylight, in the midst of snow
and ice, and rain, and felt no injury from it, nor was
there any sloth in me, as I now see, because the Spirit
was fervent within me." And again he writes : " I
was not from my childhood a believer in the only God,
but continued in death and unbelief until I was
severely chastened : and in truth I have been humbled
by hunger and nakedness, and it was my lot to traverse
Ireland every day sore against my will, until I was
almost exhausted. But this proved rather a benefit to
me, because by means of it I have been corrected by
the Lord, and he has fitted me for being at this day
what was once far from me, so that I should interest
or concern myself about the salvation of others, when I
used to have no such thoughts even for myself."
134 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
To a mind in such intimate communion with heaven,
so elevated above earth, so filled with a desire to
labour in the conversion of others, all things are pos-
sible. There is nothing miraculous when such men
are deemed to have worked miracles, and are them-
selves convinced that they have seen visions and
dreamed dreams. Patrick escaped from his long cap-
tivity restored to his parents happy in their love
longs to return as a missionary to the people among
whom he had lived a slave. " I saw in the visions of
the night," he said, and this passage, from a very
authentic piece of antiquity, strongly supports the
claim of the Irish to an early knowledge of the art
of writing "a person coming from Ireland with
innumerable letters, and he gave me one of them, and
I read in the beginning of the letter, 'The voice
of the people of Ireland,' and I thought at that very
moment that I heard the voice of those who were near
the wood of Focluth, which is adjoining to the western
sea, and they cried out thus, as it were with one voice,
' We entreat thee, holy youth, to come and walk still
among us,' and I was very much pricked to the heart,
and could read no further, and so I awoke. Thanks be
to God, the Lord who, after very many years, hath
granted to them according to their cry."
While the boy Patrick fed the swine of Milcho
on the mountain of Slemish, King Nial of the Nine
Hostages continued his depredations in Gaul. Hither
he summoned to his aid his friends and allies from
Alba ; and an auxiliary army from the Dalriads of
Scotland joined him on the Loire. Gabran, their
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 135
leader, was accompanied by Eochy, King of Leinster,
who had been banished from Erin by Nial. The exiled
prince seized this opportunity of avenging himself.
He transfixed the king with an arrow on the banks of
the Loire. Thus perished the great monarch in the
midst of his victorious career.
Nial of the Nine Hostages left eight sons. From
, Conall Gulban are descended the Kinel Conall, or
race of Conall, the great family O'Donnells of Tyr-
Conaill. From his twin brother, Owen, the Kinel -
Owen, of Tyr-Owen, or Tyrone, the illustrious O'Neills.
To all the descendants of Nial belongs the tribe name
of Hy-Niall ; but the families of O'Neill and O'Donnell,
representatives -of his twin sons, Owen and Conall
Gulban, are distinguished as the Northern Hy-Niall from
the progeny of another son, Conall Criffan, who are
called the Southern Hy-Niall, and who, though giving
some kings to Ireland, never attained the eminent place
in her history which the O'Neills and O'Donnells filled.
Conall Gulban obtained his name from the mountain
already referred to as the scene of the death of Dermid.
In this locality, and on this singularly formed and
romantic mountain, he had been fostered. He was
slain by the " old tribes " of Moy Slaught, that plain
in Cavan where the idol Crom Cruach and " his sub-
gods twelve " were formerly worshipped. His brother
Owen died of grief. He was buried at Eskaheen, in
Inishowen.
It will be remembered that Mongfinn, wife of Eochy,
the father of Nial, had poisoned her brother, Criifari,
to pave the way to the election of her son, Brian, to
136 TJie Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
the throne, but that her perfidy, which cost her her own
life, had failed in its object, and her step-son, Nial,
had become King of Ireland, to the exclusion of her
offspring. Brian, however, in the lifetime of his half-
brother, Nial, had succeeded to the provincial throne
of Connaught, and his brother, Fiachra, another son of
Mongfmn, had become chief of a district in the west of
Ireland. Dissensions arose between the brothers.
Fiachra was defeated in battle by Brian, and delivered
into the hands of Nial as a hostage. Feredach, after-
wards better known by his acquired name of Dathi,
son of the captive Fiachra, avenged his father's wrongs
on his uncle Brian, and restored Fiachra to liberty
and rule. Fiachra left two sons : Dathi, who became
Ard Righ on the death of his uncle Nial, and Awley,
whose rule 4 in Connaught has left its impress in
the name of Tyrawley, in the north-west of Mayo.
It was in the persons of the seven sons of Awley,
converted by Patrick, and baptized with thousands
of their followers by him in the land of Tyrawley,
that the vision of the saint was realized ; for these
numerous converts to the faith were made in the
vicinity of that wood of Focluth from whence in his
dream Patrick had heard the voices entreating him to
" come and walk among them."
Dathi is ancestor of the great Connaught families
of O'Shaughnessy, O'Dowda, and O'Heyne. This king
inherited the military ambition of his uncle Nial,
and, like him, made war in Gaul. He had previously
undertaken an expedition into Alba, stimulated by the
praises of his Druids. In the seventeenth year of
CH. v.] ' The Patrician Period. 137
his reign lie found himself at Assaroe, near Bally-
shannon, whither he had gone from Tara to adjust some
contentions between his kindred in the west. He arrived
at the estuary of the Erne at the eve of the great Gaelic
festival of Samhain, which was held on the last day
of October. He commanded the presence of his Arch
Druid, and demanded to know what would happen to
himself and to his country in the year about to com-
mence. " Then," said Doghra, the Druid, " if you will
send nine of your noblest chiefs with me from this to
the banks of the Moy, I will reveal something to
them." "It shall be so," said the king, "and I shall
be one of the number myself."
Dathi and his chiefs departed secretly from the
camp and arrived at Eath Archaill, near the Moy,
where the Druids' altars and idols were. Dathi took
up his abode at Mulloch Eoe, near Screene, in the
barony of Tireragh, County Sligo, where his queen, Eua,
had a palace. At sunrise the Druid repaired to the
chamber of Dathi. " Art thou asleep, King of
Erin and of Alba ?" asked Doghra. " I am not asleep,"
said the monarch ; " but have you made an addition to
my titles ?" " I have consulted the clouds of the men
of Erin," replied the Druid, " and found that thou wilt
soon return to Tara, and wilt invite all the provincial
kings and chiefs of Erin to the great feast of Tara,
and then thou shalt decide with them upon making an
expedition into Alba, Britain, and France, following
the conquering footsteps of thy great-uncle Nial, and
thy grand-uncle Criffan Mor."
The king was delighted with the prediction. He
138 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
returned to the camp and imparted it to his chieftains,
and in due time retraced his steps to Tara, and invited,
as the Druid had suggested, the chiefs of Erin to meet
him there, at the approaching festival of Beltaine, which
was held on May Day.
The feast was celebrated on this occasion with un-
usual splendour. The fires of TaiUi were lighted, and
the games, sports, and ceremonies, usually held there,
passed off with great magnificence. War was resolved
on, and Dathi made a successful foray into Alba, and
from thence invaded Gaul, where he died ; but his body
was borne homewards by his soldiers, and now reposes
among the mortal remains of his ancestors, the ancient
kings of Connaught, at the Eelig na Itee, near Eath
Cruachan. Tradition ascribes his death at the foot of
the Alps to a stroke of lightning. He fell, it is said,
as he was storming the tower of Parmenius, a royal
recluse, who had lived there secluded from the light of
day. The Pagan monarch of Erin was not deterred
by the sanctity of the royal hermit, and regarded not
the recluse's vow of living in perpetual darkness. He
proceeded to demolish the tower. When it was un-
roofed, and Parmenius " felt the wind coming to him,
God raised him up in a blaze of fire, and he prayed
for King Dathi that his reign might continue no longer ;
and he also prayed that his monument or tomb might
not be conspicuous." Thereupon a flash of lightning
struck Dathi dead upon the spot, while Parmenius
formed for himself another dwelling lower down on
the mountain side. Such is the wild and scarce in-
telligible form in which the story of Dathi has been
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 139
transmitted from primitive times. The adventure,
whatever may have been its real nature, took place in
the same year in which Pharamond, king of the Franks,
disappears from the page of history, and it might be
suggested that he may have been the hermit king whom
Dathi encountered at Slieve Alpa, probably some part
of the Jura range, in the eastern districts of Gaul. The
incident has had a great charm for the Irish ima-
gination, and has been made the subject of many lyrical
compositions, one of which is subjoined
THE EXPEDITION AND DEATH OF KING DATHY.*
King Dathy assembled his Druids and Sages,
And thus he spake them " Druids and Sages !
What of King Dathy ?
What is revealed in Destiny's pages
Of him or his? Hath he
Aught for the future to dread or to dree ?
Good to rejoice in, or evil to flee ?
Is he a foe of the Gall-
Fitted to conquer or fated to fall ?"
And Beirdra, the Druid, made answer as thus
A priest of a hundred years was he
" Dathy, thy fate is not hidden from us !
Hear it through me !
Thou shalt work thine own will !
Thou shalt slay thou shalt prey
And be conqueror still !
Thee the cartel shall not harm !
Thee we charter and charm
From all evil and ill !
Thee the laurel shall crown !
Thee the wave shall not drown !
* J. C. MANGAN.
140 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH.
Thee the chain shall not bind !
Thee the spear shall not find !
Thee the sword shall not slay !
Thee the shaft shall not pierce !
Thou therefore be fearless and fierce,
And sail with thy warriors away
To the lands of the Gall,
There to slaughter and sway,
And be victor o'er all !"
So Dathy he sailed away away,
Over the deep resounding sea ;
Sailed with his hosts in armour grey
Over the deep resounding sea,
Many a night and many a day,
And many an islet conquered he
He and his hosts in armour grey :
And the billow drowned him not,
And a fetter bound him not,
And the blue spear found him not,
And the red sword slew him not,
And the swift shaft knew him not,
And the foe o'erthrew him not :
Till, one bright morn, at the base
Of the Alps, in rich Ausonia's regions,
His men stood marshalled face to face
With the mighty Roman legions.
Noble foes!
Christian and heathen stood there among those,
Resolute all to overcome,
Or die for the eagles of ancient Rome !
When, behold ! from a temple anear
Came forth an aged priest-like man,
Of a countenance meek and clear,
Who, turning to Eire's Ceann,*
Ceann: Head; king.
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 141
Spake him as thus" King Dathy, hear !
Thee would I warn !
Ketreat ! retire ! Eepent in time
The invader's crime,
Or better for thee thou hadst never been born !"
But Dathy replied, " False Nazarine !
Dost thou, then, menace Dathy, thou ?
And dreamest thou that he will bow
To one unknown, to one so mean,
So powerless as a priest must be ?
He scorns alike thy threats and thee !
On ! on, my men, to victory !"
And, with loud shouts for Eire's king,
The Irish rush to meet the foe,
And falchions clash and bucklers ring,
When, lo !
Lo ! a mighty earthquake's shock !
And the cleft plains reel and rock ;
Clouds of darkness pall the skies ;
Thunder crashes,
Lightning flashes,
And in an instant Dathy lies
On the earth a mass of blackened ashes !
Then, mournfully and dolefully,
The Irish warriors sailed away
Over the deep resounding sea,
Till, wearily and mournfully,
They anchored in Eblana's Bay.
Thus the Seanachies and Sages
Tell this tale of long-gone ages.
And so, by the elements, not by the hand of man,
perished the " fair king of Erin, Dathi, son of Fiachra,
a generous king by sea and land," A.D. 4^6. His son
Awley took command of the forces. They commenced
their retreat, carrying with them the dead body of the
142 TJie Irish before the Conquest. [CH, v.
king, whose very presence, though in death, served to
discomfit their foes. Ten battles are recorded, won by
the retreating host, whose victories are ascribed to the
terror of Dathi's countenance, still kept turned towards
the pursuers. When the army had reached Ireland,
the body, borne by four servants of trust, crossed the
island to Cruachan " with dirge and savage dolorous
shows," and here, adjoining the Relig na Ree, where
his ancestors repose, was erected the mound, and its
red pillar-stone, over the grave of the last of Ireland's
Pagan kings. According to the imprecation of Par-
menius, it was "not conspicuous;" yet the pillar-
stone, a block of red-grit sand-stone, about nine feet in
height, is still standing on the grassy mound, amidst
the earthworks, raths, and entrenchments, which, to
this day, mark the site of the ancient capital of
Connaught. Cattle feed around on the rich pasture
land of Koscommon, but with the exception of an
occasional cottier's house, the place is lonely, un-
marked, and little known, save by the archaeologist,
or the survivors of the peasantry, who still cling fondly
to these traditions of the olden time. More than four-
teen hundred years ago, this red pillar-stone was raised.
The years have rolled on to centuries, and yet it stands
unchanged. How many works of succeeding genera-
tions has it not already outlived, how many yet destined
to rise and fall, and crumble into ruin, may not this
simple pillar survive, erected by his "clansmen and
soldiers to King Dathi.
Of his descendants we shall have much to speak.
His son Ollioll Molt, became Ard High some years
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 143
later, and his grandson Owen Bel, king of Connaught,
is the hero of a very picturesque tradition. Owen Bel
was the father of St. Kellach, whose story we shall
return to, but may not now anticipate.
We resume the thread of the Christian story, laid
aside for a space while recounting the fortunes of the
sons of Nial. Patrick's captor was succeeded by his
son Laery, or Laeghaire. It was in the fourth year
of his reign that St. Patrick commenced his apostolic
labours. A.D. 432 is the date generally agreed on for
this event, which had been preceded by the mission
of St. Palladius in the previous year. A few scattered
Christians, principally in the south, were to be found
in Erin before the time of Patrick. It has been
asserted that Saints Ailbe, Declan, Kieran, and Ibar,
afterwards consecrated by St. Patrick to the episcopal
office, had been preaching in Munster before his coming.
St. Patrick was no longer a young man when he
returned to Ireland, the scene of his former captivity
as a Christian missionary. But the interval between
his early manhood and mature life had not been idly
spent. Bishops Germanus and Lupus, we are told,
nurtured him in sacred literature, and ordained him, and
made him the chief bishop of their school among the
British and Irish. Thirty-three years has been assigned
as the period of his pastoral labours. He first landed
on the Leinster coast, but re-embarked, and directed
his course to that northern district where he had
passed his captivity. Here he laboured to convert
to the faith of Christ his former master Milcho, but
without success. Dichu, a prince of a territory in the
144 TJte Irish before the Conquest. [en. T.
present county of Down, v/as one of his earliest converts.
He erected for the saint a church, Sabhall Padruic,
Patrick's Barn, still called Saul, which afterwards
became the seat of a considerable monastery. Here the
saint, long after, died, and in the same neighbourhood
was buried, though the Irish foundation of Glastonbury
in England also claims the honour of possessing his
remains. Many discrepancies and irreconcilable con-
flicts of testimony may be explained by the supposition
that there were two Saint Patricks ; one generally
distinguished as . Sen Patrick, or Patrick the Elder,
not identical with Patrick the Apostle, and to whose
labours may be ascribed the partial acceptance which
Christianity had already obtained previous to the
coming of Nial's captive, The first missionary tour of
the great Apostle followed the course of the Boyne,
and conducted him to Tara, and to the presence of
King Laery, at the commencement of the Easter fes-
tival, A.D. 433. On his journey he visited, converted,
and baptized a family, one of whose members attached
himself from thenceforth to the Apostle, and was
named by him Benignus, on account of the gentleness
of his bearing. Benignus, it is said, became his suc-
cessor in the see of Armagh.
Patrick, continuing his journey, reached Slane on
the Boyne, on Easter eve. He commenced his pre-
parations for the festival of the next day, and lighted
the paschal fire at nightfall. The king was holding
a high festival at Tara at the same time, and the law
enjoined that no other fire should be lighted until the
great fire should be kindled on the heights of Tara.
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 145
The king is wrath, with a greater wrath
Than the wrath of Nial or the wrath of Con !
From his heart to his brow the blood makes path,
And hangs there, a red cloud, beneath his crown.
Is there any who knows not, from south to north,
That Laeghaire-to morrow his birthday keeps ?
No fire may be lit upon hill or hearth,
Till the king's strong fire in its kingly mirth
Leaps upward from Tara's palace steeps.
Yet Patrick has lighted his paschal fire
At Slane it is Holy Saturday
And bless'd his font, 'mid the chanting choir !
From hill to hill the flame makes way ;
While the king looks on it, his eyes with ire
Flash red, like Mars, under tresses gray.*
When King Laery inquired who had dared thus
to infringe the law, his Druids told him that unless
that fire were extinguished immediately, it would get
the better of their fires, and occasion the downfall
of his kingdom. Laery set out with a considerable
force for Slane, and summoned St. Patrick to appear
before him. He desired that no one should show the
saint the respect of rising to receive him. Ere dis-
obeyed the injunction, saluted Patrick, received his
blessing, and became a believer. When St. Patrick
preached before the king and nobles at Tara on the
following day, Dubtach the bard in like manner
rose, saluted him, and became a zealous convert.
Dubtach was an eminent poet, both as a Pagan and
a Christian. He was the instructor of Fiech, son of
Ere, who afterwards became bishop of Sletty.
* AUBKEY DE YEEE.
146 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. v.
This Easter Sunday of the year 433 was an eventful
one.
When the waters of Boyne began to bask,
And the fields to flash in the rising sun,
The Apostle Evangelist kept his Pasch,
And Erin her grace baptismal won ;
Her birthday it was ; his font the rock ;
He bless'd the land, and he bless'd his flock.
Then forth to Tara he fared full lowly ;
The staff of Jesus was in his hand ;
Eight priests paced after him chanting slowly,
Printing their steps on the dewy land.
It was the Resurrection morn ;
The lark sang loud o'er the springing corn,
The dove was heard, and the hunter's horn.
Like some still vision men see by night,
Mitred, with eyes of serene command,
St. Patrick moved onward in ghostly white ;
The staff of Jesus was in his hand.
His priests paced after him unafraid,
And the boy, Benignus, more like a maid,
Like a maid just wedded he walked and smiled,
To Christ new plighted that priestly child.
They entered the circle, their hymn they ceased ;
The Druids their eyes bent earthward still ;
On Patrick's brow the glory increased,
As a sunrise brightening some breathless hill.
The warriors sat silent ; strange awe they felt ;
The chief bard Dubtach rose up, and knelt !
Then Patrick discoursed of the things to be,
When time gives way to eternity ;
Of kingdoms that cease, which are dreams not things,
And the kingdom built by the King of kings.
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 147
Of Him he spake who reigns from the Cross ;
Of the death which is life, and the life which is loss
And how all things were made by the Infant Lord,
And the small hand the Magian Kings adored.
His voice sounded on like a throbbing flood
That swells all night from some far-off wood ;
And when it was ended that wondrous strain
Invisible myriads breathed low, ** Amen !"
While he spake, men say that the refluent tide
On the shore beside Colpa ceased to sink ;
And they say the white deer by Mulla's side,
O'er the green marge bending forbore to drink ;
That the Brandon eagle forgat to soar,
That no leaf stirred in the wood by Lee,
Such stupor hung the island o'er,
For none might guess what the end would be.
Then whispered the king to a chief close by,
" It were better for me to believe than die."*
Yet King Laery remained incredulous, although
granting liberty to the saint to preach and to make
converts. Among the most eminent who embraced
Christianity at this time were the wife and daughters
of the king, and his brother Conall Criffan, the
progenitor of the southern Hy-Nials. Conall wished
to become a cleric, but Patrick refused, telling the
prince that the secular, and not the ecclesiastical, state
was his vocation. He marked with his crozier the
figure of a cross in the shield of Conall, which was
ever after called Sciath Bachlacli, or the shield of the
crozier. This is the earliest notice that has been found
in Ireland of armorial bearings.
* AUBREY DE VERB.
148 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
The conversion by Patrick of Ethna and Felimia,
the daughters of King Laery, has been detailed at
length in the Book of Armagh. These princesses were
residing in Connaught, near Cruachan, when St. Patrick
and his attendants assembled at sunrise at the fountain
of Clebach, at the east side of the rath.
Thither came the damsels to wash, and found at the
well the holy men. " And they knew not whence they
were, or in what form, or from what people, or from
what country, but they supposed them to be Duine
SidJie (fairies), or gods of the earth, or a phantasm.
"And the virgins said unto them, 'Who are ye,
and whence come ye ?'
" And Patrick said unto them, ' It were better for
you to confess to our true God, than to inquire con-
cerning our race.'
" The first virgin said, ' Who is God ?
" And where is God ?
" And of what (nation) is God ?
" And where is His dwelling-place ?
" Has your God sons and daughters, gold and
silver ?
" Is he ever-living ?
" Is He beautiful ?
" Did many foster His Son ?
" Are his daughters dear and beauteous to men of
the world ?
" Is He in heaven or in earth ?
" In the sea ?
" In rivers ?
" In mountainous places ?
ce. v.] The Patrician Period. 149
" In valleys ?
" Declare unto us the knowledge of Him.
" How shall He be seen ?
" How is He to be loved ?
" How is He to be found ?
" Is it in youth is it in old age that He is to be
found y "
" But St. Patrick, full of the Holy Ghost, answered
and said :
" Our God is the God of all men.
" The God of heaven and earth, of the sea and
rivers.
" The God of the sun, the moon, and all stars.
" The God of the high mountains, and of the lowly
valleys.
" The God who is above heaven, and in heaven, and
under heaven. He hath a habitation in the heaven,
and the earth, and the sea, and all that are therein.
" He inspireth all things.
" He quickeneth all things.
" He is over all things.
" He sustaineth all things.
" He giveth light to the light of the sun.
" And he hath made springs in a dry ground ;
" And dry islands in the sea.
" And hath appointed the stars to serve the greater
lights.
" He hath a Son co-eternal, and co-equal with
Himself.
" The Son is not younger than the Father.
" Nor is the Father older than the Son.
150 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. v.
" And the Holy Ghost breatheth in them.
" The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are
not divided.
" But I desire to unite you to the Heavenly King,
inasmuch as you are the daughters of an earthly king
to believe.'
" And the virgins said, as with one mouth and one
heart
" * Teach us most diligently how we may believe in
the Heavenly King. Show us how we may see him
face to face, and whatsoever thou shalt say unto us, we
will do.'
" And Patrick said :
" ' Believe ye, that by baptism ye put off the sin of
your father and your mother ?' They answered, We
believe.'
" * Believe ye in repentance after sin ?' ' We
believe.'
" ' Believe ye in life after death ? Believe ye the
Resurrection at the day of Judgment ?' ' We believe.'
"'Believe ye the unity of the Church?' 'We
believe.'
" And they were baptized ; and a white garment put
upon their heads. And they asked to see the face of
Christ. And the Saint said unto them, ' Ye cannot see
the face of Christ, except ye taste of death, and except
ye receive the sacrifice.'
" And they answered, ' Give us the sacrifice, that we
may behold the Son, our spouse.'
" And they received the Eucharist of God, and they
slept in death.
en. v.] The Patrician Period. 151
" And they were laid out on one bed, covered with
garments ; and (their friends) made great lamentation
and weeping for them."
Before leaving the subject of St. Patrick's visit to
Tara, we shall give at length his hymn composed on
this occasion, " to protect himself with his monks
against the enemies unto death, who were in ambush
against the clergy. And this is a religious armour to
protect the body and soul against demons, and men,
and vices. Every person who sings it every day with
all his attention on God shall not have demons appear-
ing to his face. It will be a protection to him against
every poison and envy. It will be a safeguard to him
against sudden death. It will be an armour to his soul
after his death. Patrick sang this at the time that the
snares were set for him by Laegaire, that he might not
come to propagate the faith to Temur ; so that it
appeared to those lying in ambush, that they were wild
deer, and a, fawn after them, that is Benen ; and Feth
Fiadha is its name."
This poem is interesting as illustrating the faith,
not unmixed with credulity, of this great Evangelist of
the fifth century, as well as for its antiquity. It is
composed in that ancient dialect of the Irish in which
the oldest tracts, and the Brehon Laws are written,
and commences as follows :
" At Temur, to-day, I invoke the mighty power of
the Trinity. I believe in the Trinity under the unity
of the God of the elements.
" At Temur, to-day (I place) the virtue of the birth
of Christ with his baptism, the virtue of his Crucifixion,
152 The Irish before the Conquest. [cu. v.
with his burial, the virtue of his Kesurrection with His
Ascension, the virtue of the coming to the eternal
judgment ;
" At Temur, to-day (I place) the virtue of the love
of seraphim ; (the virtue which exists) in the obedience
of angels, in the hope of the Resurrection to eternal
reward, in the prayers of the noble fathers, in the
predictions of the prophets, in the preaching of the
apostles, in the faith of the confessors, in the purity of
the holy virgins, in the deeds of just men ;
" At Temur, to-day (I place) the strength of heaven,
the light of the sun, the whiteness of snow, the force of
fire, the rapidity of lightning, the swiftness of the wind,
the depth of the sea, the stability of the earth, the hard-
ness of rocks (between ine and the powers of paganism
and demons).
" At Temur, to-day, may the strength of God pilot
me, may the power of God preserve me, may the wis-
dom of God instruct me, may the eye of God view me,
may the ear of God hear me, may the word of God
render me eloquent, may the hand of God protect me,
may the way of God direct me, may the shield of God
defend me, may the host of God guard me against the
snares of demons, the temptations of vices, the inclina-
tions of the mind, against every man who meditates
evil to me, far or near, alone or in company.
" I place all these powers between me and every evil
unmerciful power directed against my soul and my
body (as a protection) against the incantations of false
prophets, against the black laws of Gentilism, against
the false laws of heresy, against the treachery of
en. v.J The Patrician Period. 153
idolatry, against the spells of women, smiths, and
Druids, against every knowledge which blinds the soul
of man. May Christ to-day protect me against poison,
against burning, against drowning, against wounding,
until I deserve much reward.
" Christ (be) with me, Christ before me, Christ after
me, Christ in me, Christ under me, Christ over me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left, Christ at this
side, Christ at that side, Christ at my back.
" Christ (be) in the heart of each person whom I
speak to, Christ in the mouth of each person who speaks
to me, Christ in each eye which sees me, Christ in each
ear which hears me.
" At Temur, to-day, I invoke the mighty power of the
Trinity. I believe in the Trinity under the unity of
the God of the elements.
" Salvation is the Lord's ; Salvation is the Lord's ;
Salvation is Christ's. May thy salvation, Lord, be
always with us !"
St. Patrick is said to have borne part in that re-
vision and purification of the laws of Erin, embodied in
the great Brehon Law tract called the Senchus Mor.
The Irish of the age of Alfred universally believed
that these laws were reduced to their present form
under the immediate inspection of the Apostle, and
that the work of codification was carried on at Tara in
summer on account of the amenity and freshness of the
place ; and at a neighbouring residence in the winter
on account of facilities of shelter and firewood. One
portion of this interesting tract has been published by
the Brehon Law Commissioners, and exhibits an unex-
154 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
pected analogy to the rudiments of the Common Law
of England, hitherto supposed to have been derived
exclusively from non-Celtic sources.
Laery was constantly engaged in warfare with the
Leinstermen, the " hated Lagenian race." The exac-
tion of the Boromean tribute was the occasion of these
contentions. In one of these campaigns he was defeated
at Ath-Dara, on the Barrow, and compelled to swear by
the Elements that dreaded pagan oath that he would
not again seek to enforce the Boru; but afterwards,
violating his oath, he was slain " by the Sun and Wind."
" So Laeghaire by the dread God elements swore,
By the moon divine, and the earth and air.
He swore by the wind and the broad sunshine
That circle for ever both land and sea,
By the long-back'd rivers, and mighty wine,
By the cloud far-seeing, by herb and tree,
By the boon spring shower, and by autumn's fan,
By woman's breast, and the head of man,
By night and the noonday Demon he swore,
He would claim the Boarian Tribute no more.
But with years, wrath wax'd; and he brake his faith ;
Then the dread God-elements wrought his death :
For the Wind and Sunshine by Cassi's side
Came down and smote on his head that he died,
Death-sick three days on his throne he sate :
Then he died, as his father died, great in hate.
They buried the king upon Tara's hill,
In his grave upright : there stands he still.
Upright there stands he as men that wade
By night through a castle moat, undismay'd ;
On his head is the gold crown, the spear in his hand,
And he looks to the hated Lagenian land." *
* AUBREY DE VERB.
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 155
Laery was indeed buried, as described in the poem.
He was killed by lightning, and interred in the external
rampart of his rath at Tara, with his weapons in his
hand, and his face turned towards the Leinstermen.
This was in accordance with his own directions ; and
he assigned this predetermined hate which was to
outlive him, as a cause why, though convinced by the
teaching of St. Patrick, he could not himself embrace
Christianity.
" But my father, Nial, who is dead long since
Permits not me to believe thy word ;
For the servants of Jesus, thy heavenly prince,
Once dead, lie flat as in sleep, interr'd ;
But we are as men through dark floods that wade :
We stand in our black graves undismay'd ;
Our faces are turn'd to the race abhorr'd,
And ready beside us stand spear and sword,
Eeady to strike at the last great day,
Ready to trample them back into clay." *
To St. Patrick is ascribed the destruction of Crom
Cruach, and the smaller idols by which it was
surrounded, on the plain of Moy Slaught, in his pro-
gress towards Rath Croghan, where we have already
noticed his conversion of Ethna and Felimia, daughters
of this obstinate Pagan monarch. Passing thence, he
spent the season of Lent on the mountain of Croagh
Patrick, which was named from this visit of the Saint.
In Tyrawley he baptized, as we have already men-
tioned, the sons and followers of Awley, brother of
Dathi, in the vicinity of the wood of Focluth. Thence,
* From Inisfail, by AUBREY DE VEKE.
156 The Irish be/ore the Conquest. [CH. v.
the Apostle passed through the central district of Ireland,
preaching, baptizing, and founding churches, and
entered Munster. At the royal city of Cashel, he was
met by ^Engus, king of this southern province, who
embraced the faith, and was baptized by Patrick. It
is narrated that during the ceremony the pastoral staff
of the saint, which terminated in a spike, entered the
monarch's sandalled foot ; but conceiving this to be
part of the rite, king JEngus remained unmoved, sub-
mitting patiently to the pain which St. Patrick un-
consciously inflicted.
Multitudes of people from Corca Baiscin, in Clare,
crossed the Shannon in their curraghs, a simple hide-
covered boat, of a kind still used on the western coast
of Ireland, and were baptized by Patrick in the waters
of this grandest of Irish rivers. In compliance
with their entreaty, St. Patrick ascended a hill near
Foynes, since called Knoc Patrick, and blessed the
territory of Thomond, the land of the Dalcassians. A
more liberal benediction bestowed by the Apostle upon
Ireland and its inhabitants at large, has been preserved
in the Book of Eights, and is thus translated :
" The blessing of God upon you all,
Men of Eri, sons, women,
And daughters ; prince-blessing,
Weal-blessing, blessing of long life,
Health-blessing, blessing of excellence,
Eternal blessing, heaven-blessing,
Cloud-blessing, sea-blessing,
Fruit-blessing, land-blessing,
Crop-blessing, dew-blessing,
Blessing of elements, blessing of valour,
Blessing of dexterity, blessing of glory,
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 157
Blessing of deeds, "blessing of honour,
Blessing of happiness, be upon you all
Laics, clerics, while I command
The blessing of the men of Heaven ;
It is my bequest, as it is a PEKPETUAL BLESSING."
The year 453 is the date assigned to the founding of
the metropolitan see of Armagh. Daire, a chieftain of
the Orgialla, gave the site for his church to St.
Patrick. In the crypt of that venerable cathedral, the
simple wattle outline of the roofs and doors of this por-
tion of the very old, if not the original building, can yet
be traced. Thither, when he felt his end approaching,
the^apostle of Ireland wished to turn, to die. He set out
from Saul on his journey towards Armagh, when he was
commanded by an angel so the tradition goes to
return to Saul. He was buried at Downpatrick, and
the legend, which, however, is shared with many other
Lives of Saints, affirms that the place where his mortal
remains should rest was also decided by heavenly
interposition. A contest arose between the people of
Armagh and those of Uladh, as to where he should be
interred. It was agreed that two untamed oxen should
be harnessed to the bier of the saint, sent forth, un-
guided, and that in the place where they halted the
saint should be committed to the earth. The oxen
rested at Dun-da-leth-glaisse, a fortified residence of
the chieftains of Uladh, since the site of the present
cathedral of Down. To allay the jealous feuds of the
rival clans, each party followed, as they conceived, a
bier, borne by two oxen, but as the Orgallian tribes
neared Armagh, on the banks of a river, the bier and
158 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
oxen, which they had followed, mysteriously vanished.
The exact time of the death of the great apostle of
Ireland is a disputed point. Wednesday, the 17th of
March, 493, is the most probable date.
The marked success of St. Patrick's missionary
labours may be in part ascribed to his wise policy in
addressing himself, in the first instance, to the kings
and chieftains of Erin. The clan readily followed the
example of a baptized leader, and toleration, at least,
was secured for Christian institutions. On his side,
St. Patrick had little of the iconoclastic spirit. He
respected, and even adopted, the pagan festivals, con-
verting them into Christian holydays. The Beltine
and Samhain of the Irish are celebrated to this day,
not unmixed with some superstitious relics of paganism,
in the corresponding festivals of May-day and All-
hallow E'en.
The clan system, found and left by him in full
operation, extended itself even to the monasteries.
The abbot's sway was not dissimilar to that of the
chieftain : every monastery was a centre of family
influence, and always a refuge for houseless kin. In
all respects, the church founded by St. Patrick con-
formed to the political institutions of the Irish tribes,
as he had adopted himself, though a foreigner, their
Gaelic speech. This church endowed by the chief-
tains, recruited from the ranks of the people in
no way dependent on foreign aid for its prolonged
existence flourished at home and became a mis-
sionary church abroad, sending forth, during the
sixth and seventh centuries, indefatigable labourers
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 159
in the spiritual vineyard ; to whose exertions we owe
the evangelization of the greater part of Western
Europe.
We have traced the useful, noble life of the great
Irish saint, till it was closed in peace. "I protest
in truth," says St. Patrick, in his Confession, "and
can rejoice in the thought before God and his holy
angels, that I never had any motive, save the Gospel
and its promises, for ever returning to that people
from among whom I had escaped. And I beg of all
that believe in God and seek and fear Him, whoever of
them may be pleased to examine or read this letter,
which I, Patrick poor sinful and ignorant creature as
I am have written in Ireland, that no one will ever
say that my ignorance is to have the credit of it, if I
have effected or performed any little matter according
to the purpose of God ; but believe and be assured for
certain that it was God who has done it. And this is
my confession before I shall die."
The mighty revolution which St. Patrick accom-
plished was inaugurated without bloodshed. No
single martyr suffered for the faith in Erin ; unless
that servant of Patrick's, Oran, who exchanged places
with the saint in his chariot, and received a death-
wound designed for his master, be considered one.
Her kings, though remaining pagan for two genera-
tions, permitted the preaching of the new doctrines,
and were tolerant even to converts made among tha
members of their own families. It speaks well for the
state of morals and manners among the pagan Irish
that so mighty a change was effected with little
160 The Irish before the Conquest. [en. v.
bitterness, and no sacrifice of human life. While
kings ruled at Tara, surrounded by their Druids, and
worshipping idols, Christian communities were planted
in every corner of the land. The zeal and fervour of
St. Patrick and his disciples gathered to the infant
church a peaceful and rich harvest of souls. Ireland
became the land of saints : nor were these simple and
pious men who belonged to the first and most perfect
of the three orders of saints of the Irish Church, in-
different to secular knowledge. They did not, as the
second and inferior order of saints of a succeeding age,
shun the society of women, for they were " not afraid
of the blast of temptation." The monasteries they es-
tablished were schools of learning, whose reputation
was deservedly so high, that students came from Britain
and from the Continent, and received in Ireland gratui-
tous hospitality, and careful instruction. The Irish
monks were the transcribers of those manuscript copies
of Holy Writ, and of ancient learning, many of which
are so exquisitely illuminated that they have been
the wonder and delight of succeeding ages. These
are true art-treasures, evincing the most refined
perception of grace and beauty, with a delicacy of
execution which has never been surpassed, and place
Ireland, between the fifth and ninth centuries a
period when western Europe was sunk in barbarism
among the foremost seats of piety and learning, and in
a position, as regards the arts of decoration, as applied
to manuscripts and ecclesiastical objects, unapproached
by any of the nations of Christendom.
King Leary was succeeded by Ollioll Molt, son of
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 161
Dathi, who had ruled Connaught for some years pre-
viously as provincial king. Ollioll was grandfather to
Owen Bel, afterwards king of Connaught, whose hatred
of the Clanna Neill of Ulster was as intense as that of
Laery for the Leinstermen. Owen Bel was constantly
engaged in conflicts against the northern clans, with
varying success. At the Battle of Sligo, however, the
Connacian army was defeated, and Owen Bel mortally
wounded. He lingered for a week ; and during that
time gave directions about his burial. "Place me
in my grave, on the north side of the hill by which
the northerns pass when flying before the army of
Connaught. Place me standing; my face towards
the north, and my red javelin in my hand." The
effect of this interment of Owen Bel was, that the
Clanna Neill were always defeated, and compelled to
fly before the Connacian hosts, until they came by
stealth, disinterred the body of the hero, carried the
corpse northward of the Sligo river, and there buried
him, near the shores of Lough Gill, with his face
downwards. A stone circle, still existing, on the
southern bank of the Sligo river, close by the town,
probably marks the site of the sepulchral cairn from
which the men of Ulster stole the body of the dreaded
monarch.
When Owen Bel found himself dying, he advised his
clan, the Hi-Fiachrach, to elect his son Kellach king
of Connaught, notwithstanding that he had become an
ecclesiastical student, and was residing at Clonmacnoise
under the tuition of St. Kieran, the founder of that
monastic establishment. The youth, at the time, of
M
162 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
Owen Bel's second son, Cucongelt, unfitted him to be
leader of his tribe. Kellach yielded to the persuasions
of the messengers sent to him for this object, impelled
by a not unnatural ambition ; but accompanied them
without the permission of St. Kieran, who pronounced
a curse upon Kellach. To this the credulity of that
age has ascribed all his after-misfortunes.
Kellach afterwards made his peace with St. Kieran,
and became bishop at Kilmore-Moy, in Tirawley. His
kinsman, Guary Aidhne, who was then king of Con-
naught, feared him as a rival ; and bribed four students,
who were under St. Kellach's instruction in a her-
mitage to which he had retired on Loch Con, to
murder the ex-king and bishop. This wicked deed
was accomplished in a wood, and the body of the
murdered man was secreted in the hollow trunk of
an oak-tree. What added to the enormity of the out-
rage was, that the four Maols, as they were called,
were foster-brothers to St. Kellach. They were
rewarded by Guary for their treachery by a grant
of land in Tirawley, on which they erected a fort at
Pun Finn.
Cucongelt, younger son of Owen Bel, and brother to
St. Kellach, went to visit the recluse at Loch Con, and
finding his brother had disappeared, and his four
pupils become possessed of lands at the hands of King
Guary, suspected that Kellach had been murdered.
He sought for and found the body, sadly mangled by
ravens and wolves. He brought the remains in suc-
cession to three churches ; but the clergy, basely afraid
of the vengeance of Guary, refused it interment. At
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 163
last the remains of the hapless prince and bishop
found a resting-place. Cucongelt chanted his funeral
dirge, and vowed to avenge his death. He assembled
in the neighbourhood of Dun Finn his friends and
adherents ; obtained entrance in the guise of a swine-
herd into the fort, while the murderers were feasting.
He waited till they had become inebriated, and then,
summoning his followers, captured the fort, and
dragged the murderers in chains to a hill overlooking
the Eiver Moy, and since distinguished as Ard-na-ree,
the " hill of executions," where they were mercilessly
put to death.
The monument raised over the Maols is still in
existence, and is called by the people the table of the
giants, and Clock an togbhala, "the raised stone," in
Irish. It is a cromlech, formed by a level stone
supported by three pillar-stones, and is interesting as
being considered the only cromlech in Ireland which
can undoubtedly be connected with history. It is
spoken of in the Dinnseanchus, an Irish MS. of high
antiquity, as the stone of the Maols, LeacJit na
Maol
Ollioll Molt was slain in the Battle of Ocha, and
Lugaid, son of Laery, son of Nial of the Nine Hostages
ascended the throne of Ireland. While this king who,
like his predecessor, rejected Christianity and remained
pagan was on the throne, the final settlement of the
Dalriads in Scotland took place. 503 is the date
assigned for the emigration to Scotland of the six
sons of Ere, the two Anguses, the two Loams, and the
two Ferguses. Fergus MacErc seized on the sove-
164 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
reignty cf Scotland. This is the king who is said to
have obtained from his cousin, Murkertach, the
reigning monarch of Erin, who succeeded Lugaid, the
Lia Fail, or stone of destiny, and to have brought
this magical talisman which should secure the throne
for ever to a prince of Scotic blood, from Ireland to
the land named from these Scotic immigrants, Scotland.
Its removal to Scone, and from thence to Westminster
Abbey, has been already alluded to ; but the Irish, in
the 12th century, believed that the Lia Fail still
existed at Tara : though the stone had ceased to
"roar" under the rightful king, since the birth of
Christ.
Lugaid was succeeded by Murkertach Mor MacErca,
the first king of the Hy-Mall race of Owen son of
Niall. This great family, in its various branches,
furnished kings to Erin, with rare interruptions, for
many centuries.
During his reign St. Brigid, or Bride, died. This
celebrated foundress of the monastic establishment at
Kildare is, in common with St. Patrick and St.
Columba, a patron saint of Ireland. She was of
noble birth, and claimed descent from Con of the
Hundred Battles. She was remarkable from her early
youth for her piety and charity to the poor. Vowed to
perpetual virginity, she traversed Ireland, founding
convents in various places ; but her name and repute
are chiefly connected with that " Church of the Oak,"
Kildare, where she was the foundress of the most famous
convent that ever existed in Ireland. Her humility
was such that she is said to have tended the cattle in
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 165
her fields : she shared all she possessed with the poor,
and scattered among those who surrounded her " the
most wholesome seed of the word of God." She died
at the advanced age of seventy, and was buried at the
side of the altar in the cathedral church of Kildare.
The 1st of February, 525, is the date assigned to this
event. She was reverenced, not only in Ireland, but
in Scotland also. The Western Isles, Hy Brides, are
said to have their name from her. An annual festival
in her house was there held in commemoration of the
day of her death, and her name was invoked by the
islanders to confirm their most solemn oaths.
St. Kieran of Saighir is called, by his biographer,
" the first-born of the saints of Ireland." His church
on Cape Clear Island is said to have been the earliest
Christian church erected in Ireland. Its ruins, together
with a cross sculptured on an ancient pillar- stone, yet
exist on this remote island. He afterwards established
the monastery of Seir-Kieran, on the brink of the well
of Saighir, in the King's County, a spot dedicated to
him, according to tradition, by St. Patrick. Round
this a great village, in those days deemed a city,
speedily clustered. He is supposed to have died in
Cornwall, and to have been identical with St. Piran,
an Irish saint, .whose little church of Piranzabuloe, or
Piran-in-the-Sands, has been covered and so preserved
for centuries by the sands which have gained on that
part of the English coast.
St. Finnian of Clonard, and St. Finnian of Moville,
were saints of the second order, and, unlike the
saints of the first order, dispensed with the society of
166 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
women, separating them from the monasteries. St.
Finnian of Clonard founded his celebrated school
about the year 530. It was a place of great resort,
and numbered among its students many eminent men,
attracted to Clonard by the learning and sanctity of
its founder. St. Columba, afterwards the evangelist of
the Picts, was among the number.
The passion for a life of monastic seclusion charac-
terised, to a remarkable degree, the religious Irish at this
period. That ascetic temper of mind which is so much
to be condemned, as separating men from the healthful
duties of ordinary life, has some excuses in an age filled
with strife and contention and endless turmoil. Nor
can selfishness or indolence be justly charged on our
Irish recluses, as they were teachers of learning, secular
as well as ecclesiastical, zealous missionaries among
heathen populations, and tillers of the soil around
their monastic establishments. As might naturally
be expected, the people became proud of their pastors,
and sometimes contended for their possession. It is
recorded of St. Ailbe of Emly, that, having converted
the people of Munster, and established the Christian
Church in that part of Ireland, he was about to seek
the solitudes of Iceland, when he was coerced by King
.ZEngus, the convert of St. Patrick, with all becoming
respect, to abandon his intention.
Between the fifth and seventh centuries were founded
those monastic establishments on the western isles of
Aran, off Gal way bay, whose remains yet abound on
that sacred soil. " Aran of the Saints " contains, at this
day, abundant impress of the anchorites of that period.
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 167
St. Enda obtained a grant of the largest of the three
islands which constitute the group, and founded his
monastic establishment at the southern extremity of
Aranmore. Enda was son of the petty king of Orgiall,
and was an accomplished warrior before his conversion.
He had successfully avenged his father's death, and
chanted a song of triumph as he happened to pass the
cell of Fanchea, a female saint of the period. She
came to the door of her cell, and asked why he disturbed
her meditations. " I have been avenging the death of
my father as becomes a son," he replied, " and I now
sing my song of victory as becomes a warrior."
"Knowest thou where thy father now is?" rejoined
Fanchea. " I know not," said Enda. " Thy father,"
said Fanchea, "is now in hell." She proceeded to
contrast the tortures of the damned with the bliss of
the saved, the mournful gloom of hell with the celestial
light of heaven. Her words made a profound impression
on the mind of Enda. He frequently visited her cell,
and listened to her instructions ; but during these
visits became strongly attached to one of Fanchea's
sisterhood, and the novice returned the affection of the
young prince. Fanchea interposed. " Whether wouldst
thou have for spouse," she asked of the novice, " this
young King of Orgiall, whom thou lovest, or that
heavenly King whom I love ?" " Whom thou lovest
Him also will I love," replied the girl. She sought her
bed, and expired. Enda was brought by Fanchea to
look on the dead face of his beloved. He renounced
the world, travelled to Rome, returned, accompanied by
one hundred and fifty monks, and founded, in 580, his
168 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
cliurch at Aran. His name yet survives in Kilany,
but his church has disappeared, and the pure shining
sands cover the adjoining cemetery, with its one hun-
dred and twenty inscribed tombs of holy men. The
foundations of the round tower only remain ; but not
far from the site of Enda's erections stands, to this day,
the smallest church in Ireland, that of St. Benignus.
Among the ruins of the seven churches in the north
part of Aran, at Kilbrecan, still exists the tomb of
their founder, St. Brecan. On a spherical black stone
found in his grave, we read the inscription in Irish,
" Pray for Brecan the Pilgrim." Another tomb at this
place is inscribed to the memory of the "seven Eomans,"
strangers from distant lands, seeking in this Irish
Thebaid opportunity for indulgence in the contem-
plative life.
But the glories of the Irish church at this period
culminate in the noble foundation of Clonmacnoise on
the Shannon. It was established 548 by St. Kieran, ge-
nerally called "the Son of the Artificer," to distinguish
him from another saint- of the same name. Dermid
MacKervil, afterwards King of Ireland, passed his
youth in exile, and was sheltered at Conmacnoise by
St. Kieran, on whose foundation he subsequently be-
stowed a grant of lauds. On the banks of the Shannon,
a few miles below Athlone, amidst verdant meadows,
gently rolling hillocks, and beyond these a vast expanse
of level bog, not black and dreary, but covered with a
russet garment of heaths of the richest hues, and washed
by the eddies of the broad placid river, with its sedgy
margin of reeds and bulrushes rise the graceful round
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 169
towers, picturesque" and exquisitely sculptured crosses,
and other monastic ruins of Clonmacnoise.
St. Kieran, the original founder, was a descendant of
Core, one of the sons whom Maev of Cruachan bore to
the hero, Fergus MacKoy, and was thus of the Irian
stock. He had been one of the most distinguished
pupils of St. Finnian of Clonard. He had also resided
at Aran of the Saints, acquiring, under the austere rule
of St. Enda, those lessons to be learned in seclusion
from the affairs of secular life, in the comparative isola-
tion of these rocky islets washed by the mighty waves of
the Atlantic. But before entering into the particulars
connected with this great ecclesiastical establishment,
which was endowed by King Dermid MacKervil, we
must complete our history of King Murkertach MacErca
and his successor, Tuathal Mael-garv, who preceded
King Dermid on the throne of Erin. Murkertach is
said, in our annals, to have died a double death. He
was both burned and drowned. He had abandoned the
society of his queen for that of a beautiful girl named
Sin. Her kindred had been slain by the king in battle,
and Sin devoted her life to revenge them. With this
object she threw herself in the way of the monarch,
captivated him by her charms, and availed herself of
opportunities thus obtained to burn his house of Cletty.
Murkertach, maddened by his sufferings from fire,
plunged iSto a butt of wine, in which he was suffocated.
Tuathal Mael-garv succeeded him on the throne. This
king banished out of Meath a rival claimant, Dermid
MacKervil, who is said to have passed the nine years
of his exile in a boat on the Shannon, befriended by
170 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
sympathisers on both sides of the river. Among these
was St. Kieran, then engaged in founding his church
at Clonmacnoise.
On one occasion, Dermid was assisting St. Kieran
in thrusting down in the earth one of the pillars or
wattles of the house. He took the saint's hand, as
they grasped the pole, and put it above his own hand,
in sign of reverence. Kieran, touched by this mark of
humility, fervently besought God of his great goodness
that the hands of Dermid might have superiority over
all Ireland. The prayer brought a bloody accomplish-
ment. It was heard by the foster-brother of Dermid,
who instantly devised a plan for realizing, by the
murder of the reigning monarch, the saint's petition.
Tuathal, in his hostility to the rival whom he dreaded,
had offered a reward to any one who would bring him
the heart of Dermid. Maelmora, the foster-brother,
sacrificed a dog, placed its heart on a spear, and,
mounted on a swift horse, rode into the presence of the
king. When the attendants of Tuathal saw the man
approaching with the bloody trophy, they made way,
supposing it to be the heart of Dermid about to be laid
at the sovereign's feet. Maelmora, in the act of pre-
senting it, transfixed Tuathal with his spear. His own
life paid the penalty of his deed, but his object was
won. Dermid was at once proclaimed king at Tara.
Dermid became a liberal benefactor to Clonmacnoise.
Round the little church, in whose foundation he had
assisted a fact corroborated by the figures of St. Kieran
and his friend grasping the pole, carved on one of the
stone crosses which yet remained to adorn the spot
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 171
sprung up in after-ages those foundations which still
stand to evince the piety and skill of their builders.
There are few spots in our land so rich in interest.
The larger of its two round towers was finished for
King Turlogh O'Connor, A.D. 1127. Its crosses are
beautiful specimens of the art of Sculpture, as it existed
among the Irish before the eleventh century. On the
great cross are sculptured inscriptions which read " A
prayer for Flann, son of Maelsechlain," and " A prayer
for Colman, who made this cross for the King Flann."
Our annals record that King Flann erected the cathe-
dral at Clonmacnoise, 909 ; and this cross will there-
fore belong to about the same date. The second cross
is decorated with the peculiar interlaced pattern work
so familiar in Irish art.
The tombs of kings, saints, and scholars, reposing
for upwards of one thousand years, can yet be identified
at this favourite burial-ground, which most of the princes
of the southern Hy-Nial selected to be their last resting-
place. Among them, we may enumerate the stone of
Siubhne MacMaelhumai, one of the three " most
learned doctors of the Irish," who visited Alfred in
the year 891, and assisted at the foundation of Oxford.
His death is recorded, not only in the Irish annals, but
in the Saxon Chronicle, and also by Florence of
Worcester, and Caradoc of Llancarvan.
The remains of the monastic establishment founded
by St. Kevin at Glendalough, in the county of Wicklow,
are familiar to multitudes who visit that mountain
valley with its two lonely lakes : it lies within easy
distance of Dublin. St. Kevin died 618 : he had a
172 The Irish before tlie Conquest. [CH. v.
brother of the same name, from whom the southern
island of Araii took its designation, that
Rocky eastern isle that bears
The name of blessed Coemhan, who doth show
Pity unto the storm-tossed seaman's prayers.
Another distinguished saint of this period was
Brendan, who became in his advanced years Abbot
of Clonfert. He voyaged, according to a highly poetic
tradition, across the Atlantic with a few chosen com-
panions in search of the mysterious island of Hy-
Brasail. This enchanted land is supposed to be visible
from the western coast of Ireland every seventh year.
If once touched with fire, even by the flight of a
kindled arrow, it would become subject to the ordinary
laws of existence, and remain a delightful paradise
for man, instead of disappearing with all its glories
from the ken of the baffled discoverer. Missionary
zeal, and love of discovery, stimulated St. Brendan
to venture on the trackless ocean, in his small coracle
of hides, with his few companions. He had been
nurtured by the shores of the Atlantic, in his native
Kerry, where his name yet lingers in Brandon mountain
near Dingle.
I grew to manhood by the western wave,
Among the mighty mountains on the shore :
My bed the rock within some natural cave ;
My food, whate'er the seas or seasons bore ;
My occupation, morn and noon and night,
The only dream my hasty slumbers gave,
Was Time's unheeding, unreturning flight,
And the great world that lies beyond the grave.
ca. v.] The Patrician Period. 173
And then I saw the mighty sea expand,
Like Time's unmeasured and unfa thorn ed waves ;
One with its tide-marks on the ridgy sand,
The other with its line of weedy graves ;
And as beyond the outstretched wave of Time,
The eye of Faith a brighter land may meet,
So did I dream of some more sunny clime,
Beyond the waste of waters at my feet.
Some clime where man, unknowing and unknown,
For God's refreshing word still gasps and faints ;
Or happier rather some Elysian zone,
Made for the habitation of His saints ;
Where Nature's love the sweat of labour spares,
Nor turns to usury the wealth it lends,
Where the rich soil spontaneous harvest bears,
And the tall tree with milk-filled clusters bends.
The thought grew stronger with my growing days,
Even like to manhood's strengthening mind and limb ;
And often now amid the purple haze,
That evening breathed upon the horizon's rim,
Methought, as there I sought my wished-for home,
I could descry amid the waters green,
Full many a diamond shrine and golden dome,
And crystal palaces of dazzling sheen.
And then I longed with impotent desire,
Even for the bow whereby the Pythian bled,
That I might send one dart of living fire
Into that land, before the vision fled.
And thus at length fix thy enchanted shore,
Hy-Brasail Eden of the western wave,
That thou again wouldst fade away no more,
Buried and lost within thy azure grave.
174 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. v.
But angels came and whispered as I dreamt,
" This is no phantom of a frenzied brain,
God shows this land from time to time to tempt
Some daring mariner across the main ;
By thee the mighty venture must he made,
By thee shall myriad souls to Christ be won !
Arise, depart, and trust to God for aid !"
I woke, and kneeling cried, " His will be done !"*
St. Brendan, after preliminary visits to Aran of
the saints, and to the coasts of Connaught, launched
his frail bark boldly on the Atlantic wave. Caught,
probably, in the current of the Gulf Stream, he reached
the distant land, it may be the New England shore.
In the quaint language of the Golden Legend, "Soon
after, as God would, they saw a fair island full of
flowers, herbs, and trees, whereof they thanked God
of his good grace ; and anon they went on land, and
when they had gone long in this, they found a full
fayre well, and thereby stood a fair tree full of boughs,
and on every bough sat a fayre bird. The number
of them was so great, and they sang so merrily, that
it was an heavenly noise to hear. Whereupon St. Bren-
dan kneeled down on his knees and wept for joy,
and made his praises devoutly to our Lord God, to
know what these birds meant." The notes of these
feathered songsters, from the mocking-bird, sweetest
of singers, to the tiny and brilliantly-coloured humming
birds of America, are charmingly described in the
poem from which we have quoted. In the antique
legend the birds are made to tell St. Brendan, that
* From The Voyage of St. Brendan, by D. FLORENCE
MACCARTHY.
CH. v.] The Patrician Period. 175
they are among those fallen angels who lost Paradise
with Lucifer, " millions of spirits for his fault amerced
of heaven, and from eternal splendours flung, for his
revolt;" but yet, as they were not among the most
guilty, " our Lord hath sent us here, out of all pain in
full great joy and mirth, after his pleasing, here to
serve him on this tree in the best manner we can."
St. Brendan spent seven weeks among them, and con-
tinued his journey inland till he came to a great river
flowing east and west, perhaps the River Ohio, Here
he had a vision, and was desired by a man of command-
ing countenance to return home, as it was reserved
to other times and other teachers to Christianize that
pleasant land. Seven years after the wanderer had
left the shores of Ireland, he returned to his native
land, and founded his monastery at Clonfort. Here he
is said to have presided over three thousand monks,
who supported themselves by the labour of their own
hands.
176 - The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vi.
CHAPTEE VI.
THE COLUMBAN PERIOD.
WE turn from the legendary voyage of St. Brendan to
the very real, very energetic, and active life of the
greatest of our Irish saints after Patrick.
Colombkille (Columba of the Churches) was nobly
born. His father, Felimy, and his mother, Ethna,
were both of high rank. He was descended from
King Nial of the Nine Hostages through his son, Conall
Gulban, head of the Kinel Conaill, or branch of the
northern Hy-Niall, who gave their name to the north-
western part of Ulster, Tyrconnell. Gartan, near Letter-
kenny, in the County Donegal, is said to have been
his birthplace. Columba studied in his youth at the
school of St. Finnian of Maghbile (Moville), and is also
claimed as a pupil of St. Finnian of Clonard and of
Gemman, who was probably a Christian bard. It is
certain that St. Columba became a scholar of no mean
reputation, well versed in the Sacred Writings, and him-
self a poet. Of his personal appearance we can infer
that he was of florid complexion, and his hair red or
auburn. His temperament was hasty and passionate, yet
generous and devoted. He had many and great faults.
The impetuosity of his temper led him into much that
CH. vi.] The Columban Period. Ill
was inconsistent with Christian duty. But he was a
noble man, and did noble work. He was great and in-
fluential in his own time, and his memory is blessed and
revered by succeeding generations. He founded in 546
the monastery of Doire-Calgaich, near Lough Foyle,
on land bestowed on him by his kindred, the princes
of Tyrconnel. To this establishment the town of
Derry owes its name and origin. Durrow, in the
King's County, a monastery which soon became very
celebrated, was established by Columba a few years
later. At Kells, a small stone-roofed building still
exists which tradition connects with him. St. Columb's
house probably served as a residence while part of the
building was used as an oratory. The round church-
towers of Swords, Eaphoe, Tory Island, and Drumcliff,
and the beautiful sculptured crosses at the latter place,
though perhaps of later date, mark other foundations
ascribed to him. He was indeed an indefatigable
labourer in the cause of Christ in Ireland before those
events occurred which drove him from his native land
an exile to lona. On this remote island of the Hebrides,
he founded the celebrated monastic establishment
from whence he evangelized the Picts, and where he
trained his monks for the arduous missionary work
which afterwards distinguished the community of Hy,
as lona in those days was called.
Among his early companions in study was Kieran,
" son of the Artificer," afterwards illustrious as the
founder of Clonmacnoise. The favour with which
Columba was regarded by their common instructor
awakened some feeling of jealousy in the breast of the
178 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vi.
young Kieran. This was allayed by a vision or dream,
or, let us rather suppose, by the conviction of his own
mind in moments of calm reflection. An angel appeared
to him so runs the legend and showed him the car-
penter's plane and saw, and other tools of his father's
handicraft. With these were contrasted the insignia of
royalty, symbols of the rank to which the high-born
Columba might have aspired, had he not preferred the
vocation of the monk to the earthly glories of the prince.
" Look on these," said the angel to Kieran, holding
before him the carpenter's tools : " These are what
thou hast given up for Christ; but Columba has
made a higher sacrifice : let this reflection moderate
thy unworthy thoughts." Kieran never forgot the
lesson, and discarded from his breast all lingering
remains of jealous feeling.
St. Fimrian of Moville, in whose school Columba
and Kieran had studied, was possessed of a remarkable
copy of the Gospels, which he had brought with him from
Rome, and valued most highly. It has been suggested
that the MS. was a copy of St. Jerome's translation of
this part of Holy Writ.- The saint who afterwards
returned to Italy, and has been identified with Frigidian,
patron saint and Bishop of Lucca had been requested
to lend this book to St. Fintan of Dunflesk, a pupil at
the time of St. Comgall of Bangor. Finnian refused to
part with his manuscript. Fintan complained of this
churlishness to his master, Comgall, who exhorted the
student to patience, and consoled him, predicting that
the book should yet come into his possession. The very
next day, the story goes, Moville was attacked by pirates,
CH. vi.] The Columban Period. 179
who carried off, among other spoils, the precious volume
which St. Finnian had declined to lend. The plun-
derers meditated a further attack on Bangor. Their
project was not carried into execution ; for a storm
dispersed their ships, and St. Fintan found on the
shore the longed-for book, among other spoil, quite
uninjured. Whether he retained it, or returned it,
when read, to its owner, we cannot tell. The surrepti-
tious copying of another manuscript of St. Finnian's,
supposed to have been a copy of the Psalms, led to
more serious results.
St. Columba is reported, during a visit he paid to
Moville, to have remained daily in the church when
the congregation had retired, for the study of St. Fin-
nian's book. He ardently desired to possess a copy of
it, and fearing to be refused should he ask the owner,
made a hurried transcript of this -highly-prized volume
of the Psalms. He was observed, and his occupation
reported to St. Finnian, who was highly indignant,
and demanded the copy as his by right, as well as the
original. Columba refused to surrender his transcript,
and the matter was referred to King Dermid. The sove-
reign, who had been so great a benefactor to Clonmac-
noise, pronounced for sentence, " To every cow belongeth
her calf; so to every book belongeth its copy," and
adjudged both to Finnian.
" This is an unjust decision, O'Dermid," said Columba,
" and I will avenge it on you."
The breach was widened between the king and the
saint by the following circumstance :
The young son of the King of Connaught, at that
180 The Irish before tlie Conquest. [CH. vi.
time a hostage at Tara, killed, at a game of hurling, the
son of King Dermid's steward, and fled for sanctuary
to Columba. Dermid had him dragged from the
arms of the saint and put to death for having desecrated
the precincts of his royal palace. The fiery temper of
Columba was roused by these insults. King Dermid
had placed a guard on his person to prevent his leaving
Tara ; but " the justice of God having thrown a veil of
unrecognition around him," Columba made his escape,
and traversed, alone, the mountains which interposed
between Tara and his native wilds of Tyrconnell. Here,
in solitude, alone with God, he expresses his confidence
and trust in the protection of the Holy Trinity, and
refers to pagan superstitions still blending with the
religion of Dermid.
" Alone am I upon the mountain.
King of Heaven, prosper my way,
And then nothing need I fear,
More than if guarded by six thousand men.
Our fate depends not on sneezing,
Nor on a bird perched on a twig ;
Nor on the root of a knotted tree,
Nor on the noise of clapping hands.
Better is He in whom we trust,
The Father, the One, and the Son."
The powerful tribes of the Hy-Niall, the Kinel
Conaill and Kinel Owen, near connections of Columba,
with Aedh, King of Connaught, whose son had been
put to death by Dermid, challenged that king to battle.
The hostile armies encountered at Cuildrevne, near
Sligo. Columba offered up petitions for the success of
his friends.
GH. vi.] The Columban Period. 181
" He will not refuse me
My Druid may he be on my side !
Is the son of God : with us will He be aiding."
St. Finnian is stated to have offered up prayers for
King Dermid. This entire story is doubted, as neither
Bede nor Adamnan, the biographer of St. Columba,
makes any mention of this quarrel between the saints.
The battle of Cuildrevne, A. D. 561, is, however, an
historical fact, the king having been defeated and the
friends of St. Columba victorious. One man only is
recorded to have fallen on their side. St. Columba,
calmed and penitent for the blood shed in battle,
sought the counsel of St. Molaise, of Devenish Island,
in Loch Erne. His confessor enjoined on him, as
penance for his fault, that he should leave Ireland, and
never again look on his native land. Columba obeyed.
He set forth with twelve companions for Scotland,
where his kindred, the Dalriad kings, readily received
him. It will be remembered that his grandfather had
married Ere, daughter of Loarn Mor, and thus he was
nearly connected with the sovereigns of Scotland as
well as with successive kings of Ireland; for his
cousins, Domnall and Fergus, became joint kings of
Erin on the death of Dermid a few years after the
Battle of Cuildrevne.
The copy of the Psalms, which was the original
cause of all this trouble, yet exists, and is preserved as
an heir-loom in the family of the O'Donnells of New-
port, representatives of St. Columba's race. The
Ca'ah or Cafkach (The " Battler ") " consists of fifty-
eight leaves of fine vellum, written in a small, uniform
The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vi.
but rather hurried hand, with some slight attempts at
illumination." Of its inner cases nothing is recorded,
but the magnificent external silver-gilt case, set with
precious stones, in which it now reposes, was made at
the expense of Cathbar O'Donnell, Chief of Tyrconnell,
and Donnell O'Rafferty, Abbot of Kells, some time
before the year 1098, at which time this Abbot of Kells
died. The inscription on the shrine or case itself is as
follows :
" A prayer for Cathbharr O'Donnell, by whom* this
shrine was made ; and for Sitric, the son of MacAedha,
who made it ; and for Domhnall Ua Robhartaigh, the
Comharba of Cenannus, by whom it was made." The
virtues of the Ca'ah are thus recounted in the life of
St. Columkille by Manus O'Donnell :
" The Cathach, indeed, is the name of the book on
account of which the battle was fought; and it is it
that is Colum Cille's high relic in Tir Conaill ; and it
is ornamented with silver, and it is not lawful to open
it ; and if it is carried three times to the right around
.the army of the Cinel Conaill when going to battle, it
is certain that they would come out of it with victory ;
and it is upon the breast of a Comharba, or a priest
without mortal sin upon him (as well as he can), that
it is proper for the Cathach to be, at going round that
army."
The after-fate of this manuscript, written by the pen
of St. Columba, is not without interest. This precious
heir-loom of the O'Donnells received some further
decoration at the hand of Daniel O'Donnell in the year
1723. This O'Donnell, who had retired to the Conti-
OH. vi.] TJie Columban Period. 183
nent, is believed to have fought in the battle of the
Boyne. He placed the Cathach in a monastery in
Belgium, with a written injunction that it should be
kept till claimed by the head of the O'Donnell family.
It was noticed by an Irish lady early in the present
century, who spoke of it to Sir Neal O'Donnell, grand-
father of the present baronet, and he obtained it on
satisfying its keepers of his claim to the chieftainship
of the race.
As this warlike sept used to go to battle under their
book- standard, so the Kinel-Owen marched on their
wars under the bell of St. Patrick ; and another great
family of Ulster origin, the O'Kellys of Hy-Many, bore
the crozier of their patron Saint, Grellan, in like manner,
as a battle- standard.
The story of their coming under the patronage of
Grellan is too characteristic to be omitted. We have
spoken before of the three Collas who destroyed Emania
in the three hundred and thirty-first year of the Christian
era. Maine Mor, a descendant of Coll da Cree, resolved
to migrate from the central districts of Orgiall to Con-
naught. " Numerous are our heroes, and great is our
population," reasoned the chiefs of the clan, at a great
family reunion held by them at Clogher about the end
of the fifth century ; " our tribe having multiplied, and
we cannot all find room in any one province without
quarrelling among ourselves, for nobles cannot well
bear to be confined." And they also said : " Let us
see which province of Banba is thinnest in population,
and in which most Firbolgs remain ; and let us narrow
it on them. The province of Connaught is in the
184 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vi.
possession of these Atacots, excepting that they pay
tribute to our relative, and let us attack it."
" These fine hosts suddenly and heroically proceeded
in well-arranged battalions, with their flocks and
herds" westwards across the Shannon. This for-
midable inroad on the territories of the Firbolg chief,
Cian, was encountered by him with promptly raised
levies of three thousand men. Grellau, a bishop in
these semi- pagan parts a strong favourer of the clan
Colla, who had held out to him the inducement of
increased tribute and duteous submission to his au-
thority at first endeavoured to mediate. A truce was
agreed on, and hostages given to Cian, by Maine Mor.
The noblest of these was a son of Maine's, who was
given for safe keeping into the hands of Cian's law-
giver. But his wife becoming enamoured of the young
captive, the Brehon, inflamed with jealousy, counselled
Cian to put the hostages to death.
It is alleged that this treachery was intended to be
carried into eifect at a feast which Cian prepared for
them, but that St. Grellau, having information of it, and
apprehensive that his guarantee would be violated, called
down from heaven a curse on the Firbolgs. " He obtained
his request from God," says the Irish- written Life of the
Saint," for the great plain was softened and made a quag-
mire under the feet of Cian and his people, so that they
were swallowed into the earth ; and the place received
the name of Magh Liach, i.e., the plain of sorrow, from
the sorrow of the heroes who were thus cut off by the
holy cleric. Then Maine and his people came to where
St. Grellan was, and bowed down their heads to him,
CH. vi.] The Columban Period. 185
and he told them how treachery had been designed for
them, and how God and himself had saved them from
those treacherous people. St. Grellan then said to
them, ' Take possession of this territory, abominate
treachery, and you shall have my blessing ; observe
brotherly love, and ordain my tribute and my own land
for me from this day forth for ever.' ' Pass thy own
award,' said Maine, * in whatever is pleasing to thee,' &c.
* I shall,' said St. Grellan, and he repeated these brief
verses following :"
The saint having enumerated the dues and tributes
which he claimed, thus concludes his chant :
" While they remain obedient to my will, they shall be vic-
torious in every battle :
Let the warlike chiefs observe the advice of my successor,
And among the Gaels north and south, theirs shall be the
unerring director.
Frequent my sacred church which has protected each refugee :
Refuse not to pay your tribute to me, and you shall receive
as I have promised.
My blessing on the agile race, the sons of Maine' of chess-
boards ;
That race shall not be subdued, so as they carry my crozier :
Let the battle standard of the race be my crozier of true valour,
And battles will not overwhelm them ; their successes shall
be very great."
The chiefs of Hy-Many as the territory of about two
hundred square miles in Galway and Roscommon, thus
acquired by Maine Mor, was called bore from thence-
forth the crozier of St. Grellan as their battle standard.
This interesting relic was preserved for centuries in
the family of Cronelly, hereditary coarbs of Grellan.
In the year 1836 it still was in the possession of a poor
1S6 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vi.
man of the name. Nor is Maine Mor without direct
descendants yet possessed of estates on the soil thus
conquered nearly thirteen hundred years ago. How
bravely this branch of the Clan Colla contended with
the foreign foe, in the great national conflict between
Irish and Dane at Clontarf, we have yet to chronicle.
Queen Elizabeth treated with the chiefs of Hy-Many
of her day, and in 1585 made " agreement between the
Irish chieftains and inhabitants of Imany, called the
O'Kellie's country, on both sides of the river of Suek,
in Connaught, and the queen's majesty. . . . that they
and their heirs shall henceforth behave themselves
like good subjects ; shall put no ymposition or chardge
upon the inhabyters of the lands, and shall bring uppe
their children after the English fashions, and in the use
of the Englishe tounge."
We now return from the long digression into which
these singular ensigns of battle have led us, to the
ardent young scribe of the Catliach. Columba was an
accomplished poet.
There is much beauty and interest in these lines
on Ben Edar, the hill of Howth, and the saint's favourite
dwelling at Derry, thus rendered from the Irish
" Delightful to be on Benn-Edar,
Before going o'er the white sea ;
The dashing of the waves against its face,
The bareness of its shore and its border.
Delightful to be on Benn-Edar,
After coming o'er the white-bosomed sea,
To row one's little coracle
Ochone ! on the swift- waved shore.
. vi.] The Columlan Period. 187
How rapid the speed of my coracle ;
And its stern turned upon Derry ;
I grieve at my errand o'er the noble sea,
Travelling to Alba of the ravens.
My foot in iny sweet little coracle,
My sad heart still bleeding :
Weak is the man that cannot lead ;
Totally blind are all the ignorant.
There is a grey eye
That looks back upon Erin ;
It shall not see, during life,
The men of Erin, nor their wives.
My vision o'er the brine I stretch,
From the ample oaken planks ;
Large is the tear in my soft grey eye
When I look back upon Erin.
Upon Erin my attention is fixed ;
Upon Loch Levin ; upon Line',
Upon the lands the Ultonians own ;
Upon smooth Munster ; upon Meath.
Numerous in the East are tall champions ;
Many the diseases and distempers there ;
Many they with scanty clothes ;
Many the hard and jealous hearts.
Plentiful in the West the apple-fruit ;
Many the kings and princes ;
Plentiful its luxuriant sloes ;
Plentiful its noble, acorn-bearing oaks.
Melodious her clerics, melodious her birds,
Gentle her youths, wise her seniors,
Illustrious her men, noble to behold,
Illustrious her women for fond espousal.
183 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vi.
It is in the West sweet Brendan is,
And Colum, son of Crimthaun,
And in the West fair Baithin shall be,
And in the West shall Adamnan be.
Carry my inquiries after that
Unto Comgall of eternal life ;
Carry my inquiries after that
To the bold King of fair Emania.
Carry with thee, thou noble youth,
My Blessing and my benediction,
One half upon Erin, seven fold ;
And half on Alba at the same time.
Carry my benediction over the sea
To the nobles of the Island of the Gaedhil ;
Let them not credit Molaisi's words,
Nor his threatened persecution.
Were it not for Molaisi's words
At the cross of Ath-Molaisi,
I should not now permit
Disease or distemper in Ireland.
Take my blessing with thee to the West ;
Broken is my heart in my breast :
Should sudden death overtake me
It is for my great love of the Gaedhil.
Gaedhil, Gaedhil, beloved name !
My only desire is to invoke it :
Beloved is Cuimin of fair hair ;
Beloved are Cainnech and Comgall.
Were the tribute of all Alba mine,
From its centre to its border,
I would prefer the site of one house
In the middle of fair Derry.
CH. vi.] The Columlan Period. 189
The reason I love Derry is,
For its quietness, for its purity,
And for its crowds of white angels
From the one end to the other.
The reason why I love Derry is,
For its quietness, for its purity ;
Crowded full of heaven's angels
Is every leaf of the oaks of Derry.
My Derry, my little oak grove,
My dwelling, and my little cell ;
eternal God, in heaven above,
Woe be to him who violates it !
Beloved are Durrow and Derry ;
Beloved is Raphoe in purity ;
Beloved Drumhone of rich fruits ;
Beloved are Swords and Kells.
Beloved to my heart, also in the West,
Drumcliff, at Culcinne's strand.
To behold the fair Loch Feval,
The form of its shores, is delightful.
Delightful is that, and delightful
The salt main on which the sea-gulls cry,
On my coming from Derry afar ;
It is quiet, and it is delightful.
Delightful."
Although, from internal evidences, this charming
poem, in the complete form in which it has come clown
to us, may be later than St. Columba's age, yet as it is
indeed "delightful," from its sweetness and tender-
ness, its love of nature, and love of country, and we
doubt not truly expresses the yearnings of that noble
exile's heart ; so we shall not err in accepting its
190 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vi.
sentiments as those of the poet- saint, even if it be not
all penned by his own hand.
St. Columba was in his forty-second year when he
left his native land for the small island of Hy, or
lona, off the coast of Argyll. This retired spot,
afterwards called from him I-Colm-Kill, was be-
stowed on the saint by his relative Conall, one of the
Dalriad kings of Alba.
St. Columba belonged, as we have already noticed,
to the second order of Irish saints. They had one
head one Lord, but used different liturgies and
rules. They celebrated Easter on the fourteenth
of the moon after the equinox. They had the eastern
tonsure from ear to ear, instead of the Roman tonsure
of the crown. They dispensed with the society of
women, and were mainly presbyters in rank, having
few bishops among them only such as were required
for the laying on of hands and their monasteries
were ruled by abbots, whose jurisdiction extended
over the entire community, even when including
bishops among them. This order, more national
though more ascetical than the first order of Irish
saints, may be regarded as "the Development of a
native ministry."
The question as to the time of celebrating Easter
was that on which the Irish and British Christians
dissented, not without much bitterness on both sides,
from the other Christian churches of Europe. The
general rule for fixing the time on which this festival
should be held was, that it should be the Sunday
following that fourteenth day of the moon which fell
CH. vi.] The Columban Period. 191
next after the vernal equinox. The Eastern Church
acquired the opprobrious name of Quarta-decimans,
because they celebrated Our Lord's resurrection on the
fourteenth, or Passover Day itself on whatever day of
the week that might chance to fall, whether it were
Sunday or not. The Irish observed their Easter on
the Sunday between the fourteenth and twentieth day
of the moon, not always on the Sunday after the
Passover, as celebrated by the Roman Church ; but
sometimes on the day of the Passover itself, when that
happened to fall on Sunday. The Irish also used for
their calculations, as to the moon's age, the cycle of
Sulpicius Severus, which consisted of eighty-four years,
while Kome adopted the more accurate cycle of nine-
teen years, known as the cycle of Anatolius. On this
point endless disputes were waged for centuries ; the
Irish ecclesiastics being unwilling, even for the sake of
conformity, to abandon the habits practised by their
venerated saints.
Worship, labour, study, such were the domestic oc-
cupations of the monks of Hy. Columba himself
was a noted scribe. That most beautiful manuscript
of western Europe, the Book of Kells, now preserved
in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, is as-
cribed to Columba. Its illuminated letters are glorious
specimens of calligraphic art. The rich shrine in which
it was enclosed had, a few centuries later, almost
proved fatal to this valuable manuscript. It was stolen
by night from the sacristy of the church of Kells. It
was found "after two months and twenty days, its
gold having been stolen off it, and a sod over it."
192 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vi.
The Book of Durrow, another Irish MS. of great an-
tiquity, is also ascribed to Columba. The silver-
mounted case has been lost, but the book and its
beautiful illuminations may be seen in Trinity College,
Dublin.
Durrow the field of the oak sometimes called
Eos-Grencha, was a spot dearly loved by St. Columba.
Looking back from the land of his exile to .the monas-
tery he had founded there, and left in care of his friend
Cormac, he exclaims
" How happy the son of Dimma, Of the devout church,
When he hears in Durrow, The desire of his mind,
The sound of the wind against the elms, When 'tis played,
The blackbird's joyous note, When he claps his wings,
And listens at early dawn in Eos-Grencha, To the cattle,
And the cooing of the cuckoo from the tree, On the brink of
summer.
Throe objects I have left, the dearest to me, On this peopled
world,
Durrow, Deny, the noble angelic land, And Tir Luighdech."
In another poem, ascribed to Columba, and, if not
from his pen, at least of great antiquity, a dialogue
between the saint and his friend Cormac is given.
The scene is Hy ; and Cormac has escaped the perils of
Coire-Brecain, the whirlpool of Corryvreckan, on the
west coast of Scotland, and other dangers of the ocean.
Columba is the first speaker :
" Thou art welcome, comely Cormac,
From over the all-teeming sea ;
What sent thee forth ; where hast thou been
Since the time we were on the same path ?
Two years and a month to this night
Is the time thou hast been wandering from port to port,
CH. vi.] The Columban Period. 193
From wave to wave : resolute the energy
To traverse the wide ocean !
Since the sear hath sent thee hither,
Thou shalt have friendship and counsel :
Were it not for Christ's sake, Lord of the fair world,
Thou hadst merited -satire and reproach."
.
CORMAC.
" Let there be no reproach now,
descendant of Niall, for we are a noble race ;
The sun shines in the west as in the east :
A righteous guest is entitled to reception."
Columba bids him welcome, but expresses surprise
at his leaving Ireland ; and to the regret of Cormac,
predicts to him that his resurrection should be in
Durrow. Cormac does not sympathise in the yearn-
ing love which the exile felt for the soil of Erin.
" Death is better," exclaims Columba, " in reproachless
Erin, than perpetual life in Alba !" Cormac, moved
doubtless by the earnestness of his master, expresses
his willingness to return to Durrow :
" Columcille of a hundred graces,
For thou art a prophet, thou art a true poet,
Thou art learned, a scribe, happy, perfect,
And a devout accomplished priest ;
Thou art a king's son of reddened valour,
Thou art a virgin, thou art a pilgrim ;
We shall abide in the west if thou desire it ;
Christ will unfold his mysterious intentions."
COLUMBA.
" Cormac, beautiful is thy church,
With its books and learning ;
A devout city with a hundred crosses,
Without blemish, without transgression ;
194 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vi.
A holy dwelling confirmed by my verse.
The green of Aedh, son of Brenann,
The oak-plain of far-famed Kos-Grencha;
The night upon which her pilgrims collect,
The number of her wise a fact wide spread
Is unknown to any but the only God."
Conall, the ruler of the Dalriad colony, in the west
of Scotland, who had sanctioned the settlement of his
saintly kinsman on the outlying Isle of lona, which the
missionary exile and his companions probably found
unclaimed and unoccupied, died soon after, and was
succeeded by his relative Aidan, who came to lona
to be inaugurated at the hands of Columba. By this
prince, who was a man of much vigour and ability, the
real foundations of the Scottish monarchy were laid.
He repaired to Ireland, and took part in the convention
of Drumceat, near Newtown-Limavady, in the county
of Derry, A.D. 575, and there obtained the recognition
of his independence. For this success he was indebted
to the good offices of Columba, who also returned for
the purpose of bearing a part in affairs in which, from
his near relationship to the princes of the Hy-Niall
dynasties, he also was deeply interested.
Aedh, son of Ainmire\ was monarch of Ireland at
the time of the convention of Drumceat. During the
reign of Dermid MacKervil, A.D. 554, Tara had been
cursed by St. Euadhan of Lorrah, and ceased from that
time to be the residence of the supreme monarch. The
kings of the northern Hy-Niall, who succeeded
Dermid, made Aileach, near Derry, between Loughs
Foyle and Swilly, their residence ; while the princes of
CH. vi.] The Columban Period. 195
the southern Hy-Niall ruled from Dun-na-Sgaith, on
Lough Ennell, near Mullingar. Donall and Fergus,
sons of Murkertach MacErca, were the successors of
Dermid; and the throne was successively filled by
Eochy and Baedan, Ainmire, and Baedan II., till Aedh,
son of Ainmire, assumed the sovereignty of Ireland, 568.
King Aedh endeavoured to banish the bards from
Ireland. Their numbers had become excessive, and
their exactions most oppressive. The provincial king
of Connaught at this period, Guary Aidhne, had been
well nigh impoverished by his gifts to them.
A romantic story is told of this king and the poet
Sancan, which casts some light on the probable age of
that remarkable composition, the Tain Bo Cuailgne,
referred to in an earlier chapter. The Tain was, says
the legend, originally composed by Fergus MacRoy
himself, one of the chief actors in the foray, who rode
beside Maev's chariot and recounted what had passed
before his own eyes. But in process of time the
memory of the piece had been lost, so that though it
was in the list of recitations which might lawfully be
demanded of .every bard, even Sancan himself was
unable to repeat it ; and this blot on the chief bard's
pretensions was well known ; but from a feeling of
reverence, his entertainers were careful not to expose
his deficiency, and the Tain had long ceased to be
called for. At last, on a visit of Sancan with a great
retinue of other bards to Guary, the stores of the king
were well-nigh exhausted by the rapacity of his guests,
and Guary, to be relieved of their company, called on
Sancan to recite the Tain. The bard and his com-
196 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. vi.
peers retired in extreme indignation ; and his son
Murgen undertook a pilgrimage into " the East " that
is, to the continent of Europe in search of the lost lay.
He was accompanied by Eimene", who joined himself as
the companion of his pious wanderings. On reaching
the shores of Loch Ein, in Roscommon, Murgen, faint-
ing from fatigue, stopped to rest, while Eimene went in
search of a house of entertainment. It will be remem-
bered, it was in Loch Ein that Fergus himself had
perished; and the story goes that the spot where
Murgen lay down to rest happened to be the grave of
the poet -warrior. Murgen, comprehending that he was
now close to the very author of the piece he was in
quest of, extemporized an invocation to the shade of
Fergus, so earnest, that presently the grave gave up its
dead.
Fergus rose; a mist ascended with him, and a flash was seen
As of brazen sandals blended with a mantle's wafture green :
But so close the cloud closed o'er him, Eimene, returned at
last,
Found not on the field before him but a mist-heap grey and
vast.
Thrice to pierce the hoar "recesses faithful Eimene essayed ;
Thrice through foggy wildernesses back to open air he
strayed :
Till a deep voice through the vapours filled the twilight far
and near,
And the night, her starry tapers kindling, stooped from
heaven to hear.
Concealed within the mist-cloud, Murgen learns
from the shade of Fergus the perfect version of the
CH. vi.] The Oolumban Period. 197
Tain, and restores his father to the unquestioned
supremacy of the bards of Erin. Such was the order of
men in whose favour Columba interposed his authority
at Drumceat. Guary's device has not prevented his
name continuing to be renowned for liberality. He
bestowed gifts with both hands : but the right hand was
the larger, " for with it he gave to the poor."
St. Columba used his influence with the king to
persuade him, instead of banishing the bards, to reduce
their number only ; and instead of demanding tribute
from the kindred princes of the Dalriad colony in
Scotland, which would have resulted in war, thus to
limit his requirements : " Their expeditions and host-
ings to be with the men of Erin always ; for hostings
always belong to the parent stock. Their tributes, and
gains, and shipping to be with the men of Alba. And
when one of the men of Erin or Alba should come from
the east, the Dal Biada to entertain them, whether few
or many ; and the Dal Riada to * convey them on, if
they require it."
There is a tradition that when he arrived from lona
he brought with him a sod of grass on which to place
his feet, and wore a bandage over his eyes, in fulfilment
of the penance enjoined on him by St. Molaise never
to set foot again, or even look, on the soil of Erin.
Columba, having visited the monasteries he had
founded in Ireland, returned to lona, where he died on
the 9th of June, 507, in the 77th year of his age, having
lived in exile from his native land for nearly thirty-
five years.
Adamnan, a subsequent abbot of lona, has been the
198 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vi.
biographer of St. Columba. He has recorded that, on
the last day of his life, the aged saint had visited the
granary of his monastery, blessed it, and congratulated
his brethren on the store of food which was there laid
up. He then, with cautions of secrecy, told his
attendant, Dermid, of his approaching end. " This
day," said he, "is in the sacred volume called the
Sabbath, which is interpreted, Eest : and to-day is
verily a Sabbath for me, because it is the last with
me of this present toilsome life, upon which, after all
my toils and sorrows, I come to enjoy my Sabbath ;
and at the approaching hour of midnight, as the
hallowed day of the Lord begins, I shall, as the
Scripture saith, be going the way of my fathers. For
now my Lord Jesus Christ vouchsafes to invite me to
himself, and when this midnight, as I say, comes, I
shall go at his own bidding to be with him."
He ascended the hill which overhung the monastery,
and " stood at the top of it a little while ; and as he
stood there, with uplifted hands, pronounced a blessing
on his community." On his return, he is recorded to
have caressed as with the consciousness that it was
for the last time an old white horse belonging to the
community, which, being too feeble for work, had been
permitted to graze in the abbey-close, and had ap-
proached the saint, as if to solicit his notice. Having
returned to the monastery, he spent the afternoon of
that Saturday in his chamber writing the Psalter. He
paused, at evening, at the close of his page, at that
verse where it is written, " They that seek the Lord
shall not want any good thing."
CH. vi.] The Columban Period. 199
The saint, whose hours on earth were numbered,
attended the Vesper service, and leaving the church,
sought a brief repose on the bare stone which served
him for a bed. He was roused by the midnight bell
summoning the community to their devotions. " Rising
up hastily, he goes to the church, and running before
the rest, and coming in alone, he sinks on bended knees
in prayer." His faithful attendant, Dermid, was the
first to follow. He discovered his master in a dying
state, raised him, and supported his head on his breast.
The monks had by this time arrived. Columba,
speechless, yet filled with tender love, raised his feeble
right hand to bless them, " so that he might appear,
even with a motion of his hand, to convey to his
brethren that benediction which he was unable to
express orally, from his breath failing him. And after
having thus imparted to them his solemn blessing, he
immediately breathed forth his spirit."
And so died one who is represented by his friend
and biographer as " angelic in aspect, pure in conversa-
tion, holy in his employments, of excellent abilities,
so eminent for wisdom, that, although his dwelling
was on earth, yet he showed himself by his dis-
position to be fit for the society of the inhabitants of
heaven. "
Nor did the influence of Columba cease with his life :
the monasteries which he founded were nurseries of
learning and piety. The Venerable Bede has borne
testimony on this point : " Whatever kind of person
he himself was," writes the Anglo-Saxon historian,
" this we know of him for certain, that he left sue-
200 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vi.
cessors distinguished for their great chastity, divine
love, and strict attention to their rules of discipline ;
following, indeed, uncertain cycles in their computa-
tion of the time of the great festival (Easter) ;
because, far away as they were out of the world, no
one had supplied them with the synodal decrees re-
lating to the Paschal observance ; yet withal diligently
observing such works of piety and chastity as they
could find in the prophetic, evangelic, and apostolic
writings."
Columba was interred at lona ; but after the lapse
of years, probably in the eighth century, his bones
were exhumed and enshrined. Saul, Downpatrick,
Durham, and Dunkeld contend for having had possession
of the relics of this saintly man. The shrine, which
became " the title-deed of the Columban community,"
was from time to time taken over to Ireland as the
warrant for levying religious contributions. Its rich
decorations fatally excited the cupidity of the plun-
dering Northmen ; and when in the ninth century
lona was devastated by these pirates, the shrine was
permanently deposited in Ireland for greater security.
In the twelfth century it was carried off by the Danes
of Dublin, but restored probably despoiled of its gold
and silver at the end of a month. Its after-fate is
unknown.
When Columba, with the cerecloth over his eyes,
and a sod from the land of Alba under his feet,
revisited his native land to take part in the convention
of Drumceat, the queen, wife of Aedh, son of Ainmire,
suggested to her sons to receive the saint with insult.
CH. vi.] The Columban Period. 201
To this advice, our ecclesiastical writers tell us, her
eldest son, Conall, hearkened, but Donall, the younger,
courteously saluted the stranger, and was rewarded by
his blessing, and a prediction that he should fill the
throne of Ireland. Some years after the death of his
father, who was succeeded by sovereigns of little note,
this prince attained to the promised position.
202 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vn.
CHAPTEE VII.
THE SCHOLASTIC PEKIOD.
THE period extending from the convention of Drumceat
to the first arrival of the Danes, was the least disturbed,
and, in intellectual progress, the most flourishing epoch
in the history of Ireland before the Conquest. Yet the
native accounts we have of it are meagre in proportion
to the paucity of those events which were alone thought
worthy of being chronicled battles, usurpations, and
violent deaths. The local annals being thus barren,
we have to look for the picture of Ireland during this,
which we have called the Scholastic, period, by the
reflected light of external literature, which certainly
borrowed a great part of its lustre from the schools for
which Ireland began to grow famous shortly after the
regal and ecclesiastical power had cemented their
alliance at Drumceat. But, before these comparatively
halcyon days were attained to, there remained one
grand contest in which all the old pagan and bardic
influences, uniting with provincial jealousy of the
central government, arrayed themselves for a decisive
struggle against the newly consolidated strength of the
church and crown.
CH. vii.] The Scholastic Period. 203
This was the battle of Moy Eath, an event well
marked as an historical fact, and which has been made
the subject of a bardic poem-story, for the better
appreciation of which it will be necessary to trace
downward the influence impressed on his generation
by St. Columba.
King Aedh's household had received him with
insult, with one exception. This was Donall, a younger
son, and who had then little prospect of the crown.
Twenty years later, King Aedh (or Hugh, as the
name is Anglicised) met his death at Dunbolg, in
the county of Wicklow, while endeavouring to exact
the Boromean tribute from the then king of Leinster.
The stratagem by which the provincial king, with
inferior numbers, defeated the Ard-Eigh, is thus
recorded : He entered the camp disguised as a leper,
and reported that the men of Leinster, unprepared
for resistance, were coming to the king with overtures
of peace, and stores of provisions for the royal army.
As evening closed in, a drove of bullocks, laden with
leathern bags, approached the camp, and entered un-
challenged, when they announced that they were the
bearers of stores and gifts for Aedh. Each sack con-
tained a soldier, and, when night closed in, they attacked
the camp and killed the king himself. Two princes of
the same name, but not of his immediate family, suc-
ceeded. In 626, his son Maelcova reigned for a brief
period, when he resigned his authority to Sweeny Menn,
and became a cleric.
Sweeny banished from Erin the Donall of whom we
have spoken ; and his prospects of the throne, predicted
204 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. VH.
for him by St. Columba, appeared more distant and
hopeless than ever.
Donall sought refuge in Scotland, accompanied by
his foster son, Congal Claen, provincial king of Uladh
or Ulster. The Dalriad monarch was Congal's maternal
grandfather, and he hospitably received the exiles.
Here Donall incited his foster son to attempt the life of
King Sweeny Menn, promising, if he thus became king
of Erin, that he would reinstate Congal in all the lands
of Ulster, once ruled by his ancestors, but of late cir-
cumscribed by the encroachments of the Clan Colla
and the Hy-Niall to the present counties of Antrim
and Down. Congal Claen made the attempt. He thus
recounts the assassination of Sweeny, which, in those
days, seems to have been regarded as a legitimate
exploit :
" I was nursed by thee," he says to Donall in after
years, "until thou wast expelled by the king of Erin,
Suibhne Menn. . . . and thou didst repair to the king of
Alba, taking me along with thee in that exile ; and
thou didst receive great honour from him, and you
formed a treaty, thou and the king of Alba, and he
protested to thee that he would not oppose thee as long
as the sea should surround Erin. Thou didst after-
wards return to Erin, and I returned along with thee,
for I was in exile along with thee. . . . And what thou
didst say was, that whoever thou shouldst get to destroy
the king of Erin, thou wouldst be bound to restore his
territory to him whenever thou shouldst become king
over Erin. I went on the enterprise, king, for a
promise that my patrimony should be wholly restored
CH. vii.] The Scholastic Period. 205
to me, whenever thou shouldst become monarch of
Erin ; and I delayed not until I reached Ailech Neid
(the dwelling of the northern Hy-Niall princes, near
Lough S willy), where the king held his residence at
that time. The king came out upon the green, sur-
rounded by a great concourse of the men of Erin, and
he was playing chess amidst the hosts ; and I came
into the assembly, passing, without the permission of
any one, through the crowds, and made a thrust of my
spear, Gearr-Congail, which I held in my hand, at the
breast of the king ; and the stone which was at his back
responded to the thrust, and his heart's blood was on
the head of the javelin, so that he fell dead."
Donall, son of Aedh, son of Ainmire, whose accession
to the throne was thus secured, found himself unable to
fulfil his promise to the " son of Scannlan of the Broad
Shield, the haughty, famous, intelligent, arch-king of
Ulster," Congal Claen. The Clan Colla were in too
firm possession of Orgiall (now Armagh and Mona-
ghan), and the Hy-Niall, of the north-western districts
of Ulster, to permit of Donall restoring Uladh to its
ancient boundaries.
King Donall fixed his royal habitation at Dun-na-n'-
geadh, on the banks of the Boyne ; Tara, as we have
before said, having been deserted, since it was cursed by
St. Ruadhan of Lorrah. The attainment of his utmost
desires could not secure for the monarch tranquil en-
joyment. In his home, in the beautiful valley of the
Boyne, his nights were haunted by ill-omened dreams.
To his queen first, and afterwards to his hermit brother,
the ex-king Maelcova, Donall revealed his visions.
206 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vij.
Maelcova thus interpreted the dream : " A greyhound
whelp, in a dream," said he, " is the same as a king's
son ; thou hast two foster-sons, O king, Conal Caev,
and Congal Claen, the son of Scannlan of the Broad
Shield. Either of these will rise up against thee,
O king, and will bring the plunderers and the doers of
evil of Alba, France, Saxon-land, and Britain with him
to Erin, who will give seven battles to thee and the
men of Erin, so that great slaughter shall be made
between you both, and in the seventh battle which shall
be fought between you, thy foster-son shall fall. Now
it is proper for thee, king, to prepare a banquet, and
to invite to it the men of Erin, and to obtain the
hostages of every province in Erin, and also to detain
in fetters, to the end of a year, these two foster-sons of
thine, because it is one of them who will rise up against
thee, and because the venom goes out of every dream
within the year. Then set them at liberty, and bestow
many jewels and much wealth upon them."
" This shall not be done by me," said the king ;
"for sooner would I quit Erin than deal treacherously
by my own foster-sons, for they will never rise up
against me; and if all the men of the world should
oppose me, Congal would not."
That part of his brother's advice which related to
the banquet found more favour in the mind of Donall.
He summoned his guests, and sent out purveyors to
bring in store of provisions, for " Donall did not deem
it honourable that there should be in Erin a kind of
food that should not be found at that banquet." These
men appropriated for their purpose a store of goose
CH. vn.] The Scholastic Period. 207
eggs, the property of Ere of Slane, an anchorite who
passed his days immersed to his arm-pits in the Boyne,
having his Psalter before him on the river bank, con-
stantly engaged in prayer : and whose sole repast was
daily made on cresses of the Boyne and these goose eggs.
When Ere found his store so invaded, he "cursed the
banquet as bitterly as he was able to curse it."
When the ill-omened feast was prepared, Congal, at
the request of the king, went to inspect the arrange-
ments. He saw the goose eggs, and marvelled at
them, and ate a part of one of them, and took a drink
after it. He then came out, and said to Donall, " I
think," said he, " if the men of Erin were to remain for
three months in the palace, that there is a sufficiency
of food and drink for them there."
The bishops present at the feast bless the entertain-
ment. Unfortunately, Congal Claen has eaten already
of the eggs cursed by the hermit Ere. And now the
hosts are seated. " First of all the king sat in the golden
couch; and the custom and law at this time was, that when
the monarch of Erin was of the southern Hy-Niall, the
king of Connaught should sit at his right hand ; but if
of the northern Hy-Niall, the king of Ulster should
be at his right hand, and the king of Connaught at his
left hand." Unhappily this order was infringed, Malodar
Macha,king of Orgiall, being placed at the king's right
hand, the position which belonged to Congal Claen.
Nor did the mortifications of Congal end here. The
goose egg, presented to each o the other kings in a
silver dish, assumed, in his case, the contemptible
form of a hen egg on a wooden platter. He starts
208 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vn.
up, angrily recounts his wrongs, and, followed by
the men of Ulster, leaves the feast. The bishops
present, at the request of the king, follow to entreat
his return. Congal is deaf alike to persuasions
and curses. "I swear by my valour," said Congal,
" that not one cleric of you shall reach the king's
house alive, if I or any Ultonian be cursed by you."
Terror then seized the saints, " whereupon Congal went
far away from them, and they cursed him afterwards."
The poets are then sent by the king. Congal receives
them graciously, gives them presents, yet refuses to
return. He proceeds to the abode of his uncle, Cellach,
who, though now aged and a cripple, had been a hero
in his youth. His voice was strong for war. "I
pledge thee my word," he exclaimed, disclosing his
weapon, which, unknown to his attendants, he wore under
his gown, when Congal had told his story," that shouldest
thou receive any considerations from the king but a
battle, all the Ultonians could not save thee from me,
because I would thrust this sword through thy heart ;
for it is not the custom of the Ultonians to accept of
considerations in place of battle until they take revenge
for insults. I have seven good sons, and they shall
go with thee into the battle, and if I were able myself
I would go also, and the Ultonians should not be
defeated while I had life."
Congal continued his journey, and sought for allies
and auxiliary forces in Scotland, Scandinavia, France,
and Britain. With these foreign mercenaries, and
aided by the dispersed remnant of the Bards and Druids,
Congal returned to Ulster, and encountered the forces
CH. vii.] The Scholastic Period. 209
of King Donall at Moy Bath, now Moira, in the
county of Down. A. D. 636 is the date of this eventful
battle, which may be considered as the expiring struggle
of paganism in Ireland.
The Druids who accompanied the host of Congal
could not encourage hopes of ultimate success ; but
" whoever felt dejection for the battle, it was not the
arch-king of Ulster that was sorrowful, dejected, or
pusillanimous at the approach of this final defeat, and
it was in vain for his Druids to make true magical
predictions for him, and it was not profitable for his
clergy to seek instructing him ; for his friends might
as well converse with a rock as advise him."
On the morning of the battle, Congal, lulled to sleep
by the " soft sounds of the musical pipes, and by the
warbling vibrations and melancholy notes" of the
stringed instruments, was aroused by the chant of his
Druid :
Congal Claen, arise.
Thy enemies approach thee ;
The characteristic of an imbecile is the desire of constantly
lying asleep ;
Sleep of death is an awful omen ;
Little energy forebodes the destruction of the coward ;
The desire of the hero and the watchman is early rising ;
An inciter of valour is a proud and fearless fiery-champion ;
Fervour of blood the characteristic of a hero
Be to thee, Congal.
Congal, though hopeless of success, is unflinching
in his determination to fight. " Which of the great
descendants of Ir," he asks, " has got protection against
final destruction, or will live without being .killed?
210 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. VH.
And it is a good king like Donall, with the arch-chief-
tains of Erin about him, to whom it belongs by fate to
have the killing and slaughtering of the Ultonians on
this occasion," said Congal. "But though I should
attempt to avoid this battle, and save myself from final
destruction (for my Druids are making true predictions
to me that I shall fall in this battle), yet flight has
never saved a wretch : it is profitless to fly from death."
King Donall, on his side, although deeply lamenting
the necessity of the appeal to arms, cheerfully addresses
his army :
" Arise, arise, youths ! quickly and unanimously,
firmly and prudently, vigorously and fearlessly, to
meet this attack of the Ultonians and foreigners. . . .
that so the battle-reparations which Congal so loudly
demands may be the battle in which his own final
destruction shall be wrought ; for a furious enraged
bull is not entitled to protection, nor a man with the
daring deeds of a demon to forgiveness, unless indeed
he is purified by repentance (for even though the
beloved nursling of my heart, Congal, should be slain,
his sorrow and regret for his crimes would make me
lighter, and his anguish for past offences would render
my wounded heart calmer). . . . Let the conduct of
your heroes be brave and headstrong to maintain the
field of battle ; let the feet of your mighty men be firm,
solid, cemented, and immovable on the earth, and let
the hands of your champions be quick, expert, and
wounding in using your swords, lances, and warlike
shields, and let none of you go into the conflict except
one who longs to approach it ; for it would be trusting
CH. vii.] The Scholastic Period. 211
to shadows in a prince to trust to the exertions of his
heroes unless they were all equally desirous to rush to
the scene of action to defend him."
King Donall further reminds them of the blessing
invoked on his head of yore by St. Columba. His
army, thus animated, performed great feats of valour.
The doomed Congal fought with equal bravery.
That Congal's ambition might the more signally be
mortified, he met his death at the hands of an idiot, a
foster-son, as he himself also was, of King Donall.
Cuanna had been sent back to his father's house when
his infirmity had been discovered, because " the king did
not think it becoming to have an idiot as a foster-son."
On the day when the hosts were mustering at Moy
Rath, the despised youth was sent by his stepmother
to collect firewood, and was met by her reproaches for
the selection he had made. " The firewood thou hast
brought with thee is a bad present, Cuanna," said
the woman ; " and it is becoming and like thyself ;
and alas ! thou art not the kind of a son we stand in
need of having here to-day, but (we need) a son
who would assist his father and his fosterer on
this day of battle; for Congal, with his Ultonians
and foreigners, has been killing and overwhelming
them these six days ; and it was thy father's turn to
fight yesterday, and we know not whether he has or
has not survived."
The despised Cuanna, stung by these reproaches,
follows on the track of the hosts till he reaches
Newry, and from thence continues his route to Moy
Rath.
212 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vn.
" Cuanna came forward in rapid course, on the
strong track of the hosts, till he arrived at Magh
Kath, where he saw the great forces of both parties
attacking each other. As the men of Erin were there,
they saw one lone man in the plain approaching them
from the south-west, and they ceased till they recog-
nised him. f He is Cuanna, the idiot,' said one of
them ; ' He is Cuanna, the fool,' said a second man ;
1 It was no small cause of waiting,' said a third man.
In a short time Cuanna came on to where the king of
Erin was. The king bade him welcome. * Good, my
dear Cuanna,' said he ; ' wherefore hast thou come to
us to-day?' 'To assist thee, monarch,' said
Cuanna, ' and to lay Congal prostrate, though he is
my foster-brother.' ' It behoves thee,' said the
monarch of Erin, ' though thou knowest it not, to
press thy share of this battle against Congal, for he
slew thy father in yesterday's battle.' Cuanna grew
red as he heard this, and said, ' Give me weapons,
O monarch, and I pledge my word that I will repel
any fighter of a hundred men, who is against thee
this day.' All gave a great shout of derision aloud on
hearing Cuanna. Cuanna said to them, ' I swear by
my word,' said he, 'that if I had arms, or edged
weapons at hand, I would revenge on some of you
your having mocked me.' ' Not so,' said Domhnall
(Donall) ; ' take no heed or notice of them ; and here
is for thee the second missile javelin which I have to
spare, and it is the third best spear in Erin, the other
two being the spear which is along with it, and the
javelin called Gearr Congail, for an erring cast cannot
CH. vn.] The Scholastic Period. 213
be given with either of them.' The idiot took the
lance, and brandished it in the presence of the king,
and said that he would achieve with it a deed which
would be pleasing to the king."
Congal had vanquished all opponents, and was in
the full flush of his conquering progress, when he
encountered his imbecile foster-brother.
Congal, on seeing his companion and foster-brother,
" bade him welcome, "and said, * Terrible is the enmity,
and heroic is the muster, when fools and madmen are
waging battle against me.' ' It is not the act of a
prince or a true hero in thee, indeed,' said Cuanna,
'to cast reflections on the son of any good man or
good hero who should come to give his day of battle
to assist his relatives in the struggle of a great battle.'
'Be not enraged, Cuanna,' said Congal, 'for I
know that it was not for martial achievements, or to
perform feats of arms or valour, thou hast come to
Magh Rath on this expedition.' ' It is not the saying
of an arch-king for thee to say so,' said Cuanna ; ' why
should I not lend my aid in battle to my tribe, and
my monarch ? But, however, I can more easily bear
a reproach than forbear giving assistance to my friends
on this day of battle.' Then Congal passed by the
idiot. But Cuanna pressed his foot against the support
and the solidity of the earth, and putting his finger on
the cord of his broad-headed spear, he made a bold,
terrible, destructive cast at Congal, and it passed be-
yond the angle of his great shield, so that the hand-
spear pierced the armour of Congal and entered his
abdomen, and pierced all the viscera, so that as much
214 T/ie Irish before the Conquest. [CB. vii.
as would kill a man of its blade was to be seen at the
other side of his body, and of the armour which de-
fended it. Congal looked on one side, and observed
that it was the idiot that wounded him ; and it was in
his power to slay him on the spot, but he did not like
to see the blood of an idiot on his arms : he laid his
heroic weapons on the ground, and made a drag and a
mighty pull to draw back the spear, but he failed ; he
made a second effort, and failed ; but in the third
effort he dragged it out, and he extended his strong
warlike hand and drew his belt to close the wound,
and took up his arms off the ground, and proceeded to
address the idiot, and said to him, ' Woe is me,
Cuanna,' said Congal, * that it was not a mighty
puissant lord, or a hundred-killing champion, that
sent that shot to destroy me. It grieves me, more-
over, that it was not the mighty, many-battled,
populous champion, Cellach, the son of Maelcobha,
that has to boast of having first wounded my body.
1 lament that it was not the pillar, numerously-
attended-in-battle, Crummhael, the son of Suibhne, that
chanced to wound me, for I slew his father at the
instigation of the monarch of Erin, so that, a debtor
might not owe the debt of enmity.' ' Desist, Con-
gal/ said Cuanna ; ' old is the proverb that his own
danger hangs over the head of every rash man.'
' That is not the same, O Cuanna,' said Congal, ' as
that I should fall by the deeds of an imbecile idiot
without a firm mind, and without a cause for destroy-
ing me.' After this Congal recognized that he was
neither king of Ulster nor Erin after this one wound."
OH. vii.] The Scholastic Period. 215
Thus perished Congal Claen, the last of the
Rudrician kings of Ulster. Well might the victorious
Donall exclaim
Alas for him who destroyed all Erin
For a dispute about one egg !
Donall was ever a friend to the church and sub-
missive to ecclesiastics. Under the influence of
St. Fechin of Fore, he became the founder of many
monastic establishments. Among these we may
pause to mention the Abhey of Cong, on the neck of
land which divides Lough Corrib from Lough Mask.
Cong became, in subsequent times, the residence and
last resting-place of several kings of Connaught.
Boderic O'Connor, monarch at the time of the Conquest,
died in that retreat. The ruins which stand on this
most interesting spot date probably from his time the
latter part of the twelfth century.
St. Fechin, himself of noble blood, was a builder of
no mean merit. He erected the beautiful little church
at Fore, which is yet standing ; and to him also is
ascribed an ancient mill which adjoins it, in the green
secluded valley of Westmeath, where this anchorite and
his community sought for solitude and holy meditation.
The monks of old must have had an exquisite feeling
for nature, at least we may so infer from the sites they
selected for their monasteries and cells. The ecclesi-
astical establishment on- High Island, off the coast of
Connemara, one of this saint's foundations, though
one of the most secluded of all the Irish lauras, com-
mands a prospect of wondrous grandeur, the billows
216 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. VH.
of the Atlantic on one side, the varied outlines of
the Connemara coast and its grand mountains on the
other.
St. Fechin died of the Buidhe Clionnaill, or " yellow
plague," a fearful pestilence, which desolated Ireland
as well as Wales at this period. In both countries the
visitation was impersonated in the popular imagination.
The Welsh prince, who shut himself up to avoid the
pest, was struck by a glance of the yellow destroyer,
which looked in at him through a chink of the door.
The Buidhe Chonnaill of the Irish fell, like another
Python, before a shaft of prayer and the tinkling of
a bell of St. Patrick aimed at it by St. MacCreiche.
Three sovereigns died of the pestilence, which was
followed some .years later by a cattle plague, in the
reign of Finnachta the Festive, or Hospitable. This
calamity lasted for four years, and was succeeded by
a season so severe that all the lakes and rivers were
frozen, and even the sea between Ireland and Scotland
blocked with ice. To the intercession of another eccle-
siastic, St. Moling of Ferns, is ascribed the remission
of the Boromean tribute, which, after occasioning many
ages of strife, was abandoned about A.D. 690 by this
monarch Finnachta. During his reign Adamnan, the
great abbot of lona, visited Ireland, and pitched his
tent at Tara. Already this deserted capital, no longer
the abode of " chiefs and ladies bright," was a grass-
covered hill, on which, as at the present day, the
ruins only of former royal residences could be traced.
St. Adamnan, like his illustrious predecessor Columba,
of whom he was the biographer, was of noble Irish
CH. vn.] The Scholastic Period. 217
blood. His life of St. Columba is written in Latin, ol
remarkable purity for that age. This book, next to
the history of the Venerable Bede, is the most valuable
specimen we possess of the literature of that time.
One of the earliest and most authentic accounts of
the holy places of Palestine has been preserved by the
learned diligence of Adamnan, who took down, from
the narration of Arculf, a Saxon bishop, shipwrecked
on his return from Jerusalem, and cast ashore on one
of the western Scottish islands, a very detailed and
exact account of the holy city and its chief monuments,
including the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, of which
the pilgrim bishop gave the abbot of lona a ground
plan, transcribed into the manuscript of Adamnan.
At the time of which we speak, lona had become
widely celebrated for its sanctity. In its cemetery
had been recently interred Egfrid, King of Northum-
bria, who had been slain in war with the Picts and
Scots. This prince had sent in 683 an expedition to
ravage the coasts of Leinster. This is memorable as the
first instance on record of a Saxon raid into Ireland.
During the reign of another Northumbrian prince,
Aldfrid, St. Adamnan visited York, and obtained by
his influence the release of many Irish captives, re-
stored by these efforts of Christian philanthropy to
their native land.
To return, however, to the text of our chapter, and
to its starting-point at the battle of Moy Rath. Amid
much that is grotesque and fantastic in this story,
there occur incidental illustrations of life and manners,
valuable as showing what the early Irish themselves
218 2he Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vn.
considered to have been the state of civilization existing
in the country at the period commemorated. Not the
least interesting of these relate to the progress which
had already begun to be made in the wider diffusion of
scholastic education.
Amongst Donall's warriors in this engagement was
one who afterwards became famous in the peaceful
pursuits of letters, Kenfalla, son of Ollioll. Kenfalla
was a professional scholar ; but, hitherto, not noted
for superior intellectual ability. It was his chance in
the fight to encounter the terrible Con gal himself,
from whom he received a sword-cut in the hinder part
of his head which penetrated to the brain. Being
cured of the wound, it was found that his memory had
acquired a wonderful strength and acuteness, and he
afterwards became the Admirable Crichton of his age,
and is still remembered traditionally as the Scholar,
par excellence, of early times. Hence the battle of
Moy Rath has been called a triple victory, that is,
a victory of truth over untruth ; a victory of tale-and-
story-telling over dull moments, owing to the multitude
of stories founded on the madness of Sweeny (one of
Congal's chiefs, who lost his reason in the terrors of
the conflict) ; and a victory of rough surgery, " by reason
of the taking of the brain of forgetfulness out of the
head of Cennfaeladh."
In the story of the cure of Kenfalla we get a glance
at the nature of the schools in which the Irish youth of
the seventh century conducted their studies. His leech
was Bricin of Tomregan, who resided at the meeting
of three roads, neighbouring the houses of three sdis or
CH. VIL] The Scholastic Period. 219
professors; a sai (sage) of the Fenechus (or old
Brehon) law, a sai of poetry, and a sai of letters
(literally of " legends ") ; and from frequenting their
classes during his convalescence, he acquired the first
great accession to his stores of knowledge.
These scattered teachers at cross-roads were merely
the outposts of the great hosts of men of learning who
about this time began to congregate in the shelter of
abbatial and episcopal seats: cities they have been
termed, but great villages would probably be a more
accurate designation of Armagh, Bangor, Clonard,
Lismore, and other resorts of pious and studious
persons. In these central places of learning, provi-
sion was made for the maintenance and instruction of
strangers, and there was a Saxon quarter and an Alba-
nian quarter in Armagh, just as there still remains a
Latin quarter in Paris. Among other British and
Brito-Saxon youths educated at Armagh during this
period of its growth was Aldfrid, son of Oswy, who
became King of Northumbria A.D. 685. He has
recorded his experiences in a poem, which gives a
picture of early Irish society simple, pure, and
joyous as pleasing and instructive as it will be con-
sidered singular, having regard to the time it was
composed. The translation is one of the most faith-
ful that has proceeded from the pen of its author,
J. C. Mangan :
" I found in Innisfail the fair,
In Ireland, while in exile there,
Women of worth, both grave and gay men,
Many clerics and many laymen.
220 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vn.
I travelled its fruitful provinces round,
And in every one of the five I found,
Alike in church and in palace hall,
Abundant apparel and food for all.
Gold and silver I found, and money,
Plenty of wheat, and plenty of honey ;
I found God's people rich in pity,
Found many a feast, and many a city.
I also found in Armagh the splendid,
Meekness, wisdom, and prudence blended,
Fasting, as Christ hath recommended,
And noble councillors untranscended.
I found in each great church, moreo'er,
Whether on island or on shore,
Piety, learning, fond affection,
Holy welcome, and kind protection.
I found the good lay monks and brothers
Ever beseeching help for others,
And in their keeping the holy word
Pure as it came from Jesus the Lord.
I found in Munster, unfettered of any,
Kings and queens, and poets a-many ;
Poets well skilled in music and measure,
Prosperous doings, mirth and pleasure.
I found in Connaught the just, redundance
Of riches, milk in lavish abundance ;
Hospitality, vigour, fame,
In Cruachan's land of heroic name.
I found in the country of Connall the glorious
Bravest heroes, ever victorious ;
Fair-complexioned men and warlike,
Ireland's lights, the high, the starlike.
CH. VIL] The Scholastic Period. 221
I found in Ulster, from hill to glen,
Hardy warriors, resolute men ;
Beauty that bloomed when youth was gone,
And strength transmitted from sire to son.
I found in the noble district of Boyle
[MS. here illegible.}
Brehons, Erenachs, weapons bright,
And horsemen bold and" sudden in fight.
I found in Leinster the smooth and sleek,
From Dublin to Slewmargy's peak,
Flourishing pastures, valour, health,
Long-living worthies, commerce, wealth.
I found besides, from Ara to Glea,
In the broad rich country of Ossorie,
Sweet fruits, good laws for all and each,
Great chess-players, men of truthful speech.
I found in Meath's fair principality
Virtue, vigour, and hospitality,
Candour, joyfulness, bravery, purity,
Ireland's bulwark and security.
I found strict morals in age and youth,
I found historians recording truth ;
The things I sing of in verse unsmooth,
I found them all I have written sooth."
In this there may be some interpolations of a later
age ; but the poem is a valuable proof of what at an
early period was the popular belief in both islands
regarding the condition of Ireland during the genera-
tion which succeeded the defeat of Congal, and forms at
once a commentary on, and illustration of, the authentic
statement of Bede: "There were in that country
222 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. vn.
(Ireland), at the time we speak of, many of the nobility
and also of the middle classes of the English people ;
some of whom devoted themselves to the monastic
profession, while others chose rather to pay visits to
the chambers of different masters, and so to carry on
their studies; all of whom the Scots received most
cordially, and provided with daily food free of charge,
as likewise with books to read and gratuitous instruc-
tion."
Another voice from beyond sea, which testifies to the
same enviable condition of the island during these days
of comparative happiness, comes from a greater distance.
Donatus (Donagh), bishop of Fiesole (A.D. 844), saw
nothing in Tuscany fairer or more amiable than the
aspect of the land and people from amongst whom he
had come to fix his habitation beside the Arno. His
verses have the tenderness of home-affection mingled
with a pardonable pride in his country :
" Far in the confines of the west
There lies a land of lands the best ;
An island, rich in all good store
Of robe, and gem, and golden ore ;
An isle, in soil, and sun, and wind,
Most healthful to the human kind.
With honey all the land abounds,
With lovely lawns and pasture-grounds ;
With weeds of peace and peaceful arts,
With arms of war and manly hearts.
And worthy of that blessed spot,
There dwell the nations of the Scot ;
A race of men renowned high
For honour, arms, and courtesy."
CH. vn.] The Scholastic Period. 223
The Scots of that day, emigrating from Ireland,
obtained a character for the energetic prosecution of
their enterprises, not dissimilar to that since so honour-
ably earned for themselves by the Scots of North
Britain. Eric of Auxerre, writing of Elias, bishop of
Angouleme, an Irishman, who died A.D. 875, exclaims :
" What need to speak of Ireland, setting at nought as
it does the difficulties of the sea, and coming almost in
one body to our shores, with its crowd of philosophers,
the most intelligent of whom are subjecting themselves
to a voluntary exile ?" The number, indeed, of travel-
ling Irish was destined ere long, after the repeated
Danish incursions had begun to drive them abroad for
shelter as well as for missionary and scholastic adven-
ture, to become burthensome to neighbouring coun-
tries. The Council of Chalons on Saone (A.D. 813),
and the English Synod of Calcythe (A.D. 816), both
made canons against these wandering Scots.
The reproach of ingratitude might with some justice
be made against the authors of these canons. But,
notwithstanding occasional opposition of this cha-
racter, the Irish Scots continued, for at least another
century, to maintain their place in the foremost
British and European seminaries of learning. Sweeny
of Clonmacnoise, whose bell bearing his name may still
be seen in the Museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy,
was one of the sages who assisted at the foundation
of the University of Oxford ; and the story of the
" Wisdom-sellers " before Charlemagne, introduces
us to Clement, another of the same race and origin,
for whom the honour is claimed of having been one of
224 Ihe Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vn.
the first teachers in the University of Paris. " When
the illustrious Charles had begun to reign alone in the
western parts of the world, and literature was almost
forgotten, it came to pass that two Scots from Ireland,
men incomparably learned both in human knowledge
and in the Holy Scriptures, came over with some
British merchants to the shores of France." These
persons, says the writer of the History of the Reign
of Charlemagne, soon attracted attention by standing
in the public market-place, and crying out to the
passers-by, " If any person wishes for wisdom, let him
come to us and receive it, for we have it to sell."
There seems no doubt that both the strangers were
well received by the great monarch, and that both of
them were placed over scholastic seminaries, one at
Paris, and the other near Pavia.
The great associations connected with the name of
Armagh have led us so far down the course of the
centuries, that in adverting to the other eminent school
of Lismore, we must return to the commencement of
the period inaugurated at Moy Rath.
There is a beautiful little church at Rathin in
Westmeath, where, about A.D. '650, Carthagh, a de-
scendant K)f Fergus Mac Roy, who had adopted a
religious life, took up his abode with other monks of
Kerry. " They led so pious a life in this house, it
was said an angel was wont to hold conversation with
every third man of them." The ecclesiastics of the
Hy-Niall race became jealous of the Munster monks'
superior reputation for holiness, and they appealed to
Blathmaic and Dermid, their joint kings, to expel the
CH. vii.] The Scholastic Period. 225
intruders. Blathmaic was in favour of their expulsion ;
but Dermid, at the sight of Carthagh, relented, whence
his sobriquet of the " Euthful." However, the " holy
men of the Clanna Niall " insisted on the expulsion of
the strangers, and Carthagh (in popular hagiology, Saint
Mochuda), after a twelvemonth's negotiation, being
finally driven out by the resolute Blathmaic, went forth
and established himself among the tribes of the Desi
in their new seats in the south, where he founded the
long-celebrated school of Lismore.
Bangor is another name which raises a train of
associations, carrying the mind across a wide tract
of Europe, and through a series of most interesting,
though turbulent, events. St. Columbanus, a pupil of
this school, evinced that fervour of missionary zeal so
characteristic of his age and country. Accompanied
by twelve monks of Bangor, he set forth on his wander-
ings, and became the evangelizer of eastern France,
and parts of Switzerland and Italy, He established
himself at Luxeuil in Burgundy. Columbanus warred
no less with nature, in the then well-nigh impene-
trable forests of the Vosges and Jura, where his com-
munity toiled, and cleared and cultivated the soil,
than with the stormy passions of those long-haired
Merovingian kings of the Frankish dynasties, who
were swayed, at that period, by the savage impulses of
two remarkable and unscrupulous women. Brune-
hault, the wife of Sigebert, the grandson of Clovis,
and Fredegonde, the beautiful fury who ruled his
brother Chilperic, have filled a prominent part in
French history. Their very names recall a period of
giant crimes, unregulated passions, and unparalleled
Q
226 Tlie Irish before the Conquest. [cu. vn.
bloodthirstiness. Among these ferocious Franks
Golumbanus preached and laboured. Expelled from
his monastery by the peremptory orders of Queen
Brunehault, whose sins he had fearlessly denounced,
he dared to return ; and when again cast forth, turned
his steps towards Northern Italy, leaving to the Hel-
vetians, among whom he tarried for some months, his
disciple, the Irish St. Gall, whose name and fame still
survive throughout the northern cantons of Switzerland.
St. Columbanus died at Bobbio in Italy, where he
had established his confraternity under the protection
of Agilulf, king of the Lombards. He has left behind
him a great reputation as a letter-writer. His famous
epistles to Pope Gregory the Great, and Pope Boniface
the Fourth, are yet extant. So also are his tender
addresses to his loved brethren at Luxeuil ; " his
dearest sons, his dearest pupils, to his brethren in
abstinence, to all the monks." In a letter to the
bishops of Gaul he thus speaks :
" Finally, fathers, pray for us, as we also do, un-
worthy though we be, for you : and do not regard us
in the light of aliens ; for we are fellow members of
one body, whether we be French, or Britons, or Irish*
or whatever be our nation. Let us then, all nations,
rejoice in the acknowledging of the faith, and confes- '
sion of the Son of God ; and hasten forward all of us,
to advance to the perfect man, to the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Jesus Christ, in whom may
we love one another, speak well of one another, correct
one another, visit one another, pray for one another,
that with one another we may reign, and have joy in
His presence."
CH. VIL] The Scholastic Period. 227.
Even the Danish inroads, of which we shall speak
in our next chapter, failed wholly to quench, although
they greatly diminished, the flame of learning in these
cultured spots. A remarkable evidence of the con-
tinued reputation of Ireland for superior intellectual
culture, even so late as the middle of the eleventh
century, is afforded by a poem written by John, son
of Sulgen, who was bishop of St. David's about A.D.
1070. In this piece John tells us that his father went
to Ireland to study the Scriptures, and spent upwards
of ten years in that employment. The Latin verses
have been well rendered :
" With ardent love for learning, Sulgen sought
The school in which his fathers had been taught ;
To Ireland's sacred isle he bent his way,
Where science beamed with bright and glorious ray ;
But lo ! an unforeseen impediment
His journey interrupted as he went ;
For, sailing toward the country where abode
The people famous in the word of God,
His bark by adverse winds and tempests toss'd,
Was forced to anchor on another coast ;
And thus the Albanian shore the traveller gained,
And there for five successive years remained.
* * * *
At length, arriving on the Scottish soil,
He soon applies himself to studious toil.
* * * * -
Then, having gained a literary fame,
In high repute for learning, home he came,
His gathered store and golden fruit to share
Among admiring friends and followers there."
We have placed under the eyes of our reader the
contemporaneous! evidence of Bede let us add the
228 Tlie Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vn.
testimony of another learned and candid Englishman,
derived from the wider range of inquiry afforded by
the subsequently accumulated learning of nearly nine
hundred years. We refer to the illustrious William
Camden, whose words will carry the weight of historic
truth, as well as the solemnity of a pious philosophy,
to whatever mind will receive them.
" Our Anglo-Saxons of that day," he says, speaking
of this, which we have ventured to call our Scholastic
Period, " used to flock together to Ireland, as a market
of learning ; whence it is that we continually find it
said in our writers concerning holy men of old, He
was sent away to be educated in Ireland. . . And it
would appear that it was from that country the ancient
English, our ancestors, received the first instructions
in forming letters, as it is plain they used the same
character which is still used in Ireland. Nor need
we wonder that Ireland, which is now (f . e. in A.D.
1607) for the most part wild, half-savage, and destitute
of education, should at that time have abounded in
men of such holiness, piety, and splendid geniuses,
while the cultivation of literature elsewhere in the
Christian world lay neglected and half buried ; since
the providence of the Almighty Ruler of the universe
is pleased to scatter the seeds of holiness and virtues
in the different ages of the world, now among these
nations, now among those, as it were in so many beds
and flower knots; thus producing blossoms which,
as they appear in one place and another with fresh
vigour, may thrive and be preserved, for His own
glory and the benefit of mankind."
CH. viii.] TJie Danish Period. 229
CHAPTER VIII.
THE DANISH PEBIOD.
THE eighth century affords little beyond the series
of successions of kings, to be recorded, until we reach
A.D. 795. From thence extends a period of gloom, in
which depression and disaster characterize the Irish
annals. For upwards of two centuries, learning, piety,
almost Christianity itself, succumbed before pagan
invaders. Danes, Northmen, Scandinavians, whom the
Irish writers distinguish according to their complexions,
into Dubh-Galls, or dark, and Finn-Galls, or fair-haired
foreigners, hovered round our coasts, in ships manned by
hardy, but sanguinary pirates. The leaders Vikings,
as they are called were brave and daring adventurers,
glad to exchange their barren mountains for the plunder,
and afterwards the colonization, of more fertile lands.
These ruthless invaders spared neither age, nor sex,
nor station. The monasteries were ever their first
objects of attack. Here were deposited articles of
chiefest value in the land ; precious manuscripts, which
were only prized by the plunderers for the rich decora-
tions in gold and gems that graced the cases in which
they were enclosed ; shrines of exquisite workmanship,
on which all that was costly and precious had been
230 TJie Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vm.
lavished, to fit them for receptacles of the relics of
some venerated saint ; illuminated manuscripts, fo pro-
duce which had been the life-long labour of pious and
saintly men, lovers of literature, and decorative artists
of no mean skill : all these were scattered to the winds
by the ignorant and ruthless hands of these sea-robbers.
The Danes did not confine their ravages to the coasts
they boldly ascended the rivers, and, secure in the
protection of their ships, descended on the defenceless
population when and where they would, and that so
unexpectedly, that they encountered little or no or-
ganized resistance.
The fatal defect of the Irish political system
was its want of centralization. The Ard-Eigh, or
supreme monarch, was but nominal ruler of the entire
island, and could only act vigorously in his own
patrimony. The provincial kings were virtually in-
dependent, and frequently in open collision with the
central authority. The power of combination has ever
been deficient among the Gael. Unrestricted individual
freedom has been so much a passion with the race, that
combined action has been rarely achieved, or sustained
for any considerable length of time. At the period of
which we speak, this difficulty was greatly augmented ;
for the vigorous rule of a succession of princes of the
northern Hy-Niall line was, at this time, exchanged for
the ascendency of the southern branch of this great
*f O
family; and the comparatively limited patrimony of
the southern Hy-Nialls rendered them less efficient
general rulers. The neighbourhood of Mullingar, in
Westmeath, was their place of abode. Malachy of the
CH. VIIL] The Danish Period. 231
Shannon, the first Ard-Kigh of this line, in 845 succeeded
King Niall, surnamed of Callan, who met his death
while attempting to save the life of one of his followers,
swept away by the current when entering a ford of the
river Callan, in advance of the king's army. Niall had
called in vain for aid for the drowning man ; and seeing
those around him hesitate, had sprung himself to the
rescue of the gilly. As he spurred his horse for the
plunge, the bank beneath him gave way, and rider and
steed were precipitated into the river. That is no
ignoble death which is encountered in an act of self-
sacrifice for others, and the name of Niall CailU lives,
though his other actions are forgotten.
A romantic but somewhat apocryphal story is told
of Malachy and his Danish neighbour Turgesius.
This chieftain had established himself in the very
heart of Ireland, and possessed a fleet on the inland
waters of Lough Eee. The youthful daughter of
Malachy attracted his regards : he demanded her from
her father, who dared not refuse. The king proposed
to Turgesius to send her to his court, accompanied by
fifteen maids of honour, attendants of her own age and
sex, befitting her rank and birth. Instead of these,
however, he selected fifteen beardless youths, who
carried weapons concealed beneath their feminine garb.
The disarmed and unsuspecting Turgesius was seized ;
his fortress-gates thrown open to the troops of Malachy,
who were prepared, on a given signal, to rush in and
possess themselves of the fort. Turgesius himself was
drowned in Lough Owel, and the land for a time once
more breathed freely.
232 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vm.
The dire pressure of Danish tyranny, enforced by
the " Nose-gelt," was felt by each individual, however
humble, as well as by the kings and chiefs of Ireland.
A soldier was quartered " over every homestead, and the
man of the house was not allowed the disposal of as much
as one egg of his own property ; and though a family
owned but one stripper, they were not allowed on any
night to give its milk to either infant or child, but
were obliged to keep it up for the use of the soldier ;
and though the man of the house owned but one
in-calf cow, he was forced to kill the same for the
use of his unwelcome guest ; and if he could not
satisfy the latter therewithal, he was compelled to
place his inheritance in pledge for the maintenance
of the said soldier. Besides this, the Lochlannaigh
should either get an ounce of gold each year for every
man in Ireland, or they would have the nose from off
his face. Then no lord or lady of the Irish was allowed
to wear any mantles or garments, except the cast-off
clothes of the Lochlannaigh. It was not allowed to
give instruction in letters, nor to live in religious com-
munities, for the Lochlannaigh dwelt in the temples
and in the duns : no scholars, no clerics, no books, no
holy relics, were left in church or monastery, through
dread of them : neither bard, nor philosopher, nor
musician, pursued their wonted professions in the land."
But a time was approaching when these fierce invaders,
themselves succumbing to Christian influences, should
become here and there permanent dwellers in the
land, intermarry with the Irish, and even join with
them in repelling marauding assaults of their own
en. vin.] The Danish Period. 233
countrymen. To the Northmen we may trace the founda-
tion of most of our seaport towns, Dublin, Waterford,
Cork, Limerick, and others. The Finn Galls for
the Norse element predominated among them showed
a great aptitude for trade and commerce. Their fear-
lessness at sea, and skill in navigation, fitted them
to become foreign merchants. They had a coinage
of their own. Their nomenclature may be traced
in the names of places, especially on the east coast
of Ireland, where their settlements were most per-
manent. The Norwegian fiord, or arm of the sea,
reminds us of their presence in the bays of Strang/bre?,
Carling/orcZ, Wex/ord, Water/ore?, &c. Lambey, Ireland's
ey, show the Scandinavian affix of Ey, for island. The
names of three out of the four provinces of Ireland
announce the Norse influence, which has changed the
Celtic Uladh into Ulster, Laighin into Leinsfer, and
Mumhain into Munsfer. They gave much of what we
may term municipal life; they took in return the
Christian faith, and, in a degree, its humanizing lessons
and virtues, in lieu of their stern yet heroic pa-
ganism.
We have alluded to the frequent intermarriage
between Irish and Dane. A singular example, illus-
trating the connection between Irish and Norwegian
history, may be found even in the case of the great
Brian Boru, with whose history we shall be occupied
hereafter. He had married, when a widower, Gormley,
daughter of the king of Leinster, who became the
mother of his sons Tiege and Donogh. By her
former husband, Anlaf the Dane, Gormley was the
234 The Irish before the Conquest. [en. vm.
mother of Sitric " Silk-Beard " (afterwards the husband
of Brian's daughter Save) and of Olaf Cuaran, Danish
king of Dublin. The Norwegian king and saint,
Olaf, was the guest of this Olaf Cuaran, and received
baptism, most probably, in Ireland. There was an
inherent sternness and cruelty in the Norse character,
which indisposed it to the acceptance of the mild
religion of Christ, on the one hand, and to the gentle
modes of inculcating it which had proved so successful
among the Celtic populations, on the other. No con-
trast can be imagined more remarkable than that
between the conduct in accepting and propagating the
faith, of the Irish and the Norsemen. Receiving the
message of peace from his Irish instructors, the canon-
ized Scandinavian king carried it into ih& fiords and
fells of Norway, with fire and sword for his apostles. A
great poet has majestically versified one of the sagas of
Olaf, which presents the difference of character in
question so vividly that we will crave our reader's
indulgence for a moment's departure from Irish ground,
while making better acquaintance with the fierce but
noble race of men whose extirpation at Clontarf is so
important an event in the Irish story.
Loud the angry wind was wailing,
As King Olaf's ships came sailing
Northward out of Drontheim haven,
To the mouth of Salten Fiord :
Though the flying sea-spray drenches
Fore and aft the rowers' benches,
Not a single heart is craven
Of the champions there on board.
CH. vm.] The Danish Period. 235
All without the Fiord was quiet,
But within it storm and riot,
Such as on his Viking cruises
Eaud the strong was wont to ride ;
And the sea through all its tideways,
Swept the reeling vessels sideways,
As the leaves are swept through sluices,
When the flood-gates open wide.
" 'Tis the warlock ! 'tis the demon
Eaud !" cried Sigurd to the seamen ;
" But the Lord is not affrighted
By the witchcraft of his foes ;"
To the ship's bow he ascended,
By his choristers attended ;
Eound him were the tapers lighted,
And the sacred incense rose.
On the bow stood Bishop Sigurd,
In his robes, as one transfigured,
And the Crucifix he planted
High amid the rain and mist ;
Then with holy water sprinkled
All the ship ; the mass-bells tinkled ;
Loud the monks around him chanted,
Loud he read the Evangelist.
As into the Fiord they darted,
On each side the water parted :
Down a path like silver molten,
Steadily rowed King Olaf s ships ;
Steadily burned all night the tapers,
And the White Christ through the vapours
Gleamed across the Fiord of Salten,
As through John's Apocalypse.
236 The Irish before the Conquest. |[CH. vm.
Till at last they reached Hand's dwelling
On the little isle of Gelling :
Not a guard was at the doorway,
Not a glimmer of light was seen ;
But at anchor, carved and gilded,
Lay the dragon-ship he builded ;
'Twas the grandest ship in Norway
With its crests and scales of green.
Up the stairway, softly creeping
To the loft where Eaud was sleeping,
With their fists they burst asunder
Bolt and bar that held the door :
Drunken with sleep and ale they found him,
Dragged him from his bed and bound him,
While he stared with stupid wonder
At the look and garb they wore.
| Then King Olaf said : " Sea King
Little time have we for speaking,
Choose between the good and evil,
Be baptized, or thou shalt die."
But in scorn the heathen scoffer
Answered : " I disdain thine offer ;
Neither fear I God nor devil,
Thee and thy gospel I defy !"
Then, between his jaws distended,
When his frantic struggles ended,
Through King OlaPs horn an adder,
Touched by fire they forced to glide :
Sharp his tooth was as an arrow,
As he gnawed through bone and marrow ;
But without a groan or shudder
Raud the Strong, blaspheming, died.
CH. vin.] The Danish Period. 237
Then baptized they all that region,
Swarthy Lap and fair Norwegian,
Far as swims the salmon leaping,
Up the streams of Salten Fiord :
In their temples Thor and Odin,
Lay in dust and ashes trodden,
As King Olaf onward sweeping,
Preached the gospel with his sword.
Then he took the carved and gilded
Dragon-ship that Raud had builded,
And the tiller single-handed
Grasping, steered into the main :
Southward sailed the sea-gulls o'er him,
Southward sailed the ship that bore him,
Till at Drontheim haven landed
Olaf and his crew again.*
Among the proofs which still attest the influence
on the popular mind, produced by these inroads, and
the deep-seated terror of the Danish name which
they excited, we may mention the habit of the Irish
peasantry of ascribing to this race the cairns, cashels,
forts, and duns of a more primitive period. So far
from being builders of these monuments, we have on
record, both in the Irish chronicles and the Norse Sagas,
that in the year 861 the three earls, Olaf, Sitric, and
Ivar, opened, for purposes of plunder, the sepulchral
mounds of New Grange, Dowth, and Knowth on the
Boyne, and the mound of the wife of the Gobaun Saer,
the mythic builder, or Way land Smith of the Irish Celts,
still a conspicuous object at Drogheda. But it may be
that the Danes referred to in popular tradition are
* From the Saga of King Olaf, by H. W. LONGFELLOW.
238 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. vm.
those older Tuath De Danaan of the archaic period.
To return to the Christian period : we have in Water-
ford, in very good preservation, an interesting specimen
of the Norwegian art of fortification. The Round
Tower, popularly called Reginald's Tower, is said to
have been built in 1003, by the Scandinavian ruler
of Waterford, Ragnvald. At the time of the Norman
invasion of Ireland, Earl Strongbow possessed himself
of it, and kept there as his prisoner the last " East-
man " king of Waterford, Reginald the Dane.
We must return to King Malachy, and speak here
of his desire to make a pilgrimage to Rome. He sent
an embassy to Charles the Bald, then reigning in
France, requesting a safe-conduct through his terri-
tories, and acquainting him with his successes against
the Northmen. A friendly intercourse appears to have
been maintained between France and Ireland up to the
time of the English Conquest.
Malachy died without having accomplished his pil-
grimage. He was much regretted :
" Mournfully is spread the veil of grief over Ireland
since the chieftain of our race has perished," writes the
chronicler ; " Red wine has been spilled into the
valley ; Erin's monarch has died."
Aedh Finnliath better known as Hugh of Aileach,
son of Nial, of the Callan succeeded Malachy as
Ard-Righ. He prosecuted the war with the Danes
with vigour. He gained a victory at Lough Foyle,
which, with its savage incidents, is thus recorded :
" After Aedh, king of Ireland, had learned that this
gathering of strangers was on the borders of his
CH. vni.] The Danish Period. 239
country, he was not negligent in attending to them, for
he marched towards them with all his forces, and a
battle was fought fiercely and spiritedly on both sides
between them. The victory was gained over the
foreigners, and a slaughter was made of them. Their
heads were collected to one place in presence of the
king; and twelve score heads were reckoned before
him, which was the number slain by him in that battle,
besides the numbers of them who were wounded and
carried off by him in the agonies of death, and who
died of their wounds some time afterwards."
This king " of the long flowing hair," was a generous,
wise, and staid man, if we are to credit the bard who
uttered his funeral lamentation :
" Long is the wintry night, with rough gusts of wind ;
Under pressing grief we encounter it, since the red-speared
king of the noble house liveth not.
Fearful it is to watch how the waves heave from the bottom ;
To them may be compared all those who with us lament him."
Aedh had to wife Maelmuri, daughter of Kenneth
MacAlpin, the first king of all Scotland. His Irish
kinsmen had aided the Scotic monarch in his final con-
tests with the Picts. This lady afterwards married
Aedh's successor, Flann of the Shannon, the son of
Malachy thus restoring the throne to the branch of
the Southern Hy-Niall.
Flann had a daughter, Gormley, whose gifts, beauty,
and tragical fate, have made her name celebrated in
Irish story. Many poems of this lady have survived to
our day. She was betrothed, while still very young, to
the celebrated Corinac MacCulinan, King of Cashel ;
240 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vm.
but when the period had arrived when he should
claim his bride, he failed to appear, having resolved
to lead a life of celibacy. Gormley, who is said to
have been tenderly attached to Cormac, was married
to the King of Leinster against her own inclinations,
and for political motives, by her father Flann. Her
hated husband treated her with contumely. Gormley
appealed for redress to her cousin Niall " Black-Knee,"
afterwards king of Ireland, who espoused her cause,
and, on the death of the King of Leinster, married
Gormley. The most touching of her poems which
survive express her maternal tenderness for her child,
sent by his father Niall, according to the custom in
Ireland, to be fostered. Gormley has recorded her
grief at this separation from her son, and also her
agonizing sorrow when the young prince was after-
wards drowned in Lough Corrib. She long survived
her husband Niall, whose death she also lamented
in verse
" Where is the chief of the western world ?
Where the sun of every clash of arms ?
Sorrowful this day is sacred Ireland,
Without its valiant chief."
This daughter, sister, and wife, of kings, is said to
have died of absolute want ; having long survived the
greatness of her kindred, and seen other dynasties
arise no longer near to her in blood and family ties
indifferent to, and careless of her woes. Her first
sorrow the disclaiming of her hand by Corrnac
MacCulinan was one of the causes which led to
CH. viii.] The Danish Period. 241
the battle of Belach Mughna (Moone, near Bally-
tore, in the county of Kildare), in which her father
King Mann was opposed to the celebrated Cormac
MacCulinan, king-archbishop of Cashel. To this
Cormac is ascribed the erection of the beautiful
Romanesque church yet standing on the Eock of
Cashel. He was author of the compilation (Cormac's
Glossary), which has made his name a household word
with modern scholars. The lost Psalter of Cashel was
also a work of Cormac. To understand aright the further
circumstances which brought this great and good man
into collision with his suzerain, we must revert to times
long anterior to his age (the latter part of the ninth
century), and remind our readers of the old compact
which divided Erin between Con of the Hundred
Battles, of the race of Eremon, and Owen Mor, the
descendant of Eber, A. D. 125. The Esker Biada was
the boundary a range of low limestone ridges extending
from Dublin to Galway.
Hitherto we have been more concerned with the
northern district, Lea Con, or Con's half; as the
race of Eremon gave a greater number of kings to
Ireland, and filled a more prominent place in the page
of history; but now we shall find the foremost his-
toric names belonging rather to the Munster clans.
We must also bear in mind the will of Ollioll Olum,
which assigned the sovereignty of Munster alternately
to the descendants of his sons Owen and Cormac
Cas. . . . The Eugenians as the families derived from
Owen are called MacCarthys and others, ruled in
Desmond, or South Munster; while the Dalcassians
B
242 The Irish before the Conquest. [en. vm.
descendants of Cormac Gas O'Briens, and others
were lords of Thomond, or North Minister.
But in process of time it happened that the Dalcas-
sian family whose possessions in Clare and Limerick
were removed from Cashel, the capital of Lea Moha
found themselves passed by in the succession, which
had more and more fallen into the hands of the Eugenian
tribes. To the latter belonged Cormac MacCulinan,
who, in 896, was called to the throne of Cashel.
The state of Minister during the reign of this " king,
bishop, anchorite, and scribe profoundly learned in the
Scotic tongue," is thus described in the annals :
" Great was the prosperity of Ireland during his
reign ; for the land became filled with the divine grace,
and with worldly prosperity, and with public peace in
his days, so that the cattle needed no cowherd, and the
flocks no shepherd, as long as he was king. The
shrines of the saints were then protected, and many
temples and monasteries were built; public schools
were established for the purpose of giving instruction
in letters, law, and history ; many were the tilled fields,
numerous were the bees, and plenteous the beehives
under his rule ; frequent was fasting and prayer, and
every other work of piety; many houses of public
hospitality were built, and many books written at his
command. And, moreover, whenever he exacted the
performance of any good work from others, he was
wont to set them the example himself, by being the first
to practise it, whether it were a deed of alms, or bene-
volence, or prayer."
Cormac had applied to his own tribe for " food and
CH. vni.] The Danish Period. 243
treasures" wherewith to celebrate Easter, but was
refused. The Dalcassians, on hearing of his need,
voluntarily supplied his wants. He then applied to
the Eugenians for "jewels and valuables for the pur-
pose of making presents to strangers." Here again he
found his own kin less liberal than his Thomond subjects.
" Thus did Cormac feel again most grateful to that
tribe, as he tells us himself in the following verse :
" May our truest fidelity ever be given
To the brave and generous clansmen of Tal ;
And for ever may royalty rest with their tribe,
And virtue, and valour, and music, and song."
Impelled by gratitude, and still more by a sense of
justice, Cormac desired that his successor should be a
prince of Thomond. His efforts were not crowned
with success, and lessened the regards of his own tribe.
His unpopularity with the Eugenians became apparent,
when he summoned them to his standard to wage war
with Leinster, and enforce a demand for chief rents
from that principality.
He had reigned peacefully and prosperously for
seven years, when he most reluctantly undertook this
war at the instigation of his nobles, and especially of
Flaherty, a man of royal blood, abbot of Inis-Cathaigh
or Scattery Island, near the mouth of the Shannon.
Haunted by presentiments of disaster, Cormac made
his will before commencing the campaign.
" 'Tis time my testament were made,
For danger's hour approacheth fast ;
My days shall henceforth be but few ;
My life has almost reached the goal.
24:4 TJie Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vm.
My golden cup of sacrifice
Wherewith I holy offerings make,
I will to Senan's brotherhood
At Inis-Cathaigh's sacred fane.
The bell that calleth me to prayer,
Whilst on the green-robed earth I stay,
Forget not with my friend to leave
At Conall's shrine where Fergus flows.
My silken robe of graceful flow,
O'erlaid with gems and golden braid,
To Roscre, Paul and Peter's fane,
And Cronan's guardianship, I leave.
My silver chessboard of bright sheen,
I will to Uladh's royal chief;
My well- wrought chain of faultless gold,
To thee, Mochuda, I bequeath.
Take thou my amice and my stole,
And take my manuple likewise,
To Lenin's son who lies at Cluain,
To Colman, who has found his bliss.
My Psalter of illumined leaves,
Whose light no darkness e'er can hide
To Caisel I for ever leave
This potent gift without recall.
And my wealth I bequeath to the poor,
And my sins to the children of curses ;
And my dust to the earth whence it rose,
And my spirit to Him who has sent it."
Wo give the details of this disastrous campaign,
which resulted in the death of Cormac MacCulinan, in
the quaint language of the historian Keating :
" After this, Cormac, having mustered a large host,
on. viii.] The Danish Period. 245
and armed himself, and armed Flathbertach (Flaherty),
son of Inmanen, marched into the territory of the
Leinstermen, and demanded of them to give him hos-
tages, and to pay him tribute as king of Minister, upon
the grounds that their country (Leinster) formed part
of Lea Moha. Now when the host of Munster had
come together, and was all collected into one camp,
previous to marching upon the intended expedition,
it happened that Flathbertach, son of Inmanen, the
abbot of Inis-Cathaigh, having mounted upon horse-
back, rode through the street of the encampment, and
that whilst he was thus engaged, his horse fell beneath
him into a deep trench. This was esteemed an un-
lucky omen, and its consequence was that a large por-
tion both of his own people and of the whole army
retired from the expedition, having first proposed the
adoption of peaceful measures so unfavourable a prog-
nostic did they deem the sudden fall of the holy abbot
when he had mounted his steed.
" Then ambassadors arrived from the Leinstermen,
and from Kerball, son of Murighen, charged with pro-
posals of peace to King Cormac. These proposals
were : first, to have one universal peace maintained
throughout Ireland until the following month of May,
for it was then the fortnight of the harvest ; and for
that end to place hostages in the hands of Maenach
son of Siadal, abbot of Disert Diarmada, who was a
holy, pious, learned, and wise man ; and, next, to give
a large quantity of jewels and valuables to Cormac
himself, and also to Flathbertach, son of Inmanen, as
a recompense for having assented to such a peace.
24:6 The Irish before the Conquest. [en. vm.
Cormac was most willing to grant their request ; where-
upon he immediately proceeded to acquaint Flathber-
tach that these ambassadors had come to him from the
king of Leinster, demanding peace until the ensuing
month of May, and offering jewels and valuables to
them both, from the people of Leinster, provided they
would return home in peace to their own country.
But when Flathbertach had heard him out, he fell into a
violent rage, and he exclaimed, ' How easily seen is the
weakness of thy mind, and the littleness of thy intellect
and thy spirit !' And after this fashion he then addressed
much of abusive and contemptuous language to Cormac.
The latter replied to him in the following words : * I
know fall well what will be the result of all this, to
wit, a battle will be fought with the men of Leinster,
in which I shall be slain, and in which it is probable
that thou shalt meet thy death likewise.'
" Having uttered these words, Cormac proceeded, sad
and dejected, to his own tent. When he had taken his
seat therein, a basket of apples was set before him,
which he began to share amongst his attendants,
saying, 'My dear friends, I shall never more share
any apples amongst you, from this hour forth/ ' Dear
lord,' said his people, ' thou hast cast us into sadness
and grief. Why art thou thus wont to prophesy evil
for thyself ?' ' Believe what I now say, friends of my
heart,' said Cormac, l for though I am wont to distri-
bute apples amongst you with my own hands, it will
be little wonder if some one else in my stead should
share them amongst you henceforward.'
" The war proceeded, and a battle was imminent.
CH. viii.] The Danish Period. 247
The army of Minister was drawn up in three divisions,
under the conmmand of Flaherty, assisted by Kellach,
son of the prince of Ossory; Cormac himself; and
Cormac son of the prince of the Desi. The warriors
were disheartened by reason of the multitude of their
enemies, and of the fewness of their own host, for some
authors assert that the army of Leinster was four times
more numerous than that of Munster.
" Woful, indeed, was the tumult and clamour of that
battle ; for there rose the death- cry of the men of
Munster as they fell, and the shouting of the Leinster-
men exulting in the slaughter of their foes. There
were two reasons why the fight went so suddenly against
the Munstermen. The first was because Keilichar, a
relative of Kennghegan, a former king of Munster,
jumped hastily upon his steed, and as soon as he found
himself mounted, cried out, * Flee, O free clans of
Munster, flee from this terrible conflict, and let the
ecclesiastics fight it out themselves, since they would
accept no other condition but that of battle from the
people of Leinster !' Having thus spoken, he quitted
the field of strife, followed by many of the combatants.
The other reason why the men of Leinster were routed
was because Kellach, son of Kerball, king of Ossory,
when he perceived the carnage that was made amongst
his people, jumped likewise with haste upon his steed,
and thence addressed his host in these words : * Mount
your steeds/ said he, ' and banish these men who stand
up against you.' But though he used this language he
did not mean to encourage them to drive off their ene-
mies by fighting, but he thus let them know that it was
248 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vin.
time for themselves to run away. The result of these
two causes was that the ranks of the men of Munster
were broken, and they were put to sudden and general
rout. Alas ! great indeed was the carnage that then
spread over Magh-n-Ailbi. Neither layman nor eccle-
siastic found quarter therein, both were slaughtered
indiscriminately ; and if any man of either classjiap-
pened to be spared, he owed his life not to the mercy
but to the cupidity of the vanquishers, covetous of his
ransom.
" Hereupon Cormac proceeded toward the van of the
first division, but his horse fell beneath into a ditch, and
he was himself dashed upon the ground. Some of his
people, who were running away from the battle, saw him
in this position, and they came at once to his relief,
and replaced him upon his steed. It was then that
Cormac met one of his own pupils, a free-born man,
named Aedh, who was distinguished for his proficiency
in wisdom, laws, and history, and in the knowledge of
the Latin tongue. To him the royal prelate addressed
these words : ' Dear son, do not follow me ; but
betake thyself hence, as well thou mayest, and re-
member that I had said that I should myself be slain
in this battle.'
" Cormac then rode forward, and full of the blood of
horses and of men was the way before him ; but the slip-
periness of that field of carnage soon caused the feet of his
horse to glide from under him, and he reared and fell
backwards, crushing his rider beneath him. The neck
and back of Cormac were broken in that fall, and he
died, saying, * Into thy hands, Lord, I commit my
CH. VIIL] The Danish Period. 249
spirit ! ' Then some wicked persons came up and
pierced his body with their javelins, and cut off his
head."
It is creditable to Flann that, far from insulting
his fallen enemy, he honoured the mortal remains of
Cormac of Cashel. He took the severed head in his
hands and kissed it, severely censuring those who had
mutilated the corpse of the prince-bishop. " What
heart would not feel saddened at that deed?" writes
the old chronicler ; "to wit, the death and mutilation
of so sacred a personage, who was the wisest of the
men of Ireland in his own day ; a learned scholar in
the Gaelic and Latin languages ; an archbishop who
was filled with devotion, and sincerity, and prayer, and
chastity, and godliness ; the head of doctrine and true
philosophy, and good morals, and the chief king of the
two pentarchates of Munster ?"
Flaherty, the warlike ecclesiastic who had been the
chief instigator of this campaign, retired to his cell on
Scattery Island, and passed some time in penance and
retirement ; till summoned himself to fill the throne of
Cashel, which he afterwards resigned to Lorcan.
King Flann, after a long and, on the whole, a pros-
perous reign, died A.B. 916. This " pleasant and
hospitable " prince rebuilt the cathedral church at
Glonmacnoise, one of the chief stone-built edifices of
its kind in Ireland at that period.
Amongst the successors of Cormac on the throne of
Munster was the provincial king Callaghan, whose
chequered fortunes will now have our notice. It is said
that he owed the sovereignty of Munster to the in-
250 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vm.
fluence of his mother, who appealed to the justice of
Kennedy, son of Lorcan, reminding him of the law of
Ollioll Olum, which gave alternate rule to the tribes
of Owen and Cormac Cas. Kennedy resigned his
claims, which, at a later period, centered in his son,
the great king of Munster, Brian Boru.
Callaghan waged successful war with the Danes.
Their chief, Sitric, sought to repair his losses by
stratagem. Tradition tells us that for this purpose
he made overtures of peace to Callaghan, offering him
the hand of his sister in marriage. The king of
Cashel acceded to the proposal, having heard much of
the beauty of Bebinn, as the lady was called ; and set
forth for Dublin, escorted only by a small body of
horsemen, to celebrate the marriage.
The wife of Sitric inquired of her husband why he
proposed this marriage between his sister and his enemy.
The treacherous Sitric told her that his design was to
secure the person of the king of Cashel. The lady
had cherished in secret an attachment for Callaghan,
and, alarmed for his safety, she privately set out to
meet him, and warn him of the snare laid by her
husband. But the warning came too late. When
Callaghan endeavoured to retrace his steps he found
himself surrounded by foes, placed in ambush along the
path he had to traverse, and was led into captivity.
Kennedy, son of Lorcan, mustered the clans of
Munster, and marched to the rescue of the prince.
The troops were supported by a fleet, under the
command of Falvy Finn, a Kerry chieftain. Cal-
laghan had been removed from Dublin to Armagh,
CH. VIIL] The Danish Period. 251
and thence, when the Minister forces appeared before
Armagh, was sent to Dundalk. The Danes placed their
prisoner on board ship for security, not anticipating
3he arrival of an Irish fleet. Falvy Finn appeared in
the Bay of Dundalk, boarded the Danish ship, freed'
Callaghan, who was tied to the mast, but sank himself
covered with wounds. His brave followers, inspired
by his example, and conscious that they should even-
tually be outnumbered by the Danes, closed with
Sitric and his brothers Tor and Magnus. Each grap-
pled with a foe, and sprang with his enemy into the
sea. Such was the first liberation of Callaghan of
Cashel.
Callaghan found himself a second time a prisoner,
as hostage to Murkertagh, prince of Aileach, under
circumstances which we must now narrate. King
Flann, in the latter years of his life, had to contend
with rebellion in his own family. His sons had been
undutiful, but were compelled to submission by Niall
" Black-knee," the husband of his daughter Gormley.
Niall succeeded Flann as Ard-Eigh, and died, as we
have already seen, in battle with the Danes, being himself
succeeded, according to the usual course, by Donogh,
son of Flann while his own vigorous son, Murkertagh,
filled the position of Roydamna, or heir-apparent.
Murkertagh, surnamed "Pell-Cloak," or of the
Leathern Cloaks, in A.D. 941 assembled the northern
clans, and, with a thousand selected troops, commenced
a circuit of Ireland, from Aileach, accompanied by his
bard, whose narrative of the expedition is yet extant.
Commencing his journey in winter, he provided his
252 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vm.
troops witli cloaks of leather whence his name as a
protection from the inclemency of that season. He
" kept his left hand to the sea " till he arrived at Dublin.
Thence he led as a hostage Sitric, a Danish lord, and
carried off Lorcan, king of Leinster, also. He next
proceeded to Cashel, where Callaghan was surrendered
to him, not without his own consent, if we interpret
aright the lay of Cormacan Eigeas
We were * * a night at Cashel of Munster ;
There the great injury was inflicted on the men of Munster :
There were arrayed against us three battalions brave,
Impetuous, red, terrible,
So that each party confronted the other,
In the centre of the great plain.
We cast our cloaks off us,
As became the subjects of a good king ;
The comely, the bright Muircheartach was at this time
Engaged in playing his chess.
The hardy Callaghan said,
(And to us it was victory) :
" men of Munster ! men of renown !
Oppose not the race of Eoghan.
Better that I go with them as an hostage
Than that we should all be driven to battle ;
They will kill man for man,
The noble people of Muircheartach."
We took with us, therefore, Callaghan the just,
Who received his due honour,
Namely, a ring of fifteen ounces on his hand,
And a chain of iron on his stout leg.
This was harsh treatment for Callaghan, for he
was the only hostage who was bound in fetters. Conor,
son of the king of Connaught, was also taken to
on. viii.] The Danish Period. 253
Aileach, and here Murkertagh and his hostages feasted
for five months. He then committed them to the
custody of the Ard-Eigh. Two years later he fell in
battle against the Danes. His son, Donall O'Neill,
became Ard-Eigh in 954, and was among the first in
Ireland to assume a surname. The prefix Mac implies
" son of ;" O, " descendant of." King Donall assumed
the name of his grandfather Niall, father of Murkertagh,
and from him, in direct descent, were the lords of
Tir Owen, closing with Hugh, Earl of Tyrone, who died
in Eome, A.D. 1616, and also the younger branch of
O'Neills of Clanaboy.
The Danes, during this period of their domination,
were almost universally Pagans, and delighted in
exhibiting their contempt for the sacred things of the
Christian religion. Thus, it is recorded of Auda, wife
of Turgesius, that she made the high altar at Clonmac-
noise her seat of state for receiving her courtiers. It
is surmised, with some show of probability, that Tur-
gesius is the Eegner Lodbrog of Norse tradition ; and
the profaner of Clonmacnoise, that Aslauga to whom
he addressed one of the stanzas of his Death-song, when
about to be cast into the lake which, in the Scandinavian
legend, is supposed to be full of serpents :
" We have fought with our swords hurrah !
How our sons would all be storming,
Aslauga ! how they'd roar to-day,
Could they see their sire's deforming !
For, through and through, the serpent blue
Must gnaw me here, 'mong strangers ;
But I've given my sons a mother, who
Will rear me meet avengers."
254 Tlie Irish before the Conquest. [CH. vm.
The museums of Denmark are now full of objects of
rich and characteristic Celtic workmanship, drawn from
the sepulchral tumuli of Jutland and Holstein, many of
which were, no doubt, carried off from the shores of
Ireland during this period.
CH. ix.j The Daleassian Period. 255
CHAPTEK IX.
THE DALQASSIAN PERIOD.
MALACHT II., who ascended the throne in 980, in the
commencement of his reign exhibited vigour and ability.
He defeated the Danes at Tara, and again at Dublin.
The attack on the city lasted for three days, and the
siege of the castle for twenty days, "so that they
(the Danes) drank no water during that time but the
brine." He carried thence two thousand hostages,
jewels, and other valuables, and freed the country from
tribute and taxation from the Shannon to the sea. His
proclamation was as follows : " Every one of the
Gaeidhil (Gael) who is in the territory of the foreigners,
in servitude and bondage, let him go to his own ter-
ritory in peace and happiness." It was in these con-
tests that Malachy carried off "the collar of gold,
which he won from the proud invader."
Unhappily all the wars of this king were not
waged with the foreign foe. A powerful rival to
Malachy had appeared in the person of Brian Boru,
son of Kennedy, son of Lorcan, of the Daleassian
tribe, now rising to great powef- and importance in
Munster. Malachy, alarmed and jealous of the Dal-
256 TJie Irish before the Conquest. [CH. ix.
Gais,* ravaged Clare, and uprooted the " great tree of
Magh Adair," under which the kings of Thomond had
been inaugurated from time immemorial. This out-
rage did not pass unavenged.
A long succession of able and vigorous princes,
descended from King Niall of the Nine Hostages, had
secured for this northern clan the sovereignty of
Ireland. They had eclipsed the fame of the Munster
families descended from Ollioll Olum. The will of
this great ruler of Lea Moha as the southern half
of the island was called had vested the succession
alternately in the descendants of his sons, Owen and
Cormac Cas. At the period at which we have arrived
the Dalcassian tribe, representatives of Cormac Cas,
were emerging from comparative obscurity, under
the leadership of the sons of Kennedy, Mahon and
Brian, princes of vigour and genius.
" There were then governing and ruling that tribe,"
writes the contemporary chronicler, "two stout, able,
valiant pillars two fierce, lacerating, magnificent
heroes two gates of battle, two poles of combat, two
spreading trees of shelter, two spears of victory and
readiness of hospitality and munificence of heart, and
strength of friendship and liveliness, the most eminent
of the west of Europe, viz., Mathgamhain (Mahon),
and Brian, the two sons of Cennidigh, son of Lorcan,"
&e., &c.
These chieftains, like Alfred of England with
whose story theirs has many points of resemblance
were trained in the school of adversity. The Danes
* Dal-g'Cais, that is, the Tribe of Cas.
CH. ix.] The Dalcassian Period. 257
had firmly riveted their chains on Munster. Limerick
and Waterford were strongholds of the hated foreigner.
As in England in the time of Alfred, it seemed
hopeless to attempt to dislodge the Northmen, "because
of the greatness of their achievements, and of their
deeds, their bravery, and their valour, their strength,
and their venom, and their ferocity ; and because of the
excess of their thirst and their hunger for the brave,
fruitful, nobly-inhabited, cataract-abounding, rivery,
bayey, pure, smooth-plained, sweet-grassy land of
Erinn."
But it was not " honourable to the mind, or to the
courage, or to the nature," of the tribe of the Dal Gais,
" those animated, high-minded ones, who never brooked
injustice or tyranny from any king of the kings of
Erinn ; and not only that, but who never gave them
pledges or hostages in token of obedience ; to submit
of their own accord to cruel slavery from Danars, and
from fierce, hard-hearted pirates." Accordingly the
Dalcassians, from the fastnesses and forests into which
they were driven, ceased not to carry on a guerilla
warfare. But the strength of the Northmen became so
overpowering, that most of the Munster princes
Mahon among the number submitted to the Danish
domination.
It was not so with Brian. " He was not willing to
make peace with the foreigners, because, however small
the injury he might be able to do to the foreigners, he
preferred it to peace.' ... It is not easy to enumerate
or tell all that Brian killed of the foreigners of that
garrison in twos, and in threes, and in fives, and in
8
258 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. rx.
scores, and in hundreds ; or the number of conflicts
and combats that he frequently and constantly gave
them. Great, on the other hand, were the hardship
and the ruin, the bad food and bad bedding which
they inflicted on him in the wild huts of the desert, on
the hard knotty wet roots of his own native country ;
whilst they killed his people and his trusty officers and
his comrades sorrowful, dispirited, wretched, unpitied,
weary. For historians say that the foreigners cut off
his people, so that he had at last no more than fifteen
followers."
His brother, Mahon, became alarmed for Brian's
safety. He visited him secretly, and mourned with
Brian over the loss of their brave clansmen. Brian,
on his side, tenderly reproached Mahon for his sub-
mission to the Danes, a subjection which their father,
Kennedy, or their grandfather, Lorcan, would never
have brooked. The chronicler, who is supposed, with
seeming probability, to have been MacLiag, the bard
of Brian, thus describes the conference between the
brothers, and the decision of the whole clan, on the
momentous question submitted to them of peace or
war with the powerful foe.
Mahon said that " he had not the power to meet the
foreigners, because of the greatness of their followers,
and the number of their army, and the greatness of
their champions, and the excellence of their corslets,
and of their swords, and their other arms in general.
And he said, also, that he would not like to leave the
Dal Gais dead in following him, as he (Brian) had left
the most of his people."
CH. ix.] The Dalcassian Period. 259
" Brian said that that was not a right thing for him
(Mahon) to say, because it was hereditary for him to
die, and hereditary for all the Dal Gais ; for their fathers
and grandfathers had died, and death was certain to
come upon themselves; but it was not natural or
hereditary to them to submit to insult or contempt,
because their fathers or their grandfathers submitted
not to it from any one on earth. He said, also, that it
was no honour to their courage to abandon, without
battle or conflict, to dark foreigners, and black grim
Gentiles, the inheritance which their fathers and grand-
fathers had defended in battle and conflicts against the
chiefs of the Gaedhil" (Gael).
"After this, all the Dal Gais were convened to one
appointed place before Mathgamhain (Mahon) ; and he
asked them what decision they wished to come to,
namely, whether they would have peace or war with
the foreigners, and with the Danars. Then they all
answered, both old and young, that they preferred
meeting violent death and destruction and annihila-
tion, in defending the freedom of their patrimony,
and of their race, rather than submit to the tyranny
and oppression of the pirates, or abandon their country
and their lands to them. And this was the voice of
hundreds, as the voice of one man."
But before they resumed hostilities, their chief
proposed to the Dal Gais to return from their then
seats in Clare and Limerick, in which they appear to
have been, themselves, invaders, to Cashel, the head-
quarters of their race. He said, " that it was better
and more righteous to do battle and combat for their
260 The Irish lefore the Conquest. [CH. ix.
inheritance, and for their native right, than for land
acquired by conquest and the sword."
The Danes of Limerick mustered their forces, with
a contingent of the subject Irish of Munster. Their
king, Ivar, " whose spite was little short of death to
him," determined to extirpate the clansmen of Mahon
and Brian, and so to ravage and depopulate the Dal
Gais " that there should not be left of them a man to
guide a horse's head over a channel, an abbot, or
venerable person, who should not be murdered and put
to death, or brought under tribute and subjection to the
foreigners like all others."
The warriors of the Dal Gais and the troops of Ivar
met at Sulcoit, near the present town of Tipperary,
A.D. 968. It was a decisive battle ; " bloody, crimsoned,
violent, rough, unsparing, implacable." It lasted from
sunrise till mid-day, and resulted in the utter defeat of
the Danes. The foreigners " were at length routed,
and they fled to the ditches, and to the valleys, and to
the solitudes of that great sweet-flowery plain."
Limerick fell into the hands of the victors. Mahon
divided the spoil among his clansmen, " according to
persons and rights, according to accomplishments and
fair performances, according to bravery and valour."
We obtain an insight into the wealth and trade of the
Danes of Ireland from the enumeration of the spoils of
Limerick. " They carried off their jewels and their best
property, and their saddles beautiful and foreign ; their
gold and their silver ; their beautifully-woven cloth of
all colours and of all kinds ; their satins and silken
cloth, pleasing and variegated, both scarlet and green,
CH. ix.] The Dalcassian Period. 261
and all sorts of cloth in like manner. They carried
away their soft, youthful, bright, matchless girls, their
blooming silk- clad young women, and their active, large,
and well-formed boys."
A Gaelic song of triumph, a paean for Mahon, thus
concludes :
" Luimnech (Limerick) was totally ravaged by thee :
Thou didst carry away their gold and their silver ;
Thou didst plunder their fort at that time ;
Thou didst surround it with a wall of fire.
For Mumhain (Munster) hast thou well contended,
Mathgamhain ! thou great chief !
Thou hast given, king, a stern defeat,
To banish the foreigners from Erinn.
King of Mumhain methinks thou art,
High king of Caisel (Cashel) renowned :
Bestow gold on those who merit,
They are many, Mathgamhain !"
Mahon did not long survive the victory of Sulcoit.
He was treacherously murdered by Donovan and Mulloy,
sons of the rulers of South Munster, instigated by the
Danish king of Limerick. Jealousy of the growing
power of Thomond was the actuating motive with these
scions of the Eugenian line. Their mode of carrying
their treachery into effect was base in the extreme.
Donovan invited Mahon to a banquet, and finding that
the chieftain of the Dal Gais hesitated to comply,
obtained for him a guarantee of safety from the bishop
of Cork and others of the Munster clergy. Thus
assured, Mahon accepted his invitation. His person
262 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. ix.
was seized and delivered up to a body of troops who
lay in wait.
" Mulloy had ordered his people, when they should
get Mahon into their hands, to despatch him at once ;
and this order was obeyed. A bright and sharp sword
was plunged into his heart, and his blood stained
St. Barry's Gospel, which he held to his breast to
protect himself by its sanctity. When, however, he
perceived the naked sword extended to strike him, he
cast the gospel in the direction of the clergy, who were
on an adjacent hillock, and it struck the breast of one
of the priests of Cork; and those who were looking on
assert that he sent it the distance of a bow-shot from
the one hillock to the other."
When Mulloy, who was within sight of this tragic
scene, observed the flashing of the sword raised to
strike the victim, he understood that the bloody deed
was done, and mounted his horse to depart. One of
the clergy who knew Mulloy, asked him what was to
be done. Mulloy replied, with sardonic sneer, " cure
that man if he come to thee," and then took his de-
parture. The priest became wroth, and, cursing him
bitterly, predicted that he would come to an evil end.
" Mulloy MacBran was the chief instigator of this deed ;
but it were better for him he had not accomplished it,
for it afterwards caused him bitter woe and affliction."
When the news of it reached Brian and the Dal Gais
they were overwhelmed with grief; and Brian vented
his grief and rage in an extemporaneous effusion,
which the chronicler gives in the form of a poem,
lamenting that his brother had not fallen in battle
CH. ix.] The Dalcassian Period. 263
behind the shelter of his shield before he had relied
on the treacherous word of Donovan. He concludes
thus :
" My heart will burst within my breast
Unless I avenge this great king ;
They shall forfeit life for this foul deed,
Or I shall perish by a violent death."
Brian accomplished his revenge. He attacked the
Danes of Limerick, and slew their king, Ivar, who had
plotted against his brother ; and put Ivar's sons also to
the sword. He then turned his victorious arms with like
success against Donovan. Mulloy had previously fallen
by the hand of Murrogh, eldest son of Brian, in con-
flict at the ford of Bealach-Leachta. The young prince
desired to avenge with his own hand his uncle Mahon's
murder. Brian Boru was now undisputed king of
Minister, and fixed his royal seat at Kincora, not far
from the falls of the Shannon at Killaloe.
Brian's personal rivalry with Malachy did not pre-
vent his joining the Ard-Eigh with his forces in a
campaign against the Danes. The Northmen were
defeated at Glen Mama, near Dunlavin, in the county
of Wicklow. Afterwards, Malachy and Brian entered
Dublin in triumph, spent a week in the Danish capital,
burned the fortress, expelled Sitric, and carried off
immense spoil, in gold, silver, and prisoners.
This cordial co-operation with Malachy was not of
long continuance. The monarch was gallant, hos-
pitable, and joyous in temperament ; a fearless rider,
delighting in a mettlesome, unbroken steed; open-
264 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. ix.
handed in his generosity, but lacking the statesinan-like
qualities which distinguished Brian. This clear-sighted,
resolute man had, by the glory of his achievements and
the policy of his alliances, undermined the authority
of King Malachy. Brian had married, in succession,
daughters of the powerful Connaught clans of O'Heyne
and O'Connor, and thirdly Gormley, sister of Maelmurra,
king of Leinster, who had been previously the wife of
Olaf Cuaran, Danish king of Dublin, and was afterwards
wife of Malachy II. He had a numerous family, for
whom he made alliances which extended his influence.
The daughter of Earl Godwin of Kent became the wife
of one of his sons. His own daughters were married,
one to Sitric " Silk-Beard," son of Gormley by her
former husband, Danish king of Dublin, and another
to a Scottish prince. His eldest son, Murrogh, was a
distinguished man, and father to a promising boy ; and
five younger scions gave stability to this branch of the
Dalcassian line.
Brian, deeming himself now strong enough to aspire
to the monarchy, soon after the battle of Glen Mama,
marched on Tara, at the head of the Munster clans, and
challenged Malachy to open battle, or to give hostages
in acknowledgment of Brian's supremacy. Malachy,
unprepared for resistance, asked a respite of a month,
that he might summon the provincial chieftains to his
aid, promising at the end of that time either to stake
his sovereignty on the event of battle, or to resign it
into the hands of Brian. He stipulated that in the
interval Brian should not devastate Meath. The
Munster king agreed to these terms.
CH. ix.] The Dalcassian Period. 265
Malachy, who was himself a prince of the South Hy-
Niall line, sent envoys to the Northern Hy-Niall princes,
and to the chieftains of Uladh and of Connaught, sum-
moning them to his aid, to fight against Brian. From
Aedh O'Neill he received a reply which indicated how
little he had to expect at the hands of these princes.
" Whenever," said he, " Tara happened to be possessed
by the Kinel Owen, they were themselves wont to
defend its rights, and sought no other aid : therefore
let him who holds it now stand up himself and fight
for its freedom as best he may."
Malachy tried, with no better result, the effect of a
personal interview with the proud chief of Aileach.
Having besought Aedh in vain, he tempted him by the
offer of the sovereignty for himself.
" If thou wilt not fight in defence of Tara for my
sake," said Malachy, " defend it for thine own, and I
shall give thee hostages, as sureties for my leaving thee
in the quiet possession thereof; for I prefer that thou
shouldst hold it, rather than Brian." This was a much
more attractive proposition to the selfish Aedh O'Neill.
He summoned his clan, and consulted them on the
offers made to him by Malachy. But they were not
willing to encounter the veterans of Brian. " It was
their opinion that it was likely that very many of
them would never return from the war, in case they
should now march against the Dal Gais. For which
reason they declared that it was meet that they should
first acquire an inheritance for their children after
them. ' Because,' said they, ' it is idle to expect that
any possessions or any wealth will ever come to them
2G6 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. ix.
from our return to our homes, if we once march against
that tribe, namely, the Dal Gais, whose warriors are
the hardiest and the bravest upon all battle-fields.
Their race has never yet fled before the Lochlannaigh ;
and it is as certain that it will not now flee before us.'
Upon these grounds they came to the determination
of demanding from Malachy the one-half of Meath,
together with the district around Tara, for a posses-
sion for themselves and their posterity after them, as
the reward of their going with him upon the present
expedition." This resolve was made known* to the
monarch, who was seized with great anger, and
forthwith returned home exceedingly indignant and
dissatisfied at the result of his visit.
We are not surprised that the indignant and dis-
gusted Ard-Eigh should reject the services of allies
who coolly demanded the better part of his patrimony
of Meath as the price of their assistance. Better was
the open enmity of Brian than such friendly aid.
Malachy took his resolution. Attended by two
hundred and forty horsemen only, he rode to Tara, and
without condition, surety, or hostage for his personal
safety, entered the presence of Brian. He openly told
him of his perplexity and dilemma ; announced that he
would have done battle for his crown if he could, but
that, not being in a position to fight, he had come to
submit himself to his rival.
Brian was not to be outdone in generous confidence.
" As thou hast come thus to my dwelling," he said to
Malachy, " without surety or safeguard from me, I now
grant thee a further respite of one year, during which
CH. ix.] The Dalcassian Period. 267
time I shall demand neither homage nor hostages at
thy hands. And in the meantime I shall pay a personal
visit to these northern people, both Aedh O'Neill
and Eochy, son of Ardgal, king of Ulidia, in order
that I may learn what kind of answer they will make
to me. And then, should they give me battle, thou
mayest help them against me if thou wilt."
The year elapsed ; Brian collected his forces ; de-
manded hostages from the provincial kings, and from
Malachy himself: they were given : the deposed
monarcn acknowledged his rival as his sovereign, and
Brian Boru became king of all Ireland, A. D. 1002.
He was an able administrator. Roads, bridges, and
other works of public utility, schools, churches,
monasteries, sprang up under his fostering care. He
loved learning, and encouraged it in others. He
sent "professors and masters to teach wisdom and
knowledge ; and to buy books beyond the sea." He
compelled the submission of the Ulster chieftains, and
carried some of them as hostages to Kincora. He
visited Armagh, and offered, on the altar of its church,
twenty ounces of gold. His name, inscribed in his
presence, may yet be read in its venerable manuscript,
the Book of Armagh. He made his temporary encamp-
ment, while in that neighbourhood, on the rath of
Emania. Of the tributes he collected a third part
was allotted to "the professors of sciences and arts,
and to every one who was most in need of it." His
hospitalities at Kincora were unbounded. The tributes
of the provinces, which supported these entertainments,
consisted annually of 800 cows and 800 hogs, from
268 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. ix.
Connauglit ; 300 cows, 300 hogs, and 300 loads of iron,
and certain duty-timber, from Leinster ; from Ulster,
500 cows, 500 hogs, and 60 loads of iron; while the
Danes of Dublin contributed 154 pipes of wine, and
the Danes of Limerick 365 pipes of red wine. The
southern clans were exempted from all tribute. All
his subjects were freed from the galling yoke of slavery ;
and the laws were so well administered that the lady
" rich and rare " in gems and beauty did not fear to stray,
secure that, though " lone and lovely," she might pass
through the length and the breadth of the land un-
harmed and unmolested. From the time of Brian
Boru we may date the common use of surnames. The
sept of O'Brien, who are descended from this great
king, have many distinguished representatives at the
present day.
It was not to be expected that the Northmen, whose
sway in Ireland had been so greatly curtailed by
Brian, should acquiesce without a struggle in this loss
of prestige. Their race had at this period achieved
great successes in England, France, and the islands of
Man, the Hebrides, and Orkneys. A Danish dynasty
was impending in England. The followers of Eollo
were firmly settled in Normandy ; the Lord of
the Isles was a powerful ruler. The spark which
kindled the flames of war among this combustible
material came, we grieve to say, from an Irish hand.
Maelmurra, king of Leinster, had received a fancied
insult at Kincora, at the hands of Murrogh, son of Brian,
who was playing chess. Maelmurra counselled a move,
which nettled the prince, who remarked that it was no
CH. ix.] The Dalcassian Period. 269
wonder that the Danes had been beaten at Glen Mama,
since they followed the advice of so bad a strategist.
" If I did give them counsel which caused their defeat
in that conflict," said Maelmurra, " I shall now give
them another counsel, whereby, in their turn, they shall
defeat you." "Have the yew tree made ready, then,
for yourself," rejoined Murrogh, in taunting allusion to
Maelmurra's place of concealment, out of which he had
himself plucked the king of Leinster after the rout
consequent on that battle. Maelmurra's sister Gorm-
ley had also previously reproached him for being
Brian's vassal, when he sought her aid in replacing a
silver button on a gold broidered silken tunic which
Brian had given him. The Leinster prince in con-
veying three pine-masts to Kincora, had, on the ascent
of a boggy mountain, given his personal assistance in
moving the timber, and in so doing had wrenched the
button from his tunic. Gormley, instead of repairing
it, threw the garment into the fire, uttering, as she did
so, expressions of disdain at the subserviency of Mael-
murra. Stung by these accumulated insults, Maelmurra
hastily left Kincora, proclaiming his determination to
seek redress in arms. Thus the reproaches of a
woman, and the thoughtless pleasantry of a chess-
player, kindled the flame of war throughout Ireland.
The Leinster chieftain, who had all his life intrigued
with the foreigner, recommenced his machinations,
and, in obedience to his invitation, a host of northern
foes assembled in the Bay of Dublin, to contend for
the soil of Erin on the battle-field of Clontarf. Earl
Sigurd of the Orkneys, with a formidable fleet, Carl
270 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. rx.
Canuteson, prince of Denmark, with an array of chosen
warriors clad in armour ; Brcdar, a redoubted champion,
with levies from the Isle of Man; contingents from
Scandinavia all leagued with the treacherous Mael-
murra in this last and most terrible struggle of North-
man and Gael, of Pagan and Christian, on Irish soil.
Brian, now an aged man, once more assembled the
Dal Gais, and marched on Dublin. The main army
rested on the wood, which at that time clothed the
bank of the little Eiver Tolka where it empties its
waters into Dublin Bay. A detachment had been sent
off under command of his son Donogh, to ravage
Leinster. With wonderful fidelity, the deposed King
Malachy had joined Brian, with the forces of Meath ;
Teige O'Kelly, chief of Hy Many, was also present
with the Connaught contingent; while the Munster
troops, which formed the flower of his army, were
under the command of his eldest son, the heroic
Murrogh. The arrival of the Hy-Manians was a
welcome spectacle.
" Brian looked out behind him, and beheld the
battle phalanx, compact, huge, disciplined, moving in
silence, mutely, bravely, haughtily, unitedly, with one
mind, traversing the plain towards them, and three-
score and ten banners over them, of red, and of yellow,
and of green, and of all kinds of colours." It was a
proud moment. Great issues hung in the balance. It
was sure to be a conflict to the death, for the foes were
"valiant, active, fierce-moving, dangerous," and were
armed with "heavy, hard-striking, strong, powerful,
stout swords."
CH. ix.] The Dalcassian Period. 271
The northern reach of the Bay of Dublin, from the
estuary of the Tolka, where at that time stood the
Fishing-weir of Clontarf, extending towards the Hill of
Howth, washes the crescent-shaped sands which formed
one boundary of the battle-field. It is a gently-sloping
plain. On the landward side came the army of Brian
in three divisions.
On the shore were drawn up the Danish army,
protected by their ships. They also were in three
divisions.
Good Friday, the 23rd of April, 1014, was the
eventful day. Brian would gladly have postponed the
conflict, unwilling to make that solemn anniversary a
day of carnage and strife. But the Danes, inspired by
a prediction that on any other day but Friday they
would all assuredly perish influenced also by the fact
that the king's son Donogh was absent with a large
detachment of the Irish army, determined to force on
the engagement. The Danish and Leinster forces
mustered about 20,000 men. The Irish army under
Brian is also estimated at 20,000. The first division of
the foreigners consisted of the Danes of Dublin, under
Sitric and Dolat and Conmael, with a band of foreign
auxiliaries commanded by Carl and Anrud. Of these
Northmen one thousand were in complete suits of armour.
These were opposed to the first division of the Irish army,
consisting of the Dalcassian troops under the command of
Murrogh, eldest son of Brian. Turlogh, the young son
of Murrogh, though only in his fifteenth year, fought
bravely, and died in battle, as became one of his heroic
race ; and Teige, Donall, Conor, and Flan, other sons of
272 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. ix.
Brian, followed the standard of Murrogh. In this first
division, also, were the troops of Meath commanded by
Malachy. The discrowned king rallied his forces to
the banner of his successful rival. In the sacred cause
of country he forgot private animosities and personal
wrongs.
" 'Twas a holy time when the kings, long foemen,
Fought, side by side, to uplift the serf ;
Never triumphed in old time Greek or Roman
As Brian and Malachi at Clontarf.
* * * *
Praise to the king of ninety years
Who rode round the battle-field, cross in hand ;
But the blessing of Eire and grateful tears
To him who fought under Brian's command !
A crown in heaven for the king who brake,
To staunch old discords, his royal wand ;
Who spurn'd his throne for his people's sake
Who served a rival and saved the land !" *
The second division of the Irish army was led by
Brian's son-in-law, Kian, King of Desmond. He was
as remarkable for his person as for his courage and
bravery. Kian " exceeded in stature and beauty all the
other men of Erinn." The Eugenian clans of South
Munster followed his banner, and found themselves
opposed to the men of Leinster, led by the recreant
Maelmurra, and aided by a band of Northmen.
The remaining Scandinavian contingents, principally
from the Orkney Islands, the Hebrides, Isle of Man,
Wales and Britain, Norway and Denmark, composed
the third division of the foreign army. They were led
* From Inisfail, by AUBREY DE VERB.
OH. ix.] The Dalcassian Period. 273
by the renowned Brodar, and by Sigurd, son of Lodar,
the Orkney chief. They were opposed by the third
division of the Irish army, comprising the Connaught
levies under the leadership of Teige 0' Kelly, Prince of
Hy-Many, and Maelruine O'Heyne, Lord of Hy-
Fiachra - Aidhne. With these were some of the
Munster clans and a contingent from Scotland led by
Domnall, Maormor, or High-steward of Mar. Thus it
was that the ancestor of the Eoyal Stuarts and the
Gael of Alba fought at Clontarf, in aid of their Irish
kindred, under the standard of Brian Boru.
At daybreak on that memorable Friday the aged
and devout Brian appeared on horseback his golden-
hilted sword in one hand, a crucifix in the other at
the head of his troops to cheer and animate his army
on the eve of conflict. He reminded them of the cruel
ravages of the Northmen; of their desecration of
churches and monasteries ; of the tyranny under
which they had groaned, and appealed to them as he
raised the crucifix aloft, "Was not Christ on this day
crucified for you ?" He desired to lead them himself
to the conflict, but, mindful of his great age, his people
implored of him to abandon the idea, and leave to
younger men the brunt of battle. Brian retired to his
tent. From thence he watched the struggle : a series
of hand-to-hand fights: a determined contest between
brave and daring champions, enduring from the time
of high water in the morning until high water in the
evening. Though attended by fearful loss of life on
both sides, the combat was redeemed by heroic deeds
of individual bravery and daring and indomitable
274 The Irish before the Conquest, [CH. ix.
courage. Certainly it was a more noble form of war
than the distant carnage of our own times, when a great
engagement is decided by artillery almost before the
opposing forces have sight of one another. The battle
of Clontarf was a series of duels. The first personal
encounter was between Plait, a Scandinavian warrior
clothed in armour, and Domnall, the High-steward of
Mar. They had challenged each other the night before,
and on the morning of the battle Plait came forth
" from the battalion of the men in armour, and said
three times, ' Faras Domhnall ?' that is, ' Where is
Domhnall?' Domhnall answered, and said, 'Here,
thou reptile,' said he. They fought then, and each of
them endeavoured to slaughter the other ; and they fell
by each other, and the way that they fell was with the
sword of each through the heart of the other, and the
hair of each in the clenched hand of the other ; and the
combat of that pair was the first of the battle."
Murrogh, son of Brian, led the van of the Irish
army. As the battalions were forming he " looked to
one side, and beheld approaching him, on his right
side, alone, the heroical, championlike, beautiful,
strong, bounding, graceful, erect, impetuous young
hero, Dunlang O'Hartigan; and he recognized him,
and made three springs to meet him, and he kissed
him, and welcomed him; and, *0 youth,' said he,
* it is long until thou comest unto us ; and great
must be the love and attachment of some woman to
thee which has induced thee to abandon me ; and to
abandon Brian, and Conaing, and Donnchadh ; and the
nobles of Dal Gais in like manner, and the delights of
CH. ix.] The Dalcassian Period. 275
Erinn until this day.' * Alas, king,' said Dunlang,
* the delight that I have abandoned for thee is greater,
if thou didst but know it, namely, life without death,
without cold, without thirst, without hunger, without
decay ; beyond any delight of the delights of the earth
to me until the judgment, and heaven after the judg-
ment ; and if I had not pledged my word to thee I
would not have come here ; and, moreover, it is fated
to me to die on the day thou shalt die.' 'Shall I
receive death this day, then ?' said Murchadh. ' Thou
shalt receive it, indeed,' said Dunlang, * and Brian and
Conaing shall receive it, and almost all the nobles of
Erinn, and Toirdhelbhach (Turlogh), thy son.' " Dun-
lang O'Hartigan had learned this gloomy intelligence
from the guardian sprite of the O'Briens. This
Banshee Aibhell of Craig Liath had prepared King
Brian also to meet his doom.
Murrogh, though he doubtless shared in the super-
stition of his age and this particular form of supersti-
tion is not yet extinct in Ireland was in no wise
depressed or discouraged. He was prepared to meet
his mysterious doom, and was not appalled at death in
any aspect. He had cut down successively two Danish
standard-bearers, when he encountered the Norwegian
leader, Anrud. His right arm was well-nigh power-
less from fatigue, but he seized the prince in the grasp
of his yet vigorous left hand. He shook him so
violently that his armour of mail fell from him as
Murrogh hurled him to the earth, and, placing the
point of his sword on the prostrate Northman, he
stooped over Anrud to bring home the death-wound
276 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. ix.
by the weight of his body on his sword-hilt. As
Anrud writhed in the agonies of death, he seized the
dagger which hung by his foeman's side and buried it
in the heart of Murrogh. Thus died the eldest son of
King Brian, the chief captain of the Irish in the battle
of Clontarf. His young gallant son, Turlogh, was found
drowned in the rising waters of the Tolka, impaled on
one of the weir-stakes, his hands grasping the locks of
two Danes, with whom he had grappled in deadly conflict.
The Connaught chieftains, too, won the renown of
many acts of valour. Teige of Hy-Many, and Maelruine
of Hy-Fiachra-Aidhne, both perished on the battle-field,
and their gallant clansmen were decimated, though vic-
torious. Ere nightfall the Danes were in full retreat,
closely pursued by the remnant of the Irish forces. The
tent of the king was thus left undefended, and, indeed,
unthought of. Here Brian had passed many anxious
hours, watching the ever-varying tide of battle, or
engaged in prayer.
While this "spirited, fierce, violent, vengeful, and
furious " battle was waging, the aged king, kneeling on
his cushion in his tent, asked his attendant what was
then the condition of Murrogh's standard. " It is
standing," was the reply, " and many of the banners of
the Dal Gais are around it ; and many heads are falling
around it, and a multitude of trophies and spoils, with
heads of foreigners, are along with it."
Brian resumed his prayers, and then again asked his
attendant for tidings of the battalions. " There is not
living on earth one who could distinguish one of them
from the other. For the greater part of the hosts at
CH. ix.] The Daleassian Period. Ill
either side are fallen, and those who are alive are so
covered with spatterings of the crimson blood head,
body, and vesture that a father could not know his son
from any other of them, so confounded are they."
Brian's cushion was again spread for him ; and
again, after another interval of prayer, he demands,
" How goes it with the battalions ?" " They appear to
me," said the attendant, " the same as if the wood of
Coil Tomar (the wood along the banks of the Tolka)
were on fire, and that seven companies had been
hewing away its underwood and its young shoots for
a month, leaving its stately trees and its immense oaks
standing. In such manner are the armies on either
side, after the greater part of them have fallen, leaving
a few brave men and valiant heroes only standing.
And their further condition (he said) is, that they are
wounded and dismembered, and disorganized all around,
like the grindings of a mill turning the wrong way ;
and the foreigners are now defeated, and the standard
of Murrogh has fallen." "Sad is this news," said
Brian ; " the honour and valour of Erin fell when that
standard fell."
While Brian and his attendant held this colloquy,
a party of the foe, in their retreat, passed by the tent
thus deserted and unprotected. They were led by the
Viking Brodar, who is described in the Norse Saga as
one " who had been a Christian man, and a mass-
deacon by consecration, but he had thrown off his faith
and become God's dastard, and now worshipped heathen
fiends, and he was of all men most skilled in sorcery.
He had that coat of mail on which no steel would bite.
278 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. ix.
He was both tall and strong, and had such long locks
that he tucked them under his belt. His hair was
black." Such was the man who entered the tent of
Brian. Its only occupants were the aged king and his
youthful attendant. The monarch had time to grasp
his arms ere he fell in conflict. Brodar issued from
the tent. He waved aloft his reeking double-headed
battle-axe.' "Let man tell man," he exclaimed, " that
Brodar felled Brian."
So died Brian Boru. Of his six gallant sons but two
survived Clontarf. On that glorious, but to them
fatal battle field, the noblest blood of his clan was
freely shed " for the love of fatherland."
" Long his loss shall Erin weep,
Ne'er again his likeness see ;
Long her strains in sorrow steep,
Strains of immortality." *
So sang, in the Norte tongue, even the foes of Brian.
* From GRAY'S version of The Fatal Sisters, from the
Norse Saga of Burnt Nial.
CH. x.] The eve of the Conquest. 279
CHAPTER X.
THE EVE OF THE CONQUEST.
THE mortal remains of Brian and his son Murrogh
were conveyed by the monks of Swords to Armagh,
and interred with much pomp in the cathedral of that
city. The shattered remnant of his tribe, under the
leadership of the hero's son, Donogh, retired towards
Munster. On the march Kian, king of Desmond,
demanded hostages equivalent to homage from the
Dal-Gais, in conformity with that law of Ollioll Olum,
which conferred the chieftainship alternately on the
Eugenian and Dalcassian tribes. Donogh O'Brien
refused ; and the Desmond contingent separated from
the remnant of the warriors of Kincora.
Thus reduced in number, and encumbered by their
wounded, the gallant tribe who had borne the brunt of
battle at Clontarf, found themselves opposed on their
homeward march by the men of Ossory, who took this
opportunity of freeing themselves from the galling yoke
of subjection imposed on them by Brian Boru. The
envoys of Ossory demanded hostages, or battle.
" A battle he shall have," said Donogh ; " but it is
a sad thing that I did not meet with a death like that
which my father found, before I suffered the insult of
280 The Irish he/ore the Conquest. [CH. x.
having hostages demanded from me by the son of
Gilla-Padraig." He was no less indignant when re-
minded of his powerlessness to resist.
" Were it ever lawful to punish any ambassadors for
the purport of the message they conveyed," exclaimed
the angry prince, " I would now have had your tongues
plucked out of your heads for this present insolence.
For though I had but one solitary camp-follower to
stand by me, I should never think of refusing to con-
tend in battle with the son of Gilla-Padraig, and the
men of Ossory."
He at once prepared for action. One third of his
available force was set apart to guard the wounded,
and the remainder ranged in order of battle. But
when the wounded men heard of this emergency, they
implored of Donogh to have stakes thrust into the
ground to which they might be tied, with their weapons
in their hands. " Let our sons and our kinsmen," they
continued, " be stationed by our sides, and let two
warriors who are unwounded be placed near each one
of us wounded ; for it is thus that we will help one
another with truer zeal, because shame will not allow
the sound man to leave his position until his wounded
and bound comrade can leave it likewise."
The gallant front which the remnant of Dalcassian
warriors thus showed to their ungenerous assailants of
Ossory, secured their ultimate safety. So noble a
display of courage dismayed their enemies and averted
the attack. The men of Leinster and Ossory refused
to follow their leaders to the assault. " It is not of
marching off, or of running away, or of breaking their
CH. x.] The eve of the Conquest. 281
ranks, or of yielding to panic," they exclaimed, " that
yonder men are thinking, but of doing their utmost to
defend themselves by making a firm, obstinate, and
hand-to-hand fight. For this reason, we will not now
contend with them in battle, for to them life and death
are alike indifferent. Not one man of them can be
slain until five or six of us have first fallen by his
hands. And then, what advantage will result to us
from dying in their company ?"
And so " in want and hardship," the harassed rem-
nant of the Dal-Gais continued their march towards
their own country. When Donogh O'Brien reached
Kincora, but eight hundred and fifty remained of the
warriors who had marched under the banner of Murrogh
to the victory which had cost them so dear.
Brian Boru, who had raised his tribe from compara-
tive obscurity ; who had compelled all Ireland to receive
their supreme monarch from Lea Moha, and not, as
heretofore, from Lea Con ; who had set aside, by
his vigorous individuality, the claim, which long pre-
scription had almost made law, of the descendants of
Niall to give kings to Ireland had died in the
moment of achieving a victory all-important for his
country, but ruinous to his house. The astute, un-
scrupulous, ambitious, but patriotic monarch, had risked
too much of the O'Brien blood, and too many members
of an infant dynasty to the chances of a battle excep-
tionally bloody, even in that age of carnage. Yet, before
Clontarf, few founders of dynasties could look forward
with more reasonable hope of transmitting a secure
authority to his descendants. He had asserted that
282 TJw Irish before the Conquest. [OH. x.
supremacy which his personal qualities justified. He
had allayed factions, and triumphed over all opposition.
He had ruled wisely and well. He was surrounded by a
numerous family. His sons were grown to manhood.
His daughters by their marriages had strengthened
his alliances. His eldest son Murrogh was himself
the father of a son of hopeful promise. He might well
believe that a dynasty supported by such princes would
bear sway, and give a stability hitherto unknown to
Irish political government. No other man had been
so successful as he had been in combining the whole
people in one national object. He lived late enough
into the afternoon of that Friday at Clontarf to see
the power of the Northmen in Ireland for ever
broken. But the results of his own sagacity and
valour, of the ability and bravery of his son Murrogh,
of the youthful heroism and gallantry of his grandson
Turlogh, were so ordered as to prove ultimately fatal
to his family and clan and, it may be added, to the
independence of his country also. The example which
he set of successful revolt against the central authority,
was followed by others, who emulated his ambition
without possessing his abilities. Other tribes and
families aspired to raise themselves as the O'Briens
had done. Prescriptive rights were set aside, and
from the battle of Clontarf to the period of the Con-
quest
" The good old rule, the simple plan,
That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can "
became the general law the right of the strong hand the
OH. x.] The eve of the Conquest. 283
sole appeal. Kings " with opposition" go fresdbhradh,
that is, kings whose authority is questioned, opposed,
disregarded, are the principal royal personages who
from henceforth appear on the scene.
Malachy II. on the death of Brian reassumed the
position which that powerful rival had wrested from
him. He followed up the victory at Clontarf, captured
Dublin, and broke the power of Maelmurra of Leinster,
the Irish ally of the Danes. He died in the odour of
sanctity on an island of Lough Ennell, the last king of
Irish blood that was indisputably Ard-Kigh of Ireland
"the pillar of dignity and nobility of the western
world."
It has been already mentioned that two sons only, of
the numerous progeny of Brian, survived the battle of
Clontarf. Teige and Donogh contended for the chief-
tainship of the Dal-Gais. The former fell in conflict
with a neighbouring clan, not without suspicion of foul
play on the part of Donogh who now claimed not
merely the Munster chieftainship, but the sovereignty
left vacant by the death of Malachy.
Donogh O'Brien was the son of Gormley, that wife
of Brian who was sister of Maelmurra, king of
Leinster, and who had instigated her brother by her
reproaches to take part with the Danes in the alliance
which was broken at Clontarf. By her former husband
she was the mother of Sitric, the Danish ruler in
Dublin. She had also been the wife of Malachy, and
the mother of his son Conor.
Donogh O'Brien had married for his second wife a
daughter of Godwin, earl of Kent. When her brother
284 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. x.
Harold afterwards the last Saxon king of England
had to seek an asylum during the reign of Edward the
Confessor, he found welcome and protection at the
court of Donogh. But the sway of Donogh was recog-
nised in Munster and Connaught only. Flaherty
O'Neill ruled the northern districts from his fort at
Aileach. This prince made a pilgrimage to Rome
A.D. 1030, whence his soubriquet " an Trostain," that is,
Flaherty " Pilgrim-staff"
The central districts of the island during this period
obeyed the injunctions of Cuan O'Loghan, an eminent
poet, and Corcran Claireach, a devout anchorite of
Lismore, recalling in some degree the government of
the Jews under judges. Meantime a formidable com-
petitor for the supreme place assumed the provincial
throne of Leinster. Dermid, son of Mael-na-mbo, was
the immediate ancestor of the MacMurroghs. He
married a granddaughter of King Brian, and became
the powerful protector of Turlogh, son of Teige, son
of Brian, to whom he stood in the further relation of
foster-father.
Turlogh O'Brien thus became a rival to his uncle
Donogh. After many contests and skirmishes Turlogh,
aided by Dermid of Leinster, defeated the troops of
Donogh, led by his son Murrogh " Short-shield," and
compelled Donogh to resign his crown of Munster.
The deposed king, following the example of Flaherty
O'Neill, made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he died.
He is said to have carried with him the insignia of
royalty, and to have resigned the Irish regalia into the
hands of the then pope, Alexander II.
CH. x.] The eve of the Conquest. 285
We shall not further dwell on the disputed rule of
Dermid " of the white teeth, laughing in danger," or
of his friend and foster-son, Turlogh, king of Munster,
from whom William Eufus obtained the Irish oak which
he used for the roofing of one of his great edifices,
or of the greater son of Turlogh, Murkertach Mor
O'Brien, except to mention a characteristic anecdote
told of this prince in connection with William Bufus,
but proceed to glance rapidly at the rise of a new
family, hitherto unacquainted with sovereign power.
The story of the Irish ruler and Bed William is this :
It had been reported to Murkertach that the English
king, standing on a high rock, and looking towards
Ireland, had said, " I will bring hither my ships, and
pass over and conquer that land ;" on which the Irish
monarch inquired: "Hath the king in his great
threatening said, if it please God ?" Then, learning
that Eufus had planned the expedition in his own
strength only, had rejoined, " I fear him not."
To proceed with the rise of the O'Conors. The
O'Conors of Connaught traced their descent from
Eremon, and ruled from Bath Cruachan, the ancient
capital of Queen Maev, in Boscommon. Turlogh
0' Conor made many hostings into Munster, and in the
battle of Moanmore inflicted a signal defeat on the
southern clans. Seven thousand of the "defeated and
slaughtered " men of Munster are said to have fallen
in this engagement ; and many Septs had to lament the
loss of both Chief and Tanist* On the side of the
victorious O'Conor fought Dermid MacMurrogh,
second of the name, afterwards distinguished as
286 The Irish before the Conquest. [CH. x.
Diarmaid na n'Gall, " Dermid of the Foreigners," the
king of Leinster who invited the English invasion.
Turlogh O'Conor died A.D. 1156, and was buried
beside the altar of Kieran at Clonmacnoise, " a man
full of charity, mercy, hospitality, and chivalry."
How far this eulogy may be the reward of his gifts
to the church we shall not pause to discuss.
" Great indeed were the legacies which this prince
left to the clergy for the repose of his soul, namely,
four hundred and forty ounces of gold and forty marks
of silver, and all the other valuable treasures he pos-
sessed, both cups and precious stones, both steeds, and
cattle, and robes, chess-boards, bows, quivers, arrows,
equipments, weapons, armour, and utensils. And he
himself pointed out the manner in which its particular
portion thereof should be distributed to each church,
according to its rank and order."
At this period piety and devotion were still rife
among the Irish princes and persons of distinction;
but ecclesiastical government and discipline were at
a low ebb. The ravages of the Danes had struck the
first blow at her seminaries of sacred learning. The
turbulent and lawless times which succeeded, were not
favourable to the systematic observance of religion.
The very isolation and independence of the Irish
church permitted its adoption of practices inconsistent
with ecclesiastical discipline. A desire for refor-
mation and closer communion with Rome sprang up,
as a natural consequence, in the minds of her leading
ecclesiastics. Synods with this view were held early in
the twelfth century, under the auspices of Celsus, arch-
CH. x.] The eve of the Conquest. 287
bishop of Armagh, and Gillibert, bishop of Limerick. But
a greater reformer was yet to arise in the person of
Malachy O'Morgair, better known as St. Malachy,
afterwards archbishop of Armagh, and appointed by
Pope Innocent II. his legate in Ireland. On the
occasion of a visit made by him to Eome, A.D. 1139,
the pope " often and attentively inquired of him,
and of those who were with him, concerning the state
of their country, the habits of the people, the con-
dition of the churches, and the great things which
God had wrought by his means in his native land."
On his answers probably were grounded some of the
censures of which the Irish people soon after became
the objects.
Malachy, like other Irish saints, has been happy in
his biographer. His life has been written by his
friend St. Bernard, in whose arms he expired while
on a visit at Clairvaux, on the 2nd of November,
1148. He was the introducer of the Cistercian order
of monks into Ireland. Their first foundation, the
abbey of Mellifont, near Drogheda, bears date A.D.
1142.
We are now on the threshold of the English inva-
sion. In 1154, two years before the death of King
Turlogh O'Conor, Nicholas Breakspere, an Englishman,
ascended the papal chair. No other Englishman,
before or since, has ever worn the triple tiara. In the
same year Henry Plantagenet ascended the throne of
England. Pope Adrian IV., for such was the new
pontiff's title, was naturally disposed to gratify the
English king, and in his celebrated bull authorised
288 The Irish he/ore the Conquest. [OH. x.
King Henry II. to invade and conquer Ireland. We
give this remarkable document in extenso.
" Adrian, the bishop, a servant of the servants of
God, to his dearest son in Christ Jesus, the illustrious
king of England, sends greeting and apostolical bene-
diction. The desire your magnificence expresses to
extend your glory upon earth, and to lay up for your-
self in heaven a great reward of eternal happiness, is
very laudable and profitable for you, while, as a good
Catholic prince, you endeavour to enlarge the bounds
of the church, to declare the true Christian faith to
ignorant and barbarous nations, and to extirpate all
evil from the field of the Lord ; which the better to
perform, you ask the advice and encouragement of the
apostolical see. In the accomplishment of this work
wo trust you will have, by the assistance of God, a
success proportioned to the depth of counsel and dis-
cretion with which you shall proceed; forasmuch as
everything which takes its rise from the ardour of faith
and love of religion is most likely to come to a good
and happy end. There is, indeed, no doubt that (as
you yourself acknowledge) Ireland, and all other islands
which Christ the Sun of Righteousness has illuminated,
and which have received the doctrines of the Christian
faith, belong of right to the jurisdiction of St. Peter
and the most holy Roman Church ; wherefore we more
gladly sow in them the seed of faith, which is good and
agreeable to God, as we know that it will be more
strictly required of our conscience not to neglect it.
Since, then, you have signified to us, most dear son in
CH. x.] TJie eve of the Conquest. 289
Christ, that you desire to enter into the island of
Ireland, in order to subdue the people to the obedience
of laws, and extirpate the vices which have there taken
root, and that you are also willing to pay an annual
pension to St. Peter of one penny from every house
therein, and to preserve the rights of the church in
that land inviolate and entire, we, seconding your pious
and commendable intention with the favour it deserves,
and granting a benignant assent to your petition, are
well pleased that, for the enlargement of the bounds
of the church for the restraint of vice the correction
of evil manners the culture of all virtues, and the
advancement of the Christian religion, you should
enter into that island, and effect what will conduce to
the salvation thereof, and to the honour of God. It is
likewise our desire that the people of that country
should receive you with honour, and venerate you as
their master: provided always that the ecclesiastical
rights therein remain inviolate and entire, and reserv-
ing to St. Peter and the most holy Roman Church the
annual pension of a penny from every house. If, there-
fore, you think fit to put your design in execution,
endeavour studiously to instruct that nation in good
morals, and do your utmost, as well personally as by
others whom you know from their faith, doctrine, and
course of life to be fit for such a work, that the church
may there be adorned, the Christian religion planted
and made to grow, and whatsoever appertains to the
honour of God and the salvation of souls so ordered,
as may entitle you to an eternal reward from God, and
a glorious name upon earth."
u
290 The Irish before the Conquest. [OH. x.
King Henry, after receiving this authorisation, held
a parliament at Winchester, A.D. 1155, "in which he
treated with his nobles concerning the conquest of
Ireland : but because the thing was opposed to the
wishes of his mother, the empress, that expedition was
put off till another time."
The project thus deferred was not forgotten. Henry
had solicited the grant in order that he might bestow
an inheritance on his younger brother, who had been
inadequately provided for by their father's will. His
own domestic troubles, the complications in which his
quarrel with Thomas-a-Becket involved him, and
other reasons, might have caused the bull of Pope
Adrian to remain a dead letter. Events, however,
gave a new stimulus to the enterprise.
Dervorgilla, the wife of O'Ruarc, lord of Breffhy,
had been carried off by Dermid MacMurrogh, king of
Leinster. The abduction, it is said, had been planned
by the lady, between whom and Dermid an old
attachment had existed. The lovers were at this time
of mature age Dervorgilla in her forty-fourth year,
and Dermid some years older. King Turlogh O'Conor,
and, at a later period, his son Eoderic, avenged the
wrongs of O'Euarc : Dermid was dispossessed of his
territory and driven into exile; while the faithless
Dervorgilla sought to atone for her guilt, where her
past munificence had prepared for her a reception, in
the monastic seclusion of Mellifont.
The discomfited prince sought the presence of
King Henry II., who was at that time in France, but
so engrossed by his affairs there, and in England, that
CH. x.] The eve of the Conquest. 291
he was unable to avail himself of the opportunity
which the appeal of Dermid presented. Yet he listened
with a ready and gracious ear to his representations ;
and although declining himself to take up his quarrel,
received his homage, and gave him his letters of aid.
" Henry, king of England, duke of Normandy and
Aquitaine, and earl of Anjou," so the letters ran by
which he authorized Dermid to seek for aid in Britain,
"to all his liegemen, English, Norman, Welsh, and
Scotch, and to all other nations under his dominion,
sends greeting. As soon as the present letters shall
come to your hands, know that Dermid, prince of
Leinster, has been received into the bosom of our
grace and benevolence. Wherefore, whosoever within
the ample extent of our territories shall be willing to
lend aid towards the restoration of this prince, as our
faithful and liege subject, let such person know that
we do hereby grant to him, for said purpose, our
licence and favour."
Thus accredited, Dermid found no difficulty in pro-
curing auxiliary aid. The promise of the hand in marriage
of his daughter Eva, with the reversion of the crown
of Leinster at his death, as her portion, secured him
the alliance of Richard De Clare, earl of Pembroke and
Strigul, better known by his pseudonym of " Strongbow."
Eound the banner of this noble and daring adventurer
flocked his kinsmen, the sons and other near connections
of the beautiful Nesta, daughter of the Welsh prince,
Ehys ap Tudor.
This fairest woman of her day was the mother, by
King Henry I., of Eobert Fitz Eoy, who, as earl of
292 TJie Irish before the Conquest. [OH. x.
Gloucester, is distinguished in English history during the
war of succession between his sister, the Empress Maud,
and Stephen of Blois ; she also bore to this King, Henry
Fitz Henry the parent of Meyler Fitz Henry, who
played so prominent a part in Irish affairs and, by a
subsequent marriage, was the mother of Fitz Gerald,
the progenitor of the Geraldines, that princely race
whose representatives, both of the Kildare and Desmond
branches, fill so eminent a place, even to the present
time, in Irish history. By a yet subsequent marriage,
Nesta was the mother of another leader in the conquest
of Ireland, Eobert Fitz Stephen ; while from her
daughters sprang the families of De Barri, and Fitz
Bernard. Gerald De Barri, better known as Giraldus
Cambrensis, to whose " Topography " and " Conquest "
of Ireland, we owe so much of our information touching
this period, was grandson of the same Nesta. He was
tutor of Prince John ; was an able, energetic, and learned
man, but one animated, as might be expected from his
near relationship with the conquerors, by a strong
spirit of hostility against the native Irish.
Such were the men by whose aid Dennid, for the
brief remnant of his life, was enabled to return to his
patrimony. He died A.D. 1171, according to the Irish
chroniclers, " as his evil deeds deserved." He has been
thus described by Cambrensis :
" This Dermicius was a man of tall stature and
large frame, warlike and daring among his nation, and
of hoarse voice, by reason of his frequent and con-
tinuous shouting in battle. He desired to be feared
rather than to be loved ; he oppressed the noble and
CH. x.] The eve of the Conquest. 293
elevated the lowly ; he was the enemy of his country-
men ; he was hated by strangers. The hand of all men
was against him, and his hand was against all."
On the great event which was now impending, long
designed and ultimately precipitated by the reckless
selfishness of this too famous personage, it is not the
intention of the writer here to enter. The historian
of the Conquest, and of the ages which have since
elapsed, may have to regret the rough and tedious
process of transition through which the country was
now destined to begin its passage ; but it will always
be a satisfactory reflection that amongst its results has
been our admission to a larger sphere of civilization, to
a share in many peaceful as well as warlike glories,
and to the general use of that noble language in which
all the gains of science and all the highest utterances
of modern poetry and philosophy have found a worthy
expression.
294 The Irish before the Conquest.
NOTE ON THE SOURCES AND NOMENCLATURE.
THE Sources from which the material of this volume has been
extracted are, to some extent, in manuscript, and hitherto
unpublished. Of these the principal are
'Curry's Translation of the Tain-bo- Cuailgne, with its
" Pre-Tales," comprising the " Boy-Feats" of Cuchullin ; for
the perusal of which, and liberty to use the extracts in the
text, the author is indebted to the liberal kindness of the
Right Reverend CHARLES GRAVES, Lord Bishop of Limerick ;
and of the Rev. JAMES HENTHORNE TODD, D.D., and
J. T. GILBERT, Esq., Secretaries of the Irish Archaeological
and Celtic Society.
Extract from the " Talland Etair" or Siege of Howth,
translated from the Tract in the Book of Leinster, and kindly
placed at the author's disposal by WILLIAM M. HENNESSY,
Esq., M.R.I.A.
Collections for the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, deposited
in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy.
With these exceptions, the sources are all accessible to the
English reader in published translations from the Irish and
Latin of the original works. From the dates mentioned
below, it will be seen that these aids to the modern student
have all, save one, been furnished since the first great stimulus
to the study of Irish history and antiquities was given by the
project for an Ordnance Survey Memoir of Ireland, about
thirty years ago. The Irish story is no longer a sealed book ;
but, to select material for a volume reasonably likely to attract
Note on the Sources and Nomenclature. 295
a general interest still requires a considerable range of study.
The translated and other works which have been principally
used by the author are
Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland,
and Ireland. By J. J. A. WORSAAE, For. F.S.A. London ;
a Royal Commissioner for the Preservation of the National
Monuments of Denmark, &c., &c. London, 1852.
Account of the Tribes and Customs of the District of Hy-
Many, commonly called (? Kelly's Country ', in the Counties of
Galway and Roscommon. Edited from the Book of Lecan in
the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, in the original Irish ;
with a Translation and Notes, and a Map of Hy-Many. By
JOHN O'DONOVAN, LL.D. Published for the Irish Archaeo-
logical Society. Dublin, 1843.
Annala Rioghachta Eireann. Annals of the Kingdom of
Ireland. By the Four Masters. From the earliest period
to the year 1616. Edited from MSS. in the Library of the
Royal Irish Academy and of Trinity College, Dublin, with a
Translation and copious Notes, by JOHN O'DONOVAN, Esq.,
M.R.I. A., Barrister-at-Law. Dublin : Hodges and Smith,
1851.
Oath Muighi Rath. The Battle of Magh Rath : from an
ancient MS. in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.
Edited in the original Irish, with a Translation and Notes, by
JOHN O'DONOVAN, LL.D. Published for the Irish Archaeo-
logical Society, Dublin, 1842.
Circuit of Ireland, by Muircheartach MacNeill, Prince of
Aileach; a Poem written in the year 942 by Cormacan
Eigeas, Chief Poet of the North of Ireland. Edited, with a
Translation and Notes, and a Map of the Circuit, by JOHN
O'DONOVAN, LL.D., M.R.I.A. Published by the Irish Archa}-
ological Society. Dublin, 1841.
Cogadh Oaedhil re Gallaibh. The War of the Gaedhil
with the Gaill ; or the Invasions of Ireland by the Danes and
other Norsemen. The original Irish text, edited with Transla-
tion and Introduction, by JAMES HENTHOKNE TODD, D.D.,
M.R.I.A., F.S.A., &c. Published by the authority of the
296 The Irish before the Conquest.
Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, under the
direction of the Master of the Rolls. London, 1867. In the
series of the Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and
Ireland during the Middle Ages, or Rerum Britannicarum
Medicevi Scriptores.
Columba {Life of Saint}. By Adamnan, ninth Abbot of
Hy (or lona). The Latin text taken from a MS. of the early
part of the eighth century, preserved at Schaffhausen ; with
various readings, illustrated by copious Notes and Disserta-
tions. By the Rev. WILLIAM REEVES, D.D., M.B., V.P.R.I.A.
With Maps and coloured Facsimiles of the MSS. Published
for the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society, 1857.
Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor, and Dromore.
Consisting of a taxation of those Dioceses compiled in the
year 1306. With Notes and Illustrations by the Rev.
WILLIAM REEVES, M.B., M.R.I.A. Dublin, 1847.
Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, anterior to the
Anglo-Norman Invasion. Comprising an Essay on the origin
and uses of the Round Towers of Ireland. By GEORGE
PETBIE, R.H.A., V.P.R.I.A., &c. Transactions of the Royal
Irish Academy, vol. 20. Dublin, 1845.
Foras Feasa Ar Eirinn. The History of Ireland from the
earliest period to the English Invasion. By the Rev. GEOFFREY
KEATING, D.D. Translated from the original Gaelic, and
copiously annotated by JOHN O'MAHONY. New York : P. M.
Haverty, 1857.
Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs of the District of Hy-
Fiachrach, commonly called O'Dowda's Country. Edited
from the Book of Lecan, in the Library of the Royal Irish
Academy ; and from a copy of the MacFirbis MS., in the
possession of the Earl of Roden. With a Translation and
Notes, and a Map of Hy-Fiachrach. By JOHN O'DONOVAN,
LL.D. Published for the Irish Archaeological Society, 1844.
History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. By GEORGE PETRIE,
Esq. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 18,
part 2. Dublin, 1839.
Imtheacht na Tromdhaimhe. Proceedings of the Great
Note on the Sources and Nomenclature. 297
Bardic Institution. Edited by Professor CONNELLAN. Ossianic
Society. O'Daly : Dublin, 1860.
Laoithe Fiannuiglieachta ; or Fenian Poems. Edited by
JOHN O'DALY. Published by the Ossianic Society. Dublin,
1841.
Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of 'Ancient Irish
History. Delivered in the Catholic University of Ireland
during the sessions of 1855 and 1856. By EUGENE O'CuRRY,
M.R.I. A. ; Professor of Irish History and Archeology in the
Catholic University of Ireland ; Corresponding Member of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, &c. Dublin : Duffy, 1861.
Nennius (The Irish version of the Historia Britonum of).
Edited with a Translation and Notes by JAMES HENTHORNE
TODD, D.D., M.R.I.A. ; Fellow of Trinity College, &c. The
Introduction and Additional Notes by the Hon. ALGERNON
HERBERT. Published for the Irish ArchEeological Society.
Dublin, 1848.
Primer of the History of the Holy Catholic Church, in
Ireland. By ROBERT KING, A.B. Dublin : McGlashan, 1851.
Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland. A Memoir of his Life
and Mission. With an Introductory Dissertation on some
early usages of the Church in Ireland, and its historical
position from the establishment of the English Colony to the
present day. By JAMES HENTHORNE TODD, D.D., &c. Dublin,
1864.
Senchus Mor. Introduction to Senchus Mor and Athgdbail ;
or Law of Distress as contained in the Harleian MSS. Pub-
lished under direction of the Commissioners for publishing
the Ancient Laws and Institutes of Ireland, vol. 1. Hodges
and Smith, Dublin : Longmans, London, 1865.
Toruigheacht Dhiarmuda ui Dhuibhne agus Ghrainne
inghion Cuormuic mheic Airt : or an account of the Pursuit
of Diarmiud O'Duibhne and Grace, the daughter of Cormac
MacAirt. Edited by STANDISH HAYES O'GRADY, Esq. Pub-
lished for the Ossianic Society. Dublin, 1857.
Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Society. Dublin, 1806.
With respect to the Nomenclature, the author has en-
298 The Irish before the Conquest.
deavoured to present the names of persons in a guise as little
repellent as possible to the eye of the English reader. Their
strangeness, their want of association with anything previously
known, and their singular difficulty of pronunciation, con-
stitute, in truth, a very great obstacle to any popular treatment
of the subject. It would seem as if, in primitive times, when
men were sparing of their words, they thought to give in-
creased consideration to all they uttered, and specially to the
names of individuals, by magnifying the forms of expression.
In more modern times, men have had more to say, and seem to
have studied how best to abbreviate and smooth down the old
stately but cumbrous forms of expression. This has been
notably the case in the old Irish proper names. Thus Con-
cobar has been shortened and softened into Conor ; Toirdeal-
bach into Turlogh ; Flathbeartac into Flaherty ; and so with
almost all the longer and more high-sounding names of
persons. To mark this process of softening, the writers of
the names have everywhere introduced the letter h as the
sign of aspiration, or "breathing-over," of the slurred
consonants. Hence a new feature of very repulsive aspect
to eyes unaccustomed to Irish-written texts. Under this
process, we have the original sharply- defined names pre-
sented in the guise, Conchobhar ; Toirdhealbhach ; Flatli-
bheartach. In the endeavour to avoid these awkwardnesses,
different writers have resorted to different compromises
between the sound and the spelling. Thus has arisen that
perplexing variety of forms in which the same name is
presented by different authorities. Thus, O'Kearney, the
oldest translator of Keating, gives the name Conchuvar;
O'Mahony, Concdbar ; MacGeoghegan, Conquovar ; and others,
Connogher, Cnogher, Connor, and Conor, which last form has
been here adopted from O'Curry. To lay down any other
than an empirical rule of orthography in such a case seems
hardly practicable. What has been here deemed the least
objectionable course is, to adhere to whatever form of spelling
best indicates the sound to the English-educated eye. In some
cases this orthography coincides with the Irish, in others it
Note on the Sources and Nomenclature. 299
departs considerably from it. A list of the latter, and nmch
larger, class of names is subjoined, from which the reader,
whose curiosity may be sufficiently attracted to the subject,
will be able to see the authentic forms of such proper names
as have been adapted to English eyes in the text. Amongst
these will be found a few names of places. But the topo-
graphical names in the Celtic dialects are usually as simple
and easy of pronunciation as they are expressive, and, to
use the words of an able English critic, full of " a penetrating
and lofty beauty." In the process of adapting both classes of
names to the rapid and careless modes of utterance of modern
times, and among a depressed race, a great degradation is ap-
parent, and many names at present esteemed the most vulgar,
are found, in their original forms, lofty and significant of noble
qualities.
^Engus Aenghus.
Armagh Ard-Macha.
' Awley Amhalghaidh.
>r Beannchair.
Barrow Bearbha.
Breffny Breifne.
Brian Bora .... Brian Borumha.
Burrisoole Burgeis Ui Mhaile.
Callaghan Ceattachan.
Carbre Lificar .... Cairbre Liffeachar.
Cashel Caiseal.
Clannaboy Clann-Aodha-bhuidhe.
Clonmacnois .... Cluain-mic-Nois.
Clontarf. Cluain-tarbh.
Conari Conaire.
Connaught Connacht.
Conor Conchobhar.
Cong Cunga-Feichin.
Cova Cobhthach.
300 The Irish before the Conquest.
Creeve Roe .... Cradbh Ruaidh.
Crififan Crimthann.
Cruthne Cruithnigh.
Cuchullin Cuchullain.
Cucongelt Cuchoingealt.
Culinan Cuileanan.
Dalcassians .... Dal-g'Cais.
Dermid Mac Kervil. . Diarmaid Mac Cearlhaill.
Derry Doire-Chalgaigh.
Dervorgilla .... Dearbhf&rgaitt.
Devenish Daimh-Inis.
Disert Diarmada . . . Diseart Diarmada.
Dodder Dothair.
Donall Domhnall.
Donogh Donnchadh.
Donovan Donnabhan.
Drumceat Druimceta.
Drumcliff Druim-cliabh.
Dundelgan Dun-Dealgan.
Dunnascaith .... Dun-na-sgiath.
Durrow Dearmhagh.
Eochy Eochaidh.
Eochy Felia .... Eochaidh Feidhleach.
Eugenians Eoganacht.
Falvy Failbhe.
Fathna Fachtna.
Felemy Feidhlimidh.
Ferns Fearna-mor-Maedhoig.
Flaherty . . ... Flaithbheartach.
Fola Fodhla.
Fore Fobhar Feichin.
Gael Gaeidhel
Gormley Q-ormfhlaith.
Gowanree . . , Oamhanraidhe.
Note on the Sources and Nomenclature. 301
Inishowen Inis-Eoghain.
Kennedy Cenneidigh.
Kevin Caemhghen.
Kildare Cill-dara.
Kirabay Cimbaeth.
Kincora . . . . . Ceann-coradh.
Kinel Owen .... Cinel-Eoghain.
Kenfalla Cennfaeladh.
Lavra Labhradh.
Lea Con Leath Cuinn.
Lea Moha LeatJi Mogha.
Leary Laoghaire.
Leix LaoigMs.
Leinster Laighin.
Lough Foyle .... Loch-Febhail.
Lough Corrib . . . Loch-Oirbsean.
Maelcova Maelcobha.
Maelmurra Maelmordha,
Maev MedJibh.
Mahon MatligTmmhain.
Malachy MaelseaMainn.
Malodar Maelodhar.
Moh Nuad Mogh Nuadhat.
Molaise Molaisi.
Mourne Mughdhwna.
Moville Magh-bhile.
Moy Lena . . . . . Magh Leana.
Moy Mucriv^ .... Magh Mucruimhe.
Moynalty Magh-n-ecdta.
Moyrath Magh-rath.
Moy Slaght .... Magh-sleacht.
Moytur^ Magh-Tuireadh.
Mulloy Maelmhuaidh.
Munster Mumha.
302 The Irish before the Conquest.
Murkertach .... Muircheartach.
Murrogh Muireadkach.
Murthevne' Muirtheimhne.
O'Conor Ua Conchdbair.
O'Hartigan .... Uatt-Artagain.
O'Heyne Uah'-Eidhin.
Olav Fola Ollamh Fodhla.
O'Rafferty Ua Eobhartaigh.
Oran Odhran.
O'Shaughnessy . . . Ua Seachnasaigh.
Orgiall Oirghiall.
Owen Eoghan.
Raphoe fiathbhoth.
Roderick Euaidhri.
Roy Eoigh.
Rury Euaidhri.
Sancan Senchan.
Saul Sabhall Padraig.
Scoti Scuit,
Slange* Slainge.
Sletty Sleibhte.
Slewen Slemhain.
Slieve Fuad .... Sliabh Fuaid.
Sligo Sligech.
Solve Sadhbh.
Sulcoit Sulchoid.
Sweeny Suibhne.
Swords Sord-Choluim-chille.
Tailti ...... Tailten.
Tara Teamhair.
Teige Tadhg.
Thomond . Tuathmhumha.
Note on the Sources and Nomenclature. 303
Tiernmas TigTiearnmas.
Tirera Tir Fhiachrach.
Tolka Tulcan.
Turlogh Toirdhealbhach.
Tyrone Tir Eoghain.
Ulster Uladh.
Umor Uathmor.
S. F.
THE END.
LONDON : PRINTED BT W1L1JAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD
AND CHARING CROSS.
509961
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY