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iinnrmimiinimnutnM
A
Social History of
Ancient Ireland
P.W.JOYCE
iiiiMiiiiHiT>
Ulll\UH
jimiiJiiiLJiiLii
^.
'^O^.
Fig.
1.
in the
Frontispiece to the Ep!stle of St. Jerome
From Miss Stokes's Early Christian Art
Book of Durrow.
in Ireland.)
;
A SOCIAL HISTORY
OF
ANCIENT IRELAND
TREATING OF
TJic
Keligioji,
Govcrmnoit, Mililajy System, aud Lavo
Lfanii/iq;
and Art ;
Trades, Industries,
Manners, Customs, and Domestic
and Commerce;
Life,
of the Ancient Irish People
BY
P.
LT..D.,
One
oj
t/if
jo\x:e,
\\;
TRIN, COLL., DUB.
;
M.R.T.A.
Commixsioncys for the Puldication of the Ancient Laivs of Ireland
VOL. I
SECOND EDITION
I'h;,
-J.
—Great Tower, Clonmacnoise.
Condon
Petrie's
Round Tower
Dublin
I
LONCMAXS, GREEN &
39 I'ATKRNOSTKR
(From
ROW
CO.
M.
I
I9T3
H
(IILL
50 UPf'ER
<)'(
.\:
SOX, LTD.
ONXKI.L SI'RKKT
PRINTED AND HOUND IN IRELAND
nv
M.
H.
GILL & SON, LTD.
DUBLIN
tvUidiae-;;^}^^
Cc ot
i
MAR
1
o.
i
1937
(J<dya4X
The Place^
this book, are
Time,
:
—
Its place is
Rathmines, Dublin
one
thousand
Patrick
Author, and Cause of
nine
;
its
to
Lyre-na-Grena, Leinster-road,
time
is
hundred and
Weston foyce, Doctor of
of writing the same book
Ireland,
and
all about the
is
knozvledge
Old
Writings of
to
to
Irish People,
the
year of our
three ;
Laws
;
give glory
those
who
the
and
to
Lord
author
the
is
cause
God^ honour
desire
to
learn
Fig.
3.
— Sculpture over a doorway, Cormac's Chapel,
(From
Petrie's
Cashel
;
Centaur shooting
at
a
lion,
Round Towers),
PREFACE
An
important function of History
is
'
social
clear
and domestic
life.
If
we wish
depict
to
to obtain a
view of the general state of any particular
country in past times, we shall need to have a
good knowledge of the people, high and low, rich
and poor; their standards of civilisation, religion,
their virtues and failings
and learning
their
industries, occupations, and amusements
their
and the sort of life they
manners and customs
fed day by day in their homes.
The social condition of most of those ancient
nations that have made any figure in the world
and
has been investigated and set forth in books
perhaps it will be acknowledged that Ireland
deserves to be similarly commemorated.
For,
;
;
;
;
;
besides the general importance of
in
the
elucidating
history
of
all
the
such studies
human
race,
the ancient Irish were a highly intellectual and
interesting
people
something, as
I
hope
book an attempt
all its
;
phases, as
is
it
and the world owes them
to be able to show.
made
In this
to picture society,
in
existed in Ireland before the
;
PREFACE
Vlll
Anglo-Norman Invasion
work to bring together
—
known on
the subject
information within
;
and to accomplish this
in one Essay all that is
— every
my
authentic source of
reach has been turned to
have collected the scattered Sibylline
leaves with much loving labour, and sorted and
pieced them together slowly and patiently, so as to
form a connected and intelligible statement
but
in my case there were a hundred times more
inscribed leaves to deal with than ever any votary
account.
I
;
picked up in the Sibyl's cave.
of
my
Or perhaps some
readers, putting aside this metaphor,
may
rather see in the book the likeness of
some spacious
edifice, with symmetrical wings and numerous
bright apartments, all differently furnished and
ornamented. The visitor who wishes to enter here
and explore the interior will find the way plainly
pointed out at the opening of every corridor, and
each apartment labelled to indicate, in a general
way, what
The
is
to be seen inside.
society depicted here
soon discover for himself
cal
—as
the reader will
—^was of slow and methodi-
growth and development
;
duly subordinated
from the highest grades of people to the lowest
with clearly defined ranks, professions, trades, and
industries
and in general with those various pursuits and institutions found in every well-ordered
community a society compacted and held together
;
:
by an all-embracing system of laws and customs,
long established and universally recognised.
This subject has been to some extent treated of
—
PREFACE
by other
writers, notably
and
IX
by Ware, O'Curry, and
have taken full advantage of their
But they deal with portions only,
learned labours.
and of course give only partial views my Essay
aims at opening up the entire field. I am fully
sensible of the shortcomings of this first attempt to
bring the whole social life of the ancient Irish
for besides the
people under one broad view
liability to error and imperfection incident to
Sullivan
;
I
:
;
every new undertaking, the sources of information
on the state of ancient Ireland are not yet fully
available.
But it is better to make the attempt
now, even under some disadvantages, than to
postpone it indefinitely.
This book does not deal with pre-historic times,
except by occasional reference, or to illustrate the
historic period.
My
only so far as there
survey generally goes back
is
history or tradition.
I
light
am
from
living record
content to stand near
and observe and
they emerge from darkness
the outer margin of the fog,
delineate the people as
At first indeed there is often only a
faint glimmer, and the figures and their surroundbut subsequent
ings are shadowy and indistinct
and
twilight.
:
observation,
made
in
broad historical daylight,
up the uncertainty
or correct the error of the first dim view.
Where such a vast variety of subjects had to
be treated of within the compass of two mediumsized volumes, it would be manifestly impossible
generally enables us to clear
to pursue inquiries exhaustively, or to go quite to
PREFACE
X
the bottom of things.
intended to reach,
secure accuracy
I
But
so far as the Essay
my
have done
—accuracy
ence, of quotation,
and
discovers an error
may
is
very best to
of statement, of infer-
of reference
;
and whoever
be assured that
it
is
not
the result of haste or carelessness.*
I
have been very particular
references for
to
give
exact
statements of any importance.
all
Quotations from other languages are always given
in English
:
but wherever
it
the originals also
desirable
there are two or
more
seemed necessary or
Where
quoted.
are
editions or versions of works
consulted, references are given as far as possible to
those that are most easily accessible to the general
have utilised without stint the labours of
others, both of the past and of the present, but
never, I think, without acknowledgment.
Attention has been given to the forms and
meanings of words and names so far as it tended
to elucidate the general subject
but it must be
remembered that the main intention of this book
is to deal, not with words, but with things.
When
an Irish word or name varies in spelling, the
reader.
I
:
several forms are generally given, either in the text
Animals, plants, minerals, and
or in the Index.
external nature in general, are treated of only so
far as they
come
directly into touch with the Social
Life of the people
:
and they are brought
the several chapters wherever they
*
will
fit
in
under
best.
Those who wish to study particular portions of the subject further
be aided by the references all through the book, and by the List of
Authorities at the end.
PREFACE
The numerous
XI
illustrations relate to the several
current parts of the text
;
and
hope they
I
will
be
found an instructive and pleasing feature of the
book.
I
have taken occasion
all
along to compare
Irish Social Life with that of other ancient nations,
especially pointing out correspondences that are
common Aryan origin
precluded much indulgence in
the natural consequence of
:
but want of space
this very desirable direction.
The writer who endeavours to set forth his
subject
—whatever
and soberness/'
it
may
— in
''
words
of truth
sure to encounter the disapproval
is
or hostility of those
who hold extreme
In regard to
either side.
be
my
opinions on
we
subject,
have,
on the one hand, those English and Anglo-Irish
people and they are not few who think, merely
—
—
from ignorance,
that
Ireland
was a barbarous
and half-savage country before the English came
and, on
among the people and civilised them
the other hand, there are those of my countrymen
who have an exaggerated idea of the greatness
and splendour of the ancient Irish nation.*
I
have not been in the least influenced by writers
;
belonging to either
authorities,
I
have
class.
Following trustworthy
tried to present here a true
picture of ancient Irish
life,
neither over-praising
have not magnified what
was worthy of commendation, nor suppressed, nor
unwarrantably toned down, features that told
nor depreciating.
*
§e?
oii thjs
I
Stokes's Life of Petrie, p. 211.
PREFACE
Xll
unfavourably for the people
honour
for
:
though
I
love the
of Ireland well, I love truth better.
The Irish race, after a long-protracted struggle,
went down before a stronger people and in addi;
tion to this,
from causes which
it
would be out
of
place to discuss here, they suffered almost a total
eclipse at
home during
a period nearly coincident
with the eighteenth century.
Chiefly for these
reasons the old Irish people have never, in
modern
times, received the full measure of credit due to
them
for their early
and
for
advance in the
their very comprehensive
striking
arts of civilised
life,
system
of laws,
and
efforts,
both at home and abroad,
religion
and
for their noble
learning.
Of
late
and
successful
in the cause of
indeed
we can
among Continental and British writers,
something like a spontaneous movement showing a
tendency to do them justice but the essays in
perceive,
;
this direction,
as far as they go,
fitful.
'Those
and often even generous,
are fragmentary, scattered, and
though
who
just,
are interested in this aspect of
the subject will perhaps be pleased to have the
whole case presented to them in one Essay.
I now submit to the judgment of the public
this book, the outcome of eight years' congenial
and pleasant work, hoping that it will prove
acceptable, not only to those
tion on the Institutions
who
desire informa-
and Social Life
of the
ancient Irish, and of the Celtic people in general,
but also to that wider circle who are interested
the early History of Mankind.
in
PREFACE
Xlll
have now to discharge the pleasant duty of recording my
thanks for help towards illustrating this book.
The Councils of the Royal Irish Academy, and of the Royal
Society of Antiquaries, Ireland, gave me the use of the blocks
I
numbers of the illustrations in their respective publicaand where the blocks were not available, permitted me to
copy any of their illustrations I wanted. That the book is so
well illustrated is mainly owing to the liberality of these two
distinguished Societies.
There is no need to enter into detail
here, as under every illustration in the book is mentioned the
source from which it is derived
but I wish to direct attention
to the number of valuable and accurate figures I have borrowed
from Wilde's " Catalogue of Irish Antiquities," belonging to
the Royal Irish Academy.
of great
tions,
:
Messrs. Hodges, Figgis
posal the blocks of as
drawings as
ful
I
&
many
my
Co., of Dublin, placed at
of Petrie's
chose to ask
dis-
and Wakeman's beauti-
for.
Colonel Wood-Martin lent me the blocks of many of the
illustrations in his " Pagan Ireland " and " Traces of the
Elder Faiths of Ireland."
From
the Board of Education, South Kensington,
I
have
received permission to use electrotypes from the original blocks
of nearly a dozen of the admirable illustrations in Miss Stokes's
" Early Christian Art in Ireland."
The
Controller
London, allowed
in
Sir
John
T.
of
me
Majesty's
Flis
to
Stationery
Office,
reproduce some of the illustrations
Gilbert's
" Facsimiles
of
Irish
National
Manuscripts."
I
am
indebted to the late Mr. Bernard Quaritch of London
page of the
"
West wood's Facsimiles of Anglo-
for leave to reproduce the beautiful illuminated
Book
of
MacDurnan, from
Saxon and
Irish Manuscripts."
&
Sons lent me the blocks of some of
the illustrations in Miss Stokes's " Three Months in the Forests
of France," and " Six months in the Apennines."
Messrs. George Bell
I had the permission of the Rev. Dr. Abbott, s.f.t.c.d., tt)
copy some of the figures in his " Reproductions of Portions of
the
Book
of Kells."
Lord Walter FitzGerald gave me leave to copy some
of the
PREFACE
XIV
illustrations in the " Journal of the
County Kildare Archaeo-
logical Society."
of the "
The Editor
sion to reproduce
Celtique " has given
Revue
two of the
Besides the above, a
me
permis-
figures in that periodical.
number
of illustrations
have been
taken from books having no copyright, and others have been
purchased from the proprietors of copyright works
all of
:
which are acknowledged in the proper places. And there
are a good many original sketches appearing here now for the
first
time.
Dr. Petrie and Miss Margaret Stokes have been the chief
illustrators of the
Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland
;
and
even a casual glance will show to what an extent I have been
enabled to enrich this book with their beautiful and accurate
dravv^ings.
P.
Dublin,
W.
J.
October, 1903.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
have had the advantage
of a number of valuable remarks from Dr. Kuno
Meyer, now our greatest and most accomplished
Irish scholar.
He read the book as soon as it came
out, and as he went along took notes, which he
In preparing
sent to
me
this Edition I
unasked, and which
I
now
thankfully
acknowledge.
On my own
part
I
have carefully re-read and
re-considered every sentence in the book.
As the result
and corrections.
of
all, I
have made some changes
p.
Dublin, 1913.
W.
J.
Fig. 4.— Ornament composed from the Book of Kelb.
CONTENTS OF VOL.
PART
I
I
GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW
CHAPTER
I
PACK
LAYING THE FOUNDATION,
3
Section
1.
2.
3.
4.
5
Native Development, ..
Evidences from Literature,
Evidences from Material Remains,
Concurrence of Testimonies,
Population of Ireland in Ancient Times,
CHAPTER
5
20
23
25
II
A PRELIMINARY BIRD'S-EYE VIEW
CHAPTER
3
27
III
MONARCHICAL GOVERNMENT,
30
Section
I.
2
3.
4.
5.
Territorial Subdivision,
Classes of Kings
Election and Inauguration,
Revenue and Authority,
Privileges,
Limitations
7.
and Restrictions,
Household, Retinue, and Court Officers,
8.
List of Over-Kings,
6.
36
41
43
50
55
60
61
68
.
.
.
.
CONTENTS
XVI
CHAPTER
IV
PACE
WARFARE,
72
Section
3.
Foreign Conquests and Colonisations,
Military Ranks, Orders, and Services,
Arms, Offensive and Defensive,
4.
Strategy, Tactics, and Modes of Fighting,
1.
2.
72
.
83
100
132
CHAPTER V
STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY,
155
Section
155
156
4.
Five main Classes of People,
Flaiths or Nobles,
Non-noble Freemen with Property,
Non-noble Freemen without Property,
5.
The Non-free
162
6.
Groups of Society,
1.
2.
3.
Classes,
166
CHAPTER
VI
THE BREHON LAWS,
*
157
160
168
Section
1.
2.
3.
4.
The Brehons,
The Senchus Mor and other Books of Law,
Absence of Legislation,
Suitability of the Brehon Laws,
CHAPTER
168
172
178
.
181
VII
THE LAWS RELATING TO LAND
184
Section
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The Land originally Common Property,
Five Ways of holding Land,
Tenants, their Payments and Subsidies,
Fudirs or Serfs on the Land,
Descent of Land,
CHAPTER
184
186
188
194
196
VIII
THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
198
Section
I,
The Law of Compensation
Procedure by Distress,
Procedure by Fasting,
Eric or Compensation Fine,
Modes of Punishment,
Courts of Justice,
.
198
200
.
204
207
211
214
.
..
..
..
.
CONTENTS
PART
XVll
II
RELIGION, LEARNING, ART
CHAPTER IX
PACE
PAGANISM,
219
Section
1,
2,
Druids: their Functions and Powers, ..
..
Points of Agreement and Difference between
Irish and Gaulish Druids,
Sorcerers and Sorcery,
Mythology Gods, Goblins, and Phantoms,
Worship of Idols,
219
.
274
Human
..
281
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
:
.
Sacrifice,
.
..
.
.
..
.
.
..
.
.
,.
12.
Worship of Weapons,
Worship of the Elements,
The Pagan Heaven and a Future State,
Turning Deisiol or Sunwise,
The Ordeal,
..
..
..
.,
..
Preference for certain Numbers,
13.
The Evil Eye
14.
Geasa, or Prohibitions,
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
.
..
.
..
238
240
248
286
288
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
293
.
.
.
.
.
301
..
302
.
.
.
.
.
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
307
309
310
CHAPTER X
CHRISTIANITY,
313
Section
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Christianity before St, Patrick's Arrival
..
Three Orders of Irish Saints,
..
..
..
Patrician Secular Clergy,
First Order
Second Order Monastic Clergy,
Anchorites or Hermits, and
Third Order
Hermit Communities,
Buildings, and other Material Requisites,
Revenue and Means of Support,
Various Features of the Ancient Irish Church,
Popular Religious Ideas,
.
:
.
.
:
7.
8.
9.
.
317
319
322
:
.
6.
.
313
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
348
.
354
378
382
.
391
.
.
.
.
..
..
.
CONTENTS
XVll!
CHAPTER XI
PAGE
LEARNING AND EDUCATION,
396
Section
1
2.
3.
4.
Learning in Pagan Times
Monastic Schools,
:
Ogham,
396
408
.
Lay Schools,
Some General Features of both Classes of
Schools
Tables of Degrees and Subjects,
The Men of Learning,
Honours and Rewards for Learning,
The Knowledge of Science,
:
5.
6.
7.
417
422
442
459
464
CHAPTER XH
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE,
IRISH
471
Section
3.
Divisions and Dialects of Celtic,
Writing, and Writing Materials,
Ancient Libraries,
4.
Existing Books,
1.
2.
471
477
485
492
.
CHAPTER Xni
ECCLESIASTICAL AND RELIGIOUS WRITINGS,
500
.
CHAPTER XIV
ANNALS, HISTORIES, AND GENEALOGIES,
512
Section
1.
2.
3.
4.
How the Annals were compiled,
Tests of Accuracy,
Principal Books of Annals,
Dinnsenchus,
Genealogies
Histories
512
513
521
.
:
526
:
CHAPTER XV
HISTORICAL AND ROMANTIC TALES
531
Section
1.
2.
3.
4
5.
and Numbers,..
..
Chronological Cycles of the Tales
General Character of the Tales,
Classes, Lists,
.
..
..
.
.
.
.
Story-telling and Recitation,
Translations and Versions in Modern Languages,
.
.
.
531
535
538
540
542
.
.
..
.
.
.
,
CONTENTS
XIX
CHAPTER XVI
PAGE
ART,
544
Section
1.
2.
Penwork and Illumination, ..
Gold, Silver, and Enamel, as Working Materials,
Metal Work,
3.
Artistic
4.
Stone Carving,
.
.
544
554
559
566
CHAPTER XVII
MUSie,
571
Section
1.
History,
2.
Musical Instruments,
3.
Characteristics, Classes, Styles
^
Modern Collections of Ancient
..
..
..
CHAPTER
..
..
..
..
.
.
.
.
..
..
..
Irish Music,
.
571
575
586
592
.
XVIII
MEDICINE AND MEDICAL DOCTORS,
597
Section
2.
Medical Doctors
Medical Manuscripts,
3.
Diseases,
4.
Treatment^
Popular Cures,
I.
5.
.
.
.
.
597
604
607
616
625
Fig. 5.— Ornament composed from the Book of Kells
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOL.
PAGE
FIG.
FIG.
Book
Durrow,
I.
Page
2.
Great Tower, Clonmacnoise,
of
of
Frontispiece
27.
Ornamental stone carving,
Page
28. Capital
PAGE
29.
Title
L from Book
Sculpture in Cormac's Chapel,
Vll
30. Rath-Keltair at
4-
Ornament from Book
of Kells,
XV
31-
5-
Ornament from Book
of Kells,
xxi
6.
Ornament from Book
of Kells,
3
7.
Castledermot
Church
and
Round
Tower,
Holy
Well
of
Dicuil,
St.
France
9.
10.
9
Drumcliff
Group
Round Tower,
of Torques,
11. Circular
Lure,
bronze disc,
.
Group
.
Cross-
72
84
85
102
104
33-
Do.,
34.
Do.,
.
.
105
35.
Do..
.
.
105
105
36.
Arrow-head on original handle.
105
37.
Bronze head of battle-mace,
106
Bronze spear-head.
107
II
38.
13
39-
20
40. Bronze ftarlann.
Do.,
do.,
....
....
21
41.
13.
Bronze caldron,
21
42.
14.
Hollow gold ball,
21
43- Firbolg spear-head,
15.
Bronze
22
44.
use unknown,
High
32. Flint arrow-head.
Ancient Irish brooch,
article,
.
Downpatrick,
of warriors from
12.
.
71
of Kells,
Dundalgan, Cuculainn's residence,
3.
8.
I
Do.,
do.,
Bronze spear-head,
leaf -shaped,
Dedannan spear-head.
107
109
109
no
III
III
16.
Do.,
do.,
22
45- Fishing -spear,
112
17.
Do.,
do.,
22
46.
Bronze sword.
116
18.
Ancient ferryboat,
28
47.
Do.,
116
19.
Ruins on Inishcaltra,
31
48.
Do.,
116
20.
Ancient Irish bookbinding,
32
49.
21.
Group
33
50.
22.
Aill-na-Meeran at Ushnagh,
37
51-
Bronze scabbard.
117
42
52.
Stone
118
46
53-
Bronze
54-
Pure copper
55.
Bronze
of gold ornaments,
.
23. Cloister,
Cong Abbey,
24. O'Neills'
Inauguration Chair,
25. O'Conors' Inauguration
26.
Kings and Archers,
Mound,
47
59
Bronze dagger,
Do.,
117
117
celt in original handle,
Celt,
celt.
119
celt,
iig
119
xxu
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOL
FIG.
I
PAGE
Bronze
56.
celt,
119
57- Celt
on handle,
.
58.
Do.,
.
.
PAGE
99. St. Senan's
Holy Well,
120
100.
120
loi, St. Kieran's
....
Two galloglasses,
121
102. Altar-Stone,
Dermot MacMurrogh,
123
103. Ancient stone Chalice,
61.
Bronze
126
104. St. Patrick's Bell,
126
105. Bell of
Do.,
inside,
Mac
Ailello,
373
106. Ancient Iron Bell,
145
107.
Bronze Crotal, or closed
on tomb,
146
108.
Gold Amulet,
155
109. Do.,
168
no. Stone Amulet,
377
Two
66.
Ornament from Book
67.
Ornament on
68.
Specimen of Senchus Mor,
176
111. Slane
69.
Ornament from Book
183
112. Mellifont
184
113. Portion of Bell-shrine,
197
114.
Ogham
70. Sculpture
7oA.
of Kells
on window, Glendalough,
Ornament from Book
of Kells,
Bell,
377
....
....
....
65.
of Kells,
372
375
143
leather,
371
.
and attendants,
galloglasses
do.,
3^9
.
63. Foot-soldier receiving charge,
64. Horse-soldier
368
Trout Well, Mcath,
59-
62.
367
.
Well of Help, Inishmurray,
60.
shield, outside,
Clare,
385
385
385
Monastery
387
Abbey,
395
396
Alphabet,
397
71.
Sculpture on church, Glendalough,
198
Jii.
Bihngual Stone, Killeen Cormac,
399
72.
MS. ornamentation,
219
116.
Ogham Stone
400
255
X17.
Two ancient
406
256
118.
John Scotus Erigena,
4H
267
119.
Tomb
413
74.
A
A
75.
The Cathubodvae
73.
.
fairy hill,
fairy
76. Killeen
moat,
stone,
Cormac,
Irish Alphabets,
of the
Seven Romans, Aran
314
120. Clonmacnoise,
Church doorway, Glendalough,
318
121. Ancient
Hermitage,
320
122. "
79.
Killashee near Naas,
321
123. Ancient
80.
Baptismal
77-
78. St. Erc's
8x. St.
82.
Doorway
83. St.
font,
.
Columb's House, Kells,
of
Round Tower,
Doulogh's Church,
gram,
124. Scribe writing,
327
125.
331
126. Facsimile
Church
Chancel Arch, Monaincha,
338
86.
Cave
342
87. St.
of St.
Columbanus, Luxeuil,
465
Cover of Book
of
500
502
.
508
131. Sculpture
Gougane Barra,
351
.
Abbey,
Noah's Ark,
511
on
353
MacDara's Church,
355
133.
93.
Church doorway
356
134. Sculpture
94.
High Cross, Dysart O'Dea,
359
135. Irish
on Column,
on Arch,
136. Sculpture
137. Illuminated Page,
Round Tower, Kilkenny,
363
138. Outlines of
Kilmallock Abbey,
364
139.
Round Tower, Devenish,
97.
98.
.
Rock
527
531
Ornament,
361
Abbey,
96.
524
Tubbrid Church,
363
95. Ennis
Glenda
512
92.
in Aran,
Capital
lough,
132. Kilbarron Castle,
91. Kilcrea
Glenda
.
349
90.
Capital,
lough,
Clochan or beehive-shaped house,
89.
Dun
128. Movilla Monastery,
130.
Copenhagen,
488
494
on
127. Sculpture
346
Irish Shrine in
Armagh
from Book of the
347
88.
481
.
129. Dysert-Aengus,
bio,
463
Dia
Cow,
335
Columbanus taming bears. Bob
439
Astronomical
Irish
322
85.
415
Colledge," Youghal,
325
84.
of the Fire, Inishmurray,
The
....
Alphabet on Stone,
543
/flfW^
samBj
Scorings,
544
.
547
548
»
550
VOL
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN
FIG.
140.
Ornamental page
141.
The Ardagh
142.
The Tara Brooch,
of Gospel,
Chalice,
143.
The
144.
Ornament carved on Bone,
Cross of Cong,
PAGE
FIG.
553
154.
560
562
XXlH
I
PAGE
Harp- and Pipe-Players,
do.,
156.
Do.,
do.,
Group
of Trumpets,
563
157.
158. Riveting
.
....
....
155.
Do.,
566
.
.
on Trumpets,
582
582
582
.
.
.
584
.
.
.
585
145.
Do.,
do.,
566
159.
Ornamental Plate
.
586
146.
Do.,
do.,
566
160.
Ornament, Devenish Round Tower,
597
568
161.
Conach (Medical Charm),
147.
The Cross
of Monasterboice,
148. Interlaced Stone
149.
Ornament,
Harp Player
569
162. Sweating-House,
576
163. Healing-Stone,
of
Trumpet,
150.
Do.,
576
164. Garnavilla
Do.,
576
165.
Harp,
577
166. Toberaraght, a Healing
,
580
167.
152. Ancient Irish
153. Piper
.
.615
....
....
151.
Amulet
.
(front),
Do.,
Ornament from Book
(side),
Holy
of Kells,
.
625
628
.
629
.
629
Veil,
630
.
632
PART
I
GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW
*^
Fig.
6.
— Ornament composed from the Book of Kells.
CHAPTER
I
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
SECTION
HE
I.
Native Development.
Institutions,
Arts,
and Customs
of
Ancient Ireland, with few exceptions,
grew up from within, almost wholly
unaffected
by external
influence.
The
exceptions will be noticed in the proper
The Romans never
influence was felt to some
places in this book.
though their
slight extent, either by direct communication or indirectly
through the Britons. The first foreigners to appear as
invaders were the Danes, who began their raids about the
set foot in Ireland
;
beginning of the ninth century.
Though they harassed
the country for about two centuries, and established them-
many
on the coasts, they
never brought it under subjection
and they effected no
changes of any consequence in the customs or modes of
life of the people.
Next came the Anglo-Normans near the
end of the twelfth century. But though this was a much
more serious invasion than that of the Danes, and though
these newcomers continued to make settlements in various
parts of the country, the Irish people still adhered everywhere to their native customs. Indeed it is well known
selves in
parts of
it,
especially
:
GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW
4
that, except in a small district
round Dublin, the
[pART
I
settlers
and became incorporated with the
natives, adopting their language, laws, dress, and usages, so
as to be quite undistinguishable from them, and becoming
'*
more Irish than the Irish themselves." Accordingly, for
several centuries the Anglo-Norman colonisation had no
more effect in altering the general state of society than the
and matters went on very much as of
Danish invasions
generally intermarried
:
the time of the Tudors,
old,
till
last
made
itself felt.
Then the
when English
influence at
old system of tribal land
tenure began to be changed for the English custom
with the abolition of the Brehon
of English
Law,
in the
Law and
and
:
the substitution
beginning of the seventeenth cen-
may
be said that the old order of things in Ireland
was broken up. But even after this most of the ancient
tury,
it
native customs remained, and indeed
many remain
to this
day.
In the long lapse of ages there were of course changes
and developments from time to time many new modes,
fashions, and usages gradually grew up, while others fell
into disuse
but the main institutions and customs of the
:
:
country retained their hold with astonishing tenacity
:
so
that in some aspects of society, a description of the state of
things as they existed
in,
would apply equally well
Many
suppose, the fifteenth century,
to that in the sixth or seventh.
might be given but one will be
sufficient here.
It was customary with the ancient Irish
poets as will be described farther on to make circuits
through the country, visiting the houses of the principal
people, and receiving payment for their poetry, besides
welcome and entertainment composing laudatory poems
for those who received them well, and lampooning those
who refused them. This remarkable custom is mentioned
in innumerable passages in both the lay and ecclesiastical
literature as existing in the most remote pagan times
illustrations of this
;
—
—
:
;
it
was not
in the least affected
by war
or invasion, but
—
CHAP.
—
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
l]
5
continued uninterruptedly from age to age
own time,
as
may be seen by reference to pp.
down
to our
450, 451 below.
But one momentous effect of the Danish and AngloNorman invasions must here be noted they arrested the
:
progress of native learning and art, which, though disturbed
by the Danes,
the
still
lingered on for several centuries after
English settlements, but gradually declined, and
first
Ireland presents the spectacle of an
finally died out.
What
arrested civilisation.
come
to
if
that civilisation would have
allowed to follow out uninterruptedly
course of development
it
is
now
its
impossible to
natural
tell,
and
no reason to think that
in this respect Irishmen would not have kept well abreast
with the rest of the world. One object of this book is to
present the intellectual and artistic state of the country
when at its best though still imperfect namely, from
useless to conjecture
but there
;
is
—
—
the seventh or eighth to the eleventh or twelfth century.
Evidences from Literature.
2.
The evidences relied on throughout this book are
derived from two main sources
Literary Records, and
:
Material Remains.
The literary works used as authorities
the book as occasion arises, and they are
general
list
at the
end
;
are referred to in
all
named
in
but as they vary greatly, both
one
in the
value to be attached to their testimony, and in point of
antiquity,
of the
it
may
kind of
some idea
evidence we obtain from them, and to indibe
well, at the outset, to give
way, how far they are to be trusted as
our present inquiry. Two main points I wish to
cate, in a general
guides in
bring out clearly in this short chapter
ticity
and general trustworthiness
:
—
First, the
of the evidence
;
authenSecond,
the period or periods of the country's history to which this
evidence applies.
The Literary Records may be classed as follows
Lives of Saints, Martyrologies, and other religious writings
:
:
GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW
6
Romantic Literature
Glossaries
Memoirs
Annals,
:
the Brehon
:
foreign writers.
I
Glosses and
:
and Local Historical
English, Anglo-Irish, and
Genealogies,
and the works
:
Laws
[PART
of
These several classes
will
be
now
briefly
examined.
—The
and other written memorials
of the Irish saints, most in Irish, some in Latin, of which
great numbers are still preserved in our manuscripts, and
of which many have been published, form a very important
source of information. The oldest documents of this kind
are the original memoirs of St. Patrick.
The principal of
these are
The two documents now generally admitted to
have been written by Patrick himself the " Confession,"
and the " Epistle to Coroticus," both fifth century and
two others, the Memoir of the saint by Muirchu Maccu
Machteni, and the Notes by Tirechan, both written in the
seventh century, but embodying traditions of a much
earlier date.
These are of the highest authority, but they
do not give us much information regarding the social life
of the people.
Next in point of antiquity, but more detailed and more valuable for our purposes, is the Latin Life
Lives of Saints.
:
lives
—
—
;
of St. Columkille, written in or about a.d. 695,
by Adamnan.
abbot of lona, and
Adamnan was the ninth abbot both were Irishmen and
the illustrious establishment over which they presided was
Columkille was the founder and
first
:
an
Irish ecclesiastical colony.
great dignity and integrity
:
;
Adamnan was
and
a writer of
his pictures of the daily
and lona, both lay
and clerical, in the sixth and seventh centuries, though not
very full, are absolutely trustworthy so far as they go, and
most valuable as being the earliest detailed accounts we
life
of the people of Ireland, Scotland,
possess.
The
Celtic people
who
inhabited the western coasts and
from Irish colonists, as
is shown below (pp. 81 to 83), and intimate intercourse
was kept up from the beginning between the two countries.
islands of Scotland were descended
CHAP.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
l]
The two peoples were in fact
customs, language, and modes
identical,
of life
7
having the same
Adamnan's
so that
;
descriptions of the Scottish Gaelic people apply equally to
Ireland.
His remarks also about the daily
Northern
Picts,
whom
he converted,
may
be applied, with
or no reservation, to the Scots or Irish
little
that the Picts lived
much
of the
life
:
the same sort of
we know
for
as their
life
The
there was
neighbours, the Gaels, both of Ireland and Scotland.
Britons are often mentioned in Irish writings, for
much
intercourse between
them and the
so that they often intermarried
Tacitus, writing in the end of the
there
was
little
difference
manners, and customs
:
(pp.
first
Irish in early ages,
74 to 79 below).
century, states that
between them
in disposition,
and, as corroborating this,
we
by
customs incidentally noticed
Irish writers are found to be generally identical with those
find
that the British
of the Irish themselves.
Here
it
may
be proper to remark that
many
ancient
Gaelic customs that have died out, or are only faintly
remembered,
in Ireland, are
still
preserved, with most of
their antique features, in the Islands
and Highlands
of Scot-
which several examples will be given in this book,
from Martin, Pennant, Scott, Carmichael, and other delineators of Scottish manners.
The desolating wars in Ireland, especially those of the time of Elizabeth, in which the
country was almost cleared of inhabitants, broke, as it
were, the continuity of the race, so that many old customs
and traditions were neglected and forgotten in Ireland,
which in Scotland have been preserved without a break
from the time of the earliest colonists to the present day.
The great majority of the saints whose biographies have
been preserved flourished in the period from the fifth to the
land, of
eighth or ninth century.
But
it is
known
that in the
—long intervals
elapsed after their death, intervals often of centuries, betheir Lives and Acts — that
the memoirs
those
case of
fore
most
of
them
of
— though
well
not of
all
is,
GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW
8
memoirs that are now extant
A
[PART
I
—were committed to writing.
vast proportion of the ancient books of Ireland were
destroyed by the Danes in the ninth and tenth centuries,
and among them, no doubt, numerous
saints
:
so that the later
much on
Memoirs of
biographers had to depend very
original
These compilers constructed
verbal tradition.
under great difficulties,
collecting their materials from remnants of written records
their narratives as best they could,
from the scanty entries in old
Annals, Genealogies, and other such documents, and largely
from oral tradition, the most uncertain source of all.
in the several monasteries,
'-
'"'^#="'5?*.
.
Fig.
Castledermot Church and Round Tower
in
7.
Kildare
:
"High
from Miss Stokes's
Crosses of Castle-
dermot and Durrow " drawn by Petrie. St. Diarmaid, or Dermot, son of Aed Roin, is recorded to
have founded a church here about A.D. 8oo corroborated by existing ruins, which still retain his
name (Irish name Disert-Diarmada, Dermot's Hermitage). See pp. 21, 23, below.
:
:
Though constructed round a framework
Lives, as they
have reached
us,
are
of truth, these
much mixed
with
legend and fable, a circumstance which detracts from their
value as mere historical records
affect
our researches.
The long
part for the marvellous element
in the slow lapse of ages, to
attribute
all
though
;
it
does not at
all
intervals account in great
:
for oral tradition tends,
magnify everything, and to
unusual occurrences of past times to preter-
natural agency.
—
:
CHAP.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
Il
good reason to believe that the biographers
committed to writing faithfully the accounts they received,
whether from tradition or written record truth and fiction
without adding or distorting. But taking these old
alike
Lives as they stand, we are generally enabled, by an examination of internal evidence, and by careful comparison
at
with other authorities, to distinguish fact from fiction
There
is
—
—
:
Fig.
8.
Holy Well of St. Dicuil, Deicolus, or Deicola, at Lure, in France: from Miss Stokes's "Three
Months in the Forests of France," p. 49. This St. Dicuil (different from Dicuil the Geographer) was
a native of Leinster
educated at Bangfor in Down
accompanied St, Columbanus to Continent
founded Monastery at Lure, where he is now venerated as patron saint died A.D. 625. The well is
still called by his name
it is much resorted to by pilgrims, and its waters are used to cure cliildren's
diseases. (Observe in the picture the ofTerlng-s, like those made at Irish Holy Wells.) For St. Dicuil
see the above-named book of Miss Stokes's, p. 41, and O'Hanlon's "Lives of Irish Saints," I., 301.
Illustrating- how Lives of Irish Saints are corroborated by existing remains, see pp. 21, 23, below.
:
:
:
:
least in the case of the
the
matters dealt with in this book
main thing that concerns
us.
Interspersed through
the narratives there are frequent references to dwellings,
furniture, dress, ornaments, occupations, customs, pastimes,
and many other concomitants of the everyday life of
the people, which are incidentally mentioned with all the
food,
GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW
10
[PART
I
The fact that these brief
records are incidental, casual, and unintentional, is what
stamps them with authenticity and gives them their value.
When we follow the guidance of these side lights, using
ordinary circumspection, we are pretty sure to keep on safe
ground, even though many of the main incidents related
marks
of truth
and
reality.
directly are fabulous or doubtful.
remarks by an example. In the
it is related that on one occasion,
I will illustrate these
Irish Life of St. Brigit,
soon after she had settled in Kildare,
ster,
Ailill,
king of Lein-
passed near her establishment, with a hundred horse-
whereupon Brigit sent two of her
some of the rods but he refused them.
loads of peeled rods
girls to
ask him for
Forthwith
all
;
;
the horses
fell
down
helpless under their
and there they remained unable to rise, till Ailill
granted Brigit 's request on which she released them. The
Irish narrative adds incidentally that it was from these rods
Passing by, as
St. Brigit' s house in Kildare was built.
loads
:
:
"^
foreign to our purpose, the miraculous part of this story,
which was the thing mainly in the mind of the writer, we
may infer from the rest that in those times it was the
custom to build houses of rods or wattles, cleaned up and
peeled before being used
and there is abundant evidence
elsewhere to show that this would be a correct conclusion.
Bearing in mind that the customs and habits of a people
change slowly, that the original biographers must have had
written authority of a much earlier age for some portion of
their statements, and that the dates of the composition of
the Lives or other Memoirs range from the fifth to the
fourteenth or fifteenth century, we shall be safe in assuming
:
that these incidental allusions generally represent the state
of society existing in Ireland
orated saints
down
from the time of the commem-
at least to the periods of the writers.
This incidental testimony
is
specially noticed here in
connexion with the Lives of the Saints
* stokes,
;
but in reality
Three Irish Homilies, page
77.
it
—
1
CHAP.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
l]
pervades
go
all
classes of Irish writings, as will be seen as
Along with the Lives of the
on.
1
Martyrologies and Calendars,
religious writings,
Saints,
we may
Hymns, Sermons, and
we
class
other
will
be specified and referred to
— The
ancient Irish Tales, Histori-
which
whenever necessary.
Romantic Literature.
and Romantic, which are described in some
chap. XV., furnish our next group of authorities.
detail in
cal
proportion of the stories are contained in the
Dun Cow, which was
Book of
in the
A
Book of the
transcribed about the year iioo, and
Leinster, transcribed in or before
and others are found in later manuscripts.
books were copied from much older volumes
Fig.
Remains of
a
large
Round Tower
ii6o;
All
these
and there
:
9.
at Drunicliff, 4 miles nortli of Sligo
town
:
near the church founded by St. Columkille but long after liis time.
Existing remains corroborating written testimony, see pp. 21, 23, below.
built
;
good reason to believe that the principal stories were
committed to writing at various periods from the seventh
to the tenth century, having been handed down orally for
ages previously by the professional poets and shanachies.
is
Though
the stories are partly or
abound, like the Lives of the Saints,
of real
life,
wholly
fictitious,
they
in incidental pictures
which, speaking generally, are as
consequently as valuable for our purposes, as
if
and
the main
true,
narratives were strictly historical.
It
to
is,
however, necessary to observe that when
deal with
the
direct
surroundings found
in
descriptions
many
of the
of
we have
men and
heroic
their
romances
—
GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW
12
[PART
I
and intentional descriptions as distinguished from
casual or incidental we must be cautious in accepting
statements, and careful in drawing conclusions from them.
The heroes and the events which are the subjects of these
Tales, belong for the most part to the first three or four
centuries of our era, and some are assigned to a much
earlier period.
The old romancers, who committed the
stories to writing many centuries later, magnified and
direct
—
everything pertaining to their favourite heroes
glorified
and have
left
;
us gorgeous descriptions of houses, furniture,
arms, dress, and ornaments, of which a great
number may
be seen translated into English in O' Curry's " Lectures on
the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish."
In the
case of most of these, no one would seriously think of
accepting
embody
them
as
literal
sober
truth
:
they
merely
the shanachies' exaggerated conceptions of the
great champions of the heroic ages
descriptions of Greek
;
Homeric
Moreover these
like the
and Trojan heroes.
direct descriptions, so far as they are to be credited, as
well indeed as the incidental references,
must be taken
generally as applying to the time of the original writers
—or a
little earlier in
the case of each individual writer
namely from the seventh to the tenth century, though,
as we shall see, a good proportion of them apply to a
much
earlier period.
But we may err on the side of excessive scepticism
The most exaggerated
as well as by undue credulity.
description, if read in the right way, and checked and
tested and toned down by other authorities, may yield
And in regard to ornaments and
solid information.
that the Shanachies did not often invent,
equipments
but merely magnified, is proved by the fact, that in our
museums we have weapons and ornaments answering to
most of those described in the stories, though generally on
:
a scale less magnificent.
Mere creations
of imagination
as well as gross exaggeration can be eliminated or brought
3
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
CHAP.
I]
down
to the solid level of reality,
to the
1
by rigorously adhering
rule of accepting nothing that does not of itself
appear reasonable, or that
not corroborated by other
is
authority.
All the
remarked
copyists,
been transmitted to us
old Tales have
elsewhere
who have
(chap,
in
xv.,
sect,
most of them
i)
— by
—though
— as
Christian
not in
all
—
Fig. io.
neck all solid gold now in the National Museum, Dublin: fully confinning' the descriptions of Torques given in the Tales.
The outer one is 1$% inches in diameter,
and 5 feet 7 inches in total length. See, for Torques, chap, xxii., sect. 3, or " Torques" in Index.
(From Wilde s Catal., Gold, p. 71.)
Group of Torques
added on,
as
for the
it
:
:
were from the outside, Christian allusions,
leaving the general pagan framework almost unchanged.
Accordingly, even those of the Tales that show Christian
and of references to pagan
customs, while some are thoroughly pagan in character,
influence, are full of
pagan
ideas,
without a trace of Christianity
:
so that
we may
safely apply
GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW
14
—with due discrimination—many
[PART
I
of the features of social
hfe in the oldest tales to a period
much
earlier
than the
seventh century.
Many
of the Tales will
but as exemplifying
I will
be referred to as we go along
how much may be
:
learned from them,
here mention one piece contained in the Lebar Brecc,
The Vision of Mac Conglinne, which was evidently written
by a skilled epicure, and which, though purely fictitious,
has afforded a vast amount of information, undoubtedly
authentic, especially on food and drink, and on the various
modes of preparing, cooking, and presenting them at table.
Professor
Kuno Meyer,
the editor, believes that this tale
began to assume its present form about the end of the
twelfth century but that the original and shorter narrative
was written at a much earlier period.
The Brehon Laws. In the ancient Laws of Ireland we
have another rich mine of materials. These Laws or
Customs grew up among the people from the very beginning of society and took cognisance of them from almost
every conceivable point of view, following them as it were
into their very houses and laying bare to view the details
of their home life.
They professed to regulate social and
:
—
domestic relations of every kind, as well as professions,
trades, industries, occupations,
err in being too
all
minute
and wages.
but this very defect
the more valuable for our purposes.
;
As laws they
renders them
The two most important of the Brehon Law tracts are
the Senchus Mor [Shanahus More] and the Book of Acaill
[Ackill].
In Cormac's Glossary, a document of the ninth
or tenth century, the Senchus Mor is quoted and referred
to several times as a well-known work, even at that early
time
and
;
text,
it
ring in
much
as further showing the great antiquity of the
may
it
be mentioned that
had,
when
many
of the terms occur-
the Glossary was compiled, fallen so
out of use, that they are included
among
and forgotten old words needing explanation.
the obsolete
As
to the
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
CHAP.
l]
Book
of Acaill,
it is
I5
generally admitted that
as old as the Senchus
Mor
at least
it is
probably older.
Other portions of the written law, including the Commentaries and
Glosses, are, however, much less ancient than these
and
:
:
some are not older than the fifteenth or sixteenth century
though no doubt they transmit traditional interpretations
:
of a
much
But
earlier time.
this
important fact must be remembered
:
—At
whatever times the several tracts of the Laws were first
written down, it was merely transferring to parchment
usages that had been in existence for centuries
for the
:
customs of a people take long to grow, and still longer to
It seems evident therefore
establish themselves as laws.
that the information regarding social
Laws taken
life
supplied
by the
as a whole, applies to a period coinciding in
great part with that covered
by the Lives
of the Saints
—
and the Romantic Literature a period reaching in some
instances as far back as the date assigned by tradition to
the original compilation of the Senchus
time of
St. Patrick, i.e. the fifth century.
Mor
namely, the
:
(See
on
this,
pp.
172 to 178, below.)
A
the
few of the legal rules and decisions laid down in
Laws
are obviously unreal
and
and hardly
fictitious
intended to have any application to practical
seem to be mere
Some
life.
intellectual problems, invented to
show
the cleverness of the writers, or to test the ingenuity of
the learners in solving theoretical difficulties
by the way, not
may
find
:
peculiar to the ancient Irish
examples of
it
a practice
;
for
one
elsewhere, even at the present
But such cases form only a very small portion of
the whole body of the Laws, and they are easily detected.
The Laws moreover are sometimes perplexingly inconday.
from the fact that many
of the tracts transmit to us local customs of different
periods, or from different parts of the country, or perhaps
sistent,
which probably
arises
the decisions of different jurists.
But these
unrealities
—
GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW
l6
and
inconsistencies
chiefly
concerned,
and
:
they hardly touch
:
so far as the objects of this
Laws,
the
as
may
a whole,
I
who
concern those persons
study the Laws as legal documents
our inquiry
[PART
book are
be taken
as
representing faithfully the actual state of society.
Glosses and Glossaries.
Glossaries,
have been
—The Ancient
Irish Glosses
and
which are described at pp. 473 to 476, below,
all
turned to account, especially the Glosses
Grammatica
and the Glossaries of
Cormac Mac Cullenan, O'Clery, and O'Davoren. Zeuss's
in Zeuss's
*'
Celtica,"
•
Glosses, with the corresponding Latin phrases, are given
fully by Zimmer in his book " Glossae Hibernicse "
and
;
the whole of the Irish Glosses, wherever found
all
over
Europe, including those of Zeuss, are brought together,
with English translations of the old Irish passages, in
*'
Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus," by Doctors Stokes and
Strachan.
Cormac's Glossary contains a great deal of
authentic and most valuable information.
words explained
tenth century
—
—
had then that
become so antiquated
in
it
ligible to the generality of readers
is
Many
of the
in the ninth or
as to be unintel-
and the numerous
:
customs mentioned must have taken many generations
to grow up.
The notices of manners and customs found
in this Glossary may accordingly be taken to apply to
a period extending backwards for several centuries ix.
a period generally coincident with that covered
Cormac's Glossary
preceding three classes of authorities.
is,
for
my
by the
somewhat like a cake of highly
pemmican or desiccated soup—dry
purposes,
concentrated food
—
and unattractive looking, but yielding under proper treatment plenty of intellectual nutriment.
It abounds in
references, illustrations, indirect allusions, and quotations
from archaic lore all very brief relating to history, law,
—
—
romance, druidism, mythology, handicrafts, domestic life
showing the writer to have been a man of exceptional
;
powers of observation and
illustration
;
and
I
think that,
CHAP.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
l]
I7
have obtained more information from this
book than from any other. To about the same period,
or earher, and for much the same reasons, may be ascribed
the information derived from the Glosses, most of which,
according to Zeuss, were written in the eighth century,
while some of
and others in the beginning of the ninth
the oldest of them have been assigned by other Continental
for its size, I
:
scholars to the seventh.
Annals, Histories, Genealogies, &c.
—Besides
the classes
of writings already noticed, there are Annals, Genealogies,
Local Memoirs, Historical Poems, and such
ing to accumulate evidence.
Among
like, all
help-
the later writings in
the Irish language are three local memoirs, translated and
edited
Hy
by O 'Donovan
one on the
:
Fiachrach in Sligo
;
district
another on
Galway
and people
Hy Many
of
or the
and the third on Corcaluidhe [Corkalee] or the O'Driscoll's territory in South
O'Kelly's country in
;
These describe the people of the three several
districts, their government, and modes of life, in the
Cork.
thirteenth, fourteenth,
and
fifteenth centuries.
One
great
value of these three comparatively late tracts consists in
this
:
— that
they fully corroborate the evidences of
and show that the habits and customs
the older times were preserved almost unchanged down
earlier writings
of
much
;
to the period of the writers.
book professedly deals with Ireland bethe Anglo-Norman Invasion (1171), it will be observed
Although
fore
that
I
this
sometimes notice matters belonging to much later
and later authorities
quoted. But the object of this
periods,
referring to
them
—
are often
enough to illustrate
the earlier history.
A statement in a late book asserting
or implying the prevalence of a certain custom at the time
of the writer, though it could not be accepted of itself a«
evidence of the existence of the same custom at a period
several centuries earlier, might corroborate a similar record
or incidental reference in an ancient document, which, if
B
is
clear
;
GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW
l8
[PART
I
unsupported would be too weak or uncertain to warrant a
The late authority in such a case is something
conclusion.
a flying buttress erected to sustain a weak or yielding
like
old wall
if left
:
to
both
will
is
ing boys at seven.
There
is
A
good example of this sort of
Froissart's account of the custom of knight-
might
itself,
corroboration
stand by mutual support, where either,
fall.
(See pp. 518, 519, farther on.)
yet another source of information existing in
the Irish language
But
this
and
accordingl}^ I
—the loan-words from other languages.
branch of the subject has not yet been sufficiently
investigated by philologists to be turned to much account
have made
little
English and Foreign Writers.
referred to are
writings there
land,
all
is
not
which was
The
reach.
native.
much
use of
it.
— The authorities hitherto
In early Greek and
reliable information
in those times
about
Ire-
very remote and hard to
stories regarding Ireland in those
mere hearsay
Roman
and often remind one
days are
Greek
accounts of the Cimmerians, the Cyclops, Scylla and
Charybdis, the Harpies, and so forth. For example, Solinus
a Latin writer of about the third century, states that there
reports,
of the
no such things
as bees in it, that dust or small pebbles from Irish soil,
if taken to other countries and scattered among hives, will
frighten awa}^ and banish all the bees.
In like manner
Strabo has a numbe]- of odd fables about Ireland.* But as
were few birds
I
make
little
no need
in Ireland, that there are
use of the writings of these authors, there
to notice
them
ever, passages in the
had opportunities
what the37 knew,
of
further here.
is
Sometimes, how-
works of foreign writers, when they
coming at facts, and leave records of
afford valuable corroboration of Irish
which Bede's account of the students from
Britain residing in Ireland, and Ethicus's mention of
records, of
A brief but useful collection of Greek and Roman writers' stories
about Ireland, compiled by John O'Donovan, will be found in the Ulst.
*
Journ. Archaeol,,
viii.
239.
100480125.pdf (PDF, 47.68 MB)
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