Gaelic Ireland

Not to be confused with Gaeltacht.

Gaelic Ireland was a Gaelic political and social order that existed in Ireland from sometime in prehistoric era until the early 17th century. Before the Norman invasion of 1169, Gaelic Ireland comprised the whole island. Thereafter, it comprised that part of the country not under English or at least foreign dominion at a given time. For most of its history, Ireland was a 'patchwork'[1] hierarchy of territories ruled by a hierarchy of kings or chiefs, who were elected by a system known as tanistry. Warfare between these territories was common. Occasionally, a powerful ruler was acknowledged as High King of Ireland. Society was separated into kin groups and, like the rest of Europe, was structured hierarchically according to class. Throughout this period, the economy was mainly pastoral and money generally not used. A Gaelic Irish style of dress, music, dance, sport, architecture, and art can be identified, with Irish art later merging with Anglo-Saxon styles from Great Britain developing Insular art.

Gaelic-Irish culture was initially pagan and was mainly based on an oral tradition, although inscription in the ogham alphabet began in the protohistoric period, perhaps as early as the 1st century BCE. The conversion to Christianity accompanied the introduction of literature, and much of Ireland's rich pre-Christian mythology and sophisticated law code were preserved, albeit Christianized. Ireland was an important centre of learning and preserved knowledge during the Early Middle Ages. During this time, Irish monks helped to (re-)spread Christianity along with elements of Gaelic art and culture to Anglo-Saxon Britain and on to non-Christian areas of mainland Europe in the Hiberno-Scottish mission.

In the 9th century, the Vikings began raiding and founding settlements along Ireland's coasts and waterways. These became Ireland's first large towns. Over time, these settlers were assimilated into Gaelic society and became the Norse-Gaels. After the Norman invasion of 1169–71, large swathes of Ireland came under the control of Norman lords. The King of England claimed sovereignty over this territory – the Lordship of Ireland – and over the island as a whole. However, the Gaelic system continued in areas outside Anglo-Norman control. The territory under English control gradually shrank to an area known as the Pale and, outside this, many Hiberno-Norman lords adopted Gaelic culture. There was regular conflict between the Gaels and the Norman settlers.

In 1542, Henry VIII of England declared the Lordship a Kingdom and himself King of Ireland. The English then began to conquer (or re-conquer) the island. By 1607, Ireland was fully under English control, bringing the old Gaelic political and social order to an end.

Culture and society

An Irish bronze reliquary from the 7th or 8th century

Gaelic culture and society was centred around the fine (clan, from Gaelic-Irish clann "children (of the family)"), and the landscape and history of Ireland was wrought with inter-fine relationships, marriages, friendships, wars, vendettas, trading, and so on. Gaelic Ireland had a rich oral culture and appreciation of deeper and intellectual pursuits. Filí and draoithe (druids) were held in high regard during Pagan times and orally passed down the history and traditions of their people. Later, many of their spiritual and intellectual tasks were passed on to Christian monks, after said religion prevailed from the 5th century onwards. However, the filí continued to hold a high position. Poetry, music, storytelling, literature and other art forms were highly prized and cultivated in both pagan and Christian Gaelic Ireland. Hospitality, bonds of kinship and the fulfilment of social and ritual responsibilities were held sacred.

Like Britain, Gaelic Ireland consisted not of one single unified kingdom, but several. The principal kingdoms were Ulaid, Mide, Laigin, Muma (consisting of Iarmuman, Tuadhmhumhain, Deas-Mhumhain, hence the three crowns of Munster), Connacht, Bréifne, In Tuaiscert, and Airgíalla. Each of these overkingdoms were built upon lordships known as túatha (singular: túath).

Law tracts from the early 700s describe a hierarchy of kings: kings of túath subject to kings of several túatha who again were subject to the regional overkings.[2] Already before the 8th century these overkingships had begun to dissolve the túatha as the basic sociopolitical unit.[2]

Religion and mythology

A bronze disc from the pre-Christian era, found near Derry – the triple spiral symbol is often associated with Gaelic pagan holy sites
A reconstruction of an early Irish Christian chapel and high cross at the Irish National Heritage Park in County Wexford

Paganism

Main article: Irish mythology

Before Christianization, the Gaelic Irish were polytheistic or pagan. They had many gods and goddesses, which generally have parallels in the pantheons of European nations. They were also animists, believing that all aspects of the natural world contained spirits, and that these spirits could be communicated with.[3] Burial practices—which included burying food, weapons, and ornaments with the dead—suggest a belief in life after death.[4] Some have equated this afterlife with the realms known as Magh Meall and Tír na nÓg in Irish mythology.[5] There were four main religious festivals each year, marking the traditional four divisions of the year – Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain.[6]

The mythology of Ireland was originally passed down orally, but much of it was eventually written down by Irish monks, who Christianized and modified it to an extent. This large body of work is often split into three overlapping cycles: the Mythological Cycle, the Ulster Cycle, and the Fenian Cycle. The first cycle is a pseudo-history that describes how Ireland, its people and its society came to be. The second cycle tells of the lives and deaths of Ulaidh heroes such as Cúchulainn. The third cycle tells of the exploits of Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna. There are also a number of tales that do not fit into these cycles – this includes the immrama and echtrai, which are tales of voyages to the 'otherworld'. Two groups of supernatural beings who appear throughout Irish mythology—the Tuatha Dé Danann and Fomorians—are believed to represent the Gaelic pantheon.

Social and political structure

A scene from The Image of Irelande (1581) showing a chieftain at a feast being entertained by a fili and a harper

In Gaelic Ireland each person belonged to an agnatic kin-group known as a fine (plural: finte). This was a large group of related people supposedly descended from one progenitor through male forebears. It was headed by a male chieftain, known in Old Irish as a cennfine or toísech (plural: toísig). Although these groups were primarily based on blood kinship, they also included those who were fostered into the group and those who were accepted into it for other reasons.

Nicholls suggests that they would be better thought of as akin to the modern-day corporation.[7] Within each fine, the family descended from a common great grandparent was term a derbfine (modern form dearbhfhine), lit. "close clan". The cland (modern form clann) referred to the children of the nuclear family.

Succession to the chieftainship or kingship was through tanistry. When a man became chieftain or king, a relative was elected to be his deputy or 'tanist' (Irish: tánaiste, plural tanaistí).[8] When the chieftain or king died, his tanist would automatically succeed him.[8][9] The tanist had to share the same great-grandfather as his predecessor (i.e. was of the same derbfhine) and he was elected by freemen who also shared the same great-grandfather. Tanistry meant that the kingship usually went to whichever relative was deemed to be the most fitting.[8] Sometimes there would be more than one tanist at a time and they would succeed each other in order of seniority.[8] Some Anglo-Norman lordships later adopted tanistry from the Irish.[8]

Gaelic Ireland was divided into a hierarchy of territories ruled by a hierarchy of kings or chiefs. The smallest territory was the túath (plural: túatha), which was typically the territory of a single kin-group. It was ruled by a rí túaithe (king of a túath) or toísech túaithe (leader of a túath). Several túatha formed a mór túath (overkingdom), which was ruled by a rí mór túath or ruirí (overking). Several mór túatha formed a cóiced (province), which was ruled by a rí cóicid or rí ruirech (provincial king). In the early Middle Ages the túatha was the main political unit, but over time they were subsumed into bigger conglomerate territories and became much less important politically.[2][10]

Gaelic society was structured hierarchically, with those further up the hierarchy generally having more privileges, wealth and power than those further down.

Although distinct, these ranks were not utterly exclusive castes like those of India.[12] It was possible to rise or sink from one rank to another. Rising upward could be achieved a number of ways, such as by gaining wealth, by gaining skill in some department, by qualifying for a learned profession, by showing conspicuous valour, or by performing some service to the community.[12] An example of the latter is a person choosing to become a briugu (hospitaller). A briugu had to have his house open to any guests, which included feeding no matter how big the group. For the briugu to fulfill these duties, he was allowed more land and privileges,[9] but this could be lost if he ever refused guests.[19]

A freeman could further himself by becoming the client of one or more lords. The lord made his client a grant of property (i.e. livestock or land) and, in return, the client owed his lord yearly payments of food and fixed amounts of work. The clientship agreement could last until the lord's death. If the client died, his heirs would carry on the agreement. This system of clientship enabled social mobility as a client could increase his wealth until he could afford clients of his own, thus becoming a lord. Clientship was also practised between nobles, which established hierarchies of homage and political support.[20]

Law

Main article: Early Irish law
Ruins of the O'Davoren law school at Cahermacnaghten, County Clare

Gaelic law was originally passed down orally, but was written down in Old Irish during the period 600–900 AD. This collection of oral and written laws is known as the Fénechas[21] or, in English, as the Brehon Law(s). The brehons (Old Irish: brithem, plural brithemain) were the jurists in Gaelic Ireland. Becoming a brehon took many years of training and the office was, or became, largely hereditary. Most legal cases were contested privately between opposing parties, with the brehons acting as arbitrators.[10]

Offences against people and property were primarily settled by the offender paying compensation to the victims. Although any such offence required compensation, the law made a distinction between intentional and unintentional harm, and between murder and manslaughter.[22] If an offender did not pay outright, his property was seized until he did so. Should the offender be unable to pay, his family would be responsible for doing so. Should the family be unable or unwilling to pay, responsibility would broaden to the wider kin-group. Hence, it has been argued that "the people were their own police".[22] Acts of violence were generally settled by payment of compensation known as an éraic fine;[20] the Gaelic equivalent of the Welsh galanas and the Germanic weregild. If a free person was murdered, the éraic was equal to 21 cows, regardless of the victim's rank in society.[20] Each member of the murder victim's agnatic kin-group received a payment based on their closeness to the victim, their status, and so forth. There were separate payments for the kin-group of the victim's mother, and for the victim's foster-kin.[20]

Execution seems to have been rare and carried out only as a last resort. If a murderer was unable/unwilling to pay éraic and was handed to his victim's family, they might kill him if they wished should nobody intervene by paying the éraic. Habitual or particularly serious offenders might be expelled from the kin-group and its territory. Such people became outlaws (with no protection from the law) and anyone who sheltered him became liable for his crimes. If he still haunted the territory and continued his crimes there, he was proclaimed in a public assembly and after this anyone might lawfully kill him.[22]

Each person had an honour-price, which varied depending on their rank in society. This honour-price was to be paid to them if their honour was violated by certain offences.[20] Those of higher rank had a higher honour-price. However, an offence against the property of a poor man (who could ill afford it), was punished more harshly than a similar offence upon a wealthy man. The clergy were more harshly punished than the laity. When a layman had paid his fine he would go through a probationary period and then regain his standing, but a clergyman could never regain his standing.[22]

Most of the laws are pre-Christian in origin. These secular laws existed in parallel, and sometimes in conflict, with Church law. Although brehons usually dealt with legal cases, kings would have been able to deliver judgments also, but it is unclear how much they would have had to rely on brehons.[23] Kings had their own brehons to deal with cases involving the king's own rights and to give him legal advice.[10] Unlike other kingdoms in Europe, Gaelic kings—by their own authority—could not enact new laws as they wished and could not be "above the law".[24] They could, however, enact temporary emergency laws. It was mainly through these emergency powers that the Church attempted to change Gaelic law.[20]

The law texts take great care to define social status, the rights and duties that went with that status, and the relationships between people. For example, chieftains had to take responsibility for members of their fine, acting as a surety for some of their deeds and making sure debts were paid. He would also be responsible for unmarried women after the death of their fathers.[25]

Marriage, women and children

Irish Gaels, c. 1575

Ancient Irish culture was patriarchal. The Brehon law excepted women from the ordinary course of the law so that, in general, every woman had to have a male guardian.[26] However, women had some legal capacity. By the 8th century, the preferred form of marriage was one between social equals, under which a woman was technically legally dependent on her husband and had half his honor price, but could exercise considerable authority in regard to the transfer of property. Such women were called "women of joint dominion".[27] Thus historian Patrick Weston Joyce could write that, relative to other European countries of the time, free women in Gaelic Ireland "held a good position" and their social and property rights were "in most respects, quite on a level with men".[28]

Gaelic Irish society was also patrilineal, with land being primarily owned by men and inherited by the sons. Only when a man had no sons would his land pass to his daughters, and then only for their lifetimes.[20] Upon their deaths, the land was redistributed among their father's male relations.[20] Under Brehon law, rather than inheriting land, daughters had assigned to them a certain number of their father's cattle as their marriage-portion.[26][27] It seems that, throughout the Middle Ages, the Gaelic Irish kept many of their marriage laws and traditions sundered from those of the Church.[29] Under Gaelic law, married women could hold property independent of their husbands,[29][30] a link was maintained between married women and their own families,[29][31] couples could easily divorce or separate,[29][30] and men could have concubines (which could be lawfully bought).[29][31] These laws differed from most of contemporary Europe and from Church law.

The lawful age of marriage was fifteen for girls and eighteen for boys, the respective ages at which fosterage ended.[31] Upon marriage, the families of the bride and bridegroom were expected to contribute to the match. It was custom for the bridegroom and his family to pay a coibche (modern spelling: coibhche) and the bride was allowed a share of it. If the marriage ended owing to a fault of the husband then the coibche was kept by the wife and her family, but if the fault lay with the wife then the coibche was to be returned.[29] It was custom for the bride to receive a spréid (modern spelling: spréidh) from her family (or foster family) upon marriage. This was to be returned if the marriage ended through divorce or the death of the husband. Later, the spréid seems to have been converted into a dowry.[29] Women could seek divorce/separation as easily as men could and, when obtained on her petition, she kept all the property she had brought her husband during their marriage.[31] Trial marriages seem to have been popular among the rich and powerful, and thus it has been argued that cohabitation before marriage must have been acceptable.[29] It also seems that the wife of a chieftain was entitled to some share of the chief's authority over his territory. This led to some Gaelic Irish wives wielding a great deal of political power.[29]

Before the Norman invasion, it was common for priests and monks to have wives. This remained mostly unchanged after the Norman invasion, despite protests from bishops and archbishops. The authorities classed such women as priests' concubines and there is evidence that a formal contract of concubinage existed between priests and their women. However, unlike other concubines, they seem to have been treated just as wives were.[29]

In Gaelic Ireland a kind of fosterage was common, whereby (for a certain length of time) children would be left in the care of other fine members, namely their mother's family, preferably her brother.[31] This may have been used to strengthen family ties or political bonds.[30] Foster parents were beholden to teach their foster children or to have them taught. Foster parents who had properly done their duties were entitled to be supported by their foster children in old age (if they were in need and had no children of their own).[31] As with divorce, Gaelic law again differed from most of Europe and from Church law in giving legal standing to both "legitimate" and "illegitimate" children.[31]

Settlements and architecture

A reconstructed roundhouse and ráth at Craggaunowen, County Clare

For most of the Gaelic period, dwellings and farm buildings were circular with conical thatched roofs (see roundhouse). Square and rectangle-shaped buildings gradually became more common, and by the 14th or 15th century they had replaced round buildings completely.[32] In some areas, buildings were made mostly of stone. In others, they were built of timber, wattle and daub, or a mix of materials. Most ancient and early medieval stone buildings were of dry stone construction. Some buildings would have had glass windows.[33] It was common for women to have their own 'apartment' called a grianan (anglicized "greenan") in the sunniest part of the homestead.[33]

The dwellings of freemen and their families were often surrounded by a circular rampart called a "ringfort".[30] There are two main kinds of ringfort. The ráth is an earthen ringfort, averaging 30m diameter, with a dry outside ditch.[34] The cathair or caiseal is a stone ringfort. The ringfort would typically have enclosed the family home, small farm buildings or workshops, and animal pens.[35] Most date to the period 500–1000 CE[34] and there is evidence of large-scale ringfort desertion at the end of the first millennium.[35] The remains of between 30,000 and 40,000 lasted into the 19th century to be mapped by Ordnance Survey Ireland.[34] Another kind of native dwelling was the crannóg, which were roundhouses built on artificial islands in lakes.

There were very few nucleated settlements in Gaelic areas. However, after the 5th century some monasteries became the heart of small "monastic towns".[30][35] By the 10th century the Norse-Gaelic ports of Dublin, Wexford, Cork and Limerick had grown into substantial settlements.[34] It was at this time, perhaps as a response to Viking raids, that many of the Irish round towers were built.

In the fifty years before the Norman invasion (1169), the term "castle" (Old Irish: caistél/caislén) appears in Gaelic writings, although there are no surviving examples of pre-Norman castles.[35] After the invasion, the Normans built motte-and-bailey castles in the areas they occupied,[36] some of which were converted from ringforts.[35] By 1300 "some mottes, especially in frontier areas, had almost certainly been built by the Gaelic Irish in imitation".[36] The Normans gradually replaced wooden motte-and-baileys with stone castles and tower houses.[36] Tower houses are free-standing multi-storey stone towers usually surrounded by a wall (see bawn) and ancillary buildings.[34] Gaelic families had begun to build their own tower houses by the 15th century.[35] As many as 7000 may have been built, but they were rare in areas with little Norman settlement or contact.[35] They are concentrated in counties Limerick and Clare but are lacking in Ulster, except the area around Strangford Lough.[34]

In Gaelic law, a 'sanctuary' called a maighin digona surrounded each person's dwelling. The maighin digona's size varied according to the owner's rank. In the case of a bóaire it stretched as far as he, while sitting at his house, could cast a cnairsech (variously described as a spear or sledgehammer). The owner of a maighin digona could offer its protection to someone fleeing from pursuers, who would then have to bring that person to justice by lawful means.[22]

Carrigaphooca tower house 
Grianan of Aileach stone ringfort (see inside) 
Reconstructed crannóg on Loch Tay 
Glendalough round tower 

Economy

Gaelic Ireland was involved in trade with Britain and mainland Europe from ancient times, and this trade increased over the centuries. Tacitus, for example, wrote in the 1st century that most of Ireland's harbours were known to the Romans through commerce.[37] There are many passages in early Irish literature that mention luxury items imported from foreign lands, and the fair of Carman in Leinster included a market of foreign traders.[38] In the Middle Ages the main exports were textiles such as wool and linen while the main imports were luxury items.[30]

Money was seldom used in Gaelic society; instead, goods and services were usually exchanged for other goods and services. The economy was mainly a pastoral one, based on livestock (cows, sheep, pigs, goats, etc.) and their products.[8] Cattle was "the main element in the Irish pastoral economy" and the main form of wealth, providing milk, butter, cheese, meat, fat, hides, and so forth.[8] They were a "highly mobile form of wealth and economic resource which could be quickly and easily moved to a safer locality in time of war or trouble".[8] The nobility owned great herds of cattle that had herdsmen and guards.[8] Sheep, goats and pigs were also a valuable resource but had a lesser role in Irish pastoralism.[8]

Horticulture was practised; the main crops being oats, wheat and barley, although flax was also grown for making linen.

Transhumance was also practised, whereby people moved with their livestock to higher pastures in summer and back to lower pastures in the cooler months.[30][39] The summer pasture was called the buaile (anglicized as booley) and it is noteworthy that the Irish word for boy (buachaill) originally meant a herdsman.[39] Many moorland areas were "shared as a common summer pasturage by the people of a whole parish or barony".[39]

Transport

Gaelic Ireland was well furnished with roads and bridges. Bridges were typically wooden and the roads were sometimes laid with wood and stone. There were five main roads leading from Tara and many named roads are mentioned in literature.[40]

Horses were one of the main means of long-distance transport. Although horseshoes and reins were used, the Gaelic Irish did not use saddles, stirrups or spurs. Every man was trained to spring from the ground on to the back of his horse (an ech-léim or "steed-leap") and they urged-on and guided their horses with a rod having a hooked goad at the end.[41]

Two-wheeled and four-wheeled chariots (singular carbad) were used in Ireland from ancient times, both in private life and in war. They were big enough for two people, made of wickerwork and wood, and often had decorated hoods. The wheels were spoked, shod all round with iron, and were from three to four and a half feet high. Chariots were generally drawn by horses or oxen, with horse-drawn chariots being more common among chiefs and military men. War chariots furnished with scythes and spikes, like those of the ancient Gauls and Britons, are mentioned in literature.[42]

Boats used in Gaelic Ireland include canoes, currachs and sailboats. Ferryboats were used to cross wide rivers and are often mentioned in the Brehon Laws as subject to strict regulations. Sometimes they were owned by individuals and sometimes they were the common property of those living round the ferry. Large boats were used for trade with mainland Europe.[43]

Dress

Irish Gaels in a painting from the 16th century

Throughout the Middle Ages, the common clothing amongst the Gaelic Irish consisted of a brat (a woollen cloak) worn over a léine (a loose-fitting, long-sleeved tunic made of wool or linen). For men the léine went down to the thighs or knees and for women they were longer.[44] Men sometimes wore tight-fitting truis on the legs, but otherwise went bare-legged.[45] The brat was usually fastened with a crios (belt) and dealg (brooch), with men usually wearing the dealg at their shoulders and women at their chests.[44] The ionar (a short, tight-fitting jacket) became popular later on. In Topographia Hibernica, written during the 1180s, Gerald de Barri wrote that the Irish commonly wore hoods at that time[46] (perhaps forming part of the brat), while Edmund Spenser wrote in the 1580s that the brat was (in general) their main item of clothing. However, it is uncertain if Medieval Irish clothing fashions were influenced by other cultures they came in contact with, such as the Angles, Norse or the Romans. The discovery of the bog body in Gallagh indicates that during the Iron Age, wearing of animal skins was common. According to Gerald de Barri, most of the Irish he saw wore clothes made of black wool, apparently because most of the sheep in Ireland were black at that time.[46] The number of colours worn came to betoken the rank or wealth of the wearer; the wealthy often wore cloth of many colours while the poor only wore cloth of one colour.[44]

Women invariably grew their hair long and, as in other European cultures, this custom was also common among the men.[45][46][47] It is said that the Gaelic Irish took great pride in their long hair—for example, a person could be forced to pay the heavy fine of two cows for shaving a man's head against his will.[22] For women, very long hair was seen as a mark of beauty.[47] Sometimes, both men and women would braid their hair and fasten hollow golden balls to the braids.[47] Another style that was popular among some medieval Gaelic men was the glib (short all over except for a long, thick lock of hair towards the front of the head). A band or ribbon around the forehead was the typical way of holding one's hair in place. For the wealthy, this band was often a thin and flexible band of burnished gold, silver or findruine.[47] When the Anglo-Normans and the English colonized Ireland, hair length came to signify one's allegiance. Irishmen who cut their hair short were deemed to be forsaking their Irish heritage. Likewise, English colonists who grew their hair long at the back were deemed to be giving in to the Irish life.[48]

Gaelic men typically let their facial hair grow into a beard[45][46] and mustache,[47] and it was often seen as dishonourable for a Gaelic man to have no facial hair. Beard styles varied – the long forked beard and the rectangular Mesopotamian-style beard were fashionable at times.[47]

Warfare

Main article: Gaelic warfare
A cattle raid shown in The Image of Irelande (1581)
A fantasy painting showing legendary hero Cúchulainn in battle

Warfare was common in Gaelic Ireland, as territories fought for supremacy against each other and (later) against the Anglo-Normans.[49] Champion warfare is a common theme in Irish mythology. In the Middle Ages all able-bodied men, apart from the learned and the clergy, were eligible for military service on behalf of the king or chief.[50] Throughout the Middle Ages and for some time after, outsiders often wrote that the style of Irish warfare differed greatly from what they deemed to be the norm in Western Europe.[49] The Gaelic Irish preferred hit-and-run raids (the crech), which involved catching the enemy unaware. If this worked they would then seize any valuables (mainly livestock) and potentially valuable hostages, burn the crops, and escape.[49] The cattle raid was often called a Táin Bó in Gaelic literature. Although hit-and-run raiding was the preferred tactic in medieval times, there were also pitched battles. From at least the 11th century, kings maintained small permanent fighting forces known as "troops of the household", who were often given houses and land on the king's mensal land. These were well-equipped professional soldiers made up of infantry and cavalry.[50] By the reign of Brian Boru, Irish kings were taking large armies on campaign over long distances and using naval forces in tandem with land forces.[50][51]

A typical medieval Irish army included light infantry, heavy infantry and cavalry. The bulk of the army was made-up of light infantry called ceithern (anglicized 'kern'). The ceithern wandered Ireland offering their services for hire and usually wielded swords, skenes (a kind of long knife), short spears, bows and shields.[49] The cavalry was usually made-up of a king or chieftain and his close relatives. They usually rode without saddles but wore armour and iron helmets and wielded swords, skenes and long spears or lances.[49] One kind of Irish cavalry was the hobelar. After the Norman invasion there emerged a kind of heavy infantry called gallóglaigh (anglicized 'gallo[w]glass'). They were originally Scottish mercenaries who appeared in the 13th century, but by the 15th century most large túatha had their own hereditary force of Irish gallóglaigh.[49] Some Anglo-Norman lordships also began using gallóglaigh in imitation of the Irish.[50] They usually wore mail and iron helmets and wielded sparth axes, claymores, and sometimes spears or lances. The gallóglaigh furnished the retreating plunderers with a "moving line of defence from which the horsemen could make short, sharp charges, and behind which they could retreat when pursued".[49] As their armour made them less nimble, they were sometimes planted at strategic spots along the line of retreat. The kern, horsemen and gallóglaigh had lightly-armed servants to carry their weapons into battle.[49]

Warriors were sometimes rallied into battle by blowing horns and warpipes. According to Gerald de Barri (in the 12th century), they did not wear armour, as they deemed it burdensome to wear and "brave and honourable" to fight without it.[46] Instead, most ordinary soldiers fought semi-naked and carried only their weapons and a small round shield—Spenser wrote that these shields were covered with leather and painted in bright colours.[44] Kings and chiefs sometimes went into battle wearing helmets adorned with eagle feathers. For ordinary soldiers, their thick hair often served as a helmet, but they sometimes wore simple helmets made from animal hides.[44]

Arts

Visual art

Main articles: Celtic art and Insular art

Artwork from Ireland's Gaelic period is found on pottery, jewellery, weapons, drinkware, tableware, stone carvings and illuminated manuscripts. Like other kinds of Celtic art, Irish art from about 300 BCE is part of the wider style, which developed in west central Europe. By about 600 CE, after the Christianization of Ireland had begun, a style melding Irish, Mediterranean and Germanic Anglo-Saxon elements emerged, and was spread to Britain and mainland Europe by the Hiberno-Scottish mission. This is known as Insular art or Hiberno-Saxon art, which continued in some form in Ireland until the 12th century, although the Viking invasions ended its "Golden Age". Most surviving works of Insular art were either made by monks or made for monasteries, with the exception of brooches, which were likely made and used by both clergy and laity. Examples of Insular art from Ireland include the Book of Kells, Muiredach's High Cross, the Tara Brooch, the Ardagh Hoard the Derrynaflan Chalice, and the late Cross of Cong, which also uses Viking styles.

Book of Kells 
Cross of Cong 
Muiredach's High Cross 
Tara Brooch 

Literature

Music and dance

Although Gerald de Barri had a negative view of the Irish, in Topographia Hibernica (1188) he conceded that they were more skilled at playing music than any other nation he had seen. He claimed that the two main instruments were the "harp" and "tabor" (see bodhrán), that their music was fast and lively, and that their songs always began and ended with B-flat.[46] In A History of Irish Music (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that there were at least ten instruments in general use by the Gaelic Irish. These were the cruit (a small harp) and clairseach (a bigger harp with typically 30 strings), the timpan (a small string instrument played with a bow or plectrum), the feadan (a fife), the buinne (an oboe or flute), the guthbuinne (a bassoon-type horn), the bennbuabhal and corn (hornpipes), the cuislenna (bagpipes – see Great Irish Warpipes), the stoc and sturgan (clarions or trumpets), and the cnamha (castanets).[52] He also mentions the fiddle as being used in the 8th century.[52]

Sport

Main article: Gaelic games

Assemblies

The summit of the Hill of Tara

As mentioned before, Gaelic Ireland was split into many clann territories and kingdoms called túath (plural: túatha).[9] Although there was no central 'government' or 'parliament', a number of local, regional and national gatherings were held. These combined features of assemblies and fairs.[9]

In Ireland the highest of these was the feis at Teamhair na Rí (Tara), which was held every third Samhain.[9] This was a gathering of the leading men of the whole island – kings, lords, chieftains, druids, judges etc.[9] Below this was the óenach (modern spelling: aonach). These were regional or provincial gatherings open to everyone.[9] Examples include that held at Tailtin each Lughnasadh, and that held at Uisneach each Bealtaine. The main purpose of these gatherings was to promulgate and reaffirm the laws – they were read aloud in public that they might not be forgotten, and any changes in them carefully explained to those present.[9]

Each túath or clann had two assemblies of its own. These were the cuirmtig, which was open to all clann members, and the dal (a term later adopted for the Irish parliament – see Dáil Éireann), which was open only to clann chiefs.[9] Each clann had a further assembly called a tocomra, in which the clann chief (toísech) and his deputy/successor (tanaiste) were elected.

List of finte, túatha and kings

History

Before 400

400 to 800

800 to 1169

Anglo-Norman occupation

Invasion

Ireland in 1300 showing lands held by native Irish (green) and lands held by Normans (pale).

Ireland became Christianized between the 5th and 7th centuries. Pope Adrian IV, the only English pope, had already issued a Papal Bull in 1155 giving Henry II of England authority to invade Ireland as a means of curbing Irish refusal to recognize Roman law. Importantly, for later English monarchs, the Bull, Laudabiliter, maintained papal suzerainty over the island:

“ There is indeed no doubt, as thy Highness doth also acknowledge, that Ireland and all other islands which Christ the Sun of Righteousness has illumined, and which have received the doctrines of the Christian faith, belong to the jurisdiction of St. Peter and of the holy Roman Church. ”

In 1166, after losing the protection of King Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, the King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, was forcibly exiled by a confederation of Irish forces under King Ruaidri mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair. Fleeing first to Bristol and then to Normandy, Diarmait obtained permission from Henry II of England to use his subjects to regain his kingdom. By the following year, he had obtained these services and in 1169 the main body of Norman, Welsh and Flemish forces landed in Ireland and quickly retook Leinster and the cities of Waterford and Dublin on behalf of Diarmait. The leader of the Norman force, Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, more commonly known as Strongbow, married Diarmait's daughter, Aoife, and was named tánaiste to the Kingdom of Leinster. This caused consternation to Henry II, who feared the establishment of a rival Norman state in Ireland. Accordingly, he resolved to visit Leinster to establish his authority.

Henry landed in 1171, proclaiming Waterford and Dublin as Royal Cities. Adrian's successor, Pope Alexander III, ratified the grant of Ireland to Henry in 1172. The 1175 Treaty of Windsor between Henry and Ruaidhrí maintained Ruaidhrí as High King of Ireland[53] but codified Henry's control of Leinster, Meath and Waterford. However, with Diarmuid and Strongbow dead, Henry back in England, and Ruaidhrí unable to curb his vassals, the high kingship rapidly lost control of the country. Henry, in 1185, awarded his younger son, John, the title Dominus Hiberniae, "Lord of Ireland". This kept the newly created title and the Kingdom of England personally and legally separate. However, when John unexpectedly succeeded his brother as King of England in 1199, the Lordship of Ireland fell back into personal union with the Kingdom of England.

Gaelic resurgence

Ireland in 1450 showing lands held by native Irish (green), the Anglo-Irish (blue) and the English king (red).

By 1261, the weakening of the Anglo-Norman Lordship had become manifest following a string of military defeats. In the chaotic situation, local Irish lords won back large amounts of land. The invasion by Edward Bruce in 1315–18 at a time of famine weakened the Norman economy. The Black Death arrived in Ireland in 1348. Because most of the English and Norman inhabitants of Ireland lived in towns and villages, the plague hit them far harder than it did the native Irish, who lived in more dispersed rural settlements. After it had passed, Gaelic Irish language and customs came to dominate the country again. The English-controlled area shrank back to the Pale, a fortified area around Dublin. Outside the Pale, the Hiberno-Norman lords intermarried with Gaelic noble families, adopted the Irish language and customs and sided with the Gaelic Irish in political and military conflicts against the Lordship. They became known as the Old English, and in the words of a contemporary English commentator, were "more Irish than the Irish themselves."

The authorities in the Pale worried about the Gaelicisation of Norman Ireland, and passed the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1366 banning those of English descent from speaking the Irish language, wearing Irish clothes or inter-marrying with the Irish. The government in Dublin had little real authority. By the end of the 15th century, central English authority in Ireland had all but disappeared. England's attentions were diverted by the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) and then by the Wars of the Roses (1450–85). Around the country, local Gaelic and Gaelicised lords expanded their powers at the expense of the English government in Dublin.

Gaelic kingdoms during the period

Following the failed attempt by the Scottish King Edward Bruce (see Irish Bruce Wars 1315–1318) to drive the Normans out of Ireland, there emerged a number of important Gaelic kingdoms and Gaelic-controlled lordships.

Tudor conquest

From 1536, Henry VIII of England decided to conquer Ireland and bring it under English control. The FitzGerald dynasty of Kildare, who had become the effective rulers of the Lordship of Ireland (The Pale) in the 15th century, had become unreliable allies and Henry resolved to bring Ireland under English government control so the island would not become a base for future rebellions or foreign invasions of England. To involve the Gaelic nobility and allow them to retain their lands under English law the policy of surrender and regrant was applied.

In 1541, Henry upgraded Ireland from a lordship to a full kingdom, partly in response to changing relationships with the papacy, which still had suzerainty over Ireland, following Henry's break with the church. Henry was proclaimed King of Ireland at a meeting of the Irish Parliament that year. This was the first meeting of the Irish Parliament to be attended by the Gaelic Irish princes as well as the Hiberno-Norman aristocracy.

With the technical institutions of government in place, the next step was to extend the control of the Kingdom of Ireland over all of its claimed territory. This took nearly a century, with various English administrations in the process either negotiating or fighting with the independent Irish and Old English lords. The conquest was completed during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I, after several bloody conflicts.

The flight into exile in 1607 of Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell following their defeat at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601 and the suppression of their rebellion in Ulster in 1603 is seen as the watershed of Gaelic Ireland. It marked the destruction of Ireland's ancient Gaelic nobility following the Tudor conquest and cleared the way for the Plantation of Ulster. After this point, the English authorities in Dublin established real control over Ireland for the first time, bringing a centralised government to the entire island, and successfully disarmed the Gaelic lordships.

1603-Present

England and Scotland merged politically in 1707 after the crowns of both counties were united in 1603, but the crown of Ireland did not merge with the Union until 1800. Part of the attraction of the Union for many Irish Catholics was the promise of Catholic Emancipation, allowing Roman Catholic MPs, who had not been allowed in the Irish Parliament. This was however blocked by King George III who argued that emancipating Roman Catholics would breach his Coronation Oath, and was not realised until 1829.

The Gaelic roots that defined early Irish history still persisted, despite this Anglicisation of Irish culture and politics, as Christianity became the prominent expression of Irish identity in Ireland. In the time leading up to the Great Famine of the 1840s, many priests believed that parishioner spirituality was paramount, resulting in a localised morphing of Gaelic and Catholic traditions.[54]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Whilst Ireland had a single, strong, unifying culture, "patchwork" is a very common way to describe the political arrangement of Gaelic Ireland. For example:
    Dáibhí Ó Cróinín (1995), Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, ed., "Early medieval Ireland, 400–1200", Longman History of Ireland (London: Longman) 1, p. 110, ISBN 0-582-01566-9, By the time of our earliest documentary evidence (law texts, genealogies, and annals), the vision of Ireland as a unitary state, ruled by a 'high-king', had apparently disappeared, to be replaced by a patchwork of local tribal kingdoms, each confident in its own distinctiveness.
  2. 1 2 3 Jaski, Bart (2005). "Kings and kingship". In Seán Duffy. Medieval Ireland. An Encyclopedia. Abingdon and New York. pp. 251–254.
  3. ↑ Green, Miranda (1992:196). Animals in Celtic life and myth. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-05030-8. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ↑ Cunliffe, Barry (1997). The Ancient Celts. Oxford University Press. pp. 208–210. ISBN 0-19-815010-5.
  5. ↑ Dunning, Dr Ray. The Encyclopedia of World Mythology. p. 91.
  6. ↑ Koch, John (2006). Celtic Culture: a historical encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 332.
  7. ↑ Nicholls, Kenneth W. (2003) [1972]. Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Middle Ages (2nd ed.). Dublin: Lilliput Press.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Nicholls, Kenneth (2008) [1987]. "Chapter 14: Gaelic society and economy". In Cosgrove, Art. A New History of Ireland, Volume II: Medieval Ireland 1169–1534. Oxford University Press. pp. 397–438.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Ginnell, Laurence (1894). The Brehon Laws: A Legal Handbook: Chapter IV.
  10. 1 2 3 Simms, Katharine (2000) [1987]. From Kings to Warlords: The Changing Political Structure of Gaelic Ireland in the Later Middle Ages. Boydell & Brewer. p. 79.
  11. 1 2 Duffy, Seán, ed. (2005). Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 11.
  12. 1 2 3 Laurence Ginnell (1894). "The Brehon Laws: A Legal Handbook: Chapter V".
  13. ↑ Hutton, Ronald (2007). The Druids. London: HambledonContinuum. p. 2.
  14. ↑ Jefferies, Dr. Henry A. "Culture and Religion in Tudor Ireland, 1494–1558". University College Cork. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
  15. ↑ Duffy, Seán, ed. (2005). Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 713.
  16. ↑ Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí (1995). Early Medieval Ireland. Longman. p. 88.
  17. ↑ Dictionary of the Irish Language, Compact Edition. Royal Irish Academy. 1990. pp. 299, 507.
  18. ↑ Keating, Geoffrey. Foras Feasa ar Éirinn 2.45.
  19. ↑ Kelly, Fergus. A Guide to Early Irish Law. pp. 36–7.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Duffy, Seán, ed. (2005). Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. pp. 72–74.
  21. ↑ Ginnell, Laurence (1894). The Brehon Laws: A Legal Handbook: Chapter I.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ginnell, Laurence (1894). The Brehon Laws: A Legal Handbook: Chapter VII.
  23. ↑ Kelly, Fergus. A Guide to Early Irish Law. pp. 23–5, 52.
  24. ↑ Kelly, Fergus. A Guide to Early Irish Law. pp. 21–22.
  25. ↑ Kelly, Fergus. A Guide to Early Irish Law. pp. 13–14.
  26. 1 2 Encyclopædia Britannica (10th ed.), 1902, p. 639
  27. 1 2 Encyclopædia Britannica (6th ed.), 1823, p. 588
  28. ↑ Joyce, Patrick Weston (1906). A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland Chapter 15 part 2. Library Ireland.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kenny, Gillian (2006). "Anglo-Irish and Gaelic marriage laws and traditions in late medieval Ireland" (PDF). Journal of Medieval History (Elsevier) 32: 27–42. doi:10.1016/j.jmedhist.2005.12.004.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Connolly, Sean J (2007). "Chapter 2: Late Medieval Ireland: The Irish". Contested island: Ireland 1460–1630. Oxford University Press. pp. 20–24.
  31. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ginnell, Laurence (1894). The Brehon Laws: A Legal Handbook: Chapter VIII.
  32. ↑ Weston, Patrick Weston (1906). A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland Chapter 16 part 1. Library Ireland.
  33. 1 2 Joyce, Patrick Weston. A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland (1906). Chapter 16 part 2. Library Ireland.
  34. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Barry, Terry (1995). Rural settlement in Ireland in the middle ages: an overview (PDF). Ruralia 1.
  35. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 O'Keeffe, Tadhg (1995). Rural settlement and cultural identity in Gaelic Ireland (PDF). Ruralia 1.
  36. 1 2 3 Glasscock, Robin Edgar (2008) [1987]. "Chapter 8: Land and people, c.1300". In Cosgrove, Art. A New History of Ireland, Volume II: Medieval Ireland 1169–1534. Oxford University Press. pp. 205–239.
  37. ↑ Tacitus, Agricola 24
  38. ↑ Joyce, Patrick Weston (1906). A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland Chapter 24 part 5. Library Ireland.
  39. 1 2 3 Evans, E Estyn (2000). "Bally and Booley". Irish Folk Ways. Courier Dover Publications. pp. 27–38.
  40. ↑ Joyce, Patrick Weston. A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland (1906). Chapter 24 part 1. Library Ireland.
  41. ↑ Joyce, Patrick Weston (1906). A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland Chapter 24 part 3. Library Ireland.
  42. ↑ Joyce, Patrick Weston (1906). A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland Chapter 24 part 2. Library Ireland.
  43. ↑ A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland Chapter 24 part 4. Library Ireland. 1906.
  44. 1 2 3 4 5 Logan, James (1831). The Scottish Gael. Smith, Elder and Co.
  45. 1 2 3 Connolly, Sean J (2007). "Prologue". Contested island: Ireland 1460–1630. Oxford University Press. p. 7.
  46. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Topography of Ireland by Giraldus Cambrensis (English translation)
  47. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Joyce, Patrick Weston (1906). A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland Chapter 18 part 1. Library Ireland.
  48. ↑ Bartlett, Robert (1994), "Symbolic Meanings of Hair in the Middle Ages", Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth series 4: 43–60, doi:10.2307/3679214, ISSN 0080-4401
  49. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ó Cléirigh, Cormac (1997). Irish frontier warfare: a fifteenth-century case study (PDF).
  50. 1 2 3 4 Duffy, Seán, ed. (2005). Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. pp. 54–55.
  51. ↑ Flanagan, Marie Therese (1996). "Warfare in Twelfth-Century Ireland". A Military History of Ireland. Cambridge University Press. pp. 52–75.
  52. 1 2 Flood, William H. Grattan (1905). A History of Irish Music: Chapter III: Ancient Irish musical instruments.
  53. ↑ McCourt, Malachy (2004). Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland. Running Press. In the Treaty of Windsor, Rory accepted Henry II as the overlord and promised to pay annual tribute gathered from all of Ireland to him. For his part, Rory would remain King of Connaught and High King of all unconquered lands in Ireland.
  54. ↑ Larkin, Emmet (June 1972). "The Devotional Revolution in Ireland, 1850-75". The American Historical Review 77 (3): 625–652. doi:10.2307/1870344.

Further reading

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