ENGLISH HISTORY BY CONTEMPORARY
WRITERS.
EDITED BY F. YORK POWELL.
I. EDWARD III. AND HIS WARS. By W. J. ASHLEY,
of Lincoln College, Oxford.
II. THE MISRULE OF HENRY III. By the Rev. W.
H. HurroN,M.A.
III. SIMON OF MONTFORT AND HIS CAUSE. By the
Rev. J. HUTTON, of St. John's College, Oxford.
IV. STRONGBOW'S CONQUEST OF IRELAND. By
FRANCIS PIERREPONT BARNARD, M.A., Head Master of
Reading School.
TO BE FOLLOWED BY
BRITAIN UNDER THE ROMANS. By C. I. ELTON.
THE LITTLE ENGLISH KINGDOM. By F. YORK
POWELL.
THE DANISH SEA KINGS AND THEIR SETTLE-
MENTS. By F. YORK POWELL.
HENRY II., STATESMAN AND REFORMER. By T.
A. ARCHER.
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, PUBLISHERS.
NEW YORK : LONDON :
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ENGLISH HISTORY
FROM CONTEMPORARY WRITERS
xrf
ENGLISH HISTORY FROM CONTEMPORARY
WRITERS.
THE series, of which the present volume is one, aims at setting
forth the facts of our National History, political and social, in a
way not yet systematically tried in this country, but somewhat
like that which Messrs. Hachette have successfully wrought out
in France under the editorship of MM. Zeller, Darsy, Luchaire,
etc. It is planned not only for educational use but for the
general reader, and especially for all those to whom the original
contemporary authorities are for various reasons difficult of access.
To each well-defined period of our history is given a little
volume made up of extracts from the chronicles, state papers,
memoirs, and letters of the time, as also from other contempo-
rary literature, the whole chronologically arranged and chosen
so as to give a living picture of the effect produced upon each
generation by the political, religious, social, and intellectual
movements in which it took part.
Extracts from foreign tongues are Englished, and passages
from old English authors put into modern spelling, but otherwise
as far as may be kept in original form. When needed a glossary
is added and brief explanatory notes. To each volume is also
appended a short account of the writers quoted and of their
relations to the events they describe, as well as such tables and
summaries as may facilitate reference. Such illustrations as are
given are chosen in the same spirit as the text, and represent
monuments, documents, sites, portraits, coins, etc.
The chief aim of the series is to send the reader to the best
original authorities, and so to bring him as close as may be to
the mind and feelings of the times he is reading about.
No definite chronological system of issue is adopted, but it is
hoped that the entire period of Mediaeval and Renaissance his-
tory may be covered in the space of two or three years,
F. YORK POWELL,
Editor of the Series.
Ch. Ch.t Oxford, 1888
^
^ENGLISH HISTORY IFROM CONTEMPO-
RARY WRITERS)
'
of
Translations from the works of Gerald of Barri, Roger\of
Howden, Benedict of Peterborough (Richard Fitz-Neal\ Wil-
liam of Newbury, fialph of Dissay, Robert of St. MichaeVs
Mount, Gervase of Canterbury, Ralph Niger, and Gervase of
Tilbury, The Archives of Dublin, The Annals of Boyle, The
Anglo-Norman Poem on the Conquest known as "Regan," and
Extracts from 0" Donovan's versions of the Annals of the Four
Masters and of the Annals of Innis fallen, Hennessy's version
of the Annals of Loch C£, Mageoghegan* s version of the An-
nals of Clonmacnoise, an English rendering of the Annals of
Ulster, Carew's Prose Abstract of "Regan," and other con-
temporary records.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAP
BY
FRANCIS PIERREPONT BARNARD, M.A.,
Head Master of Reading School.
NEW YORK AND LONDON
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Qfyt fitucherbotker f nss
J88S
,3
Press of
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
New York
PREFACE.
" Ilia ego sum Graiis olim glacialis lerne
Dicta, et Jasoniae puppis bene cognita nautis."
THIS 'little book deals with an event of permanent
interest to us It tells the story of the first contact
between the newly organized feudalism of Anglo-
Norman England and the far older and more primitive
civilization of the last independent Keltic states.
The period embraced is from AD 1166 to 1186, and
the accounts reproduced are taken from the best
available original authorities on both sides, including
some hitherto unpublished MSS. To the general
reader it will not be found wholly uninstructive to
read the history of the earliest political connection of
England with Ireland.
In the translations an attempt has been made to
reproduce the spirit and literary peculiarities of the
authors, even though at times the result undoubtedly
inclines to the grotesque. What Kingsley said of the
old Teuton invaders of the Roman Empire, is true of
the mediaeval chronicler ; in his mental attitude he is
like a big boy, half a man, half a child. One must,
therefore, in the following pages be prepared to expect
deviations from sober history ; indeed, the " Expug-
natio" of Giraldus Cambrensis, who is by far the
most important authority, illustrates this characteristic
vi PREFACE.
to extravagance, and is a remarkable farrago of history,
poetry, acuteness, credulity, egotism, zeal for the
cloth, kinsman-worship, fairness, partiality, good
nature, malignity, and pomposity, adorned with a
medley of alliteration, conceits, puns, wit, satire,
humour, sometimes sheer buffoonery, and now and
then downright nonsense. Truly a writer 7roiKiA(4/x,v0os.
With regard to Gerald's excerpts from the classics,
even when he is evidently using texts such as we
have now, his' quotations are frequently not verbatim.
Possibly in many instances he relied on his memory,
but a considerable number of passages are wittingly
altered and adapted without scruple to suit the
requirements of the moment. It is necessary to add
a word of warning against accepting his personal
descriptions as entirely just. Praise or abuse must
be discounted according as the character under dis-
section is that of a Geraldine or not
There is a class of readers whom I have hoped to
secure — learners. Some experience in school work
has led me to believe that a short historical " period "
or monograph, or a tractate on social economy, forms
the best peg on which to hang the extra lessons to
which most schoolmasters nowadays devote perhaps a
couple of hours a week : hours likely to be none the
less profitable and popular because they are not as a
rule overshadowed by the looming terrors of a coming
examination.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Introduction .. .. .. ..7
1166 How Dermot went into exile, and how he was restored to his
dominions by the king of the English . . . . . . 8
1 1 66 or Of the return of Dermot through Greater Britain .. . n
1167
1169 The coming of Robert Fitz-Stephen and the taking of Wexford 13
- Of the conquest of the men of Ossory . . . . . . 1 6
Another account of the conquest of Ossory . . . . . . 18
Another account of the conquest of Ossory, continued . . 20
Defection of Maurice de Prendergast . . . . 22
League of all Ireland against Dermot and Robert Fitz-Stephen 24
A description of Dermot . . . . . . . . 26
How peace was re-established .. .. .. -.27
The coming of Maurice Fitz-Gerald and the reduction of Dublin 28
Of the preparations of earl Richard . . . . . . 29
1170 The coming of Reimund Fitz-Gerald and the defeat of the men-
of Waterford at Dundunnolf . . . . . . 32
The coming of the earl and the taking of Waterford . . 34
' Of the storming of the city of Dublin .. .. ..37
The Council at Armagh . . . . . . . . 38
Convocation of the clergy at Clonfert . . . . 39
[Henry II becomes jealous of the success of the adventurers] 40
1171 Death of Dermot, king of Leinster .. .. .. 40
Overthrow of the Ostmen at Dublin .. .. .. 41
The speech of Fitz- Maurice advising the sally from Dublin 44
The sally from Dublin . . . . . . . . 46
The treacherous capture of Fitz-Stephen at " The Crag " . . 48
A description of the earl .. .. .. 50
How the Irish fanned the king's jealousy with complaints
against Strongbow .. .. .. .. ..5*
Of the meeting of the earl with the king of the English . . 51
[Most of the princes of Ireland do homage to Henry II] . . 53
1171 or The Synod of Cashel .. .. .. .. .. 54
1172 [Henry II winters at Dublin] .... 58
Vlll CONTENTS.
PAGE
First Dublin charter of Henry II . . . . . . 58
Second Dublin charter of Henry II .. .. .. 59
Of the storms . . . . . . . . . . 60
Grant of Meath to Hugh de Laci .. .. .. ..62
Letter from pope Alexander III to the Irish bishops .. 63
Of the treachery and death of O'Ruarc, king of Meath . . 64
The death of O'Ruarc. An Irish account .. .. 67
A description of Maurice Fitz-Gerald . . . . . . 67
A description of Henry II, king of the English .. .. 68
1174 Disastrous incursion into Munster by the earl .. .. 75
1174 or The granting of a bull of privileges by Alexander III 76
1175 [The bull " Laudabiliter " of Adrian IV] .. .. 77
1175 The famous storming of Limerick .. .. .. 80
A description of Reimund Fitz-Gerald .. .. ..83
A description of Meiler Fitz-Henry . . . . . . 84
Roderic pays tribute .. .. .. .. ..85
A description of Hervey de Montmaurice . . . . 85
1176 Relief of the garrison which had been left at Limerick . . 87
The speech of Donnell, king of Ossory . . . . . . 88
Concerning the announcement to Reimund of the death of the
earl .. .. .. .. .. .. ..90
[Irish account of the death of the earl^ . . . . . . 91
The burning of Limerick and the burial of the earl .. .. 91
[Gerald's eulogy of his kinsmen] . . . . . . 93
A description of Fitz-Aldelra . . . . . . 94
1177 Concerning the invasion of Ulster by John de Courci, and the
doings of Vivianus the legate . . . . . . 96
Victory of John de Courci at Downpatrick . . . . . . 98
A description of John de Courci ,. .. .. 99
Invasion of Connaught by Milo de Cogan . . . . . . 101
A description of Robert Fitz- Stephen.. .. .. 102
How peace and order were established in the realm of Ireland
by Hugh de Laci .. .. .. .. .. 108
Grant of land by Hugh de Laci to William the Little . . no
A description of Hugh de Laci .. .. .. .. in
- 1178 The two defeats of de Courci in Ulster .. .. .. 103
Irish prelates start to attend the Lateran Council .. ..105
1180 Death of Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, at Eu, and suc-
cession of John Corny n .. .. .. .. 113
1181 The coming of John the constable and Richard de Pec .. na
1182 Assassination of Milo de Cogan : Irish account .. 105
Assassination of Milo de Cogan : English account .. .. 106
CONTENTS. ix
PAGE
1184 The sending of John, archbishop of Dublin, into Ireland .. 116
The coming into Ireland of John, the king's son .. 116
1185 Prince John's Dublin charter .. .. .. ..1x9
Ale and metheglin customs granted by John to the canons of
St. Thomas' Church, Dublin.. .. .. .. 119
[The same confirmed] .. .. .. .. ..120
Irish account of the administration of prince John . . 121
The ill-government of prince John .. .. .. .. 121
Of the credit due to Fitz-Stephen, the earl, and the king, and
how far they may be acquitted of certain charges . . 122
Of the lets and delays to the full and perfect conquest of Ireland 123
The causes of the untoward events . . . . . . . . 126
Of the three parties among the invaders at this time . . 134
1186 Assassination of Hugh de Laci : English account .. -.135
Assassination of Hugh de Laci : Irish account .. .. 136
A defeat of John de Courci .. .. .. .. 137
Some results of the conquest .. .. .. .. 137
[Conclusion of the Strongbow period of the conquest] . . 138
How the Irish race might be completely conquered .. 139
How Ireland should be governed . . . . . . . . 143
Of the character, customs, and external appearance of the
Irisli .. .. .. .. .. .. 146
Of the matchless skill of this nation in instrumental music . . 150
Of the villainy and foul duplicity of the Irish . . . . 155
Of the axe which they ever bear in their hands, as though it
might be a staff . . . . . . . . . . 155
Of a strange and monstrous way of inaugurating a king . . 156
Of the many unbaptized in the island, who have not yet arrived
at the knowledge of the faith .. .. .. -.157
Of the clergy of Ireland, and how they are praiseworthy in
many respects . . . . . . . . . . 160
Of a sarcastic retort of the archbishop of Cashel . . . . 161
Of a great lake which had a miraculous origin . . . . 162
Of the Giants' Dance, which was taken over from Ireland to
Britain .. .. .. .. .. .. 164
Of reptiles and the lack of them in Ireland, and how no
venomous creatures are found there . . . . . . 165
How the dust of this land is fatal to poisonous reptiles . . 167
Of the shoe-latchets of Ireland, which are opposed to poisons 168
Of a frog lately found in Ireland . . . . . . 169
Of the isle of Man, which inasmuch as it harbours poisonous
reptiles is regarded as belonging to Britain . . . . 170
Of two islands, in one of which no one dies ; while into the
other no living creature of the female sex can enter . . iji
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Of an island one part of which is frequented by good the other
by evil spirits . .. .. .. .. 172
Of an island where corpses exposed to the air do not decay . . 174
Of the wondrous nature of some fountains .. .. 174
Of a fish which had three golden teeth .. .. .. 175
Of an island which at first floated, but was at length firmly
fixed by means of fire .. .. .. .. 175
Of miracles , and first of the apples of St. Kevin .. .. 176
Of the fleas which were banished by St. Nannan .. 177
Of bells and staves and other similar relics of the saints . . 178
Of that most potent relic known as the staff of Jesus ; and how
a priest was visited with a twofold affliction .. . . 178
Of the crucifix at Dublin which spoke and bore witness to the
truth .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 180
Of St. Colman's teal, which are tame and cannot be harmed 181
Of the archers at Finglas who were punished by Heaven . . 183
Or various miracles in Kildare ; and first of the fire that never
goes out, and the ashes which do not increase . . 184
How the fire is kept up by Bridget herself on her own night . . 185
Concerning the hedge set around the fire, within which no male
may go . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Of an archer who leapt over St. Bridget's hedge and went
raving mad ; and of another who lost the use of his leg . . 186
That the saints of this land appear to be of a vindictive
disposition .. .. .. ... .. .. 187
Of St. Kevin's gentleness . . . . . . . . . . 187
Of the wonderful sanctuaries provided by the saints . . 188
Of the salmon leap . . . . . . . . . . 190
How the salmon leap . . . . . . . . . . 191
That the bodies of S.S. Patrick, Columba, and Bridget, which
lay at the city of Down in Ulster, were in these our days
discovered and translated .. .. .. ..192
APPENDIX.
I. Genealogical tables of the Geraldines and their kinsfolk . . 193
II. Lists of the adventurers, royal officers, and other$ engaged in the
conquest .. .. .. .. .. .. •• 19*
III. Lists of the Irish and Norse chieftains and notables .. 198
IV. The Irish episcopate at the time of the invasion . . . . 199
V. Map of Ireland in the time of Henry II, territorial divisions and
chieftowns .. . .. .. .. .. 200
VI. The authorities .. .. ,. .. ,. 202
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
I. STRONGBOW'S CASTLE OF GHEPSTOW, Frontispiece
II. MAP OF IRELAND . . . . ' . . 7
III. THE ROCK OF CASHEL . . . . -54
IV. SEAL OF HENRY II. , FROM ORIGINAL IN BRITISH
MUSEUM . . . ..-,.. 68
V. TOMB OF STRONGBOW AND EVA HIS WIFE IN
CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, DUBLIN . . 92
DANISH AXE 148
MODERN IRISH CORACLE 158
ROUND TOWER AT THE ROCK OF CASHEL . 163
IRELAND
in the time of
HENRY II.
U... ULSTER
ME... MEATII
C...CONNATJGHT
L...LEINSTER
M...MUNSTER
Conquest cf
Krelantr*
[Introduction],
Wilelm. Newburg. Hist. Rer. Anglic, sub anno 1170.
IN considering the history of this land we are at once
struck with the following remarkable fact. Whereas
Greater Britain, an island like itself lying in the
ocean, and at no great distance, has been the scene
of so many and such mighty wars, has been so often
the victim of the depredations of foreign races, has
been so frequently forced to bow the neck to an alien
sway, has been taken and held first by the Romans,
then by the Germans, again by the Danes, and lastly
by the Normans, Ireland was left untouched even by
Rome, Rome who extended her dominion right away
to the inaccessible region of the Orkneys. Few and
faint in the past have been the attacks from outside
upon this isle of Ireland. Never did it know sub-
jection, never did it lie prostrate at a conqueror's feet,
until the year from the Birth of our Lord one thousand
one hundred and seventy-one.*
*****
* When Henry II. went over.
8 KING DERMOT GOES INTO EXILE. 1166
Ireland, like England in days of old, was split up
into several states, each with its king, and the whole
country was rent by the discord which generally pre-
vailed among them. In proportion as the realm was
free from external aggression, so much the more
miserably were the natives commonly engaged in
tearing the bowels of their fatherland by their intestine
feuds.
A.D. 1166. — How Dermot went into exile, and how
he was restored to his dominions by the king
of the English.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. i.
(Dermot, king of Leinster, reigned from 1135 to 1171.)
Dermot Mac Murrough, prince of the men of
Leinster, which is one of the five divisions of Ireland,
possessed within our times the eastern seaboard of
the island, over against Greater Britain, and separated
from it only by the sea which flows between. Owing
to his youth and inexperience in rule, he became an
oppressor of the nobility, and began to tyrannize in a
grievous and intolerable manner over the great men
of his land. This of itself brought him trouble, which
another circumstance contributed to increase; for he
eloped with the wife * of O'Ruarc, prince of the men
of Meath,t while the latter was absent on a distant
* Devorgilla. This was in 1152, and although it could
scarcely have been the immediate cause of the expulsion of
Dermot fourteen years later, it possibly laid the foundations of
the feud which led up to that event.
t Strictly speaking, prince of Breifny and East Meath. He
was nicknamed "monoculus," "the one-eyed."
ii66 KING DERMOT GOES INTO EXILE. 9
expedition. ' Fickle and changeable is woman ever,' *
and it is clear that from woman — Mark Antony and
Troy can bear witness to the fact — almost all the
greater evils of the world have come.
King O'Ruarc was heart-struck both by his shame
and by his loss, though he felt the former far more
deeply than the latter, and in the bitterness of his wrath
was bent upon revenge. He forthwith summoned
and gathered together the strength of the neighbouring
tribes as well as his own forces, and aroused to the
same enterprise even Roderic, prince of the men of
Connaught, then high-king of all Ireland. Now the
chief men of Leinster seeing in what straits their
prince was placed, that he was beset on all sides by
the battalions of his foes, began to call to mind their
own claims of vengeance for the grievances they had
long smothered in their breasts ; so that being now of
one mind with the enemy they deserted Mac Mur-
rough in this the hour of his misfortune.
Dermot, rinding that his resources were falling
away upon every side, that Fortune had turned her
face from him, and that his position was becoming
desperate, after many fierce but unsuccessful en-
counters with his adversaries, at length resolved, as
his last chance of safety, to take ship and flee beyond
the sea. The issue of events has often shown that it
is safer to rule over willing subjects than over such as
are disaffected. Nero found this out, Domitian too ;
and in our own times Henry, duke of Saxony and
* Verg. ^£». iv. 569.
10 DERMOT WELL RECEIVED BY HENRY. 1166
Bavaria.* Better it is for any prince to be more loved
than feared by those who are set under him; it is
expedient, however, that he be feared as well, pro-
vided that the fear proceed rather from good-will than
from coercion.
Meanwhile Dermot, in the pursuit of Fortune that
had fled from him, and strong in his hope for some
happy turn of her wheel, ploughed through the sea
with all sail set and with the winds blowing fair in
answer to his prayers, and came to Henry II. , king of
the English, for the purpose of earnestly imploring aid.
Although the king was in the far part of his realm,
over sea, in Aquitanian Gaul, and much engaged in
business, as kings are wont to be, yet he received him
kindly and graciously enough, with that affability and
courtesy which was inborn in him. Then on hearing
the cause of his exfle and the reason of his coming
over, he accepted his bond of allegiance and oath of
fealty, and granted him letters patent to the following
effect : — " Henry, king of England, duke of Normandy
and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to all his liege-
men, English, Normans, Welsh and Scots, and to all
nations subject to his sway sends greeting. Whenso-
ever these our letters shall come unto you, know ye
that we have taken Dermot, prince of the men of
Leinster, into the bosom of our grace and goodwill.
Wherefore, too, whosoever within the bounds of our
dominions shall be willing to lend aid to him, as being
* Henry the Lion. He was deposed in 1180 by the emperor
Frederic I. (Barbarossa), on a charge of having overstrained
his power.
1 166 or 1 167 DERMOT RETURNS TO ENGLAND. 1 1
our vassal and liegeman, in the recovery of his own,
let him know that he hath our favour and permission
to that end."
A.D. 1166 or 1167.— Of the return of Dermot through
Greater Britain.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. ii.
So Dermot, returning through Greater Britain,
betook himself to the noble town of Bristol ; * and
honoured and loaded though he had been with many
gifts by the royal munificence, yet he was buoyed up
far more by hope than by any actual assistance he
had yet obtained. There, spending his money right
royally, he stayed for some time, on account of the
frequent service of ships between that port and
Ireland: in this way he hoped to hear what was
doing in his own realm and among his own people.
While there he often had the royal letters read in
public, and made liberal offers both of land and
money to many persons, but without effect. At last
Richard, earl of Strigul/f- came to treat with him;
when after a lengthy conference it was agreed that
the earl on his part should in the coming spring
assist him to regain his own, while Dermot pledged
himself faithfully to give his eldest daughter to the
* Then the third city of England in importance : Norwich
being the second and London the first. While at Bristol Dermot
stayed in the house of one Robert Harding (Herdin) at St.
Austins.
t See Note on him, Book I. chap. xii. of Gerald.
12 DERMOT CROSSES TO IRELAND. 1166^1167
earl as wife, together with the succession to his
kingdom.*
Matters being thus arranged, Dermot, drawn by
that love for one's native soil which is natural to all,
was fired with a yearning to see his fatherland, and
without further delay went on to St. David's in South
Wales. From here to Leinster over the intervening
sea is but one day's sail ; indeed, the opposite coasts
are within sight of each other. Everybody knows
that at that time Rhys ap Griffith was prince in those
parts under the overlordship of the king, and that
David, second of his name, was bishop of St. David's, f
Each of them showed much kindly sympathy with the
misfortunes of the exiled prince.
(Through the mediation of the bishop of St. David's, a con-
. tract was made with king Dermot, by which Robert Fitz-
Stephen and Maurice Fitz-Gerald engaged to help him in the
ensuing spring to recover his territories. Dermot, however, in
his impatience crossed to Ireland at the first opportunity [Aug.,
1167], but passed the winter quietly at Ferns, then the capital
of Leinster, where he found an asylum in the monastery. He
seems to have taken with him as a protection one Richard
Fitz-Godobert, a knight of Pembrokeshire, and a few English
soldiers, "seventy heroes, dressed in coats of mail" [Four
Masters]. But Roderic, the high-king, forced him to send his
new allies back, after which he was apparently allowed to remain
unmolested in his hereditary province of Kenceleia during the
year 1168, his appeal for English aid having possibly frightened
his enemies. Meanwhile he was waiting his time for revenge.)
* According to Brehon law Dermot had no right to make
such an arrangement,
t This was David Fitz-Gerald, uncle of Gerald de Barri, and
first bishop of St. David's (Menevia) : his predecessors had been
archbishops. Archbishop David I. was St, David, the first
occupant of the see.
ii69 THE LANDING OF FITZ-STEPHEN, 13
A.D. 1169. — The coming of Fitz-Stephen and the
taking of Wexford.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. iii.
Meanwhile Robert Fitz-Stephen, mindful of his
promise and true to his word,* had got together 30
men-at-arms of his own kinsmen and retainers, and
also 60 others clad in mail, as well as 300 archers on
foot,f the pick of Wales. Putting these on three
ships, he sailed .into the creek of Bannow J about the
first of May.
It is clear that then was the well-known prophecy
of Merlin the Wild § fulfilled :—
A knight of nature twain shall be the first,
Hibernia's bonds by dint of arms to burst.
For if you wish to read aright this mystic saying of
the seer, consider the ancestry of Fitz-Stephen on
either side.||
* But he was a year late.
t The Welsh longbow-men (the pattern of the famous English
archers) were on foot, but there were also crossbow- men, who
were sometimes mounted, sometimes not.
t About fifteen miles S. of Wexford, as the crow flies.
§ The three great Christian bards of mediaeval Welsh legend
were Merlin Ambrosius, Merlin Celidonius or Silvester (" the
Wild "), and Merlin Taliessin. Of these the first and second
were believed to possess the gifts of prophecy and enchant-
ment. Ambrosius was generally referred to the times of
Vortigern, and the reign of king Arthur. Silvester was sup-
posed to have flourished in the sixth century.
|| On his father's side he was Anglo-Norman, on his mother's
side Welsh [see Genealogical Table}. His coat-of-arms, too,
was party per pale.
14 THE LANDING OF FITZ-STEPHEN. 1169
With the same band there went over also Hervey
de Montmaurice, a man of broken fortunes, without
equipment or money ; not so much to take part in the
fighting as to act as a spy for earl Richard, whose
uncle he was upon the father's side. Then landing on
an island in the creek, they drew their vessels up
along the shore and forthwith sent to Dermot news
of their arrival. Naturally the fame of it soon spread
abroad, and some of those who dwelt about the coast
and had formerly left Dermot when his prospects
changed for worse, at once came back to loyalty now
that his luck had turned. For, as the poet says, 'tis
ever so :—
With fortune stands or falls fidelity.*
(Dermot with 500 men joins the invaders, and all march to
attack Wexford, which lay about twelve miles from the landing-
place.)
When this was known, the townsmen, who hitherto
had been invincible, f emboldened by their old success
in arms marched out to the number of about 200.0
men, and meeting the enemy while yet near his camp,
stoutly drew up for fight. But when they saw lines
arrayed in a strictness of order which was strange to
them, and a troop of horse, splendid in hauberk, shield
* Ovid, 2 Pont. iii. 10.
t They were Ostmen [Norwegians], and superior in race,
discipline and equipment to the native Irish. These Northmen,
who were settled also at Waterford, Carlingford, Limerick,
Dublin, Strangford, Wicklow, etc., were the only really
formidable opponents with whom the invaders had to deal.
Oxmantown is the town of the Ostmen, or Eastmen.
u6g THE TAKING OF WEXFORD. 1 5
and gleaming helm, as circumstances had changed,
they changed their plans, and after firing the suburbs
straightway retired within the ramparts. Fitz-Stephen
and his followers on their part eagerly prepared for
the assault : the men in mail lined the ditches, the
archers were posted in the rear to command the
advanced towers, and then, loudly cheering, all rushed
forward with one heart to attack the walls. But the
townsmen, ready of defence, proceeded to hurl from
the battlements great beams and stones, and repulsed
the besiegers with considerable loss. Among the
wounded was one Robert de Barri,* who 'with the
ardour of youthful valour despised in his eagerness
the risk of death. As he led the way among those
who were first scaling the fortifications, he was struck
upon the helmet by a stone, and falling headlong
down into the bottom of the ditch, was with great
difficulty dragged out alive by his comrades. (Owing
to the force of the stroke, sixteen years afterwards his
double teeth fell out ; and, what is still more astonish-
ing, new ones at once grew in their places.) Drawing
off, therefore, from the walls they hastened to the
neighbouring shore, and set fire to all the ships they
found lying on the strand. ... On the morrow,
however, after high mass had been solemnized in full
parade, they advanced to the assault ; this time with
greater caution, and their array more carefully dis-
posed. But when, in firm reliance no less on the
resources of skill than on their bravery, in other words
trusting as much in their warlike arts as in their valiant
* Elder brother of Gerald de Barri.
1 6 CONQUEST OF OSSORY. 1169
hearts, the besiegers drew near the walls, the towns-
men abandoned all hope of defending them, and
reflecting that they were wrong in resisting their lawful
prince, set themselves rather to offer terms. Through
the mediation, therefore, of the bishops, for two of
them at that juncture were in the town, and of other
worthy and well-disposed men, peace was re-established,
and the townsmen submitted to Dermot, handing over
four hostages for their fidelity in the time to come.
He, the more to animate his allies, and being desirous
of at once rewarding the leaders for their first success,
then and there assigned the town with all its de-
pendent territory to Fitz-Stephen and Maurice ; and
this was due to them in accordance with the original
agreement. To Hervey de Montmaurice, too, he
gave to hold in fee two hundreds \cantreds\ situate
between the towns, Wexford that is and Waterford,
and bordering on the sea.*
A.D. 1169. — Of the conquest of the men of Ossory.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. iv.
This enterprise having been completed with all the
success they could desire, they joined to their own
forces the men of Wexford, and with .an army about
3000 strong directed their march on Ossory. Now
amongst all the rebellious vassals of Dermot ever most
hostile to him had been Donnell, lord of Ossory ; and
some time before, when he held in captivity Dermot's
* These grants were all in fee, and here again Dermot was
acting without regard to the laws of his country.
1169 CONQUEST OF OSSORY. \*J
son, stilng by jealousy he had carried his vengeance
to such a pitch as to put out his eyes. At first the
invaders did not penetrate far into the district of
Ossory, for almost on the very borders they found the
inhabitants posted in a region fenced in with woods
and impassable for swamps ; and they proved no
weaklings in defending their fatherland. Nay,
rendered confident by the success of their defence,
they even pursued their enemies right away to the
open plains. But there the knights of Fitz-Stephen
turned, and charging fiercely wrought no little
slaughter among them, spearing them as they scattered
in flight over the level country and dispersing them in
utter rout ; while those whom the horsemen had dashed
to the ground, were quickly decapitated by the broad
axes * of the Irish foot. Thus, then, was the victory
gained, and some 200 of his enemies' heads were laid
at the feet of Dermot. To see whose they were he
turned them over one by one ; then thrice did he clap
his hands and leap for joy, and giving thanks to the
Most High burst into exultant song. Ay, and even
the head of one whom he had hated above the rest
he took up by the ears and hair and in a most blood-
* The " sparthe," or iron battle-axe, the use of which the
Irish had learnt from the Ostmen [Girald. Top. Dis. iii. c. 10
below]. These 500 men whom Dermot had contributed to the
expedition were probably " gallowglasses," infantry equipped
and armed after the Norwegian fashion [Expug. i. 21]. They
formed the body-guard, "hus-carls" as it were, of the native
chieftains, and were regular soldiers, quite distinct from the
kernes, or light-armed militia-men, who constituted the bulk of
an Irish army.
B
1 8 CONQUEST OF OSSORY. 1169
thirsty and brutal manner tore away with his teeth the
lips and nose.
(Gerald has apparently run two battles into one, as the
following extracts from Regan and from Carew's Abstract of
Regan will show. The actual events were : I. The English
forced the entrenchments of the men of Ossory, and put the latter
to flight, as told in the subjoined portion of the poem. 2, The
conquerors then set to plundering and devastating the country,
after which they started to retire with their spoil into Kinselagh
\Kenceleid\. 3. Meanwhile the Ossorians had rallied under cover
of the woods, and occupied a defile through which the retreating
Anglo- Irish force would have to pass. An engagement ensued
which is described in the first passage from Carew below.)
A.D. 1169,— [Another account of the conquest of
Ossory.]
Regan's Anglo-Norman Poem, 11. 524-617.
(Before starting for Ossory Dermot calls a council of his
English allies.)
Now when to Dermot's royal hall
The barons bold were come,
He straight unfolded his design,
And counsel asked of some.
He told how rebel Ossorie,
From churl to faithless lord,
Unnerved by sense of perjured troth,
Quaked at the English sword.
' Wherefore, sirs barons,' quoth the king,
' Since thus they dread our might,
To Ossorie I fain would go
These guilty foes to smite.'
CONQUEST OF OSSORY. 19
Then out the barons answered him,
Upstanding there around,
That never would they toil eschew,
Nor cease such vassals false to sue,
Or ever they be found.
And ere the line of march was formed,
The bruit of English aid
Brought in three thousand Irish foot *
To swell the king's brigade.
But when the barons saw the power,
That flocked from all the coast,
With heightened cheer and heartsome trust
They joined the mingled host.
* * * * *
Athwart their path the foemen lay,
A full five thousand strong,
The which the lord of Ossorie
Had marshalled in his throng ;
Mac Donnell e'en, the traitor prince
Of caitiff Ossorie,
Who there had built himself a hold
Made stout with dike and tree.
For, deft of spade, his knaves had drawn
Three fosses broad and deep
A pace apart ; in rear of all
A stockade crowned the steep.
And there the felon battle gave
To king Dermot next day ;
From sunrise unto eventide
Each side bore up the fray.
* Some of these were Ostmen of Wexford.
2O CONQUEST OF OSSORY. 1169
Then furious swayed the tide of war,
Then strove despair with zeal,
Till ousted were the rebel horde
By English thews and steel.
But many a wound was ta'en and dealt,
And many a life fordone ;
And stark lay knight and gallowglass,
Archer and kerne, in motley mass,
Before the post was won.
Right proud and joyous was the king
Such feat of arms to see ;
How fame and vengeance both were his
By force of Englishrie.
At morn, in strength of victory,
He gave the land to flame,
Forwasted all, or far or near,
To cleanse away its shame.
From here, from there, from cot and thorpe,
Was prize and trophy reft ;
O'er hill and plain, in wood and dale,
Till naught to spoil was left.
A.D. 1169.— [Another account of the conquest of
Ossory, continued^
Regan's Anglo-Norman Poem : Carew's Prose Abstract.
(The Irish* had occupied a pass which lay in the English line
of retreat. )
" According to his \Dermot s\ direction the English
prepared themselves to fight. The king \Dermof\ for
ii69 CONQUEST OF OSSORY. 21
his safety put himself into their battalion; his son,
Donnell Kavenagh, he commanded with 43 Kenceleia
men to be in the forlorn hope. The rest of his forces,
which were 1700, mingled not with the English, for
they [the latter] mistrusted such as could run like the
wind.
Donnell Kavenagh was no sooner entered the pass,
but the enemy assailed him, and he was enforced to
shelter himself under the English. After the fight
had continued three hours, prince Donnell's [lord of
Ossory] men began to faint, gave ground, and ran
away ; nevertheless in an instant they rallied again,
and made a new head. In the interim the English
horse and foot were gotten into a low moorish ground,
wherein Donnell [lord of Ossory] assured himself to
have a fair day upon them. Maurice de Prendergast,
apprehending the danger they were in, with a loud
voice called upon his companions : — ' Let us,' said he,
' withstand our enemies, and free ourselves out of this
bottom. We are well armed and they are naked ; if
we may recover hard ground we shall be freed from
peril, and there is no doubt but they be ours, or at
the least we shall die with honour.' Then he called
upon one named Robert Smith : — * Take,' said he,
* 50 soldiers, and lie in ambush in yonder thicket, and
move not until the Irish be past. If they will charge
you, we will come to your succour ; ' which direction
was immediately obeyed. Donnell [lord of Ossory]
and his men, which were about 2000, conceiving that
the English began to faint, came boldly on, passed
the ambush (which, being so few, durst not stir), and
22 DEFECTION OF DE PRENDERGAST. 1169
gave a furious charge. Dermot, then fearing that all
was lost, prayed Maurice [de Prendergasi\ to have
care to succour those which were left in ambush.
'Be not dismayed/ said Maurice, 'when it shall be
needful I will have care to relieve them.' The Irish
with great eagerness continued the skirmish, and con-
tinually charged them upon their retreat, until they
had recovered hard ground. Then Maurice de
Prendergast, Robert Fitz-Stephen, Meiler Fitz-Henry,
Milo Fitz-David [/.*. Milo Fitz- Gerald], Hervey de
Montmaurice, with other English knights, turned upon
the men of Ossory and in a moment they [the latter]
were discomfited. All of them [the EnglisK\ did
admirably well ; but Meiler Fitz-Henry deserved the
most honour. When the Irish that were with Dermot,
who all the time of the fight for fear had hidden
themselves in the wood, saw the enemy broken, they
followed the chase and fell to the execution of
Donnell's [lord of Ossory] men. Two hundred and
twenty were slain, whose heads were presented to
Dermot; and many also afterwards died of their
hurts."
(Some( time after this Donnell, lord of Ossory, tendered his
submission, although he had no intention of abiding by it.)
A.D. 1169.— [Defection of Maurice de Prendergast.]
Regan's Anglo-Norman Poem : Carets Prose Abstract.
" Dermot being grown proud with his victories gave
discontentment to the English ; insomuch as Maurice
de Prendergast with 200 soldiers went to Wexford,
1169 RETURN OF DE PRENDERGAST. 23
with a resolution there to embark and pass into Wales.
Whereof when Dermot had knowledge, he sent to
Wexford requiring the townsmen to give impediment.
Maurice, seeing his passage stopped, and offended
with Dermot, by the advice of the Wexford men, who
hated the king, sent to Donnell, king of Ossory, pro-
posing to serve him against Dermot ; who joyfully
accepted of the proffer and promised him great enter-
tainment. Maurice, in his march towards Tech-
Moylin \Timoling or St. Mullins, co. Carlow\, was
forlaid and encountered by Donnell Kavenagh, king
Dermot's son, With 500 foot. But Maurice forced his
way, and came safely to Tech-Moylin, where he re-
mained three days ; and there the king of Ossory
came to him, well and strongly attended. The con-
ditions on either part being agreed upon, and Donnell
and Maurice sworn each to the other for the true
performing of them, they marched unto Ossory, whence,
by the aid of Maurice, Donnell made incursions upon
Dermot and spoiled his country. This departure of
Maurice de Prendergast did not work the like effect in
the rest; for Robert Fitz-Stephen, Hervey de Mont-
maurice, and other English knights, remained with
the king of Leinster."
(Later on in the same year Prendergast, finding his position of
hostility to his fellow-countrymen distasteful and his new Irish
allies untrustworthy, returned to Wales with his men ; but we
soon find him back again in Ireland and taking part in the
conquest once more.)
24 LEAGUE AGAINST THE INYADERS. 1169
A.D. 1169.— League of all Ireland against Dermot
and Fitz-Stephen.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hib. Lib. I. cap. v.
Meanwhile rolls on the wheel of fate : now fortune
frowns, and threatens abasement to the exalted, ruin
to the prosperous. For when the late successes of
Dermot and the coming, too, of the dread foreigner,
are noised abroad throughout the island, Roderic,
prince of the men of Connaught and high-king of all
Ireland, reflecting how from small beginnings great
issues often spring, and being of a foreboding turn of
mind, already foresaw the evils that menaced as much
himself as the whole land from the invasion of the
strangers. He therefore sent messengers to all the
country round, and hastily convoked an assembly of
the chief men of the island. After taking counsel
together, forthwith the wrath of one and all was roused
against Dermot, and they brought together into that
part of Leinster which is called Kinselagh \Kenceleid\
a great number of trained troops * and a vast multi-
tude of kernes, f
* " Gallowglasses : " see Gerald. I. iv. above. They were
divided into "battles,* or companies, of from sixty to eighty
men.
t Light infantry, without body-armour, but with the sides of
the head and neck protected by their long hair plaited into
"glibs." They carried either wicker shields or small bucklers
of iron ; pikes or pairs of darts ; slings ; small iron-headed axes ;
and "skenes" (dirks, about fifteen inches long, for stabbing,
like the Roman short sword). These weapons were often of
weak metal which bent at the blow, as we read that the long
swords of the early Teutonic invaders of the Roman Empire
1 1 69 THEY FALL BACK UPON FERNS. 2$
And now to Dermot. Some of his fair-weathei
friends, flitting like the swallow at the wintry blast,
stole secretly away and vanished ; others, holding light
their oath of fealty, openly deserted to the foe. Thus
in the hour of greatest need very few of his followers,
besides Fitz-Stepheft and his men, did he find true to
him. He thereupon retired with those who still were
faithful to a position not far from Ferns, which sur-
rounded as it was by steep and densely wooded cliffs,
by water and by marsh, afforded a natural vantage-
ground that was entirely inaccessible. Here, under
the directions of Fitz-Stephen, the soldiers began at
once to fell the trees, to strengthen the underwood by
interweaving boughs, to break up the surface of the
ground by digging deep pits and ditches, and to clear
secret and narrow passages of a tortuous nature in
which they might entangle an attacking force, or by
which they might themselves escape. In short, they
made the place easy of ingress and egress for their
own side, impassable for an enemy : and a position
which was naturally difficult of assault, they fortified
with the greatest industry and skill.
did. An engagement was generally begun by the kernes, who
cast their javelins and so opened the way for the heavy axe-men
to come to the hand -stroke ; which reminds us how the archers
in the English contingent under lord Rivers during the re-
conquest of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella opened up gaps
in the Moorish ranks wherein the battle-axe might do its work.
Welsh and Irish kernes were afterwards used in the French
wars to mingle in the mtlee and stab the horses of the French
knights. The Scotch. had their kernes and gallowglasses too
(see Shak. Macb. I. 2).
26 DESCRIPTION OF DERMOT. 1169
A description of Dermot.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. vi.
Now Dermot was a man tall of stature and stout
of frame : a soldier whose heart was in the fray, and
held valiant among his own nation. From often
shouting his battle-cry, his voice had become hoarse.
A man who liked better to be feared by all than loved
by any. One who would oppress his greater vassals,
while he raised to high station men of lowly birth.
A tyrant to his own subjects, he was hated by
strangers : his hand was against every man, and every
man's hand against him.
\The History resumed.']
Meanwhile Roderic sent to Fitz-Stephen mes-
sengers who proffered and promised gifts of great
value, and used every argument to induce him to
depart in peace and amity from a land, for his pre-
sence in which he could offer no sort of justification :
yet was he not persuaded. Then the messengers
appealed to Dermot to join his arms with theirs for
the extermination of the foreigner, promising the
peaceful restoration to him of all Leinster, together
with the firm friendship of Roderic. Many arguments,
too, did they adduce on behalf of their common
fatherland; spending much entreaty and discourse
in support of this. But their prayers availed them
naught
n69 THE HIGH-KING MAKES PEACE. 1J
A.D. 1169. — How peace was re-established.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. x.
Roderic, knowing that the issues of war are ever
doubtful, and that as the comic poet says,
* All ways will a wise man try before he takes to arms,' *
and also because he shrank from joining battle with
knights in full armour as these strangers were, sent
envoys to try by any means to get terms. And so,
through the "mediation of worthy men and by the
favour of Heaven, peace was at length made upon the
following conditions : — that Leinster should be left to
Dermot, but that he should acknowledge Roderic as
chief prince and high-king of Ireland, and yield him
the submission thereby due. To secure this compact
Dermot also gave his son Conor as a hostage ; while
Roderic pledged his word that if as time went on
Dermot by his actions contributed to strengthen their
concord, he would give his daughter in marriage to
the young prince.
These stipulations were publicly announced, and
oaths in confirmation of them mutually given and
taken ; but in addition it was secretly agreed that for
the future Dermot should invite no foreigners into
the island, and moreover that those whom he had
already called in should be sent back as soon as order
had been restored in Leinster.
* Ter. Eun. 4. 7. 19. The quotation in the Latin text is not
verbatim.
28 LANDING OF MAURICE F1TZ-GERALD. 1169
A.D. 1169.— The coming of Maurice [Fitz-Gerald]
and the reduction of Dublin.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xi.
The business being thus settled, fortune seemed to
smile again and turn a serene countenance on Dermot's
cause ; for, lo ! there put in to Wexford with two
ships Maurice Fitz-Gerald of whom we spoke above,
the uterine brother of Fitz-Stephen, accompanied by
10 men-at-arms, 30 mounted retainers, and about
100 archers on foot. Maurice was a. discreet and
honourable man : well known for his good faith,
and of tried energy. Though of a modesty that
was almost maidenly, yet he was famed for his
stability of character. A gentleman ; whose word
was his bond.
Dermot was greatly delighted by this lucky arrival,
which re-kindled his anxiety to avenge upon the men
of Dublin the grave injuries they had so frequently
offered to himself and to his father. He therefore
lost no time in assembling the army and in preparing
to march on that city. Meanwhile Fitz-Stephen was
building a stronghold on a certain steep and rocky
eminence, known among the natives as the * Crag/
about two furlongs from Wexford : a natural fortifica-
tion, the strength of which was now increased by art.
Maurice, however, was associated with Dermot in the
command of the English forces in the field, and acted
as leader of the campaign. In a short space of time
all the domain of the city together with the adjacent
provinces was reduced almost to desolation by
H69 DUBLIN SUBMITS. 2§
plunder, fire and sword. At length the citizens sued
for peace, and gave good security for their future
loyalty to their king and for yielding the obedience
that was due to him.
While this was going on hostilities had broken out
between Roderic of Connaught and Donnell [O'Brien,
king] of Limerick, and directly Roderic with an
armed force crossed the borders of Limerick, Dermot
despatched Fitz-Stephen and his men to the aid of
Donnell, who was his son-in-law. With the support
of this reinforcement, O'Brien, after several engage-
ments, in all of which he was successful, drove Roderic
back with shame and disgrace into his own territories
and entirely freed himself from his supremacy.
A.D. 1169. — Of the preparations of earl Richard.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xii.
Dermot had now recovered all his hereditary
possessions, and began to look for higher things. He
aspired to the ancient ancestral position of his house,
and meditated the subjection of Connaught by force
of arms, and the gaming of the high-kingship of
Ireland for himself. With a view, therefore, to this
he had a secret conference with Fitz-Stephen and
Maurice, and made a full revelation to them of his
design. They answered that it could easily be realized
if he were to procure the assistance of more English
troops. On this, after using every entreaty to induce
them to invite into the island their kinsmen and
countrymen in greater numbers and to take in hand
30 DERMOTS LETTER TO STRONGBOW. 1169
the accomplishment of his project, at length, the more
effectually to persuade them to it, he offered to either
of them his eldest daughter in marriage together with
the succession to the kingdom. But as at the time
each rejoiced in the possession of a lawful wife, after
much deliberation he finally settled on the plan of
sending messengers with the following letter to earl
Richard, whom we have mentioned above, and to
whom formerly when in Bristol he had promised to
give this same daughter to wife.
'Dermot Mac Murrough, king of Leinster, to
Richard, earl of Strigul, son of earl Gilbert, greeting.
Were you, like us who lack your aid, to count the lingering days,
That samely pass and pass again before you glad our gaze,
You would allow not overtimely chide we these delays.*
We have watched the storks and swallows : the
summer birds have come; come, ay, and flown
again before the ocean blast. Neither eastern breeze
nor zephyr's breath wafts to us your longed-for,
looked-for presence. Let the prompt fulfilment of
your promise cure this malady of delay; let your
deeds show that " your tryst is but deferred, not
broken." \ All Leinster now is ours again. If you
are timely with us, and in force, the other four
divisions can easily be added to the fifth. Wherefore
right grateful will you render your arrival, if it be
speedy ; glorious will it be, if soon ; the earlier the
more welcome. Renewed affection heals the wounds
* Adapted from Ovid. Ep. Her. ii. 7.
f Ovid. Ep. Her. ii. 102.
1169 STRONGBOW DECIDES ON INVASION. 31
of love, provided only those wounds be dealt in part
by neglect. For friendship is restored by kindly
offices, and grows by services to greater strength.'
After perusing this letter, earl Richard carefully
turned the matter over in his mind and at last came
to a decision as to his course of action ; a decision
based on the luck that had attended his fellow-
countrymen. For taking heart from the success of
Fitz-Stephen, which he had before considered doubtful,
he directed his best energies to the Irish expedition,
fixed all his aspirations on it, and in every way roused
himself to the conquest of the island.
The earl * was of high descent, for he was born of
the noble stock of the house of Clare. Yet withal, so
far, a man whose family was better than his fortune ;
who had more blue blood than brains, and whose
pedigree was longer than his purse. He went, then,
to Henry II., king of the English, and earnestly
begged and entreated him either as a mere act of
* Richard Fitz-Gilbert de Clare, 2nd earl of Pembroke,
called also earl of Striguil, or Estrigoil, from one of his castles
about four miles from Chepstow. He was called Strongbow,
apparently by the Flemings and English in his service in
S. Wales, a nickname borne first by his father Gilbert. He
succeeded to his earldom in 1149, but was in disgrace with
the king, who had deprived him of his estate. The proposals
of Dermot seemed to offer a prospect of repairing his fortunes.
In spite of Gerald's description of him [chap, xxvii. below] he
was undoubtedly a captain of considerable repute ; at any rate
sufficiently so to render Henry extremely uneasy with regard to
the position he made for himself in Ireland. His arms were
Or, three chevrons, gules {Clare], a label of five points, azure
[personal].
32 STRONGBOW SENDS OVER REIMUND. 1170
justice to restore to him the domains which were his
by hereditary right, or to grant him leave to try his
fate and lot in foreign lands.
A.D. 1170.— The coming of Reinmnd [Fitz-Gerald]
and the defeat of the men of Waterford at Dun-
dunnolf.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xiii.
On receiving a kind of permission from the king,
though it was given in jest rather than in earnest,*
when the winter was over he sent on before him into
Ireland about the ist of May [?] a young knight of
his household, Reimund by name, with 10 men-at-
arms and 70 archers. He was powerful and robust
of body, and trained to arms ; a nephew of both Fitz-
Stephen and Maurice, for he was a son of their elder
brother. Landing at a rocky headland called Dun-
dunnolf, about four miles from Waterford and south
of Wexford, they threw up a slight entrenchment of
boughs and sods. But the citizens of Waterford and
Melaghlin O'Phelan, lord of Decies,t— for report of
the landing soon spread abroad — looked with sus-
picion on the vicinity of the foreigners, and after con-
ferring together determined to meet the evil at the
outset and to take up arms in common against the
invader. So, to the number of about 3000 men, they
crossed the river Suir, which flows close under the
* Later on the king absolutely prohibited the enterprise, but
this was disregarded by the earl.
f A considerable district in what was afterwards the county
of Waterford. The latter is not mentioned as a shire till 1251.
1 1 70 DEFEAT OF THE MEN OF WATERFORD. 33
walls on the eastern side of the city and divides
Desmond from Leinster. Then, forming in three
divisions for the assault, they marched bravely up to
the entrenchments. . . . Reimund and his garrison,
few as they were in number, yet with remarkable
gallantry sallied out to meet them, and joined battle
against great odcjs. But as such a handful of men,
however valiant, clearly could not hold their own
against so vast a multitude, they fell back on the
camp, and the foremost of the enemy, who were
pressing on their rear, got into the entrance in the
confusion and prevented the gates from being shut.
Then Reimund seeing that he and his followers were
in a strait, nay, in imminent jeopardy of their lives,
like a brave man turned his face to the foe and cut
down in the gateway with his good sword the first of
the pursuers who crossed the threshold. The noble
stand he made, that single blow, and the ring of his
battle-cry, both rallied his own men to the defence
and struck terror into the enemy, Thus then — for the
fortune of war, as it were, hangs ever on the cast of a
die — those who had seemed conquered, in a moment
became the victors, and scattering their opponents in
flight over the plain pursued them with such carnage
that 500 and more were speedily killed. And when
the pursuers ceased from sheer fatigue to use their
swords, they flung great numbers of the fugitives from
the lofty cliffs into the sea. ... On that field the
pride of Waterford was humbled : on that field her
power was broken. That victory began the overthrow
of "a noble city, and while it brought hope and
C
34 THE COMING OF STRONG BOW. 1170
encouragement to the English, to the natives it
brought horror and despair. For it was a thing
unheard of in those parts that so small a band should
have wrought so great a slaughter.*
A.D. 1170.— The coming of the earl and the taking
of Waterford.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xvi.
In the meantime earl Rfchard, having finished the
preparations for his great enterprise, marched for St
David's along the coast-road of South Wales, f enlisting
as he went picked men out of those parts. When all
that was necessary for so important a voyage had
been procured or completed, he embarked at Milford
Haven with 200 men-at-arms and about 1000 others. J
The wind blew fair from the east, and he made land
* These conflicts of small numbers of well-armed and highly
trained men with large ill-ordered hosts resemble the battles of
Cortez and Pizarro in Mexico and Peru respectively, and of
Clive in India.
t Probably the old Roman road. The earl's route, then,
would be from his chief castle of Chepstow through Caerleon,
Neath, Llwchwr, and Carmarthen to St. David's, and his
recruits would therefore be drawn from what are now the
counties of Monmouth, Glamorgan, Carmarthen, and Pembroke.
But the shires of Monmouth and Carmarthen had not been
formed at that time. Between Neath and Llwchwr, and again
soon after entering Pembroke, he would leave on his left the
Flemish colonies established by Henry I. in Gowerland and
Haverfordwest respectively. He may have enlisted men from
these.
Archers.
H70 ATTACK ON WATERFORD. 35
near Waterford a little before the beginning of
September : the exact day being the eve of St.
Bartholomew [2 $d August].
Then was fulfilled the prophecy of Merlin the
Wild :—
First flares the flaming torch,
Then blazes up the fire ;
As the spark lit up the torch,
Kindles that torch our pyre.*
So too the saying of Moling the Erseman : — ' A
great man will come, forerunner of a greater, who
shall set his heel on Desmond's neck and bruise the
head of Leinster ; and by force of arms shall go with
glory on the way prepared before him.'
Next day, on hearing of the landing of the earl,
Reimund was filled with joy, and attended by 40
men-at-arms hastened to meet him. The former had
already set up his standard before the city, and on
the morning of the feast, f being the day of the war-
god, J the united forces marched with banners dis-
played to the attack. But after the burghers, aided
* The spark represents the landing of Fitz- Stephen (chap. iii.
of Gerald, above), the torch the coming of the earl, while the
final invasion by Henry III. in person is to complete the
cremation of Ireland's freedom. The " great man " in Moling's
prediction is the earl, the "greater " of course Henry II. St.
Moling was archbishop of Ferns, 632-696, in the time of the
supremacy of Northumbria in England. The day of his death
and his saint's day was June 17.
t Of St. Bartholomew ; see above.
j "Dies Martis" in the text: that is Tuesday, the day of
Tiw, the god of war.
36 CAPTURE OF WATERFORD. 1170
by those who had escaped from the carnage at Dun-
dunnolf, had twice manfully repulsed them, Reimund,
who now by common consent had been made com-
mander-in-chief of the whole army and in whose
hands had been placed the conduct of the campaign,
noticed a kind of shed fixed to the outside of the wall,
and supported by posts. He at once called together
his men in full force for an assault, and quickly sent
forward some of the mail-clad soldiers to cut away the
posts. This done, the shed fell in a heap, dragging
with it a considerable portion of the wall. Through
the breach thus made the besiegers poured eagerly
into the city, butchered whole crowds of the citizens
in the streets, and gained a most bloody victory. In
Reginald's Tower * the two Sihtrics were taken and
put to the sword. In like manner Reginald himself
and Melaghlin O'Phelan \ were captured in the same
place, but through the intervention of Dermot, who
came up just then with Maurice and Fitz-Stephen,
their lives were spared. A garrison was placed in the
city, and the daughter of Dermot, Eva by name, J was
there given away by her father in lawful wedlock to
the earl, and the alliance cemented by the marriage.
Then all started to march on Dublin.
* Now the Ring Tower. A round keep built by the Ostmen
at an angle of the city walls. Reginald was the " king " of the
Norse colony in Waterford. The two Sihtrics appear to have
been Norse chiefs under him. Doubtless they all made their
last stand in this tower.
t Chap. xiii. of Gerald above.
\ This was the lady mentioned above (Bk. I. chaps, xii. and
ii. of Gerald above).
1 1 70 DUBLIN STORMED. 37
A.D. 1170. — Of the storming of the city of Dublin.
Girald. Cambr. Exfiug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xvii.
Dermot. however, knowing that almost all Ireland
had been summoned by the citizens of Dublin to aid
in the defence,* and that every road leading to the
city ran through wooded denies held by the enemy,
remembered the disaster! that befel his father, and
avoiding the forest country led his army along the
mountain ridges J by Glendalough,§ and brought it
safely to the city walls. For he held the inhabitants
of Dublin in deeper detestation than any other of his
enemies in Ireland; and not without reason, since
they had murdered his father in the great hall of one
of his chief men where he was accustomed to sit in
public to administer justice, and had added insult
to injury by burying a dog with the body. Envoys,
however, were sent from the city, and preliminaries
of peace were entered into through the special media-
tion of Laurence, of blessed memory, then archbishop
of the see of Dublin. || But in the mean time on one
side of the city Reginald, on the other a certain Milo
de Cogan, a valiant officer, with a following of the
younger soldiery thirsting for fight and plunder,
carried the walls with a rush and descended boldly
into the city, making much slaughter among the
* 30,000 men had come, under Roderic of Connaught.
t Clearly a defeat, though the time and details seem unknown.
\ Like Fabius in the Hannibalian War.
§ "The dale of the two lakes," in Wicklow, about twenty-
two miles south of Dublin.
0 Of him below, Gerald, Bk. II. chap. xxiv.
38 COUNCIL AT ARMAGH. 1170
people.* The greater number of these, however, led
by Hasculf, got on board their galleys and boats with
their more valuable effects and sailed off to the
Northern Islands.f On the same day two great
miracles happened in the city. A crucifix which the
citizens tried hard to carry away with them to the
isles became immovable ; and a penny which was
twice offered before the same, twice leapt back.
(Milo de Cogan is left by the earl as governor of Dublin.
Roderic of Connaught, in retaliation for an irruption by Dermot
and his allies beyond the borders of Leinster into the territory
of his old enemy O'Ruarc, king of Meath, after in vain warning
Dermot, put to death the son of the latter whom he held as a
hostage [chap. x. of Gerald above].)
A.D. 1170. — The council at Armagh.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xviii.
After these events a general assembly of the Irish
clergy was held at Armagh, and the coming of the
strangers into Ireland was discussed at some length.
Finally they arrived at the following conclusion : — That
it must be for the sins of their countrymen, and espe-
cially in punishment for their inveterate custom of
indiscriminately buying Englishmen from merchants,
bandits, and pirates, and using them as slaves, that
* This act of treachery on the part of the English is spoken
of in the Four Masters as "a miracle wrought against them
[the Os t men] , . . in consequence of their violation of their
word to the men of Ireland."
t The isles to the west and north of Scotland were settled by
their Norwegian fellow-countrymen, as also was Man.
1 1 70 CONVOCATION' AT CLONFERT. 39
the vengeance of Heaven had inflicted this evil upon
them, whereby they themselves by a just retaliation
were in turn reduced to servitude by that very nation.
For it had been the vicious but common practice of
the English people, when their kingdom was yet
intact,* to offer the children of their country for sale,
and that too without the excuse of poverty or famine ;
indeed, they would send their own sons and kinsmen
to Ireland to be sold. Whence it can readily be
believed that for the perpetration of such an enormity
the buyers had now deserved the yoke of slavery,
even as the sellers had had to undergo it in former
times.f Wherefore it was decreed by the aforesaid
council and by general assent publicly proclaimed
that throughout the island all Englishmen who were
held in bondage should be restored to liberty.
A.D. 1170.— [Convocation of the clergy at Clonfert.]
Annals of Clonmacnoise ; 1170: Mageoghegari 's
MS. Translation from the Irish.
" In the year one thousand one hundred and
seventy last mentioned there was a great convocation
of the clergy of Ireland at Clonfert by commission
from the pope \Akxander III.] for the reformation
* i.e. before the Norman Conquest. After the conquest the
slave-trade was prohibited by William I., Wulfstan, bishop of
Worcester, being the Wilberforce of the time. But it still went
on, especially at Bristol, and the decision of the Council of
Armagh seems to have been intended to prevent Henry from
urging this as a pretext for the invasion, though we do not find
it mentioned as a reason in his appeal to the pope to sanction
the enterprise. t Alluding to the Norman Conquest.
40 DEATH OF DERMOT. 1171
of certain abuses of a long time used in Ireland. . . .
There it was laid down by them by constitution that
no layman should have the rule of any church or
church matters from henceforth. . . . That holy
orders should be given to bishops' or priests' sons.
And for example of these their constitutions they took
the livings of seven bishops that had bishopricks and
were laymen."
(The success of the invasion had by this time turned
Henry II. 's contempt for it into jealousy, for to permit any-
thing like an " imperium in imperio " had been directly contrary
to Crown policy since the Norman Conquest. He now [1170]
issued an edict recalling the adventurers and placing the Irish
ports under a kind of "nominal blockade," and so cut off the
English forces in the island from their supplies. The earl,
being therefore in great distress, sent off Reimund to the court
in Aquitaine to say that he placed his Irish conquests un-
reservedly at the royal disposal. The messenger could get no
reply. Hervey de Montmaurice was then despatched to regain
the king's favour.)
Radulph. Nig. Contin. 1170.
[Henry] had in mind to appoint him [i.e. his son
John, then a child'] king of Ireland, for he had taken
that island away from his loyal subject Richard, earl
of Strigul, who had lawfully acquired it by his own
valour, and held it as the heritage of his wife.
[May 1st, A.D. 1171.— Death of Dermot, king of
Leinster.]
Annals of the Four Masters : 1171 ; O* Donovan's
Translation from the Irish.
"Dermot Mac Murrough, king of Leinster, by
whom a trembling sod was made of all Ireland — after
1 1 71 DEFEAT OF HASCULF AT DUBLIN. 41
having brought over the Saxons, after having done
extensive injuries to the Irish, after plundering and
burning many churches . .-. — died before the end of
a year (after this plundering), of an insufferable and
unknown disease. For he became putrid while living,
through the miracle of God, Colum-cille, and Finnan,*
and other saints of Ireland, whose churches he had
profaned and burned some time before ; and he died
at Fearna-mor \Ferns\ without (making) a will, without
penance, without the body of Christ, without unction,
as his evil deeds deserved."
May 16th, A.D. 1171.— Overthrow of the Ostmen at
Dublin.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xxi.
About the same time, on White-Sunday [May i6th],
Hasculf, formerly king of the [Ost]men of Dublin,
burning for revenge, sailed into the Liffey with Nor-
wegians and islanders in 60 galleys to attack the city.
They poured from the vessels in eager haste, led by
John surnamed the * Wood ' — ' Insanus ' or * Vehe-
mens' in the Latin tongue—, a man of warlike soul.
All, in Danish fashion, were clad in mail ; some in ring
hauberks reaching low, others in tegulated armour f
of skilful make. Their shields were round and painted
* Abbot of Clonard in Meath. Said to have been the tutor
of upwards of 3000 Irish saints. He died in 548, and his saint's
day is December I2th.
t Small tile-shaped plates sewn on to a leather jerkin. The
plates were sometimes made of bone, but not so here, as the Latin
text expressly states.
42 FEAT OF JOHN THE WOOD. 1171
red,* and iron-bound about the rim. They were men
of iron hearts as well as iron arms. In ordered array
they advanced to the walls hard by the eastern gate
{St. Mary's Porf\.
But Milo de Cogan, who was then governor of the
city, though the garrison was far inferior in numbers,
with all the intrepidity of his nature boldly sallied out
to meet them. With so small a band, however, he
could not stand against the onset of the enemy, and
after losing some of his men — one of whom had his
thigh, though it was encased in steel, together with
the skirt of his mail-shirt cut through with one blow
of an axe t — , he was pressed back and compelled to
retire within the gate ; when Richard de Cogan, Milo's
brother, who had quietly issued with a few followers
from the southern postern, fell with fierce shouts upon
the rear of the Ostmen. Owing to this unlooked-for
and sudden event, and attacked as they were on front
and flank, the enemy were soon beaten, and took to
flight. So doubtful ever are the chances of war.
Almost all were put to the sword, including John the
Wood : the latter, indeed, defended himself right well,
but was at length taken and killed by Walter de
Ridenesford aided by some others. Hasculf was
haled back from the sea-shore, over which he was
fleeing to his galleys, and to grace the victory was led
alive into the city where he had so lately ruled. It
* Red was the national colour of the Scandinavian races, and
may survive in the red coats of our soldiers to this day.
t This feat was performed by John the Wood, who slew also
nine or ten other Englishmen \.Regari\.
1 1 7 1 THE ENGLISH BLOCKADED IN D UBLIN. 43
was intended to keep him for ransom, and he was
brought before Milo in the justice-hall, when in his
wrath he burst out in the presence of everybody with
this imprudent speech : — * We came with a mere hand-
ful of men this time ; * it was but a first attempt. But
only let me live, and you shall see a very different
effort, one to which this will be a trifle.' On hearing
this, Milo had him at once beheaded.
$: # * # *
(Owing to Henry II.'s prohibition of intercourse with Ireland,
the English there were reduced to great straits for want of food
and reinforcements. Encouraged by this archbishop Laurence
and Roderic of Connaught roused the native princes to besiege
the earl in Dublin, and invited Guthred, king of Man, and the
Norse wickings of the isles to co-operate by sea. The latter
were ready enough to do so, apart from the promised pay, for
they felt anxious at the progress of the English arms in Ireland.
When the siege had lasted neaily two months, the defenders,
who were almost starved out, made, by the advice of Maurice
Fitz-Gerald and Milo de Cogan, a desperate sortie, in which
they routed and dispersed the besiegers, although the latter are
said to have numbered 60,000 men. The garrison then marched
to the relief of the camp at the "Crag," where Fitz-Stephen
had for some time been beleaguered by the men of Wexford and
Kinselagh \_Kencekia\ who were in revolt. While on the way,
the earl heard that Fitz-Stephen and his little band had been
taken by treachery and their stake and turf-built fort destroyed
[II74)
* The numbers are given by Regan as high as 20,000, in
IOO galleys. It was like a Northman to break out in this
reckless way, though he might well be wroth, not only at the
beating he had just received, but also at the recollection of the
treachery of the English by which he originally lost Dublin
(chap. xvii. of Gerald above).
44 F1TZ-MAURICE ADVISES A SALLY. 1171
A.D. 1171. — The speech of [Pitz-]Maurice [advising
the sally from Dublin].
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xxiii.
* 'Tis not in search of pleasure, men, nor as sum-
moned to a life of ease, that we are in this land.
Rather 'tis to challenge the ups and downs of destiny,
and at the peril of our lives to test the mettle of our
manhood. At times whirled aloft to Fortune's
highest pitch, to-day, see, we are precipitated to her
lowest depths ! Such the rotations of her flying
wheel ! Such the mutability of mundane things !
Thus in checkered change do good and ill hap
alternate. The sun goes up the sky, the heavens
revolve, and even so it sets again. Eastward it wends
its way, and the beams of its rise in turn light up
once more the shadows of the West. We whom
hitherto a glorious and triumphant prosperity has pro-
vided with all that we could wish to have, we are
engirt with foes by land and sea and lack the bare
necessities of life. No succour comes to us by ship,
nor if such succour came would it avail, for the
avenues of aid are closed by a hostile fleet.
Fitz-Stephen, too, whose gallant soul and noble
enterprise opened a path for us into this land, is
hemmed in by a vindictive race, isolated, and con-
fined within the bulwark of a frail fort of mud and
sticks. What then are we to look for? Is it for
help from our countrymen across the channel ? Why,
they regard us no less as Irishmen than we do the
besiegers you see around our walls. It would be
I I7i REIMUND ADVISES A SALLY. 45
hard to say whether in that island or in this we are
held in greater hate. Away with hesitation, then!
Away with cowardice ! ' Fortune befriends the ven-
turesome ! ' * Let us, therefore, sally out upon the
enemy like men, while our failing stock of food still
gives us strength to do so ! A few bold hearts, a few
stout arms well trained to wield the sword, hearts
that know but how to dare, arms that have carved but
a record of victory in the past, — these can crush to
powder whole multitudes of an ill-armed, craven
rabble such as that which sits about our gates.'
Such words he utters in impassioned tone ;
And though sore sick at heart with anxious care,
Yet feigns a cheerfulness he cannot feel :
Hope on his brow, deep in his breast despair, f
When Maurice closed his speech, Reimund, who
felt as keenly as he the same anxiety, spoke at some
length amid general applause to a similar effect. He
added, too, that they should direct their chief attack
upon the king of Connaught, as being pre-eminently
the leader of the native force; since, if he were
worsted, they would have little difficulty in dealing
with the other divisions of the blockading host.J
(Regan says that the earl was inclined to an accommodation
with Roderic, and proposed to hold Leinster of him in fee, but
that archbishop Laurence, who was sent to negociate with the
Irish, brought back terms too hard to accept, and then Milo de
Cogan recommended a sally. According to the same authority
this siege of Dublin took place before the assault by Hasculf.)
* Verg. ^En. x. 284. t Verg. A£n. i. 208.
J These orations (see below, Gerald, II. 13) are, of course,
imaginary.
46 THE SALLY. 1171
A.D. 1171.— The sally from Dublin.
Regan's Anglo-Norman Poem, 11. 1877-1955.
Such grievous terms unto the earl
The great archbishop brake ;
But Cogan, ever blithe of heart,
Upsprang and roundly spake :
' A goodly tale of horse and foot,
Sirs barons, have we here-;
Then silent lead we our array
Yon rabble rout to sweep away ;
God helps not those who fear.'
Straight forty cavaliers turned out
With Milo in the van,
A hundred spears and sixty bows,
His vassals to a man.
And hard behind Big Reimund * came
With forty horsemen more,
And eke a hundred men-at-arms,
And archers thrice a score.
To close the rear, with Strigul's earl
A forty knights there rode,
A hundred veteran lances too,
And sixty bowmen strode.
Well found, in sooth, that soldiery
In garniture of might :
The sun-ray glanced on shield and helm,
On glaive and hauberk bright.
Now when the good earl's trusty train
Had cleared the barbican,
* " Reimund le Gros " in the text.
H7i THE SALLY. 47
From column all to line outwheeled,
Ere the advance began.
The foreguard still, two hundred strong,
Did bold de Cogan head ;
As many more Big Reirnund next
The central battle led.
And last brought up the triple rank
Two hundred soldiers tall,
Well proved retainers of the earl :
Six hundred men in all
And side by side with Milo went
(So sings the ballad old),
Donnell Kavenagh Dermot's son,
Anlaf,* O'Reilly of Tirbrun,
Of whom before we told
No wit, nor bode of coming doom f
Had Rory's % savage horde,
Nor spied, nor heard the iron troop,
That noiseless trode the sward.
For Finglas right, with purpose prompt,
De Cogan led the way,
For there O'Connor's camp was set :
Each heart beat high and gay.
With evensong § the band drew near
To where the siegers lay ;
When sharp de Cogan's hest rang out,
That gave the word to slay.
* Anlaf O'Carvi.
f The Irish expected no attack, especially as there had been
some skirmishing that morning.
\ Roderic. § Gerald, I. 24.
48 ROUT OF THE BESIEGERS. 1171
' Strike, strike, in name of Holy Cross,
Strike, barons, tarry not ;
In name of Jesu, Mary's Son,
Death, death to Erse and Scot/
Then lord and liegeman, o'er the fence,
Burst into hut and tent,
And bravely beat the quarters up,
And smote till they were spent.
Thrust out pellmell the Irish host
In panic poured away ;
And over the wastern wild they spread,
As scattered sheep might stray.
# # # # *
At prime we numbered of the kerne
Full fifteen hundred dead ;
While stricken of our Englishrie
A single footman bled.
A.D. 1171.— The treacherous capture of Pitz-
Stephen.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap, xxv.
But the whirligig of Fortune is ever varying pros-
perity with disaster : Fortune who can be an enduring
friend to no man, who wills not that there fall to any
on this earth a stable and a perfect happiness. And
so in the mean time the men of Wexford, with those
of Kenceleia, being together about 3000, treating with
contempt the claims of honour and the obligations of
the pledges they had sworn, came unexpectedly upon
Fitz-Stephen, who had apprehended nothing of the
1 171 FITZ-STEPHEN A PRISONER. 49
sort, shut him up in his fort* with five men-at-arms
and a few archers and harassed him with incessant
assaults. But the besieged, although a mere handful,
showed the greatest readiness in repelling their attacks,
and one William Not, a man-at-arms, especially dis-
tinguished himself in the defence. Whereupon, finding
that force availed them nothing, the Irish had recourse
to their usual weapons of cunning and deceit. Bring-
ing, therefore, up to the entrenchments two bishops,
those of Wexford and Kildare, and other persons
attired in sacred vestments, they all took their corporal
oaths f upon certain holy relics that Dublin had fallen;
that the earl, Maurice, Reimund, and every English-
man there had been slain; and that the host of
Connaught, in conjunction with that of Leinster, was
already marching upon Wexford. They protested,
too, that they were acting in the best interests of Fitz-
Stephen in offering terms ; that, since he had been a
kindly and liberal prince to them, they only desired
to give him and his garrison a safe passage across to
Wales before the arrival of the great army of his bitter
enemy the high-king. To these asseverations Fitz-
Stephen at length yielded credence, and entrusted
himself and his followers to their good faith. Never-
theless they at once set upon the Englishmen,
slaughtered some outright, and cruelly entreating
others with stripes or wounds, bound them and flung
* At " The Crag/' He had sent thirty-six of his men to the
assistance of the earl at Dublin (Regan) .
t t.e. swore touching with the hand the Gospels, a crucifix, or
some relic.
50 DESCRIPTION OF STRONGBOW. 1171
them into prison. But immediately afterwards fame
on speeding wing brought the true news of the dis-
comfiture of the besiegers at Dublin and of the
advance of the earl. Whereupon the traitors lost no
time in setting fire to the whole city with their own
hands, and ferried themselves with all their families,
goods, and captives over to the island of Begeri,
which lay in the mouth of the harbour and is also
called Holy Isle.
A description of the earL
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xxvii.
As for the earl personally, he was a man with
reddish hair and freckled face, bright gray eyes,
delicate, even feminine, features, a high voice and a
short neck. Beyond this there was nothing much to
remark except his stature, which was above the
average. He was a free-handed man, and mild of
disposition. What exertion could not effect he
attained by suavity of speech. In private life he was
more ready to be led by others than to lead. In
time of peace he appeared less like a general than
like an ordinary soldier ; yet in war he was rather a
tactician than a fighting man. If supported by the
advice of his subordinates, he would dare anything,
but he never relied on his own judgment so far as to
take the initiative in ordering an attack, and he never
of his own inclination staked all on mere personal
valour. During an engagement, where his standard
waved, there was ever a firm rallying point or a safe
H7I HENRY II. RECONCILED TO STRONGBOW. 51
refuge for his men. In victory and in defeat he dis-
played the same equanimity, the same unwavering
purpose : by the former he was not puffed up, in the
latter he did not despair.
A.D. 1171.— [How the Irish fanned the king's jealousy
with complaints against Strongbow.]
Gervas. Cantuar. 1171.
Finally he [the earl] gained possession of the fair
city of Dublin, and began to cruelly harass the
natives. Wherefore the kings and inhabitants of the
land were roused to wrath, and by frequent attacks did
all they could to drive away their oppressors. But
finding it impossible to prevail over soldiers who,
although fewer in number than themselves, were
braver and more skilful, they sent ambassadors to the
king of England to pray him to come into Ireland
and by taking over the lordship of the country himself
to relieve them from the insolence and tyranny of
earl Richard.
A.D. 1171.— Of the meeting of the earl with the
king of the English.
Girald. Cantbr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xxviii.
On receipt of these tidings,* they turned rein to the
right in great bitterness of heart and took the road to
Waterford. There they found Hervey, just returned
* The news of the capture by treachery of Fitz-Stephen at
" The Crag," coupled with a message that any attempt at rescue
would be met by the instant decapitation of the prisoners.
52 HENRY II. LANDS IN IRELAND. 1171
from his mission to the king of the English : he bore
letters, and a verbal message as well; inviting the earl
also to go to England. So the latter, as the wind was
favourable, at once crossed the water and found the
king at Newnham in Gloucestershire, fully prepared
to pass over with a considerable army. There, after
a good deal of altercation, the royal anger against the
earl was, through the address and mediation of
Hervey, at length appeased, on the understanding
that he should renew his oath of fealty and give up
to the king the chief city of Ireland, that is Dublin,
together with its adjacent hundreds, and also the
maritime towns and all castles. The rest of hi3
conquests he and his heirs were to recognize as held
of the king and his successors The question having
been settled on these terms, the king set out along
the coast road leading to St. David's,* and reaching
Pembrokeshire soon got together a gallant fleet in
Milford Haven.
(Meanwhile O'Ruarc, king of Meath, taking advantage of the
absence of the earl, made an attack on Dublin, which Milo de
Cogan defeated by another sally. On the i8th October the
English king reached Waterford with 400 ships carrying 500
knights, t 4000 men-at-arms, and several thousand archers.)
* The same road as that taken by the earl [chap. xvi. of
Gerald above]. Hanmer states that at this time Strongbow's
possessions in England and Normandy were restored to him by
the king. His authority is the Chronicles of Conway Abbey.
t Many of the men-at-arms who were employed in the con-
quest of Ireland were Flemish mercenaries, " Brabanters." In
fact in this war we find in motley collision Anglo-Norman,
Fleming, Brythonic Kelt, Goidelic Kelt, Iberian, and Norseman,
1 17 1 SUBMISSION OF NATIVE KINGS. 53
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xxx.
*****
Then was fulfilled that prophecy of Merlin the
Wild :—
From out the distant East a fiery star shall rise,
Full in whose fatal path foredoomed Hibernia lies.
And that of Moling the Erseman : —
From the yawning gates of the blood-red morn
Outpoureth the whirlwind's rush,
Which hasting ever its Westward course
Ivernia's life shall crush.
* * * * *
(While Henry II. was yet at Waterford, the men of Wexford
in order to curry favour with him, placed in his hands their
prisoner Fitz-Stephen, complaining that he had been the first to
establish for his countrymen a precedent for invading Ireland with-
out the permission of their over-lord the English king. Henry,
probably partly to conciliate the natives, partly to make a show
of his authority over the Norman adventurers in Ireland, sent
him off, still a prisoner, to Reginald's Tower, but soon after
released him. The kings of Desmond and Thomond now
voluntarily came to make formal submission to Henry, who
appointed his own officers over their respective capitals, Cork
and Limerick. Other chiefs of South Ireland followed the
example thus set ; as also, when the king went to Dublin after
the Synod of Cashel, did those of Leinster and Meath and one
of the lords of Uriel. Finally the kigh-king Roderic acknow-
ledged him as over-lord, though he was reluctant to do so.)
Gervas. Cantuar. 1171.
For he [Roderic] said that the whole of Ireland
was rightly his, and that all the other kings of that
land ought to be placed under his authority.
(But even when he did submit he would not go in person to
the English king.)
54 SYNOD OF CASHEL. 1171^1172
Radulph. de Dicet. Ymag. Hist. 1171.
But Roderic, the kinglet of Connaught, relying on
the natural defences of that province, did not con-
descend to come and meet the English monarch.
For his territory is rendered inaccessible by the
immense swamps which lie along its borders and
present no convenient fords, are nowhere bridged
over, and are unsafe for boats.
(The princes of Ulster alone held aloof. The title assumed
by the English king was lord of Ireland, and so it remained till
the reign of Henry VIII.)
[Nov. 6thj A.D. [1171 or] 1172.— The Synod of
Cashel.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibem. Lib. I. cap. xxxiv.
The island was now tranquil in the presence of
the king, and enjoyed the blessings of peace and rest.
Moved, therefore, by zeal for the advancement of the
glory of the Church of God and the honour of Christ
in those parts, he summoned a synod of all the clergy
of Ireland to meet at Cashel. A public inquiry was
there made into the evil ways and foul lives of the
people of that land, and the evidence carefully reduced
to writing under the seal of the legate of Lismore,*
who by virtue of his office presided over the assembly.
Wherefore the synod enacted many godly constitu-
tions, which are still extant, touching the contracting
of marriages, the payment of tithes, the reverence due
* Christian, bishop of Lismore from 1150 to 1175, and at this
time papal legate as well.
1171^-1172 SYNOD OF CASHEL. 55
to sacred buildings, and of regular attendance thereat.
These canons the king published with the object of
assimilating the Church of Ireland in all respects to
the discipline of the Anglican Church.
Rog. Houeden. Chron. [1171 or\ 1172.
I. At this synod it was ordained that children
should be brought to the churches and be there
baptized in clean water with three immersions, in the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
And that this be done by priests, unless, through fear
of death intervening, it be expedient that the cere-
mony be performed by a person other than a priest
and elsewhere than in a church. And that in such
case the function may be discharged by any one,
irrespective of sex or calling.
Benedict. Abbat. gest. reg. Hen. II. 1171 [or 1172].
For before that time it had been the custom ini
divers parts of Ireland for the newly born infant to be
thrice dipped by its father, or anybody else, in milk ; *
while such milk or water that might be thus used was
then thrown into the drains or some other unclean
place.
Rog. Houeden. Chron. [1171 or\ 1172.
II. & III. Item that tithes of all possessions be
paid to the churches, Item that all laics who may
* Possibly a relic of some ancient pagan or medical custom.
Campion says that even at his day in some parts of Ireland the
right arm was left unchristened, "that it might give a more
ungracious and deadly blow."
56 SYNOD OF CASHEL. 1171^1172
desire to take wives shall do so according to ecclesi-
astical law.
Benedict. Abbat. gest. reg. Hen. II. 1171 [or. 1172],
For most of them were accustomed to have as
many wives as they wished, and would even wed their
nearest relatives.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xxxv.
IV. That all church lands and possessions be en-
tirely exempt from imposts by secular men. And
especially that neither the native kinglets \regult\t nor
the royal earls, nor any magnates of Ireland, nor their
sons and households, shall exact provisions and lodging
in ecclesiastical territory as the custom has been, nor
henceforward presume to extort such by violence.
And that the detestable practice followed by the earls
of taking purveyance from the neighbouring ecclesi-
astical towns four times yearly be in future wholly
discontinued.
V. That in the case of composition for homicide
by laics, clerks, though of kin to them, shall in no
wise contribute thereto ; but as they were free of
share in the deed, so shall they be free of share in the
payment therefor.
VI. That all good Christian men who may be
taken with sickness shall in the presence of their
confessors and neighbours make their last solemn
testaments in due form. That the movable goods of
any such, if he have wife and offspring, (debts and
wages being first deducted) be divided into three
parts. Of these he shall bequeath one to his children,
Ii7i0ni72 SYNOD OF CASHEL. 57
another to his wife, being lawful, and the third to
such purpose as he may declare. And if haply he
have not legitimate issue, then shall his goods be
divided in equal shares between himself* and his
wife. And if his wife, being lawful, shall have pre-
deceased him, in that case the property shall be
apportioned to himself* and to his children in two
equal lots.
VII. That to those who may depart this life after
good confession due obsequies be paid, with masses,
vigils, and burial rites.
Thus all sacred offices shall henceforth be uni-
versally performed in conformity with the usage of
the Holy Catholic Church as observed by the Anglican
Church. For it is right and just that as Heaven has
allotted to Ireland a lord and king from England, so
also the former island should receive therefrom an
amended mode of life. In truth it is to this magni-
ficent king that both church and state in Ireland owe
whatever accession of peace and religion they have so
far gained ; since before his coming into that country
all sorts and kinds of wickedness had sprung up there
through a long period of time, which by his authority
and care have now been done away with.
Rog. Houeden. Chron. [1171 or\ 1172.
The king of England, further, sent a copy of the
charters of all the archbishops and bishops of Ireland
to pope Alexander [iii], and the holy father himself
* i.e. for his residuary legatees; cf. Coronation Charters of
Henry I. and Stephen.
5 8 CHAR TERS GRANTED TO D UBLIN. 1171^1172
by the apostolic authority confirmed to him and to
his heirs the kingdom of Ireland according to the
tenour of the charters of the archbishops and bishops
of that land.
After these transactions had been finally completed
at Waterford, the king of England went on thence to
Dublin, and stayed there from the feast of St. Martin *
till the beginning of fast-tide [Lent}. While in that
place he had built for him, hard by the church of the
Apostle St. Andrew, outside the city of Dublin, a royal
palace, constructed with marvellous skill of smoothed
osiers \wattled work} after the manner of that country.
In this he himself, with the kings and princes of
Ireland, held the usual festivities on the anniversary
of the Nativity of our Lord.
(The Irish hierarchy at this time numbered four archbishops
and twenty-eight or twenty-nine bishops [see Table at end]. The
archbishops present at the synod were those of Cashel, Dublin,
and Tuam ; but Gelasius, the venerable primate of Armagh, then
over eighty years of age, was too infirm to join the assembly.
He came on afterwards, however, to Dublin to signify his assent
to the constitutions, attended as usual by his white cow, the
milk of which formed his only nourishment, f The synod had
practically acknowledged the English king as over -lord of
Ireland.)
A.D. 1171 or 1172.— [First Dublin] Charter of
Henry II.
Archives of the City of Dublin.
Henry, king of England, duke of Normandy and
Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to his archbishops,
* " St. Martin in the winter : " Nov. nth.
t He was canonized after death ; his day being March 27th.
1171^1172 CHARTERS GRANTED TO DUBLIN. 59
bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, sheriffs, officers,
and all liegemen, French, English, and Irish, of all
his land, greeting :
Know ye that I have given and granted and by the
present charter confirmed to my men of Bristol my
city of Dublin to dwell in.
Wherefore I will, and steadfastly enjoin, that they
have and hold it of me and of my heirs, well and in
peace, freely and undisturbed, entirely and fully and
honourably, with all liberties and free customs which
the men of Bristol have in Bristol and throughout all
my land.
Witnesses : William de Braos ; Reginald de Cur-
tenai; Hugh de Gundeville; William Fitz-Aldelm;
Ralph de Glanville ; Hugh de Creissi ; Reginald de
Pavilli. At Dublin.
A.D. 1171 or 1172.— [Second Dublin] Charter of
Henry II.
Archives of the City of Dublin.
Henry, king of England, duke of Normandy and
Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to his archbishops,
bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, sheriffs, and
all men of his land greeting :
Know ye that I have granted to my burgesses of
Dublin that they be exempt from import duties, ferry-
tolls, bridge-tolls, lading-dues, paving-rates, mural-
rates,* export duties, cart-service, and all customs
* For the maintenance of the fortifications of the city.
60 A TEMPESTUOUS WINTER. 1171^1172
throughout my realm of England, Normandy, Wales,
and Ireland, wherever they or their goods may go.
Wherefore I will and steadfastly enjoin that they
have all their liberties, quittances, and free customs
fully and honourably, as being my free and faithful
men, and that they be exempt from import duties,
ferry-tolls, bridge-tolls, lading-dues, paving-rates, mural-
rates, export duties, cart-service, and every other
custom. And I forbid that any man molest them in
this matter contrary to my charter on pain of a fine of
ten pounds.
Witnesses : Richard de Humet, constable ; Reginald
de Curtenay ; Richard de Camville ; William de
Lanvaley. At St. Lo.
A.D. 1171 or 1172.-Of the storms.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xxxvi.
Then were the barriers of the storm- winds burst
and the bowels of the sea uptorn ; and with such force
and for so long did the vtempest's rage endure, that
the whole drear winter through scarce a single bark
found its way across to Ireland, nor could aught of
news be heard from any source. Wherefore all men
thought that the wrath of God was upon them for
their sins.
It was about that time that from the unusual
violence of the weather the sand on the shores of
South Wales was washed away and the under soil laid
bare, and the face of the coast was revealed as it had
been in the far distant past. Trunks of trees appeared
1 1 72 HENRY II. LEAVES IRELAND. 6 1
below high-water mark, still standing, but with their
branches broken off or lopped, and showing traces of
the axe as if of yesterday. The soil too was quite
black, and the wood of the dead tree-boles was of the
hue of ebony. Wondrous the changes wrought by
time : that where in former days tall ships could ride,
now no ship can go ; where was a level strand, we
see a sylvan grove ! Perchance during the flood of
Noah, but likelier long since that, though yet in ages
long ago, this forest was broken down by the fury of
the sea, and by degrees destroyed or absorbed as the
waters rose from time to time and encroached upon
the land.*
Meanwhile the king lingered at Wexford, anxious
to hear tidings of his dominions over sea.f
(At length the wind changed to the east, and the king got his
news from England. The two papal legates who had been sent
to compound for the murder of Becket had reached Normandy,
and as this was a pressing matter he had to leave Ireland at
once [Easter Monday, April ijtk, 1172] without waiting to build
* One may see these ancient stumps of trees to-day in
Swansea Bay, and in other parts of Wales. Gerald's description
is absolutely accurate. The black soil is also still there, and
probably represents what is left of the foliage, branches, smaller
trees and undergrowth.
t It is possible, however, that Henry was not sorry, for the
excuse afforded by the turbulent weather to remain for a time
where he was. He could hardly wish to meet the papal legates
who were on their way to investigate the murder of Becket,
before the advent of the additional friendly legates who had
been sent on afterwards to absolve him.
62 GRANTS OF LAND IN IRELAND. 1172
along the border of the English Pale the chain of castles he had
planned in accordance with the usual policy of the Normans
and Angevins in a conquered country. Before sailing he made
grants of land within the Pale in fee to his English vassals, in
such a way that side by side with the original adventurers there
should be settled men on whom he could personally rely.
Strongbow was appointed marshal of Ireland and earl of
Leinster ; Hugh de Laci justiciar and constable of the realm,
with the earldom of Meath and with Dublin as his capital.
This munificent grant to de Laci was intended by the king as a
set-off against the influence of Strongbow. In the following
year Reimund Fitz-Gerald was nominated by Henry at Strong-
bow's request as coadjutor to the latter.)
A.D. 1172. — [Grant of Meath to Hugh de Laci.]
Translated from the text quoted in Spencer's View
of the State of Ireland.
Henry by the grace of God king of England, duke
of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou to
his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices,
and all officers and liegemen French, English, and
Irish of all his land greeting. Know ye that I have
given and granted and by my present charter con-
firmed to Hugh de Laci for his service the land of
Meath with all its purtenances for the service of fifty
knights, to him and his heirs to have and to hold of
me and my heirs, as Murchard Hu-Melathlin * held
it, or any other before or after him. And as an
addition to that grant all the fees which he hath
granted or shall grant around Dublin, so long as he
is my bailiff, for doing service to me at my city of
* The then king of Meath, who was thus dispossessed.
1172 THE POPE SUPPORTS HENRY. 63
Dublin. Wherefore I will and steadfastly enjoin that
Hugh himself and his heirs after him have the afore-
said land, and hold all liberties and free customs which
I have or can have there on the service aforesaid of
me and of my heirs, well and in peace, freely, undis-
turbed, and honourably, in wood and plain, in
meadow and pasture, in waters and mills, in fishponds
and pools, and fisheries, and hunting-grounds, in ways
and byways, and seaports, and in all other places and
things pertaining thereto, with all liberties which I
have there or am able to give and by this my charter
confirm to him. Witnesses : earl Richard Fitz-
Gilbert ; William de Braose ; etc. At Wexford.
Sept. 30th, A.D. 1172. — [Letter from pope Alexan-
der III. to the Irish bishops.]
No. 38 in the Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, 1172.
" Pope Alexander [iii] to Christian, bishop of Lis-
more, legate of the apostolic see, Gelasius, arch-
bishop of Armagh, Donatus, archbishop of Cashel,
Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, Catholicus, arch-
bishop of Tuam, and their suffragans. Having
gathered from their letters that the king of England
instigated by divine inspiration had subjected to his
dominion the Irish people, and that illicit practices
began to cease, the pope returns thanks to Him who
had conferred so great a victory. Exhorts them to
aid the king in governing Ireland and to smite with
ecclesiastical censure any of its kings, princes, or
people who shall dare to violate the oath and fealty
64 TREACHERY OF VRUARC. 1172
they have sworn. Frascati : ij KaL Octob'. [Black
Book Exchequer, Q.R. fo. 8. b.]."
A.D. 1172. — Of the treachery and death of O'Ruarc,
[king of Meath].
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hfoern. Lib. I. cap. xli.
Meanwhile, under the governors appointed by the
king, Ireland had breathing-time and peace, when it
happened in the Dublin district that a conference was
arranged between Hugh de Laci and O'Ruarc the
One-eyed, king of Meath, an exact time and place
being fixed. But during the night preceding the day
selected for the meeting, one Griffith, a man-at-arms,
and nephew of Maurice [Fitz-Gerald] and Fitz-
Stephen, had a dream in which he saw a herd of wild
boars rushing in a body upon Hugh and Maurice ;
and the largest and fiercest, the leader of the drove,
was on the point of transfixing them with its tusks,
when the sleeper brought his stout arm to their
assistance and slew the beast.
On the morrow they set out for the appointed spot,
which is called the Hill of O'Ruarc.* Arrived there,
the parties first halted at a distance from each other
. and mutually sent messengers ; then on receiving
pledges and making oath on either side, they joined
for the parley. By previous agreement those that met
* This was probably only a temporary name arising out of
the incident narrated in this chapter. It was generally known
as the Hill of Tlachtgha, now the Hill of Ward, near Athboy
in Meath. The Four Masters say that the treachery was on the
part of the English.
1 1 72 TREACHERY OF CPRUARC. 65
were very few and equal in number, and unarmed,
except that the English bore their swords, the Irish
their axes. The rest of their respective followers
stayed some little distance apart from them. But
Griffith, who had attended in the train of Maurice,
being very anxious about his vision of the night
before, had in consequence of it picked out from
among his own kinsmen seven men-at-arms in whose
valour he had especial confidence, and drawn them to
one side of the hill, but as near to the talkers as was
allowed. They then adjusted their shields, set lance
in rest, and giving rein to their chargers, made a show
of tilting after the French fashion, to the intent that
however the colloquy should end this pretence of
sport might enable them to be ready for any emergency.
Meanwhile there had been some hot altercation between
O'Ruarc and Hugh de Laci touching the questions in
dispute, and matters were tending rather to an aggrava-
tion of the discord between them than to a settlement,
when the one-eyed villain, meditating in his heart a
fell act of treachery, made an excuse for going aside
for a moment and gave a sign to his men to come up
at once with all speed. This done, he turned and
strode hurriedly back, with raised axe, and face white
with passion. But Maurice Fitz-Gefald had chanced
to hear of the dream from his nephew, and being
thereby put on his guard, had carefully watched all
O'Ruarc's movements, and had sat during the whole
consultation with his sheathed sword lying ready
across his knees and his hand on the hilt. He now
whipped it out, and with a hasty word of warning to
66 DEATH OF CPRUARC. 1172
Hugh, boldly started up to defend him. The traitor
then aimed a desperate blow at de Laci, but it fell on
the interpreter : he, faithful servant, had interposed
himself between his master and the stroke, which
lopped off his arm and inflicted a fatal wound.
Maurice now shouted to his comrades for aid, and in
the mean time, while sword encountered battle-axe, in
the hurry of the retreat Hugh twice stumbled to the
ground, and effected his escape with difficulty and
then only with Fitz-Gerald's aid.
While this was going on, the Irish, who, in obedi-
ence to the caitiffs signal, had appeared in large
numbers from the neighbouring hollows, were quickly
running in from all directions with their pairs of
javelins and their great axes, and would soon have
made an end of Maurice and Hugh had not Griffith
and his companions, attracted by the cries of the
former, ridden up at a gallop. On seeing this O'Ruarc
thought it well to look to himself and seek safety in
flight ; but while he was in the very act of mounting
a horse which had been led to him, Griffith got up
just in time to run his lance through man and steed
together. With him were killed on the same spot
three of his attendants who had risked their lives in
bringing him the horse. His head was cut off and
afterwards sent over to the king of the English, even
into England. The -remainder of the natives fled in
confusion and scattered over the plain, but a vast
slaughter was made of them and continued even till
they reached the far distant woods. Ralph, son of
Fitz-Stephen, a stout and daring youth, earned espe-
cial credit that day for vigour and courage.
H72 DESCRIPTION OF MAURICE. 6?
A.D. 1172.— [The death of O'Ruarc : An Irish
account].
Annals of Ulster; 1172 : Translated from the Irish
by an unknown hand ; in MS.
"Tiernan O'Ruarc, king of Breifny and [East
Meath], a man of great power for a long time, was
killed by the English and by Donnell ... of his own
kindred, and being by them beheaded they carried
his head and body miserably to Dublin. His head
was hanged up upon the gate of the city. The body
was buried in another place with his [sic] feet upward."
A description of Maurice [Fitz-Gerald].
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xliii.
Maurice was a man of unassuming but dignified
bearing; his features regular, his complexion em-
browned by exposure; of medium height, neither
above nor below the average. As with his stature,
so it was with his temperament ; moderation was the
characteristic of each: the former showed no dis-
proportion, the latter no extravagance. Nature had
made him a worthy man, and he cared more to be so
than to seem so. His efforts were always directed to
observing the happy mean in everything, and with
such success that for uprightness and for refined
courtesy he may be considered the best example as
he was the pattern of his country and his times. A
man of few words, but what he had to say was terse
and well put: for he set more store by heart than
68 DESCRIPTION OF HENRY IL 1172
tongue, placed reason above eloquence, regarded
wisdom rather than words. Yet when there was need
of oratory, though deliberate in delivering his opinion,
he could express himself with polished skill. In war
he was full of courage, and second to hardly any one
in vigour of action ; at the same time not impetuous
or apt to run headlong into danger. Wary, however,
as he was in attack, he was equally resolute in defence.
In him temperance, discretion, and chastity were com-
bined with stability of character, firmness, and good
faith. A man not indeed faultless, still free from any
actual vice or sin.
A description of Henry II., king of the English.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xlvi.
I have thought it not improper to pourtray for the
benefit of posterity the appearance and the character
of the king, his peculiarities of person and of mind : so
that those who in future ages may love to hear of the
great deeds he wrought, may also picture him to
themselves as he looked and was.
It would be pleasant indeed, though I fear beyon
my powers, to be able to tell the whole truth abou
a prince without offending him.
Well, Henry II., king of the English, was a man
with reddish hair, a big bullet-head, blood-shot gray
eyes that in anger flashed fiercely, a fiery face, and
a broken voice. He had a bull neck, a square chest,
SEAL OF HENRY II., FROM ORIGINAL IN BRITISH MUSEUM.
U72 HIS ENERGY. 69
muscular arms, and a fleshy body, which last was due
rather to natural tendency than to the over-gratifica-
tion of his appetite at table ; his figure was portly, but
not absolutely of huge and unwieldy bulk, thanks to
a certain limit which he observed even in his excesses.
For he was abstemious in food and temperate in
drink, and, so far as a prince could be, in everything
inclined to be frugal. Nay, in order to do all he
could to check and minimize this injustice of nature
and by force of will counteract his constitutional
inclination to corpulence, just as though he had con-
spired against himself to wage an intestine war with
his belly, it was his custom to harass his body by
excessive exercise. So not only when war was going
on — and that was very often — would he scarcely allow
himself for rest the few hours that were not devoted
to business, but even in time of peace there was no
repose for him. For he was attached beyond measure
to the pleasures of the chase, and he would start off
the first thing in the morning on a fleet horse, and
now traversing the woodland glades, now plunging
into the forest itself, now crossing the ridges of the
hills, used in this way to pass day after day in tireless
toil ; and when in the evening he reached home, he
was rarely seen to sit down whether before or after
supper. In spite of all the fatigue he had undergone,
he would keep the whole court standing till they were
worn out. But, as the adage says, * To observe the
happy mean in everything is the first rule in life,' *
and since even a remedy if carried to excess ceases
* Ter. And. I. i. 34.
/O HIS LOVE OF PEACE. 1172
to be beneficial, these habits, by inducing frequent
swellings of the feet and lower leg, which were
aggravated by the restive motions of the high-spirited
horses he rode, brought on further disorders ; and, if
they did no other harm, they certainly hastened the
approach of old age, the origin and promoter of all
the ills of corporeal humanity.
As for his stature, he was of medium height ; and
in this he differed from all his sons, for the two elder
were somewhat taller, the two younger shorter, than
most men.
In his unruffled moods, and when not excited by
anger, he was remarkably eloquent, and, as came out
at such times, well learned. An affable man, too, who
could be influenced, though of a ready wit ? indeed,
he was second to no one in courtesy, whatever the
real sentiments his outward bearing might conceal.
He was a prince of such admirable religious sense
that whenever he conquered in battle, it was only to
be overcome in turn by his gratitude to Heaven.
Though strenuous in war, he prudently tried to avoid
it when at peace ; for during hostilities he always had
a wholesome apprehension of the uncertainty of the
issue, and from his extreme caution he would, in the
words of the comic poet, ' try all means rather than
resort to arms.' * Those whom he lost in fight, he
mourned as princes rarely do, and showed greater
tenderness of feeling for the fallen than for the sur-
vivors : he was far less demonstrative in his care for
the living than in his grief for the dead. No one was
* Ter. Eun. iv. 7. 19.
H72 HIS PRUDENCE. Jl
kinder in the hour of trouble: when all was well
again, no one more severe.
Harsh the king is to the lawless ; clement he to lowly hearts :
Strict within his halls ; yet harb'ring strangers from outlandish
parts :
Bounteous in the outer world ; at home instilling thrifty arts.
The man for whom he had once conceived a hate, he
could with difficulty be brought to love ; where once
he had set his affections, rarely did his regard change
to dislike.
He rejoiced in the sport of falconry ; it gladdened
him to watch the flight of the fierce hawk. He loved,
too, beyond measure to hear the baying of the pack
as they sped on the scent of the hunted deer. I
could wish that he had cultivated as diligently the
offices of religion as he did the pleasures of the field.
His belief that the grievous injuries offered him by
his sons had sprung from the instigation of the queen,
led him after their revolt to live in open violation
of his marriage vow. Still he was by nature not a
truthful man, and would habitually break his word
without the slightest excuse. For whenever he found
himself in a difficulty he preferred that his honour
should suffer rather than his interest, and thought it
better to lose his reputation for honesty than to miss
an advantage. In the transaction of business he was
always so cautious and so circumspect, that for this
very reason, carrying his prudence to an extreme, he
was dilatory in the administration of justice ; and to
the great inconvenience of his subjects exceedingly
slow in coming to a final decision in any matter.
72 ENCROACHMENTS UPON THE CHURCH. 1172
Moreover, whereas Justice, which is divine, which
therefore should be gratuitously rendered without
price, which is not a commodity to be purchased by
lucre, with us is bought and sold, which itself freely
accords all things, with us is held in traffic, he [the
king] has left behind alike in the state and in the
priesthood notorious successors of the iniquitous
Gehazi.* He was a lover of peace, and diligent in
maintaining it Of unequalled munificence in alms-
giving, he was an especial benefactor to the Holy
Land. A lover of humility, he kept a tight hand
upon the nobles of his realm and ground under his
heel any show of arrogance. Filling the hungry with
good things, the rich he sent empty away.f
He raised the humble from their lowly state,
And from their seats above debased the great.
In the things that are of God he was guilty of many
reprehensible usurpations; and through a zeal for
justice — a zeal, however, not tempered by discretion
— he confused the rights of the crown with those of
the priesthood, J to the end that he might stand forth
as the sole fount of justice. Son of the church as
he was, and owing his crown to her, yet he either
forgot or affected to forget the sacramental unction
he had received. Scarcely would he spare an hour
to attend the holy sacrifice of the mass, and even
then so great, forsooth, was the press of public busi-
* Implying that the king was guilty of simoniacal practices.
t Luke i. 53.
J That is, he encroached upon the legal privileges of the
clergy. The allusion is to the Constitutions of Clarendon (i 164).
1172 HIS DOMESTIC TROUBLES. 73
ness that he spent the time more in discussion and
conversation than in prayer. The income of vacant
benefices it was his habit to pay into the public
treasury ; and, since a little leaven corrupts the mass,
inasmuch as he thus appropriated to the exchequer
the revenues which were due to Christ, being ever
plunged in fresh difficulties, he exhausted his coffers
again and again.* Thus into the pockets of a profane
soldiery went that which was by right the stipend of
the clerk.
Of his consummate forethought many a scheme
did he conceive, and for the prudent execution thereof
he carefully arranged. Still it was not every one
that turned out well ; he was often disappointed of
success. At the same time there was no instance of
a great failure which did not originate in some trifling
accident.
On his legitimate offspring he bestowed, during
their childhood, even more than the natural affection
of a father, but as they advanced in years he regarded
them with more than the jealousy of a step-father.
And for all he had such renowned and illustrious sons,
yet this very fact proved a great bar to his complete
happiness, in that he always showed aversion towards
his possible successors, though perhaps not without
reason after their conduct to him. And since human
prosperity, just as it is transient, so can never be
complete ; in like manner by the refined malice, as it
were, of Fortune it happened that where the king
* The passage means that he derived no permanent benefit
from such ill-gotten gains.
74 HIS WONDERFUL MEMORY. 1172
looked for happiness there he found hostility ; where
defence, defiance ; where help, hate ; where rest and
repose, there especially disquiet and disturbance. It
may have been the ill-assorted union of the parents
that was to blame, it may have been in punishment
for the royal sins : but, however that may be, the fact
remains that there was no real concord between the
princes and their father, nor harmony among the
princes themselves.
At length the pretenders to power and the disturbers
of peace were put down both in England and in
France, whether it had been brother against brother,
son against sire, or vassal against suzerain, and for a
long season the king enjoyed all the prosperity he
could wish. Would that even then, at the eleventh
hour, he had testified by righteous works his appre-
ciation of so convincing a proof of the divine mercy.
Surrounded though he was at all times by crowds
of faces, features that he had scanned but once he
never forgot Whatever on any occasion he had
heard and thought worth noting, never escaped his
memory. Whence he always had available a ready
recollection of nearly the whole course of history as
well as of most of the facts that his own wide ex-
perience had taught him. And to conclude in a few
words, had he been one of God's elect and inclined
himself to yield obedience to His commands, his
natural endowments were such that he would have
been unequalled among the princes of the world.
But enough of this topic, which, although by no
means foreign to my subject, I have here but briefly
II73-4 STRONGBOWS RAID INTO MUNSTER. J$
and hurriedly touched upon. The above short sketch
may suggest to some abler writer than myself a
historical theme well worthy of his pen ; and now let
me return to my relation of events in Ireland.
(In 1173 we find hostilities again general in Ireland. There
were marauding expeditions on the part of the settlers, and
counter forays by the natives.; besides a sea-fight in Lismore
Haven.)
A.D. 1174.— [Disastrous incursion into Munster by
the earl].
Annals of Innisf alien: 1174; O* Donovan's
Translation from the Irish.
" A great army was led by the earl of Strigul to
plunder Munster ; and he sent messengers to Dublin
desiring all the Galls \^Ostmen\ left there to join him ,
and a battalion of knights, officers, and soldiers, well
armed came to him, and they all marched to Durlus-
O'Fogarty [Thurles, in N.E. Desmond}. But Donnell
More O'Brien there defeated the earl and the knights,
and slew four of the knights and 700 of their men.*
When that news came to the hearing of the people of
Waterford, they killed the 200 who were guarding the
town.| Then the earl went on an island near the town
(the Little Island) and remained there for a month."
(A general rising prompted by this success prevented him from
moving, and in the meanwhile Roderic of Connaught crossed
* Gerald says the earl was surprised early one morning, and
that the loss fell mainly on the Ostmen. He states that loss
at 400.
t This was done "ab iniquis Ostmannis," says Gerald, so
that altogether the Ostmen were not very reliable allies as yet.
76 THE POPE GRANTS A BULL. 1174^1175
the Shannon, burnt the deserted strongholds and laid waste the
country up to the walls of Dublin. The earl was, however,
then relieved by Reimund, who had been away in Wales but
returned with a force on hearing of the peril of his countrymen.
The news of the coming of Reimund with his reinforcements was,
says Gerald, sufficient to frighten Roderic back again into Con-
naught, for he had had a foretaste of his valour and ability as a
leader at Dublin in 1171, where Reimund had been one of the
leaders of the sortie which raised the siege. The rising in
Waterford was presently put down.)
1174 or 1175.— The granting of a bull of privileges.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. v.
Meanwhile the king of the English, although his
time and attention were very much occupied with
military affairs, was not forgetful of his realm of
Ireland, and sent ambassadors to the court of Rome
bearing the evidence which had been carefully col-
lected and taken down at the synod of Cashel touch-
ing the evil lives of the inhabitants of that island.
Alexander III., who was then pontiff, granted a bull
of privileges which conferred upon the English king,
with the papal authority and assent, the dominion
over the Irish people; and since they were grossly
ignorant of the rudiments of the faith, further em-
powered him to mould them by ecclesiastical rules
and discipline to a conformity with the usage of the
Anglican Church. . . . A meeting of the bishops
was forthwith called at Waterford, at which the bull
was formally read in public, and met with general
approval. With it was read another bull which the
same king had previously procured by means of John
THE BULL ' LA UDABILITER? 77
of Salisbury, afterwards bishop of Chartres, from pope
Adrian,* the predecessor of Alexander. John had
been sent to Rome on that business, and by his hands
Adrian had presented the king of the English with a
golden ring in token of the investiture. This ring
together with the bull of Adrian had been deposited
among the archives at Winchester. Wherefore I have
thought it not superfluous to insert here the contents
of that instrument
[The bull Laudabiliter.]
" Adrian the bishop, servant of the servants of God,
to his well- beloved son in Christ the illustrious king
of the English sendeth greeting and the apostolic
benediction. With praiseworthy and profitable zeal
your highness entertaineth a desire of increasing the
glory of your name on earth, and of laying up for
yourself the meed of eternal happiness in heaven. For,
as becometh a Catholic prince, you propose to extend
the boundaries of the church, to make known the
truth of the Christian faith to an unlearned and
savage race, and to root out the weeds of vice from
the garden of the Lord. The better to attain that
end you seek the advice and favour of the apostolic
see. And we are assured that the higher your aim
* Adrian IV. [Nicholas Breakspeare, the only Englishman
who has occupied the papal chair] was pope from 1154 to 1159,
and was the immediate predecessor of Alexander III. There
had been a friendly connection between Henry and Adrian even
before the former became king and the latter pope. This is the
bull known as "Laudabiliter," granted in 1155.
78 THE BULL ' LAUDAB-ILITER! 1174^1175
and the greater your discretion in the pursuit of the
object you have in view, the more complete, with
God's help, will be your success ; since an enterprise
which hath originated in enthusiasm for religion and
in love of our creed will of a surety attain to a happy
issue and a noble result. That Ireland and all islands
whereon Christ, the Sun of righteousness, hath shed
his ray, and which have received the evidence of the •
truth of Christianity, are in the dominion of the blessed
Peter and the Holy Roman Church, your highness
acknowledgeth and no one doubteth.* Wherefore we
are the readier to implant in them the seeds of a faith
which shall be acceptable to God, and yet the more
so inasmuch as we know that the day of scrutiny will
come when a strict reckoning of our stewardship will
be required of us. Whereas, then, you our well-
* This claim was founded on what is known as the " Donatio
Constantini." Although not questioned in the middle ages, this
Donation is now regarded as a forgery. According to it the
first Christian emperor [Constantine I., "The Great"], who
reigned from A.D. 309 to 337, in gratitude for the cure of his
leprosy through the prayers of pope Sylvester I., granted to him
and his successors Italy and the whole West, and transferred the
seat of the civil .power to the Bosphorus, in order that the
ecclesiastical polity should not be hampered by the proximity of
secular government. This was one- of the germs from which
grew the temporal claims of the papacy. The forgery probably
dates from about A.D. 775, at which time Adrian I. was pope.
The claim was now put forward as applying only to islands to
avoid giving offence to the kings of Western Christendom.
England was not regarded as an island : but as a kind of
" alter orbis " with reference to the continent ; much as we look
at Australia.
Ii74<wii75 THE BULL ' LA UDABILITER? 79
beloved son in Christ have signified to us that you are
wishful of entering the island of Ireland, in order to
subject its people to the rule of law and to root out
therefrom the weeds of vice ; and are willing to pay
from each house an annual tribute of one penny to
the blessed Peter,* and to preserve the rights of the
church of that land uncorrupted and intact : We there-
fore support with due favour your devout and laudable
desire, and to your petition accord our gracious assent.
It is our will and pleasure that for the extending of
the boundaries of the church, the checking of the
downward course of crime, the correction of immorality,
the engrafting of virtue, and for the glorification of
the religion of Christ, you do enter that island and
execute therein all things that regard the honour of
God and the weal of the aforesaid land ; and the
people of that land shall receive you with fitting
honour and do homage to you as their over-lord. It
being provided that the rights of the church remain
uncorrupted and intact, and that there be reserved for
the blessed Peter and the Holy Roman Church the
annual tribute of one penny from every house. If
therefore you decide to put into execution the project
you have conceived, be it your study to instruct the
Irish nation in the ways of virtue ; be it, too, your
care that this be carried out under yourself by such
persons as you know to be well qualified for the task
by reason of their faith, their integrity, and their
* " Peter-pence." But payments to Rome were in England
generally regarded not as obligatory taxes or tribute but as alms
(" eleemosyna beati Petri ").
80 THE MARCH ON LIMERICK. 1175
godly lives. So shall the church among that people
be enriched in holiness, so shall the flower of Christian
duty be there sown and flourish, and all that pertaineth
to the honour of the Almighty and to the salvation of
their souls be by you ordered in such fashion that
you shall merit at God's hands the inheritance of an
eternal reward in the life to come, and on earth shall
win a glorious name that will endure for ever."
AJD. 1175. — The famous storming of Limerick.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. vii.
In the interim Donnell, prince of Limerick, having
begun to behave in a most insolent manner, and
having repudiated with no less perfidy than disrespect
the fealty he had yielded to the king of the English,
Reimund collected a force of stout fellows, and about
the ist of October boldly marched to the assault of
Limerick with 120 men-at-arms, 300 mounted retainers,
and 400 archers on foot When they reached the
Shannon, which flows around that noble city, and
found that its deep and rapid stream presented an
apparently insurmountable obstacle to their advance,
the soldiers, who were thirsting for plunder and
renown, felt as though confronted by the waters of
Tantalus, and chafed at the impediment which lay
between them and the longed-for object so nearly in
theii grasp. Whereupon a stalwart youth who had
lately joined the army, a nephew of Reimund, David
Welsh as he was called (though that was not his
1175 A SOLD EXPLOIT. 8l
family name, but indicated his nationality), a Stripling
of promise, tall and gainly, was even more impatient
than his companions ; and in his ardent desire for
fame, regardless of the danger of a horrible death,
plunged into the rushing river with its rough and
stony bottom. But by taking the course of the stream
obliquely, and by availing himself of the backs of the
wavelets, he was carried by his good steed safely
across, and called out to his comrades that he had
found a ford.
However, as only a single man-at-arms, one
Geoffrey Judas, followed his example, he and Judas
proceeded to recross at the same place, but the latter
was swept away by the impetuosity of the current and
perished. On seeing this Meiler, who had come with
Reimund, emulous of the intrepid energy and of the
daring exploit of David, who was his kinsman, settled
himself firmly upon his strong charger and dashed
impulsively into the waters. Fired as he was by the
zeal of rivalry, and not a whit daunted by the terrible
fate he had just witnessed, his confident boldness
soon landed him upon the other side.
But some of the citizens met him at the very water-
edge, others from the fortifications which commanded
the bank hurled volleys of stones and darts, striving
either to drive him back, or better still to slay him
where he stood. Yet the brave fellow, hemmed in
though he was by two unavoidable dangers, here by
the furious enemy, there by the raging flood, sturdily
held his ground, receiving the missiles on his helmet
and his shield.
F
82 STORMING OF LIMERICK. 1175
Reimund, who as commander-in-chief of the army
had remained in the rear, was entirely ignorant of
what was going on, till the loud shouts that arose
from each bank attracted his attention, when he rode
hastily up along the lines without drawing rein before
he reached the river. Then, seeing his nephew upon
the opposite side in so critical a situation, and exposed
unsupported to the attacks of the Ostmen, in intense
anxiety he cried out sharply to his soldiers : " Men, I
know your native spirit, and have tested its mettle in
many a strait Come then, the way has been shown
us; this river which seemed impassable, our gallant
comrades have proved to be fordable. So, follow we
our leaders ; let us bear aid to that chivalrous youth
who is on the point of being overwhelmed, who made
this venture for our common good. Surely we must
not allow him to risk his life like this before our
eyes ! ' With these words, he was the first to rush
into the stream, followed eagerly by the whole force,
thus committing all to fortune. Every one passed
unharmed, save only two mounted retainers and one
man-at-arms named Guy, who were drowned. The
defenders were driven into the city, and the walls at
once stormed with a great slaughter of the townsmen.
It was a famous capture, and the conquerors, enriched
with plenteous spoil and a vast quantity of gold, were
compensated by gain and glory for the hazard they
had faced.
1 175 DESCRIPTION OF REIMUND. 83
A description of Reimund [Fitz- Gerald].
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. u. cap. viii.
Reimund was a man not much above middle
height, but very stout. He had rather curly yellow
hair, large round gray eyes, a somewhat high nose,
and a sunburnt face of bright and cheerful expression.
Although corpulent, the natural vivacity of his tem-
perament seemed to carry off his bulky appearance,
and his lively spirits drew away attention from this
blemish in his person. In his solicitude for the men
under his command he would often pass nights of
wakefulness, and as though the watcher of the watch-
men, was wont to spend the hours of darkness in
anxiously going the rounds from post to post and
challenging the sentinels. It was due to his habitual
vigilance that troops in his charge very rarely, if ever,
got into difficulties either through rash undertakings
or through want of care. His tastes were simple and
frugal, luxurious neither in point of diet nor of raiment.
Patient in trying circumstances, the extremes of heat
and cold he bore with equal fortitude, and no toil
drew from him a murmur. His duty to his soldiers
he held of more account than the personal dignity of
his position, and he did not hesitate to appear by his
labours for their benefit to be rather their servant
than their master. To sum up in brief his merits,
character, and habits, he was a man of liberal and
kindly heart, but wary and circumspect ; and although
a dashing and experienced leader, at the same time
even in military matters his most distinguishing
84 DESCRIPTION OF MEILER. ' 1175
quality was his prudence. Praiseworthy as a daring
soldier, he was yet more to be commended for his
consummate caution as a general.
A description of Meiler [Fitz-Henry].
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. ix.
As for Meiler, he was a swarthy man with fierce
black eyes and keen visage. Below the middle
height, yet very powerful for one of his stature, he
was square chested, and not given to corpulence ; his
arms, too, and other limbs were long and muscular
and free from fat. As a soldier none surpassed him
in daring : he shrank from no enterprise, whether it
were to be undertaken by his single hand or in com-
pany with others. He was the first to plunge into
the fight, the last to leave it. Into every engagement
he threw his utmost energies, prepared either to
vanquish or to die. Such was his headlong eagerness
that to achieve the wished-for victory or to meet his
end alone did he deem worthy : reckoning there to be
no mean between the triumph of a victor and the
glory of a soldier's death. So intense his thirst for
fame that if perchance it had been denied to him to
both conquer and live, he would have chosen conquest
even at the price of life.
Both these men would have been deserving of yet
higher praise had they subordinated worldly ambition
to a becoming reverence for the Church of Christ, by
not only preserving inviolate her ancient and veritable
rights, but also with laudable liberality contributing as
1 1 75 DESCRIPTION OF HERVEY. 85
an acceptable peace-offering to God some portion of
that newly acquired land which had been gained by
the effusion of so much blood and stained by the
slaughter of a Christian people. But, indeed, it is
greatly to be wondered at, and still more greatly to be
lamented that this has unquestionably been a common
failing with all our leaders in the Irish war from their
first coming down to the present day.
(1175. — Reimund, having provisioned Limerick and placed a
garrison there, returned into Leinster. Meanwhile, according
to Gerald [II. 10], Hervey de Montmaurice had been privately
sending messengers to the king from time to time who played
upon the royal fears with malicious statements to the effect that
Reimund was aiming at establishing himself as an independent
sovereign in Ireland.)
A.D. 1175. — Koderic pays tribute.
RymeSs Foedera. Syllabus ed. Hardy. October 6th 1175.
" Agreement by which Roderic, king of Connaught,
being permitted to retain his kingdom consents to
become liegeman and to pay tribute [a tithe of hides]
to the king."
*
A description of Hervey [de Montmaurice].
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xi.
Hervey was a tall, good-looking man, with prominent
gray eyes, an engaging presence, pleasing expression
of face, and a polished address. His neck was long
and thin, too much so, in fact, to properly support his
head, and his shoulders were sloping. Conformably
86 REIMUND RECALLED. 1175
to such a figure he had long hands and arms, and a
chest only moderately broad. About the waist, where
most men are inclined to swell out over much, he was
naturally of slight dimensions, so that the lower part
of his body was duly proportioned to the width of his
breast. But his thigh and lower leg and his feet were
well suited to a soldier and harmonized fairly well
with the upper part of his frame. His height was
above the average. Whatever graces, however, nature
had bestowed in the adornment of his personal appear-
ance, she had countervailed by implanting in the inner
man many a moral deformity and many a vice. For
from youth upwards he had led a life of reprehensible
laxity. He was a malignant, a lying tale-bearer, and
a double-faced knave. Crafty, plausible, and false,
venom tainted the milk and honey of his tongue.
His principles were as erratic as his purpose was
vague : he was stable in his instability alone. For a
time he flourished at the summit of Fortune's wheel ;
but by a sudden turn he was hurled to the bottom in
hopeless ruin. In early life he served with some
merit in the French wars ; but nowadays he is more
remarkable for vindictiveness than for valour, for
duplicity than distinction, for impudence than import-
ance, for jests than judgment, for verbosity than for
veracity.
(1176. — The king, influenced by the reports of Hervey, re-
called Reimund and sent over four commissioners, two of whom
were to conduct the latter to England, and two to remain in
Ireland with the earl. Just as Reimund was about to leave,
news came that Donnell, king of Thomond, had blockaded the
English garrison in Limerick.)
1 176 RELIEF OF LIMERICK. 8/
A.D. 1176.— Belief of the garrison which had been
left at Limerick.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibem. Lib. II. cap. xii.
Reimund was now prepared to start, and only
waited for a favourable wind, when, lo ! messengers
appeared from the garrison of Limerick with tidings
that Donnell, prince of Thomond, had blockaded that
town with a vast multitude of Irish ; and that, since
the supplies captured there or brought thither had
been consumed during the winter, immediate succour
was imperative. Whereupon the earl in his anxiety
to send relief, addressed his men on the subject, but
found them so gloomy and disheartened at the im-
pending departure of Reimund, that they unanimously
refused to move without him.
In this strait a consultation was held with the royal
nuncios, and, after some hesitation, Reimund yielded
to the urgent request of the earl and the nuncios, and
started to march back again on Limerick. As he
drew near to Cashel, with 80 men-at-arms, 200
mounted retainers, and 300 archers, besides the Irish
auxilaries who accompanied him under Murchard of
Kenceleia and Donnell of Ossory, he heard that the
men of Thomond had raised the siege and had turned
to meet him in the pass of Cashel ; and that by felling
trees, digging ditches, and running a stiff palisade-
work across the road, they had increased the difficulties
of a passage difficult enough by nature.
88 PASS OF CASHEL FORCED. 1176
The speech of Donnell [of Ossory].
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. u. cap. xiii.
The force was now formed into three divisions, and
the men girt themselves for the encounter ; when, just
as they were approaching the pass, Donnell, prince of
the men of Ossory, who had a bitter feud with those
of Thomond, struck by the small number of the
English troops, though they were splendidly equipped,
addressed them in these words : — ' Soldiers whose
victories have placed this island at your feet, I ask
you to display your accustomed bravery in the attack
to-day. If your wonted gallantry brings you out
victorious again, our axes will back your swords in
pressing on the beaten foe; but if my Irishmen see
your ranks repulsed, which God forbid, 'tis ten chances
to one that they will make common cause with, our
antagonists and turn upon you. Summon, then,
soldiers, all your nerve and wariness : far hence are
our cities, far hence our camp, far indeed it were to
fly. My countrymen side ever with the winning
battalions, are ever ready to fall on those that flee.
Trust, therefore, to us for sturdy aid, but only so long
as you may keep yourselves unconquered.'
On hearing this, Meiler, who led the first division,
threw himself with his men like a mighty whirlwind
into the gorge. Down went the stockade, torn away or
broken in, utterly destroyed ; down, too, its defenders ;
and a broad path was cloven by the sword through
the masses of the enemy behind. Thus was the pass
of Cashel forced, and it was on Easter Eve \Ap. 3],
1 1 76 CONFERENCES. 89
Three days later, on Tuesday in Easter week, the
triumphant army entered Limerick, being the very
day on which the city had been taken before.
After making good the damage sustained by the
walls during the blockade, Reimund met the princes
of Connaught and Thomond in conference, on the
same day, but in different places. Roderic came in a
boat on the great lake * which is the source of that
noble river the Shannon, whose two branches it sends
forth to flow afar through opposite parts of the island
to the ocean ;f Donnell chose a spot at no great
distance from Roderic on the other \wesf\ side of the
river and at the edge of a certain wood ; while
Reimund lay between the two, north of Killaloe and
about 1 6 miles from Limerick. The colloquy was
prolonged until both princes gave hostages then and
there, and in renewing their pledges of good faith to
the king of the English and his subjects, took their
corporal oaths that in future those pledges should be
preserved inviolate.
(We have seen that in this expedition the English had taken
advantage of a tribal feud to enlist natives in their service. This
policy was continued ; indeed we find Irish princes applying to
them for aid even against their nearest kinsmen.)
* Lough Derg.
t Gerald thought that the Shannon north of Lough Derg was
united with Lough Erne, and so joined the sea at Ballyshannon
in Donegal Bay.
9O DEATH OF STRONGBOW. 1176
A.D, 1176.— Concerning the announcement to
Reimund of the death of the earl.
Girald. Catnbr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. u. cap. xiv.
But while this was doing in Desmond, there came
to Reimund an express sent in all haste from Dublin
and bearing a missive from his wife Basilia,* though
the messenger was ignorant of its contents. The
epistle was therefore read to Reimund f in private by
a certain clerk of his household, and the purport of it
was this : — ' To Reimund, her well-beloved lord and
spouse, his Basilia wisheth the same health as she
hath herself. Be it known to thee my true love, that
the great jaw-tooth thou wottest of, the which hath
troubled me so much, hath just dropt out Wherefore
if there be any love in thee for me, or even for thyself,
see that thou tarry not but hasten thy return.' When
these words had been read, Reimund shrewdly guessed
that by the falling out of the tooth was indicated the
death of the earl. For on setting out he had left the
latter lying at Dublin sick of a grave malady. The
earl thus died a natural death, and the date was about
the ist of June. Through fear of the Irish, everything
was done to keep his decease a secret until the return
of Reimund and his force. {
* Sister of Strongbow.
t Who very probably could not read himself.
| So, according to the legends, the news of the death of
Tarquinius Priscus was suppressed until Servius Tullius had
established his position, and that of the Cid was concealed from
the Moors pending the battle of the Navas de Tolosa, in 1099.
n76 BURNING OF LIMERICK. §1
Annals of the Four Masters : 1 176 ; O1 Donovan's
Translation from the Irish.
"The English earl died of an ulcer which had
broken out in his foot through the miracles of SS.
Bridget * and Columbkille, and of all the other saints
whose churches had been destroyed by him. He saw,
as he thought, St. Bridget in the act of killing him."
(The death of the earl, the situation of Limerick in a remote
and hostile district, and his own impending departure for
England, decided Reimund, after some hesitation, to evacuate
that city, and concentrate the English troops within the Pale.)
A.D. 1176.— [The burning of Limerick and the burial
of the earl.]
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. n. cap. xiv.
Reimund, rinding none among his officers willing
to undertake the custody of the city after his departure,
entrusted it of his own accord to Donnell of Thomond,
as a baron of his lord the king of the English. That
chieftain gave fresh hostages, and was profuse in his
oaths to preserve the place uninjured, to restore it at
the royal command if required so to do, and to keep
the peace. But, just as the English were marching
out, and when the rear of their column had scarcely
passed the further end of the bridge, it was broken
* Born about 450, died 525 ; contemporary with St. Patrick.
The saint's day of " the Mary of Erin " is February 1st, and she
is remarkable as the patroness of a sacred fire, like that of Vesta
at Rome. St. Bridget's fire was duly kept up till the dissolution
of monasteries in Henry VIII. 's reign.
92 BURIAL OF STRONGBOW. 1176
down behind them from the town side of the river !
They turned, and beheld with grief and vexation that
fair city, with its noble walls, its handsome buildings,
and its vast store of supplies collected from all the
country round, fired in four separate quarters, and
given up to the flames. It was the work of the traitor
Donnell, who by this new and shameless deed of
perfidy, this scandalous instance of foul play, was
affording an indication of what sort of confidence
should be reposed for the future in the good faith of
the Irish race.
The king of the English, on hearing of the above
daring march to the assistance of the city, is reported
to have said : — * It was a gallant piece of work that
attack on Limerick, and its relief still more so : but
the evacuation of it afterwards was an act of pure
wisdom.*
And so the garrison returned to Dublin, and the
body of the earl, which by his own wish had been
kept unburied until Reimund's arrival, was entombed
with great state in the chancel of the Church of the
Holy Trinity [Christ Church~\ at Dublin,* Laurence,
the archbishop of that see, officiating at the obsequies.
(In these circumstances the commissioners returned to England
for instructions, leaving Reimund to act as ' ' procurator " in
Ireland. The king sent over William Fitz-Aldelm, as procurator
and justiciary, to take the place of the late earl, and with him
came as a coadjutor John de Courci. At this point of his
history Gerald gives vent to his anger against the royal officers
who had supplanted his relatives the Geraldines.)
* Where his tomb, and that of Eva his wife, may still be seen.
1 1 76 A PRAISE OF THE GERALDINES. 93
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xv.
From that hour, then, this fellow \Fitz-Aldelm\ as
well as every other procurator of Ireland through
jealousy ceased not as though by a common under-
standing to harass Reimund, Meiler, the Fitz-Maurices,
the Fitz-Stephens and their whole family ; though
possibly they were prompted to it by instructions
from high quarters.* For this seems to have been
the destined lot of our house : in times of war ever
foremost, ever renowned beyond all for manly enter-
prise, at such times they were valued as their worth
deserved. But when the pinch of necessity was
relaxed, straightway they found neglect, abasement,
and the hatred which springs from envy. Yet not
even the spirit of invidious rivalry could wholly uproot
a stock so noble in its nature. . Whence even to this
day our race, increased and multiplied by fresh off-
shoots, has no small influence in the island. Who are
they who penetrate the strongholds of the foe ? The
Geraldines. Who are they whose valour holds the
conquered land in thrall? The Geraldines. Who
are they on whom the trembling foeman looks with
dread ? The Geraldines. And who are they whose
manly worth malicious envy wrongs ? The Geraldines.
Oh that they had found a prince willing to duly requite
their earnest toil ! How tranquil, how full of true
peace would have been the state of Ireland under
their control ! But their energy always evoked un-
reasonable suspicion, while those to whom a misplaced
* The king.
94 DESCRIPTION OF FITZ-ALDELM. 1176
confidence has entrusted the charge of the country
afford but a blind security which is based on no
foundation.
Yet my glorious and gallant kinsmen, ye who
despise the sweets of life but love laborious days,
falter not, go forward still on the path of virtue that
you have ever trod —
Blest in your manly worth proclaimed if aught my lines avail.*
A description of Fitz-Aldelm.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. n. cap. xvi.
This Fitz-Aldelm was a stout man, yet neither in
height nor build much above the ordinary size. His
tastes were sumptuous, his manners those of a courtier.
But whenever he was unusually polite, you might be
sure that he had some snare or trick on hand. In
the honey he offered there was poison ; the snake in
the grass was the type of his mind. Without he
appeared an open-hearted and kindly man, but
within —
There was more gall than honey in his soul.f
Always he —
Wears placid and fair-seeming brow, and greets with smiles and
smirks,
While hidden in his hollow heart the fox's cunning lurks. \
* Verg. <dZn. ix. 446. [On or about 1st September, 1176,
died Maurice Fitz-Gerald, at Wexford.]
t Tuv. vi. 181. 1 _
+ p • 116 \ Gerald s quotations are not verbatim.
1 1 77 INVASION OF ULSTER. 95
Always he —
Proffers some deadly draught in cup with honied rim.*
"His words were softer than oil, Yet were they
drawn swords." f Those whom to-day he treated with
respect, to-morrow he would calumniate or plunder.
A bully to the defenceless, before those who faced
him without flinching he cringed like the coward he
was. Lording it over the abject, to real force of
character he bowed in all submission. An enemy in
arms he would meet with blandishments, but crushed
with brutal severity a beaten foe. In the former he
inspired no fear, with the latter he kept no faith. A
trickster, a flatterer, and a craven ; a slave, moreover,
to wine and venery. Greedy of gold, as he was, and
a seeker after court favour, it is hard to say whether
avarice or servility predominated in his soul.
(In 1177 John de Courci ventured on an expedition into Ulster
on his own account : it was the first time an English force had
penetrated into that province. After marching for three days
through Meath and Uriel, \ on the fourth day [Feb. ist\ he
reached Down, the capital of Ulidia,§ and not being expected
by the natives entered the city with little opposition [Gerald says
without any\ The country, however, soon armed against him,
* Ovid, Amores, I. viii. 104 (Gerald's quotation is not
verbatim.)
t Ps. Iv. 21. -
$ Uriel, or Oriel, comprised the later counties of Louth,
Armagh, Monaghan and most of Fermanagh. It thus stretched
across Ireland from sea to sea, and formed the southern border
of Ulster.
§ Down and Antrim.
g6 VIVIANUS THE LEGATE. 1177
and five battles were fought, the first two and the last of which
he won. The mixed races of north Ireland seem to have fought
better than their Kelt-Iberian fellow-countrymen of the south,
for they beat the invaders twice, and this is noted by Gerald in
connection with the campaign and again below * [chap. 20]. In
the Irish hero-tales Ulster is always more than a match for the
rest of Ireland.)
A.D. 1177. — [Concerning the invasion of Ulster by
John de Courci and the doings of Vivianus the
legate.]
Wilelm. Newburg. Hist. Rer. Anglic. 1177.
John de Courci, getting together a strong body of
horse and foot, conceived the idea of invading that
province of Ireland which is separated from the
kingdom of Scotland by a narrow strait and is named
Ulster. There had chanced to come from Scotland
thither, as legate of the Apostolic See, one Vivianus,
a man of great eloquence ; he had been respectfully
received by the king and bishops of the province, and
was staying for the time being in the maritime state
called Down. Now when the approach of the enemy
was reported, the Irish consulted the legate as to
what should be done at such a crisis. He replied
that they should fight for their fatherland, and on
their deciding to do so gave them his benediction and
offered up prayers for their success. Animated by
this they rushed boldly to battle, but were easily
overcome and put to flight by the mail-clad cavalry
and the archers of" the English. In consequence of
* Connaught, which practically maintained its independence,
was Keltic ; but it had great geographical advantages.
1 177 SUPERSTITION IN ULSTER. 97
this defeat the city of Down fell into the hands of the
victors. Then the Roman legate took refuge with
his attendants in a church which was renowned for
the relics of saints. But he was a prudent man, and
had provided himself with letters from the king of the
English to his officials in Ireland, to the end that
backed by their good-will he might carry out the duties
of his legation among the barbarians. Protected by
the authority of these credentials, he passed on to
Dublin, and, acting confidently in the name either
of his lord the pope or of the king of the English,
called together the bishops and abbots of the island
and proclaimed a general council [March 13^, 1177].
But on his 'proposing with too much precipitancy to
introduce the Romish discipline into the simple native
church, he received notice from the royal officers to
depart out of the country or to lend his support to
their arms ; whereupon he returned to Scotland, laden
with less of the longed-for Irish gold than he had
hoped to carry off with him. John de Courci and his
followers had now occupied the adjacent territory of
Downpatrick as well as the town itself, and, after
repelling the attacks of the Irish princes, went on to
take Armagh by storm. This is considered the
metropolitan city of Ireland, out of reverence for St.
Patrick and other saints of the land whose sacred
relics are deposited there. He thus subdued the
whole district. The people of this province [ Ulster]
are said to have been until that time superstitious
beyond all the Irish tribes in the matter of the cele-
bration of Easter. For, as I have been told by a
G
98 A VICTORY OF DE COURCL 1177
certain venerable bishop of that race, they think they
are doing service to God in accumulating through
the year by theft and rapine goods to be wastefully
consumed during the Paschal solemnities in providing
most extravagant banquets, in honour, forsooth, of
our Lord. And there used to be great rivalry among
them lest haply any one should be surpassed by his
fellows in the lavish preparation of viands and dishes.
But this most superstitious custom they relinquished
together with their liberty when conquered.
(We may notice here in passing a complete change of front in
the policy of Vivianus, who at the synod he convoked at Dublin
enjoined submission to the English king under pain of excom-
munication. See, too, a note on Gerald, II. 19, below.)
A.D. 1177. — [Victory of de Courci at Downpatrick.]
Annals of Innisfallen : 1177; 0 ] Donovan's Translation
from the Irish.
" Melaghlin O'Neill, at the head of the Kinel-Owen
[men of Keneleonid], and Rory \Roderic\ Mac Donlevy,
at the head of the Ulidians, accompanied by the
archbishop of Armagh, . . . the bishop of Ulidia
\Dowri\, and the clergy of the north of Ireland,
repaired with their noble relics * to Downpatrick, to
take it from John de Courci. A fierce battle was
fought between them, in which the Kinel-Owen and
Ulidians were defeated, with the loss of 500 men.
* Cp. the sacred host and the banners of the saints in the
English army at the battle of the Standard in 1138, and the
" carroccio " of the Italian republics.
1 1 77 DESCRIPTION OF DE COURCL 99
. . . The archbishop of Armagh, the bishop of
Down, and all the clergy were taken prisoners ; and
the English got possession of the crosiers of St.
Comgall* and St. Dachiarog,f the Book of Armagh, J
besides a Bell called Ceolan an Tighearna [musical
bell of the Kings\. They afterwards, however, set the
bishops at liberty, and restored the Book of Armagh
and the Bell, but they killed all the inferior clergy,
and kept the other noble relics, which . . . are still
in the hands of the English."
A description of John de Courci.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xviii.
John de Courci was a tall, fair man, with big-boned,
muscular limbs, large of frame and powerfully built.
He had great personal strength, and his intrepidity was
remarkable. A born soldier, in action he was always
to be found in the van taking upon himself the brunt
of the battle. Such was his impatience and his eager-
ness for the fray, that, even when in command, he
would usually forget that a general should be calm
and self-possessed : the leader became lost in the
soldier. With headlong impetuosity he habitually flew
to the front, so that there was a risk that if his men
* Flourished circa 550. His saint's day is May loth.
" Every Sunday he used to eat " (Martyrology of Donegal).
f Prophet, and patron saint of Errigal-Keeroge in Tyrone :
commemorated on May 7th.
\ Written about the beginning of the ninth century. It
' contained the New Testament, the canon of St. Patrick, a sketch
of his life, etc. This MS., which is on vellum and written in
Old Irish and Latin, is still in existence.
100 DESCRIPTION OF DE COURCI. 1177
wavered in their support of him, victory would be lost
through his seeking it with too much haste. Yet
although in the excitement of a fight he knew no
restraint and acted more like an ordinary man-at-arms
than a commander, in private life he was a discreet
and sober-minded man ; one, moreover, who yielded
proper reverence to the Church of Christ. For he
was at all times a regular attendant at divine worship,
and showed by public thanksgiving that he ascribed
to the heavenly grace any success that he attained.
Did he achieve a deed of glory, the glory of that deed
he recognized as due to God. But since, as Tully
says, ' No one thing has Nature elaborated to absolute
perfection in every point,' * the blemishes of extreme
parsimony and inconstancy stained the snowy white-
ness of the many virtues I have mentioned.
He married a daughter of Guthred, king of Man,
and after a long and severe struggle, in which the
fortune of war shifted now to this side, now to that,
he at length firmly established himself as the con-
queror and kept the country under by building castles
in advantageous positions throughout the whole of
Ulster. Thus he finally restored peace and settled
order, though only after undergoing much toil and
privation and many dangers.
It strikes me, by the way, as a remarkable fact that
these four main pillars of the Irish conquest, Fitz-
Stephen, Hervey, Reimund, and John de Courci, by
some mysterious though doubtless equitable ordinance
of the Almighty, were not deemed deserving of the
* Cic. Inv. ii. 3.
1 1 77 INVASION OF CONNAUGHT. IOI
blessing of lawful issue by their wives. I might add
to these a fifth, namely, Meiler, whose wife up to the
present time has borne him no offspring.
A.D. 1177.— Invasion of Connaught.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xix.
After this,* Milo de Cogan, who under Fitz-Aldelm
was Constable of the garrison of Dublin, and had for
the second time been appointed Warden of the City,
with 40 men-at-arms — 20 of whom were led by Ralph,
a son of Fitz-Stephen, and a youth of great promise — ,
200 mounted retainers and 300 bowmen, crossed
the Shannon and boldly invaded Connaught, which
hitherto had not been attacked by the English. Then
the men of Connaught with their own hands set fire
to their towns and villages in all directions. They
burnt, too, their churches, and whatever provisions
could not be hidden in the crypts.f Finally, in order
to bring scandal upon our people and to call forth
the divine vengeance upon their heads, they took
down the crucifixes and the images of the saints and
* The synod at Dublin.
t As in England during the Danish invasions treasures were
often concealed in the crypts of the monasteries, so in Ireland in
troublous times provisions were carried to the churches for safe
keeping. The legate Vivianus had ordered that the English
troops were to have the right of buying such stores on due
payment [Gerald, II. 19], The buildings were burnt that they
might not be used as quarters by the English. The Irish
houses, and usually even the churches, were built of wood and
wattle-work ; hence the need for and use of the Round Towers.
IO2 DESCRIPTION OF FITZ-STEPHEN. 11;
strewed them over the plains in the path of our ad-
vancing forces. The English troops penetrated as
as Tuam, which is the chief city of those parts, an<
made a stay of eight days in the land of the enemy
but finding the country stripped of supplies, they thei
fell back upon the Shannon. There they foun<
Roderic, king of Connaught, posted in a wood net
the river, with his host in three large divisions,
fierce engagement ensued, but de Courci, after makinj
much slaughter among the Irishry, got off with the
loss of only three archers, and retreated to Dublin.*
(This same year, 1177, Fitz-Aldelm was recalled together with
Milo de Cogan and Fitz-Stephen, and Hugh de Laci was sent
out as procurator, while Fitz-Aldelm returned as ' dapifer ' and
governor of Wexford, and Milo de Cogan and Fitz-Stephen as
joint governors of Desmond, Robert le Poer being appointed
' marescallus ' and governor of Waterford. Fitz-Aldelm, ac-
cording to Gerald [who, however, is no friend to him, as his
'descriptio' shows] had not distinguished himself in any way
during his procuratorship.)
A description of [Robert] Fitz-Stephen.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. r. cap. xxvi.
O gallant soul, matchless example of heroism and
true enterprise ! O thou sport of fickle destiny, now
and again prosperous, but far more often not !
* In the " Four Masters " it is stated that this invasion was
prompted by Murrough, son of Roderic, and that the former
was afterwards punished, his father ordering his eyes to be put
out. In early times blindness was for all political purposes
equivalent to death.
H78 DEFEAT OF DE COURCL IO3
Gallant, indeed, who both in Ireland and in Wales bore
with unruffled spirit many a vicissitude of fate !
With weal or woe inconstant Fortune toyed,
By turns he suffered, and by turns enjoyed.*
Verily, Fitz-Stephen, thou wert a second Marius !
For consider the Roman or thyself in the hour of
success, and marvel that success could be so brilliant :
look at thyself or him in adversity, how profound that
adversity !
Fitz-Stephen was a well-favoured man of burly
make, and sound and vigorous health ; in stature
slightly above the middle height. A free liver and
open-handed, he had a hearty way with him : in short
was a right good fellow, but given over-much to wine
and women.
A.D. 1178.— [The two defeats of de Courci in Ulster.]
Annals of the Four Masters: 1178 ; O1 Donovan's
Translation from the Irish.
"John de Courci with his foreigners repaired to
Machaire Conaille [in the level part ofco. LoutK\, and
committed depredations there. They encamped for
a night \by the bridge of Newry] in Glenree [" The
Vale of the river Righe "], where Murrough O'Carroll,
lord of Uriel, and Cooley MacDonlevy, king of
Ulidia, made a hostile attack upon them, and drowned
and otherwise killed 450 of them. 100 of the Irish,
together with O'Hanvy, lord of Hy-Meith-Macha [in
co. Monaghan\ fell in the heat of the battle.
* Luc. Pharsal. n. 131.
IO4 ANOTHER DEFEAT OF DE COURCI. 1178
John de Courci soon after proceeded to plunder
Dalaradia \co. Down] and Hy-Tuirtre [in Ultdia], and
Cumee O'Flynn, lord of Hy-Tuirtre and Firlee [in
co. Antrim], gave battle to him and his foreigners and
defeated them with great slaughter, through the
miracles of Patrick, Columbkille, and Brendan j * and
John himself escaped with difficulty, being severely
wounded, and fled to Dublin.
The Constable of the king of England in Dublin
and East Meath (namely Hugo) f marched with his
forces to Clonmacnoise [in Kings Co] and plundered
all the town except the churches and the bishop's
houses. God and Kieran J wrought a manifest
miracle against them, for they were unable to rest or
sleep, until they had secretly absconded from Cuirr
Cluana on the next day.
The river Galway was dried up for a period of a
natural day ; all the articles that had been lost in it
from remotest times, as well as its fish, were collected
by the inhabitants of the fortress, and by the people
of the country in general."
* St. Brendan, or Brandan, abbot of Clonfert, was the great
sailor-saint. He died in 576, the year before the battle of
Dyrham, and his death day and saint's day is May i6th.
" Seven years on a whale's back he spent,
" It was a difficult mode of piety."
{Martyrology of Donegall).
f Hugh de Laci.
t St. Kieran, founder and first abbot of the monastery of
Clonmacnoise, died September 9th, 549. The day of his death
is his saint's day. He died, then, just when the Angles were
beginning to found the kingdom of Northumbria.
ii82 ASSASSINATION OF DE COG AN. IO5
(From the 5th to the igth of March, 1179, there sat, under
the presidency of pope Alexander iii, the famous " Concilium
Lateranense," the eleventh general council [but first general
council of Lateran], to discuss matters of ecclesiastical discipline.
As representatives of the Irish Church went Laurence O'Toole
archbishop of Dublin, Catholicus archbishop of Tuam, and five
or six bishops).
Benedict. Abbat. Gest. reg. Hen, II. : 1178.
And they \the above prelates] swore to the king on
the Holy Gospels that they designed nothing to the
prejudice of the crown or kingdom of England.
A.D. 1182.— [Assassination of Milo de Cogan : Irish
account.]
Annals of Loch Ct: 1182; Hennessy's Translation
from the Irish.
"Milo de Cogan, after assuming the kingship of
Cork and Desmond, and after plundering Ath-cliath
{Dublin}, and Port-Lairge \Waterf or d\, and Cork;
and after destroying all Erinn, both church and
territory, was slain by Mac Tire, king of Ui-Mac-caille
[in co. Cork], and [there was] a slaughter of foreigners
along with him, (viz.) : — Mac Sleimme, and Thomas
Sugach ("Thomas the Merry"), and Cenn-cuilinn
(Reimund of Kantitune?), and Remunn (Reimund
Fitz-Hugh), and two sons of [Fitz-]Stephen, and a
great many more."
106 ASSASSINATION OF DE CO CAN. 1182
A.D. 1182. — Assassination of Milo de Cogan [Eng-
lish account].
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xx.
Fitz-Stephen and Milo de Cogan had now jointly
governed Desmond in peace for five years, curbing by
the example of their moderation the impetuosity of
the younger men both among their own followers and
among the natives, when Milo and Ralph, a son of
Fitz-Stephen * and lately married to Milo's daughter,
set out for Lismore. While sitting in a field awaiting
a conference with the men of Waterford, they were
suddenly attacked and murdered with axe-blows from
behind by five men headed by the traitor Mac Tire,
who was to have been their host that night. The
opportunity suggested by this calamity at once dis-
turbed the whole country to such an extent that
Dermot Mac Carthy, and with him almost all the
Irish of that region, threw off their allegiance to the
English and rose in revolt against Fitz-Stephen, who
had already so often experienced the mutability of
fortune. Nor did the district afterwards revert to its
former tranquillity until Reimund succeeded as heir
to his uncle Fitz-Stephen and obtained the sole
custody of the city ; f and perhaps not even then.
As it is with all other nations, in the North of
Ireland the inhabitants are warlike, while those of the
southern parts are crafty. The one people seekers
after fame, the other seekers after fraud; the former
* See Gerald, Bk. II. chap. 19 just above.
t Cork.
1 1 83 GERALD COMES OVER. IO?
rest their hopes on war, the latter on their wiles ;
those put forth their strength, these descend to
stratagem ; there we find battle, here betrayal. Perti-
nent to this are the words of the poet : —
Braced by the breezes of the Northern spring,
The warrior comes who knoweth not dismay ;
No fears hath hideous death for him, no sting ;
Nor yieldeth he, nor wavereth in the fray.
But he who droops in burning Southern vales,
Where hot-breathed zephyrs enervate the frame,
Unused to toil, where tilth no toil entails,
Feeble in arms, at coward arts will aim.
Very soon after we find a worthy successor to the
energetic Milo de Cogan in the person of his brother
Richard,* who had been sent to fill the place of the
former by command of the king of the English, and
with him there went a body of picked knights.
When the greater part of the winter had passed, at
the end of February [1183], a nephew of Fitz-Stephen,
Philip de Barri, an upright and judicious man, sailed
over to Ireland with a strong force. He came with
the twofold object of helping his uncle, and of guard-
ing his rights over Olethan,f a territory granted to
him by Fitz-Stephen, but of which he had been wrong-
fully deprived by his cousin Ralph. J
There came, too, in the same vessel another
* See Gerald, I. 21. above.
t South-east part of the modern county of Cork.
\ Mentioned above in this chapter.
108 ADMINISTRATION OF DE LACI. 1177
nephew of Fitz-Stephen, a brother of Philip, who by
his advice gave great assistance to both his uncle and
his brother, and besides was at great pains to investi-
gate the topography, the natural history, and the race-
lore of the island. For he was a diligent student of
letters, and his name stands upon the title-page of this
book.*
It was about this time that Hervey de Montmaurice
retired from the world and became a monk in the
famous monastery of the Holy Trinity at Canterbury.
He had previously endowed that house with the
churches on his lands along the coast between Water-
ford and Wexford. Would that with the cowl he had
assumed a Christian spirit! Would that with his
military career he had laid aside his malice !
A.D. 1177. — How peace and order were established
in. the realm of Ireland by Hugh de Laci.
Girald. Cambr, Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xxi.
To return, however : while these things were going
on in Desmond, Hugh de Laci, who was a man of
great activity, integrity and discretion, had secured
Leinster and Meath by building castles in situations
well chosen for commanding the country. Among
others he erected in a position naturally strong the
castle of Leighlin overlooking die noble river Barrow,
on the Ossory side of the stream, in Odrone.f This
* Giraldus Cambrensis himself.
t Odrone or I drone was a district in the modern county of
Carlow.
1 177 ADMINISTRATION OF DE LACI. 1 09
border post had been held by Robert le Poer, but he
was withdrawn by the king's command.
A pretty pair of lords marchers these fellows Robert
le Poer \le Pauvre] and Fitz-Aldelm were to be sent
to a land which wanted men of dignity and valour to
defend it !
So doth a freak of fate, amazing all,
Some low-born carl to giddy greatness haul.*
They were warriors —
Who loved to loll in lady's bower,
And to twang the guitar by the lazy hour j
But shrank from the notion of war's alarms,
From the shield that would tire their delicate arms ;
Then the terrible lance ! And their tears would gush
At the thought how a helmet their curls would crush ;
Such were the bold lords marchers whom the king had placed
in power.
Indeed it is a wonder that so magnificent and
vigorous a prince should, simply for personal reasons,
have appointed to the wardenships of far-distant
borders men so unlike himself, mere degraded and
spiritless parasites of his court
But Hugh de Laci, who was none of this sort, made
it his first care to peacefully reinstate the natives who
after having submitted to the above-mentioned knaves,
had been violently ejected by them from their terri-
tory. To these he restored the pastures which had
been lying deserted by their herds, and the fields
which had been robbed of their cultivators. Having
by his clemency and strict adherence to agreements
* Juv. iii. 39,
110 GRANT TO WILLIAM PETIT. 1177
won the confidence and good-will of the Irish in the
country parts, he next by degrees got the townsfolk
everywhere under control, and compelled them to
submit to his rule and obey the laws. In this way he
brought about that the ruin and disorganization caused
by his predecessors was reduced to order ; and where
others had reaped only toil and trouble, he was the
first to realize satisfactory results. In fine, before
long he had established such peace in the land, had
so bountifully enriched all his adherents at the expense
of his opponents, so gained the hearts of the natives
by his liberal treatment of them and by his affability,
while he allied himself personally with their chiefs, as
to give rise to a strong suspicion that he had it in his
mind to throw off his allegiance and seize for himself
the royal dignity.
[Grant of land by Hugh de Laci to William the
Little.]
Translated from the vellum MS. in the Clarendon Collection.
[Labelletf] A genuine copy of an ancient charter
granted by Hugh de Laci to William the Little.
Hugh de Laci to all sons of Holy Mother Church
and to his liegemen and friends, French and English
and Irish, greeting. Know ye that I have given and
granted, and by the present charter confirmed to
William the Little and to his heirs Matherothirnan
with all its purtenances, except the lake and vill which
is called Dissert [Dysart] and one knight's fee around
the aforesaid town which I retain in my own hands,
1177 DESCRIPTION OF DE LACL III
except also two vills, to wit, Rauakonnil and Clonra —
\obliterated\ which I have before given to Adam de
Totipon [sic], and except half of the wood which is
between Rauakonnil and Killar, of which wood the
moiety that is nearest to Rauakonnil I have before
given to the aforesaid Adam. [I grant] besides to
the aforesaid William the Little and to his heirs as an
addition two lands which do not belong to the afore-
said land, to wit, Levelkeil and Kleonkelli, together
with the aforesaid land : to be had and held in fee
and in inheritance of me and of my heirs freely and
undisturbed, honourably and fully, in churches and
chapels, in wood and plain, in meadows and pastures,
in ways and byways, in waters and fisheries, in ponds
and mills and hunting grounds, with all liberties and
free customs thence arising for the service of one
knight \obliterated\ thirty carucates * of the aforesaid
land. Given at Killar. These witnesses : Robert de
Hautvilliers ; Gilbert de Nugent ; Robert de Bigarz ;
Simon de Bigarz ; Meiler Fitz-Henry ; Thomas Fitz-
Alfred; Nicholas de Dinon ; John de Eustreville;
William de Fuone, priest ; Nicholas de Vico ; Radulf,
clerk ; Philip, clerk, f
A description of Hugh de Laci.
Girald. Cambr, Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xxii.
If you wish to know what Hugh de Laci was like,
picture to yourself a swarthy man with small, black,
* A carucate was one hundred acres.
t This barony of Petit is in West Meath, and the Petite
became barons of Mullingar.
112 RECALL OF DE LAC1. 1181
deeply-sunken eyes, a flat nose, and his right cheek
disfigured down to the chin by an ugly scar caused
by some accidental burn : a man with a short neck
and a hairy and muscular body, though small and ill-
made. With all this, however, he had considerable
strength of character and resolution, and for temper-
ance was a very Frenchman. He was a careful man
in his private affairs, and when in office most vigilant
in the discharge of public business. Although he had
had much experience in military matters, still he was
not fortunate as a general, and in his campaigns
frequently sustained reverses. After the death of his
wife, he fell into habits of lax morality. His fondness
for money amounted to avarice; but he was also
ambitious beyond measure of honour and renown.
A.D. 1181.— The coming of John the constable and
Richard, de Pec.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xxiii.
In this condition of things, and when the above
suspicions were continually being intensified by report,
there came into the island about the ist of May John,
Constable of Chester, and Richard de Pec, who had
been sent across by the king of the English to recall
Hugh and to take over the government as joint com-
missioners.* But before Hugh left they all consulted
* Howden is silent about these suspicions, and gives as the
reason for Laci's recall that he had married the daughter of the
king of Connaught without Henry's consent [which, however,
would in itself be a suspicious step], and according to the usage
ii8o DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP LAURENCE. 113
together and built a large number of castles through-
out Leinster ; for till that time there had been plenty
in Meath, but too few in the former province.
*****
This castle-building was carried out during the
summer, and in the following winter John and Richard
were recalled to England, and Hugh, who had allayed
the royal suspicions, returned again to his charge.
But a certain clerk, one Robert of Shrewsbury, was
associated with him on the king's behalf, to act as his
coadjutor and adviser, and to keep an eye on his
doings. Hugh, on his arrival, set himself again to
building more castles.
A.D. 1180.— Death of Laurence, archbishop of
Dublin, at Eu, and succession of John Comyn.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xxiv.
Meanwhile Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, had
died at Eu, a town of Normandy, on Friday, November
i4th,* 1180. He was a good and just man, but,
of that country, which may refer to the Irish custom of marriage
on trial for one year from the feast of Samhain (Allhallows) to the
feast of Samhain. Cf. Book of Rights, edited by O'Donovan,
p. 243 ; Campion, Historic of Ireland, p. 23 j Irish Nennius,
pp. 179, 182.
* Laurence O'Toole, archbishop of Dublin, 1162-1180, was
canonized, the day of his death, November I4th, being his saint's
day. The chief points to note concerning him in connection
with England and the English conquest of Ireland are (i) His
mediating at Dublin in 1170 between Dermot and the Ostmen,
probably because he regarded Dermot as lawful over-king of the
H
114 DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP LAURENCE. 1180
through zeal for his nation, as it is said, had asserted
when present at the Lateran council certain eccle-
siastical privileges which are opposed to the royal
dignity. For this reason he had fallen under the
king's displeasure, and had been detained ever since
either in England or across the sea in France. At
Eu, however, he found a happy end to a life which
exile had rendered burdensome. In connection with
him, among various miracles which God — manifesting
His wonders even in our days — wrought in the
person of this His saint, the following marvel that
occurred in those parts stands out conspicuous above
the rest. When this holy man was seized at Abbeville
with mortal sickness, he refused to listen to the advice
of his attendants that he should remain where he was,
for he said that his place was not there. But passing
thence towards the town of Eu, as soon as he caught
sight of the cathedral of St. Mary, and heard that it
was dedicated to the blessed Virgin, he prophetically
quoted the verse that says " This is my resting-place
for ever : Here will I dwell ; for I have desired it." *
Norse settlers in the city ; for since the battle of Clontarf in
1014 the Ostmen had admitted the supremacy of the Irish
princes. (2) His joining the native league of 1171 under Roderic
of Connaught, which besieged the earl in Dublin. (3) His sub-
mission to Henry in 1171 or 1172 with the other prelates at the
synod of Cashel. The reasons for this were probably a. Re-
sistance appeared hopeless, b. There seemed a chance of some
reform of public morality, c. There was a prospect of the ad-
vancement of the Church of Ireland. (4) His attitude in 1179
at the Lateran council, which offended the English king, as
related in this chapter.
* Ps. 132. 14.
n8i SUCCESSION OF ARCHBISHOP JOHN. 115
And in that very town within a few days was he
released from human cares, and buried with due
solemnities in its cathedral. Nor did the Lord suffer
his light to be hid, but also proclaimed him by work-
ing many potent signs and prodigies at his tomb.
He was succeeded by John Comyn, an Englishman
by nationality,* who through the royal influence was
elected at Evesham in England by the clergy of
Dublin with sufficient unanimity and concord, f By
the Roman pontiff Lucius he was at Veletri ordained
a cardinal priest { and consecrated an archbishop.
He was a learned and eloquent man, who by his zeal
in the cause of justice and his appreciation of what
was due to the exalted office to which he had been
raised, would have greatly improved the position and
condition of the Irish Church, had not the crosier
been ever held in check by the sword, the priesthood
by the kingly power, virtue by jealousy. For even as
the flesh is opposed to the spirit, so are carnal men
opposed to those who are spiritual ; so do the servants
of Caesar strive with unending malice against the
soldiers of Christ
* His family held lands in Scotland.
t Hoveden does not mention any election by the clergy of
Dublin, and it is difficult to see how they could have elected
him at Evesham. Perhaps Gerald means that a notification of
his election was sent to him there, or that a deputation from the
Dublin clergy met him at that place on his way to Ireland.
J There is no other authority for this statement. The pope
was Lucius III. [1181-5], who succeeded Alexander III.
Il6 COMING OF THE KING'S SON JOHN. 1184-5
A.D. 1184. — The sending of John, archbishop of
Dublin, into Ireland.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xxv.
The king of the English now determined to carry
into effect a design which he had long entertained,
namely the transferring of the lordship of all Ireland
to his youngest son John, who, with his father's assent,
had shortly before received the homage of the people
of that land. He, therefore, about the ist of August,
despatched John, archbishop of Dublin, as precursor,
to arrange for the coming of the prince. Forthwith
Hugh de Laci was recalled, and about the ist of
September Philip of Worcester, a sumptuous and
liberal man but a good soldier, was sent over as pro-
curator in his stead with 40 men-at-arms.*
A.D. 1185. — The coming into Ireland of John, the
king's son.
Rob*** de Monte.
[John], whom men call ' Lackland,' though he has
broad possessions of his own and swarms of retainers,
crossed over to Ireland, the grace of God permitting
him to be king in that country.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xxxii.
When all that was wanted for so important an
expedition had by his father's care been provided and
* Hugh de Laci disregarded the royal commands and re-
mained in Ireland (see below sub anno 1 1 86).
n85 AN UNLUCKY OMEN. 117
prepared, in the following Lent, John, the English
king's youngest son, on whom had been conferred
the government of Ireland, travelled along the coast-
road of South Wales * and arrived at Pembroke. He
was accompanied throughout his journey up to the point
of embarkation by that eminent man Ralph de Glan-
ville, then chief privy councillor of the king and
Justiciar of all England. On the fourth day of Pass-
over [Wednesday, April 24^], the wished-for east
wind came, and the prince went on board the noble
fleet which was lying in Milford Haven. But as the
suitable breeze had sprung up sooner than was
expected, John had omitted to pay his visit to the
venerable cathedral of St. David. This was an
unlucky omen.f
At eventide they stood out to sea, and the passage
was made by about noon the next day, when they put
in at Waterford and there landed, to the number of
some 300 men-at-arms and many mounted retainers
and archers.
Then were again fulfilled the prophecies of Merlin
•the Wild which were applied above to the prince's
father. J To these he adds touching the son : —
Born of the fell fire-king, a sparklet prince shall dart
His bolt of icy fear to Erin's quaking heart.
Prince John thus landed in Ireland in the 22nd
year of his age, in the i3th year from the invasion of
* See above Gerald, Bk. I. chaps. 16 and 28.
f His father had not forgotten in 1171 to pay his devotions at
St. David's, and to commend his Irish " crusade " to Heaven.
J See above Gerald, Bk. I. chap. 30.
Il8 GERALD COMES WITH JOHN. 1185
his father, the i4th from that of the earl, the i5th
from that of Fitz-Stephen,* and in the year 1185 from
the incarnation of our Lord : Lucius [III.] the suc-
cessor of Alexander III. being pope, Frederic [L]
emperor, and Philip [II.] son of Lewis [VII.] king of
France.
Several ecclesiastics went over in the same ship
with the prince, one of whom had been specially sent
by the king to attend him. This man was a diligent
enquirer into natural history, and having spent in all
two years in the island — reckoning both visits together
— brought back with him as the worthy reward of his
labours the materials for his Prophetic History \ and
his Topography. % Afterwards, when in Brittany, he
devoted such time as he could spare from his duties
at court to carefully digesting and arranging these
notes. This took five years, three of which were
occupied in the composition of the Topography, two
were given to the Prophetic History : works which
though they are looked at askance by men to-day, will
assuredly be read by posterity ; though carped at by
the former, will afford pleasure to the latter ; regarded
with despite as they are now, will be valued in the
ages yet to come.
* The figures are not correct. John was in his nineteenth
year, and the succeeding numbers should be fourteen, fifteen,
and sixteen respectively.
f The "Expugnatio Hibernica" is often called by Gerald
" Vaticinalis Historia."
t The " Topographia Hibernica."
ii85 JOHATS CHARTERS. 119
A.D. 1185. — Prince John's Dublin charter.
Archives of Dublin.
' John, son of the lord king of England, and lord of
Ireland, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls,
barons, justices, constables, officers, and all his bailiffs
and liegemen, French, English, and Irish greeting :
Know ye that I have conceded and by my present
charter confirmed to my men of Bristol the grant
which the lord king of England, my father, made to
them : to wit my city of Dublin to dwell in.
Wherefore I will, and steadfastly enjoin, that they
have and hold it of me and of my heirs, well and
in peace, freely and undisturbed, entirely and fully
and honourably, with all liberties and free customs
which the men of Bristol have in Bristol and throughout
all the land of the lord king of England, my father, as
his charter witnesseth.
Witnesses : Hugh de Laci, constable ; Bertram de
Verdun, my seneschal ; Gilbert Pipard ; William de
Wennecy, steward ; Alard, my chamberlain ; Adam de
Hereford ; Philip de Worcester ; Robert de Mortemer.
At Kildare.
A.D. 1185. — "John grants to the canons of St.
Thomas of Dublin the tenth of ale which he
has by usage from the taverns of Dublin and
also his custom of ale and metheglin" \mead-
liquor~\.
Archives of Dublin.
I. John, son of the lord king of England, and lord
of Ireland, to his bailiffs of Ireland greeting :
I2O GRANT OF ALE AND METHEGLIN. 1185
Know ye that I have given unto God and the
canons of St. Thomas of Dublin the tenth of ale which
I have by usage from the taverns of Dublin for the
maintenance of the same canons, and therefore stead-
fastly enjoin that they have and hold it well and in
peace.
Witness : brother Richard, my almoner.* At
Windsor.
II. John, son of the king of England, and lord of
Ireland, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls,
barons, justices, constables, and all his bailiffs
throughout Ireland greeting :
Know ye that I, for the salvation of my soul and
the souls of my ancestors, have given and granted
and by this my present charter confirmed to God and
to the church of St Thomas at Dublin, and to the
canons serving the same house, in free and perpetual
alms f for ever the customs of ale and mead which I
have been accustomed to have in the taverns of
Dublin.
Wherefore I will and steadfastly enjoin that the
aforesaid church and the aforesaid canons have and
hold the aforesaid custom from the aforesaid taverns,
well and in peace, freely and undisturbed, entirely
and fully and honourably, with all the purtenances
thereof, as ever I fullest held the same.
Witnesses : John Marshal ; William Marshal ;
Bertram de Verdun; Gilbert Pipard; Galfrid de
Constentin ; Roger de Ilanes ; and Alexander Arsic. '
* A Templar. f Frankalmoigne.
n8s ILL GOVERNMENT OF JOHN. 121
A.D. 1185. — [Irish account of the administration of
prince John.]
Annals of the Four Masters : 1185; O* Donovan's
Translation from the Irish.
" The son of the king of England, that is, John, the
son of Henry II., came to Ireland with a fleet of 60
ships, to assume the government of the kingdom.
He took possession of Dublin and Leinster, and
erected castles at Tipraid Fachtna [in S. W. Kilkenny}
and Ardfinan [in Tipperary\ out of which he plundered
Munster; but his people were defeated with great
slaughter by Donnell O'Brien [king of Thomon£\
The son of the king of England then returned to
England * to complain to his father of Hugh de Laci,
who was the king of England's deputy in Ireland on
his (John's) arrival, and who had prevented the Irish
kings from sending him (John) either tribute or
hostages."
A.D. 1185. — [The ill government of prince John.]
Benedict. Abbat. Gest. reg. Hen. II. : 1185.
But prince John himself met with scant success ;
partly because of the defection of those natives who
ought to have held loyally to him, but especially
because he would not pay his hired knights and
soldiers. In the repeated conflicts which occurred
between his followers and the Irishry, the royal army
* As prince John was superseded by John de Courci in
September 1185, his rule in Ireland lasted only five months, and
he returned to England in the following December.
122 A DEFENCE OF THE INVASION. 1185
fell almost entirely to pieces. For most of the cavalry
and footmen who had come over with him deserted,
and arrayed themselves on the side of the natives
against him. And so it happened that the aforesaid
John, the king's son, owing to his greed, found him-
self without support and had to leave Ireland and
return to England.
Of the credit due to Fitz-Stephen, the earl, and the
king, and how far they may be acquitted of
certain charges.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. n. cap. xxxiii.
We have seen that Fitz-Stephen led the way and
opened a path for the earl, the earl for the king, the
king for his son John. Much credit, therefore, is due
to him who had the enterprise and the hardihood
to set the first precedent. Much, too, to him who as
it were formed the connecting link, and lent an
additional impulse to the undertaking so gallantly
begun. Yet far more praise still must we yield to
him who added the weight of his great authority in
order to complete and consummate the conquest
Here I must call attention to the fact that Fitz-
Stephen and the earl, both of whom aided in the just
restoration of Dermot, the one on terms of vassalage,
the other as being allied to him by marriage with his
daughter, founded their position on his grants, and
therefore are clearly not mere freebooters so far as
Leinster is concerned. As for the case of Waterford,
however, and those parts of Desmond and Meath
1 1 85 HOW THE CONQUEST WAS HINDERED. 12$
which the earl seized in so high-handed a manner,
I have no excuse to offer. Now the lordship over
the fifth part of the island, which was unquestionably
the earl's in right of his wife, he transferred in full to
the king of the English ; while the rest of the Irish
princes by spontaneously and without delay offering
themselves as vassals to the king, gave the latter an
indubitable supremacy over the whole of Ireland.
Wherefore, to say nothing of the arguments, new or
old, which have been previously adduced in support
of this claim, from the above considerations alone it
is absolutely plain that the English entered the country
by no means so unjustly as some ignorant persons
imagine.*
Of the lets and delays to the full and perfect con-
quest of Ireland.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xxxiv.
Happy would this island have been, long since
would it have been vigorously and successfully sub-
dued from end to end, long since reduced without
difficulty to systematic order and kept well in hand
by the building of castles from sea to sea in com-
manding situations on every side, had it not been for
the royal edict which cut off the supplies of the first
invaders ; or rather, perhaps I should say if domestic
plots t had not so prematurely recalled the king from
* In the Annals of Loch Ce, sub anno 1170, the adventurers
are called pirates.
f The rebellion in 1173 of the king's sons, abetted by the
queen.
124 HOW THE CONQUEST WAS HINDERED. 1185
that proud and noble expedition which he conducted
himself in person.
Happy, too, if the worth of the original conquerors
had been only appreciated as it deserved, and the
care and conduct of the government been committed
to the strong hands of those brave and trusty men.
For the natives of the land at our first coming had
been astounded and thrown into consternation by the
startling novelty of the event, and were terrified at
the speed with which the archers shot and at the
might of the heavy men-at-arms. But delay — which
ever brings danger in its train — , the protracted,
dilatory, and feeble character of the conquest, and
the unskilmlness and cowardice of procurators and
governors who only lulled their own side into a false
security, all combined to give them heart. Moreover,
by gradual and careful training in the use of the bow
and other weapons, by learning caution and studying
the art of ambuscade, by the confidence gained from
frequently engaging in conflict with our troops, lastly
taught by our very successes, these Irishmen whom
at first we could rout with ease, became able to offer
a stout resistance.
Read the Book of the Kings, read the Prophets,
go through the whole of the Old Testament ; con-
sider, too, the familiar examples of our own times,
our own country ; never will ^ou find an instance of
a nation being conquered except in punishment for
its sins. Either, then, the Irish race, which for its
crimes and vices had deserved to be chastised by
foreign invasion, had still not yet so irretrievably
1 1 85 FOUR PROPHETS OF IRELAND. 12$
offended the Supreme Judge as to merit entire de-
struction or subjection : or the English people had
not yet by reason of their virtues been deemed worthy
of obtaining full power and peaceful mastery over the
nation that they had partially vanquished and sub-
dued. Therefore, neither having altogether forfeited
or altogether earned the favour of Heaven, perchance
it was the Divine vengeance which kept both so long
in a state of war, in such a way that the one has never
yet quite reached the pinnacle of victory, the other
has never quite bowed the neck to the yoke of
servitude.
The Irish have four prophets, Moling, Berchan,*
Patrick, and Columba,t whose writings are in Irish
and still extant among them. They speak of this
conquest, and all pronounce that it will be terrible,
entailing many battles, a long struggle, and much
bloodshed, which will continue into the times of far-
distant generations. Indeed, they hardly allow that
complete victory will be attained by the English, and
the island be entirely subjugated from sea to sea and
planted with castles, before the Day of Judgment.
Berchan, moreover, avers that after the English have
experienced reverses there and been weakened by
* St. Berchan, circa 690, about contemporary with Bede.
Half his life was spent in Alba (Scotland), half in Erin. His
saint's day is December 4th. For St. Moling see above Expug.
Hibern. Lib. I. cap. 16. For St. Patrick see below Top.
Hibern. Dis. I. cap. 28.
t St. Columba, born 521, died 597, the year of the conversion
of Kent His saint's day is June 9th.
126 HERACLIOS. 1185
defeat, from the solitary mountains of Patrick* an
unknown king shall come, who will storm a certain
castle in the wooded parts of Ophelan,f and drive
almost all of them out of Ireland. These same
prophets, however, also assert that England shall
always hold the eastern seaboard of the island.
A.D. 1185.— The causes of the untoward events.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern, Lib. II. cap. xxxvi.
I should say, then, that the prime cause of all
was that whereas the king ought in response to the
solemn call of the patriarch J to have set out at once
in his own person, or might at least with ready devo-
tion and obedience to Christ have sent one of the
princes in his stead, he did nothing of the kind.
Nay, at the very time of that sacred summons, and
while the holy legate was actually present in his court,
he despatched this son of his, with an equipment that
was more costly than serviceable, not to the East but
* Now Croagh-Patrick [St. Patrick's hill] in county Mayo.
f The northern half of the modern county Kildare.
\ This was Heraclios, patriarch of Jerusalem, who had come
backed by a letter from the pope [Lucius iii.] to urge the English
king to lead a crusade against the Saracens, for the Latin
kingdom of Jerusalem was then threatened by Saladin. Henry,
who had little crusading zeal, decided that his duties at home
required his presence and attention, and his promise of a dona-
tion was not sufficient to soothe the indignant patriarch. During
his visit Heraclios, who was accompanied by the grand masters
of the Templars and the Knights Hospitallers of St. John as
fellow envoys, consecrated the Temple Church and also that of
St. John, Clerkenwell,
ii85 FOLLY OF JOHN.
to the West, not against Saracens but against Chris-
tians, thus seeking his own advantage not that of Jesus
Christ.
Again, immediately on the landing of the king's son
there met him at Waterford the leading natives of
those parts, men who had up to that time been loyal
and peacefully inclined and who came to welcome
him as their lord and receive him with the kiss of
peace. But our people who were new to the land
and the Normans in the royal train sneezed and
laughed at them; and not content with this rudely
pulled them by their beards, which they wore long
and bushy according to the fashion of their country.*
As soon, however, as they made their escape they
departed out of the neighbourhood with their families
and goods and transferred their allegiance some to
the king of the men of Limerick, some to the prince
of those of Cork, others to Roderic of Connaught,
and laid before them a full account of all they had
seen and experienced in connection with the king's
son. They said that the prince was a mere boy, sur-
rounded by a troop of striplings like himself; that, as
might be expected from his years, his tastes and pur-
suits were childish, and that judging from their own
observations there was no prospect of anything like
mature or stable counsels, nor even of tranquillity for
Irishmen.
On hearing this report, the three chief pillars of
* The kiss of peace offered by these bearded chieftains,
however well meant, was a familiarity which outraged Angevin
notions of court etiquett^.
128 GENERAL LEAGUE AGAINST JOHN 1185
Ireland at that time, the kings of Limerick, Con-
naught, and Cork, who were just about to wait upon
the prince in order to tender him their allegiance,
bethought themselves that these comparatively petty
troubles foreboded greater ones to come. For if
insults such as this were offered to trusty and peace-
able subjects, what sort of treatment was to be looked
for by those like themselves who had proudly asserted
their independence by force of arms ! They therefore
conferred together, and unanimously decided to resist,
and to defend with their lives their ancient rights and
liberties. The better to carry this determination into
effect, a general league was made, and those became
friends again who before had been at feud.
I speak from my own knowledge ; and to the truth
of what I say I can bear witness from personal expe-
rience. Inasmuch as we insolently spurned the loyal
advances made to us by the natives who met us first,
since God at all times shatters the proud, by our
conduct on that occasion we deterred not only them
but all the chief men of the island from uniting with
us in the ties of friendship.
For this people, like all other barbarous races,
although they know not what honour is, yet delight
beyond measure to be honoured themselves. And
though to be convicted of falsehood stirs in them
neither fear nor shame, still by their contempt for liars
and their respect for honest men, they show that they
esteem in others a virtue of which they blush not to
find themselves entirely destitute.
What evils can arise from insolence a wise man
n85 THE NEW-COMERS. 12$
may see from the case of Rehoboam the son of
Solomon, and taught by the example of another's
misfortune, may learn to shun what it is expedient to
avoid. For he, following after the counsels of foolish
young men, answered his people and said " My little
finger is thicker than my father's loins, and if he
chastised you with whips, I will chastise you with
scorpions."* By this he alienated from him the ten
tribes and they adhered to Jeroboam ; so a schism
was made in the nation, and he lost them for ever.
In addition to the above reasons, the lands of the
friendly Irish, who from the first arrival of Fitz-Stephen
and the earl had faithfully stood by us, contrary to
our promises we took away and gave to new-comers
from England ; while the ejected natives at once joined
our enemies and became hostile spies, guides for them
instead of as formerly guides for us, all the more
dangerous from our previous intercourse.
The custody, too, of the castles and maritime towns
with their adjacent lands, and the control of tribute
therefrom which should have been expended for the
public good and to the detriment of our adversaries,
were entrusted to mere lucre-hunters, who skulked
behind their stone walls, gave themselves up to
continual drunkenness, and aimlessly squandered and
wasted right and left to the ruin of the burghers and
the advantage of the foe.
There was this also besides the other mischiefs,
that directly the king's son appeared in the land,
among a people who were warlike, hostile, rebellious,
* I Kings xii. 10 and n.
I3O INCOMPETENCE OF THE NEW-COMERS. 1185
and savage, a people in short in no mood to yield
obedience, both the civil government and the military
command got into the clutches of men who had in
their composition more of the thief than the soldier,
knights of the carpet rather than knights of the field,
rascals intent less on attacking the enemy than on
looting the good citizens. Men, I say, and marchers,
forsooth, such as Fitz-Aldelm and his like, under whom
both Wales and Ireland — since he was governor in
each — had to bewail their decay. For they were
fellows who neither kept faith with the subdued nor
struck the slightest fear into their opponents; strangers
to that noble sentiment of higher minds which prompts
us * To spare the humbled and beat down the proud,' *
but rather, on the contrary, their way was * leaving
the foe unharmed, the vanquished to despoil.'
Whence it happens that nothing has been done to
establish a settled state of things in the island, either
by making incursions into the hostile districts, by the
erection of castles, or by the opening up of the forest-
roads — the ' ill ways,' as they are commonly called —
for the security of passengers by felling and removing
the trees.
The bands of mercenaries followed the example set
by their betters, and behaved in the same way as their
masters, giving themselves up to wine and women and
taking good care to keep mside the towns on the sea-
board. Thus the inland parts, which lay nearer to
the enemy, and are called march-lands (perhaps Mars'
lands, from Mars, would have been a better name for
* Verg. y£». vi. 853.
ii85 GENERAL CONFUSION. 131
them*) were left entirely deserted and unprotected,
and the undefended villages and fortified posts situated
between the marches and the coast were abandoned
to rapine, slaughter and fire. In the growing insolence
of the new-comers, the veteran soldiers of the early
leaders were slighted and regarded with scant favour ;
but they kept in the background and held their peace,
waiting quietly to see to what all this extravagance and
disorder would eventually lead.
In the mean time, however, the state of the island
was this : — confusion and misery were rife on every
side ; not a road was safe ; from the axe of the native
there was no protection ; each day brought us new
rumours of disaster to our people. Such was the
condition of things in the open country. It was only
in the towns that even the semblance of order was
preserved, and there all care was drowned in wine,
and gold was a full consolation for any blunders or
troubles outside the walls.
Over and above this, although at such a crisis, with
the storm of war impending, it was high time for
military action, certainly no season for legal actions,
yet every one was so engrossed in lawsuits, that the old
soldiers f were harassed more by their opponents within
the fortifications than by the enemy without.
Thus our power was crippled and enfeebled while
the boldness and aggression of the enemy increased.
Things went on in this way until the new-comers
* This, of course, is mere rhetoric; but Gerald can never
pass by an opportunity for a pun or a conceit.
t The veterans who had served under the early invaders,
132 A VISION. 1185
owing to their incompetence — to say nothing of their
cowardice — in turn lost credit with the king, who,
discerning the merits of the original conquerors and
the advantage they had through their long experience
of the island, entrusted the administration to John de
Courci.* Under him the realm at once began to
rejoice in a tranquillity which was complete in propor-
tion as he was superior to his predecessors in courage
and warlike energy. For example, he lost no time in
marching far inland, even into Cork and Connaught,
and gave his troops little opportunity of being
corrupted by want of employment, since he never
hesitated to risk his fortunes in the ever-doubtful
chances of battle, though in so doing he met not
always with success, but sometimes with defeat.
Would that he had been as much of a leader as a
soldier, as heedful a general as he was a doughty
knight.
Further, the greatest evil of all is that on the Church
of Christ in this new province of ours we bestow
nothing, and do not even deem it worthy of such
honour as simple gratitude should prompt us to con-
cede ; nay more, we actually rob it of its lands and
possessions, and strive to curtail or abolish its time-
hallowed dignities and ancient privileges.
One night after. I had been pondering more
anxiously than usual on all that had happened,
especially on the above wrong offered to our Saviour,
and many sad reflections had arisen in my mind there-
from, as I slept I saw a vision, perchance the shadow
* In September, 1185.
n8s A BOY-RULER. 133
of my former thoughts. On the morrow I hastened
to relate it to John, the venerable archbishop of
Dublin, and together we marvelled at it. For I had
seemed to see the king's son John ; and he was
marking out the foundations of a church upon a broad
green plain. And when he had traced the outline on
the turf, as surveyors do, he went round and com-
pared it with the lines of the original draught to test
the exactness of the measurements. He then found
that the nave he had planned upon the ground was
large enough, but that the chancel was so small as to
be wholly out of keeping with the body of the design :
as though he had been minded to allot in this island
abundant room to the laity, but scant accommodation
to the clergy. Then, methought, I pleaded hard,
though in vain, that more space should be given to
the chancel, more fitting proportions to the church,
when, excited, I suppose, by the contention, I sud-
denly awoke.
Now all these grave disorders, though due in a
measure to both causes, still are to be imputed to evil
counsels even more than to the tender years of the
king's son John. For this, which had always been
a rude and savage land, required trained and ex-
perienced minds to mould it into shape. To any
realm you will, no matter though it may long have
enjoyed a healthy state, with a child-king comes woe ; *
how much the more then if an ignorant and untaught
people be committed to an ignorant and untaught
stripling prince !
* Eccles. x. 16.
134 THREE DIVISIONS OF INVADERS. 1185
That, however, the serious mischiefs in the land
were to be laid at the door of ill government in
particular, even the younger sort began to tacitly
admit and was considered certain by the older and
more discreet For some men there were who had
long held wide possessions in the more fertile parts,
either with little foresight granted to them in fee, or
even in many cases seized by them with no show of
legal right. And it may be that these at times, ob-
serving how occupied the sovereign and his advisers
were with other matters, had aspirations to the sole
dominion of the country ; seeing that, when everything
was not just as they wished, they appear to have held
of light account their allegiance to the king or their
loyalty to his son, albeit they were bound to them by
fealty, oath, and homage. Threefold though their
obligation thus was, they easily found a means and
excuse for its violation.
A.D. 1185.— Of the three parties among the invaders
at this time.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. n. cap. xxxvii.
To sum up, our men in Ireland fell into three
distinct divisions : the Normans, the English, and my
own countrymen.* We of the court came mostly
into contact with the first ; we had few dealings with
the second, with the last none. The first could not
do without their wine, to which they had been
accustomed all their lives, and therefore utterly
* Welshmen, who formed the bulk of the first invaders.
1 186 ASSASSINATION OF DE LACL 135
declined to make any stay in the distant marches or
the castles which lay far from the sea. They cared
only to hang about the prince, and stuck closely to
his side, satisfied so long as they kept near the
supplies and ran no risk of scarcity. Grand talkers
and boasters these men, and full of strange oaths,
contemning with overweening pride all who were not
of them; yet withal not too proud to scramble for
wealth and land.* In short, they got all the honour,
but when there was any work to be done they were
not to be found.
Since then the original invaders, through whose
enterprise a way had been opened for us into the
island, were treated with suspicion and neglect, since
the counsels of the prince's advisers were communicated
exclusively to the new-comers, confidence was reposed
in them alone, they only deemed worthy of considera-
tion, it came about that as the veterans held aloof and
lent no aid to those who did not appreciate its value,
these interlopers met with little success in anything
they undertook.
July 25th, A.D. 1186.— [Assassination of Hugh de
Laci : English account].
Wiklm. Newburg. Hist. Rer. Anglic. 1186.
Hugh de Laci had disregarded the king's order \in
1184] to return, and stayed in Ireland. . . . But after
a while, as though the jealousy of fortune had been
aroused on behalf of the king of the English, Hugh
* So, too, in Campion they are "great quaffers, lourdens,
proud belly-swaines, fed with extortion and bribery."
136 ASSASSINATION OF DE LAC I. 1186
became the victim of treachery, and met his end at
the hands of a certain youth, one of the friendly Irish
in his employ. For it fell upon a day that he went
out of his castle for a country walk, and became
separated about a stone's throw from his attendants ;
when as he chanced to stoop to point out something
or other on the ground, the traitor, overjoyed at find-
ing the opportunity he had long sought, swung his axe
down like lightning with all his might upon his master's
neck. Off flew the head of the great captain. The
attendants rushed up to avenge the deed, but in vain,
for the assassin, who was an active young fellow, got
away under cover of a neighbouring wood and escaped.
It is said that the king of the English, who at the
time was in a remote part of his dominions, exhibited
the greatest satisfaction at the news of this event ; and
the affairs of Ireland were subsequently administered
by him with greater caution.*
July 25th, A.D. 1186.— [Assassination of Hugh de
Laci: Irish account].
Annals of the Four Masters: 1186 ; O1 Donovan's
Translation from the Irish.
" Hugo de Laci, the profaner and destroyer of
many churches ; lord of the English of Meath, Breifny
and Uriel ; he to whom the tribute of Connaught was
paid ; he who had conquered the greater part of
* That is the king was careful in future not to grant to any
of his vassals in Ireland such extraordinary powers as de Laci
had enjoyed.
ii86 SOME RESULTS OF THE CONQUEST. 137
Ireland for the English, and of whose English castles
all Meath, from the Shannon to the sea, was full ;
after having finished the castle of Durrow [in N. of
King's co.~\ set out accompanied by three Englishmen
to view it. One of the men of Teffia [a district in co.
Westmeath~\, a youth named Gillagan-inathar O'Meyey,
approached him and drawing out an axe, which he
had kept concealed, with one blow of it severed his
head from his body ; and both head and trunk fell
into the ditch of the castle. This was in revenge of
Columbkille. Gillagan-inathar fled, and, by his fleet-
ness of foot, made his escape from the English and
Irish to the wood of Kilclare [in King's co."]"
A.D. 1186.— [A defeat of John de Courci].
Annals of Boyle : 1 1 86.
A victory was gained over John de Courci at Tegas,*
where, with others, 16 English barons were slain, and
[the foreigners] returned home in great confusion.
Murchard Mac Fergail and . . . many more fell [on
the Irish side].
[Some results of the conquest.]
Gervas. Tilb.
Ireland . . . was inhabited in unbroken course by
Scottish septs [clans'] down to the times of the
illustrious Henry [II], king of the English, your grand-
* Mr. Hennessy writes that this is a mistake for " Segais,"
the old name of the Curlieu Mountains, between Roscommon
and Sligo counties, and near Boyle.
138 SOME RESULTS OF THE CONQUEST.
sire, most worshipful prince.* He was the first
monarch to drive from their lands the loathsome Irish
tribes, and to allot the conquered territory to English-
men on feudal tenure, though it had not been gained
without considerable loss of life to the English and
Welsh invaders. Whence it has come to pass that a
country whose inhabitants from the remotest ages
drew their chief sustenance from milk, neglected the
duty of fasting during Lent, devoured flesh raw, led
unclean lives, and contemned the obligations of
religion, is now strong in an awakened sense of piety
among its people. And although it has been the last
corner of Christendom to take to true godliness, and
that too under compulsion, yet to-day, in comparison
with other nations, for strict adherence to holy
observances and intensity of devout fervour it holds
the first place. It rejoices in a hierarchy with settled
sees, abounds in monasteries which are well conducted,
teems with flourishing estates and good entertainment.
(The Strongbow episode can now be considered fairly over,
though its effects had lingered on for a season after the death of
the earl. From about this time a new phase of affairs may be
said to begin : a phase marked by anarchy even more hopeless
than before. The "conquest" had been too fitful and too
feebly supported to be in any sense complete. The invaders
definitely split into two parties, a state of things which we have
seen foreshadowed in the disobedience of de Laci in 1184 and
in the 36th chapter of the Ilnd Book of Gerald's Expugnatio.
The needy condition of the adventurers and of many of the royal
* The emperor Otto iv, to whom the work of Gervase of
Tilbury is dedicated.
HOW THE IRISH MIGHT BE CONQUERED. 139
officers, the distance from England, and the fact that the English
kings were never able to find leisure to apply themselves properly
to Irish matters, encouraged most of the English in Ireland to
set up as independent chieftains, and allowed them to do so with
impunity. The population of the island, amidst a turmoil of
strife and confusion, finally settled down into three divisions :
but there was no peace in the land. There were (i) the loyal
inhabitants of the Pale, which became a string of counties
palatine along the eastern coast. They lived under English law,
but were 'relatively few in number ; (2) the Anglo-Irish rebels in
the open country: the " ipsis Hibernis Hiberniores '," (3) the
" mere Irish," the Kelt-Iberian natives, in the west and the
mountains, who maintained a perpetual guerilla warfare with
everybody, including themselves. Except the "five bloods"
they lived according to the old Brehon law.
So it went on through a long period of neglect, broken only
by the futile attempts of Richard II. and some rough handling
by Henry VIII., till the latter part of Elizabeth's reign. found a
sovereign free to attend to Ireland.
It is to be remarked that in England the Teuton has absorbed
the Kelt, while in Ireland the Kelt-Iberian has always to all intents
and purposes absorbed the Teuton. The Danish and Norman
invasions of England were vigorous movements which benefited
the country in the end, whereas the Norwegian and Anglo-
Norman invasions of Ireland were comparatively weak and ill-
sustained efforts which seem only to have served to aggravate
the disorder in the island.)
How the Irish race might be completely conquered.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xxxviii.
Just as it is a general principle to trust a workman in
his own craft, so it is a matter of common sense that
in every warlike enterprise one should rely especially
on the judgment of those who have come into familiar
contact with the hostile country in similar under-
140 CHARACTER OF IRISH WARFARE.
takings, and are well acquainted with the character
and customs of its inhabitants. Such men, too, are
interested in giving their assistance to weaken or
crush a people who in the course of a long war
attended with many conflicts have come to regard
them with deep and implacable hatred and hostility.
And now I am on this subject, I may remark that it
would have been a fortunate thing for the Welsh
marches and the English settlers there, if the king
had in his administration of those parts adopted such
a policy, and checked the incursions of the neighbour-
ing enemy. The new-comers are doubtless well-trained
and excellent soldiers in their own land; but a
campaign in France is a very different thing from a
campaign in Ireland or Wales. In the former case
it is carried on in an open country, in the latter in
broken country ; there we have plains, here woods ;
there armour is held in esteem, here it is reckoned
cumbersome and out of place ; there victory is won
by weight, here by activity. In France the vanquished
become prisoners and may be ransomed, in Ireland
quarter is unknown and instant decapitation their fate.
Wherefore, although when armies in serried array
engage on level ground, the ordinary heavy and com-
plicated panoply, whether it be wambais* or ringf
* Wadded or quilted linen armour. By the Assize of Arms
in 1181 Henry II ordered every burgess to provide himself with
lance, iron cap, and wambais, or gambeson as it is sometimes
called.
t Under Henry II and Richard I the hauberk was made of
iron ring-mail, as also were the "chausses," or leg and foot
armour.
CHARACTER OF IRISH WARFARE. 141
armour, is a noble adornment as well as a protection
to the soldier, yet when the righting is to be confined
to passes, woods and bogs, where footmen are more
serviceable than cavalry, a light equipment is far
better. For against an unarmoured enemy whose
chance of victory rests solely on the success of his first
onslaught,* lightly armed soldiers are quite sufficient ;
as in such a case agile men fleeing among defiles or
over difficult ground can only be pursued and routed
by troops, with superior arms and outfit it is true,
but at the same time accoutred in such a way as to
admit of perfect ease and freedom of movement. It
is no wonder, therefore, that our heavy men-at-arms,
with their complex suits of mail and their deeply
curved saddles, experience great difficulty in dis-
mounting, still more in re-mounting, and find it
almost impossible to act with any effect as foot-
soldiers, whenever the occasion requires it
The fittest men, then, for any expedition in Ireland
or Wales are those born and bred in the Welsh
marches ; men practised in the frontier warfare of
that region. Brought up in this kind of life, they are
both venturesome and fleet of foot As the exigencies
of war demand, they are in turn apt horsemen or
active infantry. In matters of food and drink rough
fare is no hardship to them, and at a push they will
cheerfully endure privation. These were the men
who made the first essay in Ireland, and these also
must be the men to finally complete its conquest.
* Compare the tactics of the Highlanders, even so late as
" The '45," and that of the Zulus at the Cape.
142 SYSTEMATIC CASTLE-BUILDING URGED.
One must, however, —
Fitly to each its separate part assign :
Each to its part with jealous care confine.*
For I admit that against heavy and fully armoured
troops, arrayed for fight in a champaign country and
whose prospects of victory lie entirely in their personal
strength and the ponderous weight of their harness
and war-gear, you must oppose soldiers of a similar
character. In like manner a nimble light infantry
acting in rugged country must be met by infantry as
mobile as itself and used to that style of warfare.
In the Irish wars, moreover, this, too, must certainly
not be overlooked : that archers be always stationed
between each troop of cavalry, in order that their
shafts may keep at a distance the slingers who,
alternately advancing and retreating with great speed,
pelt with stones our unwieldy men-at-arms.
Besides, this side of the country as far as the
Shannon, which river separates the three eastern
divisions of the island from the fourth or western part,
should be thickly sown with castles and so strengthened
and protected. The more distant regions, Connaught
that is and Munster beyond Shannon, ought to be
kept under for the present by the exaction of an
annual tribute. Limerick, however, must be excepted,
as it is indispensable that this city be again taken and
held. It were better, far better, at first to set up our
strongholds by degrees in suitable places, and to carry
out a coherent system of castle-building, feeling the
* Hor. A. P. 92.
HOW IRELAND SHOULD BE GOVERNED. 143
way, so to speak, at every step, than to erect large
numbers at wide intervals and without any set plan,
for such have no unity or centre and can be of no
support to each other at critical times.
How Ireland should be governed.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. II. cap. xxxix.
Inasmuch as the loyalty of the Irish is precarious
and they are prone to insubordination, no less light of
mind than light of foot, just as care is needed in con-
quering them, so when conquered they must be ruled
with a wise discretion. The management of the
country ought to be given to men who are firm, strict,
and unwavering of purpose. In times of tranquillity,
when the natives abide contentedly by the laws as
dutiful subjects, their governors should win their con-
fidence by keeping good faith and treating them with
marked respect. But whenever, at the promptings of
their natural fickleness, they dare to break the peace,
immediately all appearance of mildness must be put
aside and sharp chastisement follow at once upon the
offence. When they have settled down again into
order, and condign satisfaction has been taken for
their misdeeds, since —
'Tis meet that time slay wrath : th' ungenerous soul
Keeps green the memory of a buried strife,
so long as they continue in obedience, let their former
transgressions be forgotten, let them enjoy the same
amount of freedom and the same consideration as at
144 FIRMNESS AND CAUTION NECESSARY.
first. By this method their interest would lie in
mantaining an orderly habit of life and seeking the
advantages of quiet, while the certainty of a speedy
and inevitable punishment would act as a deterrent
from rash attempts.
But rulers who mingle right and wrong ; who give
way to law-breakers, but oppress the loyal ; are all
complaisance to those who threaten war, but prey
on those who keep the peace ; despoil the unwarlike
but truckle to the rebellious, as we have seen many
governors of Ireland do : such men by confounding
all things committed to their charge are at length
themselves confounded.
Besides, since ills foreguarded against lose half their
power of hurt, let the prudent procurator seize the
opportunity in times of calm to strengthen his position
and prepare against the dangers of an always possible
war by raising castles and clearing the forest roads ;
for this vindictive race is ever plotting treason under
the mask of friendship. Wherefore, too, since it is
well to take warning from the mishaps of others and
to learn therefrom what it is profitable to eschew —
for where there is foreknowledge the blow may miss
its aim — the instances of those illustrious men Milo
de Cogan, Ralph of youthful promise, Hugh de Laci,
and Roger Poer, show that one is never safe from the
Irish axe.* For, as my Topography shows, in dealing
with this deceitful nation, their perfidy is far more to
be feared than their prowess, their peaceful professions
than their vapouring valour, their plausible vows than
* Which, docked of its head, is the modern shillelagh.
TRIBUTE TO BE EXACTED. 145
their poisonous venom, their spite than their soldier-
ship, their treason than their tactics, their falsity as
friends than their fighting power as foes.
Also, as Evodius says, 'The calamities of former
generations are a lesson to posterity, and past error is
a warning for all time.' Since, then, in the case of
this people over-watchfulness can do no harm, nay,
the most careful precautions scarce suffice, as soon as
they have been completely subjected, a public edict
should, as among the Sicilians,* forbid on pain of the
severest penalty all bearing of arms. Meanwhile
during peace they ought not to be allowed to carry at
any time or place that detestable instrument of
treachery \ which by an old but evil custom is always
in their hands as a staff might be.
To conclude, whereas Ireland is on many just
grounds, the main points of which I have set forth
above, | portion of the dominions of the kings of
Britain ; and forasmuch as without the advantages of
commercial intercourse with the latter island, the
former cannot subsist, it seems fitting that upon the
conquered land there should be imposed a tribute
payable in gold § or the birds || in which it abounds,
* After the conquest of Sicily by the Normans. Similar
complaints were made of the treachery of the Sicilians towards
their conquerors.
t The hand-axe. J Bk. n. chap. 33.
§ The demand for gold is at first sight surprising, but there is
evidence that the precious metals, especially gold, were then
comparatively plentiful in Ireland. The records show that dues,
rents, ransoms and donations to the church were often paid in
sums of gold [reckoned by weight] considerable for those times.
K
146 DESCRIPTION OF THE IRISH.
whereby all likelihood of ill-will and discord may be
removed. And as the ages roll on and the line of our
royal house is perpetuated generation after generation,
let the memory of this conquest be kept fresh by that
tribute being made an annual one, as a lasting testi-
mony to the glory and greatness of the king and
kingdom of Great Britain.
Of the character, customs, and external appearance
of the Irish.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. ill. cap. x.
I have thought it not superfluous to lay before my
reader a brief description of this people as regards
both their persons and their minds : that is to say the
external and the internal peculiarities they present.
In this country children are not, as elsewhere,
delicately brought up ;'for everything over and above
the homely and somewhat scanty nourishment they
receive from their rude parents is left to nature. They
are laid in no cradle, nor swathed in swaddling
clothes ; their tender limbs know not the use of the
warm bath, neither are they adjusted with the help of
art. Yet Nature, as if to show what her unaided
power can do, fails not to rear and mould them through
Where it originally came from is not clear ; whether from the
old Irish mines, or from the ancient intercourse with Spain and
the East, or from commerce with the Ostman pirates and
settlers : perhaps from all these sources and others of which we
know nothing.
II Probably falcons for hawking are especially meant here.
DESCRIPTION OF THE IRISH. 147
infancy and childhood, until in the fulness of time she
leads each to man's estate conspicuous for a tall and
handsome form, regular features, and a fresh com-
plexion.
But although adorned to the full with such natural
gifts as these, still the barbarous fashion of their
garments, their shaggy beards, and their ignorance
reveal the arrant savage. For little do they wear in
the way of woollen clothing, and that little black
(which is the colour of the sheep of the country) and
of ungainly cut : their habit being to apparel them-
selves in small closely-fitting hoods extending over
the shoulders and down to the elbow, generally made
of parti-coloured scraps sewn together. Under this
instead of a coat they have a gown. Woollen trews
complete their attire, being breeches and hose in one,
usually dyed some tint
In riding they use no saddles, high boots, or spurs ;
but simply carry a rod crooked at the end, with which
they both urge on and guide their horses. Reins
indeed they have, yet they perform the double duty of
bit and bridle : thus the horses, which feed on nothing
but grass, can browse at any time.
They go to battle without armour, which they
regard as an encumbrance : and in fact think it a sign
of valour and an honour to fight without such protec-
tion. Of weapons they use but three kinds : short
spears and pairs of darts — and in this they follow the
custom of the Basques — , while they have learnt also
from the Norwegians and Ostmen (of whom later) the
use of the great battle-axe, and excellently well
148 DESCRIPTION OF THE IRISH.
wrought and tempered their axes are. They wielcf
them with one hand only instead of both, laying the
thumb along the upper side of the haft and so direct-
ing the blow. From the stroke of one of these neither
the cone-shaped helmet is sufficient to guard the head,
nor a shirt of ring-mail the body. Thus in our own
time it happened that a soldier had his thigh cut right
through with one stroke of an axe, encased though it
was all round in good steel,* the amputated leg falling
to the ground on one side of the horse, and its dying
owner on the other. When arms fail they cast stones,
with which they can inflict much damage on an
enemy, as they are handier and readier at slinging
J;han any other nation.
Verily a wild and inhospitable race : living only on
the produce • of their beasts, and living like beasts
themselves. A race but little advanced from the
primitive pastoral life. For whereas the stages of
human progress are from the forest to the field, from
the field to the town, and so to civic polity, this
people despising agricultural labour, having little
taste for the refinements of civilization, and showing
a strong aversion from political institutions, knows
not how to relinquish the sylvan and bucolic habits
to which it has always been accustomed.
They put their cattle out to graze anywhere, for
there are no enclosures and the pasture itself is not
uniformly luxuriant. Cultivated ground is rarely seen,
sown land hardly ever. This scarcity of tilled soil is
* This was, however, the feat of a Norseman, as related on
p. 42.
DESCRIPTION OF THE IRISH. 149
due to the neglect of those who ought to till it ; for
much of the surface of the country is naturally fertile
and productive.
Veins of various kinds of metal abound in the earth,
but owing to the same criminal indolence they are
not worked or turned to account. Gold, for which
the natives thirst to an extent that betrays their
Iberian origin, is brought hither by the chapmen who
scour the seas in search of commerce.
Moreover they do not employ their time in the
manufacture of linen, cloth, or any other ware, nor in
the development of a single mechanic art. They are
simply the slaves of ease and sloth : freedom from
exertion they esteem the height of luxury, freedom
from restraint the summit of wealth.
Wherefore this race is a race of savages : I say again
a race of utter savages. For not merely are they
uncouth of garb, but they also let their hair and
beards grow to an outrageous length, something like
the new-fangled fashion which has lately come in with
us. In short, all their ways are brutish and unseemly.
But customs are formed by intercourse, and since
in these remote parts men are so far withdrawn from
the rest of the world, and come so little into contact
with refined and civilized nations that they might be
in a different planet, small wonder if they know
nothing beyond the barbarism in which they have
been born and nurtured, and which cleaves to them
like a second nature.
The Creator has done His part in giving them of
His best; but where there is any call for effort on
their part they are worthless.
1 50 SKILL OF THE IRISH IN MUSIC.
Of the matchless skill of this nation in instru-
mental music.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. in. cap. xi.
It is only in instrumental music that I find any
commendable diligence in this nation : but in that art
they incomparably excel every other people that I
have met. For their execution is not, like that which
we hear in Britain, slow and laboured, but adroit and
sprightly, while their tone is full and the refrain of
their melodies sweet and gay. . . . Harmonies which
afford deep and inexpressible mental delight to a
man whose ear has been educated to grasp their
subtleties and to enter into the mysteries of musical
science, weary rather than please one whose sense of
melody is untrained, who, as it were, ' seeing doth not
perceive and hearing doth not understand.' To the
latter all profoundly modulated symphonies cause a
feeling of irksomeness and even repugnance, for they
seem to be no better than noise without order, method,
or meaning.
It must be remarked, however, that both Scotland
and Wales strive emulously to rival Ireland in music ;
the former on account of affinity of race, the latter
because of their mutual proximity and intercourse.
Ireland, indeed, uses and takes pleasure in two instru-
ments alone : the lute and the timbrel ; Scotland in
three, the lute, the timbrel, and the crowd ; Wales in
the lute, the treble and bass pipes, and the crowd.
The Irish, by the way, make their strings not of
leather but of brass. Many, however, think that
ON MUSIC. 1 5 1
Scotland has not only equalled her teacher, Ireland,
in musical skill, but has even far surpassed her, and
now look to the former country as the fount of the
harmonic art.
Music with its gladsome strains not only yields
pleasure, but, more than this, is of real service to us.
For in no small measure does it help to cheer the
saddened heart, brighten the clouded face, smooth the
frowning brow, banish the crabbed mien, and promote
in every one hilarity again. Of all the most charming
things in life, nothing gives more solace and enjoy-
ment to the soul of man.
Two delights there are which refresh and enliven
the human sense : sweet sounds and scents. Indeed
our faculties may be said, as it were, to feed on
fragrance and on harmony.
No matter to what subject the mind may be
applied, music quickens the intellect, and though by
insensible means still with sensible results stimulates
the perception. It excites both the valour of the
brave, and the pious aspirations of the devout. Hence
it was that the bishops and abbots and holy men in
Ireland were wont to carry their lutes with them on
their journeyings, and found a godly joy in song and
tune. Wherefore St. Kevin's harp is held by the
natives in no small reverence as a holy and honour-
able relic to this very day. So, too, the bray of the
war-horn awakes a response in the warrior's breast,
and when its loud blast proclaims the signal for attack,
an answering impulse rouses to even greater daring
the spirit of the brave.
152 ON MUSIC.
At times, indeed, music acts in contrary ways on
different temperaments or varies in its effect according
to the mood of the hearer; for it may inflame the
passions of the vicious as well as fire the prowess of
the valiant or the virtue of the good. It is said of
Alexander of Macedon that once as he sat at meat
with his friends, there fell upon his ear the soft notes
of a lyre, when he forthwith rose and cut the strings.
On being asked his reason for the act, he replied
' Better that harp-strings be severed than heart-strings.'
For he felt — and in this he took account of the weak-
ness of humanity — that his emotions, struggle as he
might, would by such dulcet tones be irresistibly ex-
cited as the festive moment suggested : that under the
influence of melody he would be drawn to weakness
(to which perhaps he was already inclined) rather than
to warfare, luxury than labour, venery than virtue,
sensuality than self-control ; since assuredly our feel-
ings are by no means submissive to our will.
In addition to this, music soothes in sickness and
in fatigue. Its sounds, outside us as they are, still
operate within, so as to either quite cure the malady
or at least help us to bear it with greater patience.
It is, therefore, a comforter to all, a physician to
many, since there are no sufferings which it does
not alleviate and some it cures. It was the harp of
David that restrained the unclean spirit from vexing
Saul : and ever while he played the devil was at
rest, and ever when he ceased the devil tare him
afresh.
The words of Solomon, however, ' Music is out of
ON MUSIC. 153
place in time of mourning," * seem to be opposed to
what I say. Doubtless he who unasked introduces
song in the midst of grief, or affecting joy in the very
moment of affliction bursts into exultant melody, must
be either a Stoic or a fool But though no strong
feeling of distress admits of consolation while still
fresh and perhaps increasing, yet Time is the great
comforter, and under his healing touch little by little
does sorrow lose its sting. The mourner whose sad-
ness reason cannot mitigate nor medicine cure will
find his dole unedged, his pain slackened with the
lapse of years : years that bring an end to every ill.
For human nature is so constituted that the things of
this life are always on the increase or the decrease,
always progressing or declining : to stand still is not
within their power ; and on reaching a summit straight-
way they fall with a velocity far greater than that with
which they rose. This being so, if you watch the
times and carefully guide your course by circum-
stances, your words and actions instead of being out
of season will be suited to each occasion.
Who but a fool will chide a mother's tears
Shed o'er the bier of a well-loved son ?
Not such a time for pitiless rebuke, t
Therefore —
Let the full tide of grief flow unopposed,
Which till it ebb admits not of a cure.f
Thus we see that music has a twofold influence:
* Eccles. xxii. 6.
t Adapted from Ovid, Rem. Am. 127, 128; 119.
154 ON MUSIC.
by its aid the mind may be roused or lulled. Agree-
ably to this the Irish and Spaniards and certain other
nations introduce dirges amid their lamentations for
the dead, which may either help them to more in-
tensely realize the bitterness of their loss when recent,
or perchance allay their anguish when the first shock
is past.
1 Song, too, cheers us in our daily tasks ; oft does
a ditty refresh the dull routine of toil.' * Times and
again have we heard the craftsman lightening his
labour with some homely lay.
'The very beasts, to say nothing of snakes, and
birds, and seals, are allured by melody.' * And, what
is even more marvellous, music will recall to their
hive a migrating swarm of bees and make them settle
there. I have sometimes myself, when on a voyage,
seen seals follow in the wake of the ship for a long
distance, and raise themselves bodily out of the water
and prick up their ears to listen to the sound of a
trumpet or a harp.
Moreover, as Isidorus says, 'without music no
education can be complete : for music and harmony
are all around us. Creation itself may be said to be
in one aspect a kind of harmony : the heavens them-
selves revolve under laws of harmony.' *
*****
I have greatly enjoyed this digression, nor do I
think it was wholly uncalled for.
* Isid. Orig. iii. 16.
• TREACHERY OF THE IRISH. 155
Of the villainy and foul duplicity of the Irish.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. III. cap. xx.
The Irish are beyond all other nations given to
treachery : they hold to their bond with no one.
While expecting absolute good faith from others, their
own word, their oath, given though it may have been
under the most solemn sanctions of religion, they
daily violate without shame or fear. So even when
you have taken the greatest forethought for your pro-
tection from danger or from loss by receiving pledges
and hostages, when you have firmly, as you think,
cemented the obligations of friendship, conferred every
kindness in your power, and apparently made all safe
with the utmost vigilance, then begin to fear ; for then
especially is their malice on the watch for its chance,
since they foresee that, owing to the very multitude
of your precautions, you will not be on the watch
yourself.
Then will they fly to their foul arts, then to the
weapons of guile the use of which they know so well,
hoping in your fond confidence to find their oppor-
tunity of striking an unexpected blow.
Of the axe, which they ever bear in their hands, as
though it might be a staff
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. III. cap. xxi.
By an old, rather I should say an ill custom, at all
times they have in their hands an axe instead of a
staff ; so as to be always prepared to carry their fell
156 A BARBAROUS CUSTOM.
designs into effect. Wherever they go, this is their
inseparable companion. When they espy and decide
to seize the looked-for occasion, this weapon has not
to be drawn like a sword, stretched like a bow, or
brought to the charge like a lance : no preparation is
needed, it has just to be raised a little and the fatal
blow can be inflicted. Thus they have always at
hand, nay, in hand, and ready, the means of dealing
death. From this axe there is no security : fool-
happy you go on in your assurance of safety and —
down comes the stroke. Permit the carrying of the
axe, and you run heedlessly into risk : your blood be
on your own head.
Of a strange and monstrous way of inaugurating
a king.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. III. cap. xxv.
There are some things which shame would oblige
me to suppress, were it not that in pursuing my
subject I am bound to relate them. For an unsavoury
episode, though it may afford an opportunity for the
play of wit, still seems in some sort to defile the
narrator. Howbeit, the severity of history forbids me
to shrink from truth or spare my modesty; yet I
trust that pure lips may tell a degrading fact in pass-
ably decent words.
Well, there is in the extreme north of Ulster, that
is in Tyrconnel, a certain tribe which is accustomed
to inaugurate its kings with the following most
barbarous and abominable ceremony. When all the
inhabitants of the district have met together, a white
HE A THEN IN IRELAND. 1 5 /
mare is led forward into the midst of the assembly.
The sovereign-designate then enters the circle on all
fours, in full view of every one, and crawls up to the
animal : thus conducting himself not like a prince but
like a beast of the field, not as a king but a savage,
and by this act of folly and disgrace confessing himself
to be no better than a brute. Then the mare is
slaughtered, cut up, and boiled on the spot, and a
bath prepared out of the liquid for the monarch-elect.
As he sits in it, the flesh of the mare is handed to
him : of this he partakes, and the people stand round
and join in the repast. The gravy, too, in which he
is bathing he quaffs, not using a cup or even his hands,
but lapping and sucking it up in large draughts beast-
fashion with his mouth. When these rites, or rather
wrongs, are completed his royal authority is thereby
confirmed. *
Of the many unbaptized in the island, who have
not yet arrived at the knowledge of the faith.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. III. cap. xxvi.
Although our religion was founded in this land so
long ago, and has prospered in it too, yet in some
* It is well to add that Irish antiquaries indignantly deny the
truth of all this. It may be one of many cases in which Gerald's
credulity was imposed upon by his native informants ; yet even
then it is probable that a reference to some pre-Aryan pagan
ceremony underlies the story. The fact of the mare being used
may indicate a survival from matriarchal customs. These things
are ornamented often enough and highly enough, but they are
rarely inventions pure and simple. Cf. Elton, Origin of English
History ) for analogous British customs.
158
HEATHEN IN IRELAND.
corners of the island there are still to be found
numbers of persons who have never been baptized,
and whom through the negligence of their pastors the
knowledge of the faith has never reached. For some
sailors have told me that one Lent-tide, being driven
by stress of weather to the great unexplored seas off
the north of Connaught, they at length took shelter
under the lee of a small island ; and even there their
anchors hardly held though they had three cables out.
By the third day, however, the wind had fallen, the
sky was fair again and the sea calm, and they then
descried at no great distance a coast, the outlines of
which were entirely strange to them. Presently they
made out a little coracle paddling towards them from
MODERN IRISH CORACLE. From Mr. S. C. Hall's Ireland.
the shore. It was narrow and rather long, constructed
of wicker-work and covered outside with hides, which
were sewn to the frame. In it were two men, stark
naked, except that they had on girdles of undressed
HEATHEN IN IRELAND. 159
pelts. They resembled the Irish in having long
tawny hair, but theirs fell below their shoulders and
overspread a great part of their bodies. The sailors
on finding that they spoke Irish and hearing that they
were of some part of Connaught invited them on board,
when they appeared struck with wonder at all they
beheld, as though everything were quite new to them.
For they stated that never before had they seen a big
ship, or one built of wood, or such articles of work-
manship as met their eyes there ; and when bread and
cheese was offered them, they refused to taste such
strange food, for so it was to them. They told how
they lived on nothing but flesh, and fish, and milk ;
and how they wore no clothes, save sometimes the
skins of beasts when the cold was most intense. Then
they asked the shipmen whether they had meat for
them, and on being admonished that it was not lawful
to eat meat in Lent, it was clear that they were utterly
ignorant what Lent might be. Whereupon they were
asked whether they were Christians and had been
baptized, but they said that they knew nothing of
Christ, nor till that hour had ever heard His name.
And when they went away, they took with them a loaf
and a piece of cheese, that they might astonish their
neighbours by showing them the victuals that the
strangers ate.
160 THE IRISH CLERGY,
Of the clergy of Ireland and how they are praise-
worthy in many respects.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. III. cap. xxvii.
Let us now turn to the clerical order. The clergy
of this land are well enough in point of piety, and
possess many virtues, among which conspicuous above
all is continence. They are scrupulously regular also
in the performance of the psalms, hours, lessons, and
prayers, for they keep within the precincts of their
foundations and devote themselves entirely to their
sacred duties. In the matter of abstemiousness in
diet they are not sparing of themselves, for most of
them as a rule fast every day till after compline, even
until dusk. Ah, but would to God that after their
long abstinence they were themselves as sober as their
supper is late, as genuinely temperate as they are
grave of talk, as free from guzzling as they are from
guttling, no more topers in fact than in face. Among
so many thousands you will scarcely find a single one
who after this perseverance in fasting and orison does
not make up for the hardships of the day by indulging
at night to a most unseemly extent in wine and various
other liquors. So, as if they divided the twenty-four
hours into two equal parts, allotting the day-time to
the spirit, the night-time to the flesh, they give them-
selves during the hours of light to the works of light,
during the hours of darkness to the works of darkness.
A WITTY REPLY. l6l
Of a sarcastic retort of the archbishop of Cashel.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Dis. ill. cap. xxxii.
I once, in the presence of Gerard a clerk of the
Roman Church, then sent as legate to Ireland, raised
these and similar objections * to Maurice, archbishop
of Cashel, a discreet and learned man, and threw the
blame of the low standard of morality in that land
especially upon the prelates. I drew, too, a very
strong argument from the fact that no one in that
kingdom had ever through his zeal for the Church of
God won the crown of martyrdom. The archbishop
answered by a side-thrust, witty enough, though not
to the point. ' Very true,' he said, ' because although
our people may seem rude, fierce, and barbarous, yet
they have always paid great honour and reverence to
ecclesiastics, and have never on any occasion raised
their hands against God's holy saints. But now there
have come into the island men of a nation that knows
how to make martyrs and is accustomed to do it.
Henceforth Ireland, like other countries, will have its
martyrs. 'f
* Concerning the attitude of the Irish bishops, whom Gerald
accuses of leading a monastic life and neglecting their pastoral
duties. Most of them, in fact, were elected from out of the
monasteries, not from among the secular clergy.
t The archbishop was alluding to the recent murder of
Becket.
1 62 A MIRACULOUS LA ICE.
Of a great lake -which, had a miraculous origin.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Dis. II. cap. ix.
In Ulster there is a lake of marvellous size, being
30 miles long and 15 broad,* and out of it flows a
most beautiful river, called the Bann, which empties
itself into the Northern ocean. ... It is said that this
lake came into existence owing to a dire and wondrous
calamity.
There lived in a region now covered by the
mere a race of men who had long been sunk in
vice. At that time it was a common saying among
the country-folk that as soon as a certain fount in
those parts should be left uncovered (for, from the
respect shown it on account of a savage superstition,
it was kept closed and sealed), the spring would
immediately well over and vomit forth a mighty stream
that would inundate the whole neighbourhood and
sweep away its inhabitants. Now it happened that
one day a young woman went to this fountain to draw
water, when just as she had filled her pitcher, her
child, whom she had left a little way off, began to cry,
and with a mother's anxiety she ran at once to him
without staying to first seal up the spring agaia
" The voice of the people is the voice of God," for
immediately after as the woman was hurrying back to
finish fastening up the spring, she was met by such a
rush of water which had burst out of it, that not only
she and her boy forthwith, but within the space of an
hour all the denizens of the valley with their cattle
* Lough Neagh.
ROUND TO WERS. 1 63
and everything were swallowed up in this, as it were,
partial or local deluge. And when the wealth of
waters had fully hidden the whole face of that region,
they ceased to pour forth and the flood remained
there as a mighty lake ; as if the Author of Nature
judged the district which had seen such wickedness
to be unfit for the habitation not only of its original
owners, but for mankind in general for all time.*
That the tradition of this occurrence is true seems
to be fairly confirmed by the fact that in calm weather
the fishermen see plainly standing in the depths of
the lake round ecclesiastical towers, tall and slender,
like those they have in Ireland : | and oftentimes will
they point these out to the wondering stranger as they
ferry him across the lough.
* The date assigned to this in the Irish Annals is A.D. 62 ;
the year after the death of Boadicea in Britain. A similar
account is given of the origin of lough Foyle and of lough
Erne. These traditions probably point to some volcanic
phenomena. As late, indeed, as A.D. 1490 we find in the Four
Masters an entry to the effect that lough Easkey, in Sligo, was
suddenly formed in like manner by an " eruption of the earth."
f These are the famous round towers of Ireland concerning
the origin and purpose of which there has been so much con-
troversy. The reader will call to mind Moore's song : —
" On Lough Neagh's banks as the fisherman strays,
"When the clear, cold eve's declining,
" He sees the Round Towers of other days,
" In the wave beneath him shining."
Irish Melodies.
164 THE GIANTS' DANCE.
Of the Giants' Dance, -which 'was taken over from
Ireland to Britain.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. xviii.
In ancient times there was in Ireland a remarkable
pile of stones, known as the Giants' Dance,* because
the giants had brought them into Ireland from the
farthest limits of Africa, and partly by mechanical
contrivances, partly by sheer strength, had set them up
in a marvellous mariner on the plain of Kildare, not
far from Naas. Hence there may be seen in the
same spot to this day some of these stones exactly
like the rest [on Salisbury Plain] and erected in a
similar fashion.
It is wonderful how so many stones of such vast
size were got together into one place or raised into an
edifice when there. Whatever machinery could have
been used to hoist upon stones so huge and high
lintels formed of others no less in bulk ? The latter,
too, are poised in such a way that they seem to hang
in mid-air, and to be rather balanced in their places
by the skilful disposition of the architect than sup-
ported by the tops of the uprights.
According to the British History, f Aurelius Am-
brosius, king of the Britons, had these stones removed
from Ireland into Britain through the divine agency
of Merlin [Ambrosius] ; and in order that some notable
memorial of so mighty an exploit might remain, they
* Stonehenge.
t i.e. the Historia Britonum of Geoffrey of Monmouth : viii.
10-12.
NO REPTILES IN IRELAND. 165
were arranged in the same relative position as they
had occupied when in Ireland on the spot where the
flower of Britain fell under the treacherous knives of
the Saxons, where the too confiding British warriors
met their end by the weapons of perfidy wielded under
cover of a pretended peace.*
Of reptiles and the lack of them in Ireland, and
how no venomous creatures are found there.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. I. cap. xxviii.
Among all the various species of reptiles Ireland is
happy in possessing only those that are harmless, for
venomous creatures do not exist in the island. There
are no vipers or snakes of any kind, no toads, frogs,
tortoises, scorpions, or dragons. Spiders, however,
are found, as are leeches and lizards, but these are
entirely innocuous. Whence it may be said, or even
seriously stated in writing, pleasantly enough, and with
!truth as well, that in Gaul and Italy the frogs deafen
one with their croaking, that in Britain they are mute,
while in Ireland there are none.
Some persons, indeed, conjecture, by what is
* An incident in the legend of the Jutish conquest of Kent.
Hengist had invited Vortigern and the British nobles to a con-
ference and feast at which all the Britons except Vortigern were
assassinated. If anything of the kind ever happened, the sacred
site of Stonehenge might well have been chosen as the place of
meeting. It is noticeable that Gerald regards the tradition of
the massacre as the memorial of Merlin's exploit, not the edifice
as the monument of the massacre.
1 66 AIR OF IRELAND FATAL TO REPTILES.
probably a flattering figment, that St. Patrick * and
other native saints cleared the island of all living
things that were poisonous. But history asserts with
greater probability that from primaeval times, and long
before the first foundations of the faith were laid in
Ireland, that country, owing to something being
wanting in the soil or vegetation, has always been
devoid of reptiles as it is of certain other productions
of nature.
Now to my mind there is nothing to be wondered
at in the fact that this land is naturally deficient in
reptiles, for so also it is in some kinds of fish, and
birds, and beasts. But it is really astonishing that no
venomous creature imported from elsewhere has ever
been able to live here, and this is so still. For we
read in the ancient writings of the saints of the
country that on divers occasions for the sake of the
experiment snakes were brought over in brazen pots ;
but as soon as the ships had crossed the middle of the
Irish Sea, the animals were found to be dead. Poison,
too, in like manner, on being shipped over lost its
venom in mid voyage under the influence of a kindlier
atmosphere.
Bede, moreover, in writing of Ireland touches on
* Although St. Patrick is here called a native saint, it must
be remembered that it is unknown from what country he
originally came, though probably it was Gaul. He was first
brought to Ireland as a slave. His death took place at an
advanced age in 493, and his saint's day is March I7th. He
thus nourished at the time of the early Teutonic settlements in
Britain.
DUST OF IRELAND FATAL TO REPTILES.
this subject as follows * : — ' In Ireland you will see
no reptile, no snake can exist there. For often have
such been conveyed thither from Britain, nevertheless
no sooner does the vessel near the Irish coast than
they perish, killed by the scent of the air blown from
the shore. Nay, almost everything produced in the
island contains an antidote to poison.'
I have heard sea-going merchants state that now
and again when unloading in Irish ports they have
come across toads in the holds of their ships, and on
throwing them alive on to the land, they at once
turned on their backs, and in the presence of a crowd
of wondering bystanders burst their bellies and died.
Wherefrom it seems proven that either through the
beneficence of the saints, as is the general belief
throughout the world, or from the strange and
unparalleled but truly favourable action of the climate,
or owing to some occult peculiarity in the soil itself
inimical to poisons, no venomous creatures can subsist
here, and anything noxious from other parts at once
loses its virulent properties.
How the dust of this land is fatal to poisonous
reptiles.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. I. cap. xxx.
To such an extent indeed is this land antagonistic
to venom, that if gardens or any places in other
countries are sprinkled with its dust, poisonous reptiles
are thereby expelled and will not re-enter them.f
* Hist. Ecd. I. i.
t This belief survives among the Irish in Australia.
1 68 THE SHOE-STRINGS OF IRELAND.
Of the shoe-latchets of Ireland, which are opposed
to poisons.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. I. cap. xxxi.
The shoe-ties as well of this island, provided they
be not of foreign manufacture but made at home out
of the hides of beasts bred there, if scraped into water
and so drunk, supply a sure remedy against the bites
of snakes and toads.
I have seen with my own eyes a shoe-string of this
kind straightened out and then placed round a toad
in a complete circle as a practical test. When the
animal reached the string and tried to get over it he
immediately fell back as if stunned. Then he tried the
opposite side, with the same result Finally, on find-
ing that he was surrounded by the thong, he fled from
it as though it were pestilential, quickly scratched a
hole with his feet in the centre of the circle and
buried himself in the mud. Many persons witnessed
this besides myself.
Nay more, according to the assertion of Bede,
almost everything which comes from this island is
efficacious against poisons. For he avers that he saw
' that in the case of some people who had been stung
by snakes, the progress of the virus was at once arrested
and all swelling reduced by drinking water with which
had been mixed scrapings of the 'leaves of books
brought from Ireland.' *
Again, it happened within our own days in the
north of England that an adder crawled into the
* Hist. Ecd. I. I.
FINDING OF A FROG. 169
throat of a youth who was sleeping with his mouth
open, and descended into his stomach, when the
ungrateful reptile made an ill return to the host who
had thus furnished him with a lodging, by continually
gnawing and tearing at his vitals. This so affected
the young man that in the agonies he suffered im-
mediate dissolution seemed preferable to a life which
was but a protracted death. After meals the snake
would allow him a short respite from torture, but
before them none. In vain did he try at all the holy
shrines throughout England to obtain relief; at length
adopting a wiser counsel he crossed to Ireland, where
directly he had swallowed the health-giving waters and
the food of that country, his deadly enemy expired,
and the youth returned whole again with great joy to
his native land.
Of a frog lately found in Ireland [circa A.D. 1179].
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. I, cap. xxxii.
Nevertheless in our times a frog was discovered in
a grassy mead near Waterford, and was taken alive
into the justice-hall before the then governor, Robert
Poer, in the presence of many other persons, both
English and Irish. The English were considerably
surprised, but the Irish inspected it with absolute
astonishment. Then Donnell, king of Ossory, a man
of sense for an Irishman, and faithful to us,* who
chanced to be present, smote himself upon the head
* In 1 1 76 we find him marching in alliance with Reimund to
the relief of Limerick.
ISLE OF MAN.
in anguish of soul, and uttered these words : ' That
reptile is the bearer of ill news to Ireland.' He went
on to say that it was certainly a token of the coming
of the English, and of the impending conquest and
annexation of his fatherland.
Now let no one presume to suppose that this
creature was ever born in Ireland, because not here,
as in other lands, * does the mud contain the spawn
which generates green frogs.'* Had it been so, they
would have been found more often and in greater
numbers, both before and after this. But perchance
some tiny germ had been attracted by the heat of the
atmosphere from the mire into the clouds, and so
blown hither by the wind ; or even the embryo reptile
itself might have been drawn up into the bosom of
some low-sailing cloudlet, and thus borne along till it
was deposited on this alien and uncongenial soil.
What is more likely, however, is that the animal had
been brought over in a chance ship which had put in
at a neighbouring harbour, and on being flung ashore
had managed, since it was not venomous, to keep
itself alive for a time.
Of the isle of Man, which inasmuch as it harbours
poisonous reptiles is regarded as belonging to
Britain.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. xv.
There is an island, one of the more important
among the lesser isles [of Great Britain], which is now
* Ov. Met. xv. 375.
THE LAND OF THE LIVING. I? I
called Man, but in times gone by Ewania, lying
exactly in mid-sea between North Ireland and Britain.
Now it was a matter of much debate among the
ancients to which of the above two countries this
island rightly belonged. At length the question was
settled in this wise. By way of trial some reptiles
were taken over there, and when it was found that
they survived the test, all agreed that it must be part
of Britain.
Of two islands, in one of which no one dies ; while
into the other no living creature of the female
sex can enter.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. n. cap. iv.
There is in North Munster a lake * which has two
islands, one larger than the other. On the former
stands a church, held of great sanctity from times
remote : on the latter a chapel, devoutly served by
a few celibates called Heaven- worshippers or God-
worshippers [Culdees].
Into the greater isle no woman or female living
thing ever enters but it forthwith dies. This has been
proved again and again in the case of dogs and cats
and other animals of that sex, which have frequently
been taken thither as an experiment, and have fallen
dead upon the spot. It is remarkable that of the
birds of the country the cocks settle in vast numbers
upon the bushes of this island, but the hens leave
their mates there and fly by, seeming to know the
* Lough Cre, now a bog near Roscrea in Tipperary.
1/2 PURGATORY OF ST. PATRICK.
peculiar properties of the place and avoiding it as
pestilential.
In the lesser isle no decease has ever occurred and
no one can die a natural death. Wherefore it is
known as the Land of the Living. Yet at times
persons there are sore troubled by deadly sickness,
and are miserably afflicted even to the point of dis-
solution. And when all hope of recovery is past,
when the sufferers see that there is no prospect of the
slightest improvement, when by the increase of their
maladies they are tortured to such a degree that to
die outright is preferable to dragging on a life of
death, they have themselves ferried over to the greater
island, where as soon as they touch land they breathe
their last.
Of an island one part of which is frequented by
good the other by evil spirits.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. v.
In Ulster there is a lake* containing an island
which is divided into two parts. One side of it,
whereon stands a church of approved holiness, pre-
sents to the view a landscape of rare beauty ; and its
charm is heightened and rendered glorious beyond
compare by the visits of angels and the presence of
the local saints, both plainly manifest to the human
eye.
The other side, which is exceeding rugged and
hideous, is reputed to have been assigned as the
* Lough Derg, in Donegal, is meant.
PURGATORY OF ST. PATRICK
resort of demons only, and to be the haunt where
throngs of evil spirits visibly perform their orgies.
This portion of the island has in it nine pits ; and if
haply any person may dare to pass the night in one
of these (which it is well known that now and again
some reckless men have ventured on), he is at once
seized by the malignant fiends, and throughout that
night tormented in such grievous sort, and racked
with so many violent and indescribable tortures by
fire, by water, and what not, that when morning comes
hardly a spark of life is found left in his wretched
body.
It is said that whosoever has borne these agonies
in discharge of a penance, will not be called upon to
undergo further punishments in hell, except he go on
to commit greater iniquities than before.
This place is called by the inhabitants The Pur-
gatory of St. Patrick. For that holy man had to
convince an unbelieving race of the penalties which
awaited the condemned in the infernal regions, and
of the veritable and everlasting life reserved for the
elect. Wherefore, the better to impress on the minds
of these rude heathen by a mysterious faith a doctrine
so strange to them and so opposed to their prejudices,
his earnest prayers were rewarded by obtaining a
striking and miraculous illustration upon this earth
of both states, which was an invaluable lesson to a
stiff-necked people.
174 OF VARIOUS MARVELS.
Of an island where corpses exposed to the air do
not decay.
Giraldt Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. vi.
There lies in the sea off the western coast of Con-
naught a certain island named Aran,* and sanctified,
so they say, by St. Brendan. There human bodies
are not buried, neither do they become corrupt ; but
are laid out in the open air, and remain fresh. There
a man may recognize and gaze with wondering eyes
upon his grandsire, great-grandsire, great-great-grand-
sire, and a long series of his ancestors extending far
back into the past.
Of the wondrous nature of [some] fountains.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. vii.
In Munster is a fountain wherein if any one bathe
his hair immediately turns white. I have seen a man
with one side of his beard which had been washed in
its water perfectly white, while the other had preserved
its natural dark colour. There is, on the other hand,
a fountain in the further part of Ulster in which who-
ever dips will never become gray. I may add that
this spring is frequented by women in large numbers,
and by men too, who are wishful to avoid a hoary
head.
* A mistake : the legend belongs not to Aran but to
Inisgluair off Mullet in co. Mayo.
THE POWER OF FIRE. 175
Of a fish which had three golden teeth.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. n. cap. x.
Not long before the coming of the English into the
island there was caught at Carlingford, in Ulster, a
fish of immense size and of a peculiar kind. Amongst
other remarkable points about it, it had (so the story
goes) three golden teeth, weighing together fifty ounces.
I should be inclined to suppose, however, that these
teeth by their yellowish tinge bore some external
resemblance to gold rather than really were of that
metal, and that the colour they assumed was perhaps
a presage of the golden times of the conquest so soon
to come. Moreover, in our days, a stag was taken
in the forest of Durham in Greater Britain with every
tooth in its head of a golden hue.
Of an island -which at first floated, but was at
length firmly fixed by means of fire.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. xii.
Among other islands is one that has lately appeared
and goes by the name of The Phantom Isle. It
originated as follows : — One calm day, in full view of
the astonished islanders, a considerable mass of earth
rose to the surface of the sea where no land had ever
been seen before. Some of them declared it was a
whale, or similar huge marine monster. Others, who
observed that it remained motionless, said : ' Nay, but
it is dry ground.' In order, however, to clear up their
1/6 ST. KEVIN'S APPLES.
doubts, certain picked young men of one of the islands
adjacent to the object determined to row out to it in
a boat. But when they got so near that they were
just expecting to touch the bottom, the island vanished
from their sight as though it had sunk into the sea.
Yet next day there it was again, and. again played the
youths the same trick. Finally, on the third day, by
the advice of one of the older men, on drawing nigh
they let fly at it an arrow with some ignited substance
attached, in consequence of which on landing they
found it stationary and habitable.
This is one of many proofs that fire is always the
greatest enemy to any kind of apparition. So it
happens that they who have just seen spectres cannot
look at its brightness without swooning. For fire,
both by its position [in the sky] and by its nature is
the noblest of the elements, a witness, as it were, of
the hidden mysteries of heaven. The firmament is
fiery, the planets are fiery ; with fire did the bush
burn, and was not burnt ; in form of fiery tongues the
Holy Ghost sat upon the apostles.
Of miracles ; and first of the apples ... of St. Kevin.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. n. cap. xxviii.
Pass we now to miracles ; and let us begin with
St. Kevin, the illustrious confessor and abbot* Well,
when St. Kevin had become celebrated for the sanctity
* He is supposed to have lived from 498 to 6 1 8, dying on
June 3rd, which is his saint's day.
ST. N ANNAN AND THE FLEAS. If?
of his life at Glendalough, a youth of noble birth, one
of his pupils, happened to fall sick and had a great
craving for apples. The saint in 'his sympathy offered
up a prayer to the Lord for his relief, when a willow
tree that grew near the church bore the wished-for
fruit, which proved most beneficial not only to the
lad but also to various ailing persons besides. And
to this very day both that willow and sets planted from
cuttings of it around the graveyard like an orchard
produce apples every year, though in other respects,
in their leaves and branches, they retain the pecu-
liarities of the willow. These apples are light
coloured and oblong in shape, and more wholesome
than palatable. However, they are held in much
veneration by the natives, who call them St. Kevin's
apples ; and many come from far distant parts of
Ireland to fetch them as remedies for divers diseases.
Of the fleas which were banished by St. Nannan.
Gircdd. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. xxxi.
There is a village in Connaught, famed for a church
dedicated to St. Nannan, where during many years
swarms of fleas increased and multiplied to such an
extent that the plague of it drove away almost all the
inhabitants till every house was fairly deserted. At
length St. Nannan came to their help, and the insects
were banished to a neighbouring meadow. Nay,
through the merits of that saint, so thoroughly did the
Divine Power clear the place of the pest that not
a flea could ever after be found there. But in the
M
1 78 OF RELICS.
meadow they continued to flourish and abound, in-
somuch that neither man nor even beast could ever
enter it.
Of bells and staves and other similar relics of the
saints.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. III. cap. xxxiii.
I should not omit to state also that portable bells,
and the crooks of holy men of former times, curved
at the upper end and wrought with gold, silver, or
bronze, are held in deep reverence by both clergy and
laity in Ireland and Scotland, as they are in Wales.
So much so that oaths taken in the name of these
relics are adhered to with far more fearful constancy
than any sworn upon the holy Gospels. For by some
occult power reposed in them, seemingly from above,
and through that thirst for vengeance which charac-
terizes the Irish saints, transgressors of such engage-
ments are visited with the severest punishments.
Of that most potent relic known as the staff of
Jesus ; and how a priest was visited by a two-
fold affliction.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. in. cap. xxxiv.
Among all the crosiers of Ireland and wooden relics
of the godly generally that which men call the staff of
Jesus, of wide fame and rare virtue, stands out pre-
eminent and deservedly holds the foremost place. It
was by means of this, as the common belief goes, that
St. Patrick ejected venomous snakes from the island..
A GRIEVOUS VISITATION. 179
The origin of the sacred rod is as uncertain as its
miraculous properties are undoubted. The removal
of the noble treasure from Armagh to Dublin was
carried out in our day and by my own countrymen.*
I myself saw, too, in Wales, which made it all the
more remarkable, a poor Irish beggar with a bronze-
bound horn slung round his neck as a relic, and he
averred that it had once belonged to Patrick. He
added, moreover, that from awe of that holy saint no
one had ever dared to wind it. But on his presenting
the instrument to the bystanders to be kissed after
the fashion of his country, one Bernard, a priest,
snatched it out of his hand, and sticking it in the
corner of his mouth blew into it and began to sound
a blast. When immediately, in the sight of every
one, he was struck with palsy, and his mouth was
twisted right up to his ear. Indeed, he was doubly
afflicted, for while he had previously been a man of
fervid eloquence, though spiteful and malicious of
tongue, he was reft on the spot of all power of speech.
Full grievously was he smitten in this way, insomuch
that he never wholly recovered, but has stammered
ever since. Besides this, he sank into a kind of
* This celebrated crosier was encased in gold and adorned
with gems. By its power St. Patrick was supposed to have been
protected against all dangers, and we read of his using it where-
with to chastise the idols of the pagan Irish. The removal
(by Fitz-Aldelm) of the relic to Dublin was probably for its safer
keeping, and it continued to be preserved in Christ Church
Cathedral and to be used in the ratification of treaties, etc. till
it was publicly burnt in 1538 by a Protestant mob: but the
precious metal and stones were removed first.
ISO THE DUBLIN CRUCIFIX.
lethargy, and lost his faculty of recollection to such
an extent that he could hardly remember his own
name. In fact his memory was so affected that many
days afterwards I saw him learning the psalms over
again as if they were something absolutely fresh,
although before his visitation he had known them
perfectly by heart ; and I marvelled to hear him, an
old gray-headed man, stumbling over the first elements
of learning, him whose erudition had been so wide.
At length he left home and went to Ireland to
appeal to St. Patrick to heal his imbecility, and so
was restored to somewhat better health, though never
to what he had been at first.
Of the crucifix at Dublin which spoke and bore
witness to the truth.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Dis. II. cap. xliv.
... At Dublin, in the church of the Holy Trinity,
there is a certain cross, bearing the figure of the
crucified Saviour, which is possessed of wondrous
efficacy. Not many years before the coming of the
English, that is to say in the days of the [supremacy
of the] Ostmen [in that city], the effigy on this cross
opened its sacred mouth and spoke. For it had
happened that one of the citizens had invoked it as
the sole witness and guarantee, as it were, of a con-
tract. In course of time, however, he with whom
he had entered into the agreement, broke the com-
pact and persistently repudiated the loan, which had
been granted on his personal security only. Their
ST. COLMAWS TEAL. l8l
fellow-townsmen, therefore, proposed, ironically rathei
than in earnest, to lay the matter before the crucifix.
Many persons assembled in the church to see the
result, when, in the hearing of all, the figure, on being
called upon, bore verbal witness to the truth.*
Of St. Colman's teal, which are tame and cannot be
harmed.
Giratd. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. xxix.
There is in Leinster a mere of no great size where
dwell the birds of St. Colman : f that is small ducks,
such as are commonly called teal. These since the
time of the saint have been so tame that they will
eat out of one's hand, and do not fear the approach
of man. They are, too, always thirteen in number,
as though forming a complete society. J If ever an
injury is offered to the [neighbouring] church or clergy,
or to them, or they are molested in any way, they
immediately fly off and betake themselves to a far
distant lake ; and will not return to their home until
condign punishment has overtaken the offender.
Meanwhile, during their absence, the waters of their
pool, which before were exquisitely pure and clear,
* This is the same crucifix as that mentioned in Book I.
chap. 17 of the Expugnatio.
t Sometime bishop of Lindisfarne, and afterwards founder
of the monastery of Inisbofinne in Connamara. Died 674, on
August 8th, which is his day.
t The prior and his twelve monks, or the prioress and her
twelve nuns, the original nucleus of a religious society.
182 ST. COLMAN'S TEAL.
become foul and fetid and fit to be used by neither
men nor cattle.
At times it has occurred that some one fetching
water thence at night has, not intentionally but
accidentally, drawn up one of the little creatures in
his bucket, and after his supper has been on the
fire a long time without properly cooking, at last
the bird has been found swimming about in the pot
perfectly unhurt; while as soon as it has been
restored to the pool, the meat has been cooked at
once.
It came to pass, also, in our days that as Robert
Fitz-Stephen and Dermot, king of Leinster, were
marching by that spot an archer brought down one of
these fowl with an arrow. He took it off with him to
his quarters, and put it in a vessel with some flesh to
boil, yet though he spent as much wood over it as
would be enough for three fires and waited till
midnight he got no farther with his cooking : the pot
would not boil. Three times he took the meat out,
and each time it was just as raw as it had been at
first. At length his host spied the little duck among
the pieces of flesh, and on hearing that it had come
from the pool, burst into tears and exclaimed : ' Woe
is me, that ever such a mischance as this should
happen in my house ! Why, this was one of St.
Colman's teal ! ' And the victuals on being placed
upon the fire alone were straightway boiled without
difficulty. But the archer soon after perished miserably.
Besides, it came about that a kite seized one of
them, and perched with it on a neighbouring tree,
THE SACRILEGIOUS ARCHERS. 183
when forthwith in the presence of many beholders, lie
was stricken with a rigidity in all his limbs, and paid
no further regard to the victim he held in his talons.
So, too, one winter, another was carried off by a young
fox ; and in the morning the beast was discovered
near the mere, lying dead in a hut, sacred from its
having formerly been the resort of St. Colman. His
prey had stuck in his throat and choked him.
In all the above cases the birds, through the kindly
care of their excellent patron, returned to the pool
uninjured, while the spoilers paid the penalty of death.
Of the archers at Pinglas who were punished by
Heaven.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. liv.
It fell out, also, in our days that during the un-
usually violent storms in Ireland, while Jove rent the
heavens with his thunder,* and while the sword of
king Henry flashed lightning through the land, several
companies of archers happened to be quartered in
Finglas, a village belonging to the archbishop of
Dublin. These fellows at once proceeded in a grossly
irreverent way to lay violent hands upon the ashes,
yews, and various trees which the famous abbot
Chenach and other devout men by whose constant
piety the spot is glorified had in times gone by planted
with their own hands around the grave-yard to adorn
their church. For, although there was a wood near
by, with the usual depraved manners of the baser sort
* Gerald, Expug. I. 36.
184 ST. BRIDGET AND HER FIRE.
added to the customary license of soldiers, they
attacked these trees, and lopping some, tearing up
others root and branch, soon consumed almost all in
their fires. . . .
But through the just indignation of God, who
claims vengeance as His own, and deigns to take upon
Himself the punishment even in this life of injuries
offered to His saints, these rude bowmen were forth-
with smitten so sorely with a strange and sudden
pestilence that within a few days most of them died
a wretched death in that very village ; suffering by
the decision of a strict Judge in that court which had
seen their sin. The rest of them essayed to find
refuge on ship-board, but were wrecked and drowned,
and thus found in their extremity that the same Lord
is ruler of the sea as of the land ; that from His face
no man can escape, or even flee.
Of various miracles in Kildare ; and first of the fire
that never goes out, and the ashes which do not
increase.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. xxxiv.
At Kildare, in Leinster, a town rendered illustrious
by the glorious Bridget,* are many marvels well worthy
of relation. Among these the first that occurs to my
mind is her fire, which men say never dies. Not that
it cannot be extinguished, but because nuns and holy
women have ever fed the flames with fuel and cherished
them with such anxious and careful diligence that
* The Irish form is " Brighit," " the fiery dart."
ST. BRIDGETS NIGHT. 185
through the whole course of years from the time of
the virgin [Bridget] they have always remained burn-
ing. And for all the quantity of wood that must have
been consumed during so long a period, yet the ash-
heap has not increased.
How the fire is kept up by Bridget herself on her
own night.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. xxxv.
As in the days of Bridget twenty nuns served the
Lord here, she herself being one of the twenty, since
her translation into heaven nineteen have invariably
formed the society down to the present time, and no
addition has ever been made to that number. Each
of them in turn watches the fire for a night, and on
the twentieth evening the nun last on duty, after piling
up the logs, says : ' Bridget, look to your hearth : it is
your night/ And so the fire is left, yet in the morn-
ing it is found still blazing, and the usual amount of
wood has been burnt.
Concerning the hedge set around the fire, within
which no male may go.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. xxxvi.
This fire is surrounded by a circular hedge of stakes
and brushwood, within which no male may enter.
And if perchance any such dare to pass it, and certain
rash men have essayed to do so, they will not escape
the Divine vengeance.
1 86' VENGEANCE OF THE SAINTS.
Moreover, it is lawful for women alone to blow it
up, and these may not do so with the breath of their
mouths, but with bellows only or with fans.
Of an archer who leapt over St. Bridget's hedge and
•went raving mad ; and of another who lost the
use of his leg.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. xlviii.
At Kildare an archer of the household of earl
Richard leapt over the hedge and blew the fire of
St. Bridget with his mouth. But no sooner had he
jumped back again than he was seized with madness,
and ran about blowing into the mouth of every one
he met, saying : ' See ! this is how I blew St. Bridget's
fire ! ' In the same way, too, he rushed in and out
of the houses over the whole town, and whenever he
saw a fire, repeated the same words and blew at it.
At last, however, he was caught by his comrades and
tied down, whereupon he begged to be taken to the
nearest water ; and on being led thither, in his burn-
ing thirst, drank so huge a quantity that he burst with
a loud report in the midst of them, and expired in
their hands.
Another, also, who wanted to get at the fire, had
just stretched one leg over the hedge, when, although
he was dragged back and held fast by his companions,
the offending foot and limb were forthwith withered
up, and for the rest of his life he continued lame, and
an idiot as well.
ST. KEVIN AND THE BLACKBIRD. l8/
That the saints of this land appear to be of a
vindictive disposition.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. Iv.
This, too, seems to me deserving of note, that even
as the men of the Irish nation are in this mortal life
beyond all others passionate and quick to revenge,
so in the life after death the saints of the island,
exalted though they be by their virtues above those of
other countries, appear to be of a vengeful temper.
The only reason I can think of for this is that the
people of Ireland, having no castles, while their land
swarms with robbers, are wont (especially the eccle-
siastics) in the absence of fortified places to seek
refuge and protection for themselves and their goods
in the churches. Whence, by the permission of
Divine Providence it has often been found necessary
to inflict chastisement upon such as may have assaulted
sacred buildings. Whereby both the peace o f the
church was guarded from the hands of the impious,
and not merely a befitting but even a servile venera-
tion was secured for the holy edifices themselves on
the part of a race naturallv irreverent.
[Of St. Kevin's gentleness.]
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. xxviii.
Once during Lent St. Kevin, as was his wont at that
season, fled from intercourse with man to a desert
place,* where, sheltered only by a little hut which was
* In the valley of Glendalough.
1 88 SANCTUARIES FOR MAN AND BEAST.
just sufficient to keep off the sun and rain, he gave
himself up to holy meditation and passed his time in
reading and in prayer. One day when, as usual, he
raised his hand to heaven through the window, a
blackbird chanced to settle on it, and treating the
palm as a nest laid her eggs there. The good man,
struck with compassion, showed such patience and
gentleness that he neither closed his hand nor drew it
in ; but hollowed it and continued to hold it out
without wearying till the young brood was fully
hatched. And in lasting memory of this remarkable
incident all the images of St. Kevin throughout
Ireland bear a blackbird in the extended hand.
Of the wonderful sanctuaries provided by the
saints.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. n. cap. xl.
In further Ulster rise some mountains where cranes
and grouse and various other birds build in large
numbers during their season, for the sake of the
peaceful asylum there afforded not only to human
beings, but to brutes and to the fowls of the air as
well. There all such abide undisturbed by the
inhabitants owing to the respect for St. Bean,* whose
church dignifies the spot. That saint, besides pro-
* An Irishman of this name was appointed first bishop of
Aberdeen in 1010, and is commemorated upon December i6th.
But perhaps the saint here is Binen, or Benignus, archbishop of
Armagh, St. Patrick's disciple and successor in the primacy,
whose day is November 9th.
SANCTUARIES FOR MAN AND BEAST. 189
tecting his birds, also watches over their eggs in a
wondrous and unheard-of way. For directly you
stretch out your arm to seize them, they disappear
and you see in their place a brood of young chicks,
red and scraggy, as though hatched that very hour.
You naturally draw back your hand, and, lo, you
behold in turn, through either some miracle or some
optical illusion, the chicks transformed again in a
surprising manner into eggs. If two persons go, one
to look on while the other robs the nest, to the eyes
of the latter appear chicks, to those of the former
eggs.
In South Munster, between the hill of Brendan * and
the wide sea which flows between Spain and Ireland,
lies a region of some extent, bounded on one side by
a river that teems with fish, on the other by a small
stream. There, out of reverence for St. Brendan and
other saints of that part, is a wondrous refuge for men,
cattle, and even for savage beasts, whether indigenous
to the locality or such as have migrated thither from
elsewhere. Whence it is that stags, wild boars, hares,
and other animals of the chase, on finding they can in
no wise escape from the hounds that are close upon
their track, make with all speed for this district from
far distant quarters. And when they have once
passed the rivulet, the dogs stop short in the pursuit
at that moment, and the fugitive is immediately safe
from all danger.
Marvellous is the power of God, who through the
merits of His saints does not permit the persistent and
* Brandon Hill, in Kerry.
190 A SALMON LEAP.
cruel huntsman to secure his prey, though he vehe-
mently urge on his fierce dogs to drag down the
quarry that is perhaps but a few yards ahead.
In these two retreats, from long enjoyment of a
home-like repose, birds and untamed animals do not
flee from intercourse with man.
On the other side of the said tract of land runs a
river which abounds in fish, and is especially rich in
salmon, even to an astonishing degree. This great
plenty was bestowed by Providence in the cause of
charity ; for the purpose, that is, of supplying plentiful
material for that indefatigable hospitality which the
holy men there were accustomed to afford to pilgrims
and strangers to the utmost of their power, indeed far
more than they ought in justice to themselves. And
lest the too common greed of man should be tempted
to turn this same abundance to marketable account,
a remedy has been provided which resembles that of
the manna : for never will these fish keep a single
night after their taking. Though they be salted as
thoroughly as possible, they are always liable to turn
putrid, and remain tasteless and insipid ; nor can they
by any device be preserved till the morrow so as to
be of the slightest value as an eatable.
Of the salmon leap.
Girald. Cambr. Top. ffibem. Dis. n. cap. xli.
This river, too, pours over and down a natural
rock, where it falls with great force from the top to the
bottom, forming a cascade such as one often sees.
HOW THE SALMON LEAP. IQI
On the summit of the waterfall is a hole of moderate
size, scooped out ages ago by the hands of holy men.
Into this cavity great numbers of the salmon bound
from below with a wonderful leap : one, in fact, which
would be miraculous were not this the peculiar habit
of that fish, for the height is as much as the length of
the longest spear.* Hence the name salmon has been
given to this species owing to its native propensity to
saltation.
How the salmon leap.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. II. cap. xlii.
The particular mode in which they leap is as follows.
Fishes of this sort struggle by instinct up stream :
they strive against the current as birds do against the
blast When a precipitous obstacle comes in their
path, they bend their tails round towards their heads ;
and sometimes, to give greater elasticity to their
spring, even take them fast in their mouths. Then
they suddenly let go, and relax the kind of circle
thus made, and, like the jerk of a bowed rod when
abruptly released, with the impetus so gained throw
themselves to the wonder of the spectators a great
height from the base to the top of whatever bars their
way.
A leap similar to this one, though not so large, is
to be seen in the river Liffey, not far from Dublin.f
* About twelve feet, at that time.
t Leixlip: the word is Norse and means "salmon-leap."
"Lax" occurs in various place names in Scotland, the isles,
and Ireland.
TRANSLATION OF SAINTS.
In the Teivy, too, in South Wales, is a third, which is
the steepest of the three.
That the bodies of S.S. Patrick, Columba, and
Bridget, which lay at the city of Down in
Ulster, were in these our days discovered and
translated.
Girald. Cambr. Top. Hibern. Dis. in. cap. xviii.
Now contemporaneous * with St. Patrick had been
S.S. Columba and Bridget, and the remains of all
three had been interred in the same city, that is
Down. In our own times, in the year in which the
lord John first came into Ireland [1185], and during
the governorship of John de Courci in Ulster, these
noble treasures were, through the instrumentality of
the latter, translated. Their burial-place was revealed
by divine agency, and the bodies were found in a
vault with three recesses, St. Patrick lying in the
middle, the others on either side.f
* Not correct, as the dates given above will show.
t The revelation was made in a vision to the bishop of
Down, and on June 9th (St. Columkille's day), 1186, the
remains were solemnly translated to a monument in Down-
patrick Cathedral in the presence of the legate Vivianus and a
large gathering of the Irish clergy.
" In Down three saints one tomb do fill>
"Patrick, Bridget, and Columkille."
(Quoted by Connellan).
193
APPENDIX I.
GENEALOGICAL TABLES OF THE GERALDINES AND THEIR
CONQUEST OF IREL
A. Legitimate descendants of the princess Nesta, daughter c
of Rhys ap Griffith, all successively j
NESTA = Gerald de Windsor, constal
!
William Maurice
Fitz-Gerald. Fitz-Gerald.
Odo, ancestor Reimund Griffith a daughter ? William Gerald Alexander
of the Carews Fitz-Gerald Fitz-Gerald.
of Wales and (" Le Gros"),
Ireland. — Basilia d. of
Earl
'illia
Strongbow.
Fitz-Gerald Fitz-Gerald. Fitz-Gerald.
— Alina, d. A
of Earl
Strongbow.
David the Welshman ;
present at
the siege of
Limerick in 1175.
B. Descent from the princess Nesta, which
NESTA = Stephen, c
Robert Fitz-Stephen [p
Ralph Fitz-Stephen [certainly illegitimate] M
— d. of Milo de Cogan.
C. Descent from the princess Nesta, which \
NESTA = Henry I., K
Fitz-Henry [certainly illegitimate
Meiler Fitz-Henry [legitimate] Robert Fitz-Henry [legitimat
Meiler Fitz-Henry [legitimate]
= N - , d. of Hugh de Laci.
N.B. — i. The -order of seniority among the brothers and sisters is in some cases doul
.9.
PENDIX I.
ND THEIR KINSMEN, THE FIRST ADVENTURERS IN THE
iT OF IRELAND.
, daughter of Rhys ap Tudor, sister of Griffith, and aunt
iccessively princes of South Wales : —
; Windsor, constable of Pembroke.
1
Maurice
lz-Getald.
David Angharat = William de Barri = ist wife, a daughter
Fitz-Gerald,
Bishop of
St. David's.
Alexander Nesta=
Id. Fitz-Gerald. Herrey de
Monttnaurice.
Robert Philip Gerald
de Barri. de Barri. de Barri
("Giraldus
Cambrensis ").
Milo
Fitz-Gerald of
St. David's.
r
Gledewis!
Milo Richard
deCogan. de Cogan.
Walter
de Barri,
killed in
Wales.
Robert
de Barri,
junior.
Philip
de Barri,
Archdeacon
of
Brecknock.
a daughter
= Ralph
Fitz-Stephen.
3sta, which was probably illegitimate : —
F.STA = Stephen, constable of Cardigan.
'.rt Fitz-Stephen [probably illegitimate].
I
Meredith Fitz-Stephen [certainly illegitimate].
ssta, which was certainly illegitimate : —
TA = Henry I., King of England.
:rtainly illegitimate].
z- Henry [legitimate].
Henry Fitz-Henry [legitimate ?].
in some cases doubtful.
2. Those in italics took part in the conquest.
LIST OF THE ADVENTURERS. 195
APPENDIX II.
A LIST OF THE MOST PROMINENT PERSONS CONCERNED
IN THE CONQUEST OF IRELAND UNDER HENRY II.
A. Adventurers.
Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke or Strigul [" Strongbow "].
Maurice Fitz-Gerald.
Reimund Fitz-Gerald.
Griffith Fitz-Gerald.
William Fitz-Gerald.
Gerald Fitz-Gerald.
Alexander Fitz-Gerald.
Milo Fitz-Gerald, of St. David's.
Hervey de Montmaurice.
Robert de Barri.
Philip de Barri.
Robert de Barri, junior.
Milo de Cogan [Coghani\.
Richard de Cogan.
Robert Fitz- Stephen.
Ralph Fitz-Stephen.
Meredith Fitz-Stephen.
Meiler Fitz-Henry.
Robert Fitz-Henry.
Henry Fitz-Henry.
Reimund de Kantitune.
Reimund Fitz-Hugh.
Walter de Ridenesford.
Maurice de-Prendergast
William Mascarel.
Philip of Wales \Guaknsis\
Richard Fitz-Godobert.
Alice de [A]berveny.
Robert de Quency.
ig6 LIST OF ROYAL OFFICERS.
Richard de Marreis.
Walter Bluet
John de Clahull.
Robert de Birmingham.
Adam de Hereford.
John de Hereford.
Thomas de Flanders \le Fleming}.
Robert de Bigarz.
Simon de Bigarz.
Robert de Borard.
Hugh Tyrell [The EarFs " intrinsicke friend ; " Carew\.
William the Little [" Petit; " « Modicus'}.
Gilbert de Nangle.
Josselin Fitz-Gilbert.
Richard Tuite.
Robert de Laci.
Richard de la Chappell.
Geoffrey de Constantin.
Adam de Feipo.
Gilbert de Nugent.
William de Muset.
Hugh de Hose.
Adam Dullard.
Richard le Fleming.
Adam de Riceport.
Robert Fitz-Richard.
B. Left behind or sent over by the king in various
official capacities.
Prince John, as Lord of Ireland.
William Fitz-Aldelm, as Procurator.
Robert Fits-Barnard.
Hugh de Laci, as Procurator.
John de Courci, as coadjutor to Fitz-Aldelm ; then as chief governor
under John.
Humphrey de Bohun.
Bertram de Verdun,
LIST OF ROYAL OFFICERS. 197
Robert le Poer \le pauvre\.
William le Poer.
Roger le Poer.
Osbert de Herlotera.
William de Bendenges.
Adam de Yarmouth.
Philip de Braose.
Philip de Worcester, as Procurator.
Theobald Fitz- Walter.
John Constable of Chester,}
Richard de Pec, ) " *»*»** co-governors.
Hugh de Gundeville.
Philip de Hastings.
Gilbert de Boisrohard.
Reimund de Drune.
Hubert Fitz-Hubert.
William Fitz-Hubert.
Joslan de la Pumerai.
Richard de Londres.
(Robert of Shrewsbury, to watch Hugh de Lad for
the King.
John Comyn, as Archbishop of Dublin.
Gerald de Barri [" Cambrensis "], as adviser to
Prince John.
C. Sent by the pope.
Vivianus, as Papal legate.
198 IRISH AND NORSE LEADERS.
APPENDIX III.
A LIST OF THE LEADING IRISH AND NORSE CHIEF-
TAINS AND NOTABLES WHO APPEAR DURING THE
WAR.
.A. Irishmen.
Roderic, King of Connaught and High-King of all Ireland.
Dermot Mac Murrough, King of Leinster.
Cooley Mac Donlevy, King of Ulidia.
Roderic Mac Donlevy, King of Ulidia.
Dermot Mac Carthy, King of Desmond \aliter S. Munster, aliter
Cork].
Donnell O'Brien, King of Thomond \aliter N. Munster, aliter
Limerick].
Donnell, King of Ossory.
Tiernan O'Ruarc, King of Breifny and East Meath.
Mackelan, Prince of Ophelan.
Murtough Mac Murrough, Prince of Hy-Kinselagh [Kenceleia].
Melaghlin O'Phelan, Prince of Decies.
Melaghlin O'Neill, King of Keneleonia.
Murrough O'Carroll, King of Uriel.
Donnell Kevanagh, son of v The only Irish chiefs who con-
Dermot, King of Leinster. f tinued to stand by the English
Awelaph [Anlaf] O'Carvi. j after the death of Dermot Mac
O'Reilli of Tirbrun. ' Murrough.
/[St.] Gelasius, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate
I of all Ireland.
. • 7 [St.] Lawrence O'Toole, Archbishop of Dublin.
Ecdenashcs.< DonatuS) Archbishop of Cashel.
I Catholicus, Archbishop of Tuam.
\Christian, Bishop of Lismore and Papal legate.
B. Ostmen.
Reginald of Waterford.
Smorch of Waterford.
THE IRISH EPISCOPATE. 1 99
The two Sihtrics of Waterford.
Hasculf of Dublin.
John the Wood [" le Dev<5 ; " Regan].
Guthred, King of Man.
APPENDIX IV.
•
THE IRISH EPISCOPATE AT THE TIME OF THE INVASION.
From Hoveden^ sub anno 1171.
Metropolitan Archbishoprick of Armagh.
Suffragan Bishopricks. — Kells, Louth (Clogher), Down, Derry,
Raphoe, Connor, Ardagh, Clonard.
Archbishoprick of Cashel.
Suffragan • Bishopricks. — Lismore, Emly, Cloyne, Ardmore,
Limerick, Killaloe, Waterford, Ardfert, Ross, Kilfenora.*
Archbishoprick of Dublin.
Suffragan Bishopricks. — Glendalough, Ferns, Leighlin, Kildare,
Ossory.
Archbishoprick of Tuam.
Suffragan Bishopricks. — Clonfert, Killala, Mayo, Elphin,
Achonry.
* Benedict Abbas, I. 27, adds Cork.
200 EXPLANATION OF THE MAP.
APPENDIX V.
ELUCIDATION OF THE MAP.
The five great divisions mentioned by Gerald in Bk. I. , chap.
I, of the " Expugnatio Hibernica," and forming the Irish Pen-
tarchy, were Leinster, Munster, Connaught, Ulster, and Meath.
Of these—
Leinster = the modern counties of Wexford, Carlow,
Wicklow, and Queen's County, most of
Kilkenny, King's County, and Kildare,
and the southern half of the county of
Dublin.
Munster = the modern province exactly, together with
part of Kilkenny.
Connaught = the modern province exactly, with the
addition of the greater part of Cavan.
Ulster = as now, but with Louth and without Cavan,
except a small district in the east of the
latter county.
Meath = the modern counties of Meath and West
Meath, with parts of Longford, King's
County, and Kildare, and the northern
half of the county of Dublin.
Other districts — •
In Leinster — Kenceleia = the diocese of Ferns, i.e.
roughly the modern county of Wexford.
„ „ — Ossory = the diocese of Ossory, i.e. most
of Kilkenny and part of Queen's County,
the latter portion being sub-named
Leix.
,, „ — Offaly = N. Kildare and 'parts of King's
and Queen's counties.
,, ,, — Omorethi = S. Kildare.
„ ,, — Odrone = part of W. Carlow.
EXPLANATION OF THE MAP. 2OI
In Munster — Thomond = roughly Clare and Limerick
counties.
» „ —Desmond = Cork, Kerry, Waterford,
and S. Tipperary counties. Minor
divisions in Desmond were Olethan
in S.E. of co. Cork, and the Decies in
co. Waterford ; though they are some-
times reckoned as districts indepen-
dent of Desmond.
„ ,, — Ormond = N.W. Tipperary.
In Connaught— Breifny = Leitrim and Cavan counties.
In Ulster — Uriel = Louth, Armagh, Monaghan and
most of Fermanagh counties.
,, ,, — Ulidia = Antrim and Down counties,
the latter being sub-named Dalaradia.
,, „ — Keneleonia = Londonderry and Tyrone
counties.
,, ,, — Tirconnel = co. Donegal.
CHIEF PLACES OF IMPORTANCE AND INTEREST IN
IRELAND AT THE TIME OF THE CONQUEST.
Dublin.* Tuam. Carlingford.*
Wexford.* Armagh. Louth.
Waterford or Port Cashel. Wicklow.*
Lairge.* Ferns. Arklow.*
Cork. Lismore. Kildare.
Limerick-* Leighlin.
Down. Tara,
* Ostman settlements.
2O2 GERALD OF BARRI.
APPENDIX VI.
THE AUTHORITIES.
I. GERALD DE BARRI, known in literature as Silvester Giraldus
Cambrensis, the historian of the conquest of Ireland and a
member of the family which furnished the chief leaders during
the first years of the invasion, was born, about 1147, at his
father's castle of Manorbier in Pembrokeshire, near Tenby. He
was of gentle birth, and by descent half Anglo-Norman half
Welsh [see Genealogical Table]. A younger son, and destined
for the church, he received his education partly from his uncle,
David Fitz-Gerald, bishop of St. David's, partly at the University
of Paris, which was already showing signs of its coming great-
ness as the chief centre of European learning. In 1176 Bishop
David died, and the chapter elected Gerald, who had been
archdeacon of Brecknock for the last four years, to succeed him.
The young archdeacon, however, had already earned the repu-
tation of being a restless advocate of church reform ; he was
known to be a zealous upholder of the claims of St. David's to
independence of Canterbury ; finally..the preferment of a Welsh-
man to the metropolitan see of Wales was regarded as dangerous :
for these reasons the king refused his consent to the appointment.
In disgust, Gerald returned to Paris, where he passed the next
four years in study. It was in February 1 183 that he paid his first
visit to Ireland, and there remained for about a year assisting
his relatives with advice (Expug. II. 20). His connection with
the court seems to have begun in 1184, when Henry, who had
made his acquaintance in South Wales, enlisted his services as
a diplomatist in Welsh affairs. He was also appointed a royal
chaplain and tutor to prince John, whom he accompanied to
Ireland in 1185 (Expug. II. 32). More than once an Irish
bishoprick was offered to him, but the ambition of his life was to
be bishop of St. David's, and from that aim he would not turn
aside. By the spring of 1188 the Topographiavfas published, and
about twelve months later the Expugnatio. Some time after the
GERALD OF BARRL 203
completion of the former work, the writer's vanity was gratified
by his spending three days at Oxford in publicly reciting it, and.
feasting everybody, high and low. The Topographia he dedicated
to Henry II., and the Expugnatio to Richard I. when count of
Poitou. Of his other works it is unnecessary to speak here.
On Richard I.'s departure for the East in 1189, Gerald was
appointed by the king a member of the council of regency, and
his hopes of obtaining the see of St. David's revived ; so much
so that he declined the bishopricks of Bangor and Llandaff, though
they might have seemed steps to the coveted post. Yet when in
1198 St. David's again fell vacant, and Gerald was a second
time chosen by the chapter, Archbishop Hubert Walter, who
was justiciar of the realm in the absence of the king, set aside the
election for the same considerations as those which had caused
its repudiation before ; and we can quite imagine that our author
was a man who in high office might have been a great nuisance.
While the matter was still open, Richard died and John suc-
ceeded. A long dispute now began, during which an appeal
was made to the pope. Finally, in 1203, Gerald withdrew from
the contest, and soon after retired into private life, a disappointed
man. We only hear of him again as going on a pilgrimage to
Rome in 1205-6, and as sullenly rejecting the tardy offer of
St. David's in 1214. His death took place apparently in 1220,
but he had so dropped out of the world that the exact year is
not certain.
St. David's had originally been the seat of the primacy of
Wales, and the succession of archbishops practically went on
from St. David, about 519, till the time of Bishop Bernard,
1115-47, who submitted to the supremacy of Canterbury.
David Fitz-Gerald, who followed him, began the list of bishops sub-
ordinate to the English primate. Gerald had given much offence
to king John by defending before pope Innocent III. in 1 199 the
ancient metropolitan rights of the extinct archbishoprick.*
The literary vagaries of Gerald and his merits as a writer of
* Among the works of Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canter-
bury, was one entitled A Censure of Gerald at Rome.
204 THE IRISH ANNALS.
history have been touched upon in the preface. Sufficient was
said there to place the reader on his guard against accepting
with implicit confidence all that he would find in the extracts
from the Expugnatio. The author's attitude to the Irish
resembles that of Bernal Diaz to the Mexicans. Yet partial
though his narrative is to his own countrymen, it is perhaps not
more unjust to the natives than it is to most of the royal officers
who were sent over to counteract the influence of his kinsmen
the Geraldines. Still, when all is said, the Expugnatio remains
beyond comparison the most complete and detailed account of
the expedition ; so we must be grateful, if not content. And
the very extravagance of Gerald's faults as a historian is their
corrective : were he less obviously unfair, he would be the more
delusive.
2. The Annals of the kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters
from the earliest period to the year 1616 were compiled between
January 22nd, 1632 and August loth, 1636 in the convent of
Donegal, from Old Irish Annals, most of the original MSS. of
which are now lost. The work is dedicated to Fergal O'Gara,
lord of Moy O'Gara and Coolavin, in co. Sligo, who patronized
the undertaking and paid the antiquaries engaged in the task,
while the convent housed and fed them. The Four Masters
were Michael O'Clery, Conary O'Clery, Cucogry O'Clery, and
Ferfeasa O'Mulconry. They did not themselves assume the
appellation of the Four Masters ; the title was given to them
afterwards, and was suggested by the designation Quatuor
Magistri, "applied by medical writers of the middle ages to
the Four Masters of the medical sciences " (O'Donovan). The
Annals are written in Goidelic, and the selections are from
the translation of O'Donovan published in 1851, as also are
those from the Annals of Innisfallen, which are quoted in his
notes.
On the whole considerably less is said in the Four Masters
about the English invasion than might have been expected :
indeed the excerpts here given comprise practically all the
connected pieces of interest on the subjecf ; though there are
short entries besides from time to time. The rest consists at
THE IRISH ANNALS. 2O$
this period mainly of the record of a network of "predatory
incursions," feuds, usurpations, depositions, and assassinations,
which apparently go on as usual with undiminished vigour in the
presence of the invader : the internecine strife being but rarely
suspended, and only during some few brief and spasmodic
coalitions against the foreigners.
3. The Annals of Innisf alien, from the creation to the
year A.D. 1320, were composed at the monastery on the isle of
Innisfallen in the lake of Killarney. They are believed to have
been begun about A.D. 1000, and are in the Goidelic tongue with
an intermixture of Latin.
4. The Annals of Loch Ce, or, more correctly, the " Annals
of the Rock of Loch Ce," or, the "Annals of Carrick ('Crag')
Mac Dermot," were compiled at the old home of the Mac
Dermots on an island in lough Key in Roscommon. They
embrace the period between the battle of Clontarf (1014) and
1590, and in their extant shape were partly the work of Brian
Mac Dermot, who died in 1592. They are probably the family
record of the Mac Dermots combined with transcripts from other
annals. The language is Goidelic with occasional Latin
sentences.
5. The Annals of Boyle, in Roscommon, were carried on
by the monks of the abbey of that place. They cover the time
from 420 to 1245, and are written in Goidelic interspersed with
a considerable proportion of Latin.
6. The Annals of Clonmacnoise, from Adam to Henry IV.
inclusive. The original Goidelic of these Annals is not known
to be in existence, and the only version of them extant is an
English translation. There are but three MS. copies of this,
and it has never been printed. . The translation was made in
1627, by Connla Mac Echagan [Mageoghegan]. One of the
copies is in the Clarendon Collection in the British Museum, the
press-mark being Ayscough, 4817. The MS. is written in
Elizabethan style, and in a bold and legible hand.
7. The Annals of Ulster were originally compiled by Cathal
Mac Guire at his isle of Senait in lough Erne. They start from
A.D. 431, and go on to 1498, on March 23rd of which year the
206 REGAWS POEM.
writer died of small-pox aged 59. His work was taken up by
Roderic Cassidy, and continued by him to 1541, and subsequently
by others till 1604. There is a translation into English by an
unknown person of the early part down to 1303, preserved in
the Clarendon Collection at the British Museum, Ayscough,
4795. This MS. is in a crabbed hand of the seventeenth
century, and is frequently difficult to decipher. The translation
has not been printed.
8. The Anglo-Norman poem on the conquest of Ireland by
Henry II. is the production of an unknown rimer, who, as he
tells us, drew his information chiefly from Morice Regan, the
interpreter or secretary (Latinier, Latimer} of Dermot, king of
Leinster. Besides the oral account he obtained from Regan, the
poet was also furnished by him with another geste, or song, on
the invasion, which is not known to be in existence. To these
sources of knowledge he added the reminiscences of old men and
others. It is impossible to say whether the poem was composed
before or after the Expugnatio of Gerald. In the latter case it
is difficult to believe that the author had not read, if he did not
make use of, so celebrated a work as that of de Barri. His
referring to old men as constituting one class of his authorities
would perhaps point to its being subsequent in date to the
Expugnatio. From what has been said, however, it is clear
that the poet lived during or near the time of the occurrences of
which he sings. His story breaks off suddenly at the attack on
Limerick by Reimund in 1175. On the whole it agrees very
well with Gerald's history, although each narrative contains facts
and incidents which are wanting in the other. The verses are
constructed in heptasyllabic couplets, varied occasionally by octo-
syllabic lines, but with further irregularities of metre here and
there. The text, which is very corrupt, was edited by Michel
and Wright in 1837. As Mr. Dimock remarks (Preface to Vol.
5 of Giraldus Cambrensis, R.S.) this was just such a chanson
de geste as would be chanted in many a Norman castle hall of a
winter's night at the end of the xiith century.
In Harris's Hibernica, 1747, was printed an imperfect abstract
of this poem in English prose made by sir George Carew, lord
THE CHRONICLERS. 2O/
president of Munster in the reign of Elizabeth, and a descendant
of the Geraldines [see Genealogical Table]. Until the publication
of the Anglo-Norman text in 1837, this abstract was always
taken as equivalent to the original, which, being extant in a
single MS., was not easy to consult. *Two passages from
Carew's epitome have been inserted in this book under the year
1169, a comparison with the poem having shown them to be
sufficiently accurate to justify their being so utilized. Carew
believed Regan to have been the actual author of the geste,
hence that fragment has been generally known and quoted as
" Regan." *
9. The English authorities in Latin used besides the above-
mentioned works of Gerald of Barri are The Chronicles of Roger
of Howden (732-1201) ; The Deeds of King Henry //., ascribed
to Benedict, abbot of Peterborough, but probably written by the
king's treasurer, Richard Fitz-Neal, the author of the " Dia-
logus de Scaccario," (1169-1192) ; The Outlines of Plistory by
Ralph of Dissay, dean of St. Paul's, (1147-1201) ; The History
of English Affairs by William of Newbury (1066-1198); The
Chronicles of Robert, abbot of St. Michael's Mount, (876-1184) ;
The Chronicle of Gervase of Canterbury, (1122-1200); The
Chronicle of Ralph Niger (creation to 1199); The Kingdom of
the Britons from Brute to 1210 by Gervase of Tilbury; t The
Archives of Dublin ; and a MS. on vellum preserved in the
British Museum, Clarendon Collection, Ayscough, 4792,
labelled A genuine copy of an ancient charter granted by Hugh
de Loci to William the Little.
* I must not omit to say that my thanks are due to my friend
and late colleague, J. Russell Esq. M.A., who rendered me
kind and valuable assistance in dealing with the difficult text
of this poem, although he is in no way responsible for the
translation.
t Of these Roger of Howden, Fitz-Neal, and Ralph of Dissay
were all in the service of Henry II., while William of Newbury
and Robert of St. Michael's Mount also had special facilities for
obtaining information.
208 LIST OF EDITIONS.
10. I have also consulted The Martyrology of Donegal, by
Michael O'Clery, the senior of the Four Masters ; Colgan's
Deeds of the Irish Saints ; The Syllabus of Rymer's Foedera ;
The Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland ; Spencer's View
of the State of Ireland, written in 1596 ; Hanmer's Chronicle oj
Ireland, written in 1571 ; Campion's History of Ireland, written
in 1571 : and must acknowledge my indebtedness to O'Curry's
Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History, O'Curry's
Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, O'Clery 's Edition of
the Four Masters^ and that by Connellan and Mac Dermott,
Mr. Round's articles on John de Courci, Kelly's Calendar of
Irish Saints, the " Index Locorum " in O'Donovan's Edition
of The Four Masters, and to the Glossary in Vol. V of the Rolls
Edition of Giraldus Cambrensis.
LIST OF EDITIONS USED.
Giraldi Cambrensis Topographia Hibernica et Expugnatio
Hibernica : ed. Dimock ; R. S. [Rolls Series}.
Chronica Magistri Rogeri de Houedene : ed. Stubbs ; R.S.
Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi Benedicti Abbatis : ed. Stubbs ;
R.S.
Radulphi de Diceto Decani Lundoniensis Ymagines Historiarum :
ed. Stubbs ; R.S.
Historia Rerum Anglicarum Wilelmi Newburgensis : ed. Hew-
lett; R.S.
Gervasii Monachi Cantuariensis Opera Historica : ed. Stubbs ;
R.S.
Chronica Roberti Abbatis S. Michaelis de Monte, in Vol. 6 of
the " Monumenta Germanise Historica" of Pertz.
Chronicon Radulphi Nigri, cum continuatione per anonymum, in
Vol. 27 of the " Monumenta Germanise Historica " of
Pertz.
Excerpta' ex otiis Imperialibus Gervasii Tileburiensis : ed.
Stevenson ; R.S.
The Archives of the City of Dublin : ed. Gilbert ; R.S.
Annales Buelliani, in the " Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores
Veteres : " ed. O'Conor, 1814.
LIST OF EDITIONS. 2CQ
An Anglo-Norman Poem on the Conquest of Ireland by Henry
II. : ed. Michel and Thomas Wright, Pickering, 1837.
Maurice Regan's History of Ireland : Trans, [in abstract] by
Carew, 1757.
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters :
Trans, and ed. O'Donovan.
The Annals of Innisfallen (from the notes in the above).
The Annals of Loch Ce : ed. and trans. Hennessy ; R. S.
The Annals of Ireland : ed. O'Clery.
The Annals of Ireland : Trans, and ed. Connellan and Mac
Dermott.
The Syllabus of Rymer's Fcedera : ed. Hardy, Record Edition.
The Martyrology of Donegal by Michael O'Clery : Irish Archaeo-
logical Society.
Acta Sanctorum Hibernise by Colgan : Louvain, 1645.
The Irish Histories of Spencer, Campion, Hanmer, and Marle-
borrough: Dublin, 1809.
The Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland : ed. Sweetman j
R.S.
DA
933
.3
B37
1888
Barnard, Francis Pierrepont
otrongbow's conquest of
Ireland
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