The Shorter History of Ireland: Warts and All

By Desmond Keenan

This book is a shorter companion book to The Real History of Ireland: Warts and All. It deals systematically with the social and economic aspects of Ireland from the earliest days until 1921. Many books with regard to the history of Ireland suffer to a greater or lesser degree of political or ideological distortion. It was always the authors aim to get at the actual facts of Irish history and to paint a picture with warts and all. Events are placed in their historical context and not in the context of later political propaganda.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543468908

Desmond Keenan

The author was born in Ireland, studied economics and sociology at The Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He completed a doctoral thesis on the Catholic Church in Ireland in the early nineteenth century. Afterwards, he continued his research in the British Library and British Newspaper Library, London (UK).

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CONTENTS

Preface

The Beginning

Iron Age (600 BC to 100 AD)

Ireland in the Roman Period, 0 to 400 AD

The Pre-Viking Christian Period (400-800 AD)

The Dark Ages (800-1000 AD)

The Tenth and Eleventh Centuries

The Twelfth Century

The Middle Ages

The Normans in Ireland

The Phases of the Middle Ages

Phase 1 The Expansion of Norman Influence

Phase 2 The Equilibrium

Phase 3 The Weakness of Norman influence

Phase 4 The Revival

The Tudors

Henry VIII, Edward, and Mary

Elizabeth I

The Stuarts

James I 1603-1625

Charles I 1625 to 1643

The Commonwealth 1649 to 1660

The Restoration Monarchy 1661 to 1685

Robartes, Berkeley, and Essex

James II 1685 to 1691

William III 1690 to 1702

Queen Anne 1702 to 1714

The Hanoverians

Ireland in the 1⁸th century

George I 1714 to 1727

George III 1760 to 1782

Chapter Eight

George III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1891-1820)

Reign of William IV

Queen Victoria

Chapter Nine

The Twentieth Century

Bibliography with References and Sources

DEDICATION

Veritas vel silentio consumiter vel mendacia

Truth is destroyed by either silence or a lie Ammian

To Annette who more or less adopted me

PREFACE

Nowadays few historians when writing history would use Marxist or Nazi jargon or similar ideologies of the past. Yet the ideology of Irish republicanism, it views of the situation and their vocabulary are accepted without question.

There never was a Celtic race, or a Rassenkampf (racial struggle). There never was a ‘Norman Conquest’ of Ireland, like the Norman Conquest of England. To call it such is a distortion of facts. The Gaelic and Norman chiefs intermarried from the very start. Neither was there 800 years of British rule in Ireland. Nor was there a never-ending struggle by the ‘native Irish’ to throw out the ‘foreign occupiers’. There never was a ‘British Government’ in Ireland. Ireland never was an occupied and subjugated country. It was never a ‘colony’. The Catholics were not the ‘real Irish’, and all Protestants were not occupying colonists from Britain, though that viewpoint became popular in the Ireland of Cardinal Cullen. The Irish people, the supposedly ‘Celtic’ people, were not groaning under oppression. All these were preached as realities at the beginning of the 20th century without any evidence to support the facts.

In this book all those who were born and reared in Ireland are counted as Irish people. So too are all Protestants, Jew or belong to minority religions or none. That was what nationalism was supposed to be, but the term was hi-jacked by Catholics

Nationalistic propaganda apart, the landlords in Ireland did an excellent job in developing agriculture, and the allegations that they constantly evicted tenants to make more money has been shown to be just baseless propaganda.

How did the ideology of republicanism become the founding mythology of the Irish state? According to this ideology, the ‘Irish people’ were inspired by the French Revolution and their ideas were articulated by Wolfe Tone. ‘To unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter under the common name of Irishmen’. All through the 19th century the ‘Irish people’ supposedly kept the republican flame alive, and attempted insurrections in 1803, 1848, and 1867. After 1867 open insurrection was abandoned for a time to allow ‘freedom’ to be achieved by parliamentary means. Finally, in 1916 a last attempt was made which bore fruit in 1921. The trouble with this theory is that these is no evidence that it was ever true. Only a mere handful of men did hold on to the idea of military insurrection. But they never got the backing of the clear majority of the people until after 1918. The assertion in the IRB ‘s ‘Proclamation of the Irish Republic’ in 1916, that ‘six times in the past three hundred years they have asserted it (their right to national freedom) in arms’ is now recognised as romantic nonsense. But without that mythology the rising in 1916 was merely criminal violence.

On the other hand, Irish Catholics wanted an independent Irish parliament under the crown. Most Irish Protestants heartedly objected. The reason they did so is very clear. In the 19th century most public appointments and service contracts and anything paid for by the Government were awarded by patronage. It was essential to seek the assistance of the relevant public official, whether in central or local government and request a favour. The request was accompanied by a gift in the proverbial brown envelope. Public office was a highly remunerative affair. This system became notorious as Tammany Hall in the United States, and it was noted that the Irish American who controlled Tammany Hall were often the blood brothers of those behind the Land League and the Home Rule Movement. In a system of ‘winner takes all’ there would be no place for Protestants in an independent Ireland. The fact that most of the Catholic clergy supported Home Rule for Catholics led to the slogan ‘Home Rule is Rome Rule’.

When reading Irish history, the following points should be kept in mind: (1) There were no such things as races; (2) there never was a Rassenkampf; (3) Celtic was just a language; (4) there never was a kingdom of Ireland before Henry VIII; (5) there never was 800 years of British misrule in Ireland; (6) there never was 8oo years of English or British rule in Ireland. There was an Irish Government since the 12th century composed of Irishmen; (7) there never was a Norman conquest of Ireland; (8) there never was a struggle between Gael and Norman in Ireland. Families inter-married from the very beginning; (9) religion was not an issue at the time of the Reformation or in the 19th century; land and power was; (10) the people of Ireland, the ordinary Irish were never consulted. All decisions were made by chiefs or politicians who had their own local agendas, (11) A struggle for freedom or independence was a struggle to control the rackets; (12) ‘Protestant Ascendancy’ was a euphemism for those Protestants who controlled the rackets.

A complaint was made about an earlier book of mine that it was very different from other books, especially regarding the 20th century. The familiar ‘struggle for freedom’ beginning about 1905 with the formation of Sinn Féin in 1905 was drastically curtailed. The reason for this is that before 1918 the activities of those outside the Nationalist Party were statistically insignificant. After that date it was clear that any future Irish Government would be controlled by Sinn Féin and that Catholics who wished for any favours in future would have to prove their loyalty to Sinn Féin. They would have to distance themselves from Redmondism. But in 1916 the great objective of Catholics and Protestants alike was the success of the coming great offensive on the Western Front. The leaders of 1916 were regarded as guilty of treason, even if many felt their execution by firing squad was hasty, excessive, and unnecessary which indeed it was.

Again, whatever on might think of the morality or legitimacy of Sinn Féin’s victory in 1918 it was clear that any future Government would be controlled by Sinn Fein. Electoral malpractice was endemic in Ireland. Lloyd George had already sold the pass to Redmond, and he too had no other option but to negotiate with Sinn Fein. And so their distorted version of history remained undisputed. But it was a highly distorted version. I hope this book provides a better balance.

THE BEGINNING

Iron Age (600 BC to 100 AD)

The peoples described as Neolithic, from their distinctive stone tools, brought farming and megaliths. Later in the Bronze Age came metal and pottery. Later still came iron. Much can be deduced from their artefacts which remain. But their languages, culture, beliefs, and religion are matters of conjecture. Modern boundaries did not exist. Folk tales and forms of art could spread.

The older sub-Atlantic climate period: 500 BC until 500 AD: pre-Roman iron age, was probably the worst period of Irish history. Gone were the glory days of the Bronze Age. The climate was wetter and cooler. Little is known of this period and there are few archaeological remain. Blanket bogs developed. Agriculture seems to have declined, with people depending on pastoral flocks. Cereals, whose grains enable people to survive over the winter, would have been less common and led to a decline in population. But after 100 AD temperatures rose and agriculture revived. So, climatic conditions in the following Christian period would have been quite favourable. But we know very little about Iron Age Ireland.

In the Near East, the great empires of the Ninivites, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans succeeded each other. About 1000 BC, in the hilly country lying between Egypt and Mesopotamia, a chief called David succeeded in forming a tiny independent kingdom of Israel, which was however quickly subjected to the succeeding empires. Hellenic-speakers occupied Greece. In Italy, the Italic-speaking inhabitants of Rome were able to conquer to conquer all the neighbouring tribes and establish a Republic covering the whole of Italy chiefdoms. North of the Alps no great empire was formed. Speakers of Celtic, a branch of the Indo-European language group, gained control of western Europe north of the Alps. The individual chiefdoms were gradually conquered by the Romans.

There was no such a thing as a ‘Celtic race’. Nor was there such a thing as a pure Celtic culture, and idea derived from 19th century racial theories. There are no indications of an invasion of ‘Celts’ in 19th century racial theory. The population of Ireland was as mixed as that of any other part of western Europe. The sea connected rather than divided. As elsewhere in Europe the basic Neolithic population survived. In the days before steamships, the number of people travelling overseas was quite small, and largely male. They would of course take local wives when they arrived.

Movements across the seas could go either way depending on the attractions on the other side. Some could be driven out by warfare, famine or population pressures. If a land on one side was underpopulated and on the other side over-populated a flow from one side to another could be explained. Or people on one side could be driven out by incoming invaders. Regarding Ireland there are few records. It is better to view movements across the Irish Sea like water sloshing up and down in a bath, flowing one way and then the other.

La Tène motifs of the Iron Age could be found in Ireland. Tales of chariot warfare could come from England. So-called Celtic art was a fusion of west European styles which spread over Ireland and Britain. The internecine Iron Age warfare persisted among the Celtic-speaking groups in Ireland until the 16th century.

We know that at the time of St. Patrick (5th century AD) there was a Celtic-speaking ruling class in Ireland whose language had close connections with British and Gaulish versions of Celtic. Some of the tribal names given by Ptolemy are like those found in Britain and France. The names of the ruling families do not however indicate a great movement of populations, only of elites. Some of the names of the gods have equivalents on the Continent. This obscure period of the Irish Iron Age (600 BC to 500 AD) is the most likely time to date the arrival of Celtic language.

The religious year seems to have been divided into four quarters marked with feasts of four gods. The first was in February, Imbolc, the feast of the goddess Brigit, daughter of the Dagda, (likely from Proto-Celtic: Dagodeiwos,) the second in May the feast of Belenos (Beltaine), the third in August the feast of the god Lug (Lugos, Lughnasa), and finally the feast of the dead and the underworld, sacred to the great god, the Dagda and his mate the Morrigan (Samain). The survival of the cult of the dead and the underworld should be noticed. Lug was a common Celtic god, and Beltaine is usually connected with Belenos. The goddess Brigit may relate to the Brigantes in Britain. Nuada seems to be the same as the British Nodens.

Ireland in the Roman Period, 0 to 400 AD

The Romans liked to build defensive walls along the boundaries (limites) of their empire to prevent armed invasions. But the Latin language and Roman culture and influence could spread far beyond the boundary. Trade was always carried on. We have little idea of the amount of migration in either direction across the Irish Sea. Young men from beyond the limes could enlist in the Roman army. Nor was there any reason why discharged Roman soldiers could not sell their skills on the other side. Those from Ireland who had served as auxiliaries in the Roman army could return to Ireland and use their new military skills to their own advantage. For example, a fortified camp like a Roman fort might be called a cashel (castellum). Merchants and ships captains could have a basic knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Gaulish languages. The Irish Sea connected not divided. We should no longer see two separate cultures developing independently of each other as was the custom in the 19th century.

The Romans did not occupy Ireland because there was little in it for them. The Romans occupied Wales and Cornwall because of their valuable mines. Trying to occupy Scotland and Ireland would have been more trouble than they were worth, Ireland was no longer a source of copper and gold. Irish products, such as they were, could more easily be acquired by trade. Ships visited Ireland, and the major features of the Irish coast were known to merchants as can be seen from Ptolemy’s Greek map. Ogham script seems to be modelled on Greek and Latin alphabets. The Gaelic language was spoken not only in western Scotland but also in western Wales, showing a close connection between the populations. Doubtless many Irish men and women found their way to Roman towns in Britain, especially in times of famine. The first Christian priests and monks seem to have come from Scotland (Luguvalium, Carlisle) and Wales (Isca Silurum, Caerleon) though the first bishop may have come from France to establish a hierarchy.

The Pre-Viking Christian Period (400-800 AD)

Secular Society

The Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain in 410 AD. Shortly afterwards peoples known as Angles and Saxons began arriving in England giving it its modern name. Roman civilisation (Romanitas) persisted in Wales for some time longer until Wales entered its own Dark Age with no writing. The Celtic language was in a period of rapid change at this time, and by Bede’s day (700 AD), Welsh, Gaelic, and Pictish were distinct Languages in Scotland just beyond Hadrian’s Wall, St Ninian (360? -432?) established the church at Whithorn in Scotland early in the fifth century. It is likely that St Patrick belonged to this church and became its bishop. For the first time have written records.

The warlike western European Iron Age culture persisted in Ireland. The warlike culture was common to other peoples like Franks or Saxons. Warfare was endemic, and none of the chiefs was able to reduce all the others to permanent subjection. Now the paramount chief in one province dominated, only to be succeeded by the chief from another. Though nominally described as the ‘Five Fifths’ of Ireland, politically Ireland was divided into a northern and southern half, the leading chiefs in the northern half not venturing into the south and vice versa. By the 9th or 10th century, the idea of a single kingdom of Ireland, like the idea of a kingdom of England, and a kingdom of Scotland began to emerge. But unlike in England and Scotland, the undisputed succession of a single dynastic chief or king had not arrived before the 12th century when the feudal overlordship of Henry of Anjou and his successors was accepted. This feudal overlordship was never challenged before the French Revolution.

The idea of five provinces was derived from geography. Ulster was bounded on the south by a chain of woods and bogs stretching from coast to coast. Connaught was protected by the belts of bogs and marshes along the Shannon and the few places the river could be forded. Leinster was bounded all around by bogs and wooded hills. Munster was protected by the Shannon and the difficult border with Leinster. There were long-distance tracks, keeping to raised ground, joined by fords over rivers, usually impassable in winter. The main route from the Midlands into Munster was through Offaly, and north Tipperary to the west of the Slieve Bloom mountains. The route from the Midlands into Ulster was through Louth and into Armagh. There was a coastal route from Connaught into Co. Donegal in Ulster. These routes were likely to be well-defended. There were of course numerous local minor routes, among rivers, and lakes, and through forests and bogs, known to local people. At the boundary of every petty chiefdom, protection money would be demanded unless the traveller had the protection of a greater chief. These conditions prevailed in many places until the end of the 17th century. The Normans, in the Middle Ages improved travel conditions in the areas they controlled. Their preferred route from the Midlands into Munster lay along the River Barrow.

With regard to political organisation the basic building block in the early historical period was still the tuath (too-a, plural tuatha too-ha) a tiny territory six or seven miles square. Ireland was divided into 3 grades of chiefs. These were the ri, the ruiri, and the ri ruirech which could be translated as the chief, the mesne chief, and the over or paramount chief. The latter can be described as the chief of a province, the mesne chief as the chief of a county, and the local chief as the chief of a barony or large medieval parish. Later a top grade was added, the ard ri, who was supposed to be king of all Ireland. There was no ‘Kingdom of Ireland’ before 1542. Ireland was a congery of warring tribes. Ri has often been mis-translated as king. It should be translated as warlord, or leader of the warband. King is misleading. The demesne lands of a chief, i.e. those belonging to his derb fine were relatively small. The derb fine comprised four generations. At every death of a chief, one generation was forced out and had to launch their own (subordinate) chiefdoms. By the end much of the population seems to have belonged to chiefly families.

The strength of a chief largely depended on what he could force from his subordinate chiefs. In inter-tribal wars until the end of the Middle Ages usually only the lands of the subordinate chiefs were seized. Conversely, in Tudor times normally only the demesne lands were escheated to the crown and planted. Following the Norman invasion of Connaught, the demesne lands of the O’Connors was reserved to them though many other cantreds were made into feudal fiefs.

The more powerful chiefs forcibly exacted tribute and assistance in battle from lesser chiefs but did not interfere in their management of their tuatha. The cattle-raid or táin was the sport of the young men in the chiefly families. They could drive of cattle, kill peasants, rape women, burn houses, and destroy crops and then escape. When worn down by raids they could take their lands for their own sons. At the beginning of this period the chiefly families formed a small percentage of the population. The majority were free farmers, craftsmen, fishermen and so on. All of these would have had a portion of land to live on and various rights on common lands. By the 12th century the free farmers had virtually disappeared, losing their lands to chiefs because of debt.

After a cattle-raid all spoil was pooled and then shared out by the warlord who naturally gave large portions to himself, his family, and chief supporters. The warlord then loaned his share of cattle to free farmers who were expected to repay so many cattle each year. If the free farmer in any year could not repay the chief occupied his farm, and the free farmer was downgraded in status to betagh losing his free status and being the equivalent of the Norman villein. He could then no longer appear in the chief’s court. In this way, most of the land of Ireland was transferred to the ever-increasing number of chiefly families.

One must totally discard the Romantic version of Irish history which followed the pattern of Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley novels once taught in Irish schools. The vision of an Ireland of saints and scholars. The reality was very different. It was a warrior society. The most brutal and bloody killer was the most esteemed. The skill of murdering in battle was the most esteemed and the most rewarded. The chief distributed the booty from a successful raid to his family and followers. The best warriors got the most land, the most slaves, the most women, the most cattle, the most objects of art.

The warrior who led the most successful raids was made chief. Besides collecting booty each chief sought to strengthen his own position by subjecting lesser chiefs to himself and demanding tribute and services in battle. Chiefs were utterly ruthless in their self-interest. They gave their sons as hostages for their loyalty and sacrificed them as soon as convenient. Brehon Law allowed him several wives, so he always had plenty of sons. Not until the reign of Elizabeth I was the monarch of England prepared to exercise the maximum of force to end this appalling system. The lesser chiefs would only revolt from their overlords if they were guaranteed the queen’s protection. The Gaelic chiefs clung to Brehon Law until the end of the reign of Elizabeth I (1603) because of the powers it gave to chiefs, and the hopes it gave to their subordinates. Conversely, Gaelic chiefs had no interest in developing towns, improving trade, erecting mills and bridges, creating permanent field systems with drains, or even making permanent homes and fortifications, for these were too easily destroyed in a cattle raid. All these had to be introduced by so-called ‘planters’. All the trade they needed the chiefs kept in their own hands, and met ships at their appointed places on the coasts, or sent their cattle through Norman towns.

The monastic annals and other records kept good accounts of events in this period, but it was a chronicle of the rise and fall of local chiefs. Only the names of the chiefs and chiefdoms changed, as power moved from one group to another. Even the Church had no structure or hierarchy, and abbots were often more influential than bishops. Not until the 12th century was an attempt to form a proper hierarchy. Irish dioceses were autocephalus.

Christianity

The first definite mention of Christianity in Ireland recorded in writing was in the Chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine which was completed about 450 AD. Under the year 431 Prosper has the cryptic note, ‘Palladius was ordained by pope Celestine, and sent to the Irish believers in Christ as their first bishop’. It would seem that his mission was to the Laigin, the chiefs in Leinster. This implies that there were Christians and priests already there. Palladius may, or may not, have been accompanied by three priests called Secundinus, Auxilius, and Iserninus, who may have come from Gaul. The impression one gets is that Christianity was first established firmly in Ireland in county Kildare, and from there spread out over most of Ireland except the north. But it is likely that the priests came from Wales, from Caerleon or Caerwent.

There can be little doubt that the introduction of Christianity into Ulster was independent of its introduction into Leinster. We would expect several priests from the dioceses of York and Carlisle to have been ministering to British captives. Of Patrick and his mission, we really know nothing except what we can glean from his two obscure pieces of writing, the ‘Declaration’ (Confessio) and the ‘Letter against the Soldiers of Coroticus’ (Ceredic or Caradog). Patrick was born in Roman Britain, almost certainly on the north west coast near Carlisle. His grandfather had been a priest, and his father a deacon and civil administrator with the rank of decurion. He was probably captured by the raiders from Ireland around 430 AD. When he escaped after several years’ slavery, he returned home and was made a priest, and later a bishop of some town in the northern half of Britain, possibly Carlisle or Candida Casa. He seems to have been and to have remained a bishop in Britain, but spent considerable time in South Ulster to the displeasure of his relatives. (The various Lives of St Patrick, written centuries later, are unreliable.)

The rest of Ireland became Christian in the course of the 6th century. Diarmait mac Cerbaill (544-64) celebrated the last pagan rites at Tara. Aed Caemh around 570 became the first Christian king of Cashel. By the year 600 all the great chiefs were nominally at least Christian, and it would seem that all the churches which were later to become the centres of dioceses had been founded. Christianity spread in Ireland about the same time and about the same speed as in Scotland and Wales. There is no evidence at all for the existence of a ‘Celtic’ Church. Christianity is said to have been introduced to all Ireland when all the great chiefs adopted it and Christian worship became the official worship. This does not mean in Ireland, or elsewhere in Northern Europe, that Christian morality was widely practised. But attendance at the greater feasts at the local monastery was probably the norm.

Literacy and Christianity were introduced at the same time by the same people. Literacy meant the ability to read and write Latin. This involved the ability to speak Latin. The Irish learned classes had access in principle to everything written in Latin. Spoken and written Latin was the normal means of communication in Europe until the 18th century. The chancellor, in charge of the king’s correspondence, became the chief officer of state and the chancellery the chief office. Isaac Newton’s great work was written in Latin so that other European scholars could read it. Later works in Gaelic were written as the learned classes developed their own literature in early Gaelic.

The inspiration of the monastic movement was St Finnian of Clonard who is traditionally said to have trained twelve of the great monastic founders of monasteries from 544 onwards. Finnian is alternatively given as Uinniau. The form of this name is Welsh. That Uinniau was a Welsh monk would make good sense. A coarb, a descendant of the founding family, would be chosen as abbot but was not necessarily a great spiritual leader. Christianity in Ireland, like Buddhism in China, in the absence of towns, revolved around monasteries.

The position of the Church in Gaelic society was rather different from that in much of north western Europe. There, the clerics formed the administrative classes, for they could read and write. In Ireland however, the learned classes quickly mastered the arts of reading and writing, and produced a great volume of vernacular literature, including a compilation of all existing laws. The secular courts administering the Brehon Laws were retained by the chiefs down to the 16th century. Among other things, the Brehon Laws gave a great freedom with regard to multiple marriages and divorce and allowed chiefs to decide that their own cases were just. In their hands the law was made the great oppressor of the poor. The testimony in court of a rich man had greater weight than that of a poor man. The law applied only to freemen, but an ordinary freeman needed, as in Rome, a patron of higher status to assist him. By the 12th century, most freemen had lost their free status, largely because of debt.

It has long been noted that the Church in Ireland developed, or failed to develop. There were no towns in Ireland, only the fortified villages of the chiefs. What was common and accepted in rural parts of Gaul in the 5th century remained in Ireland until the 12th century. There was no such thing as a Celtic Church. We should look to Gaul in the time of St Martin (336-397). Few if any parishes were endowed. Episcopal establishments were semi-monastic, but after the 6th century laymen preferred to endow monasteries. As there were no towns, bishops placed their cathedral churches in monasteries, or abbots placed them there. By the 12th century, the bishops had few endowments of land, though at times, considerable rights of tribute. Priests from monasteries provided for the spiritual needs of believers. Though the chiefs at an early stage embraced Christianity it is far from clear when the last practices of paganism died out in remote and poor areas. Perhaps not until the systematic endowing of parishes was carried out under the Normans. Evangelising the poor never seems to have been a primary objective.

The Paschal Controversy

In Ireland, one Cumine (Cummian) took a leading part in studying the dispute regarding the proper date for Easter. They sent a delegation to Rome to clarify matter. When the delegates returned the synod re-convened at Magh Ailbhe near Leighlin, Co. Carlow, and the churches in southern Ireland adopted the new rules in 634. This was followed by Synod of Whitby in Northumbria (664 A.D.) which settled a dispute about the date of Easter there. The northern churches did not adopt the new date until the synod of Birr in 697.

The eight century was a great century for art and learning. The art of the period has often been referred to as ‘Celtic’ art. Very good metal work was being produced, the illumination of manuscripts was reaching its peak, and the carving of the high crosses began in the eighth century. The greatest masterpiece, the Book of Kells, was written and designed either in Ireland or Scotland about the year 800. Great masterpieces of metal work like the Ardagh chalice, of illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells, and sculptured crosses like those at Monasterboice, date from this period. Very belatedly stone was being used in the building of churches The earliest reference is in the year 788. A stone church was built in the monastic rath in Armagh in 789 AD. The roof was doubtless thatched as were nearly all roofs until modern times. (Building in stone in England recommenced about 674 at Jarrow.) Secular learning too flourished and a great deal of it was put down and fixed on manuscripts. In particular collections of laws in volumes or tracts, all in the Irish language were written down in the Senchus Mór.

In the lands of the Ui Neill in the North the chieftainship of Tara after the death of Lugaid in 507 was confined to the families of three of the sons of Niall Noígíallach, Conall Cremthaine in Meath, and Eogain and Conall Gulban in Donegal. The family of the first later split into two, Clan Cholmain, and Síl nÁedo Sláine, the family of Aed Sláine. These two, with Cenél Eogain and Cenél Conaill, thus formed the four main branches of the Ui Neill. Later, Cenél Conaill in Donegal was excluded by their northern rivals the Cenél Eogain, and Síl nÁedo Sláine became too weak to support the overlordship leaving a simple alternation between the Cenél Eogain and Clan Cholmain.

In the South the whole of the present province of Leinster seems to have been under the dominance of the Laigin or Lagenians at the beginning of the fifth century, as provincial chiefs (ri ruirech). This just meant that they could exact tribute and service in war from the lesser chiefs. The common ancestor assigned in the genealogies to the various branches of the dominant Eoganacht in Munster was Conall Corc father of Nio or Nad Froich (d. 491/492). So, it is likely that the expansion of the Eoganacht, like that of the Ui Neill occurred in the fifth century. In Connaught he leading families were the Ui Fiachrach, and the Ui Briuin. The Ui Briuin did not establish their dominance as the ri ruirech over the Ui Fiachrach, until at least the middle of the eighth century. The Ui Briuin split into the Ui Briuin Breifne, the Ui Briuin Ai, and the Ui Briuin Seola. The Ui Briuin Ai ultimately emerged as the provincial chiefs in the Middle Ages. These names are important for from them were descended the families still prominent in the 16th century. The unending fighting between the great families continued until the 16th century, scarcely interrupted by the coming of the Vikings and Normans who assistance was sought against rival chiefs. By the 11th century the chiefs of provinces were vying for the position of high king which meant forcing the other provincial chiefs and all their followers to pay tribute and join his army when summoned. There never was a recognised stable kingship of Ireland.

The Dark Ages (800-1000 AD)

Christian Western Europe was being attacked by pagan barbarian peoples from the north, the south and the east. In Rome itself between 896 and 904 there were 10 popes. In 795 Lambay Island was attacked by Viking raiders and shortly afterwards the island monasteries of Inishmurray and Inishbofin off the west coast were plundered. These plundering raids were no different from the táin or cattle raid of the local chiefs but seeking portable objects like slaves, gold, or horses which could be carried off at speed. The Viking chiefdoms had developed trade, improved shipbuilding design, developed techniques of sailing into the Atlantic, and improved weapons and tactics. Small raiding parties would appear suddenly and attack island and coastal settlements, and disappear rapidly. No Viking raids in the first forty years went more than twenty miles inland. From 837 and the first settlement at Dublin there commenced the second phase of Norse attacks. These were stronger, more frequent, and covered much of the eastern half of Ireland. They were again concentrated largely on the central part of Ireland, from the coast between Dublin and Carlingford to the east and the River Shannon to the west. Around Dublin and Limerick, they formed petty chiefdoms which were quickly dominated by the powerful regional chiefs. Almost certainly these inland raids were conducted with local help to guide them.

The influence of the Vikings on Ireland was more beneficial than otherwise. They developed long-distance trade. They developed towns, fortified structures in hostile territory, as bases for raiding and trading. They brought goods from Byzantium. They re-introduced the use of money to northern Europe. They developed the art of shipbuilding and the art of navigation. The boat builders in the British Isles copied their methods. They had a highly-developed form of art which had a powerful and rejuvenating influence on insular art. They reintroduced the profitable slave trade. After an initial phase of raiding, the Gaelic chiefs preferred to enlist their help in local wars. They freely intermarried. All through history until recent times the vast majority of migrants in any direction were men. These naturally took local women as their wives wherever they settled. A notable example was Cromwellian soldiers marrying Catholic Irishwomen, though that was completely against the policy of the Puritan Commonwealth, and indeed of the Catholic Church. After 1066 when the Normans ended slavery in England, the very profitable slave trade centred on Dublin came to an end.

The Síl nÁedo Sláine, the first of the major chiefs to do so, had decided on an alliance with the Norse of Dublin. About 841 the Norse constructed a defended area for their ships at a place called the Black Pool (Dub Linn) on a tidal creek of the Poddle a tributary of the Liffey below the ford called Ath Cliath. The pool was just east of the present Dublin Castle. A Norse town was no bigger than the towns around the great monasteries, but it was organised for different purposes, trade, piracy, and warfare.

The Tenth and Eleventh Centuries

In these centuries Irish warfare was dominated by the O’Briens in Munster, the O’Connors in Connaught, the MacLoughlins (a branch of the O’Neills) in Ulster, the O’Mellaghlins in Meath, and the MacMurroughs in Leinster. It was the great period of Norse settlement and of Norse influence in Ireland which went far beyond their numbers. Dublin was more or less re-founded after 902, Drogheda founded in 911, Waterford in 915, Cork in 917, Wexford around the same time and Limerick in 922. There were also settlements in Wicklow and Arklow. They made attempts to develop their base at Carlingford and to ravage the country as far as Armagh.

There was this difference from the pre-Viking period. The provincial war lords were able to strike far outside their own province. They could seek to be ard ri and demand tribute from the whole of Ireland. The first chief to claim the title of ard ri was Mael Sechlainn of Clann Cholmáin in Meath who died in 862. It was not of course a hereditary monarchy such was achieved by Athelstan in England in 927 but on the death or illness of each chief the contest started again. The ard ri had rights of tribute and the provision of a certain number of warriors in battle. Feudal kings had similar rights, but they could also build up a central army and administration even if that amounted to little more than occasional judicial oversight when the king could call for cases to be heard by himself personally. It was not until the reign of Henry VII after 1487 that the power of making war was wrenched from the barons.

A common architectural style developed in the middle of the eleventh century from Roman styles, and was called Romanesque. It was characterised by construction of stone or masonry, round arches, barrel vaults, and carved stonework. Romanesque developed into Gothic which used pointed arches. The first Romanesque building in Ireland was Cormac’s Chapel on the Rock of Cashel built in 1127.

Feudalism developed widely in this period, and with feudalism, the division of the land into manors of sufficient size to maintain a mounted warrior or knight, his squire, and several horses, as well as to provide the for the cost of his armour. In feudal theory all land was owned by the king who leased the land to his tenants, the barons. This lease could always be withdrawn. The allodial possession of the land by the cultivators virtually disappeared. So too did the free farmers. Feudalism came to parts of Ireland in 1170. By 1600 nearly all the land in Ireland was held by feudal tenure. The ‘plantation s’ largely took place on lands forfeited to the king because of acts of treason. The same amount of land would support a Gaelic warrior of the same status as a knight but the land was owned by his derb fine or four-generation family. The local chief was the equivalent of the knight in land and military power.

The Hildebrandine reform of the Church was marked by the election of St Leo IX (1049-54 AD). This reform movement is called after Hildebrand of Sovana who became Pope St. Gregory VII (1073-1085 AD). The main point in the reforms initiated by Leo IX and his advisors was to get the clergy to lead a recognisable clerical life and to show an example to the laity. The reformers wished to reduce the influence of laymen over the appointment of clerics. The great aim of the reformers seems to have been directed against worldly churchmen, especially those imposed on bishoprics and monasteries, not necessarily immoral churchmen.

In 1002 Brian Boru overcame all opposition and for the next 12 years was the master of all Ireland. By 1014 the Norse of Dublin were allied with the Laigin and the Osraige against Mael Sechlainn so they fought on Brian’s side. Brian Boru in his turn was to take a Norse wife, and to give an Irish one to Sihtric, chief of Dublin. In 989, Sihtric Olafsson Silkbeard became the chief of the Norse of Dublin. His mother was a sister of Mael Morda mac Murchada, the Ui Faelain overchief of Leinster. The Dublin Norse were however allied to Mael Morda against Brian who was killed at the battle of Clontarf in 1014. Inter-marriage became the pattern which was to persist. Though victorious Brian’s army was greatly weakened. Sihtric remained chief in Dublin. He became a Christian, got a bishopric for Dublin, and built the first Christ Church cathedral. Donough O’Brien, another of Brian’s sons, led the army home. Mael Sechlainn resumed the high kingship until his death in 1022.

The first stirrings of the wave of the Hildbrandine reform that was spreading over western Europe reached Ireland and Pope Gregory VII wrote to Turlough O’Brien (1072-1086) asking him to take up the matter. Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury also urged reform. The abuses of which Lanfranc had been informed were the consecration of bishops without sees, simony, irregular marriages, and the repudiation of wives. Many of the clergy in Ireland began to feel it was time to bring Irish practice up-to-date.

The Twelfth Century

In the