An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 Part 21

It will be remembered that we turned to ecclesiastical history, after mentioning the year's truce (A.D. 1128) which had been made, through the intervention of St. Celsus, between the men of Munster and Connaught. In 1129 the great Church of Clonmacnois was robbed[242] of some of its greatest treasures. Amongst these was a model of Solomon's Temple, presented by a prince of Meath, and a silver chalice burnished with gold, which had been engraved by a sister of King Turlough O'Connor--an evidence that the ladies of Ireland were by no means behind the age in taste and refinement.

After the death of Donnell O'Loughlin, Turlough had full scope for the exercise of his ambitious projects; but in 1131 he found serious opposition from Connor O'Brien, who had succeeded his father, Dermod, on the throne of Munster. Connor now carried off hostages from Leinster and Meath, and defeated the cavalry of Connaught. The following year he sent a fleet to the western coast of Ireland. Eventually Turlough O'Connor was glad to make a truce with his opponents. In 1184 the consecration of a church at Cashel was celebrated. This is still known as Cormac's Chapel, and was long supposed to have been erected by the more ancient monarch of that name. But the good king was soon after treacherously slain in his own house, by Turlough O'Connor and the two sons of the O'Connor of Kerry. Turlough was unquestionably somewhat Spartan in his severities, if not Draconian in his administration of justice. In 1106 he put out the eyes of his own son, Hugh, and in the same year he imprisoned another son, named Roderic. The nature of their offences is not manifest; but Roderic was liberated through the interference of the clergy. Seven years after he was again imprisoned, "in violation of the most solemn pledges and guarantees." The clergy again interfered; from which we may infer that he was a favourite. They even held a public feast at Rathbrendan on his behalf; but he was not released until the following year. In the year 1136 we find the obituary of the chief keeper of the calendar of Ard-Macha, on the night of Good Friday. He is also mentioned as its chief antiquary and librarian, an evidence that the old custom was kept up to the very eve of the English invasion. The obituary of Donnell O'Duffy, Archbishop of Connaught, is also given. He died after Ma.s.s and celebration; according to the Annals of Clonmacnois, he had celebrated Ma.s.s by himself, at Clonfert, on St. Patrick's Day, and died immediately after. About the same time the Breinemen behaved "so exceedingly outrageous," that they irreverently stript O'Daly, arch-poet of Ireland, "of all his clothes."

In the meantime domestic wars multiplied with extraordinary rapidity.

Dermod Mac Murrough, the infamous King of Leinster, now appears for the first time in the history of that country which he mainly contributed to bring under the English yoke. He commenced his career of perfidy by carrying off the Abbess of Kildare from her cloister, killing 170 of the people of Kildare, who interfered to prevent this wanton and sacrilegious outrage. In 1141 he endeavoured to crush the opposers of his atrocious tyranny by a barbarous onslaught, in which he killed two n.o.bles, put out the eyes of another, and blinded[243] seventeen chieftains of inferior rank. A fitting commencement of his career of treachery towards his unfortunate country! In 1148 a temporary peace was made by the Primate of Armagh between the northern princes, who had carried on a deadly feud; but its duration, as usual, was brief.

Turlough O'Brien was deposed by Teigue in 1151. He was a.s.sisted by Turlough O'Connor and the infamous Dermod. The united armies plundered as far as Moin Mor,[244] where they encountered the Dalca.s.sian forces returning from the plunder of Desmond. A sanguinary combat ensued, and the men of north Munster suffered a dreadful slaughter, leaving 7,000 dead upon the field of battle. This terrible sacrifice of life is attributed to the mistaken valour of the Dal-Cais, who would neither fly nor ask quarter.

In 1157 a synod was held in the Abbey of Mellifont, attended by the Bishop of Lismore, Legate of the Holy See, the Primate, and seventeen other bishops. Murtough O'Loughlin, the Monarch of Ireland, and several other kings, were also present. The princ.i.p.al object of this meeting was the consecration of the abbey church and the excommunication of Donough O'Melaghlin, who had become the common pest of the country. He was, as might be expected, the particular friend and ally of Dermod Mac Murrough. His last exploit was the murder of a neighbouring chief, despite the most solemn pledges. In an old translation of the Annals of Ulster, he is termed, with more force than elegance, "a cursed atheist."

After his excommunication, his brother Dermod was made King of Meath, in his place.

At this synod several rich gifts were made to the abbey. O'Carroll, Prince of Oriel, presented sixty ounces of gold. O'Loughlin made a grant of lands, gave one hundred and forty cows and sixty ounces of gold. The Lady Dervorgil gave the same donation in gold, together with a golden chalice for the altar of Mary, with gifts for each of the other nine altars of the church. Dervorgil was the wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, Lord of Breffni, who had been dispossessed of his territories in 1152; at the same time she was carried off by Dermod Mac Murrough. Her abduction seems to have been effected with her own consent, as she carried off the cattle which had formed her dowry. Her husband, it would appear, had treated her harshly. Eventually she retired to the Monastery of Mellifont, where she endeavoured to atone for her past misconduct by a life of penance.

Another synod was held in the year 1158, at Trim. Derry was then erected into an episcopal see, and Flahertach O'Brolchain, Abbot of St.

Columba's Monastery, was consecrated its first bishop. The bishops of Connaught were intercepted and plundered by Dermod's soldiers; they therefore returned and held a provincial synod in Roscommon.

In 1162 St. Laurence O'Toole was chosen to succeed Greine, or Gregory, the Danish Archbishop of Dublin. He belonged to one of the most n.o.ble ancient families of Leinster. His father was chieftain of the district of Hy-Muirahy, a portion of the present county Kildare. St. Laurence had chosen the ecclesiastical state early in life; at the age of twenty-five he was chosen Abbot of St. Kevin's Monastery, at Glendalough. The Danish Bishop of Dublin had been consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the saint received the episcopal office from the successor of St.

Patrick. A synod was held at Clane the year of his consecration; it was attended by twenty-six prelates and many other ecclesiastics. The college of Armagh was then virtually raised to the rank of a university, as it was decreed that no one, who had not been an alumnus of Armagh, should be appointed lector or professor of theology in any of the diocesan schools in Ireland. Indeed, the clergy at this period were most active in promoting the interests of religion, and most successful in their efforts, little antic.i.p.ating the storm which was then impending over their country.

In 1166 the Irish Monarch, O'Loughlin, committed a fearful outrage on Dunlevy, Prince of Dalriada. A peace had been ratified between them, but, from some unknown cause, O'Loughlin suddenly became again the aggressor, and attacked the northern chief, when he was unprepared, put out his eyes, and killed three of his leading officers. This cruel treachery so provoked the princes who had guaranteed the treaty, that they mustered an army at once and proceeded northwards. The result was a sanguinary engagement, in which the Cinel-Eoghan were defeated, and the Monarch, O'Loughlin, was slain. Roderick O'Connor immediately a.s.sumed the reins of government, and was inaugurated in Dublin with more pomp than had ever been manifested on such an occasion. It was the last glittering flicker of the expiring lamp. Submission was made to him on every side; and had he only possessed the ability or the patriotism to unite the forces under his command, he might well have set all his enemies at defiance. An a.s.sembly of the clergy and chieftains of Ireland was convened in 1167, which is said to have emulated, if it did not rival, the triennial _Fes_ of ancient Tara. It was but the last gleam of sunlight, which indicates the coming of darkness and gloom. The traitor already had his plans prepared, and was flying from a country which scorned his meanness, to another country where that meanness was made the tool of political purposes, while the unhappy traitor was probably quite as heartily despised.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARDMORE ROUND TOWER.]

FOOTNOTES:

[229] _City_.--Some Irish religious are also said to have lived in amity with Greek monks, who were established at Tours, in France; and it is said that the Irish joined them in the performance of the ecclesiastical offices in their own language.

[230] _Connemara_.--Haverty's _History of Ireland_, p. 156. See also an interesting note on this subject in the Chronic.u.m Scotorum.

[231] _Martyr_.--Page 887. The famine in the preceding year is also recorded, as well as the cholic and "lumps," which prevailed in Leinster, and also spread throughout Ireland. Donough was married to an English princess, Driella, the daughter of the English Earl G.o.dwin, and sister of Harold, afterwards King of England. During the rebellion of G.o.dwin and his sons against Edward the Confessor, Harold was obliged to take refuge in Ireland, and remained there "all the winter on the king's security."

[232] _St. Patrick_.--It is observable all through the Annals, how the name and spiritual authority of St. Patrick is revered. This expression occurs regularly from the earliest period, wherever the Primate of Ireland is mentioned.

[233] _Vengeance_.--See O'Curry, _pa.s.sim_, for curious traditions or so-called prophecies about St. John Baptist's Day.

[234] _Aileach_.--The remains of this fortress are still visible near Londonderry, and are called Grianan-Elagh.

[235] _West_.--Annals, vol. ii. p. 969.

[236] _Him.--Ib._ p 973.

[237] _Ua h-Ocain_.--Now anglicised O'Hagan. This family had the special privilege of crowning the O'Neills, and were their hereditary Brehons.

The Right Honorable Judge O'Hagan is, we believe, the present head of the family.

[238] _Maelmuire_.--"The servant of Mary." Devotion to the Mother of G.o.d, which is still a special characteristic of the Irish nation, was early manifested by the adoption of this name.

[239] _Suffering_.--This abuse was not peculiar to the Irish Church. A canon of the Council of London, A.D. 1125, was framed to prevent similar lay appropriations. In the time of Cambrensis there were lay (so called) abbots, who took the property of the Church into their own hands, and made their children receive holy orders that they might enjoy the revenues.

[240] _Desmond_.--See the commencement of this chapter, for an ill.u.s.tration of the ruins of its ancient rath and the more modern castle. These remains are among the most interesting in Ireland.

[241] _Ibrach_.--Supposed to be Ivragh, in Kerry, which was part of Cormac Mac Carthy's kingdom.

[242] _Robbed_.--In MacGeoghegan's translation of the Annals of Clonmacnois he says:--"The clergy of Clone made incessant prayer to G.o.d and St. Keyran, to be a means for the revelation of the party that took away the said jewels." The "party" was a Dane. He was discovered, and hung in 1130. It is said that he entered several ships to leave the country, but they could get no wind, while other vessels sailed off freely.--Annals of the Four Masters, vol. ii. p. 1035.

[243] _Blinded_.--In 1165 Henry II. gratified his irritation against the Welsh by laying hands upon the hostages of their n.o.blest families, and commanding that the eyes of the males should be rooted out, and the ears and noses of the females cut off; and yet Henry is said to have been liberal to the poor, and though pa.s.sionately devoted to the chase, he did not inflict either death or mutilation on the intruders in the royal forests.

[244] _Moin Mor_.--Now Moanmore, county Tipperary.

CHAPTER XV.

Social life previous to the English Invasion--Domestic Habitations--Forts--Granard and Staigue--Crannoges and Log-houses--Interior of the Houses--The Hall--Food and Cooking Utensils--Regulations about Food--The Kind of Food used--Animal Food--Fish--Game--Drink and Drinking Vessels--Whisky--Heath Beer--Mead--Animal Produce--b.u.t.ter and Cheese--Fire--Candles--Occupations and Amus.e.m.e.nts--Chess--Music--Dress--Silk--Linen--Ancient Woollen Garments--Gold Ornaments--Trade--General Description of the Fauna and Flora of the Country.

Customs which ill.u.s.trate the social life of our ancestors, are scarcely the least interesting or important elements of history. Before we enter upon that portion of our annals which commences with the English invasion, under the auspices of Henry II., we shall give a brief account of the habitations, manners, customs, dress, food, and amus.e.m.e.nts of the people of Ireland. Happily there is abundant and authentic information on this subject, though we may be obliged to delve beneath the tertiary deposits of historical strata in order to obtain all that is required.

English society and English social life were more or less influenced by Ireland from the fifth to the twelfth century. The monks who had emigrated to "Saxon land" were men of considerable intellectual culture, and, as such, had a preponderating influence, creditable alike to themselves and to those who bowed to its sway. From the twelfth to the sixteenth century, English manners and customs were introduced in Ireland within the Pale. The object of the present chapter is to show the social state of the country before the English invasion--a condition of society which continued for some centuries later in the western and southern parts of the island.

The pagan architecture of public erections has already been as fully considered as our limits would permit. Let us turn from pillar-stones, cromlechs, and cairns, to the domestic habitations which preceded Christianity, and continued in use, with gradual improvements, until the period when English influence introduced the comparative refinements which it had but lately received from Norman sources. The raths, mounds, and forts, whose remains still exist throughout the country, preceded the castellated edifices, many of which were erected in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, princ.i.p.ally by English settlers. The rath was probably used for the protection and enclosure of cattle; and as the wealth of the country consisted princ.i.p.ally in its herds, it was an important object. Its form is circular, having an internal diameter averaging from forty to two hundred feet, encompa.s.sed by a mound and outer fosse or ditch. In some localities, where stone is abundant and the soil shallow, rude walls have been formed: the raths, however, are princ.i.p.ally earthwork alone. Forts were erected for defence, and the surrounding fosse was filled with water. They were, in fact, the prototypes of the more modern castle and moat. These forts were sometimes of considerable size, and in such cases were surrounded by several fosses and outworks. They were approached by a winding inclined plane, which at once facilitated the entrance of friends, and exposed comers with hostile intentions to the concentrated attacks of the garrison. The fort at Granard is a good example of this kind of building. It is probably of considerable antiquity, though it has been improved and rebuilt in some portions at a more modern period. The interior of it evidences the existence of several different apartments.

An approach internally has been exposed on one side, and exhibits a wide, flat arch of common masonry, springing from the top of two side walls, the whole well-constructed.

Forts of dry-wall masonry, which are, undoubtedly, the more ancient, are very numerous in the south-west of Ireland. It is probable that similar erections existed throughout the country at a former period, and that their preservation is attributable to the remoteness of the district.

The most perfect of these ancient habitations is that of Staigue Fort, near Derryquin Castle, Kenmare. This fort has an internal diameter of eighty-eight feet. The masonry is composed of flat-bedded stones of the slate rock of the country, which show every appearance of being quarried, or carefully broken from larger blocks. There is no appearance of dressed work in the construction; but the slate would not admit of this, as it splinters away under the slightest blow. Still the building is an admirable example of constructive masonry; it is almost impossible to dislodge any fragment from off the filling stones from the face of the wall. A competent authority has p.r.o.nounced that these structures cannot be equalled by any dry masonry elsewhere met with in the country, nor by any masonry of the kind erected in the present day.[245] Some small stone buildings are also extant in this part of Ireland, but it is doubtful whether they were used for ecclesiastical or domestic purposes.

The crannoge was another kind of habitation, and one evidently much used, and evincing no ordinary skill in its construction. From the remains found in these island habitations, we may form a clear idea of the customs and civilization of their inmates: their food is indicated by the animal remains, which consist of several varieties of oxen, deer, goats, and sheep; the implements of cookery remain, even to the knife, and the blocks of stone blackened from long use as fire-places; the arrows, which served for war or chase, are found in abundance; the personal ornaments evidence the taste of the wearers, and the skill of the artist; while the canoe, usually of solid oak, and carefully hidden away, tells its own tale how entrance and exit were effected. One of the earliest crannoges which was discovered and examined in modern times, was that of Lagere, near Dunshaughlin, county Meath. It is remarkable that Loch Gabhair is said to have been one of the nine lakes which burst forth in Ireland, A.M. 3581. The destruction of this crannoge is recorded by the Four Masters, A.D. 933, giving evidence that it was occupied up to that period. In 1246 there is a record of the escape of Turlough O'Connor from a crannoge, after he had drowned his keepers; from which it would appear such structures might be used for prisons, and, probably, would be specially convenient for the detention of hostages. In 1560 we read that Teigue O'Rourke was drowned as he was going across a lake to sleep in a crannoge; and even so late as the sixteenth century, crannoges were declared to be the universal system of defence in the north of Ireland.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CELT.]

Log-houses were also used, and were constructed of beams and planks of timber, something like the Swiss _chalet_. One of these ancient structures was discovered in Drumhalin bog, county Donegal, in 1833. The house consisted of a square structure, twelve feet wide and nine feet high: it was formed of rough planks and blocks of timber; the mortises were very roughly cut--a stone celt,[246] which was found lying upon the floor, was, probably, the instrument used to form them. The logs were most likely formed by a stone axe.[247] The roof was flat, and the house consisted of two compartments, one over the other, each four feet high.

A paved causeway led from the house to the fire-place, on which was a quant.i.ty of ashes, charred wood, half-burnt turf, and hazle-nuts. So ancient was this habitation, that twenty-six feet of bog had grown up around and over it. It is supposed that this was only one portion of a collection of houses, which were used merely as sleeping-places. A slated enclosure was also traced, portions of the gates of which were discovered. A piece of a leathern sandal, an arrow-headed flint, and a wooden sword, were also found in the same locality.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STONE AXE.]

It is probable that wattles and clay formed the staple commodity for building material in ancient Erinn. Planks and beams, with rough blocks of wood or stone, were most likely reserved for the dwelling-place of chieftains. Such were the material used also for the royal residence in Thorney Island, a swampy mora.s.s in the Thames, secured by its insular position, where the early English kings administered justice; and such, probably, were the material of the original _Palais de Justice_, where the kings of Gaul entrenched themselves in a _pal-lis_, or impaled fort.

From the description which Wright[248] gives of Anglo-Saxon domestic architecture, it appears to have differed but little from that which was in use at the same period in Ireland. The hall[249] was the most important part of the building, and halls of stone are alluded to in a religious poem at the beginning of the Exeter Book: "Yet, in the earlier period at least, there can be little doubt that the materials of building were chiefly wood." The hall, both in Erinn and Saxon land, was the place of general meeting for all domestic purposes. Food was cooked and eaten in the same apartment; the chief and his followers eat at the same time and in the same place. On the subject of food we have ample details scattered incidentally through our annals. Boiling was probably the princ.i.p.al method of preparing meat, and for this purpose the Irish were amply provided with vessels. A brazen cauldron is lithographed in the _Ulster Archaeological Journal_, which is a most interesting specimen of its kind. It was found in a turf bog in the county Down, at a depth of five feet from the surface; and as this bog has been used from time immemorial for supplying the neighbourhood with fuel, and is remembered to have been forty feet above its present level by a generation now living, the antiquity of the vessel is unquestionable. As a specimen of superior workmanship, the cauldron has been greatly admired. It is made of sheets of gold-coloured bronze, evidently formed by hammering: the rim is of much thicker metal than the rest, and is rendered stiffer by corrugation--a process which has been patented in England within the last dozen years, as a new and valuable discovery.[250]

Cauldrons are constantly mentioned in the Book of Rights, in a manner which shows that these vessels were in constant use. It was one of the tributes to be presented in due form by the King of Cashel to the King of Tara; and in the will of Cahir Mor, Monarch of Ireland in the second century, fifty copper cauldrons are amongst the items bequeathed to his family. Probably the poorer cla.s.ses, who could not afford such costly vessels, may have contented themselves with roasting their food exclusively, unless, indeed, they employed the primitive method of casting red hot stones into water when they wished it boiled.

The exact precision which characterizes every legal enactment in ancient Erinn, and which could not have existed in a state of barbarism, is manifested even in the regulations about food. Each member of the chieftain's family had his appointed portion, and there is certainly a quaintness in the parts selected for each. The _saoi_ of literature and the king were to share alike, as we observed when briefly alluding to this subject in the chapter on ancient Tara; their portion was a prime steak. Cooks and trumpeters were specially to be supplied with "cheering mead," it is to be supposed because their occupations required more than ordinary libations; the historian was to have a crooked bone; the hunter, a pig's shoulder: in fact, each person and each office had its special portion a.s.signed[251] to it, and the distinction of ranks and trades affords matter of the greatest interest and of the highest importance to the antiquarian. There can be but little doubt that the custom of Tara was the custom of all the other kings and chieftains, and that it was observed throughout the country in every family rich enough to have dependents. This division of food was continued in the Highlands of Scotland until a late period. Dr. Johnson mentions it, in his _Tour in the Hebrides_, as then existing. He observes that he had not ascertained the details, except that the smith[252] had the head.

The allowance for each day is also specified. Two cows, and two _tinnes_,[253] and two pigs was the quant.i.ty for dinner. This allowance was for a hundred men. The places which the household were to occupy were also specified; so that while all sat at a common table,[254] there was, nevertheless, a certain distinction of rank. At Tara there were different apartments, called _imdas_, a word now used in the north of Ireland to denote a couch or bed. The name probably originated in the custom of sleeping in those halls, on the benches which surrounded them, or on the floor near the fire-place. In the ground plan of the banqueting hall at Tara, the house is shown as divided into five parts, which are again divided into others. Each of the two divisions extending along the side wall, is shown as subdivided into twelve _imdas_, which here mean seats; the central division is represented as containing three fires at equal distances, a vat, and a chandelier.

Benches were the seats used, even by persons of rank, until a late period. In the French Carlovingian romances, even princes and great barons sat on them. Chairs were comparatively rare, and only used on state occasions, as late as the twelfth century. Wright gives some curious woodcuts of persons conversing together, who are seated on settles, or on seats formed in the walls round the room; such as may still be seen in monastic cloisters and the chapter houses of our old cathedrals. Food which had been roasted was probably handed round to the guests on the spit on which it had been cooked.[255] Such at least was the Anglo-Saxon fashion; and as the Irish had spits, and as forks were an unknown luxury for centuries later, we may presume they were served in a similar manner. The food was varied and abundant, probably none the less wholesome for being free from the Anglo-Norman refinements of cookery, introduced at a later period. For animal diet there were fat beeves, dainty venison, pork, fresh and salted, evidently as favourite a dish with the ancients as with the moderns--except, alas! that in the good old times it was more procurable. Sheep and goats also varied the fare, with "smaller game," easily procured by chase, or shot down with arrows or sling stones. The land abounded in "milk and honey." Wheat was planted at an early period; and after the introduction of Christianity, every monastic establishment had its mill. There were "good old times"

in Ireland unquestionably. Even an English prince mentions "the honey and wheat, the gold and silver," which he found in "fair Innis-fail." It is probable that land was cultivated then which now lies arid and unreclaimed, for a writer in the _Ulster Archaeological Journal_ mentions having found traces of tillage, when laying out drains in remote unproductive districts, several feet beneath the peaty soil. Dr.

O'Donovan also writes in the same journal: "I believe the Irish have had wheat in the more fertile valleys and plains from a most remote period.

It is mentioned constantly in the Brehon laws and in our most ancient poems."[256] Nor should we omit to mention fish in the list of edibles.

During the summer months, fishing was a favourite and lucrative occupation; and if we are to believe a legend quoted in the _Transactions of the Ossianic Society_, the Fenians enjoyed a monopoly in the trade, for no man dare take a salmon, "dead or alive," excepting a man in the Fenian ranks; and piscatory squabbles seem to have extended themselves into downright battles between the Northmen and the natives, when there was question of the possession of a weir.[257]

Drinking vessels, of various shapes and materials, are constantly mentioned in the Book of Rights. There were drinking-horns with handsome handles, carved drinking-horns, variegated drinking-horns, drinking-horns of various colours, and drinking-horns of gold.[258] Even in pagan times, cups or goblets were placed beside the public wells; and it is related that, in the reign of Conn of the Hundred Battles, Ireland was so prosperous, so wealthy, and so civilized (_circa_ A.D. 123) that those cups were made of silver. Brian revived this custom nearly a thousand years later. The Danes probably carried off most of these valuables, as there are no remains of them at present. We are able, however, to give an ill.u.s.tration of a stone drinking-cup, which is considered a very beautiful specimen of its kind. This great rarity was found in the Shannon excavations. We give a specimen below of a celt, and on page 246 of a celt mould, for which we have also to acknowledge our grateful obligations to the Council of the Royal Irish Academy.