An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 Part 23

[250] _Discovery_.--_Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. v. p. 83.

[251] _a.s.signed_.--Petrie's _Tara_, p. 200.

[252] _Smith_.--The animals were brought to the smith, who knocked them down with his big hammer: hence, probably, the name of Smithfield for a cattle market. He was an important personage in the olden time. In the Odyssey, as armourer, he ranks with the bard and physician.

[253] _Tinnes_.--Dr. Petrie does not give the meaning of this word, but Dr. O'Donovan supplies the deficiency in the Book of Rights, where he explains it to mean a salted pig, or in plain English, bacon.

[254] _Table_.--In the earliest ages of Tara's existence, the household may have been served as they sat on the benches round the hall. The table was at first simply a board: hence we retain the term a hospitable board; a board-room, a room where a board was placed for writing on. The board was carried away after dinner, and the trestles on which it stood, so as to leave room for the evening's amus.e.m.e.nts.

[255] _Cooked_.--Wright's _Domestic Manners_, p. 87. The knights in this engraving are using their shields as a subst.i.tute for a table. At p. 147 there is an ill.u.s.tration of the method of cooking on a spit; this is turned by a boy. The Irish appear to have had a mechanical arrangement for this purpose some centuries earlier. Bellows, which are now so commonly used in Ireland, and so rare in England, appear to have been a Saxon invention.

[256] _Poems_.--_Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. i. p. 108. It would appear as if corn had been eaten raw, or perhaps partly scorched, at an early period, as was customary in eastern countries. Teeth have been found in crania taken from our ancient tombs, quite worn down by some such process of mastication.

[257] _Weir_.--Salt appears to have been used also at a very ancient period, though it cannot now be ascertained how it was procured. Perhaps it was obtained from native sources now unknown.

[258] _Gold_.--Book of Rights, pp. 145, 209, &c. The King of Cashel was ent.i.tled to a hundred drinking horns.--p. 33.

[259] _Beer_.--Book of Rights, p. 9.

[260] _Period_.--Accounts will be given later of the use of _aqua vitae_, or whisky, after the English invasion. The English appear to have appreciated this drink, for we find, in 1585, that the Mayor of Waterford sent Lord Burleigh a "rundell of _aqua vitae_;" and in another letter, in the State Paper Office, dated October 14, 1622, the Lord Justice c.o.ke sends a "runlett of milde Irish _uskebach_," from his daughter Peggie (heaven save the mark!) to the "good Lady Coventry,"

because the said Peggie "was so much bound to her ladyship for her great goodness." However, the said Lord Justice strongly recommends the _uskebach_ to his lordship, a.s.suring him that "if it please his lordship next his heart in the morning to drinke a little of this Irish _uskebach_, it will help to digest all raw humours, expell wynde, and keep his inward parte warm all the day after." A poor half-starved Irishman in the present century, could scarcely have brought forward more extenuating circ.u.mstances for his use of the favourite beverage; and he might have added that _he_ had nothing else to "keep him warm."

[261] _Bricks_.--In an ancient life of St. Kevin of Glendalough, there is mention made of certain brick-cheeses, which the saint converted into real bricks, in punishment to a woman for telling a lie.

[262] _King_.--Book of Rights, p. 15.

[263] _Informs us_.--_Domestic Manners_, p. 43.

[264] _Macaulay_.--_Lays of Ancient Rome_.--Horatius.

[265] _Cambrensis_.--"Hinc accidit, ut Episcopi et Abbates, et Sancti in Hibernia viri cytharas circ.u.mferre et in eis modulando pie delectari consueverunt."--_Cam. Des._ p. 739.

[266] _Observes_.--_Asiatic Researches_, vol. ix. p. 76.

[267] _Asia_.--See Carl Eugen's valuable work on the _Music of Ancient Nations pa.s.sim_.

[268] _Country_.--_Erste Wanderung der altesten Tonkunst_, von G.W.

Fruh, Essen, 1831. In Conran's _National Music of Ireland_, he attributes this to the influence of ecclesiastical music. But an article by Mr. Darmey, in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, takes a much more probable view. The Ambrosian chant, introduced about A.D. 600, could not have influenced national music which existed for centuries before that period.

[269] _Shoes_.--The use of inauguration shoes appears to have been very ancient in Ireland. It will be remembered how early and how frequently the shoe is mentioned in Scripture in connexion with legal arrangements.

It was obviously an important object in Eastern business transactions.

[270] _Book of Rights_.--The great antiquity and perfect authenticity of this most valuable work, should be remembered. It is admitted that the original Book of Rights was compiled by St. Benignus, the disciple of St. Patrick. Dr. O'Donovan thinks there is every reason to believe that this work was in existence in the time of Cormac, the bishop-king of Cashel, A.D. 900. It is probable that the present Book of Rights was compiled about this period, from the more ancient volume of the same name.

[271] _Da Derga_.--See an interesting Essay on the Curragh of Kildare, by Mr. W.M. Hennessy, read before the R.I.A., February 26, 1866.

[272] _Profit_.--The trustees of the estates forfeited in 1688 notice this especially. Trees to the value of 20,000 were cut down and destroyed on the estate of Sir Valentine Brown, near Killarney, and to the value of 27,000 on the territory of the Earl of Clancarty. Some of these trees were sold for _sixpence a piece_.

CHAPTER XVI.

The English Invasion--Dermod's Interview with Henry II.--Henry grants Letters-patent--Dermod obtains the a.s.sistance of Strongbow, Earl de Clare--He returns to Ireland--Arrival of English Forces under FitzStephen--Fatal Indifference of Roderic, the Irish Monarch--He is at last roused to action, but acknowledges Dermod's Authority almost without a Struggle--Strongbow's Genealogy--He obtains a Tacit Permission to invade Ireland--His Arrival in Ireland--Marriage of Strongbow and Eva--Death of Dermod Mac Murrough--Strongbow proclaims himself King of Leinster--Difficulties of his Position--Siege of Dublin--Strongbow's Retreat--He returns to England.

[A.D. 1168-1171.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Letter 'U']

Until this period (A.D. 1168) the most friendly relations appear to have existed between England and Ireland. Saxon n.o.bles and princes had fled for shelter, or had come for instruction to the neighbouring sh.o.r.es. The a.s.sistance of Irish troops had been sought and readily obtained by them.

Irish merchants[273] had taken their goods to barter in English markets; but when the Norman had won the Saxon crown, and crushed the Saxon race under his iron heel, the restless spirit of the old Viking race looked out for a new quarry, and long before Dermod had betrayed his country, that country's fate was sealed.

William Rufus is reported to have said, as he stood on the rocks near St. David's, that he would make a bridge with his ships from that spot to Ireland--a haughty boast, not quite so easily accomplished. His speech was repeated to the King of Leinster, who inquired "if the king, in his great threatening, had added, 'if it so please G.o.d'?" The reporter answered in the negative. "Then," said he, "seeing this king putteth his trust only in man, and not in G.o.d, I fear not his coming."

When Dermod Mac Murrough was driven in disgrace from Ireland, he fled at once to Bristol. There he learned that Henry was still in Aquitaine, and thither, with a perseverance worthy of a better cause, he followed the English king. Henry was only too happy to listen to his complaints, and forward his views; but he was too much occupied with his personal affairs to attempt the conquest of a kingdom. Letters-patent were incomparably more convenient than men-at-arms, and with letters-patent the renegade was fain to be content. Dermod only asked help to recover the kingdom from which he had been expelled for his crimes; Henry pretended no more than to give the a.s.sistance asked, and for all reward only wished that Dermod should pay a va.s.sal's homage to the English king. Henry may have known that his client was a villain, or he may not.

Henry may have intended to annex Ireland to the British dominions (if he could), or he may merely have hoped for some temporary advantage from the new connexion. Whatever he knew or whatever he hoped, he received Dermod "into the bosom of his grace and benevolence," and he did but distantly insinuate his desires by proclaiming him his "faithful and liege subject." The royal letter ran thus:--"Henry, King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Earl of Anjou, to all his liegemen, English, Norman, Welsh, and Scotch, and to all the nation under his dominion, sends greeting. As soon as the present letter shall come to your hands, know that Dermod, Prince of Leinster, has been received into the bosom of our grace and benevolence: wherefore, whosoever, within the ample extent of our territories, shall be willing to lend aid towards this prince as our faithful and liege subject, let such person know that we do hereby grant to him for said purpose our licence and favour."

In this doc.u.ment there is not even the most remote reference to the Bull of Adrian, conferring the island of Ireland on Henry, although this Bull had been obtained some time before. In whatever light we may view this omission, it is certainly inexplicable.

For some time Dermod failed in his efforts to obtain a.s.sistance. After some fruitless negotiations with the needy and lawless adventurers who thronged the port of Bristol, he applied to the Earl of Pembroke, Richard de Clare. This n.o.bleman had obtained the name of Strongbow, by which he is more generally known, from his skill in archery. Two other young men of rank joined the party; they were sons of the beautiful and infamous Nesta,[274] once the mistress of Henry I., but now the wife of Gerald, Governor of Pembroke and Lord of Carew. The knights were Maurice FitzGerald and Robert FitzStephen. Dermod had promised them the city of Wexford and two cantreds of land as their reward. Strongbow was to succeed him on the throne of Leinster, and to receive the hand of his young and beautiful daughter, Eva, in marriage.

There is considerable uncertainty as to the real date and the precise circ.u.mstances of Dermod's arrival in Ireland. According to one account, he returned at the close of the year 1168, and concealed himself during the winter in a monastery of Augustinian Canons at Ferns, which he had founded. The two princ.i.p.al authorities are Giraldus Cambrensis and Maurice Regan; the latter was Dermod Mac Murrough's secretary. According to his account, Robert FitzStephen landed at Bannow, near Waterford, in May, 1169, with an army of three hundred archers, thirty knights, and sixty men-at-arms.[275] A second detachment arrived the next day, headed by Maurice de Prendergast, a Welsh gentleman, with ten knights and sixty archers. Dermod at once a.s.sembled his men, and joined his allies. He could only muster five hundred followers; but with their united forces, such as they were, the outlawed king and the needy adventurers laid siege to the city of Wexford. The brave inhabitants of this mercantile town at once set forth to meet them; but, fearing the result if attacked in open field by well-disciplined troops, they fired the suburbs, and entrenched themselves in the town. Next morning the a.s.saulting party prepared for a renewal of hostilities, but the clergy of Wexford advised an effort for peace: terms of capitulation were negotiated, and Dermod was obliged to pardon, when he would probably have preferred to ma.s.sacre. It is said that FitzStephen burned his little fleet, to show his followers that they must conquer or die. Two cantreds of land, comprising the present baronies of Forth and Bargy,[276] were bestowed on him: and thus was established the first English colony in Ireland.

The Irish princes and chieftains appear to have regarded the whole affair with silent contempt. The Annals say they "set nothing by the Flemings;"[277] practically, they set nothing by any of the invaders.

Could they have foreseen, even for one moment, the consequences of their indifference, we cannot doubt but that they would have acted in a very different manner. Roderic, the reigning monarch, was not the man either to foresee danger, or to meet it when foreseen; though we might pardon even a more sharp-sighted and vigilant warrior, for overlooking the possible consequence of the invasion of a few mercenary troops, whose only object appeared to be the reinstatement of a petty king. Probably, the troops and their captains were equally free from suspecting what would be the real result of their proceedings.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BARGY CASTLE.]

The fair of Telltown was celebrated about this time; and from the accounts given by the Annals of the concourse of people, and the number of hors.e.m.e.n who attended it, there can be little doubt that Ireland was seldom in a better position to resist foreign invasion. But unity of purpose and a competent leader were wanted then, as they have been wanted but too often since. Finding so little opposition to his plans, Mac Murrough determined to act on the offensive. He was now at the head of 3,000 men. With this force he marched into the adjoining territory of Ossory, and made war on its chief, Donough FitzPatrick; and after a brave but unsuccessful resistance, it submitted to his rule.[278] The Irish monarch was at length aroused to some degree of apprehension. He summoned a hosting of the men of Ireland at Tara; and with the army thus collected, a.s.sisted by the Lords of Meath, Oriel, Ulidia, Breffni, and some northern chieftains, he at once proceeded to Dublin. Dermod was alarmed, and retired to Ferns. Roderic pursued him thither. But dissension had already broken out in the Irish camp: the Ulster chiefs returned home; the contingent was weakened; and, either through fear, or from the natural indolence of his pacific disposition, he agreed to acknowledge Mac Murrough's authority. Mac Murrough gave his son Cormac as hostage for the fulfilment of the treaty. A private agreement was entered into between the two kings, in which Dermod pledged himself to dismiss his foreign allies as soon as possible, and to bring no more strangers into the country. It is more than probable that he had not the remotest idea of fulfilling his promise; it is at least certain that he broke it the first moment it was his interest to do so. Dermod's object was simply to gain time, and in this he succeeded.

Maurice FitzGerald arrived at Wexford a few days after, and the recreant king at once proceeded to meet him; and with this addition to his army, marched to attack Dublin. The Dano-Celts, who inhabited this city, had been so cruelly treated by him, that they dreaded a repet.i.tion of his former tyrannies. They had elected a governor for themselves; but resistance was useless. After a brief struggle, they were obliged to sue for peace--a favour which probably would not have been granted without further ma.s.sacres and burnings, had not Dermod wished to bring his arms to bear in another quarter.

Donnell O'Brien, Prince of Th.o.m.ond, who had married a daughter of Dermod, had just rebelled against Roderic, and the former was but too willing to a.s.sist him in his attempt. Thus encouraged where he should have been treated with contempt, and hunted down with ignominy, his ambition became boundless. He played out the favourite game of traitors; and no doubt hoped, when he had consolidated his own power, that he could easily expel his foreign allies. Strongbow had not yet arrived, though the winds had been long enough "at east and easterly."[279] His appearance was still delayed. The fact was, that the Earl was in a critical position. Henry and his barons were never on the most amiable terms; and there were some very special reasons why Strongbow should prove no exception to the rule.

The first member of the Earl's family who had settled in England, was Richard, son of the Norman Earl Brien, a direct descendant of Robert "the Devil," Duke of Normandy, father of William the Conqueror. In return for services at the battle of Hastings, and general a.s.sistance in conquering the Saxon, this family obtained a large grant of land in England, and took the t.i.tle of Earl of Clare from one of their ninety-five lordships in Suffolk.[280] The Strongbow family appears to have inherited a pa.s.sion for making raids on neighbouring lands, from their Viking ancestors. Strongbow's father had obtained his t.i.tle of Earl of Pembroke, and his property in the present county of that name, from his successful marauding expedition in Wales, in 1138. But as he revolted against Stephen, his lands were seized by that king; and after his death, in 1148, his son succeeded to his very numerous t.i.tles, without any property commensurate thereto. Richard was not in favour with his royal master, who probably was jealous of the Earl, despite his poverty; but as Strongbow did not wish to lose the little he had in England, or the chance of obtaining more in Ireland, he proceeded at once to the court, then held in Normandy, and asked permission for his new enterprise. Henry's reply was so carefully worded, he could declare afterwards that he either had or had not given the permission, whichever version of the interview might eventually prove most convenient to the royal interests. Strongbow took the interpretation which suited his own views, and proceeded to the scene of action with as little delay as possible. He arrived in Ireland, according to the most generally received account, on the vigil of St. Bartholomew, A.D. 1170, and landed at Dundonnell, near Waterford. His uncle, Hervey de Montmarisco, had already arrived, and established himself in a temporary fort, where he had been attacked by the brave citizens of Wexford. But the besieged maintained their position, killed five hundred men, and made prisoners of seventy of the princ.i.p.al citizens of Waterford. Large sums of money were offered for their ransom, but in vain. They were brutally murdered by the English soldiers, who first broke their limbs, and then hurled them from a precipice into the sea. It was the first instalment of the utterly futile theory, so often put in practice since that day, of "striking terror into the Irish;" and the experiment was quite as unsuccessful as all such experiments have ever been.[281]

While these cruelties were enacting, Strongbow had been collecting forces in South Wales; but, as he was on the very eve of departure, he received a peremptory order from Henry, forbidding him to leave the kingdom. After a brief hesitation, he determined to bid defiance to the royal mandate, and set sail for Ireland. The day after his arrival he laid siege to Waterford. The citizens behaved like heroes, and twice repulsed their a.s.sailants; but their bravery could not save them in the face of overpowering numbers. A breach was made in the wall; the besiegers poured in; and a merciless ma.s.sacre followed. Dermod arrived while the conflict was at its height, and for once he has the credit of interfering on the side of mercy. Reginald, a Danish lord, and O'Phelan, Prince of the Deisi, were about to be slain by their captors, but at his request they were spared, and the general carnage was suspended. For the sake of common humanity, one could wish to think that this was an act of mercy. But Mac Murrough had his daughter Eva with him; he wished to have her nuptials with Strongbow celebrated at once; and he could scarcely accomplish his purpose while men were slaying their fellows in a cold-blooded ma.s.sacre. The following day the nuptials were performed.

The English Earl, a widower, and long past the prime of manhood, was wedded to the fair young Celtic maiden; and the marriage procession pa.s.sed lightly over the bleeding bodies of the dying and the dead. Thus commenced the union between Great Britain and Ireland: must those nuptials be for ever celebrated in tears and blood?

Immediately after the ceremony, the army set out for Dublin. Roderic had collected a large force near Clondalkin, and Hosculf, the Danish governor of the city, encouraged by their presence, had again revolted against Dermod. The English army having learned that the woods and defiles between Wexford and Dublin were well guarded, had made forced marches along the mountains, and succeeded in reaching the capital long before they were expected. Their decision and military skill alarmed the inhabitants--they might also have heard reports of the ma.s.sacres at Wexford; be this as it may, they determined to negotiate for peace, and commissioned their ill.u.s.trious Archbishop, St. Laurence O'Toole, to make terms with Dermod. While the discussion was pending, two of the English leaders, Raymond _le Gros_ and Miles de Cogan, obtained an entrance into the city, and commenced a merciless butchery of the inhabitants. When the saint returned he heard cries of misery and groans of agony in all quarters, and it was not without difficulty that he succeeded in appeasing the fury of the soldiers, and the rage of the people, who had been so basely treated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Marriage of Eva and Strongbow.]

The Four Masters accuse the people of Dublin of having attempted to purchase their own safety at the expense of the national interests, and say that "a miracle was wrought against them" as a judgment for their selfishness. Hosculf, the Danish governor, fled to the Orkneys, with some of the princ.i.p.al citizens, and Roderic withdrew his forces to Meath, to support O'Rourke, on whom he had bestowed a portion of that territory. Miles de Cogan was invested with the government of Dublin, and Dermod marched to Meath, to attack Roderic and O'Rourke, against whom he had an old grudge of the worst and bitterest kind. He had injured him by carrying off his wife, Dervorgil, and men generally hate most bitterly those whom they have injured most cruelly.

Meanwhile MacCarthy of Desmond had attacked and defeated the English garrison at Waterford, but without any advantageous results. Roderic's weakness now led him to perpetrate an act of cruelty, although it could scarcely be called unjust according to the ideas of the times. It will be remembered that he had received hostages from Dermod for the treaty of Ferns. That treaty had been openly violated, and the King sent amba.s.sadors to him to demand its fulfilment, by the withdrawal of the English troops, threatening, in case of refusal, to put the hostages to death. Dermod laughed at the threat. Under any circ.u.mstances, he was not a man who would hesitate to sacrifice his own flesh and blood to his ambition. Roderic was as good as his word; and the three royal hostages were put to death at Athlone.

An important synod was held at the close of this year (A.D. 1170), at Armagh. We have already mentioned one of its princ.i.p.al enactments, which deplored and condemned the practice of buying English slaves from the Bristol merchants. Other subjects shall be more fully entertained when we come to the Synod of Cashel, which was held two years later.

In 1171 Dermod MacMurrough, the author of so many miseries, and the object of so much just reprobation, died at Ferns, on the 4th of May.