An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 Part 14

[148] _Wors.h.i.+p_.--In the Chronicle of Richard of Cirencester, ch. 4, certain Roman deities are mentioned as wors.h.i.+pped by the British druids; but it is probable the account is merely borrowed from Caesar's description of the Gauls.

[149] _Ceremonies_.--Bohn's edition, p. 431.

[150] _Wren_.--In Scotland the wren is an object of reverence: hence the rhyme--

"Malisons, malisons, more than ten, That harry the Ladye of Heaven's hen."

But it is probable the idea and the verse were originally imported from France, where the bird is treated with special respect. There is a very interesting paper in the _Ulster Archaeological Journal_, vol. vii. p.

334, on the remarkable correspondence of Irish, Greek, and Oriental legends, where the tale of Labhradh Loinseach is compared with that of Midas. Both had a.s.ses' ears, and both were victims to the loquacious propensities of their barbers.

[151] _Etruscans_.--See _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_, vol i p.

295, where the bas-reliefs are described which represent the _praeficae_, or hired mourners, wailing over the corpse.

[152] _Laid down_.--Law, Saxon, _lagu, lah_; from _lecgan_==Goth.

_lagjan_, to lay, to place; Gael. _lagh_, a law; _leag_, to lie down; Latin, _lex_, from Gr. _lego_, to lay.

[153] _It_.--Four Masters, vol. i p. 133. The Seanchus Mor was sometimes called _Cain Phadruig_, or Patrick's Law.

[154] _Seanchus_.--From the old Celtic root _sen_, old, which has direct cognates, not merely in the Indo-European, but also in the Semitic; Arabic, _sen_, old, ancient--_sunnah_, inst.i.tution, regulation; Persian, _san_, law, right; _sanna_, Phoenicibus idem fuit quod Arabibus _summa_, lex, doctrina jux canonic.u.m.--Bochart, _Geo. Sae_. 1. ii. c. 17. See Petrie's _Tara_, p. 79.

[155] _Day_.--O'Curry, page 201.

[156] _Works_.--He appears to have been the author of the original Book of Rights, and "commenced and composed the Psalter of Caiseal, in which are described the acts, _laws,"_ &c.--See Preface to Seanchus Mor, p.

17.

[157] _Arrears_.--Elphinstone's _India_, vol. i. p. 372.

[158] _Forbidden_.--"You shall not take money of him that is guilty of blood, but he shall die forthwith."--Numbers, x.x.xv. 31.

[159] _Proved_.--See Pictet's _Origines Indo-Europeennes_. He mentions his surprise at finding a genuine Sanscrit word in Irish, which, like a geological boulder, had been transported from one extremity of the Aryan world to the other. Pictet considers that the first wave of Aryan emigration occurred 3,000 years before the Christian Era.

[160] _Writing_.--"Finally, Dudley Firbisse, hereditary professor of the antiquities of his country, mentions in a letter [to me] a fact collected from the monuments of his ancestors, that one hundred and eighty tracts [tractatus] of the doctrine of the druids or magi, were condemned to the flames in the time of St. Patrick."--_Ogygia_, iii. 30, p. 219. A writer in the _Ulster Arch. Journal_ mentions a "Cosmography,"

printed at "Lipsiae, 1854." It appears to be a Latin version or epitome of a Greek work. The writer of this Cosmography was born in 103. He mentions having "examined the volumes" of the Irish, whom he visited. If this authority is reliable, it would at once settle the question.--See _Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. ii. p. 281.

[161] _Hand_.--A work on this subject has long been promised by Dr.

Graves, and is anxiously expected by paleographists. We regret to learn that there is no immediate prospect of its publication.

[162] _Quipus_.--Quipus signifies a knot. The cords were of different colours. Yellow denoted gold and all the allied ideas; white, silver, or peace; red, war, or soldiers. Each quipus was in the care of a quiper-carnayoe, or keeper. Acorta mentions that he saw a woman with a handful of these strings, which she said contained a confession of her life. See Wilson's _Pre-Historic Man_ for most interesting details on the subject of symbolic characters and early writing.

[163] _Care_.--Annals of Boyle, vol. ii. p. 22. _Essay_, p. 82.

[164] _Peoples_.--See _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_, vol. ii. p.

314, where the writer describes tombs sunk beneath a tumulus, about twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, and also tombs exactly resembling the Irish cromlech, the covering slab of enormous size, being inclined "apparently to carry off the rain." In his account of the geographical sites of these remains, he precisely, though most unconsciously, marks out the line of route which has been a.s.signed by Irish annalists as that which led our early colonizers to Ireland. He says they are found in the presidency of Madras, among the mountains of the Caucasus, on the steppes of Tartary, in northern Africa, "_on the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean they are particularly abundant_," and in Spain.

[165] _Sh.e.l.ls_.--Cat. Ant. R.I.A.; Stone Mat. p. 180. The ethnographic phases of conchology might form a study in itself. Sh.e.l.ls appear to be the earliest form of ornament in use. The North American Indians have their sh.e.l.l necklaces buried with them also. See Wilson's _Pre-Historic Man_.

[166] _Child_.--Mr. Wilson gives a most interesting description of an interment of a mother and child in an ancient Peruvian grave. The mother had an unfinished piece of weaving beside her, with its colours still bright. The infant was tenderly wrapped in soft black woollen cloth, to which was fastened a pair of little sandals, 2-1/2 inches long; around its neck was a green cord, attached to a small sh.e.l.l.--_Pre-Historic Man_, vol. i. p. 234.

[167] _Clare_.--In 1855, in digging for a railway-cutting in the county Clare, gold ornaments were found worth 2,000 as bullion.

[168] _Carbuncle_.--This word was used to denote any s.h.i.+ning stone of a red colour, such as garnet, a production of the country.

CHAPTER XI.

Pestilence of the _Blefed_--The Cursing of Tara by St. Roda.n.u.s--Extent and Importance of Ancient Tara--The First Mill in Ireland--The _Lia Fail_--Cormac's House--The Rath of the Synods--The Banqueting Hall--Chariots and Swords--St. Columba--St. Brendan and his Voyages--Pre-Columbian Discovery of America--The Plague again--St.

Columba and St. Columba.n.u.s--Irish Saints and Irish Schools--Aengus the Culdee.

[A.D. 543-693.]

From time to time, in the world's history, terrible and mysterious pestilences appear, which defy all calculation as to their cause or probable reappearance. Such was the _Blefed_,[169] or _Crom Chonaill_, which desolated Ireland in the year 543.

The plague, whatever its nature may have been, appears to have been general throughout Europe. It originated in the East; and in Ireland was preceded by famine, and followed by leprosy. St. Berchan of Glasnevin and St. Finnen of Clonard were amongst its first victims.

Diarmaid, son of Fergus Keval, of the southern Hy-Nial race, was Ard-Righ during this period. In his reign Tara was cursed by St. Roda.n.u.s of Lothra, in Tipperary, in punishment for violation of sanctuary;[170]

and so complete was its subsequent desertion, that in 975 it was described as a desert overgrown with gra.s.s and weeds.

But enough still remains to give ample evidence of its former magnificence. An inspection of the site must convince the beholder of the vast extent of its ancient palaces; nor can we, for a moment, coincide with those who are pleased to consider that these palaces consisted merely of a few planks of wood, rudely plastered over, or of hollow mounds of earth. It is true that, from an a.s.sociation of ideas, the cause of so many fallacies, we naturally connect "halls" with marble pavements, magnificently carved pillars, and tesselated floors; but the harp that once resounded through Tara's halls, may have had as appreciating, if not as critical, an audience as any which now exists, and the "halls" may have been none the less stately, because their floor was strewn with sand, or the trophies which adorned them fastened to walls of oak.[171]

According to Celtic tradition, as embodied in our annals, Tara became the chief residence of the Irish kings on the first establishment of a monarchical government under Slainge:--

"Slaine of the Firbolgs was he by whom Temair was first raised."

One hundred and fifty monarchs reigned there from this period until its destruction, in 563. The _Fes_, or triennial a.s.sembly, was inst.i.tuted by Ollamh Fodhla. The nature of these meetings is explained in a poem, which Keating ascribes to O'Flynn, who died A.D. 984. It is clear that what was then considered crime was punished in a very peremptory manner; for--

"Gold was not received as retribution from him, But his soul in one hour."[172]

In the reign of Tuathal a portion of land was separated from each of the four provinces, which met together at a certain place: this portion was considered a distinct part of the country from the provinces. It was situated in the present county of Meath.

In the tract separated from Munster, Tuathal[173] built the royal seat of Tlachtga, where the fire of Tlachtga was ordained to be kindled. On the night of All Saints, the druids a.s.sembled here to offer sacrifices, and it was established, under heavy penalties that no fire should be kindled on that night throughout the kingdom, so that the fire which was used afterwards might be procured from it. To obtain this privilege, the people were obliged to pay a scraball, or about three-pence, yearly, to the King of Munster.

On the 1st of May a convocation was held in the royal palace of the King of Connaught. He obtained subsidies in horses and arms from those who came to this a.s.sembly. On this occasion two fires were lit, between which cattle were driven as a preventative or charm against the murrain and other pestilential distempers. From this custom the feast of St.

Philip and St. James was anciently called Beltinne, or the Day of Bel's Fire.

The third palace, erected by Tuathal, was on the portion of land taken from the province of Ulster. Here the celebrated fair of Tailtean was held, and contracts of marriage were frequently made. The royal tribute was raised by exacting an ounce of silver from every couple who were contracted and married at that time. The fair of Tailtean had been inst.i.tuted some years before, in honour of Tailte, who was buried here.

This fair, says Keating, was then kept upon the day known in the Irish language as La Lughnasa, or the day ordained by Lughaidh, and is called in English Lammas-day.

The fourth and the most important of the royal seats was the palace of Temair, or Tara: here, with the greatest state and ceremony, the affairs of the nation were discussed and decided. On these occasions, in order to preserve the deliberations from the public, the most strict secrecy was observed, and women were entirely excluded.

The Dinnseanchus, a topographical work, compiled in the twelfth century from ancient MSS., is the princ.i.p.al source of information on this subject. Dr. Petrie, in his famous _Essay_, has given both the original and translation of this tract, and of other doc.u.ments on the same subject; and he remarks how exactly the accounts given by the poet historians coincide with the remains which even now exist. In fact, each site has been ascertained with precise accuracy--an accuracy which should very much enhance our appreciation of the value of our ancient histories.

The well _Neamhnach_ was first identified. Tradition a.s.serts that the first mill[174] erected in Ireland was turned by the stream which flowed from it, and even at the present day a mill is still worked there. The situation of the _Rath-na-Riogh_ was then easily ascertained. This is the most important of these ancient sites, but it is now, unfortunately, nearly levelled to the ground. This rath is oval and measures about 853 feet from north to south; it contains the ruins of the _Forradh_ and of _Teach Cormac_ (the House of Cormac). A pillar-stone was removed in 1798 to the centre of the mound of the Forradh. It formerly stood by the side of a small mound lying within the enclosure of Rath-Riogh. This stone Dr. Petrie considers identical[175] with the famous _Lia Fail_, or Stone of Destiny, which other authorities suppose to have been removed to Scotland, and subsequently to Westminster. The _Rath-na-Riogh_ is identical with Teamur, and is, in fact, _the_ ancient Tara, or royal residence, around which other scarcely less important buildings were gradually erected. It was also called _Cathair Crofinn_. The name of _Cathair_ was exclusively applied to circular stone fortifications built without cement; and stones still remain which probably formed a portion of the original building. In ancient Irish poems this fortification is sometimes called the Strong Tower of Teamur, an appellation never applied to a rath, but constantly to a _Cathair_, or circular stone fort.

The Rath of the Synods obtained its name at a comparatively recent period. The situation is distinctly pointed out both in the prose and verse accounts. Here was held the Synod of Patrick, the Synod of Ruadhan and Brendan, and lastly, the Synod of Ad.a.m.nan. The next existing monument which has been identified with certainty, is the _Teach-Miodhchuarta_, or Banqueting Hall, so famous in Irish history and bardic tradition. This was also the great house of the thousand soldiers, and the place where the _Fes_ or triennial a.s.semblies were held. It had fourteen doors--seven to the east and seven to the west.

Its length, taken from the road, is 759 feet, and its breadth was probably about 90 feet. Kenneth O'Hartigan is the great, and indeed almost the only authority for the magnificence and state with which the royal banquets were held herein. As his descriptions are written in a strain of eloquent and imaginative verse, his account has been too readily supposed to be purely fict.i.tious. But we have already shown that his description of the gold vessels which were used, is amply corroborated by the discovery of similar articles. His account of the extent, if not of the exterior magnificence, of the building, has also been fully verified; and there remains no reason to doubt that a "thousand soldiers" may have attended their lord at his feasts, or that "three times fifty stout cooks" may have supplied the viands. There was also the "House of the Women," a term savouring strangely of eastern customs and ideas; and the "House of the Fians," or commons soldiers.