From 1949 to 1959, Oxford professor Tolkien graded exams in Old and Middle English at the National University of Ireland in Galway. While he was there, he loved to explore the countryside and took a particular interest in the Burren, located in nearby County Clare. The Burren consists of about 150 square miles of barren fissured limestone – an eerie plateau that has seen continuous human habitation for the past 6,000 years despite its limited resources. The plateau gets its name from the Irish boireann, meaning “rocky land/stony place.” Between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago, light forests of pine, hazel, elm, and a few oaks grew there along with open scrub and grasslands. Today only a few wind-stunted hawthorns grow between the cracks. Neolithic farmers cleared the land for grazing and the land became overgrazed and eroded. This agrarian society erected over 70 wedge and portal tombs, including the Poulnabrone Portal Tomb, Parknabinna Wedge Tomb, and the Gleninsheen Wedge Tomb. This last place marks the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Throughout the Iron Age and into early medieval times, about 450 ringforts – including Caherconnell (Cathair Chonaill), Cahercommaun (Cathair Chomáin), and Cahermore (Cathair Mhór) – were constructed and occupied.

So, what was Tolkien’s interest?  The ruins of the stone forts may have inspired such forlorn places in Middle-earth as Amon Sûl (Weathertop), the ruined tower where Frodo is stabbed by a Morgul blade in The Fellowship of the Ring. The wedge and portal tombs recall the chilling Barrow-Downs where Frodo, Same, Merry, and Pippin are entombed. Tolkien’s description of this place draws one’s mind to Ireland: “…[Frodo] saw that on that side the hills were higher and looked down upon them; and all those hills were crowned with green mounds, and on some were standing stones, pointing upwards like jagged teeth out of green gums” And later, “They…went down into the hollow….In the midst of it there stood a single stone, standing tall….It was shapeless and yet significant: like a landmark, or a guarding finger, or more like a warning….The sun, a pale and watery yellow, was gleaming though the mist just above the west wall of the hollow….Beyond the wall the fog was thick, cold and white” (Tolkien, 1982, p. 190).

Also in this Burren landscape lies a cave called Poll na gColm (pronounced POLE na GOLL-um), meaning “hole of the dove.” Some speculate that Tolkien got the name for one of his most famous characters, Gollum, from this cave. Rock doves roost in the area and make a guttural sound – not unlike the famous Gollum. For the full story, see this BBC news link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-21859633

Interestingly enough, if you look at a map of the west coast of Ireland, the inundations of the coastline of Galway and Clare – although deep and punctuated with more inlets and islands – bears a striking resemblance to the west coast of Tolkien’s Eriador and Gondor, with the city of Galway corresponding to the mouth of the Anduin in Middle-earth.

If the Burren-Tolkien connection piques your interest, you may want to head to the inaugural Tolkien Burren Festival scheduled to take place from 9 to 16 May 2013: http://www.burrentolkiensociety.ie/tolkien-festival/

Tolkien’s links with ancient Ireland aren’t confined to The Burren. I’ll explore others in future posts in an ongoing celebration of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit films.

SOURCES

Tolkien, J.R.R. (1982). The fellowship of the ring. New York: Ballantine Books.

Gaelic tribes circa 800 AD.

of the Laigin tribes is no less rich. The land of these confederate tribes formed roughly what would become the Province of Leinster in southeastern Ireland. “Their ancestor figure was Labraid Loingsech or Labraid Móen, a legendary prince who was tormented by Cobhthach, his evil uncle. Cobhthach slew Labraid’s father and forced the boy to eat his heart, an ordeal that robbed the young prince of the power of speech. Seeking revenge, he enlisted the assistance of a force of Gaulish warriors, who helped him to depose Cobhthach, and it was from the Gauls’ distinctive broad spears (laighne) that the name Laigin derived” (Zaczek, 2000, p. 52).

In this post, we’ll take a brief look at the Laigin (pronounced LAH-yin) and their territories at the beginning of the historical period (400-800 AD).  Much of what survives in the annals are lists of battles from about 452-516 in their struggle against the southern Uí Néill for control of Tara and the Middle Kingdom (Míde). Although they put up a good fight, the Laigin inevitably lost that struggle. In addition to annalistic documents, other early literary sources include a collection of regnal poems which “are specific in their claim that the Laigin were entitled to be kings of Tara” (Byrne, 1973, p. 142). More to come about these works in a future post. Below is a list of major Laigin tribes along with some specifics about their territory and early history.

According to Zaczek, the Laigin are “thought to be one of the most ancient races of Celtic invaders, second only to the Erainn” (2000, p. 54). We’ll consider the Erainn next as we continue our circuit around ancient Ireland. And we’ll revisit the Laigin later this year when we take a look at those archaic regnal poems.

SOURCES

Byrne, F. J. (1973). Irish kings and high-kings. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Zaczek, I. (2000). Ireland: land of the Celts. London: Collins & Brown.

Cormac mac Airt lived during the first half of the third century AD and was one of Ireland’s most celebrated high kings. Under his leadership, peace and prosperity reigned. Tecosca Cormaic was handed down via oral tradition, generation to generation, before being written down in the ninth century. Cormac’s counsels were set down in question-and-answer format – unique to the oral tradition – between his son and himself. They covered such subjects as the best qualities for a king, the duty of a king, proper and moral conduct for a king, wisdom for young men and husbands, and how to judge the weather.

How does his sage advice hold up today? Let’s see. If asked what are the best qualities for our President (the High King of America), Cormac would say, “Composure rather than wrath, patience rather than contention, geniality rather than arrogance….Productivity in his reign. Attention to every unfortunate. Many charities….Let him visit the ailing, let him improve the condition of the indigent.” (Cleary, 2004, p. 3-4).

How about conduct during debates?

“There are seventeen characteristics of bad argumentation. Contention against knowledge, resort to bad language, a multitude of insults, contention without proof. Prolixity or sluggishness of speech, talking at the same time as another, intellectual hair-splitting, unestablished proof. Spurning books, turning against tradition, talking too loud, flightiness of argument. Rebuking the multitude, fighting everyone, pompous vanity, screaming, swearing after judgment is pronounced” (Cleary, 2004, p. 35-36).

At one point, Cormac is asked, “What is best for the interest of a tribe?” Included in the king’s lengthy response is a simple prescription that would have prevented the meltdown of today’s global economy:

 “Wholesome lending. Loans for proper purposes.” (Cleary, 2004, p. 9).

 Simple.

Cleary, T. (2004). The counsels of Cormac: an ancient Irish guide to leadership. New York: Doubleday.

The golden age of Irish metal craftsmanship occurred in the late seventh century to the mid ninth century AD. It’s during this period that the Tara Brooch and the Ardagh Chalice were made. Other fine examples include the Londesborough Brooch and the Derrynaflan Chalice. In the sixth and seventh centuries, metalwork was confined to bronze. A few artifacts may have been made of repurposed Roman silver. Tin was sometimes added to the alloy in greater quantities to give the appearance of silver. Although there were silver deposits in Ireland, they don’t appear to have been exploited until the thirteenth century. Tin was available too but also tended to be imported at this time. What was exploited in Ireland during this period was copper and iron. It wasn’t until the Vikings established their trade routes in the ninth century that silver and gold from the Orient became more available.

The techniques Irish craftsmen used to create these examples included die-stamping, gilding, and casting – either using two-piece clay molds for smaller objects or the lost wax method for more complicated work. Both the Tara Brooch and the stem of the Ardagh Chalice feature cast ornamentation. “Die-stamping was used to create copies of patterns. Thin sheets of silver, gold or copper were stamped in dies that had the pattern cast or engraved in reverse within….The gold foils on the side of the Derrynaflan Paten are so evenly struck throughout their length that a mechanical press may have been used to produce them….Silver and copper were sometimes combined in interesting ways. On both the Ardagh Chalice and the Derrynaflan Paten a knitted wire mesh of both metals is employed” (Ryan, 1993, pp. 8-9).

Gold filigree comprised of soldered wires is also a feature on the Tara Brooch and the Ardagh Chalice. The stud at the bottom of the escutcheon plate of a handle of the Ardagh Chalice is comprised of gold granules. “In granulation, small spherical beads of gold were created in a number of ways, for example by heating pieces of gold on a bed of charcoal by means of a blow-pipe carrying hot gases from a furnace, so that they melted and danced like water droplets on a hot stone” (Ryan, 1993, p. 11).

One other thing Ryan points out that I find interesting is that some objects have letters used as assembly codes on them – something similar to our modern Insert A into slot B — implying that some smiths were literate and were either clerics or craftsmen attached to monasteries.

At least back then the instructions weren’t written in Chinese. 

SOURCE

 Ryan, M. (1993). Metal craftsmanship in early Ireland. Dublin: Country House.

Gaelic tribes circa 800 AD.

Recently, there have been searches for information on specific Gaelic tribes. So, first up, the Ulaid – tribes who have been wandering around in my head and in my notebooks for the past twenty years. What follows is a list of major tribes of the Ulaid confederation, along with their known territories and leaders at the beginning of the historical period (600-800 AD). It was a period of contention, expansion, and numerous boundary disputes. The map here is used by permission from Wikipedia. If you click on it, you’ll get a slightly higher resolution, but that’s as good as it gets. There’s a far superior map in Irish Kings and High Kings by Byrne, but due to copyright restrictions, I can’t post it here. If this topic interests you, you’ll definitely want to get your hands on this work, which is still the go-to source for early Irish historical studies, but be prepared to shell out big bucks! There’s a copy on Amazon selling for $45 and another for $312! Really?

The Ulaid or “Wool-Growers” were a group of Gaelic tribes who gave their name to the modern Province of Ulster. They included the Dál nAraide, Dál Fiatach, Dál Riata, Uí Eachach Cobo, Uí Eachach Arda, the Latharna and the Fir Eilne.  They were further divided into two distinct genealogical groups – the Érainn peoples, who migrated from Mumu (Munster), and the indigenous Cruithin.  The Érainn consisted of the Dál Riata and the Dál Fiatach, while the Cruithin were composed of the Dál nAraide and the Uí Eachach Cobo.  Emain Macha was the royal seat of the Ulaid until they were forced north and east by aggressive Uí Néill expansion around 450 AD.  Political relations within the Ulaid confederation were unusual and often strained, for no single dynasty emerged as dominant among the ruling class.  Instead, the kingship passed between the Dál Fiatach and the Dál nAraide.  According to the kinglists, all but 10 of the 62 overkings came from the Dál Fiatach nobility.  Apparently, the Dál Riata were too busy holding their ground against Uí Néill encroachment and establishing a foothold in Albu (Scotland) to compete for the overkingship.  By the beginning of the seventh century, the rí ruirech of the Ulaid and the rí ruirech of the Dál Riata had equal status as overkings and were allies.

SOURCE

Byrne, F. J. (1973). Irish kings and high kings. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

There is some evidence to suggest that folks living in Ireland during the mid sixth century might have been thinking exactly the same thing, although the climatic extreme at that time was the opposite – a global winter due to a possible comet impact. “In the period AD 536-545, Irish oaks, Sierra Nevada foxtail pines (Pinus balfouriana), and Fitzroya conifers (Fitzroya cupressoides) from Chile show years of extreme cold – the only years in which rings narrowed from severe weather match up across the three. There was no volcanic eruption to account for such global chilling, [but]…some astrophysicists have proposed a catastrophic encounter with cometary debris, an event recorded not only in tree rings but in Britain’s Arthurian myths and Celtic folktales” (Viney, 2003, p.68). Can anyone spot the references in these tales?

The Irish annals record no evidence that a comet was seen streaking across the sky during that time, but of course it might not have been visible from the Emerald Isle. There is one peculiar reference to “the failure of bread” in 538 AD (MacAirt & MacNoicaill, 1983, p. 73). Could this be a failure of grain crops? In 543 AD, the Annals of Clonmacnoise record, “Bread was very scarce this yeare” (Murphy, 1993, p.78). An eclipse of the sun “in the early morning 14 days before the calends of March” is noted in England in the year 538 (Ingram, 1993, p.22). It probably was a true eclipse, which can be verified, no doubt, by astronomical software, but it’s entertaining to think that it might have been some sort of debris cloud. According to Mitchell and Ryan, “There is some evidence to suggest that initially the climate in the later Iron Age was slightly warmer than at present. This will have meant that grain crops would have ripened better; in later times, it was necessary to dry corn [grain] in kilns before grinding it” (1997, p.248).

So, what are the climate trends in Ireland of late? “Frequent and violent winter storms and flooding from intense rainfall are the chief apprehension in Ireland as…more heat moves from the Equator to the poles. Between the 1970s and 1990s there was a fall in the number of moderate gales across the northern British Isles, while the number of damaging storms, with winds of between 60 and 80 miles per hour…approximately doubled. On the Irish west coast, gusts of around 100 miles per hour…have been experienced in several recent storms” (Viney, 2003, p.64).

Need any more evidence of global warming?

SOURCES

Ingram, J. (1993). The Saxon chronicle: AD 1 to AD 1154. London: Studio Editions.

MacAirt, S. & MacNiocaill, G. (eds.). (1983). The annals of Ulster (to A.D. 1131). Dublin: Dublin Institute    for Advanced Studies.

Mitchell, F. & Ryan, M. (1997). Reading the Irish landscape. Dublin: TownHouse.

If only it were that easy for our ancient Irish ancestors. Early February was the onset of “hungry spring,” when the food supplies from the previous harvest were all but spent. The cattle were also growing thin and feeble on what remained of their dried, nutrition-poor grass. “In later Irish folk tradition February 1 was the day for opening up all the cupboards to take stock of what supplies remained to last out the cold weather,” and, naturally, the Old Irish ritual of “tasting all the food” to ensure that it had not gone bad went along with the cupboard inventory (Patterson, 1994, p. 132).

“The basic diet for the winter would be oat porridge, supplemented by carefully rationed portions of salt meat. There were no more fruits, berries, or fresh vegetables, so to ward off scurvy and skin disease, bittercress and other watercresses were collected from streams. Brooklime, which grew on the stream’s banks served the same purpose: its leaves, while not especially palatable, could be chewed to provide essential vitamin C” (King, 1994, p.113).

Hunting supplemented the winter diet, but the hunters weren’t always successful. Birds and deer were swift and wild boar exceedingly dangerous. Prey this time of year was also growing thin. It would be another month before new shoots started poking through the cold, damp, earth. “Oysters, winkles and other shellfish were collected in coastal areas. Voles and mice were easy to trap, but provided little meat; nevertheless, in a hard winter, even the smallest food source would not be spurned” (King, 1994, p. 113). Dried lentils, if a good harvest were carefully rationed, might also last the winter.

Those tribes who were unlucky in the hunt, poorly skilled at rationing, or lacked sufficient livestock had their eyes on their neighbors’ stores and herds. Raids were common. It was a bleak time of year to be in childbed, but many women were. In early May, the womenfolk and younger children went with the cattle to the summer pastures and stayed throughout the summer to milk and tend the herds while the men remained behind to tend the fields. Therefore, “with marriages concentrated between Twelfth Night and Shrovetide, and post-nuptial co-residence of new spouses being interrupted after May 1, many first-born babies would have been born between mid-October and February 1. Thus Imbolc marked the end of the period of first childbirth and the beginning of breast-feeding by inexperienced new mothers, which in turn meant that the mothers’ need for good nutrition coincided with ‘hungry spring’. Just at the beginning of this dangerous period, however, the sheep came into milk” (Patterson, 1994, p. 132). The cows, on the other hand, wouldn’t be in full milk until May.

Apparently, ewe’s milk has a greater fat content than cow’s milk, so it was particularly welcomed. “One of the delectables mentioned in the vision of Mac Conglinne is ‘fair white porridge, made with sheep’s milk’” (Patterson, 1994, p. 131).

I don’t know about you, but all this talk of milk has me hankering for hot chocolate. I’m off to the store for some TruMoo. I’ve got a coupon!

Scavenging update: The store was out of TruMoo. I might have to plan a raid on the next town!

SOURCES

King, J. (1994). The Celtic druids’ year: seasonal cycles of the ancient Celts. London: Blandford.

Patterson, N.T. (1994). Cattle-lords and clansmen: the social structure of early Ireland. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

“What?” you say. “I thought life in the Middle Ages was incredibly filthy and no one ever took a bath.” That’s the typical response I get to bath scenes in my novels, and if that’s your picture of life in ancient Ireland, allow me to adjust the focus for you. First of all, the period we’re discussing is the Late Iron Age to the early Middle Ages – say up to the 8^th century AD – before Christianity truly transformed the island in all the ways that it did.

One of the early societies to make a practice of bathing was the Greeks, but it was the Romans who made it into a pastime. As Bill Bryson points out in his fantastic book At Home, “Nobody has ever bathed with as much devotion and precision as the Romans did….Roman baths had libraries, shops, exercise rooms, barbers, beauticians, tennis courts, snack bars, and brothels. People from all classes of society used them….For much of the Roman era the baths were marked by a certain rigid decorum, which assured a healthy rectitude, but that as time went on life in the baths – as with life in Rome generally – grew increasingly frisky, and it became common for men and women to bathe together….No one really knows quite what the Romans got up to in there, but whatever it was it didn’t sit well with the early Christians. They viewed Roman baths as licentious and depraved – morally unclean if not hygienically so” (2010, p. 345-346).

It was the Romans who commented on the Celts – so impressed they were by their appearance. Diodorus Siculus wrote, “The Gauls are tall in stature and their flesh is very moist and white, while their hair is not only naturally blond, but they also use artificial means to increase this natural quality of colour. For they continually wash their hair with lime….” (McMahon, 1990, p. 12).

Spiking their hair with lime undoubtedly made the men look fierce in battle, but it also probably helped ward off lice. And the “moist flesh” comment may be an indication of – thankfully, not cannibalism on the part of the Romans – but of the use of oils and herbal ointments by the Celts after a good bath. Of further note, “Gauls are also said to have shaved their body hair….The site at La Tène produced ‘toilet sets’ consisting of an iron razor and a pair of sprung iron shears” (James, 1993, p. 64). Women used cosmetics, combs, and mirrors. “In late Iron Age Britain, mirrors became increasingly elaborately decorated” (James, 1993, p. 69).

In their investigation of the early Christian era in Ireland, Hughes and Hamlin note, “Vats made of staves bound with metal hoops have been found, possibly to take bathe water, for the Irish liked to sit in their baths and it was only the ascetics who stood in cold water; the rest had their water heated with fire-stones kept for the purpose. Guests in particular were sometimes welcomed with a hot bath” (1997, p. 44). Slogging through bogland, after all, was a dirty affair.

There is also evidence that baths were used for medicinal purposes. “We find, in Irish medical tracts, that baths were frequently prescribed for healing. Fingin, the Druid physician of Conchobhar Mac Nessa, cured the wounded warriors by baths of medical herbs. In Cormac’s Glossary such a medical bath was called forthrucad and most often given for leprosy – doinnlóbru” (Ellis, 1998, p. 113).

So, if bathing was considered essential for good health and appearance by several early civilizations, what happened in the Middle Ages that made people stop bathing? The lewd behavior that went on in Roman bath-houses caused the early Christians to equate bathing with prostitution. Then the plague came and people did everything they could think of to prevent coming down with it. “Unfortunately, people everywhere came to exactly the wrong conclusion. All the best minds agreed that bathing opened the epidermal pores and encouraged deathly vapors to invade the body. The best policy was to plug the pores with dirt. For the next six hundred years most people didn’t wash, or even get wet, if they could help it….” (Bryson, 2010, p. 346).

Europe must have been one big blackhead.

SOURCES

Bryson, B. (2010). At home: a short history of private life. New York: Doubleday.

Ellis, P.B. (1998). The ancient world of the Celts. New York: Barnes & Noble Books.

Hughes, K. & Hamlin, A. (1997). The modern traveller to the early Irish church. Dublin: Four Courts Press.

James, S. (1993). The world of the Celts. New York: Thames and Hudson.

McMahon, A. (ed.). (1990). The Celtic way of life. Dublin: O’Brien.

Essentially, there were three levels of kingship in ancient Ireland. At the lowest level was the rí túaithe or king of the túath (pronounced TOO-ah). The word basically means “people” but is often translated as “tribe,” and both Byrne and Kelly state that there were about 150 of these tribal kings in Ireland at any one time between the 5^th and 12^th centuries. There were that many tribal groups! Byrne goes on to emphasize that “in the Old Irish period…the rí túaithe, however insignificant on the national scale, was the true king. Even the most powerful of high-kings was basically ruler of a single túath, and exercised no direct authority outside it” (1973, p. 41). Just to put this in perspective, the land belonging to a túath was probably the equivalent to a modern parish or township.

On the next level was the rí túath, the king of more than one túath. Some of the larger confederations might have stretched to county-size in land coverage. This king could rely on military assistance from the túatha under his overlordship.

Says Byrne, (1973, p. 42) “The laws agree in recognizing a third and highest grade of king, variously called triath, réthe, ollam ríg (‘greatest of kings’), rí ruireach (‘king of over-kings’), or rí cóicid (‘king of a fifth’, i.e., one of the provinces into which Ireland was traditionally divided).  It is customary to refer to these as provincial kings: such as the king of Leinster, of Munster, or of Connacht.”

Fiachna Lurgan, Ri Ruirech of the Ulaid Tribes, copyright 2011

One of the main characters in my Harplord trilogy is Fiachna Lurgan, the historical rí ruireach of the Ulaid tribes (their territory became the Province of Ulster). He ruled a relatively lengthy period of time, for more than 30 years, until his death in 626 AD. For my own amusement, I’ve sketched him here. Can you identify the actor who plays him (at least in my head)? Here’s a little clue in case my artistic skills are lacking – the epithet “Lurgan” means “longshanks,” a most fitting one for this Irish actor whose strides would definitely equal two of mine!

SOURCES

Byrne, F.J. (1973). Irish kings and high-kings. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Kelly, F. (1995). A guide to early Irish law. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Right. Guess that leaves me out.

This was the initiation of any warrior who wished to join the fían (pronounced FEE-an; plural fíana, pronounced FEE-an-nah). The fían was a band of elite warriors who served the kings of Ireland, protected the coasts from invasion, and generally kept the peace. There were many grades of kings – a complex topic for another post – but certainly the higher-ranking ones would have had their own fían. And while the initiation tests mentioned above might be exaggerated with typical Celtic flair, the fían was undoubtedly comprised of men in top athletic condition, for they dwelt exclusively in the forests and lived off the land from Bealtaine (early May) to Samhain (early November). At Samhain, they were housed and fed by the people until the following Bealtaine.

This seasonal movement of the warbands brings up and interesting side note. In modern times, in most northern societies, hunting season opens in the fall, as it does here in Michigan with first bow-hunting season, then rifle season. The latter can get a bit noisy. In ancient Ireland, it closed in the fall. “Throughout northern Europe from ancient times until the late middle ages, hunting was an essential complement of the military life, serving both as an important food source and as a form of practice for warfare” (Gilbert, 1979, p. 72). Thus, throughout the dark season, the wild game would be allowed to recover while meat was consumed from domestic sources. Many stone-lined cooking sites of the fíana, call fulacht fían, have been discovered throughout Ireland by archaeologists.

“The Fianna warrior swore four things: never to take cattle by force; never to refuse a request for [hospitality]; never to retreat if outnumbered less than ten to one; and never to avenge any harm done to his kinsman. The Fianna man had to renounce family and home for a military life in which, however, he lacked for nothing. The Fianna had their own druids, doctors, poets and musicians, as well as fifty women who did nothing but make clothes for them” (Fleming et al, 2003, p. 65). The exploits of the fiana have been preserved in tales and myths of the Fenian Cycle, featuring Finn mac Cumhail.

“The quartering of the fían closed the season of true warfare, and opened what may be called the season of plotting….The annals are peppered with references to assassinations at this time. (House parties made it easy to trap and burn enemies)” (Patterson, 1994, p. 123).

Ho, ho, ho!

SOURCES

Fleming, F. (et al.). (2003). Heroes of the dawn: Celtic myth. New York: Barnes & Noble.

Gilbert, J. (1979). Hunting and hunting reserves in medieval Scotland. Edinburgh: John Donald.

Patterson, N. (1994). Cattle lords & clansmen: the social structure of early Ireland. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.

Squire, C. (1997). Celtic myths and legends. New York: Portland House.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulacht_fiadh