The history of Ireland, ancient and modern, taken from the most authentic records, and dedicated to the Irish brigade

Front matter

Glass J^

I'RK.SI.'.VTKI) 11Y

Mi

Preface

One of the most important works that have ever been written respecting Ireland, is the history of the Abbe Mac-Geoghegan. It may be a matter of surprise to the unthinking, that this most valuable and interesting history has not before this been translated into English ; but this surprise must be lessened when we reflect, that, besides the distracted situation of this country, and the passions that have agitated her' different sects and parties, there were other more powerful causes which might have prevented the publication of the great truths contained in this rare history of Ireland.

Under such circumstances it cannot be wondered at, that an impartial history, which has made known to France and to the Continent the wrongs and the sufferings of Ireland, and one that has accurately displayed the conduct of her enemies, and the struggles of her friends, should, even to this period, be unknown to the English reader.

The elegantly written calumnies of Hume have been generally circulated, while the plain truths of Mac-Geoghegan have been suppressed.

The circumstances which have given an impetus to the circulation of fiction, and the discountenancing of fact, are now at an end. The bad passions of Irishmen are subsiding, and the settlement of a great question (Catholic Emancipation) has taken away from all parties an interest in the concealment of what was just, while it has given to the people of all classes an inducement to know the truth alone, and nothing but the truth. With these objects solely, the translation of the work of the Abbe Mac-Geoghegan has been undertaken.

The history of Ireland is generally complained of even in Ireland, while the ignorance of it in England has entailed upon Irishmen great and innumerable calamities. It is only by a knowledge of our country, that Englishmen can know how to estimate its worth, and, until a full and accurate knowledge of all its circumstances are attained, can the country expect justice to be done tc it. Those, therefore, should be deemed the best friends to Ireland, who exert themselves to induce their fellow-men to study her character, to know her situation, and to appreciate her value.

With such objects has the author of this Translation undertaken the risk of giving to both countries the work of the Abbe Mac-Geoghegan ; and from Irishmen at least, he looks with confidence for that support and patronage which patriotism alone should induce them to afford him.

He begs the liberty, therefore, of subscribing himself their very humble and devoted servant,

PATRICK O'KELLY.

N. B. Some portions of this valuable history were unavoidably omitted in the former edition, translated by Mr. CPKelly, but they shall be inserted in this edition, which has been carefully revised and corrected by the Translator.

.

a j x j cji^¥ mm mo dzim

(from the STotOl)

Dedication

TO THE IRISH TROOPS IN THE SERVICE OF FRANCE.

Gentlemen,

To you I owe the homage of my labor ; you owe to it the honor of your protection. The history of Ireland belongs to you, as being that of your ancestors ; it is their shades that I invoke in a foreign land ; it is their glory that I recall. The records of their exploits and virtues, which fill a space of so many ages, I here bring to your review.

Introduction

To observe order and system in writing this history, I have thought proper to divide it into three parts, the objects of which appeared to me equally interesting. The first comprises the times which had passed from the establishment of the Scoto-Milesians in Ireland, down to the first century ; that part, therefore, during which the island had been buried in the darkness of paganism, I call " Pagan Ireland."

The second commences with the beginning of Christianity in that country in the fifth, and continues until the twelfth century : this part I call " Christian Ireland."

Lastly, the third comprises the different invasions of the English, their establishment in that country, and all that has occurred down to our time.

In the first part, or Pagan Ireland, will be seen, first, the natural history of the country ; second, a critical essay on the antiquities of the Milesians ; third, the fabulous history of the Gadelians ; fourth, the religion and customs of the Milesians; fifth, their civil and . political government; sixth, their domestic and foreign wars ; seventh, the different names under which that country has been known to the natives and to strangers ; eighth, its general and particular divisions, its dynasties, and territories ; also, the names and origin of those who were the proprietors of it.

In the second part, or Christian Ireland, will be seen, besides its profane history, the great progress that religion and learning had made from the fifth to the ninth century ; the confusion caused to the state, and the disorder which prevailed in the church for some time, by the invasion of the Danes ; tranquillity restored, and the exercise of religion re-established in its ancient splendor after the final defeat of those barbarians, which happened in the beginning of the eleventh century, until the arrival of the English towards the end of the twelfth.

Lastly, in the third part shall be described the manner in which some English colonies came to establish themselves in Ireland in the twelfth century ; the wars which they made upon the old inhabitants of the country during four hundred years ; the reunion of the two people in the reign of James VI. of Scotland and I. of England ; finally, we shall conclude by giving a detail of the strange revolutions which have, since that time, arisen to Ireland.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

THE AUTHOR.

The times in which the writer of this work was bom, form so remarkable an epoch in the History of Ireland, that, before I enter into any account of his early life, it may not be amiss to make some remarks upon the principal features by which they were characterized. Ireland was then, in very truth, suffering, prostrate, trodden to the earth, and ground down by every kind of oppression, the most iniquitous and tyrannical. Every vestige of freedom was obliterated, and the remnants of her ancient glory still visible, bearing the marks of recent violence, spoke but too eloquently of the past, while they seemed but little calculated to awaken hopes of future amelioration. Every thing bore an aspect drear and desolate ; whole towns and villages were forsaken. Here stood the dilapidated tower ; there the ruined abbey, its altar desecrated and its shrines polluted ; while its inmates, hunted like the game of the hills, endeavored

" in a strange land to find

That rest, which at home they had sought for in vain."

The war that placed William firmly on the English throne, and banished his imbecile and wretched predecessor, the unfortunate James, from the realm of his fathers, had been brought to a close before the walls of Limerick — " City of the violated treaty." The illustrious leader of Ireland's armies, Patrick Sarsfield, created " Earl of Lucan," and the other commanders, made their last stand within the walls of this city, where the articles of treaty were entered into, and in a short time after so basely violated, although ratified and sanctioned by the solemnity of an oath. And thus the " Island of the Betrayed," foolishly confiding in the honor of a monarch of England, having, besides, the apparently good

12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

security of his solemn oath, fell, the victim of perfidy, perjury, and broken faith, into the ruthless hands of the worst and the wickedest of tyrants. Every species of persecution was had recourse to against the professors of the Catholic faith, and every inducement held out to allure the people from the religion of their fathers. To prevent the education of future ministers, and deprive the people of a priesthood — the only safeguard of a faith, and the true source for its conveyance from generation to generation — all the iniquitous laws of Elizabeth were strictly enforced against the ecclesiastical institutions for the diffusion of theological and philosophical information. In a word, the bloody tragedies of Henry and his virgin daughter's reigns were reacted, with every addition which the improved taste, sharpened by the experience of the actors, could suggest.

The dreadful manner in which the Catholic clergy and people were treated, elicited the sympathy and commiseration of the rest of Europe. Among the many letters of condolence addressed to the clergy and people of Ireland during these times of horror, there is one from the then Supreme Pontiff, Innocent XII., dated at St. Mary Major, on the 10th of June, 1698. In this letter the holy father, after speaking in feeling language of the ordeal of persecution the church of Ireland had undergone, exhorts the prelates and people to confidence in the mercies of Him who suffered so much for the salvation of sinners. " Nor" (says he) " are your sufferings like those of yesterday ; they are the sufferings of centuries ; your nation, renowned for sanctity, has preserved for ages the glory of the faith, to your eternal honor, and the salvation of your souls. Therefore, suffer all things with Christian patience, knowing that the Lord will not permit any being to be tried beyond his strength. — As to us, our prayers shall be unceasing before the throne of mercy." Thus was Ireland situated in the reign of William. In the latter end of that reign, about the year 1698, the subject of this sketch was born, in the neighborhood of Mullingar, in the province of Leinster. His father belonged to that class commonly designated as " substantial country farmers," and finding in his son a desire to enter a college and prepare himself for the ministry, he determined to part with him, " it might be for years, it might be for ever," and procure him that education in a foreign college, which unjust laws deprived him of at home. Thus braving every danger, at a tender age the young aspirant embarked for France, and entered the college of Rheims, then celebrated for the learning and ability of its professors.

From the time of Mr. Mac-Geoghegan's entrance into this celebrated institution to the time of his ordination, I can find but very scanty means of information

OF THE AUTHOR. 13

as regards his progress. This alone is certain, that he distinguished himself as a student of Philosophy, and obtained, in his general examination in Theology, the first prize afforded by the faculty at Rheims. Having obtained his sacerdotal ordination, he continued still in the College, acquiring further knowledge, and preaching occasionally in the churches of the city. About the year 1736, our historian went to England as chaplain to an English gentleman, whose name 1 have not been able to ascertain. During Mac-Geoghegan's engagement with this gentleman, he found means to travel into Ireland, and visit his native place. We may well imagine what were his feelings at the sight of the manifold sufferings and dreadful persecutions under which his poor countrymen were laboring. Having travelled through countries where his faith was triumphant, where respect was paid to conscientious conviction, where men were not " hanged and quartered" for worshipping God, where license was not given to a libertine soldiery to satiate their base appetites in defenceless villages, and there murder, in cold blood, large crowds of men, women, and children, he must have contemplated, in bitterness of heart, the melancholy scenes poor Ireland then presented. We next find Mr. Mac-Geoghegan in Paris, attached to one of its churches, actively engaged in the duties of the ministry. At this time his historical labors seem to have commenced : a time when exiled Irishmen displayed to the world their valor, their piety, and their prowess. In those days France numbered among her armies a corps, which none, even the most inveterate enemy of Ireland, dared deny to be the flower of chivalry, the saviours of France, the terror of England, — " The Irish Brigade." The illustrious " Dillon," foremost of the first, best of the good, bravest of the brave, witness to the broken treaty of Limerick, together with many others of his countrymen, went over to France, and there formed the gallant band of which he was unanimously appointed leader. In this place it is unnecessary to say any thing more about the " Irish Brigade." Their deeds of valor are matters of history : and the well-fought field of " Fontenoi," where, — at the soul-stirring watchword from the lips of Dillon, " Irishmen, remember Limerick !" — the tyrant Saxon persecutor bit the dust, or fled in confusion, before the thundering charge of the glorious exiles of poor Ireland, will be, while the world remains, the monument of their valor.

To this Brigade our historian had the honor of being chaplain. It was in very truth an enviable position. With what great and good men did it not give him perpetual intercourse ! There was Dillon, Purcell, Cusack, Butler, and a host of others, in whose society Mac-Geoghegan spent much of his time. At the

14 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

earnest request of many of the Irish exiles then in France, he compiled the present work in the French language, and dedicated it to the " Irish Brigade." As regards the merit of the work, one opinion has always prevailed, that among the many works already written on the subject, that by Mac-Geoghegan is unrivalled for discrimination, sound judgment, and freedom from all prejudice. Besides this, no writer could have within his reach better sources of testimony. The libraries of Paris, stored with the best works on Ireland, were perfectly at his disposal ; and as to the important affairs connected with the reigns of James the First and Second, there could be no better means of acquiring information than those within the immediate reach of our writer. Mr. Mac-Geoghegan did not long enjoy the well-earned fame acquired by his literary labors. In the discharge of his holy duties a fever attacked him, and he died in the year 1750, regretted by his friends, (he had no enemies,) and was buried in Paris, where a simple slab records his name.

THE

ANCIENT AND MODERN.

HISTORY OF IRELAND.

PEELMIIARY DISCOUESE.

The nation which, forms the subject of this history is, without doubt, one of the most ancient in Europe.

An idea of its history must be agreeable to such as are desirous of exploring its antiquity. The situation of Ireland having rendered it difficult of access to invaders, her inhabitants lived during many ages free from all insult from their neighbors. They cultivated the arts, sciences, and letters, which they had borrowed from the most polished people of their time, the Egyptians and Phoenicians ; and the patronage which their princes afforded to learning, joined to the esteem in which they held those who made a profession of it, contributed much to its advancement. A system of government founded on the laws of nature and humanity, influenced their morals. Some princes, possessed of a justice worthy of the first Christians, appeared like so many stars in an obscure night, from time to time upon the throne, and gave vigor to the laws enervated by the weakness of their predecessors.*

Ollam Fodla, one of their monarchs, summoned a triennial assembly at Teamor,t in order to regulate the affairs of the state, and to examine into the genealogies of families. He established schools for the cidtivation of literature and philosophy, which the people had received from the ancients. Ugane- Mor, Aongus Tuirmeach, and Eocha Felioch, who had re-established the pentarchy, rendered jurisprudence vigorous, added new lustre to the laws, and granted a particular privilege to learning. Fearadach the Just, Feidlim the Legislator, Cormac Ulfada, and Cairbre the Second, surnamed Liffeachair, followed the example of their predecessors. The learned in jurisprudence who flourished in the different reigns, assisted the princes by their counsels.

Learning was not the sole occupation of the Scoto-Milesians ; without mentioning their domestic wars, they often measured

* Ante C. 720. t Afterwards called Tara.

their arms, not only with the Picts, the Britons, and neighboring islanders, but with the Romans themselves, who were then the masters of the world. The expeditions of Eocha the Second, of Aongus Ollbuagach, son of Fiacha the First, Aongus the First, Ugane-Mor, Criomthan the First, Nial the Great, Dathy, and the dreadful devastations which they committed among the Britons, (of which Gildas complains,) furnish sufficient proofs of it.

The warlike character of the Scoto-Milesians appeared again, with splendor, in the long wars which they maintained against the Danes, and which lasted with doubtful success, from the beginning of the ninth century till 1014, when those barbarians were totally defeated at Clontarf by the valiant Brian Boroimhe, the monarch of the island ; while they abandoned to them some other provinces, to free themselves of so formidable an enemy. Merit was not left unrewarded among them : the nobles were distinguished from each other, and they again from the people, by the number of colors, which each wore according to his rank. Enna the First ordered silver shields to be given to those chiefs who distinguished themselves in war ; Muinemon added to them chains of gold, and Aldergode decreed gold rings as a reward to those who would distinguish themselves in the arts and sciences.

Lastly, the antiquaries, doctors, bards, or poets, called also " Fileas," were rewarded withlands, which had been assigned for them.

During the fifth century, Christianity presented new scenes in Ireland. That nation, so attached to the superstitions of paganism and idolatry, and versed in the theology of the Druids, became afterwards, by the preaching of the Gospel, the theatre of religion, and a seminary for strangers, while Gothic ignorance spread itself over the face of Europe. Thus, it may be said, that the four first ages of Christianity were the most brilliant, both of the ancient and modern history of that people ; but the harmony of the

HISTORY OF IRELAND.

government and glory of Christianity became j eclipsed in the ninth century, by the frequent invasions of the northern barbarians, who had overrun, about the same period, the greatest part of Europe. Their incursions continued for two centuries with doubtful success ; the barbarians were often defeated, and in the end totally expelled.

The constitution of the state had been so shaken by this war, that it could never be re-established, notwithstanding the efforts which had been made. A decay in religion, and corruption in the morals of the people, from their intercourse with the barbarians ; the interruption to the legitimate succession to the throne, which occurred about the time of Malachy the Second, by the intrusion of the provincial kings ; and the different factions always attendant upon usurpation, brought insurmountable obstacles to its re-establishment, and were favorable circumstances to the ambition and cupidity of a neighboring nation.

Although history was cultivated among the Scoto-Milesians, more than among any of their contemporaries, notwithstanding also their great care to preserve to posterity the remembrance of their exploits ; yet that people were but little known to the learned before Christianity. Strabo, Pomponius Mela, Solinus, and other writers, have made their ignorance appear, by giving arbitrary descriptions of this island, and by their exaggerated representations of the rudeness and barbarity of its inhabitants.

The English, having, in the twelfth century, put an end to the Irish monarchy, and wishing to give a color of justice to their usurpation, and to the tyranny which they exercised against the inhabitants of the country, have, without any other title than a fictitious bull of Adrian the Fourth, and the right of the strongest, represented the Irish as savages, who inhabited the woods,* and who never obeyed the laws, as if these titles were sufficient for stripping them of their properties.! What ! that people so renowned in the first ages of Christianity for their piety and learning, and among whom the Anglo-Saxons themselves went, according to their own historians, to be instructed, during the centuries which preceded the in vasion of the English, are all of a sudden reduced to the condition of savages !| The metamorphosis is too difficult to be admitted,

* Sylvestres Hiberni.

t Camd. edit. Lond. p. 730.

t " They retired hither, for the sake either of divine study, or a more chaste life." — Bede's Church History, b. 3, c. 27.

and at the same time too obvious for us not to feel how absurd such an accusation must be. A nation that wishes to enslave others, generally treats those who will not submit to its laws as savages : a little attention, however, paid to the state in which Ireland then was, and to the pretensions of the English, will easily destroy the imposture . More than two thousand years had already elapsed, during which that people, commanded by native princes, were governed by their own laws ; consequently they would not receive those of strangers, in whom they discovered neither character to inspire them with awe, nor power to make them obey. Although part of Ireland had at first submitted to the English, still more than two-thirds of it, far from bending under a yoke that seemed odious to them, were always under arms, to defend both their lives and properties against those tyrants. If he that repels an enemy, who comes armed to invade his patrimony, should be treated as a barbarian or a savage, the most polished nations and the most magnanimous merit the same appellations. Gerald Barry, a priest, and native of the country of Wales, in England, called in Latin, Cambria, (from whence is derived the name of Cambrensis, under which he is known,) was the first stranger who undertook to write the history of Ireland, in order to perpetuate the calumnies which his countrymen had already published against its inhabitants.

Circumstances required that they should make the Irish pass for barbarians. The title of Henry the Second was founded only upon a bull obtained clandestinely from Pope Adrian the Fourth, an Englishman by birth. The cause of this bull was a false statement which Henry had given to the Pope of the impiety and barbarism of the Irish nation. Cambrensis was then ordered to verify, by writing, the statement upon which the granting of the bull had been extorted. He did not fail to intermix his work with calumnies, and groundless absurdities ; however, the credit of a powerful king knew how to make even the court of Rome believe them. It was in this spirit that Cambrensis wrote his history, and from thence the English authors have taken the false coloring under which ancient Ireland has been represented. Passion and interest made them pass over the recantation which Cambrensis felt himself obliged to make, in the latter part of his life, of several false and calumnious imputations, with which his history had been filled. Cambrensis did not possess the necessary requisites for an histo-

PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE.

rian. History is not a mere production of the mind : it is an assemblage of facts, the arrangement of which depends alone upon the author. To write the history of a-country it is essential to know it, likewise the character and genius of its inhabitants, and to be capable of consulting its annals. Cambrensis possessed none of these qualities with respect to Ireland, the history whereof he undertook to write. It is true, that he had been twice in that country, first through curiosity, in 1171, to witness the advancement of his relations and friends ; secondly, as preceptor of John, Earl of Mortagne, son of Henry the Second, to whom the king his father had given the title of Lord of Ireland. In those two voyages he remained but eighteen months in Ireland, and saw about one third of it, which alone obeyed the English ; he could not with safety put his foot into any other part of the kingdom. Being incapable of consulting the records of the country, (written in a language to which he was altogether a stranger,) he was obliged to substitute, instead of truth, falsehoods, and the productions of a prejudiced mind, to swell his volumes. Could a stranger, after spending some months at Paris, without knowing either the language, consulting our historians, or visiting the learned men of the country, be capable of writing a history of France ? If he chose to describe the morals and customs of the lowest among the people, without even alluding to the heroic virtues of our kings, the bravery and generosity of our nobles, and the acknowledged merit of an infinite number of our fellow-citizens ; if he dwelt, in fine, on what was most vile, without speaking of the civil and military government, or of the fundamental constitution of the state, could such a man aspire to the title of historian 1 Would it not be the true means of rendering the author contemptible, together with his work? Such has been precisely the disposition and capacity of Gerald Cambrensis. Have not the Irish an equal right to complain of him, as Josephns (in his first book against Appion) complains of some Greek authors who undertook' to compose the history of the Jewish war, the destruction of Jerusalem, and captivity of the Jews, from hearsay, without having been ever in the country,' or seen the things of which they wrote, and who, he said, imprudently assumed to themselves the title of historians 1

Our ambitious author, wishing, as he himself says, to acquire glory and immortalize his name* by a description of Ireland, wrote

* " I will be r?ad by the people, and if the prefive books in Latin, the three first under the title of " Topography of Ireland," and the other two under that of " Ireland conquered by Henry the Second." Those are indeed pompous titles, but are not at all applicable to so imperfect and weak a production ; the title of Topography is unfitly applied to the description of a whole kingdom, and the name of Conquest does not belong to an agreement made between Henry the Second and a part of that nation. It was under such titles, however, that he had the presumption to begin, and promise, not only the history of the actual state of Ireland, but also of its antiquities.

It is not to be wondered at that Cambrensis has succeeded so ill, and that his work deserves not even the name of history. He was prejudiced against the Irish people, and his ignorance of their language rendered him incapable of consulting their annals. He had seen but the few cities which were in the power of the English, and continued in the country too short a time to make the necessary researches ; that care he committed to his friend Bertrand Verdon, who remained in it but six months after him ; therefore the collection of materials, which could serve as a basis to his pretended history of Ireland, was so inconsiderable, and so filled with fiction, that he never gave even the description of a county, town, or village, not even of that part* of it which he had seen. He gives us for a history the fabulous narrative of four fountains, three islands, three lakes, and the sources of four rivers,f of which the Shannon, the most considerable, discharges itself, according to him, into the North Sea. He scarcely mentions who were the first inhabitants of the country. As to the Scoto-Milesians, who were the peaceful possessors of it for more than two thousand years before his time, he contents himself by saying, that there had been a continued and uninterrupted succession of one hundred and eighty-one monarchs, who reigned over that people, but says nothing of their history, laws, government, or of their wars ; neither does he furnish any catalogue of their kings. He, in a few words, says that the six sons of Muredus, king of the province of Ulster, had made a descent upon Scotland. The invasions and wars of the Danes in Ireland he touches upon very lightly, but is grossly deceived, as much in

dictions of the prophets contain in them any truth, I will live by fame through every age." — Cambrensis, Preface.

* Grat. Luc. cap. 10, page 100.

t Grat. Luc. cap. 2, page 6.

•JO

HISTORY OF IRELAND.

reference to the period of their first landing in that country, (which he fixes in the year 838,) as he is respecting the name, exploits, and country of Gormundus. Such reveries he has no doubt borrowed from Geoffrey of Monmouth. Like certain animals, which wallow in mire, and prefer it to the sweetest flowers,* he attached himself to whatever he could discover meanest and most vile among the people ; unsupported likewise by any written authority, or the evidence of any correct or impartial man, he composed an absurd collection of old women's, sailors', and soldiers' stories, which he seasons with scandalous aspersions, satires, and invectives against the nation ; neither prince nor people, clergy, secular or reglar, are spared : he respects nothing ; every thing becomes the object of his calumnies and detraction. f Having spent five years in composing this fine work, the five books of his pretended history of Ireland came forth. In raptures with that new production of his genius, and unable to conceal his vanity, Cambrensis repaired to Oxford,^ where, in presence of learned doctors and the assembled people, he read, after the example of the Greeks, his topography, during three successive days, giving to each book an entire day. To render the comedy more solemn, he treated the whole town splendidly for three days : the first was appropriated to the populace ; the second to the doctors, professors, and principal scholars of the university ; and lastly, the third day he regaled the other scholars, soldiers, and citizens of the town : " a noble and brilliant action," says Cambrensis himself, " whereby the ancient custom of the poets has been, for the first time, renewed in England." But unfortunately for him, the success did not answer his expectations : it was easily seen, particularly at court, that the bad choice he had made of the materials whereof his history had been composed, and the fables he had introduced into it, could