The story of Saint Patrick...

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Chapter I. The Early Settlers Of Ireland

Long, long ago, beyond the misty space

Of twice a thousand years.

In Erin old there dwelt a mighty race.

Taller than Roman spears ; Like oaks and towers they had a giant grace.

Were fleet as deers, With wind and waves they made their 'biding-place,

These western shepherd seers.

T. D. McOee.

There are few more important and interesting personages in all history, and around whom so much mystery hangs, than that of Patrick, usually designated the Apostle of Ireland.

Nor can the condition of the Irish country and people before Patrick landed upon its shores be seen in a more satisfactory historic light. Therefore, before we enter upon the story of Patrick, let us briefly scan the condition of Ireland in those early days.

There is a mistiness enwrapping the annals of that ^' Green Isle of the Ocean," which obscures in a great measure the facts both before and after the commencement of the Christian era.

The prehistoric legends of Ireland are, however, of considerable importance in obtaining a pretty accurate view of its earliest settlements. The long continuance of tribal government, and the existence of a special class whose duty it was to preserve the genealogies of the ruling families, and to keep in memory the deeds of their ancestors, were favorable to the growth and preservation of these legends. Long pedigrees and stories of forays and battles were preserved, but were altered more or less in being transmitted from father to son.

But as there had been no great conquest for centuries by foreign races to destroy these traditions they were not eradicated by internal contests and displacements of tribes.

When these Irish prehistoric legends are therefore divested of their extraneous additions, they express the broad facts of the peopling of Ireland, and are in a measure in accordance with the results of archaeological investigation.

Keeping these things in view, these prehistoric legends inform us that several principal peoples were the earliest settlers of Ireland.

We must, however, remember that no two histories of Ireland seem to agree as to the strifes, changes, and rules which characterized that unhappy country during its earliest centuries. It is simply impossible to reconcile the historical accounts handed down by the sages or scribes of those primitive times, when Ireland was a battleground for fierce wars of petty kings and chieftains.

THE EARLY SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 15

There is an early tradition that Gomer, the eldest son of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, was the progenitor of the early branches of the Celtic family, and of the modern people who are known as Gaels, or Scotch Highlanders, of Celtic origin.

A curious compilation called " The Book of Invasions " tells us that the first people who arrived in Ireland were under the leadership of Parthelan, and came from Scythia, or middle Greece, in the fifteenth century before Christ, and settled at Kenmare, on the southwest coast of Ireland. Parthelan divided the coast into four parts, giving to each of his four sons a part, and having occupied Ireland for three hundred years, they all died of a plague.

From the earliest period Ireland was well wooded and the interior full of marshes. It was occupied by a sparse population of forest tribes, who were doubtless of the aboriginal race of western and southern Europe. There is no date given for the arrival of this race, and it is said that these people were in Ireland when Ireland itself was discovered, as people were in San Salvador when it was discovered by Columbus.

The incoming of the first Celts with Parthelan, who were akin to the later people called Scots, who settled on the sea-coast and built fortresses on the principal highlands, was a marked era in the earliest history of Ireland, for these people, with the " forest tribes," formed the earliest basis of the population.

Different parts of Ireland seem to have been settled at different times by people varied in origin and traits of character. The north people were probably a branch of the Celts ; the eastern and central people were an offshoot of the British and Belgic tribes ; and the people of Munster were of a southern or Gallic type. The Britons came from that part of France which lies between the river Seine and the EngHsh Channel, and which includes Normandy as well as Brittany. Three other tribes, called the invading tribes, came from between the river Humber and the shore of the North Sea. While the people who inhabited the British Isles were of the same stock as those of Gaul, yet they flowed into these isles in two streams, one from the neighboring Gaul, and one from some country east of Gaul, by way of the North Sea.

Another instalment of Celts, consequent upon their displacement from other countries by conquests of the Romans, soon after arrived. These commenced a war upon the various tribes they found in Ireland, and having conquered many of them, reduced them to servitude.

The foremost of the conquering tribes was called Scotraige, and having acquired the leadership of the free clans, were then called Scoti. These Scots gave the name of Scotia to Ireland, a name which it retained till the eleventh century, when the old name Hibernia, given to it by the Latin wi-iters, was revived — a name which, on the authority of a learned scholar, is the Latin form of the word Erin.

As these Celts formed the basis of the population in Gaul, Thrace, Asia Minor, and Caledonia, as well as in Ireland, it will be interesting to look at their origin, trace them through the nations, and study their characteristics as given by credible historians.

THE EABLT SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 17

The Aryans were a primitive people who lived in prehistoric times in Central Asia, east of the Caspian Sea and north of the Hindu Mountains ; and from them sprang the Celtic, Teutonic, Slavonic, and other races. It was a division of mankind otherwise called Indo-European or Indo- Germanic. These people, moved either by the pressure of their increasing numbers or by the restlessness of their disposition, migrated in great hordes eastward. A side wave of this great flood of people poured over the Apennines, submerged Rome, and spread out in weaker waves over southern Italy. Many years afterward they swarmed into Thrace, and a part of them pushed into Asia Minor.

We have no credible account of the separation of the Celts from the other Aryans or Indo-Germans. Invading eastern Europe, they were driven westward and settled in France and Spain, spreading themselves into north Italy, Belgium, and the British Isles. This migration was doubtless made long before the dawn of British history. More than six hundred years before the Christian era the country of the Gauls was visited by the Phenicians and the Greeks. They found the people a race of warlike savages, who dressed in the skins of beasts, dyed or tattooed their limbs and bodies, made drinking-cups of the skulls of their enemies killed in battles, and strangled the unfortunate strangers wrecked upon their coasts. Their only religion was the worship of trees, fountains, thunder, and all things wild or strange in nature.

The Phenicians and subsequently the Greeks carried on some trade with this wild people with the result of introducing a few civilized arts among them.

The present town of Marseilles was founded 600 B.C. by- Grecian traders. Six years later these barbarians, under their general, Belmns, captured and plundered Rome, but were driven out by the Roman leader Cornilleus. During the two hundred years following there were frequent wars between the Gauls and Romans. Those who settled in northern Italy, the cisalpine Gauls, were submerged by Rome about 220 B.C. Caesar subdued Gaul proper in eight campaigns between the years of 58 and 50 B.C. The loss of the Gauls in the last struggle was probably nearly a million of men.

At the time of this conquest the Gauls had a number of fortified towns, they had invented various implements for use in husbandry, and excelled in the arts of working in metals, in embroidery, and the manufacture of various kinds of cloth. But they were rude in manner and rough in speech. They practised polygamy and worshiped many gods, to whom they offered in sacrifice the captives taken in war. They are described by Roman writers as a large, fair-skinned, and yellow-haired race, social, turbulent, enthusiastic, imaginative, and vain. Because of their noisy and fluent speech, Cicero compared them to town-criers, and Cato remarks admiringly of their tact in turning an argument against their opponents.

They wore their hair long and flowing, and delighted in showy garments. Their chiefs wore much jewelry, large head-pieces of fur and feathers, with gold and silver waistbelts, from which hung enormous sabers. They went into battle with all this finery on, but threw it off in the heat of the conflict. They fought fiercely, armed with barbed, iron-headed spears, heavy broadswords, and lances.

TSE EAELY SETTLEBS OF IRELAND. 19

After their subjugation by Caesar the Gauls remained entirely quiet for more than two centuries, and the civilization of the country proceeded rapidly under the influence of Roman rule. Many towns were built, new arts introduced, and commerce was stimulated. The national habits and religion retired by degrees to the northwest, and at last found their only refuge in the islands beyond it.

Christianity was first introduced into Gaul about 160 a.d., by teachers sent out by the Apostles and their successors. During the fourth and fifth centuries the country was taken from the Romans by the Franks, a German tribe which gave its name to the country.

The French people to-day are of mixed ancestry, deriving their characteristics from the Celts, Romans, and Franks.

The Irish are the only people from Gallic or Celtic ancestry who have been mixed so slightly with other nationalities as to show, even to the present time, the survival \J of the physical and mental traits of the Gallic Celts. _/

Historians seem unanimous in tracing the inhabitants of Thrace, in the centuries immediately preceding the Christian era, to the influx of the Celts from southern and eastern Europe. Of the inhabitants of Thrace in those days, we are informed by eminent historians of their habits and practices. Polygamy was general, and when the husband died his favorite wife was slain over his grave. Before marriage the Thracian women enjoyed the utmost liberty, but after marriage they were guarded with Turkish rigor.

Wars and robbery were the only honorable occupations of the men. They lived to steal either from one another or from the neighboring people. "When not fighting or plundering, they spent their days in savage idleness, or quarreling over their cups. They were courageous, or rather ferocious, after the fashion of barbarous people, yet they lacked the steady valor and endurance of disciplined troops. At all times their warfare displayed more fierceness and impetuosity than fortitude. Their treachery was probably no greater than that of other barbarians.

"When the Romans under Caesar invaded Britain fifty years before Christ they found the islands occupied by a tribe of the Cymric Celts, a people descended from the Belgic Grauls, who had crossed over to the island from the mainland opposite.

These people were called Britons, A tribe of similar origin, the Caledonians, inhabited the northern half of the island, and still another tribe occupied the adjoining island of Ireland, then called Scotia, whence its inhabitants were known by the name of Scots ; but they called their island Eri, whence it is supposed that they were originally descended from wanderers from the land of the Spanish or Iberian G-auls.

The Eomans governed Britain for three centuries in Justice and tranquillity, but the Caledonians made themselves very troublesome by plundering incursions, and the Eomans made a stone wall across the narrowest part to keep the northern barbarians off.

These Caledonians were called Picts by the Eomans, because they painted their bodies. Early in the third century the Saxons from north Grermany made incursions into Britain, and these, with the Picts on the north and

THE EABLY SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 21

the Scots on the west, harassed the Britons, who were protected, as far as possible, by the Eomans, until the fall of their empire in the fifth century.

The Celts in their dispersions through different countries made themselves a " terror " wherever they went, and were so troublesome to the Romans in Asia Minor, where they had been driven because of their marauding and plundering, that they were hemmed in by the emperor to the province of Galatia, so called because these people were Gauls.

Here the Apostle Paul visited them, preached to them the gospel, and founded several churches, the first Celtic churches of which we read in history.

In writing an " Epistle " to them afterward he deplores their " fickleness," in backsliding so quickly after conversion, and with such little persuasion from the tempter.

Paul had reached Galatia a broken-down traveler. He had halted on his journey because his strength had given out, and he must stay until regained. This in his letter to them he freely confessed. " Because of the weakness of the flesh I preached to you at first," is his language. He was physically unable to proceed, and, moreover, he was afflicted with some malady the nature of which tended to excite contempt and even repulsion in beholders. Yet in spite of all this the warm-hearted Galatians or Celts received him with enthusiasm. Paul testifies that had he been " an angel of God," or " Jesus Christ " himself, they could not have shown him greater hospitality.

They thought themselves happy, indeed, that he had become their guest ; there was nothing they would not have

22 THE STOBY OF ST. PATBICK.

done for him, even "to the digging out of their eyes to give him," as they said, with a touch of genuine Celtic exaggeration, and yet with a true streak of kindness and hospitaUty, for which Celts are still distinguished.

These G-alatians, be it remembered, were of Celtic descent. Gralatian is synonymous with Gallic. They were the relics, as we have seen, of a Grallish or Celtic invasion that swept over southern Europe in the early part of the third century before Christ and poured into Asia Minor. Here the Celtic tribes maintained themselves in independence, under their native princes, until, a hundred years later, they were subdued by the Eomans, and their country formed a province of the empire.

While they had retained much of the ancient language and manners, they had also readily acquired G-reek culture, and were superior to their neighbors in intelligence.

None of the New Testament churches possessed a more strongly marked character than did those in Gralatia. They exhibited the well-known traits of the Celtic nature. They were generous, impulsive, vehement in feeling and language, but vain, fickle, and quarrelsome.

Eight out of the fifteen works of the flesh enumerated in the twentieth and twenty-first verses of the fifth chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, works in which the G-alatians indulged, were sins of strife. They could hardly be restrained from biting and devouring one another (chapter V. 1-5). They were prone to " revelings and drunkenness."

They had probably, too, a nature bent toward a scenic and ritualistic type of religion, which made the spirituality of the gospel pall upon their taste, and gave to the teach-

THE EAELY SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 23

ing of the Judaizers who had come among them its fatal bewitchment. " The beggarly elements of the world " still bewitch.

The Eomans, di-eading the influence of these Celts, pushed them westward, and the Teutons, following up this pressure upon the Celts, drove them into G-aul and also into what is now known as the Three Kingdoms — England, Scotland, and Ireland. In these kingdoms they found a refuge, especially in Devon, Cornwall, Wales, the country from Mersey to the Clyde, and in Irene, or Ireland.

It must be remembered that while the Roman Empire was almost coextensive with the entire world, its legions, for whatever cause, never set foot on Ireland, nor could they ever penetrate into the great natural fortresses of northern Caledonia.

Other peoples struggled for the mastery of Ireland, as the Nemedians, the Ferbolgs, the Danaans, and the Melisians, but the Celts, under a leader called Scotraige, finally gained the mastery and were afterward called, as we have already stated, Scots.

The leader of these Scots was Tuathal, who founded a feudal system in Ireland, which existed when Patrick appeared upon the scene, and which ruled Ireland while the Scotia power endured.

Hitherto the island had been divided into four provinces, each province ruled by its own king, but Tuathal took a portion from each of the other provinces and of these formed the province or kingdom of Meath, which by its rental supported the chief king, who had his capital at

Tara. Tuathal made Hmself chief king, and to him all the other kings were subject.

He built in Munster the sacred place of the Druids, now called the Hill of Ward, near Athboy. He established also a similar religious center for each of the other provinces. The sacred place of Munster was then called Tiachtga; that of Connaught was called Usnech; that of Ulster was Tailti, now Telltown ; and Temair, or Tara, was in Leinster.

Each of these sacred places had its great religious druidical festival.

The great festival at Tiachtga was called Samium, now Allhallow-tide. On this occasion all the hearths in Munster must be rekindled from the sacred fire, for which a tax was due to the king.

The great festival of Beltaine was celebrated at Usnech, now the hill of Usnagh, in Westmeath. This was observed in the month of May. The horse and garments of every* chief who came to the festival formed a part of the toll of the king of Connaught.

At Tailti (Telltown) a great fair was held at certain intervals on the 1st of August, at which were celebrated games supposed to have been established by Lugaid of the Long Arm, one of the gods of Dia and Ana, in honor of his foster-mother, Tailti. "^

It was here that Tuathal erected a royal sacred fort, called a dun, in which was placed the shrine of the Ulaid, and to the kings of which the rents of the fair belonged. These rents consisted chiefly in a fine due for each marriage celebrated there.

THE EABLT SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 25

At Tara, the principal royal residence, lie established the feast of Tara, which was a general assembly of the provincial kings and other sub-governors of Ireland who came to do homage to the Ardri, or over-king.

The feast continued to be held from TuathaPs time to 554 A.D., when the last was held by Dairmait, son of Cerball. The establishment of the feast is also attributed to the prehistoric king Eochaid OUam Fotla, which implies that Tuathal merely reestablished it.

As a reparation for the loss of his two daughters at the hands of the treacherous and wanton king Boroimhi, Tuathal imposed a heavy tribute upon the province of Leinster, which was to be paid every season forever after. This tribute, which afterward caused so many wars, consisted of 6000 cows, 6000 hogs, 6000 wethers, 6000 copper caldrons, 6000 ounces of silver, and 6000 mantles.

After introducing several social reforms, one of which was the choosing of supervisors of the most expert workmen in the kingdom, Tuathal met his death at the hands of Mai, 109 A.D., who seized the throne.

In the year 125 a.d., Cond, the hero of the hundred battles, became king, and entered upon a career of warfare which continued with varying fortune until he was slain by Tiofraid Tirech, king of Ulster. About this time Mug Nuadat founded a dynasty that ruled Munster for many years.

The career of Cormac the son of Art, who lived in the first half of the third century, was remarkable for its treacherous cruelty, and afterward for its justice and wisdom. Having in his youth been banished from Ulster, he aroused the sympathy of Thedy, a noble of considerable influence, and of Lughaigh, an invincible hero, who espoused his cause and marched against the king of Ulster.

After a hard-fought battle and a great display of heroism on the part of Lughaigh, the king of Ulster was slain and his army overwhelmed. Thedy in the contest received three wounds, which the ungrateful Cormac caused to be filled — one with an ear of barley, another with a black worm, and the third with a point of a rusty spear, hoping in this way to torture him to death ; but the wounds healed after a year of great suffering. In the meantime Cormac became established on the throne of his father, and afterward ruled Ireland with great wisdom. He was converted to Christianity, but died seven years afterward, being choked with a salmon bone.

During the latter part of the same century. Mall, a powerful and ambitious monarch of Ireland, invaded France and plundered the country.

In this discursive sketch of the first settlers of Ireland we have seen that the Celts, wherever they have been, have demonstrated that they are a very important branch of the Indo-G-erman family.

If we look at them in G-aul, we see there that their incessant warfares bespeak at least activity of mind and body. If we look at them in Ireland, we see that the Irish missions have done a great deal for European civilization. If we look at them in Britain, we see that their traditions have deeply influenced medieval literature.

One great defect of the Celts is incapacity for political

THE EARLY SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 27

organization. Their very enthusiasm, lively feeling, and vivid imagination have prevented them from taking coolly and deliberately those measures which lead to national unity; hence it is that they have given way before the more practical Eoman and Teuton. The Teuton has quiet resolution, sturdy common sense, a talent for public life, state organization, and political dominion. The Celt has genuine refinement of manner and feeling and high poetic susceptibilities.

We have also seen what a mixed race the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland are. At the invasion of Britain by the Eomans the inhabitants included Phenician, Roman, and German elements, which had become incorporated with the native Britons, who were of Celtic descent, and to these have since been added the Anglo-Saxons.

The inhabitants of Ireland are no less composite and complex, since they have sprung, as we have seen, from peoples in the northern parts of Europe, Asia Minor, and Central Asia, with a large infusion of immigrations from Gaul and from ancient Germany and Scandinavia. Though the inhabitants of Ireland may have retained some of the bad qualities of the peoples from whom they have sprung, they are nevertheless distinguished for many of their best traits, and in several of these are not a whit behind some of the best peoples on the earth.

Salutation to the Celts,

Hail to our Celtic brethren, wherever they may be, In the far woods of Oregon, or o'er the Atlantic sea — Whether they guard the banner of St. George in Indian

vales.

Or spread beneath the nightless North experimental sails —

One in name and in fame

Are the sea-divided Glaels.

A greeting and a promise unto them all we send ; Their charter our charter is, their glory is our end ; Their friend shall be our friend, our foe whoe'er assails The past or future honors of the far-dispersed Gaels.

One in name and in fame

Are the sea-divided Gaels.

T. D. McGee.

CHAPTER 11.

THE PKIMITIVE SOCIAI. CONDITION OF IRELAND.

Oh, to have lived like an Irish chief when hearts were fresh

and true, And a manly thought, like a pealing bell, would quicken

them through and through.

And the seed of a gen^rt)us hope right soon to a fiery

action grew.

And men would have scorned to talk and talk, and never

a deed would do.

C. a. Duffy.

The constitution of the Irish social system was tribal. It divided the population into numerous tribes, which were again subdivided into smaller clans, composed of families and individuals descended from a common ancestor, from whom tribes and clans took their name. This division of the people into tribes or clans was a fundamental feature of primitive Irish society, and must be always kept in view by any one who would understand the constitution of the church founded by Patrick and his successors.

Each tribe had its chief, and the chiefs of the tribes were subject to the king of the province, and these provincial kings were subject to the chief king. The chieftainship and the kingship were all elective, although the choice was limited to the relatives of the ruling chief. The

30 THE STOBT OF ST. PATRICK.

successor of a chief was chosen irt the lifetime of the latter. Though the choice was confined to relations, the eldest son was not necessarily elected, but generally the ablest man in the chiefs connections, and the person on whom the choice fell was called the Tanish.

There were five kings in Ireland in those early times, the realms of four of them nearly corresponding to the present four provinces, except that by taking a portion from each of the four, in the year 130 a.d., Meath was formed into a separate central kingdom, its ruler being recognized as over-king, and having his residence at Tara in Meath, till the middle of the sixth century.

When a strong man held the place of supreme ruler his controlling power was everywhere felt. But it often happened that the provincial king or chief was abler and more powerful than the over-king, in which case the central control was little more than nominal.

A true Irish king of those days is beautifully described by Thomas Davis in the f oUowing lines :

The Csesar of Eome has a wider domain.

And the great king of France has more clans in his train ;

The scepter of Spain is more heavy with gems,

And our crowns cannot vie with the Greeks' diadems ;

But kinglier far, before heaven and man.

Are the Emerald fields and the fiery- eyed clan.

The scepter, and state, and the poets who sing.

And the swords that encircle a true Irish king.

For he must have come from a conquering race — The heir of their valor, their glory, their grace ; His fame must be stately, his step must be fleet ; His hand must be trained to each warrior feat ;

THE PRIMITIVE SOCIAL CONDITION OF IRELAND. ^\

His face as the harvest moon, steadfast and clear,

A head to enlighten, a spirit to cheer ;

While the foremost to rush where the battlebrands ring,

And the last to retreat is a true Irish king.

But there were other grades in society than these. The people were not only divided into ranks and grades, as we have described, but these grades were also designated, by the number of colors they were permitted to wear. The lowest were only permitted to wear one color, and none but the royal family could wear seven. The rank next to royalty was composed of the learned order: these wore six colors. This is an indication of the high estimation in which learning was then held. This custom of wearing colors is the origin of the Scotch plaid, worn by the Highlanders till this day.

The dwellings of the primitive Irish deserve also a word. These houses were, in many places, such as might be expected of a race that feared attacks from neighboring people. Many of them were circular inclosures called by various names, but were in reality forts, inside of which were the chief habitations of the people. They were erected for shelter and protection, and in the case of the better class of these forts, in which the chiefs resided, they were surrounded by two ramparts. The houses inside of these were usually constructed of wood and wattles.

The early Christian churches were similarly constructed, and generally plastered over with clay. There were also numerous circular stone forts.

A large portion of the country was then covered with dense forests, in which the oak predominated. In these forests, boars, wolves, and other wild beasts roamed. So extensive were these forests that Ireland was at one time called " Island of the Woods."

Hunting was common, but agriculture was also practised. The wealth of the people consisted chiefly of cattle, pigs, sheep, and horses.

The members of one tribe formed a number of communities; each community had a head, who had under him kinsmen, slaves, and retainers. Each of these communities occupied a certain part of the tribe land. The arable part was cultivated under a system of tillage ; the pasture-land was grazed by all, according to certain customs ; and the wood, bog, and mountain formed the unrestricted common land of the community.

And what this village community was to the tribe the homestead was to the community. In that homestead dwelt the representative freeman, capable of acting as a witness, or going bail for his neighbors.

So long as there was abundance of land each family ^grazed its cattle upon the tribe land without restriction. Unequal increase of wealth and growth of population naturally led to its limitation, each head of a household being entitled to graze an amount of stock in proportion to his wealth, the size of his household, and his acquired position.

The arable land was annually applotted, but generally some of the richer families succeeded in evading the exchange of the allotments, and of converting part of the common land into an estate. This course of conduct soon created an aristocracy.