LEGENDARY ORIGINS.
[Sidenote: The problem to be solved.]
The occupation of the lands which formed the territory of the kingdom of
Scotland in the reign of Alexander the Third, the mutual relation of the
different races by which it was held, the connection of the Celtic
portion of the population with the soil, the tenure by which they
possessed it, and the different classes in their social organisation
which it discloses, present to us the problem which we have to solve,
and we have now to trace the history of the early institutions from
which its phenomena were derived, and the extent to which they have been
affected by internal change or by external influence.
[Sidenote: Early traditions.]
But before entering upon this inquiry it may be well to see what legend
or tradition tells us with regard to the Celtic portion of the
population, with which we have now mainly to do. Such legends or
traditions are either intended as a means of conveying some early facts
in the history of the race in a popular form, or of clothing some truths
in a symbolic dress, or they are merely the picturesque imaginations of
their early sennachies or native historians. Those which relate to the
Celtic population of Scotland are derived from two different sources.
They are either Welsh or Irish, that is, they are the legends of either
the Cymric or the Gaelic race, and in estimating their relative value it
is necessary to take their probable origin and character into account.
Some of them are what may be termed ethnic legends. They are designed to
perpetuate the popular conception of the origin and early settlements of
the race, but they are the creation of a period when there had been some
progress in the culture of the people, and when they possessed a rude
literature derived in the main from the spread of Christianity and the
establishment of Christian institutions among them. Their authors felt
the necessity of connecting the early history of the country with the
events of Biblical or Classical history, and it assumed the shape of a
fictitious narrative which belongs to the mythic period of their annals.
Others again may be called linguistic legends, and were rude attempts to
account for peoples nominally distinct, and from pride of race regarding
each other as independent races, possessing the same language and using
a cognate form of speech. Others were what may be truly called
historical legends, and handed down in a more or less modified shape
events which we have reason to think actually took place; while others
again were purely artificial, and were simply the rude and fantastic
creations of the popular mind, which felt the necessity of filling up
the dark period of the annals of their race with imaginary events
calculated to gratify their national feeling and their natural love of
the marvellous.
[Sidenote: Ethnic legends.]
The ethnic legends invariably connect the origin of the people with
Biblical or Classical history, and assumes that some of the races which
formed the oldest population of the country, and were really indigenous,
had immigrated from some foreign land. We find it assuming two different
shapes. In the one the different nations constituting the early
population were separate colonies which proceeded from foreign countries
and entered the land at different periods. Thus Bede tells us of the
early population of Britain that it was first peopled by a colony of
‘Brittones’ who came from Armorica; that then the Picts came from
Scythia, and the nation of the Scots came from Ireland; and he places
these successive colonies prior to the Roman invasion of Britain. The
legendary history of Ireland presents the early history of its
population in the same aspect. The account of the successive colonies
which occupied Ireland is supposed to have been narrated to Saint
Patrick by her earliest historian Fintan, who lived before the Flood,
and remained alive during the whole of the centuries which elapsed till
the introduction of Christianity. The Book of Ballimote contains a poem
supposed to have been written by him. If he was a real personage, he may
have been Fintan Munnu, a celebrated Irish saint who died on 25th
October 634, but the poem is no doubt a later composition, and a
translation is here inserted as giving in short compass these successive
peoplings of the island, and as a good specimen of their early legends.
As the learned historian has related, namely Fintan:—
1.
‘Should any one inquire of me about Eire,
I can tell most accurately
Respecting every invasion which took place
From the beginning of all pleasing life.
2.
‘Ceasair set out from the East,
The woman who was daughter of Beatha,
Accompanied by fifty daughters,
As also by three men.
3.
‘The deluge came on.
Bith resided at his mountain without secrecy,
Ladra at Ard Ladran,
And Ceasair at her corner.
4.
‘As to me, I remained a year under the flood
At Tul Tinnde of strength.
There had not been slept, nor will there be slept,
A sleep better than that which I had.
5.
‘I was then in Ireland;
Pleasant was my condition
When Partholon arrived
From the Grecian country in the East.
6.
‘I was also in Ireland
While it was uninhabited,
Until the son of Agnoman arrived,
Neimead of pleasant manners.
7
‘Fir Bolg and Fir Gaillian
Arrived a long period afterwards.
The Fir Domnan then arrived,
And landed in Irrus westward.
8.
‘After them the Tuatha De arrived
Concealed in their dark clouds
I ate my food with them,
Though at such a remote period.
9.
‘Then came the sons of Milead
From Spain southward.
I lived and ate with them,
Though fierce were their battles.
10.
‘A continuity of life
Still remained with me,
For in my time Christianity was here established
By the king of heaven of the clouds.’
The history of these successive colonies is elaborated with many details
in the fictitious history of Ireland during the mythic period, but it is
unnecessary for our purpose to enter into these details except in so far
as they bear upon the legendary history of the people of Scotland.[106]
Another form of the ethnic legend is one common to the early history of
all countries during the mythic period. In it the race is personified in
an _eponymus_ who is the supposed ancestor and founder of it, and their
supposed settlement in the country in which they are first found is
prefigured in a marriage with a female whose name has an obvious
relation to it, and thus an ethnic family is produced, the sons of which
usually represent the territorial divisions of the country. This family
has therefore a territorial as well as an ethnic meaning, and the
filiation does not always imply affinity of race, but may indicate no
more than the joint occupation of the country by the different tribes
personified in the members of the ethnic family. We have an instance of
this form of the legend in the well-known fable contained in Geoffrey of
Monmouth’s fabulous history, where Brutus, the _eponymus_ of the
Britons, appears as the first colonist in the island, and has three
sons, Locrinus, Camber, and Albanactus, representing the Lloegry of
England, the Cymry of Wales, and the people of Alban or Scotland, as
well as in the older form of the legend, where Brutus and Albanus are
brothers. In the Irish form Gathelus or _Gaidelglas_, the _eponymus_ of
the Gael, marries Scota the daughter of Pharaoh, by which the settlement
of the Gael in Scotia or Ireland is prefigured, and his period is
brought back so as to connect his history and that of his race with the
Biblical narrative. His descendant Milesius, son of Bile, son of
Breogan, is also said to have married Scota, daughter of Pharaoh, and
actually settles the race in Ireland. We find, however, this feature of
the legend, which represents the territorial divisions of the country by
the sons of the supposed colonist, running through the whole of the
first form of the legend. Thus Partholan, the first colonist after the
flood, arrives with three sons, Rughruidhe, Slainge, and Laighlinne, and
after their death he divides Ireland between four sons, Er, Orba,
Fearann, and Feargna. The second colonist, Nemead, has a wife, Macha,
from whom Ardmacha or Armagh takes its name, thus signifying the
principal seat of the race; and he has three sons, Iarbheineoil, Fergus
Leithdearg, and Starn, and Ireland is divided into three parts between
Beothach son of Iarbheineoil, Briotan son of Fergus Leithdearg, and
Simon son of Beoain son of Starn. The people of Nemead are then driven
out of Ireland by the Fomoraigh or sea pirates, and depart in three
bodies. One under Beothach goes to the north of Europe, another under
Briotan to the north of Britain, and the third under Simon to Greece.
The third colonists, the Firbolg, come from Greece under Dela, a
descendant of Simon, and by him Ireland is divided into five districts
between his five sons, Slainge, Gann, Seangan, Geannan, and Rughruidhe;
and these were the five provinces of Ireland—Leinster, possessed by
Slainge; Thomond and Desmond, the two divisions of Munster, by Gann and
Seangan; Connaught by Geannan, and Ulster by Rughruidhe. Here we have a
reproduction of two of the sons of Partholan in Slainge and Rughruidhe.
We have again a threefold division of Ireland under the fourth
colonists, the Tuatha De, supposed to be the descendants of Beothach,
son of Iarbheineoil; and the three sons of Cearmadha Milbeoil their
king—MacCuil, MacCeacht, and MacGreine—have three queens, Eire, Fodla,
and Banba, which are simply the three oldest names in Ireland. Milesius
too has three sons, Eber, Heremon, and Ir, of whom the former possessed
the two Munsters, Heremon Leinster and Connaught, and Ir Ulster; and
here again we find the same reproduction of previous names, for Eber has
the same four sons, Er, Orba, Fearann, and Feargna,[107] who are
attributed to Partholan, and the descendants of Ir who occupied Ulster
were termed the race of Rughruidhe from a descendant of that name. We
also find that this filiation from the same parents does not imply
identity of race, for the descendants of Ir, to whom the name of
Rughruidhe especially belongs, and who peopled the north of Ireland,
appear throughout the Irish Annals under the name of Cruithnigh, and
were no other than the Picts who were settled in Ireland.
[Sidenote: Linguistic legends.]
The form which the linguistic legend usually assumes is that of a colony
of soldiers obtaining wives from another people whose language they
adopt, and perhaps the most curious specimen is that told of the Britons
of Armorica by Nennius. He tells us that when Maximus, who was declared
emperor in Britain, went over to Gaul to maintain his pretensions, he
withdrew from Britain its military force, and, unwilling to send his
soldiers back to their wives, children, and possessions in Britain,
settled them in Armorica, where they became the Armorican Britons, and
some MSS. have the following addition:—These Armorican Britons, having
laid waste and depopulated the country, took the wives and daughters of
the previous inhabitants in marriage, but cut out their tongues that
their children might not learn their mother tongue. Hence they were
called _Letewiccion_ or half speech.[108] The meaning of this tale is,
that identity of language is implied by the marriage of the leaders of
one people with the wives and daughters of another, and a dialectic
difference could only be accounted for by depriving the females of the
power of speech. The story told by Bede that the Picts had no wives, and
first asked them of the Britons and were refused, and then obtained them
from the Scots, is likewise a legend, intended to account for that
people, or at least the greater portion of them, speaking a Gaelic
dialect; and in the same manner the oldest poem which narrates the
settlement of the Milesian Scots in Ireland tells us that ‘Cruithne, the
son of Cinge, took their women from them;’ and then after—
There were no charming noble wives
For their young men.
Their women having been stolen, they made affinity
With the Tuatha Dea.[109]
Here we have the same story of the Picts, as personified in their
_eponymus_ Cruithne taking their wives from the Milesians, and the
latter replacing them by wives taken from the previous inhabitants of
the Tuath De. The meaning is obviously linguistic, and such legends are
intended simply to express a community of language between the supposed
military colonies and the people from whom they obtained their wives.
[Sidenote: Historical legends.]
Some of these legends have, however, a historical basis, such as those
which relate to supposed settlements of the race of the Scots in
Britain. These contain an element of truth, in so far as temporary
settlements of the Scots took place in Britain in the fourth century,
when they first appear in history, and joined the Picts, Saxons, and
Attacotti in assailing the Roman province in Britain; and still more
when a permanent settlement of the Scots on the west coast north of the
Firth of Clyde undoubtedly took place in the beginning of the sixth
century, and the small Scottish kingdom of Dalriada was formed.
[Sidenote: Artificial character of early Irish history.]
Others of these legends, however, are undoubtedly purely artificial, and
the entire legendary history of Ireland prior to the establishment of
Christianity in the fifth century partakes largely of this character. It
presents us with a minute detail of the colonies supposed to have
preceded the settlement of the Scots, with the names and families of
their leaders, the exact period, even to the day of the week, of their
settlement, the duration of their occupation of the country, the
succession of their kings, and the history of the extinction of the
colony either by pestilence or expatriation. Then we have the reigns of
116 pagan kings of the Scots, who reigned during twenty-one centuries,
given with an extraordinary minuteness and elaboration of detail, and
the accompaniment of marvellous incidents, which betrays its legendary
character. Ethnic and linguistic legends are of course interwoven in it,
and it may contain fragments of history, such as the revolt of the
_Attachtuatha_ or servile classes against their lords, and the
territorial changes in the divisions of the land and the location of the
tribes which took place from time to time; but the marvellous character
of the events continues to the establishment of Christianity, as we see
in the narrative of the reigns of three last pagan kings, the first of
whom, Niall, who reigned from 379 to 405, subjected all Britain and a
great part of the Continent to his sway, and received hostages from nine
kingdoms, whence he was called Niall of the nine Hostages; Dathy, who
was killed by a flash of lightning at the foot of the Alps in the year
428; and Laogaire, who was slain by the elements between two mountains
called Erin and Alban for refusing obedience to the mission of St.
Patrick. The chronology of this legendary history, too, is entirely
artificial, and though some parts of the narrative may have a historic
basis, the dates assigned to them are as little to be trusted as the
rest of the history itself. One of the tales contained in the Book of
Ballimote, by which the knowledge of this wonderful history was supposed
to have been preserved to historic times, will furnish a good example of
what the imagination of its framers was capable of producing, and it has
an interest for us from the connection it had with the great apostle of
Scotland, as that of Fintan had with the apostle of Ireland. We are
there told that the entire colony of Partholon’s people were destroyed
by the plague, excepting one man, Tuan the son of Starn, the son of
Seara, Partholon’s brother’s son, and God metamorphosed him into various
forms, so that he lived from the time of Partholon to that of
Columcille, to whom he related all the information, history, and
conquests of Ireland that took place from Ceasair’s time to that period,
and then we have the following poem:—
1.
Tuan, son of Cairill, as we are told,
Was freed from sin by Jesus;
One hundred years complete he lived,
He lived in blooming manhood.
2.
Three hundred years in the shape of a wild ox
He lived on the open extensive plains;
Two hundred and five years he lived
In the shape of a wild boar.
3.
Three hundred years he was still in the flesh
In the shape of an old bird;
One hundred delightful years he lived
In the shape of a salmon in the flood.
4.
A fisherman caught him in his net,
He brought it to the king’s palace;
When the bright salmon was there seen,
The queen immediately longed for it.
5.
It was forthwith dressed for her,
Which she alone ate entire;
The beauteous queen became pregnant,
The issue of which was Tuan.
[Sidenote: Cymric legends.]
These legends, however, though it has been thought to indicate their
real character and to inquire how far they may be supposed to embody
ethnologic and linguistic facts or to contain an element of historic
truth, in reality concern us only in so far as they tend to throw light
upon the constituent elements of the Celtic population of Scotland and
the corresponding territorial divisions of the land. So far as regards
the early Celtic peoples south of the Firths of Forth and Clyde, we must
turn in the first instance to the Cymric legends.[110] They tell us that
this population may be referred to three races, the Brython, the Romani,
and the Gwyddyl. Thus in a poem contained in the Book of Taliessin we
find them thus alluded to:—
Three races cruel from true disposition,
Gwyddyl and Brython and Romani,
Create discord and confusion;
And about the boundary of Prydain, beautiful its towns,
There is a battle against chiefs above the mead vessels[111]
Although the word _Gwyddyl_ is in modern Welsh usually translated
_Irish_, yet there can be no doubt that it was originally used in a much
wider sense as the equivalent of the Irish word _Gaidheal_, and was
applied to the whole Gaelic race wherever located. Of this there is
ample evidence in the old Welsh poems. The Brython are, of course, the
Brettones of Bede, or rather here that part of them which occupied the
districts extending from the Derwent to the Clyde, and formed the
ancient Cumbria. In the same poem they appear under their national name
of Cymry, when it is said,
From Penryn Wleth to Loch Reon (that is, from Glasgow to Loch Ryan),
The Cymry are of one mind, bold heroes.
By the Romani, those leaders of the Britons are meant who were supposed
to have derived their descent from the Roman military or civil
commanders, as when Gildas tells us that the Britons ‘took arms under
Ambrosius Aurelianus as their leader, who was of the Roman nation, and
whose parents had been adorned with the purple;’[112] and Nennius, who
calls him _Embres Guletic_, says that his father was a consul of the
Roman nation.[113] We find also many of the great leaders of the Britons
termed _Guledig_, the equivalent of the Latin Imperator, and usually
expressed by the epithet Aurelius or Aurelianus; and to them no doubt
the great national hero Arthur also belonged, who, according to Nennius,
led the kings of the Britons against the Saxons as their Dux
Bellorum,[114] and whose actions, so far as they are historical, belong
to this part of Britain. Of the last two races, the Brython and the
Romani, we have an account in an old document, ‘The Descent of the Men
of the North.’[115] Here the Cymry, who occupied the northern districts,
are said to be the descendants of Coel Hen, or the aged, whose name is
preserved in the central district of Ayrshire, now termed Kyle, and of
his son, Ceneu. Their descendants appear to have consisted principally
of three tribes. They are thus noticed: ‘Three hundred swords of the
tribe of Kynvarch, and three hundred shields of Kynwydyon, and three
hundred spears of the tribe of Coel. Whatever object they entered into
deeply, that never failed.’ The leader of the tribe of Cynvarch, whose
grandfather, Gorust Ledlwm, was either son of Coel or of his son Ceneu,
was the celebrated Urien Reged, whom Nennius mentions under the name of
Urbgen as fighting against Roderic, son of Ida, the founder of the
Anglic kingdom of Bernicia, and known in the Welsh poems by the name of
Flamddwyn or the Flamebearer. This tribe appears to have occupied the
districts lying between the Northern Wall and the Forth, to which the
names of Reged and of Mureif were applied. The second tribe was that of
Kynwydyon, whose grandfather Garthwys was grandson of Ceneu. The four
sons of Kynwyt Kynwdyon are given as the leaders, two of whom are termed
Clydrud Eiddyn and Cadrod Calchvynyd, from which we may infer that this
tribe was located partly in the district extending from the Esk to the
Avon, in which Duneyddyn or Edinburgh, and Caereiddyn or Caredin, are
situated, and partly in the district of which Calchvynyd or Kelso was
the chief seat. The latter were probably the people afterwards termed
the Tevidalenses. The rest of the descendants of Coel were grouped under
the name of Coeling, and extended from the Clyde to Loch Ryan, their
principal territories being the districts of Carrawg, Coel, and Canawon,
which, under the modern form of Garrick, Kyle, and Cuningham, form the
county of Ayr.
After thus noticing the three tribes under which the supposed
descendants of Coel were ranged, the descent of the Men of the North
proceeds to give the pedigrees of those said to be of Roman descent.
They are all deduced from Dyfnwal Hen, or the aged, who, in this
document, is made the grandson of Macsen Guledig, or Maximus the Roman
Emperor, but in the genealogies annexed to Nennius is said to be the
grandson of Ceredig Guledig, whose ancestor Confer or Cynvor was the
mythic father of Constantius, the father of the Emperor Constantine.
These were obviously the Romani of the poem, and can be mainly traced in
connection with the central districts of Annandale, Clydesdale, and
Tweeddale. The principal race included among them was that of the
provincial kings of Strathclyde, descended from Rydderch Hael, who is
mentioned in Adamnan’s _Life of Saint Columba_ as reigning in Alclyde or
Dumbarton, and whose history is so intimately connected with that of
Kentigern, the great apostle of Strathclyde.[116]
To the race of the Gwyddyl or Gaidheal the old Welsh traditions
undoubtedly attach the Ffichti or Picts, to whom they invariably give
the name of Gwyddyl Ffichti.[117] They occupied the small district
extending from the Pentland or Pictland Hills to the river Carron, which
was known to the Welsh as Manau Guotodin or Gododin, and to the Irish as
the Plain of Manann, from whence they are said by Nennius to have driven
out the sons of Cunedda, from whom the kings of North Wales were
descended. They also possessed the larger district of Galloway, from the
mouth of the Nith to the Irish Sea. This district takes its name from
the term applied by the Welsh to its inhabitants, of Galwydel, from
which the Latin form of Galwethia was formed;[118] and we find the name
of Scoti Picti, which is obviously a Latin rendering of the Welsh term
Gwyddyl Ffichti, applied by the author of the _Descriptio Albaniæ_, who
was certainly a Welshman, to the Picts, who, Bede tells us, formed the
population of the western districts north of the Clyde, afterwards known
by the name of Arregaithel, before the Scots formed their settlement of
Dalriada there.
[Sidenote: Legendary origin of transmarine tribes.]
For the legendary origins of the tribes of transmarine Scotland, or the
districts north of the Forth and Clyde, we must, however, mainly look to
Irish sources, and we find them pervading nearly the whole of the mythic
history of Ireland, and cropping up here and there in the course of its
artificial chronology.
[Sidenote: The Nemedians in Scotland.]
Alban, or Scotland, is first brought into connection with these
legendary narratives of the primitive colonisation of Erin, or Ireland,
in the history of the second colony—that of the Nemedians, or sons of
Neimead. After a great battle with the sea-robbers termed the Fomoraigh,
they were defeated, and none escaped save the crew of one ship,
consisting of thirty men under three chiefs, Simon Breac, son of Starn,
son of Neimead; Iobaath, son of Beothuigh, son of Iarbhanieoil, son of
Neimead; and Briotan Maol, son of Fergus Leithdearg, son of Neimead.
They then resolve to leave Ireland, and taking seven years to prepare
for this emigration, they fit out three fleets, under their three
leaders. One fleet, under Simon Breac, goes to Thrace. A second, under
Iobaath, to the north of Europe; and the third, under Briotan Maol, to
Dobhar and Iardobhar in the north of Alban, where they dwelt with their
posterity. Now from this third colony the oldest legendary accounts
bring two of the West Highland clans. These are the Clan O’Duibhn, or
Campbells, and the Clan Leod, or MacLeods.[119] The former clan first
appear in the occupation of the central district of Dalriada encircling
the lake of Lochaw, around which lay territories of the Dalriadic tribes
of Lorn and Gabhran, and their oldest genealogies bring them from this
Briotan, son of Fergus Leithdearg. The Clan Leod emerge, after the
termination of the Norwegian kingdom of the Isles, in possession of
Lewis, Harris, and the northern districts of Skye, and they are deduced
from Laigh Laider, his brother, also a son of Fergus Leithdearg.
[Sidenote: The Firbolg and Tuath De Danan in Scotland.]
After remaining in Greece two hundred and sixteen years, the followers
of Simon Breac, the first of the three leaders of the sons of Neimead,
return to Ireland in three tribes—the Firbolg, Fir Domnan, and Fir
Gaileoin, under five brothers, who divide Ireland into five provinces.
They are in their turn conquered by the Tuatha De Danan, the descendants
of the second tribe of the Nemedians, who, after remaining a long time
in the north of Europe, where they possessed four cities—Falias, Gorias,
Finias, and Murias—pass over into the north of Alban, where they remain
seven years in the same districts of Dobhar and Iardobhar, which had
been colonised by Briotan Maol, bringing with them from Falias the Lia
Fal, or celebrated Coronation Stone; from Gorias, the sword used by
their leader; from Finias, his spear; and from Murias, the mystic
caldron of the Dagda. After remaining seven years in Alban, they go to
Ireland and conquer the Firbolg in the great battle of Magh Tuireadh;
and the few Firbolg who escaped this battle fly to the Western Isles,
and occupy Arran, Isla, Rachrain, and other islands, where they remained
till they were driven out by the Cruithnigh or Picts, and returned to
Ireland, when they were received by Cairbre Niadhfher, king of Leinster
under the Milesian Scots. Then follows the legendary settlement of the
Scots under the three sons of Milesius, Heber, Heremon, and Ir, and
their cousin Lughadh, son of Ith, before whom the mythic race of the
Tuatha De Danan gave way. The transactions between them form one of the
most picturesque of these Irish legends, the details of which need not
be given here;[120] but the Tuatha De Danan yield the plains of Erin to
the Scots, retaining only the green mounds, known by the name of Sidh,
and then being made invisible by their enchantments, became the Fir
Sidhe, or Fairies, of Ireland.
[Sidenote: Pictish legends.]
With the mythic settlement of the Milesian Scots in Ireland commence the
legends of the settlements of the Cruithnigh or Picts in Scotland; and
as Ireland was divided into five provinces between five brothers, sons
of the leader of Firbolg, and afterwards by the sons of Milesius, so we
find in the legend an early division of Alban into seven provinces
between the seven sons of Cruithne, the ‘eponymus’ of the Pictish race.
Five of these provinces can be identified. Fibh, the eldest of the seven
brothers, represents Fife; Fodla, the third, _Athfhotla_ or Atholl;
Fortrenn, corresponds with the district between the Tay and the Forth,
consisting of Stratherne and Menteath, and which, as at one time the
seat of the monarchy, gave its name to the kingdom of the Picts; Caith,
with Caithness; and Circinn, with that district which included
_Maghghirghinn_, or the plains of Circinn, a name corrupted into Moerne
or the Mearns. The remaining two, Fidach and Ce, though the names cannot
now be identified, obviously represent the intermediate districts of
Ross, Moray, Buchan, and Mar. Another form of the legend represents the
Cruithnigh or Picts coming from Ireland in the time of the sons of
Milesius, under Cruithnechan, son of Cinge, son of Lochit, to assist the
Britons of Fortrenn to fight against the Saxons, and the Britons yielded
their clans and their swordland to them, that is, _Cruithentuath_, and
they took possession of the land. The same legend assumes the form, in
connection with the Picts of Dalaradia in Ulster, from whence they came,
of twice eighteen soldiers of the tribes of Thracia who accompanied the
sons of Milesius to Ireland, and cleared a swordland among the Britons,
consisting first of _Maghfortrenn_ or the plains of Fortrenn, and then
of _Maghghirghinn_ or the plains of Cirginn, or as another edition has
it of _Cruithentuath_.[121]
[Sidenote: The Milesians in Scotland.]
In the long line of mythic pagan monarchs sprung from the sons of
Milesius, two come prominently forward as waging war in Scotland, and
hence termed kings of Erinn and Alban, and under the second of these a
settlement is said to have been made. The first of these imaginary
monarchs is Aengus, of the line of Heremon, termed Ollmucadh, from _oll_
great, and _mucadh_ swine, because he is said to have possessed the
largest swine in his time in Ireland. According to the Annals of the
Four Masters he reigned in the year of the world 3773, or 1421 years
before the birth of Christ. He is said to have fought fifty battles
against the _Cruithentuath_, or Picts of Scotland, and the Firbolg;
twelve battles against the Longbardai, and four battles against the
Colaisti, whoever they may be.[122] The second was Reachtaidh Righdearg,
or red-wristed, of the line of Heber, who is said in the same Annals to
have reigned in the year of the world 4547, or 647 years before the
birth of Christ. He led his forces to Alban under Forc and Iboth. ‘They
gained great battles, so that great districts were laid waste in Alban,
until the men of Alban submitted to Reachtaidh Righdearg, so that he was
king of Erinn and Alban, and it was from them sprang the two tribes
Tuath Forc and Tuath Iboth in Alban.’[123]
These supposed settlements, however, become more frequent and distinct
as we pass the birth of Christ and approach the historic period of this
early Irish history. Between the Christian era and the fifth century,
when Christianity was introduced into Ireland, and something like a true
chronological history may be said to commence, two events come
prominently forward in this mythic history. The first is the rising of
the _Attachtuatha_ or servile class of the population of Ireland, and
their massacre of the nobles of Ireland. These _Attachtuatha_ are said
to have been the remains of the Firbolg and other colonists who preceded
the arrival of the Milesian Scots and formed a population of subject
tribes under them, and they have been improperly identified by the Irish
historians with the Attacotti of the Roman historians, who were a
British nation and belonged to a later period. The story as given in the
Leabhar Gabhala, or Book of Conquests, is this.—On the death of Crimthan
Nianair, king of Ireland, of the race of Heremon, about ten years after
the birth of Christ, the nobility of Ireland were massacred at a great
feast at Magh Cro, where they were entertained by the Attachtuatha. They
were all cut off except three queens who were pregnant, and went over
the sea. One was Baine, daughter to the king of Alban, who gave birth to
Feredach Finn Fechtnach, the son of Crimthan. The second was Cruife,
daughter to the king of Britain, and mother of Corb Olum of Munster; and
the third was Aine, daughter of the king of Saxony, who was mother of
Tipraide Tireach, king of the Cruithnigh of Ulster. The Attachtuatha
then set up Cairpre Caitcheann, or cat-headed, one of their own race, as
king, who reigned five years over Ireland. He was succeeded by his son
Morann, who was a just and learned man, and he resolved to recall the
three legitimate heirs. Feradach Finn Fechtnach was elected king, and
the Attachtuatha swore by heaven and earth, the sun, the moon, and all
the elements, that they would be obedient to them and their descendants
as long as the sea surrounded Ireland. Feradach was succeeded by Fiatach
Finn, also of the line of Heremon, and he by Fiacha Finnfolaidh, son of
Feradach, who, after a reign of seventeen years, was killed by the
provincial kings, at the instigation of the Attachtuatha, at the
slaughter of Maghbolg. And again we have a repetition of the same story.
The only person who escaped was his wife Ethne, daughter of the king of
Alban, who was pregnant of his son Tuathal. Elim, son of Conra, king of
the Cruithnigh of Ulster, who had on this occasion joined the
Attachtuatha, then became king, and after a reign of twenty years was
slain in the battle of Aichill by Tuathal, called Teachtmar or the
acceptable, who came from Alban with a large force. Tuathal is said to
have fought 133 battles against the Attachtuatha, whom he reduced to
obedience in the various provinces. He altered the arrangement of the
five provinces by uniting the two Munsters into one province, and formed
a fifth province of Meath as mensal lands for the monarchy, by taking
four portions from each of the other four provinces. Upon the portion
taken from Munster he built Tlachtga, now called the Hill of Ward, and
there the festival of the Fire of Tlachtga was held, and the Druids were
wont to assemble On the portion taken from Connaught he established the
chief seat at Uisneach, now Usnagh Hill, and there the great fair called
the Convention of Uisneach was annually held in May. On the portion
taken from Ulster he constructed Taillte, now Telltown, as the chief
residence. It was here that alliances were made and contracts ratified,
and the fair of Taillte was held. On the portion taken from Leinster the
royal capital of Teamhar or Tara was established where the Feis Temrach
was held every third year, the laws were ordained and published, and the
Ardri or sovereign of Ireland was inaugurated. Tuathal is then said to
have celebrated the Feis Temrach, at which the princes and chieftains of
the kingdom assembled, who all swore by the sun and moon, and all the
elements, visible and invisible, that they would never contest the
sovereignty of Ireland with him or his race. Undoubtedly this formation
of the province of Meath, with its four royal residences, survived to
historic times, and has an unquestionable historic basis.
Another of its great landmarks is the contest which is supposed to have
taken place in the second century between Conn Ced Cathach, or of the
hundred battles, of the line of Heremon, and Eoghan Mor, called Modha
Nuadhat, of the line of Heber, and which led to a division of Ireland
into two parts separated from each other by a ridge termed Eisgir Riada,
leading from Dublin across the island to Galway, composed of a line of
gravel hills which existed long after. The northern half was termed Leth
Cuinn or Conn’s half, and the southern Leth Mogha or Mogha’s half. This
division is mentioned by the old chronicler Tighernac as having been
made in the year 165,[124] and is undoubtedly recognised by Bede when he
distinguishes the northern province of the Scots from the nations of the
Scots who dwell in the southern parts of Ireland.[125] Cormac, son of
Art, and grandson of Conn, is said to have sent a fleet across Magh
Rein, or the plain of the sea, in the year 240, so that it was on this
occasion that he obtained the sovereignty of Alban.[126] He is said by
Tighernac to have obtained the name Ulfata, or ‘the people of Ulster at
a distance,’ because he banished the Pictish tribes of Ulster to Manann
and Innsigall in the year 254.[127]
[Sidenote: The race of Ith in Scotland.]
These supposed settlements in Scotland during this mythic period were,
however, not entirely confined to the kings of the lines of Heber and
Heremon, sons of Milesius, but are also attributed to another line of
kings descended from Lughaidh, son of Ith, who was father’s brother of
Milesius. We read in an ancient tract that ‘these are the tribes of the
Gael that are not of the sons of Miledh, nor of the Tuatha De Danann,
nor of the Firbolg, nor yet of the Clann Neimhead, and that widely did
this tribe spread throughout Erin and Alban. For it is boasted that
Maccon obtained sway over the world, and it is certain that he conquered
the west of Europe, without doubt that is Alban and France and Saxon
land and the island of Britain. And it is boasted concerning Daire
Sirchreachtach that he obtained sway over all the west of Europe; and
some of the learned say that he won the whole world. And it is stated
that Fathadh Canann obtained the government of the whole world from the
rising to the setting sun, and (if it be true) that he took hostages of
the streams, the birds, and the languages.’[128] The first of these
conquerors of the line of Ith, in point of time, was said to be this
Daire Sirchreachtach. He had six sons, all called Lughaidh. The eldest
was Lughaidh Laidhe. Another was Lughaidh Mal, ‘who won the world from
Breatain Leatha or Armorica to Lochlann or Scandinavia, and from Innsi
Orc or the Orkneys to Spain.’ The old tract called the Dinnseanchas,
says of Carnn Mail in Ulster, ‘Whence was it named? It is not difficult
to tell. It was otherwise called Carnn Luighdheach, from Lughaidh Mal,
who was driven from Erinn with a fleet of seven ships; and from Alban he
set out for Erinn with the great fleet of Alban, and they give battle to
the Ulster men and defeated them. Every man that came into battle with
Lughaidh carried a stone, and thus the carn was formed, and it was on it
Lughaidh was standing while the battle was fought;’ and an old poem
quoted in this tract says,
Lughaidh Mal, who destroyed much,
Was banished out of Erinn.
With a fleet of seven ships the king’s son sailed
From Erinn to the land of Alban.
He fought for the eastern country
In battles, in conflicts,
From Eadain to the wide-spreading Lochlann,
From the islands of Orc to Spain.
When he obtained the powerful kingdom,
He brought with a numerous army,
So that the harbours of Uladh were filled,
With the barks of a fierce champion.[129]
Lughaidh Laidhe, the eldest son of Daire Sirchreachtach, was also called
_Macniadh_, or son of the champion, and had a son Lughaidh, called
_Maccon_, or the son of the dog. He is said by the Four Masters to have
reigned in Ireland from the year 196 to 225. His sons were said to be
the three Fothadhs—Fothadh Airctheach, Fothadh Cairptheach, and Fothadh
Canann. The first is said to have been king of Ireland for one year in
289, and to have slain his brother; and of the third, Fothadh Canann, we
are told that he obtained the government of the whole world from the
rising to the setting sun, and took hostages of the streams, the birds,
and the languages, and that from him descended the tribe of Mac Cailin,
or the Campbells, in Scotland.[130] These three brothers are by other
books stated to be of the race of the Ui Eachadh of Uladh or Ulster,
that is, of Pictish descent.
[Sidenote: The race of Colla in Scotland.]
In the fourth century before Christ the three Collas play a great part
in the mythic history of Ireland, and are likewise connected with a
supposed settlement in Scotland. Cormac, the son of Aet, and grandson of
Conn of the hundred battles, whom we have already adverted to, has a
son, Cairbre Liffechair, so called from the river Liffey near which he
was nursed, who likewise becomes _Ardri_ of Erinn. He has two sons,
Fiacha Sraibtaine and Eochaidh Doimlein. The former marries Aeifi,
daughter of the king of the Gallgael, and was the father of Muredach
Tirech, from whom the subsequent kings of Ireland of the race of Niall
derived their descent. The latter marries Oilich, daughter of the king
of Alban, called by some Vadoig, by others Uigari, and has three sons,
Caerill, Muredach, and Aedh. These take the name of Colla, and are
called respectively Colla Meann, Colla da Crioch, and Colla Uais. These
Collas slay their uncle Fiacha, and Colla Uais becomes king of Ireland,
but is driven from thence with his brothers in 326 by Muredach Tirech,
and takes refuge with his paternal grandfather the king of Alban, from
whom he receives _Buannacht_ or military maintenance. Three hundred
warriors were his host. After remaining three years in Alban the three
brothers return to Erinn, each with a following of nine warriors, and
having been reconciled with Muredach Tirech, who tells them they ought
to conquer some territory as an inheritance, they are joined by seven
‘catha’ or battalions of the Firbolg of Connaught, and with their
assistance attack the king of Ulster, march to the Carn of
Achadhleithderg, from whence they fought seven battles, one on each day
of the week, and on the last slay the king of Ulster, plunder and burn
his capital, of Emania, and acquire a large territory as their
swordland, which was termed Oirgialla, and was possessed by their
descendants. This is the story of the three Collas, and in this manner
the great Pictish kingdom, of which Emania was the capital, was supposed
to come to an end in the year 331, and the Cruithnigh of Ulster confined
to the district of Dalaradia on the east coast of Ulster. From Colla
Uais the Sennachies both of Erinn and Alban deduced the descent of
Somerled, who became the Regulus of Arregaidhel and of half of the
Western Isles, and from whom sprang the potent clan of the MacDougalls,
Lords of Lorne, and the MacDonalds, Lords of the Isles.[131]
[Sidenote: The last three pagan kings of Ireland in Scotland.]
The long line of mythic pagan kings of Ireland terminates with a group
of three monarchs who succeeded each other, and are each said to have
made extensive conquests beyond the bounds of their island kingdom. The
first of these is Crimthan Mor mac Fidhaig, of the line of Heber, who
reigned from 366 to 378, and is said to have extended his sway over
Alban, Britain, and Gaul. Of him one of the oldest of the Irish
documents, Cormac’s Glossary, says, under the word Mugeime, ‘that is the
name of the first lapdog that was in Ireland. Cairbre Musc, son of
Conaire, brought it from the east from Britain, for when great was the
power of the Gael on Britain, they divided Alban between them into
districts, and each knew the residence of his friend, and not less did
the Gael dwell on the east side of the sea, as in Scotia or Ireland, and
their habitations and royal forts were built there. Hence is called
_Duin Tradui_, or the triple-fossed fort of Crimthan Mor, son of Fidach,
king of Erinn and Alban to the Ictian Sea.’[132] His successor was Niall
Mor, or the great, who reigned from 378 to 405. He also extended his
conquests over Alban, Britain, and Gaul, and was slain at the mouth of
the Loire on the shore of the Ictian Sea. He was termed Niall
naoighialla, or ‘of the nine hostages,’ as he received hostages from
nine nations which he had subjected to his rule. The last of these great
conquerors was Dathi, who reigned from 405 to 428. He, too, extended his
conquests over Alban, Britain, and Gaul, and was killed by a flash of
lightning at _Sliabh Ealpa_, or the foot of the Alps.[133] He is said,
in another document, to have been king of Erinn, Alban, Britain, and as
far as the mountains of the Alps, where he went to revenge the death of
his predecessor Niall, and was said by some to have been slain by the
same arrow which killed the latter. His body was brought back to Erinn
by his son, who gained nine battles by sea and ten by land by means of
it, for when they exhibited the body they crushed their foes. Dathi is
said to have fought many battles in Alban, viz., the battle of Magh
Circain and the battle of Srath.[134] A tale called ‘The Expedition of
Dathi to the Sliabh n-Ealpa’ gives the following account of his invasion
of Scotland:—‘He invites all the provincial kings and chiefs of Erinn to
a great feast at Tara, and there decides upon making an expedition into
Alban, Britain, and Gaul, following the foot-steps of his predecessors
Crimthan Mor and Niall. His fleet assembles at _Oirear Caoin_, probably
Donaghadee, where he embarks with his troops and sets sail for Alban.
Immediately upon his landing Dathi sends his Druid to Feredach Finn,
king of Alban, who was then at his palace of ‘Tuirrin brighe na Righ,’
calling on him for submission and tribute, or an immediate reason to the
contrary on the field of battle. The king of Alban refused either
submission or tribute, and accepted the challenge of battle, but
required a few days to prepare for so unexpected an event. The time for
battle at last arrived; both armies marched on Magh an Chairthé (the
plain of the pillar stone) in Glenfeadha, Dathi at the head of his Gael,
and Feredach leading a large force composed of Scots, Picts, Britons,
Gauls, Northmen, and Gallgaidheal. A fierce and destructive fight ensued
between the two parties, in which the forces of Alban were at length
overthrown and routed with great slaughter. When the king of Alban saw
the death of his son and the discomfiture of his army, he threw himself
headlong on the ranks of his enemies, dealing death and destruction
around him, but in the height of his fury he was laid hold of by Conall
Gulban, a son of Niall naoighialla, who, taking him up in his arms,
hurled him against the pillar stone and dashed out his brains.’ The
scene of this battle has ever since been called _Gort an Chairthé_ (the
field of the pillar stone), and the Glen _Glenn an Chatha_ or the battle
glen. ‘Dathi set up a surviving son of the late king on the throne of
Alban, and receiving hostages and submission from him, passed onwards
into Britain and Gaul, in both of which countries he still received
hostages and submissions wherever he proceeded on his march.’[135]
Another of the legendary settlements in Alban is connected with the same
Feredach Finn, king of the Cruithnigh of Alban, and may be placed about
the same time. The story is this:—‘Daol, the daughter of Fiachra, king
of Musgry, was the wife of Lughaidh, son of Oillill Flannbeg, king of
Munster. She became enamoured of her stepson Corc, son of Lughaidh by a
former wife, and on his refusal follows the example of Potiphar’s wife
with Joseph, when Corc is banished by his father. He goes to Feredach,
king of Alban, from whom he received great honours and his daughter in
marriage, by whom he had two sons, Cairbre Cruithnecan and Maine
Leamhna. The mother’s name was Leamhan Mongfionn, and these sons were
settled in their mother’s patrimony. Cairbre Cruithnecan fixed on
_Maghghirghinn_, or the plain of Circinn, and from him descended Ængus
Eamhan, king of Alban. Maine fixed on _Maghleamhna_, or the plain of
Leamhan, and from him are the Luimnigh Albain or people of the Levenach
or Lennox.’ The river Leamhan or Leven took its name from Leamhan,
daughter of Feredach Finn, who was drowned in it, and an old poem has
been preserved by Muredach Albanach, several of whose compositions have
been preserved in the Book of the Dean of Lismore, and who appears to
have lived between 1180 and 1220.[136] It was written in the time of
Aluin og, Mormaer of Leamhain, or Lord of Lennox, who, there can be
little doubt, was the same person with Alwyn, first Earl of Lennox, who
was his contemporary. It is addressed to the river Leamhan or Leven, and
refers to the same legend. The poem is so curious that it may be given
at length.
Muredach Albanach sang thus:—
Noble thy spouse, O Leamhan!
Alun oge, the son of Muireadhach,
His waving hair without blackness,
Descendant of Lughaidh of Liathmhuine.
Good thy luck in white-skinned spouses,
Since the time thou didst love thy first spouse,
For the son of the king of Bealach it was ordained
That Leamhain should be his spouse.
Gearr-Abhann was thy name of old,
In the reign of the kings,
Until Corc of Munster came over the sea
With waving hair above his eyes.
When came Fearadhach Fionn,
Son of the king of Alban of the Carpets of Gold,
When he made with Corc alliance.
Upon coming into his lordship
Fearadhach gave—to me it seems well—
His daughter to fair-haired Corc.
Full of his renown is Tara of Meath,
Leamhain was the name of the daughter.
A queenly birth brought forth Leamhan,
Maine, son of Corc of the long hair.
She cherished in her bosom the bird
For Corc of Cashel of the hounds.
One day that Leamhain was
(The mother of Maine of the slender fingers)
With fifty maidens of white soles,
Swimming in the river’s mouth,
She is drowned in the bosom of the port.
Leamhain, the daughter of Fearadhach,
Thou art named Leamhain after that,
A remembrance not bad to be related.
Seldom was the tramp of a Gall battalion
Upon thy green borders, O river!
Oftener with thee, O Leamhain!
The son of a hind above thy Innbhears.
There has grown up to thee Alun oge,
Son of Mureadhach of the smooth roads,
Splendid the colour of his pure fresh hands,
A scion of the wood of the first Aluin.
Not alone drinking ale
Is Alun oge, descendant of Oilleall.
The branch of the race of Alun sits
With an hundred to drink from the same gallon.
Though there should be but one tun of wine
To the race of Corc of the comely kings,
Not happy the fair-headed son of Corc
Should he save the wine from death.
The Mormaer of Leamhan of the smooth cheek,
The worthy son of Ailin’s daughter,
His white hand, his side, his foot;
Noble is thy spouse, O Leamhan![137]
Such, then, being the record of these supposed conquests of Alban and
settlements in the country presented to us in the early history of
Ireland, their general effect upon the Gaelic population of Scotland is
thus given in another ancient document preserved to us by the Sennachie
McFirbis:—
‘The Clan Domnall, Clann Ragnall, Clann Alasdair, Clann Tsithig
(Sheehy), Clann Eachan, Clann Eadhain, Clann Dubhghal, and Clann
Ragnall mic Domnall Ghlais, are of the race of Eremon.
‘MacGille-Eoin or MacGille a Ea-in (MacLean), the two MacLeods (Harris
and Lewis), MacConnigh (Mackenzie), Mac a Toisigh (Macintosh), Murmor
Hundon (Mormaer of Moray?), are of the race of Conaire.
‘Murmor Abhaill (Mormaer of Atholl), Murmor Mair (Mormaer of Mar),
Murmor Gall (Mormaer of Galloway), MacCenedig (Kennedys), Muirgeach
og, Lord of Granta (Grants), MacCregan (MacGregor?), are also of the
race of Eremon.’[138]
The first group here given evidently belongs to the supposed settlement
by Colla Uais of the race of Heremon, and consists of the great clans of
the MacDonalds and MacDougalls, and their branches, descended from
Somerled, the great Lord of Argyll, whose traditionary pedigree is
deduced from Colla. The second as certainly comprises those supposed to
be descended from the six sons of Erc, whose pedigree is deduced from
Conaire, a king of Ireland;[139] but among them are included the
MacLeods, whose legendary origin, as we have seen, belongs to an older
race. The third, said to be also descended from the race of Eremon,
seems to be composed of those who could not be included in either of the
two former groups, and likewise presents inconsistencies. The Mormaers
of Athol were of the royal family, and afterwards Stewarts, and under
the title of the Mormaer of Mair, and of Muirgeach og, by whom the earls
of Lennox descended from Aluin og, son of Muredach, seem meant the race
deduced from Corc, king of Munster, who was of the line of Heber, are
here included among the descendants of the line of Heremon.
[Sidenote: How far have these legends a historic basis?]
The turning-point in the chronology of the early history of Ireland may
with some reason be fixed at the battle of Ocha, which was fought in the
year 478, and placed the first Christian monarch on the throne of
Ireland. It obviously separates the artificially-constructed history of
the pagan period which makes so large a demand upon the assent of the
historian from that succession of events which corresponds with all the
historic dates we possess, and commends itself readily enough to our
belief. With the change produced by that event all that is fantastic,
improbable, and artificial ceases, and the incidents recorded are more
natural and in better accordance with what we should expect to find. In
the oldest records of Irish history it appears as a great era from which
the dates of its events were reckoned, and is connected as such with
another settlement of Scots in Alban. We are told by the synchronist
Flann Mainistrech that twenty years elapsed from the battle of Ocha till
the children of Erc, son of Echach Muinremhair, passed over into Alban,
viz., the six sons of Erc, the two Anguses, the two Loarns, and the two
Ferguses[140].
The question then at once arises, To what extent have these legends a
historic basis, and how far may we accept them as true elements in the
history of the population of Scotland?
This question we may at once answer in so far as regards the last
settlement in the series which we have extracted from that history. The
passing over of the sons of Erc into Alban twenty years after the battle
of Ocha is undoubtedly a true event. It was the foundation of the small
Scottish kingdom of Dalriada on the west coast north of the Firth of
Clyde by a colony of Scots, which took place in the year 498, and the
death of its first king, Fergus mor mac Erce, is recorded by Tighernac
in the year 501. The annals of this little kingdom may now be considered
as well ascertained. But can we attribute the same certainty to the
conquests supposed to have been made prior to the battle of Ocha? These
present several features calculated to lead us to a different
conclusion. On looking over the entire succession of those supposed
conquests and settlements in Alban, we can hardly fail to recognise the
same legends repeated at different times and cropping up in different
forms. Thus the supposed conquests of the race of Lughadh, son of Ith,
who were a different race from the Milesian Scots, and the settlement of
Fothadh Canann, from which sprang the Clann Mhic Cailin or Campbells,
seems merely a repetition of the much older settlement of the sons of
Neimhead in the districts of Dobhar and Iardobhar in Alban, who were
likewise a different race from the Milesian Scots, and from whom also
sprang the Clann Mhic Cailin or Campbells; and when the Fothadhs appear
not as of the race of Ith but as of the race of the Ui Eachach of
Ulster, that is, Irial Glunmhar, son of Conall Cearnach, who had two
sons, Forc and Iboth, they become Cruithnigh, and their settlement the
same as that of the two tribes Tuath Forc and Tuath Iboth; and this
again connects them with the supposed conquest by the mythic king
Rechtgidh Righdearg, who in another document appears as Fothadh
Righdearg. In the name Forc we can recognise the old name of the river
Forth, which again connects them with the district between the Tay and
the Forth, which appears to have been intended by the Dobhar and
Iardobhar; but this is the same district which was called by the Picts
Fortrenn, and to which, according to the Pictish legend, Cruithnechan,
the son of Lochit, son of Cinge, came with his Picts to help the Britons
of Fortrenn, and superseded them there; and this again corresponds with
the statement that the descendants of Braodn, son of Fergus Leithdearg,
who had occupied Dobhar and Iardobhar with his Nemedians, were driven
out by the Cruithnigh. And when we are told that Cruithnechan settled
his Picts in Magh Fortrenn and Maghghirghinn, we surely have the same
legend repeated in the supposed settlement of the sons of Corc, king of
Munster, when Cairpre Cruithnechan and Maine Leamhna settle in
Maghghirghinn and Maghleamhna. We can see that under these legends there
simply lies an attempt to express in these stories the popular
conception of the ethnic relations of local tribes. While in these tales
the true localities which form the scene of them are veiled under
fictitious names which it is difficult to identify, there are others
where the apparent distinctness and accuracy with which the localities
are given cast an air of verisimilitude over the narrative, and lead to
the supposition that there must have been some historic foundation for
them; but in these cases it will generally be found that they are real
historic events, which belong to the historic period, but have been
transported to the imaginary realm of mythic narrative by some process
arising from some fancied resemblance in the names of the actors. The
most striking instance of this is in the tale of the conquests in Alban
by the Dathi, the second last of the pagan monarchs of Ireland. The
scene is laid in Maghghirghinn, but this name we know is the original
form of the name corrupted into Mearns, and belongs to a district now
represented by Kincardineshire, but which formerly appears to have
included part of Forfarshire south of it and Mar on the north. Here he
fought the battles of Srath and Maghghirghinn, and the other names
mentioned in the story can also be identified.
Tuirrin, the palace of the Pictish king Feredach Finn, is no doubt the
hill of Turin in the parish of Rescobie in Forfarshire, about 600 feet
high, on the top of which, according to the writer in the old
Statistical Account, ‘there has evidently been anciently a stronghold or
place of defence, consisting of various extensive contiguous buildings,
with a circular citadel of about forty yards in diameter. The situation
has been well chosen, being secured by an impregnable rock in front,
much like the face of Salisbury Crags, and of difficult access all
around. It is now called Kemp or Camp Castle.’[141] Glenfeadha finds its
modern representative in Fithie in the adjoining parish of Farnell,
where too we find Gort an Chairthé corrupted into Carcary. This battle
seems, however, to have been an historic event, and to have really taken
place in the eighth century, for the old chronicler Tighernac records,
in the year 752, the battle of Strath, in the land of Circinn or
Maghghirghinn, between the Pictones, in which Bruidhi, son of Maelchon,
was slain.[142] There, by an anachronism which it is difficult to
explain, the well-known Bruidhe mac Maelchon, who died 200 years before,
takes the place of Feredach Finn. This battle really took place in the
reign of the great Pictish king Angus, son of Fergus; but we find in
763, eleven years after this battle was fought, the Pictish throne
occupied by Cinadon, son of Feredach, and, at the same time, the prince
who ruled over Dalriada, after its conquest by the Pictish monarch, is
Muredach ua Dathi, or grandson of Dathi. The same battle appears a
century later in Hector Boece’s fictitious narrative, where the Scots
under their king Alpin defeat and slay on the same spot Feredach, king
of the Picts.
When we see these Irish monarchs, however, not only conquering Alban and
making settlements there, but extending their conquests over Britain and
Gaul, and carrying their arms even to the foot of the Alps, it is
difficult to avoid the suspicion that we have here localised as Irish
kings some of the Roman emperors connected with the Roman province in
Britain, and some of their acts transferred to Ireland, and that this is
the true source of many of these fabulous events, so far as there is any
foundation for them at all. Thus we find a parallel to the revolt of the
Attachtuatha, or servile tribes of Ireland, against the Milesian kings,
which was finally suppressed by Tuathal Teachtmhar, in the insurrection
of the serf population of Gaul, called the Bagaudæ in the reign of the
emperor Diocletian, which was suppressed by his colleague Herculius
Maximian. Cairbre Cinncait, who was enabled to seize the throne of
Ireland as their leader, and reigned five years, has his counterpart in
Carausius, who, by the help of these Bagaudæ, revolted against Maximian,
and ruled for seven years in Britain as an independent emperor. Conn of
the hundred battles, under whom Ireland became divided into two
provinces, may be a shadow of Constantine the Great, in whose time the
provinces of Britain were divided; and in Niall of the Nine Hostages,
and Dathi the fighter of so many battles, who carried their arms to the
foot of the Alps, we may possibly recognise Theodosius and Maximus, the
emperors who preceded the termination of the Roman power in Britain, and
fought battles in North Britain.
The Conquests in Alban under Crimthan Mor mac Fidhaigh, and his
designation as king of Erinn and Alban, have perhaps a historic
foundation of a different kind. The first really historical appearance
of the Scots in Britain is in the year 360, when, in conjunction with
the Picts, they attacked the Roman province in Britain. The attack was
repeated by the Scots and Picts, who were now joined by the Attacotti
and Saxons in 364, and they ravaged the whole province till the year
369, when they were driven back by Theodosius, and the province
restored. Now the Annals of the Four Masters place the commencement of
Crimthan’s reign in 366, and he reigned twelve years. The period of his
supposed conquests in North Britain synchronises with the appearance of
the Scots in Britain, as recorded by the Roman historian. So also the
subsequent conquests under Niall Mor and Dathi, and the supposed
settlement of the Munster Scots under Corc, king of Munster, with the
three devastations of the province by the Picts and Scots recorded by
Gildas, the first two of which were repelled by the Roman general
Stilicho, and the last by the provincial Britons themselves. The period
of these attacks extended from the year 360 to 409, but it is quite
clear, from the concurrent testimony of all the authorities which record
them, that the Scots were driven back to Ireland, and that they effected
no permanent settlement in Britain till the end of the sixth century,
when the Dalriadic colony was established in the southern part of the
great western district of Arregaithel or Argyll.
[Sidenote: Early connection between Scotland and Ireland.]
We have then, prior to that date, merely temporary conquests in the
province of Britain, commencing in 360, which afford the sole historic
basis to these supposed settlements, and there is no reason to suppose
that prior to 360 a single Scot ever set foot in North Britain. The
connection between the two countries of Scotland and Ireland was,
notwithstanding, a very intimate one. It is quite clear that prior to
the settlement of the Scots in Dalriada, the great nation of the
Cruithnigh or Picts formed the sole inhabitants of Britain north of the
Firths of Forth and Clyde; but while we find them during the historic
period likewise in possession of that part of the province of Ulster
known as Dalnaraidhe or Dalaradia, and Uladh, extending from the Boyne
along its eastern shore to the border of Irish Dalriada, and likewise of
that part of Meath termed Maghbreg or Bregia, yet these early legends
present them to us as forming the original inhabitants of the north of
Ireland, and as constituting one great nation peopling the northern
districts of Britain and Galloway on the east side of the Channel, and
the whole province of Ulster and part of Meath on the western, while the
Scots occupied the rest of Leinster and the whole of Connaught and
Munster. The Cruithnigh of both countries were thus substantially one
people, and remained so till the beginning of the seventh century, and
during this time there must have been a constant intercommunication
between the tribes on both sides of the Channel, as well as a community
of early legends among them. Thus the Pictish Chronicle tells us that
thirty kings of the name of Bruide ruled over Hibernia and Albania
during a period of 150 years, and the Irish Nennius derives the
statement from the books of the Cruithnigh, while an early legend of the
Picts of Dalnaraidhe states that ‘thirty kings of the Cruithnigh ruled
over Erin and Alban, viz., of the Cruithnigh of Alban and of Erin, viz.,
of the Dalnaraidhe from Ollamhan, from whence comes Mur Ollamhan at
Teamhair or Tara to Fiacha mac Baedan, who fettered the hostages of Erin
and Alban.’ This latter event was in the historic time, and must have
occurred between 589 and 626, when Fiacha mac Baedan was king of Ulster.
From this period may therefore be dated the political separation of the
Picts of Alban from those of Erin, who had hitherto been governed as one
nation. The same legend likewise informs us that ‘seven kings of the
Cruithnigh of Alban governed Erinn in Teamhair or Tara. Ollamh was the
name of the first king that governed Erinn at Teamhair and in Cruachan
thirty years. It is from him Mur Ollamhan at Teamhair is; by him was the
feast of Teamhair first instituted.’ Then, after naming his six
successors, the legend adds, ‘These then are the seven kings that ruled
over Erin of the Cruithnigh of Alban.’[143] These seven kings, however,
appear in the list of the mythic pagan kings of Ireland, and are placed
as such by the Annals of the Four Masters as far back as from the year
of the world 3883 to 4019, that is, from the year 1317 to 1181 before
Christ, each of the seven kings reigning exactly thirty years. The first
was Ollamh Fodla, who is, of course, said to be of the race of Ir, and
to him is attributed the tribal organisation of his people; for
according to the Annals of the Four Masters, ‘it was he also that
appointed a Toisech over every Triocha Ceud or barony, and a Bruighigh
over every Baile or township, who were all to serve the king of Erin.’
Under the name of Fodla he appears in the Pictish Chronicle as one of
the seven sons of Cruithne, and two of his successors, viz., Gede
Ollgudach and Finnachta, appear in the list of the Pictish kings of
Scotland among his immediate successors, and precede the thirty kings of
the name of Brude. The numbers peculiar to the Pictish legends are
seven, and thirty, and have, of course, no chronological significance.
But the most brilliant period of the mythic history of these Cruithnigh
of Ulster was that when the champions of the Order of the Red Branch at
Eamhain or Emania were supposed to have performed their great
achievements. They are placed in the fabulous history about the
commencement of the Christian era, and here we find abundant indications
of the close connection between the Cruithnigh of Erin and of Alban.
Among these ancient Irish tales are three which are termed the Three
Sorrowful Stories of Erin, namely the story of the tragical fate of the
children of Lir, the story of the children of Uisneach, and the story of
the sons of Tuirinn.[144]
From the second of these tales we learn that about this time Cathbad, a
Druid of the Picts of Ulster, has three daughters. The eldest, Dectcum,
was the mother of the celebrated champion Cuchullin; the second, Albe,
was the mother of Naisi, Ainle, and Ardan, the three sons of Uisneach;
and the third, Finncaemh, was the mother of Conall Cearnach. These
champions were all trained in a military school at Sgathaig in the
island of Skye, kept by Aife and her father Scathaidh, and by Aife
Cuchullin had a son, Connlaoch, whose history forms one of the Fenian
tales. The place called Sgathaig can be still identified. On the west
side of the parish of Slate in Skye, on an isolated rock overhanging the
arm of the sea termed Loch Eishart, are the remains of an old castle now
termed Dunscaich; and below it, at a little distance from the shore, is
a small island on which is still to be seen one of those ancient
vitrified forts which are so closely connected with these Fenian tales.
It is likewise called Dunsgathaig or Dunscaich, and was no doubt the
site of Aife’s supposed school. Looking across this arm of the sea, the
magnificent and most picturesque range of the Coolins form the principal
feature in the landscape, and hence the three sons of Uisneach, supposed
to have been trained to the use of arms here, are termed in the tale
‘The Three Falcons of Sleibhe Cuillinn,’ that is, of the Coolin hills,
now improperly termed Cuchullin hills.[145] On their return to Ulster,
Naisi, the eldest, falls in love with a fair girl Deirdri, who had been
reared in a tower by Conchubhar, king of Ulster, with the view of making
her his wife. Naisi carries her off, and, accompanied by his two
brothers and one hundred and fifty warriors, goes to Alban, where they
settled in a wild therein, and obtained maintenance of quarterage, that
is, an appanage or land of maintenance to be held for service from the
king of that country. The sons of Uisneach are said in the tale to have
defended by the might of their hands a district and a half of Alban, and
are called ‘the Three Dragons of Dunmonadh,’ which seems to have been
the residence of the kings, as it afterwards was of the Scottish kings
of Dalriada, and may be identified as the isolated hill in the Crinan
Moss on the banks of the river Add, the top of which bears the remains
of a strong fortification, and which was also called Dunadd. In another
poem Naisi is said to have visited the daughter of the Lord of Duntreoin
on his return from the north of Invernois or Inverness, and this is
Duntroon, an old castle on the north side of Loch Crinan.
The place where the sons of Uisneach settled, and where they obtained
their land of maintenance, was on the north shore of the arm of the sea
called Loch Etive, where their seat was no other than that remarkable
vitrified fort crowning the summit of a considerable hill on the shore
of the bay of Ardmuchnish, now called Dun mac Sniochan, a corruption of
the name _Dun mhic Uisneachan_, and to which Hector Boece gave the
fanciful name of Beregonium. Here they are said to have had three booths
of chase—one in which they prepared their food, one in which they ate
it, and one in which they slept. Conchubhar now resolves to tempt them
to return to Ulster, with the treacherous purpose of killing them and
taking Deirdre, but is told that they will not come unless either
Cuchullin, or Conall Cearnach, or Fergus, son of Roigh, another of the
champions of the Red Branch, will go for them and ensure their safety.
Cuchullin and Conall Cearnach both refuse, but Fergus agrees to go,
finds them at _Loch-n-Eite_ or Loch Etive, and at the _Dainghion mhic
n-Uisnech_ or fastness of the sons of Uisneach, and persuades them to
return, much against the wish of Deirdre, who expresses her regret at
leaving that eastern land with its delightful harbours and bays, its
dear beauteous plains of soft verdure, and its sprightly green-sided
hills, and then utters a beautiful lament on leaving that ‘beloved land,
that eastern land, Alban with its wonders.’[146] Deirdre tells Fergus
that the sway of the sons of Uisneach in Alban is greater than that of
Conchubhar in Erin, and her lament bears this out, for the scenery of it
embraces the whole of the eastern part of Argyllshire from the Linnhé
Loch to Loch Long, and among the places mentioned we can identify Glen
Etive at the head of Loch Etive, Inistrynich in Loch Awe, Dun Suibhne or
Castle Swen in Knapdale, Glenlaidhe, or Glenlochy, and Glenurchy at the
east end of Loch Awe, Glenmasan and Glendaruel in Cowall.[147] Alban now
drops out of the tale, and it is unnecessary for our purpose to follow
further the tragical fate of the sons of Uisneach after their return to
Ulster. We find, however, that Conall Cearnach, another of these heroes
of the Cruithnigh of Ulster, has left his traces in the same part of the
country, for Dean Munro, in his description of the Western Isles in
1549, tells us of Dunchonill, one of the group of the Garveloch Isles
which lie off the coast of Lorne—‘Dunchonill, are iyle so namit from
Conal Kernache, are strength, which is alsmeikle as to say in Englische,
are round castle.’ One of the legends of the Cruithnigh of Ulster tells
us that Conall Cearnach married Loncetna, the daughter of Echdhe
Eachbeoil of Alban, who was a Cruithnigh, by whom he had Irial Glinmar,
and adds, ‘This was the cause which brought Cuchulain and Curoi son of
Daire from Alban to Erin.’[148] The mother of Curoi, we learn from other
legends, was Moran Mannanach, the sister of Loncetna. A curious notice
of the Pictish king Echdhe Eachbeoil and the intimate connection between
the Cruithnigh on both sides of the Irish Channel has been preserved to
us in the very ancient document called Cormac’s Glossary, where, under
the word ‘Fir, _i.e_. find’ or white, we are told—‘This, then, was the
appearance of the cows of Echaid Echbel from Alban which Curoi captured,
that is, white cows with red ears;’ and another MS. adds—‘These cows,
then, of Echaid Echbel used to come to graze from Ard-Echdai Echbeil,
from Alban into the district of Dalriatta, and they used to be in Seimne
Ulad. Curoi, however, carried them off by force from the Ulad or Ulster
men.’[149]
We thus see how completely the idea of a close connection, amounting to
identity both of race and nation, between the Pictish inhabitants of
North Britain and the Cruithnigh of Ireland, runs through these popular
tales, and expresses a true state of matters which goes far to explain
the supposed conquests and settlements under the Irish kings of the
mythic and heroic period in Scotland. Although attributed to kings of
the different races into which the descendants of Milesius were supposed
to be divided, we can see that there is always a tendency to connect
them with the Cruithnigh of Ulster. Thus the Fothadhs are by one account
of the race of Ith, and by another Cruithnigh of Ulster. When we read of
the sons of Nemhead settling in Dobhar and Iardobhar in North Britain,
under Braodn the son of Fergus Leithderg, we are reminded at once of the
historic king of the Picts, Brude, son of Urgust or Fergus. When we are
told that the Tuatha De Danaan proceeded from the same district and
bestowed upon Ireland the three designations of Eire, Fodla, and Banba,
from the names of the three queens of their three last kings, we cannot
avoid noticing that these three names are likewise preserved in Scotland
in the river Earn;[150] in Fodla, one of the seven districts named after
the seven sons of Cruithnigh, and which is preserved in Athfotla, the
old name of Atholl; and in Banff. We see too that whenever a Scot is
said during this mythic period to have settled in Alban he is usually
said to be the son of the daughter of a Pictish king, and to have
inherited through his mother. Thus Colla Uais, of the race of Eremon,
has a Pictish mother, and so have the two sons of Corc, king of Munster;
and there is reason to suppose that among the Pictish tribes marriage
was exogamous and that the son of a Pictish mother even by a stranger
was held to belong to the tribe of his mother. Other points of a
connection between these Irish legends and those of Scotland also
suggest themselves. In the story of the insurrection of the
Attachtuatha, or servile tribes of Ireland, against the Milesian Scots,
we are told that the nobility of the latter were cut off at a great
banquet given by the Attachtuatha, and that none escaped except three
nobles who were in their mothers’ womb. This same legend is reproduced
in the legendary history of Scotland, when the supposed destruction of
the Picts by the Scots in the ninth century is said to have been
effected in the same manner, the nobles of the Picts having been cut off
by the Scots at a great banquet.[151]
[Sidenote: The twofold division of the Picts and the establishment of
Scone as the capital of the kingdom.]
The twofold division of the Scots, supposed to have taken place in the
reign of Conn of the hundred battles, has also its parallelism in
Scotland; and if Bede recognised the division of Ireland into the two
provinces of the Northern and the Southern Scots, he equally viewed the
territory occupied by the great Pictish nation as consisting of the two
provinces of the Northern and the Southern Picts, who were separated
from each other ‘by steep and rugged mountain chains, within which the
latter had seats,’ a description which can only apply to the great chain
of the Mounth, extending from the Eastern Sea to the Western Sea, and
separating the counties of Aberdeen and Inverness from those of
Kincardine, Forfar, and Perth; and to those minor chains proceeding from
it on the south, which, as they terminate in the more level country,
form the great barrier of the so-called Grampians. Towards the end of
the great Pictish kingdom we find Scone appearing as the principal seat
and central point of the monarchy, and Fordun gives as one tradition
‘that it had been anciently fixed as the principal seat of the kingdom
by both the Pictish and Scottish kings;’ and as another ‘that the
ancient kings, even from the time of Cruithne, the first king of the
Picts, had made it the seat of the kingdom of Alban.’[152] Scone is
situated on the left bank of the river Tay, and within the ancient
district of Gouerin or Gowry, and the circumstances connected with this
district, and with Scone as the ancient capital of Scotland, present
features very analogous to those recorded in the legend by which the
province of Meath was formed, and Teamhair or Tara constituted the chief
seat of the monarchy. As Meath was situated where the four ancient
provinces of Ulster, Connaught, Munster, and Leinster meet, so also
Gowry is placed in a central position where the four ancient provinces
of Alban—namely those of Stratherne and Menteath, of Atholl (to which it
appears at one time to have been attached), of Angus and Mearns, and of
Fife and Fothreve—touch each other. As the originally small district of
Meath was enlarged into a province by adding four districts, each of
which was taken from one of the other districts, so we find that there
were four royal manors of Gowry, viz. those of Scone, Cubert, Forgrund,
and Straderdel.[153] These too surround a small central district, and
each lies contiguous to one of the four provinces. Scone, forming the
western district of Gowry, is separated by the river Tay from the old
province of Fortrenn; Cubert or Coupar-Angus, on the north-east, adjoins
Angus or Forfarshire; Forgrund, now Longforgan, on the south-east, is
separated by the Tay from a parish in Fife bearing the same name; and
Stratherdel or Strathardle, on the north, lies within the barrier of the
Grampians, and stretches along the eastern boundary of Atholl. As Meath
was the old mensal land set apart for the support of the Crown, so we
find Gowry too appears to have been a Crown demesne; and as Teamhair or
Tara was not only the place where the Ardri or sovereign of Ireland was
inaugurated, and the laws of the kingdom framed and published, but was
so completely regarded as the central point of the monarchy that the
kingdom was often termed the Kingdom of Tara, so we find the ancient
kings of Alban inaugurated and the laws of the kingdom promulgated at
Scone; and when Kenneth, the first of the Scottish line, overthrew the
Pictish dynasty, he is said in the oldest chronicler who records the
event to have acquired ‘the kingdom of Scone.’[154]