We have seen how the poet-historians of early Christian Ireland took
over certain Latin histories of the world, especially St. Jerome's
translation of Eusebius and the history of Orosius, and adopted these
as the established framework of the world's history, thereby
compelling themselves to adjust their own accounts of the Irish past
to that framework. In the process of adjustment they did not all work
hand in hand, and so we have different and sometimes contradictory
accounts and at least half-a-dozen distinct chronologies. They found a
mass of Irish traditions and legends embodied in stories long and
short. They set to work on this material, endeavouring to arrange it
all in sequence and to provide it with dates--the original matter
being largely independent of date or sequence. This task became in
fact the principal work of a certain school or class of poets, as we
learn from a passage which, though found in the Book of Leinster, is
held to date from about the eighth century. It is headed: "Of the
Qualification of Poets." The word translated "qualification" by
O'Curry, and not inaptly so translated, is _nemthigud_, derived from
the word _nemed_, the Old Celtic adjective _nemetos_, meaning
"sacred." A sacred place was called _nemed_, and a sacred person was
also called _nemed_. The old law tract which deals with the
privileges and rights of the poets is entitled _Bretha Nemed_, i.e.,
decisions regarding sacred persons. The tract in the Book of Leinster
tells us that certain kinds of knowledge were necessary qualifications
for certain classes of poets, in order that they might be entitled to
the privileges of their class and become in that sense sacred persons,
who, in virtue of the reverence due to them, might enjoy special
rights and immunities. The knowledge required of them was not a
knowledge of prosody or grammar, nor of chronology or geography, or
any other science of the times. It was a knowledge of the stories of
ancient Ireland, so thorough that they should be able to recite these
stories in the presence of kings and chiefs, not a select few of the
stories but scores and fifties of them. A mere memorised knowledge of
the stories, however, was not sufficient, and something more than the
ability to recite them to the satisfaction of courtly patrons was
deemed essential to qualify the person as a poet, for the tract
concludes by saying: "He is no poet who does not synchronise and
adjust together all the stories." This means clearly that it was, at
the time, an essential part of the poet's work to make a consecutive
and dated history out of the sagas of antiquity.
In this way was produced a history of Ireland from the beginning down
to Saint Patrick's time. From that time onward the ancients, like
ourselves, relied on the written chronicles of Ireland.
Among the written stories of antiquity, the primacy was accorded to
those of the Ulster epic, Táin Bó Cuailnge and the other tales that
range around it. Evidence of this primacy will be found in the oldest
known Irish chronicle, in poems assigned by Meyer to the seventh
century, and in the framework of the ancient genealogies. A number of
modern investigators assure us that the antiquarian tradition of the
Ulster sagas is marvellously true to the facts established by
archæological research in regard of the age to which those sagas
relate, the beginning of the Christian era. Their historical tradition
was adopted without question by our medieval historians. The main fact
of that historical tradition was that Ireland, in the time of Cú
Chulainn, was divided into five coordinate chief kingdoms, whose kings
were equal in rank and were not subordinate to a central monarchy. The
old historians consequently call this period _Aimser na Cóicedach_
(Aimsir na gCúigeadhach), the Time of the Pentarchs (the five equal
kings), and leave the monarchy a blank at that time, though they
profess to be able to give a list of kings of all Ireland for the
earlier and later periods. This list of the pagan Monarchs of Ireland
is not historical. It is compiled in a very artificial way from the
pedigrees of various Irish dynasties, in a way so artificial that one
name, the origin of which can be traced to the sleepy blundering of a
copyist, a name which never belonged to any man, is found as the name
of a king of Ireland in the list, with appropriate details telling how
he acquired the sovereignty and how he lost it, and how many years he
reigned. On the other hand, we are told that the fivefold division of
Ireland was older than the Gaelic occupation. In fact, its origin was
prehistoric, and the Pentarchy is the oldest certain fact in the
political history of Ireland. That it is a certain fact, nobody who is
acquainted with Irish literature and tradition will be disposed to
question. To this day the word _cuigeadh_, "a fifth," is in general
use among speakers of Irish as the term to denote each of the
principal sub-divisions of the country; and _cuig cuigidh na
hEireann_, "the Five Fifths of Ireland," is an expression familiar to
all who speak the Irish language. This term _cuigeadh_, in this sense,
is found in every age and generation of our written literature. And
yet it is certain that throughout the whole period of our written
literature, the political division of Ireland represented by this word
_cuigeadh_, "a fifth," and "the Five Fifths of Ireland," had no
existence. Already in St. Patrick's time the Five Fifths were only a
memory of the past. Then and for centuries afterwards, instead of
five, there were seven coordinate chief kingdoms and a monarchy over
them.
It is evident that a political fact which impressed itself so
permanently on the vocabulary, the literature, and the folk-memory of
the people for at least fifteen hundred years was not the transitory
thing that appears in the lists of Irish monarchs before Christianity,
a Pentarchy which lasted only during a few years and interrupted for
that time the course of an earlier and later Monarchy. The details of
tradition, upon examination, indicate that the Pentarchy preceded the
Monarchy and lasted for a long time, long enough to become the chief
outstanding fact in tradition as regards the internal political state
of Ireland in the early Celtic period.
Now we come to the question, what were the five principal divisions of
Ireland under the Pentarchy? In my experience, the less erudite who
are interested in such matters usually answer, Ulster, Leinster,
Munster, Connacht and Meath. Those who are better read in Irish
history will answer, as a rule, leaving out Meath and will say that
there were two Fifths comprised in Munster, and this is the teaching
of Irish historians for some centuries back. In this case, it will be
seen that the less learned folk are nearer to the truth.
Let us first consider what our information is regarding the Two Fifths
comprised in Munster. Keating gives two alternative divisions of
Munster to form the Two Fifths. In one division, the dividing line
runs north and south, from Limerick to Cork Harbour. This delimitation
seems to be based on the ancient extent of Munster, which did not
include County Clare. The second partition of Munster, according to
Keating, is by a line running from Tralee to Slieve Bloom, a very
unlikely boundary, as will be evident to anyone who tries to place it
on the map. The portion south of this line, we are told, was the realm
of Cú Raoi, and the portion north of it was the realm of Eochaidh
MacLuchta. These two names belong to the Ulster cycle, and we should
expect the division connected with them to hold good in the topography
of the Ulster tales, but we shall find that the Ulster tales speak of
Eochaidh MacLuchta as king of all Munster and speak of Cú Raoi as a
great Munster hero, but not as king of half Munster. That is not the
whole story. Keating tells us that Tuathal Teachtmhar, when he became
king of Ireland, established a small domestic realm for himself in the
centre of Ireland, around Uisneach, by cutting off a section from each
of the Five Great Fifths, and that the boundaries of all five, until
his time, met at one point, the rock called Aill na Mireann, on the
slope of Uisneach hill. Look at the map of Ireland, bearing in mind
that the county Clare was not at that time and long after it a part of
Munster, and ask yourself what possible dividing line between two
kingdoms of Munster could have terminated in the hill of Uisneach,
which stands ten or twelve miles westward from Mullingar.
The Five Great Fifths of Ireland are a living fact in the political
framework of the stories of the Ulster Cycle. Surely then it is in
those stories themselves and in the antiquity of their tradition that
we must seek the evidence about these divisions, their location and
extent, and not in the unreconciled statements of writers in a later
age. The teaching of the Ulster stories on this matter is clear and
unmistakable. It is the same throughout all of them and will be found
summarised in a few sentences of the story of the Battle of Rosnaree.
First we are told how this battle was caused. In the great expedition
of Táin Bó Cuailnge, four of the Great Fifths had joined together for
the invasion of Ulster. The invasion was not a military success, but
it had secured its object, the carrying away of the Brown Bull in
spite of the Ulster king, and Ulster had suffered from the ravages of
war. Conchobhar, following up the retreating army of Connacht, had
overtaken and defeated it on the banks of the Shannon, but he had not
recovered the Brown Bull, and the other three Fifths of Ireland had
got away without making any reparation for the great raid. And
Conchobhar vowed that he would exact reparation or inflict punishment.
He called the forces of Ulster together. These things were speedily
reported to the other four Fifths of Ireland, and without delay the
king of each Fifth prepared for resistance and summoned his forces to
meet him at his royal seat. Here follows a recitation of the names of
the four kings and their four capital places in which their armies
were mustered.
The king of Tara, Cairbre Nia Fear, called out the Luaighni of Tara to
meet him at Tara. It is to be remembered that in these stories Tara is
not the royal seat of kings of all Ireland. There are no kings of all
Ireland.
The Galians of Leinster are summoned to meet their king, Fionn File,
at Dinn Riogh on the banks of the Barrow.
The Clanna Deadhadh, which is another name for the Iverni or Érainn of
Munster, are summoned to meet their king, Eochaidh MacLuchta, at his
royal seat of Teamhair Érann.
The muster of Connacht is held by Ailill and Meadhbh at Cruachain.
In this account of the five musters, there is no room for
misconception. The author of the story was not in the slightest doubt
as to the identity of the Five Fifths. His account is in complete
harmony with the whole tenour of the stories relative to that age. In
it, there is one Fifth of Munster, and all possibility of another is
precluded. There is one Fifth of Connacht and one Fifth of Ulster. How
are the two remaining Fifths constituted?
The capital of one of them is Tara, that of the other is Dinn Riogh on
the Barrow. We learn from Keating and all other authorities and
traditions that, in the period of Cú Chulainn and the Ulster hero
tales, the river Boyne, in its lower course, separated Ulster from
Leinster. Tara, on the south side of the Boyne, was in Leinster
territory. Hence it is plain that Leinster and not Munster comprised
two of the Five Great Fifths.
People sometimes say to me and have said to me since these lectures
began, "You are very ruthless in tearing away from us some of our most
cherished traditions." Now, if I showed any contempt for tradition,
this reproach would be altogether too mild. Tradition, if it is indeed
tradition, is worthy of all reverence. It is not infallible. Tradition
is a people's memory, and a people's memory, like yours or mine, has
its limitations. We are all agreed that the Gaels are of Celtic origin
and that their language is a Celtic language, but there is no
tradition for it. From the earliest recorded traditions of Ireland
and Britain down to the writing of the history of Scotland by
Buchanan, not the faintest trace of such a tradition has been found.
Nevertheless there are fields of historical inquiry in which tradition
is the most faithful witness, and one such field is the internal
polity of Ireland during the centuries that precede the written
record. In that field, so far am I from despising tradition, that my
main effort is to find tradition and establish its authority. We must
get away from the notion that everything that is written by Keating or
the Four Masters or in the Book of Invasions about that early time is
tradition. The Scythian origin of the Gaels, the geographical details
of their wanderings, the tower of Bregon, the landing at an unknown
Inbhear Scéine--these things do not belong to tradition, they are the
inventions of Latin scholars, suggested to them by ancient Latin
writers.
The evidence on which I rely with regard to the Five Fifths of ancient
Ireland is unquestionably traditional. The evidence that I have quoted
on the point does not stand alone. It is not singular and
inconsistent. On the contrary, it will be found to fit in with the
whole body of ancient tradition, and taken along with the other
evidences, it will be found to give life and reality to the history of
an obscure yet most interesting period.
Following up the ancient testimony, we find that Cairbre Nia Fear, the
king of Tara in Cú Chulainn's time, was brother to Fionn File, the
king of Dinn Riogh. Both were Leinstermen, Lagenians. Turning to the
genealogies we find that the descent of all the Leinster kings in
Christian times is traced from Fionn File. Tara therefore was the
capital or royal seat of a Leinster kingdom, and that kingdom was one
of the Great Fifths. If we look up Father Hogan's Onomasticon, we
shall see that this fact was otherwise clearly recognised. The kingdom
of which Tara was the capital was named in ancient writings by the
name "Cairbre's Fifth," Cóiced Coirpri.
Further we find that in many old documents the former existence of two
Fifths belonging to the Laighin, or ruling folk of Leinster, is
definitely recognised. One of these divisions is called Cúigeadh
Laighean Tuadh-Gabhair and the other Cúigeadh Laighean Deas-Gabhair.
These names mean that one of the Fifths lay to the north and the other
to the south of a place or district called Gabhair. There were a
number of places so named in various parts of Ireland, several of them
in ancient Leinster. The word _gabhair_ was evidently a topographical
term having a definite meaning indicating some physical feature of the
country, but I have not found it defined in any dictionary or
glossary. Examining the various instances of its use in place-names
and the conformation of the localities so named, I have come to the
conclusion that _gabhair_ most probably denoted a low broad ridge
between two river valleys. There were two localities so named in the
middle of Leinster. One was called Gabhair Life, with reference to the
river Liffey. In the first poem of _Duanaire Finn_ it is mentioned as
the place where dwelt the maiden Life from whom the river, we are
told, took its name: "In Gabhair between two mountains, there the
modest maid abode." This probably refers to the district of Donard in
Co. Wicklow, between the waters of the Liffey and the Slaney. The two
valleys are separated by a low watershed, and bounded on their outer
sides by mountainous country. Westward from this, in the south of
County Kildare, is a district which was anciently called Gabhair
Laighean. This means Gabhair of the Lagenians, and the name suggests
that it was the distinctive boundary between the two Fifths of the
Lagenians. It is situated between the valleys of the Barrow, the
Liffey and the Slaney, and may be regarded as the westward extension
of Gabhair Life. Further evidence on the point is supplied by two
glosses in the Book of Rights. One of these says that Laighin
Deas-Gabhair is Ui Ceinnsealaigh, the other says it is Osraighe. I
think we may take both together and regard the southern Fifth of
Leinster as comprising both territories, which are represented by the
dioceses of Ferns and Ossory. If O'Donovan is right in identifying
Dinn Riogh with a site near Leighlin Bridge, on the bank of the
Barrow, we should add to the territories named the diocese of
Leighlin, which lies between Ossory and Ferns. But there is good
evidence that the ancient Fifth of South Leinster was still more
extensive. It extended over a considerable part of eastern Munster,
taking in almost the whole county of Tipperary and a small part of
County Limerick.
The territory of Ossory, we are told, stretched from Gabhrán to Grian,
_i.e._, from the district of Gowran in County Kilkenny to the
district of Pallasgreen in County Limerick.
There were several stories which explained how and why this western
part of Leinster was transferred to Munster. According to one account
Osraige ö Gabrán co Gréin
tucad i n-éiric Eterscéil.
The territory of Ossory was forfeited to Munster in consequence of the
slaying of Ederscél, king of Ireland, father of Conaire Mór. Ederscél
was of the Ivernian race. A second account is alluded to by a poem in
the Book of Rights, claiming that Ossory was rightfully subject to the
kings of Munster, having been forfeited for the killing of Fergus
Scannal, king of Munster. The third account is much more elaborate. It
is found in the story of the Migration of the Déisi, a story which in
its extant form dates from about the year 750. It tells how the Dési
were expelled from the region of Tara; how one part of them crossed
the sea and settled in Wales; how another part sojourned for a long
time in Leinster, but at last entered the service of the king of
Munster and acquired a territorial settlement by conquering and
annexing to Munster the western part of the territory of Ossory. The
story relates that the men of Ossory were first driven eastward over
the Suir; they rallied near Clonmel and were again defeated and driven
across the Anner; were followed up by the Déisi and finally forced
over the Lingaun river, which to this day forms part of the boundary
between Ossory and Munster. The baronies of Iffa and Offa took their
name and origin from a branch of the Déisi settled in the conquered
territory. West of the Suir in County Tipperary are the baronies of
Upper and Lower Kilnamanagh. These were formerly O'Dwyer's country,
and the territory was ruled by the ancestors of the O'Dwyers from time
immemorial. But the line of the O'Dwyers and their forefathers was an
offshoot of the ruling people of South Leinster. In the genealogies,
Fionn File is their ancestor, the same who was king of South Leinster
in Cú Chulainn's time. Of the same Leinster stock came the sept Ui
Cuanach, whose name and territory is represented in the present barony
of Coonagh in County Limerick, adjoining O'Dwyer's country. On the
western side of this territory was the district of Grian, the western
limit-point of ancient Ossory.
I have found no very decisive indication of the westward extent of
ancient Leinster along the southern coast. However, the story of the
Déisi migration shows no distinction between the Déisi settlements
south of the Suir in County Waterford and those north of the Suir in
County Tipperary. There is nothing to indicate that the Munster king
settled one portion of his allies on conquered territory and another
portion on territory already in his possession, and the whole tenour
of the story associates the settlement with the displacement and
dispossession of the Men of Ossory. Therefore, I think it probable
that the territory of Ossory included the greater part of County
Waterford, as far west as Cappoquin and the Blackwater from Cappoquin
to the sea.
As in the case of the eastern parts of Munster so in the case of the
part beyond the Shannon, now County Clare, there is more than one
story to account for the annexation. When several stories are given to
explain a fact, though they contradict each other in the manner of the
explanation, they form a strong corroboration of each other as to the
fact itself. That Clare was at one time part of Connacht is the
universal testimony of antiquity.
Ancient Munster, therefore, the Munster of the heroic period,
comprised the counties of Cork and Kerry, the greater part of Limerick
and some small area of Tipperary and Waterford. It was the smallest of
the Five Great Fifths and there is no need to bisect it to form two of
them. The bisecting lines mentioned by Keating, however, are not
likely to have been purely imaginary. They refer in my opinion to
political boundaries of a later age. We have evidence of the division
of Munster in early Christian times into what may be called two
distinct spheres of influence. Besides the Eoghanacht dynasty which
then ruled in Cashel, there were other branches of the same dynasty
ruling in various parts of Munster. Of these the most powerful was the
Eoghanacht of Loch Léin, also called the Eoghanacht of Iarmuma, "West
Munster." Some of its kings are reckoned as kings of Munster, and
hostile to the kings of Cashel. The dividing line from Limerick to
Cork Harbour may indicate the boundary between the groups of states
which acknowledged the eastern and the western authority. As regards
the other line from Tralee to Slieve Bloom, I think it is founded on
the fluctuating extent of the rival authority of the Dalcassian and
Eoghanacht dynasties during the period between the battle of Clontarf
and the Norman invasion. During that period we read of kings of the
Eoghanacht lineage who are called kings of Cashel and Desmond. They
are of the family of MacCarthaigh. North of the line, the power of the
kings of Thomond was predominant.
The boundaries of ancient Connacht are fairly certain. The Shannon
throughout its course formed the principal limit. From the head of the
Shannon to the sea at Donegal Bay the boundary was nearly the same as
it still is.
Between Ulster and North Leinster, the boundary ran from Loch Bóderg
on the Shannon through the southern part of County Leitrim, and thence
in the direction of Granard; thence by the present boundary of Ulster
eastward as far as the Blackwater, down along the Blackwater to Navan
and from Navan along the Boyne to the Irish Sea. On the expedition of
the Táin, Medb's army skirted this boundary, keeping on the Leinster
side, until they reached the Blackwater; and the story tells how they
looked across the Blackwater at "the foreign territory" (_in chrich
aineoil_).
Such was the division of Ireland under the Pentarchy at the beginning
of the Christian Era, as disclosed by the oldest traditions.
When we come to St. Patrick's time, the fifth century, we feel
ourselves within the scope of clear and definite written records.
These ancient boundaries are for the most part only memories. There is
no longer a Pentarchy but a Heptarchy, which remains substantially
unchanged for several centuries and is described in detail by the Book
of Rights, compiled about the year 900 and revised about a century
later.
In this new arrangement, Munster has its present extent plus the
southern angle of King's County. Connacht has lost County Clare, but
has annexed territory east of the Shannon as far as Loch Erne and Loch
Ramor in County Cavan. This territory has been taken from Ulster,
which no longer exists as a political unit, but is divided into three
of the seven chief kingdoms. These are the kingdom of Ailech on the
west, the kingdom of Ulaidh on the east, and the kingdom of Airgialla
or Oriel in the middle. The Fifth of North Leinster has ceased to be a
kingdom. There is only one kingdom of Leinster, which extends as far
north as Dublin, the river Liffey and its tributary the Rye, which
runs by Maynooth. This kingdom contains what remains of North and
South Leinster and is ruled by the ancient dynasty of South Leinster.
The seventh chief realm is that of Meath which has been formed from
parts of North Leinster and of Ulster. Its northern boundary is nearly
but not quite the same as the present northern boundary of Leinster.
It takes in part of County Cavan and excludes the northern part of
County Louth, north of Ardee.
The strictly historical period in Ireland begins with St. Patrick. The
authentic writings of St. Patrick are the earliest written documents
of Irish history. But I do not think it would be just to say that all
before that time is prehistoric. If all we had for the first four
centuries of the Christian Era was a slender thread of narrative like
Livy's story of ancient Rome, we might wonder how much profit, if any,
could come from examining it. We are not in so poor a case. We have a
substantial mass of traditions, connected and disconnected, which, I
think, enable us to supply the void of written documents in a manner
that will carry conviction.
The period in question begins with the solid background of the
Pentarchy. It ends with the solid foreground of the Christian
Heptarchy. The problem before the student is not merely to fill up the
intervening space with a random collection of traditional material,
but to find out by what stages and through what causes the
transformation took place; how a central monarchy came into being; how
Ulster was broken up into three distinct realms; how Leinster
contracted from two great kingdoms into one; how the new and powerful
kingdom of Meath was established; and how Munster grew to about twice
its ancient extent.
Our old native historians did not concern themselves with accounting
for anything. Their chief model was Eusebius, and Eusebius was content
to give lists of kings with the length of each king's reign as the
sole history of various realms of antiquity throughout centuries. So
the only consecutive history we find of Ireland before St. Patrick's
time consists in like manner of regnal lists with little bits of
anecdotal matter added here and there. Even these regnal lists are not
authentic. They are made up artificially from pedigrees, and I have
already shown that the method was so recklessly artificial as to make
a king out of a misread note to one of the pedigrees. Even the oldest
written history of Ireland extant follows this method. It does not
indeed extend the Irish monarchy back to the Gaelic invasion. It
declares the authentic history of Ireland to begin with the foundation
of Emain Macha, dated 305 B.C., and it begins the Tara monarchy in
A.D. 46. But from this date onward it gives the succession of the
high-kings, and that succession is one of a kind unknown in the
historical period. It is a succession from father to son, which is
contrary to the known custom of all the insular Celts, in Ireland,
Wales, and Scotland. In other words, it is again merely a pedigree
converted into a dynastic succession.
When a single pedigree is utilised in this way, the fact is easily
discovered. Later historians adopted a less obvious artifice, and one
at the same time which made their account more widely acceptable. They
shortened the reigns of the kings in the earlier history so as to
leave gaps between them, and into these gaps they inserted names from
other pedigrees besides that of the Tara monarchs. They took these
names in turn from the genealogies of the kings of Munster, Leinster,
Oriel, etc., and thus, by giving every part of Ireland a share in the
monarchy, they produced a regnal history which was flattering in an
all-round way and which succeeded in relegating the earlier device to
comparative oblivion.
I had become familiar with this plan of transforming pedigrees into
regnal lists before I first read Buchanan's history of Scotland. In
that book I found a list of forty-three kings who reigned over
Scotland before Fergus of Dal Riada went over from Ireland. All the
names seemed strange. They were apparently Latinised from some other
language, the history being written in Latin. Were they invented, like
the names in "Gulliver's Travels," or, if not, where were they found?
Can it be, I asked myself, that the Scottish historians, like the
Irish, filled the vacuum out of pedigrees? And if so, out of what
pedigrees? Now it is a matter of historical record that, on the
inauguration of a king of Scotland, a part of the ceremony consisted
in the recitation of his pedigree, and this custom was kept up until
the Dal Riada line died out with Alexander III in 1285. Therefore, I
argued, the pedigree most familiar to an early Scottish historian was
that of the kings of Dal Riada. I turned up this pedigree in the Irish
genealogies and my conjecture was confirmed. Scotland and Ireland are
all along agreed that Fergus MacEirc, an Irish prince, settled in
Scotland and founded there a new kingdom and dynasty. But the
forty-three kings of Scotland named before Fergus are nevertheless the
forty-three ancestors of Fergus, from father to son, in the Irish
genealogy. The list comprises names so well known in Irish story as
Ederscél, that Munster king, whose death is said to account for the
forfeiture of Leinster territory to Munster; his son Conaire Mór,
whose tragic fate is told in the story of Da Derga's Hostel; and the
younger Conaire, son of Mugh Lámha, who also figures in the Irish
hero-lore. All these and their forefathers, up to the eponymous Iar,
head of the Ivernian stock, figure one after another in the artificial
history of the first Scottish dynasty beyond the sea.
Let us get away then from such unprofitable material and let us see
what comes to us in the guise of traditions of substance. We start off
from the Pentarchy and the Ulster cycle. The Ulster stories have for
their main basis the hostile relations between Ulster and Connacht.
Being Ulster stories, they do not prolong their scope beyond a time in
which Ulster has generally the best of it. Ulster's mishaps merely
serve to heighten the effect, which is Ulster's heroism and victory.
It was when this time of glory was but a memory, when Emain was a
deserted site and the remnant of the Ulaidh occupied only a tiny
fraction of their former territory, that these stories took their
present shape and were committed to writing. We have to turn to
another set of traditions, to those connected with the monarchical
kindred of historical time, to learn how things developed from the
stage depicted in the Ulster tales.
The course of development will be more clearly followed if it is
stated in summary beforehand. The hostile relations between Ulster
and Connacht continued, but the kings of Connacht grew gradually more
powerful. They extended their power step by step over central-eastern
Ireland, the ancient Fifth of North Leinster, and then step by step
over all Ulster except what is now comprised in the counties of Down
and Antrim. Upon the increase of power thus acquired they established
a hegemony or primacy over all Ireland. This primacy found its
definite expression in the institution of the high-kingship or
Monarchy.
The first stage in the process was the occupation of Uisneach by
Tuathal Teachtmhar. Who was this Tuathal? According to the genealogies
he was sixth in descent from Eochu Feidlech, who was the father of
Medb, queen of Connacht. Accepting Medb's date as fixed or estimated
by all our ancient writers, she flourished just at the commencement of
the Christian Era. Tuathal was five generations later, and from dated
Irish pedigrees we can calculate an average of almost exactly three
generations to a century. Tuathal therefore would have flourished in
the third quarter of the second century, say between A.D. 150 and A.D.
175. Exact dates are assigned to him in the extant regnal lists, but
these lists do not agree with each other, and it is safer to rely on
the law of averages. Tuathal, we are told, set up a new kingdom for
himself around Uisneach. The territory surrounding Uisneach was part
of the old Fifth of North Leinster. Consequently the alliance of the
Four Great Fifths against Ulster was no longer operative. Tuathal was
a prince of the Connacht dynasty, and his occupation of Uisneach was
an invasion of North Leinster and the first stage in the break-up of
the Pentarchy.
With regard to Tuathal we are told that before his birth the
Rent-paying tribes throughout Ireland revolted against the Gaelic
ascendancy and overthrew it. Tuathal's mother fled to Britain and in
Britain he was born. By the time he came of age the revolution had
spent its force and a reaction set in. Tuathal returned to Ireland, by
some he was welcomed, others he overcame by force, and he became the
strongest king in Ireland. It was then that he took possession of
Uisneach.
It is difficult to know what exactly to make of this story of a
plebeian revolution. In its actual terms, the story is full of
improbabilities, and reads like a fairy tale for children. Another
difficulty about it is that a similar story is told of Tuathal's
grandfather. There is no inherent improbability in the main fact of
the story, the occurrence of a plebeian revolution which for a time
displaced the Gaelic ascendancy, and the occurrence of a subsequent
complete reaction. Something like it happened in France little more
than a century ago and in England under Oliver Cromwell. The
occurrence of a revolution and the successful survival of the Connacht
dynasty may help us to understand how the kings of Connacht were able
afterwards to make such headway not only against their ancient rivals
in Ulster but against their former allies in North Leinster; that is,
if we understand that Connacht was less shaken and weakened by the
revolution than the other provinces were. Again, in the Ulster
stories, we hardly hear of the existence of the Picts in Ulster; they
are completely dominated by the Ulaidh. But when Ireland emerges into
the full light of written history, we find the Picts a very powerful
people in east Ulster, Cuailnge itself, the home of the Brown Bull,
and the neighbouring plain of Muirtheimhne, Cú Chulainn's patrimony,
being now Pictish territory. This may well have been the consequence
of some such revolution as the story indicates.
The next stage is the occupation of Tara, the old capital of North
Leinster, by Cormac, who is fourth in descent from Tuathal, and who
should therefore have flourished in the period A.D. 275-300, a time
corresponding closely enough with that to which the regnal lists
assign him. The fact of the annexation of Tara and the surrounding
region, the territory of Brega, is always glossed over by our old
historians. This tacit treatment may perhaps be explained. In their
histories generally, the monarchy goes back to the Gaelic invasion,
and Tara is the seat of the monarchs in remote antiquity, as it
actually was in the early Christian period. This location of the
monarchy in Tara from time immemorial, like the assumed existence of
such a monarchy, exemplifies a very common tendency, the tendency to
project the known present into the unknown past.
The fact of the annexation of Tara and eastern Meath underlies the
story of the Battle of Crinna. The cause of this battle, as stated,
was the continued hostility of the Ulstermen to king Cormac's line.
One king after another of this line, which, be it remembered, was the
Connacht dynasty and still ruled over Connacht, had fallen in fight
with the Ulster enemy. Cormac had forced Ulster to give him hostages.
Such hostages were by custom honourably entertained according to their
rank. The Ulster hostages sat at Cormac's own table. So unsubdued was
their spirit that on one occasion they did the king the gross affront
of setting fire to his beard. After this, Ulster again took up arms
and drove Cormac out of Meath, forcing him to take refuge in his
native realm of Connacht. There he gathered his forces and took a
Munster prince, Tadhg, son of Cian, into alliance. This Tadhg figures
in the genealogies as being the ancestor of a group of dynastic
families which in later times ruled over certain states of Connacht,
Meath and Ulster, the Luighni, Gaileanga, Cianachta, etc. These
states, when we trace them back as far as possible, are native to
Connacht; their branches in Meath and Ulster are frontier colonies
planted to guard the conquests of the Connacht kings. Tadhg macCéin,
in the story, is the personification of these colonies.
Before going into battle, Tadhg made a compact with Cormac the king.
They agreed that, if Tadhg came off victorious, Cormac would grant him
as much territory as he could ride around in his chariot on the day of
victory.
In the battle of Crinna, Tadhg engaged the Ulstermen and completely
defeated them. He himself was sorely wounded. He mounted his chariot
and set out to ride around the territory he desired to win for
himself and his descendants, and he commanded the charioteer to take
such a course as to bring Tara within the circuit. Then, overcome with
loss of blood from his many wounds, he fell into a swoon and lay
unconscious in the chariot.
King Cormac had foreseen that Tadhg would try to get possession of
Tara. He desired Tara for himself, and he bribed the charioteer to
leave Tara out of the circuit of the ride. At intervals during the
ride, Tadhg awoke from his swoon and on each occasion he asked the
charioteer "Have we brought in Tara?" and the charioteer answered "Not
yet." At nightfall, Tadhg came to his senses and saw that they had
reached the banks of the Liffey near Dublin. "Have we brought in
Tara?" he asked again. The charioteer could not answer yes. Tadhg saw
that he had been cheated, and he slew the charioteer.
Now the territory that fell to Tadhg's share in the story extended
along the coast from Ardee to Dublin and inland along the northern
frontier of Meath to Loch Ramor--and these territories in later times
were occupied by the Connacht colonies whose rulers claimed descent
from Tadhg. Roughly speaking the whole stretch of country forms an L
inverted and in the angle of this L stands Tara the ancient capital of
North Leinster, but henceforth the capital of Cormac's kingdom.
Except this story of the Battle of Crinna, there is no other story or
even title of a story known to me which explains how Tara ceased to be
the seat of the North Leinster kings and passed into the possession of
the kings of Connacht and Uisneach. There is no other account which
explains why or how the Leinster frontier, which formerly lay along
the Boyne and the Blackwater, was afterwards pushed back to the Liffey
and the Rye. The territory which fell to Tadhg was partly Ulster
territory and partly Leinster territory. Yet in the story itself,
there is no mention of Leinster and Cormac's only enemies were the
Ulstermen. The story, which in its extant form belongs to a very late
period, is evidently defective. It is written in conformity with the
theory that the Monarchy existed before the Pentarchy and that Tara
was the seat of the Monarchy from time immemorial. Consequently it
ignores what we may call the Leinster aspect of the matter, and the
conflict seems to be altogether between Cormac and Ulster. Ulster lost
land on the north side of the Boyne, and this conquered territory,
under the compact, fell to the share of Tadhg. The underlying notion,
in this episode of the chariot-ride, is obviously that the victor is
to be rewarded with a share of the spoils. If, then, the conquered
part of Ulster formed part of his reward, and if in the same bargain
he gained part of Leinster between the Boyne and the Liffey, and if he
expected to gain Tara, we must, I think, infer that this part of
Leinster and Tara likewise were no less conquered territory than the
piece of Ulster that fell to Tadhg.
Therefore, there should have been an earlier version of the story, now
lost, which showed that not Ulster alone but North Leinster also
resisted Cormac and suffered defeat from him and his ally. Such an
account would explain, what remains a complete blank, so far as I
know, in this traditional history, how the dynasty of North Leinster
came to an end and how Tara and Bregia, south as well as north of the
Boyne, passed into the possession of the kings of Connacht and
Uisneach.
The reign of Cormac is regarded in our earliest histories as an epoch
in Irish history. This, I think, was because it marked the end of the
Pentarchy and the rise of the Monarchy seated at Tara.
The next stage in the growth of the Connacht power brings us to the
overthrow of the Ulster kingdom and the conquest of the greater part
of Ulster. In the century after Cormac, his descendant Muiredach
Tireach becomes king of Tara. Muiredach, we are told, in his youth
took command for his father, Fiacha Sroibhtine, king of Tara, and was
successful in establishing his father's authority in southern Ireland.
His uncles, the three Collas, became jealous of his success. The young
prince, they said, will be chosen king when his father dies, and we
shall be shut out from the succession. They then conspired to
overthrow their brother and win the kingship for one of themselves
while Muiredach was still absent in the South. They raised an army
against the king. Fiacha consulted his druid. The druid answered: You
have two alternatives. You can be victorious. If you are, the kingship
will pass from your son and your descendants. But if you are defeated
and slain, your son and your posterity will rule Ireland. It is the
symbol in Irish story of the Triumph of Failure. The king said, Then
I choose defeat and death. The three Collas were victorious, the king
fell in the fight. Then all Ireland arose against the victors.
Muiredach was chosen king, and the Collas were banished over the sea.
They dwelt in exile for some years in Britain, but the guilt of their
brother's blood oppressed their souls, and at last they said, We can
bear it no longer, we shall go back to Ireland and lay down our lives
for our crime. The young king forgave them and took them to his
favour. After this, they spoke to him one day and said: Though thou
and we are at peace, our sons will grow up and contend with thy sons
for the kingship. Give us a kingdom for ourselves and our posterity.
It shall be so, said the king. What part of Ireland will you give us?
said they. The Ulstermen, said the king, have ever been hostile
towards me and towards our fathers. Go and conquer their kingdom, and
it shall be yours.
The Collas then went to Connacht, which was still the homeland of the
new Tara dynasty, raised an army there, invaded Ulster, were
victorious, and captured the Ulster capital. The conquered territory
comprised the present counties of Armagh, Monaghan, Tyrone, and the
greater part of Fermanagh and Derry.
I wish to dwell on the fact that the conquerors were princes of the
Connacht dynasty, then ruling also in Tara. Their army was drawn from
Connacht. In fact, all this chain of events is the direct sequel of
the old rivalry between Connacht and Ulster that forms the basis of
Táin Bó Cuailnge and the Ulster cycle in general. The inhabitants of
the conquered parts of Ulster got the significant name of Airgialla,
Oirghialla, "the eastern subjects." In relation to Meath and Tara,
they were northern not eastern subjects. The name Airgialla then is
based on the fact that the conquering power at the time when the name
came into use was still regarded as the western power, its home was
Connacht.
Thus ended the Fifth of Ulster. Let us see what was happening
meanwhile in southern Ireland. In Munster, under the Pentarchy, the
kings of the Érainn or Iverni held rule. In St. Patrick's time, these
no longer ruled in Munster. The kings of Munster belonged to a
distinct line, called the Eoghanachta. Their capital was no longer in
the west. It was Cashel, not far from the eastern border of their
kingdom and in territory formerly part of Leinster. To the original
extent of the Munster Fifth had been added in the meantime the
counties of Clare and Tipperary, a small part of Limerick, and the
larger part of Waterford, making the bounds of Munster almost but not
exactly what they are at present.
In face of the growing power of the kings of Connacht, how it came
about that Clare was detached from Connacht and added to Munster, I
cannot explain to my own satisfaction, beyond saying that, within a
smaller scope, the Eoghanacht kings of Munster became even more
powerful than the kings of Connacht and ruled over a more firmly
consolidated realm. During the early Christian centuries, before the
Norse invasions, Munster appears to have enjoyed greater tranquillity
than any other realm in Western Europe. The genealogies show that
there was an early Eoghanacht settlement in the Clare area, called
Eoghanacht Ninuis, and another, still called Eoghanacht, in the island
of Arainn Mhór, to the north of Clare.
There were at least two accounts in ancient story of the transfer of
Clare to Munster. The time of this event differs by centuries in the
two stories, and I shall not endeavour to reconcile them or to choose
between them. There are three distinct accounts of the eastern
annexation from South Leinster. The only one of these that is full and
explanatory, and that fits with the known later stage of things, is
the account connected with the Migration of the Déisi.
Let it be noted that Cashel, the seat of the Munster kings in
Christian times, stands outside of ancient Munster. Keating relates an
ancient story telling how Cashel was "discovered" in the time of Corc,
king of Munster, _i.e._, about A.D. 400, and got a new name. This new
name was a Latin one, for Caiseal is the Irish representative of the
Latin word _castellum_, "fortress." These things show how late was the
use of Cashel as the seat of Munster sovereignty.
What and whence was this new ruling power in Munster, the Eoghanachta?
Their genealogies show that at one time they were worshippers of a god
named Segomo--one of their ancestors is named Nia Segomon, "Segomo's
champion." This god Segomo is unknown to Irish tradition, in which his
name is never found outside of the Eoghanacht genealogy. He was
known, however, and worshipped in Gaul, where he is commemorated in
several inscriptions of the Roman period. He was a war-god and is
equated, according to the fashion of Roman Gaul, with the Latin god
Mars--"Deus Mars Segomo." The descendants of Segomo's Champion are
named in three Ogham inscriptions, all found in the district of
Dungarvan and Ardmore, on the southern seaboard. The indications
therefore are that the Eoghanachta represent a relatively late Gaulish
settlement in that part of Ireland. The story of the Déisi Migration
mentions several bodies of Gaulish settlers.
The Migration of the Déisi is an evident sequel of the conquest of
Tara and eastern Meath under Cormac. Déisi means "vassal communities."
These particular vassal communities dwelt around Tara, and were
possibly identical with the Luaighni, who formed the chief fighting
force of North Leinster in Cú Chulainn's time. They quarrelled with
Cormac, we are told, and he drove them, or a large part of them, out
of Meath. They migrated in two bodies. One body crossed the sea and
settled in southern Wales where the descendants of their princes still
held sway in the eighth century. The other body settled for a time in
Leinster.
Later on this Leinster section entered into an alliance with the
Eoghanacht king, Oengus, whose queen was the daughter of their chief.
By their aid, Oengus conquered what is now the south-eastern part of
Munster, and he settled the Déisi as frontier colonists on the
conquered territory. Oengus flourished in St. Patrick's time, the
second and third quarter of the fifth century.
The loss of the large territories about the Boyne and the Suir reduced
Leinster to much smaller dimensions. What remained of the two ancient
Fifths was now united in one kingdom, ruled over by the line of the
ancient kings of South Leinster. This reduction and unification means
the final passing away of the Pentarchy described in the Ulster tales.
The seat of the Leinster kings is no longer either Tara or Dinn Riogh,
but Ailinn, which lies between them, on the southern side of the
Curragh of Kildare.
The Connacht kings continued, however, to extend their conquests and
their power. A grandson of Muiredach Tirech was king of Tara at the
beginning of the fifth century (_c._ A.D. 400), Niall of the Nine
Hostages. His brother, Brión (or Brian) took possession of a
south-western section of Ulster, comprising a large part of the
counties of Leitrim and Cavan, afterwards called Brian's Land--Tír
Briúin. Three sons of Niall took possession of what remained of
western Ulster, now comprised in the county of Donegal. Their names
were Eoghan, Conall, and 'Enda, and the territories occupied by them
were called Eoghan's Land, Conall's Land, and 'Enda's land.
Another son of Niall, named Coirbre, obtained a piece of Leinster, now
the barony of Carbury in Co. Kildare.
The Connacht dynasty and its branches now ruled over the northern half
of Ireland, with the exception of the eastern seaboard region from
Ardee to the Giant's Causeway. It ruled in Tara, and its chief kings
were recognised also as Monarchs of Ireland.
The Connacht power, after the time of Niall, was regarded as
comprising three chief divisions--the kingdom of Connacht, the
Airgialla, and the territory of the descendants of Niall (Uí Néill).
All Leinster was laid under tribute to them, and a note in the Book of
Leinster says that this Leinster tribute was divided equally among the
three sections. This subdivision of the Connacht power, in my opinion,
was what gave rise to the ancient term _Teora Connachta_, "the Three
Connachts"--a term which seems to have caused some trouble for its
explanation to writers of a later age.
An unpublished tract in the Book of Lecan, also found in the
introductory part of the Book of Genealogies by MacFir Bhisigh, tells
us that during this period, the succession to the Monarchy was
regulated in this way: On the death of the Ardri, the king of Connacht
took his place as king of Tara. A new king of the same family was
elected in Connacht, and this process went on during several
generations. Niall was king of Connacht first, of Tara afterwards. And
so, in like manner, the high kingship was filled from Connacht until
the death of Ailill Molt in A.D. 483 or thereabouts.
The two facts, then, that explain the transformation of the Pentarchy
at the beginning of the Christian Era into the Monarchy and seven
principal kingdoms of St. Patrick's time, are these: In the northern
half of Ireland, the gradual conquest achieved by the Connacht
dynasty; in southern Ireland, the rise of a new power, that of the
Eoghanacht kings, centred in Cashel. Along with the direct control of
northern Ireland, the Connacht dynasty obtained predominance over the
country in general, and this predominance found its natural expression
in the high kingship.
Between the establishment of the Connacht dynasty in East Meath and in
Tara, the ancient seat of the North Leinster kings, and the overthrow
of the Ulster kingdom, there is a period of more than half a century,
during which the Ulster power stood at bay. Of this state of things we
have a very remarkable record, not written on paper, but graven on the
face of the country. The Ulster kings endeavoured to defend themselves
against further aggression by fortifying their entire frontier except
where it was already protected by strong natural obstacles such as
lakes, forests or broad rivers. Linking these natural barriers they
raised a massive earthern rampart which, with these barriers, formed a
continuous line of defences from the Irish Sea on the east to Donegal
Bay on the west. Details of the extant remains of this Great Wall of
Ulster and of the popular traditions connected with it will be found
in Mr. Kane's paper on the Black Pig's Dyke in the Proceedings of the
Royal Irish Academy. These details I am able to supplement with
others, but it would be out of place to go into particulars in such a
historical sketch as the present. What I wish to bring under special
notice is this--that the Ulster frontier was fortified alike against
Meath and Connacht--a further illustration of the fact that during
that period Meath and Connacht were politically united under one
dynastic power.