Under the term _war_, mankind have from time immemorial included those
acts which the more enlightened nations of modern days have designated
by the name of _piracy_, a word derived from the Greek _peirao_. The
primary sense is _to dare_, _to attempt_, &c., as, _to rush_, and _drive
forward_, &c.; used in a bad sense, as to attempt a thing contrary to
good morals and contrary to law, and now mostly applied to acts of
violence on the high seas, &c.; the same acts on land being called
_robbery_, &c. These acts of violence have generally been founded on the
desire of plunder, and in all ages have been recognised as good cause of
war against those nations or tribes who upheld and practised them. Such
piratical war has ever been considered contrary to the laws of God and
repugnant to civilized life; and it may be with the strictest truth
asserted that those nations and tribes of people whom God devoted to
destruction, and also those of whom he permitted the Jews to make
slaves, were distinguished for such predatory excursions. The first
account we have of any such predatory war is found in Genesis. True, it
is said, they had been subject to Chedorlaomer twelve years, and
rebelled, but the manner in which he and his allies carried on the war
leaves sufficient evidence of its character, even if they had not
disturbed Lot and his household; and it may be well here remarked, that
the original parties to this war were of the black races; in fact,
progenitors of the very people who were denominated by Moses as the
_heathen round about_.
The second instance of this kind of warfare we find carried on by the
sons of Jacob against the Hivites. True, they professed to be actuated
by a spirit of revenge for the dishonour of Dinah. They put all the
adult males to death, made slaves of the women and children, and
possessed themselves of all the wealth of Shechem, for which they were
reprimanded by Jacob. Their conduct upon this occasion was in conformity
to the usages of the heathen tribes who knew not God, and, if persisted
in, must have ultimately just as necessarily been fraught with their own
destruction and extinction from the earth. And this was no doubt one of
the many crimes that gave proof of their deep degradation, and which
finally sunk them in slavery. The heathen tribes in all ages have ever
been characterized by this kind of warfare, however truly and often the
more civilized portions of the world may have been obnoxious to similar
charges. The doctrine is, that where such predatory war essentially
exists against a people, they, finding no other efficient remedy, are
authorized by the laws of God to make war a remedy, to repel force by
force, to destroy and kill until they overcome, and, as the case may be,
to subjugate and govern or reduce to slavery. And the laws of modern
civilized nations regulating the conduct of belligerants are merely an
amelioration; but give evidence that such belligerants are already
elevated above those grades of human life which look to subjugation and
slavery as the only termination of war. But the condition of man, in
this higher state of mental and religious improvement, is none the less
governed by the laws of Divine power, influencing and adapted to his
improved state. _Corollary_: When the time shall come, that all men
shall live in strict conformity to the laws of God, war shall cease from
the earth, and slavery be no more known; and at that time the Lord will
“turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the
name of the Lord,” to serve him with one consent. “Then from beyond the
rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed,
(_phut_) shall bring mine offering.” _Zeph._ iii. 9, 10.
We have heretofore alluded to the idolatrous barbarians of the north of
Europe and to their inroads upon the more civilized regions of the
south. It may be well to take some further notice of these people, to
mark the influence of their predatory wars on the morals of those times,
and of the influences of the church in counteracting and ameliorating
their effect on the character and condition of the Christian world.
Their religion was cast upon the model of their savage appetite: easily
excited by the love of conquest and plunder, their minds were still
further inflamed by their bards, who promised them, after death, daily
combats of immortal fury, with glittering weapons and fiery steeds, in
the immediate presence of their supreme god, Oden. The wounds of these
conflicts were to be daily washed away by the waters of life.
Congregated in the great hall of their deity, seated upon the skulls of
those they had slain in battle, they spent each night in celebrating in
song the victories they had won, refreshing themselves with strong drink
out of the skulls on which they rested, while they feasted on the
choicest morsels of the victims they had sacrificed to their gods.
Constantine, having succeeded to the throne of the Roman Empire,
transferred his court to Constantinople. This, a notable step in the
downfall of Rome, was followed by his dividing his dominions between
three sons and two nephews. The imperial power thus partitioned away,
the northern nations, who had been subjected to her rule, no longer
regarded Rome as a sovereign power over them: at once the German tribes,
among whom were the Franks, overran Gaul: the Picts and Saxons broke
into Britain, and the Sarmatians into Hungary. The spirit of war was let
loose. As early as the time of the Christian era, scattered from the
Caucasus to the north-eastern Pacific, were numerous tribes whom the
all-conquering arm of Rome had never reached. Cradled amidst precipitous
mountains, savage and wild scenery, howling tempests or eternal snows,
the form of their minds and the character of their religion associated
with the region of their birth.
Europe has given some of them the appellation, Vandals, Sueves, Alans,
Sclavas, Goths, Huns, Tartars, and Veneti. Restless as the elements of
their native clime, their leaders ever showed themselves striving for
dominion and thirsty for power. Pushing westward, one upon the other,
they became somewhat amalgamated in the north of Europe, under the
general term of Scandinavians, yet receiving new cognomens or retaining
their old as fancy or knowledge of them suggested; yet, in the middle
and south of Europe, they were as commonly known by the appellation of
Northmen. The most of these people were emphatically warlike and savage.
The world possessed no one power sufficiently strong to restrain them.
Italy was overrun and Rome itself was captured by the Goths, under
Alaric—then by the Herulians, under Odoacer. They in turn were subdued
by Theodoric the Ostrogoth—then by the Lombards from Brandenburg, who
established a more permanent government. But they, in turn, yielded to
the power of the Franks, under Charlemagne, who entered Rome in triumph,
and was crowned Emperor of the West, as elsewhere noted by us.
Up to the time of Charlemagne, the Northmen were excited to war, not
alone by their love of liberty and a desire to extend their possessions,
but also by their hatred to the Christians and their religion; and in
the countries further north, this prejudice existed until a much later
day. But we have only time to give an example of the character of their
inroads on the peace and prosperity of Europe. Scotland had been early
engaged in these conflicts. In June, 793, the Northumbrians were alarmed
by a large armament on their coast. These barbarians were permitted to
land without opposition. The plunder of the churches exceeded their
expectations, and their route was marked by the mangled carcasses of the
nuns, the monks, and the priests, whom they had massacred. Historians
have scarcely condescended to notice the misfortunes of other churches
than that of Lindesferne, which became a prey to these barbarians: their
impiety polluted the altars; their rapacity was rewarded by its gold and
silver ornaments. The monks endeavoured, by concealment, to elude their
cruelty; the greater number were discovered and slaughtered. If the
lives of the children were spared, they were sold into slavery. (See
Lingard.) In 800, these Northmen made an irruption on the German coast,
and carried off plunder and captives. They shortly visited France: a
large party entered the Loire, and fixed permanent quarters in the
island of Hero, and made their incursions thence. The French writers
describe them as now pushing in upon their northern coasts, carrying off
captives into slavery and loading their vessels with booty. In 841 they
entered the Seine, sacked and burned the monastery of St. Ouen, of
Jumieges, spared Fontenelle for a ransom, where the monks of St. Denys
paid them twenty-six pounds of silver for sixty-eight captives. For
nineteen days they ravaged both banks of the river. In 843, they again
entered the Loire, took Nantes, when the city was filled by the
inhabitants of the neighbouring country, celebrating the festival of St.
John, who retired with the bishop and clergy to the cathedral. The gates
were soon burst open, and a general slaughter ensued: loaded with booty
and captives, they retired to their ships. In 844, they sailed up the
Garonne, pillaged Toulouse, made an attempt on Gallicia in Spain, but
were repelled by the Saracens. In 845, Ragner Lodbroy, one of their
sea-kings, entered the Seine with twenty-six ships, and spread
consternation through the land, leaving, in their rear, Christians
hanging on trees, stakes, and even in their houses. They entered Paris,
when Charles the Bald, by the advice of his lords, paid them seven
thousand pounds of silver, and they swore by their gods to never
re-enter his kingdom except by his invitation. They ravaged the seacoast
on their return homeward, and were wrecked on the shores of Northumbria,
where Ragner and the survivors recommenced to plunder. They were
attacked by Aella, and Ragner slain. But a formidable fleet, under the
command of Ragner’s sons, was soon on the coast of the East Angles, and
marked their advances to Northumbria in lines of blood and ruin. Aella
fell into their hands, and was put to death with untold torture. This
incursion of Ragner is noticed by Voltaire, who says that Charles the
Bald paid him fourteen thousand marks in gold to retire from France, and
adds, in his “General History of Europe,” such payments to the Northmen
only induced them to continue these piratical incursions. That these
wars were most strictly piratical, not undertaken for the good of
mankind, but for plunder alone, we beg here to introduce some proof from
the early writers.
Adam of Bremen, who, about the year 1080, wrote his work entitled, “De
Situ Danae et Reliquarum, Septentrionalium,” says of the city of
“Lunden,” in the island Schönen—“It is a city in which there is much
gold, which is procured by those incursions on the barbarous nations on
the shores of the Baltic Sea, which are tolerated and encouraged by the
king of Denmark on account of the tribute he draws from them.” In proof
that Voltaire’s estimate of the influence of such payments to these
northern pirates was just, we advert to their inroads on Ethelred. Soon
after he ascended the throne, he was invaded by Sweyn, by some called
Sitric, and Olave, and paid them sixteen thousand pounds. Ten years
after, he was forced to pay these Northmen thirty thousand pounds, and
then, at the expiration of only four years, forty thousand pounds more;
each time the Northmen swearing by their gods to never trouble the
country again. Yet, twelve years after the last payment, the crown and
throne were transferred to Canute. We have an anonymous Latin author, a
contemporary of Canute, who informs us to what use these pirate lords
applied the vast sums thus procured. The book is entitled, “Emmæ
Anglorum Reginæ Encomium,”—The Encomium of Emma, the Queen of England.
She was the wife of Canute. Page 166, the author, describing the Danish
ships, says—“On the stern of the ships, lions of molten gold were to be
seen: on the mast-heads were either birds, whose turning showed the
change of the wind, or dragons of various forms, which threatened to
breathe out fire. There were to be seen human figures looking like life,
glittering with gold and silver; dolphins of precious metals, and
centaurs that brought to mind the ancient fables. But how shall I
describe the sides of the ships, which swelled out with gold and silver
ornaments! But the royal ship exceeded all the rest as far as the king
in appearance exceeded the common soldiers or people.” This author, in
the second book, describing the landing of the Danes, repeats and
says—“The ships were so splendid that they seemed a flame of fire, and
blinded the eyes of the beholders; the gold flamed on the sides, and
silver-work was mingled with it. Who could look upon the lions of gold?
Who on the human figures of electrum, (a mixture of gold and silver,)
their faces of pure gold? Who on the dragons, gleaming with brilliant
gold? Who could look on the carved oxen, that threatened death with
their golden horns? Who could look on all these things and not fear a
king possessed of so great power?” Jacobs’s “Inquiry into the Precious
Metals” attributes the accumulation of gold and silver, of which we have
seen a specimen among these northern barbarians, to the piracies of
these people. Helmodus, in his Sclavonic Chronicles, (_Chronican
Sclavicum_,) lib. iii., says the people of Denmark abounded in all
riches, the wealthy being clothed in all sorts of scarlet, in purple and
fine linen, (nunc non salum scarlatica vario grisio, sed purpurea et
bysso induntur;) and he further adds, “that this wealth is drawn from
the herring-fishery at the island of Schönen, whither traders of all
nations resorting, bring with them gold, silver, and other commodities,
for purchasing fish.” The fact was, that island became a place of great
resort by these pirates for supplies. But we return to sketch these
piracies:—In about the year 846, an immense body of Scandinavians
ascended the Elbe with six hundred vessels under their king Roric.
Hamburg was burned; they then poured down upon Saxony; but, having met
with a defeat, and just then learning the fate of Ragner, sent
messengers to Louis, king of Germany, sued for peace, and were permitted
to retire from the country upon their giving up their plunder and
releasing their captives. After leaving the Elbe, Roric went to the
Rhine and the Scheldt, destroyed all the monasteries as far as Ghent,
and the Emperor Lothaire, unable to subdue him, received him as his
vassal and gave him a large territory. In 850, Godfrey, another
chieftain, repulsed in an attack on England, sailed up the Seine, and,
after some successes, obtained from King Charles a permanent location
and territory about Beauvais. In 856, nearly all the coast of France,
and to the interior as far as Orleans, was overrun. The churches were
plundered, and captives carried away and enslaved. In Flanders, all the
chief men and prelates were either slain or in slavery. These pirates
circumnavigated Spain, amalgamated with the Moors of Africa; some
entered the Gulf of Lyons, and committed depredations in Provence and
Italy. All notions of peace, of justice, were wasting away, and the laws
of the monarchs and the canons of the councils began to exhibit the
ruins of morality. In 861, the Seine is again infested, and Paris
terrified. In 883, they poured themselves on both sides of the Rhine, as
high as Coblentz, where the Emperor Charles made a treaty with Godfrey
and gave him the duchy of Friesland. France was so much overrun by the
pagans, that thousands of Christians, to escape death or bondage,
publicly renounced their religion and embraced the pagan rites; and not
long after, Rollo, the grandfather of William the Conqueror, at the head
of his Scandinavian bands, took possession and held the dukedom of
Normandy, and forced Charles the Simple to bestow him Gisla his daughter
in marriage. In England, Alfred, placing himself at the head of his
faithful followers, subdued the Danes, who had overrun his kingdom; and
many of them, embracing the Christian religion, were adopted as subjects
of the realm. In 893, a fleet of three hundred and thirty sail
rendezvoused at Boulogne, under the command of Hastings, for the avowed
purpose of conquering for himself a kingdom in Britain. Three years he
contended against Alfred, who eventually subdued him, but restored to
him all the captives upon his promise to leave the island for ever.
Nor did Ireland escape the ravages of the Northmen. In 783, they landed
in the extreme north of the island, and burned the town and abbey of
_Dere Columb-kill_, the Londonderry of more modern times. Here the
_Hydaher-teagh_, the _chiefs of the oak habitations_, (the
_O'Dougherty’s_ of a latter day,) secured the record of their name in
the “_Book of Howth_.” But here the _Tuatha De Danaan_, the Darnii of
Ptolemy, washed out even the history of their race in the blood of
battle.
In 790, the Danes made a general assault upon this devoted island: in
797, wasted the island of Ragulin, devastated Holm Patrick, and carried
away captives, among whom was the sister of St. Findan, and, shortly
after, the saint himself. In 802, they burned the monastery of Hy: in
807, destroyed Roscommon, ravaged the country, and made captives and
slaves. In 812, they again burned Londonderry and its abbey; massacred
the students and the clergy; nor did they relax their attacks upon the
north of the island until, twenty years after, they were driven from the
place by Neil Calne, with most incredible slaughter. But yet the whole
island was infested by these northern marauders.
In 812, the Irish made a more determined resistance, and the Northmen,
after three defeats, escaped from the island. But, in 817, Turgesius,
with a large force, overran a large portion of the island, and a large
portion of the clergy, monks, and nuns were massacred, and many of the
inhabitants taken into captivity.
In 837, two large additional fleets arrived; one entered the Boyne, and
the other the Liffy. The masses which they poured upon the country
spread in all directions, committing every kind of excess.
In 848, Olchobair McKinde, king of Munster, uniting his troops with
those of Dorcan, king of Leinster, was encouraged by a succession of
victories over the pagans; yet the archbishop of Armagh and seven
hundred of his countrymen were made captive, and sent by Turgesius to
Limerick as slaves. But Melseachlin, king of Ireland, defeated Turgesius
and put him to death. The Irish now arose on every side and drove the
barbarians from the country. But yet, in 850, Dublin was invaded by a
band of Northmen, whom the Irish denominated _Fin-gal_, or white
strangers, and by another body, called _Dubh-gal_, or black strangers,
who took possession of Leinster and Ulster, and ravaged the country. In
853, a sea-king, named Amlave, _Auliffe_, or _Olave_, from Norway, with
two brothers, Sitric and Ivor, with large additional forces, arrived,
and was acknowledged chief of all the Northmen in the islands. He took
possession of Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford, which he enlarged and
improved, as if their possession was to be perpetual. But war not only
raged between them and the Irish, but the Irish and Danes were in
perpetual conflict, different parties of Danes with one another, and
discord and strife were constant among the Irish themselves. Carnage and
bloodshed, captivity and slavery everywhere covered the island.
In 860, Melseachlin, the king, defeated Auliffe with great slaughter;
but, recovering strength, he plundered and burned Armagh, and took a
large number of captives, who were sent away for slaves. In 884, Kildare
was plundered, and more than 300 sent away for slaves. In 892, Armagh
was again captured, and 800 captives sent to the ships. But, in quick
succession, Carrol, with Leinster forces, and Aloal Finia, with the men
of Bregh, defeated the Danes and retook Dublin, while in other parts of
the island the Northmen suffered great reverses; but in 914 we find them
again returned and in possession of Dublin and Waterford, but quickly
put to the sword by the Irish. Another division succeeded to plunder
Cork, Lismore, and Aghadoe; and, in 916, were again in Dublin, ravaged
Leinster, and killed Olioll, the king. In 919, they were attacked near
Dublin by Niell Glunndubh, king of Ireland. Their resistance was
desperate, under the command of the chiefs Ivor and Sitric: here fell
the Irish monarch, the choice nobility, and the flower of the army.
Donough revenged the death of the king, his father, and the barbarians
were again signally defeated; but we find them, in 921, under the
command of Godfrey, their king, in possession of Dublin, marching to and
plundering Armagh, and, for the first time, sparing the churches and the
officiating clergy. A predatory war, without decisive encounters, was
continued for more than twenty years, when they suffered two severe
defeats from Cougall II, in which their king, Blacar, and the most of
his army were slain. In——but the mind sickens, tires at these recitals;
a whole army is swept away, and, as if the ocean poured twice its
numbers on shore, whole centuries gave no relief. In short, we have a
continuation of these scenes of piratical war, until the power and
spirit of this restless race of the Northmen were broken at Clontarf,
near Dublin, on the 23d of April, 1014, where they suffered an
irrecoverable defeat from the Irish, under the command of Brian
Boroimhe.
Ireland did well to rejoice in the perfect overthrow of these ruthless
invaders; but here fell Brian, whom ninety winters had only nerved for
the conflict. Here fell his son Morogh, and his grandson Turlogh,
personifications of the rage of battle; here fell a numerous, almost the
entire, nobility; here fell Ireland’s valiant warriors in unnumbered
heaps. The voice of Ireland is yet sometimes heard, but it is the voice
of a broken heart; of complaint, of weakness, of weeping, and sadness.
In a review of these times and those that followed, the providence of
God may be traced by its final development. Where no mercy was, it is
infused by hope of gain; and the savage and the captured slave are led
to an equal elevation in the service of the altar of the God Jehovah.
The sacrifice of the Lamb is substituted for the victim of war in the
woods of Woden; while the proud flashes of the crescent of Islam became
dim before the continued ray of the Star of Bethlehem.
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