How The Warlike Old Irish Conquered Foreign Lands

From the remotest times the Irish had a genius for war and a love of

fighting; and if it fell within the scope of this narrative, it would be

easy to show that these features in our character have come down to the

present day. For good or for bad, we are, and always have been, a fighting

race.



In old times the 'Scots'--as the Irish were then called--were well known

for their warlike qualities, and very mu h dreaded; so that fabulous

rumours regarding them ran among some of the people of the Continent. One

Latin writer tells us that Irish mothers were wont to present the first

food on the point of a sword to their newly-born male infants, as a sort

of dedication to war. This is certainly an invention, for it is not

mentioned in our own records; but it indicates the character the Irish

people had earned for themselves abroad. They fought a great deal too much

among themselves at home; but in this respect they were not a bit worse

than the English people at the time of the Heptarchy or than the

Continental nations of the same period.



That the old Irish should be warlike is only what we might expect; seeing

that they were in great measure descended from the Continental Gauls, who

in ancient times were renowned as warriors and conquerors. But mighty as

the Gauls were, and though they were at least as brave as the Romans, they

were subdued in the end by superior discipline, when Julius Caesar invaded

them. And so with the old Irish. Though they were fierce and strong, and

taken man for man quite a match for the Anglo-Normans, they were forced,

after a long struggle, to yield to science, skill, and discipline, when

they were invaded by that people--then the greatest warriors in the world.



The Irish were not content with fighting at home, but made themselves

formidable in foreign lands. Their chief foreign conquests were in Wales

and Scotland; but they frequently found their way to the Continent. Irish

literature of every kind abounds in records of foreign raids, invasions,

and inter-marriages; and in many particulars these native accounts are

borne out by authorities that no one questions, namely, Roman classical

writers, whenever they find occasion to touch on these matters.



Those who have read the early history of England will remember that the

Picts and Scots, marching southwards from the Scottish Highlands, gave

much trouble, year after year, for a long period, to the Romans and

Britons. The Picts were the people of Scotland at the time; and the Scots

were the Irish, who, crossing over to Alban or Scotland in their curragh

fleets, joined the Picts in their formidable raids southwards. We know

all this, not only from our own native historians, but also from Roman

writers, who tell us how the Romans had often to fight in Britain against

the Scots from Ireland.



In order to protect the British people against these two fierce nations,

the Romans, at different intervals in the second and third centuries,

built great walls or ramparts from sea to sea, between Britain and Alban,

of which the ruins are still to be seen: one beginning at the Frith of

Clyde and another at the Solway Frith.



For several hundred years--from the third to the sixth century, and even

after--the Irish streamed continually to Scotland across the narrow sea.

The first of these migrations of which we have reliable accounts

originated in a famine, exactly as the great exodus of our own day from

Ireland to America was set going by the terrible famine of 1847. And this

migration is related partly by old Irish writers, and partly by the great

English historian, the Venerable Bede.



The famine in question fell on Munster early in the third century, so that

numbers of people were forced to leave the province. One particular chief

led a great host of fighting men, with their families, northwards, till

they reached the extreme district now known as the county Antrim. Here

they divided: and while one part remained in Ireland (i.e., in Antrim),

the other part, under the same leader mentioned above, crossed over to

Alban or Scotland, where they settled down. From this time forward, there

was a continual migration, year after year, from the northern coast to

Scotland, till, after the lapse of about three centuries, occurred the

greatest invasion of all, led by the three brothers, Fergus, Angus, and

Lorne, in the year 503.



It has been already related in our Histories of Ireland, and need not be

repeated in detail here, how these colonists ultimately mastered the

country, over which their first king, Fergus, ruled; how they gave

Scotland its name; how the subsequent kings of Scotland were the direct

descendants of Fergus; and how from him again, through the Stuarts,

descend, in one of their lines of pedigree, our present royal family.



At about the same period the Irish mastered and peopled the Isle of Man;

and for centuries there was constant intercourse between the parent people

of the north-east coast of Ireland and this little colony. Though the

Norsemen wrested the sovereignty of the island from them in the ninth

century, they did not succeed in displacing either the Gaelic people or

their language. The best possible proof that the Irish colonised and held

possession of Man for ages is the fact that the Manx language is nothing

more than Irish Gaelic, slightly changed by lapse of time. There are also

still to be seen all over the island Irish buildings and monuments, mixed

up, however, with many of Norse origin; and the great majority of both the

place-names and the native family-names are Gaelic.



In our old historical books we have accounts of migrations of Irish people

to Wales, some as invaders intending to return, some as colonists

purposing to settle and remain. At this time the Romans were masters of

England and Wales, but they were not as mighty a people in the fourth

century as they had been previously; for on the Continent the northern

barbarians were pressing on them everywhere; and in Britain the Picts and

Scots, as we have said, kept continually harassing them from the north.



These raids became at last so intolerable, that the Roman government sent

an able general named Theodosius (father of the emperor Theodosius the

Great) to Britain to check them. At the very time that Theodosius was in

Britain, a brave and strong-handed king reigned in Tara, named Criffan

(A.D., 366 to 379), who on several occasions invaded Britain, and took

possession of large tracts, so that he is called in our old records

"Criffan the Great, king of Ireland, and of Albion to the British

Channel." The Roman historians tell us that Theodosius succeeded in

beating back the Picts and Scots, and even chased them out to sea, in

which there is probably some exaggeration, as there is, no doubt, on the

part of our own historians in calling Criffan "King of Albion to the

British Channel."



Criffan was succeeded by Niall of the Nine Hostages (A.D. 379 to 405), who

was still more distinguished for foreign conquests than his predecessor.

He invaded Britain on a more extensive and formidable scale than had yet

been attempted, and swept over a large extent of country, bringing away

immense booty and whole crowds of captives, but was at length forced to

retreat by the valiant Roman general Stilicho. On this occasion a Roman

poet, praising Stilicho, says of him--speaking as Britannia:--"By him was

I protected when the Scot [i.e., Niall] moved all Ireland against me,

and the ocean foamed with their hostile oars."



For the extensive scale of these terrible raids we have the testimony of

the best possible authority--St. Patrick--who, in his "Confession,"

speaking of the expedition in which he himself was taken captive (probably

that led by Niall), says:--"I was about sixteen years of age, when I was

brought captive into Ireland with many thousand persons."



The preceding were warlike raids; but no doubt, while the main body of the

host returned on each occasion to their homes in Ireland, large numbers

remained and settled down in Wales. But we have an account of at least one

expedition undertaken with the direct object of colonising. In the third

century, a powerful tribe called the Desii, who occupied the territory of

Deece, near Tara, were expelled from the district by King Cormac Mac

Art, for a serious breach of law. Part of these went to Munster, and

settled in a territory which still bears their name, the barony of Decies,

in Waterford. Another part, crossing over to Wales under one of their

leaders, took possession of a district called Dyfed, where they settled

down and kept themselves distinct as an immigrant tribe, speaking their

own language for generations, till at length they were absorbed by the

more numerous population around them, just as, many centuries later, the

Anglo-Normans who came to Ireland were absorbed by the Irish.



We are told in Cormac's Glossary that in those times it was quite a usual

thing for Irish chiefs to own two territories, one in Ireland and the

other in Wales; and that they visited and lived in each by turns, as

suited their convenience or pleasure. And the Irish chiefs often crossed

over to receive the tributes due to them from their Welsh possessions.



Plain marks and tokens of these migrations and settlements exist in Wales

at the present day, as we are told by eminent Welsh writers who have

examined the question. Numerous places are still called after Irishmen,

as, for instance, Holyhead, of which the Welsh name means the 'Rocks of

the Gaels.' The Irish, wherever they settled down in Wales, built for

themselves circular forts, as was their custom at home in Ireland. Many of

these remain to this day, and are called 'Irishmen's Cottages.' Moreover,

the present spoken Welsh language contains a number of Irish words,

borrowed by the people from their Irish neighbours in days of old. All

this we are told--as already stated--by several great Welsh scholars.