More recently Tom’s father fled Ireland after attacking his landlords property. Whether true or not the stories illustrate a sense of identity closely linked to Ireland something common among Irish Americans. However the topic of conversation in the house in 1907 was not what we often associate with Irish-Americans. Far from the conservatism of mainstream Irish American politicians, the focus of the meeting in their house to form an Irish Socialist group. Discussions around socialism were not unusual in the Gurley-Flynn house as Anne was a feminist and Tom an anti imperialist socialist who opposed the US war with in Cuba in 1898.

Clearly not all Irish Americans were like Tom Flynn or Anne Gurley. Indeed one of the incidents that lead to the meeting in the Flynn house in 1907 was a statement from the Irish American mayor of New-York George B McClellan who had proclaimed proudly “There are Russian Socialists, Jewish Socialists and German Socialist but thank God there are no Irish Socialists”¹. What Mc Clellan did not realise was that there while there may have been no Irish Socialist group many Irish Immigrants were socialist.

It was partially in reaction to Mc Clellan’s statement that  James Connolly, several members of the Gurley-Flynn family including daughters Elizabeth and Katherine, Patrick Quinlan amongst others gathered in the Flynn house and through the course of the meeting they gathering formed “The Irish Socialist Club”.

Although the Irish Socialist Club had limited success its founders would  go on to provide American Unions with some of their most prolific organisers. These Irish American Socialists would also be to the forefront of American Socialism for nearly 20 years. The lives of these prominent Irish-American radicals offer glimpses of what was an Irish American experience all too often written out of history. This is the story of poor working class Irish-Americans who worked in brutal conditions in American coal mines and factories.

Although they are not celebrated or remembered they had a profound effect of American Society in the early 20^th century. Their stories and experiences reflected what it meant to be an Irish American for many. Key to understanding early 20th century Irish American radicalism is their work in  The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) which for the first 20 yrs was the main pole of attraction for many radicals in America. During its formative early years Irish Americans working longside many other nationalities heavily influenced the IWW.

The I.W.W.

The IWW was a Syndicalist Union which believed in the overthrow of capitalism by organising all workers in what would be come their catch cry “One Big Union”. Politically the IWW was closest to Anarcho-Syndicalism having a strong belief that the working class would not succeed in freeing themselves unless they themselves took action for themselves.

They believed in replacing Capitalism with Socialism and contrary to what we might expect these ideas attracted many working class Irish-Americans into the IWW. From its founding in 1905 the IWW quickly gained traction, drawing in some of the most colourful characters from left wing politics in the USA at the time. Its most famous member was unquestionably William “Big Bill” Haywood but he was one among many. Indeed it was a catholic priest, presumably of Irish extraction given his name, Fr Thomas Hagerty, who best summarised the organisations political and philosophical outlook when he wrote the preamble to the 1905 Constitution of the IWW which conatined the following

Thomas J Hagerty

“The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth………….  Instead of the conservative motto, “A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work,” we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, “Abolition of the wage system.”

Little is known of the author, Fr Hagerty, but his words would be used time and again to explain the IWW. Hagerty mysteriously would leave the IWW almost as soon as it was founded in 1905 never to engage in radical politics again^2. If Hagerty had defined the organisation in words it was an Irish woman who shaped the IWW perhaps more than any other Irish American in terms of action.

Mother Jones born Mary Harris emigrated from Ireland during or just after the Great Famine³. Jones became a political activist in the 1870′s after losing all her children to disease and the subsequently losing her business in a fire. In the aftermath of these disaters Mary – then Harris Jones got involved in Labour organising. By the turn of the 20^th century she was known and feared across America as a prolific organiser often working some of the most brutal mining camps in America. The Mining bosses treated union organisers brutality and Harris saw this first hand through her involvement in the Lattimer Strike in Pennsylvania which saw the Police massacred 19 miners in 1897. It was in response incidents like this Harris would call for miners to “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living”.

Her stature was such that in 1905 when initial discussions were held about the formation of what would become the IWW, Harris by then known affectionately as Mother Jones, was invited to speak . She went on to signed the first manifesto of the organisation in 1905. Jones would be active in the IWW for nearly two decades, inspiring a new generation of militants, however her greatest successes were out in the mining camps where disputes could often be violent. Her organisational skills and belief in direct action would permeate through the IWW.

The Growth of The IWW

Almost immediately the IWW was involved in strikes but in its initial years it was the “Free Speech Fights” it waged, that gained the Union a reputation. These involved militant campaigns over the right to organise workers and quickly this fighting union attracted radicals including members of the Irish Socialist Club. By 1907 the Gurley-Flynn’s youngest daughter Elizabeth, then only 17, was a full-time organiser for the I.W.W. This began as we shall see a lifetime of activism for Flynn who would be arrested and imprisoned on numerous occasions.

For the likes of Flynn rather than rejecting what it meant to be Irish-American they saw their work in IWW and the struggle for Socialism as continuing Irish traditions. She constantly kept in contact with Irish Americans and took an active interest in politics in Ireland, a cause she very much identified with. People like the Flynn’s saw the Irish struggle for independence as synonymous with the struggle for workers rights in the US.

This thread in Irish American culture is long forgotten, however her father was not alone when he could lament as very much a proud Irish American (who was even briefly a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians) that Irish people came to America and “soon become foremen, straw bosses, policemen and politicans and forget the Irish traditions for the struggle for Freedom”.⁴

IWW and Anti Racism: John Joe McKelvey and Local 8 Phillidelphia

One of the major obstacles the IWW saw to achieving their goal of united work class action was racism and ethnic tensions within the American working class. Racial tensions had often been used to divide workers. Irish American workers often saw themselves as better than African Americans and racial tensions were used by employers to stunt unionisation attempts. The memory of the racist draft riots in New York in 1863 when Irish-Americans had been to the fore of lynch mobs attacking Black African Americans reminded people how devisive and explosive these tensions could be.

The IWW, in order to overcome this were explicitly anti racist in an era when many unions were explicitly racist. It was in Philadelphia, one of largest ports in the eastern US in the early 20^th century, that the IWW made the greatest ground in combating racism, uniting African American, Eastern Europeans and Irish-American dock workers in the famous I.W.W. Branch “Local 8″.

A key component was the Irish American IWW organiser John Joe McKelvey^5, who had organised a free speech fight in Spokane in 1909 with Elizabeth Gurley-Flynn. His presence and influence helped overcome the racism that had been prevalent among Irish Americans workers against African Americans. McKelvey’s work along side the work of African American IWW Longshoreman Ben Fletcher reaped huge dividends as the IWW effectively controlled the Philadelphia docks between 1913 -1923 despite constant attempts by other trade unions to subvert their work. The cost of organising for a different vision of America was immense however, John Joe McKelvey was beaten unconscious by the police and held without charge during a strike in 1913.

It was through struggles like these that the radical Irish Americans moulded a new identity where being working class Irish American also meant acknowledging the links and common interest they had with other working class communities. The IWW brought together the often segregated communities under a struggle for a better life, having similar successes amongst Lumber workers in Louisiana. This work did not go unnoticed and W. E. B Du Bois the early civil right activist noted in 1919 “We respect it [I.W.W] as one of the social and political movements that draws no colour [sic] lines”⁶.

The Irish Cultural Influence in the IWW

In these struggles music was a key organising tool of the IWW. With its numerous song writers most famously Ralph Chapman, who famously penned the lyrics of the song “Solidarity Forever”, and Joe Hill they translated their views of the world into easily understood songs. Several Irish Americans who joined the IWW contributed their Irish musical influence on these songs. Many of the songwriters are now lost but there are a few whose details still survive.

The most famous Irish American IWW songwriter was “Dublin Dan” Liston who lived in Butte, Montana. Born in Dublin, Liston ended up in owning a bar where several IWW figures drank. He penned the words of “Dan McGann” and the “Portland Revolution”. In the lyrics of Dan Mc Gann Liston challenged prejudices amongst the Irish-American community.

“….You howl and kick about the Bolshevik

the anarchist and the wob⁷

you defend this rotten system when

you don’t even own your job

Immigration laws would be “jake” with you

If they kept out the Russian Finn

The German Jew and the Frenchman too,

And Just let the Irish in.

You’re full of religion bunk a

and the priest on your life has a lease

Youre not even blest, like some of the rest

With the sense that God Gave Geese

You’re a rank disgrace to the human race

You’re one of those grand mistakes

Who came from the land, from which I understand,

St Patrick drove the snakes”

When Liston died in 1942 his obituary in the newspaper of the IWW “The Industrial Worker” read “ He should be remembered for his gift of popularising some of the obscure phrases of his Dublin childhood and giving them world wide currency.”⁸ Liston was not the only such songwriter, G.G. Allen who almost nothing is known about, other than his songs, was either Irish-American or heavily influenced by Irish culture, evident in his song “Along the Industrial Road To Freedom” which was set to the music of “The Rocky Road to Dublin”⁹. Another was a Pat Brennen [sic] who wrote a song called the “Harvest War Song” which he set to the tune of “Tipperary”. ¹⁰

Patrick Quinlan and the IWW Paterson strike

As the IWW grew in stature in the 1910′s, it continued to gain more and more members including many Irish Americans. In 1912 the IWW gained one its greatest organisers when the one of the founders of the Irish Socialist Club, Patrick Quinlan, joined. Born in Limerick in 1883 he emigrated to the US in the early 20^th century. When he joined in 1912 the IWW scored one of its greatest victories perhaps one of the issues that attracted Quinlan.

Gurley Flynn adressing Strikers at Paterson.

That year saw Elizabeth Gurley-Flynn (now a household name) and Big Bill Haywood organise a successful strike of 20,000 workers in the textile mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts. This victory known as “The Bread and Roses Strike” ensured 1913 would be a year of great conflict between factory owners in the US and the I.W.W. 1913 went on to produce one of the bitterest strikes in US history when the I.W.W. took on the Silk Factory Owners in Paterson, New Jersey. It was here Patrick Quinlan made his name. The strike began on January 27^th when the Doherty silk factory fired 4 members of a workers organising committee. In response 800 workers walked off the job in protest. Three Weeks later several thousand workers left other factories to attend a protest meeting addressed by IWW speakers who had been asked to attend. Patrick Quinlan joined Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Carlo Tresca (an Italian Anarchist), Aldoph Lessig and Big Bill Haywood on the Platform.

Within a week these IWW organisers had given 25,000 silk workers the confidence to strike and effectively closed down the Silk industry in Paterson. The Strike would last several months through which the IWW organised kitchens, schools and much of everyday life in Paterson supported by donations from IWW organisations across the country.

Quinlan is on the left beside, Carlo Tresca, E Gurley Flynn, Adolph Lessig and Big Bill haywood

It was Quinlan who would become the famed leader of this strike, when in May he allegedly told several thousand strikers that they would win the strike even if it meant “wiping Paterson of the map”. Quinlan was charged with inciting the strikers to riot and after a prolonged court case he was imprisoned. In response a large amnesty campaign was organised and he was released two years later. In the meantime the strike did not fare well. The IWW hired Madison Square Gardens to stage a pageant to illustrate the case at Paterson to New York workers however they did not make the funds they hoped.

By late July 1913 the strike was broken due to a lack of funds and internal divisions. Patrick Quinlan would go on to be involved in progressive politics in the US for years being an early visitor to the Soviet Union after the Russian Revolution of 1917.

The arrival “Big Jim” Larkin and Repression

James Larkin

The following year, 1914, saw the arrival of another influential immigrant from Ireland who would shape the IWW. Arriving in Spring unannounced he went to the Gurley – Flynn household in the Bronx, knocking on the door saying “I’m Jim Larkin, James Connolly sent me”. James“Big Jim” Larkin along with James Connolly who had since returned to Ireland, had organised 20,000 workers in one the largest and longest strikes in Dublin – The famed lock out of 1913.

Defeated in early 1914, the Dublin workers were forced back to work in utter defeat. Disillusioned Larkin arrived in New York and through his contact with the Gurley-Flynns joined the IWW.

In the following years, IWW activities were dominated by war, increasing repression, strikes and Larkin was at the heart of these struggle. 1915 saw perhaps one of the most famous trials of IWW history when the well known IWW member and singer, Joe Hill was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Innocent of the charges, the I.W.W. launched a campaign to have Hill’s decision overturned which gained worldwide support. The campaign ultimately failed and Hill was executed in 1915 by firing squad. The sad honour of delivery the oration fell to James Larkin and Big Bill Haywood who spoke to a crowd an estimated crowd of 30,000 people in Chicago¹¹. The execution of Joe Hill ushered in a period of increasing repression against the left in America, and soon Irish-Americans were paying a heavy price for their left wing convictions

The case of Thomas Mooney

A few months after Joe Hill was executed another case of a false conviction this time involving the Irish American Thomas Mooney began. In July 1916 a bomb was thrown at a “Preparedness demonstration” which was essentially a pro war demonstration. Tom Mooney, the son of Irish emigrants, was blamed. Mooney had been politicised on a trip to

Thomas Mooney

Europe when he visited many countries including Ireland. His experiences and exposure to European Labour politics politicised him and on his return to the USA he joined the IWW before joining the Socialist Party of America.

By 1916 Mooney, a known radical having organised strikes and demonstrations, was arrested along with his wife and three others. At the end of highly tense trial his wife, Rena, and two others Israel Weinberg and Edward Nolan were acquitted but Thomas Mooney and Warren Billing were convicted. In what seemed to be a repeat of Joe Hills case the two were sentenced to death. This caused outrage as strong evidence indicated Mooney’s innocence. A large campaign was mounted to free Mooney and by 1920/1 incontrovertible evidence pointed to the fact he was innocent. Mooney however had the misfortune of being tried and convicted in the run up to what became known as “the First Red Scare” a period of repression that reached a cresendo between 1919-1920. This meant he would remain in prison for another 20 years before he was finally released receiving a full pardon in 1939.

The Red Scare

As early as 1917 tensions were reaching fever pitch in the US after IWW had organised against US involvement in World War I. This had seen the entire leadership of local 8 on the Philidelphia docks removed on federal authority in an effort to stop them organising against military shipments to Europe.

That year also saw two revolutions in Russia. The first an uprising of workers and soldiers was universally lauded and celebrated by the left. Events changed in October 1917 when Lenin’s Bolshevik party effectively staged a coup d’etat. This would permanently divide the left and eventually be one of the factors that saw the IWW split in two. However in the short-term, these revolutions in Russia illustrated further the potential threat the IWW and the various Socialist parties posed to the US State. This fear worsened when the US Communist party founded by several Boshevik sympathisers including James Larkin amongst others in 1919.

Repression reached unprecedented heights and was ironically dubbed “The First Red Scare”. This “scare” was in reality the brutal suppression of the American left. James Larkin then editing a newspaper he had founded with Patrick Quinlan, called the Irish Worker in New York was arrested on the bizarre charge of “Criminal Anarchy”. Convicted, he was sent to Sing Sing Prison for five to ten years. Although Larkin would secure release in 1923 only to be deported but other Irish Americans were not so lucky as Thomas Mooney could testify.

Irish American Radicals and Irish Independence.

While World War I had precipitated the crisis in Russia and its ramifications were felt around the world, events in Ireland were beginning to change rapidly too. The outbreak of the Irish War of Independence in 1919 excited almost all Irish American radicals who obviously kept a keen eye on the struggle for Irish Independence. However their hopes were very different to the reality in Ireland.

In Ireland in the aftermath of the 1916 rebellion and then subsequent threats by the British government to introduce conscription, the ranks of the Republican movement had swelled both politically in terms of Sinn Féin and militarily in terms of the IRA. Through 1918 the struggle for Irish independence intensified with the war of independence breaking out in 1919. This period saw increased contact from Irish Republicans with radicals in the US. The relationship between radical Irish Americans and Irish republicans was very mixed as the very differnt attitudes of two Republicans Liam Mellows and Eamon De Valera illustrates.

Liam Mellows

Liam Mellows was the only Irish Republican leader to the command a significant uprising outside Dublin in 1916. Although he was able to muster several hundred people in East Galway Mellows was forced to disband the unit when faced with superior forces. In the aftermath Mellows, a wanted man, fled to the US but was quickly arrested and imprisoned in “The Tombs” prison on suspicion of aiding Germany in World War I.

While he was in prison Elizabeth Gurley-Flynn and Carlo Tresca, who were now partners, were arrested and held in the The Tombs. Although they would not meet in prison Gurley-Flynn later met Mellows on his release in 1918. When she mentioned to Mellows that they had both shared time in “The tombs”, an associate of Mellows shocked that a woman would be imprisoned asked “And What were you in Jail for”. Mellows being more understanding of the ongoing struggle in US than many Irish Republicans interjected “Don’t you know there’s a struggle for peace and freedom here too”. Mellow’s sympathetic opinions were in the minority among Irish Republicans who came to American and this was particularly evident with the arrival of Eamonn De Valera in June 1919.

The Stature of De Valera, who was smuggled into the US, was immense given he was the sole surviving 1916 signatory. A narrow nationalist, De Valera had little time for radcial Irish-Americans in general. When approached to put up bail money for the release of James Larkin then awaiting his trial during the red scare, De Valera would only give the money in secret as he feared alienating Irish American businessmen.

Decline of The I.W.W.

As De Valera and Mellows left America and returned to Ireland in 1920, the American left had already reached its zenith. The influence and power of the IWW was losing ground to overtly political organisations like the Communist party and the various Socialist party’s. As many Irish Amercians drifted towards these organisations their influence dwindled considerably. The movement that had proved so strong in the strikes 10 years previously, started to fragment and decline in both numbers and power. The IWW was the first victim, first torn apart by attitudes towards the Soviet Union and then debates about internal organisation it eventually split in 1924.

The early 20′s also saw any hopes they had that the emerging republic in Ireland would fulfil their hopes of a better world dashed. The news of the execution of Liam Mellows in Mountjoy Gaol by the newly formed Irish Free State in 1922 during the civil war was particularly poignant for Gurley Flynn and brought home in brutal and shocking terms that the new Irish state was not necessarily going to be the republic either she had hoped for.

The outcome was not what Irish-American or Irish radicals for that matter had hoped for. In 1955 Gurley Flynn refelcting on Ireland, three decades after independence wrote:

“The situation in Ireland then and since then has not measured up to the expectations of the Irish people in Ireland and their kinsfolk around the world. The population of this strangely sterile country has fallen in the past three decades. Its development industrially and rurally has been retarded by its isolation from progressive countries. Censorship has stifled its press and literature. Creative mental life is limited, causing its best sons, like Sean O Casey to seek refuge in self imposed exile. Large number so of the younger generation have gone away to live in England and elsewhere. A dour and puritanical state in the image of the fanatically catholic professor of Mathematics, De Valera, has curtailed human freedom and attempted to the crush the joy of life. Equal life for women guaranteed by the earlier proclamations of Connolly were stricken from the 1937 constitution, causing Mrs Skeffington to Campaign in protest. James Connolly would have scornfully repudiated Devalera’s friendship with Franco and his act in sending official condolences to Hitler. A free workers republic was Connolly’s ideal”

Conclusion

The early 20^th century clearly illustrated that there no such thing as THE Irish American experiences or even THE quintessential Irish American. Class differences created often conflicting views of what America should be within the Irish American community perhaps best illustrated by the fact that Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was indicted by senator Josephy Mc Carthy another Irish American during the second red scare.

James Larkin highlighted it further when in Sing Sing prison. As he recalled the myth of St Patrick banishing snakes from Ireland he caustically followed it with the line “And Where did they go? They came to America to become politicians policemen detectives – and prison guards.”¹² highlighting tensions over what it meant to be an Irish American.

All to often radicals among the Irish American community have been forgotten. Often dubbed as un-american they strenuously rejected this notion. They saw themselves as much Americans or Irish American as much as anyone else, they just held a very different view of what America should be. This was best highlighted at the Paterson Silk Strike of 1913 where they stood behind banners that read “we wove the flag, we dyed the flag, we live under the flag but we wont scab under the flag”.

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Key Sources

Kornbluh, J.L. 2011 Rebel Voices An IWW Anthology Merlin 2011

Gurley Flynn E.  1955 Rebel Girl An autobiography my first life Internaytional Publishers New York

Cole, P.2007 Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia

Doherty R.E. Thomas J Hagerty the church and socialism available here

Postscript

Thomas J Hagerty mysteriously disappeared in 1905 never again assoicating with the IWW. He was tracked down in 1917 by IWW member Ralph Chapman, when he was living in Chicago under an assumed name Ricardo Moreno but never re-engaged in politics. Indeed he renounced the IWW when they sought his help in 1919.

Elizabeth Gurley-Flynn was active in politics all her life. She went on to join the American Communist party in 1936. She was died in 1964, on a visit to the Soviet Union where she was afforded to the State funeral.

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones died in 1930 after 50 years of continuous activism, she was buried with miners she had organised through out her life. She is commemorated today through the radical magazine named in her honour “Mother Jones”

James Larkin was freed from Sing Sing and deported from the US in 1923 arriving back to an Ireland gripped by civil war. He campaigned for an end to the conflict and then devoted much of the 1920′s to communism in Ireland. He rejoined the Labour Party in 1941, a party he had founded in 1912. He died in 1947.

Liam Mellows did not live long after he left the US. He opposed the treaty in 1922 and fought on the Anti Treaty side. He was one of 4 people executed in reprisal for the IRA execution of the TD Sean Hales. He was 27.

Patrick Quinlan visited the Soviet Union in the early 20′s but judging from this Letter in the New York times he was critical. He died in 1948.

John Joe McKelvey’s later life is not well recorded, if anyone knows anything more about him I would appreciate any information.

William “Big Bill” Haywood fled the US in 1921 during the red scare to live as an unhappy exile in the Soviet Union, dying in 1928.

Carlo Tresca, Elizabeth Gurley-Flynn’s partner was active in Anarchist and Labour politics in the US for two decades focusing much energy on anti-fascism and attempts to stop the mafia infiltrating Unions. He was also a vociferous opponent of the Soviet Union. He was assassinated in 1943 at the hands of Fascists, the mafia or possibly the NKVD.

The IWW still exists today organising workers across the world. It is only a shadow of its former self when in the early 1920′s it claimed 100,000 members. www.iww.org

with permission of  willmcq

This footage is a drive through Dublin city centre in 1974. The most striking difference is the streetscape which has been transformed in the last 40 odd years. As far as I can make out the first building that has survived intact pops up at 1-15 – the Ulster Bank on Suffolk Street? The footage also shows how differently people moved around Dublin in 1974.  This journey is now impossible as Grafton Street has since been pedestrianised. To find your bearings the journey starts on St Stephens Green and moves on to Grafton street.

Things to look out for

54 sec – The Green Motorbike annd sidecar parked on Grafton street

1:26 – The cyclist notices the camera

1:32 The central Bank is only being constructed.

2:38 The trees  on O Connell street have since removed and then replaced.

2:43 The famous James Larkin Statue has not been erected.

2:58 The bus is driving through the site of the Spire today. Talbot street was not yet pedestrianised so Traffic could turn right from O Connel street (now impossible).

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Adams was president between 1825–1829, long before Irish Americans were a politically significant power block in the United States – large scale Irish emigration would only begin during the famine in the late 1840′s. It comes as a surpirse then that in 1832 Adams wrote and published a lengthy epic poem on the Norman Conquest of Ireland entitled “Dermot Mac Morrogh or the Conquest of Ireland; an historical tale of the twelfth century”.

Dermot mc Morrogh  spelled Diarmuid mac Murchadha or Dermot MacMurrough was the Gaelic King who sought Norman military help to restore him the Kingship of Leinster after being deposed by the High King. When this help materialised it quickly became a full scale invasion.

What makes this poem unusual and surprising is that Quincy Adams had no connection to Ireland whatsoever. His father the US President John Adams and mother Abigail Smith were both of English Puritan Ancestry. Aside from this he showed little interest in the country or its politics and apparently prior to the writing the poem he had scant knowledge of Ireland and had to educate himself when writing the poem. If you know about the origins of the poem please comment below.

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Mont St Michel is probably the most impressive medieval site I have ever seen and without doubt the most expensive. A mixture between the set of “Lord of the Rings” and “The Name of the Rose” it is awe inspiring. Situated in Northern France the monastery was built on a rocky outcrop in a bay in Normandy and was fortified during the 100 years war giving it a militaristic appearance at times. Its architecture is incredible particularly the cathedral supported on the summit. On a visit there last summer I took these pictures.

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Episode 10

In a story full of intriguing naval attacks, sieges and deceit the superpowers of 10th century Ireland, unleash their devastating military power on each other with fascinating consequences.  This episode also takes a look at daily life in Ireland  around 1000 CE recreating the sights and smells while looking at the strange diseases that could kill you if war didnt get you first!

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The Pursuit of Power (Part III) A New Millennium and A New King (980 – 1000)

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http://itunes.apple.com/ie/podcast/irish-history-podcast/id363368392

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Grafton Street

This early picture of Grafton Street shows how much Dublin has changed in the last century. Most striking is the British Army unit marching toward the camera. To the left can be seen a pony and trap while coming up the street in the background is a tram. Beside the lamp post to the left of the group of children is a man carrying an advertising sandwich board.

College Green

The landscape of Dame street, one of the main thorough fares, has been completely changed in the last century. The most obvious alteration is the trees which now obscure the building in the centre of the earlier picture. In a sign of a changing world this building now contains a Starbucks, synonomous with American culture. When this picture was taken London was the centre of the economic world and it was British culture that dominated Dublin. This was evident in Dublins streets – to the left of the older photo you can just make out a statue of William of Orange.

College Green

This photo shows College Green in front of Trinity College before of the arrival of mechanised transport – the trams are still drawn by horses. The uniform of the police in the foreground is that of a stereotpical  English Bobby.

O Connell St/ Sackville St.

This photo of O Connell street, then a known as Sackville Street, was taken after 1882 when the Daniel O Connell statue was added in the centre background. The Street was then dominated by Nelsons Pillar, a column erected to the British admiral Horatio Nelson.  This was partially blown up by the IRA in 1966 and later completely dismantled. In 2003 the Spire  (a 400 ft stainless steel spike) took its place.

Customs House Quay

When this picture was taken Dublin city centre was  a much busier port still servicing sailing ships as can be seen from the numerous ships in  the background. Now very little traffic comes this far up the docks, all freight ships berth further down the docks.

Butt Bridge

The original cobbled Butt Bridge pictured on top was a notorious bottle neck in early 20th century Dublin traffic. It was renovated and widened in 1932, the opening cermony is pictured on the bottom left. Liberty Hall in the centre background is a much changed building standing 16 stories high.

The Four Courts

The fire in this picture is perhaps not the worst fire in Irish History but unquestionably this was the worst fire for Irish History. When Republicans Occupied the Four Courts in the run up to the Civil War the newly formed Irish Free State attacked them with artillary. In the following fire the Records Office along with its contents, of thousands of documents pertaining to medieval Irish history was destroyed.

The junction of Henry St. and O Connel St

This shot was also taken during the civil war in Dublin. As the Four Courts was occupied by Republicans, so too was the Gresham Hotel (about 200 metres North of Henry St on O Connel Street). The Free state forces in this picture are shelling the Gresham.

The Gresham Hotel

The picture on the left is the Gresham Hotel in  the aftermath of the assault, pictured above. You can see the broken glass in the canopy above the door and the debris on the road.

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Built by Edward III in the 13th century, Caernarfon castle is one of the most impressive castles in Britain. Situated in Gwynedd on the north-west coast of Wales it is an enormous structure unlike any castle still standing in Ireland. Along with with several other castles in the region including Conwy and Beaumaris it was constructed in reaction to Welsh revolts in the 13th century.

Costing an astronomical £20,000 at the time Edward felt it was a better use of resources than endless wars. Although never completed Caernarfon is a truly enormous construction and is only second to Conwy in its imposing nature. The design was influenced by the walls of Constantinople which Edward had seen when on crusade.Like all Edward’s castles in North Wales, Caernarfon was built with defence in mind and is situated on the coast so it could be supplied from the sea in a siege. Due to the fact Caernarfon was never complete we get an insight into how medieval castle walls were constructed as you can see in the virtual tour below.

The slide show moves quite fast, but if you click stop  you can manually move through the photos at your pace

Getting to North Wales  from Ireland is relatively easy. Several ferry services run from Dublin to Hollyhead daily and from there it easy to take a train to Bangor. At Bangor you can either get a bus to Caernarfon castles or continue on the train to the equally amazing Conwy Castle

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Photo: Franc Myles

This find by archaeologist Franc Myles in May Lane Smithfield, Dublin deeply personalises the past, highlighting what must have been a tragedy in a now long forgotten family’s life. Following on from the find of other human remains on Friday on the same site, the remains of this child was excavated over the weekend.

Speaking of the find Franc said

“The second remains excavated under May Lane were those of a child, aged perhaps 4 or 5. The child had been wrapped in a shroud and then placed in a small coffin, sometime between about 1650 and 1680. He or she was buried in St. Michan’s church yard (it’s obviously much smaller now) at the same level as the first, adult burial, but slightly further to the east. Where child burials are perhaps especially poignant, this wee one had the hands placed over the pelvis with the thumbs seemingly extended, the tips touching each other. DCC and the contractors have redesigned the level of the pipe to run above the burial soil and hopefully we’ll allow any other bodies rest where they are.”

Franc will be writing an extensive article about the find on his blog www.wastedonarchaeology.wordpress.com

Nenagh Gaol (thank to Irishfireside)

In March 1858, two brothers mounted the scaffold in Nenagh Jail in North Tipperary for the murder of John Ellis. One of the brothers, 19 year old Daniel Cormack pleaded “Lord have mercy on me, for you know, Jesus, that I neither had hand, act nor part in that for which I am about to die”. Despite his plea for clemency and the widespread belief of their innocence illustrated in a petition of over 2,000 signatures, Daniel and his 23 year old brother William were executed. The two brothers, originally from Loughmore, were then buried in a grave in Nenagh Gaol (left). Many people who suffered a similar fate were lost to history but remarkably although it would take 52 years  the Cormacks would be buried in their local area, exonerated and their story would gain international fame in the process.

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Investigation

The Cormacks strange if sad story began in the aftermath of the murder of John Ellis on October 27th 1857. The police were faced with the difficult task of finding the killer as almost everyone in the area had a motive. The situation was best described by the catholic Archbishop Patrick Leahy who wrote a few days after the murder of Ellis

“ He had been earning this for many a year – if any man however bad could be said to earn such an end, by turning people out on the road – I am very sorry, very sorry to say that the people rejoice in his death. And some, many of the priests too, I am sorry to say.”

In this letter Leahy was referring to Ellis’ role as a land agent for local landlords and his role in numerous evictions.

The Cormacks Accused

Over the coming months the police in the area began to fix their attention on William and Daniel Cormack** from Loughmore*. Their suspected motive was not to do with evictions but rather Ellis’ relationship with Kitty Cormack, sister of William and Daniel. John Ellis was known as a womaniser and was suspected of having a relationship with Kitty Cormack. This was only six weeks after Nancy Cormack (another sister) had given birth to a baby in a local poor house. The father of the child was unknown and the police assumed the Cormacks had killed Ellis to stop Kitty ending up pregnant in the poorhouse.

With little evidence the police began to lean heavily on the only witness Thomas Burke to say he saw the Cormacks murder Ellis. This pressure saw Burke, the 16 year old driver of Ellis’ carriage, recant his initial testimony where he said he hadn’t seen the asssassins. After Police pressure he agreed to testify that he saw the two Cormack’s and a third man Timothy Spillane at the scene with a gun.

To secure conviction the police ensured Spillane’s testimony against the Cormacks by promising him an amnesty if he verified Burke’s new story. This was despite the fact that Burke’s testimony was implausible given that it had been dark when Ellis was shot. The trial went to court in 1858 but only after great difficulty in securing a jury  that was both acceptable to the prosecution and willing to hear the trial.

The case was heard by the notrious judge William Keogh. Judge Keogh’s was described in 1910 as “a man….considered personally, politically and officially….. one of the monsters of mankind” In a combination of Burke and Spillane’s testimony and Keogh living up to his reputation the two brothers were found guilty and sentenced to be executed in Nenagh Gaol.

Public Outcry

In spite of a large petition to have the sentence commuted which was signed by 2,357 people, including prominent members of the clergy, the two men were executed in March 1858. The execution created outrage with most people firmly believing in the brothers innocence. The issue was even debated in the House of Common in London when it emerged that the principle witness, Thomas Burke,  admitted he had lied in court. Indeed it seems Burke’s father was the most likely Ellis’ assassin with whom he bore a grudge over an eviction.

Despite the obvious and widespread injustice of the case, Ireland was still recovering from the famine and there was little energy or confidence to mount a campaign for justice, indeed it would take 52 years before the the Cormack brothers would receive posthumous justice.

Changing Landscape

Over the following decades Ireland the political landscape in Ireland changed massively, a change that would give people the confidence to demand justice. While William and Daniel Cormack mounted the scaffold in 1858, James Stephens was travelling Ireland establishing the Irish Republican Brotherhood an organisation the would become known as the Fenians. This organisation along with Home Ruler Party reorganised in the 1870′s began the long arduous process of building the nationalist movement in Ireland. By 1910 after decades of struggle on behalf of both groups, nationalists had become a powerful group in society. It was in this new climate a campaign for exhoneration for the Cormack brothers had political very popular.

When people of Loughmore (the Cormacks hometown) and surrounding areas in North Tipperary organised the “Cormack brothers Exhumation Committee” they received widespread support. The committees aim was to return the remains of the brothers to their home parish – they had been buried in the grounds of Nenagh Gaol. Among the members of the committee was Patrick Cormack, a relative of the brothers (possibly the Patrick listed here in the 1911 Census)

Exhumation

After a successful campaign to get the return of the bodies from Nenagh Jail the committee constructed a mausoleum for the Cormacks in the grounds of Loughmore parish church and organised a grand homecoming.  At 11 clock May 9th, 1910 the remains of the Cormacks finally left Nenagh Gaol 52 years after their execution and began a 22 mile procession back to Loughmore.  The event was as much as demonstration as a funeral with 20 marching bands, two prominent Home Rule M.P.s John Dillon and John Hackett and numerous branches of the National League (the biggest nationalist organisation of the day) accompanied by 600 jaunting cars. The Irish Times on 14 may of 1910 reported that among the crowd of 10,000 (many of whom wore green ribbons) was a certain Matt Mc Grath – the man who had cut the brothers off the scaffold and buried them 52 years earlier in Nenagh Gaol. The incident received international attention with an article appearing in the New York Times.  Indeed the case even provoked a debate on capital punishment in the Examiner, a newspaper in Launceston, Tasmania.

Pictures of Mausoleum built by “The Cormack brothers Exhumation Committee”

Modern Commemorations

While the story of the Cormacks no doubt reached its height in 1910 it has not been forgotten since. The mausoleum’s prominent position in the graveyard at Loughmore and the visibility of the two coffins (see video) was a constant reminder of the story of the Cormack brothers. The stories importance in the community of Loughmore was reinforced in 2008 when they commemorated the 150 anniversary of the William and Daniel Cormacks’ execution by staging a pageant reconstructing the return of the corpses to Loughmore. For pictures http://loughmore.blogspot.com/

The Mausoleum

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I am currently working on a short audiobook on the Black Death in Ireland. Set to the backdrop of 14th century war, famine and the impacts of a changing climate the book will be several hours long and will be available for a small fee in October 2011. Stay tuned for more updates.

*Loughmore is the modern spelling, an older version is Loughmoe.

**The Family name is Cormack, not unusual in Tipperary, this is not to be confused with the name McCormack mistakenly cited by New York Times.

Bibliography

New York Times May 12th 1910

Irish Times May 12th 1910

Irish Times 14th May 1910

Examiner (Launceston, Tasmania) Wednesday 18 May 1910

Glesson, S. (2008) ‘A Day to Remember — a photographic memoir of the Loughmore Pageant’

Commons Sitting, 18 June 1858, Trial for the murder of Mr Ellis http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1858/jun/18/question-5#S3V0151P0_18580618_HOC_16

Commons Sitting, 1June 1858, Trial for the murder of Mr Elli http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1858/jun/01/question-2#S3V0150P0_18580601_HOC_7

Due for release in late Octber, the story of the plague is intrinsically linked to the history of the 14th century which is one of war, famine and the devastating impact of a changing climate.  This culminated with the outbreak of the Black Death in Ireland in 1348 making the combined events one the greatest crises in human history since the last Ice Age.  One event that was indicative of the increasing harshness of 14th century Ireland was the burning of Petronella di Midia for Witchcraft in Kilkenny in 1324. Listen to this podcast produced for Heritage week in 2010 to get a flavour of 14th century Ireland and what you can expect from the audiobook.

Dont forget Heritage week is on this week http://www.heritageweek.ie/

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I am not opposed to building on the remains of the past – every society in history has done it but this should be done within reason and properly recorded. In Ireland, the money invested in archaeology was wasted and many of the processes that lead to the current financial mess also changed archaeology into what was effectively a demolition industry. I think this happened primarily for the following 8 reasons. I would be really interested to hear what you think or your experience was.

1.Unenforced and Uneforceable  Legislation.  
Despite theoretically good legislation this was not enforced or applicable to the situation on the ground. According to legalisation construction could only begin when a licensed archaeological director had effectively given a site a clean bill of health. This legislation could function if the directors were independent but problems arose because they worked under extreme pressure from their bosses in archaeological companies and ultimately construction companies and developers(see point 2). The directors worked with the best of intentions but this pressure no doubt impacted on them.

Construction company’s and developers funded the industry and they were ultimately in control. This lead to a situation where archaeological directors who took longer (i.e. those doing the job right ) were put under extreme pressure as this delayed construction. Pressure also was exerted on directors from within the companies they worked for. The archaeology companies primary function was to make money. This profit lead environment lead to enormous pressurise being brought to bare on directors to finish excavations on or before time to enhance profits at the expense of best practice.

2. Construction companies and developers held all the cards.
The vast majority of archaeological excavations were funded by builders and developers. They held all the cards and had no interest in archaeology – their interest was naturally enough, construction. They were only interested in financing excavations in order to destroy the archaeological sites as quickly as possible. Therefore publishing reports of excavations and analysis of these excavations was always relegated to a peripheral part of the process.

The fact that the industry was profit driven lead to a situation where companies saw reports as a drain on resources since they were paid for excavations and not reports. Although the legislation requiring reports to be published is being more rigorously enforced, for years it was largely ignored. In many cases reports were not published or were published to a substandard level and many excavations carried out have little or no value.

3. A cut throat free market operated between the companies .
When excavations were put out to tender archaeological companies competed against each other for the jobs. With no functioning oversight contracts were awarded to the cheapest tender regardless whether the contract was realistic or not. This lead to a race to the bottom where the company with the worst wages (see point 8), conditions, archaeological practice and morals were lightly to win contracts for excavations.

4. Contracts and timetables were drawn up and agreed before excavations began.
As the excavations were usually funded by developers timetables were agreed before excavations began so they could fit into a building schedule. No matter how much testing and research is completed before an excavations begins it is impossible to know how long excavating something will take. More often than not unforeseen archaeological remains  turn up. This would requires a time extension and although they were often granted, they were tokenistic in nature. The excavation deadlines were ultimately set, not by what archaeological material was found, but by pre-agreed timetables and budgets. This lead to situations with excavations “finishing” with material still unexcavated.

5. Heavy Machinery was used all to frequently.
The public often have an the misconception that  archaeology is a profession where the tools of the trade are a toothbrush and fine comb, the reality in Ireland was that mechanical excavators were often the tool of choice. This is appropriate for stripping top soil or other limited cases – it is needless to dig absolutely everything by hand, but there is not an archaeologist who has worked in Ireland who has not seen archaeological material needlessly and in some cases intentionally destroyed by mechanical excavators in order to speed up excavations.

6. Straight up corruption.
Although I never witnesses this first hand I have heard widespread anecdotal evidence companies were paid off to finish excavations early. Given what we know about the level of corruption within the building industry in Ireland coupled with the fact that archaeology could seriously delay building projects it would be naive to think this was not happening.

7. No one spoke up.
Archaeologists working in the field for the major consultancy firms were in an incredibly weak position. A lack of unionisation gave ordinary archaeologists almost no protection. Due to the precarious nature of employment anyone who raised questions about quality of work could easily and were often  not be rehired on the next job.  The people who were in a position to comment primarily university lecturers, rarely did. In reality they often had very little experience or knowledge of what was actually taking place in the field. Those who did know chose the all to familiar Irish path of not rocking the boat. They rarely if ever expressed concerns about the fact that the very sites they wrote about were being destroyed without adequate recording.

8. If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.
Despite the fact massive amounts of money were being made by archaeological consultancy firms, the people doing the digging were paid shocking wages. At the height of the boom, even after several years of experience highly skilled archaeologists were paid less than €500 per week while companies were making vast profits.

On any site there were three of four levels, starting at a general operative often on the minimum wage, above which there were site assistants, supervisors and then finally a director.  On the site, the director was the only person earning what was the average industrial wage or above. The real money was made by company owners and managers who never worked on sites. Some companies had helicopters to ferry company officials from site to site while the people doing the work were paid pitance. Having worked as a site assistant for years in my experience this vast inequality lead to a lack of motivation and and high levels of resentment. This definitely impacted on the quality of the archaeological excavations.

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I am currently working on a short audiobook on the Black Death in Ireland. Set to the backdrop of 14th century war, famine and the impacts of a changing climate the book will be several hours long and will be available for a small fee in October 2011. Stay tuned for more updates.

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon better known as the Knights Templar are one of the most controversial organisations in medieval European history. Formed in the early 12^th century in obscure circumstances they were shrouded in secrecy for their 190 year history. Their initial aim was to break with traditional non violent ethos of religious orders and take up arms to protect the recently captured city of Jerusalem. They also vowed to protect Pilgrims visiting holy sites in the Middle East. They became famous initially due to their military exploits but during the crusades but in 13^th century they gained more fame and in some cases notoriety for creating a medieval Banking empire.

Although the most well known, the Templars were just one several similar Christian Military Orders operating in Europe and the Middle East. Orders like the Knights Hospitaller, the Teutonic Knights and the Iberian Order of Calatrava fulfilled similar military functions to the Templars while sometimes specialising in a certain activities. The Knights Hospitaller for example as their name suggests specialised in looking after the sick and wounded. These organisations were however at their core Military orders who rose to fame fighting wars of reconquest in Spain (like the Order of Calatrava) or in the case of the Templars or Hospitallers leading invasions of the Middle East.

While Hospitallers still exist (in a very different form!) the Templars were destroyed in 1308 by the pope at the behest of the king of France, Philip the Fair. After being savagely tortured, bizarre confessions were extracted which lead to widespread fame and notoriety in medieval Europe and a multi-million pound conspiracy industry today. This purge in the 14^th century caused scandal across Europe including Ireland where the Templars had a significant operation.

The Knights Templar in Ireland.

The Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169-71 lead to the arrival of military orders including the Knights Templar in the following decades. The Templars were already established in England so it was little surprise they followed the Norman armies to Ireland.

Medieval Ireland was clearly situated far from the hotspots of the Templar military activity in the Middle East but none the less they developed a substancial presence in Ireland but due to the secretative nature of the organisation little is known of their activities here. They owned extensive estates of land and had numerous perceptories focused on the east coast and Munster.Their activities were limited to the Norman colony in Ireland which by 1250 covered nearly 75% of the island.

Although clearly supportive of the Norman conquest the Templars were forbidden from killing other Christians except in self defence so their military activities in Ireland were very limited. Indeed the fact they are not mentioned in any of the major Gaelic Irish annals illustrates they probably had very little interaction with Gaelic Ireland outside the colony. While their military activities were curtailed they did recruit Knights to go to the Holy land while also pursuing their increasingly vast commercial interest. Along with Knights Hospitallar they were responsible for ensuring that the taxes from Ireland arrived at the royal court safely. They also had quite profitable farming enterprises– by 1308 the year of their suppression their lands were worth £400 per year.

Banking & Problems Arise

As part of their commercial enterprises the Templars formed an institution many regard as the origins of modern banking. With Templar preceptories all across Europe they created a facility where it was possible to deposit money in one preceptory in return for a letter of receipt. This letter could be produced in any other preceptory where the money would be reimbursed. In the world of Medieval Europe where travel was dangerous this was very attractive to the rich. This early banking system soon grew to enormous proportions with 4000 Templars working in the Paris preceptory which was their main financial centre. As their wealth increased they began to loan money to monarchs all across Europe something that would lead to their downfall.

Decline and fall.

In 1291 the last vestiges of the Crusader states fell when the Mameluk Sultanate of Egypt captured the city of Acre. With the collapse of the Crusaders states known as Outremer, (from the French meaning overseas) the Templars to an extent were at a loss given their original goals was to defending the city of Jerusalem and Pilgrims. In the immediate years after the fall of Acre they tried to reorganise another crusade but this failed.

It was during this period that Knights Templar loaned vast sums of money to the King of France Philip the Fair. In 1307 Philip, unable or unwilling to repay his debts, was presented with a chance of cancelling his debt by destroying the Templars. Two years previously a Templar who had been expelled made wild and almost certainly false accusations against the Order. These included denying god, spitting on the cross and worshipping idols. In 1307 Philip decided he would use these to destroy his debtors by accusing them of heresy. Philip who had total control over the pope Clement V then living in Avignon, succeed in gaining papal support for his endeavour.

On Friday 13^th of October 1307 Philip ordered the arrest of Templars across France and had their property to be seized. These Templars were subsequently tortured and admitted to numerous charges including idolatry and homosexuality which shocked contemporary Europe. Philip then forced the pope to order the arrest and suppression of the Templars all across Europe and the Templars everywhere were doomed.

Suppression in Ireland

On February 2^nd 1308 the Templars in Ireland were arrested and placed in Dublin castle. Meanwhile their estates were seized by King Edward II after which he leased them to close allies and associates. The Templars languished in Dublin Castle for over a year until September 1309 five inquisitors arrived in Ireland to oversee the case. This inquisition comprised of 3 Dominicans, Richard Balyban, Philip de Slane and Hugh Saint Leger accompanied by two Franciscans Roger de Heton and Walter Prendergast.¹ The Dominicans and Franciscans were selected as papal loyalists due to the generous grants these orders had received over the previous decades.

The Trial got under way on February 6^th and and last lasted 4 months concluding on June 6^th 1310. Taking Place at St Patrick’s Cathedral just outside the walls of the city of Dublin it must have caused great excitement around medieval Dublin. However inside St Patrick’s the case presented was almost non existent. The Templars were charged on several counts including: denying Christ, spitting on the cross, homosexuality and worshipping idols. The evidence provided by the witnesses the majority of whom were Franciscans or Augustinians was almost as ludicrous as the charges.  The strongest evidence was presented by a certain Hugo Illuminator who claimed he he saw the Templar William de Warecome “turn his face to the ground at the elevation of the sacrament not caring to look at the host” at the Templar preceptory in Clontarf. It wasn’t not exactly a case clincher.

The cases in France had been marked by extreme torture that saw even the Grand Master of the Templar Jacques de Molay admit to similar charges. Torture does not seem to have been used because no Templar admitted guilt and it appears that none were found guilty.

Regardless, the Templars had no future what so ever as an organisation. Under the threat of war from Philip the Fair the pope dissolved the Knights Templar in 1312 while lands owned by the Order were passed to the The Knights Hospitaller and individuals members of the order became members of other church institutions. This all had come into affect in Ireland by 1320. To ensure total annihilation Philip then had the Grand Master Jacques de Molay along with dozens of Templars burned at the stake in 1314.

The trials in Ireland were nothing akin to those in France. Indeed the lack of convictions probably reflected the fact that the the suppression of the Templars had little to do with events in Ireland and made little sense. Indeed the Franciscan Friar John Clyn who wrote a history of Ireland a few decades later and lived through the trials only notes the initial arrest of the Templars across Europe in 1308 and the disbandment in 1312. He does not mention the trial in Dublin at all.

After effects

While Ireland escaped the worst excesses of torture and execution, the ideas and methodologies that shaped the trials of the Templars in France eventually found their way to Ireland. In 1324 the Bishop of Ossory oversaw the trial of Alice Kyteler and several associates for witchcraft in Kilkenny. This bishop Richard Ledrede levelled three of the charges very similar to those which the Templars were accused of, while he also used torture eventually burning one woman, Petronella di Midia, to death². The similarity is not coincidence, Ledrede spent years at the papal court in France before his appointment to Ireland in1317³ and no doubt was deeply influenced by what he heard and possibly saw.

The Podcast was made in 2010 to celebrate National Heritage Week. This year National Heritage Week is coming up between the 20th and the 28th of August. There is loads of great events on over the 8 days . To find a full list of events check out http://www.heritageweek.ie/

To Download “right click” on the link below and go to “save link as” or on a mac press ctrl click

Special: The Story of Ireland’s Spanish Armada Shipwrecks (2010)

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I am currently working on a short audiobook on the Black Death in Ireland. Set to the backdrop of 14th century war, famine and the impacts of a changing climate the book will be several hours long and will be available for a small fee in October 2011. Stay tuned for more updates.

HMS Royal George

Built in 1827 this wooden frigate had been fitted with steam engines by the time this picture was taken. It has two gun decks seen from the gun ports. It operated as the coast Guard from Dun Laoghaire (then Kingstown) from 1865 – 69 until it was sold out of the navy.

Hazelwood House Sligo

Hazelwood was the home of the Wynn family, large landlords in Co. Sligo. Unfortunately today the house is in a state of poor repair desperately in need of renovation.

Dugort, Achill Island, Co Mayo.

Dugort was a protestant mission built on Achill in the early 19th century by Edward Nangle. According to the playright J.M. Synge The mission gained a poor reputation during the famine for “souperism” – the practice of giving food in return for religious conversion from catholicism to protestantism. Just after the famine Achill was visited by Harriet Martineau, who wrote a discription of Dugort… “The houses of the settlement occupy two sides of a square; and apart stands, on a third side, the dwelling of Mr. Nangle. There is a little church, and a post-office, and a humble inn; the houses are all whitewashed, and all but one slated. On a hill behind Mr. Nangle’s are some unroofed cottages; and close by, a more dreary sight still, the hamlet of Dugort on the cliff, with its filth and apparent misery. We inquired how it could have happened that, in full view of the settlement, this place could, at the end of seventeen years, be what it is? The answer was that the property of the place has till now been Sir Kichard O’Donnell’s, and that all the mission could do was to educate the children of the Catholic parents living there, hoping for the effects to appear in the next generation—as in Keel and other Catholic places. Now, the mission having bought half the island, the influence of its presence upon the population may be expected to be much greater.” This is an extract from Martineau’s less than sympathetic work “Letters from Ireland” available in its entirety on Google Books. Written in 1852 just as the famine drew to a close Martineau says the population had dropped from 6000- 4000. The population of Achill today is around 2700.

Dooagh, Achill Island, Co. Mayo

Unsurprisingly Martineau had little time for Dooagh or its people. In 1852 She wrote “Proceeding from Keel, we went through the village of Dooagh—sordid, like the rest”

Tall Ships, Waterford city, Co Waterford.

Last weekend the Tall Ships Race visited Waterford. This was harking back to the era when this photo was taken when it was normal occurance for such ships to visit Waterford. The bridge in the foreground was completely rebuilt in the 20th century

Ballybunion, Co Kerry

This row of three house was built almost on the shore line as can be seen. Remarkably another photo was taken of the cottages around 20 or 30 years later showing the row of houses in a very different state of repair (below). The only house surviving when this shot was taken is the one on the seaward side of the terrace. It is substancially buttressed between the door and the window and again between the window and the gable.

Ballybunion (2)

The only house surviving is the one on the seaward side of the terrace. It has been substantially buttressed between the door and the window and the window and the gable.

Lurgan, Co Armagh

This photo was taken on Market day.

Warrenpoint Co. Down

This town compared to Dooagh on Achill Island seems to be booming, indeed the North East of Ireland enjoyed a economic boom through industrailisation in the later half of the 19th century. The ruins of the windmill still stand in Warrenpoint today.

Military Barracks Newry Co Down

British army barracks were a common feature all across Ireland in the 19th century creating what were often called garrison towns. According to the National Library notes the uniforms indicate the photo was taken before 1881.

O Connel St, Dublin 1

This photo was dated to the later half of 1882 by the National Library. This was possible due to the incomplete nature of O Connel Statue ( railings were later added and statues to represent the four provinces were not present). You can see tramlines on the South Quays and one tram crossing O Connell Bridge. Between the two men walking down the Quay are the words “T Boyce”. I am not sure is this a someone claiming a spot for horse carraige for hire or simple graffitti. While the overall street scape looks relatively similar to today many of the buildings in this photo were severely damaged or destroyed by the British Army during the 1916 rebellion.

Clifden, Co Mayo

Bray Co. Wicklow

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Deep in a dark recess of Dunmore cave the discovery of human remains and viking coins verify a grim entry from the Annals of the Four Masters about a massacre in 930. This discovery gives a terrifyingly vivid insight into early medieval ireland, often difficult since much of the landscape has changed so much.

In episode three of the podcast I referenced an event that took place in 930 C.E. The entry in the Annals of the four Masters for that year records*

Godfrey, grandson of Imhar, with the foreigners of Ath-cliath, demolished and plundered Dearc Fearna, where one thousand persons were killed in this year, as is stated in this quatrain:

Nine hundred years without sorrow, twenty-eight, it has been proved,
Since Christ came to our relief, to the plundering of Dearc-Fearna.

(Dearc Fearna is a reference to Dunmore cave co Kilkenny  then in the kingdom of Ossory which was was frequently attacked in the period after the Vikings returned to Waterford in 914. The cave was presumably used by local people as a refuge from attacks.)

This story in itself is not that unusual.  The annals are littered with similar stories of attacks and massacres but this one is different because you can literally stand on the same stones  where the people perished in 930. In the 1970′s the exact spot  was located when Viking coins were found along with human remains in a dark recess far at the back of the cave known as the market cross chamber.

The Attackers
In the area to pictured to the right, the market cross chamber, Viking coins were found all dating between 860 and 930. Crucially none were minted after the cut off point of 930 when the event took place. Indeed they all (except two) come from the Northern England in the 920′s from locations associated with the Vikings. Two others which are a few decades older are from Armenia – a fascinating story in itself illustrating the reach of the Viking trading routes. This was a good indication that the story in the Annals of the Four master was true and that the coins were deposited by the attackers. Indeed its highly unusual from archaeological data to fit so well with a historical event. However further information was available from other discoveries.

The Victims
In a more macabre twist the remains of dozens of bodies of women chidlren and some men have also been found. Although they could not be precisely dated the radiocarbon tests put them within a time-frame that included the crucial year of 930 and in similar archaeological contexts to the Viking coins. The victims strangely did not include scars of battle and stab marks what you might expect in a massacre. However when you stand in the area known as the Market cross chamber (above) you realise why they may not have such wounds.

When the tour reached the chamber the guide turned out the light after which it was impossible to even see the person directly beside you. This gives the visitor some idea of visibilty 1100 years ago. Even with the aid of a burning torch its almost certain that the Vikings could not have found people hiding in the cave. What is far more lightly is that after stumbling around in the dark and losing a few coins the Vikings decided they would starve or possible smoke those hiding in the cave out. It seems fear drove those hiding to choose death rather than submit to the Vikings.

1100 years later

When you climb the hundreds of steps down into the cave today along pathways you get some idea what it must have been like for the people hiding from the Vikings as they stumbled in the dark over rocks to one of the hardest parts of the cave to access. Although now the cave is paved and is lit its still quite strange standing in a spot where events in the Annals of the four masters took place when so many of the places mentioned are now lost or built over. Dunmore cave is definitely worth a visit just to see this alone. For more details check out the website.

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Further reading

Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section B: Biological, Geological, and Chemical Science, Vol. 80B, (1980), pp. 1-23

Annals of the Four Masters

(the AFM records the year as 928 but it is 2 years out for much the early tenth century)

When we put this in the context that the Romans were still fighting wars a few miles from Rome itself at this stage, its seems incredible and mysterious that an ape’s skull should arrive in Ireland at this point. There’s a real temptation to write a history/archaeology mystery piece about this, but the story is probably far more straight forward, indeed the focus on the mystery aspect tells us more about how we view the world than what past societies were like!

While it is one of the most intriguing finds in Irish Archaeology, it is after all the skull of a Barbary ape in Ulster over 2,000 years ago,  it may not be as mysterious as we would like it to be, particularly when we look at how it probably travelled to Ireland.

The Ape

The Ape no doubt travelled an enormous distance dead or alive across two continents (almost certainly dead I imagine). The Ape came from modern day Morocco and is the same species found on the rock of Gibraltar today. From about the 8^th century BCE until the 2^nd century BCE North Africa was within the influence of the Carthaginian trading Empire (until it was destroyed by Rome in 146 BCE). The Carthaginian’s were outstanding traders and sailors and had trading posts across the Mediterranean stretching to the Atlantic coast of Iberia, including what would become Barcelona, Carthagena and Cadiz.So the Ape getting from Africa to Europe was easy with frequent Carthaginian ships crossing the Mediterranean.

Once in Spain travelling Northwards across Europe was easy enough too but probably quite slow. Transcontinental trade in Western europe was widespread since the since the Bronze age – there is quite a substantial body of evidence of trade routes stretching up through modern day France and indeed across the English channel, Irish sea and even the Celtic sea which stretches between modern day Ireland and France. Many objects from far flung destinations have been found in Ireland long before the Ape skull – many bronze age jewellery pieces have been fashioned from amber from the Baltic while a gold Torc found inland at Roscommon was directly imported from the continent around 400 BCE. Technological and cultural developments roughly in-line with European developments also show the constant if perhaps slow and infrequent level of contact between Ireland and the continent since deep in our prehistory. So again for the ape to get to Ireland is not particularly mysterious either.

The Ape Arrives

We can assume then the ape finally arrived in Ireland sometime in the last few centuries B.C.E perhaps taking a circuitous route. (It is also possible the skull moved quite quickly perhaps on a Phoenician trading ships which did operate to a certain extent in the Atlantic Ocean.) When the Ape got as far as Ireland it was no doubt a precious object, so its little wonder it would find its way to somewhere like Navan Fort.

What was Navan Fort?

Navan Fort (Eamhain Mhacha in Gaelic) which was occupied for several centuries before about 100 BCE is an Iron Age earth work. Situated in modern county Armagh in the Ulster,  the complex was the royal centre of Early Ulster and one of the major centres in Iron Age Ireland having immense symbolic importance being frequently mentioned in early histories.

There were several phases of development at the site stretching over several centuries. The most famous and little understood is a structure that formed by an earthen bank enclosing five concentric rings of wooden posts. For unknown reasons indicating the sites ritual* importance, this complex was burned and covered in an earthen mound in the early years of the last century BCE.

The Barbary Ape was discovered beneath this mound telling us that it was placed there before the site was intentionally covered over sometime after 100 BCE. So in short the ape was discovered at a highly important royal site in iron age Ireland, a site controlled by elites who had the ability to source such a rare object.

So what does this all say?

While its tempting to focus on the mysterious aspect of the Ape Skull trying to develop complex theories about how it got here, we get far more information by just looking at it for what it is another example of trade and communictaion in Iron Age Europe.

Western History and Archaeology are prone to the “Great Civilisation” view of the world where nothing happens until a Greek, Roman, French, Spanish, of British Army has arrived. This is a massive distortion of history. While the skull is fascinating we should look at it as an example of the early processes and trading routes that later cultures like the Romans built on rather than looking at it as something almost incomprehensible and mysterious.

Roman power did not fall from the sky but like every other power incorporated and copied existing routes and cultures – those same routes that brought the Ape to Ireland. The ape is also a reminder about the sophistication of prehistoric societies that could enable an object to travel such distances if perhaps slightly slower and on a more indirect route than their roman followers.

*Usually when archaeologists use the word ritual it means “I dont know what this is but I want to sound like I know what I’m talking about”

If case you havent had a chance to hear it Episode 8 of the podcast is out now. Check it out here.

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The Rise of Brian Boru and the Dál Cais (944 – 980)

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Glossary of individuals featured and further reading

Clarifaction: In this episode I refer to the following quote “Abnormally severe frost so that the lakes and rivers were passable on foot.” at 1:45 minutes in. The quote is form the Annals of Ulster and not from the Annals of the Four Masters as I said.

Congalach mac Mael Methig (d956)  Often referred to as Congalach Cnogba, he was the king of Brega. In 944 he took control of the Southern O Neill kingdom, the first person to oust the Clann Colman family from the position in 200 years.

Ruaidrí ua Canannáin (d950).  Ruairdrí was king of the Cenél Conaill who took control of the Northern O Neill kingdom in 943. He was the first person outside the Cenél Eoghan family to rise to the position in 2oo years.

Domnaill Ua Neill. (d 980).  Domnaill lead the Cenél Eoghan back to power in the North when Ruairdri died in 950. When he became highking in 956 after Congalach’s death he spent several decades putting down various rebellions. His surname Ua Neill (not O Neill) highlights the fact that he was the grandson of Niall Glundubh. Its in this period that the O Neill surname comes into use coming from Niall Glundubh himself. Domnaill’s father Muirchertach was called Muirchertach Mac Neill (mac meaning son) illustrates the fact he was Niall Glundubh’s son. You can hear more about Niall Glundubh in episode 5 and Muirchertach in episode 6.

Amlaib Currain (Am-laave -  Kurawn). Son of the famous Viking Sitric Caech who recaptured Dublin in 917 and killed Niall Glundubh in 919. He was the great-grandson of King Ivarr the boneless  (see episode 4) and his royal lineage saw him take the Viking kingship of York in the early 940′s.

He was ousted from this position in 943 after which he disappears from the record for 2 years. In 945 he arrived in Dublin forcing his cousin the king Blacaire into exile. He left Dublin in 948 to attempt to take back York. He failed and returned To Dublin sometime in the 950′s or 960′s. This period in his life is very unclear compounded by the fact another Viking King Amlaib lived during the same time.

Mathgamáin Mac Cennetig. The Older brother of Brian Boru. When their father Cennetig (the surname mac Cennetig means son of Cennetig) died in 951, Mathgamain succeeded him and was a highly successful king elevating the Dal Cais to unprecedented heights. He was executed by his arch enemy in Mael Muad in 976

Brian Mac Cennetig (Brian Boru) took power in 976 after Mathgamain’s execution and became the most successful king of the Dal Cais in history. I wont ruin the story for those who have not yet read about Brian but his life even if misrepresented in history is a fascinating story. Brian is one of the most famous individuals in Irish history but also one of the most misunderstood. This is largely because a 12th century account of his life  An Cogadh Gael re gallaimh (which was a highly unreliable) formed the basis of many popular historical interpretations of Brian Boru.

The cogadh is a highly questionable but influential resource, see link below. Its importance is not beacuse of its content per se but more because it was used to form the narrative of the popular story of Brian Boru’s rise to power. As you shall see in this episode the real story is far more interesting if complicated.

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This episode spans the reign of several O Neill high kings and the succession of high kings can be quite confusing. This is largely due to the fact the position was rotated between the Northern and Southern O Neill until the mid 10th century. Hopefully this makes it a little easier to understand.

Further reading

Simms, K (1987) From Kings to warlords Boydell press Woodbridge

Ó Corráin D (1973) Ireland before the Normans Gill Dublin

Hudson B (1996) Irish and Scottish High-kings in the Early Middle Ages Greenwood London

Annals of Ulster                           http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100001A/index.html

Annals of the Four Masters     http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100005B/index.html

Annals of Inisfallen                       http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100004/index.html

Cogadh Gael re Gallaimh            http://www.scribd.com/doc/53969725/1867-Todd-James-Henthorn-Cogadh-Gaedhel-Re-Gallaibh

This is what episode 8 - The rise of Brian Boru and the Dal Cais  currently looks like. If you’ve been following the updates on twitter and facebook you’ll know episode 8 its proving particularly hard to complete. Last night I finished a recording and sent it to the editor-in-chief, my brother  for review, so fingers crossed.

One of the things that delayed the production was that I completely changed my opinions on the subject when I was asked to review a book on Brian Boru for the the great website The Irish Story. If you want to get some idea where I am coming from on the topic, check out the review and lots more at  The Irish Story.

]]> http://irishhistorypodcast.ie/2011/06/25/book-review-and-update-on-episode-8/feed/ 0 findwyerspodcast grab http://irishhistorypodcast.ie/2011/06/23/photos-from-a-forgotten-world-ireland-1860-1880/ http://irishhistorypodcast.ie/2011/06/23/photos-from-a-forgotten-world-ireland-1860-1880/#comments Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:19:55 +0000 Irish History http://irishhistorypodcast.ie/?p=1292 ]]> Its almost impossible to comprehend how much Ireland has changed in the last 150 years. This selection of photos from a National Library collection released in 1981 give a rare glimpse into Ireland between 1860-1880.

Many of these pictures are of tourists. The late 19th century had seen tourism take off in Ireland (exclusivley among the wealthy) with the expansion of rail lines into the west.

Unfortunately because of the focus on wealthy tourists, the vast majority of the people of Ireland are not represented in these photos. Ordinary Irish peasants only feature when they interact with the tourists.

All the photo’s were taken between 1860-1880. To put them in context many of the people in these photos were survivors of The Great Famine (1845-51)

The notes with each photo are for the most part taken from the National Library notes

This picture was taken from the Gap of Dunloe, Co. Kerry. Remarkably the names of the women survive, on the left is Joanne O Keefe while on the right is Norah O Connell. The bottles under Joanna’s arm indicates she was possibly selling refreshments to tourists at the Gap, a popular spot. Most people I have shown this picture and the one below have commented on the similarities in appearance between Irish peasants and Native Americans in the 19th century.

The picture on the left is probably posed for – the man’s fiddle has only three strings. The most interesting aspect is the footwear, the man on the left is wearing boots while the man on the right is wearing troighthíní (footstockings) which as can be seen have no soles.

In a world without animal rights and free from PETA models this man is happyily hunting seals, one of which lies at his feet.

This picture of two “ladies” at Clifden Castle. They are riding side saddle. It was deemed inappropriate for a woman to straddle a horse!

This picture is taken at the Giants Causeway in Co. Antrim. The women are probably selling something to the two men seated  who are almost certainly tourists. The woman in the foreground is smoking a pipe.

Tourist at the Lake Hotel Killarney, according to the national archive notes the dress code indicates the picture was taken in the 1860′s.

This photo taken at the Blackchurch hotel, Naas, Co Kildare illustrates the way ordinary people were viewed and treated by the upper classes. While the tourists pose for the picture, the coach drives do not even turn to look at the camera functioning almost as props in their own photo.

Students at the non-denominational Queens College in Galway. The non-denominational ethos saw many Catholics enter an education system that had often excluded them, however in a world where education was highly expensive ordinary people of all religions and none were excluded as the students dress indicates.

Punchestown races taken between 1865-1881. The National Library was able to date this from the Uniforms being worn by the soldiers in the background.

This is again a shot of tourists at Killarney. While the child leans on an oar, beside a fishing rod, the woman seated at the back is holding a pair of binoculars and an umbrella.

This is the same family in the photo above. Refreshments are being sold on the table to the left of the door of the house. The man in the left foreground is holding a rubber mackintosh.

Tourists enjoy a picnic on the Estate of Lord Powerscourt, Co Wicklow.

These are only half the pictures in the set, next week I will post pictures fom the same time period which focus of several landscapes from around ireland including Achill Island, Waterford city and Bray.

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The tour will take in many of the sites covered in the podcasts so far, taking about 2hrs in total.

The tour is free of charge but donations are greatly appreciated.

If you would like to come on the tour please email me at history@Irishhistorypodcast.ie.

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The Black castle is situated at Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow commanding a dominant position over the river Barrow. The Barrow was immensely important in medieval Leinster acting as both an important route way and a natural barrier.

The photo of the  plaque below gives a brief history of the castle while the other pictures show the site from different angles.

Unfortunately the castle is not accessible. What you see in this post is as much as you can see at the site which is disappointing - its not really worth a visit. A  far better castle on the Barrow is Ballyhack in Wexford which is completely accessible.

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St Nicolas’ Cathedral Galway was built in the 14th century getting its name not from any christmas association but rather its maritime heritage -  St Nicolas is the patron saint of Mariners. Since the medieval period Galway has been one of the major ports in the west of Ireland and the only city west of the river Shannon. Like any other major port city it was run by major merchant families and many of these families and the odd visitor have left their mark on St Nicolas’ Cathedral over the last 7 centuries.

So here’s St Nicolas’s Cathedral in photo’s and a medieval musician I came across and filmed!……..

The above pictures show the knave (left) and transcepts (right). The Cathedral was built in a compact cruiform shape like most Western European cathedrals. In ordinary terms the knave is the longside while the transcepts are the short sides that jut out forming the cross-shape.

The cathedral has a more modern feel to it than many other similarly aged cathedrals which I think is due in no small part to the fact the walls are plastered. However you are immediately reminded of the cathedrals age by a medieval water font right inside the door (above).

What I was most struck by was the window in the southern Transcept. The window itself  (in the above centre) is a beautifully carved stone frame but one either side are the remains of two angels (left and right above) are both defaced. These smashed angels are  a fascinating reminder of 17th century conflict in Ireland. These were both smashed by puritans in Oliver Cromwell’s new model army when they arrived in Galway in 1652. This was not a random act of vandalism – the puritans were fanatically opposed to icons believing them to be idoltrous. They used the cathedral as a stables, a fate also shared by several other churches including the Black Abbey in Kilkenny.

The walls are littered with funerary momuments. They really give the history of the cathedral a personal aspec.t. This one reads “HERE LYE THE BODY OF HENRY WALTERS WHO DYED 12 OF MAY  1709 t HIS WIFE CATHERIN WALTERS AND THEIR POSTERITIS”

It was not unusual for the rich to leave money to the poor in their wills. Unfortunately this was more an effort to be remembered than any consideration for the less well off. Although not legible (apologies) the patron of the monument above left money to feed the poor of Galway who they refer to as “Objects”!

In the Northern section of the knave the most visible monuments are all dedicated to the dead of World War One. This large celtic cross contains the names of those killed in World War I.

Fixed to the walls are standards of the Connaught Rangers the British army unit levied in the West of Ireland including this flag in an apt state of repair reflective of the fortunes of a unit savaged in the blood bath of World War I.

The entire floor along the Northern wall is faced with reused grave slabs of craftsmen of the city. If you look carefully you can see the tools of each trade marked out on each slab. There is dividers and a set square on the slab in this image. On the top of the photo you can see hammers depicted on the slab, depicting stone masons.

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These are just a few of literally dozens of artefacts around the Cathedral walls that you can spend a hour or two perusing. The Cathedral is situated in the centre of Galway just off Shop Street a is free of charge and comes highly recommended.

After the cathedral we ventured out into the pouring rain (testified to by the drop on the lense above!) and made our way to the city museum. Entering the museum we passed through Galways famous Spanish Arch (above) which cuts through the last remaining section of city walls. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the arches is not their appearance – they are relatively benal, but they were severely dammged in a tsunmai in 1755!

Unfortuntaley the museum was closed but this guy was performing there in the “Early music festival” – something you dont see everyday!

Finally I can’t forget the people who gave me bed and board in Galway. One of them is the director of “Lucky Run”  a great drama looking for your vote in RTE’s storyland competition so get on there and vote!

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(The image above is a police raid on a meeting of the Ladies Land League)

Eviction in 1879

Eviction Co Clare 1882

This well known image depicts a Land League meeting in Kildare. The man in the centre holding the burning torch is the Irish American Land League organiser Michael Boyton. He is burning leases of a landlord in Kildare on a pike. Pikes were a very evocative symbol having been the weapon of choice for many rebels in the 1798 Rebellion.

This cartoon illustrates the Prime minister of the time William E Gladstone attacking the Land league. The Land League represneted by the "devil fish" came under severe attack in 1881. Like in the image Gladstone attempted to cut the head off the league by imprisoning much of the organisers on the ground, this failed with an explosion of rural violence after the leadership had been imprisoned.

After the Land league was supressed by the state in 1881 much of the work was carried out by the Ladies Land League. This images depicts Ladies Land League activists in their office in Dublin

In late 1880 perhaps the most famous incident of the Land War took place in Mayo when The Land League ostracised a local land owner Captain Boycott who was also the agent for the large landlord Lord Erne. In an effort to break what would become known as a boycott (named after this incident), the British Army Occupied the area to protect labourers brought from outside the region to harvest Boycotts potato crop. This image portrays the local community harassing the Army.

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With the introduction of the coercion acts in 1881 the league saw hundreds of activists in imprisoned after which prisoner solidarity became increasingly important aspect of league activity. Below is are people helping on an imprisoned activists farm

There were several dozen assassinations of landlords and landlords agents during the Land war. Below two suspects are brought before a survivor of an assassination attempt. Mr Hearn the victim lying in bed was a landlords agent in Mayo. The two suspects are at the end of the bed. They were charged but never prosecuted.

Fanny Parnell Fanny Parnell (1848 -1882) along with her sister Anna and several others she was one of the founders of the Ladies Land League, she died prematurely in 1882

Patrick Egan (1841 - 1919) was the treasurer of the League who feld to Paris when it was feared the British government would seize the leagues finances.

Charles Stuart Parnell (1846 - 1891), Brother of FannyParnell and the official leader of the land league. he would transform teh land league into a less radical organisation. he fell from garce in the late 1880 when he was exposed for having an affair with Katherine

Matthew Harris (1826 -1890) A fenian from the west of Ireland , was long involved in tenants rights issue, he became one of the main organisers in the west)

Michael Davitt (1846 – 1906) A fenian who moved away from fenianism during the land war – he became a widely repected journalist and activist after the Land war .

What was the Land War?

In 1879 one the largest conflicts in Irish history erupted over the issue of land and landownership in Ireland. For the first time in centuries the authority of landlords to control the land in Ireland was questioned and challenged. This conflict was lead by a tenant organisation known as The Land League. After 3 years of struggle this movement of ordinary tenants had dealt a fatal blow to rural landlordism in Ireland while also transforming the careers and profiles of several Irish historical figures not least Charles Stuart Parnell and Michael Davitt. At its height The Land League, had 200,000 members, while Ireland seemed on the verge of a civil war. Although struggles over rural land rights would continue into the early 20^th century, by the end of the Land War the day of major rural landlords was coming to end.

The Background

The inequality of late 19th century land ownership is best articulated by the statistic that 800 families owned 50% of the land. Ireland’s overall population stood at around 5,000,000 in 1879, the vast majority of whom lived in the country as tenants on small plots rented from the landlords.

The tenants enjoyed few rights and the mass evictions at the height of the Great Famine (58,00 families were evicted between 1848 -51) had illustrated the willingness of the landlords to preserve their narrow class interest over any humanitarian concerns for their tenantry. This lead to general tension in Ireland after the famine.

These conditions existed for decades but the immediate issue that provoked the land war was the recession of the 1870′s. This was largely due to the:

• Global economic affects of the Franco- Prussian war (1870) and the   end of the US American Civil War (1861-65) which culminated in a depression that began in late 1870′s.

• Local problems in Ireland which accentuated this crisis. These included a collapse in the potato crop between 1877 – 1881, while poultry, which had become a major aspect of rural life after the famine, was drastically impacted by a cholera epidemic.

After 1877 tenants could no longer meet their rents and began to fall into arrears. By the 1879, as credit dried up, famine was declared in some areas of the west while tenant families began to brace themselves for eviction as tens of thousands of tenants found themselves in arrears.

The Spark

In early 1879 the tenants of a landlord Canon Burke of Irishtown in east Mayo approached the editor of the Connaught Telegraph James Daly seeking help. They faced eviction because they were in currently in arrears and Burke sought to raise their rent. Daly, a well known activist around tenancy rights in the county, organised a protest meeting at Irishtown. In organising this meeting Daly approached former political associates of his, who had been involved in the successful election campaign of the Fenian John O Connor Power in 1874. It was these men – Thomas Brennan, Michael O Sullivan and Mathew Harris would become the main organisers of the land league. Although many would argued differently after the fact, the two men most associated with the Land war, Michael Davitt and Charles Stuart Parnell had little or no involvement at this early stage. Michael Davitt was only tangentially involved organising speakers while Charles Stuart Parnell had no involvement at all.

The meeting itself was a resounding success – 8,000 people turned out in spite of a warning not to attend by the catholic church. It was clear people would resist attempts to evict them more vehemently than they had during the great famine.

Its important to note there are several reasons why Ireland was different between 1845 ( when there had been the last major round of evictions) and 1879:

• Emmigration had fallen off due to the recession, this meant evicted tenants had no where to go which made people more willing to fight.
• Seasonal work in England and Scotland had also declined so in the summer of 1879 there were large numbers of people in Ireland who would normally have been emigrating for the harvest in Britain.
• Illiteracy had dramatically fallen in Ireland (to around 50%) allowing for the development of a modern political movement to resist evictions – The Land league.
• The political landscape had changed dramatically, particularly witnessing the emergence of the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood also known as the Fenians). While the organisation took no official role, its members were well trained political activists able to organised resistance to evictions.
• The impact of the famine had embittered a generation and illustrated the need for resistance. (While resistance during famine was far greater than people acknowledge it was very localised and sporadic.)
• The enormous Irish communities in America and England were in a poistion to finance the movement as well as providing some of its most able leaders of the Land War– Michael Davitt and Michael Boyton came from England and America respectively.

From a meeting to a movement

After the success of the initial meeting several more meetings of equal success were organised across Mayo. It was for such a meeting in Westport in early June 1879 that Michael Davitt, who became more and more involved in the summer of 1879, approached Charles Stuart Parnell to speak. Parnell a home rule MP, was initially  slow to commit but in the end he gave his support speaking to a crowd of thousands at Westport. This launched the meteoric rise of one of the most controversial figures in 19^th century Ireland.

By the late summer of 1879, the west of Ireland was in political turmoil over the issues of land and evictions. The land movement which was initially called the Land League of Mayo organised successful resistance to threatened evictions. Many commentators at the time noted the deferential treatment once afforded to landlords had evaporated while evictions became more and more difficult. By October 1879 the movement which was spreading changed its name to the The Irish National Land League with Charles Stuart Parnell as the figurehead.

While successfully resisting evictions and the growth of such a major movement was inspiring, it should be remembered this took place to the backdrop of many tenants facing near famine conditions and this preoccupied much of the new organisation activity in late 1879.

The Goals

The land league marked itself apart from other land movements in Irish history in that its ultimate goal was not land reform but an abolition of landlordism in Ireland altogether. It did advocate reform such as rent reductions but these were very much seen as interm measures.

At the initial meeting in Irishtown in April 1879, Thomas Brennan set a tone that would reflect much of the Leagues activity

“I have read some history, and I find that several countries have from time to time been afflicted with the same land disease as that under which Ireland is now labouring, and although the political doctors applied many remedies, the one that proved effectual was the tearing out, root and branch, of the class that caused the disease. All right-thinking men would deplore the necessity of having recourse in this country to scenes such as have been enacted in other lands, although I for one will not hold up my hands in holy horror at a movement that gave liberty not only to France but to Europe. If excesses were at that time committed, they must be measured by the depth of slavery and ignorance in which the people had been kept, and I trust Irish landlords will in time recognize the fact that it is better for them at least to have this land question settled after the manner of a Stein or a Hardenberg than wait for the excesses of a Marat or a Robespierre.

(Stein and Hardenburg introduced peaceful reforms to land in Prussia while Marat and Robbespiere were the leaders of the French Revolution.)

Who were the Key Figures

• James Daly – If anyone individual can be credited with starting the land league it is James Daly. Editor of the Connaught Telegraph, he was along time local activist on land issues. He has largely been written out of Irish history
• Thomas Brennan – One of the main Fenian organisers in Leinster, he had a good understanding of politics in the west of Ireland after he helped John O Connor Power win an election in 1874 in Mayo. He along with Michael Boyton, Mathew Harris and Michael O Sullivan were perhaps the main land league organisers on the ground.
• Michael Davitt was born in Mayo but emigrated to England at a very young age. He was a prominent Fenian in England in the 1870′s and became a cause celebré due to his imprisonment. When released he returned to Mayo and was shocked at the living standards but impressed by the Fenian’s there who were engaged in land agitation. After the land league got going he quickly became one of central figures in the movement.
• Charles Stuart Parnell. He would become the figure head of the movement. His commitment to the ideals of the land league have been questioned by many. In his defence he gave the movement legitimacy in its early stages – this was the reason why Michael Davitt brought him on board.

Where did the war take place?

Although the league had branches all across the island, the war was most intense in the west particularly in Mayo, Galway, Kerry and South Tipperary. The struggle began in South Mayo but quickly spread from there. The league was quite different to other land movements in the 19^th century in that it attempted to build connections to the urban working class and did not seek to glorify rural life (not surprising in the aftermath of the famine). Attempts to link with the emerging working class radicals of the day were seen in events like the one advertised in the flamboyant poster on the right, which was a meeting held in Dublin in 1880 in an attempt to link the oppression of workers in the city to tenants in the countryside

Tactics

From the summer of 1879 the land league and its supporters carried out various activities aimed at preventing evictions while advancing the cause of tenants. This ranged from protests at sales of leases of evicted tenants, protest meetings some of which were 10,000′s strong to more militant riots and even assassinations. The league itself did not officially sanction any illegal activity however some organisers did advocate more militant methods. One organiser the Irish American Michael Boyton advocated that land grabbers – people who took the land of evicted tenants should be “given the pill” a 19^th century euphemism for shooting someone.

Perhaps the most famous and successful tactic of the league was the Boycott. Initially called social ostracism boycotting saw landlords or those who opposed the league shunned by their community. They were hissed at everywhere they went, while no one would speak to them. People also refused to work for ostracised individuals or sell them produce.

Soldiers protecting the workers bringing in Cptn Boycotts harvest

The name “Boycotting” was coined during the land war after the league ostracised a man called Captain Boycott who refused to reduce his rent. The British state attempted to back Boycott by getting Orangemen to come and harvest his potato crop after labourers in the local area refused to help.

Such was the influence of the league and its supporters, the harvest could only be brought under the protection of 2,000 soldiers who were drafted into the area. While the league did not attempt to oppose such a large force the entire operation cost the British state £10,000 to harvest a crop worth a few hundred pounds. This was massive victory for the League as the state authorities could not carry out similar actions across the country – the boycott was born.

Reactions to the Land League

The land league evoked lots of different reactions many contrary to what we might expect.

The IRB (the fenians)

John O Leary

While many fenian organisers were very active particularly in the early stages, the organisation itself never fully committed tothe land struggle. This was down to an internal debate within the I.R.B. about how best to win Irish freedom. While the activities of those engaged in the Land League spoke for itself, they were opposed by a conservative purist leadership of Charles Kickham and John O Leary who argued anything other than armed struggle against Britain was a distraction. O Leary’s criticism was no doubt influenced by the fact he himself was a landlord in Tipperary town. It was nothing short of bizarre that as Ireland was witnessing its greatest upsurge in radical activity in nearly a century that the Fenians withdrew its limited support in 1880. This would only serve to damage the Fenians as they lost some of their more charismatic members – Thomas Brennan, Mathew Harris and Michael Davitt all drifted from the IRB in this period.

The Catholic Church

The catholic church viscerally opposed the Land League when it was formed for three reasons.

• Firstly they hated the IRB which contrary to popular opinion was a vehemently secularist organisation modelled on French republicanism. The catholic church which was an overtly sectarian organisation in the 19^th century hated the anti-sectarianism advocated by the Fenians.
• The Catholic church disdained what they called the “men of no consequence” organising the Land League. This was a reference to the ordinary background of the league organisers
• Finally the Catholic church in 19^th century Ireland was seeking legitimacy ever since catholic emancipation in 1829. Many felt that association with the League would undermine any legitimacy they had developed.

In the summer of 1880 they realised their criticism of the League was damaging the church itself more than the land league. In a complete u-turn they supported the league, instructing priests to support it.

Criticism aside it should be noted that the massive famine relief organised by the catholic chruch in 1879 – 1880 was one of the key factors that prevented a catastrophe.

The Landlords

Lord Lucan

Unsurprisingly Landlords in Ireland were completely opposed to the demands of the Land League and refused to reduce rents. In a perverse comment as Ireland faced famine in 1879, Lord Lucan said he could not give his tenants a reduction in rent because this meant a reduction in his means. This intransigence of the Landlords ensured their own demise.

Irish Emigrants

Irish Emigrants in Britain and American contributed massive financial aid to the Land League. In America the sister organisation of the Fenians – Clan na Gael contributed massive aid. This was aided by the fact that the leader at the time John Devoy, himself from a tenant family, supported the League. Fund-raising efforts in the US was massively boosted in early 1880 when Michael Davitt and Charles Stuart Parnell toured the USA.

Political Divisions

The Land league was an enormous movement and unsurprisingly there was many competing political strands with in the movement.

Charles Stuart Parnell

Fenians vs Home Rulers

This was perhaps the most obvious tension. The Fenians Davitt, Harris and Brennan all saw the land league as a step towards full independence for Ireland, so much so that the first resolution of the initial meeting at Irishtown was in relation to Irish independence. The home rulers led by Parnell were completely opposed to this believing the best solution for Ireland was home rule while remaining within the British Empire. These tensions erupted on several occasions not least around the election of 1880 when Parnell stood in Cork. Although he was not a Land League candidate (the league did not officially endorse any candidates) he no doubt gained from his association with such a popular movement

Michael Davitt

   Thomas Brennan was highly critical and during the election in 1880 he made this veiled criticism in reference to Parnell

“We have had enough kings in Ireland, both native and foreign, both crowned and uncrowned, for all such men and their supporters really only despise the people on whose backs they climb to power”.

 This was followed up with Michael Boyton making this not so veiled criticism

 “You cheer for Parnell, Parnell is nobody without his followers”

Left vs Right

Again the league was split on political views with a certain degree of tension existing between left wing and right wing views. Parnell and much of the land leagues base formed the more conservative sections while the more radical fenians tended to be left wing.Political tensions were obvious over the ultimate solution to Ireland’s land issue. While the league advocated “the land of Ireland for the people in Ireland” this meant different things to different people. For the radicals Davitt, Brennan and Boyton who were influenced by the radical Henry George this meant the nationalisation of land. While the fenian Matthew Harris, the catholic church and much of the rank and file believed in peasant proprietorship i.e. that the tenants would each own a small plot. Parnell himself finally seemed most comfortable arguing for tenant rights rather than ownership – he himself was a major landlord in Wicklow.

Class tensions

Within the league itself there was major class tensions, as noted earlier the church criticised the league organisers as “men of no consequence”. Within the ladies land league (see below) there was also evidence of class tensions – a resolution to change the name to the Womens Land League was rejected on the basis it would attract the wrong sort of person!

Suppression and the ladies & The Ladies land League

In 1881 it was clear that the Land League would be suppressed and later in that year Gladstone brought in the Coercion Act which effectively outlawed the Land League. Earlier, women involved in the League most notably Anna and Fanny Parnell (sisters of Charles Stuart Parnell) had formed the Ladies Land League. When the League was suppressed and most of the organisers were imprisoned the ladies land league stepped into the breach and essentially took over the work of the now illegal Land League.

This ranged in a variety of activities from ensuring that solidarity was organised for the families of imprisoned activists to resisting evictions.  The opposition faced from conservative sections of the establishment and within the Land League made life very difficult for the women involved.The bishop John McHale articultaed the churches poistion when he said in reaction to the Ladies Land League:

“The modesty of her daughters was the ancient glory of Ireland. The splendour of the purity of St. Brigidwon her the sublime title of the Mary of Ireland. Her spiritual children were worthy of their mother’s fame, and Ireland shone out more brightly by the – chastity of her daughters than ever by the learning or labours  of her most distinguished sons. Like Mary, their place was the seclusion of the home.”

Although by no means a feminist organisation, it was a landmark in Irish history as it was the first organised engagement of women in politics in Ireland. While the ladies land league was a major milestone its also worth noting that many accounts of the earlier land leagues activities such as resistance to evictions involved women. The Ladies land League was not the first engagement of women in politics, far from it, but it was the first recognised and formalised involvement.

The end of the war

In 1881 the massive wave of repression saw nearly all land league leaders both radical and conservative imprisoned, however this only served to make the situation in Ireland worse, with violent incidents soaring in late 1881. At the same time however the British Prime Minister Gladstone introduce the 1881 land act which granted a certain amount of rights to tenants. The Land League opposed the measure but as 1881 gave way to 1882 the league was undermined on several levels

• The 1881 land act allowed many tenants to get serious rent reductions and this undermined the need for tenants to engage in activism around rent and tenancy rights.
• The Land league was a proscribed organisation and while the Ladies land league took over much of the work it was not able to replicate the effect of the bigger organisation.
• The worst impacts of the recession began to pass and harvests dramatically improved in 1882.
• In response to the imprisonment of the organisers, the Land League was an attempted Rent Strike. This was heavily opposed by the those active on the ground but the imprisoned leadership forced it through. It was an absolute disaster as Fanny Parnell (of the ladies land league) had predicted as no ground work had been done. This only further served to damage the organisation.

The end of the Land war came in the summer of 1882. Earlier that year Parnell had entered negotiations with the British Government that saw him released from prison in what became known as the Kilmainham treaty. In return for his release he agreed to

• quash the ladies land league,
• not to attempt to resurrect the now illegal land league
• support the 1881 Land Act.
• Pacify the land movement in Ireland

The Phoenix Park murders made international headlines

He was released in April 1882 and was shortly followed by Davitt who had spent 18 months in a prison in England with no communication whatsoever. The day Michael Davitt was released the chief secretary in Ireland was attacked and brutally murdered in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. The assassins killed the wrong man – the chief secretary who they sought out had recently been replaced. The brutality of the murder shocked many people – it was condemned by all sections of the Land movement in Ireland. A few months later the Maamtrasna murders took place in Galway when a secret society brutally murdered a entire family save one child in an incident linked to land tensions in the locality. These events served to make a climate where political violence was less tolerable while most tenants in Ireland were benefitting from improved harvests.

In Conclusion

Ultimnately the Land war had been a resounding success from the Land Leagues perspective. Although the power of landlords would only truly be broken until the 20^th century, the 1881 Land Act made life almost intolerable for landlords in Ireland. This Act and a further amendment in 1887 which widened the scope of the bill meant it would only be a matter of time before the landlordism in rural Ireland was brought to an end.

Imagine how our understanding of the Norman invasion of Ireland might change if we had footage of Strongbow entering Dublin in 1170 or what we might think of Brian Boru if we had footage of his burial at Armagh in 1014. These comparisons highlight the role that film footage will play as we construct the history of the late 19th and 20th  centuries. While film is as biased as any other source it gives an unique insight into past societies. There are numerous free film clips online about Irish history but here’s five clips i think are really fascinating and informative…..

Belfast 1901

This footage by the film Company Mitchell & Kenyon and is an amazing snapshot of urban life in Ireland 110 years ago. The commentary is a great analysis and explanation.

The Funeral of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Dublin 1908

O’Donovan Rossa was one of the most famous Fenians in the 19th Century. He died in New York in 1908. His body was returned to Dublin and his funeral became one the first major shows of force for Militant Republicanism in the 20th century. Patrick Pearse gave the graveside oration famously uttering the words “Ireland Unfree Shall never be at Peace”. James Connolly the famous Socialist who would be executed 8 later for his role in the 1916 rising can be seen at 1:07 while Patrick Pearse can be seen 2:32.

Embedding has been disabled but you can view the footage of O’Donovan Rossa’s funeral here

Iniskea Whaling Station, Co Mayo 1908.

This film of a Norwegian Whaling station off the coast of Mayo is a great snap shot of rural Irelnad in the early 20^th century. The industrialised nature of the operation is quite surprising. The last 1 min 50 sec is one answer to the often asked question “what did people do before the Internet?”

Interview with Tom Barry on the death of Michael Collins

The life of Michael Collins is often presented as black and white with his life being presented as almost saintly. This is far from the truth particularly when his role in the civil war is analysed. This interview although short is perhaps a good indication of the complexity around Collins. Tom Barry is generally regarded as one of the most effective IRA commanders during the War of Independence being the architect of the Kilmichael Ambush. He opposed the treaty and in this interview he outlines a bizarre scene he witnessed in Kilmainham Gaol when word of Collins assassination emerged. In this clip Barry does not share the sadness his comrades felt at the death of Collins.

Bloody Sunday, Derry 1972

One of the most controversial events in modern Irish History was Bloody Sunday. On January 30th, 1972 the British Army killed 13 people on a civil rights demonstration in Derry. This footage includes an interview with a British Army Commander clearly lying about what actually happened. The footage is clearly biased aimed at presenting the “official” story that the victims were killed as the soldiers came under fire. This footage will be invaluable to future historians in understanding the role of the media in creating confusion over what happened. The subtle inclusion of background screaming “of cease firing” and “Do not fire back for the moment unless you identify positive targets” are now known to be completely unrepresentative of the days events. (some people may find this footage disturbing)

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In the mean time I am looking for your suggestions for online resources to include in an archive of internet sites about Irish history and Archaeology.

The idea is to create an archive in one place that contains links to free reliable online sources. The only rules for inclusion is that the sources must be free, reliable and relate to Irish history or Archaeology (in the broadest sense of the word). Sources can include online books, blogs, youtube clips, websites, audio – the medium doesnt matter as long as its free and reliable. So please help send in your suggestions by commenting below or history@ Irishhistorypodcast.ie

The tour will bring you through the remains of  the Viking Town that lie within modern Dublin’s buildings, streets, lanes and alleys.

We will see what the Dublin area was like when the Vikings arrived, why they came, where they first established their base and how the city grew from a fortified camp to a medieval town with a thriving slave market.

The tour will take you through the heart of the old city, looking at where the inhabitants lived and what life in early Dublin was like. This tour will finish in 1171 when Ascall Mac Torcaill, the last king of Dublin, was ousted by the Normans.

This tour is free (although donations are greatly appreciated!) and will start at 2 o clock on Sunday, April 10th in the city centre. It will take about 2 hours.

Places are limited so booking is essential. If you are interested  in coming please contact me at history @ irishhistorypodcast.ie or leave a comment below.

For updates follow the show on facebook and twitter

How the conversion worked

In Episode 7 of the podcast, I outlined the early stages of the conversion of Ireland to Christianity. In short by the early 7^th century after several generations of proselytising by Christian missionaries Christianity was the most popular spiritual practice in Ireland. However this did not mean Paganism was completely eliminated and indeed the Christianity that emerged was not what as we might imagine it. The conversion of Gaelic culture to christainity partially failed as secular pagan rituals survived late into the medieval period. As we shall see the conversion of Ireland was as much about continuity as it was about change.

Modern views tend to see the concept of the conversion in black and white terms where the convert drops one set of spiritual, religious and often customary practice and replaces them with another. This is heavily shaped by our perception of historical events in the late medieval and early modern world in particular the crusades and the European wars of religion where on pain of death people rigidly stuck to one set of beliefs or the other.

However the story of conversions in Ireland is one of Christian missionaries adapting their belief system to make as similar as possible to the existing Pagan beliefs. Early Christians seem to have been highly flexible and focused heavily on the similarity and continuity between early Christianity and Paganism rather than the differences between them. This lead to a slow gradual change from Paganism. There seems to have been very little confrontation or conflict around the issue not least by the fact there was not one Christian martyr from the conversion period, while the influence of Paganism on Christianity in Ireland is considerable.

Continuity: St Brigid

The willingness to adapt to the pagan culture around them is perhaps best seen in the figure of St Brigid. Whether there was actually a historical figure of St Brigid is completely unknown with no hard evidence for her existence. What is certain is early Christians co-opted a pagan goddess Brigid into what we know as the figure St Brigid today. It is possible they grafted the goddess’ characteristics onto a real life early Christian missionary but there is little historical proof of this.

The early christian accounts of St Brigid clearly co opt the Goddess myth constructing a story of St Brigid as semi mythical by focused on miracles. These early histories most notably “the Life of St Brigid the virgin” by Cogitosus clearly illustrate how the goddess became a woman and Christian saint. St Brigid shares many of the characteristics of the Goddess Brigid in this work while Christian aspects are added on. (A similar process can be seen in the earliest histories of St Patrick which give Patrick druidic qualities.)

The transformation of the pagan Goddess into a Christian saint was complete   when early Christians transformed the pagan celebration of the Goddess Brigid, Imbolc on February 1^st , into what we know today as St Brigids day today. The pagan celebration was a celebration of the renewal of life in spring, while Christianity made it a celebration of the renewal of the Virgin Mary (Greene, M. 1995, 434). Indeed its easy to see how through the adoption of a figure like St Brigid, christianity would not have seen like a negation of Paganism given St Brigids explicit links to pagan spirituality.

This blurring of the lines between Paganism and Christianity made conversion easier for the generations moving from Paganism to Christianity. When early Christians set about building shrines, burying their dead and constructing sites of worship they adopted a similar policy.

Continuity in the Landscape

The Rock of Cashel

This slow approach of linking Paganism and Christianity is also evident in the physical landscape. Early Christian missionaries adopted pagan ritual sites making them votive sites for Christian figures. Many sites such as St Patricks well or St Brigid’s well are just pagan wells renamed in a Christian light.

Early Ecclesiastical centres were also constructed on or near pagan sites. The ecclesiastical complex of the Rock of Cashel situated on a rocky outcrop was highly lightly to have been a pagan site.  In Ulster early Christians for one reason or another were unable to establish a presence at the royal and ritual site of Navan Fort (Eamhain Mhacha) so less than a mile away they constructed a church which quickly became the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland. Through this process the spiritual landscape of Ireland remained more of less the same from the transition from Paganism to Christianity.

The archaeological record

The close association between Paganism and early Christianity is preserved in the archaeological record as well. Although burials from the crucial period of the conversion 450 – 650 CE are rare (Edwards N, 1996 101) what has been found indicates that Christians were not buried apart but continued to be buried at pagan burial grounds.

The archaeological record indicates toward a bridging period between Paganism and Christianity with religious practices particularly burials emerging that that are difficult to ascribe as definitively entirely pagan or Christian. This fluid period was evident at archaeological excavations at Kiltullagh on the Mayo-Roscommon border.  Kiltullagh which became a medieval church site was originally a pagan burial site, gaining its name from the Gaelic Cill meaning church and tullack meaning burial mound. Killtullagh straddles the period and is a clear indication that early Christians compromised with Paganism allowing as much for continuity as breaking with the pagan past.

At Killtullagh early Christians returned to pagan burial sites for burial. Two burials found beside standing stone carved with three cup marks illustrate this. One a cremation is presumably of a pagan (cremation was anathema to Christians until the reformation) while another inhumation of a male from the 5^th century looks more likely to be early Christian aligned east-west with no grave goods. These are both situated close to a late iron age standing stone.

The archaeologist, Finbar McCormick wrote in Archaeology Ireland that the burial maybe “the transition between the two eras. The inhumed male may have been a Christian who still wanted to be buried with his ancestors.” (McCormick, F. 1994, 28). Other potential transitional burial sites include Durrow, Omey island, Gelndalough and Derrynaflan.

Continuity through the transition is also reflected in the material culture from the “Golden Age” of Irish Christianity (7-9^th centuries. The most famous product of this era is probably The Book of Kells. The famous Chi Rho page is an example of the fusion between Christian and Pagan culture. The Chi Rho symbol is an early Christian representation of the word Christ  (chi and rho are the first letter of Christ in Latin). This page symbolising Christ is heavily decorated with pagan symbolism again illustrating early Christian’s emphasis on continuity not change. Similar motifs can be seen on the earlier work The Book of Durrow.

Limits of Christianity in Ireland: secular rituals

It is clear that Christianity in early medieval Ireland failed to penetrate deep into the culture of medieval society. Unsurprisingly given the level of compromise they afforded on a spiritual level, it seems that the overall impact of Christianity on secular rituals was limited.  Pagan rites in the inauguration of kings survived several centuries after Christianity had become the dominant belief system. This is evident in a cursory look at the rituals surrounding the most powerful medieval Gaelic Kingdom – The O Neill’s

Although in 812 an O Neill high king was inaugurated in a ceremony that seems to have had clerical involvement, the new king was called Aodh Oirdnide or Aodh the ordained. The specific reference to this clerical involvement would indicate this was unusual or abnormal and from surviving evidence it appears Christian involvement in secular rituals was limited. The royal gathering of the O Neill High kings – The Fair of Tailtiu was named after the foster mother of the pagan god Lug. This was not renamed along Christian lines continuing for centuries after the conversion. (The last fair of Tailtiu was held in 1007, its demise was nothing to do with Christianity but due to a change in O Neill power structures.)

Still more convincing evidence comes from the 12^th century Norman chronicler Geraldis Cambresis recorded the inauguration practices of the Cenel Conaill, one of the dominant families within the Northern O Neill kingdom. In his topography of Ireland Geraldis Cambrensis recorded that

“there is in the northern and farthest part of Ulster, namely in Kenelcunill [sic], a certain people which is accustomed to consecrate its king with a rite altogether outlandish and abominable. When the whole place of that land has been gathered together in one place, a white mare is brought forward into the middle of the assembly. He who is to be inaugurated, not as chief, but as beast not as king but as an outlaw embraces the animal before all professing himself beast also. The mare is then killed immediately cut into pieces and boiled in water. A bath is prepared for the man afterwards in the same water he sits in the bath surrounded by all his people, and all, he and they, eat of the meat of the mare which is brought to them. He quaffs and drinks of the broth in which he is bathed, not in any cup, or using his hand, but just dipping his mouth into it round about him. When his unrighteous rite has been carried out, his kingship and dominion have been conferred. “

This account written in the 1180’s was long disregarded as Norman propaganda however in the last few decades scholars such as Katherine Simms have pointed out that this has parallels in pagan ritual across Europe and is almost certainly too accurate in detail to be false. (Simms, 22 2000)

This however does not mean the Cenel Conaill or the O Neill’s in general were pagans. Indeed far front, it was among the Cenel Conaill, six centuries earlier that Columba, founder of Iona and the monk who lead the conversion of the Picts was born. This indicative however of the type of Christianity that emerged one that was heavily influenced by and comfortable alongside pagan rituals which by the 12^th century were probably seen as normal in Gaelic Ireland with little thought about their pagan origins. This preservation of pagan ritual was not limited to the O Neill’s either.

In 981 the O Neill High King Maelseachnaill II, when attacking Brian Boru’s home kingdom of Thomond in Munster chopped down a sacred tree of the kings of Thomond. The Annals of the four masters record of the event

“Dal-gCais was plundered by Maelseachlainn, son of Domhnall, and the Tree of Aenach-Maighe-Adhair was cut, after being dug from the earth with its roots.”

These sacred groves of trees were sites where kings were inaugurated and they clearly still held huge symbolic meaning if they were targeted in war. As late as the 1111 the Annals of Ulster record.

“An expedition was made by the Ulaid to Telach Óc, and they cut down its sacred trees”

While overtly pagan rituals were preserved into the later medieval period, in the centuries immediately before the Norman Invasion of Ireland Christianity started to influence the concept of Kingship. Gaelic kings starting to model their ideas of kingship on the idea of power invested by a Christian god but this was destroyed by the Norman invasion when the church supported the conquest (Simms, 1998, 32). Pagan ideals of kingship were resurrected in order to support an elite who could no longer claim their power derived from god.

Paganism in later medieval Ireland

Raphoe Cathedral

While pagan traditions survived until comparatively late in Ireland, the survival of pagan spiritual practices is scant even after the church supported the Norman conquest. Unreliably Geraldis Cambrensis claimed that the islands off the west coast were inhabited by pagans however he is not a trustworthy source unless corroborated. More trustworthy is the Bishop of Raphoe who wrote to the pope in 1256 that people in modern day Donegal were worshipping idols (Simms, K 2000, 28). While this troubled the theologically dogmatic Dominican bishop Maol Padraig O Scannail whether this would have been seen as Paganism by Christians a few centuries earlier is debateable.

Early Christianity was incredibly flexible in Ireland focusing on continuity not change and it would be rash to proclaim this as evidence of overt pagan worship. Raphoe was the bishopric of the Cenel Conaill who preserved many pagan rituals but also produced one of the key figures of early Irish Christianity Columba

Was Ireland unique?

The survival of such overt pagan rituals into the later medieval period was unusual when compared with continental Europe. Although continental Christianity had suffered a temporary setback when the Western Roman Empire declined it soon spread back across Europe in the 6^th century. These conversions seem to have been less comprising with Paganism, however its should be noted continental Europe and Britain had been Christianised by the Romans so missionaries could draw on older Christian traditions not present in Ireland.

The Coronation of Charlemagne

This lead to a far greater Christian penetration within continental culture. In 672 the Visigothic king in modern Spain, was crowned in a ceremony that involved a blessing by a bishop. Charlemange’s father Pepin was inaugurated as king in a Christian ceremony in 751, while Charlemagne’s own coronation as Holy Roman Emporer in 800 was carried out by none other than the pope himself. In Britain the Anglo – Saxon king to be inaugurated in an ecclesiastical ceremony was Ecgberth in 787, while Alfred the Great (871 – 899) was surrounded by clerics who performed courtly functions.

By the 10^th century’s most of Western Europe’s inauguration practices were increasingly Christianised but Ireland difference should not be seen in the context of an island on the periphery of Europe. In the 11^th century the influence of Christianity was limited on the periphery of the continent Norway and Sweden only converted in 11^th century while the Baltic kingdom of Lithuania which remained pagan until brutal conversions in the crusades of the Teutonic Knights in the 14^th century. Ireland shared the same geographical isolation from the centre of the Christian church on the Mediterranean allowing a vernacular version of Christianity to emerge.

So was Christianity a veneer?

After failing to penetrate and influence cultural practices, Christianity in Ireland accommodated itself alongside pagan rituals which to some degree must have been stripped of their meaning as pagan spirituality declined. As Katharine Simms (2000) points out in the later medieval period these practices while overtly pagan may have been used to legitimate kingship more because they were old rather than because they pagan. It is true to an extent to say the orthodoxy of the Christian church was a thin veneer but what lay beneath was not necessarily Paganism but a Christianity that was heavily influenced by pagan society it encountered in early medieval Ireland.

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Episode 7:

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Special: A history of St Patrick and the conversion of Ireland to christainity.

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Two of  sources mentioned in the podcast are two works composed by Patrick. These are The Confessio and The Letter to Coroticus.

The aspect that really caught my eye was the four busts of church reformers, two on each door.  One is in great condition; two are severely worn, while the fourth is unrecognisable. The three remaining are Huss, Tyndale and Latimer all executed reformers, so its safe to assume the fourth is a protestant martyr too. Anyone have any suggestions? It seems that the busts move chronologically from left to right which would put the missing martyr’s death between 1536-1555….

While it’s not worth a journey to see on its own its worth a look if your checking out Broadstone, Grangegorman and St Peters all in the same part of Dublin.

The issue of Irishmen serving in the British Army has been highly controversial since 1916. This cemetery was forgotten after independence in a country forged from a bitter conflict with the British Army as many viewed the Irishmen who had fought in the British Army as traitors. Regardless of your opinions of these soldiers the cemetery at Grangegorman is fascinating reflecting the cynical attitude of the British Army to the deaths of their soldiers while giving us a  view of  people from a forgotten side of Irish history.

Last Sunday I tagged along with the lads from comeheretome who organised a walk around the cemetery with Ray Bateson an expert on Irish cemeteries. Here’s some photos and notes I picked up along the way….Its well worth spending an hour walking through the cemetery- its fascinating!

Background

The cemetery was opened in 1876 to serve as a graveyard for the soldiers and their families of what was then Marlborough Barracks (now McKee barracks). Since the British army did not repatriate soldiers killed overseas until recently it contains soldiers from across the British Empire who died naturally or were killed in action in Ireland.

The Cemetery

The Grave of Captain Clarke, participant of The Charge of the Light Brigade

The cemetery is located in Cabra on Blackhorse Avenue about 2 km north west  from the city centre. (Its worth taking a look at McKee barracks as you pass, its a magnificent building -you can’t go in its still a military barracks).

Attitude to death

The graveyard itself  is in some ways a perverse celebration of death. Through the 19^th century the British Army had a tendency to turn defeats into great celebrations. The famous British Army bravery shown against the Zulu’s at Rorke’s drift (subject of the film Zulu) masks a major defeat  the British army suffer at the Battle of Isandlwana earlier the same day.

However  The Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean war is the most famous of these glorious defeats. This was a horrific act of stupidity; 600 British horsemen were routed charging down Russian guns, was a pointless if brave exercise. Turning disaster into propaganda the Army chiefs declared this rout an example of the courage of the British army. At Grangegorman this attitude can be seen – one of the first burials is that of a survivor of the light brigade – A Captain Clarke who is proudly proclaimed as “one of the 600 at Balaclava”.

The idea of the glorious death for queen and country was swept away with the tide of horrific slaughter in World War One. A different attitude to death is evident on the plaque (below left) to those killed in the two world wars in the cemetery – no one dared glorify the actions at the Somme or Ypres.

The memorial to those who died in the two world wars who are buried in Cork

This new more somber attitude still falsely represented those who died, the plaque reads – “those honoured gave their lives in two world wars”.  In reality soldiers in World War One did not “give” their lives willingly but were butchered at the Somme or other such futile exercises, but none the less attitudes were changing from the those evident around events like The Charge of The Light Brigade

Graves

World War One casualties, unsurprisingly,are littered throughout the              graveyard. The striking thing about these graves is often the age, predominantly young men in their early twenties and thirties. These victims of the horrific trench warfare ended up in Grangegorman usually after being injured and sent to Ireland to convalesce where they died of wounds. This explains some of Australian’s that were buried at Grangegorman. Incidentally the Australian folk memory of world war one is entirely different to the Irish experience and this can be seen with Anzac day celebrated annually at the cemetery.

The graves can reveal surprising details about those buried there. Perhaps the best example is the row of burials (below), all soldiers killed on the 10^th of October 1918. On October 10^th, 1918 a mail boat the HMS Leinster was torpedoed as it left Dublin and many soldiers on board were killed.

Controversy

While there is almost universal feel empathy with the millions of working class men slaughtered during world war one, those killed late April/Early May 1916 have found little sympathy in Ireland. Those who were killed between April 24^th and the first week of May are the graves of soldiers who were killed in the process of suppressing the 1916 rising.

These graves tell the story of the rising day by day. From the dates and regiments its possible to pin point where these soldiers were killed. The grave below to the right is of a member of the Royal Irish Regiment. They were involved in fighting around the South Dublin Union and with a degree of certainty we can say he was killed there. There are numerous graves of Sherwood Foresters who suffered serious casualties when they attempted to cross Mount St. Bridge on the Canal.

Interestingly last week the Irish times reported on a locket belonging to a soldier Guy Vickery Pinfield who was killed in 1916 that was sold at auction for £850. Pinfield himself is buried at Grangegorman.

War of Independence.

The last major conflict in the 26 counties involving the British Army was the Irish war of independence. There are numerous graves of soldiers killed between 1919 and 1921. Again the information on the graves can be quite telling and although we can’t be certain men like J Ward (left) were most likely killed in this conflict from his age – 44 and the fact that by September 1920 Martial Law had been declared.

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The aqueduct and canal that once linked the site to the Royal canal are gone almost without a trace and what was a glorious Neo-Egyptian railway station (left) is now a bus depot and garage badly in need of repair. After digging around I found some sketches and photo’s illustrating what the area was like in its heyday over a century ago.

Broadstone

Broadstone is located north west of Dublin between the city centre and Phibsboro. It is known today from buildings like the Kings Inns or streets like Constitution hill and Western Way but in the 19^th and early 20^th century it was best known as one of the major rail stations and canal docks in Dublin. Its architecture was impressive from the aqueduct spanning Constitution Hill to the train station  itself.

Origins

As late as the 1780’s it was just green fields at the edge of Dublin but revolutionary changes in transport saw Broadstone transformed. In the 19^th century it became a key location in Dublin only to fall out of use a century and half later as a new revolution in transport made it redundant. The start of Broadstone’s rise began with the first major revolution in technology in the 18^th century – canals.

In 1789 a royal charter constituted a new company – the Royal Canal Company which was to construct a canal between Dublin and the upper Shannon (the Shannon river is Ireland’s largest river and the major waterway in the west of the country). In its charter Broadstone was identified as a location for one of the major canal harbours in Dublin. In 1790 construction of the canal began on a route that ran east-west about 500 metres north of Broadstone.

As stipulated in the 1789 charter a dock had to be constructed at Broadstone but this was not an easy task. The company cut a smaller canal – The Broadstone canal towards the site of the proposed harbour but quickly came up against the newly constructed North Circular Road. Here they built a humpbacked bridge to carry the road over the canal – Blacquiere Bridge named after the one of the directors of the Royal Canal Company. However the greatest challenge still lay ahead of them.

Fosters Aqueduct (Phisboro rd/Constitution Hill)

Aqueduct

Five hundred metres south of the Blacquiere Bridge the Broadstone canal met Constitution hill – a road which was substantially lower than the level canal. This road could not be arched over the canal so instead the canal would have to cross over the road on an aqueduct. The Royal Canal Engineers constructed what became known as Fosters Aqueduct (left) named after the last speaker of the Irish house of Commons John Foster.Once the canal crossed the Constitution Hill a large harbour was dug to serve as a terminus.

In 1802 the Broadstone section of the canal opened starting with a limited service to Newcastle near Enfield, 30 km south west of Dublin. By 1817 the Royal Canal, which was constructed from east to west, reached the Shannon River and Broadstone was then the major harbour for connections between the city and the midlands.

Very quickly it faced competition of sorts as the 1820’s saw the development of Ireland’s first regular transport service by road – Bianconi Stage Coaches. These threatened the market for the canal boat passengers. The Royal canal company countered this through the development of what were known as fly boat services – a daily barge that trevelled from Dublin as far west as Mullingar.

While canal was massively costly and labour intensive to construct it quickly became outdated as a form of public transport. In 1845 a new railway company The Midland and Great Western Railway Company purchased the entire royal canal and its harbours. They had little interest in the canal itself –  they wanted to use the harbours and flat land beside the canal to construct a railway to the west of Ireland. The Midland and Great Western Railway Company identified the harbour site at Broadstone as a major station site.

What remains of the railway track

In 1848 they had carved a new train line (left) from the harbour running north along the western edge of Phibsboro running under the North Circular road. Once this line opened in 1848 carrying a train service from Broadstone to Mullingar and the canal could not compete for passenger traffic. With a maximum speed of only ten miles an hour the demand for canal passenger boats collapsed over night.

Statistics from the other major canal in Ireland – the Grand Canal show just how much the railway affected passenger traffic on the canal in this period. Between 1845 and 1851 traffic, first class fell by 90% from 32,008 to 3,194 while second class fell from 79,217 to 18,328. (Hart , H.W. (1968) The Passage Boats of the Grand Canal Dublin Historical Record, Vol. 22, No. 1 pp. 176-186 Old Dublin Society.)

The demise of the canal traffic did not harm Broadstone – it was becoming the major rail station in Dublin servicing the west and in 1850 a major train station was opened at Broadstone. Architects designing the railway station in these early days of rail were not constrained by a design regarded as a typical railway station and at Broadstone The Midlands and Great Western Company built a Neo- Egpytian station over looking Constitution Hill.

Holidays

By the 1860’s railways completely dominated public transport. As Dublin’s middle class grew

An advert for a train trip to a hunt meeting in Meath

the demand for leisure trips grew amongst this section of the population who had more leisure time and expendable income, the train company tapped this market by offering trips to various events such as races or fairs in the west of the Ireland. This was a completely new phenomenon as previously it was impossible to go to an event like the Ballinasloe horse fair and return in the same day.

The Canal is filled in

By 1870’s it was clear the canal was just an obstacle to the Rail station at Broadstone. Canal traffic at Broadstone had continued to decline particularly after the opening of a new dock where The Royal Canal met the Liffey – Spencer dock. The harbour was more of a hindrance to the train station. Its awkward location meant that the station could only be accessed by a pontoon bridge which could be removed when necessary but given the ever increasing traffic on the railway this was intolerable.

Picture of unknown date showing the harbour now filled in. The acquduct is a road visible of the right. There is still a small section of the canal visible in foreground

The company drew up plans to completely change the layout of the entire area around Broadstone and it was began to take the shape we know today. In 1878 they partially filled in the canal dock at the railway station. They also constructed a then private road – Western Way (this only became a public road in 1930’s). This new road Western Way accessed the train station across the Aqueduct, which after the canal harbour was filled in, was converted into a road bridge. With the closure of the docks at Broadstone the entire Broadstone section of the canal fell out of use as it served no purpose.

The train station however went from strength to strength. The site was expanded with large workshops opening in 1878. All the Midland and Great Western Railway Company trains were built at Broadstone from this date. The station was not just known as a major public station in Dublin, it was also a workplace for many living in the area. The census returns for 1901 and 1911 showed a significant section of people in the Phibsboro area were employed at the station or in the workshops.

Decline

The early 20^th century witnessed massive change political, economic and technologically change and this spelled the beginning of the end of Broadstone as a major public station. In 1911 railways saw the arrival of its major rival – road transport, that year The Midland and Great Western Railway Company opened its first bus service. While increasing road transport saw rail passenger numbers decline the declaration of independence spelled the end for Broadstone.

In 1924 the newly formed free state of Ireland consolidated several existing railway company’s including The Midland and Great Western Railway Company into a conglomerate The Great Southern Railway company. As part of the Great Southern restructuring several train stations were to be closed. Broadstone was not part of the long-term plans with preference been given to Connolly station on Amien street. The station was handed over to the bus section of the Great Southern in 1934 and the rail traffic was gradually wound down with the last train pulling into Broadstone at midnight on the 16th January 1937 .

With the closure of the station Broadstone was no longer frequented by the public and began to fade on the city map. As transport needs moved from rail to road the last reminders of the areas days as a canal harbour were removed. First Blacquiere bridge in Phibsboro was taken down in the 1930’s and then in 1951 the aqueduct which was a bottle neck for traffic was demolished.

The canal itself was filled in the 1930’s and transformed into a public park containing Phibsboro library and a playground. Its history was preserved in its name – Royal Canal Park. Ironically Broadstone demise was down to the same reason it had been developed in the 1790’s – because of the demands of new forms of transport.

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Bibliography

Forum discussion garaiste.yuku.com/topic/10552

Newenham Wright (1831) Ireland illustrated: from original drawings Fisher & Jackson.

Stephenson P.J. (1952) The Foster Aqueduct Historical Record, Vol. 13, No. 2 pp. 62-63 Old Dublin Society

Killeen, M. (1981) Broadstone: Railway Station to Bus Garage. Dublin Historical Record, Vol. 34, No. 4 pp. 140-154 Old Dublin Society

Clarke, P.  (1993) The Royal Canal 1789-1993 Dublin Historical Record, Vol. 46, No. 1 pp. 46-52 Old Dublin Society

Hart , H.W. (1968) The Passage Boats of the Grand Canal Dublin Historical Record, Vol. 22, No. 1 pp. 176-186 Old Dublin Society.

Background

Phibsboro (Phibsborough) is a suburb of Dublin situated 1 mile northwest of the city centre. Beginning life as a village outside the city, as early as 1838 the historian John D’Alton said that Phibsboro “may be considered part of the city itself”*. Its growing population had reached 7382 people by the time the 1831 census was taken. This village was quickly becoming a slum, home to Dublin’s growing working class who lived in dire poverty.

In a pattern reflected nationally in the early 19^th century Phibsboro became  the site of a struggle between Protestant evangelical preachers and the catholic church. As there was no catholic church in the immediate area, it seemed that  evangelists would have a free hand converting the most downtrodden in society. In the face of this increased competition the Catholic Church decided to build a school in Phibsboro in the second decade of the 19^th century. This was quickly followed up with plans for a church.

Location

In the 19th century the Catholic Church carefully chose locations for churches always seeking high ground or prominent sites.  In Phibsboro they found such a site 100 metre’s west of the cross roads that formed the town centre. Here they purchased a commanding site where the New Cabra Road formed a junction with the then newly opened North Circular Road (this was built in 1800) which was one of the main arteries into the city.

At this site they built a two storied building with a church on the upper floor and a school on the ground floor fronted by massive granite steps (right). This building while paling in significance to later structures was an enormous burden on the community – costing £4,000 pounds by 1835, half of it coming from the poor in the community.

Fr Thomas Mac Namara

Through the first half of the 19^th century the Catholic Church began a structural reform which saw its influence and power grow at a slow but consistent rate. This success was seen on the ground in Phibsboro in 1838, as the church came under the remit of the newly formed Vincentians. Under the leadership of Fr Thomas McNamara (left) the small church and school house in Phibsboro were dramatically altered. The school moved to a new building and the floor that separated the school and church was removed making the church a far roomier structure. This was followed up by extending the church forty feet eastward towards Phibsboro covering the granite steps seen in the photo above.

Cardinal Cullen

Fr McNamara’s tenure in St Peter’s (he moved to Paris in 1868) was also paralleled by a rise in Irish Catholicism. As the country was wracked by “The Great Famine” (1845-51) the Catholic Church saw a major change in personnel which would transform the organisation. In 1849 the rector of the Irish college at Rome, Cardinal Paul Cullen was made the archbishop of Armagh and then in 1852, archbishop of Dublin. He transformed the church beginning drastic reform at Synod of Thurles in 1850. In this process he made the Irish Catholic Church one of the most authoritarian loyal churches in Europe.

Cullen acted like “the pope’s chief whip in Ireland” and “whipped the church into line with Roman discipline” (Jospeh Lee 2008). This saw the power of the church grow massively particularly amongst a population shell shocked in the aftermath of the famine.

Phibsboro c.1900

In this climate ambitious men like Fr. Mc Namara at Phibsboro could develop ideas that would have been unrealistic a few decades earlier. McNamara in particular could develop what seemed like audacious plans for a new church since Phibsboro itself changed drastically. By the 1860’s it was no longer a slum, but it was now home to the rising middle class who had pushed the poor out. It was in these advantageous circumstances McNamara pushed for a major rebuilding of St Peter’s. A similar process was on going in parishes and dioceses across Ireland that saw dozens of churches built around the country. These new structures were large elaborate dominating buildings reflecting the Catholic Church’s rising power.

St Mary's Cathedral Kilkenny

The plans at Phibsboro were spectacular and in 1868 work began on a building more like a cathedral than a parish church. Built in neo-gothic style, the church was due to take a standard cross shape with a tower standing wear the arms (transepts) intersects with body of the cross (divided into chancel and  nave).  This would have made the church similar to  St Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny (left) but it was not to be…..

Don’t count your blessings

Within three years the transepts, the chancel (the section containing the altar) and the tower were all finished. The nave (where the congregation were top be seated) remained unfinished but the church was developing so well that The Irish Times well able to report on the church’s dedication on May 8^th 1871. Cardinal Cullen himself oversaw the proceedings however these celebrations would prove to be premature. (see right)

Disaster strikes

The tower built at the intersection of the transepts and chancel, became the subject of an argument that would see work stop for almost three decades. The builder and architects argued over whether its foundations were strong enough to support  the tower and the affair ended up in court. The outcome resulted in the tower being removed because the foundations were deemed insufficient to bear the weight – the stone was used in some buildings in Phibsboro (see left).

While the Vincentians at Phibsboro lost massive amounts money in this action and work stalled, the power of the Catholic Church in Ireland continued to grow. In the last quarter of the 19^th century politics in Ireland moved towards a form of nationalism that increasingly viewed being “Irish” as being synonymous with being a catholic. By 1903 the Vincentians were in a position to start construction again.

In 1908 St Peter’s Church was finally finished with a very ornate spire on the eastern end standing over the entrance but the ill-fated tower was never rebuilt. The spire was faced with four clocks facing North, South, East and West. Each corner is pointed with a Gargoyle (left).

These gargoyles reflected a general trend in the iconography of the church. The dominant carvings spelled out what would become a central tenets of Irish Catholicism – guilt and fear.

The entrance to the church was altered so mass goers now entered the church by a high cross. This cross was carved with a skull and cross bones above four symbols of the weakness and guilt of humanity(see right). These from left to right are the cock, reflecting the betrayal of Jesus Christ by St Peter, a pillar symbolising his scourging, a serpent reflecting the fall from grace of the garden of Eden and finally the crown of thorns.

The high cross also has a carving of a whip on each corner. After this the mass goers entered the church under the a statue of St Peter himself holding a large key to remind church goers of that access to heaven was mediated by the church  – in catholic mythology St Peter is the gatekeeper of heaven. These sculptures were setting the tone for religion in the 20^th century that would see “catholic guilt” hammered into Irish Catholics which would massively influence politics and society in Ireland through the 20^th Century.

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The history of the county of Dublin, John D’Alton, 1838 pg365 available online here

Sources:

A History of Cabra and Phibsborough, Bernard Neary, 1978.

History of Dublin Parishes – http://www.chaptersofdublin.com/books/shortpar/index.htm

The Modernisation of Irish Society 1848-1918 Jospeh Lee (2008)

Back in the late 1990’s when Ireland’s economy started to grow for the first time in centuries the government, instead of building schools and hospitals, decided Dublin needed a clock in the river Liffey that counted down to the millennium. Officially called “The Millennium Clock”, it was dubbed “The time in the slime”. It took the shape of a massive digital clock counting down to the Jan 1^st 2000, in case anyone forgot about the most publicised event in history.

Any clock submerged in a river needs to be waterproof and correctly able to count time. This clock could do neither – it leaked and got the time wrong and was eventually removed to the comforts of a warehouse where it counted down the millennium in peace free from rusty bicycles and traffic cones.

4.Michael Collins & Arthur Griffith Cenotaph (Dail Eireann)

The Irish civil war ended in 1923 with the Cumann na nGael government emerging victorious after a brutal conflict. This had seen two prominent members of the government die – Michael Collins was assassinated in Beal na mBlath, County Cork in August 1922 while Arthur Griffith died a few days before hand allegedly from stress.

In an incredibly provocative gesture Cumann na nGael installed an enormous cenotaph at the back of Leinster house (the Irish parliament) commemorating Collins and Griffith. Erecting a monument in the grounds of the parliament to members of one political party after such a bitter conflict was incredibly divisive particularly as Collins had been the military leader in the conflict.

By 1932 the political landscape had dramatically changed with the anti-treaty side taking power in the shape of Fianna Fail. Initially Fianna Fail allowed Cumann na nGael to hold rallies and commemorations at the cenotaph. However, in the 1930’s these were banned when Cumann Na nGael supporters formed a fascist organisation, The Army Comrades Association (known as The Blueshirts) and seemed to be threatening a coup d’etat.

The original structure had only been temporary and unsurprisingly De Valera and Fianna Fail did not see the value in erected a permanent statue and it was removed down in the 1940’s. Click here for a film, shot at the unveiling of the Cenotaph in 1923

3.Nelson’s Pillar (O Connell street)

For over 150 years an enormous column topped with a statue of Lord Horatio Nelson, the one armed and one eyed victor of the battle of Trafalgar dominated O Connell St, Dublin. However this symbol of British Imperialism was slightly out of place when Ireland was celebrating the 50^th anniversary of its great anti-imperialist gesture – the 1916 rising. It was inevitable something was going to happen to the statue but no- one could have foreseen the dramatic nature of the statues demise. At 2 a.m. on March 8^th 1966 the IRA set off a bomb which completely destroyed the top upper section of the monument. The base of the statue was destroyed by the army shortly afterward, allegedly doing more damage than the original explosion. The spire now stands where Nelson’s Column was situated.

2.William of Orange (College Green)

If there was one statue that was not going to survive Irish independence this was it.  William of Orange defeated James II at the battle of the Boyne in 1690 and ever since William and his victory has been twisted to suit political circumstances of the day.

His victory had been celebrated by Unionists in the provactive 12^th of July Parades in Ireland through the 19^th century and he became a despised figure for Irish nationalists who saw William as a symbol of their repression and discrimination. In 1929, what was inevitable happened when the statue was blown up. Needless to say it wasn’t rebuilt.

1.Sean Russell (Fairview park)

Sean Russell was a former quarter master general and chief of staff of the IRA. Towards the late 1930’s Russell lead a faction within the IRA that nurtured closer links with Nazi German trying to forge an alliance. This saw him travel to Germany in 1940 to receive training. Later that year Russell was transported back to Ireland on a German submarine along with fellow republican Frank Ryan, but Russell died before the submarine reached Ireland and the mission was aborted. (To make the incident stranger Frank Ryan was a socialist republican captured by Franco while fighting in the Spanish Civil war and subsequently handed over to the Nazi’s.)

Russell’s republican background is celebrated in Fairview Park in Dublin by a memorial erected in 1951. Unsurprisingly it has become one of the most controversial statues in Ireland. In a bizarre incident in the 1950’s a right- wing group removed the statues right arm claiming it was raised in a communist salute.

In 2004 the statue was decapitated allegedly by anti fascists. The statue was replaced with a bronze structure and according to the National Graves Association fitted with sensors. This did not stop the new statue being daubed with swastika’s in 2008 and antifascist slogans in 2009.

Episode 6

The show begins with the rule of the O’Neill High King Donnchad Donn who came to power in 919. His life was intertwined with one of the greatest O’Neill warriors Muircherteach Mac Neill, eulogised on his death as “the hector of the west”. Find out how he earned that name and where Brian Boru’s family, the Dal Cais family originated.

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The Pursuit of Power (part 1)- The Decline of the O Neills

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Notes-  (Contains spoiler to the episode!)

Northern O’Neill The Northern O’Neill kingdom dominated much of Modern day Ulster. It was ruled by the Cenel Eoghan however their rule came was challenged in 943 when the Cenél Conaill King Ruaidrí ua Canannáin .

Southern O’Neill This was a kingdom in the North of modern day Leinster. It was ruled by the Clann Colman who produced the high kings – Donnchad Donn, Flann Sinna and Maelseachnaill I. They were deposed in 944 by Congalach Cnogba and the Síl nÁedo Sláine of Brega.

Donnchad Donn Mac Flann, Son of Flann Sinna and O’Neill High King 919-944. He was ineffective and lived in the shadow of the Northern O’Neill king Muirchertach Mac Neill. After he died a civil war broke out between the Northern and Southern O’Neill.

Muircherteach Mac Neill. King of the Northern O’Neill 937-943. Muircherteach seemed like he was destined to become the greatest O Neill High King after he brought the entire Island into submission through a series of devastating campaigns in the 940′s. He was the son of Niall Glundubh (his name literally means Muircherteach son of Niall). He was unexpectedly killed by the Vikings in 943.

Congalach Cnogba (pronounced con-gal-ack) Congalach was technically Donnchad’s nephew, Donnchad had married his sister into the Síl nÁedo Sláine family* who were kings of Brega. After Donnchad died in 944 Congalach killed Donnchad’s son and became king of the Southern O Neill.

Ruaidrí ua Canannáin (pronounced Ru -ree) King of the relatively obscure Northern O Neill family, the Cenel Conaill. He would become king of the Northern O Neill shortly after Muircherteach mac Neill died in 943.

Dal Cais – The Dal gCais was the name of the clann that produced Cennetig Mac Lorcan, Mathgamáin and Brian Boru, who will dominate the next few episodes. This family would be known later in history as O’Brien (after Brian). They were originally what we would think of as minor nobility, serving on occasion as mercenaries to the O Neill’s (Simms, K. Kings to Warlords p118). Their rise from relative obscurity in the mid 10th century was not unique as some historians have suggested – they were part of a trend in the mid tenth century that saw old dynasties toppled. This also saw Ruairdri Ua Canannan of the Cenel Conaill seize kingship of the Northern O Neill (943) and Congalach Cnogba of the Síl nÁedo Sláine kings of Brega sieze the kingship of the Southern O Neill (944).

Controversy

This episode opens a controversial period in Irish history. The main controversy surrounds the rise of the Dal Cais – the family of Brian Boru. The Dal gCais had far less noble background than the O Brien’s liked to acknowledge. Historians take different approaches to the surviving material. From my research I think that the “break through” of the Dal Cais was in part down to an alliance with the O Neill high king Donnchad Donn. There is a good summary of the arguments in favour of this in Ireland from ancient times to the present by James Lydon and The Prophecy of Berchán: Irish and Scottish high-kings of the early Middle Ages by Benjamin T. Hudson. This is also augmented by the point made by Katherine Simms From Kings to Warlords that the Dal Cais had acted as mercenaries for the O Neills before their meteoric rise in the mid 10th century. It is worth noting however that Donnchad O Corrain the noted Irish medievalist disagrees with this theory.

Finally a source that must be used with great care is the 12th century work An Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib (The war of the Irish and the foreigners). This work is essentially the story of the rise of the Dal Cais and is largely fictitious. It was written in the 12th century in an effort to rewrite the once humble origins of the Dal Cais. This is often cited by internet sources or older historical texts. Great care is needed in using any details in this work as it universally considered among scholars to be propaganda. This is not to say it is not of use – it is a good insight into late medieval Ireland.

*Síl nÁedo Sláine is the correct name of Congalach Cnogba’s family. I do not use this name in the podcast as it is a mouthful being pronounced Sheel – nay-o- Slawna

Primary Sources for the period

Annals of the four masters text here

Annals of Ulster text here

Annals of Inisfallen text here

The Anglo Saxon Chronicle text here

An Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib Text here (This file is pretty large (35mgs).  This translation dates from 1867. The prelude to the actual text would be regarded as completely out dated and factually incorrect in parts.

The Circuit of Ireland by Muircheartach Mac Neill  as gaeilge anseo.

Selected Bibliograph of secondary sources

Hudson, B.T. (1996) The Prophecy of Berchán: Irish and Scottish high-kings of the early Middle Ages

Simms K, (1987) From Kings to Warlords

Mac Shamhrain (2002) A The Vikings an introduction

Corrain, D. (1972) Ireland before the Normans

Lydon J, (1998) The Making of Ireland: Ancient Times to the present.

Valante, M. (2008)  The Vikings in Ireland

O Corrain, D Nationality and Kingship in Pre-Norman Ireland http://www.ucc.ie/celt/nation_kingship.html

Morris, H The Circuit of Ireland by Muircheartach Mac Neill, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Seventh Series, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Jun. 30, 1936), pp. 9-31

Ó Corráin, D Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil: History or Propaganda? Ériu  Vol. 25, (1974), pp. 1-69

Hogan, J.The Irish Law of Kingship, with Special Reference to Ailech and Cenél Eoghain. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature Vol. 40, (1931/1932), pp. 186-254

Kilkenny castle

Kilkenny more than any other  Irish city has a distinctively medieval feel about it. Its small streets wind around several medieval buildings whilst its skyline is still dominated by a 13th century castle and cathedral. Through some of these buildings we can reconstruct the major events of the city’s past from witch trials to the black death.

Background

Kilkenny was the primary inland settlement in Ireland during the medieval period. Its importance was down to its location situated on the important Nore river. It is also situated ideally between coastal towns of Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Wexford.

Early Medieval Kilkenny

St Canices Cathedral. Site of the early medieval settlement. Round tower can be seen to the left.

The city’s origins lay in the early medieval period as an ecclesiastical settlement founded by St Canice. The Irish name for Kilkenny is Cill Chainnigh meaning the church of Canice.

This early monastic site was replaced by the far more impressive structure of St Canices cathedral in the 13^th century (work started in 1205).

The only reminder of the monastic settlement is the round tower seen in the right of the photograph. This tower was constructed originally in the 10th century but was substantially renovated in the 19^th century.

The Normans Arrive

Excavated Moat on the Western side of Kilkenny Castle

In the late 12^th century Ireland was fundamentally changed by the Norman invasion beginning in 1169. Kilkenny quickly became an important Norman settlement and this dramatically changed the town.

William Marshall (son-in-law to Strongbow) built the first stone castle in Kilkenny on an elevated site south of the original monastic settlement. The photo to the left shows a section of the original moat which was excavated by archaeologists in the late 1990′s.

The castle was extensively remodeled in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries under various members of the Butler family who resided in the castle from 1391 – 1920.

Through these renovations it was converted from a military fortification into a stately home. This saw the moat filled in and much of the surrounding lands around the castle landscaped.

Black Freren Gat

The settlement grows

By the mid 13th the town was wealthy enough to levy a murage tax (taxes for town defenses) and a wall was constructed around the settlement. The best surviving section of these walls survive at the recently renovated Talbots tower on New St and the Black Freren Gate beside the Black Abbey on Abbey Street.

The structure of the Black Freren Gate standing today (left) is not an original 13th century structure but a 16^th century renovation.

Monastic orders arrive

The Black Abbey

Through the 13^th century the settlement boomed attracting several monastic orders including the Dominicans, Franciscans and the Augustinians.

The Augustinians built a priory on the Eastern side of the river Nore – St Johns Priory, around which a suburb grew through the middle ages known as St John’s.

The most famous was the monastic institution was the Black Abbey (left) home to Dominicans founded in 1225.

Irish town and High town

River Breagagh

Medieval Kilkenny was segregated between an High town and an Irish town divided by a wall. This wall has long since been demolished only preserved today by the course of the river bregagh (left)  which alongside the wall was built.

The Irish town was the area from the Breagagh river to St Canices cathedral and as the name suggests was where the “Irish” lived. Over the centuries, what the powers that be defined as “Irish” changed, as various settlers became increasingly gaelicised.

The Witchtrial of 1324

Kytelers

In 1324 Kilkenny witnessed what is regarded as the first of the witch trials that swept across Europe between the 14^th-18^th centuries. These saw hundreds of thousands of people mainly women executed.

The trial in Kilkenny was carried out under the auspices of the aptly named bishop Richard Ledrede. The woman at the centre of the case was Alice Kyteler from a famous family of Kilkenny merchants who resided in this building (right). (This is not the original structure.)

Alice Kyteler and a number of her associates were tried and convicted of witchcraft. Although Kyteler escaped her servant Petronella Di Midia was publicly burned to death in November 1324 . Here’s a link to a podcast I made on this trial.

The Black Death

St Francis Abbey (now the site of Smithwicks Brewery)

The 14^th century saw a dramatic decline in the cities fortunes. War, deteriorating climate and eventually the arrival of the Black Death in 1348 damaged the settlement economically and demographically.

These events were famously chronicled by Friar John Clyn a Franciscan Friar. He wrote his account at the Friary of St Francis pictured to the left, the ruins of which are situated in the middle of the modern Smithwicks Brewery.

His account ominously ended with the following passage:

“And lest these notable records should be lost with time and the whole world as it were in a bad situation among the dead, expecting death when it should come, I have brought together in writing, just as I have truthfully heard and examined. And Lest the writing should perish with the writer and work fail together with worker, I am leaving parchment for the work to continue if, by chance , in the future a man should remain surviving, and anyone of the race of Adam should be able to escape this plague and to continue this work commenced“

Clyn died in 1349 presumably from the Black death.

Caring for the sick in medieval Kilkenny

Maudlin St medieval hospital

Kilkenny’s wealth through the entire medieval period was largely down to trade. This rise in trade in the medieval era was accompanied by a rise in the spread of diseases.

The black death was one but there were many others. A reminder of this can be seen in the Maudlin tower on Maudlin street, a medieval hospital which cared for people suffering from leprosy amongst other illnesses. The tower house was built in the late 16^th century on an earlier building.

Decline

St Johns Priory

The Black Death irreparably damaged the medieval economy and society. Over the following three centuries this medieval world gave way to what historians call the early modern world. Capitalism began to replace the medieval economy as merchants rose in power.

This change can be seen in Kilkenny’s streets. The old powers of medieval society lost power and influence most notably the monastic orders which were suppressed in the 1540’s under edict of Henry VIII.

The monastic institutions fell derelict. Below is the ruins of the St John’s priory, part of which was converted into a protestant church in 1817 (the renovated section is in the foreground).

The end of the Medieval Era.

Rothe House

By the end of the 16^th new buildings in the city reflected the change in power. With the large monasteries that once dominated the city in ruin the new dominant buildings were the family homes of the cities rich merchants reflecting their increased status and power.

The best example of this is Rothe House (built between 1594 and 1610). This was home to the famous Rothe family who dominated Kilkenny political life for centuries.

Cromwell arrives

Kilkenny castle from the South. The four side was destroyed by Cromwell in 1649

The final blow to the remnants of the medieval world in Ireland was the arrival of Cromwell and the English Army in the 1649.

Kilkenny had been the capital of a confederacy which supported the king in the English civil war against the parliamentary forces lead by Cromwell.

When Cromwell arrived at Kilkenny the city refused to surrender. Cromwell subsequently attacked the castle destroying the Southern side which included the original gatehouse giving the castle its distinctive three sided shape today.

Over the next fifty years Ireland was dramatically reshaped through a series of plantations and settlements ending of the last vestiges of medieval Ireland.

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Clifden Workhouse

I was researching the Great Irish Famine (1845-51) when I came across this bleak report written in Clifden workhouse on Christmas day 1847. The situation in Ireland was desperate by 1847 when famine related diseases started to ravage an already weakened population. The workhouse was what the 19th century offered up as state welfare. Orphans, the old and the destitute were admitted and in return for food they were subjected to a horrendous regime. The desperate situation in Ireland during the famine meant that these institutions were completely overwhelmed leading to massive levels of disease and mortality in the workhouses. Needless to say Christmas day 1847 was just another day of misery, disease and death for the people in Clifden workhouse.

Clifden Workhouse, Christmas day 1847.

“The inmates of the house are crowded together in a day-room breathing a tainted atmosphere. There is an insufficient supply of bedding and clothing. The rain pours down through the ventilating turrets into the rooms and the paupers are thus subjected to increased liability of infection. Directions have been given to provide increased accommodation, such as can be obtained. The contractor has been directed to supply additional bedding. A minute appears on the proceedings of the Guardians directing advertisements to be issued for tenders for the keeping in repair of the house according to the printed specifications furnished to me. All this has been formally done and yet I can tell the Commissioners from the experience I have obtained since my residence here, that it will be no easy matter to determine when these orders shall be completed. The contractor for clothing must be paid a portion of his debt before he gives any additional credit. The slatier, carpenter, mason, etc. will urge the state of the weather as being against their respective operations and while this delay is being experienced pestilence rages among the wretched inmates. On visiting the house a few days ago I was disgusted at learning that the dormitories (particularly those appropriated for children) are not supplied with night buckets. I forbear to describe the abominations consequent to this. The buckets had been long since ordered by the Guardians but the idle laziness of the tradesmen occasioned a delay in the execution of the order and the result was as I have stated. Now setting aside that the Guardians have no visiting committee, bearing in mind that they had actually ordered these articles, had also directed their contractor to supply bedding and had issued advertisements for tenders, I cannot attach blame to them since my official connection with their Board. The Commissioners will, I trust, agree with me that the difficulties I have to meet are associated with and almost inseparable from the locality in which the workhouse is placed in the Union; so distant as it is from towns where the Guardians could supply themselves with materials and contractors for executing necessary works. I regret to state that Dr. Bodkin’s brother who accompanied him to the workhouse hospital about a week since, for the purpose of assisting him in his medical duties, died today of malignant typhus fever. I mention this fact with the view of assuring the Commissioners that I shall now find it still more difficult to induce the Guardians to visit the house. Within the last week the weather has been most inclement and has brought with it a vast increase of disease and misery”.

Clifden workhouse 1847

(Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill’s “Patient Endurance: The Great Famine In Connemara, Connemara Girl Publications, 1997)

Quoted from http://www.connemara.net/history/workhouse.aspx

Seperated at birth?

A world without Christmas may seem inconceivable, however Christmas wasn’t always the festive public holiday it is today.  Its popularity has wax and waned over the centuries being celebrated to varying degrees in different places and periods. In England in the late medieval era it was first officially declared a public holiday by royal decree of 1448. However in 1645 it was banned when radical Protestants – Puritans among them Oliver Cromwell, came to power in England.

Background

The origins of the canceling Christmas in 1645 lay in the increase in popularity and power of Puritanism in England through the late 16th and early 17^th century. Puritans were radical Protestants believing in a literal interpretation of the Bible. They found the comparatively meager 17^th celebrations  offensive because they saw Christmas as a human invention being used as an excuse to drink and celebrate. (Puritans saw Christmas as a human invention because the specific date of 25^th of December is an arbitrary date chosen to coincide with the pre-existing pagan celebration of the winter solstice. The date is not mentioned in the bible)

They pointed to the pagan origins of the holiday (December the 25th was chosen to coincide with the pagan celebrations of winter solstice ) as evidence of the unholy nature of the celebrations. Their opposition was so vociferous that the Pilgrim fathers (puritan exiles from England) spent their first Christmas day in North America starting construction on a house to illustrate their contempt for what they saw as a sinful celebration.

Celebrations in the 17^th century

William Prynne

After decades on the fringe of English society Puritanism became a major force in England through the early 17^th century. They campaigned against what they saw as the decadent celebrations of Charles I and mainstream English Protestantism. Protests against the celebration of Christmas even saw one Puritan, William Prynne, mutilated for his opposition.

Christmas celebrations in the 17^th century were a very timid affair when compared to today. Those who could afford it, celebrated with cakes, special dinners and attending seasonal plays but the celebrations would be unrecognisable when compared to the modern celebration of Christmas.

The Banning of Christmas

Towards the late 1630’s, politics in England became increasingly tense and relations between the Parliament and the King Charles I, grew increasingly strained. In 1642 the English civil war broke out which became a vicious conflict that parliament would eventually win and Charles I would lose all including his head. The parliamentary side was composed of several groups but the Puritans were the most cohesive and became the dominant group in the anti-royalist side through the 1640’s.

Although the war would rumble on for years, by 1644 Parliament and the Puritans were well on their way to victory. Initially through parliament and then through Cromwell’s dictatorship the Puritans made their religious beliefs law and Christmas was banned. Along with Christmas nearly all holy days were banned aswell under the new “Directory of Worship” in 1644.

The Puritans didn’t do things by half measure, when they said Christmas was cancelled they meant it. Through the 1650’s the army was sent out to ensure that people were not celebrating Christmas. Soldiers confiscated meat on December 25^th to ensure no one might have too much fun. They even fined the hero of the English civil war – the parliamentary general Thomas Fairfax for attending a Christmas play!

Opposition to the ban

As you can imagine cancelling Christmas wasn’t the most popular move in English political history. In 1647 attempts to enforce the Christmas ban resulted in riots. Canterbury was engulfed in widespread violence and “pro Christmas” riots which would become the spark that lit the second English civil war.

Charles

Even after the civil war was over and Charles I was executed in 1649, the law banning Christmas continued to meet widespread opposition. Through the 1650’s it was even opposed in the parliamentary stronghold of London where shops remained closed on Christmas day.

Ultimately the ban ended when the Puritans were driven from power in 1660. Charles II returned as monarch and revoked the law banning Christmas. Christmas however would remain banned in the Puritan stronghold of Massachusetts, New England until 1681.

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Episode 5

Episode five  is an exciting journey through one of the most turbulent times in Medieval Ireland. The years 902- 930 see Ireland’s most powerful faction – The O Neill kingdom go to war with their traditional enemies – The Eoganacht. After three years of war only one survives creating a power vacuum, which the Vikings fill, starting yet another war! This show looks a series of major wars in Ireland and how they profoundly shaped Ireland and the people who lived through them. I hope you enjoy it – I appreciate feed back  to history@irishhistorypodcast.ie

To Download “right click” on the link below and go to “save link as” or on a mac press ctrl click

Changing Times Ireland 902 – 930

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Their value cant be overstated as the 1641 rebellion is one of the most contentious issues of Irish history, even today the events of the mid 17th century shape cultural identities in Ireland.

Before you jump in trying to find out what your family did or had done to them, there are a few things worth noting  – firstly the depositions are not a historical account for what actually happened in 1641 (see below for the online crash course on the 1641 rebellion).  They are a series of personal testimonies where people in some cases offer up second hand accounts of what happened. They are also biased giving only one side to the rebellion, none the less they allow us understand how people of the time interpreted the 1641 rebellion and give us an idea of what was happening. They are also an incredible window into life in Ireland in the mid 17th century.

Tracing your family

If your looking for family its worth tracing protestant ancestors rather than catholic ones as a vast majority of the accounts are from protestants and about protestants. There are a few accounts which relate to Presbyterians, Catholics and Apostates.

Spelling on the website, is as it was in the 17th century  e.g. my surname Dwyer is spelt Dwyre in some accounts. There is an automatic prompter for all names/terms which makes it easy to find all variations of your name.

1641 Crash course

Before you get into the depositions its worth getting some background to the 1641 rebellion, here’s some online resources that will give you a crash course in less than an hour!

Perhaps start with this article from theirishstory.com which examines the early stages of the rebellion and some of the reasons why it happened. Then listen to Micheal O Siochru’s take on it here . O Siochru is one of Ireland’s foremost historians on the 17th century and was involved in the project to digitise the depositions. He speaks about the depositions towards the end of the interview. Finally there are several interviews with historians here on the BBC’s history website about the rebellion.

The Depositions

Create an account, its really simple – just add an email and a password here

Enjoy but i don’t believe everything you read – its highly unlikely people resorted to cannibalism……..

Doherty’s story began over 40 years previously when he joined the British army. Since the 1790’s the British Army had lifted a ban on recruiting Catholics and the army flooded with Irish landless labourers seeking a better life.

When Doherty joined in his hometown of Derry around the year 1830, 42% of the rank and file of the British army were recruited in Ireland[2]. The policy of focusing recruitment in Ireland allowed Britain to maintain peace in one colony while conquering another (primarily India).

The army particularly appealed to what the recruiters themselves called “spirited young fellows” and in Dennis Doherty they found a man more spirited than most. For one reason or another he found army life less than amenable and at the age of 18 he deserted. This was the last time Doherty would be free in 40 years. He was caught and court-martialed at Guernsey in May 1833. Under the brutal army court Doherty was sentenced to transportation to Australia and imprisonment for 14 years. This injustice wold start motivate Doherty to struggle against the prison authorities for nearly 40 years.

Within in four years of arriving in Australia he made his first escape attempt but failed. His punishment was to serve life sentence on the horrendous prison settlement on Norfolk Island.For many men this was a death sentence.

Norfolk Island was probably the most isolated and brutal prison in the British Empire. The prison was located on an island on a tiny strip of land 8km by 6km in the pacific ocean. Situated 500 miles North West of New Zealand and 1000 miles East of Brisbane (see map) – escape was pretty much impossible. The prison was incredibly brutal with a sadistic system of punishment which had to be eventually reined by British officials after it was deemed to be too harsh.

In order for Doherty to have any hope of escape he had to first get off Norfolk island and back to the prison system in Australia. In 1841 he feigned madness and was moved to a mental institution on the mainland. Once back on terra firma he put his plan into action and escaped. However he was caught and convicted of escaping (then referred to as bushranging), possessing a weapon and robbing mail (see newspaper article on right – Sydney Herald 1841). He received yet another life sentence and was sent back to Norfolk Island. By this stage Doherty was only 26 and the prospect of ever leaving prison alive was disappearing quickly.

In 1842 he was moved to the prison colony at Tasmania but in 1844 Doherty for an unknown reason he was ordered back to Norfolk Island. In an act of desperation to avoid this horrific regime he tried to take control of the transport vessel The Governor Phillip. The attempt failed and Doherty received his third life sentence. When it seemed Doherty was destined to die on Norfolk Island he was saved by a shift in government policy. In 1853 all transportation to Australia ceased, Norfolk Island was closed and all remaining prisoners including Doherty were moved to Van Diemen’s Land (modern day Tasmania).

In Tasmania Doherty found himself immediately in conflict with the authorities and he received a fourth life sentence for assault in 1853. This must have been galling given his original conviction for desertion would have expired in 1847.

Not one to give in easily Doherty was not finished and he planned a final attempt. In November 1871 Doherty, now 54, escaped from Port Arthur prison, Tasmania. He was, at this stage, a prisoner of note, being mentioned in newspapers (see right The Mercury, Hobart Tasmania. Nov 4th, 1871.) when he escaped.  This escape failed when he was caught he was near starvation and lost the sight in his right eye.

It was in the aftermath of this escape (January 1872) Doherty’s story was publicised when the English author Anthony Trollope interviewed him in prison.In his interview Doherty explained to Trollope his actions over the past 38 years

“I have tried to escape, always to escape as a Bird does out of a cage. Is that unnatural? Is that a crime?”

Over the conversation with Trollope he revealed the harsh reality of prison life in the Australian penal colony – he had received somewhere in the region of 3,000 lashes of the whip. Later research into his prison files revealed this to be accurate. Doherty also admitted to Trollope he was finally a broken man. This is understandable, in his final attempt he had lost the sight in his right eye and he was now 54, the possibility of escape was almost certainly gone. He did not attempt to escape prison again and was released in 1876.

In total he had spent almost three quarters of his life in penal institutions, about 42 years in total even though his original sentence had been only 14 years. What happened to Doherty on release is unknown although it is hard to see a man so brutalised, mistreated and institutionalised being able to live anything close to a normal life.

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For 19th century Irish newspapers check out this link

For more on photographs of 19th Australian Prisoners this site is pretty good

Although not all are recognisable today these were all celebrity jailbirds in their day.

1.     Oscar Wilde

While celebrated today for his skill with the pen, Oscar Wilde at the time of his death was probably more famous for his incarceration than for anything he had written.

The Victorian society Wilde lived in was socially conservative. Operating more by a rule of “don’t get caught” rather than any genuine moral code it was harsh and unforgiving. This rule was only t0o apparent to Oscar Wilde when he was he was publicly “outed” having an affair with another man in 1895.

Wilde’s sexuality had always raised an eyebrow. Whilst it was not exactly common knowledge it was no major secret that while although Wilde was married he was bisexual having had many affairs with men.

For Wilde his fall in Victorian society began when the father of a male lover – the Earl of Queensbury – publicly called him a sodomite. In what was a disastrous move, Wilde decided to sue Queensbury for liable given that sodomy was crime. The problem for Wilde was that Queensbury could prove that he had had sex with men and according to the laws of the day was guilty. When the case went to court, Wilde was destroyed in cross examination. Incidentally it was another famous Irish man – Edward Carson – later leader of Ulster Unionism who was Queensbury’s lawyer.

By the end of the case it was clear that Carson could prove Wilde had had affairs with men and his case of liable collapsed. This loss however opened Wilde to a criminal prosecution under the appalling Victorian laws on homosexuality and in 1895 after two trials Wilde was found guilty of gross indecency and sentenced to 2 years of hard labour. Although Wilde survived prison, the experience broke him. On release he left England and died three years later in 1900. His prison experiences formed the basis of one his most famous poems – The Ballad of Reading Gaol. The conviction and sentence sullied Wilde in the eyes of many of his contemporaries in Ireland and England, indeed unbelievably it would take nearly a century before the Ireland decriminalised homosexuality.

2.       James Larkin

For many Irish emigrants the USA was a less welcoming place than we often imagine. In 1914 one of the most popular Irish men of the time -  James Larkin arrived in America and found himself very quickly at odds with the US state or perhaps it could be said that the US state found itself at odds with Larkin.

A Trade Unionist and ardent socialist Larkin arrived in the USA after the failure of the 1913 lockout – one of the biggest, most bitter and militant union struggles in Irish History. In America he found conditions of workers no better than they were in Ireland.

Larkin quickly joined the most radical Union the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.). In a time when I.W.W. members frequently locked up it was only inevitable that Larkin at some point would find himself in prison or deported. Before the US government managed to incarcerate Larkin he made a mark on US politics having the unfortunate honour of giving an oration at Joe Hill’s funeral (the self same Joe Hill of the folk song fame).

By 1920 Larkins time as a free man in the US had run out. Having spent his time in America union organising, campaigning against the slaughter of world war one and supporting the Russian revolution Larkin was imprisoned for the catch all crime of “criminal anarchy” in 1920. He was convicted and sentenced to spend 10 years in Sing Sing Prison.

In 1923 Larkin was pardoned, freed and returned to Ireland just as Irish trade unionism most militant and popular phase was drawing to a close. After a decade of intense radicalism Ireland went on to become a distinctly conservative country leaving men like Larkin sidelined. He became disillusioned with much of Irish politics and indeed international politics as cynical barbarism of the 1930’s replaced the idealism of the 1920’s.

3.      Thomas Kelly and William Deasy

In 1867 in the wake of a failed uprising two relatively unknown Irish-American Fenian leaders were arrested in Manchester. The two, Thomas Kelly and Timothy Deasy, both veterans of the American civil war, would become part of Irish nationalist mythology within a few weeks as it was their escape from prison lead to the execution of the “Manchester Martyrs”.

After their capture Kelly and Deasy were held for a week and on the 18^th of September 1867, when the two were being taken to court the prison carriage was attacked by a large crowd of sympathisers. This was not particularly surprising given most of the cities in the North West of England had huge Irish emigrant populations.

The crowd set about breaking open the van in an effort to free Kelly and Deasy. In one of the most bizarre accidents of history, one of the crowd attempted to blow the lock off the van at the exact moment a policeman inside was peering through the keyhole. Although the lock was blown and Kelly and Deasy escaped, a massive investigation was launched to find the perpetrators, for what was the first killing of a policeman in Manchester.

Kelly and Deasy evaded recapture but the fall out of the incident was huge in Manchester. The incident gained worldwide attraction when a number of Irishmen living in Manchester were convicted of murder of the police officer and sentenced to death. In the end three men Allen, Larkin and O Brien were executed in what became one of the biggest Irish cause celebre of the post famine period.

The convictions for murder were widely seen as very dubious. Given only one shot was fired and the fact the death was almost certainly accidental, convicting five people was a blatant miscarriage of justice. Kelly and Deasys’ names were added to the cannon of Irish history political prisoners while poor Allen, Larkin and O Brien gained the dubious honour of becoming the “Manchester Martyrs”

4. Mother Jones

In the early 20^th century one of the best known Irish-Americans was an aging cork woman known as “Mother Jones”. Her reputation was so great that when she was imprisoned in Colorado in 1913 on suspicion of murder she was released due to the ground swell of public opinion. Jones was not a politician or celebrity but a famed trade union organiser considered by many as a matriarch of the United States trade union movement.

Born Mary Harris in cork in 1837, she like many of her generation emigrated, first heading to Canada before eventually moving to America. There she married incorporating her husband’s name into her own – Harris Jones. After starting a family and opening a business her life was struck by tragedy when her husband and four children died in an epidemic. She subsequently lost her business which burned down in a fire that destroyed much of Chicago in 1871.

Through the late 19^th century Harris was radicalised by the increasingly bitter trade Union disputes and increasingly violent reaction from employers and the United States government. She quickly became involved in Trade Unionism being famous as a prolific organiser of workers. In one of her various trials in 1902 she was described as “the most dangerous woman in America”.

Around her arrest for murder in 1913, she spent much time in and out of prison, preparing for a miners’ strike in Colorado. Eventually the only solution authorities had was to deport her from the state of Colorado entirely. Several months later the strike went ahead but was crushed after the US state massacred miners and their families in the infamous Ludlow Massacre. Harris would go on to organise right up to her death in her late 90’s living her life to her famous maxim. “Pray for the dead but fight like hell for the living”

5.  The Freemantle Six

While Kelly and Deasy were escaping prison in Manchester other Fenian leaders were being deported to Australia to the prison at Fremantle in Western Australia. These men could well have faded into anonymity among the thousands of Irish prisoners deported to Australia in the 19^th century however six of them were catapulted onto the world stage through one of the most audacious prison escapes in history.

After contact with some of the prisoners in Fremantle, Fenian leaders in the USA including John Boyle O Reilly and John Devoy set about freeing the men. In 1875 they purchased a whaling ship, the Catalpa, and left New Hampshire on the East coast of America. First they sailed to the Azores Islands and from there they set out on the long journey to Western Australia.

In 1876 nearly a year after leaving the US and after overcoming various mishaps, including loosing its crew to desertion, the Catalpa arrived off the coast of Australia near Fremantle. After avoiding British navy ships in the area the escape went ahead on the 17^th April 1876. Remarkably six Fenian leaders escaped – James Wilson, Robert Cranston, Martin Hogan, Tom Darragh Thomas Hassett, and Michael Harrington. The six got to the catalpa and after a close shave with a British warship they made a safe get away escaped. The return voyage of the catalpa was smoother than the outward leg – they arrived in New York three months later in August 1876 to large celebrations. The Fremantle six went down in history after one of the most remarkable prison escapes involving co-ordination across three continents in era before telephones.

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In all seriousness these accounts, the various annals of Ireland are littered with bizarre blatantly false accounts so here’s an ABC of the Annals being used as one of the sources for the  Irish history podcast

What are the annals?

There are numerous medieval annals documenting Irish history. The four I am using most at the moment are The Annals of Ulster, The Annals of the Four Masters, The Fragmentary Annals and The Annals of Inisfallon.

The Annals of Ulster and the Annals of the Four Masters were both written in the late medieval period and are most lightly compiled from documents that are now lost or destroyed. They are all written in Gaelic or Latin. The Annals of Inisfallon were written slightly earlier in the medieval period but again are probably compiled from older documents.

The Fragmentary annals were written sometime in the 11^th century and as the name suggested only survives in fragments. They are probably one of the sources for the later accounts.

You can find translations of them and many other annals here .

What do they look like?

The annals all follow a similar chronological pattern with an entry being written for each year or in some cases just years of noted activity.  Some accounts are more developed than others. For example the Annals of the Four masters, the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of Inisfallon are basically births, death and noted events in the lives of kings – you won’t find any social commentaries or analysis. Each year that is documented has one or maybe two entries. They can times read like reverend Lovejoy in the Simpsons –  x begat y who begat z etc.

The Fragmentary Annals have much more detail – probably too much detail than could possibly be accurate. However these are still useful as the words attributed to kings etc, would have been written to be believed by people of the day. In this way these accounts can give us an insight as to what  Kings might have thought in general.

Authors and bias?

The annals were nearly all written by monks and patronised by the male Gaelic aristocracy. The annals universally concern themselves with the lives of kings and aristocrats and are not particularly interested in the lives of peasants or women. This creates a completely lopsided version of Irish history with well over 50% of the population not accounted for. However this criticism is valid for much of 20^th and 21^st century history as well.

What about the crazy stuff?

From time to time the annals launch into bizarre accounts for example the entry mentioned at the start reads

“A mermaid was cast ashore by the sea in the country of Alba. One hundred and ninety five feet                                 was her length, eighteen feet was the length of her hair, seven feet was the length of the fingers                                       of her hand, seven feet also was the length of her nose; she was whiter than the swan all over.”                              Annals of the four masters

In my opinion this is not a reason to discount the annals as historical sources. Nearly all pre-modern histories do this. What are considered some of the Great Roman Historians were equally prone to mythical elaboration? These wild stories are actually in no way problematic because they are in no way believable or even relevant so can be easily discounted, they should be treated more like decoration than history.

Accuracy?

So can we actually trust accounts this old? On an overall level Yes…..

It is really important to use modern historians as a guide and the annals as an accompaniment. I certainly wouldn’t base histories of them alone. Later histories and archaeology have a very important role to play in analysing these texts.

The general accuracy can be corroborated by contemporary works like the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and some Icelandic sagas. On detail they probably aren’t very trustworthy. From time to time they have been rightly questioned by modern historians.

All this said there are some Irish historical accounts which should be read with extreme caution. The most famous and influential of these is the Cogadh Gael re Gallaibh (the war of the Irish and the foreigners). This is an account of medieval Irish history according to the O Brien Family, descendents of Brian Boru. The account erroneously creates a picture of 11^th century Ireland dominated by a war between Vikings and Gaelic Ireland. This is completely untrue. This text is where a lot mythology around the battle of Clontarf (1014) and Brian Boru himself originates. This document was used by 19^th century Irish nationalists as it created a version of Irish history that suited there aims.



The story of one of medieval Dublin’s most corrupt businessmen has all the hall marks of corruption today with tax swindles and dubious building practices. However the story of Geoffrey Morton has one aspect that modern Ireland is not familiar with – corruption did not go unpunished in medieval Dublin.

St Audeons Gate - Last remaing gate of Dublin (jcalvert.com)

Dublin, in the early 14^th century was a prosperous city. It was the primary city in the Anglo – Norman colony of Ireland and benefiting after a prosperous 13^th century. A cursory glance at the records from the time shows that merchants from all over Northern Europe were trading in Dublin. It was this trade that Geoffrey Morton would use to swindle huge amounts of money through fraudulent taxation nearly destroying Dublin’s economy in the process.

Background

Geoffrey Morton came to the fore in Dublin when he was elected mayor in 1303. He had only been a merchant in the city since 1295 and elevation to the status of mayor was quite an achievement particularly in1303. The king, Edward II, had taken over the running of the city from the citizens due to mismanagement from 1301 – 1302 and Geoffrey Morton seems to have been the man Dublin merchants elected to get things back on track.

Like most things in his life Geoffrey Morton’s tenure as mayor was not without controversy. His brief spell in office was dominated by conflict with the royal authorities. In 1303 he fought to stop the royal treasurer confiscating wine unloaded outside the city at Dalkey. The Treasurer argued the merchants were avoiding tax by not unloading in Dublin city.

In 1304 when the royal purveyor turned up in Dublin top buy corn for the Kings armies Morton made a stand. Royal purveyors always paid poor prices and were thus hated by merchants everywhere who were obliged to sell them corn. Geoffrey as mayor helped the merchants of Dublin withhold corn from the purveyor. This was direct defiance of the King and  for this he may have been imprisoned and possibly even removed from office. As his one year term came to an end it may have seemed that Morton was a champion of the city, fighting for the rights of citizens against the tyranny of the crown tax collectors. However his actions 4 years later hint that Morton was almost certainly benefiting from his stances over the wine and corn – he would go on to show he was not exactly what we could call civic minded.

Edward II - King of England during the life of Geoffrey Morton

Murage Tax

Four years later the historical record finds Morton in London applying for a license to collect tax. This in itself was not unusual. In the medieval period taxation was often privatised – the king granted a license to a private individual to collect as specific tax. In 1308 Morton applied to the King to collect a murage tax for Dublin to repair a section of city walls and a tower adjacent to the bridge over the Liffey.

Murage taxes, which were levied specifically to repair town defenses, were not infrequent. Every  generation or so, someone would get a license to collect such a tax and the money collected would be used to repair the town defenses.

Under the private tax collection scheme each license varied and Morton was successful not only to in gaining a license to collect the tax but also carry out the repairs. Being the collector and builder was obviously open to corruption but Morton went way beyond what anyone thought possible.

In his application he omitted to say that he was actually the tenant of the tower property and under the conditions of the rent he was supposed to pay for its upkeep. Morton was about to swindle money out of people for a job he was legally obliged to pay for.

After being granted the license to collect tax Morton completely abused his position. He fleeced people for the murage tax, enriching himself. He started to force merchants from England who had tax exemptions to pay the tax. This obviously led the merchants to stay away from Dublin, damaging the city’s economy. A later investigation determined Morton had damaged the city’s economy to the tune of £ 40 per year while he himself was taking in around £60. These sums would be in the tens of thousands in today’s money.

Damaging the cities economy coupled with having to pay the tax themselves provoked an inevitable response from the city citizens and merchants. In 1311 an investigative jury was established to look into the case. They examined several aspects of the situation including what works had actually been carried out on the walls.

Through the course of the investigation things were revealed to be far worse than just damage to the economy of the city. incredibly it emerged that Morton had actually damaged the city defenses rather than strengthening. He had built himself a house that backed onto the city wall at Bridge Street from the money.

In the construction of his house he had weakened the wall and limited access to the top of the wall obviously hampering the cities defenses. This was an unbelievably stupid act – the walls of Dublin were for more than show in the 14^th century – indeed within a few years Dublin was besieged by the army of Robert the Bruce in 1317.

As a result of this incredible greed and stupidity Morton was prosecuted in both a royal court in England and a local Dublin court. Unlike  politicians of today Morton was forced to repair the damage to the walls from his pocket but unfortunately Morton’s crime and not the punishment established a trend in Irish politics

This article is based on a longer article in Medieval Dublin II Connolly, P (2002) Medieval Dublin II, The rise and fall of Geoffrey Morton, mayor of Dublin, 1303-4 P233

Kilkenny Castle

Want to spend a day exploring castles with hidden chambers or wandering around monasteries that were bigger than small towns? Here’s how to visit three sites for €6! Although you’ll probably only have heard of one – Kilkenny castle, the others – Clara castle and Kells Priory are equally interesting. They are all close to each other and easily seen in a day if you have a car.

Kilkenny castle

Kilkenny castle is an incredible structure. It has been redesigned on several occasions so it has both aspects of a Norman fortress and a French chateau rolled into one. Its overall shape is quite unique in that it only has three sides; originally it had a fourth, but it was blown away by Cromwell in a siege in 1650!

The castle was built by William Marshall in the early 13^th century, possibly on the site of a wooden fortress built by Marshall’s father-in-law Strongbow.

Marshall’s life was like something out of a novel – he was the quintessential Norman knight. He was the younger son of a relatively minor English aristocrat but rose to be one of the most powerful men in England and lead the Norman drive into the South-west of Ireland. As part of this he drove the Gaelic Irish from Co. Kilkenny and constructed the stone castle amongst many other buildings to hold this new territory. The original castle he built still survives in parts . One of the first stages of the tour of the castle leads you to a room in the base of one of the towers – this is one few visible 13^th century parts.

In the late 14^th century the castle was bought by the Butler family and they lived there until the 20^th century. When you reach the upper floors you will see the family living quarters renovated to their 19^th century grandeur. The tour ends in the Butler gallery which houses portraits of the great, good and not so good of the Butler family. Indeed there are numerous portraits throughout the castle. The collection came to prominence earlier this summer when some prize clown slashed a 16^th century portrait for apparently no reason (Read more here).

The “tour” itself is something that deserves a mention. We have all heard the buzz word of out-sourcing, well in Kilkenny castle they have outsourced the tours. You the visitor,  are now the tour guide. On entering the castle, in return for your entrance fee of €6, you are given an A4 piece of paper with a very poor standard of Information. The poorly laid out sheet is all the information available. It’s shocking to be honest but unfortunately with the current economic climate it’s probably a sign of things to come. This said the castle is well worth a visit, however if you’re interested in the details of the castles history you’ll need to do some prior research as the level of information provided is abysmal….

Kells Priory

Kells Priory

When you leave the castle, drive south to Kells, see map ( Kells Co. Kilkenny – nothing to do with the book). Before you cross the bridge into the town turn left and park in the second mill on your right (yes there are two mills side by side!). Walk around the mill and follow the river for about ten minutes to the Priory, you can’t miss it – you arrive to a modern footbridge and the priory is on the other side.

Kells priory is, in a word, outstanding. It has a uniquely medieval feel to it, so much so that it is often used as a set in historical films. This Augustinian priory was one of the largest monasteries in Medieval Ireland with the walls enclosing an area over five acres. You can easily get lost in time being so totally surrounded by medieval/early modern buildings.  The priory is rarely marked on tourist maps but is one of the best medieval attractions of its kind in the country.

When you approach the priory, it has the appearance of a medieval fortification rather than a religious site. However as you get closer you will see the remains of church gables towering up above everything else. Attached to the church is a large tower house which is presumed to be the Prior’s quarters. Within  the grounds are the remains  of the cloister, chapter house and kitchens. The extent of the grounds is really impressive and although it’s in ruins now it is really amazing to walk around. The fact that the curtain wall is intact really gives you a sense of being in a medieval structure. This is so often lacking in cities and towns when you look through a medieval window onto a neon sign advertising the local chip shop.

The fortified appearance of the priory is a testimony to the chaotic world of late medieval Ireland. The Royal policy through the late Middle Ages in Ireland was to promote several powerful families and then chose a favourite. While this prevented any one family getting too inspirational in their goals, it ensured almost constant strife between the various families vying for top spot. To protect themselves from this violent world the priory constructed this protective wall.

Clara Castle

(Liam Murphy)

To wrap up your day, head back to Kilkenny and make your way to Clara castle (although it may seem counter intuitive  its worth going back into Kilkenny rather than trying to navigate your way across the county on poor roads).  As you get close to Clara you will be on very narrow winding roads but don’t worry – your not getting lost! It is rather hard to find but following a map you should get there. When you arrive you can get a key from the farmers house across the road (it’s often hanging on the wall).

Clara Castle is almost totally unknown but is one of the best preserved Norman Tower houses in Ireland. A tower house was essentially a fortified home, several stories in height. Clara is so well preserved that the original timbers that supported the floor are still in place!

As you enter you pass through a tiny fortified forecourt added after the original 15^th century construction of the tower. It’s worth taking a look at the carefully designed gun loops that protect the entrance to the forecourt.  As you explore inside, care is needed, because while the timbers that supported the floor are in place, some of the floors aren’t!

While you move from the ground up it’s worth bearing in mind tower houses operate in the opposite way to modern houses. People lived in the upper floors so the room you face when you walk in the door was probably storage space and would have been cold and damp, while the top floor is the equivalent of a modern day living room.

One great attraction in Clara is the hidden chamber. This chamber is built into the walls on the third floor and only accessible through a hatch on the fourth floor. An ideal prison it probably functioned as storage space for most of its lifespan, but even the thoughts of languishing in there is grim.

Clara castle is one of the few tower houses in Ireland that wasn’t blown up, burnt down or stripped of everything reusable in the last 400 years. Remarkably it was inhabited all the way into the 20^th century changing hands numerous times. While its a pretty cool place to visit it definitely has an eerie feel to it and living there wouldn’t be the most appealing.

To see Clara and Kells a car is necessary. The whole trip will cost no more than the €6 into Kilkenny castle. Kells and Clara are both free.

For more info Check out

Kells Priory – http://www.kells.frantzen.de/index.htm (great history source for the priory)

Kilkenny Castle – heritagecouncil.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/Education/kilkenny_book_l_res.pdf (good introduction to medieval Kilkenny)

There’s not a very good online source for Clara, indeed there are few sources in general however If you can lay your hands on this article, its fantastic:  Journal of royal society of antiquaries 67, 1937, 284

The 820-40’s saw the Vikings step it up a gear as vast fleets attacked Ireland and establish bases called longphorts around the coast . However by the late 840’s Gaelic Ireland struck back and the Vikings changed their tactics by forming alliances with Gaelic kingdoms. This episode looks at the widespread war and confusion of 9^th century Ireland and looks at what life was like in the first settlement at Dublin.

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Raiding and Trading with the Vikings (820-902)

This map shows the sites of Viking longphorts (fortified camps) in Ireland. They are marked with boat icons. The house symbol represent the lands held by the various Gaelic kingdoms who dominated the 9^th century. (Click on each Icon to see its exact location).

The Viking settlement at Dublin

The map below shows the rough location of the site of the longphort which is marked in red.  In the 9^th Century this site was flanked by the Liffey to the North and the Poddle which has since been channeled in tunnels beneath the city, (if you walk up Dame street, it dips just before Dublin castle beneath this dip the Poddle flows toward the Liffey). The blue circle roughly marks the site of the pool – An Dubh Linn or Dublin as we know it. This pool has also been filled in, but this map gives some appreciation of the advantages this natural harbor provided the Vikings.

This location is not the only suggested location. There are two other theories however these seem less likely the more we understand the 9^th century. One such theory has argued the longphort was semi-rural in nature spreading all along the southern bank of the river with a fortification to provide safety in times of attack. Although it appears the Vikings eventually reached a non confrontational relationship with its surrounding Gaelic neighbours it’s unlikely that such a vulnerable settlement would be constructed particularly after the sack of 849.

The other dominant theory suggests longphort was situated further up river closer to the graves found at Kilmainham. This makes more sense than the semi rural theory however this is largely disproved by the 9th century discoveries in Templebar talked about in the podcast marked by the red patch on the map.

Selected Bibliography

Seán Duffy (ed.), Medieval Dublin VI (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005)

Seán Duffy (ed.), Medieval Dublin VIII(Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2008)

Valante M.A. The Vikings in Ireland: trade, settlement and urbanisation (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2008)

Richter, M. Medieval Ireland: the enduring tradition, (Dublin: Gill, 2005)

O Croinin, D. Early Medieval Ireland,400-1200,  (New York: Longman, 1995)

Edwards, N. The archaeology of early medieval Ireland (London: Batsford, 1996)

http://www.mglarc.com/index.php/dublin-based/78-9th-century-viking-dublin-evidence-begins-to-unfold.html

The series “Hidden Heritage” was made to celebrate National Heritage Week (21^st – 28^th of August), which sees loads of events, most of which are free, on around Ireland.

This series goes on looks at some of the most interesting stories from Irish history and archaeology including the story of a witch burning in Kilkenny in 1324 and the story behind Ireland’s victims of Human sacrifice – Bog Bodies. These episodes will be launched over the next few weeks.

To listen to the podcast subscribe in Itunes at

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Alternatively download the podcast at the National Heritage Week Website here

For more information on Heritage week

See www.heritageweek.ie

1741, “The Year of Slaughter” (Bliadhain an Air) was one of the most tragic events in post-medieval Irish history. Although this famine has been overshadowed by the famine of 1845-1851 it was  equally destructive. In fact it killed a greater percentage of the population in a shorter period of time. Although often attributed to “natural causes” a closer look reveals the suffering could have been alleviated.

The “natural causes”

The events of 1740-1 had their immediate roots in the previous winter. Late 1739 was shockingly cold (see graph) . This caused all sorts of unusual climatic conditions. People of the time initially appear to have marveled in these natural wonders. Apparently a hurling match was played on the frozen Shannon River, while a fair was held on the frozen Lee river in Cork, one of the most southerly rivers in Ireland.

For the vast majority of the population of Ireland the novelty wore off very quickly as fuel prices rocketed and the poor began to freeze to death. A greater tragedy was unfolding in early 1740 as the cold conditions continued, killing the potato crop as it lay in the ground and destroying seedlings.

“The Human touch”

Cover of Pamphlet from 1740 in England

The potato was not native to Ireland had been recently imported to Ireland with the aim of feeding the peasant population cheaply. By 1740 this had been largely accomplished as the potato was the main diet in large parts of the South and West.

In Spring and Summer 1740 potatoes became scarce as early crops had been killed by the frost,. The price sky rocketed in an uncontrolled market, reaching six times their normal price. This priced many people out of their staple diet and starvation set in.

The executive of the English government – the Privy Council, did intervene and stopped all exports of food from as early as January 1740. This intervention it seems was  motivated through a desire to help markets in Britain rather than an attempt at food provision.

Indeed  a pamphlet from the year  “The Lords Protest of 1740″ shows the greatest considerations amongst the English Ruling class was with the price of food rather than millions of starving people. The pamphlet only gives a few lines to food provision as it argues against an embargo on exports. There was little attempts to import food from the Americas to meet the shortage.

From Bad to Worse

The poor climate continued into the summer of 1740 which then gave way to an early cold autumn which decimated harvests. As people starved that winter, the new year of 1741 saw the outbreak of typhus and dysentery. With a population already severely weakened by starvation, 1741 became known as “the year of slaughter” as a perfect storm of starvation and disease decimated the population.

18th century weather. The major dip represents the winetr 1739-40

Exact figures of the number of people who died is unknown but most historians accept a figure somewhere around 400,000 from a population of about 3 million*.  This event did not have the same impact as the famine a century later largely because it did not spark the large-scale emigration that followed the famine of 1845.

*Population growth and agrarian change an historical perspective Grigg, D (1980)

To download the show go to http://www.archive.org/details/InterviewWithDr.MichelSiochr

Killing over a hundred people, the explosion would have been catastrophic in a city with a relatively low population. Dublin and Ireland in general was still recovering from the near apocalyptic 14^thcentury, which witnessed the Black Death, numerous wars and a deteriorating climate.

Geographically, the explosion blew a huge hole in the heart of the city around Fishamble street, Cook Street, Bridge street and Michael Lane. Historian Colm Lennon has pointed out that when the renowned cartographer John Speed drew his map of Dublin (above), sometime before 1607 (published 1610)  there were gaps in the Woodquay area (marked around no’s  8 and 37). This may be evidence of buildings that were destroyed and still not rebuilt.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what caused the explosion itself. That week a shipment of gunpowder had arrived in the city and was being off loaded onto the quays. The gunpowder was for the English army waging the Nine years war (1594-1603) against the O Neills amongst others. Normally this powder would be transported the short distance from the quays up to the castle (see map below). However that week conflict arose between the porters in the city and castle officials and a large supply of gun powder built up on the quays. At lunchtime on Friday it exploded with devastating consequences demolishing twenty houses around the Woodquay area of the city.

In the aftermath the obvious question of “who done it?” arose. An investigation was carried and quickly enough the theories around sabotage were dismissed and the real story emerged. This revealed the fascinating story of the porters of Dublin and a strike of sorts.

From the investigation into the explosion it’s clear that in the run up to March 11^th (the day of the explosion) tensions had arisen between the porters and the castle officials as they were transporting the powder to the castle. The castle officials had basically press ganged the porters and forced them to work. We can gather from the investigation conducted into the explosion that their treatment was appalling. One porter Rorie Dowgan later testified that

“he this depon^t. and severall others of his fellowes to the nomber of viii. were forced by John Allen aforesaid aswell by threatening with his dagger and hard speeches as otherwise for the space of two whole daies” [sic]

It is clear from this and other testimonies that John Allen the Royal official in charge, had forced these porters to work by force. When it came to the issue of pay another porter Neale O Molan testified that they were paid

“under the allowance and rates appointed & usually paid in the cittie by the merchaunts and other inhabitaunts there”.[sic]

View Larger MapThe porters’ reaction illustrates that, while the world of the 16^th century was brutal and the lives of the poor were undoubtedly very harsh, they too had limits of what they viewed as acceptable treatment. When they felt John Allen had treated them unfairly they acted decisively and by Friday March 11^th the porters were effectively on strike. When a merchant William Dixon asked them to cart his fish from the docks they refused citing Allen as the reason

“the bearers that he found standing idle at the Key and requested them to helpe him about the carriage of his herring; to whome they aunswered all at once that they durst not goe neare the Crane for feare of John Allen”

This runs against our view of the poor often created particularly by Hollywood. From other letters in relation to the incident it appears what the porters were doing was not terribly unusual and probably reflective of normal behavior. The Lord Deputy William Russell wrote in a letter to the privy council (the queens advisers) in London

“yt should seem he could not doe (move the powder) for lack of Carriage, in as much as the  Porters were unwilling to be employed thereaboutes, being formerly yll paid, as nowe upon examination falleth out”.

Russels reporting of the events in such a matter of fact fashion would indicate Allen was acting outside what was seen as normal and fair to the porters. After this event the poor disappear again from Dublin history but these small insights give us some idea of what it may have been like for the poor of the 16^th century.  They had more control over their lives history often leads us to believe even the chaotic world of late 16th century Ireland.

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For more on the background on the explosion read Colm Lennons articles

The Great Explosion in Dublin, 1597 Dublin Historical Record, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Dec., 1988), pp. 7-20

Dublin’s Great Explosion of 1597, History Ireland Vol. 3, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 29-34

To view the transcripts of the investigation carried out in March 1597 see http://www.chaptersofdublin.com/books/Gilbert/gilbert10.htm

The individual stories behind an Irish assassin, a revolutionary, an explorer,  a dictators mistress and a scientist who almost changed history.

5. Violet Gibson.

…..almost assassinated Benito Mussolini in 1926……

In 1944 Italian partisans captured the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini and executed him, hanging his body on display.  However, 18 years previously Violet Gibson could have ended it all for the dictator known as “Il Duce”. In 1926, as Mussolini left an engagement with the International Congress of Surgeons, Violet Gibson, a 50 year old Irish woman shot him.

Unfortunately for history, humanity and Violet she missed and was subsequently attacked by the crowd. It was only the Italian police who saved her by stepping in before the mob killed her. Fearing the backlash for executing or imprisoning a 50 year old woman, the fascist dictator let her go and she spent the rest of her life in a mental asylum in Northampton in England.

It has never been satisfactorily answered exactly why Gibson tried to kill the Italian dictator. Violet was a renegade all her life who also suffered deeply from mental illness. She rejected her aristocratic family background and flirted with lots of the radical ideas of the day from Irish nationalism to theosophy before settling on a radical form of Catholicism.  Accounts at the time blamed everything on the fact she was mentally ill, but how much of this is fascist propaganda is very difficult to tell.

4.Joseph Kavanagh

…..almost became a hero of the French revolution…………….

The French revolution of the late 18^th century was one of the great moments that changed history. Its impact was so great that the Chinese communist Zhou Enlai allegedly quipped in the 1960’s that it was too early to tell its influence on history. A prominent participant in the revolution and its aftermath was none other than a Wexford carpenter Joseph Kavanagh.

Kavanagh was a well known revolutionary and became a prominent member of the revolutionary police in Paris. He was involved in the arrest the Duke of Orleans and Charlotte Corday, the assassin of the revolutionary leader Jean Paul Marat. He was drawn to leaders such as Robespierre, one of the architects of the reign of terror during the revolution and for a while it seemed that men like Robespierre and indeed Kavanagh would take France into the 19^th century. However in 1794 Robespierre was himself killed and Joseph Kavanagh disappears from history. He may have been killed or possibly escaped before he himself had to face the guillotine….

3.Eliza Lynch

…..almost destroyed Paraguay……

Eliza Lynch started her life in the standard 19^th century Irish way – in misery, escaping the famine to go to France. Here anything standard about her life ended. In Paris she met the heir to the Paraguayan dictatorship Francisco Solano and they became lovers.

Eliza and Francisco returned to Paraguay and in 1862 Francisco became dictator. They ran Paraguay like a fiefdom. In 1865 they were instrumental in starting a war with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay that devastated Paraguay killing upwards of 50% of the population. Solano himself was killed in the defining battle of the war and Eliza after being locked up for a while returned to Europe.

We can only guess what might have happened had Solano and Eliza ran Paraguay for longer, but after their brief reign hundreds of thousands were dead and the country was bankrupt. Eliza had the audacity to return to Paraguay after a spell in Europe trying to get her hands on the estate of Solano. This was accrued through embezzlement and to make matters worse she was attempting to get the money while most Paraguayans lived in abject misery after her reign.

Eliza’s exact role in the regime is hard to tell – opinions vary, some maintain she was the brains behind the operation while others have argued she was merely swept along. Her attempts to recoup the estate of Lopez don’t exactly cover her in glory. In the 20^th century she has been resurrected in Paraguay as a hero of Paraguayan nationalism while simultaneously featuring in a book called “the world’s wickedest women”.

2.Daniel Houghton

…..almost became a world famous explorer….

In 1788 Daniel Houghton left modern day Senegal in search of Timbuktu and the source of the Niger River which lie roughly in the middle of the Sahara desert. Born in Ireland in 1740 he had spent much of his life in Africa and was deemed an experienced person to find Timbuktu and the source of the Niger. Neither the Niger River nor Timbuktu were lost but Europeans had pretty much plundered all the Americas by this stage and unfortunately Africa was up next. To exploit Africa they needed to know where things were and no known European had been to Timbuktu since 1512. Houghton was the first step toward European colonisation.

In true European colonial style Daniel paid as much attention to the nearly 2,500 year old accounts of Herodotus as he did to local knowledge. His journey from the outset was plagued by disasters.  Firstly African Merchants tried to kill him as they could foresee the threat posed by European trade and after escaping with his life he subsequently lost all his baggage in a fire.

Eventually he made the disastrous move of hooking up with some Moorish merchants after which he disappeared. A few years later, Mungo Park, the Scottish explorer who followed in his footsteps heard that after he tried to turn back the merchants either killed him or abandoned him to die in the desert. Either way nothing more was heard of Houghton.

Its highly lightly he would never have returned had he found Timbuktu. The inhabitants of the city knew only too well what interaction with Europe meant and they killed the Gordon Laing who reached the city in 1826 fearing his return home would spark a European exploitation.

1.John Tyndall

…….Almost discovered global warming in the 19^th century………

One of the leading scientists in the mid 19^th century was an Irishman named John Tyndall. Incredibly although he was educated in a hedge school he went on to succeed Michael Faraday as Professor of Physics in the Royal institution. He was also a member of the famous X club, a group of nine scientists who argued that science should be free from religious influence. In his spare time he became a pioneer of mountain climbing being among the first to climb some of the highest peaks in the Alps.

He however claims top spot for, what was considered at the time, one of his lesser discoveries. Tyndall was the first to prove beyond doubt the greenhouse effect which helps to heat the planet. Unfortunately neither he nor any of his contemporaries realised that the human impact of burning fossil fuels could increase this effect. Had he or any his contemporaries realised the greenhouse effect could lead to global warming on the level we face today perhaps the state of the planet could be quite different. However Tyndall even with the rapid industrialisation of the 19^th century could never have foreseen the incredible rise in emissions of CO₂ of the 20^th Century….

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To accompany today’s show there’s a bonus feature – an interview with someone crazy enough to sail a viking long ship from Denmark to Ireland. Check it out here

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Below is a map that highlights the various places mentioned in the show

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Glossary of terms:

Abbasid Caliphate: The Ruling power in the Muslim World for several centuries. Ruling from their capital Baghdad they conquered an enormous empire stretching across North Africa and central Asia. Technologically speaking it was highly advanced compared to Medieval Europe.

Jorvik (York) York: in modernday England was a major Viking centre. Excavations at the coppergate site gave a great insight into the Viking world. For more info see http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/towns/jorvik.shtml

This trip is based on the fact that you have access to a car but it is an easy drive between the sites. The general location is pretty much in the centre of the country so it’s pretty accessible from most places (see map). The journey begins at a hidden gem – Lea castle on the Laois-Offaly border. To start the trip you need to get to Portarlington and follow the map to Lea.

Although it was partially destroyed in the Cromwellian wars of the 1650’s its one of my favourite sites with the damage to the structure being an integral part of the castle’s history. The story behind the destruction of Lea is key to the story of many Irish castles. The ruinous castle is a common phenomenon in Ireland. This is not because the Irish were poor castle builders but more down to a deliberate Cromwellian policy of reducing fortified sites so they could not be refortified.

Lea Castle itself is covered in ivy but as you approach it you can just about imagine it in its former glory. You can certainly see what happened in its tumultuous past – keep has been blasted in two! The castle complex is neat and relatively small but is fascinating with some really interesting architecture, archaeology and history attached to it.

You enter the castle complex through a twin towered gate house which was built later than the rest of the structure – this is evident as the stone work of the gatehouse is not keyed into the adjoining wall. The shape of the keep is worth noting – it’s not the common square shape but is the best surviving example of a type known as towered keeps.  Although it was damaged in the Cromwellian Invasion you can still make out the original form of the partially destroyed keep. It’s a four storey keep (including a basement) and originally had circular towers on each corner – this is a model only followed by four other existing castles – Carlow, Enniscorthy, Ferns and Terryglass. All these castles date to the early 13^th century so you’re probably looking at one architect’s signature. There is only access to the first floor level today due to dereliction. Overall it’s a really great site to explore with a mixture of both ruins and relatively well preserved architecture on the one site.  When returning to your car be careful to close any gates you open and leave the site as you find it.

To continue on the trip return along the road into Portarlington and head towards Portlaoise on the R419. Portarlington was once a unique town, built by French Huguenots who had to flee France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Built in French style, it was unique, however it’s not worth a stop since developers have completely ruined the town. The French church, market hall and shameful condition of Arlington house are some of the last reminders of its unique history.

About 5km out of Portarlington on the Portlaoise road take a left turn to Emo. Emo house is a classic example of an Irish country mansion. Designed by James Gandon (architect of the customs house and four courts in Dublin) in late 18^th century it starkly reminds you of the brutality of late 18^th and 19^th century Ireland. The Landlords lived in these mansions while their tenants quite literally starved.

Unfortunately its history is often presented in a sterilised and de-contextualised fashion. While the architecture and has been impeccably restored, there is another story which is often not talked about, that is the wealth behind those who built this came from abject poverty of their tenants. At Emo you can see the opulence in which the 19^th century Irish ruling class lived in.

The house has been renovated to its 19^th century glory with a dome based on the Roman pantheon. The house itself can only be seen on the hourly tours. The Gardens are worth seeing you can just wander about the woodland and Gardens (tours of the garden must be booked in advance). This is a spot that well worth having a picnic in – there are extensive parks and woodland to find a nice spot.

For the final leg of the tour leave Emo for the Rock of Dunamase and head back to the R419 and continue until it meets the N80 and turn left, continue along the N80 then taking the second left after you pass under the M7 motorway. Drive down this road until you come to the rock of Dunamase which is situated on your left – you can’t miss it the rock and remains of the castle rise high above the road. This castle is or I should say was akin to a fairy tale castle built high on a rock overlooking the countryside around.

`               This site was severely damaged by the Cromwellian invasion. To understand the damage – Lea castle looks like it got a trim compared the head shave that Dunamase experienced.  Bizarrely there was no action there just destruction. It was destroyed as part of the Cromwellian idea that they were starting anew in Ireland. What’s left there now is still well worth a visit.  It’s great to explore. The sheer scale of the site is impressive and there are still gate houses and walls left and it’s great fun figuring out what was what. It’s worth reading the information board at the entrance (if you have a digital camera, take a picture and zoom in to use it as a guide as you go along). This info point is useful to get some understanding as it can be quite confusing with bits of walls and arches here and there. Again the destruction at the rock of Dunamase should be seen as an integral part of Irish History – a reminder of the barbarism of 17^th century Ireland.

Overall this trip is both recession and child friendly (but care is needed at both castles particularly Lea). The Rock of Dunamase and Lea castle are free, while the tour of Emo house is very reasonably priced at Adults €3/Children/Students €1/Family €8.

There are also tea rooms at Emo if you aren’t be bothered getting the flask and making sandwiches but if you’re strapped for cash the gardens and woodland are a nice place to pass a few hours and have a picnic.

I don’t have time myself (podcast number three is on the way) to write a full article on it so I decided I would put it up and see what everyone else thinks. I’m really interested in other people’s opinions on it. Below is my initial opinion followed by the transcript of the entire article

The article

It was published in The Irish Press* on the 21st of October 1939. Interestingly The Irish Press, which was the Fianna Fail paper in Ireland at the time, published this article celebrating a militarist like Treacy as they were actively persecuting their former comrades in the IRA (the IRA was proscribed in 1937). It seems they were trying to claim some republican credit by associating themselves with Treacy. The choosing of republicans to compare Treacy to is interesting – they are all martyrs (i.e. dead) appeal to all sections of the republican movement Connolly, Pearse, Colbert and Mellows. Finally its also a really good insight to what was considered what it was to be a “decent man” in Ireland in 1939.

*The Irish Press was owned by the De Valera family. Eamon De Valera was leader of Fianna Fail and Taoiseach at the time this article was published.

Tipperary remembers Sean Treacy
A few days ago the anniversary of Sean Treacy’s death was commemorated in his native place. The following article is from the pen of Desmond Ryan, the distinguished Irish writer, who is at present engaged in collecting materials for a biography of this gallant soldier of the war of independence.
On January 21st, 1919, Sean Treacy fired the first shot in the Anglo-Irish war on the winding, ditch-lined road near Soloheadbeg Quarry, and knew better than any other man that a winding and more tragic road lay before him, a road that wound through all the foot hills of Tipperary, through Ashtown, through Talbot Street away back from the Tipperary hills again to the peace of Kilfeacle Cemetery.
To-day[sic] you can read there on a high stone cross the summary of Sean Treacy’s life; behind the English letters and in front in Irish the same terse wording:
Le dil-cuimhnear SheanMac Allis Ua Treasaidh Fo thaoiseach i n-Arm na hE’n do marbuigeadh i gcath le Arm Sasana. Vice Commandant of teh 3rd Tipperary Brigade, October 14 1920 killed in action by British Crown Forces in Dublin.
***
But across the Tipperary hills where he rests, a living tradition fills in the fuller story. In many a little farmhouse like that in which he was born at Solohead in the early months of 1894, the best-known portrait is on the wall in speech and memory he still lives on. It is hard to realise that little more than twenty-five years cover his birth and death or that a man so young could do all he did and leave so deep an impression. Like Pearse, like Connolly he was a man who knew his mind very early; like Mellows and Colbert, the flame of Irish Ireland [sic] caught him young.
Wherever he passed, Sean Treacy left his mark on the minds and hearts of the people. One of his relatives was very indignant with his first companions in the Irish Volunteers. She thought, as he was an only child, and an excellent farmer into the bargain, he ought to devote himself to his fourteen good acres at Solohead, and not be taken up with wild fellows who drilled on the hills. “She thought” said one of them afterwards “that we were misleading her young nephew, and all that time her young nephew was leading or misleading us”
***
Long before that, the tradition goes, Sean Treacy had started leading or misleading in the Gaelic League. The record still exists of how, even when his knowledge of the Irish language was very adequate, he would attend the three classes, elementary , middle , and advanced in the Technical school at Tipperary town to persuade others to keep the classes alive. In the same spirit, he would buy up all the copies of the Irish- Ireland papers left over in the newsagents, even when he was so busy that he had little time to read.
Sean Treacy’s life is the record of a man of action. Soloheadbeg, Knocklong, Rere Cross, Hollyford, Cappawhite, Doon, Drangan, Oolagh are the names that flash across his life towards the close, a tale of barracks attacks, ambushes and, often saved by his….. and courage before the unexpected. Yet about him, all those who served under him agree there was nothing of the military martinet or swashbuckling bully. “He never seemed to give an order” says one of them “yet he was always obeyed”. He never terrorised his men or shouted order. Even if you failed him, Sean Treacy would only give you a look from under his glasses, and perhaps a week later you might hear about it.
***
All his recorder sayings have a terse quality. Once some friends met him going across a field with a machine gun. “What’s that for?” they asked him. “That” answered Sean Treacy, with a smile, “is only for dusting the flies off the peelers on hot summer days”. He was more serious when his friend, Sean Horan, First Lieutenant of the Lisheen Grove company, asked him: “Do you think Sean the fight will soon be over? I am deaf, stupid and blind from travelling and working for Irish freedom.” Sean took off his glasses and said: “Jack the fight could last a hundred years – one hundred years!” “Tell those fellows” He replied once when it was reported to him that a barrack’s garrison was slow to surrender “that if they don’t put up their hands quick , they’ll put their hands and their feet up”
Sean Treacy comes to life in such sayings. The inner fire seems to break through his reserve and silence often with a faint barb of irony behind it all, as when he told a group of Dublin men on one of his first visits to the capital “Excuse me if you want me to talk polite, because I can’t. I just want so many guns for South Tipperary and I must have them!”
“Damn it” he said in an argument with Terence Mc Swiney in Dundalk jail in 1918, “I would rather one peelers barracks than all your moral victories.
***
Yet to the Sean Treacy still alive in people’s memory there is a gentler side. He buried much of it when he sent away all of his books in a long box to some undiscoverable location in the months before his death. As a boy he read into the small hours at his uncles fireside, mostly histories of Ireland. On the run he carried an Irish grammar and the Irish library that escaped that long box still exists to prove how far he had gone in his schooldays with the Irish language; the range of the books he discussed around the firesides of Tipperary while on the run was wide and deep. It would be no exaggeration to dub him “the Pearse of Munster”. If there were any point of honour in comparing him with a man so similar to himself. Like Pearse he had a horror of cruelty to animals and a love for children, with one reservation. Sean Treacy runs the unwritten chronicle of Tipperary, would unlock doors to release bold children and take them out of range of their parents wrath, but if a baby cried in the room where he poured over his military text-books or wrote his dispatches, Sean Treacy asked the mother to remove it.
“the spirit of freedom” he told his friend and comrade Pa…. Dwyer of Hollyford “is in…. mountainy men”. It was cert… in Sean Treacy himself and ………. with adventure and strife ……was, no fact is more sure…..he walked with open eye………..bending will the winding………. Solohead to Kilfeacle not for…fighting, not from lust of war for love of Ireland alone

Episode 2 sees the Vikings enter Irish History. Were the Vikings really blood thirsty? In this show we hear what it was like to experience a Viking attack, why the attacks started, what did the Gaelic Irish make of these people when they first appeared and how they dealt with these raids.

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The Vikings (part 1)

To listen to the show press play below

Below is a map that highlights the various places mentioned in the show

Glossary of names and places

Charlemagne (meaning Karl Magnus or Charles the Great) 742 -814 – He was crowned king of the Franks (inhabitants of modern France) in 768. He was the most powerful man outside of Muslim Europe in the late eight and early ninth centuries. In the late 8^th century he launched several campaigns into modern Holland and Northern Germany destabilising the area. This was one of the factors that lead to Viking raids. He famously executed thousands of Saxons on one day who refused to convert to Christianity. He was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800 by the pope.

Fedhlimid Mc Crimthainn (pronounced Fedelemid Mac Crim-han) was a 9th century Eoganacht  king. He dominated politics in Ireland from the 820’s-840’s. He died sometime in the mid 840’s.

Eoganacht (O-gawn-act). Kingship which was based around Cashel in Munster. It’s traditional borders lay within the province of Munster. It declined and its supremacy of munster was taken by the Dal Cais who most famous son was Brian Boru.

O Neill’s. The O Neill’s came from relative obscurity in the 6^th century and grew to be the most powerful dynasty in Ireland. The family was split into two branches – A northern branch and  a southern branch. The northern sept of the family ruled Ulster whilst the Southern branch dominated Northern Leinster. A high king or over king ruled their lands both North and South. This kingship, often mistaken as high king of Ireland, alternated between the Northern and Southern O Neills.

Skellig Micheal. A monastery positioned on a craggy outcrop in the Atlantic. Its one of the most remarkable Monastic sites in Ireland. How people managed to survive here is baffling.

Further Reading

Mac Samhrain, Ailbhe (2002) The Vikings and illustrated history Wolfhound press, Dublin.

Great introduction to the Vikings from an Irish perspective. Moves very fast through some periods

Wooding, Jonathan (1998) The Vikings Lansdowne Publishing, Sydney

Average. Runs through almost every aspect of Viking life in every area so its hard to get to grips with anything – a good starter as on over view to the Viking world.

Richter, Michael (2005) Medieval Ireland Gill & Mc Millan, Dublin.

Great book Chapters 6 and  8 are relevant to episode 2

Ryan Michael (1997) Irish Archaeology Illustrated Country house, Dublin.

Good pages 153-170 are relevant. Good overview.

Here is a selection of some of the  articles I used in the show

Clarke, Howard (1995)The Vikings in Ireland: A Historian’s Perspective,  Archaeology Ireland, Vol. 9, No. 3, The Wordwell Ltd.

Frank, Roberta  (1984) Viking Atrocity and Skaldic Verse: The Rite of the Blood-Eagle,  The English Historical Review, Vol. 99, No. 391 pp. 332-343. Oxford University Press

Kurrild-Klitgaard, Peter and Svendsen, (2003) Gert Tinggaard Rational Bandits: Plunder, Public Goods, and the Vikings Public Choice, Vol. 117, No. 3/4, Essays in Memory of Mancur Olson  pp. 255-272

Downham,  Clare  (2009) The Viking Slave Trade: Entrepreneurs or Heathen Slavers? History Ireland, Vol. 17, No. 3 pp. 15-17, Wordwell Ltd.

Thanks to John, Denise and Dermo for their help.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of History in Film and T.V.

The next show will be out next week but in the mean time get something from the good section below……

Over the past few months I’ve been watching lots of historical films recently so here are my thoughts. To qualify a film just has to relate to history even if it’s just a backdrop. This does not mean they have to be perfectly accurate. These films generally fall into one of three categories.

First comes the Good

This can be divided into two categories. First are the historically accurate films which either depict an actual life or else a general society or set of events well but crucially are also entertaining. Then there’s those that just choose a historical backdrop and at that point unashamedly break from history and tell a good yarn.

First up is the film that is both in the historical ball park and is also entertaining. I think a film can fit into this if it narrates an actual event accurately even if it conflates several historical people into one character to give a general picture of the society.

Gladiator

A good example is Gladiator (2000). Well what can I say – watch it great story sticking roughly to history even if it does conflate several historical figures in to one character and fabricates exact events to create a picture of Roman society in the later empire. Hot on the heels of this is the HBO’s Rome (2005). This gives a good explanation of the fall of the Republic and the Rise of the Octavian (Augustus) in an entertaining fashion. HBO have a low opinion of people’s attention span – every few minutes they insert sex and violence sometimes quite randomly presumably to grab our attention. The Devils Whore (2008) series by channel 4 is a good portrayal of the English revolution and civil war in the 17th century however is repeats the awful analysis of the Cromwellian invasion of Ireland as “harsh things had to be done.” Enemy at the Gates (2001) is well worth a watch too – although it’s not accurate from the personal lives it recreates the horror of the Siege of Stalingrad

Finally the best in the category is the action packed – historically accurate film Reds (1981).This Oscar winning depiction of the Russian Revolution is amazing. The story tracks the actual life of John Reed an American Communist who witnessed the Russian revolution and also witnessed the Bolshevik betrayal and usurpation of what was originally an inspirational story.

Others in this camp are Le Retour de Martin Guerre (1982), The Advocate aka the hour of the Pig (1993), Schindler’s List (1993), Das Boot (1981), and Stalingrad (1993) are great films which accurately portray life. Clint Eastwood’s two movies Flags of our fathers (2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) are an overall picture of war in the pacific from a personal perspective but only really appreciated if you look at both with as small a gap between them as possible

The second category of good film is the movie that doesn’t attempt to be historically accurate and makes no bones about it, but tells ya a good yarn. An example of a film like this is a Knights Tale. If ya like ye olde stuff its entertaining. People who moaned about the historical inaccuracies in this have a screw loose. For a film to be historically inaccurate, it has to try and be historically accurate, so in a Knights Tale (2001) when the crowd starts chanting “We will rock you” its

Ivan Vasilievic

plainly obvious they are having a laugh. You can sit back and enjoy it. The life of Brian (1979) is obviously the winner in this and is brought to the brilliant point when the aliens save Brian. So if someone moans about the historical inaccuracies in these films suspect a waffler – they don’t really know what they’re talking about and are only on comfortable ground pointing out that Jesus was actually crucified (Life of Brian) or that the band Queen were not around in medieval England (A Knights Tale). My current favourite isMenyaet Professiyu (1973) – Download its quirky and funny. A Russian invents a time machine and a thief and an apartment block manager are transported back to the reign of Ivan the terrible. The film is a classic in my book and for slow learners it opens up with the line “this is not historically accurate”.

The Bad

These are films that pretend to be historically accurate but are not at all. 300 (2006) is a deeply racist take on the Persian invasion of Greece. Drivel from a historical perspective and given the current geopolitical climate a deeply irresponsible film to make. (as I read this I want an example or two of the racism and shitty history) Elizabeth, the Golden Age (2007) is part of this category. Every Spaniard in the film is portrayed as a devil. Its appalling nationalistic tripe. The war between Spain and England was about who would control the world and not as the film portrays an evil empire picking on the fair and peace loving England.

The crowning Glory in this field has to be U-571 (2000). It tells the story of the capture of an enigma machine in World War II by the Americans. The only problem is that it was actually done by the British before the Americans entered the war in 1941.

Whilst I have to say I love watching the film The Last of the Mohicans (1992) should not go without mention. Great to watch though its depiction of Native Americans is pretty awful. The fact that Nathaniel (Daniel Day Lewis) is white and the hero and the de-contextualisation of the Native American violence is shocking. This is sort of explained by the fact it is based on an 1820’s book by James Fennimore Cooper…..

The Ugly

The winner here is the truly awful 13th warrior (1999). Some history buffs commended the film because it portrayed the Arab civilisation for what it was in the medieval Europe – light-years ahead. This may well be true but that its shockingly bad.

Antionio Banderas plays The 13^th Warrior (1999) the real life Arab Chronicler Ibn Fadlan. The storyline script is b

Antonio Banderas in The 13th Warrior

pathetic. No matter how historically accurate it is (and it’s not that accurate) nothing could save this rubbish.

Ok this is controversial but I’m going to put Andrei Rublev (1961) on this. If you look at any film list of the best historical films of all time it’ll be there. Perhaps I am a Cretan but I just thought this was a bore…….Perhaps a great depiction of 16^th century Russia, but it’s just so boring.

Have you ever been puzzled by history? Did people really only live to 40? What was it like to go to a medieval dentist? Maybe you’ve been puzzled how people survived before email, phones, cars or even proper roads? Well if you have the Irish history podcast is for you! The series tracks Irish history and archaeology trying to understand what daily life was like for normal people whilst also tracking the big picture of war, politics and needless to say invasions.

The first episode looks at early medieval Ireland, a world called Barbarian by the Romans. What did Ireland look like to the first missionaries from Rome and see how the Gaelic Irish lived. It also examines how people dealt with low life expectancy and constant death.

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Ep.1 Barbarians

or listen here

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Click through below for Glossary and Bibliography

Glossary

Below is an explanation on some terms used in Episode 1

Derbfine This was an extended family structure in early medieval Ireland. This family unit was composed of adult males who shared a common father/grandfather/great-grandfather. This could often total over a hundred people.

E-Ware pottery is an early medieval pottery type with sub groupings of E1, E2. Differentiation between these various categories is down to their differing uses.  It is the most common imported pottery from the early medieval  period. The most dominant opinion in archaeology suggests it originated in Western France in the Loire region. It dates from the years 550 -650 A.D. and is good evidence of post Roman trade between Ireland and continental Europe. It is usually found in small quantities on sites indicating it was high status ware.

Ogham (pronounced Ome) is the earliest form of Gaelic writing and is based on alphabet of the late Roman alphabet. It is preserved today on stone.

Pelagius declared a heretic of the early medieval period. He for preached against the christian notion of “original sin”. Christianity preaches that humans are born sinful – the concept of original sin. The catholic church holds to this idea still today.

Bibliography

Tacitus Agricola. Tacitus’ biography of his father in law and Roman general Agricola is one the best sources of Roman impressions of Ireland. It can be found at here - http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/tac/ag01020.htm“
Power, Cathryn (1985). Diet and Disease  Evidence from the Human Dental Remains in Two Medieval Irish  Populations, Vol. 3 The journal of Irish Archaeology, 49-53. Wordwell

Really interesting article about medieval life and and causes of pain and death

Comber, Michelle (2001).Trade and communication Networks in early Historic Ireland, Vol. 10, The Journal of Irish archaeology  pp. 73-92 Wordwell.

Good article on trade and roads but is very technical in parts particularly in the discussion on pottery.

Edwards, Nancy(1990). The Archeology of Early Medieval Ireland.London:Batsford Ltd
Excellent book dealing with the archaeology of the period and useful to get a feel for what remains. Remember though its archaeology and not history so it deals mainly with what remains not what happened.

Lydon, James (1998).  The Making of Modern Ireland, London And New York:Routledge
Chapter one is useful. Its an introduction. It will probably provoke more questions than answers – but any book that covers 2000 years of history in 400 pages will!

Charles-Edwards, T.M. (2000) Early Christian Ireland.Cambridge: Cambridge Unversity PressI found this heavy enough going in parts but it is very good on Gaelic societal structure which is incredibly complicated and many authors fudge.

Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí (1995) Early Medieval Ireland 400-1200. Longman History of Ireland. London.Excellent, Does exactly what is says on the tin.

Nicholls, Kenneth (2003) Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Middle Ages. Dublin: Lilliput Press
This is probably the best book on Gaelic Ireland. Although written originally in 1973, its still an amazing work. Although it deals with the late medieval period it is still useful for an overview of Gaelic society.
Gerriets, Marilyn  Money in Early Christian Ireland according to the Irish law Vol. 27, No. 2  (Apr., 1985), comparative studies in society and history,  pp. 323-339 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
This is great article on the role of money in Medieval Ireland
Ed. Greene, Miranda(1995)The Celtic World. London and New York: Routledge
The Celtic World is a collection of essays by various Academics, on strangely enough the Celtic world. It puts Celtic Ireland in a European context.

Mac Niocaill, Gearoid (1980) Ireland before the Vikings.Dublin: Gill and MacMillan
It has a comprehensive “history” of Gaelic Ireland up until 800. I use the word history in inverted commas as some of the sources as he points out are not the most reliable. This can at times be hard to follow but it gives a good impression of the main events. It is a bit dated.

The first episode of the series picks up the story of Irish history around the end of the Roman Empire. This article looks at Ireland and its interaction with Roman Europe to set the stage.

What did the Romans do for us ?

It’s one of those questions that’s relevant to nearly every country in North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Most of these countries though should really ask “what did the Romans do to us”. The answer is given by the Roman historian Tacitus, quoting a Britannic chieftain

“The Romans make a desert and call it peace”

You might get some flash buildings, fancy architecture to look at if you survived the invasion but overall this guy wasn’t far wrong. The Romans didn’t just beat enemies they annihilated them. If you were happy to play ball they were happy to work with you. However once you asked about independence or rose up, the Romans understood you could not just be beaten but had to be annihilated. They knew they had to make everyone else realise the value of the staying in the empire and the pain of leaving it.

Carthage (near modern day Tunis) Rome’s main competitor in the 2^nd century BCE was not just beaten it was dismantled as a city, Gaul was conquered by Julius Caesar in ten years of brutal war from 59-49 BCE that fundamentally changed society there, killing probably hundreds of thousands of people. Jerusalem was destroyed after the Jews revolted for the third time in 132-135 CE and this was done by an emporer who was considered to be more peaceful than most.

When it comes to Ireland and we ask “What did the Romans do to us?” The answer is not very much compared to the rest of Europe. This can be said with a sigh of relief. Ireland was never invaded by the Romans. A big question though is why?

Often I’ve heard nationalists in the same breath as talking about independence from Britain say “sure even the Romans couldn’t even bate us”. Unfortunately or well more fortunately the truth is they could but just couldn’t be bothered. Look at the situation at the time. They conquered North Africa, The Middle East and Europe without any major hiccups after the destruction of Carthage in 146 BCE. By the time Ireland was on the chopping board – this must have been sometime after 43 CE (Britain was invaded this year) – The Roman army was a finely honed killing machine. It had destroyed The Carthaginian Empire (no mean feat! Hannibal was Carthaginian – these guys were no pushover’s). They subdued Gaulic tribes (inhabitants of modern – day France) united under a single leader in a ten year campaign from 59 BCE to 49 BCE. Don’t forget they also beat the diminished but still powerful and rich Egyptian state as a side show in a civil war. By the first century CE the only enemy they really faced were themselves in civil wars.

So if they had gone up against a series of disunited kingdoms in Ireland with inferior military technology they would have won. They definitely thought about it. Tacitus, the roman historian and son in law and biographer of the roman governor and general in Britain Agricola, said

“I have often heard him [Agricola] say that a single legion with a few auxiliaries could conquer and occupy Ireland, and that it would have a salutary effect on Britain for the Roman arms to be seen everywhere, and for freedom, so to speak, to be banished from its sight.”

It might have taken a while due to logistic and geographical problems but it could have been done. Agricola according to Tacitus said

“a single legion with a few auxiliaries could conquer and occupy Ireland”

These exact figures may or may not be true I don’t know enough about Roman militarism to comment except to say a legion during this period was about six thousand men so you decide.

And now back to the very start and the original question “What did the Romans do for us?”. In the podcast I touch on most of the important stuff. Roman traders came here and gathered intelligence and traded. Tacitus mentioned talked about Ireland…..

“Its extent is small when compared with Britain, but exceeds the islands of our seas [Mediterranean]. In soil and climate, in the disposition, temper, and habits of its population, it differs but little from Britain. We know most of its harbours and approaches, and that through the intercourse of commerce”

Trade seems to have developed and the presence of Romans in the country was probably not unusual. Roman pottery has been discovered in Ireland in not insignificant amounts. A roman burial found near Thomastown in Co Kilkenny dating from the first century is telling also. It indicates there was more than one Roman there – someone knew how to bury him according to Roman tradition. It also indicates the type of relationship that existed between Ireland and the roman world. These people were not in any rush or fearful of being spotted, they were by no means clandestine and were presumably very comfortable in the Irish Landscape. The burial is inland about 50 miles from the sea and 20 miles from a river estuary so these weren’t fly by night visitors. They cremated a body – which attracts attention and takes days. Some people even think this person/people may have lived in Ireland. This is a bit of jump– archaeologists have a tendency to run wild when anything close to a burial is excavated. We’ll never know what this person was doing in Ireland.

This trading relationship turned to piracy as Roman power started to fade. The historical example of this is the Great Conspiracy or Barbarian Conspiracy of 374 CE. The historian Amminias mentions that people from Ireland are involved in this. The conspiracy was probably no conspiracy but rather a year where Rome’s inability to defend itself ,as well as it once had, became obvious. Roman exceptionalism (the idea the Romans were the greatest – exceptional you might say) led the Romans to explain it away as some evil conspiracy rather than accept defeat to what they considered a lesser enemy.

Roman decline accelerated in the early 5^th century. Britain was abandoned militarily in 408 CE; this did not end roman Britain, but made it more vulnerable. Rome as a city had declined with imperial court moving away but still no one can deny the significance of Rome being sacked in 387 CE, 410 CE and 455 CE. The last Roman emperor, the aptly named Romulus Augustus was deposed in 476 CE. His successor Odoacer was acknowledged as king of Italy by the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno (the empire was split in two under the tetrachy system brought in by Diocletian) ending the Western Roman Empire as a political unit.

The European World though didn’t collapse, Ireland as you can hear in the podcast continued to trade with the European continent. No light went out over Europe but there was an acceleration of a process that had begun in the late Empire of ruralisation. For Ireland this had no impact – it had never been urban. The spread however of the state religion of the late empire – Christianity, created problems in Ireland. Although the ideas were accepted the structure was not. The Christian church found itself in a bind – how could it operate in a country that was never a province. The church had always acted as part of the roman structure and now the structure was nonexistent. At this point if you haven’t heard the podcast, listen now to find out where all goes from here…….

If you want updates check the show out on facebook here of follow irishhistory on twitter

Welcome to Irishhistorypodcast.ie. This website accompanies the podcast series The Irish history podcast.

Over the various podcasts I hope to investigate Irish history from the Early Medieval Period, wading through truths, half truths, lies and propaganda and give my take on what happened.

For each episode I’ll stick up an article about the history period we are discussing. So the first article is Ireland’s Interaction with Rome.

I am going to try  avoid any academic or nerdy debates such as when St Patrick was born or what time of the day Brian Boru died. Some dates are important but most are not. Histories about exact dates them are like sports fans debating over the exact second a goal was scored. It’s not as important as the build up, the result and what the score means for the team.

To explain places I will use the four Irish provinces as a reference rather than counties which will only get confusing. To the left  is a map with the provinces. These provinces are useful because they originate very early in Irish history where as some counties are relatively recent. Instead of the confusing multilingual and religious A.D./B.C. divide in history I will use the more appropriate, C.E. (common era) instead of AD and B.C.E. (before common era) instead of B.C.

If you want updates, check the show out on facebook here of follow irishhistory on twitter.