Many ancient societies gave names to their members based on the qualities or personality traits of a particular animal. In warrior societies in particularly aggressive qualities of animals were much admired. Naming warriors after fierce creatures could be used for the purpose of striking fear in one’s enemy but it is most likely that the practice was to reassure the tribe that it was protected by fearsome and cunning defenders, who in turn exhibited the qualities of a particular fearsome animal. The animal of choice was the wolf and is found in many personal names from Rudolph, Ralph, Raúl, Adolf etc. including female names like Ulrica, Ralphina, Otsana and surnames like Folan, Phelan, Lovell and many more.
The ancient Irish had a preference for naming their warriors after the wolf-dog or wolf-hound, perhaps due to the added personal quality of loyalty exhibited by canines. Thus the Irish word for hound/wolf-hound “con” (genitive) is found today in many popular surnames and forenames including O’Connor, Connolly/Conneely, Conroy, Connaughton, O’Connell, Connery, Confry, Conalty and forenames like Conan, Conor, Conn, Connell.
Randy: Pet form of English Randall and Randolph, both meaning "shield-wolf."
Rannulf: Frankish German form of Old Norse Ránulfr, meaning "plundering wolf."
Connor: Irish from Conchobar meaning wolf lover
Conroy: Irish from Con Rí – king of the wolves
Connolly/Conneely: Irish from Conghaile meaning as valorous as a wolf-hound.
Connell: Irish from Conghal fierce as a wolf-hound.
Ulrica: Feminine form of Middle English Ulric, meaning "wolf power."
Alf/Adolf: Modern contracted form of Old High German Adalwolf, meaning "noble wolf."
Ethelwolf: Variant spelling of Anglo-Saxon Æthelwulf, meaning "noble wolf."
Folan: Irish from Faolán composed of the word faol "wolf" and a diminutive suffix, hence "little wolf."
Pheelan: Irish from Fáelán: Variant spelling of Irish Gaelic Faolán, meaning "little wolf."
Lovell: English from Lowell derived from the Old Norman French byname Louvel, meaning "little wolf."
Raúl: Spanish form of German Radulf, meaning "wise wolf."
Rudolf: Modern form of Old High German Hrodwulf, meaning "famous wolf."
Rudi: Pet form of German Rudolf, meaning "famous wolf."
Ulf: Scandinavian form of Old Norse Ulfr, meaning "wolf."
Early medieval Ireland evolved a system of law (often called ’brehon’ law, from the Old Irish word brithemain ’judges’) which is remarkable in several respects. No other early medieval society has left such a substantial amount of written law, and none has preserved its laws entirely in the vernacular. Early Irish law is unique also amongst medieval legal codes in the range and nature of the subjects that are covered by it. It has also, until relatively recently, suffered unique neglect. Thanks, however, to the researches of scholars in the last half-century or so, the full richness of the Irish legal material from the period c. 600 to c. 800 can now be fully explored, using the tools of philology, history, archaeology and anthropology.
Above: introductory text for a course on early Irish law from the National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.nuigalway.ie/history/ocroinin/hi327.html
Image: Ballynahinch Castle, Connemara, Co. Galway.
Fairy beliefs - practically every article written on the subject of fairies suggests that people once believed in them. It is true to say that people would avoid certain actions for fear of tempting fate rather than actually believing in fairies. The modern world of science has similar parallels for example one of the world’s most popular sports, Formula 1 is purely based on science, mathematics and engineering. It is also a dangerous sport and there is no number 13 and it is not that people actually believe that 13 is bad luck but why should one tempt fate and add to the already high risk nature of the sport? (Cars did carry the number 13 until a spate of fatal accidents occurred in the 1920s to drivers with number 13, prompting the French automobile club to stop using the number and the tradition remains to this day.)
Fairy rings also occupy a prominent place in European folklore as the location of gateways into elfin kingdoms or places where elves gather and dance. According to the folklore, a fairy ring appears when a fairy, pixie, or elf appears. The circular pattern of the mushrooms looks like a place where fairies danced in a ring holding hands.
In an Irish legend recorded by Jane Wilde (mother of Oscar), a farmer built a barn on a fairy ring despite the protests of his neighbours. He was struck senseless one night and a local "fairy doctor" was called to break the curse. The farmer says that he dreamed that he must destroy the barn. - No doubt this particular variety of mushroom was hallucinogenic!
Collecting dew from the grass or flowers from inside a fairy ring can bring bad luck. While destroying a fairy ring is both unlucky and fruitless as it will just grow back. Also science tells us some mushrooms in fairy rings are poisonous and inhaling mushroom spores can cause a respiratory disease called Lycoperdonosis.
Moonshine distillers traditionally discard the first 50ml of distillate known sometimes as the fairy portion. Science tells us that the first few drops from a still contain nasty
The Cross of Cong - in A.D. 1123 according to the Irish annals a small piece of the purported True Cross arrived in Ireland from Rome and was enshrined at Roscommon. The cross was built as a shrine to house the relic. It appears to have been moved from Roscommon to Tuam shortly after it was completed and probably in the mid-12th century the cross was moved again from Tuam to Cong Abbey which was founded by the Augustinians on a much earlier Christian site.
The cross is sometimes called in the Irish language "an Bacall Buidhe", which translates as "the yellow staff" — a reference to its golden colour. It was commissioned by Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (Turlough O'Conor), king of Connacht and high king of Ireland
The Cross of Cong is currently on display at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
The Moylough Belt Shrine, a reliquary from the era of early Christian art, ranks along with the Broighter Collar, the Petrie Crown, the Ardagh Chalice, the Derrynaflan Chalice and the Tara brooch as one of the great treasures in the National Museum of Ireland. Discovered in a bog in 1945, the shrine exemplifies the art of Celtic metalwork from the 8th century CE, and is the only surviving example of a belt shrine in Ireland. It exemplifies the great golden age in the history of Irish art, which, in addition to masterpieces of metal-craft, gave us the immortal illuminated gospel manuscripts such as the Book of Durrow (c.670), the Lindisfarne Gospels (c.698-700) and the Book of Kells (c.800), as well as the famous High Cross sculptures - the most important body of free-standing sculpture between the fall of Rome and the Gothic Renaissance.
Photo by Jose-Manuel Benito Alvarez
Irish Medieval Brain Surgery - Trephination was quite common in ancient times. This process is similar to the use of Burr Holes in modern medicine to relieve pressure on the brain caused by certain types of head injury.
Trepanation, or trephination (both derived from the Greek word trypanon, meaning "to bore") is perhaps the oldest form of neurosurgery. The procedure, called a Craniotomy in modern medical terminology involves the removal of a piece of bone from the skull. (These days it is a temporary removal.)
Several trepanned skulls have been found in Ireland for example one of a thirteen-year-old child, probably early Christian, was recovered from Collierstown in Co. Meath (Martin, 1935). Two further trepanations each of late Medieval date, one from Ballinlough (Co. Laois) and the other from Maganey Lower (Co. Kildare), were found during recent excavations. A fourth specimen was discovered in a stone-lined grave at the Abbey of Nendrum on Mahee Island in Strangford Lough. The abbey was destroyed in 974 A.D. by fire.
Photo: An example of a trepanned skull at the National Museum of Ireland, Kildare St. Dublin.
The Scottish/Irish Kilt is a historical forgery which ironically has been with us for so long that it has become genuinely historical. An English industrialist Thomas Rawlinson invented the Kilt (skirt) based on the traditional Celtic "belted plaid": a draped blanket that was tied around the waist with a belt worn by Irish immigrants Clans on the Scottish West coast. Pictured is Mel Gibson in Braveheart. Note he is not wearing a Kilt but a belted plaid with the traditional Léinte (a long shirt pulled over a belt) image below. According to some dictionaries "kilt" means to "tuck up" therefore the tuck ups refer to the pleats which are characteristic of the Kilt. Note also there are no pleats in the costume.
Read the full story here.
http://www.renmorehistory.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=84:kiltforgery&catid=44:contributions&Itemid=103
Making Irish surnames English - In 1518 a City Council decreed “neither O' nor Mac shall strut and swagger through the streets of Galway”. The names of the native Irish male population all began with O’ or Mac meaning “grandson of” or “son of” followed by the personal name of the ancestor. In the late 16th century the Irish nation under duress began the process of changing their surnames to be more English sounding.
The English Poet Edmund Spencer who spent 20 years in Ireland called upon the English to commit genocide against the Irish as Earl Arthur Grey had done in 1582 using brutal scorched earth tactics resulting in a serious famine which killed as many as 30,000 people in just six months.
The Elizabethan conquest of Ireland resulted in the establishment of a central government in Ireland for the first time, the outlawing of the native Brehon laws and imposition of English law, the ethnic cleansing of the native population, the despising of Irish manner hairstyles, clothing and all things Gaelic. Therefore it is not surprising that it became unfashionable to have an Irish name.
While the surname change process was initiated by oppression it was not simply due to it alone but was driven by a complex interplay of many different circumstances. For example one could gain significant social advantages by appearing to be English or to appear to be in support of the English. Families might even be able to avoid land confiscations. However written records do not allow us to count the many families went by their original name but used an official name for paper records and interactions with government. (perhaps this is the primary reason for the survival of Irish surnames). A similar practice continues to this day most notably in the forename Liam, almost no holder of this name is called Liam on their birth certificate. They are all called William.
English officials unfamiliar with the Irish language recorded surnames as the heard them and thus wrote the names down a phonetically. For example Mag Oirea
Greene surname history – this name is good exemplar of Anglicisation of surnames by translation. The Greene surname leads many of us to erroneously believe the family to be of English origin. As we have encountered in previous posts due to coercion there were many social and political advantages for families to appear to be of genuine English origin. The original surname is O hUainin from the obsolete old Irish word ‘uaine’ meaning green. It was first Anglicised as O’Huonyn or O’Honeen which are good phonetic matches for the original but sometimes Hoonan is also used.
There are many families with the surname concentrated Co. Clare which was once part of the Kingdom of Thomond which also included parts of the present day counties Limerick, Tipperary, Offaly and Kerry.
The above map shows births associated with particular surnames from the year 1890. O’Honeen appears in north west Co. Clare while Green appears in south Co. Tipperary. (marked with a blue marker on the map)
Source: The Surnames of Ireland by Edward MacLysaght
St. Patrick was not Irish, St George was not English, St Andrew was not Scottish and of the four nations only the Welsh St. David is a native patron saint. St. Patrick was not Welsh or English as it is sometimes claimed in error because Wales and England did not exist in Patrick’s time. He was a Romano-Briton meaning of a Roman family living in Roman colonial Britain prior to the withdrawal of the Romans.
St George never killed a Dragon and St. Patrick never banished snakes from Ireland and some claim he did not even bring Christianity to Ireland it was Palladius. Therefore the Irish should be celebrating St. Palladius Day on March 17th which is and absurdity reliant on gross ignorance of plain Latin for sustenance!
The great Irish historian T. F. O'Rahilly's "Two Patricks" theory first posited in a lecture in 1942 where he decided to be deliberately controversial in order the initiate academic debate. O'Rahilly like many scholars before noted that a continental chronicler wrote that Palladius was ordained bishop by the pope and sent to Ireland in 431AD. Yet tradition tells us that Patrick was ordained bishop and sent to Ireland to convert the Irish in 432AD. O'Rahilly was arguing correctly that the histories of two men had been confused and folded together in error. No official record exists of Palladius or Patrick’s ordination and the issues arising from the debate has been the subject of much speculation. However, it is not possible to say much about Palladius due to the lack of evidence other than one thing; it is certain that he did not bring Christianity to Ireland and this is expressly stated in the historical record.
Prosper of Aquitaine states in a chronicle entry for the year 431AD “Ad Scotum in Christum credentes ordinatur a Papa Celestino Palladius et primus episcopus mittitur”.
Translated as “To the Irish believing in Christ Pope Celestine sends Palladius as the first Bishop”.
In plain black and white is the statement that there were Christians in Ireland before Palladius arrived and
Shamrock is a word borrowed into English from Irish. It is a transliteration of "seamair óg" meaning young clover. Historical English writers, unable to understand the Irish language and prone to conjecture make the distinction between Shamrock and Clover but it is an error. In botanical terms the Irish Shamrock is usually considered to refer to either the species Trifolium dubium (lesser clover, Irish: seamair bhuí) or Trifolium repens (white clover, Irish: seamair bhán). However, other three-leaved plants—such as Medicago lupulina, Trifolium pratense, and Oxalis acetosella—are sometimes called shamrocks or clovers.
Semair or clover appears in early Irish literature generally as a description of a flowering clovered plain. For example, in the series of medieval metrical poems about various Irish places called the Metrical Dindshenchus, a poem about Tailtiu or Teltown in Co. Meath describes it as a plain blossoming with flowering clover (mag scothach scothshemrach). Similarly, another story tells of how St. Brigid decided to stay in Co. Kildare when she saw the delightful plain covered in clover blossom (scoth-shemrach).
If my memory serves me correct, I can recall an Irish economist doing a clueless history documentary for television claiming that the Shamrock, as a symbol of Ireland, was the invention of a 19th century priest. However, had he troubled himself to look up Wikipedia he might have discovered that the shamrock first began to change from a symbol purely associated with St. Patrick to an Irish national symbol when it was taken up as an emblem by rival militias, during the turbulent politics of the late eighteenth century. A century previous there is evidence of the symbolic use of the shamrock. In the year 1675, St. Patrick and the shamrock appear on the St. Patrick's Coppers or Halfpennies. These show a figure of St. Patrick preaching to a crowd while holding a shamrock, presumably to explain the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Furthermore in 1681, an English traveller to Ireland named Thomas D
In early Irish society dogs were considered noble creatures possessing aspiring qualities like intelligence, loyalty, companionship, guardianship, speed and agility, the very human qualities imperative for survival in all early societies especially for warriors. Heroes in both real life and mythology were given names with “dog” or more specifically “hound” in the title like Cú Chulainn, Con Cétchathach etc. The evidence of reverence of our ancestors had for these creatures is abundant in surnames and sometimes in place names like Connacht, Connemara, Conaghrea. Glenamaddy, Limivaddy etc. However, most of the place names ultimately derive from personal names.
Con, (the genitive form of Cú) depending on the context in which it is found can translate directly as wolf/dog/hound but its original sense would be more akin to hero, great warrior or tribal leader. Con is sometimes anglicised with an extra ‘n’ e.g. Conn.
Many Irish names which begin with Cú (a hound) were originally all prefixed with Mac with apparently one exception, which took the O’, namely, Cú-cheanann, which gave rise to the surname O Conceanainn, anglicised 'Concannon,' and sometimes even 'Cannon possibly meaning ‘fairheadded hound/hero’'.
Sometimes Con means wolf as in Conalty which comes from O’Conallta meaning wild wolf. The Irish for wolf hound is Faolchú Faol- cú - wild hound. Other names for a wolf include mac tire and madra alla/allta (wild dog).
Madra is the word for dog in modern Irish and is found in the surnames Madden, MacAvaddy, Madigan from O’Madaihín and Mac a' Mhadaidh. This form is found in place names too like Limavaddy (Leim an mhadaidh) literally “the dog's leap”.
Glenamaddy from Gleann na Madadh" Gleann meaning valley and madhadh from madra meaning dog. This would suggest that the name means "Valley of the Dogs".
Some other examples of names with ‘con’; Conboy from Conbhuidhe meaning yellow (haired) hound/hero. Conneely from Mac Conghalile, the gal element means valour thus valorous hero. Connolly has the s
Animals in river names – Celtic peoples held lakes and rivers to be sacred as evinced from their mythology. According to the myths the rivers Shannon and the Boyne were created by goddesses. The sacred nature of water is also evident in the archaeological record due to the many finds of votive offerings of precious objects in watery places. Sometimes river names reveal creation myths not by gods but by furrowing animals. It may be indicative of how sacred these animals were once considered.
The pig was one such animal, spending its lifetime furrowing through the earth creating river like meandering channels. It gives its name of the River Suck in Connacht which is one of the main tributaries of the River Shannon. The word derives from the old Irish word for pig ‘socc’. The river, Afon Soch and the village named after it Abersoch in Wales contain the element ‘soch’ which is related to the Irish word ‘socc’.
In Wales also there is the river Twrch (literally 'hog') in Ystalyfera and Llanuwchllyn are other examples, as is the river Hwch (sow) near Llanberis. Banw, a word for a 'piglet', is apparent in the river names Banw in Montgomeryshire and the rivers Aman (from Amanw) and Ogwen.
Image: River Suck at O’Flynn’s Lock C. Roscommon.
Sir Cumference, the acclaimed inventor of the round table once remarked we call days past the dark ages because at that time there were many knights and most were educated at knight school. The most popular module back then was ‘how to win battles while leading from behind’ taught by Hugo First. Knights were made to understand Rome wasn't built in A.D. and no man is an Ireland.
In days of old when knights were cold and double jobbing was quite fitting, the Archbishop of Canterbury was also a dentist so he could crown the king’s head and teeth in one sitting.
In days of yore they had smarts galore and knew the difference between a joist and a girder. Joist wrote Ulysses and Girder wrote Faust.
on St. Patrick ’s Day do as the inventor of Irish humour Joe King once said to Dai Laffin, sing like Ken Airey and if you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.
Have a great St. Patrick’s Day.
The ancient university of Tuaim Dreacuin (Tomregan) located in Breffni had three colleges, Brehon Law, History and Poetry, and Classical Learning.
Perhaps its most famous professor was Saint Bricín (c.590–650) a distinguishing scholar and surgeon who is still honoured today with St Bricin’s Military Hospital, Arbour Hill, Dublin named after him.
His most distinguished surgical achievement relates to his care of a serious skull wound on an Ulster chieftain of royal blood named Cennfaelad. Following a bloody battle fought near Uloira, Co. Down in 634 AD, the wounded chieftain was rushed to Bricín of Tomregan for treatment. After surgery Cennfaelad remained at the academy for a period of convalescence under Bricin's care. As a result, he developed an almost perfect memory and a keen interest in study at the three colleges of the university-going on to become one of its most distinguished scholars and poets. Cennfaelad produced three famous works, on law, Irish grammar and contemporary history. The history includes references to exploits of the Red Branch Knights and death of Cuchullain, the great Ulster champion.
Image: this figure was found in 1961 near the monastic site of Tomregan (Tuaim Dreacuin) a few kilometres south of Ballyconnell. It shows a head in one hand and trepanation (brain surgery) tools in the other.
Early Medieval Ireland and advanced engineering - The oldest tidal mill so far discovered in the world belongs to Monastery of Nendrum on Mahee Island on Strangford Lough in Co. Down.The first tidal mill was constructed there between 619 and 621AD making it older than the previously earliest known tidal mill at Little Island in Co. Cork which dates from about 630AD. The Cork mill is a A twin flume horizontal-wheeled tide mill.
As the name suggests tide mills or sea mills used the sea tides to fill an artificially created mill pond and when the tide receeded the enenrgy stored in the captured water was used to power the mill. Engineers estimate the mill wheels would probalby have been capable of developing between 7 and 8 horsepower.
Image: artists impression of a single flumed mill.
Ancient Irish satire - words with the power to kill – Áer is traditionally translated as ‘satire’ and has been the focus of a certain amount of attention in medieval Irish studies in recent times. The Dictionary of the Irish Language defines áer as ‘(a) cutting, incising; (b) act of satirising, lampooning, defaming’. It also refers to the word rind/rindad ‘cut, cutting’ for comparison, and this translates as ‘point’ which in turn equates with the modern Irish word rinn, meaning ‘point, tip’, i.e. rinn sleá, rinn claímh ‘point of spear, point of sword’. Thus áer has affinities with rind(ad). The linguistics scholar D. A. Binchy in 1941 describes áer as a ‘formidable weapon with which members of the poetic orders (grád fhiled) enforced claims either on their own behalf or on behalf of other persons who employed them…To satirize a person without lawful ground is a delict which entitles the victim to recover the full amount of his honour-price as a penalty’.
Archilochus, a Greek poet of the seventh century BC, is credited with being the earliest satirist on record. His satire took the form of invective (vehement or violent denunciation, censure, or reproach) and was renowned for its particularly bitter and venomous nature. one one occasion Archilochus composed a satirical piece attacking Lycambes and his household because Lycambes reneged on a promise made to betroth his daughter to him. As a result both Lycambes and his daughter are said to have hanged themselves
We understand, therefore, that satires such as this were believed to contain a demonic power which had the capacity to cause the death of the victim. Whether this story is true or not does not matter, for tradition accepted it and that is what makes it significant; the ‘word could kill; and in popular belief it did kill’ This brief look at Archilochus and the Gauls is by way of drawing attention to the basic power of satire and how it was perceived amongst early peoples, including the pagan Celts. Thus the concept of satire as a demonic power was a
Women and marriage in late medieval Ireland - a comparison between the native society and the Anglo Irish society.
The married women of both these societies coped and dealt with their differing freedoms and restrictions allowed them by their legal systems. These systems conflicted with each other in various ways and for the women themselves, the quality of their lives as married women had as much to do with their socio-economic status within their own societies as whether they adhered to Gaelic or to common law. However there were marked differences in the rights and restrictions accorded to them under the different legal and social systems. For example, Anglo-Irish wives (and their property) were legally subject to their husbands. This does not seem to have been wholly the case in Gaelic Ireland where wives could enter into contracts of their own volition and kept control of their own lands and goods after marriage. With these riches they often acted independently as important and influential patrons of the arts and also, in some cases, actively participated in the military and political life of their community. However they could not themselves become chieftains or hold power in such a formal and official fashion. Gaelic wives were still subject in some ways to the influence of their kin which could be disadvantageous. Similarly after her marriage ended whether through death or separation the Gaelic Irishwoman was once again subject entirely to the will of her own family whereas an Anglo-Irish woman found her rights more fully protected as a single woman or as a widow.
Anglo-Irish and Gaelic marriage laws and traditions in late medieval Ireland, Journal of Medieval History 32 (2006) 27-42, Gillian Kenny
Irish placenames - in November 1824 the British Ordnance Survey Office commenced a survey of Irish townlands which was ultimately to lead to the Anglicisation of Irish placenames. However history demonstrates that placenames in Ireland and elsewhere are particularly resistant to suppression and the work of propagandists. Placenames can reveal much about the history of a locality. Wicklow for example derives from the Old Norse vikingr ló, meaning "Meadow of the Vikings", as does the name Waterford from Veðrafjǫrðr meaning "ram fjord. Wick is a common element in British placenames too, Giggleswick, Berwick and Prestwick are some examples. Other Viking names elements include Thorpe (new settlement) and the suffix –by as in Grimsby, Darby etc.
While Anglicisation is a valid term to describe the process of Irish placename change it is also misleading because most of the placenames are phonetic transcriptions and transliterations of the original Irish placename.
Although it was once pronounced, no one knows when the initial ‘k’ became silent in words like ‘knee’, ‘knob’, ‘knew’ etc. It is often claimed that it fell out of use in the 16th or 17th century. However there is evidence to suggest that the ‘k’ was still pronounced in the mid 19th century in Ireland. ‘Cnoc’ is the Irish word for ‘a hill’ which is commonly ‘Anglicised’ as Knock. If the ‘k’ is pronounced and ‘o’ is taken as a short vowel, it is an accurate representation of the Irish word [k-nuc]. Thus technically it is phonetically transcribed but over time as the English pronunciation diverged, the phonetic connection became less obvious.
The letters ‘i’, ‘e’ and ‘y’ were used interchangeably up to quite recently to represent the sound ‘ee’ which is obvious in the name Derry, Derri coming from ‘Doire’ meaning an Oak Grove. If the form ‘Derre’ was used the final ‘e’ would be silent in English and thus not representative. However precision is missing as the final ‘e’ in the Irish word is pronounced like ‘ah’ [d oir ah]. Many British people today have
Entertainment in Medieval Ireland - comedy - the foremost class of comic was a performing fool known as a "druth". The term is related to the term druid, although the two figures are distinct. The druth offered various kinds of entertainment, most prominently physical and vocal antics akin to our modern image of the medieval jester. Several descriptions of the druth include comments suggesting the performing fool was indeed mentally deficient. The professional druth is often described in colourful motley clothing, with long shaggy hair. This semblance was clearly an important part of his trade. According to several Law Tracts, damage to his clothing or hair demanded compensation. A common figure of the saga texts, the druth is most closely associated with royal and other high-ranking members of society.
A further entertainer of medieval Ireland was the "fuirseoire", who is most often connected with the royal court. It is likely that they were paid professional.The fuirseoire entertained through mimicry, contortions, and elements of fright. Judging from descriptions his performance may also have included singing and other vocal antics. In several descriptions they performed to accompanied music. A professional fool was often part of a retinue, receiving both payment and protection from his patron.
Whisky is an Irish invention. The word derives from the Irish language word for water, 'uisce' which when vocalised makes a sound similar to 'whiska'. This is a contraction of the full term "Uisce Beatha" meaning the water of life which in turn refers to the early beliefs that it had medicinal properties.
The first written record of Whisky appears in the Annals of Clonmacnoise in 1405 where it attributes the death of a chieftain to "taking a surfeit of aqua vitae" at Christmas. In Scotland, the first evidence of whisky production comes from an entry in the Exchequer Rolls for 1494 where malt is sent "To Friar John Cor, by order of the king, to make aquavitae", enough to make about 500 bottles.
The exact origins of Irish whisky are lost in the mists of time. It is believed that the technology of distillation was learned by Irish monks when they travelled in continental Europe where distillation was used for creating perfumes. The monks brought the techniques back to Ireland and turned them to creating medicinal drinks rather than perfume. Whisky probably developed from applying the process of distillation to the drink of barley beer which was common in Ireland at the time. What we do know for sure is that by the twelfth century medieval Irish monasteries were producing 'uisce beatha' and it was used as a cure for a variety of illnesses, including smallpox and colic. There is an old Gaelic proverb which translates: "What whisky does not cure cannot be cured". To this day an Irish person will happily prescribe you a glass of hot whisky with whole cloves floating in it if you are suffering from any kind of flu or winter chill.
The Irish Whisky still by David Wilkie 1840.
Disability in Medieval Ireland c. 800AD. During an archaeological excavation near Ballyshannon in County Donegal the remains of a disabled man were discovered. The man's legs had fused together, as a result of multiple exostoses, also known as bumpy bone disease.
“This man lived into his 30s which was a typical lifespan then. He would have had to be carried everywhere and he was obviously buried formally and with respect which tells us something about how medieval society treated people with disabilities,” - Michael MacDonagh, a senior archaeologist with the National Roads Authority
Irish Wolfhounds are one of the oldest breeds of dogs recorded in the history of man. They appear in early Irish law tracts under the name "Cú" (modern Irish word for hound). The dogs are known as the "gentle giants" of the canine world expressed in the breed slogan, "Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked". Wolfhounds also appear on the coat of arms of early Irish kings and were revered by the ancient Irish and remain a revered symbol of Ireland to this day. The name "wolfhound" is relatively new. In times past the dogs were refereed to as Cú (c.f. Chúlainn) and Conn. The latter term appears in many modern Irish Surnames like O'Connor, Conaire, Conolloy etc. Through the centuries they were referred to by many other names including the Irish wolf dog, Irish greyhound, or Irish war dog.
Circa 600 BC when the Tectosages and Tolistobogii Celts sacked Delphi, survivors left accounts of the fierce Celts and the huge dogs who fought with them and at their side. They were mentioned by Julius Caesar in his treatise, The Gallic Wars. In 391 AD Roman Consul, Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, writes he received seven dogs "canes Scotici" as a gift to be used for fighting lions, bears etc. and in his words, "all Rome viewed with wonder".
Easter day and the foundation of western science. Predicting the date when Easter Sunday will fall is necessary when the church decided to place a 40 day fast in advance of it. Such an endeavour is not as easy as it may seem as it involves reconciling two irreconcilable calendars the lunar and solar. The month is named after the moon because each month is approximately the duration of a single moon cycle. The average number of days between moon phases is actually 29.5 days and months were devised to have 29 (hollow month) or 30 (full month) days. This Romulus calendar had only ten months with the spring equinox in the first month. It had only 304 days and it seems that the Roman just ignored the remaining 61 days which fell in winter. The calendar was reformed many times but it was not reliable. According to tradition under the second emperor of Rome Numa Pompilius c. 700BC two extra months were added (Januarius and Februarius) and this accounts for the mismatch in the month names Sept, Oct, Nov & Dec which translate as month numbers 7, 8, 9 & 10 but are now actually months 9, 10, 11 & 12. Confusion about when to add leap days meant that it was not till about 4AD that the Julian calendar had become reliable with leap days inserted every 4 years but it was still out of sync with the solar year by between 10 & 11 minutes. Thus the accumulation of this error over time meant that after about 131 years the calendar was out of sync with the equinoxes by one day. The date of the spring or vernal equinox is the basis from which the calculation of the date of Easter Sunday is taken. Thus errors in the calendar mean the calculation of Easter day may also be in error.
In 325AD the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. Easter is based on the Jewish Passover which occurs on the first full moon after the vernal equinox by watching the phases of the moon the date of Passover can be determined easily a few weeks before
The Irish language in everyday usage. - Mac is the Irish language word for son sometimes abbreviated to Mc in surnames. McIntosh is a transliteration of ‘Mac an Taoiseach’ which in turn translates as son of the chieftain. Nowadays however it would translate as son of the prime minister for ‘Taoiseach’ is the title given to the Irish Prime Minster. The source of the McIntosh surname is from the Gaelic regions of Scotland.
Jef Raskin employed by Apple computers envisioned an easy-to-use, low-cost computer for the average consumer and he wanted to name the computer after his favourite type of apple, the McIntosh. However, the name had to be changed for legal reasons for it was too similar to the ‘McIntosh audio equipment’ brand. Hence the Macintosh brand name but mostly marketed as the Mac. (The Son!)
Glendalough – Co Wicklow is one of Ireland's most beautiful visitor destinations. The name is a transliteration of Gleann dá Loch meaning the valley of the two lakes. It contains one of the most important sites of monastic ruins in Ireland which are sometimes called the city of the seven Churches. It was founded by St. Kevin (d. 617 A.D.) sometime in the 6th century and it lasted for more than 600 years as one of Ireland’s great ecclesiastical foundations and schools of learning. It was attacked, burned and plundered by the Vikings on Christmas night in the year 835AD. In 1136A.D. another fire occured causing extensive damage but again they were rebuilt and prospered until the early 13th century. In 1163, Laurence O'Toole was Abbot of Glendalough and later became Ireland’s first canonised saint and was also appointed Archbishop of Dublin.
The arrival of the Normans to Ireland sealed the fate of Glendalough in 1214 when they the destroyed the monastery and united the Diocese of Glendalough with the Sea of Dublin. After that, Glendalough declined as a monastic establishment and gradually it became deserted.
The buildings fell into decay and more than six hundred years elapsed before a reconstruction program was started in 1878 and work continued into the 20th century.
Today the valley of Glendalough is extensively wooded and a comprehensive network of walk ways have been completed and continually improved, which provides good access for visitors to wander in wonderment through the magnificent glen.
Over a thousand years before Florence Nightingale and health insurance or national health service the ancient Irish had laws dictating hygiene standards of hospitals and persons unable to pay for their treatment were treated free of charge paid for by the community. This sets Ireland apart from the rest of Europe which too had hospitals but only for the élite except in times of war when ordinary men could be treated for war wounds in field hospitals.
Early hospitals were secular and were for the use of the people of the area and were called "foras tuaithe" or ‘House of the territory. These were distinct from monastic hospitals which came into being later.
Water, cleanliness and ventilation were the three main requirements for the foras tuaithe and it had to have four doors open, one to the north, to the south, to the east and to the west ‘so that the invalid may be seen from every side. Water was to be in the form of a stream running through the middle of the floor. The care of the sick could also be carried out in private houses but water, cleanliness and ventilation were still a requirement. The treatment of a sick man could not be carried out in the house of the man who injured him, in a place where the sick man was revolted by its dirty condition or in a place where the sick man felt further injury may be done to him.
People who could afford to pay for treatment were expected to pay but if unable to do so there was a levy put on the district to cover the cost. If the person’s illness/injury was caused by another then that person was liable for all the costs of treatment and maintenance. The Bretha Crólige (Binchy, 1938), a law tract which has been placed in the first half of the eight century gives detailed requirements about the obligations regarding maintenance of the sick and compensation in the event of injury. The cost of maintenance and fees due to the liaig is also carefully laid down. Some people were not allowed be brought away on sick maintenance i.e. a young girl before the age of conse
The surname McCartney is derived from the word “Art” which is an ancient word for 'a bear' but it is never used in Old Irish except as a personal name or a figurative word for a champion. Artain is the diminutive form thus Mac Artain or Mac Cartaine (p. ma car tana) is the common form of the name. As a result of the Anglicisation the last “ne” is mistakenly pronounced 'e' instead of 'a' and thus the 'ey' ending.
The surname Lennon is a transliteration from the Old Irish word “Leannán” which means lover/sweetheart/paramour.
McCartney was born on 18 June 1942, in Walton Hospital, Liverpool, England, where his mother, Mary (née Mohin), had qualified to practise as a nurse. His father, James ("Jim") McCartney, was absent from his son's birth due to his work as a volunteer fire-fighter during World War II. Jim's great-grandfather, James McCartney (an upholsterer) was born in Ireland, but it was previously unknown where Jim's grandfather, James McCartney II, was born. New evidence found in Scottish archives suggests that James McCartney moved with his family (including James McCartney II) from Ireland to Galloway, Scotland, around 1859, before moving south and settling in Liverpool.
John Lennon was born in war-time England, on 9 October 1940 at Liverpool Maternity Hospital to Julia (née Stanley) and Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman who was away at the time of his son's birth. His parents named him John Winston Lennon after his paternal grandfather, John "Jack" Lennon, and then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Alf's grandparents, James Lennon (b.1829) and Jane McConville (b.1831 d.1869) moved with their respective families to Liverpool in the 1840s from County Down, Ireland, and were married in St. Anthony's Chapel, Scotland Road, Liverpool, on 29 April 1849. James was a warehouseman and a cooper at the time. They had seven children together: Elizabeth (b.1850), James, John "Jack", William George, Richard Francis, Joseph (b.1865) and Edward. Jack Lennon (b. 1855), a shipping clerk/bookkeeper, the father of
The word for geographical feature "Esker" is derived from the Irish word eiscir meaning "ridge of gravel." An Esker is a long, narrow, winding ridge composed of stratified sand and gravel deposited by a subglacial or englacial meltwater stream. Eskers may range from 16 to 160 feet (5 to 50 m) in height, from 160 to 1,600 feet (500 m) in width, and a few hundred feet to tens of miles in length. They may occur unbroken or as detached segments. The sediment is sorted according to grain size, and cross-laminations that show only one flow direction commonly occur. Thus eskers are considered to be channel deposits (left by streams that flowed through tunnels in and below the ice) that were let down onto the ground surface as the glacier retreated. Esker formation presumably takes place after a glacier stagnates, because movement of the ice would likely spread the material and produce ground moraine.
In 1956, Samuel Shenton set up the International Flat Earth Research Society (IFERS), better known as the Flat Earth Society from Dover, Britain, as a direct descendant of the Universal Zetetic Society founded in 1883 in England and New York. The primary aim of these societies was to deny the Sphericity of the Earth. However, even in medieval times and contrary to popular belief most people believed the Earth to be a globe. If the earth was a globe then it had antipodes which are defined as places diametrically opposite each other on the globe. The term is also used as a name for those who dwell there and the existence of such people proved problematic for the medieval mind as it seemed like a logical impossibility that people could be standing upside down on a globe. However in the 8th century Europe it was an Irishman called Fergal known to history as Virgil of Saltsburg who championed the case for the existence of people at the antipodes.
The Church taught that Christ died to save all men, referring to the descendants of Adam and Eve --“Adamites.” Many believed as St. Augustine did, that men could not travel from the known world across the terribly hot “torrid climes” to the south. If men could not travel to the Antipodes, then Virgil’s “other men” could not have been Adamites and thus not saved by Christ – a heresy. Pope Zachary contacted Duke Odillo, the ruling duke of Bavaria including Salzburg, and summoned Virgil to Rome to answer for his ‘heresy’.
Virgil earned the reputation as the “most learned man of his age”, and was called “the Geometer” because of his mastery of classical mathematics. Virgil was abbot of Aghaboe Monastery in County Lois before joining the flood of “wandering Irish saints” who educated most of Europe.
Virgil led a missionary band to the continent, including at least seven bishops according to an old legend. They made their way to the court of Pepin, son of Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne. Attracted by his scholarly reputation, Pepin appointed Virgil one of his a
The medieval Irish knew that the Earth was not flat which contradicts commonly held beliefs. An Irish Scientist, Astronomer and Mathematician in 748 AD successfully defended his theory that there was human life on the other side of the globe. However even in the 20th century some people still believed the earth to be flat!
n 1956, Samuel Shenton set up the International Flat Earth Research Society (IFERS), better known as the Flat Earth Society from Dover, Britain, as a direct descendant of the Universal Zetetic Society founded in 1883 in England and New York. The primary aim of these societies was to deny the Sphericity of the Earth. However, even in medieval times and contrary to popular belief most people believed the Earth to be a globe. If the earth was a globe then it had antipodes which are defined as places diametrically opposite each other on the globe. The term is also used as a name for those who dwell there and the existence of such people proved problematic for the medieval mind as it seemed like a logical impossibility that people could be standing upside down on a globe. However in the 8th century Europe it was an Irishman called Fergal known to history as Virgil of Saltsburg who championed the case for the existence of people at the antipodes.
The Church taught that Christ died to save all men, referring to the descendants of Adam and Eve --“Adamites.” Many believed as St. Augustine did, that men could not travel from the known world across the terribly hot “torrid climes” to the south. If men could not travel to the Antipodes, then Virgil’s “other men” could not have been Adamites and thus not saved by Christ – a heresy. Pope Zachary contacted Duke Odillo, the ruling duke of Bavaria including Salzburg, and summoned Virgil to Rome to answer for his ‘heresy’.
Virgil earned the reputation as the “most learned man of his age”, and was called “the Geometer” because of his mastery of classical mathematics. Virgil was abbot of Aghaboe Monastery in County Lois before joining the flood of “wande
In the 600sAD the prestige of Irish schools brought students flocking to Ireland or to Irish established schools elsewhere. King Oswald (634-42), was educated and baptized among the Irish and is commemorated in Irish records as ardrí Saxan sóerdae “noble high-king of the English.” His son King Aldfrith (685-705), had an Irish mother and Bede stated that he was educated among the Irish. Aldfrith was renowned among the Irish for his scholarship and may have written texts in the Irish language.
Aldhelm of Malmesbury complained of English students flocking to Ireland rather than staying in England for their education. Aldhelm queried rhetorically: “Why, I ask, is Ireland, whither assemble the thronging students by the fleet-load, exalted with a sort of ineffable privilege?”
William of Malmesbury, stated that Aldhelm had had an Irish teacher named Máeldub. This seems likely since Aldhelm had served as abbot of Malmesbury, and Bede (writing c.731) had referred to Malmesbury as Maildubi urbs “Máeldub’s city” (HE v 18).
Aldhelm’s complaints are found in a letter addressed to an Englishman named Ehfridus (Heahfrith) who had returned to England after six years of study in Ireland “bursting with praise for learning.” Aldhelm’s letter to Ehfridus implied that grammar, geometry, physics and Biblical exegesis were available to the English students in Irish monastic schools in the seventh century.
Aldhelm intimated that Ehfridus had spent time at Mayo of the Saxons (Mag nÉo na Saxan), a monastic site in the west of Ireland mentioned by Bede and populated primarily by Englishmen (HE iv 4). Approximately thirty English monks had accompanied the Irish bishop Colmán to found a monastery in 668 at Inishboffin (Inis Bó Finne), an island off the west coast of Ireland. This occurred after the decision at the Council of Whitby in 664 which saw the end to Irishmen holding the bishopric of Lindisfarne in Northumbria (HE iii 25).
Mayo of the Saxons continued to thrive and attract Englishmen for more than a century after its
Irish monastic foundation in 7th century Germany . - St Kilian was an Irish monk from Mullagh, Co Cavan who left Ireland to spread the Christian word on the continent. Kilian’s group landed at the mouth of the Rhine and travelled up the river until they reached the mouth of its tributary, the Main; then they sailed up this as far as the town of Würzburg (Northern Bavaria). Here Kilian converted the local ruler Duke Gosbert from paganism to Christianity. From there he went on to Rome arriving during the pontificate of Pope Conon (686-7) and stayed there for two years. Some accounts say Pope Conon confirmed him in his mission to Thuringia and Eastern Franconia.
on his return to Würzburg, however, Kilian found that the Duke Gosbert had married his brother’s widow, Geilana. Kilian told the Duke that he was in violation of sacred scripture by being married to his brother's widow. When Geilana, whom Kilian had failed to convert to Christianity, heard of Kilian's words against her marriage, she was so angry that she sent her soldiers to the main square of Würzburg, where Kilian and his colleagues were preaching, and had him beheaded, along with two of his companions, Saint Colmán (also called Colonan or Kolonat) and Saint Totnan. It is difficult to fix the date with precision, as Gozbert and Geilana are only known through these two somewhat imprecise Church records but it probably occurred in 689 AD.
Pictured: The relics of the three martyrs. The elevation of these was performed by Burchard, the first Bishop of Würzburg. The skulls of the three have been have been preserved to this day and inlaid with precious stones. on St Kilian's day (July 8), a glass case containing the three skulls is removed from the crypt at Würzburg Cathedral and paraded through the streets before large crowds and returned to the cathedral where it is put on display. Statues of these three saints (among others) line the famous Saints' Bridge across the River Main.
Würzburg Cathedral (German: Würzburger Dom) is dedicated to Saint Kilia
One of the most startling aspects of the Irish law was its treatment of the rights of women in various sexual relationships outside Christian marriage and their right to divorce. In one legal tract no less than ten different kinds of sexual union between males and females are legally recognized-each having a very precise legal character, each partner enjoying specific property rights and obligations. From a Christian viewpoint, some of these relationships are clearly polygamous, others irregular, some even casual or violent.
Christian Europe denied these women legal status and rights and extended these deprivations to the children unless the father recognized them. The Irish law recognized rights of maintenance and support which vary in degree and amount according to the character of the sexual union. For example, in a marriage of mutual portions the cost of "fostering" or rearing a child is shared equally by the parents; but if the child is horn of a bondwoman, or as a result of rape, or in secret, the father is responsible solely for its rearing costs. In some instances the male has some control over the woman's property rights and a right to share in her honour-price; in others she controls some of his property rights and shares in his honor price The detail, extensiveness, balance and proportionality with which the rights and obligations of each partner are assigned in these very unchristian couplings is unique in the law tracts of Christian Europe.
The English disliked Brehon Law as it was incongruent with the primary purpose of common law which was the maintenance and enrichment of the elite. An English official Sir Johh Davies thought he said it all:
"For if we consider the Nature of the Irish Customes, we shall finde that the people that doeth use them, must of necessitie bee Rebelles to all good Government, destroy the commonwealth wherein they live. and bring Barbarisme and desolation upon the ridhest most most fruitfull Land of the world".
Extracts from PROPERTY RIGHTS IN CELTIC IRISH L
Is ferr fera chiniud – a man is better than his birth. A maxim of Irish Law first recorded in the eight century. It is a precept which underlies the phrase “All men are created equal” which appears in the American Declaration of Independence and the underlying meaning is the same. The Brehon precept is in sharp contrast with the beliefs and values of the contemporaneous European social hierarchy and is evident right down to the post modern era as expressed through the English proverb “you can't make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear”.
“It means the circumstances of a person’s birth are absolutely of no consequence. The precept dictates that the individual may not be hindered or restricted, in any way what so ever, in his or her development because to the circumstances of his or her birth. The individual is encouraged to achieve what he will, and is free to accumulate wealth and will be honoured for his success. A person was judged by their deeds and not their genealogy. [...]
The Brehon precept expects a man to improve the conditions prevailing at the time of his birth. Jefferson’s precept indicates that every man should have an equal chance to improve such conditions.” Quoted from - Secret And Silent Men Of 1798 By James Caulfield.
Brehon Law quote from Uraicceacht Bec an eight century text from Munster dealing with rank and status.
‘tis all Greek to me – “anyone on the Continent who knew Greek during the time of Charles the Bald was either an Irishman or without question had acquired this knowledge from an Irishman, or else the report which surrounded the person with such renown was a fraud”. A quote from Ludwig Traube’s seminal study 'O Roma nobilis' published in 1891.
Johannes Scottus Eriugena c. 815 – c. 877 the famous Irish scholar and philosopher was highly proficient in Greek, which was a rare skill at that time in West Europe. Ancient Greek formed part of the learning tradition of early and medieval Ireland, as evidenced by the use of Greek script in medieval Irish manuscripts. (pictured)
Knowledge of Greek in the West is generally held to have declined sharply by the end of the fifth century, when the compilatory efforts of Latin writers Boethius, Macrobius and Martianus Capella provided the main points of access to Greek literary culture for subsequent generations. There are plenty of indications, however, that the Greek language maintained a special prestige. It was recognised as the language of the New Testament and featured on the titulus of Christ's cross. Accordingly it was classed among the ‘three sacred languages’ (tres linguae sacrae) during the Middle Ages, along with Latin and Hebrew. Augustine regarded these as ‘pre-eminent languages’, and praised Jerome for his singular attainment in all three. Greek learning was also acknowledged as the foundation of secular scholarship.
Extracts from “Greek in early medieval Ireland” by Pádraic Moran in Multilingualism in the Graeco-Roman Worlds
Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of Ireland. The name derives from Greek geographical accounts, particularly Claudius Ptolemy's Geographia, where it appears as Iouernia. The spelling Hibernia was likely influenced by the unrelated Latin word hibernus meaning "wintry." Several variant forms of the name existed in Latin.
Iouernia was a Greek alteration of the Q-Celtic name *iweriu, stem *iwerion-, from which eventually arose the Modern Irish name Éire. The original meaning of the name is thought to be "land of eternal winter". Other Greek forms of the same name existed, e.g. Ierne, the name given to Ireland by Pytheas of Massilia, a 4th c. BC Greek merchant and explorer.
Pictured is a statue of the personification of Hibernia which stands on the roof of the portico on the iconic GPO building in Dublin. Hibernia is flanked by statues fo Mercury and Fidelity.
Mistakes of history - How does a symbol associated with death and the protector of thieves come to be a symbol of medical organisations? The short answer is that it was/is a mistake. The caduceus with its twin serpents is the symbol of the Greek God Hermes (know to the Roman world as Mercury). Like all Greek gods Hermes was not confined to one role or patronage and was a god of transitions and boundaries, was quick and cunning and moved freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine, as emissary and messenger of the gods, intercessor between mortals and the divine, and conductor of souls into the afterlife. He was protector and patron of travellers, herdsmen, thieves, orators and wit, literature and poets, athletics and sports, invention and trade.
The Caduceus is relatively common especially in the United States as a symbol of medicine instead of the correct Rod of Asclepius with only a single snake. This usage is erroneous, popularised largely as a result of the adoption of the caduceus as its insignia by the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1902 at the insistence of a single officer (though there are conflicting claims as to whether this was Capt. Frederick P. Reynolds or Col. John R. van Hoff).
Asclepius was most probably a skilled physician who practised in Greece around 1200BC (and described in Homer's Iliad). Eventually through myth and legend he came to be worshipped as Asclepius, the (Greek) god of Healing.
In honour of Asclepius, a particular type of non-venomous snake was often used in healing rituals, and these snakes — the Aesculapian Snakes — slithered around freely on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. These snakes were introduced at the founding of each new temple of Asclepius throughout the classical world. From about 300 BC onwards, the cult of Asclepius grew very popular and pilgrims flocked to his healing temples (Asclepieia) to be cured of their ills. Ritual purification would be followed by offerings or sacrifices to the god (according to means), and the supp
The name "Ireland" comes from mythology as does the name "Guinness" which is derived from "Mag Aongus" meaning son of Aongus who in mythology was a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and probably a god of love, youth and poetic inspiration. Aon = one and gus = choice thus literally meaning one choice but more accurately translated as 'chosen one'. In Irish orthography "Mac" meaning "son of" changes to "Mag" when the following name begins with a vowel. When the name is vocalised in speech it sounds like Ma'gaon-gus or ma'gan-gus which in turn is phonetically rendered to English as MacGuinness. During the 17th century under pressure from the English authorities many Irish families dropped the prefix "Mac" to make their name sound more "English".
The proprietor of the Guinness brewery Benjamin Lee Guinness chose the harp motif in 1862 and registered is a a trademark shortly after the passing of the Trade Marks Registration Act of 1875. Could Benjamin's choice of logo have come from the Aongus stories who had a harp that made irresistible music and his kisses turned into birds that carried messages of love.
Certainly Guinness (the product) is irresistible to some and without it many would not have been able to find love!
Bealtaine/Beltane May Festival - In Irish mythology, the beginning of the summer season for the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians started at Bealtaine. Great bonfires would mark a time of purification and transition, heralding in the season in the hope of a good harvest later in the year, and were accompanied with ritual acts to protect the people from any harm by Otherworldly spirits, such as the Aos Sí. Like the festival of Samhain, opposite Beltane on 31 October, Beltane was also a time when the Otherworld was seen as particularly close at hand.
The Hill of Uisneach or Ushnagh (Irish: Uisneach or Cnoc Uisnigh) is an ancient ceremonial site in the Barony of Rathconrath in County Westmeath and in mythology it is the centre of Ireland and is closely associated with the festival of Bealtaine.
Ail na Míreann (stone of divisions) stands on the hill and was the very poing deemed the mystical navel of Ireland. It also stood at meeting point five original provinces of Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Ulster and Meath. Tradition tells that Bealtaine fires were lit and Druidical ceremonies held on the hill. In the Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of the Takings of Ireland), the Nemedian Druid Mide lit the first Bealtaine fire there. This fire it was said could be seen from the Hill of Tara and when those at Tara saw it, they lit their fire.
According to a popular passage from the same record, Ériu, a tutelary goddess sometimes seen as the personification of Ireland, meets the invading Milesians at Uisneach where, after some conversation and drama, the Milesian poet Amergin promises to give the country her name. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain") claims a common belief that the stones of Stonehenge were brought to Britain from Uisneach.
Bealtaine is still the Irish name for the month of May and the festival is traditionally celebrated on 1 May. Nowadays a modern music festival takes place on the hill containing many elements reminiscent of the ancient Celtic festival.
Ferta – the term is preserved as an element in Irish place-names like Clonfert, Ardfert and at least a dozen other examples. A Ferta is a burial site which was used to mark boundaries and stake a tribe's ancestral claim to the land. Archaeology research demonstrates burials to be boundary markers as they occur on hilltops, on spurs over rivers, on ravines overlooking large expanses of countryside or on known boundaries. Furthermore it is known from the large corpus of early medieval genealogies, laws, sagas and topographical sources that graves were used to mark boundaries and a large number of graves are included in the medieval Irish corpus of topographical poems and prose texts known as Dindshenchas Érenn ‘the place-lore of Ireland’.
Anthropological evidence universally recognises that burial rites were not only used as indicators of cultural identity but also of authority over a territory. In early Irish sources, especially in the laws and in saints’ lives, the legal process of taking possession of land involves the ability to cross and use the ferta or ancestral graves. This places burials at the heart of acquiring authority in early Ireland and may often explain the location of certain burials.
Extract from “Mapping Death: People, Boundaries and Territories in Ireland 1st – 8th Centuries AD”
Image: Ardfert Cathedral, Co. Kerry.
I watched a dreadful documentary on the BBC last night entitled “Archaeology: a Secret History”. It was not the photography or the presenting style which caused it to be dreadful but the lack of scholastic knowledge and skill.
When new ideas are first posited even in areas of science and academia, humans have a natural tendency to reject these out of hand without any examination. This is especially true of ideas which challenge the Zeitgeist or prevailing scientific theories. Take the case of Ignaz Semmelweis who in 1847 claimed his fellow doctors were killing their patients by not washing their hands. His theory was rejected and ridiculed by the doctors and scientists of the time because it contradicted established norms, beliefs or paradigms. Years later Semmelweis was proven correct when germ theory was confirmed by Louis Pasteur, however even today germ theory has its deniers. The doctors back then now look like backward fools to us because we have information available to us that people of that time could not possibly have had access to.
The scientific method relies on the publication of papers which has the tri-purpose of disseminating information, inviting repetition of experiments and also inviting criticism. If a theory can withstand criticism it is a good theory and it stands as scientific knowledge until such time as it is debunked. No theory is without criticism. Again when a paradigm shifting theory is subsequently held to be valid its critics will come to be seen as backward fools but in a supreme irony it is actually a sign of our own backwardness. This phenomenon is known is psychology as the Hindsight Bias and to historians as the Historian’s Fallacy.
Martin Luther required his followers to believe that the bible was literally true in opposition to the prevailing Catholic view that it was largely allegorical (stories not literally true but told to illustrate a concept). A protestant Archbishop of Dublin James Ussher in a fantastic work of scholarship using genealogies contained within
"Since in the 7th century the leading experts on the computus were the Irish" the verdict of Leofranc Holford-Strevens, in his book "The History of Time, a very short introduction "[Oxford 2005] Prof. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín notes, "From the seventh century Ireland led the way in scientific learning and knowledge throughout Western Europe. Ireland was the knowledge economy of the 'Dark Ages', we invented it. The Irish were head-hunted across Europe for their mathematical and scientific knowledge.
The Science of Computus – the mathematics required to calculate the date of Easter -provoked much debate and controversy in early medieval times. The date of Easter was the most important in the Christian calendar as it dictated the date of all other Christian festivals. However, it was the Irish who led the way in developing mathematical models by which the date of Easter could be most accurately decided, becoming since the 7th century the leading experts in the field of computistics study. Irish scholars travelled throughout Europe gaining a reputation for their knowledge and learning, and held influential positions in courts across Europe.
Extract from
http://www.nuigalway.ie/about-us/news-and-events/news-archive/2006/july2006/international-conference-highlights-irelands-7th-century-knowledge-economy-1.html
Image: a major intellectual endeavour the reconciling of two incompatible calendars, the lunar and the solar.
The book of Dimma was written at St. Cronan’s Monastery, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary sometime in the late 8th century. The book is a copy of the four Gospels written in Old Latin. A blessing to the sick and dying was added in the 10th or 11th century. It is one of the ten Irish manuscripts written before 1000 AD that have survived in Ireland.
Three gospels are "written for the most part in a rapid cursive script", while John's gospel is written in neat minuscule bookhand indicating it was written by a different scribe. The end of each of the Gospels bears the signature of the scribe, Dimma MacNathi, hence the name of the manuscript.
Legend says that Dimma wrote the book in forty days and forty nights without rest, food or water and because he did it like this Dimma thought he had done it in one day. Studies however by Dr R.I. Best show that the book was written by many hands. The Book is now housed in the library of Trinity College.
In the 12th century the manuscript was encased in a richly worked cumdach or reliquary case, which remains with it at Trinity. on one face it has panels of openwork decoration in Viking Ringerike style over the wood case. There is a good 1908 reproduction of in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which is not on display there but good quality images are available online.
http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/170002986 Note click on image and zoom using the scroll wheel
In 1879 Edmond Johnson, one of Dublin’s foremost goldsmiths, started restoration work on the Ardagh Chalice and was later given permission to make copies of it and other objects. The replicas were much sought after with Johnson’s own catalogue listing the Chicago (1893), Paris (1900) and Glasgow (1901) expositions as well as ‘the principle museums of America, Great Britain and the Continent’ among his clients. one of his facsimiles of the book of Dimma shrine is now at the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago.
Image: Facsimile of the Dimma Cumdach at the Metropolitan
Just how did the Irish save civilisation? A complex question to answer in a short Facebook post but here is a very brief summary. The ancient Romans were absolutely useless at mathematics. It was the ancient Greeks who were the masters of maths. St. Columbanus in a letter to Pope Boniface written in 600AD tells the Pope that the Irish have a superior knowledge of mathematics and the reckonings of all others (church included) are worthy of ridicule rather than authority.
Modern science is a quantitative discipline and thus inextricable with mathematics.
Philosophy literally meaning "love of wisdom" is the art of rational thinking and science is a subset of epistemology which is a subset of philosophy. The great philosophers were again the ancient Greeks and the Irish had a command of ancient Greek which nobody in the western world possessed at that time. Anastasius, the Vatican librarian commenting on the great Irish philosopher, John Scottus Eriugena marvelled at the fact that this ‘barbarian’ (vir barbarus) from a remote land knew Greek. While Eriugena replied that the Vatican had no clue of Greek.
The loss of Greek learning and its rediscovery is generally acknowledged as the beginnings of western science. It was the Irish who begun the process of its reintroduction by translating many Greek works.
When the Roman Empire collapsed literacy vanished from areas it formerly controlled and this led renaissance scholars to conclude that a ‘dark age’ had followed its demise. The Germanic invasions of Britain brought a ‘dark age’ to the Island and it was the Irish who brought literacy back there. They did not stop at Britain but carried founding schools and scriptoria on the continent of Europe not only bringing literacy back but advanced learning which became the basis for the modern western intellectual tradition.
The centres of learning we now call universities have spread throughout the world have their foundations in Europe and these arouse out of earlier monastic schools. They continued with the tradition
Something you have forgotten - The suffix -fer is from Latin meaning carrier/bringer/bearer of something. For example the term "conifer" -cone + fer- literally means bearer of cones. While "aquifer" is a carrier of water. Accordingly "Lucifer" literally means the bringer of light.
The Déisi were a class of peoples in ancient and medieval Ireland. The term is Old Irish, and derives from the word déis, meaning "vassal" or "subject"; in its original sense, it designated groups who were vassals or rent-payers to a landowner. Later, it became a proper name for certain septs and their own subjects throughout Ireland. The various different peoples listed under the heading déis shared the same status in Gaelic Ireland, and had little or no actual kinship, though they were often thought of as genetically related. Déisi groups included the Déisi Muman (the Déisi of Munster), Déisi Temro (of Tara), Déisi Becc (located in the Kingdom of Mide) and the Déisi Tuisceart (the Northern Déisi; a sept of which would become famous as the Dál gCais). During the Early Middle Ages some Déisi groups and subgroups exerted great political influence in various parts of Ireland. In the fourth or fifth century, a branch of the Deisi from the Waterford area established a colony in Dyfed (southwest Wales), where they retained power until the tenth century.
Eóin MacNeill was the first to show that the Dál gCais were of Dési (Day-shee) origin. The Dési lived in the lands of Waterford and southern Tipperary, an area covered today by the Diocese of Waterford. Tradition tells us, that the Dési were “nobody’s darlings,” for a couple of centuries. Driven around Ireland trying to exist. Then came a series of wars between Munster and Leinster for the control of “clar machaire na Muman,” a plain in Munster. The Dési sided with the Eóghanachtas, and helped in driving the Leinstermen back to the present Tipperary-Kilkenny border. The Eóghanachtas offered to the Dési as a reward large grants in Waterford and south Tipperary, which were extended in time to what would become east Limerick, and into north Tipperary. This northern stretch was very narrow. What the Dési were, was a buffer between the Eóghanachtas and Leinster.
This northern settlement in Limerick became known as Déis Becc. This area is believed to have been two s
Jackpot! In 1854 the largest hoard of gold objects ever found in northern Europe was dug up by railway labourers at Mooghaun in Co. Clare. In March of that year during the construction of the Ennis to Limerick railway line a group of workers dug up an incredible hoard of gold objects. The hoard was in low-lying ground in an area recently drained and may have been in a cavity or a small chamber or under a stone. The finders divided up the gold amongst themselves and sold it to jewellers. A lot of the gold was melted down to make new objects. The contents of the hoard included neck rings, collars, bracelets and gold ingots. Part of the hoard, just 146 gold artefacts, were displayed at a meeting of the Royal Irish Academy later the same year. It was fortunate that plaster casts were made of these as the whereabouts of only the 29 artefacts in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin and the British Museum in London are known today. The total original number of objects will never be known. The objects date to the Dowris phase of the late Bronze Age about 900 – 700 BC.
George Eogan, 1983. The Hoards of the Irish later Bronze Age. Dublin, 69-73.
Periodisation is the attempt to divide history into categories or time blocks but history is continuous and does not fit into periods and there are no precise beginnings or endings to these units of time. Categories of history such as Ancient, Medieval, Modern, Post Modern, etc. are entirely arbitrary and are continually challenged and redefined. Yet, however imprecise and crude these periods are, the human mind cannot hope to understand past events without constructing a mental framework of categories.
Periodisation blocks inevitably overlap; they will often seemingly conflict with or contradict one another. Some have a cultural usage for example “the Golden Age of Irish Culture”, others refer to prominent historical events like "the Viking Age” or “the War Years: 1914-1918", yet others are defined by decimal numbering systems like "the 1960s", "the 20th century". Other periods are named from influential or individuals like the “Carolingian Era”, "the Bismarck Era", "the Edwardian Era", "the Napoleonic Era" etc.
The 1960s for example (according to Common Era Numbering) is a term applicable to the entire planet but it carries with it specific cultural connotations especially in western countries. The Bismarck Era overlaps with Victorian Era, the Spanish Colonial Era and many more. Outside of British history for example does the Victorian Era have any relevance and does her reign constitute a genuine historical period? What did people suddenly stop/start doing when she died?
The medieval era is often falsely seen as a period of backwardness and was once named the “Dark Ages” which arose from a concept developed by oddly enough, a medieval scholar, called Francesco Petrarch (died in 1374 in what we call the medieval period!). Places like China could not have a genuine middle/medieval period at the exact time as Western Europe but the whole planet is imagined to have been in a “Dark Age”.
When evidence is discovered which contradicts the “Dark Age” view, instead of realising that the period does not exist it
The Sam Maguire Cup is named after an influential figure in the London GAA and a former footballer. He captained the successful London Hibernians Gaelic football team to several All-Ireland finals between 1900 and 1904. After his tragic young death in 1925 from TB, a group of his friends formed a committee in Dublin under the chairmanship of Dr Pat McCartan from Carrickmore, County Tyrone, to raise funds for a permanent commemoration of his name. They decided on a cup to be presented to the GAA. The Association were proud to accept the Cup. At the time it cost £300. In today's terms that sum is equivalent to €25,392. The cup is modelled on the Ardagh Chalice and the commission to make it was given to Hopkins and Hopkins, a jewellers and watchmakers of O'Connell Bridge, Dublin.
The Ardagh chalice is a large, two-handled silver cup, decorated with gold, gilt bronze, brass, lead pewter and enamel, which has been assembled from 354 separate pieces; this complex construction is typical of early Christian Irish metalwork. Dating from sometime between 700AD and 800AD the main body of the chalice is formed from two hemispheres of sheet silver are joined with a rivet hidden by a gilt-bronze band. The names of the apostles are incised in a frieze around the bowl, below a girdle bearing inset gold wirework panels of animals, birds, and geometric interlace. Techniques used include hammering, engraving, lost-wax casting, filigree applique, cloisonné and enamel.
If either partner in a marriage is infertile, there is evidence that early Irish law permitted the other to acquire a child elsewhere. The husband of an infertile wife may thus impregnate another woman in a lower form of marriage. The wife of an infertile husband may likewise leave him temporarily so as to become pregnant by another man. The resultant child is treated as belonging to the husband. A wife may divorce her husband with retention of the bride-price if he is impotent or becomes so fat that he is incapable of intercourse. If the mother of a child develops a wasting-sickness (anbobracht), the father is solely responsible for the rearing of the child, whether he is married to her or not. He is similarly responsible if she becomes leprous (clam) on the grounds that the child may become infected by her sores.
Extract from Medicine and early Irish law by F. Kelly
Manannan Mac Lír was a famous merchant who traded between Ireland and Alba (Scotland) and the Isle of Mann. He was also a wizard and was the best pilot who who ever came to Ireland. He could predict the weather by heavenly science by inspecting the air he could tell whether there would be fair weather or storm.
Extract from The "wooing of Luaine" a saga is found in two manuscripts dating from c 1390, the Book of Lecan and the Book of Ballymote.
Manannán mac Lir is a sea deity in Irish mythology and was said to ride his horse or chariot across the tops of the waves as did both Poseidon and Aegir. He also had a mantle and helmet of invisibility (or flames), and an unfailing sword. He was usually depicted with a green cloak fastened with a silver brooch, a satin shirt, a gold fillet, and golden sandals. In Celtic fashion he was also a shape-changer.
Cathbad said, ‘Athirne will set birds of prey against you: Satire and Disgrace and Shame, Curse and Fire and Bitter Word. He has the Six Sons of Dishonour: Niggardliness, Refusal, Denial, Hardness, Rigour and Rapacity. He will not hesitate to use them against you and they will be warriors fighting against you.’
An extract entitled "The Wooing of Luaine". It is found in two manuscripts dating from c.1390, the Yellow Book of Lecan and the Book of Ballymote.
Your challenge this morning is to figure out what exactly the names of the six sons mean. To help you along here are the dictionary definitions from dictionary.com
Niggardliness
1. reluctant to give or spend; stingy; miserly.
2. meanly or ungenerously small or scanty: a niggardly tip to a waiter.
Refusal
1. an act or instance of refusing.
2. priority in refusing or taking something; option.
3. complete resistance of a driven pile to further driving.
Denial
1. an assertion that something said, believed, alleged, etc., is false: Despite his denials, we knew he had taken the purse. The politician issued a denial of his opponent's charges.
2. refusal to believe a doctrine, theory, or the like.
3. disbelief in the existence or reality of a thing.
4. the refusal to satisfy a claim, request, desire, etc., or the refusal of a person making it.
5. refusal to recognize or acknowledge; a disowning or disavowal: the traitor's denial of his country; Peter's denial of Christ.
Hardness
1. the state or quality of being hard: the hardness of ice.
2. a relative degree or extent of this quality: wood of a desirable hardness.
3. that quality in water that is imparted by the presence of dissolved salts, especially calcium sulphate or bicarbonate.
4. unfeelingness or jadedness; callousness.
5. harshness or austerity, as of a difficult existence.
Rigour
1. harsh but just treatment or action
2. a severe or cruel circumstance; hardship: the rigours of famine
3. strictness, harshness, or severity of character
4. strictness in judgement or
The Cathach of St. Columba is a late 6th century Irish Psalter and it is the oldest surviving manuscript in Ireland, and the second oldest Latin psalter in the world. It is traditionally associated with St. Columba (died 597), and was identified as the copy made by him of a book loaned to him by St. Finnian, and which led to the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne in 561. Paleographic evidence dates the manuscript to 560-600, or a little later, but that it was written by Columba is now doubted. The 58 folios in the damaged and incomplete vellum manuscript contain the text of Psalms 30:10 to 105:13 in Latin (the Vulgate version); the complete manuscript would have contained 110 folios. Rubrics written in Old Irish appear above the text of the Psalms.
The decoration of the Cathach is limited to the initial letter of each Psalm. Each initial is in black ink and is larger than the main text. They are decorated with trumpet, spiral and guilloche patterns and are often outlined with orange dots. These patterns are not merely appended to the letters or used to fill spaces. They instead distort the shape of the letters themselves. The letters following the enlarged initials gradually reduce in size until they reach the same size as the main text. A style of writing given the musical term 'diminuendo' meaning a gradual decrease in loudness.
Saint Columbanus founded the Abbazia di San Colombano at Bobbio, in the province of Piacenza and the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.
Bobbio became famous as a centre of resistance to Arianism. The abbey library, founded by Columbanus with manuscripts that he brought from Ireland and treatises which he personally wrote, became one of the greatest libraries of the Middle Ages. Bernhard Bischoff points out:
"many books in its library are older than the monastery and this demonstrates that Bobbio received many books second-hand. I refer especially to the copies of Cyprian, the biblical codex k of African origin, the Medici Virgil, the very ancient grammatical manuscripts, and especially, to the classical texts which lie buried in palimpsests" (Manuscripts and Libraries in the Age of Charlemagne [2007] 9).
"The learned Saint Dungal (d. after 827) bequeathed to the abbey his valuable library, consisting of some seventy volumes, among which was the famous 'Antiphonary of Bangor'."
"Gerbert of Aurillac (afterwards Pope Sylvester II), became abbot of Bobbio in 982; and with the aid of the numerous ancient treatises which he found there he composed his celebrated work on geometry. It appears that at a time when Greek was almost unknown in western Europe, the Irish monks of Bobbio read Aristotle and Demosthenes in the original tongue."
"A tenth-century catalogue, published by Muratori, shows that at that period every branch of knowledge, divine and human, was represented in this library. Many of the books have been lost, the rest have long since been dispersed and are still reckoned among the chief treasures of the later collections which possess them.
"In 1616 Cardinal Federico Borromeo took for the Ambrosian Library of Milan eighty-six volumes, including the famous "Bobbio Missal", written about 911, the Antiphonary of Bangor, and the palimpsests of Ulfilas' Gothic version of the Bible. Twenty-six volumes were given, in 1618, to Pope Paul V for the Vatican Library. Many others were sent to Turin, where,
Saint Isidore of Seville "the last scholar of the ancient world" is famous for compiling an encyclopaedia entitled 'Etymologiae'. Isidore attempted to compile a summa of universal knowledge which epitomised all ancient and contemporary learning.
The earliest dissemination of the work beyond the cathedral centres of Seville itself and Sargossa seems to have been in Gaul and Ireland.
The earliest manuscript fragments of the Etymologies are housed in the monastery of St. Gall. The fragments are written in a Irish scribal hand and most likely date as early as the mid seventh century. The abbey at St. Gall is named after its founder, an Irish monk named Gallus, a disciple and companion of Saint Columbanus. The city is also takes its name from Gallus and is known today as St Gallen and is located in present day Switzerland.
The Etymologiae comprises of 20 books and preserves many fragments of classical learning which would have been otherwise hopelessly lost. The fame of this work inspired much encyclopaedic writing and had a major influence on the intellectual heritage of the continent. The work pervaded right through the High Middle Ages of the eleventh to fifteenth centuries, in which the Etymologies was always regarded as a prime authority.
The Norman-French legacy in Ireland can be spotted through the use of the surname prefix Fitz. It derives from the French word 'fils' meaning son. Thus Fitz and Mac both mean‘son of’ and some examples include Fitzpatrick, Fitzgerald, Fitzmaurice etc. (although Fitzpatrick is and Irish name using the Norman form.) The number of families with these surnames in Ireland currently is numerous.
Shortly after the invasion the Irish Normans became fully Gaelicised and this phenomenon led to the coining of the phrase becoming "more Irish than the Irish themselves" (Hiberniores Hibernis ipsis) and some Norman families adopted Mac instead of Fitz- e.g. Mac Jordan.
Despite the pervasiveness of surnames and the many loanwords in Irish from the Norman invaders, the number of Norman place names is remarkably small. one reason might be that the Normans did not found many towns. Instead they built keeps in the countryside and ruled from fortified castles. But even there, few if any Norman names are to be found. Perhaps it has to do with the acceptance by the Normans of the names which went with the territories occupied by the Irish. Occasionally there are recognisable instances of Norman names, e.g. Brittas, Irish Briotás (south of Dublin) from Old French Bretesche ‘boarding, planking’ or Pallas, Irish Pailís ‘stockade’.
The Normans were concentrated in the south of Ireland and have left a legacy of names which derive from the province of Munster and a point of the compass: for example Ormond is a rendering of Oirmumhan meaning east Munster, Thomond is a rendering of Tuadhmhumhain meaning north Munster and Desmond from Deasmumhan meaning south Munster. The latter later is also a common first name in Ireland. As these names are in the Irish language it provides more evidence of Norman Gaelicisation.
Image: the Bayeux Tapestry. An embroidery which tells the story of the French-Norman invasion of England in 1066AD.
In many countries surnames can be derived from nicknames. Here is a small selection of surnames which when translated give away their origin. Kennedy - Ó Cinnéide (ugly head), Kinsella - cinn salach (dirty head), Manton - Ó Manntáin from manntach (toothless), Mangan - Ó Móngain from mongach (hairy), Doherty - Ó Dochartaigh (hurtful), Campbell - Cam béal (crooked mouth) and Cameron - Cama Shróne (crooked nose).
In medieval Ireland the only available sweetener was honey, and the Irish made extensive use of it as a dipping sauce for meats, for basting, and in breads and stirabout. Honey was important enough in ancient Ireland to have an entire law tract, the Bechbretha, or bee-judgements, devoted to the subject. Ancient writers remarked on the prevalence of beehives in Ireland as compared to other lands. Every household of any size kept hives to ensure a steady supply of honey and beeswax. Bees were kept in hives, called skeps, made of wicker smeared with cow manure or woven straw. These hives were kept in alcoves called bee boles built into stone walls, or in bee houses, special enclosures that allowed the bees free access to the outside while protecting the hives from the elements.
The Laws recognized the importance of honey as well as the nature of bees by providing that the occupants of the four nearest farms to a domestic hive were entitled to a share of the honey each year, and a swarm of bees every fourth year. There were also specific divisions laid out for wild hives and swarms found on cultivated land, and on land belonging to the tuath, but not under cultivation. For example; if bees from one plot swarmed onto another, their produce for the following year was evenly divided between the two plots.
Extract from Food In Ancient Ireland by Erin NhaMinerva
Image: Bee Boles Ballingarry Castle Co. Tipperary
The surviving evidence for rules of marriage in medieval Ireland indicates they were a mix of native Brehon Law and Roman Canon Law. Native lawyers distinguished between three principal kinds of marriage: lanamnas comthinchuir, "a marriage of joint income", lanamnas for ferthinchur, "a marriage on a man’s income" and lanamnas for bantinchur, "marriage on a woman’s contribution".
The first kind seems to have been the normal form of marriage. Marriage was publicly sealed by "arnaidm" meaning a "binding, tying," marked by the formal exchange of property between the families of the bride and groom and was witnessed and secured by guarantors of appropriate status. The giving of property or wealth from the man or his family to the bride’s family, known in Roman law as donatio ante nuptias, was rooted in Germanic and Celtic law. The giving of such a gift may not have been essential to a marriage but no good marriage was complete without it. Consequently most of the preliminaries about marriage were concerned with the size of the dowry, because that determined the character of the marriage, as is clear from the three principal forms of marriage discussed in Cain Lanamna (an old Irish tract on marriage & divorce).
The law generally tried to protect women against gross abuse, such as being forced into marriage by someone who only had his own interests at heart. In comparison with the male-dominated prescriptions of Roman law, which upheld a double standard, one for men and quite another for women, Brehon law was quite liberal and compassionate and permitted women the power to divorce to for several reasons.
Divorce by mutual consent was always available as a remedy for an unsatisfactory marriage. Besides, the grounds for unilateral divorce (with or without penalties being incurred by the guilty party) are specified in very considerable detail. A woman could divorce her husband for many reasons: sterility, impotence, being a churchman (whether in holy orders or not), blabbing about the marriage bed, calumniation
Stowe Missal / Lorrha Missal, is an Irish illuminated manuscript written mainly in Latin with some Irish circa 750AD. In the mid-11th century it was annotated and some pages rewritten at Lorrha Monastery in County Tipperary.
Deciphering the text: INP are combined in illuminated large capital letters. The first line reads In principio (in the beginning) which is the opening line of John's Gospel. What looks like a letter 'n' is 'r'. F without the crossbar is 's'. Verbum is separated and looks like uen bum. The word for 'God' (Deum et Deus) is abbreviated to dm or ds with a line above the second letter to indicate truncation. Et (and) are combined in what is called a ligature which in turn gives us the modern ampersand '&'.
The full text of the page reads,In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt: et sine ipso factum est nihil, quod factum est. In ipso vita erat, et vita erat lux hominum: et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt. Can you make it out?
How to become King! Sleep with a goddess. Banfeis - the act of a candidate for king sleeping with a woman symbolic of the land in order to be named king; one of two known ways to become king
Sovereignty goddesses frequently appear in early medieval Irish myths. They were women who were symbolic of the earth and could offer the kingship through their bodies. Whenever any woman offers to sleep with a prince who wants to be king or if a queen offers to sleep with anyone but her husband, the character is probably symbolic of a sovereignty goddess. For example, Medb in the Táin is generally thought of as a sovereignty goddess, offering the kingship along with her body to a couple different men throughout the tale. Another example is the old woman by the well in the story of Niall. Niall and his brothers, all princes, come across a well and wish to drink from it, but an old woman will only allow them to get a drink if they sleep with her (or kiss, if it's the children's version). Niall is the only one of his brothers who is willing to do so. Afterwards, she names him king.
The banfeis was directly related to sovereignty goddesses as the act they committed of sleeping with a candidate for the kingship or any man, and naming him king afterwards. Surprisingly the banfeis was not only something from literature, but something that was actually done (we believe) to name a king. A candidate for king slept with a woman picked to symbolize the land and was named king afterwards. No one is sure how this process worked, how they picked the woman, or many details of the process in general.
In 772-774, Charlemagne directed that goods plundered from pilgrims be restored to the Irish church on the island of Honau, near Strasbourg. Irish scholars at the court of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious included Josephus Scottus (fl. 782-796), Dungal (fl. 804-827), Clemens Scottus (fl. 815-831), and Dfcuil. Irish influence reached its zenith at the court of Charles the Bald, where the circle included Murethach of Auxerre (fl. 840-850), Sedulius Scottus, Eriugena, and Martin Scottus (fl. 850-875), teacher of Greek at the court school in Laon. In 846, Charles the Bald confirmed the re-establishment of hospices for Irish pilgrims, while direct political contact is attested in 848 when Charles received an Irish embassy that presented him with gifts, requested safe passage to Rome for the "king of the Irish" (presumably Mael-Sechnaill I), asked for an alliance, and reported that their king had won a great victory over the Vikings. No political alliance was made, however, and with the waning of Carolingian power, the influence of Irishmen in France also declined.
Image: Charles the Bald from his Psalter.
It has been suggested that Charles' nickname was used ironically and not descriptively; i.e. that he was not in fact bald, but rather that he was extremely hairy. In support of this idea is the fact that none of his enemies commented on what would be an easy target. However, none of the voluble members of his court comments on his being hairy; and the Genealogy of Frankish Kings, a text from Fontanelle dating from possibly as early as 869, and a text without a trace of irony, names him as Karolus Caluus ("Charles the Bald"). Certainly, by the end of the 10th century, Richier of Reims and Adhemar of Chabannes refer to him in all seriousness as "Charles the Bald".
An alternative or additional interpretation is based on Charles' initial lack of a regnum. "Bald" would in this case be a tongue-in-cheek reference to his landlessness, at an age where his brothers already had been sub-kings for some years.
Dicuil (c. 760-post 825) was an Irish scholar-exile at the courts of Charles the Great and Louis the Pious, and an important author of several works on geography, computus, grammar, and astronomy. The only details known of his life are what can be garnered from incidental references in his works. He was teacher at the Palace School of Louis the Pious in about 815. The date of Dicuil’s death is not known.
His first work, Liber de astronomia, is a verse-computus written between 814 and 816 in four books, to which a fifth book was later added. In 818, he wrote the Epistula censuum, a verse treatise on weights and measures. He also made a copy of Priscian’s Parti-tiones XII Versuum Aeneidos Principalium, which he summarized in twenty-seven hexameters appended to it. He also wrote an Epistola de questionibus decim artis grammaticae, which no longer survives.
In 825, he wrote two treatises, De prima syllaba, a tract on prosody, and Liber de mensura orbis terrae, a treatise on geography and unquestionably his most important work. Dicuil used a wide range of sources, directly or indirectly, for this treatise. Some of these are now lost or only partly preserved, such as the Cosmographia of Julius Caesar in the recension of Julius Honorius, as well as some derivative of the emperor Agrippa’s map of the world, probably that known as the Diuisio (or Mensuratio) orbis of emperor Theodosius. Among his other sources are Pliny the Elder, Solinus, Isidore of Seville, and Caelius Sedulius. He had clearly spent some time in the islands north of Britain and Ireland. As he says himself: "Near the island Britannia are many islands, some large, some small, and some medium-sized. Some are in her sea south and some in the sea to her west, but they abound mostly to the north-west and north. Among these I have lived in some, and have visited others; some I have only glimpsed, while others I have read about." (Liber de mensura orbis terrae VII § 6)
Image: Pan’s Rock – County Antrim
Hiberno-Romanesque style. The richly decorated south doorway of the ruined late medieval church at the monastic site of Dysert O'Dea, near Corofin, County Clare, West of Ireland.
Medieval Irish Medicine - the hot-air or vapour bath was used up until recent times as a cure for rheumatism and the Irish of the early medieval period used Sweating-Houses for the treatment of medical conditions. These treatments were probably in use from more ancient times. The image above is of a sweating house on Inishmurray Island located in Donegal Bay.
"The structures in which these baths were given are known by the name of Tigh 'n alluis [Teenollish], 'sweating-house' (allus, 'sweat'). They are still well known in the northern parts of Ireland—small houses, entirely of stone, from five to seven feet long inside, with a low little door through which one must creep: always placed remote from habitations: and near by is commonly a pool or tank of water four or five feet deep. They were used in this way. A great fire of turf was kindled inside till the house became heated like an oven; after which the embers and ashes were swept out, and water was splashed on the stones, which produced a thick warm vapour. Then the person, wrapping himself in a blanket, crept in and sat down on a bench of sods, after which the door was closed up. He remained there an hour or so till he was in a profuse perspiration: and then creeping out, plunged right into the cold water, after emerging from which he was well rubbed till he became warm. After several baths at intervals of some days he commonly got cured. [In 1906 P.W. Joyce remarked...] Persons are still living who used these baths or saw them used."
Medieval Irish society permitted and probably even encouraged polygamy (Kelly 1988: 70), but this did not fit in with the Christian culture through which all the data available on ancient Ireland were filtered. Almost all texts highlight the presence of a cétmuinter (literally “chief spouse”, it applied to either husband or wife, but generally referred only to the latter (Binchy 1941: 80) and was therefore usually translated as “chief wife”), and only en passant do they mention the presence of a second wife called adaltrach, adulteress. The texts frequently stress that the function of this secondary wife was to bear sons when the first one was not able to, and that her position became therefore lawful exclusively in this specific case (Power 1936:86). Bretha Crólige, on the other hand, suggests that reality was very different, for unlike most texts it acknowledges a “wife per contract” (ben hi coir lánamnusa), a second wife and a generic “any other wife” (Kelly 1988: 70-71). It can therefore be inferred that having a first and a second wife was common practice, and also that in certain cases the number of “wives” could even be above two. It is quite obvious that the main duty of a wife other than doing the housework was to bear children, but there was no discrimination between first, second and eventually other wives. Indeed, the sons of the various wives were to have the same rights of inheritance (Kelly 1988: 70). What really distinguished a wife from the other was her social status and her position within their husband’s family. The chief wife obviously held a position of prestige, and of course a second wife, who was to hold a position subordinated to that of the chief wife, could neither have the same rank nor a higher one. If the chief wife was sterile and the second could bear children, however, or if the chief wife bore only daughters and the second a son, thus ensuring the survival of the man’s lineage segment, then the balance between the two women could be greatly altered. The chief wife still enjoyed
Irish dogs for export - there is some literary evidence that Irish dogs were exported overseas, where their aggressive qualities were put to use. What is often cited as the earliest classical reference is found in an extant letter dated to AD 393, written by the Roman senator and ex-consul Quintius Aurelius Symmachus (AD 340–402) to his brother Flavius, thanking him for his gift of seven ‘Irish hounds’ (Scottici canes), which had apparently been displayed in the games at Rome, to the amazement of onlookers. Similarly, in his Confession St Patrick alludes to the overseas trade in Irish hounds, and Icelandic sagas that portray events and characters from c. 1000 sometimes record the Norse use of dogs brought from Ireland for hunting, personal security and as guard-dogs to protect their long halls from the raids of enemies. Animals especially celebrated for their loyalty and courage include Samr, owned by Olaf Peacock and Gunnar (in the Saga of the Burnt Njal), and Olaf Tryggvason’s Vigi (from the Heimskringla).
Extract from Dogs of War: canine use in warfare from ancient Egypt to the 19th century by David Karunanithy.
Image: Fionn Mac Cumhaill accompanied by his two hounds, Bran and Sceolan located near Newbridge, Co. Kildare at Exit 12 of M7 motorway
The Cross of Cong- this magnificent piece of 12th century craftsmanship is regarded as one of the finest of its era. It is called the “Bacall Bui” (yellow crozier) and was commissioned by the king, Turlach O’ Connor and was made in Roscommon in 1123.
Made of oak and standing 30 inches high with arms extending 19 inches, it is covered with silver and bronze plates washed with gold. Its edges were studded with precious stones and a large crystal in the centre covered the relic enshrined in the cross. The cross is richly decorated with designs of intricate interlacing and the carved heads of animals, even the nail heads used are shaped in the head of an animal, evidence of the Scandinavian influence in Irish art.
There are several inscriptions on the cross, one in Latin which was sent from Rome to Turlach, which reads, “the Cross on which the Creator of the world suffered was enshrined in the Bacall Bui”. The Gaelic inscriptions ask for prayers for Turlach O’ Connor, King of Eirinn, for two church dignitaries of the family of O’ Duffy and for the Irish artist who created the cross, Maoiliosa O’ Echan.
The cross was guarded by the Augustinians of Cong and was placed on the altar only on very special occasions. The 16th century brought persecution and hardship to the religious orders in Ireland and the Augustinians were forced to leave Cong. one abbot remained as the parish priest and this situation continued until 1829 when the last abbot died. Dean Waldron was the successor and on taking over the Abbot’s house he found several treasures hidden within. The Bacal Bui was among them, in 1839 the Dean sold the cross to the Royal Irish Academy for 100 guineas, this was not a popular act with the people of Cong.
His successor Fr Pat Lavelle was appointed in 1869, he was a well known Fenian sympathiser and a rebel within the religious order. Fearless of repercussions he condemned the then leader of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Cullen and delivered many orations in favour of the patriotic cause. on his appoint
Folklore as wisdom - Fairy Rings occupy a prominent place in European folklore as the location of gateways into elfin kingdoms or places where elves gather and dance. According to the folklore, a fairy ring appears when a fairy, pixie or elf appears. The circular pattern of the mushrooms looks like a place where fairies danced in a ring holding hands.
In an Irish legend recorded by Jane Wilde (mother of Oscar), a farmer built a barn on a fairy ring despite the protests of his neighbours. He was struck senseless one night and a local "fairy doctor" was called to break the curse. The farmer says that he dreamed that he must destroy the barn. - No doubt this particular variety of mushroom was hallucinogenic!
Collecting dew from the grass or flowers from inside a fairy ring can bring bad luck. While destroying a fairy ring is both unlucky and fruitless as it will just grow back. Also science tells us some mushrooms in fairy rings are poisonous and inhaling mushroom spores can cause a respiratory disease called Lycoperdonosis.
Moonshine distillers traditionally discard the first 50ml of distillate known sometimes as the fairy portion. Science tells us that the first few drops from a still contain nasty and unwanted substances like methanol which have a lower boiling point than alcohol and therefore come out of the still first.
Thus we can conclude that some superstitions are very useful in passing on scientific knowledge.
Image: A fairy ring on a suburban lawn in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
The three main manuscript sources for Irish mythology are the late 11th/early 12th century Lebor na hUidre which is in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, the early 12th century Book of Leinster in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and the Rawlinson manuscript B 502 (Rawl.), housed in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. Despite the dates of these sources, most of the material they contain predates their composition. The earliest of the prose can be dated on linguistic grounds to the 8th century, and some of the verse may be as old as the 6th century.
The Banshee is an ancestral spirit appointed to forewarn of ancient Irish families of their time of death. The Banshee can only cry for five major Irish families: the O'Neils , the O'Briens, the O'Connors, the O'Gradys and the Kavanaghs. The Banshee normally appears in three different forms: a young woman, a stately matron or a raddled old hag. She may also appear as a washer-woman, and is seen apparently washing the blood stained clothes of those who are about to die. In this form she is known as the bean-nighe (washing woman). The banshee may also appear in a variety of other forms, such as that of a hooded crow, stoat, hare and weasel - animals associated in Ireland with witchcraft.
Image: Nowadays in 21st century Ireland children eat the bones of the Banshee.
Mary - Mercedes- Marijuana. The English and the Irish words for Mary are derived from the French name Marie. A letter ‘e’ at the end of a word in Irish orthography is pronounced as ‘ah’ as in Éire (aer ah) thus in Irish the word for Mary/Marie is Máire pronounced Maura which in turn is evidence of written transmission rather than oral. Mary is Hebrew word meaning a wished-for child but said to literally mean rebellion or bitter. It is of unknown origin.
The name Mary and its derivatives crop up in many surprising ways from Cars to banned substances!
Cooks among you will be familiar with the term Bain-Marie where food vessels are placed inside another container with boiling water and used for keeping food warm or melting chocolate! The term dates from 1822, from French bain-marie, from Medieval Latin balneum Mariae, literally "bath of Mary." According to French sources, perhaps so called for the gentleness of its heating.
The famous Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne is actually Gabriel Mary Byrne and he shares his middle name with the French author Voltaire whose real name was François Marie Arouet.
Marijuana – is an alteration of a Spanish proper name Maria Juana "Mary Jane" from mariguan (1894), from Mexican Spanish marihuana, of uncertain origin.
Tia Maria - a coffee-flavoured rum-based liqueur originally made in the West Indies is Spanish literally meaning "Aunt Mary."
Mollycoddle from a noun (1833) meaning "one who coddles himself," from Molly (pet name formation from Mary),
Mercedes is of Spanish origin. The direct translation of Mercedes means “mercies” in reference to the Virgin Mary, Santa Maria de las Mercedes as “Our Lady of Mercies”. A more correct translation is ‘grace’. The car was named after the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft ('DMG') board member Emil Jellinek’s daughter whose pet name was Mercedes. Thus most drivers of Mercedes cars are driving them unaware it is named after the Virgin Mary!
Forgery and the authorisation for the Invasion of Ireland - Historically there are many reasons for the forgery or falsification of a document. A major incentive for such a practice occurs when a powerful nation invades a weaker one without obvious justification. A classic example in our times was the document released by the British government in February 2003, Iraq-its infrastructure of concealment, deception and intimidation. This was subsequently shown, by its use of crude copying and pasting, to be not the work of their own intelligence gathering but rather that of a Californian Ph.D student, distorted to suit the argument for war.
For centuries a debate has taken place over a document that similarly justified an invasion of one country by another, in this case the establishment of a lordship in Ireland by King Henry II of England. The document in question is the notorious Laudabiliter, whose name is taken from its opening word and which purports to be a letter from Pope Adrian IV to King Henry, written in 1155, giving approval to the king's plan to invade Ireland.
Professor Anne Duggan of King's College, London, has been studying this document for several years, and she was recently in Dublin, at the invitation of the Dublin Medieval Society, to present her view that Laudabiliter is a falsification of a genuine letter, now lost, in which the emphasis of the pope's meaning was against such an invasion.
Although the letter is very well known and used in disputations from the mid-thirteenth century onwards, it has very little history before that. which is odd, if it is supposed to have existed from 1155. In her presentation she pointed out that it was not used by Henry II to justify his claim to Ireland after his landing here in 11 72 to take control of the conquest. It does not appear in the English Exchequer archives, which is where the kings of England kept all their charters. It does not exist in the 'Black Book' of the Exchequer that was drawn up around 1207 in the reign of King John and is an
Sport in Medieval Ireland -. Ernest Becker’s “The Denial of Death” begins by stating that we try to fight our inevitable human mortality by achieving “heroism”, in which we become something that we believe will last forever. This concept begins in early childhood, the time in which “the struggle for self-esteem [is] at its least disguised” and children will fight for nearly any means of differentiation from their peers. However, Becker specifies that even children generally do not seek to become heroes regardless of the consequences but instead follow society’s socially accepted means of distinction, while still trying to make something special of themselves.*
From the ancient to medieval, to modern and post modern time the quest for immortality continues. Hurling, a popular contemporary game, is first mentioned under that name in the medieval period. The earliest testimony to hurling (horlinge) is found in a statute issued at Kilkenny in 1366, describing a game played with clubs and ball along the ground. The statute, one of many designed to suppress native custom and activity, outlaws “horlinge” as a distraction from more constructive pursuits such as archery and military training.
The earliest physical representations of what may be an early playing stick (camman) are found on the tenth-century high crosses at Kells and Monasterboice; there is a more clear-cut, although late, depiction on a fifteenth-century grave-slab from County Donegal, showing a sword alongside a thin playing-stick with curved end, above which a ball lies. The image suggests the subject was known as both a superior soldier and sportsman; early Irish literature portrays field games as favourite pursuits of warriors.
* extract from “The Imposition of Society on Medieval Irish Sport” by Emily Cook
The beginnings of anti Irish prejudice - Ireland: a land of bearded women, bestiality, where men are born half ox and half man and where men went into battle naked and unarmed! It had species of bird which spontaneously grow from trees without parents which the author uses as proof of the Virgin Birth. So wrote a Norman Welsh cleric Giraldus Cambrensis in the 12th century about his experiences while visiting his relatives in Ireland.
Dehumanisation is a common feature of war and conquest where the enemy are made out to be sub-human, implying that as they are technically not human there and therefore there will be no punishment in this life or the afterlife for killing it. Sociologists and historians often view dehumanisation as central to some or all types of wars.
Anthropologists Ashley Montagu and Floyd Matson famously wrote that dehumanisation might well be considered "the fifth horseman of the apocalypse" because of the inestimable damage it has dealt to society. When people become things, the logic follows, they become dispensable - and any atrocity can be justified.
Dehumanization can be seen outside of overtly violent conflicts, as in political debates where opponents are presented as collectively stupid or inherently evil. Such "good-versus-evil" claims help end substantive debate.
Dehumanisation is not limited to war. Science too is not without blame, one example is the Tuskegee syphilis experiment where Black Americans with syphilis were recruited to participate in a study about the course of the disease. Even when treatment and a cure were eventually developed, they were withheld from the Black participants so that researchers could continue their study.
Of course the claims of Giraldus Cambrensis are worthy only of ridicule and even he admitted that his audience would find it hard to believe his writings. They are the sycophantic work of a man trying to ingratiate himself with Henry II. Nonetheless his two books on Ireland are the chief source of primary material about Ireland around the time a
Irish law is almost wholly the product of a professional class of jurists called brithim or brehons. Originally the Druids and later the filid or poets were the keepers of the law, but by historic times jurisprudence was the professional specialization of the brehons who often were members of hereditary brehonic families and enjoyed a social and legal status just below that of the kings. The brehons survived among the native Irish until the very end of a free Irish society in the early 17th century. They were particularly marked for persecution, along with the poets and historians, by the English authorities. The statutes of Kilkenny (1366) specifically forbade the English from resorting to the brehon's law, but they were still being mentioned in English documents of the early 17th century.
The absence from the function of law-making of the Irish kings may seem startling. But Irish kings were not legislators nor were they normally involved in the adjudication of disputes unless requested to do so by the litigants. A king was not a sovereign; he himself could be sued and a special brehon was assigned to hear cases to which the king was a party. He was subject to the law as any other freeman. The Irish polity, the tuath, was, one distinguished modem scholar put it, "the state in swaddling clothes". It existed only in "embryo". "There was no legislature, no bailiffs or police, no public enforcement of justice . . . there was no trace of State administered justice". Certain mythological kings like Cormac mac Airt were reputed to be Lawgivers and judges, but turn out to be euhemerized Celtic deities. When the kings appear in the enforcement of justice, they do so through the system of suretyship which was utilized to guarantee the enforcement of contracts and the decisions of the brehon's courts. Or they appear as representatives of the assembly of freemen to contract on their behalf with other tuatha or churchmen. Irish law is essentially brehon's law-and the absence of the State in its creation and development i
Slogan means a "battle cry" and is derived from two Irish words "sluagh-ghairm". Sluagh means army in this context but it can also mean crowd or assembly. The latter meaning is found in the place name 'Beal Atha na Sluaigheadh or Ballinasloe in Co. Galway. It means "the open ford of the assembly/hostings", a reference to its history as a gathering place of the Connacht tribesmen, chiefs and warriors of Breifne and Meath.
Gairm means "a cry" or "to shout". The word is found old Irish and in the Celtic languages of the continent. The Celtic/Gaul word "gairm" meaning "noisy" is thought by some scholars to be the origin of the word "German". See the on-line etymology dictionary.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=german
The placename Tallagh in Co. Dublin is a transliteration of the Irish word “tamlachta” and is found in other places across the island. In one form or another tamlachta seems to have been understood in the late ninth century as indicating a mass burial site for victims of plague. The word was interesting enough to be included in Sanas Cormaic, 'Cormac's Glossary', the lexicon ascribed to Cormac mac Cuilenâin, reputed king-bishop of Cashel, whose death is reported in 908. It is first etymologized there as containing the elements tarn 'plague' and (s)lechta 'a cutting": tarn roselaig na daine isin maigin sin A. duinebad mór, 'Plague felled the people in that place, i.e. a great man-death'. Elsewhere it is suggested that the second element in tamlachta reflects lecht or lece, signifying a grave or a gravestone. Be that as it may, all sources agree that the first element stands for plague, and this paper proceeds on the premise that locations named tamlachta represent sites in Ireland of a type which in Britain and elsewhere contained mass burial trenches commonly called in English 'plague pits'.
The bubonic plague devastated the Roman Empire in the 540s and was named the Justinianic Plague after the emperor of the time, that pandemic has been credited with millions of deaths. Bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, derives its name from the bubos or suppuratings wellings it frequently produces in the vicinity of lymph glands. Bubos can arise in the armpits and elsewhere, but most typically they appear in the groin area. The Greeks called these swellings 'pestilential groins', and words like 'bubo' and 'bubonic' derive from the Greek term for the groin, ßoußcov.
In Ireland as throughout the known world, plague related events will be reported for the better part of the next two centuries, some of which were bubonic plague outbreaks like the bléfed of 545, while others were probably opportunistic diseases like relapsing fever which have been known to follow in plague's wake. The Annals of Ulster for 554 reports, Pestia
Irish influence on German literature – The Navigatio Brendani belongs to the genre of the Irish immram (adventure tales) or voyage literature, where an intrepid sailor is exposed to natural and supernatural adventures on the uncharted ocean. The Navigatio appears to have been written in the tenth century, by an Irishman, and probably in Ireland and was immediately inspired by the older Immram curaig Maile Diuin (The voyage of Maci Win's boat), which may date back to the eighth century. The work of a literary artist of high merit, its influence spread all over western Europe, probably from the Irish concentration in the Upper Rhine valley. The literary tradition of the Navigati is strongest in the German-speaking lands, and numerous translations were made into various German dialects throughout the middle ages, including a High German prose version the Volksbuch of the fourteenth century which was printed thirteen times before 1521. The earliest German version probably dates back to about 1150. Along with two other Irish texts the Patricius and Tundalus, the Brendanus mark the most noticeable and most direct Irish contribution to German literature, through the intermediary of Latin, in the high middle ages. Within the same half-century where all three complexes appeared on the German literary scene, however, other Irish themes may have been exerting a much more indirect and subtly ramified influence on another area of German literature, that of Middle High German courtly literature, which reached its apex between 1170 and 1230.
one of the main wells from which the German courtly imagination drew during this period, through the intermediary of French literature for the most part, was the rich lore of Celtic mythology and story. The extent to which the tales and themes drawn from this repository by continental writers are Irish, however, is a question which must be approached with considerable caution. Extravagant claims have sometimes been made: one of the boldest proposed an Irish origin for huge tracts of Ge
The period from the fifth century until the coming of the Normans in the twelfth century was, in effect, the Golden Age of ancient Gaelic medicine, as noble Irish families surrounded themselves with entourages of learned men, including physicians. Every Irish lord had his own physician. Physicians, like poets, historians and musicians, had a high status in Gaelic Ireland, the highest position being ollamh leighis, or official physician to a king, chieftain or Irish lord. They were awarded hereditary tenure of lands for the medical services they rendered. Medicine was the preserve of a select number of families, father passing his medical knowledge to son and sometimes to daughter or kinsman, forming renowned families of hereditary physicians (Nic Dhonnchada 2000: 217-220).
Among the famed medical families were the Ó Caisides (Cassidys) and Ó Siadhails (Shiels) of Ulster, Ó hÍceadhas (Hickeys) and the Ó Lees of Connaught, and the Ó Callanains (Callanans) of Munster, to name just a few. Their medical schools, such as that of Tuaim Brecain (Tomregain in County Cavan) founded in the sixth century, Aghmacart (in County Laois), and the medical schools at Clonmacnoise, Cashel, Portumna, Clonard and Armagh were famed throughout Europe. Famed hereditary physicians in Scotland, like the MacBeathas, or Beatons, who provided medical services to generations of Scottish kings, originated in Ireland, and Scottish students studied at the medical school at Aghmacart (Mitchell: 2008).
one of main functions of the ancient Irish medical schools was the writing and translation of medical texts into Irish, such as Galen’s commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates translated into Irish in 1403 by the Munster medical scholars, Aonghus Ó Callanáin and Niocól Ó hÍceadha. A vast body of medical texts exists, written in Irish or translated from Latin into Irish. Some were of Arabic origin, thus making available to Irish physicians a wealth of new medical knowledge and techniques influential in new schools of Arabic medicine in Europ
The American First Lady, Michelle Obama and her daughters Sasha and Malia are to visit the early medieval monastic site of Glendalough in Co. Wicklow tomorrow (one hour south of Dublin, Tues 18 June 2013). The area is famed worldwide for its outstanding natural beauty and even today with thousands of tourists flocking to the site, it somehow manages to bring an aura of tranquillity to souls busied by modern life. Even in the 21st century the sense of serenity is both magical and magnetic which must have been what attracted St. Kevin there in the 5th century. The monastery was founded by St. Kevin (d. 618AD), a member of the ruling family of the province of Leinster at the confluence of two rivers. The name is a transliteration of Gleann Dá Loch meaning the valley of the two lakes. The site features the uniquely Irish round tower or Cloigtheach meaning “bell house” standing 30m tall.
여러분, 오늘은 가슴을 따뜻하게 해줄 소식을 전해드릴게요~
제2회 사랑의 김치나눔한마당이 열렸는데요.
좋은데이의 후원과 임직원들 삼성전기, (주)무학 등 기업가 단체, 지역자원봉사자들이 어려운 이웃을 위해 김장을 했어요!
김치는 어려운 이웃을 위해 나눠질 예정입니다^^
Many ancient societies gave names to their members based on the qualities or personality traits of a particular animal. In warrior societies in particularly aggressive qualities of animals were much admired. Naming warriors after fierce creatures could be used for the purpose of striking fear in one’s enemy but it is most likely that the practice was to reassure the tribe that it was protected by fearsome and cunning defenders, who in turn exhibited the qualities of a particular fearsome animal. The animal of choice was the wolf and is found in many personal names from Rudolph, Ralph, Raúl, Adolf etc. including female names like Ulrica, Ralphina, Otsana and surnames like Folan, Phelan, Lovell and many more.
The ancient Irish had a preference for naming their warriors after the wolf-dog or wolf-hound, perhaps due to the added personal quality of loyalty exhibited by canines. Thus the Irish word for hound/wolf-hound “con” (genitive) is found today in many popular surnames and forenames including O’Connor, Connolly/Conneely, Conroy, Connaughton, O’Connell, Connery, Confry, Conalty and forenames like Conan, Conor, Conn, Connell.
Randy: Pet form of English Randall and Randolph, both meaning "shield-wolf."
Rannulf: Frankish German form of Old Norse Ránulfr, meaning "plundering wolf."
Connor: Irish from Conchobar meaning wolf lover
Conroy: Irish from Con Rí – king of the wolves
Connolly/Conneely: Irish from Conghaile meaning as valorous as a wolf-hound.
Connell: Irish from Conghal fierce as a wolf-hound.
Ulrica: Feminine form of Middle English Ulric, meaning "wolf power."
Alf/Adolf: Modern contracted form of Old High German Adalwolf, meaning "noble wolf."
Ethelwolf: Variant spelling of Anglo-Saxon Æthelwulf, meaning "noble wolf."
Folan: Irish from Faolán composed of the word faol "wolf" and a diminutive suffix, hence "little wolf."
Pheelan: Irish from Fáelán: Variant spelling of Irish Gaelic Faolán, meaning "little wolf."
Lovell: English from Lowell derived from the Old Norman French byname Louvel, m
