Celtophile: Adjective - strongly attracted to or interested in Celtic arts, history, and culture.
‘Celtic’ The name ‘Celtic’, from the Greek, 'Keltori' - ‘the hidden people’ referred to related ancient tribal settlements across Europe, acknowledging cultures established on the basis of egalitarian laws- promoting 'personal sovereignty'. This is unique in the history of later European societies, where patriarchal hierarchy gradually expanded from east to west.
"... Celtic society was centred on moral order with a mythical worldview where men and women held equal rights. The Druids were the intellectual class, incorporating all professions. Celtic culture successfully upheld social egalitarianism for thousands of years. ...
The "CRAIC" (pronounced "crack") is all about social interaction -the excitement that comes with rousing and challenging conversation, energetic storytelling and debate on important matters, all in the midst of music and laughter." - Maireid Sullivan (1996), The Hidden People-the spirit of communication and 'the craic'
"In 1771 a cauldron containing 30 kg of gold coins and a golden torque came to light at Podmokly in Bohemia and attracted the attention of scholars. While the whole of pre-Romantic Europe enthused about the legend of Ossian, a 3rd-century AD Gaelic bard rediscovered by the poet James Macpherson (1736-96), it was through the study of coinage that a disciplined revival of interest in the Celts began during the 18th century. As archaeology developed during the 19th century, it became the chief source of knowledge about the Celts. and revealed a shared past that linked together different regions of Europe from the British Isles to the Carpathians. From then on, the ancient texts, numerous and explicit though they were, took second place to the sheer abundance of archaeological evidence." - C. Elusere, (1994 Ed) The Celts: First Masters of Europe
Celtic Diaspora
The 'scattering' of Celtic culture has witnessed a widespread renewal of interest across all of the arts.
"Singing has always been my great love. When I stepped over the threshold into the study of Celtic history a whole new world of ideas and wonder opened up for me. I am amazed at what I have discovered. It is a good thing for modern people to look back on the cultural paths we have taken because it is helpful in our effort to understand the present so that we can be free to create a fresh and original future." - Maireid Sullivan, 1993, Concert Press Release
Meanwhile, "Celtic music" swept the world - revived and energised by women musicians: Traditional Folk, Classical, Jazz, New Age, Contemporary/World Music awakened international interest in ancient Celtic heritage. In 1999, I had the pleasure of interviewing over sixty women from all over the Celtic World - Wales, Brittany, Scotland, Ireland, United States, Canada, and Australia: Maireid Sullivan (1999), Celtic Women in Music: A Celebration of Beauty and Sovereignty, Quarry Press.
In 2000, we were contracted to film interviews across Ireland. The project remained unfinished following 9/11: Selected previews were shared on our LyrebirdMedia YouTube Channel.
As an Australian immigrant, the Indigenous Australian prism of "The Dreaming" awakened my 'holistic' sense of history: "If I can understand the concept of 'Dreamtime', where can I find it in my own cultural history?"
My "Celtic journey" began with my first song, "Dreaming The Dreaming" - written on New Year's Day, January 1, 1992:
Dreaming The Dreaming
Recall what you knew
when you were nursed
in the sea of beginning.
Relive the deep magic
from beyond the first dawn.
Wrap yourself in the cloak of ancient memory.
Reveal The Dreaming of old.
Chorus
Dreaming The Dreaming.
Wake to The Dreaming.
Wake to The Dreaming of old.
Weave the knot of the future.
Draw your strength from the Draighean Tree*
Play in the canopy of nature,
and bathe in the wide surging sea.
Chorus
Dreaming The Dreaming.
Wake to The Dreaming.
Wake to The Dreaming of old. @Maireid Sullivan, January 1, 1992
*Draighean Tree - Life force: Blackthorn tree - magic wand.
Anam Chara = 'soul friend' in Irish-Gaelic.
Shortly after my arrival in Hollywood, in February 1995, while staying with my sister Carmel's family up on Kings Way, I gave my Dancer CD (1994) to the very hospitable owner of the popular café at the bottom of the hill, on Sunset Blvd. When I returned, he told me he loved it and paid me for the CD, in cash. I was elated! When I stepped out onto the sidewalk, I noticed, in a corner of the parking lot, a "homeless person" lying in a very clean sleeping bag. I went up, called out, and a lovely young girl awoke. She startled me! When I offered her the money I received for the CD, her look of shock moved to ecstatic surprise. I was stunned! When I walked away from her, I felt a surge of joy 'opening' the sky - as though higher beings also felt the joy I shared with that lovely girl.
When I returned home, I tried to capture the experience in a poem, and when I recorded it in 1998, I named it "Anam Chara" -inspired by John O'Donohue' Anam Cara (1997).
Anam Chara (Listen to the song)
When I awake my dreaming starts
I dream about heaven and luminous beings
I dream I am in it with my eyes open
I dream I am in it with my eyes closed
And when I walk along I dream I take them
into the world with me
To show them the clay that I am shaping
And they think its so exciting
They love this adventure that we're sharing
Digging in the earth of pain and shaping love.
Fragile, delicate, beautiful love.
Danu refers to the ancient Scythian word for "river" - identified among Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age European of Celtic peoples, at least 6,000 years ago, who had settled across the Alps and the Danube river basin - associated with etymology of the names of the Danube River (Hungary), Dnipro, Dnister, and Donets Rivers (Moldovia/Ukraine), across the Don and Volga Rivers (Russia) - the main river routes, carried 'migrants' across eastern, southern and northern Europe, and westward to Ireland - 'envisioning' mythical Tir Na Nog - "Land of eternal youth"
Identification of tools, weapons and ornaments found in 'Celtic' burial sites across Europe are evidence of sophisticated inter-tribal culture established through shared language, law, and philosophy - an elusive people on the periphery of the ancient Greek world, with cultural origins extending across the length and breadth of Europe, from Asia Minor to the British Isles, and from Switzerland to Gaul.
Early European tribes of the Goddess Danu, of the Tuatha dé Danann "The Children of Danu" (Wikipedia -&- Britannica)- were identified as the fifth group of settlers to arrive in Ireland, before disappearing 'underground' - out to sea (Tir Na Nog), under the hills (Sidh/Sî mounds), under the lake, into 'fairy' land, following the 500BC Celtiberian Milesian invasion: Chronology of Ireland, CELT, UCC
Danu’s Land
(Listen to the song)
Return to your other world lover, Leannan Sî
Take your magic stars and go
Summon me later, send me a charioteer
Shake your golden cloak around me
But let me not forget you were here
Verse
I can't forget your wild ways
banished in deep waters
Or white sea's endless beating
on your shoreless dwelling
Or enchanted music's echo still wailing
Sweet as the voice of angels
Winter misted byways
hide the great fellowship of heroes
Their stories shrouded in mystery
Their truth rings out from childhood memory
Listen for their keening call
In your heart you will hear their song
Hear your own voice, see your own dream
"Come to me" they sing in melodious strain
Live forever deep in Danu's dream
No thine or mine, no sin or pain with the fairy queen
Where courtly lovers awaken from their long trance
Noble warriors unfold their slow dance
Fountain of ancient rivers
Bridge of wings to Danu's land
Passage to her other world.
Her crystal mansion's watery helm
Where shadows never fall
on Tir Na Nog's eternal shining realm
Lovers one and all
heed her call to exile's end
Where abundance never fails
and the shining guardian's golden rays
bring a white shadow to a sweeter brighter day
@Maireid Sullivan, 1993
The Dagda, Chief Druid
The leader of an Irish branch of the Tuatha Dé Danann, dwelling at the Ireland's neolithic/Bronze Age settlement, Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange), on the banks of the River Boyne, The Dagda, "God of Order" - magic and mysticism, is famed for his cauldron of plenty, his mighty club, his harp which could make anyone who heard it laugh for joy, or weep with sorrow, and the playing of this harp, which made the seasons come in the correct order!
Brigid, the triple goddess-
Residing with The Dagda, his daughter Brigid, the "Exalted One" - the water goddess, with dominion over both rivers and wells, is celebrated for many attributes: goddess of poetry and song, healing, fertility, passion and fire, life and death, and invention. Traditionally, Brigid's Day is celebrated on 1st and 2nd February: The Feast of Brigid - IMBOLC, in Gaelic = "womb of time" = "in the belly", before birth - in the springtime of rebirth and renewal - the crossroads of the seasons = rebirth:
Brigid - Queen of Song
Loving, strong, compassionate
Ancient matriarch
Priestess of sorcerers
~
Oh! Brigid, while you wept
Over your fallen royal harp
Your teardrops were transported
Be-mingled in distant hearts
Winds echo your heartstrings hum
O'er seas on far off lands
Through the strains of a foreign tongue
Voices linking an epoch's span
Exquisite sad refrain
Hear the tune, the voice, the song
Of heroes, poets, bards
The memory has not gone
Familiar figure on a vast horizon
Inter-weaving sweet love and myth
To soothe the precious pain
Whose fragments we inherit
Beside you we will stand
Reconciling hope and heir
Lift the veil! mourn no more,
Ere we stir, fearless and fair
@Maireid Sullivan, February 1992
Brigid's Day - traditionally celebrated on 1st and 2nd February, will be celebrated as n Irish National Bank Holiday on the first Monday in February, beginning in 2024:
“Brigid is an iconic all-island figure, a real fusion of traditional Ireland and a modern inclusive Ireland. She is an amalgam of Celtic and Christian mythology. She also taps into a deep spirituality which precedes Christianity. ... Raising her day to a national holiday is also a welcome recognition of the equality of the feminine with the masculine in society. Because of her very strong association with fertility and the natural world, Brigid is also the perfect patron of the ecology movement. She can become the Mother Earth figure of the awakening consciousness of the beauty and fragility of this Earth, and our human dependency on this Earth, and our interconnectedness with all the other species sharing the planet with us.” - Charlie Flanagan TD, Former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Justice, Oct. 8, 2021, The Irish Times
Peter Berresford Ellis, inCeltic Women: Women in Celtic Society and Literature(1996), described the Celtic mother goddess 'creator deity' as nourishing rain- the 'Good God' while the ‘Bad God’ represents floods. It's easy to imagine why that would be a primordial perspective.
"In the beginning Danu or Dana, whose name we can make cognate with Sanskrit (the nearest we can come to our hypothesised common Indo-European), the 'Waters from Heaven', flooded from the sky to form the river named after her - Danuvius, in its earliest known form. These 'waters from heaven' fell and nurtured a sacred oak tree, Bíle. Danu and Bíle then gave birth to the being who became known as the 'father of the gods'. In Irish myth this was The Dagda, the 'Good God'. His children, the descendants of Danu and Bíle, became the gods and goddesses of goodness, but significantly, they are identified as the Tuatha Dé Dannan, the children of Danu, rather than the children of Bíle or, indeed, of her son, The Dagda. The creator deity was therefore a mother goddess. Conversely, as with all good, there must be evil. We find that Danu, 'Waters from Heaven', has an evil counterpart in the goddess Domnu, meaning both 'The World" and 'Deeps of the Sea'."
- Peter Berresford Ellis, (1996), page 23.
Springing into summer with the Easter Bunny! “Easter is the pagan festival of spring, the year’s rebirth or resurrection.
The name comes from the Saxon Goddess of spring, Oestre, who also gives her name to the female estrus-cycle. (Her name is cognate with Neolithic Near Eastern Goddesses Ostarte, Astarte, Ishtar, Ashtoreth.) The Easter rabbits, the colored eggs hidden around in the grass or rolled down the lawn, are fertility symbols of the Goddess. Finally, the Golden Number used to calculate the “movable feast” of Easter is based on lunar calculations, and on the 19–19–18 year eclipse cycle used by the Druids and earlier megalithic builders. The same number was once used to calculate the date of Christmas in relation to the winter solstice.”
-Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth, 2013, Harper Collins
About the Book
This classic exploration of the Goddess through time and throughout the world draws on religious, cultural, and archaeological sources to recreate the Goddess religion that is humanity’s heritage. Now, with a new introduction and full-color artwork, this passionate and important text shows even more clearly that the religion of the Goddess--which is tied to the cycles of women’s bodies, the seasons, the phases of the moon, and the fertility of the earth--was the original religion of all humanity.
We come together to affirm and celebrate the innate spiritual impulse that thrives on acknowledgement of our "heritage of joy" - despite the sorrow associated with forced migrations and the enclosure of our 'global commons'. Deep in the memory of Celtic people is the knowledge that political and economic sovereignty will not bring peace and well-being if the sovereignty of the soul is neglected. The wisdom of our ancestors is with us still and in rediscovering that source we reclaim our portal to sanctuary within deep ecology - in the spark of life that is expressed with joy: The CRAIC!
Celtic peoples shared an essential moral principle in personal sovereignty (Sullivan, 1995). Political sovereignty refers to ‘national sovereignty’ - the authority of a tribe, nation or state to govern and protect itself, however, in ancient Celtic-Irish heritage (Rees, 1961), the Feminine Divine is represented by Eriu, Goddess of Sovereignty, the protector of our personal sovereignty - referring to individual autonomy as the cornerstone of well-being for an entire community. Professor James Turner Johnson (2014) distinguishes national sovereignty from personal sovereignty: "these two conceptions - sovereignty as self-defense and sovereignty as acting on behalf of the common good - are in conflict and suggests that international bodies must acknowledge this tension."
The six modern-day Celtic nations, Scotland (Alba), Brittany (Breizh), Wales (Cymru), Ireland (Eire), Cornwall (Kernow), and the Isle of Mann (Mannin) share common bonds of culture, history, and language. In addition, two regions, Galicia and Asturias, in the northwest corner of Spain (Celtiberia) also claim a Celtic cultural heritage.
The Geological Survey of Ireland is an excellent source for cross-discipline ancient land mapping.
Excerpt:
For a relatively small area, 70,000 sq km, Ireland has a diverse geology. . . Studies of plate tectonics tell us that Ireland once had a very different setting. Hundreds of millions of years ago the land that makes up Ireland as we know it today existed on two lost continents known as Laurentia and Gondwana that were separated by a prehistoric ocean called Lapetus. The Northern part of Ireland was located on the lost continent of Laurentia which would go on to form large parts of today’s North American plate. The southern part of the island was located on Gondwana which would later make up large parts of Europe. >>> more
The Holocene Epoch
The most recent Ice Age peaked between 24,000 and 21,000 years ago, and ended approximately 12,000 years ago: The Holocene Epoch is the name given to our current time, considered a relatively warm period in our planetary history.
History.com published"How Early Humans Survived the Ice Age" (July 2021), by David Roos, who explains how "Our human ancestors' big, creative brains helped them devise tools and strategies to survive harsh climates".
Meanwhile, we have endured many small-scale climate shifts, such as the "Little Ice Age" from 14c - when castle-building emerged - to mid-19 century.
Atlantis or Doggerland?
Why are the British and Irish islands separate from Europe?
"The Holocene pre-inundation landscape of the southern North Sea, known as Doggerland, was a gently undulating, low-relief area associated with Mesolithic hunter-gatherer communities." - Gaffney, et al., (2020)
While under-water archaeology continues to be a challenge, we've known for over a century of the impacts of Holocene period earthquakes, tsunami, and land-slides: The Storegga Event buried “Doggerland” - the land-bridge joining England and Europe- from eastern Britain, western Denmark, northwest Germany, Norway, Shetland, Orkney, the Faeroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland.
Seismic surveys, 3D imaging, and DNA studies of sediment cores, extending out from Norfolk, UK to the North Sea, have identified ancient rivers, lakes, wetlands and estuaries, and reveal signs of settlement 30 to 50 meters below the current sea floor - home to humans, horses, mammoths and deer. Radiocarbon dating has identified fossilised forests, while readings of carbon and nitrogen in human bones have revealed a mainly land-based diet.
Abstract
Doggerland was a landmass occupying an area currently covered by the North Sea until marine inundation took place during the mid-Holocene, ultimately separating the British landmass from the rest of Europe. The Storegga Event, which triggered a tsunami reflected in sediment deposits in the northern North Sea, northeast coastlines of the British Isles and across the North Atlantic, was a major event during this transgressive phase. ... Our results confirm previous modelling of the impact of the tsunami within this area of the southern North Sea, and also indicate that these effects were temporary, localized, and mitigated by the dense woodland and topography of the area. We conclude that clear physical remnants of the wave in these areas are likely to be restricted to now buried, palaeo-inland basins and incised river valley systems. View Full-Text
In addition, The Irish Times review, 18 Aug. 2004: excerpt: ... the National Museum of Ireland said today there was "no archaeological evidence" for the Swede's claims.
"We can say that we know of no archaeological evidence which would support Mr Erlingsson's theory," museum director Dr Patrick Wallace said.
He accepted, however, that museum staff "were not in a position to assess" the geological basis of the claims.
Dr Erlingsson says the geography of Atlantis matches Ireland perfectly as it is 300 miles long, 200 miles wide, and broadest over the middle. He said Ireland is also the only island in the Atlantic with a central plain surrounded by mountains.
Atlantis, Plato wrote, was an island in the Atlantic Ocean where an advanced civilisation developed some 11,500 years ago until it was hit by a cataclysmic natural disaster and sank beneath the waves.
Dr Erlingsson believes the idea that Atlantis sank came from the fate of Dogger Bank, an isolated shoal in the North Sea, which was sunk by a huge flood wave around 6100 BCE. >>>more
~ "Free will" in "Old Irish" Gaelic = coincheap saorthoil
~ “Personal sovereignty” in Gaelic = ceannas - refers to 'command' which can mean a lot of things, depending on how and where you use it:
~ Ceann = head/ top/ in charge;
-- 1. headship; sovereignty
-- 2. authority; command - in charge
Summary:
Scientists have sequenced first ancient Irish human genomes, demonstrating that the genomes show unequivocal evidence for mass migrations into Ireland. These genetic influxes are likely to have brought cultural changes including the transition to agriculture, Bronze metalworking and may have been the origin of western Celtic language. >>>more
"the Celtic renaissance in post-Roman times"
According to Archaeologist of the Iron Age and Roman period, Professor Simon James, The Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or Modern Invention? (1999), British Museum Press, the name 'Celtic' was first given to the peoples of the British Isles in the 1700s by a pioneering Welsh linguist: "Edward Lhwyd, who demonstrated that Scots and Irish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton and related languages were also related to the extinct tongue of the ancient Gauls. He chose to call this family of dead and living languages 'Celtic'. Soon it was being used as an ethnic label for living peoples, and was applied to ancient monuments too." InExploring the World of the Celts (2005) Professor James has documented "the story of the Celts from the 17th century BC to the Celtic renaissance in post-Roman times"
"Celtic society is so attractive that historians cry out in admiration and almost in dismay when they contemplate what might have been had not Roman soldiers in the first event and Roman ecclesiastics in the second, excelled in the effeciency of their organization."
- Diana Leatham, 1951, Celtic Sunrise: An Outline of Celtic Christianity"
Ancient Rome and Ireland Pre-empire, Rome traded with Continental Celts but never 'invaded' Ireland, therefore, Rome did not have "jurisdiction precedents" over Ireland.
"While Romulus and Remus were still pups and the seven hills of Rome were outside the city limits, the Celts were Kings of Europe. For hundreds of years before the Roman Empire, the Celts dominated Europe and the British Isles - through their trade, technologies and travels - until the spread of the Roman Empire (from 700s BC)."- M. Sullivan (1995), Celtic Music for a 'New World Paradigm
"The Kelts are the spiritual heirs of the Roman empire more truly even than the Italians or the Romaic Greeks. Nearly every Keltic tribe in central and western Europe fell under Roman rule…. One land alone remained Keltic and not Roman. Far out in the western ocean, cut off from European influence not only by the sea but also by the wild highlands of western Britain, Ireland remained untouched and independent throughout the four centuries of Roman imperial rule over Britain, Spain, and Gaul. It was not till after the fall of the empire in the west that Ireland came to influence the religion and the art of the continent. That development is so remarkable and its results so far-reaching that it deserves all attention. ... I propose in the following pages to sketch the relations, such as they were, between Ireland and the empire while the empire was still strong in the west." – F.J. Haverfield (1913), Ancient Rome and Ireland, English Historical Review, Vol. 28 (1913), pp. 1-12
Comparative history
The "Bronze Age" of Copper & Tin smelting began as early as 6000 BCE across the Middle East, ending around 1200 BCE with cultural collapse following a series of natural catastrophes across the world, leading to the emergence of the Iron Age (1200-600BCE), with agricultural intensification and ongoing climate changes across the first millennium BCE.
People lived up to 40 years of age 5,000 years ago
“The mound is believed to be the first urbanization structure of 5,000 years ago in Anatolia. … the examinations on the skeletons revealed that people lived to 40 years of age 5,000 years ago. “The life expectancy of the Early Bronze Age and its contemporaries is around 35-40 years. Infant and child mortality is very high. The limited food sources and the infectious diseases were important factors,” - Anthropology Professor Yilmaz Selim Erdal, Hacettepe University, Daily News, Sept. 2, 2021
"...Although land use has always sustained human societies, its ecological consequences are diverse and sometimes opposing, both degrading and enriching soils, shrinking wild habitats and shaping novel ones, causing extinctions of some species while propagating and domesticating others, and both emitting and absorbing the greenhouse gases that cause global climate change..." - E. C. Ellis (2021), Land Use and Ecological Change: A 12,000-Year History.
"In many places an old and complex society did, after all, come to an end ca. 1200 B.C. In the Aegean, the palace-centered world that we call Mycenaean Greece disappeared: although some of its glories were remembered by the bards of the Dark Age, it was otherwise forgotten until archaeologists dug it up.... Altogether the end of the Bronze Age was arguably the worst disaster in ancient history, even more calamitous than the collapse of the western Roman Empire." - Robert Drews (1993), The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C.
Who were the people of Stonehenge?
Curators’ Tour of The World of Stonehenge
The image of Stonehenge is so iconic that if you were to close your eyes right now, you'd likely have a pretty accurate image of the monument in your mind. However, if you were asked to imagine the people who built and lived with the monument, you'd probably struggle a little more.
So to help with that, curators Jennifer Wexler and Neil Wilkin have decided to take you on a tour of their British Museum exhibition The world of Stonehenge, to introduce some of incredible people that built and lived around the time of the monument. . .
'Common Celtic' language separated from Indo-European roots as far back as 5000 BCE. Today, this cultural group name has come to represent ‘ancient’ cultural memory shared by peoples on the Western rim of Europe and the Atlantic islands long before the establishment of the Roman Empire. (See Foras na Gaeilge, 1999)
"Why Irish? Because it is a language like any other. Because, as such, it represents one valuable strand in a rapidly thinning and unravelling network of cultural and intellectual resources available to humankind. Because, in addition to that, it represents one of the most interesting and successful language revitalization projects so far undertaken, and there is therefore much to be learned from its recent history … but the one thing that is very clear is that it will take us to some interesting, important, and at present unexplored, place. It will be a place in which there will be a great deal to learn and a great deal to enjoy."
- James McCloskey, 2006, p. 16.
"The Gallic Sack of Rome"
Celtic history is a model for those exploring cultural transition, through loss of ancient and complex cultural heritage to reclamation of language, music, arts, philosophy. Key reference: The Natural History of Ireland (Book One, Zoilomastix, 1625), O'Sullivan-Beare, 1625/2009
We now know that the ancient "Celts" had developed a rich and sophisticated tribal culture which operated under a decentralised government system, united intertribally with shared language and philosophy based on diplomatic traditions,
diplomatic rules strictly followed from the 8th century BC by all 'European' tribal communities - until "The Gallic Sack of Rome" when the Romans broke those laws in July of 387 BC: "The sack of Rome would be long remembered by Romans, and would finally be avenged 3 1/2 centuries later with Caesar's conquest of Gaul" giving rise to centuries of 'unrest' leading to counter-productive 'dogmatic' moral codes and unsustainable economic policies.
"The law of nations is the law of sovereigns: free and independent states are moral persons, ... The primary duties of states were, first, to preserve and perfect themselves, and, second, to assist each other in fulfilling those duties each state owed to itself. States should 'cultivate human society, primarily through trade, as long as the development of commerce did not conflict with their primary duties to themselves. ...A real friendship will be seen to reign among them; and this happy state consists in a mutual affection."
– The Law of Nations, (1758)(pdf), by Emer de Vattel, (1714-1767)
Dates vary depending on regions, especially due to environmental and climate change, rebellions and invasions leading to mass migration.
1. The Stone Age lasted for roughly 3.4 million years until the 6,000 BCE to 2,000 BCE advent of metalworking.
2. Bronze Age - 3300 BCE - 1200 BCE.
3. The Dark Age - Iron Age - 1200 BCE - 600 CE. "The Iron Age contrasted with the grandeur and prosperity of the Bronze Age."- J.J.Mark, 2019, World History Encyclopedia
iii. Hibernia Wikipedia: Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for Ireland. ... During his exploration of northwest Europe (c. 320 BCE), Pytheas of Massalia called the island Iérne. ... The Roman historian Tacitus, in his book Agricola (c. 98 AD), uses the name Hibernia. >>>more
iv. 140 AD, Ptolemy's Map of Ireland:
Greco-Egyptian polymath Claudius Ptolemy (roughly AD 100–170), the controversial astronomer who reinforced the idea that Earth was at the centre of the universe,
created the first known map of Ireland, round 140 AD, in the form of a set of coordinates showing various geographical features.
“Women were by no means excluded from positions of authority.”
- Cornelius Tacitus (c.AD56-117), Agricola, 98AD
According to legend, the Milesians negotiated terms of settlement with three Tuatha Dé Danann queens, three sisters - "goddesses of sovereignty" - Ériu, Banba, and Fódla, who, according to legends, were wooed by the Celtiberian Milesian druid, poet-prince Amergin's invocation: "I am the wind that blows across the Sea;... I am the wave of the ocean;... I am the murmer of the billows;... I am a ray of the sun;... I am the fairest of flowers;... I am the god who creates in the head of man the Fire of Thought."
On 28 September 2020,RTÉ featured a 'decoding':
"The Song of Amergin is a powerful litany of short lyrical phrases that somehow convey a sense of the mystical and cosmic couched in simple everyday images of the natural world. And the legend which accompanies The Song of Amergin only adds to the mystery and pleasure."
This was the first of many battles lost by the Tuatha Dé Danann:
"And the leaders, the sons of Miled, divided the provinces of Ireland between them." Diplomatic accord was reached in an alliance for peaceful co-habitation, honouring traditional indigenous sovereignty with the Land, when the Milesians agreed to name three divisions of the island after the three sisters, Ériu, Banba, and Fódla. Eventually, Eriu came to represent the whole of Ireland - Éire.
Part 1 Book III: The Landing
Excerpt
IT is not known, now, for what length of time the Tuatha de Danaan had the sway over Ireland, and it is likely it was a long time they had it, but they were put from it at last.
…
But when the Tuatha de Danaan saw the ships coming, they flocked to the shore, and by their enchantments they cast such a cloud over the whole island that the sons of Miled were confused, ...
And the names of those three queens were often given to Ireland in the after time.
The Sons of the Gael went on after that to Teamhair, where the three sons of Cermait Honey-Mouth, son of the Dagda, that had the kingship between them at that time held their court. And these three were quarrelling with one another about the division of the treasures their father had left, and the quarrel was so hot it seemed likely it would come to a battle in the end.
And the Sons of the Gael wondered to see them quarrelling about such things, and they having so fruitful an island, where the air was so wholesome, and the sun not too strong, or the cold too bitter, and where there was such a plenty of honey and acorns, and of milk, and of fish, and of corn, and room enough for them all.
Great grandeur they were living in, and their Druids about them, …
"That they that are tossing in the great wide food-giving sea may reach now to the land.
"That they may find a place upon its plains, its mountains, and its valleys; in its forests that are full of nuts and of all fruits; on its rivers and its streams, on its lakes and its great waters.
That we may have our gatherings and our races in this land; that there may be a king of our own in Teamhair; that it may be the possession of our many kings.
"That the sons of Miled may be seen in this land, that their ships and their boats may find a place there.
"This land that is now under darkness, it is for it we are asking; let our chief men, let their learned wives, ask that we may come to the noble woman, great Eriu."
After he had said this, the wind went down and the sea was quiet again on the moment.
And those that were left of the sons of Miled and of the Sons of the Gael landed then at Inver Sceine.
And Amergin was the first to put his foot on land, and when he stood on the shore of Ireland, it is what he said:
I am the wind on the sea;
I am the wave of the sea;
I am the bull of seven battles;
I am the eagle on the rock
I am a flash from the sun;
I am the most beautiful of plants;
I am a strong wild boar;
I am a salmon in the water;
I am a lake in the plain;
I am the word of knowledge;
I am the head of the spear in battle;
I am the god that puts fire in the head;
Who spreads light in the gathering on the hills?
Who can tell the ages of the moon?
Who can tell the place where the sun rests?
AND three days after the landing of the Gael, they were attacked by Eriu, wife of MacGreine, Son of the Sun, and she having a good share of men with her. And they fought a hard battle, and many were killed on both sides. And this was the first battle fought between the Sons of the Gael and the Men of Dea for the kingship of Ireland.
I am the Wind that blows over the sea,
I am the Wave of the Ocean;
I am the Murmur of the billows;
l am the Ox of the Seven Combats;
l am the Vulture upon the rock;
I am a Ray of the Sun;
I am the fairest of Plants;
I am a Wild Boar in valour;
I am a Salmon in the Water;
I am a Lake in the plain;
l am the Craft of the artificer;
I am a Word of Science;
I am the Spear-point that gives battle;
I am the god that creates in the head of man the fire of thought.
Who is it that enlightens the assembly upon the mountain, if not I?
Who telleth the ages of the moon, if not I?
Who showeth the place where the sun goes to rest, if not I?"
De Jubainville, whose translation I have in the main followed, observes upon this strange utterance:
"There is a lack of order in this composition, the ideas, fundamental and subordinate, are jumbled together without method; but there is no doubt as to the meaning: the filé [poet] is the Word of Science, he is the god who gives to man the fire of thought; and as science is not distinct from its object, as God and Nature are but one, the being of the filé is mingled with the winds and the waves, with the wild animals and the warrior's arms."
["Irish Mythological Cycle," p. 138]
Two other poems are attributed to Amergin, in which he invokes the land and physical features of Ireland to aid him:
"I invoke the land of Ireland,
Shining, shining sea,
Fertile, fertile Mountain;
Gladed, gladed wood !
Abundant river, abundant in water !
Fish-abounding lake!"
Druids - ‘those whose knowledge is very great’ Back to top
The Druids, male and female, incorporated all professions:
Bards - musicians
Filid - poets
Ovates - seers
Brehons - lawyers
"Ancient Celtic bards were famous for the sheer quantity of information they could memorise. This included thousands of songs, stories, chants and poems that could take hours to recite in full. ... In oral cultures, knowledge is power. It is imperative that the most important knowledge be maintained and preserved by a few select custodians who have proven their worth..."
– Duane W. Hamacher, 2016, The Memory Code: how oral cultures memorise so much information
Traditional Druidic "Celtic" cultures defined 'Truth seekers' as the highest order of scholars, gathering and sharing wisdom and knowledge across the liberal, performing and visual arts: tradition-bearers, scholars, philosophers, lorekeepers, musicians, poets, healers, lawmakers, political advisors;
Bardic tradition
Stone monuments such as Newgrange pre-date Egyptian monuments, and attest to over 10,000 years of settlement in Ireland:
To determine who Ireland's ancestors were, one must study their myths and legends as carefully as we study their monuments.
Up until the seventeenth century, unlike the rest of Europe and England, Ireland's Bardic schools had an educational tradition outside the monastic and ecclesiastical schools, which turned out poets, historians, lawyers, doctors, etc. Legends speak of these schools reaching back, before the first millennium BCE, to ancient Druidic schools throughout the Celtic world. European Celtic libraries were destroyed during the expansion of the Roman Empire and, much later in Ireland, under the British Empire.
The Druids, (1966), by Nora K. Chadwick: "Chadwick’s concise survey is the essential starting point for any serious student of ancient druidisn... one of the most fundamental modern discussions of the druids to be written in English.' Archaeologia Cambrensis' ...presents a fine classic study." - Source: University of Wales Press
Summary: The druids were the most enlightened and civilizing spiritual influence in Celtic Europe and were held in high regard as priests, philosophers, teachers and judges. Nora Chadwick’s book examines and assesses the early written evidence of the Greeks and Romans and considers the druids within their historical context.
The institution of druidism captured the imagination of the ancient classical world. Its appeal has continued to this day. Significant developments in the field during the last thirty years are discussed by Anne Ross in this revised edition, which also includes a map of the major known druidic sites and centres in Europe.
“... the origin of the word druid is disputed. Most linguists have regarded it as cognate with the Greek, as, indeed, did the Elder Pliney ... 'an oak' ... other Celtic linguists have derived the root of the word from *Spv-, which they regard as an intensive particle, and the second element from the root *wid- ‘to know’, interpreting the word druid as meaning ‘those whose knowledge is very great’. ... the ‘oak’ etymology, and this seems now to be the general tendency, at least as regards the prefix. Opinion still differs, however, as to whether the final syllable is merely the common Celtic dental stem - id, or whether it may possibly be derived from the toor *wid- ‘to know’, the derivation being perhaps ‘those familiar with the oak’.” – Nora Chadwick (1966) The Druids, University of Wales Press, pp. 12-13
'Things Celtic’ go to the heart of Peter Berresford Ellis "Before A history of the Irish working class, Hell or Connaught! The Cromwellian colonisation of Ireland (1975) and The Boyne Water (1976), Peter Berresford Ellis had published books on the histories of Wales and Scotland. In more recent years his historical work has focused on the ancient Celtic peoples—ancestors of the Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Manx, Scots and Bretons—although he is careful to point out that he considers these as belonging to a linguistic, rather than some bogus ‘racial’, category. As the Coventry-born son of a Cork journalist who made most of his career in England, and of an English mother whose own mother was Breton, how could he not, he muses, have become interested in things Celtic? ‘Things Celtic’ go to the heart of Berresford Ellis’s political beliefs: his book The Celtic revolution (1985) is subtitled A study in anti-imperialism..."- History Ireland
Did the ancient Celts really exist?
– Peter Berresford Ellis, The Independent, January 5, 1999
Excerpt: "There is now a new school of historical theorists arguing that the Celts never existed. . . From the commencement of Celtic Studies, the Celts have been identified purely as a linguistic group; a branch of the Indo-European family, like the Germanic Romance, Slavonic, Iranian and other linguistic groups. Celtic is a term used to identify peoples who spoke a particular language which had developed away from its Indo-European parent probably two millennia BC and which had already developed into several dialects by the time they emerged into recorded history. There was certainly no single "Celtic nation" but several Celtic peoples, with a visually brilliant culture, a high-tech one from which the Romans borrowed much - albeit ungraciously. Had the ancient Celts not existed then European culture would have been drastically the poorer."
The Druids, 1995, page 180,
P. B. Ellis states, "Puns and riddles were much in evidence in the Insular Celtic literature, as, indeed, riddles play an important part in many ancient cultures. Classical writers, sometimes in perplexity, speak of the Druids teaching by way of riddles. We hear of a contest between Marhán, ‘chief prophet of heaven and earth’, and Dael Duiled, chief ollamh of Leinster. From the story of ‘The Wandering of Ailbe’ several riddles are recorded.
What is sweeter than mead? - Intimate conversation.
What is blacker than the raven? - Death
What is whiter than snow? - Truth
What is swifter than the wind? - Thought
What is sharper than the sword? - Understanding
What is lighter than a spark? - The mind of a woman between two men."
P. B. Ellis takes the discussion further - on pages 186 to 188:
A British Celtic bishop Fastidius, writing De Vita Christiana (The Christian Life) about AD 411, also argued:
’Do you think yourself Christian if you oppress the poor? … If you enrich yourself by making others poor? If you wring your food from others’ tears? A Christian is a man who … never allows a poor man to be oppressed when he is by … whose doors are open to all, whose table every poor man knows, whose food is offered to all.'
These were the teachings which caused such concern to the orthodoxy of Rome and still, in spite of the philosophical revisionism of the Church away from the predestination arguments of Augustine, cause Pelagius to be regarded as a heretic.
It is, I believe, a supportable argument that Pelagius had not evolved a new philosophy but was a representative of Celtic culture whose philosophy was already established before Christianity by none other than the Druids and what Rome saw as the teachings of Pelagius winning coverts in Ireland and Britain was none other than the Celts abiding by their own social and cultural order. They were especially worried when Ireland began to export its philosophers during the so-called ‘Dark Ages’. As Heiric of Auxerre (c.AD 876) observed ‘Ireland, despising the dangers of the sea, is migrating almost en masse with her crowd of philosophers to our shores…’
I certainly do not think it is a coincidence that when Eriugena (which means Irish born) wrote his first known treaties in AD 840, De Praedestinatione, he embarrassed his sponsors who claimed that it appeared to revive certain aspects of Pelagianism. This was seen as Eriugena’s refutation of the work of the Saxon monk, poet and philosopher, Gottschalk of Orbais (c.AD 803-869). Gottschalk in his own De Praedestinatione had reaffirmed some teachings of Augustine, that Christ’s powers of redemption were limited and only the elect would be chosen for paradise, and that who was chosen was already predestined. In denying this predestination, Eriugena’s work was condemned by two synods, in AD 855 and 859. It is also significant that in Periphyseon, or the Division of Nature (written c.AD 864-866), Eriugena felt more at home quoting Greek or Eastern Orthodox Christian philosophers than with Western (Roman) philosophers. The Greek Christian Fathers, as we have seen, were more compatible in their thinking with the Celtic Church than with Roman Church Fathers. For Eriugena, as for Pelagius, reason is by nature superior to authority and has greater dignity. Any authority is weak unless it can be supported by reason, by a logic founded in truth, in which case does not require the support of authority. Eriugena seems to be echoing the Druids aphorism: 'The truth against the world!'
Eriugena was not condemned by Rome and is still considered as the most considerable philosopher in the Western world between Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas. Bertrand Russell, in A History of Western Philosophy (1946) sums up his analysis of Eriugena by saying ‘his independence of mind … is astonishing in the ninth century.'
’His neoplatonic outlook may perhaps have been common in Ireland, as it was among the Greek Fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries. It may be that, if we knew more about Irish Christianity from the fifth to the ninth century, we would find him less surprising…'
Alas, Russell had little of the tremendous wealth of Irish sources for this period and he still writes with the unfortunate, prejudiced view of an Englishman who sees little of worth among the Celts. He works out a theory that during the Dark Ages European scholars went to Ireland to escape the Huns, Goths and Visigoths, taught there and this was why Ireland became a centre of learning. This is a perverse way of looking at things. It ignores the facts of history. Students from Europe flocked to the long established colleges of learning in Ireland to study under Irish professors. There is no record of foreign scholars in Ireland during this period except as students. Irish teachers and missionaries were also leaving Ireland during this time to establish churches, monasteries and centres of learning…
European healing traditions lost during the 13th to 18th century so-called "witch hunts" are being restored: The Irish School of Herbal Medicine, which was founded in 2000 in Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland, ". . . focuses on the use of organic, plant based and living food programmes, herbal medicines, and environmental and lifestyle awareness. ... to facilitate the rebirth of western herbalism as it was practiced in a time when people lived more in harmony with the natural environment.">>> more
Excerpt:
The Roman, Marcus Tullius Cicero, once wrote that to be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. I continually feel like a child, for I have discovered, in the maturity of my years, that the more I discover about Irish history the less I appear to know. The discovery of a gem here and another there leads one into all sorts of historical wonderlands.
We ought to have a better understanding of the old Gaelic monarchy and its social system, and not merely echo the prejudices of the Anglicised and English historians
I was amazed back in 1967 when I learned, following the murder of `Che' Guevara in Bolivia, that his full name was Ernesto Guevara Lynch, `Che' being a nickname for an Argentinean. Later I came in contact with Che's father, Ernest Lynch, and found that Che had not only been aware of his County Cork family background but he was deeply fascinated by the history of Ireland.
That discovery sparked off an interest in what I feel is a very neglected area of Irish studies in the Americas.
. . .
People seem to prefer to believe in myths than reality. One obvious area where we have come along in leaps and bounds has been in the field of women's studies. Yet for all the studies made on the history of women in Ireland, I have seen no author who has mentioned nor come to grips with the Ban-shenchus - the History of Women. The Ban-shenchus is a record of the lives of hundreds of Irish women who lived prior to the 12th Century.
We have seven surviving copies of this book. One ends with mention of Gormflaith, who died in 1030. She was a Leinster princess who became the wife of Brían Bóroimhe, also mother of Sitric, King of Dublin. Another version ends with the story of the famous Der bhForgaill who died in 1193, the wife of Tighernán O Ruairc, King of Breifne, who eloped with Diarmuid Mac Murrough, King of Leinster, and after a life which would have been a godsend to most Hollywood scriptwriters, ended her days in holy orders at Clonmacnoise.
Just how much do we know about Irish myths and legends? Ah well, you might say, that is a field that has been exhaustively ploughed. But how much of these are actually studies of manuscript remains or merely reworkings of previously published secondary sources?
Back in 1900, Professor Kuno Meyer, in his introduction to a translation and study on one of the Irish stories, listed 400 sagas and tales surviving in manuscript form. he added that since he had compiled the list a further 100 tales had been identified but not catalogued, while a further 150 tales he believed could still lie undiscovered in libraries throughout Europe. Our knowledge of Irish myths is based on the translation and annotation of only 150 of 650. Since the modern Irish state has come into being, hardly any further work had been done in editing and translating the remaining 400-500 manuscripts.
How many have read the Caithreim Cheallachain Chaisil (The Battle-Career of Ceallachain of Cashel)?
This lengthy manuscript is the story of Cellachain, King of Munster, who died in AD 954, who, 60 years before Brían Bóroimhe at Clontarf, broke the Danish domination within his own Kingdom. Cellachain was one of the most interesting of Munster kings. In fact, Cormac III, King of Munster, commissioned the book sometime between 1127 and 1138. It was written in Cashel and the earliest surviving copy is in the Royal Irish Academy.
There it lay. And I only stumbled across it because in 1905 Professor Alexander Bugge, at the University of Christiana, in Denmark, went to the trouble of translating the entire saga, not into his native Danish, but into English.
Now here is a work that is not merely a saga of deeds of derring do, breaking from prose into poetry, but a work which is a view of history written less than two centuries after the events recorded. Why has no Irish scholar ever bothered with it? Why has no storyteller come to grips with the saga in which we find murder plots as well as battles and intriguing characters, such as the Lady Mór who is in love with Ceallachain but captured by the Danes.
While this might be a field that a Danish plough has touched, it still lies pretty fallow.
Another field that is untouched is the extensive collection of Irish medical manuscripts. Before the turn of the 19th Century, the Irish language contained the world's most extensive collection of medical literature in any one language. Just think about that fact. The great medieval Irish medical books are scattered in many repositories. These books survive from the 13th and 16th Centuries.
One would have thought that within the modern vogue for alternative medicine, these books would be examined by scholars and students producing their countless works on the ancient medicines of the world and medical histories. They are not.
There are many Irish medical works that are not even catalogued. From the time of Charlemagne, Irish medical men have spread through Europe. Niall O Clacán (c. 1501-1655) trained in medicine in the old Gaelic tradition and became not only physician to Louis XIII of France but Professor of Medicine at Toulouse and Bologna, writing some of the leading medical works of his day, such as Cursus Medicus. The University of Bologna, where he taught, holds several Irish manuscripts and even printed books from his personal library. ... Until we can rescue all of the material that has been neglected in these European repositories, covering over 1,000 years of Irish history, we will only have glimpses of Irish historical reality and never a total picture. >>> more
From 5th century AD, the influence of the Druid, Pelagius (390-418 AD),
is ongoing, following the foundation (from AD 306 to 337) of Roman Emperor Constantine's Roman Catholic Church: The Pelagian argument Free Will vs Original Sin
With the 15c invention of the printing press, translations of Classical texts became more widely available –including the Bible and the writings of Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), "Father of the Roman Catholic Church", whose writings spurred the revival of the "Pelagianism controversy" from the first two hundred years of RCC establishment: "Augustine’s impact on the Middle Ages cannot be overestimated."
British Druidic Celtic scholar Pelagius is chiefly remembered for defending the role of Law in cultivating "personal sovereignty" as the key to the exercise of "Free Will" while Augustine of Hippo promoted the Manichaean doctrine - the belief that all people are predestined to commit sin as a consequence of Original Sin.
See Pier Franco Beatrice, (2013), The Transmission of Sin: Augustine and the Pre-Augustinian Sources.
Pelagius argued that through the exercise of free will, where people's choices were their own, people could be free of sin.
Pelagius is remembered for his insistence on an individuals' capacity to exercise "Free Will" in taking personal responsibility for decisions and choices in the knowledge that we will be held accountable for our choices.
In Pelagius, a Reluctant Heretic, 1988, Brinley R. Rees argued that our actual inheritance from Adam's Original Sin is an example of how misuse of Free Will creates misfortune.
Gallic monks supporting Pelagius’ views were branded "Semi-Pelagians" and finally condemned at the Synod of Orange in 529 which accepted Augustine's theology of Original Sin, thus diverging from the Patristic Tradition. (Augustine was declared a saint in 1298.)
The 'controversy' remained unresolved after the Synod of Whitby (644 AD), bringing an end to the practice of Celtic Christianity. "The Celtic church was considered riddled with 'Pelagian heresy' almost to the end of its days." – P. B. Ellis, The Druids, 1995, p. 184
A letter from Pelagius (AD 413)seems relevant as an example of Druidic satire of the highest order at a turning point in history when 'The Law' was used to enforce a new form of 'order' on the Western edges of the world.
A letter from Pelagius (AD 413)
Excerpt:
Sender - Pelagius
Receiver - Demetrias
Translated letter:
1, 1. Even if I could claim to possess natural talent of a high quality and an equally high degree of artistic skill and believed myself for that reason to be capable of fulfilling with ease the obligation of writing, I would still not be able to enter upon this arduous task without considerable fear of the difficulties involved. It is to Demetrias that I have to write, that virgin of Christ who is both noble and rich and, which is more important, spurns both nobility and riches; assuredly it is as difficult for me to instruct her as it is easy for all to praise her out of admiration for her outstanding virtue. Who could possibly lack words to sing the praises of one who, though born in the highest station, brought up in the height of wealth and luxury, held fast by the strength and variety of this life's delights as if in the grip of the most tenacious of fetters, suddenly broke free and exchanged all her bodily goods simultaneously for goodness of the soul? . . .
. . .
2, 1. Whenever I have to speak on the subject of moral instruction and the conduct of a holy life, it is my practice first to demonstrate the power and quality of human nature and to show what it is capable of achieving, and then to go on to encourage the mind of my listener to consider the idea of different kinds of virtues, in case it may be of little or no profit to him to be summoned to pursue ends which he has perhaps assumed hitherto to be beyond his reach; for we can never enter upon the path of virtue unless we have hope as our guide and companion and if every effort expended in seeking something is nullified in effect by despair of ever finding it. . . . >>>more
Brehon Law - Brehons / Brithemz - aka Fénechas and practitioners Back to top
From the fifth to nineth century European "Dark Ages" Irish “saints and scholars” flocked to the Continent to establish teaching monasteries, reputedly “saving civilization”(Kevin Cahill, 1996) by transcribing and teaching Classic Greek literature.
Druids surround themselves with qualified experts in LAW.
Traditional Druidic laws, which were handed down orally, were first written with Ogham Irish, 600-900: Old Irish, 900-1200: Middle Irish, 1200-1650: Early Modern Irish.
“In Ireland a judge was called a brehon, whence the native Irish law is commonly known as the “Brehon Law”: but its proper designation is Fénechas, i.e. the law of the Féine or Féne, or free land-tillers. The Brehons had absolutely in their hands the interpretation of the laws and the applications of them to individual cases.” – Source: Library Ireland, CH. 5
John Scotus Eriugena (800-877AD)
Irish Neoplatonist philosopher, a monk and a poet of the Early Middle Ages, best known for De Divisione Naturae ("The Division of Nature"), or Periphyseon, described by George B. Burch, in Early Medieval Philosophy, Kings Crown Press (1951) as the "final achievement" of ancient philosophy, a work which "synthesizes the philosophical accomplishments of fifteen centuries":
Eriugena, Periphyseon (The Division of Nature)
Translated by I.P. Sheldon-Williams, Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies
Revised by John J. O’Meara, 1987, University of Montreal PDF: Internet Archive
Excerpt:
1 Introduction
Eriugena, as he is now called, was a philosopher born in Ireland early in the ninth century. For a long time he was known as John Scotus Erigena, a name given to him by Archbishop Ussher of Dublin in 1632. This latter title, however, is pleonastic (for both “Scotus” in the ninth century and “Erigena” effectively mean “born in Ireland”), and has given rise to confusing him with John Duns Scotus, who, also a philosopher, was born in Scotland in the thirteenth century. Ireland in the ninth century was a rural society where monasteries, sometimes with schools attached, were prominent settlements. These schools were famous for learning, although the level of that learning, and if it contained much of the secular literature of Greek and Rome, are still subjects of debate. What is clear is that Irish scholars from these schools were most conspicuous among those on the Continent in the ninth century who knew Greek. From one of these schools probably, Eriugena made his way to Francia, the kingdom of Charles the Bald (823-877). That kingdom in 843 corresponded with the France of to-day to the exclusion, however, of Brittany and all territory east of a line going roughly from Ostend to Marseilles : hence it can be referred to in a general way as France. It is sometimes suggested that Eriugena fled from the Vikings, who by the middle of the ninth century had begun to intensify their raids on Ireland and had plundered several important monasteries. At the same time one must note that there had been a long tradition of peregrination from Ireland, and that Charles the Bald offered inducements to scholars who would work in his kingdom. At any rate Eriugena appears to have gone to France about 848.
Charles the Bald, grandson of Charlemagne, had become king in 840 and at the time of Eriugena’s coming presided over what is sometimes called the Second Carolingian Renaissance. The great centres of culture were concentrated within his realm — Saint-Vaast, Saint-Riquier, Saint-Amand, Corbie, SaintDenis, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Saint-Germain-d’Auxerre : these were then more active than even Saint-Gall, Reichenau or Fulda. The king himself had had a good formation in letters, greatly admired the monastic life, loved and made an important collection of books, and was known as the “philosopher king” because of his interest in philosophy and efforts to promote its study, especially within a theological context. In particular, Charles had a positive interest in things Greek : he loved Greek pomp in the liturgy and was pleased to be addressed in Greek terms — anax, archos, autokrator, kurios, monarchos, agathos, orthodoxos, and so on. An interesting question arises as to whether Eriugena stimulated this interest in things Greek in him, or his interest in Eriugena arose because the latter was capable of translating Greek. It is clear in any case that when Eriugena gravitated in due course to Charles’ court, he knew he would find there an atmosphere congenial to his intellectual interests. Nor was his interest in Art uncatered for: there is evidence of the existence at the court of a “Hofschule”, an atelier for the production of richly — decorated books for Charles’ personal use.
There may be traces of Eriugena’s sojourn on the Continent before he joined Charles at what is known as the Palace School. It is thought that he may have been at Schuttern in the diocese of Strasbourg. There is stronger reason to suggest that he was associated with Reims. Eriugena finally emerges clearly into history in 851 or so as a member of the Palace school of Charles. Since Charles’ court was itinerant, there is considerable difficulty in associating it with one place ; but most scholars are agreed that the school is to be associated with Laon, Quierzy or Compïègne, all to the north-east of Paris. This school had also relations with the Cathedral school of Laon where Irish scholars were prominent. At the Palace School, then, Eriugena took up his career, first as a teacher of the liberal arts. It is not to be assumed that he was then — or indeed at any time — a cleric. >>>more
"The corpus of bardic poetry that has survived the collapse of the Gaelic order consists of some two thousand poems . . . Medieval and early modern Ireland was a divided polity where Gaelic lordships existed alongside the palatinate territories of Anglo-Irish lords, and where a gradation of 'Gaelicisation' penetrated deep into the latter territories. This resulted in a mixed culture that appreciated - and used - Gaelic concepts of law, kinship and literature. In Gaelic regions, it was the secular hereditary bardic families that ran schools of history and poetry and sought the patronage of the ruling lineages. In a society where lineage and status were important qualifiers for land and power, the preoccupation with poetry crafted to assert one's lineage rights over subordinate vassal-septs was an important reason why patronage of bardic families was an essential requisite of any ambitious Gaelic lord." >>>more
History of Law in Ireland The Courts Service is an independent State Agency established by the Courts Service Act, 1998, to manage the courts and support the judiciary.
Excerpts:
The end of the Brehon Law's authority was signalled by the Proclamation of King James I in 1603, which received the Irish people into the King's protection. The country was subsequently divided into counties and English law was administered throughout the country.
...
Brehon law was administered by Brehons (or brithem), the successors to Celtic druids and while similar to judges; their role was closer to that of an arbitrator. Their task was to preserve and interpret the law rather than to expand it.
In many respects Brehon law was quite progressive. It recognised divorce and equal rights between the genders and also showed concern for the environment. In criminal law, offences and penalties were defined in great detail. Restitution rather than punishment was prescribed for wrongdoing. Cases of homicide or bodily injury were punishable by means of the eric fine, the exact amount determined by a scale. Capital punishment was not among the range of penalties available to the Brehons. The absence of either a court system or a police force suggests that people had strong respect for the law. >>>more
"a whole new slant on life in pre-modern Ireland."
“The king or ruling chief was always elected from members of one fine or family, bearing the same surname (when surnames came into use); but the succession was not hereditary in the present sense of the word; it was elective, with the above limitation of being confined to one family. Any freeborn member of the family was eligible: the successor might be son, brother, nephew, cousin, &c., of the chief. That member was chosen who was considered best able to lead in war and govern in peace; and of course he should be of full age. Two essential conditions are expressly laid down: – that he should be free from all personal deformities or blemishes likely to impair his efficiency as a leader, or to lessen the respect of the people for him: and that both his father and grandfather had been flaiths or nobles.” – P.W. Joyce, 1903, (available on archive.org)
"The Druids avoided all writing, their teachings being conveyed in innumerable verses. This mnemonic method was to be found in these laws, which had poetry in every line." - Dr. Eoin MacNeill, Irish Times, 2nd July, 1934
On 2th of July, 1934, The Irish Times reported on a lecture Dr. Eoin MacNeill, Professor of Irish History, University College, Dublin. (download pdf HERE)
Excerpt: Professor MacNeill, opening his lecture, stressed the necessity of the study of history of a “liberating” imagination, to detach the student from the circumstances of his own time. The Brehon Laws, he continued, were committed to writing between the years A.D. 650 and 750, and belong to the earliest period of Irish manuscript writing, while the language is highly technical. As in our statutes nowadays, some of the words were antiquated, even when they were written down, and these had to be interpreted under great difficulties, with the aid of ancient “glosses.” Taking that into consideration, it had to be agreed that the work of O’Currie and O’Donovan, the translators, was stupendous.
INACCURACIES
It was utterly impossible, however, that their work should be accurate. Some of the inaccuracies were very serious, and had misled those who came after. Not one of the editors who followed them was competent to revise their translations.
The laws were adapted by jurists of the different periods to suit the conditions of their times, by glosses and commentaries, written on the manuscripts, so that there was a sort of continuous legislation. A curious aspect of this was that those jurists all seemed to be able to reach agreement.
Before A.D. 650 there was no Irish writing, Professor MacNeill proceeded, adding that, although that statement might be challenged, he made it with a full sense of the responsibility:
The Druids avoided all writing, their teachings being conveyed in innumerable verses. This mnemonic method was to be found in these laws, which had poetry in every line.
Remarking that only the other day he read a statement by someone —who was evidently an enthusiastic young man-hoping that the Brehon laws would be put into operation again to=day. Dr. MacNeill said that if that young man were to wake up and find the Brehon Laws in force throughout the length and breadth of Ireland he would get the surprise of his life. These were the laws of an aristocratic community, of a limited class, the freemen of the land. One section dealt with offences against property. Restitution for the damage done was, of course, an element of the legal remedy, but the law demanded also restitution for the dishonour done to the dignity of property, just as a man who struck another now had to pay not only for the damage done to the person, but for the damage done to his honour. Tor this payment, they placed a universal minimum of two milch code.
“I think no other body of ancient laws in Europe - I know nothing about those of China- gives you an insight in such extra-ordinary setail into the life of the people they concerned.” said the lecturer. He went on to point out that they did not picture a golden age or a perfect human society, and that they contained many things that nobody would like to see revived to-day. On the other hand, they did show a highly-advanced and developed culture.
Dr. Binchey, he added -“our coming greatest authority on these laws” - agreed with him that the technical language of them was extraordinary careful and accurate to a degree which had not been equalled since the Greek philosophers.
At the time of the Norse invasions, he thought, there began a decadence in the threatment not only of these laws by the jurists, but in the social framework to which they laws applied, and this possibly continued until the violent extinciton of Irish law about the year 1600. ... >>>more
Abstract
Prior to the adoption of common law in Ireland, a native legal system, known as Brehon law, had applied throughout the country. This legal system dated from Celtic times and was passed down orally from generation to generation. It was written down for the first time in the seventh century and survived until the seventeenth century when it was finally replaced by the common law. The Brehon law system was highly complex and sophisticated. Rights were accrued based on societal status and punishment / restitution was based on the status of the person against whom an offence was committed. The legal system was administered by judges but the legal system was essentially self-enforcing with no prisons or police force. This paper will describe the roots of the Brehon legal system and its primary actors and will compare it to the common law system. It will analyse its main facets and subjects and will trace its development through Irish history up until it was finally supplanted as the legal system of Ireland by the common law in the seventeenth century.
From 7th century BC, perhaps due to the lack of a centralized government structure, traditional European "Celtic" nations became vulnerable to the ambitions of emerging centralized Roman Empire. During the 5th century, BCE, the Celtiberian Milesians (what is now N.E. Spain), sought refuge in Ireland. Following 'peaceful settlement terms' with the three regional queens of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Ériu, Banba, and Fodla, an agreement was reached, to name the island after them. Ériu is the origin of the name Éire, while Banba and Fodla are referred to in poetic references to Ireland.
The Milesian Druid Amairgen is famed for his illumination of ancient Celtic philosophy:
"I am the wind that blows across the Sea;... I am the wave of the ocean;... I am the murmer of the billows;... I am a ray of the sun;... I am the fairest of flowers;... I am the god who creates in the head of man the Fire of Thought."
Patriarchal perspectives: The Mythological Cycles
The 11th century Lebor Gabála Érenn, 'The Book of the Taking of Ireland', also known as 'The Book of Invasions’, was regarded as authoritative until the 17th century.
According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, the island received seven clearly marked waves of settlement, ending several hundred years BC with the arrival of Galician/ Basque Celts, the Milesian "Sons of Mil" escaping Roman Empire expansion.
Mythical invasions:
1. The people of Cessair, a granddaughter of the Biblical Noah, arrived forty days before the Flood;
2. The Partholonians (who sailed to Ireland from Sicily three hundred years after the Flood, via Gothia, Anatolia, Greece, Sicily and Iberia, landing at Inber Scéne (identified with Kenmare in South Kerry), with five thousand men and four thousand women, who were killed by a plague hundred and twenty years later;
3. Thirty years after their extinction, the Nemedians (who came from the Caspian Sea), were attacked and in the end subjugated by the Fomoire, a warrior demons who had been subdued by the Partholonians. Eventually, they were wiped out by flood, and only thirty warriors managed to escape by ship, some of them reached Greece giving birth to the Fir Bolg, who returned two hundred and fifty years later to divide Ireland into five provinces.
4. The Fir Bolg;
5. The Fomorians (sea pirates from North Africa);
6. The Tuatha Dé Danaan (who came from "the Northern Isles" and built the great megalithic monuments);
7. The Milesians or Gaels (Celts who came from Galicia in Northern Spain).
Lebor Gabála Érenn
Lebor Gabála Érenn, the "Book of the Takings of Ireland" is a collection of poems and prose on the mythical origin of the Irish people, from the creation of the world through five successive waves of invasions, is considered to be pseudo-historical work compiled in the 11th century in over a dozen manuscripts:
I. From the Creation to the Dispersal of the Nations;
II. The Ancestors of the Gaedil;
III-VII. The successive invasions of Cessair, Partholón, Nemed, the Fir Bolg, and the Túatha Dé Danann;
VIII. The invasion of the sons of Míl, i.e. of the Gaedil;
IX. The Roll of the Kings before Christianity;
X. The Roll of the Kings after Christianity.
Three trustworthy overviews on the origins:
1. Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (1634)
On the documentation of modern Irish history, myth, and religion, the most celebrated is the 17c Irish historian and Catholic priest, Geoffrey Keating (1569-1644: His narrative history of Ireland,Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (1634) – literally 'Foundation of Knowledge on Ireland', translates as 'The History of Ireland':
"There are approximately thirty extant seventeenth-century copies of Foras feasa ar Éirinn in archival collections. One third of those pre-date 1650, indicating that scribes began very quickly to make copies of Keating’s work... These seventeenth-century manuscript copies of Foras feasa ar Éirinn are imperfect, but their imperfections are revealing...
A text-searchable digital edition of the Irish text and a full English translation is available online, as part of the CELT project at University College Cork (ucc.ie/celt). The digital edition is derived from the Irish Texts Society printed edition." >>>more
2.
The Royal Irish Academy, which was established in 1785 and granted a royal charter in 1786.
Excerpt
The ‘Book of Invasions’ (‘Leabhar Gabhála’) is not the name of a specific manuscript. Rather it is an origin legend of the Irish people that exists in many variant versions, in poetry and prose. The origins of the tradition can be traced to the seventh century, although the earliest surviving manuscripts are much later. The story was extensively reworked in verse form in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Over time, prose versions were derived from the poetry, and additional historical material was added. It was revised again in the seventeenth century by the team of historians known as the Four Masters. It continued to be accepted as a plausible story of the settlement of people on the island of Ireland long after that. >>>more
3. Critical analysis: Old Irish Online, Lesson 9
By Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel, Caren Esser, and Jonathan Slocum
The University of Texas at Austin, Linguistics Research Center
Excerpt:
The text selection for this lesson is taken from Lebor Gabála Érenn, 'The Book of the Taking of Ireland', in the edition of Stewart Macalister. Also known as 'The Book of Invasions', it is a collection of poems and prose relating the mythical origin of the Irish people and the history of Ireland through the successive waves of invasions. This fictitious, pseudo-historical work was compiled in the 11th century and exists in over a dozen manuscripts, representing five different recensions. The author is unknown, but the work can be regarded as the result of the efforts of the medieval Irish clerics to link pre-Christian history with Biblical accounts, so that we find elements of Christian literature beside old Irish lore, whose heroes are portrayed as historical persons of the remote past. This not withstanding, up to the 17th century Lebor Gabála Érenn was often regarded as authoritative by Irish annalists and historians.
Lebor Gabála Érenn begins with the creation of the world and continues with the history of Ireland down to the time of its compilation. In its present form, in all the principal redactions, the book falls into ten separate and independent sections:
I. From the Creation to the Dispersal of the Nations;
II. The Ancestors of the Gaedil;
III-VII. The successive invasions of Cessair, Partholón, Nemed, the Fir Bolg, and the Túatha Dé Danann;
VIII. The invasion of the sons of Míl, i.e. of the Gaedil;
IX. The Roll of the Kings before Christianity;
X. The Roll of the Kings after Christianity.
...
“From the group who managed to escape to Greece descended the Fir Bolg, who arrived twohundred and thirty years later, divided Ireland into five provinces and installed a king. From those Nemedians who had escaped to far North descended the Túatha Dé Danann, a people with magic powers who arrived thirty seven years after the former and defeated first the Fir Bolg and later the Fomoire, prior to being defeated themselves by the next and last invaders, the sons of Míl, at Tailtiu one hundred and fifty years later and subsequently retiring to live underground in the síde or fairy mounds. The newcomers had been living in Scythia and later in Egypt before going to Spain, from where the uncle of Míl, Íth, saw Ireland: enticed by her beauty, he decided to go and live there, but was killed soon after his arrival, and his death was avenged by the Milesians, who set out to conquer the island.” >>>more
Consequences of "The Great Harrying of the North”
Leaping ahead in time, in 1069, just three years after the Anglo-Norman French capture of England, William of Normandy, the Conqueror, launched the great “Harrying of the North” - the beginning of the “Highland Clearances” in Scotland, which nearly wiped out traditional Scottish culture.
English Colonialism began in Ireland, when Henry II introduced RCC politics along with major diocesan restructuring and reforms to Ireland.
Establishment of Henry II's rule in Ireland was, in fact, enabled, in 1169, by the Anglo-Norman Richard de Clare "Strongbow" (a. 1127–1176), earl of Pembroke and Strigoil:
Following ongoing challenges between the High King of Ireland, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair (Turlough O'Conor), and the king of Leinster, one of the four Provinces of Ireland, Diarmait Mac Murchada, in 1167, sought the aid of "Strongbow", offering his eldest daughter, Aoife, in marriage and the succession to lordship of Leinster, hence, Henry II was able to claim rule over S. E. Ireland.
Wikipedia history of Bunratty Castle files is well referenced.
This complex history, set in the 12th century, is vividly brought to life in Morgan Llywelyn (1992), Strongbow, The Story of Richard and Aoife.
English law - the "Quia Emptores Act" of 1290 AD.
Ireland remained to a great degree isolated from Europe until the end of the thirteenth century. 'Civilization' didn’t save the Irish when their ancient high culture succumbed to imperialist forces during the long war with England, which was intensified by the long post-Reformation war between England and the Roman Catholic Church.
During this European invasion, Irish and Scots were evacuated from their traditional lands, as forests were cut down to make way for plantations and estates of the English Ascendancy, justified by English law - the "Quia Emptores Act" of 1290 AD.
From the thirteenth century, in Ireland, traditional life was disrupted by continuous waves of conquest and suffering of a kind never before reported amongst their own peoples, but which had been par-for-the-course for Europeans under the ruthless expansion of the Roman Empire, and consolidated under the Inquisition.
"Laudabiliter - one of five justifications for the invasion of Ireland."
The first encroachment on Brehon law came in 1155, when King Henry II cited a likely forged Papal Bull, "the notorious Laudabiliter" (Duggan, 2005), issued during the reign of English Pope Adrian IV, (c. 1100--1159), as the basis of plans to conquer Ireland, aka the Anglo-Norman invasion, with the establishment of a lordship in Ireland by King Henry II of England, led by the Earl of Pembroke, Richard de Clare (Strongbow) in 1169.
The Papal Bull of 1155, Laudabiliter et satis, issued during the reign of Pope Adrian IV, (c. 1100--1159), was credited with being the basis for plans to conquer Ireland, aka the Anglo-Norman invasion. While researchers continue to examine this history, following his research on the The Bull "Laudabiliter": A Problem in Medieval Diplomatique and History (1961), Professor of Paleography and Late Latin at University College Dublin, Maurice P. Sheehy (1928-1991), was awarded the 1963 UCD Irish Historical Research Prize:
"It is still quite commonly held that we should at least doubt the genuineness of Pope Adrian IV's bull Laudabiliter et satis, which approved the invasion of Ireland by Normans under king Henry II" (Sheehy, 1961).
Sheehy's research culminated in 1975 with the publication of his masterpiece,When The Normans Came To Ireland, confirming that sometime between November 1155 and July 1156, the Bishop of Chartres John of Salisbury (1115-1180) "spent three months with Pope Hadrian [aka Pope Adrian] at Beneventum, and it was during this visit that he obtained papal approval for the English invasion of Ireland. He described the event himself":
[Salisbury] It was at my request that he (the Pope) granted to the illustrious king of England, Henry, the hereditary possession of Ireland, as his letters, still extant, attest: for all islands are reputed to belong by long-established right to the Church of Rome, to which they were granted by Constantine, who established and endowed it. – Maurice Sheehy (1975), When The Normans Came To Ireland,(p.11, 1998 Edition)
Excerpt: The failure of Laudabiliter to appear in these collections was a puzzle to Professor Duggan, which led her to look more closely at its origins. The earliest version of the letter appears in a chronicle written considerably later than 1155, by Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis). Gerald’s relatives were the Geraldines, the ancestors of the Fitzgeralds, who had come to Ireland in 1169 to establish lordships. In 1188 Gerald came to see his relatives in Ireland and this prompted him to write his history of the conquest, Expugnatio Hibernica and its companion piece Topographia Hiberniae. Gerald presents Laudabiliter as one of five justifications for the invasion of Ireland. At the time of the first draft of his Expugnatio Hibernica Gerald was seeking promotion by Henry II within the English church. His history was therefore written to create a certain effect—
of supporting Henry II’s claims to Ireland.
Professor Duggan argues that there seems to be something wrong with the order of the paragraphs of Laudabiliter as it appears in Gerald’s chronicle. In the second paragraph is a legalistic assertion of papal rights over all islands, and in the third a reference to a request of Henry II for sanction to invade Ireland. These appear to be the wrong way around: a papal letter would normally make reference to the petition before its exposition of the grounds on which the judgement is made. It is known that Gerald of Wales was not averse to forgery... >>>more
1188: Topographia Hiberniae: "The Topography of Ireland"
Cambrensis' report is based on a expedition to Ireland with his pupil, Prince John, son of King Henry II who commissioned the report. The original 1913 translation by Thomas Foster was revised and edited by T. Wright in 2000:
This is the original source of negative stereotypes portraying the Irish as primitive people, and in need of civilisation, reflecting the established Norman (read French Roman Catholic) expansionists' party-line shortly after the English Pope Hadrian IV had granted Henry II 'permission' and 'blessings' for the crusade to 'take' Ireland instead of following the Crusaders.
In "The Topography of Ireland" (1188), Giraldus Cambrensis reports on his expedition to Ireland with his pupil, Prince John, the son of King Henry II who commissioned the report.
The original 1913 translation by Thomas Forester was revised and edited
by T. Wright in 2000 (pdf).
This is the original source of negative stereotypes reflecting the established Norman expansionists' party-line shortly after the English Pope Hadrian IV [aka Pope Adrian] had granted Henry II 'blessings' for the crusade to 'take' Ireland.
"Geraldus Cambrensis copied a document which he claims is the text of the bull granted to Hadrian IV at John's request. The difficulty about this claim is that the text transcribed by Geraldus can hardly be said to be the text described by John of Salsbury ... no man of John of Salsbury's training, experience and learning could unwittingly describe Laudabiliter et satis, the bull copied by Giraldus, in terms of a grant of Ireland to Henry II as a heriditary fief. ... If John of Salsbury's report is accurate, the bull he obtained was never used and it seems to have vanished almost as soon as it was issued. On the other hand, if Laudabiliter et satis is the text he was referring to, then he is guilty of exaggeration at least, and probably deliberate falsification. (6) In this case, Hadrian IV did not give a new heriditary fief to Henry II - he simply advocatd a crusade.... The content of Hadrian's bull has always been an affront to the Irish people. According to his letter, Hadrian, like his fellow-countrymen, was prepared to look upon the projected military invasion in the light of a crusade or holy war against a degenerate and wayward people." - Maurice Sheehy, (1975), When The Normans Came To Ireland, (pp.12/13, 1998 edition).
The Natural History of Ireland
by Philip O’Sullivan Beare (1590-1663)
Translated by Denis C. O’Sullivan
Cork University Press (2009)
Excerpt: In 1625, Don Philip O’Sullivan Beare wrote Zoilomastix in an effort to refute Giraldus Cambrensis’ derogatory report on Ireland, Topographia Hiberniae (1188).
This translation of Zoilomastix, Book One, takes us on a highly colloquial and entertaining journey into the Irish environment, region-by-region, a survey of landscapes, birds and bees, beasts and man -- offering a whole new slant on life in pre-modern Ireland.
. . .
Don Philip O’Sullivan opens with the question: "What are the things that were said by Giraldus that need to be refuted here?" He compares Giraldus Cambrensis’ disparaging criticisms with his praise: "Giraldus is refuted by his very own words with which he praises Ireland in a wonderful way."
. . .
Don Philip quotes Stanihurst again:
"This land is the most temperate of all lands. The exhausting heat of the tropic of Cancer does not drive one to the shade. The cold of the tropic of Capricorn does not invite one urgently to the fireplaces. Here, you will see the snows rarely and then lasting a limited period of time. … Grassy pastures grow green in winter time, as in the summer. Thus they are not accustomed to cut hay for fodder and never prepare stables for the beasts. With the pleasantness and the mildness of the air, almost all seasons are moderately warm. … The island is in little need of the services of doctors. You find very few ill people apart from those who are about to die. Between continuous health and final death, there is scarcely any mean. In the same way, no one of the natives born here who has not left the land and the healthy air, ever suffers from any of the three kinds of fever. …" >>>more
Encyclopaedic Study Old and Middle Irish periods, 600-1200. By Dr Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin (1955-2015) NUI Maynooth historian -
Obituary: "Her research interests were in women in early literature and history and genealogy... she wrote her PhD thesis on An Banshenchas (the lore of women)... eventually becoming associate dean and senior lecturer in the school of Celtic studies. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Centre for Irish Cultural Heritage there; she was also a member of the university’s governing authority..."
An Introduction to Early Irish Literature, 2009, Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin, Four Courts Press, Dublin
Reviewed by Maireid Sullivan, for Tinteán, the quarterly journal of the Australian Irish Heritage Network, Issue No. 15, March 2011
An Introduction to Early Irish Literature: Medievalist Dr. Muireann Ní Bhrolchain shared her extensive command of Irish history, and includes a guide to what has been written on the subject by other scholars, with specific focus on the Old and Middle Irish periods, 600--1200. This examination of Ireland’s rich written heritage will appeal to readers seeking a single condensed resource on Irish stories.
The merging of the best of Old Irish and Early Christian spiritual traditions, often fondly referred to as Celtic Christianity, goes back to the 6th century. The Lament of Colm Cille (597) shows how the Irish language and tradition was interpreted and used in a Christian context. International politics led to the demise of Irish native institutions when Henry II introduced Church politics along with major diocesan restructuring and reforms to Ireland in the 12th century. Until that time, Oral traditions continued in native institutions, alongside Irish secular studies in Church schools.
Sagas and poetry, ‘the substance of literature’, the main focus of this book, typically contain both prose and poetry, and combinations thereof. From ancient times, information on saga literature was passed down orally, through story, song, poetry and prose, until they were transcribed during the rise of the Bardic schools, when scholars of the oral tradition, in Irish history, law, and poetry, began to embrace Latin. Later generations of clerically educated authors continued to celebrate their ‘pagan’ (i.e., pre-Christian) oral tradition, even while holding high ecclesiastical offices and teaching positions at church schools.
While a break is found in the written record during the 13th century, poetry continued to flourish, probably due to the poets' training remaining independent of the church, as an educational system administered by the poets themselves.
The scope of this work is dazzling, as the following short digest of the topics studied reveals:
Stories and storytelling; Druids, Poets and Bards;
The arrival of Christianity;
Oral Tradition, Ogham and Written Literature;
The location and nature of the Otherworld;
Voyages - especially the Brendan Voyage;
Vision Tales;
Kings and Sovereignty Goddesses;
Madness in Early Irish Literature;
The Hero and his typical trajectory;
Poets and poetry and the prosimetrum.
Ní Bhrolchain continually reminds us of the tight control over the manuscripts exercised by monks. ‘Only learned classes of Fili (poets) and monks needed to learn to read and write.’ She argues that from the 8th century, the poets were set apart from the oral ‘bards’ by their literacy.
Old Irish texts became the official authority on matters of grammar, versification, genealogy and history, and were modeled on the Latin curriculum of the church schools. Up until the 13th century, most native scholars, whether poet, expert in Irish traditional history (senchae), or judge of Brehon Law, have been identified as clerics or Christian teachers, possibly with a vested interest in documenting contemporary history of Christianity at the expense of ‘pagan’ elements in Irish culture. However, from the late 10th to the 12th centuries, the annals also record the works of learned court poets, some of whose verses in praise of Irish kings still survive.
Although the writers of the tradition were Christianized, Ní Bhrolchain contends that they were nonetheless steeped in traditional Gaelic world-view of the Otherworld. I would speculate that we have an excellent historical clue to the basis for this world-view in the Early Christian British argument over Free Will versus Original Sin: St. Augustine and his followers condemned the legendary British monk Pelagius (354-420) for rejecting the doctrine of Original Sin, and accused him of reviving the ‘Natural Philosophy of the Druids’ which is, essentially, that when the will is free there is no sin, and that we have the power to exercise choice in any moment. Pelagius wrote about ‘The ability. The will. The act.’ He believed in the pristine nature of humanity and that Adam’s fall had no impact on the created order. Suffice it to say, Pelagius was declared a heretic, and thrice excommunicated by the Church. Many writers since have returned to these ‘Pelagian’ arguments.
Eminent Irish historian Dr. Ní Bhrolchain has shone a bright light on a dark period of Irish history. This chronicling of Irish history makes a fine addition to the resurgence of interest in the unique spirit and character of ‘Irishness’, which is continuing to grow, even while the country has lost its sovereignty, once again.
By the end of the seventeenth century, every aspect of traditional Irish culture was outlawed; an enlightened ancient language which gave rise to Brehon Law, sacred ritual practices and intricate musical composition -- all banned, driven underground, into hiding, while the old Irish aristocracy, the Irish Chieftains, defeated by the English, following The Treaty of Limerick (1691), fled to the European continent with their entire tribes and armies (Flight of the Wild Geese), vacating their traditional lands, welcomed by the Europeans, leaving behind the long-suffering people of Ireland, amongst embattled ruins, still standing, to be ruled by a new “Irish” aristocracy, known as The Anglo-Irish Ascendancy.
(See Origin of Ulster Custom)
Cultural decline into entrapment!
Cold Comfort
Pillars of history, trapped in another time,
praying for salvation - exaggerations - wishful thinking.
Shaping time - traveling lightly over foreign soil.
Returning home to deep resonance, in cold comfort.
Recalling - ritualising ancient backdrops
across vast nomadic mountainous terrains
Cold winds blast deserted horizons
Majestic orders drive ancient dunes
Overwhelming space, carved, silhouetted
Crescent moon’s slow dance across time,
on the ripple of sea and sand -
this good earth of mankind.
Transcendent chants pulsating trance -
The dance of release - frightened, frenzied, captured.
Cry! Across the desert winds, buried in sand,
never to be seen again.
The chants of women who know their place. @Maireid Sullivan, 1994
1. The Flight of the Wild Geese:
Military terms of surrender allowed 14,000 of James II's Irish Jacobite soldiers, and their families, the option to serve in continental European armies, as The Irish Brigage aka The Wild Geese.
2. Guarantees of religious freedom and retention of property for Catholics who swore allegiance to the crown, led to the Protestant Ascendancy's domination of Ireland until 1916.
Amongst the many treaties, oaths of loyalty, and civil articles restricting freedom, included were,
- Replacement of Brehon law with English Common law.
- Earls, formerly Chieftains, were no longer permitted to support the Gaelic bards.
- English would be the official language.
"After the great body of the Irish people had been made completely illiterate, being unable to read or write either Gaelic or English, their names were curiously mutilated by the newly arrived proprietors to whom the confiscated estates of the Irish Landed Gentry had been conveyed, or by the agents of those proprietors, who had no other guide to write them in English than the owner's pronunciation of his name, which was entered accordingly on the new landlord's rent-roll ; and the same old Irish sirname was therefore differently spelled in different localities: thus accounting for the several anglicised forms of many of the old Irish sirnames."
-
John O'Hart, (first published in 1876), "Irish pedigrees; or, The origin and stem of the Irish nation".
Once we understand the key influencers leading to major turning points in our history, it's hard to give time to comparing beliefs, other than to look at the consequences of those beliefs across society and time.
In Tales from Tartary (Russian Tales, Book Two), 1979, English Professor James W. Riordan, (1936-2012-Obituary), a specialist in Russian history, gathered traditional legends told to the children around his wife's Crimean Russian Tartar family's fireside, and explained the facts around historical sources on settlement of the land known as "Little Tartary" from the 6th century to 11th century, by Turkic peoples, aka Tatars. Their folk-legends tell of horsemen flying down from the clouds to kidnap young men of the village, and how those young men were 'indoctrinated' via hashish - and came to be known as Hashashians - "self-sacrificing ones" - the "Order of Assassins" directed by the "Old Man of the Mountain" to assasinate invaders, including The Crusaders.
Proto-Celtic cultural origins are well documented, based on early polytheistic cosmology, across the late Copper, Bronze, Iron Age cultures: For example, many waves of related tribal groups, sharing common origins across Hallstatt and La Tène and Yamnaya cultures, have been identified via recent radiocarbon dating across vast terrains: (Tkac & Kolar, 2021), (Jacobsson et al. 2017). And, as "nomadic culture with a chiefdom system and wheeled carts that allowed them to manage large herds" (Morgunova & Khokhlova, 2016).
"...researchers have numerous inquiries they have yet to answer. For instance, where did the Denisovans extend to, and what is the earliest proof for their divergence from the common ancestor they had with Neanderthals 500,000 years ago? It may take some time before scientists can locate a bone or two from different areas, but the potential benefits would be worth the wait." August 3, 2023 ARCHAEOLOGY WORLD TEAM
Curiouser and curiouser -
“Plant Placed Next to a Dead Caucasian Shaman
A team of archaeologists, led by Hongen Jiang from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, found nearly two pounds of a dried plant that was still untouched after “hiding” for thousands of years underground. According to a study published in 2008 in the Journal of Experimental Botany, the green plant material found inside a 2,700-year-old grave from the Yanghai Tombs excavated in the Gobi Desert, turned out to be the oldest marijuana in the world. Interestingly, according to the archaeologists, the plant was placed near the head of a blue-eyed, 35-year-old Caucasian shaman among other objects like bridles and a harp to be used in the afterlife.” - Theodoros Karasavvas, J.D.-M.A., 18 November, 2017 Ancient Origin
As told by Marco Polo (1254-1324)
Vast territories, from the Caspian Sea to China and the Pacific Ocean, unknown to European geographers, were referred to as “Tartary” until Venetian explorer Marco Polo reported details of his family's exotic sojourns, lasting over 23-years: “Concerning the Old Man of the Mountain” (Travels of Marco Polo, Book 1, Chapter 23): “Mulehet is a country in which the Old Man of the Mountain dwelt in former days; and the name means 'Place of the Aram'". Polo shared reports of the hypnotic power used over ‘captives’ under the influence of hashish and recounts a story of the "Old Man of the Mountain" (Sabbah) who led his young captives to a "paradise" - under the influence of hashish. His disciples, believing that only he could return them to 'paradise' - a life of great riches, harems, and glory - fully committed to his cause, they were willing to carry out his every request as his trusted "assassins".
See more on The Assassins (Hashshashin): Their History, Victims and Hashish Training HERE
The "Silk Road" opened trade routes between the Far East and Europe from 206 B.C. to 220 A.D, and became the conduit for teachings of the Confucian and Buddhist philosophers, and all branches of the Abrahamic religions.
According to Finland-based Mandarin-speaker, specialising on the history and cultures of China and Japan, Dr Jonathan Clements, author of "A History of the Silk Road" (2017), (Mandarin edition published July 2021), “The Silk Road is not a place, but a journey, a route from the edges of the Mediterranean to the central plains of China, through high mountains and inhospitable deserts. For thousands of years its history has been a traveler's history, of brief encounters in desert towns, snowbound passes and nameless forts. ..." Dr Jonathan Clements, who was a Visiting Professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China from 2013-19, describes geographic timeline impacts on settlement of Proto-Celtic “Caucasian” cultures: Mummies, including Chinese, Mongul, and Caucasian, found around the Talkamakan Desert, are now showcased at the Xinjiang Regional Museum, in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang,
“These long-dead locals were interred in dry, salty ground that was never flooded... but the ones that foreign tourists want to see are Caucasian … between India and the Black Sea. These red-haired, long-limbed explorers were the easternmost outliers of the ancient Tocharian culture - shepherds and horsemen who once lived at the edge of a great lake. … covered 10,000 square kilometres. … beneath the Tianshan and the Kunlun mountain ranges. As the glacial ice finally melted, the water poured in torrents down the steep hillsides and filled much of the eastern end of the great valley. … The region was one of the last places on earth to find human habitation. Perhaps they wandered in from the north, from the great grasslands and through the wind swept valley where Urumqi now stands. Perhaps they struggled through the passes from the southwest. But when they reached the great water, they settled at its edge.
The lakeside was thick with trees. They used them to build their houses and to make the canoes they paddled on the fast river waters, and the upright hinges - circular constructions with an internal ditch - that surrounded their graveyards. When they died, they used the wood to make the canoe-like cowlings that covered their graves. Their horses grazed on the grasslands, and their children picked through the reeds on the waters edge, looking for fish. They raised sheep on the hillsides, mixed pigments with dark to make purple cloth. … The waters of the mountains gradually dwindled. It would not have been obvious on the ground. … in geological time it was the merest blink. The great inland sea came and went in barely 1,000 years.
– Clements, J. "A History of the Silk Road" (2017), pp.31-32
Post-traumatic Growth (PTG) It is significant that the ‘Janus face’ has become the favoured model in defining Post-traumatic Growth (PTG) – acknowledging polarities – simultaneously looking to the future and to the past.
The Roman god, Janus Geminus represents the original twin faces (later, Janus Quadrifrons, facing all directions, and Janus Consivius, the propagator of the human genre). Janus was the 'Guardian of Gates' (Anderson, 1984; Muller, 1943). His temple doors were open in time of war, and closed to mark the peace: Janus represented dual personalities, conception, the beginning and end of conflict, and had no equivalent in ancient Greece.
"We all know from personal experience and introspection (research tools once cherished and now mostly disrespected) that mental excursions can be made not only to the past, but also to the future. It was even speculated (for example, by Endel Tulving) that the ability to contemplate future scenarios was a driving force in the evolution of episodic memory… In ancient Greek mythology, Memory (Mnemosyne) was the mother of all the muses" - Yadin Dudai & Mary Carruthers, (2005), The Janus face of Mnemosyne.
“Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.”
TS Eliot, Four Quartets, #1 Burnt Norton
(BBC, 2015, A Point of View: To the end of time presented an excellent ‘contemplation’ on the theme).
"People whose voices were dismissed felt heard… Looking back now, it is perhaps easier to see that my title, In a Different Voice, calls for a new way of speaking, a change in the very terms of the conversation about ourselves and morality, women and men–about the human condition"
- Carol Gilligan, 2011.
Susan K. Whitbourne's (2010, 2011) pioneering work in adult development, following in the footsteps of Erik Erikson, shows "that adults do continue to develop well past the point of physical maturation, but not necessarily in a predictable fashion….Erikson decided that Freud had misrepresented the process of human growth and change"Whitbourne, 2010, The Search for Fulfillment: Revolutionary New Research That Reveals the Secret to Long-term Happiness. Analysis of ’stress’ as a state of disharmony have been traced back to ancient Greek philosophers, while recent studies focus on the cellular and molecular infrastructure of adaptive responses to stress: "The stress system coordinates the adaptive responses of the organism to stressors of any kind" Tsigos & Choruses, 2002.
Robert C. Soloman (2003) observed that ‘emotions are judgments’ and that ‘emotions have been unduly neglected in philosophy.’
The emerging field of neuroeducation: The Australian Research Council funded Science of Learning Research Centre (SLRC) brings together neuroscientists, psychologists and educators who share a common interest in analysing the impacts of myths versus reality on teaching and learning outcomes. Melbourne University-based SLRC affiliates, Horvath, Lodge & Hattie (ed) (2016) aim to "consolidate information from many different research disciplines and correlate learning principles with known classroom practices". And in a recent report, "What causes mind blanks during exams?" (2016), Horvath, and Lodge have creatively defined logical rationality and non-logical emotionally driven thinking processes as, "cold cognition" whereby "the hypothalamus slows down the production and release of key stress hormones", and 'hot cognition"- non-logical and emotionally driven thinking processes ... typically triggered in response to a clear threat or otherwise highly stressful situation" (Horvath & Lodge, 2016).
Reflections on Poems of the Rising
Reviewed by Maireid Sullivan
Published in Tinteán, the quarterly journal of the Australian Irish Heritage Network, May 6, 2016
A response to social justice issues raised by the poetry reading,
A Terrible Beauty is Born – Poetry of the Easter Rising, a commemorative fundraiser for Bloomsday in Melbourne, directed by Liam Gillespie, on the 15th April 2016, at the Celtic Club, Melbourne.
The readings of poems by those immediately caught up in the Rising attempted to penetrate the emotional dimensions around ‘what really happened’ that fateful Easter 1916 in Dublin. The feelings expressed by the poets of the time brought home the anguish that drove these young men.
All were at a pivotal point in their lives when they refused to ‘bow’ to a future under exploitative foreign domination – the heartless justification of land confiscation via habitat destruction, blatant genocide, and massive dislocation of their own people – a tragedy still unfolding around the world today. The presentation offered a ‘template’ for understanding and acknowledging the ‘good’ intentions of ‘freedom fighters’ throughout history and into the future! We all know we can’t go on fighting, and we know that the ‘root cause’ of the problem is still, land confiscation – and speculation. What will happen when a growing number of 20 to 30-year-olds today cannot purchase a home? Who will they turn to when it is their turn to cry: ‘Our demands most moderate are – We only want the Earth!’
Be Moderate
by James Connolly (1907)
Some men, faint-hearted, ever seek
Our programme to retouch,
And will insist, whene’er they speak
That we demand too much.
’Tis passing strange, yet I declare
Such statements give me mirth,
For our demands most moderate are,
We only want the earth.
>>> Read the full poem here
Lynne Kelly has discovered that a powerful memory technique used by the ancients can unlock the secrets of the Neolithic stone circles of Britain and Europe, the ancient Pueblo buildings in New Mexico and other prehistoric stone monuments across the world. We can still use the memory code today to train our own memories.
In the past, the elders had encyclopaedic memories. They could name all the animals and plants across the landscape, and the stars in the sky too. Yet most of us struggle to memorise more than a short poem.
Using traditional Aboriginal Australian songlines as the key, Lynne Kelly has identified the powerful memory technique used by indigenous people around the world. She has discovered that this ancient memory technique is the secret behind the great stone monuments like Stonehenge, which have for so long puzzled archaeologists.
The stone circles across Britain and northern Europe, the elaborate stone houses of New Mexico, the huge animal shapes at Nasca in Peru, and the statues of Easter Island all serve as the most effective memory system ever invented by humans. They allowed people in non-literate cultures to memorise the vast amounts of practical information they needed to survive.
Review:
Duane W. Hamacher, Research Fellow, Monash University The Memory Code: how oral cultures memorise so much information
September 27, 2016, The Conversation
Ancient Celtic bards were famous for the sheer quantity of information they could memorise. This included thousands of songs, stories, chants and poems that could take hours to recite in full. . .
Knowledge is power
In oral cultures, knowledge is power. It is imperative that the most important knowledge be maintained and preserved by a few select custodians who have proven their worth. . .
