IRELAND UNDER NATIVE RULERS.

(From the most ancient times to 1172.)

IN the beginning of this Second Part the narrative is legendary, like the early accounts of all other nations.

This period includes the Danish invasions, which never broke the continuity of the monarchy in Ireland as they did in England. It ended about 1172; for after that time there was no longer a supreme native king over Ireland.

THE LEGENDS OF THE EARLY COLONIES

[The whole of this Chapter is legendary, and the dates are quite fanciful].

93. Besides some fables about the landing of the lady Ceasair [Kasser] and her people forty days before the flood, our manuscripts have legends of five ancient colonies.

The Parthalonians: the first colony, A. M. 2520. The first man that led a colony to Ireland after the flood was a chief named Parthalon, who came hither from Greece, with his wife, his three sons, and 1,000 followers. He took up his abode first on the little island of Inish-Samer in the river Erne just below the waterfall of Assaroe at Ballyshannon; and afterwards on Moy-Elta, the level district between Dublin and Ben-Edar or Howth. At the end of 300 years the people of this colony were destroyed by a plague, which carried off 9,000 of them in one week on Moy-Elta.

94. The Nemedians: the second colony, A. M. 2850. After the destruction of the Parthalonians Nemed came from Scythia with his followers. These Nemedians were harassed by the Fomorian pirates, but Nemed defeated them in several battles. After some years he and 3,000 of his followers died of the plague.

The Fomorians were a race of sea-robbers, who, after the death of Nemed, oppressed his people and made them pay an intolerable yearly tribute. So the Nemedians, unable to bear their miserable state any longer, rose up in a fury; and a dreadful battle was fought on the sea beach near Tory Island, in which nearly all the combatants fell. And those who were not killed in battle were drowned, lor the combatants fought so furiously that they gave no heed to the advancing tide-wave which rose and overwhelmed them.

95. The Firbolgs: the third colony, A. M. 3266, came from Greece under the leadership of the five sons of Dela, who led them to Ireland. These brothers partitioned the country into five provinces, Ulster, Leinster, Connaught, and the two Munsters.

The Dedannans: the fourth colony, A. M. 3303, also came from Greece, and were celebrated for their skill in magic. As soon as they had landed in Ireland they burned their ships; and shrouding themselves in a magic mist, so that the Firbolgs could not see them, they marched unperceived to Slieve an-Ierin mountain in the present county Leitrim. Soon afterwards a battle was fought which lasted for four days, till the Firbolgs were defeated, and the Dedannans remained masters of the island. These Dedannans were in subsequent ages deified and became Side [Shee] or fairies, whom the ancient Irish worshipped.

96. The Milesians: the fifth colony, A. M. 3500. From Scythia their original home they began their long pilgrimage. Their first migration was to Egypt, where they were sojourning at the time that Pharaoh and his host were drowned in the Red Sea; and after wandering through Europe for many generations they arrived in Spain. Here they abode for a long time; and at last they came to Ireland with a fleet of thirty ships under the command of the eight sons of the hero Miled or Milesius.

The Dedannans, by their magical incantations, raised a furious tempest which scattered and wrecked the fleet along the rocky coasts. Five of the eight brothers perished; and the remaining three, Eremon, Eber-Finn, and Amergin, landed with the remnant of their people. Soon afterwards two battles were fought, in which the Dedannans were defeated; and the Milesians took possession of the country.

The two brothers Eber-Finn and Eremon now divided Ireland, Eber-Finn taking the two Munsters and Eremon Leinster and Connaught. They gave Ulster to their nephew Eber, and made Amergin chief poet and brehon of the kingdom.

THE KINGS OF PAGAN IRELAND

[In the beginning this Chapter is legendary and the dates are still little more than guesses. After the foundation of Emania we begin to have a mixture of real history. As we approach the reign of Laeghaire there is a constantly increasing proportion of fact: and the dates are approximately correct].

97. The brothers Eber-Finn and Eremon had no sooner settled down in their new kingdoms than they quarrelled and fought a battle (A. M. 3501), in which Eber was defeated and slain, and Eremon became sole king.

By far the greater number of the Irish Pagan kings after Eremon fell in battle or by assassination: a few only of the most distinguished need be noticed here.

98. Tighernmas [Teernmas], who began his reign A. M. 3581, was the first of the Irish kings to work gold. He distinguished the various classes of his people by the numbers of hues in their garments.

99. This king, we are told, was miraculously destroyed, with a multitude of his people, while they were worshipping the great national idol Crom Cruach on the plain of Moy Slecht in Brefney, on the eve of the pagan festival of Samin (1st November).

The mighty King Ollamh Fodla [Ollav Fola] — A. M. 3922—established the Fes or meeting of Tara; the proceedings of which were entered in the great national record called the Psalter of Tara. And he made laws for the whole country.

100. About 300 years before the Christian era, Macha of the Golden Hair, the Queen of Cimbaeth [Kimbay] King of Ulster, built the palace of Emain or Emania, which for more than 600 years continued to be the residence of the Ulster kings. Here in after ages, the Red Branch Knights were trained in military accomplishments and deeds of arms. The remains of this palace are still to be seen two miles west of Armagh: it is now called Navan Fort, Navan being the pronunciation of the old Irish name N-Emain.

100a. Achy Feidlech [Fealagh], who ascended the throne a little before the Christian era, built the palace of Croghan for his daughter, the celebrated Medb [Maive] Queen of Connaught, where the kings of that province afterwards resided. This old fort is in the north of Roscommon, and still retains the original name.

The king who reigned at the time of the Incarnation was Conary I., or Conary the Great. In his time occurred the seven years’ war between Maive Queen of Connaught and Conor Mac Nessa king of Ulster.

101. Some time in the first century of the Christian era the Attacottic or plebeian races, i.e. the Firbolgs, Dedannans, and Fomorians whom the Milesians had enslaved, rose up in rebellion, wrested the sovereignty from their masters, and almost exterminated the Milesian princes and nobles: after which they chose Carbery Kinncat for their king. But the Milesian Monarchy was after some time restored in the person of Tuathal [Toohal] the Legitimate, who ascended the throne early in the second century.

This King Tuathal took measures to consolidate the monarchy. Before his time the over-kings had for their personal estate only a small tract round Tara. But he cut off a portion from each of the provinces, and formed therewith the province of Meath, to be the special demesne or estate of the supreme kings of Ireland. He imposed on Leinster an enormous tribute called the Boruma or Boru to be paid to the kings of Ireland every second year. This tribute was never yielded without resistance more or less, and for many centuries it was the cause of constant bloodshed.

102. The renowned Conn Ced-Cathach [Kead-Caha], or Conn the Hundred-fighter, became king late in the second century (A. D. 177). His most formidable antagonist was the great hero Eoghan-Mor [Owen More], otherwise called Mogh-Nuadhat [Mow-Nooat] king of Munster, who having defeated him in ten battles, forced him at last to divide Ireland between them. For a line of demarcation they fixed on a natural ridge of sandhills called Esker-Riada, which can still be traced running across Ireland with little interruption from Dublin to Galway. This division is perpetually referred to in Irish literature: the northern half, which belonged to Conn was called Leth-Chuinn [Leh-Conn] or Conn’s half; and the southern Leth-Mogha [Leh-Mow], that is Mogh’s half. Conn was succeeded by his son-in-law Conary II, (A. D. 212).

103. From the earliest ages the Irish of Ulster were in the habit of crossing the narrow sea to Alban or Scotland, where colonies were settled from time to time. The first regular colony of which we have any reliable account was conducted by Carbery Riada, the son of King Conary. Hence that part of Scotland in which he settled got the name of Dalriada, i.e. Riada’s portion. There was also a Dalriada in the north of Antrim, which still retains the old name in the form of Route.

104. Cormac Mac Art, or Cormac Ulfada (A. D. 254), the grandson of Conn the Hundred-fighter, was the most illustrious of all the pagan kings of Ireland. He founded three colleges at Tara, one for the study of military science, one for history and literature, and one for law.

After a prosperous reign, Cormac abdicated on account of the accidental loss of an eye, for no king with a personal blemish was allowed to reign at Tara. He retired to his kingly cottage, called Cletta, on the shore of the river Boyne; where he composed the book called Tegasg Righ [Ree] or Instructions for a king, and other law tracts, of which we have copies in our old manuscript Volumes: and here he died in the year 277.

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