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Please share any unusual or not well known facts or legends about Ireland on this thread .
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Origin of the name Hibernia .
Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of Ireland. The name Hibernia was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe (c. 320 BC), Pytheas of Massilia called the island Iérnē (written Ἰέρνη). In his book Geographia (c. 150 AD), Claudius Ptolemaeus ("Ptolemy") called the island Iouerníā (written Ἰουερνία, where "ου"-ou stands for w). The Roman historian Tacitus, in his book Agricola (c. 98 AD), uses the name Hibernia. The Romans also sometimes used Scotia, "land of the Scoti", as a geographical term for Ireland in general, as well as just the part inhabited by those people.
Iouerníā was a Greek alteration of the Q-Celtic name *Īweriū from which eventually arose the Irish names Ériu and Éire. The original meaning of the name is thought to be "abundant land".
Post-Roman usage
The High King Brian Boru (c. 941-1014) based his title on being emperor of the Irish people, which was in Latin: "Imperator Scottorum", as distinct from claiming to be Emperor of the island of Ireland. From 1172 the Lordship of Ireland gave the King of England the additional title "Dominus Hibernie" (sic, for Hiberniae; also "Dominus Hybernie"), Lord of Ireland. The Kingdom of Ireland created the title Rex Hiberniae, King of Ireland, for use in Latin texts. Gerard Mercator called Ireland "Hybernia" on his world map of 1541. In 1642 the motto of the Irish Confederates, a Catholic-landlord administration that ruled much of Ireland until 1650 was: Pro Deo, Rege et Patria, Hibernia Unanimis. (In English: For God, King and Fatherland, Ireland is United).
However, unlike many Roman geographical names, the Latin "Hibernia" did not become the basis for the name for Ireland in any modern languages, with even Italian using Irlanda. Apart from the Celtic languages all modern languages use a local variant of the English "Ireland". This is presumably because direct medieval contacts between Ireland and continental Europe were at too low a level to embed use of the Hibernian root, or the original Irish Éire, in local vernaculars. This contrasts with Wales, which is still "Pays de Galles" in French, with similar terms in other Romance languages.
By the classicising 18th century the use of Hibernia had revived in formal, even somewhat pretentious, contexts, just as had the use of Caledonia, one of the Latin terms for Scotland, and Britannia for Britain. "Hibernia" was used on Irish coins and companies such the Hibernian Insurance Company were established (later renamed the Hibernian Group). The name took on popularity with the success of the Irish Patriot Party. At a time when Palladian classical architecture and design were being adopted in northern Europe, Hibernia was a useful word to describe Ireland with overtones of classical style and civility, particularly by the prosperous Irish Ascendency who were taught Latin at school. "Hibernian" was used as a term for people, and a general adjective. Royal Exchange in Dublin was built in 1769-79 with the carved inscription "SPQH" for Senatus Populusque Hibernicus - The senate and people of Ireland. The Royal Hibernian Academy dates from 1823.
Hibernia is a word that is rarely used today with regard to Ireland, except in long-established names. It is occasionally used for names of organisations and various other things; for instance: Hibernia National Bank, Hibernian Insurance Group, Ancient Order of Hibernians, The Hibernian magazine, Hibernia College, Hibernian Football Club, HMS Hibernia, the Hibernia oil field, and modern derivatives, from Latin like Respublica Hibernica (Irish Republic) and Universitas Hiberniae Nationalis (National University of Ireland). Hibernia is also the name of a large sea oil platform off the shores of Newfoundland, in which this Canadian province has strong ties to Ireland.
Another occurrence is in familial Hibernian fever or TRAPS (tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome), a periodic fever first described in 1982 in a family of Irish and Scottish descent, but found in all ethnic groups.[3]
The compound form Hiberno- remains more common, as in Hiberno-Norse, Hiberno-English, Hiberno-Scottish, Hibernophile, etc.
The island of Ireland was never incorporated into the Roman Empire.The fact that the Romans never occupied Ireland meant that Roman influence on Ireland was limited to trading contacts with more fertile farmland countries. There are remains near Dublin of what appears to be a Roman camp, which is thought to have been a regular seasonal fair for trading in both directions. Ancient Roman pottery, coins, and other Roman products are found in Irish archaeology from the period, though not in large quantities. The Roman historian Tacitus makes reference to an expedition to Ireland by the general Agricola in AD 82. He is reported in one passage to "have crossed the water", the water in context is unknown and perhaps is reference to some exploratory mission, however the remainder of the passage deals exclusively with Ireland. According to Seneca, Agricola was of the opinion that Ireland could be conquered with one legion and a moderate amount of auxiliaries, in all roughly 6,000 men. Reference is also made about an Irish king who had fled the island in search of refuge. Agricola provided him with safety in the hope that it might be a reason to possibly invade the island. The Ulster historian Richard Warner has theorised that the Midlands leader Túathal Techtmar, usually thought mythical, was in fact historical and went to Britain to get Roman support for his military campaigns (along with other later exiles). If there is any truth in this hypothesis, the Romans may have had a greater influence on the southeast of Ireland than normally thought by scholars. Overall, the relative lack of Roman influence on Ireland meant that it preserved its ancient culture to a much greater degree than continental countries such as Gaul.
Irish raids harried the Roman provinces of Britannia (Britain) and Gaul (France) as evidenced from surviving Roman texts; this became an increasing problem as the Roman military machine weakened in later periods.[citation needed]
In the early 1st century, Roman and Greek knowledge of Ireland was thin, at least among metropolitan writers. The geographers Strabo and Pomponius Mela describe a cold land populated by extremely fierce inhabitants, where, despite the coldness, the grazing for cattle was lush.[citation needed]
By the 2nd century, the geographer Ptolemy gave coordinates for a surprisingly detailed map of Ireland, naming tribes, towns, rivers and headlands. This information could have come from a variety of sources but does demonstrate the increasing knowledge and interest in Ireland.
Irish written history does not mention Rome at all. However, the lack of written history does not mean that Rome or the Roman province of Britannia did not significantly interact with Ireland. Archaeologists have found an enormous fort complex at Chester (Deva Victrix) in northwest England that may have been planned as a centre to rule the islands, or as a military base to deter Irish invasions.
( Sourced from Wikipedia ) -
The legendary island nation Atlantis, the existence of which has sparked debate for thousands of years, was actually Ireland, according to a theory by a Swedish scientist.
Atlantis, the Greek philosopher Plato wrote in 360BC, was an island in the Atlantic Ocean where an advanced civilisation developed about 11,500 years ago until it was hit by a natural disaster and sank beneath the waves.
Geographer Ulf Erlingsson, whose book explaining his theory will be published next month, said the measurements, geography and landscape of Atlantis as described by Plato match Ireland almost exactly.
"I am amazed no one has come up with this before; it's incredible," he said. "Just like Atlantis, Ireland is 300 miles (480 kilometres) long, 200 miles wide, and widest across the middle. They both have a central plain surrounded by mountains.
"I've looked at geographical data from the rest of the world and of the 50 largest islands there is only one that has a plain in the middle - Ireland."
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Dr Erlingsson believes the idea that Atlantis sank came from the fate of Dogger Bank, an isolated shoal in the North Sea about 100 kilometres off the north-eastern coast of England, which sank after being hit by a huge floodwave around 6100BC.
Dr Erlingsson's book, Atlantis from a Geographer's Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land, calculates the probability Plato would have had access to geographical data about Ireland as 99.98 per cent. Other Atlantis theories suggest it may have been around the Azores islands or in the Aegean Sea. Others locate it solely in the brain of Plato.
( sourced from Reuters 2004 )Comment
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Night of the Big Wind
(From Wikipedia, )
The Night of the Big Wind (Irish: Oíche na Gaoithe Móire) was a hurricane which swept without warning across Ireland beginning in the afternoon of 6 January 1839, causing severe damage to property and several hundred deaths; 20% to 25% of houses in north Dublin were damaged or destroyed, and 42 ships were wrecked.The storm attained a very low barometric pressure of 918 hectopascals (27.1 inHg) and tracked eastwards to the north of Ireland, bringing winds gusts of over 100 knots (185 km/h, 115 mph) to the south before moving across the north of England and onto the European continent where it eventually died out. At the time, it was the most damaging Irish storm for 300 years.
Meteorological situation
The storm developed after a period of unusual weather. Heavy snow, rare in Ireland, fell across the country on the night of 5 January, which was replaced on the morning of 6 January by an Atlantic warm front, which brought a period of complete calm with dense, motionless, cloud cover. Through the day, temperatures rose well above their seasonal average, resulting in rapid melting of the snow.
Later on 6 January, a deep Atlantic depression began to move towards Ireland, forming a cold front when it collided with the warm air over land, bringing strong winds and heavy rain. First reports of stormy weather came from western County Mayo around noon, and the storm moved very slowly across the island through the day, gathering strength as it moved.
By midnight the winds reached hurricane force. Contemporary accounts of damage indicate that the Night of the Big Wind was the most severe storm to affect Ireland for many centuries. It is estimated that between 250 and 300 people lost their lives in the storm. Severe property damage was caused, particularly in Connacht, but also in Ulster and northern Leinster. Between a fifth and a quarter of all houses in Dublin suffered damage ranging from broken windows to complete destruction. Much of the inland damage was caused by a storm surge that drew large quantities of sea water inland, resulting in widespread flooding.
Damage
Even well-built buildings suffered structural damage, including new factories and military barracks. The newly constructed St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Derrytrasna was completely destroyed; one of the steeples of the Church of Ireland church in Castlebar was blown down, and a number of large country houses were unroofed. Among the poorly built homes of the poor, damage was more severe and many were completely destroyed. A total of 42 ships, most along the rugged West Coast, were wrecked while unsuccessfully trying to ride out the storm: a majority of the recorded casualties occurred at sea.
Stacks of hay and corn were widely destroyed, resulting in severe starvation among livestock in the months following the storm.
Legacy
The Night of the Big Wind became part of Irish folk tradition. Irish folklore held that Judgement Day would occur on the Feast of the Epiphany, 6 January. Such a severe storm led many to believe that the end of the world was at hand.
When the British state pension system was introduced in 1909, one of the questions asked of those applicants in Ireland who lacked documentation was whether they could remember the storm of 1839.
A popular story holds that the storm inspired the Director of Armagh Observatory, the Reverend Romney Robinson, to develop the cup-anemometer, which remains the commonly used wind measuring device as of 2013.
The novel The Big Wind by Beatrice Coogan uses the events of January 1839 as a historical backdrop.Comment
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Ireland has been inhabited since Stone Age times. For more than five thousand years peoples moving westwards across the European continent have settled in the country and each new group of immigrants, Celts, Vikings, Normans, English, has contributed to its present population.
In the Stone and Bronze Ages, Ireland was inhabited by Picts in the north and a people called the Erainn in the south, the same stock, apparently, as in all the isles before the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain. About the 4th century B.C., tall, red-haired Celts arrived from Gaul or Galicia and established their distinctive culture , although they do not seem to have come in great numbers. Ancient Irish legend tells of four successive peoples who invaded the country?the Firbolgs, the Fomors, the Tuatha De Danann, and the Milesians.
The Irish mythological cycle, which seems to be a history of this period, can be divided into four major divisions. The first is the historical-mythological cycle. Two important texts are part of this cycle: the Leabhar Gahbala (Book of Invasions), a mythological history of Ireland; and the Dinnshenchas (History of Places), a mythological geography of Ireland. The main theme in the historical-mythological cycle concerns the peopling of Ireland and the fortunes of the Tuatha De Danann (People of the Goddess Danann), who were the mythological ancestors of the Irish.
In the historical-mythological cycle the story of the predecessors of the Irish settlement is told. The first group to come to Ireland is led by a woman, Cesair; the majority of her group is composed of women. This group arrives before the great flood, and all are destroyed in the flood except one, Fintan, who in the form of a salmon, eagle, or hawk witnesses all of the later settlements. Fintan is the patron of the traditional lore and storytelling. The next group is led by Partholan, but he and all of his people die in a plague. A third group is led by Nemed; after suffering many vicissitudes, this group divides into three parts and abandons Ireland. Two of these groups, the Fir Bolg (Bolg Men) and the Tuatha De Danann (People of the Goddess Danann), occupy the subsequent history. The Fir Bolg return to Ireland, which they divide into the five provinces of Ulster, Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and Meath; they also introduce kingship. When the Tuatha De Danann arrive, warfare ensues over possession of the land. One tradition states that after the First Battle of Mag Tuired, the Fir Bolg and Tuatha De Danann make peace and agree to live together in harmony.
The Tuatha are described as demigods; they are beautiful people, possessed with skill in music and the arts. They are always spoken about within a context of fabulous magical powers and wonders, which define the essence of their manifestation. A central theme in the myth of the Tuatha is that of the Second Battle of Mag Tuired. During the First Battle of Mag Tuired the king of the Tuatha, Nuada, is wounded. Because he is now physically blemished, he can no longer serve as king. The kingship is then given to his adopted son, Bres. Bres's father is a king of the Fomoire, a group of people with whom Nemed and his people had fought in previous times. Bres's mother, Eriu, is, however, a Tuatha. The choice of Bres is apparently an attempt to accomplish an alliance between the Tuatha and the Fomoire.
The Tuatha are themselves later defeated by the Sons of Mil, the immediate ancestors of the Irish people. The Tuatha are said now to live in the underground of Ireland, in the fairy regions, where the fairies are subject to them.
The second division is the Ulster cycle. These myths are stories of the warriors of King Conchobar. The themes of those of honor and prestige revolve around heroic deeds and the hero Cu Chulainn (or Cuchulainn).
The third division is that of Fenian. The Fenian Cycle recounts the exploits of Finn Mac Cumhail and his companions and deals with the cult and institution of warriors.
The last division deals with the institution and founding of the great and lesser kings of Ireland.
Oddly enough, the Romans, who occupied Britain for 400 years, never came to Ireland, and the Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain, who largely replaced the Celtic population there, did not greatly affect Ireland.
The earliest settlers arrived around 7,000 BC in the Mesolithic or middle stone-age period. They arrived in the north across the narrow strait from Britain. These people were mainly hunters.
Colonists of the Neolithic, or new stone-age, period reached Ireland around 3,000 BC. These were farmers who raised animals and cultivated the soil. Many remnants of their civilisation - houses, pottery, implements have been excavated at Lough Gur in Co. Limerick and some can be seen at the folk park now developed around the lakeside site.
The Neolithic colonists were largely self-sufficient but engaged in a limited form of trading in products such as axe-heads. Many of their religious monuments have survived, the most impressive of which is the great megalithic tomb at Newgrange in Co. Meath.
Prospectors and metalworkers arrived about 2,000 BC. Metal deposits were discovered and soon bronze and gold objects were being manufactured. Many artefacts made by these bronze-age people have been found, among them axe-heads, pottery and jewellery.
About 1,200 BC another movement of people reached Ireland, producing an even greater variety of weapons and artefacts. A common type of dwelling in use at this time was the crann�g, an artificial island, palisaded on all sides, constructed in the middle of a lake.
The people who made the greatest impact on Ireland were the Celts. The earliest waves of Celtic invaders may have reached the country from central Europe as early as the 6th century BC with subsequent groups arriving up to the time of Christ. The Celts belonged linguistically to the great Indo-European family. They soon came to dominate Ireland and it's earlier settlers. The Celtic culture of the La Tene civilisation - named after a Celtic site in Switzerland - reached Ireland around the 2nd century BC. Celtic Ireland was not unified politically, only by culture and language. The country was divided into about 150 miniature kingdoms, each called a tuath. A minor king ruled a tuath, subject to a more powerful king who ruled a group of tuatha, who was in turn subject to one of the five provincial kings. This political situation was very fluid, with constant shifts in power among the most important contenders.
Celtic Ireland had a simple agrarian economy. No coins were used and the unit of exchange was the cow. People lived on individual farms and there were no towns. Society was rigidly stratified into classes and was regulated by the Brehon Laws, an elaborate code of legislation based largely on the concepts of the tuath as the political unit and the fine, or extended family, as the social unit.
Christianity was introduced in the 5th century. This is traditionally associated with St Patrick (d. 461) although there were some Christians in the country before his arrival. The first written documents date from this period.
A distinctive feature of the development of early Irish Christianity was the important role played by monasticism. The great monasteries such as Glendalough, founded by St Kevin, and Clonmacnoise, founded by St Ciaran, were famous centres of culture and learning and the illuminated manuscripts which they produced were among the glories of Irish monasticism. It was through the monasteries that Irish influence on Britain and Europe was exerted from the 6th century onwards.
Setting out first as pilgrims, Irish monks preached the Gospel and established new communities across the continent. Ireland, unlike most of the rest of Europe, did not suffer barbarian invasion and so acted as a repository of Christian civilisation at a time when it was almost extinguished elsewhere.
Irish monks are associated with a number of continental centres - St Fursey at Peronne in France, St Kilian at Wurzburg in Germany, St Vergil at Salzburg in Austria, St Columbanus at Bobbio in Italy. They brought Christianity to pagan peoples, established centres of learning and paved the way for the intellectual flowering in 9th century France known as the Carolingian Renaissance. One of the most notable of these monks was the philosopher and theologian Johannes Scotus Eriugena.
The successful missionary efforts of the Irish abroad were matched by rich cultural achievements at home. Elaborate chalices, croziers and ornamental jewellery were fashioned while the scribes committed the rich classical tradition to their magnificently illuminated manuscripts. This period from the 6th to the 9th century has been seen by many as the Golden Age of Irish history.Comment
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as the Romans knew ireland..as HIBERNIA (the cold country)......would that not be good enough reason, not to go thereHere Rex!!!...Here Rex!!!.....Wuff!!!....... Wuff!!!Comment
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There is a link between the Berber tribes from the Sahara and the ancient Celts. The Berber language is made up of symbols and many of these are replicated in the symbols on the Sile na Gig tablets. Also, there are blond/red haired Berbers.Comment
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Battle of Moira
The Battle of Moira, known archaically as the Battle of Mag Rath, was fought in the summer of 637 by the Gaelic High King of Ireland Domnall II against his foster son King Congal of Ulster, supported by his ally Domnall the Freckled (Domnall Brecc) of Dalriada.
The battle was fought near the Woods of Killultagh, just outside the village of Moira in what would become County Down. It was allegedly the largest battle ever fought on the island of Ireland, and resulted in the death of Congal and the retreat of Domnall Brecc.
Ireland in the period was a patchwork of petty statelets, fused together and driven apart by tribal loyalties, often given to a state of war. Other realms from across the water in Great Britain and in particular Scotland frequently became involved in the affairs of Ireland, notably Dalriada, which had come over from Scotland to occupy a substantial swathe of territory to the north of Lough Neagh. Indeed the tribal loyalties often spilled across the Irish Sea, where the same clans could be found on either side, especially in Scotland. Rivalries and alliances between the petty kingdoms changed frequently. For example Dalriada, which fought with Congal in this battle, had seen one of their kings killed by his brother at the Battle of Fid Eoin (either 629 or 630).
Congal himself had first established his power base in Dalaradia, where he became King, before being recognised as King of Ulster in 627. His ambitions soon came into conflict with Domnall II, who became High King of Ireland in 628. Ironically, Domnall II only rose to such a position because Congal had defeated and killed the previous High King, Suibne Menn, (who was Domnall's distant cousin in the Uí Néill clan) in a previous battle.
Domnall at first launched a raid into Leinster in 628 to secure his authority as High King. Some primary sources state that Congal had initially become the Ard Rí following his defeat of Suibne Menn. It may be therefore that Domnall seized the position indirectly from his Ultonian rival. Regardless, the two had become enemies.
Domnall pressed this rivalry very quickly, and in 629 the two kings engaged each other at the Battle of Dún Ceithirn in what is now County Londonderry. On that occasion Congal was defeated, and Domnall was left unchallenged as the High King.
Throughout the 630s, Domnall continued to wage war on his rivals in the Uí Néill clan. In 637, however, Congal once again rose to challenge the Ard Rí, and enlisted the help of Dalriada to do so. The two forces met just east of Lough Neagh.
Location
In 637, the settlement of Moira was substantially smaller than it is in present times. However, there was at the very least a motte (the mound of which can still be seen in the village). The area was also much more forested in the 1st millennium, with the existence of expansive woodland near the hamlet.
Battle
Little is known about the actual battle itself. The armies of both Domnall II and Congal were primarily made up of warriors native to Ireland. However, Domnall I of Dalriada brought a more varied force to the fight. His army included Scots, Picts, Anglo-Saxons and Britons (Welshmen). At least one side had a substantial cavalry force.
According to Sir Samuel Ferguson "there appears reason to believe that the fight lasted a week", at the end of which the defeated force fled towards the woods of Killultagh. The forces of Ulster and Dalriada were defeated, with Domnall of Dalriada forced to flee north to his kingdom's holdings. Congall was killed in the course of the battle.
The scale of the battle was, however, confirmed in the 19th century when the railway line in Moira was being constructed. Thousands of bodies of men and horses were excavated. When one considers that the survivors probably numbered quite considerably more, then the reputation of the scale of the battle becomes obvious.
Aftermath
With the death of Congal in the battle the chance for Dalaradia and its local allies to undo the advances of Domnall had been scuppered, and the Ulaid had to endure the advances that the High King had made. They were not to be completely subjugated however.
By contrast, the consequences were much more keenly felt for Dalriada. The land defeat at Moira was coupled with a naval defeat on exactly the same day; at the Battle of the Mull of Kintyre the Ard Rí's fleet had succeeded in defeating Dalriada's. As a result of both battles the High King's forces were able to occupy the Dalriadan lands in north Antrim, unprotected as they now were.
As a direct result of the battle the Uí Néill clan became dominant in the north of Ireland. Their descendants would claim overlordship of at least some of the land until the Flight of the Earls almost a thousand years later in 1607.
(References Wikipedia )Comment
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The Ice Age in Ireland ( sourced from WesleyJohnston .com )
The Ice Age in Ireland lasted from 30,000 years ago to approximately 14,000 years ago. During that time sea levels dropped and Ireland was joined to Britain and mainland Europe. The ice sheet came from the north-east and covered most of Ireland. When the ice finally melted it left a scoured landscape of rounded mountains with deep rounded valleys and lowlands covered with drift material. Vegetation and animals came across the land bridge and began to colonise Ireland. As the ice across the rest of Europe and the world continued to melt, sea levels rose by up to 50 metres, to the level that they are now, turning Ireland back into an island again. The land itself, depressed by the weight of the ice, also began to rise and this rise is continuing to this day, albeit at a slow rate of roughly 2mm per year.
Mesolithic Ireland
The first humans in Ireland crossed in wooden boats from Scotland to what is now county Antrim around 8000BC. This made it one of the last places in Europe to be settled by humans. These Mesolithic settlers were hunter/gatherers and dwelt mainly on the shores of lakes, rivers or the sea. They lived in skin huts which they packed up and moved with them. Using flint tools mined in north-east Ireland, the Mesolithic settlers hunted animals, birds and fish with spears, harpoons and bows-and-arrows. The population of Ireland was low at this time, and the interior of the island remained forested with practically no human influence.
Neolithic Ireland
The Neolithic age was characterised by the invention of farming, as well as the use of porcellanite - a more effective cutting stone than flint. The Mesolithic residents of Ireland did not invent this Neolithic technology. Instead, they were assimilated by new Neolithic settlers who arrived from Britain bringing these new technologies. This process began to happen around 4000BC and took several hundred years. They set about clearing upland forest (which was easier to fell) to set out their farms. They also introduced grain crops, cattle, sheep and goats to Ireland. Because they were living on permanent farms, the Neolithic farmers were able to build larger houses, made from wood and thatched with reeds. They also made simple coiled-clay pots which they fired in kilns.
These Neolithic farmers are most famous for the megaliths (large stone and earthen tombs) that they constructed across Ireland. These are not unique to Ireland, being found also in Spain, Portugal, France, Denmark and Britain. Most megaliths are found in the north of Ireland, and there are three distinct types. Court tombs consist of a stone chamber covered in earth with a courtyard in front of it. Portal tombs, or dolmens, consist of three or more vertical stones with a large capstone on top. Passage tombs consist of a stone passage into the centre of a large earthen mound. The most famous passage tombs in Ireland are Newgrange and Knowth. While definitely used for burials, there is evidence that the megaliths also had other uses, eg religious or political functions. The Neolithic era ended around 2000BC.
.Last edited by bojangles; 24-05-2013, 04:46 PM.Comment
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That's some really cool information Bo. Thanks!!Comment
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The Coming of the Vikings
Who were the Vikings? They were a group of people who originated in modern-day Denmark and Norway. In the 700s, pressure on land in Scandanavia had forced many nobles and warriors to seek land elsewhere. Some of these were younger sons, who stood to inherit nothing of their father's estate. Noblemen with little to lose began to gather together groups of warriors and go down the coast pillaging settlements. They sold their booty for money, much like the black markets of today, and this became the means of making their living. The invention of the longboat made it possible for these warriors to sail across the North Sea to attack Britain, Oseberg Ship France and Ireland as well. In these areas they became known as the "Norsemen" (literally, north-men) and laterally as the "Vikings". They called themselves "Ostmen". The Vikings who first attacked Ireland were Norwegian while those in Britain were usually Danish. Being pagans, the Vikings did not have any respect for Christian symbols and sites. The picture on the left shows the Oseberg Ship, a reconstructed Viking raiding boat (Photo by Universitetets Oldsaksamling, Oslo).
The first raids in the British Isles was in 793, when the great monastery at Lindisfarne was sacked. In Ireland, Rathlin island monastery was burned by the Vikings in 795. Other prominent monasteries that were attacked included Holmpatrick, Inishmurray, Inishbofin and Sceilg Mhicil. Sceilg Mhicil's abbot died of thirst as a Viking prisoner. St Colum Cille's great monastery at Iona was burned in 802. For the next 30-40 years, the Vikings engaged in hit-and-run raids where they landed a small number of ships at a settlement, spent a few days pillaging and burning it before heading back to Scandanavia to sell their booty. The Vikings were after two types of booty - riches and slaves - which they carried off to sell. They soon found that the monasteries were the richest sources of both goods and this is why monasteries suffered so much. However, the Vikings also attacked a lot of grád Fhéne (commoner's) dwellings.
The brutality that the Vikings displayed towards their prisoners, and their apparent disrespect for anything other than booty must have injected terror into those who experienced, and heard tales of, the Norsemen's exploits. However, the effects of these raids should not be exaggerated. In this phase, there was about one attack per year and the probability of being attacked in any given year was actually quite low. Life went on as normal in Ireland. Nor did the Irish sit back and let the Vikings pillage their coasts. While most Irish attacks on the Vikings met with defeat, a few succeeded. The Ulaid defeated a band of raiders in 811, a band was defeated in Connaght in 812 and one in Munster around the same time.
The Raids Intensify
However, the Vikings were soon to improve their methods of pillaging. Instead of landing 3 or 4 boats, raiding nearby settlements and going back to Scandanavia, they decided to scale-up. They brought between 50 and 100 boats of Viking warriors, landed, and set up a camp. From this base they then raided extensively into the surrounding countryside for a period of several months. They pillaged monasteries, churches, the fortresses of Irish Lords, and farms. In 836 the lands of the southern Uí Néill suffered such an episode. In 837, the same thing happened on the Boyne and Liffey rivers on the east coast and on the Shannon on the west. In 840 the Vikings spent a year on Lough Neagh pillaging, amongst others, the monastery of Armagh. Many of the scholars and monks of Louth monastery were captured and sold into slavery. In 841 they set up fortified camps at Annagassan (county Louth) and Dubhlinn (present day Dublin). Clonmacnoise, Birr and Clonfert were pillaged and the primate of Armagh was captured and carried off in 845.
This was the most intense period of Viking activity, and the Irish Kings seemed to be able to do little to prevent the wholesale destruction of large tracts of their Provinces. The southern Uí Néill were routed by the Vikings when they attempted to drive them out. By the end, many of the monks themselves had taken to fighting the Vikings. However, just as it looked as if Ireland was about to be conquered by the Vikings, and just as the Irish began to develop tactics with which to more effectively attack them, the raids died away. The last major Viking raid of this phase was in 851 by which time they appeared to have turned their attention to Britain. The map below shows the attacks in this period.
Viking raids 795-851
Meanwhile, many of the Viking settlements developed and grew into towns. Their town of Dubhlinn had a thriving Norse community by the second half of the 800s, and had become the principal supplier of slaves in the British Isles. In time it became a great merchant town, until it was defeated by an Irish attack in 902. After that, the Vikings moved their power base to the Isle of Man and to the growing territory that the Vikings were carving out of Anglo-Saxon England. Other Viking towns had also been defeated, for example Cork in 848, Vadrefjord [Waterford] in 864 and Youghal in 866.Comment
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The Second Period of Viking Raids
A second phase of raiding began in 914, with the arrival of a large fleet of Viking ships in Waterford harbour. They promptly re-captured their settlement of Vadrefjord [Waterford] from which the Irish had expelled the first Vikings half a century earlier. Reinforced by a second fleet which arrived the following year, the Vikings launched a series of offensives deep into the province of Munster, and later Leinster, where they met little Irish resistance as they pillaged both ecclesiastical and grád Fhéne (commoner) settlements. They plundered the monasteries of Cork, Lismore and Aghaboe, among others.
In 917, the Vikings re-captured the settlement of Dubhlinn [Dublin] which the Irish had captured in 902. The king of the Uí Néill, Niall Glúndub, who was the most powerful king in Ireland, decided that the Vikings had to be stopped. He brought together a combined force from the Uí Néill and enlisted the help of the forces of Leinster. They marched against the Vikings in Munster in 917. However, the Vikings routed the Leinstermen, while the forces of the Uí Néill retreated from Munster with no decisive success. Two years later, in 919, Niall Glúndub tried again and attacked Dubhlinn. However, his forces were again routed by the Vikings and Niall Glúndub himself was killed and "the cream of the Uí Néill fell with him" [2]. It was not true to say that it was "the Irish against the Vikings". In fact, some Irish kings and lords formed alliances with Vikings to attack other Irish lords.
The Vikings continued to raid inland from their towns of Dubhlinn, Cork and Vadrefjord. In 921, they founded a new town on the south-east tip of Ireland called Weisfjord (Wexford) and a year later founded the town of Limerick near a ford at the mouth of the river Shannon on the west coast. The Vikings in Ireland, however, spent a lot of effort consolidating the Nordic Kingdom that their Viking collegeaues had been carving out of Anglo-Saxon England (by defeating and assimilating Northumbria, East Anglia and parts of Mercia - see a map of England before the Vikings came). This kingdom would become known as the Danelaw. Back in Ireland, as the influence of the Vikings declined, they concentrated more on developing Dubhlinn as a trading city and by 934 exercised control over the other Viking towns in Ireland. In its day, Dubhlinn was one of the most important cities in the Nordic world, as a trading and slaving centre. In 952, Dubhlinn split from the Danelaw and from then on Dubhlinn had its own dynasty of Viking Kings.
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The Vikings eventually settled down in the lands they had conquered. By 950, the Vikings had stopped raiding in Ireland and developed instead as traders and settled in the lands around their towns. The Vikings in England [3] largely became farmers and fishermen. In France, the Vikings formed the Kingdom of Normandy on the north coast - which would play a major role in history a century later when William of Normandy would defeat England in 1066. The Vikings left many placenames in Ireland including: Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford, Strangford, Leixlip, Carlingford, Youghal, Howth, Dalkey and Fingall [an area of modern-day Dublin]. A few of their words were also adopted into the Irish language.
( The above was sourced from Weslyjohnson .com )Comment
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Bo;Hibernia Was also the name of the old mail boat.lolOriginally posted by bojangles View PostComment
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