Ireland (5 page)

But where there are rich and powerful tribes there are also problems. Other tribes become envious and wish to conqueror their neighbours and take all that power and wealth for themselves. Before the Celts came to Ireland, there was fighting and conquering occurring among the tribes already living here. With the arrival of the Celts, this conquering increased. Communities were forced to protect themselves and this is one reason why they built hill forts and raths and cashels.

Within his fortress, the tribal leader and his people could live in relative safety while protecting their animals and food and property from marauders. From here, the chief could rule over the other tribes around him who were not as powerful as he was. Gradually these chiefs became kings of their areas and eventually five major areas, or kingdoms emerged. These were the four provinces we still know today along with that of Meath. When we now refer to one of the four provinces in Gaelic we use the word
‘cuige’.
Cuig means ‘five’ in Gaelic and refers back to that time when there were five provinces.

Later still, Ireland was divided into seven areas or kingdoms. Each of these kingdoms had its own king. These areas were then divided into smaller areas called tuaths and these, too, had their own king. There was constant warfare between these kings, and sometimes forts were not sufficient to protect one area from another. You remember, there was no money back then, and a king’s wealth was measured in the number of cattle he possessed. So when kings went to war they would also try to steal the other king’s cattle.

When war broke out between Connacht and Ulster, the Ulster people built giant earthworks to separate the two areas. These would have helped to protect them from the attackers, and prevented the attackers from stealing cattle. A section of these earthworks, known as Black Pig’s Dyke, still exists today. The name, according to legend, is associated with a magician who was tricked into becoming a pig, and was then forced to travel around Ireland rooting up the earth into gigantic banks.

Of course, this is just a legend, but as there are many such earthworks around the country, this indicates that there was much warfare. Some kings became very powerful and wished to be High King of all Ireland, or
Ard Rí
in Gaelic. But though many claimed to be High King, in reality there was no one king who ruled all of Ireland at this time.

Still, there were some very powerful kings in Ireland living in magnificent forts. One of the most famous of all these Irish forts was Emain Macha, or Navan fort. It was in Armagh, and was founded either by a Queen Macha, or was called after a goddess of that name. It later became the residence of one of Ireland’s most famous kings, Conor Mac Nessa, who reigned in Ulster about 2,000 years ago. It was at his court that the great hero Cú Chulainn lived. The Red Branch Knights, who were brave warriors, also lived at Navan fort.

The kings of Connacht lived at Rathcroghan, County Roscommon, the kings of Leinster at Dún Ailinne, County Kildare, and the kings of Munster at Cashel, County Tipperary. But the most famous of all Irish forts was the great fort on the hill of Tara, in County Meath. Its origins date back to Stone Age times, when there was a settlement there. One of its most famous kings was Cormac Mac Airt, who was the son of Art and the grandson of a king named Conn, who gave his name to Connacht. During his reign, Cormac Mac Airt made Tara the capital of Ireland. He lived there in a magnificent palace and within the fort was a great banqueting hall, said to be the largest building in all of Ireland.

According to legend, Cormac founded the Fianna, whose leader was Fionn MacCumhaill. He was a great warrior and lived on the nearby Hill of Allen. The Fianna could be said to be Ireland’s first army, and many stories are told of their brave deeds. However, it is difficult to know what is actually true and what is legend. But they make great stories; so much so that they are still related today, part of our folklore and myth. Legend claims that the Fianna became too powerful and were defeated in a great battle at Gavra, County Meath, by Cormac’s grandson, Cairbre.

For hundreds of years, Tara was the most important fort in the country and whoever ruled there was virtually the High King. There was a stone there called the
Lia Fáil
, or Stone of Destiny, and when the rightful king touched it, it cried out. This part about the stone crying out is clearly a myth, but perhaps a druid cried out and this gave rise to the legend. The stone can still be seen at Tara today.

The king who ruled at Tara was so powerful that every third year a great gathering, the Feis of Tara, was held, to which were invited the other Irish kings. At this gathering, the kings would discuss making new laws, which were known as the Brehon Laws, ‘Brehon’ being the Gaelic word for judge. After this, and when the weaker kings had paid honour to the more powerful ones, a great feast, known as the Feast of Tara was held. During this time athletic contests and games took place, and there was much music and song and story, and of course feasting on the best food and drink. The feast lasted for three whole days, though it’s claimed that it could go on for weeks or months.

Yet despite these great gatherings of the Irish kings, disputes between different kings continued. Alliances were formed and broken and war could be waged for wrongs done, or for even imagined wrongs. Stories about many of these disputes were later written down. One of the most famous is The Cattle-Raid of Cooley. This tells the story of the war between Queen Maeve of Connacht and Conor Mac Nessa of Ulster. Maeve invaded Ulster in a dispute over the ownership of the brown bull of Cooley. Cú Chulainn, one of Ireland’s most famous mythical heroes, also appears in this story and was killed in the fighting. Maeve was victorious, and her victory probably marked the beginning of the decline of Navan fort and the power of the Ulster kings.

This story about Queen Maeve is interesting for two reasons. Again it shows the importance of cattle to the Irish at that time. In an economy based on ownership of cattle, a fine bull was a very valuable animal indeed and well worth going to war over. It also shows that not all the leaders in Ireland were men.

Around 1,000 years after the Celts first came to Ireland this was what life in the country was like. The people were mostly farmers ruled over by kings who lived in forts or raths or cashels, and who in turn owed allegiance to other kings. The people were pagans and worshipped their gods with the help of the druids. From time to time warriors came from across the seas to raid along the Irish coast. Meanwhile, the Irish carried out raids on the coasts of Britain. One group of Irish people from Ulster went to live in Scotland, in a place now known as Argyll. It was they who made Scotland a Gaelic nation and today both countries have much in common, including music and dance and language.

Around the year AD 400, the king at Tara was known as Niall of the Nine Hostages because he took hostages from his enemies so that they would not attack him. He is regarded as one of the greatest of all Irish kings, and one who could lay some claim to being a real High King. He was a warlike king, tall and fair haired with intense blue eyes. He often raided the coast of Britain and even went as far as France, where, it is claimed, he was eventually killed during a raid.

On one of his raids along the British coast, probably the coast of what we now call Wales, he captured 200 slaves and brought them back to Ireland. Among them was a young boy of Roman descent who was about sixteen years of age. Unknown to Niall or his warriors, or even to the boy himself, it was to be a momentous event for Ireland. For that young boy was later destined to utterly change the course of Ireland’s history.

I
cannot tell you the history of Ireland, and of the effect that young boy had on our country, without sometimes looking at the history of the world. During those first 7,000 years of Irish history, great empires rose and fell elsewhere in the world. One of these empires was that of the Egyptians, who built the pyramids. Another empire was that of the Romans, who got their name from Rome, which was one of the greatest cities on earth for about 1,000 years.

Legend claims that the city of Rome was founded around 2,700 years ago by twin boys named Romulus and Remus, who were reared by wolves. Unfortunately, the twins quarrelled, and Romulus killed his brother and named the city after himself. Although we cannot prove that any of this is true, we do know that Rome governed the most powerful empire on earth for about 1,000 years.

The Romans had a magnificent army with highly trained soldiers, and they conquered most of the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. They also conquered Britain, except for Scotland. Fierce warriors known as Scots and Picts lived there, and the Romans could not defeat them. These Scots and Picts constantly attacked the Romans and this forced them to build a great wall dividing England from Scotland, just as the men of Ulster had built Black Pig’s Dyke. The emperor who built this wall was called Hadrian and you can still see part of Hadrian’s Wall today.

Now, a question that is often asked is: did the Romans try to conquer Ireland? There is some evidence that Agricola, who was governor of Britain around the year AD 80, planned to invade Ireland. But trouble with the Scots prevented him from doing so. There is also evidence that the Romans had a fort near Dublin and some historians believe that they may have founded the original settlement at Cashel, County Tipperary.

Roman coins and arms and other Roman objects have been found in Ireland. But Ireland is so close to Britain that it would be strange if these did not find their way here. We know Irish kings raided the British coast and must have taken coins and arms and goods back home with them. The Romans were great seafarers and it seems certain that they must have visited Ireland just out of curiosity. But there is no evidence of a large scale invasion. The Romans were renowned as builders of towns and roads and aqueducts and had they conquered Ireland, they would have built some of these and their remains would still be here.

The Romans were pagans and worshipped many gods. But following the death of Jesus Christ in AD 33, many people in the Roman world became Christians. The Roman emperors persecuted them and many were martyred. Then around the year AD 300, a man named Constantine became Roman emperor. His mother, Helena, was a Christian and because of this, her son did not persecute Christians. Legend tells us that one day, while he was leading his men in battle, he saw a cross appear in the sky. Constantine was victorious in the battle and he took this as a sign that Christianity was the true religion. From then on he decreed that it would be the religion of the Roman Empire. As a result of this, Christianity came to Britain.

By the year AD 400 the Romans had withdrawn their armies from Britain to defend Rome and their empire from people called the Visigoths and Vandals. The Vandals sacked Rome in AD 455 and even today, if someone destroys property, or paints graffiti on a building, we say they are a vandal. With the sacking of Rome, the Roman Empire fell. Europe was plunged into a period we know as the Dark Ages, which lasted for about 1,000 years. During this time wars raged in Europe as different peoples tried to gain land and power for themselves.

However, the first 400 years of the Dark Ages were a Golden Age for Ireland. During this time, learning became very important and magnificent books were written and wonderful objects were made from gold and silver. Yet this Golden Age began with violence when Niall of the Nine Hostages captured those 200 slaves, including that sixteen-year-old boy. His name was Patrick, and today Patrick is one of the most famous and revered of all Irish Christian names.

The terrified boy was brought to Ireland in chains and sold to a farmer named Miliuc in County Antrim. Here, Patrick was forced to tend a herd of sheep and pigs on Slemish Mountain for six years. In a letter of his which survives, he writes in Latin that he spent his time in prayer and that one day he heard a voice telling him that a ship was waiting to take him home.

Patrick ran away and eventually reached the coast, probably at Wicklow. Here, he found a ship but the captain would not take him on board. Patrick stowed away on the ship and eventually he made his way home to Britain. Once there, he decided to become a priest. After he was ordained, he claimed to have heard the voices of the people of Ireland begging him to return and convert them to Christianity.

The Pope gave Patrick permission to travel to Ireland and he arrived here at a time that we now know as Easter in the year 432. Ireland was still a pagan country, though some of the people were Christians. They had been converted by a bishop called Palladius, who had earlier been sent to Ireland by the Pope.

One of the pagan ceremonies that took place in Ireland at this time of year was the lighting of a great fire on the Hill of Tara by Laoghaire, who was the king who lived in the royal fort at this time. This fire was lit at the spring equinox, that important day in the calendar which is divided equally between twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness. Until the king lit this fire, no one else could dare light any other fire.