ancient Irish Septs even at this very time In short as their name turn'd English must be the Children or descendents of Roderick for thus we render the Irish name Ruadruidh so they had that name as they lineally derive their descent not from either of the two Irish Monarchs call'd by that name though to pass by the later who was the very last of all the Milesian Kings of Ireland yet the former of them was so long before as the LXX Monarch in order of the same Milesian Race who came to the Sovereignty of Ireland in the year of the World 4907 that is before the birth of Christ 392 years but much earlier from Ruadhruidh mhac Sithghe that descended from Ir one of the eight Sons of Milesius Which Ir being dead before or at least upon the first partition of Ireland betwixt the two surviving Brothers Heber and Herimon and their Cosins and the foresaid Ruidhruidh mhac Sitghe succeeding in the Lot of Ir which was in the North he establish'd both himself and his posterity there and in process of time became the great stock of a most numerous warlike stubborn People and among 'em Lords and Princes and Kings too whereof such as continued still within that portion of Ir Northern Division are by the rest of the Irish call'd Na Faoir Vlltaigh which words import in our Language the right Vlster men And not only they that so remain'd within that Vlster Lot but those that issued from them into the other Provinces of Ireland where many of 'em acquir'd large Territories have always gone under the name of Clanna Ruidhruidh and by it are distinguish'd still from all other Families descended either from Herimon or Heber or Ith or any else whatsoever of those very first Milesian Conquerours Of those of them who had so issued forth into other Provinces are the progeny of Connall Cearnach in Lease a Territory of Leinster and those Septs in Connaght which go by the peculiar name of Comhaicne Chonnacht besides other Families in Corcaigh Moruadh and Kiarruigh parts of Mounster Third Observation is That so many rich Presents made in one Progress by a Provincial King must argue Ireland to have been at least in those days of Paganism whereof Benuinn writes for he himself flourish'd about 1200 years since a Countrey fraught with exceeding great Riches And verily there are several other strong arguments to persuade us it was so 1. The golden Mines discover'd there under the X. Monarch of the Milesian Conquest by name Tighernmhais and a long time after made use of In so much that the Countrey abounding with gold the next Monarch after him viz. Munemhon who died in the year of the World 3872. ordain'd that all the Gentry should wear golden chains about their Necks And his next Successor Allerghoid's reign is noted in the Irish Chronicles for golden Rings therein first used in that Nation 2. The great number of Silver shields made by the command of Euno Airgtheach the Xvii Monarch of the Milesian Conquest and together with Caroches and Horses bestow'd by him on persons of Worth He reign'd seven years and in the year of the world 3882. was kill'd in Battel by his successour having first derived from those Silver Targets the surname of Airgtheach which imports Silver'd 3. The numerous company of Goldsmiths every where in that Kingdom I am sure that as Keting in Tighernmhais's reign takes special notice of his name who was the very first Master Goldsmith in those days so does Gratianus Lucius enough of latter days I mean as to that matter of the great number of Goldsmiths in 'em among the Irish For in his 118. p. he observes out of O Duuegan that even S. Patric had in his own private Family of them at work three namely Essuus Bidus and Tassachus He further adds that scarce in the Irish Histories may be found an instance of any Chalices Vials or Utensils whatsoever dedicated to holy uses at the Altar or in the Church other than of pure Gold or Silver Besides that the very coverings not only of Reliques but of Books all of Silver and Gold were so many throughout that Kingdom since it became Christian as might easily persuade any indifferent man that of necessity their number of Goldsmiths must have been very great 5. The spoils of foreign Countreys which for so many long Ages the Irish gather'd home to Ireland as elsewhere in this Treatise has been said 5. Their being so excellently seated for Trading that in those days of old they were mightily frequented by Merchants out of Spain France Great Brittain c. but without question much more than Great Brittain was For proof we have the testimony of so knowing and sure a Writer as Cornelius Tacitus in his Life of Agricola where speaking of Ireland in reference to Brittain he has these words Melius aditus portusque per commercia negotiatores cogniti signifying That the Havens and Ports of Ireland were better known by Commerce and Merchants than those of Brittain 6. The ounce of Gold yearly paid for every Nose in Ireland to the Danish Victors whilst their Dominion lasted there which also we have seen before out of Keting 7. The acknowledgment of Gerald of Wales himself even for his own time that is for the time following the horrible desolation of that Countrey by the long and cruel Danish Wars and the frequent continual plundering of it by the Norvegians and other Easterlings for about a hundred and fifty years at least Yet Gerald who in the second or third Age after so much Riches had been carried away thence by those plundering Heathens was an Eye-witness himself of what remain'd still even in King Hen. II. reign professes that Ireland at this very time abounded with Gold For Aurum quoque quo abundat Insula are his own words Expug Hib. l. 2. c. 15. where if you joyn with it his seventeenth Chapter you may observe him not only in three several places referring to and exaggerating this very subject of the Irish Gold but withal supposing in the last of them that without Irish Commodities Commerce our Island of Great Brittain could not subsist Besides I might peradventure to the same purpose of shewing the plenty of Treasure among the Irish and that even but a very little time before the days of Cambrensis I am sure I might pertinently enough for shewing their liberality and Piety both extended even to Forein Parts alleadg out of the Chronicle of St. James's Benedictin Cloister seated at the West-gate of Reinsburg alias Ratisbona in Germany those vast sums of Gold and Silver besides the great proportion of other rich Donaries bestow'd by the Mounster King Conchabhar O Brien surnamed Slapparsalach and other Irish Princes upon Dionysius Christianus and Gregorius three successive Irish Abbots of that Cloister and sent unto them by their own Irish Messengers come of purpose out of Germany at three several times and with the Emperour Conrad's Letters
still and remaining with the Dal-Gheass but a conditional defiance it was requiring Donochadh to send them Hostages for his acknowledging one of their own West-Mounster Tribe as rightful King of all Mounster by vertue of the ancient disposition made some 800 years before by Oillioll Ollum the first Provincial King of both Mounsters to his second Son Cormock Caisse and his Grandchild or his eldest Son Eoghun Mor's child by name Fiochae Muilleathan That Donogh relying on his valiant Dal-Gheass though but so few and a great many of them very grievously wounded gave the Messenger nothing to hope but return'd him with an answer of disdain and scorn bidding him tell those who had sent him that his Father came to the Sovereignty of that Kingdom not by vertue of any such or other ancient disposition but by his Sword and that he would endeavour to keep in the same manner what his descent from such a Father had entitled him to That pursuant to this answer preparing to fight when he had put into the Danish Rath which remains to this day on that Height of Maistion all his wounded men and appointed a third part of the rest to defend them not only those very wounded men understanding the cause and thereupon seeing their wounds to open and bleed afresh fill'd them with green Moss call'd for their Arms took 'em march'd forth and embodied with their Companions resolv'd to live or die with them in fighting but the Mutineers observing for they saw all their desperate resolutions thought better of it and whether out of compassion or cowardize or some other motive I know not march'd off presently their own way home to West Mounster leaving Donochadh with his few Dal-Gheass to fight theirs out in passing on towards Tomond through a greater Army of profess'd enemies that expected to receive them near Athy where they were to pass the River Barrow some four or five miles from Maistion That Donochadh mhac Brien Boraimh was no sooner come so far and encamped close by that River then Donochadh mhac Gilla-Phadruig King of Ossory that with an Army rais'd out of all parts of Leinster ten times the number of Dal-Gheass lay not far off on the other side of the same River at a place called Magh Cloinne Keallnigh sent him a Herald requiring him forthwith to deliver considerable Hostages or fight his way though Mac Gilla-Phadruig's quarrel was no other nor otherwise grounded than upon his Fathers imprisonment for twelve months by Brian Boraimh some time past That a much more scornful answer than the former being made to his Messenger and Donochadh mhac Brien Boraimh in the same manner he had so lately at Mastion preparing now the second time to fight his wounded men would not be excused but filling again their wounds with green Moss and taking to their Arms they prevail'd with the Prince to have great Piles or Posts of wood fastned deep in the ground where they were to stand with two of their unwounded friends one on each side of each of them and then themselves tied to those Piles at their backs to keep them from falling while their hands were at work against their Assailants That the sight for now the Enemy was so near that they had a full sight of this unusual preparation of men so strangely devoting themselves to death did so abate the courage of Mac Gille-Phadruig's Army that notwithstanding all his eagerness and all his anger and even his upbraiding them with the greatness of their number of one side and the paucity of Dal Gheass on the other which says he is such that if they were meat you are enough to devour 'em up in one meal yet he could not prevail with them to make the Onset or do other than stand still That Donogh O Brian seeing now at last there was no further hope of Battel broke up his little Camp and march'd on the best he could very slowly indeed for how could it be otherwise being forc'd to skirmish almost continually in the Rear and sometimes in the Front and sides too for several days and forty or fifty long miles until at length having lost in all a hundred and fifty of his wearied men he got clear of this hard hearted Foe and his cowardly Forces that pursued him so far and in such manner attacking him 28. Maolseachluin the II. that was formerly depos'd to give place to Brian Boraimh is now again immediately after the Battel of Clantarff the second time Monarch of Ireland In this second Reign of his after he had as you have seen before kill'd in Dublin the whole remainder of the Danes fled thither from the Battel of Clantarff then without delay he march'd with all his Forces against his own Countreymen And first against those of Cionsallach we call it now the County of Wexford where he turn'd all into ashes and slaughter'd a great many of the Inhabitants Nâ—xt in like Hostile manner against those of Vlster whence he return'd with a great number of Hostages About this time it was that Donochadh mhac Gille Phadruig in the head of his own Troops in the streets of Leith-Ghlinn alias Laghlin kill'd Donochan King of Leinster and Teadhg O Ryan King of Idrona with many more of their followers Nor was it long after that Maolseachluin himself the Monarch enter'd Ossory kill'd Dunchall mhac Donochadh then after his Fathers death King of that Countrey slaughter'd a great number of his adherents and for the future fidelity of the rest led away as many Hostages as he pleased Lastly in this second Reign of Maolseachluinn it was that Dunn Sleibhe mhac Mhaoilmhorda mhac Muirreigheine burn'd the King of Leinster Vghaire mhac Tuathail mhac Duinlingine mhac Vghaire mhac Oiliola mhac Duinling in his dwelling house at Dubh-Loch Easa-Chaille even that brave Vghaire that fought the very last Battel in Ireland against the Danes and defeated them so mightily that they never after could any where make head against the Irish And now both the second War of the the Danes and second reign of Maolseachluinn the II. ending here I also end the former part of my Instances In which if I be not much deceiv'd you may observe a wilful obstinate furious Nation maugre all their Christianity maugre the hand of God himself so heavy on 'em proceeding still from worse to worse For in the former Danish War notwithstanding they had most enormously transgressed at several times by turning the edg of their Swords against one another yet all that while none of them arriv'd to the impiety of leaguing or joyning with the common barbarous Heathen Foe against any Soul whatsoever or upon any terms at all But in the later we have seen a very great part of 'em do so and do it even all along from the very beginning to the end At least I am sure they did so full 55 years compleat from time to time before the Battel of Clantarff had broke all the hearts and
not But if it do Sir James Ware in his Commentary de Praesulibus Hiberniae supplies it abundantly page 174. concerning Mounster and pag. 243. and 244. concerning Connaght What Authority or Jurisdiction these Archbishops had in those days of old is an other question or whether they had any more than only to be Episcopi primae sedis in their Province or priority of place I can say nothing to it But in this I can be on rational grounds positive That none of the Irish Clergy depended on the Archbishops of Canterbury none of their Bishops received consecration from any of them until Lanfraneus in William the Conquerors time was the Archbishop of that See Nor then nor after neither but for some little time those only of Dublin Wexford Waterford and Limmeric And the reason why these in particular would or did so depend was That their Townsmen and subordinate peculiar Governors were Danes or Easterlings now turn'd Christians And that they suspected the Irish Prelats would not favourably judg or determine of their Elections in behalf of their own Citizens blood or Countreymen to Ecclesiastical Offices but by reason at least of the former Feuds if not those present and remaining still would prefer Irish to them And therefore and further yet because they expected in that behalf impartial dealing and justice if not favour too from the See of Canterbury as being of late brought under the Norman Conquerors originally their own Countreymen they procured License from the Irish Kings to have their Bishops consecrated by the Archbishops of that See whereby it happened that so lately as the Reign of the Monarch Toirrghiallach Grandchild to Brien Boraimh in the Year of Christ 1098. the first Bishop of Waterford was consecrated by Anselmus of Canterbury So says Keting and much more Lucius and most of all on this Subject the most eminently famous Primat Vsher who was both concern'd for his own See of Ardmagh and without question able enough to search into these matters To him may be added Sir James Ware pag. 102. 103 and 104. where he tells us of Patric Donatus O Haingly Samuel O Haingly and Gregory four Bishops elected successively by the Oostmans of Dublin and and consecrated for that See by the Archbishops of Canterbury Lanfrancus Anselmus and Rudolphus but no more for the next Bishop of Dublin was consecrated by Ardmagh Having thus reflected on those Errors of Hanmer I have no more to say in relation to the Council of Ceannannais but that all the advantage benefit glory redounding from it to the Irish Church ought questionless to be attributed chiefly to the foresaid King and Monarch of Ireland Muirchiortach mhac Neill that rendred it both much more august by his own Royal presence and much more effectual by his perfect submission to all its Decrees A further strong argument of great resolutions taken by many of the Kings Princes Nobles Ecclesiasticks of Ireland to restore civility justice learning and above all Piety and holiness of Life once more among their Countreymen was the great number of Monasteries built and endow'd by them within the very last eighty years of their Milesian Government before the final period of it Yea and built by them I mean notwithstanding all the disadvantages of that time especially of that part of it which was taken up by the extraordinary turbulencies happen'd in Ruaruidh O Connor's Reign Who as we have seen before succeeded this Muirchiortach mhac Neill and was himself never since by any of his Countrey or Nation succeeded In the Province of Vlster Anno 1106 the Monastery of Lisgoual near Loch Erne and the Abbey of Carrig whose first Abbot was St. Euodius were founded by Mac-Noellus Mackenlef King of Vlster Anno 1138. an other for the Canons Regular of St. Austin in Feramanach The same Year an other in Louth for the same order by Donogh mhac Ceirrbheoil King of Orghillae And by him at the request of St. Malachias the noble Abbey of Mellifont for the Cistercians Anno 1142. The Abbey of Jonmhair Chinne Traigh alias Newry by Malachias himself besides the celebrated Beannchuir restor'd by him About this time also the younger O Domlsnâ—l as he is call'd â—rince of Tirconnel at the request of St. Dominick by Letters to him built for his Order a Monastery at Doire Cholum Cille which had usually a hundred and fifty religious men In the Province of Mounster not only the Abbâ—y of O Dorne in the County of Kierry the Abbey of Fermoigh in the County of Cork Anno 1140. and the Abbey of Neny or Magio Anno 1148 or 1151 all three for the Cistercian Order but eighteen Monasteries founded by Domhnal O Brien the last King of North-Mounster Among these were the famous Abbey of Holy Cross at Tipperary and St. Peters at Limmeric for the black Nuns of St. Austin and the Monastery de Surio and that call'd Killoulense or de Albo campo and the other Kilmoniense or de Furgio and lately the Cloister â—f Corcamâ—ua or of the fruitful Rock In the Province of Leinster Diarmuid mhac Murcho surnamed Na Ngall the last King of it founded six Monasteries Two of them at Dublin whereof one was for Nons of the Order or rather Reformation of Aroasia the other for Chanons of Aroasia in an Abbey of Monks in Artois St. Austin a third in the County of Kilkenny at Kilclehin a fourth at Atoody in the County of Catherlach the fifth being a great noble Abbey for the Cistercians by them named de Valle Salutis at Baltinglass in the County of Wicklo and the sixth at Ferns in the County of Wexford But Monaster-Euin or de rubra Valle for the same Cistercian Order was founded by Diarmuid O Daoimuse alias Dempsy Lord or at least one of the Lords of Ibh Failghe Anno 1178. Jeripont Abby in the County of Kilkenny Anno 1181. by Donald Fitz Patric King of Ossory The Monastery of Lease or de Lege Dei An. 1183. by Cuchogrius O Moadhirra The Monastery of Dune in the County of Wexford even before the landing of Fitz Stephens there by Diarmuid O Ryan by consent of the Leinster King founded for the Chanons of St. Austin In the Province of Connaght before it was conquered by the English Cathal O Conchabhair surnamed Crombhdhearg founded the Monastery of Benedictin Nuns at Killcreunath the Monastery of Cnockmoigh or de Colle Victoriae for the Cistercians that of Ballin Tohair for the Chanons of St. Augustin and not only endow'd but enrich'd them all with large possessions Add the Monastery of Boyle about the Year 1151 founded for the Cistercian Order Lastly in Meath the King or Prince of it Murcho O Mleaghluinn founded the Monastery of Bectif alias de Beatitudine either Anno 1148. or 1151. for the Cistercians likewise for the Votresses of Saint Augustin or he or some other O Mlaghlin King of that Countrey built the Cloister at Clonard But the Cloister of Shrouil in the County of
other in substance than water yet his Cupbearer had orders to dash it lightly with red that he might seem to drink Wine Secondly towards the poor He never missed a day without seeing now Threescore now Forty and never less than Thirty of them fed in his own presence Besides far greater numbers of them maintain'd out of his Revenue constantly for a long time as we shall presently see As a Bishop he preach'd Repentance continually to the people of that opulent City who were prodigiously immers'd in drunkenness lust contentions rapin blood-shed and all kind of wickedness Yea and as a Prophet too he ceaâ—â—d not with Tears to warn 'em of their general destruction at hand if they did not speedily appease Heaven with unseignâ—d Repentance As a Bishop when this general calamity like the breaking in of the Sea came upon them suddenly in one day in one hour when the City was taken and sack'd and burn'd by Diarmuid na Ngall their incens'd King and his foreign Auxiliaries when their strâ—â—ts were all covered with the bodies of the slaughter'd Citizens and the Gutters ran with blood when the very Clergy were plunder'd and Churches riâ—led of all that was precious in them as a good Bishop I say it was that Laurence at this time first beholding with floods of Tears like an other Jeremy the slaughter of his people before his eyes then taking courage like the good Pastor in the Gospel thrnst himself upon the bloody swords of the Conquerors holding their Arms praying their mercy entreating them for some snatching others from their fury to Christian burial who had their Souls yet panting in their Bodies and when no more could be done by him in any other kind giving himself wholly now to that generous imitation of Tobias As a Bishop it was that although with great hazard still unto himself yet he used that Episcopal freedom with the King and his insulting Commanders that the Clergy were at last permitted their own Habitations and the Churches restor'd their Books and Ornaments As a Bishop he employ'd in the next place all his compassion and all his Revenue I mean what was left thereof unseized by the Military men or undestroy'd by fire yea and all whatever he could procure from others to relieve the few Survivors of the slaughter'd Citizens His very Bowels did yearn over them especially those whom he had so lately seen to flourish in all kind of Earthly happiness and now saw without House to lie in without Cloaths to cover their nakedness without meat or drink to preserve life without other comfort than that of miserable Captives under a most deadly Foe As a Bishop when an other general Famin had in his days lien heavy on all the Land he not only gave daily sustenance for three whole years to five hundred persons reduced before to the worst of conditions plain starving but in several parts of his Diocess provided meat and drink and cloaths and all other necessaries for three hundred more And in the same cruel season of scarcity it was that Mothers reduced to extream want laying their chrisom Babes in the night at his door and in the day also where ever they saw he was to pass he took care of them all providing Nurses from them and though two hundred in number at one time sent them to his own Stewards and Baylisâ—s to be kept on his own Land and when they were come to years of discretion and some abilities of Body recommended them about all the Province with the badg of a wooden Cross in their hands As a Bishop and a Legat too says the Author of his Life he conniv'd at no disorder in the Clergy no vice no sin and least of all at the scandalous one of Incontinency whether in Priest Deacon or sub-Deacon Which fleshly Vice he did so much abominate especially in them and found it so necessary to be proceeded against with vigour that even so great a number as a hundred and forty Priests convict thereof he sent together at one time for Penance and Absolution to Rome though he might otherwise have given them both at home by his own Authority As a Bishop yea as a Father of his Countrey in general he spent the little remainder as well of his Revenue as of his health and Life in crossing the Seas now again from Ireland to England from England to France in both Countreys following and solliciting peace from Henry II. to ease the common calamities of his Nation at this time And now the dissolution of his earthly Tabernacle being at hand how hecoming a most Christian Bishop and a most holy Apostolical Legat indeed not only his very last exemplary Ecclesiastical preparation for it but his very last answer to the Abbot of Auge on that occasion was For in his way through France to Normandy having fallen sick of a Feaver at Abbevil a Cambreusis Vit. apud Sur. gone forward nevertheless to Auge on the borders of Normandy when at a distance he saw the Church of our Lady there prophetically foretold his own departure in that place then enter'd that Church pray'd in it a little while thence gone to his Lodging and Bed sent for Osbert the religious Abbot of that Monastery confess'd his sins to him and receiv'd the holy Viaticum from him then for prosecuting his business to Henry II. dispatch'd his Chaplain David together with his own Nephew to that King on their return the fourth day with the joyful news of their success i. e. of the Peace granted by the same Henry II. to Roderick the Irish King seem'd transported with it for the sake of his Countrey how low soever he knew himself brought by his sickness upon the third day following desired of the said Abbot and his whole Monastery to be as a Member incorporated among them and this accordingly done then presently desired further and pursuant to his desire in all their presence receiv'd the last Sacrament which they call Extreme Vnction having I say pass'd through all these steps and very last Ecclesiastical preparatories for death when the good Abbot Osbertus considering him an Archbishop had according to custom minded him of making his last Will and Testament his Answer was in thâ—se few words Novit Dominus mihi ne nummum quidem sub sole relictum esse The Lord knows that I have not a penny left me under the Sun Besides how like the great Bishop of our Souls weeping over Hierusalem this Bishop of Ireland remembring and lamenting once more for all the condition of his own Countrey brake forth into these Expressions in his own mother Language Ah foolish and sottish People what will you do now who will bring you back from your strayings who will apply Balm to your wounds who will cure you or take care of you at all And this Lamentation which Nature express'd from him ended how then at last like an other Austin he behaved himself in the last moments of his Life
commending them that came last Unto those and these Messengers was delivered so great and Royal a sum by the foresaid King of Mounster that thereby this Cloister was from the very foundations not only re-built in a little time so magnificently that for the stateliness of the Work it surpass'd all other to be seen in those days any where but moreover to maintain it and the Monks therein for ever purchased both within that very City of Reinsburg and abroad in the Countrey in Houses Lands Villages Towns a mighty great Revenue and perpetual Estate And yet after all supererat ingens copia pecuniae Regis Hiberniae there was remaining still an exceeding great quantity of the King of Ireland's money says the said Chronicle For so that Author calls the above Conchabhar O Brien though only King of Mounster the time of whose Reign was from the year of Christ 1127. when it began to the year 1142. when he ended both it and together with it his Life in a Pilgrimage at Kildare I say nothing of the mighty rich Presents which he sent and were carried from him and presented in his name to the Emperour Lotharius the II. by some of the noblest Peers of Ireland who had receiv'd the Cross for going to the holy War at that time in Palestine But there are two particulars which on this occasion coming to remembrance I cannot pass over in silence The one is concerning Marianus Scotus a famous man among the Learned specially Chronologers For in that Reinsburg Chronicle which speaks of Gregory the third of those Irish Abbots now mention'd we have this account of him 1. That after the same Gregory upon the death of his predecessour Christianus was chosen Abbot to succeed him in the foresaid Cloister of Reinsburg and therefore gone to Rome to be consecrated by the Pope who then was Adrian IV. an English man at that very time turn'd Monk in this Cloister egregius Clericus Hiberniensis nomine Marianus c. an excellent Irish Clerk by name Marianus a most learned man who a long time at Paris had publickly taught the seven Liberal Arts and other Sciences and was there Master to this very Adrian who now presided in the Apostolical Chair at Rome when the foresaid Gregory was admitted by him to Audience 2. That among other questions Adrian enquiring of Gregory concerning Marianus his old Praeceptor at Paris Gregory answered him thus Master Marianus is well and having forsaken the World lives with us a Monk at Reinsburg 3. That hereupon the Pope delivered himself in these words God be thanked says he For throughout the Catholick Church we do not know under an Abbot such an other man so excelling in Wisdom Prudence Wit Eloquence good manners humanity dexterity and other divine gifts as my Master Marianus c. Hitherto the very words of that Reinsburg Chronicle done only into English Which I have therefore given here out of Camb. Evers page 164. because I would restore that famous man to his own native Countrey Ireland notwithstanding his surname of Scotus What time he flourish'd we may gather hence being we know that Pope Adrian IV. whose Instructor in the Sciences he was died in the year of Christ 1159. the fourth year and tenth month of his Pontificate The other particular shews how the Irish had been five hundred years before piously munificent to Foreiners come to lead religious lives with them at home in Ireland as we have but lately seen they were five hundred years after to those of their own Natives that devoted themselves wholly to the same Life among Foreiners abroad I must confess there are many more Instances in History to shew the same thing but this one extracted by Cambden Cambden in his country of Maio. out of V. Bede l. 1. Eccles Histor cap. 4. may be sufficient in this place Colman an Irish Bishop found a place in Ireland meet for building a Monastery named in the Scottish that is Irish Tongue Mageo And he bought a part of it which was not much of the Earl whose possession it was to found a Monastery therein but with this condition annex'd to the sale that the Monks residing there should pray for the Soul of him that permitted them to have the place Now when he had in a very little time with the help of the said Earl and all the Neighbour Inhabitants built this Cloister he plac'd the English men there who were thirty in number leaving the Scots behind him in the Monastery which he had before built in a small Isle on the West of Ireland by name Inis-Bofindhe that is the Island of the white Cow And that Cloister which he had built within the Land is inhabited even at this day by English men For it is the same which of a small one is grown great and usually call'd Mageo And now having this good while turn'd all to better orders it contains a notable Covent of Monks who being assembled there out of the Province of England according to the Example of the reverend Fathers under regular disciplin and a Canonical Abbot live in great continency and sincerity by the labour of their own hands Hitherto Bede And Cambden where he treats of the County of Maio in Connaght adds that if he deceive not himself that place named Mageo in Bede is the very same that now we call the Town of Maio the Head of that Shire Which to be true not only the neerness of Inis-Bofindhe where Colman left the Irish Monks whom together with those English he took along with him from Lindisfearn in Great Brittain * Ann 664. according to the Saxon Chronology printed with Bede by Wheloc but the right Irish name of Maio confirms For in that Language 't is call'd Magheo even at this day But 't is high time now to end a digression which though at first occasion'd by my reflecting on Felim mhac Criomthain 's costly Progress about Ireland has after by degrees of it self insensibly spun out to this length 61. Although you may see for above four leaves together that is from page 190 to page 199. very much as well of the great Actions and fortunate successes of the last Irish Monarch Ruaruidh O Conchabhair in his youth as of the total Ecclipse of his glory yea and pitiable change of his Royal State in his old days to the miserable condition of a poor private flitting forlorn Exile and all proceeding from the unnatural cruelty of his own very Son nevertheless amongst those former smiles of Fortune favouring him had it occurr'd I had surely mention'd the General Assembly or Parliament of all the Estates of Ireland which he held with great solemnity in the first year of his Reign being the year of Christ 1166. at a place which Gratianus Lucius in his Camb Evers page 161. calls in Latin Athboylochia perhaps that Town which now we call Athboy in Meath and the Irish in their Language Bale-Ath-Buoy But which foever or where
one more of the same Nature and in the very same Kingdom of Mounster too Where as Keting acquaints us upon the Death of Duibh Lachne next Successour in that Provincial Kingdom to Cormock O Cuilleinan for seven years more the Princes and Gentry meeting chose another Priest nay a Monk to be their King even the Abbot of Inis Catha by name Flaithhiortach mhac Jonmâ—uinein who reigned thirteen years over them And they chose him notwithstanding he had been the chief Adviser of Cormock O Cuillenain so lately that is but seven years before to venture that Battel against Flann mhac Sionnadh the Monarch and the Leinster King Cearbhall mhac Muaregein which prov'd so fatal to that good King and his whole Kingdom of Mounster and to this very Abbot himself troublesom For he was taken Prisoner in it and as such detain'd some time at Kildare by that Leinster King until at the intercession of the Abbess of Saint Bridgets Monastery in that Town he was released and return'd to his own Abbey of Inis-Catha in Mounster Whence after some few years wholly employ'd there in rigid ascetical exercises he was call'd upon and e'en compell'd to take the Royal State of a King So says Keting in his Reign of the said Monarch Flann Where also he notes occasionally an other great Errour of Hanmer in his Chronicle For Hanmer page 88. says that both the foresaid Cormock O Cuillenain King of Mounster but he makes him King of Ireland and Cearbhall O Muirreigein King of Leinster were kill'd by the Danes in the year of our Lord 905. Whereas on the contrary neither was Cearbhall kill'd in that year nor that Battel fought of either side by the Danes but of one side by the Monarch and of the other by Cormock who perish'd therein All which is abundantly testified by the Authentick Irish Book of that very Battel which Book has for Title Catha Bheala Mughna Besides as Keting observes in the same place the Danes attempted nothing at all no not once against the Irish during the seven years Reign of Cormock O Cuillenain over Mounster Nay there was so general a peace over all Ireland for this time so great plenty of all earthly blessings so universal a Reformation of manners and so much devotion and zeal in all sorts of people for restoring what had been destroy'd by the first Danish Wars and other attempts following it that nothing was to be seen more frequent now than every where repairing the old and building new Churches Colledges Hospitals Monasteries Yea the numbers of men dedicated only to a religious life was such at this time that Cormock O Cuillenainn tells in his Psalter of Cashel that in Muingharid formerly call'd the City of Deochaine-assain there was a Monastery with six Churches belonging to it in the same Town wherein the number of Conventual Monks was 1500. whereof five hundred were learnned Preachers five hundred Psalmists to serve constantly in the Choire and four hundred old Fathers applied wholly to Contemplation Such was the happy state of Ireland in the short Reign of the same Cormock over Mounster which must have been at or a little before the year of Christ 914. because this year ended the thirty eight years long Reign of the Monarch Flann mhac Sionna who kill'd in Battel that good King Cormock as we have seen before 70. The Sixth being an addition to what has been said before against Hanmer page 403. gives you to understand How Dionbhuillach son to the King of Denmark invading Ireland with a mighty Force landed in the North and march'd his Army so far as Ardmach How Conchabhar the first Provincial King of Vlster with his own people the Sept of Clanna Ruadhruidh i. e. the Children or Descendants from one Ruadhruidh whom they call Ruadhruidh Mor and with them alone nay with tumultuary small Forces rais'd out of them found himself necessitated to attack these Danes How by the advice of one Geanann Gruadhollas lest the Irish Youth should be contemn'd by the Danish old experienc'd Soldiers Conchabhar used the stratagem of tying Locks of grey wool in form of beards to their cheeks and chins whereby having made 'em seem the more considerable to the Enemy as if they also had been Veterans and then giving a furious charge on Dionbhuillach he defeated utterly all his Danes How these ascititious woollen beards were call'd in their Language Vlladh and from them it was that ever since the Northern Province of Ireland has been call'd in the same Irish Language Vlladh which we in ours call Vlster How that which we have here observed having been the issue of Dionbhuillach's Invasion and the time when it happen'd as Keting writes having also been the Reign of Eochadh Feilioch the Irish Monarch and Author of the Pentarchy who died in the year of the World 5069. that is just a hundred and forty years before the birth of Christ according to the computation follow'd by Lucius nothing can be desired clearer to evict Hanmer's little skill in the Irish History and his manifold Errours in delivering as you have seen before page 386. so many other Invasions of the Danes on Ireland and Conquests therein long before the year of Christ 800. 71. My seventh Note being likewise an addition is to supply what I purposely omitted in my 17th Page There I mention'd occasionally the Picts arriving in Ireland out of Scythia so long since as the Reign of Herimon the first Milesian Monarch of that Kingdom but little more of 'em save only their being made Tributary some Ages after in Scotland by the Irish Indeed when I writ and printed that Page I did not think of enlarging as I have done since And therefore partly for haste and partly for compendiousness I pass'd then over several particulars which I had before me that very time in Keting and he has at large in the foresaid Reign concerning those Picts But seeing I have since though contrary to my first design dilated on other matters I think it not amiss to add somewhat more of that Pictish Nation And this for two reasons The first is because 't is not only of all hands confess'd the Picts had been a warlike ancient People but Venerable Bede represents them as most powerful too in the year of Christ 569. In which year speaking of Columb Cille's landing in their Country from Ireland to convert 'em he has these very words Regnante Pictis Bridio filio Meilochon Rege potentissimo c. The second Because both the time of their first appearing in these parts and their very Original i. e. what Country-men they were or whence they came have continued for many Ages hitherto at least of late they are vexatious Questions As may be seen in Cambden's Britannia where he has given a Title of the Picts and four pages in Holland's Translation of him to resolvethese Questions Though after all he seems to me no nearer the Truth in his conjectural decision of either the one or
of these two Writers has treated of the Affairs of that second Difference of Time in Varro especially Berosus He tells us that Berosus both mentioned the Flood and Ark and resting of this on the Mountains of Armenia and continued the series of his Narration downwards all along from the first of Kings after the Deluge even from Noah himself that is for the whole extent of that very Second period or Difference of Time Whence it must follow that however this Time might well and justly be reputed fabulous by the Greeks in relation to themselves and their own Historians yet their ignorance ought to be no rule to conclude other Nations that like to those ancient Egyptians Phaenicians and his Chaldeans in Joseph were from the beginning careful to preserve their Antiquities i. e. their Genealogies Adventures Changes Kings Wars and other Memorable Deeds in publick Registers on Record for Posterity Such are at present the Chineses in the utmost limit of the old World in Asia towards the Rising Sun as the History of Martinus a Martinis abundantly sheweth And that such also in the farthest Land of Europe towards the Setting Sun the ancient Irish have been while their State continued till about five hundred years since may be sufficiently evinc'd by many arguments Among which are those which you may briefly read in this Prospect Former Part Sect. II. page 46 47 and 48. whereunto it will not be amiss to add what both Cambrensis and Neubrigensis do confess that even from the beginning the Irish Nation has ever continued free from any forein Yoak or Conquest till Henry the Second of England's time That is according to Cambrensis has continued so even for so long an extent of time as the successive Reigns of a hundred eighty one Monarchs of their own Countrey and extraction from the same stock had certainly taken up And therefore it must be also confess'd That so long at least they were in a capacity to preserve their own Records And so indeed they did preserve the chiefest of 'em safe even amidst the greatest fury of the two Danish Wars Neither of which how destructive calamitous and heavy soever especially the Former was arrived to the nature of an absolute or total Conquest of the Natives not even for one week or day All which consider'd by indifferent men I hope may be enough to remove out of their way all prejudgment of Criticks from the foresaid observation of Varro against those remote Antiquities of the Irish Nation which you shall meet with in the Former Part of this Prospect What or who were the Authors I have followed it will be but reasonable I should inform you next And I think it as reasonable to tell you That although I have read whatever Cambrensis or Campion or Hanmer or Spencer wrote of Ireland yet in the whole Former Part of this Prospect I have not borrow'd from any one or more of them above one Paragraph of a few lines unless peradventure you account those other to be such i. e. borrowed from them which animadvert upon some few of their many Errours Nor certainly would I have ventur'd on writing so much as one Line of the State of that Kingdom before the English Conquest if I had not been acquainted with other kind of Authors yea Authors not only more knowing but incomparably better qualified to know the ancient Monuments of that Kingdom than they or any other Foreigners that hitherto have gather'd written printed some hear-say scraps of that Nation could possibly be In short when I was a young man I had read Geoffrey Keting's Irish Manuscript History of Ireland And now when my Lord of Castle-haven would needs engage me to write something as you have seen before I remembred how about four or five years since the R. H. Earl of Anglesey Lord Privy Seal had been pleas'd to shew me another Manuscript being an English Translation of that Irish History of Ketings Besides I remember'd to have seen and read Gratianus Lucius when he came out in print some twenty years ago And because I was sâ—re to meet in the Former materials enough for such Discourses upon the more Ancient Irish or State of their Countrey before the English Conquest as were to my purpose and that the Later too might be very useful in some particulars having borrow'd Keting first i. e. that English Manuscript Translation of him such as it is from my Lord Privy Seal I ventur'd to begin somewhâ—â— in the method you have here on so Noble and Illustrious a Subject Though I must confess I am still the more unsatisfied that while I was drawing these Papers you have now before you I could by no means procure the Reading either of Primat Vsher's Primordia Ecclesiarum Britannicarum or Sir James Ware 's Antiquities of Ireland However seeing I have expos'd my self to censure as relying wholly on the ability and sincerity of Keting and Lucius in the performance of their several undertakings I have the more reason to give here this following true account of them Geoffrey Keting was a Native of Ireland in the Province of Mounster as were his Ancestours before him for many Generations though not of Irish but English blood originally He was by Education Study Gommencement abroad in France a Doctor of Divinity in his Religion a Romanist by Ordination and Calling a secular Priest He had by his former study at home in his younger days under the best Masters of the Irish Tongue and the most skilful in their Antiquities arriv'd to a high degree of knowledg in both In his riper years when return'd back from his other Studies and Travails in Forein Parts his curiosity and genius led him to examin all Foreign Authors both Ancient and Modern who had written of that Kingdom either purposely or occasionally whether in Latin or in English And this diligent search made him observe two things chiefly 1. That every one even the very best and most knowing of those Writers were either extreamly out in many if not most of their Relations concerning the State of that Countrey before the English Conquest or rather indeed wholly ignorant of it In so much that like men groping in the dark they related scarce any thing at all well or ill of what had pass'd among the Inhabitants of Ireland far above one and Thirty Hundred years Except only what is by some of them reported of the Learning and Sanctimony of their Monks during the first fervours of Christianity and a very little more of their Wars at home in Ireland with the Danes and even this very little involv'd in a mixture of Monstrous Fables derived from such Romantick Stories as were certainly written at first for meer diversion and pastime only 2. That the generality of those Brittish Authors who have written of that Countrey since the English Conquest are against all Justice and Truth and Law 's of History in the highest degree injurious to the ancient Natives These considerations
improving by a fervent zeal for truth and generous love to his Countrey made Father Keting undergo the laborious task of writing the History of Ireland at large from the very first Plantation of it after the Deluge to Hen. II's time and 17th year of his Reign being the year of Christ 1152. And this History besides which there is no other full compleat or methodical one extant of all the Ages Invasions Conquests Changes Monarchs Wars and other considerable matters of that truly ancient Kingdom be lived to finish in his old Age that is a little after Charles I. of glorious memory had been proclaimed King Nor did he only finish it but prefix unto it a very judicious large and learned Preface to the Reader It is in this Preface he declares those two special motives of his writing which you have seen already Where also he declares who those Authors are that gave him the occasion and refutes them one after another at large namely Strabo Solinus Pomponius Mela S. Hierom against Jovinian Cambrensis Stanihurst Campion Hanmer Cambden Hector Boethius John Barclay Morison Davies Buchanan All these in particular as to some passages of theirs he disputes against in the same Preface with the clearest evidence of Authority matter of Fact and Reason grounded on both As likewise he does in the Body of his Work against other passages not only of some of these same Authors especially Cambrensis Hector Boethius and Buchanan but Nicholas Sanders too in his First Book de Schismate Anglicano Besides in the same Preface he discourses five or six other Particulars which I think worth the while not to pass over wholly in silence The first is That although in his History he has not seldom made use of some Collections out of Foreign Writers yet the main Body of it all along is compos'd out of the most undoubtedly ancient and authentick Monuments of Ireland viz. Psaltuir Ardemach Psaltuir Chaâ—sil Psaltuir na Rann written by Aonghuis Ceile De and then Leabhar na Huacongmhala Leabhar Chluaino Huighnioch Leabhar Fiontain in Leix Leabhar Ghlinne Da-Loch Leabhar Bâ—idhe Mholing Leabhar Dubh Mholaige Leabhar na Gceart written by S. Benignus and Ubhdir Chiarrain writ at Cluain-mhac-Noise in all Thirteen Books For you are to understand here not only that Leabhar signifies a Book and Psaltuir we call it Psaltor a Book in Verse but as he says That from the beginning it was the custom of the Irish to have their Chief Antiquities done into the choisest severest strictest Meeter without any redundance or want as to sense and point of truth and this as well for the more safe preserving of them from corruption as the more easie getting them by heart And consequently you see the true reason why their chief Records of Tarach Cashel Ardmagh c. are called Psalters But if you would further know the heads of these thirteen Books he answers in the same place They are these 1. The several Invasions and Conquests of Ireland 2. The Division of its Provinces and lesser Countreys 3. The Reigns of their Kings 4. Their Annals 5. Their Computations and Concordances of Times 6. The Genealogy of their Male Gentry 7. The Pedigree of their Females 8. Their Vocabulary Where also is a large account of the great School in the Plain of Sennaar and three first Teachers of it soon after the Confusion of Tongues at Nimrod's Tower 9. The Visions of Columb-Cille with sundry other Antiquities of Ireland The Second Particular gives in effect four Reasons or at least one compos'd of so many Heads to persuade the credibility and truth of these Irish Books It tells us of above two hundred chief Chronologers together from very early times conttinuing a Succession in the same Families and all Ages in that Nation while their Kingdom stood whose peculiar and only Office it was to record faithfully all memorable Concerns It tells us how these Antiquaries had sufficient Estates in Land entail'd on themselves and Issue for ever on that Condition It tells us of the publick Schools they had purposely and continually kept for the Education of their Youth in the knowledge of their Antiquities and how these Schools were kept in the Countrey of Breifthne as they call in Irish That which now we call the County of Letrim It tells us of a Triennial search into and Revision of all their Records by a select Committee in the Publick Assembly of all the Estates of that Kingdom And lastly it tells us of the Deposition of fair Copies of the same Records in the hands of the Bishops from time to time ever since the Nation believed in Christ 1200 years since Whereof you may see more at large in my 46. page following in this Former Part. A third Particular answers the Objection of some discordance among the Irish Books concerning the number of years from the Creation of the World to the Birth of our Saviour It desires the Objectors to consider the far greater discordance * Because I was not sure that my Copy of Keting was right in every of the particulars or Discordances noted here I consulted of purpose the most learned Sixtus Senensis l. 5. Bibl. S. pag. 440. Imp. Colon. an 1626. whither I remit you to see many more discordances that is Six and Twenty in all in stead of these 15 here given by Keting though most of these are among ' em betâ—ixt as well the Hebrews as the Greek and Latin Chronologers each apart on the same Subject How for Example 1. among the Hebrews Paul Sedecholim counts 3518. years the Talmudists 3784. the New Rabbins 3760. Rabbi Naasson 3740. Rabbi Moses Germidisi 4058. Josephus 4192. Among the Greek Authors Metrodorus 5000. Eusebius 5199. Theophilus 5476. And among the Latins S. Hierom 3941. S. Augustin 5351. Isidorus 5270. Orolius 5190. Beda 3952. Alphonsus 5984. Now says Keting if so great a discordance on this very Subject impair not in other matters the credit of either Greek Hebrew or Latin Authors why should it the Irish Where also he acquaints his Reader that because himself is of opinion that such Irish Antiquaries or Books as count for this Period from the Creation to the Incarnation 4052. * This is the Computation follow'd by Augustinus Tornlellius in his Annales Sacri ab Orbe Condito ad Christum passum Sext. M. Aetat ad an 4052. whether Keting had him for his Master though I know not yet I know he might because Torniellius came out in Print at Francford an 1611. come nearest the Truth he follows them in his History or computation of times therein either precedent or subsequent to the Birth of Christ And farther in the some place he acquaints us with his purpose to give at the end of his History an Appendix or a Table of Synchronism shewing what Monarchies Monarchs Great Kings of the World in other parts and since Christianity what Popes and general Councils were contemporary with the various Revolutions and Kings of Ireland Whether
he lived to finish this Table I know not But I remember to have seen in stead thereof two small Tracts of his in Irish on another Subject annexed to an Irish Copy of his History the one being a Defence of the Mass the other entitl'd in Irish The Three Shafts of Death An other Particular is That which tells how and why he thought it fitting as to the number of years attributed to the several Reigns of some few of their Pagan Monarchs especially Siorna Saoghallach and Cobhthach Caolbhreag to vary from their Book of Reigns where it 's said That the later reign'd fifty years but the former a hundred and fifty and that besides he was a hundred years old when he attain'd the Sovereignty nor died naturally but was murder'd after he had lived two hundred and fifty years in all In the Fifth Particular he speaks only to those who seem rather to admire than believe how it can be at least probable That other Pedegrees than those in Holy Scripture should be truly and in a perpetual Line without any interruption carried up along to Adam and Noah as the Irish Genealogical and Historical Books pretend to do for all their Kings Princes and great Nobles To such admiring incredulous men he answers That the Irishry or Gathelian Off-spring even all along from the time of Gathelus himself whose name gave these Descendants from hinâ— the general appellation of Clanna Gaodhel till their arrival in Ireland had with them a learned sort of men call'd in their Language Draoithe in ours Druids and Magitians whose peculiar Office it was to write and preserve as well their Genealogies as all other Memoirs concerning them or their Travails and Adventures whatsoever good or bad That the more famous Branch of those Gathelians to wit the Clanna Mileadh or Descendents from Milesius the Spaniard after they had conquer'd Ireland from the Nation call'd Tuatha-De-Danann thought fit to continue the same course and accordingly did continue for the 2500 years of their Government and Laws an uninterrupted numerous succession of Antiquaries for the same purpose with large allowance and strict orders to regulate them us has been said afore That besides and particularly to shew the like care among some other Nations for preserving the Genealogies of their great Heroes he instances in the Pedegree of that excellent Saxon King Alfredus and out of Asser Menevensis inserts it carried up through all his Predecessours from Son to Father in a perpetual direct Line to Adam To which Instance alledg'd by Keting I could my self most certainly though without Book add another For about five or six and forty years since travelling in Brabant and within a little English mile to Lovain entring the Choire of the Celestin's Abbey there I saw and for a pretty while did view a Table hung up on the Wall which contain'd the Genealogy of the Illustrious Founders the Dukes of Arscot carried up in like manner through a vast number of Generations to the First of all men Which may be enough to persuade us that the old German Nation how meanly soever for matter of civility or Learning describ'd by Tacitus have been very careful in preserving at least their Genealogical Antiquities And indeed if my memory fail me not I remember to have read in Favins Theatre of Honour much to this purpose where he tells It was from the Germans that all the rest of Europe derived the custom of giving Goats of Arms to shew the Noble Antiquity of their Extraction Though withal I must confess that Keting in the Reign of the Irish Monarch Domhnal mhac Aodh mhic Ainmhire who died in the year of Christ 642. not only demonstrates by a very special Instance That custom of blazoning Arms to have been among the Irish in this Monarchs Reign very common but farther says It had been so in all Ages before among their Ancestours ever since the days of Gathelus himself who deriv'd it from the Israelites at the time of their passing the Red Sea when each of the Tribes had its own peculiar Ensign carried before But to return to my purpose The Sixth and Last of those particulars of Keting's Preface I would acquaint you with is That being his whole History for the matter is only of the Ancient Irish Nation if any Reader shall perhaps apprehend his Relations or commendations or praises of them any where or in any point or as to any matter or Times excessive he desires it be considered That the Author is no Irish man by blood but English though born in Ireland And therefore cannot rationally be suppos'd to magnifie the Old Irish or speak more excellent things of 'em than the very force of Truth and duty of a Historian exacts from him Besides he had immediately before in the same Place declar'd That neither love nor hatred of any People nor hope of any kind of Reward on Earth made him either go through with or indeed at first undergo any part of the toil of so laborious a Work but only those other considerations given before But what his reason was only to write it in Irish I cannot tell Vnless it be That he would not swerve from the custom of that Nation while they were a free People before the English Conquest of transmitting the Authentick Records or publick Acts and Monuments of their Kingdom to after Ages in their own Language only Which as I conceive is the true reason why so little of them has ever yet been known elswhere in the World However you have by this time a sufficient account of Keting the Author I am mostly guided by in the whole Former Part of my Prospect or which is the same thing in my Discourses of the State of Ireland till the beginning of the English Conquest in the year of Christ 1172. I had almost forgotten to prevent your prejudice against Keting's History from his relating about the beginning of it those three unlikely Stories 1. How Seth the Son of Adam and three daughters of Cain in a Company together landed in and view'd all Ireland over 2. How last year before the Deluge three Fishermen of South-Spain by name Laigne Capa and Luasad had been Wind-driven thither c. 3. How Keasar the daughter of Baioth son to Noah with three men viz. Fionntuin Lothra and her said Father and fifty Women to save themselves from the Flood which from Noah they had heard of as impending after they had first by her advice renounc'd the God of Noah taken to themselves an Idol God which the Irish in their Language call Laimbh Dhia and then wandred for seven years by Sea at last arriv'd in Ireland just forty days before the Flood and there nevertheless perish'd by it And indeed I must confess that Keting relates these Stories at large with all their other circumstances But how or why does he relate'em It is manifest he does it of set purpose to explode 'em every one as incredible and meer Poetical
Fictions For so himself expresly says Adding withal that such only and no other was the repute they had in the very days of Yore among the best Irish Antiquaries And for this he brings sufficient proofs by alledging their own words Gratianus Lucius is the next Author I make frequent use of to lead me in several remote affairs of the more Ancient Irish And he likewise an Irish man by birth but of the Province of Connaght and as himself professes by name and blood of English Extraction His own proper name and surname John Lynch his Function Sacerdotal and of the Secular Clergy too His employ besides at Galway for some years in our own time was Teaching a School of Humanity as they call it wherein he was excellent In the differences between the Roman Catholic Confederates in the late unhappy War of that Nation he join'd with those of them that were against the Nuncio Rinuccini's Censures for the Cessation with Inchiquin submission to the King and the two Peaces After the surrender of Galway to the English Parliament Army he went to France Where employing his time as became a good Patriot Loyal Subject he wrote printed and publish'd two Latin Books in Quarto with a Dedicatory Epistle to the Congregation of Cardinals de Propaganda Fide against a Factious disloyal Manuscript which one Richard Ferral an Irish Capuccin had some years before written and presented to the same Congregation as a Direction for them in their government of the Church affairs of Ireland the former entitled Alithinologia the Later Supplementum Alithinologiae Some years after that is an 1662. he publish'd under the name of Gratianus Lucius an other Latin Work in Folio intitled Cambrensis Eversus as being a full confutation of the Author that goes by the name of Cambrensis Who this Cambrensis and what the Quarrel was to let you know if I digress a little it may peradventure be worth the while His proper name and surname in English being Gerald Barry that Additional of Cambrensis he had from his native Countrey in Latin Cambria in English Wales His education of a Scholar profession of a Divine Function of a Priest and as I must suppose merits in all brought him in time to be not only Arch-deacon of S. Davids but Tutor to the young Earl of Mortaign Fifth Son to Henry II. Vnder which Qualifications first his zeal for the old Archiepiscopal privileges of that See engag'd him in a long Contest with the See of Canterbury and then his Election to the same See of S. Davids involv'd him in another In so much that however he came to be worsted in both for so he was yet his name has ever since remain'd on Record in the Papal Canons His extraction made him Nephew to Robert fitz Stephens and Maurice fitz Gerald Cousin to Meylerus and Brother to Philip Barry and Robert Barry five of the first chief men that adventured to Ireland of purpose to advance their own fortune by helping on the Restauration of Diarmuid na Ngall King of Leinster His own Genius once and once more his Place carried him to Ireland For twice he was there first to see his kinsmen daily acquiring large possessions by their valour and next to wait on his young Prince Earl John when created Lord of Ireland and sent thither by the King And now as himself confesses being desirous of glory and immortal fame by describing Ireland and informing the World not only of what he knew of the State of that Kingdom then under the English Conquerors but of all former Conquests and State thereof from the beginning he wrote to this purpose five Books in Latin The first three of 'em under the Title of The Topography of Ireland and the other two under that of The Conquest of Ireland by Henry II. Indeed more specious Titles both than his Relations under them do so much as meanly answer Besides that the Title at least of Topography must be very strangely applyed to signifie the Description of a whole Kingdom And yet notwitstanding This together with the History of all former Conquests and other Antiquities of Ireland is that which he promises to give under the same Title That he has very ill perform'd that he has given his Reader 's nothing less than such a History or such a Description we must not wonder He neither could understand the Language nor so much as read the Books whether of History or Chorography written at large by the Natives themselves in their own Character He saw not in any manner nor travel'd nor view'd e'en at a distance above one Third of the Kingdom nor dar'd for his Life venture into either of the other two parts His whole stay in Ireland being the whole extent of Yime employ'd by him in gathering materials for his intended Work was but a year and a half besides an other half years task which he had left to his Companion Bertram Verdon who therefore stay'd so long behind him His Collections at least for such part of 'em as any way pertinently related to his foresaid promise or Titles were certainly extream little but the rest of them no less extream bad and commonly false to boot They were so little that he describes not so much as one County or Tract or Town no not of that very third Part of the Kingdom which he might have seen Vnless peradventure you take for a Description of all Ireland his Fabulous Narrations of four Wells three Islands three Lakes the Fountain head of four great Rivers and the Fall of the greatest of them all by name the River of Shannon into the Northern Sea Tho it be well known That as all these Narrations are such i. â— meer Fables so the one moiety of these Lakes Wells Islands besides the Head-spring of Shannon are within those other parts of Ireland which he never saw nor durst enter As for the History of the former Inhabitants Conquests and other Antiquities of that Kingdom promised by him it is in like manner not only so imperfect but so little in all respects That 1. he has not the least mention of Tuatha-De-Danainn though a powerful People that by a bloody War entirely won it from Feara-Bolg and were possessors of it for a hundred ninty seven Years under the successive Reigns of seven or rather indeed Nine Kings of their own that is until they also in their turn were conquer'd by the Clanna Mileadh about Thirteen hundred years before the Birth of Christ 2. Of those Clanna Mileadh or Descendents from Milesius though they were the People that continued the Possession and Government of Ireland ever since about 2500 years to this very Authors days yet all the account he gives is only in short that they had a hundred eighty one Monarchs ruling successively over that Kingdom but not a word more of their History Polity Laws Conquests abroad Militia or Wars at home may not so much as a bare Catalogue of
those very Monarchs for he names only the first and last of 〈◊〉 being Feidlimidius whom he mistakes for one more was not King of Ireland but of Mounster only So little he has of the very Milesians or their Antiquities or Actions Except only 1. A few words of the six Sons of Muredus Provincial King of Ulster entring Scotland 2. A slender touch upon the Danish Invasions of Ireland In which notwithstanding he is mightily out both as to the Year of Christ he fixes on for the first of those Invasions viz. 838. and as to the name person feats yea and Nation too of Gurmundus all being meer Fictions borrow'd mostly from Galfridus Monumethensis However with such and many more idle stories in other matters not only impertinent to the Title of his Books or discharge of his Promise nor only not had from any Records or Writings whatsoever as neither from the oral Testimony of men of knowledg or integrity but wholly deriv'd from old Wive's Tales and pastime of Ferry-men and random reports of Soldiers and imposture of some Knaves who fain'd things of purpose to impose on his vain credulity and besides with most vile reflections Invectives Satyrs almost every where against the Irish Nation of his own time their Princes Priests and People generally without sparing any degree not even the very Monks nor even the very Bishops excepted he patch'd up finish'd at last after five years study all his foresaid five Books of Ireland prefixing Dedicatories of some to the King as of other of 'em to Richard Earl of Poictou who soon after was Richard I. of England And now putting an extraordinary value on these Works of his own and no longer able to conceal his ambitious design of glory by 'em he goes to Oxford renews the ancient Roman Rehearsals there in the most publick Audience could be had continues 'em three days together from morning till night allowing a day for each of his Topographical Books And to make his Comedy the more solemn feasts all the meaner sort of that whole City on the firstday on the second all the Doctors Masters and chief Scholars of the Vniversity on the third day the rest of the Scholars the Soldiers too and all the Burgesses of that Place A sumptuous and noble act says Gerald himself glorying of it whereby the ancient Custom of Poets was renewed which neither the present Age nor any former could shew in England But after all he came short of his expectation of glory His little performance and great ignorance his many Fables and evil choice of other materials toâ— yea and his mortal enmity hatred malevolence to the Irish Nation were seen through especially at Court where as himself complains he had too many back Friends to malign him Above all his Satyrs and spleen against the very name of the Irish lai'd him open Nor were the true causes thereof unknown Besides the common concern he had in the destruction of that People for the sake of his Kinsmen there was another more peculiar to himself that continually egg'd him to the greatest violence against them He had even for his own sake very deeply engag'd in a particular controversie with Albinus O Molloy a Cistercian Irish Monk and Abbot of Baltinglass wherein he was worsted Whether any other causes mov'd him I do not know But this I know that in his Second Book of the Conquest of Ireland he desir'd that whole Nation might either be throughly weakned or totally destroy'd yea notwithstanding the Peace but lately concluded and still observ'd by them And that besides in the same Book cap. 36. he prescrib'd the ways to do it I see also that on every occasion as he is perpetually in the greatest extreams even of Romantic praises of his own Relatives Fitz Stephens Fitz Gerald Meyler the two Barrys and all their Brittish Soldiers too his own Countrey-men so of the other side upon the least pique he is no less passionately excessive in charging with and exaggerating the vilest things against the very Normans and English in Ireland tho embarqu'd in the save public quarrel with them against the Irish Nation Witness among others Herveus de Monte Marisco and William Fitz Adelm the King's Lieutenant and Progenitor of the noble Family of Bourks in that Kingdom Nay witness the King himself Henry II. Whom altho during his Life this Author made the Occidental Alexander the Invincible the Salomon of his own Time the most Pious of Princes and his only Fame tho far short of his Merits to have repress'd the fury of all the very Gentils of Europe and Asia too beyond the Mediterranean Sea adding many more Hyperbolical expressions to magnifie him above all truth and reason as for example That his Victoâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 with the Circumference of the Earth and That if you seek after the Limits of his Conquests you shall sooner come to the end of the World than of them yet after this Great Prince's death as David Powel very particularly observes he the same Author Gerald of Wales most bitterly invey'd against him in his Book de Instructione Principis where he so belâ—bed forth the venom of his malevolence that he manifestly discover'd his old inveterate hatred of this King Henry So says Powell Moreover and in reference particularly to his stories of Ireland you may find in Primat Ushers Sylloge pag. 155. how the expostulations of other men and evidence of Truth compell'd him at last to several Retractations among which he confesses that altho he had some of his Relations from persons of credit in that Countrey yet for the rest he had only common report and fame Which if I be not mistaken is in effect to acknowledg that he had common Lyes and Forgeries to authorize them Nay further You may read Sir James Wares Censure of them in his own Antiquities of Ireland cap. 23. where in express terms he says in Latin That Gerald of Wales in his Topography of Ireland has heap'd together so many Fabulous Relations that to discuss them exactly would require a just Treatise And then adds in the same place his own wonder How it should come to pass that some of this very Age tho otherwise grave and learned men have again for Truths obtruded on the World those Fictions of Girald Besides You are to know that notwithstanding so many just exceptions against those Books of Cambrensis yea notwithstanding they had therefore lyen after his death 400 years neglected obscure unknown till Cambden had them printed at Francford an 1602. yet ever since that year they have proved the only chief warrant to all such men of little reading as were delighted in writing ill of the ancient Irish To conclude what I would say on the whole is That if hatred enmity open profess'd hostility and special interest and actual engagement too in the destruction of that ancient Irish Nation if ignorance of their Language and wilful passing by their History even the most authentick of their
108 Fearghus II. Dubhdheadach 109 Cormuc Ulfhada 210 Eochodh XI Gunnat 111 Cairbre II. Lithfiochair 112 Fothach I. Airgtheach and Fothach II. Cairb theach two Brothers 1â—3 Fiacha VII Sraibhtine 114 Colla Vais 115 Muireadhach Tireach 116 Calbhach 117 Eochodh XII Muighmheadhion 118 Criomthann III. mhac Eochuigh 119 Niall I. Naoighiallach 120 Fearadhach II. alias Dathi Hitherto the Pagan Kings For according to Gratianus Lucius all that follow were Christians 121 Laoghaire II. mhac Neill Naoighialluidh 122 Oillioll IV. Molt 123 Lughadh IV. mhac Laoghaire 124 Muirchiortach I. mhac Ercha 125 Tuathal II. Maolgharbh 126 Diarmuidh I. mhac Fearghussa Ceirbheoil 127 Fearghus the III. and Domhnall the I two Brothers 128 Eochodh XIII and Baothan I. the former being Nephew and the later Uncle 129 Ainmhire 130 Baothan II. mhac Ninnede 131 Aodh II. mhac Ainmhire 132 Aodh III. Slaine and Colman Rimhigh two Brothers 133 Aodh IV. Vairidhneach 134 Maolchoha 135 Suibhne I. Meann 136 Domhnall II. mhac Aodh 137 Conall III. Ceile and Ceallach two Brothers 138 Blaithmbae and Diarmuid II. Ruainnigh two Brothers 149 Seachnasach 140 Ceannfodlâ— 141 Fionneachta II. Fleadhach 142 Loinnsioch 143 Conghall IV. Kinnmhaghair 144 Fearghal I. mhac Mhaoilduin 145 Foghortach 146 Kinaoth 147 Flaithbhiortach 148 Aodh V. Ollan 149 Domhnall 3. mhac Murchaidh 150 Niall II. Frassach 151 Donnchadh I. mhac Domhnaill 152 Aodh VI. Oirnigh 153 Conchabhar II. mhac Donnchaidh 154 Niall III. Caille 155 Maolseachluinn I. mhac Mhaoilruanuidh 156 Aodh VII Finnliath 157 Flann mhac Sionna 158 Niall IV. Glundubh 159 Donnchadh II. mhac Floinn 160 Conghallach mhac Mhaoilmhidhe 161 Dombnall IV. mhac Muirchiortuidh 162 Maolseachluinn II. mhac Domhnaill 163 Brian Boraimh 164 Maolseachluinn II. restor'd 165 Donnchadh III. mhac Briain Bhora imh 166 Diarmuid III. Mhaoil-na-mbho 167 Toirrdhealbhach I. mhac Taidhg 168 Muirchiortach II. mhac Toirrdhealbhuidh and Domhnal V. mhac Ardghair 169 Toirrdhealbhach II. Mor O Conchabhair 170 Muirchiortach III. mhac Neill 171 Ruairidh II. O Conchabhair In the sixth year of this Monarch's Reign being the year of Christ 1172. Henry II. of England with a Fleet of 400 Sail invaded and landed in Ireland at Waterford Some Observations on and Inferences from this Catalogue TO understand this Catalogue which I have drawn with all the care and exactness I could out of Ketings History at large and Gratianus Lucius's VIII Chapter of his Cambrensis Eversus be pleas'd to observe 1. That the Surnames of such Kings as had any are given here in a different Character from that of their first and proper Names 2. That to all Kings of the same Proper Name who had no Surname I mean any other second Name derived from some peculiar quality of Mind or Body or Fortune as all their Surnames were I have likewise for distinction's sake in a different Character besides Figures signifying what place each of 'em held among the rest for Example whither the First or Second or so forth among those of the same Name I have I say added their Fathers Name also with the word Mac which im ports a Son before ' em 3. That the Marginal or First Figures in the head of the Lines rather signifie the order of Succession than the number of Kings because many of the Lines have two one of 'em three and an other four Kings ruling together in a joint Sovereignty at least for some time 4. That although both Keting and Lucius concur in telling us how the four Brothers of the Milesian Conquest numb 5. Ear Orba Fearon and Feargna sons to Eibhir Fionn we call him Heber had in the Third year of the former joint Sovereignty of the Three sons of Erimhon after the death of the First of these Three kill'd in Battel the two surviving Kings Luighne and Laighne yet Lucius only not Keting has rank'd 'em in the Catalogue of Kings who notwithstanding confesses their Reign was but Three months in all when their own Cosin German Iriall Faidh the fourth and youngest son of Erimhon gave them Battel at Cuile-Mertha vanquish'd and kill'd 'em all four in that Field 5. That neither Buchadh N. 62. tho told us by Keting to have been the Man that kil'd the Monarch Eoghun Mor is counted by him among the Kings as who had had the Sovereign Power only 36 hours or a day and a half in all But Lucius nevertheless inserts him as one of 'em adding however to his memory this Motto of the Poet Vnusque Titan vidit atque unus dies stantem cadentem 6. That in the same manner Diarmuid-Mhaoil na-mo N. 167. is laid aside by Keting tho not only Lancarnaruensis and Gemiticensis call him King of Ireland but Sir James Ware places him in his Catalogue as such And this very justly too a man would think as in the Prospect Form P. p. 180. you may see at large 7. That Domhnal mhac Ardghair N. 169. is likewise pass'd over by Keting yet not so by Lucius nor Colganus neither See the Prospect F. P. p. 178 c. 8. That Erimhon Conn-Begeaglach and Maolseachluinn II. are each of 'em twice inserted The first Num. 1 2. the second Num. 46 48. the last N. 193 195. whereof the reasons are these Erimhon had been first only join'd in the Sovereignty with his elder Brother Eibhir Fionn but after Eibhir had been kill'd by him in the Battel of Geassil he was absolute as ruling alone Conn Bâ—geaglach though when his Brother and Colleague in the Sovereign Power was kill'd he had been forc'd to â—ly leave the Kingdom to the Victor yet after some few years he recover'd it again by killing him And Maolseachluinn II. who had been depos'd to give place to Briain Boraimh came to be the second time King of Ireland after Clantarff Field 9. That the Irish Historians differ about giving the Title of King of Ireland to Maolseachluinn II's Successors some giving it to one and others to another and some sometimes to more than one but all of 'em generally calling those Kings that succeeded him Gafra Sabhrach as who had assum'd the said Title against the consent of some Provinces For so Lucius pag. 80. has observ'd And now that for your better and easier understanding of this Catalogue you have the necessary Observations I 'll only add one more which tho unnâ—cessary for that end may notwithstanding give you cause enough towonder by considering the general Fate of about Nine Parts of Ten of so many Sovereign Princes as you see in this whole Catalogue from Slainghe the First of the Fir-bholgian to Ruaridh the Last of the Milesian Conquest For I can assure you here that after the greatest diligence I could use to satisfie my self by taking Notes out of Keting and Lucius both I find That of so vast a number of Milesian Kings not above six and twenty in all had other then violent ends Which is three less than what I have elswhere insinuated the number of such of them
as had natural ends to have been As for the Fir-bholgian Tuath-De-Danann Kings tho proportionably fewer e'en of either died violent deaths yet of their 18. which was their whole number fourteen lost their Lives by the Sword But how many or how few soever you please of all these and those Kings of all the Former Conquests ended their days either by the hands of other men or some prodigious judgment of Heaven or means of other extrinsick secondary Causes in such manner as rendred their deaths properly violent the Inferences out of this Catalogue are plain 1. That if we count severally each of those Milesian Princes who jointly or in Association with any other govern'd as Kings of Ireland and withal not count the same Person twice nor count among 'em either Cairbre I. surnamed Ccann-cheit or Feilim I. mhac Conruidh see Numb 98. 99. as indeed we ought not being these Two are the only noted for meer Usurpers because both were chosen one after another by the Plebeians only nay and only too to head their most hideous bloody Rebellion of 25 years continuance against all the Royal Line and as for the former of 'em viz. Cairbre he had not so much pretence of right as to have been either of the Milesian or e'en Gathelian Race but originally a meer Dane I say that if we count so we shall find the whole number of those Milesian Kings as it is in this Catalogue to agree exactly with that which Cambrensis himself 500 years since reported it to have been That is just 181 in all 2. That counting together with these Milesians those â—8 Fir-bholgian and Tuatha-De-Donann Kings who preceded them and withal admitting both Cairbre Ceann-cheit Feilim mhac Conruidh as Kings of Ireland for so they really tho illegally were in their time the Former 5 years till he died a natural death and the Later 20. at the expiration of which he was kill'd in Battel by Tuathal Teachtmhur it must follow that they make in all 201 Kings of Ireland while the Former Three Conquests held one after another 3. That hereunto adding 22 more of the Fourth and Last i. e. our English Conquest the whole Number of the Sovereign Princes of Ireland from Slainghe to Charles II. must be 223. whereof Three were Queens Macha Mary and Elizabeth A PROSPECT OF The State of Ireland c. The Former PART SECTION I. First Planter of Ireland Ciocal First Invader Partholan then Neimh and his four Sons then Fir-bholg then Tuatha-De-Danann and last of all the Eight Sons of Mileadh Fights of the former Invaders Nine of Ferramh Bolg and Nine more of Tuatha-De-Danann ruled as Kings of Ireland Fir-Bholg divide it into two parts Three Septs of these remaining still The adventures of Mileadh His eight Sons conquer Tuatha-De-Danann How Erimhon came to be sole Monarch of Ireland He was the first of 181 Kings of the Milesian Conquest Eoghun Mor 620 years after Erimhon set up the Provincial Kings Picts first appearing They are the first time and together with them all the Islands of Scotland Conquered by Aonghus Ollbuadhach Many Plantations of the Irish in Scotland Niall Naoighiallach's Invasion of that Countrey and an other by the six Sons of Muireadhach Fergus Mor mhac Ercha made the first-King of Scots that is of the Irish in Scotland Coilus King of Great Brittain destroy'd by him Three Walls built by the Romans against the Irish Kingdom of the Picts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by these Danish Wars in Ireland Bad success of Roderic the King of Britain's Son The Danes various success They are at the same time plagued as by others so by Ceallaghane King of Mounster most singularly The Monarch Conghallach Mhac Mhaoil Mhithe routs ' emâ— and kills 7000 of them in Battel What of his two next Successors in the Monarchy Briain Boraimh does Wonders in 25 Battels and last of all in that of Clantarff Field Maolseachluin that succeeded him and Hughaire mhac Tuathail King of Leinster destroy the Reliqnes of the Danes The vain attempt of Magnus King of Norvegia to revenge their Fate IReland before that fatal War broke out in the year 1641. had two different Nations like the Twins of Rebecca strugling in its Womb perpetually almost five hundred years the one called by themselves the Ancient Irish the other the Old English or English Irish And indeed the former may justly glory in the Epithet of Ancient since as Cambden himself confesses they fetch Britannia translated by Philemon Holland Edit Lond. Tit. Ireland pag. 64. the beginning of their Histories from the most profound and remote Records of Antiquity so that in comparison of them the Ancientness of all other Nations is but Novelty and as it were a matter of yesterday It is now at least 2988 years since their Fore-fathers the Sons of Mileadh alias Milesius the Spaniard in a Fleet of threescore Sail arrived in Ireland from Gallicia in Spain conquer'd it and left it to their Posterity I say at least Because although Polychronicon and Cambrensis Topog. Dist 3. c. 17. by their saying That from the Arrival of those Milesians in Ireland till the death of S. Patrick their Apostle were efflux'd 1800 years See Jocelin Vit. Saucti Patricii c. 196. agree exactly with Ketings Epocha here yet the Irish Book of Reigns makes the Arrival of those Milesians much earlier that is to this present year of Christ 1680. e'en as long since as 3480 years compleat But I follow Keting's Reformation of that Book and his Account in his Mss History l. 1. whereby he places the Milesian Conquest in the year of the World 2736. after the Floud 1086 after Moses's passing the Red Sea 192. and before the Birth of Christ 〈◊〉 308. Were it to my main purpose which is or only or at least mostly concern'd in those Milesians I could insert here out of Keting the several Plantations and Conquests of that Countrey before they knew it How one Ciocal about a hundred years after the Deluge in a small Fleet of Vessels each Vessel having fifty Men and fifty Women aboard arriving there was the First that planted it How Bartholanus and his three Sons Languinus Salanus and Reterugus with their Wives and as This Author lived as himself writes An 830. under Anaraugh King of Anglesey and Guinech or North-Wales Nennius writes a thousand Fighting Men about 300 years after the Flood Anno Mundi 1956. before the Birth of Abraham 95 years invaded it had many doughty Battels therein with those Aborigines the Issue of Ciocal and Progeny of Cham who come thither from Afric were called Gyants because partly of their stature or corpulency which yet was no way exceeding the tallest growth of other men and partly of their wickedness endeavouring to destroy every where the Descendants or Progeny of Japhet And how this Bartholanus alias Partholan having Conquer'd at last those Aborigines and Affricans his Issue after him were at the end of three hundred
years consumed by a Pestilence not one remaining of them A just judgment from Heaven without peradventure on him who had fled thither as it were from Heaven for having in his own Countrey in Scythia kill'd both his Father and Mother to make way for a Brother of his and their Son to come to the Royal Throne How in the end of 30 years more Nemedus another Scythian some of the Irish Chronologists say he was a son to Bartholanus left by him in Scythia when himself had departed thence with his four Sons Starius Gervale Annin and Fergus in a Fleet of 34 Ships and 30 Marriners in each of them arriving in Ireland overthrew in three Battels the remainder of those Affrican Gyants but was overcome in the fourth And how soon after this defeat Nemedus being dead his People rousing themselves put it to the issue of one great Battel sought at the same time both by Sea and by Land they having 30 thousand at Land and so many more at Sea and the Fight proved so mortal that albeit they had the victory yet they could reap no benefit by it the very Air being so corrupted by the stench of the Carcasses which lay unburied every where for they kill'd promiscuously in every place after that Victory Man Woman and Child of their Enemies that all over the Land there was an universal Pestilence which after seven years more made 'em depart and quit the whole Country leaving only ten Captains to defend those of their People that could not have Shipping against the remainder of the Gygantick Affricans How these Children or Posterity of Nemedus Clanna Neimheadh the Irish call 'em to avoid that dreadful and continual Pestilence departing in a thousand Vessels great and small under the Conduct of three Chieftains Simeon Breac Ibaath and Briotan the other two sailing to Greece Briotan with his adherents Landed in the North of that Countrey which we now call Scotland and with his and their Posterity remaining there gave the denomination of Brittain to this whole Island which is now called Great Brittain as holy Cormac the K. of Mounster and Bishop of Cashel in his Psalter of Cashel together with all the Chronologers of Ireland affirm Wherein surely they have at least much more probability of their side than any late Authors have that derive that name from Brutus or his Romantick History either in Galfridus or in any other For if from Brutus besides other reasons why not Brutannia rather than Britannia How the five sons of Dela viz. Gandius Genandius Segandius Rutheragus and Slanius being the 8th Generation from Simeon Breac and calied in Irish Fir-bholg after 217 years compleat from the former arrival of Nemedus there invaded Ireland with 5000 men of all sorts in their company and studing no great resistance won it entirely routed utterly out of it the remainder of that cursed Generation of Cham the Affrican Giants and divided it into five Provinces or Portions which Division continues till this day How they and four of their Children after them were in succession Monarchs of all Ireland after that Slanius who was the youngest of them all had by force and War upon the rest erected it to a Monarchy though he enjoy'd it but one year Death having given him no longer joy of his Conquest over his Brethren How none before them i. e. none of the former Invaders called themselves Kings they being the first Kings and Slanius among them too as I have now said the first Monarch that Ireland ever had Yet the Reigns of all the nine made not above 36 years in the whole How Eugenius or Eoghun as the Irish Books call him and so they have quite other terminations both for all these and all other Names too expressed by us with Latin terminations being the last of them and prosperously Reigning in peace and plenty over Ireland the Nation whom the Irish call Tuath-De-Danann under their King Nuathad Airgidlaimh as descending from the foresaid Nemedus or Nemeus or Neimh which you please to call him and therefore claiming that Kingdom as their right invaded it fought a great Battel in Connaught with Feramh-Bolg the Generation of Simeon Breac and Neimheadh or Nemedus kill'd a hundred thousand of them and thereby and without much loss to themselves conquer'd the whole kingdom the Reliques of Ferramh-Bolg retiring to the small Islands of Arrain I le Rachluinn and many other about Ireland and Scotland where they continued till such time as Ireland came to be govern'd by Provincial Kings under the Milesians How the Posterity of those Reliques of Ferraimb Bolg being forced away by the Picts had their refuge back again to Ireland and first to the King of Leinster turning Tenants to him for such Lands as he was pleased to lett unto them and next from Leinster because of the heavy rent there to Connaught shifting so in the best manner they could for themselves until by Co-Chulain and Connall Cearnach and the Inhabitants of Vlster they were wholly driven away the second time and quite Banish'd for ever only three Families Sur-names or Septs of them excepted which according to the judgment of some Irish Antiqnaries remain still in Connaght and Leinster as Dr. Keting who also names these Septs does write Adding thereunto this further animadversion as a necessary consequence that these three Families are not of Clanna Gaoidhel or Posterity of Gathelus from whom all the Milesians descended long before either Milesius himself or his Predecessors came into Spain Lastly how according to the Book called Psaltuir Chassil the aforesaid Colony or Nation of Tuatha-De-Danann held the Sovereignty of Ireland for 197 years under seven or rather indeed nine Kings for after Fiacha who was the 6th of them reigned the three Sons of Cearmada by turns yearly But neither to prosecute nor so much as to insert any of these Plantations or Conquests of Ireland by Ciocal or Partholan or Neimhe or Feara Bolg or Tuatha Dee Danann as the Irish names of them are can be much if any thing at all to my main purpose here And though perhaps it might be in some sort material to tell you what a famous man in his Generation nay in a great part of the World Milesius himself otherwise called Galathus in Latin but in Irish Galamh had been Or to tell you 1. Of his first adventuring from Spain to Scythia and serving there as General of the Army under his Kinsman Refloir the great Monarch of that Countrey 2. Of his marrying this Refloir's Daughter and Refloir's growing jealous of his greatness and preparing therefore to dispatch him and his preventing the King by taking away his life and then his quitting Scythia and passing to Egypt by Sea with a Fleet of sixty Sail and his being there employ'd by Pharaoh as General against the King of Ethiopia's Forces warring at that time on Egypt 3. Of the many over-throws given by him to them and Pharaoh's so great favour to him thereupon that
seeing him a Widower his former Wife the Scythian Kings Daughter having died before he came to Egypt the gave him one of his own Daughters to Wife 4. Of his departure from Egypt by Sea and various adventures for some years roaming about all the Northern Seas and Isles of Europe 5. Of his return at last to his own Countrey of Spain and the five and forty Battels fought there victoriously by him and under his conduct by his near Cosins the Children of Breoghuin the Son of Bratha who founded Braganza in Portugal against the forein Enemies that invaded that Kingdom then 6. Of the destruction and utter extirpation at least for a good while of all those Foreiners out of Spain by his Valour and Wisdom and which was consequent of his possessing by himself and his foresaid Kinsmen the greater Part of this Kingdom 7. Of his two and thirty Sons part Legitimat but the most part Illegitimat 8. Of the great Dearth in his time all over Spain continuing six and twenty years thro want of Rain 9. And lastly how this Dearth together with several other reasons but particularly that of his minding now the Prophetical Prediction of him by his own Magitian Cathoir some years before That his Posterity should settle in Ireland made him and soon after his death eight of his Sons think upon invading Ireland Tho I say these are matters not wholly foreign to my purpose yet because they are unnecessary it sufficeth to have touch'd 'em lightly And so I proceed to what I intended as more material here to let you know Which is 1. That of those 8. Sons of that Great Milesius for no more of his two and thirty Sons ventured to Ireland who presently after their Fathers death setting forth from Breoghuin's Tower a place in Gallicia long after called Notium but of later years Compostella and putting to Sea with the first convenience and landing in Ireland then when the three Sons of Cearmada ruled there by turns and by their great Valour destroying all three at last in the Battel of Tailtinn and thereby subduing thorowly the whole Nation of Tuatha-De-Danann two only I mean of those eight Brothers survived to rejoyce in their Conquest finish'd by that Battel Eibhir and Erimhon alias Heber and Herimon as the Latins call them the other six being lost by various Chances 2. That Eibhir and Erimhon assuming now the sovereign power of the whole Island after partition made first to themselves then to their Cousins German then to their other Captains and last of all to the common Soldiers of convenient proportions of Land ruling severally over all that is Eibhir in the Southern and Erimhon in the Northern Division the first year in perfect peace together and then falling at odds through the Pride and instigation of Heber's Wife that put her Husband upon having all in both Divisions to himself alone to the end forsooth she might sit and strut upon the three chief Ardes or Heights of Ireland as the only Queen thereof and then coming to a pitch'd Battel and Heber kill'd in it and then Herimon remaining the only King without any Competitor until his death which hapned fourteen years after He was the first of a hundred fourscore and one that as Monarchs of all Ireland successively governed it and the Milesian or Irish Nation the only possessors of it for two thousand four hundred eighty eight years until the landing of Henry the second there in the year of Christ 1172. 3. Cambrensis himself tho Giraldus Camb. Topog. Hiber dist 3. c. xv 17. 36 37 44. otherwise no great favourer of the Irish does certifie so much by computing from Herimon the first King to Laogirius who was King when St. Patrick landed there Anâ— Christi 432. to preach the Gospel a hundred thirty and one from Laogirius to King Fedlimidius which contain'd 400 years of the flourishing state of Christianity among the Irish three and thirty more and from that period to Ruaridh O Conchabhair who was the Monarch when Henry II. landed as before the whole remainder of that number of a hundred fourscore and one who besides a far greater number of the Provincial Kings under them governed as Sovereign Monarchs of all that Island for so many Ages from the year of the World 2736. Argument enough I think for the Antiquity of the Irish Nation to be no where parallel'd if not peradventure by the Chineses only in the late History written of them by Martinus à Martinâ—s 4. That for their bravery in Martial Exploits to say nothing now of a thousand bloody proofs thereof given by them at home for much above 2000 years fighting almost continually either the Progeny of Heber in general against Herimon's for the Sovereignty or one Province or greater Division Leath Cuinn and Leath Mogh invading the other especially after the Provincial Kings had set up by the Authority of Eoghun Mor or Eugenius Magnus the Monarch about 600 years after the death of Herimon so that very few of their Monarchs in so large an extent of time died other than violent deaths and this in Battel commonly but to say nothing of these proofs given by them at home their manifest Invasions abroad their Plantations and at last even total Conquest of the Kingdom of Albain that part of Great Britain which in after Ages came to be called Scotland from their conquering and planting of it with Colonies of their Children for they themselves were in this part of the World the original Scots as their Countrey now called Ireland or in Latin Hibernia was then the only Countrey named Scotia is an argument which cannot be refuted 5. That the Nation which we call Picts but the Irish in their Language Cruinith having in the reign of Herimon the first Irish Monarch roam'd about by Sea from Scythia till they arrived at last in Ireland and there desiring to inhabit and being denied this request but however directed by Herimon to that part of the now Great Britain which lying Northeast of Ireland was called Albain then and is so still by the Irish and here seated themselves and then multiplying exceedingly for two hundred and fifty years at the expiration of this time upon some difference hapned Aonghus or Aenaeas Ollbhuadhach the VII Monarch of Ireland succeeding Herimon made so sharp and long a War upon them and not on them only but as well on the Northern Britains remaining still their Neighbours as upon the Inhabitants of the barren Orcades the Race of Fir Bholg long before expelled Ireland that in fifty fierce Battels given them he utterly broke their whole strength and made them Tributaries Nor was this the only Conquest made by the Milesian Irish either on the Heathen or Christian Picts and their Associats in Albain For to pass over those six or seven Invasions more of the Irish into Albain under several of their Monarchs from the Reign of the foresaid Aonghus or Enaeas to the
Reign of Niall the Great surnamed also Naoighiallach Likewise to say nothing how this very Niall not only went himself in Person with a powerful Army thither partly to confirm and partly to enlarge those â—â—antations made there by his Predecessors but was himself the first of Mortals that by his own Authority and at the instance of those Plantations gave the name of Scotia Minor or Scotland the Lesser to that Northern part of Great Britain ordaining all his Subjects to call it so Besides to pass by as well the Invasion as the extraordinary great and famous Plantation made therein by the six sons of that Vlster King Muiredbach whom Cambrensis calls in Latin Muredus either in the Time of Lapghaire the II's being Monarch of Ireland when St. Patrick conquered that Kingdom to Christian Religion or at least somewhat later To pass I say all these matters in silence though otherwise both great in themselves and no less attested by sufficient Authority that I think is very great and very true which Cambden a Title Scots page 26. and before page 128. in his Britannia writes That the Scots come from Ireland after a long War at last in the year of Christ 740. and in one great Battel destroyed the Picts so as there was scarce one of them left alive whereby that whole Nation and very name of the Picts was utterly extinguish'd 6. That besides the Irish Chronicles without contradiction from any tell us how the foresaid Niall the Great surnamed Naoighellach from the nine Hostages taken by him five from the five Provinces of Ireland and four from the Picts and other Inhabitants of Scotland or Albuin not only made the other parts of Great Britain even so far as the South of it tributary but with a mighty Force of Irish Scots Picts and Britons in one Army pass'd the Sea to France landed in Armorica and march'd so far as the River Loyre Where being encamped hewas treacherously kill'd by Eochae King of Leinster whom he had formerly so punish'd and plagu'd that he forc'd him to fly even out of all Ireland and who therefore studying still revenge followed him unknown to France and finding there an opportunity took it For standing one day by chance on the bank of the foresaid River and seeing Niall at the same time on the other Bank not far off he bent his Bow presently and with all his might letting fly at him shot him dead in the place by piercing his head through both scull and brain 7. That moreover Fergus the Great King of all Ireland as Buchanan calls him enter'd Scotland with a puiffant Army gave Battel to Coilus King of the Britons who invaded both the Picts and Irish Plantations together fought him kill'd him overthrew his whole Army was thereupon himself both declar'd and receiv'd the first King of the Scottish Nation inhabiting the North of Great Britain and after this being gone for Ireland as he was returning back again to Scotland was drown'd hard by the Rock which from his fate before it hath ever since been called by the Irish Carig-Fherus now Knock-fergus by the English and that all this Rerum Scoticar l. 1. happened says Buchanan about the time that Alexander the Great enter'd Babylon For albeit the Irish Books agree not with Buchanans relation of this Fergusius the Great not either I say as to his quality of being King of Ireland or as to this time of his Adventure in Scotland or elsewhere mentioning him only as a Brother to Mairchertach Mor mhac Ercha Monarch of Ireland and then fixing both his life and death immediatly after Saint Patricks death that is about 530 years after the Incarnation of our Lord yet since they agree with Buchanan in all other material points related by him of this famous Fergus especially that of his entring Scotland with a great Army being the first King of Scots in Britain I think the allegation of what they so agree upon is mightily to purpose 8. That therefore it is easie to be understood whatever Cambden's admiration be how the Milesian Irish Race were those In his Britannia Tit. Picts p. 115. daring men that having the assistance of the Picts their Tributaries and some few Britons withdrawn to them for protection from the Roman yoke drew forth at one time thirty thousand armed men against Agricola and gave Severus the Emperour so much trouble that of Romans and Associats he lost in one expedition against them fifty thousand men And were yet the men against Dio. whose incursions into the Roman Province here first the Fence was built by Adrian from Edinborough Frith to Cluyd fourscore miles Spartianus in length the foundation of it being laid deep within the ground of huge piles or stakes fastned together like a strong hedg or mound then the work of Turff and Earth by Severus across the Island from one Sea to another then under Honorius the Wall of stone running the same extent eight foot broad and twelve foot high and last of all the Towers and Bulwarks all along the Southern Coast of Britain at convenient distances raised against their landing on that side out of their plundering Fleets 6. That a further argument yet and such as of all hands must be confess'd to shew abundantly their Martial spirit and fortitude in those days of old was their brave defence of their own Countrey at home against the manifold powerful and almost continual Invasions of it from abroad by the Heathen Danes Norvegians and Easterlings at least 200 years For I pass wholly over those little short and inconsiderable Invasions of them either by Egfrid the Saxon King of Northumberland in the year 640. according to Cambden c Britannia Tit. Ireland or rather indeed by his General Berthus in the year 684. as Beda d l. 4. c. 26. has it or by some other Brittish Commanders joyn'd with the Picts at two or three several times in the seventh Century after Christ Of none of these do I take notice because they signifie not much save only the preying and burning at two several times and places a part of the Countrey by the Sea-side and three inconsiderable Fights as they are related in the Irish Books The first under the Sovereignty of Blathmhac and Diarmuid Ruannigh two Brothers ruling peaceably together as Kings of Ireland wherein the Saxon King and thirty of his Nobles were kill'd say the Irish Chronicles without mentioning other loss or any at all of the other side The second under the Sovereignty of Fionachta Fliadhach whereof all the account they give is that Comghusgach King of the Picts and a great many of the Irish were slain in it The third after a few years more under the Monarchy of Loionsiogch mhac Aonghussa fought against the men of Vlster by the Brittons but to their own loss And this is all the Irish Chronicles in Doctor Keting have of these matters So that neither the loss nor Victory
signifying much of either side at least as to Ireland in general by any of these Invasions there was nothing more heard of them or of the Invaders Much less was there ever in any Chronicle or Book that I could see either in English Irish or Latin before Cambden's Britannia came forth any mention made of Edgar King of England how puissant soever he was his having conquered a great part of Ireland and Dublin withal or indeed so much as one foot of Land there nay or so much as his having attempted any such thing And therefore I take no notice of Cambden's old Charter of King Edgar wherever he found it And so I do as little of Buchanan's relation where he writes that Gregory the Great King of Scotland who began his Reign Anno Christi 875. and ended it with his life Anno 902. invaded Ireland with a puissant Army during the minority of Donogh King of Ireland and Tutorship of this young King by Brien and Conchuair beat these Tutors in two several great Fights took Dondalk Droghedagh and Dublin visited here the young King assum'd his Tutorage to himself placed Governours in the strong Towns receiv'd threescore Hostages for their fidelity and with them return'd victorious to Scotland Certainly Ireland never had at any time since the very beginning not even since the first Monarch Slanius who reigned above three thousand years ago any King that was a Minor as Doctor Keting well observes and may be seen by any that reads over in his Chronology and History all the Reigns of the several Monarchs who during that vast extent of time successively govern'd Ireland or had the Title to govern as Monarchs there until it came under the English Power in the year of Christ 1172. There was not one of them all that came to the Soveraignty but either by election of the people or power of the Sword as there was not one in seven but came to it by this latter way that is by killing of his Predecessor Keting in the life of Brian Borumha and this commonly too in Battel Besides their very fundamental Law of Tanistry did exclude a Minor What then must we think where so many thousands descended of Heber and Herimon were at hand to claim their Titles rather than a Minor should have it But to say no more to this feigned Invasion from Scotland nor any thing other than what I have already of those former true however inconsiderable ones from elsewhere in Great Britain and to return back where I was to the Invasions both true and terrible and lasting indeed of the Danes what I would say is that notwithstanding those cruel Heathens had from the year of Christ 820. when they first invaded Ireland in the Reign of Hugh in Irish Aodh surnamed Ordnighe Monarch of Ireland and Airtre mhic Caithil Provincial King of Mounster and after that year all along in the Reigns of both that Monarch and his two Successors Conchauar mhac Donchadha and Niall Caille as likewise of Feilimidh mhic Griomthaine the Latins call him Feidlimidius successor to Airtre in the Kingdom of Mounster in several Fleets the two first one after another landing in Mounster the third in the North the fourth in vibh Cinsallach in Leinster fifth in the Harbour of Limmerick sixth of 60 Sail at the River Boyne seventh of forty Sail on the River Liffy eighth and ninth extraordinary great mighty ones at Lough-Foyle in Vlster poured in continually from time to time for above forty years together those almost incredible Numbers of men related by Hanmor yet the Irish fought 'em still and foyl'd 'em too in eight or nine Battels And although being too much overpowred by the continual supplies of new men coming to their Enemies who were absolute masters of the Seas they after a tedious cruel and continual War became at last for some little season Tributary to their Captain General Turgheise for so the Irish call him by us called Turgesius who now stiled himself King of Ireland lived in the middle thereof at Lough Ribh near the place where now Athlone is had both there and all over the whole Kingdom in every Province and Countrey and almost nook of it his Dane-Raths and other Fortifications made and strong Garrisons planted in 'em yet very soon after the generality of their Princes and people I say the generality for some of them held out still in some inaccessible places of Rocks and Bogs ' and Woods had so yielded to him their wisdom valour enfranchiz'd them most wonderfully in little above one Months time by their utter destruction of this Tyrant all his Heathen Crue For upon his lusting after the beautiful Daughter of Maolsechluin King of Meath and his desiring her of her Father to be his Concubine and the Fathers seeming of purpose to consent and then sending her privately at the Night appointed but attended with fifteen resolute Youths in Womens attire with short Swords under their Gowns and instructions what to do and then when it was very late at Night and all the rest of the leacherous Tyrants great Commanders withdrawn each to his own Apartment their seizing him so soon as he began to be rude with her and the Armour too of all the rest laid together in one heap on a Table in the Hall and then her Fathers rushing in at the same time and killing all those Commanders every one when they expected other Company each one of them one of the young beautiful Damsels as the Tyrant had promised them hereupon I say and upon the word given by Messengers who were ready of purpose flying into all parts the Irish to a man throughout the Kingdom are presently in Arms fall upon the astoâ—ish'd Danes attack and carry their Forts fight their Troops wherever they embody rout 'em kill 'em and pursue the remainders of them to their very Ships getting now away out of the Roads as Wind Weather serv'd ' em As for Turgesius himself Maolseachluin reserv'd him in Fetters for a time and then drown'd him at last in Lough-ainme So that after much about forty years bloody continual and general War at home in all the Provinces and several years most miserable and general thraldom under the yoke of such powerful barbarous and fell Tyrants who left not a Monastery or Church or Chappel standing where ever they came who placed a Lay-heathen Abbot in every Cloyster and endowed Church to gather the Revenues who layed so many times all their Countrey in Ashes who no less than four several times in one Month burnt Ardmagh the most holy See and Metropolitan City then of all Ireland who slew indistinctly for so many years both Priests and Clerks and Laicks and mean and great and rich and poor without mercy and who at last having subdued the miserable remainder imposed those burdens of Bondage on them which were such that if as to the particulars they were not attested by all the Irish Chronicles in
Dr. Keting they would surpass all belief we see how at last and for that present the Irish Nation were by the wisdom of this Maolseachluin King of Meath and by the great Valour and resolution of the rest of their Princes and People delivered I say for that present For pursuant to what has been said before you are to understand now 10. That but a very few years after because in the Keting Polychronicon Reign of the same Maolseachluin mhic Mhaolruanuidh King of Meath who deservedly upon the aforesaid expulsion of the Danes was by the Princes and Nobility made King of all Ireland and continued so until his death i. e. full sixteen years and no more three Norvegian Brothers Amelanus Cytaracus and Ivorus as Polychronicon calls 'em with their Train being come to Ireland in a peaceable manner and under pretence of Trafficking got leave of the Princes of the Land to build three Cities paying Tribute for them Dublin Waterford and Limeric Which they had no sooner finished and strongly fortified than the Irish found Keting themselves engaged in as great a War as the former by new and numerous Fleets both of Norvegians Danes and Oostmans as they call'd 'em then arriving continually from time to time in all the Quarters of the Kingdom The difference only was that the former continued forty years or thereabouts but this War now off and on a hundred and fifty years compleat And when the former began the Irish had no strangers in pay whose Revolt might endanger them but when this began they had a great number even of Danish or other Easterling Foreigners whom immediately upon ending the former War they entertain'd in pay and therefore call'd 'em Bownies to guard their Coasts all round the Kingdom and these every one turned against them now Besides in the former the Irish were all of a mind against the common Enemy but in this they were often divided some of them confederating openly and fighting in conjunction with those forein Enemies against their Native Soil especially the little King of Desies in Mounster and the King of Leinster too not seldom Moreover to end the former War and redeem them from their bondage under Turgesius the stratagem of Maolseachluin was necessary but in this later all along both in the procedure and final issue of it they owed their great and frequent Victories not to any stratagem but under God to pure Valour and manly Resolution But that I may at last come to an issue on this point I will pass over all those Victorious Battels fought by the Irish in the procedure of this second Danish War made upon them As first the Battel of Dromma Damhaigha fought by the foresaid King of Ireland Maolseachluin himself 2. The Battel of Loughfoill by his Successor Aoth Finliath 3. The many Battels in the Reign of Donnchoe mhic Floinn fought by Ceallaghane King of Mounster whereby he not only took Limmerick Cashel Cork and Waterford from the Danes but quite extirpated them at least in his days out of that Province His Sea-fight also with their Fleet before Dundalk which proved extreamly fatal to them Likewise the great slaughter of their fellows in Connaught by the Conacians about the same time Moreover and which was somewhat extraordinary and before Ceallaghane had taken Limmerick the Battel of Roscrea where the Merchants and Townsmen at a great Fair held in that place on Saint Peters day understanding of an Army of Danes coming on them from Connaught and Limmerick under a Danish Earl called Oilsin set forth against them in the best order they could fought them defeated them and kill'd three or four thousand of them in that Field Besides Muirchiortach mhac Neill King of Vlster his killing 800 with their chief Commanders Abilaine Aufer and Roilt and soon after Conuing mhac Neill 1200 more of their Heathen wicked Crue And further yet the Defeat given to Rodoricus the King of Britains Son who Anno Christi 966. as Hanmer says invaded Ireland with a puissant Army but lost both Army and Life by those he invaded 4. The Battel of Muine Broghaine fought by the Monarch Conghallach mhac Maoil Mhithe with the slaughter of 7000 Danes on the spot though with great loss of his own side too 5. and lastly even all those four twenty bloudy Battels fought against the Danes and their Confederats before the Battel of Cluain-Tairbh and fought I say every one of them by that happy victorious Prince until his death Brien mhac Kinedie alias Boraimhe who in the fourth year of the foresaid Monarch Conghallach's Reign came to be King of Mounster and within eight years next following made all Leath Mogha i. e. the Southern half of Ireland acknowledg him their Sovereign and ruled so for seven and thirty years until he was chosen at last Monarch of all Ireland in which last Supremacy he continued flourishing the remainder of his life which after twelve years more he ended victoriously at Cluain-tairf Field And as I do pass over so many former Battels wherein the Irish were victorious in this second War so I shall those many other too wherein they were to some purpose foiled in the same War tho Martial courage tho true Valour may sometimes exert it self no less in the Foil than in the Victory I 'le take no notice neither of the stoning to death Maolguala King of Mounster by those barbarous heathen Foes in the Reign of Aodh Finliath nor of the mighty overthrow given the Leinster men by Jomhar one of their Generals in the reign of Niall Gluindubh nor of Sitric another General of theirs both defeating and killing and that in a more considerable fight also the said Monarch Niall Gluindubb himself nor of the Battel of Biothlane against the Leinster men again under the Reign of Domhnal mhac Muirchirtae nor finally of the Battel of Cille mhoane fought by the Danes and Lagenians both joyn'd together now against their Monarch Domhnal mhac Muirchirtae wherein the King of Vlster Ardgall and Dombnal King of Oirghiellae and many others of great quality were kill'd of the Monarch's side As well every one of these unsuccessful Battels as all the former ten times both in number and weight more successful to the Irish in the second War I willingly pass over to come unto and give you the famous Fight of Cluain-Tairbh at last It was the five and twentieth and last of all the Battels fought so bravely by that victorious King of Ireland Brian Boraimhe himself It was indeed the Battel that put an end to all the Danish hopes in that Kingdom Besides it was if ever any was by mutual consent of both sides a pitch'd Battel and the Field whereon it was fought some weeks before agreed upon between them So that there was no place at all for Ambuscadoes Tricks or stratagems in it but pure Valour must decide the quarrel and win the day The occasion manner and issue of it take thus in short
About the end of Brian Boraimh's Reign the Kingdom of Ireland being all over in peace and flourishing with all earthly blessings under him and no more Danes left in the Land but such a certain number of Artificers Handy-craftsmen and Merchants in Dublin Weixford Waterford Cork and Limmerick as he thought and knew could be master'd at any time if they dared rebel he sends to his Brother-in-law Maolmoradh mhac Murchoe King of Leinster desiring three special Masts for shipping out of his Woods Maoldmoradh consents and goes himself to see them drawn along by the streingth of men to Cean Choradh the Monarch's House in Tomond A difference happening in the way between those men and thereupon Maolmoradh alighting and helping them to draw one of the beams up a high Mountain which they must have cross'd he toare off the clasp of his outward Robe Which so soon as he came to the Monarchs Court and visited the Queen his own Sister Garmlaigh he desires her to fasten telling her how it was torn off She takes the Robe throws it into the fire burns it before his face and then rebukes him smartly for his unworthy subjection of himself and his people of Leinster to Briean though her Husband And the Monarch Maolmoradh taking to heart her words and turning aside to see Murchoe the Prince Brian's eldest Son playing a game at Chess advises against him on some draught whereby the Prince lost his game Who thereupon fretting and twitting his Uncle this Leinster King told him that his advice formerly given to the Danes at the Battel of Gleann Mama lost them the Field Maolmoradh replyes that his next should prove otherwise The Prince defies him Maolmoradh withdraws goes to bed Supperless and early in the morning unknown posts away to Leinster Where the very next day after his coming he assembles his chief Noblemen represents to them what had past sets them all on fire to renounce their Allegiance to Briean confederate with the Danes and send the Monarch defiance Then he posts immediatly to Dublin engages the chief of the Danes there to send forthwith to the King of Denmark for a strong supply to help him against their mortal Enemy Brian Boraimhe and promises them his destruction And then he prepares at home for War And then within a little more time having seen twelve thousand men under the command of two of the King of Denmark's Sons Carolus Knutus and Andreas landed safely at Dublin and both kindly received them and refreshed them very well he without longer delay by a Herauld bid defiance to Brian and challenges him to fight on Maghnealta a spacious Field at Cluain-Tairbh otherwise Clantarf within two miles of Dublin And Brian with what speed he can joyning together all the Forces of Mounster Connaght and Meath for those of Vlster he neither sent unto nor would stay for as confiding mightily in those he had already out of the three other Divisions and hastning to fight marches directly to the place appointed Maghnealta and sees the Enemy there prepared to receive him viz. sixteen thousand Danes twelve of the new and four of the old ones together with all the power of Leinster headed by their said King Maolmoradh the only Author of this Battel To be short both Armies drawing near and viewing fully one another the fatal sign is given at last and Trumpets sound and skies resound with the terrible shouts of both sides as they closed But Maolseachluin the King of Meath who had been Monarch before Brian Boraimhe and was deposed to give him place the only Monarch of Ireland that from the beginning did survive his deposition finding it now his time to be in some sort revenged on Brian stands off with his Forces of Meath so soon as the signal was given and continues a meer Spectator during the whole time of the Battel without joyning with either side And yet notwithstanding this treacherous carriage of Maolseachluin for it can be term'd no better though after this Fight was over he recovered the Monarchy by it and was the last Monarch of the Milesian Race obeyed or acknowledged as such universally throughout the Kingdom yet I say notwithstanding it the valorous undaunted Prince Murchoe eldest Son of Brian Boraimhe having persuaded his Father to retire into his Tent by reason of his great age for he was now fourscore and eight years old behaved himself with his Momonian and Conacian Forces so bravely and made such and so many furious impressions on every side into the main Battalions of the Enemies that although neither courage nor dexterity nor ambition nor glory nor revenge nor despair proposed unto them respectively were wanting to make the Danish and Lagenian Forces withstand him a very long time and sell the Victory at a very dear rate he won the Field at last or rather indeed his Father and his Army won it after his death For this renowned Prince was kill'd in the Battel And which is far more strange the Father himself Brian Boraimhe the Monarch now after the Field had been clearly gain'd and the remainder of the Enemy scattered into the four Winds was kill'd in his own Tent by one Bruaodor a Dane who in the general Rout leading a party after him was forc'd to fly that way where the Monarch's Tent was pitch'd Whereinto as he pass'd by entring and seeing the Monarch whom he had formerly known he slew him though himself and his followers were presently cut in pieces by those that pursued them Of the Monarchs side besides himself and his Son the Prince were kill'd in this Battel seven little Kings most of the other Nobility both of Mounster and Connaught and 4000 of inferiour degree But of the other side were kill'd first the King of Leinster himself Molmoradh mhac Murchoe the Challenger of Brian to this Battel with his chief Nobles and 3000 common Souldiers then of the Danes the two Sons of the King of Denmark all their great Nobility 6700 of the Souldiers newly come with them and of the old Danes that were before their coming to Ireland 4000 more in all of both sides 17000 seven hundred besides Princes and other Noble men It was fought in the year of Christ 1034. Apr. 22. on good Friday After this Battel we hear but little of the Danes in Ireland Only that the foresaid Maolseachluin who now the second time succeeded in the Monarchy for nine years more until his death took Dublin the next year sack'd it burnt it and killed in it all those Danes that escaped from Clantarff That soon after this again i. e. in the Sovereignty of this same Maolseachluin Huaghaire mhac Duinling mhac Tâ—athil King of Leinster a man of another mind race and interest than Molmoradh mhac Murchoe was gave a mighty overthrow and it the very last given to Siteric the Son of Aomlaibh and the Danes of Dublin who it seems after the Battel of Clantarff and the burning of Dublin next year by Maolseachluin
had once more recruited from the Isle of Man and other Islands possess'd as yet by the Danes but were now finally destroyed in Ireland by the said new King of Leinster And lastly as Hackluyt reports in his Chronicle and so does Hanmer too that in the Reign of Muirchiortach mhac Brien who was the fourth after Brian Boraimhe Magnus then King of Denmark would needs venture the attempting Ireland once more to recover what his Predecessors held there but that landing with part of his Fleet before the greater part of them came up he was set upon immediately by the Countrey people and kill'd and his Fleet understanding it return'd presently from whence they came SECT II. The Irish for 2600 years a free Nation They were never subject to nor so much as invaded by the Romans Their Political Government or three Great Councils of Teamhvuir alias Tarach Eumhna and Cruachain The first a Triennial Parliament It 's Laws Feastings and other Ceremonies The strict examination therein of their publick Acts and Monuments What of that nature done in the great Parliament under Laogirius St. Patrick himself being one of the Examiners What matters debated in the Councils of Eumhna and Cruachain The Titles of Duke Marquess Earl Baron Knight not in use with them as neither in Scotland till William the Conqueror's time Their Leinster Militia called Fiona Eirlonn commanded by Fionn mhac Cuuail as General of it Hector Boethius and Hanmer corrected Their other Militia in Mounster by name Dal-Gheass Their celebrated Learning after their Conversion to Christianity Their four chief Vniversities whereof Ardmagh had 7000 Scholars at one time Their wonderful Sanctity i. e. the prodigious Numbers of their holy Monks and Nuns under S. Patrick first and next under the great Abbot Conghall alias Congellus This Abbot in person founded and governed the Monasteries both of Beanchuir in Ulster and Bangor in Wales near West-Chester his Disciples those of Lindisfarn in England Luxeu in Burgundy Bobie in Italy c. They converted several foreign Countreys But Scotland particularly was converted by Columb Cille A special priviledge given him and his Successors the Abbots of Hy. AND so by this time I think enough is said of the Warlike Spirit and Valour of the ancient Irish for so many Ages of the World until that time which was near the Eleventh Century of Christian Religion For as yet the infinite goodness patience and mercy of God expecting still their amendment restrain'd his Justice from bereaving them utterly of that Virtue that masculine bold Heroick Spirit I mean which preserv'd them so long even well nigh six and twenty hundred years a free Nation independent of any other unsubdued undisturb'd uninvaded otherwise and no longer nor no oftner nor with other success or issue than we have seen Not even the old Roman Empire it self whose conquering Eagles made all the rest at least of the Western World and among them all even the very most unaccessible remote recesses of Great Brittain a prey to their uncircumscribed ambition having never at any time had either footing or command or tribute or acknowledgment in Ireland Though we knowwell enough out of History a Tacitus in vit Agric. what a longing they had to be doing there at least to see that Countrey and people which dared receive continually so many fugitives b Cum suum Romani Imperium undique propagassent multi proculdâ—bio ex Hispania Gallia Britannia huc se receperunt ut iniquissimo Romanorum jugo colla subducerent Camden Hibern from their power in Spain and France and Great Brittain and protect them to their face But I am not to dwell or dilate on this Subject nor indeed on any other concerning that Nation the method I prescribed my self and bulk of this Treatise not allowing it 11. What I would in the next place reflect upon and as briefly as I well can is somewhat of their Policy or Government their standing Militia their Learning and their Sanctity when they were a happy flourishing people before the first Invasion of the Danes For their Government besides a Monarch five Provincial Kings and in process of time especially since the first Danish War manyother much lesser Kings they had anciently three great Councils held in three several places the Council of Taragh the Council of Eumhna and the Council of Gruachain all three called in their language Feis Teambrach Feis Eumhna and Feis Gruachain The first was a Triennial Parliament of all the Estates assembled at Taragh in Meath at the Monarch's pleasure about that time of year which we call now All Saints It was ordained first by Ollamh Fodhla the Twentieth Monarch after Herimon to be thenceforth from time to time perpetually observ'd in after Ages It was death without mercy without any hopes of it without any power in the Monarch himself to extend it to any person whatsoever either to â—ssault or wound or strike or draw upon any man attending that great Assembly or to be convicted either of robbery or stealth during the Session of it It was called only for making Laws reforming general abuses revising their Antiquities Genealogies Chronicles and either restoring or preserving peace and love among 'em by feasting together for seven days in one great House And therefore it is notable what Dr. Keting has in the Reign of Tuathall Teachtvair the Monarch of the manner of their meeting and sitting at these Feasts That the Room prepared to receive them all being made of purpose tho very longs yet narrow with Tables set on both sides and both ends and all things ready for the Entertainment and then the Room cleared of all persons whatsoever only the Marshal the chief Herauld or Chronicler and a Horn-winder excepted and then at three convenient little distances of time this Horn-winder calling to Dinner by the winding of his Horn at the first of 'em all the Esquires or Shield-bearers to the Princes and Nobility came to the door and there delivered their Shields to the Marshal who by the Heraulds direction hung them up in their due places over the Tables prepared of the right hand-side for the Estates At the second in like manner all the Taget-bearers to the Generals and other great Commanders of the Militia delivered up theirs and were on the other side of the House placed orderly as the former But at the third all the Kings Princes Estates Military men and other chief Gentry came in and fat down each one under his own Goat of Arms blazon'd on his Shield without any disorder about precedency or of places no man sitting on the outside of the Table nor any Woman at all admitted the Table in one end being for the Antiquaries and in the other for other Officers But to pass over this matter of Ceremony Herauldry and Feasting what I chiefly note in their procedure when they sat in Council or Parliament is their extraordinary care diligence and exactness in providing That all their
lesser note elsewhere And then I think seven thousand Scholars at one time in one of these Universities to wit Ardmagh c Manusc of Keting Reign of Conchuuair Mhic Donochoe is a considerable evidence how Learning did flourish at that time in Ireland To all which may be added that they were the Irish of those days who gave a beginning abroad if not to the Schools of Oxford for I have an Author by me that says they did so even to these yet certainly to those of Paris and Pavia g Monach. Sangal de Gest Car. Mag. c. 1. apud Canis Tom. 1. Antiq. Lect. yea and to many other great Colleges of Learning in foreign parts or the most famous Monasteries of Europe then that is of France and Germany and Italy have not been at any time reputed Colleges of Learning which yet we know and shall presently see they have and have indeed equally both of Learning and Sanctity been reputed the chief Schools in those parts Finally both Camhden d Supra and Spencer e View of Ireland or Dialogue between Irenaeus and Eudoxus pag. 29. acknowledge that from Ireland our Fore-fathers in Great Brittain the Ancient Saxons or English learned the very form and manner of framing their characters for writing 14. But if their Learning was great as in those Ages from the year of Christ 431. or soon after to the year 820. when the Heathen Danes and Norvegians first invaded them it was esteem'd to be the sanctity of those among them who gave themselves to a religious life was yet much more admirable as their numbers were almost beyond belief in these our days And yet Cambden that excellent Antiquary was convinc'd of both Verily Hieric of Auxer otherwise in Latin Henricus Altisiodorensis whom I mentioned before hath 800 years since written f Vit. S. Germani c. 174. Jocel viâ— S. Paâ— c. 174. that S. Patrick having converted Ireland did so prevail with the Princes and People thereof that he obtained a tenth of all the Lands Goods Cattle and Persons of the whole Kingdom to be dedicated by them to God the Men to be Monks and the Women Nuns forsaking all worldly joys most willingly for a religious life and that every where answerably to the Lands and other goods devoted so to God he built Monasteries apart the one half for Men and the other for Women From whence it came to pass within a very little time says another ancient Author of great credit Jocelinus the Monk in his life of S. Patrick 〈◊〉 174. that there was not a Wilderness nor corner nor place so remote any where in the whole Island but was replenished with perfect Monks and Nuns in so much that Ireland came to be called then by a special name The Island of Saints For says he all those religious persons lived according to the rule given them by S. Patrick in perfect contempt of all earthly things desire of celestial only mortification of their flesh and quitting of their own proper will equal to the Monks of Egypt both in merit and number Besides these testimonies tho very many more of the ancient Writers of all Nations in Europe might be quoted it will be sufficient to quote S. Bernard only in the life written by him of S. Malachias cap. v. where he relates that Ireland sent forth whole swarms of Saints into other parts of the world And therefore I need not add but little more upon this subject than the sense of Cambden and that in his own words as m Britannia tit Ireland P. 67. they are given by his Translator Philemon Holland The Irish Scholars of Patrick says he profited so notably in Christianity that in the Age next ensuing Ireland was termed Sanctorum Patria The native Country of Saints and the Soottish * See before how at that time by the name Scottish were understood only the Irish because as yet Ireland was called Scotia Major Monks in Ireland and Brittain highly excell'd for their holiness and learning yea and sent out whole flocks of most devout men into all parts of Europe who were the first Founders of Luxeu Abbey in Burgundy of Bubie Abbey in Italy of Wirtzburg Abbey in Franckland of S. Galius in Sweitzerland of Malmesbury Lindisfern and many other Monasteries in Britain For out of Ireland came Celius Sedulius a Priest Columba Columbane Colman Aidan Gallus â—ithan Maidulph Brendan and many other celebrated for their holy life and learning Of these Monks is Hieric of Auxerres to be understood when he writeth thus to the Emperour Charls the Bald What should I speak of Ireland which setting light by the dangers of the Sea flitteth all of it well near with whole flocks of Philosophers unto our shores Of whom so many as are more skilful and learned than the rest do voluntarily banish themselves to attend dutifully on the wise Solomon and be at his command Then says he I mean Cambden delivering his further judgment and continuing his relation this Monastical profession although but then newly come up was far different in those days from that of our time They desired to be that indeed which they were named to be they were far from colourable dealing or dissembling Erred they in any thing It was through simplicity not through lewdness much less of wilâ—ul obstinacy As for wealth and these worldly things they so so highly contemned them that they did not only not seek after but also refused the same tho they were offered unto them descended by inheritance For a notable Apophthegm was that of Columbane a Monk of Ireland who as the Abbot Walafride writeth When Sigebert King of the Frankners dealt very very earnestly with him and that by way of many large and fair promises that he should not depart out of his Kingdom answered him in the same sort as Eusebius has reported of Thaddeus namely That it became not them to embrace other mens riches who for Christs sake had forsaken their own Hitherto Cambden who elsewhere m p. 144. tells us that we must not wonder at the austerity of those ancient Irish Monks in their generation that is during those primitive ages of Christianity in Ireland tho nothing indeed can be more wonderful than what is written of them in that kind For says he in very late times Such as gave themselves to Religion there did mortifie their flesh even to a miracle by watching praying and fasting And verily Cambdens relation both of the sanctity and prodigious numbers too of the Irish Monks in those first ages of Christianity in Ireland before the Danish Invasion is abundantly confirm'd by the Irish Chronicles in Dr. Keting b Reign of Louis the Son of Laogirius Son to Nial the Great The Irish call him Lugha mhac Laoghaire mhic Neill Naoighiallaoi where he tells us that the holy Abbot Comghall who about the end of the first and beginning of the second century of Christian Religion in
Ireland built the famous Monastery of Beannchuir in Vlster had 20000 Monks cloistered in several Monasteries under his own government Which is the more credible because S. Bernard six hundred years agoe in his life of S. Malachias Archbishop of Ardmagh and sometime Abbot and Restorer of Beannchuir who died with him at Clara Vallis in France reporteth * Cap. 5. that this Monastery under the first Founder of it the blessed Comghall or as the Latins call him Congellus was the most noble head of many Monasteries and fruitful Mother of many thousands of holy Monks That one by name Luanus a Son of that holy Congregation of Beannchuir was himself alone Founder of a hundred Monasteries in other places That from thence flowed such a prodigious inundation of Saints all over Ireland Scotland and other foreign Nations in those days as we have spoken of before out of Cambden That Columbanus who came to France being another Son of that holy place founded the Cloyster of Luxeu in Burgundy in which the number of Religious men was so great that both day and night the Quire was replenish'd with Singers praising God perpetually by turns even all the 24 hours throughout the whole year without intermission of one sole moment of time That Beannchuir it self the happy Mother of so blessed an Issue had likewise of her own peculiar Conventuals at home constantly praising and serving God such a number that on a time some foreign Pirats Landing there unexpectedly for't was upon the Sea-side to spoil and burn it as they did both found nine hundred Monks in the place whom they slew and burnt altogether most inhumanely as the Histories of that Countrey tell Which Martyrdom and first destruction of this Monastery happen'd says Keting in the Reign of Ceanfolae Monarch or King of Ireland That is as I take it about a hundred and fifty years before the the first Invasion of the Danes Finally that Malachias about 400 years after this first destruction of Beannchuir and a second too by the Danes restored it once more to its ancient religious dedication to God tho not to the like number of Monks and was himself Abbot of it before his being Bishop either of Connor Ardmagh or Down I add in the last place Down because this wonderful Servant of God Malachias against the will of all others resign'd Ardmagh and chose the poor Bishoprick of Down to retire unto of purpose to cultivate the Barbarous Inhabitants hereof as he had successively those of the two former To illustrate with a few more particulars this relation given of the memorable Abbot Congellus I Hanmer p. 62. and 53. can out of Hanmer's Chronicle add passing over his vain attempt to challenge him for his own Countreyman and make him at least of British blood and birth But he soon gives over his claim in the very next page where on better grounds he confesses that Congellus not far from Westchester founded the Monastery of Bangor which then among the Brittons was call'd the Colledg of Christian Philosophâ—rs and was himself the first Abbot of it in the days of King Arthur An. Christi 530. That he also founded the famous Monastery of Benchor as he calls it but the Irish Beannchuir in the Ardes alias Altitudo Vltonum in Vlster which had 3000 Monks and bred and train'd up many singular and eminent men of Learning not only Irish but Brittons Saxons and Scots who dispers'd themselves far and near into foreign Countreys and converted and confirmed thousands in the true faith of Christ That seven years after the founding of this Abbey in Vlster he founded the other near Chester but then return'd again to his former in Vlster where he resteth in peace And besides other particulars to conclude all and acknowledg indeed both the Native Countrey of Congellus and Countrey also of his breeding in holiness that he was born in Dal-Naraidh in Vlster of honourable Parents bred under Abbot Fiontan in Mounster and then at last under Kieran at Cluain-mhac-Noise c. 15. I might here enlarge on the Conversion of many Infidel Nations especially in the North of Great Britain and the Lower and Higher Germany by the power of the words and Example of the lives of those wonderful Irish Monks But having said enough already on this Head of their Sanctity I will dilate no further on it I will not recount any thing not so much as of St. Aidam that holy Bishop of Lindisfarn and great Instructor of King Oswald's Saxon Subjects in Christianity g Beda Histâ—r Eccles l. 3. c. v. vi nor much neither of Columb-Cille himself Only of this later give me leave to deliver a few things As 1. That he was born in Vlster and the Son of Feilimidh the Son of Fergus the Son of Conal Gulbhann the Son of Niall the Great surnamed also Naoighiallach Monarch of Ireland Which I note against some Scottish Authors that contrary to all known truth would make him a Scotchman 2. That his proper name received in Baptism was Criomhthan and the name of Columb-Cille was given him by Children his Play-fellows who because of his Dove-like simplicity and because when he came to them upon a certain day once every week where they with great longing expected him he always came to them immediatly out of the Church or Monastery wherein he was educated at Dubghlaissa in Tirconel therefore they so soon as he appear'd to them cried forth unanimously with one voice Columb ne Cille Whereof his Instructors taking notice at last thought it the will of God he should be so called thence-forward by all others too even as the innocent Children had already and constantly once a week by their joyful acclamations begun to do those three distinct Irish words importing in English the Dove of the Church For in that Language Celumb is a Dove and Ceall or Cill is a Church Monastery or Cell And hence it was that Criomhthan came to be generally called no more Criomhthan but Columb-Cille the middle word at first used by the Children being left out of the composition for brevities sake 3. That having in his youth dedicated himself to a Monastick life and having by stupendious mortification arrived to the highest pitch of holiness he founded the Monastery of Ardmagh otherwise Dear-magh in Latin Campus Roborum as Beda notes He pass'd from thence over to Scotland in the 43 year of his age but of Christ 565. He Preach'd the Gospel Beda l. 3. c. 4. there with so great power that he converted to Christianity all the Picts then inhabiting the more Northern parts of Great Britain He founded here another no less famous Abbey in the Isle of Hy in Latin Iona on which Abbey Connall mhac Conghvill King of Dal-Rheuda not a Pict but an Irish Scot bestowed that Keting in the Reign of whole Island with the Soveraignty thereof to be transmitted to all future Abbots of it for ever He was held in such
extraordinary great veneration both in his life and after his death that as Venerable Bede records it not only all In quibus omnibus scilicet Monasteriis per Hiberniam Britanniam propagatis ex utroque Monasterio idem Monasterium Insulanum in quo ipse requiâ—scit corpore principatum tenat Habere autem solet ipsa Irsula Rectorem semper Abbatem presbyterum cujus juri omnis Provincia ipsi etiam Episcopi ordine inusitato debeant esse subjecti juxta exemplum primi Doctoris illius qui non Episcopus sed presbyter extitit Monachus Beda ibid. the Monasteries propagated in Ireland or Britain from either of those two Abbeys founded by himself were subordinate to this latter of Hy wherein he lived longest and died at last being 77 years aged nor only all the whole Province but even the very Bishops themselves contrary to the custom of the Church in other Countreys were subject to the jurisdiction of all the succeeding Abbots thereof tho Presbyters only by ordination to wit according to the primitive pattern of their first Doctor who was himself no Bishop but only a Priest and Monk In fine he most justly deserved the title which Posterity gave him of the first Converter of the North of Scotland and great Apostle of the Picts as Cambden himself calls him And so he might have call'd him too the great and chief if not the first Instructor in Christianity of all the Irish Scots 4. That although I cannot tell certainly what Venerable Bede means here in the Marginal Note by his omnis Provincia whole Province that is whether he mean all the Kingdom of Scotland as it lies now extended and as then comprehending all the several petty Kingdoms both of Scots and Picts for by the Battel fought in Scotland at Monadoire in the Reign of Diarmuid mhic Cearbheoil King of Ireland by the Family of the Neals against the Picts we understand this Nation of Picts had several petty Kings at that time being they lost in this one Battel together with the Victory seven of them kill'd in the place by those Irish formerly planted there or whether he mean the Kingdom of the Irish in Scotland or which is the same thing of the Scots or Dal-Rheudans only all three signifying the same People or whether only the Dominions of those Northern Picts converted by Columb and there can be no other to be meant by omnis provincia since the Island it self wherein that Monastery was exceeded not five English miles in length yet thus much I can certainly say that Keting tells us in his Reign of Aodh or Hugh Ainmhirioch Monarch of Ireland that Columb-Cille in his Voyages and Journey to the Parliament held by this Monarch at Drom-Ceath in that Kingdom was all along out of Scotland attended not only by 30 Sub-deacons 50 Deacons and 40 Priests but 20 Bishops also to praise God continually and officiate in divine Offices in his company whereby we may somewhat guess at the largeness of that Province whereof Venerable Bede does speak here SECT III. The Scene altered Cause of admiration Bloody horrible feuds begun encreas'd multiplied continued 2600 years No People on earth so implacably set upon the destruction of one another as the Milesian Irish were Above 600 Battels fought between themselves A hundred and eighteen Monarchs slaughter'd Fourscore and six of those very men that kill'd them succeeded immediatly in their Thrones Other strange deaths of several of them Of the whole number of 181 Monarchs not above 29 came to a natural end The Author of this account Battels fought by the Monarchs Caomhaol Tighearnmhuir Tuathal Teachtvair where somewhat of the Plebeians 25 years War Conn Ceadchathach alias Constantinus Centibellis and Mogha Nuadhat King of Mounster What Leath Cuinn and Leatha Mogh import The feuds rather inflam'd than allaid under Christianity Number of main Battels fought and Monarchs kill'd the first 400 years after their Conversion by S. Patrick By two of them the one betwixt the Monarch Fearghall and Murcho O Bruin King of Leinster the other between the Monarch Aodlâ— Ollan and Aodha mhac Colgan King also of Leinster may be guess'd how bloody the rest were Foreign Conquests and Plantations neglected all that while Occasionally somewhat of the Heathen Monarch Dathi's Landing in France with an Army to pursue Niall the Great 's example and of his being kill'd by a Thunderbolt near the Alps and of the ten several Invasions of Scotland by the Irish Pagans and but one if one by the Christian Irish The Families descended from those Irish remaining to this day in that Country A word of those call'd English Scots Columb-Cille himself Author of fighting three of the foresaid Battels in Ireland The heavy pennance during life enjoin'd him therefore by S. Molaisse and his humble performance of it and much greater wonders of him Why the particular of those Battels of Columb-Cille mentioned here The Parliament of Dromceathe in his time Banishment of the Poets one of the three ends it was called for Great Injustice Cruelty Pride c. instanc'd severally in their Monarchs Tuathal Teuchtvar c. Nial Naoighiallach Diarmuid mhac Ceirrbheoil and Aodh mhac Ainmhiriogh Some of the Murders and Battels that happened about the end of their fourth Century of Christian Religion particulariz'd HItherto I have briefly run over the Antiquity Martial Exploits Political Government or Grand Councils ordinary Militia and after their Conversion to Christianity the Learning also and Sanctity of the Ancient Irish And so have I think delivered in short all the most glorious Excellencies recorded of that Nation eitheir in their own Monuments or any foreign Histories that I have seen 16. What follows next is on the other side of the Medal to represent unto you not only a mixture of great imperfections with so many excellencies nor only the prevalency of downright evil men against so many good against so prodigiously numerous and great exemplars of virtue living among them after their being enlightned with the doctrine of salvation but according to the vicissitude of all things on earth the change and wane and strange decay and utter fall at last of that People in general from all the glory of their Ancestors And this whether we regard the greatness of their former dominion and power abroad or the more ancient policy of their Government at home or the stupendious fame of their Letters and Holiness every where in those days of old Nay and this alteration too in every point as happening to them even before the English had set one foot in their Country under Henry II. All which I am to represent unto you now because the order of things and both title and nature of this Tract require I should Though I shall nevertheless do it by so much the more briefly by how much I am less inclined to dwell on this subject However I must confess that when I reflect on the most authentick Monuments of
of the Danes I find but three only Aodh Slaine Colman Rimhigh and Swine Mean that were not in Arms against any at all Subjects or Foreigners who nevertheless were all three murdered by some wicked Irish men their own Subjects and besides them Blaithmhac and Diarmuid Ruannigh two Brothers in like manner joyntly enjoying the Soveraign Power and then Seachnasach immediatly succeeding in all three more that although they were in Arms at home it was not against any of their own People but the two former against the Saxons and Brittons invading them under the leading of their General Brit or Berthus and the third against the Picts Landing in Vlster whom the Forces of that Province overthrew presently and yet he also was murdered by his own People All the rest of the three and thirty Monarchs had their Swords drawn whether justly or injustly I dispute not here against their own Rebellious Subjects at home and these against them So that besides infinite depredations wastings burnings of the Countrey besides the endless harrassing of the poor Peasants and even sometime the violating of Sanctuaries and burning of Churches and killing of Clergy men and Priests and Bishops too for company besides lesser Fights and skirmishes without number you may read in Manuscript in the several Reigns of those Kings Keting above 58 main Battels fought between their Princes Kings and Monarchs within that period of time a period that wanted seven or eightyears of 400. 18. And that you may understand how bloody how destructive indeed those greater Battels might have generally been I will instance here in two of them First in that which they call the Battel of Allmbain wherein about the year of Christ 920. the Monarch Ferghall mhac Maolduin with an Army of one and twenty thousand men invading and fighting Murchoe mhac Bruin King of Leinster who had but nine thousand one hundred and sixty men to oppose him was himself kill'd and together with him seven thousand of his Army on the place besides 269 persons more of them so strangely frighted that they fell into that kind or heighth of frenzy which the Irish call in their Language Dubhghealtacht flying over ground like frighted Fowls from all People they met or saw This ill fortune of this Monarch Fearghall was thought to have happend him because a Party of his men in their march to this Field had spoild a Sanctuary call'd Cillin and the Anchoret there living had curs'd the Monarch and his whole Army Secondly in that which they call the Battel of Seanaigh and Vchaidh fought between the Monarch Aodh Ollan and Aodh Colgan King also of Leinster yea sought with that fury on both sides that besides this Monarch himself mortally wounded and a very great slaughter of his Army and besides Aodh Colgan kill'd together with Bran Beg the petty King of half Leinster nine thousand more of the Leinster men alone remained dead on the Field tho the said Monarch died not of his wounds received here but was kill'd sometimes after in the Battel of Seir. But what I cannot here but particularly take notice of as worthy of special remark are two things The one that this fury of pursuing one another with Battels and Slaughters and Murders even all along from their conversion to Christianity for the extent of 400 years had been so strangely violent that it gave them no leasure at all to think of preserving much less enlarging their former Conquests In their time of Paganism how bloodily soever the several Factions had been commonly bent to mutual destruction yet the prevailing Parties now and then had such generous publick resolutions as to give over at home and employ their Warlike spirits abroad to enlarge their Dominions We have formerly seen their brave exploits in subduing the Orcades Hebrides Isle of Man and then all Scotland and then making the rest of Great Britain tributary and last of all enterprizing on France it self in the decay of the Roman Empire till Niall the Great was no less treacherously than revengfully murder'd there amidst his Army camping on the River of Loyrc as has been said before I might also have added another adventure and enterprize of theirs on France with a resolute Army under the leading of their Monarch Dathi alias Fearadhach who as in the Sovereignty of Ireland so in his design on France succeeded immediatly to the foresaid Niall the Great tho having Landed there and march'd through till he came near the Alps he was here struck dead by a Thunderbolt from Heaven for so the Irish Chronicles deliver his death As they do also the cause of it according to the conjectures of men to have been that he suffered the Cell of a Christian holy Anchorite by name Parmenius to be ransack'd who thereupon cursing this Heathen Sacrilegious King and calling to Heaven for Vengeance that exemplary punishment shewed his prayer was heard by God But whatever the cause of it was the place where it happen'd shews how vigorously he pursued the brave adventures of so many other Pagan Kings and Princes of Ireland to enlarge their Dominions abroad 19. And because peradventure it may be worth the while take here in short a Catalogue of those Irish Monarchs Princes and other chief Nobles who by their first subduing and then planting of Albain as they call it gave it the name of Scotland 1. Aongus Ollbhuathach not the VII Monarch nor Monarch of any number at all but Son to Fiachae Labhruinne the XIV Monarch or King of Ireland for so you must correct what is said of him otherwise before pag. 17. I say this Aongus entred Albuin to recover of the Picts the chiefry due to the King of Ireland his Father Wherein finding them refractory he gave them and the Britains or Aborigines inhabiting at that time the Northern parts of Great Britain so many overthrows that he reduced them at last to his own conditions making them not only Tributarles but Subjects to the Kings of Ireland which happen'd about 250 years after the arrival of the Iberians there from Spain that is well nigh 2800 years since 2. Aongus surnamed Ollmhucuidh from his extraordinary great Hogs for Muc in their Language signifies a Hog in English the XVI King of Ireland of the Milesian Conquest fought the Picts and Firr Bholg inhabiting the Orcades and other Islands of Scotland and utterly subdued them in 50 Battels For it was he and not the foresaid Aongus surnamed Ollbhuathach or the Victorious that fought them and subdued all those Islanders And therefore by this observation also be pleased to correct what you find otherwise in the foresaid 16 page 3. Many centuries after the sixtieth Monarch of Ireland Reachta Righdhearg crossing the narrow Seas and Landing in Albain as the Irish call that Country still which we call Scotland once more established on the Picts what those other Princes did before him This Reachta Righdhearg was the first of three Irish Monarchs born in Mounster that
enjoyed the Sovereign Power of Albain The other two were Mac Con otherwise called Lughae and Criomthan mhac Fiodaigh 4. There went also thither about the year of Christ 150. on his own account with considerable Forces Cairbre Riadfadae Son to the 106. Monarch of Ireland by name Conaire mhac Mogha Lauae who Conquer'd large Dominions for himself in the more Northern parts of that Kingdom and left his Posterity after him there who are those or at least a great and the more ancient part of those called by â—â—da Nistor Eccles l. 1. c. 1. Venerable Bede Dal-Rheudini as being the Inhabitants and first Irish Planters of Dal-Rheuda or as the Irish call it Dal-Riada in Scotland Whether it be not called so from that Cairbre Riadbfadae that is from this surname of his Riadfadae being changed by V. Bede to Rheuda as it might easily be I know not But this I know that Dal which is prepos'd in the composition signifies Part or Lot And so the whole word Dal-Rheuda or Dal-Riada signifies the Part of such a man who was the chief in Conquering it 5. The foresaid Mac Con alias Lughae within a few years more at least within less than thirty purfuing the same examples Landed in Scotland with a power of his Country-men Adventurers For it was from thence he returned back into Ireland to fight the Battel called Maigh Mhuchruimhe wherein being Victorious and killing the Monarch Art Aoinfir he made himself Sovereign in his place 6. This Mac Con's Grand-Son Fiachae Ceanann entring likewise Scotland not only gain'd large possessions but left his Posterity after him to give a beginning to Mac Allin and his Family there who are all descended from him 7. Colla Vais who had been four years tho by Usurpation the 115. Monarch of Ireland when he was by the lawful Heir his own Cousin German Muireadhach Tiriogh defeated in Battel and forc'd to flie adventuring over to Scotland with the two other Collaes his Brethren and rest of his adherents and acquiring great scopes of ground there became the Grandsire of the Clan Ndomnaills both in Scotland and Ireland For all of this Surname in either Kingdom in their several generations or branches derive their extraction in a direct line from this Colla Vais and consequently neither from Herimon or Heber but from i the a Cousin of theirs who was the Son of Breoghuin mhic Bratha of the same stock with Milesius 8. Next after that Colla did Criamhthan mhac Fioda the 120. King of Ireland with a Royal Army invade Albain I mean Scotland He had in his company another very powerful Noble man called Earc mhac Eocha Muingreahar mhic Aongussa And from him the Septs not only of Clann Eirc and Cineall Gabhrain but those of Cineall Conghvill Cineall Naonghussa and Cineall Conriche Anile with their distinct propagations and Families in Scotland ever since to this present are descended 9. Corck mhac Luighdhioch is the next in order that deserves mention Because that by the false and wicked surmises of his Step-mother upon his refusal to consent to her incestuous Lust she was Daughter to Fiachac mhac Reill King of Ely falling into his Fathers displeasure and thereupon forced to seek his fortune in Scotland and arriving there accompanied with such armed Troops as he could raise and then by his own deserts coming into such extraordinary favour with the Scottish King Fearradhach Fionn otherwise called Fionn Chormac that he obtain'd his Daughter call'd Muingfionn to Wife he had issue by her besides other Sons Manie Leambna from whom the Sept of Leambnuidh in Scotland and Cairbre Cruithnioch from whom the Families of Eoghanacht Muighe Geirghin in the same Kingdom were propagated 10. Soon after him Niall Naoighiallach the 121. and most powerful indeed of all the Irish Monarchs that were at any time before or since entred Scotland with so great a force that there was no resisting him But having said enough of him before I need not add to it here 11. In the last place and year of Christ 493. much about ninety three years after the said War-like Prince Niall the Great surnamed also Naoighiallach had been kill'd in France and in the 20. year of Lugha the 125 Monarch Son to Laogirius his Reign the six Sons of Muireadhach * So says Keting in the Reign of Niall Naoighiallach yet formerly in the Reign of Oilioll Molâ— he calls them the six Sons of Eirc mhic Eachae Muinreamhair mhic Eoghuin Mhic Neill King of Vlster being six Brothers of Mairchiartach Mor that soon after came to be Monarch of Ireland namely to the two Fergusses the two Aongussaes and the two Loarns together with other Septs or Families of Dal-Riada in the same Province of Vlster adventur'd for Albain and whether or no they gave the denomination of Dal-Rheuda or Dal-Riada to the Country there mostly possessed by them tho at least for a great part of it planted before as we have seen by the Progeny of Cairbre Rioghfadae †Eochae Muinreamhar of the Progeny of Cairbre Ridhfadae had two Sons Earcha and Elchon From the former the the Families of Dal-Riada in Scotland were descended From the later those of Dal-Riada in Ulster So Keting soys in the Reign of Art Aonsir where he further says that the two Dal-Riades or Families of them have been distinguished by the surname or nick-name of Russach given those of Dal Riada in Ulster the Irish Chronicles are plain and positive herein that they gave to themselves and all their Country-men the Scots of Albion the first King that ever they had of the name of Fergus who was one of those six Brothers And it is he that both the Irish and English Scots have since for his honor surnamed the Great as likewise Fergus I. Not that he was indeed the first Irish or Scottish King of Dal-Rheuda wherein Buchanan and all the rest of his Fellow-Historians that were English Scots are extreamly out for long before that very Fergus there have been many Scottish Kings of Irish descent in Dal-Rheuda but that he was greater than any of the former and the first of his own name that ruled there To conclude so many were the Invasions and so great the Plantations made in that Country by the Irish Milesians and other Gathelians in their time of Paganism that as they Conquer'd so they planted it throughly at last having quite expell'd the Picts And so they kept it possess'd intirely by themselves as Lords thereof for some Ages That is until after the Norman Conquest of England very many of the Saxons retiring thither under their protection others invited in and accompanying William the Scottish King and both of them multiplying mightily they not only made the other Nations which are now called English Scots but by degrees gained from them as we see even all other the better parts of that Kingdom besides the Lowlands I say accompanying William the Scottish King For Stow in his Chronicle tells That
this King William of Scotland Fol. 152. after he had been taken Prisoner by Henry II. of England carried over to Normandy confin'd at Roan until he compounded for his Ransom return'd back to England set free at York upon his paying down 4000 c. and now being on his journey home and seeing the Noble-men his own Subjects would come no nearer than Pembels in Scotland to receive him therefore took with him many younger Sons of such of the English Nobility as shew'd him most kindness in the time of his Imprisonment That he entertain'd them and detain'd them and bestow'd on them great Estates and Possessions in Scotland which he took from such as had rebell'd against him there That this of their waiting on him to Scotland was in the year of Christ 1174. And that their names were Bailliol Brewse Soulley Moubrey St. Clare Hay Giffâ—rd Ramsey Lanudell Biscy Berk Ley Willegen Bâ—ys Montgomery Valx Colenuille Friser Granâ—â— Gâ—â—lay and divers others 20. Yet my meaning is not to assert positively that the foresaid last Invasion or Plantation made by those Vlster Dal-Rheudans and six Sons of Muredus King of Vlster had been made in the time of Irelands Paganism I know it happen'd in the 20th year of the Sovereignty of Lugha mhac Laoghaire Monarch of Ireland which was of Christ 493. and consequently the very next year after Patricks death according to Ketings computation tho according to Jocelinus it must have been the next saving one I know also it is supposed by the Writers of this holy mans life especially Jocelinus c. 191. that even three and thirty years before his death all Ireland together with the Isle of Man and all other Islands then subject to the Irish had been throughly and wholly converted to Christian Religion by him Which makes it indeed very probable that this last expedition of the Irish into Scotland was wholly consisting of Christian Adventurers And yet I am not certain of it for these reasons 1. Because Jocelinus c. 49. and others tell us that notwithstanding all the prodigious wonders done by S. Patrick and many of them in the very presence of Laogirius the Monarch Father to this Lugha he was never converted but died in his Infidelity being kill'd at Greallach a Village near the River Liffy in that Country which we now call the County of Kildare by a Thunder-bolt shot at him from Heaven Tho Keting partly attributes this Vengeance of God fallen on him to his perfidious breach of solemn promise made by him upon Oath invoking the Sun Moon and all the Planets to attest it Which Oath he made to obtain his Liberty when he was foiled and taken Prisoner in the Battel of Ath-Dara by the Lagenians and Criomthan mhac Euno the contents of it being to remit for ever the heavy Borâ—imh as they call it or Fine which he challeng'd from them as due to him and all other Monarchs after him 2. Because this very Monarch Luigha in whose Reign that Expedition of the Vlster Dal-Rheudans and six Sons of Muredus happen'd tho he lived and continued his Sovereignty 15 years longer was nevertheless at last struck likewise dead by a Thunderbolt and the Irish Antiquaries of those times have interpreted this Judgment on him as a just punishment of the great disrespects and dishonour done by him to the same extraordinary wonderful Servant of God And these are my reasons for doubting For it seems not likely that if Lugha had been converted he would after his Conversion have so behaved himself towards that Saint as to incense Heaven to punish him in so dreadful a manner And as unlikely it is that in case he had so mis-behaved himself during his Infidelity he would not after his Conversion have repented so heartily thereof as to merit the Saints prayers for him to God at least for diverting so terrible a judgment And then we know how far the example of a wicked Monarch might have prevail'd with other wicked men to keep them still in their Infidelity But be this conjecture true or false nay be it suppos'd for certain that Lugha and all Ireland every one and consequently those six Sons of Muireadhach King of Vlster with their Dal-Rheudans were Christians then when they enter'd Scotland it appears notwithstanding out of the Irish Chronicles that as they were the first so they were the last and only Adventurers any where abroad out of Ireland since its Conversion to Christianity the War-like humor of its Monarchs Princes and Nobles being always after that wholly imploy'd at home in destroying one another Insomuch that they gave not themselves either opportunity or leisure to look after not so much as the paiment of Chiefries or Tributes due to them from their Dominions abroad in the Islands or Terra Firma it self of Scotland Not one of all their Monarchs for ought appears in their History having at any time since entertain'd no not a thought of employing their Arms that way save only Aodh mhac Aiumhiriogh the 10th undoubted Christian Monarch who propos'd it in his great Parliament at Drom Ceatha and was generously resolv'd upon it ' until by the customary obstacle of a Civil War at home he was not only soon diverted from that resolution but himself kill'd in the Battel of Beluigh Duin Bholg fought against him by Brandubh King of Leinster as this Brandubh also not long after was by his own Lagenian Subjects in the Battel of Cam-Chluana By all which you may perceive that Christian Religion wrought so little on that People towards the abatement of their mortal feuds that under it even in its first four hundred years among them their Princes were much more fatally engaged in pursuing one another with fire and sword and horrid slaughters to the utter undoing of themselves and weakning of their Country and making it an easie prey to Foreiners after than their very Pagan Predecessors had been whereof so many had extended their Dominions far and near and still enlarged and kept them for so many Ages abroad whatever in the mean time their dissentions were at home And this is one of those two things I would especially remark here 12. The other is That not even the greatest holiness of some of their very greatest and most justly celebrated Saints has been exempt from the fatality of this genius of putting their Controversies to the bloody decision of Battels tho they foresaw the death of so many thousands must needs have followed or at least be hazarded to follow Even Columb-Cille himself so religious a Monk Priest Abbot so much a man of God was nevertheless the very Author Adviser Procurer of fighting three several Battels namely those of Cuile-Dreimbne Cuile-Rathan and Cuile Feadha The first on this occasion At a Parliament held at Taragh by the Monarch Diardmuid mhic Fergusse Ceirrbheoil it happened that contrary to the most sacred and severe Laws of that priviledg'd place one Cuornane mhac Aodh had kill'd a Gentleman
and that this Cuornâ—ne flying away presently to shelter himself under the wings of Domhnal and Ferghusse the Sons of Muirchiortach mhac Earcha two powerful men in their own Territory and they for his better assurance recommending him to Columb-Cille's protection the Monarch nevertheless lighting on him put him to death for his unpardonable crime at Taragh Which Columb-Cille resented so grievously that he persuaded such Families of the Neales as inhabited the North who by way of distinction from those other Neales living in the South of Ireland were called Clanna Neill in Tuaisgâ—â—art as the said other were Clanna Neill in Disgcâ—art to fight the Monarch while himself pray'd to God for their good success And it seems God was pleased to hear his prayer for humbling the Monarch For the issue of the Battel fought so by those Neales at Cuile Druimhne was that Diarmuid not only saw himself routed but almost his whole Army kill'd in that very Field The second on this occasion Dal-Narruidh and other Vltonians had in a difference twixt Columb-Cille and Comghall shewed themselves unjustly partial against Columb as he thought And therefore he had the Battel of Cuile Rathan fought against them Who this Comghall was I cannot certainly tell tho I think he might be the great Comghall alias Congellus Founder and Abbot of Beannchuir of whom so much has been said before I am sure he and Colum-Cille were contemporaries and of the same Province of Vlster But for being Author of the third Battel Columb-Cille had a much more specious cause it I may presume to interpose my simple judgment than either of the two former Baodhan mhac Niueadha who had been Monarch but one whole year being in some extraordinary danger from his Enemies Columb-Cille pass'd his word in the nature of a Sanctuary to him to keep him safe in that extremity Which Colmane mhac Colmain not regarding he had him set upon and murder'd by the two Cummins viz. Cummin mhac Colmain Bhig and Cummin in hac Libhrein at Carrig Leime in Eich or the Horse-leap in Jomairge And this was the cause that moved Columb-Cille to persuade and be Author of the Battel of Cuile Feadha fought against Colmane mhac Diarmuda It is true That whatever or how just soever the causes of each or all those three Battels had seem'd to Columb-Cille yet the holy Bishop Molaisse was so far from approving any of them that for engaging in them any way he not only most severely reproved Columb-Cille but enjoyn'd him the grievous pennance of departing presently out of Ireland and never more during life to see it It is also true that Columb-Cille with all humility and readiness obeying this injunction departed forthwith to Scotland where the power of God was with him so eminently in converting such vast numbers of Infidels to Christ as if God himself from all eternity had preordained those three Battels to be the occasion of saving the Picts And no less true it is That when the great Parliament of Ireland was summon'd by the Monarch Aodh mhac Ainmhirogh to assemble at Drom Ceatha as they did and sate there thirteen months without intermission or Prorogation debating principally those three things which he proposed to them 1. That of Banishing for ever all the Poets out of the Kingdom by reason of their being an excessive intolerable burden to the People Whereof you may see strange particulars in the following account This was the fourth time the Poets whom the Irish in their Language call Ollamhs were by a general Decree all of them condemn'd to Banishment into Dal-Riada in Scotland by reason of their insolency excessive number and burthen to the People For 1. They beg'd all what-ever seem'd to be most valued by the Noble-men who out of a foolish custom that prevail'd too long could deny them nothing And therefore they had the impudence to beg of this very Monarch Aodh mhac Ainmhiriogh the richest and most precious Jewel in all his Treasury and had it 2. Their number was near a third part of the People of Ireland So says Keting if my Copy of his work be right There was a thousand of them that kept Trains of Vnderlings waiting on them continually where-ever they went The chiefest of all had 30 men for his own particular train The next to him 15. and so forth descending every one of them had some number in his own proper retinue to the very last of 1000 leading Poets 3. They were all of 'em with all their numerous trains yearly cess'd on the other Inhabitants of the Kingdom from All-hallows-day till May-day even six entire months of the year And these I think were sufficient reasons to Banish them as I have said they were three several times before this Parliament of Drom-Ceatha had been chiefly called for the same end For you are to understand that after each of their former Banishments they were still harbour'd in the North until they procur'd licence to return to all the other Provinces The first time being a thousand in number at the intercession of Columb-Cille who went in behalf of Conchabhar King of Ulster to meet and invite them they were staid received and maintain'd by him and his Nobles of that Province till seven years were over The second time by Fiachna mhac Baodhaine King of Ulster but for one year only their number being seven hundred The third time by Maobchoba King of Ulster likewise one whole year when their number was full 1200. But this fourth time at the Parliament at Drom-Ceatha tho Colum-Cille had interposed for them all he could yet being convinc'd by the Monarch's reasons he acquiesed at last in what was decreed there not only for the suppression of their multitudes and reformation of their abuses and ease of the People but even for preservation of their own Language Laws Poetry History Genealogy and Chronology arts both useful and delightful to all ingenious Men and civil Nations As 1. That the Monarch Provincial and other lesser Kings and every Lord of a Cantred or Barony should each of them entertain a Poet of his own bestow on him and his Posterity for ever a competent Estate in Lands to live upon and that both his Person Lands and other Goods should be exempt from all publick duties 2. That for preserving the sciences they profess'd there should be some publick Free Schools both appointed and endowed with Lands by the Estates of the Kingdom in general And pursuant to this Decree those two in Breithfne the one at Rath-Ceanaidh the oother at Magh-Sleacht were establish'd 3. That the Monarch's Poet or Ollamh should be the Ard-Ollamh that is Arch-Poet and Arch-Professor of their knowledge and that he should have the appointment of and a superintendency too over the rest 4. And lastly none otherwise or above this number to be allow'd 2. That of deposing Scanlane Mor mhac Ceanfoaladh King of Ossory who was then his Prisoner and committed even by Authority of
that Parliament for his refusing to pay the said Monarch a certain annual rent challeng'd as due from him 3. That of invading Scotland with a Royal Army to force the payment of Chiefry Tributes and other Duties formerly paid thence to his Predecessors And when Columb-Cille was persuaded to go thither out of Scotland of purpose to intercede for the Poets interpose for his devoted Friend the said Scanlane Mor King of Ossory and to divert the Monarch from his resolution of invading Scotland nevertheless he was so rigorously and even so literally observant of that pennance enjoyn'd him by Molaisse that he had continually during the whole time of going thither staying there and returning back a Searcloath in such manner hanging down before his eyes that he never saw light all the while nor did at any time after during life as neither before since the command laid upon him by Molaisse any part or foot of Irelands ground Which admirable instance of the most perfect resignation of his will judgment soul to the greatest exactness of Christian discipline together with the prodigious austerity of his life and mortification of his body by watching and fasting to such a degree that he seem'd a very Skeleton alive even all his ribs and other bones of that side whereon he lay on the sandy ground which was his ordinary bed in his little Cell being perfectly countable in the print of them remaining there when he rose up from it I say that all this together duly considered besides his continual prayer and contemplation makes me not wonder at all that he should have both converted Nations and wrought so many stupendious miracles above all the power of Nature by invoking God as are reported of him in his life Nor consequently that in this very Parliament of Dromâ—eath upon denial of his two last requests the one for setting at liberty the foresaid King of Ossory the other for not making War on Dal-Rheuda in Scotland or requiring Chiefry or other duties of them any more he should as he was departing and taking his leave of them so confidently have prayed to God and withal prophetically told the Monarch there in publick 1. That Scanlane Mor should be freed that very night by God himself and be with him wherever he should chance to be that same night before he went to midnight Prayers 2. That Scotland should never more pay tribute chief rent or other duty of subjection to Ireland Both which predictions were to a tittle accomplish'd But these matters either of his austerity or sanctity or miraculous power and prophetical spirit are foreign to this place And therefore I return to tell you that I had no other design in relating those three Battels fought by his authority than to let you see by such convincing proofs the native genius of that People even in those early days of Ghristianity flourishing among them in all its glory A fatal genius indeed to put their controversies to the decisive judgment of the God of Hosts in Battel without regard either of any other way of arbitration of man or of so many thousand of unfortunate men that perish'd still by this bloody Test or even of the consequential weakning of their Country by it and this to such a degree as must have expos'd them all at last an easie prey to Foreigners Yet such their genius was and so it continued still Neither Monarchs nor Provincial Kings nor other Princes or Leaders among them seem'd to be at all moved by the holy injunction of Molaisse or penitential divine observation of it by Columb-Cille all his life after in expiating his former zeal They notwithstanding all their Christianity went on all of them generally in the old beaten road either of Battels or which was worse of Murders even from this very Monarch Aodh Aimmhiriogh for 300 years more That is just as their Predecessors had done before in the very first century of that holy religion among them For it was within this earliest and holiest Age of all that we read of six of their first Christian Soveraigns of Ireland downright murdered by their own Subjects at home besides one more kill'd in Battel by them Baodhan mhac Nineadha by the two Cummins Ainmhire mhac Seadna by Ferghussa mhac Neill Diarmuid mhac Ferghussa Ceirbheoil by Aodh Dubh mhac Suibhne the two Brothers who joyntly ruled Eochae and Baodhan by Cronan mhac Tighernaigh King of Cionachta Ghlinne Geimhion Tuathal Maolgharubh by Maolmortha at a place called Grealla Eillte and Oilloll Molt the first of them all in the Battel of Ocha by Lugha mhac Laoghaire who thereupon immediatly succeeded him in the Soveraignty S. Patrick himself their great Apostle being yet alive among them 22. To this unhappy Unchristian genius of the Princes and Nobles among that People for righting themselves or deciding their quarrels whether right or wrong by their own swords either in Battel or the baser way of surprizal and murder you may add as no less worthy of special remark the highest injustice of too many of their Monarchs both Heathen and Christian in punishing the personal crime of one man by laying intolerable Fines on whole Provinces at their pleasures and exacting them by Military execution if otherwise not precisely paid For example Aongus Ainchille King of Leinster having in the time of Paganism Married Dairin one of the two only Daughters of Tuathal Teachtuar the 101. Monarch of Ireland and within a little time after visited his Father in Law at Tarach and made him believe that Dairin was dead and then prayed that for the greater strengthning of their Friendship he might have his other Daughter and her Sister by name Fithir to Wife and by earnest suit obtained her She was no sooner brought home by him to his own House than seeing her Sister alive and thereby finding her self abused not only she through extremity of shame seizing her presently fell down dead in the place but Dairin likewise through excess of grief breath'd out her last upon her Sisters Corps in the very same place and almost same moment of time accompanying so her Ghost to the other life with her own Which coming to the Monarch their Fathers knowledge did so enrage him that entring Leinster with a mighty Force to destroy all the People of that whole Province indistinctly with Fire and Sword though they knew nothing at all of the crime he could not be otherwise appeas'd or withdrawn from this resolution than by their universal submission for themselves and Posterity after them to a Fine Eirick they call it of 6000 Beeves 6000 Muttons 6000 fat Hogs 6000 Mantles 6000 Cauldrons or Pots of â—â—ass and 6000 ounces of Silver to be every second year paid by them to him and all future Kings of Ireland for ever A Fine indeed both heavy unjust tyrannical and which added so mightily to their former feuds that upon the sole account of it divers Battels have been fought and much
even Christian blood in after-Ages spilt For one third of it was for the Conacians another to the Oirghillians or Methians and another to the Clanna Neills of the North as who had all of 'em assisted that Monarch Tuathal Teachtvar with their Forces to impose it And fourty Monarchs in a continual succession after him did even by Fire land word exact the payment of it when refused until at last Fionachtae Fleadhach the four or five and twentieth Christian Monarch did about the year of Christ 922. at the intercession of S. Moling set Leinster free by remitting and abolishing it for ever after Another example here of might be the former Fine laid about 160 years before Tuathal Teachtuar time on the same Province of Leinster by the Monarch Conaire Mor Mhac Eidrisgâ—â—oil for the death of his said Father Eidrisgâ—â—oil who was likewise Monarch of Ireland before him but after six years Reign was murder'd in Leinster at Allmhain we now call it Allon by Nuadhath Neacht who thereupon succeeded him in the Soveraignty though he held it only for half a year For at the expiration of so little a time of his Reign he also was kill'd by the foresaid Conaâ—re Mor. Now this Câ—naire having thus possess'd himself of the Soveraign power of all Ireland and whatever his end was at last reigned prosperously many years some say 30. others 70 did by his absolute authority which had no controul and for the said death of his Father Eidrisgâ—â—oile lay upon Leinster a perpetual yearly Eiriook of 300 white Cows 300 fat Hogs 300 Vessels of Ale and 300 Swords with golden handles And withal as part of their Eiriock forc'd them to quit the whole Dominion of Ossory which had a very large extent then and they were three Countreys of that name joyn'd together from Gawran to Greine Airbe near the Moore call'd Main Eile and give it up for ever to the Division or Province of Mounster yea and to confirm this surrender by invoking all the Planets to witness that they and as much as in them lay their Posterity after them should stand to it irrevocably All which taken together was peradventure a no less if not much more oppressive Eiriock than the latter impos'd by Tuathal Teachtvar Yet because I find not how far the Leinster men were or were not guilty of Eidrisgâ—eoil death I say nothing positively of this matter though Keting relates that six Provincial Kings of Mounster viz. Oilioll Olum Enghan mhae Oiliolla Fiacha Muilleathan Oilioll Flann Beg Lugha his Son and Gorck mhac Luighiodh in a succession Reigning there had this Eiriock duly paid them or at least forc'd it by arms from the Lagenians By what right other than that Conaire Mor the foresaid Monarch that impos'd it was himself a Mounster man born and therefore perhaps assign'd it to that Province I know not But this I know that Keting tells how by this time the Momonions had got such footing in Leinster that they possess'd all to Maisdion a height now better known by the Irish compound name of Mullach-Maisdon in the County of Kildare And how notwithstanding they were much about the same time that is above 200. years after the imposition of this Fine beaten out of all and their Fine to boot and Ossory recover'd from them by three several Fights as they retired from Maisdion the first at a place then call'd Truisdion now by us Athy on the River Barrow the second in Cadirthin Amhaigh Riada which after was called Laoighis by the Natives and from thence Lease by the English the third at Slighe Dala now the Beallach Mor in Ossory And how this War and three Battels against the Mounster men were manag'd by Cu-Chorb King of Leinster not only with the assistance of Eochae Fionn second Son to the Monarch Felim-Reachtvor and consequently Brother to Conn Ceadchathach likewise Monarch in his time but under the conduct of Laoighseach Ceannmhor or Lewis of the Gread Head who was Son to the famous Warrior and Champion Conall Cearnach as General of the Field under Cu-Chorb And finally how this Leinster King rewarded the said Eochae Fionn by giving him for ever the Countreys then call'd the seven Focharties and the King of Ossory in like manner rewarded Laoighseach Ceannmhor with a grant of the seven Leases besides many other Priviledges bestowed upon him by Cu-Chorb All which may be read at large in Keting For I speak of this matter but occasionally 23. After the great injustice and bloody cousequences of those Tyrannical Eiriocks what I purpos'd next to observe as most remarkable is the greatest cruelty the strangest insulting carriage and the most inhuman rigour of some other Monarchs even towards the very Provincial Kings of their own Nation when their Captives or at their mercy To conclude this point I give three instances the first of a Pagan and the other two of two Christian Monarchs First instance Upon the death of the Monarch Criomthan mhac Fiodae poyson d by his own Sister and Niall Naoighiollach's succeeding him but not yet possess'd of Taragh the Royal Mansion of the Monarchs Eochae King of Leinster pretending some title to the Monarchy anticipates him and possesses that place But Nialls Magitian or chief Druid by name Laighichin mhac Bairrchedha dissuades him on the religious or rather indeed superstitious account That none could succesfully possess Taragh who had not been created a Niadh-Naisk that is a Knight of the celebrated Chain call'd in their Language Naisk Which whoever receiv d with due solemnity about their necks were stiled Niadha-Naisk importing in Irish the same with Milites Torquati in Latin For this of the Chain was an Order and the only Order of Knighthood among ' em However Eochae who had never been receiv'd into that Order nor had that Chain about his neck being thus dissuaded and retiring presently into Leinster but in his way lodging unluckily a night in the said Magitians House it happen'd that on some provoking Language given him by his Son he kill'd him presently in the place This with all vehemency is exaggerated to Niall by the old Magician Father to him that was kill'd And Niall thereupon egg'd on partly by Eochaes late attempt on Taragh and partly by the extream incessant opportunity of Barrechedba to lay all Leinster in ashes for the death of his Son enters that Province with so vast an Army that no power of the Lagenians was able to withstand him and with such a revengeful bloody resolution too that no prayers no tears no offers of the Leinster Nobility though meeting him of purpose and humbling themselves before him could obtain any other answer from him than that he was resolved without delay to ruin their whole Province with the utmost devastation imaginable unless they did forth with deliver into his hands their King Eochae seeing this desperate condition of his people like a brave just and noble Prince considering himself to be the only Criminal chooses rather to
lose his own life than they who were innocent should theirs and therefore delivers himself freely up But the merciless Monarch not moved either with his generosity or humility commands him to be tied presently and straightly about the middle with a strong iron Chain to a huge stone like a Rock which to this day stands an end on a Field that is on the West-side of the River Slaine between Kilbride and Tullo-O-Feilimm in the County of Catherlogh both ends of the chain carried through a hole that ran from one side to another in the Stone and then fastned in the backside with an Iron-bar put into both the extream links and then nine bloody Fellows well arm d to attack him and mangle him in pieces while he had nothing at all no kind of weapon to defend himself Though God and Nature and the horror of so base a death did help him so strangely or rather miraculously indeed that seeing himself in this case for his back was to the Stone and his face to the People and hearing at last the word given to his Executioners who were yet at a little distance off he thereupon roused up his spirits so wonderfully that by violent straining of himself he tore in pieces the Chain before the Executioners were come so near as to reach him and with part of those very pieces laid about him so that some of the Villains lay dead at his feet and he escaped the rest by running away Whereby it seems that God himself in his secret Counsels had design'd so strange a preservation of Eochae at this time that he might be at another time in his own very person the punisher of that extraordinary cruel judgment given by Niall against him For so in truth it happen'd at last in this manner following Eochae as now it has been related having saved his life first by his valour and then by his heels to shun Nialls further cruelty gets himself away so soon as he could privatly over into Scotland where he is incognito receiv'd into the protection of Gabhran mhac Domhunghoirt King of Dal-Riadd there and of all the Scots And after some years more expired when this Scottish King had by commands received from that now mighty Monarch Niall with all the power he could make and spare out of Scotland pass'd over to him in France or Gaule as it then was call'd Eochae accompanies him still incognito and so conceals himself until at last he found his opportunity at the River Loyre where as you have it before he treacherously slew by the flight of an Arrow in the very mid'st of his Royal conquering Army this otherwise invincible though cruel Prince But these later passages of Eochaes preservation and revenge as neither indeed any other of the evil consequences following which were many and great are to my purpose now And therefore I proceed to the Second instance Which though it have not so much either effectual or intentional cruelty yet peradventure it shews the strangest insulting carriage of one Christian Prince a Conqueror towards another not taken in Battel or otherwise but freely coming in of himself and submitting to his mercy that ever has been delivered in writing Diarmuid mhac Ferghussa mhic Ceirrbheoil of whom I have said before that he was the Tenth Christian and now say that he was not only a Christian but perhaps of the very best Christian Monarchs of Ireland being held for many respects a very good man and very just King so just if not rather over just he was that he put his own Son Breassal to death upon the complaint of an old Religious woman of Kill-Ealchruidh That notwithstanding the immunity of that Sacred place and her own right he had forc'd from her a Cow because it was extraordinary fat or to his liking for a Feast though indeed he had first offered her seven Cows and a Bull too in compensation this very Diarmuid I say in the seventh year of his Reign and upon the like complaint of another Nun called Sinioch Chro about one single Cow taken from her having made a sharp War on Guaire mhac Colmain Provincial King of Connaght by overthrowing him in a great Battel and thereupon this Guaire who was no less held as good a King as ever Connaght had hospitable to admiration bountiful without compare so liberal to the Poor that he never denied a considerable Alms to any such person craving it in the name of Christ insomuch that when at any time he wanted money about him he strip'd himself and gave his very Cloaths off his back to help them I say this Guaire so good a man and King too after his said defeat rallying his Troops again the next day and then consulting the Chief among 'em whether he should venture another Fight or go freely of himself and submit to Diarmuids mercy and by their advice choosing the latter and therefore going presently to the Victors Camp entring his Tent and laying himself in an humble posture on his knees before him begging pardon Diarmuid nevertheless without any regard either of the inconstancy of Fortune or of Guaire s voluntary submission or penitent posture or of his regal dignity or of his renowned vertues without other ceremony or more adoe commands him to lie down on his back while himself standing up held one foot on his breast and the point of his Sword between his fore-teeth 'T is true that after this trial made he did Guaire no further hurt yet that does not wipe off the excessive pride and barbarity of the action or trial it self How ever before I pass from this instance it will not be amiss to let the Reader know that notwithstanding all the praises given by Keting to this Connaught King Guaire yet he was the very man as even Keting himself elsewhere relates it who had the Bishop Ceallach Disciple to St. Cieran of Cluan mhac Noise and eldest Son to Eoghan Bell the former King of Connacht murdered by three of that Bishops own Servants which happen'd in the Reign of the former Monarch Tuathal Maolgharbh These Villains Guaire suborn'd to commit this horrid sacriledge and this only on account or supposition of the said Bishops endeavouring to make friends for his own younger Brother to recover that Kingdom of Connaght which his Father Eoghain Bell had some time before enjoy'd and held all along till death Third instance and it is an instance I think of very inhuman rigour Aodh Ainmhiriogh another Christian Monarch of this time for he came to the Sovereignty within eight years after Diarmuids death and we have spoken of him before as who held the great Parliament for 13 months at Dromceatha was so rigorous to Scanlane Mor mhac Cinfoale King of Ossory being his Prisoner that he commanded him to be straightly bound in Prison with twelve chains of Iron loading him fed only with salt Beef allowed not a drop of any kind of liquor no not so much as of
water to drink had all this rigour effectually put in execution against him and rejected even Columb-Cille's Petition for his release though come of purpose out of Scotland to obtain it And so I have done with my Instances nor have I more to say in reference to them Only that although I cannot tell what reasons either of these two Christian Monarchs had for such extream rigour towards Christian Princes of their own Nation though their Prisoners or at their mercy nor can tell as to particulars how considerably this cruel usage did add unto or inflame the former feuds Yet this much I can tell that neither of them had other than a violent death the former murder'd by Aodh Dubh mhac Suibhne the later kill'd in Battel by Brandubh King of Leinster as I have said before upon another occasion And so by consequence I have likewise done with all my special remarks on this large subject of the manifold bloody Feuds of that Nation both in the time of their Paganism and in that of their being under the Gospel of Christ for I intended no more such heer than I have given Which is the reason that now returning once more thither where I was before I conclude at last this long Section with one general remark on that People as they were under the Gospel in the more early Ages of it among them viz. That from the killing of their foresaid Christian Monarch Aodh mhac Ainmhiriogh the last we spake of here the Fate not only of the Milesians but other Gathelians whatsoever in Ireland and the Genius of their Kings Princes Nobles and other Martial men continuing for 300 years after him the very same it had been in the Age before him carried them on perpetually from time to time fighting and slaying and murthering one another at home until the four and twentieth of those Christian Monarchs of theirs who died violent deaths by the hands of their own Irish Subjects within the first 400 years of Christian Religion generally planted among 'em by name Aodh Ollann had been slaughter'd in the Battel of Seir by Domhnal mhac Murchadha that immediatly succeeded him Nay until that in this Domhnals Reign which continued 42 years and the Reign of his Successor Niall Frassach which lasted but four besides Colman the Bishop of Laosaine murdered by Vibh Tuirtre the Battel of Beallach Cro between Criomthan mhac Euno and Fionn mhac Airb the Battel of Beallach Gawran between Mac Conchearca King of Ossory and Dunghall King of Vibh Cionsallach kill d therein the Battel of Leagea betwixt Vibh Mbruine and Vibh Mainne the Battel of Corann betwixt Cinneal Gonnail and Cionneal Eoghuin and finally the killing of Combhasgach King of Ibh-Failghe by Maolduin mhac Aodha Beanainn King of Mounster whether in Battel or out of Battel I know not had fill'd up at last brim full the measure of their domestick unnatural slaughters happening within that term of time their first four Centuries of Christianity SECT IV. National sins Very slight causes of War Cormock Ulfada's beard Muireadhagh's Tiriogh's revenge and the three Colla's War on Ferghussa Fogha King of Eumhna Sundry warnings from God to the Irish Christians but not like the judgment at Magh-Sleachta or the other by Loch Earne on their Pagan Predecessors 1. The loss of all their Dominions abroad 2. Those two Epidemical Plagues at home called the Crom-Chonnioll and Buy-Chonnioll 3. Mortality of Kine and great Famil that follow'd 4. Those three or four Inroads made into their Country by the Saxons and Brittons 5. Prodigies with another extraordinary Famin. Notwithstanding all no amendment This instanc'd in the death of the Monarch's Loinnseach Conghall Cinn Fearrghall Foghartach and Kionaoth What of Flaithiortach The flood-gates of the North set open at last to pour Vengeance on this contumacious people Yet they amidst all continue their intestine feuds Witness the Monarchs Aodh Ordnigh Conchabhar mhac Donochadh and Niall Caille A sad Interregnum The particulars of their Bondage under Turgesius The glory of their Learning and Sanctity now gone for ever Scarce delivered from that Bondage when they relapsed again far more enormously than before This also instanc'd 1. In eight of those eleven Monarchs that Reign'd in the second Danish War 2. In the Reigns of those other six following that assumed the title of Monarchs though not allow'd for such by near at least one half of the Provinces Maolseachluinn the Second by his death put an end to the real Monarchy of Ireland among the Irish and Ruaruidh O Conchabhair saw in his own days not only the pretence or shadow of it gone but the very Being of this Nation any more a free People on Earth 24. SUch were the National provocations of Heaven peculiar to that People hitherto i. e. for two and twenty hundred years besides what we shall yet see did happen after above any other Nation of the whole Earth Immortal Feuds of death tyrannical oppressions of the Subject cruelty as well of justice as revenge Treason Conspiracies Rebellions Murders even of their Sovereigns effusion of human blood like water And this without pity without remorse without any cause sometimes but very slight and sometimes vain and ridiculous An arbitration between two religious Monks in a difference deciding against one of them must engage Families and Countrys in Arms to fight it out in Battel and cut one another in pieces A known Murtherer proscrib'd as unpardouable by their most sacred Laws and therefore justly put to death by the Monarch must nevertheless on pretence of his being seiz'd upon after he had been received into the protection of an Abbot be a just cause of rebelling and fighting that very Monarch and killing his whole Army to boot Nay one single Beast a Cow at most but very little worth taken away I know not how from the owner was the only cause of a great Battel fought between the same Monarch and the Provincial King of Connaught and a Battel wherein most of the Gentry of that Province and Mounster too were kill'd As if neither the Assailant nor Defendant tho Christian Kings both could find any other way to satisfie the poor Woman that was rob'd of that Cow or rather indeed as if they had sported so with the lives not only of their Subjects but of their Friends I say nothing of the Candle-snuff or of its firing the Monarch Cormack Vlfada's beard at an entertainment given him in Maig-Breag by Giolla King of Vlster who shuffing a Candle instead of throwing it aside threw it whether by chance or of purpose into Cormack's long beard which presently catch'd and burn'd up to his tresses Only I say That however this ridiculous matter happen'd or pass'd at that time it cost Vlster dear long after Cormack's death That Muireadhach Tiriogh the great Grand-child of this Cormack and sixth King of Ireland after him took it for a pretence to pour an Army of one and twenty thousand men under the command
of the three Collaes into Vlster to destroy it and conquer as much Land for themselves in it as they could That in pursuance of this Order they made so sharp War on Ferghus Fogha King of Eumhna there that in seven several Fights against him fought seven days consequently without the interposition of one free day they had the killing and taking of all the Vlster Forces having as they beat 'em still pursued them all along from Cearnagha to Gleann Ruigh That being Masters of the Field they returned back to Eumhna spoil'd it burn'd it and destroy'd it so that never after any King resided there Finally that by this expedition they conquer'd for themselves the large Territories of Modharnaigh Vibh Criomthaine and Vibh mhic Vaise which their Posterities after them did hold while the Milesian Kingdom stood in Ireland But I pass over these matters depending on Cormack's beard not because he and the rest mention'd in this story were Pagans for I shall have occasion yet to speak somewhat tho but little of as great Pagans as they but because peradventure the cause it self was not slight Tho however I must acknowledg the punishment was too severe and unjust as neither inflicted on the Criminals nor on any that ought in such a distance of time to suffer for them much less after legal summons or any respit given them to make reparation under peril of abiding the justice of Arms. But leaving this to the Readers judgment I return back to the Christian Princes where I was before animadverting the sport they made on the sligtest causes that well might be of the lives of so many thousands of other Christians their own faithful Friends and Subjects Yet what I am to consider now is another thing It is That all this while nor they nor their Successors after 'em for 300 years more seem'd any way sensible that the All-avenging God began already to warn them For so in truth he did and that not once nor twice but much oftner within that very term of time even while they were in their full career persecuting one another at home with the greatest violence of deadly Foes In which respect he dealt far otherwise that is much more kindly and mercifully with them than he had done with their Pagan Fore-fathers in that very Land upon whom about a hundred years after their conquering it without any such gracious Fatherly warnings given them for ought we find in History he laid on a sudden the whole weight of his heavy hand in a most prodigious manner at two several times For what could be more dreadfully prodigious than that which I have related before and you may remember here three parts of four of all the people of Ireland together with their Monarch Tighernmhuir who was the tenth from Heber slain in one only night upon Maigh-Sleacht by invisible Demons the Executioners of Gods fury enrag'd against them Or what next to that could be more prodigiously terrible than a rich Plain of forty miles long and fourteen fifteen sixteen miles broad in most places throughly planted and thick of Inhabitants in Vlster to be on a sudden over-flown cover'd over with a deluge of waters burst out of its own intrels and neither Man nor Woman nor Child nor Beast nor other goods of so large a tract of ground to be saved but all in one hour perish'd under this Flood of God's avenging irresistible wrath How-ever because their heinous Idolatry i. e. their universal adoration and prostration of themselves before their grand Idol Crom Chruoigh which by all circumstances was the sin that brought upon 'em the former of those two stupendious Judgments though it was national yet it was not peculiar to their Nation only and because the most beastly of sins whence it has its proper name of Bestiality which brought the latter of the same Judgments on those bestial Wretches that so astonishingly perish'd for it was peculiar only to that tract of ground or rather indeed to them who were Inhabitants of it and no way National or involving or affecting so much as any one other part of Ireland therefore I pass over these punishments as not inflicted either of them upon the Irish Nation for those enormities which I have said before were both National and peculiar to Cambden's Ireland in the County of Fermanagh pag. 106. them Besides Cambden himself declares in particular as to the latter of the said Judgments how the Irish Annals deny those bestial Inhabitants of the destroyed Valley to have been other than certain Islanders out of the Hebrides who being fled out of their own Country lurked there and consequently deny them to have been at all of the Irish Nation much more deny 'em to have been either of the Milesian or Gathelian Race Then Keting tho he tells us particularly Keting in the Reign of the foresaid Tighernmhuir of the breaking out of that Inundation of Water the great Lough Earn which it presently made and so continues ever since yet has not a word of the horrible sin of Bestiality as neither indeed of any other sin or cause whatsoever thereof on the part of the Inhabitants And lastly Cambrensis who is the Girald Cambr. Topog. Hib. dist 11. cap. 9. first Author of this relalation brings no other warrant for it but hear-say Yet be it or be the original of Lough Earn so famous ever since for Fishing what you please what I would be at to tell you here is That after that prodigious eruption of Water in the North and the no less if not far moreâ— prodigious slaughter on Maghsleacha we may call it in English the Field of Adoration in Letrim both which happen'd in the Reign of the self-same King and near the same time about 2900 years ago We do not find in the Irish Chronicles that God had once in any special or visible manner concern'd himself either in warning or punishing that People at least otherwise than by themselves until they became Christians but let them go on securely without controul from him in those National peculiar enormities of their own I mean their immortal Feuds and prodigal effusion of human blood even that of their own Country-men and Kinsmen on every little occasion That nevertheless he continued still their Victories and Dominions abroad unto them and gave them the spoils of Forein Kingdoms to enrich their own at home and all this for causes known to his unsearchable Wisdom but wholly unknown to us at least otherwise than by conjecture that he had peradventure so long contain'd hiâ— Wrath in his mercy for the sake of those vast numbers of holy Men and Women those great Saints who were in after Ages to issue from their Loyns and to carry his glorious Name far and near by Preaching the Gospel and converting so many incredulous Nations to him as they did That after they were become Christians and yet nevertheless pursued the bloody courses of their Pagan Ancestors and not
whole Irish Nation had the ambition or lust or heart or valour now to entitle himself to that Soveraignty which had cost their Fore-fathers so many hundred Battels and such Rivers of blood to conquer it from one another he now usurps the title as he had before the power of King of Ireland though not acknowledged for such by the Irish at least not otherwise than by the meerest Galley-slaves their cruel unjust tormentors may be In fine that how long or how short soever it continued after this although it was indeed unsupportable to any human Creatures not wholly devoid of sense or feeling nevertheless it was no other than the most eminently prophetical Saints of that Nation Columb-Cille and Berchane observing even in their own time the detestable Pride Ambition Injustice Violence Licentiousness Aveâ—sation from all good Government so common and so ingrafted in their great Lords and Chieftains had 200 years before it happen'd fore-told should happen as a just judgment from God upon so sinful a Generation of men And which is very remarkable that Columb-Cille particuly foretold how in that very Monastery which in his time had been founded at Ardmacha such a Heathen powerful Stranger from beyond Seas and such in all respects as Turgheis was should make himself Abbot of it as verily he did upon his chasing away Foranan the Christian Abbot long before he had assum'd the Title of King of Ireland Yea and which I am sure is no less if not more remarkable yet that Berchan in express terms prophesied how under such a Forreign Tyrant every Church or Cili in Ireland should be possess'd by an Abbot of his Gang. 27. Besides I can inform you that altho in regard of the extraordinary mortifications offered and prayers incessantly pour'd out to God by the small remainder of the Irish Clergy who had hitherto saved themselves in uncouth horrid Wildernesses he was mercifully pleas'd as Keting says about this time i. e. after some few years of the universal Bondage to inspire that counsel to Maolseachluinn mhac Mhaolruanuidh the Irish King of Meath which as we have related before destroy'd both the Tyrant himself and all his Armies and Fortifications too on a sudden and consequently set all the Irish Nation free being now restored every private person to his former possessions as the Lords and Princes and Provincial Kings were each of them to his own respective jurisdiction at large and the said Maolseachluinn by common consent made Monarch and so their Policy and power of Dominion at home fully recovered Yet so were not their Riches their Treasures their Gold Silver and Jewels those former spoils of so many forreign Provinces for so many hundred years gathered home to Ireland by their Pagan Predecessors During so many strong impressions of the late conquering Heathen Foe into the very heart and all the most secret recesses of Ireland all were taken by them and carried away by their several Fleets some to Norway some to Denmark and the rest to other Eastern Borderers on the German or Baltick Sea And which was a greater loss to the Learned their Libraries their Books were never recover'd Only the few Religious men that preserv'd themselves preserved also a few of their Books But the greatest loss of all was not only of Learning in the Mart of Litterature but of Sanctity in the Island of Saints Neither the one nor the other was ever at any time after this restor'd in Ireland at least not near the former degree of eminence The only thing the only virtue indeed that after so many great losses revived illustriously and continued eminently conspicuous in that People was their Military prowess their Valour Bravery Fortitude in the second Danish War to say nothing more of their destroying Turgesius and all his Forces by help of that stratagem which ended the first And yet I must confess that all their Martial spirit in that very second War did exert it self in was only in defending themselves at home without any design or thought for ought appears to us of imitating those former Heroes among their Ancestors that carried the terror of their Arms both far and near abroad The truth is they were no sooner enfranchiz'd from the Tyranny of Turgesius than they resign'd themselves wholly to ease and rest and a life of extream unworthy unmasculin laziness Insomuch that they not only neglected all kind of Navigation and provision for it tho they might have considered that the like neglect formerly since they became Christians had been at least one of their greatest banes and that which gave their Invaders the opportunity of attacking them without fear on every Quarter of their Island whether with great or small inconsiderable Fleets but were so far besides blinded that having slighted all the Danish Fortificacations throughout the Land they made none at all in their stead nor indeed in any place not even on the Sea Ports for their own defence from abroad And which was yet more strange would not themselves be at the trouble of guarding so much as any one of all those very Ports but entertain'd in pay some of those very Forreigners their late vanquisht enemies for that employment of greatest trust whom therefore that is from their being hired for pay they call'd Buannacidhs In a word they gave themselves over to Luxury and full enjoyment of the good things of the Land which naturally of it self without much labour was a Country flowing with Milk and Honey and all things else necessary both for life and pleasure But the greatest of Curses expecting them was that by the time and it was but a very short time when they had surfeired on plenty and wantonness they presently says Keting return'd to their old vomit again They renew'd their fatal Feuds divided were at cruel discord fell a persecuting one another like mad as in former times with all kind of hostility This kindled anew the wrath of God against the Nation in general to such an extream that notwithstanding his mercy prevail'd with him still so far as not to bereave them of their Martial Fortitude tho they had so long and so often and so freshly now again abus'd it so mightâ—ly but to expect for a much longer time even two or three Ages yet their amendment and repentance before he would utterly destroy them nevertheless he did without delay permit his justice to set open once more the Flood-gates of the North to pour in the second time upon them those Ministers of his Vengeance the Norvegians Danes and their other barbarous Heathen Associats known to us only by the name of Oostmans or Easterlings and to continue their â—â—undations in Ireland to Plague a Rebellious ungrateful Generation of Christians and plague 'em now for a hundred and fifty years more compleat For as I have already noted elsewhere so long at least did this second Danish War continue heavy upon 'em only some few lucid intervals it had excepted And yet neither
in the beginning nor progress nor issue of it did they amend So that Almighty God the great Justicier the great Striker of them from above might justly say to them at this time what he had formerly said to the Jews by the mouth of his Prophet Jeremy In vain have Frustra percussi filios vestros disciplinaâ— non receperunt Jerem. 2. 30. I stricken your children they received no correction And the pious Observer of this continual recidivation this fatal contumacy of theirs Dr. Keting might have no less truly either complain'd or acknowledg'd it of them to God than Jeremy did the like of his own People Lord thine Eyes Domine oculi tui respiciunt fidem Percussisti eos non doluerunt attrivisti eos renuerunt accipere disciplinam induraverunt facies suas supra petram noluerunt reverti 5. 3. are upon the truth Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have refus'd to receive correction They have made their faces harder than a Rock they have refus'd to return To satisfie the Reader that I speak not hyperbolically or at random in this matter I give here in short a sufficient number of instances that may serve for proofs thereof as I find them in Ketings History Indeed they are there I confess as little intentionally for this purpose as much more to his purpose dispersedly given as they happen'd That is the former part of them in the several Reigns of eight of those eleven Monarchs that by the unanimous consent of the Irish Annals and Historians were undoubtedly such over all Ireland from Maolseachluinn 1. in whose Reign the second Danish War begun to Maolseachluinn II. being the second time elected or submitted to as the Monarch some few years before this long War ended and the latter part of them likewise in the several Reigns of those other six that pretended to be such after this Maolseachluinn II. whereof Ruaruidh O Conchabhar was the last and consequently of all the Irish that were any way such But for saving you a labour I have collected all those instances together and so give 'em now that if you please you may read 'em over in a continual series without interposition of any thing else Where I doubt not you will admire how notwithstanding all the heavy pressures in every Province of Ireland by so many powerful foreign Enemies and so many Battels fought and so much blood lost in the same War by the Irish defending their Countrey against those Pagans they could nevertheless have time and men and blood to spare for so mischievous a work as the fighting and destroying one another so cruelly And yet it seems they wanted none of all not even so early as the third Battel fought by them against the Danes in this very second War For Maolseachluinn I. who had so Victoriously fought the first of these Battels being dead in the 16th year of his Reign and Aodh Fionnleath who had no less bravely fought the second of them departing this life within or immediatly after the next 16 years Flann mhac Sionnadh who then succeeded in the Monarchy and Reigned 38 years gave the fatal beginning to that new series of intestine Broils Depredations Battels Slaughters Murders among the Natives themselves that follow'd Certainly the very first Act of this Monarch I mean the first recorded of him in his Reign by Keting is that he enter'd in hostile manner Plunder'd Ransack'd Preyd the whole Province of Mounster and brought away Captives and Pledges thence And after this though I cannot say how long after the great Battel of Beallach Muidh Mughna was fought between him and holy Cormock the good King of Mounster and Archbishop of Cashel For this vertuous Prince who was both King and Priest together though much contrary to his own judgment and inclination yet by the great importunity of his Mounster Noble-men but chiefly by the advice of Flaithbhiortach mhac Joâ—â—haincine Abbot of Inche-Cathaigh march'd with an Army towards Leinster pretending that this Province ow'd him chiefry as being lawful King of Leath-Mogh But in his entring it he was met and fought and defeated and kill'd both himself and seven lesser Kings with him besides other Nobles by the said Monarch who had of the other side in his Army Cearrbhall mhac Muirregin King of Leinster and ten petty Kings more Besides in this Monarch's Reign Aidheith mhac Laighnigh King of Vlster was murder'd by his own Associates And tho in the Reign of Niall Gluindubh who after the said Flann was the next Monarch for three years only there be nothing recorded of action among the Irish themselves but all against the Danes and this Monarch Niall to have bravely in his own person fought 'em twice though he was kill'd in the second Fight and together with him Donchubhar mhac Maolseachluinn called Riogh Damhna or Tanist to the Monarch of Ireland Aodh mhac Eoghagain King of Vlster Maolmhithe mhac Flannegain King of Breag and Maolchraoibâ—e O Duibh seanaigh King of Oirghiall besides others of chief note and estimation we shall find it otherwise in all and every one of the succeeding Reigns at least until this Danish War is wholly over Donachadh mhac Floinn immediat Successor to Niall for twenty years more in the Soveraignty enter'd as an Enemy the Countries about Athlone where many of his Army were kill'd and among others the petty King of Ibh Failghe In his Reign Fearrghraidh succeeding Ceallaghan for two years in the Kingdom of Mounster was treacherously murder'd by his own followers And in the same Reign Mathgamhain mhac Kinedy Successor to Fearghraidh and a brave constant successful Warrier against the Danes was betrayed in his own House by one Donomhan thence convey'd to Mac Brain King of Eoghanach a Confederate of the Danes shut up in Prison by him and there soon after murder'd by his People Conghallach mhac Mhaolmhithe the next Monarch notwithstanding his bravery against the Danes invaded Mounster with a main Army against his own Countrey-men upon what quarrel I know not Though I find special notice taken of his killing in that expedition the two Sons of Kinede mhac Lorcaine In his Reign also Damhnal Claon King of Leinster and Domhnal O Faolain King of the Desies in Mounster joynd with the Danes From which conjunction follow'd not only many bloody Battels between them and Brien mhac Kinede after surnam'd Boraimh younger Brother and Successor in the Kingdom of Mounster to the foresaid Mathgamhain but the destroying of this Monarch Conghallach himself in the Town of Ardmagh where he was by an Army composed partly of Danes and partly of Leinster-men set upon fought defeated kill'd ending so his ten years troublesome vexatious Reign Domhnal mhac Mairchiortae succeeding him for ten years more in this fatal Soveraignty could be at leisure to make War on Fearrghallach O Ruairck King of Connaght prey all that Province and bring away thence a great number
hopes and Leagues together of those that did it Though after all the goodness of God put off a little further still that heaviest of his judgments on the Nation in general which they whether by relapsing again the third time into their accursed Feuds or whether by continuing in 'em at all times and particularly at this of their last delivery from all forein Enemies brought on themselves not only at last but ere very long And yet I must confess it was no sooner than 127 years more were over For so long still even after the second Danish War of a hundred and fifty years continuance had been wholly ended by the destruction of all their Northern and Eastern Invaders whatsoever did the wonderful mercy of God to them expect their amendment certainly a longer period of time than he expected the repentance of the old World when he had warn'd them to it by the building of the Ark. At present he was content only to add to the former losses of this Nation that which really was the last disposition to that heaviest doom expecting them as it was indeed the very last symptom of their dying Commonwealth He removed their Candlestick that is he subverted their ancient Monarchical Government The power and majesty of which as it had been for so many long Ages their only firm prop so it was the only National glory they had left after the destruction made by 200 years continual War with Foreiners of all whatsoever else had been great or illustrious in their Nation But this is now departed like all the rest For after this Maolseachluinn the II. had by death ended his second Reign of nine years continuance there was never more in Ireland any Monarch truly such never any at all I mean universally either obey'd or acknowledg'd or accounted such by the Irish in general at least till Henry the II. nay I might say till James I. of glorious memory reign'd over ' em Yet because I must confess there have been six more in Title and pretension such that succeeded this Maolseachluinn in their several periods of time for a hundred and twenty seven years in all and because the later part of my Instances are delivered in their Reigns I give them also now in ororder 29. Donochadh mhac Brien Boraimh succeeded next to Malseachluinn II. for two and fifty years says Keting and was acknowledg'd by Leath Mogh and the greater part of Ireland In his reign Art Cuilioch O Ruairck King of Breithfne violated spoil'd plunder'd the Sanctuary of Cluain Fearta Breanuinn but on the same day after he had committed this horrible sacrilegious villany was met and fought and defeated by the Monarch In his reign besides the sacking of Waterford by Diarmuid Mhaoil-na-mbho King of Leinster which I pass over because they were at least most of them were Danes that lived there at that time the other famed Sanctuary of Cluan mhic-Noise was in the like impious manner spoil'd by those Irish called the Comhacnuibh though ere long severely punish'd says Keting by a general mortality sweeping both themselves and their Cattel away In his reign Carthach mhae Saoirbhreathaigh King of Eoghanachta Casshell and a great many other Gentlemen of Note were burn'd together in a Thatch-house by Mac Longhargain mhac Dunn Chuan And after all this Monarch himself Dononachadh mhac Brian Boraimh was not only depriv'd of his Kingdom but glad to save his life by flying away and going a poor Pilgrim to Rome where he died in St. Stephen's Abbey Which in short being the whole account we find in Keting of what happen'd to our purpose here in the long reign of this Dononachadh what follows now is out of the Gratianus Lucius p. 81. Author of Cambrensis Euersus For this accurate Writer tho he delivers many excellent things of this Donogh yet he tells us That he was an Usurper on the rights of his elder Brother Teadhg the undoubted Heir of the Crown say the Annals of Innis-Faile and put him into the hands of those Ely-O-Carrol-Men who treacherously murder'd him That in the year 1027. which was the next after Maolseachluinn's death he prey'd all Meath Fingall Leinster Ossory and camp'd for two days near the Walls of Dublin without any opposition That An. 1036. with only one Vessel he fought sunk and took 14 Breithfne Ships and sufficiently reveng'd on 'em their plundering of Cluan Feart That in the year 1050 the Ossorians and Lagenians rebelling he broke again their Stubbornness and in the year 1060. having enter ed Connaght with a good Army he compell'd Ruadhruigh the King of that Proviuce to give him Hostages So much indeed Gratianus Lucius tells us consequently in the first place of this Donochadh mhic Brien Boraimhe But then going on he relates in the next of Diarmuid mhic Donochadh surnam'd Maol-na-Moa King of Leinster Nephew to this very Donochadh O Brian the Mounster King by Dearbhrogil his Daughter That he taking into his care and espousing against this Usurping Uncle the quarrel of young Toirrghiallach who was the Son and Heir of the murdered Teidhg and consequently his own Cousin German to the end this injured youth might be restored to his right made sharp War on the said Uncle Keting's pretended Monarch of Ireland That to the end he begun with Waterford in the year 1037. took sack'd and burnt it In this year 1048. he set upon Glanuson turn'd it to ashes kill'd a hundred of its defenders and brought away 400 more Captives In the same year he wasted all the Desies and return'd with an infinite number of their Cattel and very many Prisoners In the year 1058. he burnt Limmerick plunder'd Inis-Ceath fought Donochadh at the Mountain Croth and routed his whole Army In the year 1061. he made a miserable slaughter of the Momonians at Cuamchoill wasted their Countrey and put all both Houses Stacks and standing Corn into a light flame of fire Anno 1063. he burnt Limmerick the second time forc'd the Momonians to give him Hostages out of all parts of their Countrey nay soon after upon a new rebellion or insurrection of theirs plagued them again and compell'd 'em to new submissions and Hostages which Hostages he delivered all every one to the foresaid Toirrghiallach The next year which was 1064. he beat Donochadh out of all his Kingdom made him fly beyond Seas plac'd Tourrghiallach in his Throne at least of Mounster and in the following 1065. upon intelligence of Donochadh's son Murchadh s setting up for himself he march'd the last time into Mounster suppressed that Insurrection chas'd Murchadh into Connaght receiv'd the third time Hostages from all Mounster and as he had done before put them into the hands of Tourrghiallach now King after his Uncle Moreover this Author writes of the same Diarmuid King of Leinster that besides his pulling down and setting up so whom he pleased in that Province of Mounster he made Connaght also yield having marcht into it with a smart Army harrass'd
it and reduced Aodh O Conchabhar the King of it to such streights that in the year 1061. he was e'en forc'd at last to buy his peace by coming to his House in Leinster and submitting to his pleasure That before this in the year 1048. at three several times he wasted Meath so cruelly so without any discrimination or distinction made 'twixt sacred and profane that he destroy'd with fire even most of the very Churches there and in the year 1053. entring it the fourth time he led away both a very great number of Captives and innumerable preys That for the Danes or Easterlings of Dublin who it seems stood upon terms of Contest with him he in the year 1052. plagued them so mightily by burning not only Fingall but all other Territories round about them on every side and then fighting and worsting and slaughtering a great number of them hard by their own Walls that they were glad at last to proclaim him their King also and wholly submit to his will That notwithstanding all his former Victories he was in the year of Christ 1072 on the 17th of February being Tuesday fought defeated kill'd in the Battel of Odhbhen by Conchabhar O Maolseachluinn King of Meath And lastly this Author tells us That among all the Irish Antiquaries only Keting places Donochadh O Brien only Sir James Ware Diarmuid mhac Mhaoil-na-Moa in the Catalogue of Irish Monarchs So that all the rest of the Irish Writers it seems account neither of them and consequently none at all in their days to have been King of Ireland but hold a meer Interregnum then of the Monarchy But be it so or no it matters not to my purpose being the Instances brought all along in that very long Reign of Donochadh at least over Mounster are true whether Donochadh or Diarmuid or any other Irish Prince in their time was more than a Provincial King or less than a Monarch of the whole Island Toirrghiallach mhae Teidhg mhic Brien Boraimb that is in our Language Terence the Son of Teig the Son of Brien Boraimh is now Successor to Donachadh as in the Kingdom of Mounster and Leath mogh so in the Title of Monarch says Keting Nor do I find that any other opposed this Title of his But one reason hereof might be his ruling peaceably troubling no man nor forcing any thing from either Province or man And therefore they took no exception against the Title whether assum'd by himself or given him by others during his short Reign which was but of twelve years only as most Antiquaries say though some extend it to 22 years the occasion of their difference being that the former count the beginning of his Reign from the death of Diarmuid Mhaoil-na-moa in the Battel of Odhbhen the later take it from the death of Donochadh O Brien at Rome or at least from his deposition and flight However this is unanimously confess'd that as he lived quietly for his own part during his Reign so he died naturally in the 77 year of his Age being the year of Christ 1086. But so did not under his Reign Conchabhor O Maolseachluinn King of Meath For this but lately Victorious Prince was treacherously murthered by his own Nephew Murcho ' mhac Floinn and his head after burial of it at Cluain-mhac-Noise carried to the Monarch then residing at Coann-Chora Who desired to see it because he bore this Methian King no good will for having kill'd though in Battel his dear Cousin his Patron his supporter and Protector Diarmuid mhac Donochadh surnamed Maol-na-moa King of Leinster as we have seen before But his curiosity cost him dear For the head being brought him on good Friday as he was viewing it a little Mouse slipt out of it into his Bosom which so affrighted him especially when he understood how next Sunday the same head was miraculously return'd back to Cluain-mhac-Noise with a gold Ring upon it that he fell presently into a languishing Disease that held him after in cruel pain for several years and never was perfectly over till he died So writes the Author of Cambrensis Euersus And now Muirchiortach mhac Toirrghialbhaigh mhac Teaidhg the great Grandchild of Brien Boraimh and Son to the foresaid Toirrgheallach succeeded his Father in the Sovereignty at least of Mounster Leath Mogh and greater part of Ireland for 20 years says Keting In which Reign though he record nothing proper to our purpose in this place and somewhat extraordinary that very same is yet Gratianus Lucius has enough This Author page 82. and 84. gives a very particular account of the great combustions in it He tells us how upon the death of Toirrghiallach O Brien the last Monarch not only this Muirchiortach his Son but Domhnall the Son of Ardghar the Son of Lochlen King of Tir-Conel contended to some purpose for the Sovereignty of Ireland How the former by fight and spoil subdued the Lagenians and the later in the same manner the Methians How Dombnal had in the year 1088. got the start of Muirchiortach by forcing the King and Kingdom of Connaght to give him Hostages for their future fidelity and then immediatly enter'd Mounster burnt Limmerick demolish'd Ceann-Chora the chief Royal Seat ever since Brien Boraimh's time wasted the whole Countrey thereabouts with Fire and Sword and brought away thence besides an infinite number of Horses and all sorts of Cattel vast Treasures of Gold Silver and Plate How on the other side Muirchiortach besides forcing Dublin three several times banishing Godred the Danish King being there himself proclaim'd King at each time marcht into Vlster with the Forces of Mounster Connaght Leinster and Meath harrass'd it most wofully burnt the Royal Seat of Domhnall there and was thus reveng'd not once but often on that â—rovince marching into it every time with main Forces and scouring all the Coasts of the whole Island with a very numerous well provided Navy How Domhnall had withal so many rebellions of his own Subjects against himself in the very North nay within Tircâ—nnel it self that having as often overcome them all he put out the eyes of some of their petty Kings and others to death How after all the foresaid Muirchiortach King of Cashel or which is here the same thing of Mounster and together with him Flann O Maolseachluinn King of Meath and Ruidhruigh O Conchabhar King of Connaght found themselves necessitated not only to give Domhnall a meeting but even to deliver him Hostages in the year of Christ 1090. How in the year 1104. Domhnal turn'd to ashes that Countrey in Meath called then Ibh Laoghaire and in the year 1112 broke into Fingall prey'd it plunder'd it all over and carried away thence besides their Cattel a very great deal of costly Rayments magnam boum pretiosissimarumque vestium vim illinc retulit says my Author How after so many devastations of the poor Countrey and much blood spilt betwixt these two Contenders and after frequent annual Cessations between 'em
procured by the Primats of Ireland even then when both their Armies stood ready in the Field to fall on they came at last to the old Division of Leath Cuinn and Leath Mogh that is Domhnall to govern absolutely in all the North side of Eisker-Riada and Muirchiortach in all the South of it each stiling himself King of Ireland How this agreement made Muirchiortach falling into a heavy Disease that continued five years his own Brother Diarmuid O Brien seiz'd the Kingdom of Mounster and both he and other Provincial Kings divided among them all Muirchiortach's wealth and possessions while he was yet alive tho extreamly sick but he afterwards unexpectedly recovering made so sharp a War on them all that they were forc'd to quit and restore whatsoever they had so unjustly got In fine how piously both Muirchiortach and Diarmuid ended their days notwithstanding their almost continual Wars during life and health the former at Lismore in the 20th year of his Reign and of Christ 1119. but having first devested himself of all worldly power and care by turning Clerk in that holy place and the later being 73 years old in the Menastery of Columb-cille at Doire now by us called London-derry 27 of his Reign which was of Christ 1121. For so many years I find given him by Colganus in this Elogy of him Donaldus Loghleni ex Ardgaro filio nepos Rex Hiberniae Hibernorumque excellentissimus formae praestantia generis nobilitate animi indole in rebus agendis prosperitate postquam multa munera egenis clementer potentibus liberaliter elargitus fuerat in Roboreto Divi Columbae hoc est in Dorensi Monasterio decessit anno aetatis suae 73. principatus in Hibernia 27. Christi nati 1121. Where I must occasionally reflect on my own mistake in the foregoing 75 page of this little Book and desire the Reader to account it such Indeed there I suppos'd that that Dearmach where Beda says Columbe-Cille had built his famous Irish Monastery was the same with Ardmach But now I see by Colgan's explication of Roboretum D. Columbae that without question that Dear-mach in Latin Roboretum or Campus Roborum for Dair or Doir signifies an Oak in the Irish and Mach or Magh a Field which Beda meant was at the place ever since called by the Irish Doire Columb-Cille as it is of late by the English London-derry and by no means at Ardmagh But to pass over as well that errour of my own as the brief account immediately before this reflection on it given of the pious end those two great Contenders made for peradventure you will say and I confess it freely that neither the one nor the other is to my main purpose here and therefore to return and prosecute only that which is my Province I will now let you see all the glory of the Monarchical or at least pretended Monarchical Power of Ireland which never lasted long not even from Heber's days in any one Family or Sept removing from Mounster to Cannaght and from the O Brians there to the O Connors here Yet leaving still for my part the Question undetermined whether the same Monarchy did not continue for two years longer in Tirconel after it had ended in Tomond and so pass'd immediatly not from Muirchiortach O Brian but from Dombnall mhac Ardghar mhac Loghlin However that was Toirrghiallach mor mhac Ruidhruigh vibh Chonchabhair i. e. Terence the Great Son of Roderick descended of Connor King of Connaght is now possess'd of the Sovereignty of Leath-Cuinn and greater part of Ireland and thereby of the Title of Monarch for 20 years more says Keting For so at least his his own Subjects and followers call'd him I am sure his Reign has furnish'd History with Instances enough on the Subject I treat of At three several times he enter'd the Province 〈◊〉 Mounster with a great and Hostile power of men though the first time having prey'd and spoil'd not only Ard-feanan but Cashel he was set upon in the Rear by part of the Mounster Army and lost Aodh O Heidin King of Biorradh and Muirriadhach O Flacthiorta King of Lower Connaght with a great number of other prime Gentlemen The second time he invaded it both by Land and Sea himself marching by Land in the head of a strong Army and laying all waste about him till he came to Cork where a goodly Fleet says Keting well provided of Seamen and Souldiers which he had sent about to destroy all the Coasts having done their work met him And now this imperious Monarch Toirrghiallach mor O Conchabhair glutted with revenge divides Mounster in two equal parts the Southern and Northern Mounster so called Whereof he commits the Southern to Donochadh mhac Cartha's government the Northern to Conchabbar O Brien and so returns home triumphantly to Connaght with 30 Hostages of the best in Mounster But soon after Cormock mhac Cartha King of West-mounster being treacherously kill'd by Toirrghiallach O Brien his own Son-in-law and Gossip and the whole Province of Mounster that is all the parts and power and Title too of it seiz'd by him as the lawful King of it Toirrghiallach mor O Concbabhar the pretended Monarch draws together all the Forces of Connaght Breithfne Meath and Leinster puts himself in the head of them and marches now again the third time into Mounster Where being advanced in so far as Gleann Mhachair and to a place there called Moinmhoir in English the Great Moor Toirrghiallach O Brien the new Mounster King in the head of 9000 men the flower of all that Province meets him and fights him but is so intirely and mightily defeated that Dal-Gheass the chief strength of his Army never before nor after had the like overthrow as being for the matter all destroyed therein And the issue was the banishment of this new unfortunate King to Tir-Eoghuin in Vlster and the division of Mounster the second time between Diarmuid mhac Cormuick mhic Cartha and Teadhg O Brien by the Monarch Such is the account of this Monarch and no more I mean of his Warlike Actions and Exploits delivered by Keting in his Reign But Gratianus Lucius in his Cambrensis Euersus says further of him that he prey'd all the Provinces of Ireland every one That he made his own Son Conchabhar actually and really King of the Dublinians Lagenians and Methians That with his Land Army he destroy'd Tirconel and with his Navy consisting of 190 Ships wasted Tir-Oen and with both reduced both these warlike Countreys of the North. That nevertheless before the end of his Reign his Glory was obscur'd and power humbled by him who came next to succeed in the Monarchy and who begun early it seems to lay the foundation of his own future greatness by making War on this very Toirrghiallach mor O Conchabhar himself the Monarch and forcing Hostages from him in the year of Christ 1150. that is full six years before this Monarch's death And that
a single Person must evince the same truth So for Spain Alphonsus III. by putting out the eyes of all his Brethren save one that was kill'd Alfonsus IV. with the like cruelty us'd by his own Brother â—aymirus Peter the Legitimat Son of Alphonsus XI depos'd and kill'd by his Bastard Brother Henry Garzias by Sanctius then Sanctius by Vellidus and after so many retaliations all Spain under King Roderic betray'd to the Moors by a natural Spaniard a Subject to that King Count Julian Prince of Celtiberia as Bodin calls him yea seven hundred thousand Spaniards kill'd in the short space of fourteen months next following that hideous treachery must evince mightily the self-same truth So for France those horrible Feuds Combustions Devastations cruelties inhumanities barbarous sacriledges of the late Civil Wars there continued 40 years against four Kings whereof you may read at large in D'Avila and the Holy Ligue and both Henry III. and Henry IV. one after another so vilely murder'd by those devoted Assassins of Hell Jacques Clement and Ravilliac evince it still Lastly and to come nearer home tho in an earlier time even so for England 1. Those eight and twenty Saxon Kings of the Heptarchy part by one another kill'd part by their own Subjects murder'd besides many other depos'd and forc'd to fly away for their lives For as Matthew of Westminster l. 1. c. 3. writes of the very Northumbrian Kings alone four were murder'd and three more deposed within the little time of one and forty years only And therefore it was that Charles the Great of France when the news of the last of them by name Ethelbert being murdered came to his hearing not only resolv'd to stop the presents he was before on sending to England nor only to do the English in lieu of sending them gifts all the mischiefs he could but said to Alcuinus an English man his own Instructor in Rhetorick Logick and Astronomy that indeed That was a perfidious and perverse Nation a murderer of their Lords and worse than Pagans Nay therefore also it was that many of the Bishops and Nobles fled out of this Northumbrian Kingdom and no man dared for 30 years next following venture on being their King but all men declined it and so left them a prey to the Irish Scâ—ts and Danes who by the just judgment of God over-run them and destroy'd them at last on that very occasion principally 2. Since the Norman Conquest besides the horrible rebellion of Henry the 2d's own Children against him and many other particulars which I pass over not only all the calamities miseries cruelties unspeakable evils of the Barons Wars on both sides under King John Henry III. and Edward II. nor only the deposition and murder too of this poor Edward even his own Wife Queen Eleanor and his own very Soâ—thâ—e Prince of Wales having both of them concurr'd in the deposing him and usurping his Crown but the most prodigiously mortal dissentions of Lancaster and York began with the rebellion against deposition and murder of Richard the II. and so bloodily prosecuted for thirty years under Henry VI. and Edw. IV. that besides eleven main Battels fought with infinite slaughter of English men on either side nay even twenty thousand men kill'd besides the wounded in one of them which Polydore calls the Battel of Touton a Village of Yorkshire the excellent Historian Philip Comines tells us of 80 of the Blood Royal destroyed in them and among this number Henry VI. a most vertuous innocent holy King most barbarously murder'd To say nothing of Richard the Third that Usurping Tyrant so justly dispatch'd in the Battel of Bosworth by the Earl of Richmond who thereupon succeeded King by the name of Henry VII and by marrying the Daughter of Edward IV. and thereby most happily uniting in himself and his Queen and Issue the right of the two Houses ended those fatal dissentions of Lancaster and York Dissentions indeed so fatal to England that besides all her best blood at home as we have seen by their long continuance from the year of Christ 1393. to the year 1486. lost Her not only the Kingdom of France but even the more ancient Inheritance of our Kings in the Dukedoms of Normandy Aquitane and whatever else belong'd to the English Crown on that side of the Sea only the Town of Calais with its little Appendages excepted Were it necessary Buchanan could furnish out of the neighbouring Kingdom of Scotland a very large addition of more examples to the purpose of this place But more than enough has been already said to conclude that notwithstanding any thing or expression in either of the two former Sections my meaning could not be to make those bloody Feuds in Ireland or consequents of them so peculiar to the Milesian Race or Irish Nation as if no other People on Earth had been at any time guilty of the like or as horrid The truth is I mean'd only to say That in respect of their long duration perpetual return from time to time for almost five and twenty hundred years compleat and their excessive degree at very many times within that long Succession of Ages especially considering the small extent of Ireland those cruel bloody Feuds were both National and peculiar to that People only Which I think is true notwithstanding that other Nations either much greater or much lesser might have been in some few Instances of time as high nay peradventure much more horrible transgressors in the very same kind than those antient Milesians were at any one time since their Conquest of Ireland from Tuath-Dee-Danan 33. The second point is to do those ancient Milesians the right as to acknowledg what their Histories have at large That amidst all the Feuds and fury of their Arms how bloody or how lasting soever they had several both Monarchs and after the Pentarchy was set up lesser Kings yea some of those too in their time of Paganism and many more as well of those as these after Christianity establish'd that were of great renown among them for other excellent Qualifications becoming their dignity than those only of Martial Vertue and Fortitude In time of Paganism they had their XXII Monarch Ollamh Fodhla so called from his great Knowledg that very name given him importing in Irish as Gratianus Lucius hath observ'd a great master in Sciences and Teacher of all Knowledg to his People It was he that divided the Lands of Ireland into Hundreds call'd by them Triochae-chead and placed a Lord over each Hundred and over each Town of the Hundred a Bailiff an Applotter of Duties and receiver of Strangers to provide Entertainment for them They had their XCI Monarch Conair mor mhac Eidirsgceoil so great a Justiciar so zealous a Prosecutor of all Malefactors that although with great pains industry hazard to himself yet he forc'd at last all kind of Robbers Thieves Vagabonds and Idlers to fly the whole Kingdom and after this during his Reign
the Cattel throughout all parts and Provinces wandred safely in the Fields without any Keeper Besides the magnificent Hospitality of this Monarch is wonderfully celebrated in that Nation Add hereunto this farther happiness of his Reign That in it the weather was so mild from mid-harvest to mid-spring that both Kine and Sheep and other Beasts lay continually abroad in the open air without feeling one sharp breath of wind the Sea covered the very shores at Imbhercholptha then so called after Droichid ath by us now corruptly Droghedae or Tredath with a most prodigious ejection of all sorts of Fish and the fruit-bearing Trees were so laden that they hung down their branches to the very earth They had their CIV Monarch Conn surnamed Ceadchatach whose Reign notwithstanding that prodigious number of Battels sought by him as we have seen before was so wonderfully abounding in all earthly blessings throughout Ireland that when the Writers of after-Ages were minded to express any time of extraordinary abundance or plenty they said it was the Reign of Conn Ceadchatach or Conair Mor return'd again on Earth Now doubtless it could not be otherwise than morally impossible that considering all his Battels there should be so much plenty in every part of the Kingdom had not he as well as Conair Mor before him been as good a Governour as he was a great Warrior And yet on this occasion let me tell you that neither the one nor other excellency could save him from being murther'd Whereof because of the extraordinary contrivance and manner of it I take that notice here which I find in Gratianus Lucius though otherwise it may seem forein to this place and Keting has not a syllable how or where or whether at all this Monarch died either of a natural or violent death But thus in short it happen'd In the 35th year of his Reign which was of Christ 157. being retired without Guards or much attendance at a place then called Tuaihamâ—rois the King of Vlster by name Tibraid Tirigh employed 50 young striplings clad like Maiden Ladies to dispatch him and they did it says Lucius For it is only to him we are beholden as for many other particulars so for this very singular one indeed And if I may conjecture it was or at least might well be thought the pattern whence Maolseachluinn I. when he was yet but King of Meath derived his own stratagem whereby he destroyed the Danish Tyrant Turghesius They had their IVC Monarch Fearrhadhach Fachiuach a Prince of so much Truth in hâ—s words and such integrity in his Life and Actions that from thence he was surnamed Fachtuach signifying in Irish Truth and Integritâ— says the same Author Lucius And it is observable what both he and Keting write of one Moran chief Justice under this King that he had a ring or hoop of such Vertue that when it was put about the Neck of any Judg or any Witness whatsoever at the time the one was to give Sentence or the other to depose upon Oath if either did swerve a title from the right then presently it clasp'd and pinch'd and wrung them so close that to avoid present death by strangling they retracted openly before all the Spectators what they had so wickedly done amiss Whence proceeded that Proverbial wish among the Irish O That he had Moran's Ring about his Neck when they suspect the truth or integrity of any person But to proceed with their Kings They had their CII Monarch Felim surnamed Rachtmhor from his being a Great Maker of excellent wholsome Laws Among which he establish'd with all firmness that of Retaliation kept to it most inviolably and by that means preserv'd the people in peace quiet plenty and security during his Time They had their CIX Monarch Cormock mhac Airt who says Lucius in making good Laws for the Commonwealth and observing them exceeded by much all his Predecessors He wrote a Book of the Institution of a Prince to his Son Cairbre He had the Psalter of Taragh composed In this he gives an account at large 1. of all the noble Irish Families their propagation and relation by blood one to another 2. Of the limits not only of every Province of Ireland but of every Countrey both great and small in each of them 3. Of the Duties Rents Tributes paid usually out of each Province to the Monarch or King of Ireland 4. Of the Duties paid unto the Provincial Kings by the Lords their Vassals 5. And finally of the Rents accrewing to every such Lord from his Tenants any where in the Kingdom The Book also which they call in Irish Sanasan Chormaic and we in English may call the Etymological Dictionary of Cormock is by most ascribed to him though by some to Cormock O Cuillenan the holy King and Archshop of Mounster I pass over his Martial Spirit his Fortune and success in Arms. Tho it was he that when by the surprisal force and rebellious usurpation of Ferghussa Dubhdeadach King of Vlster he had been first dispossess'd of his Royal Mansion of Teamhuir alias Tarach and then affronted with the burning of his Beard as well by the command or direction as by the servant of the same Vlster King Fearghussa for so Gratianus Lucius calls this Northern King tho Keting names him Giolla as I have done before and then after this affront had been banish'd into Connaght yet within a twelve month accompanied with 30 great Lords 50 other Chieftains and fifty thousand men gave Battel at Criombreag to this Usurper kill'd him destroy'd his Army and for the rest of his Vlster adherents banish'd them for ever to the Isle of Man Yea it was he that after this Field was further yet Conqueror of all his other Enemies in 36 Battels more and thereby gave perfect peace to the whole Kingdom for the remainder of his long reign which lasted in the whole forty years And further also it was he that with the Sword of Justice took revenge on the more than savage cruelty of Dunling the Son of Eudeus that murdered those 30 celebrated Virgins living collegially as in the Temple of Vesta at Cluain-fearâ— in Teamhuir all of them of such Royal extraction and quality that each had 30 Virgins more in retinue which made in all Nine Hundred For that unparallel'd Savageness of Dunling this Monarch destroy'd the twelve Tyrants of Leinster who either by approbation of it or defence of him were guilty of it Lastly It was he that whether on this occasion or no I know not But this I know that Lucius writes how it was he that even to a farthing's worth made the Province of Leinster pay the old Boarian Fine impos'd upon them by Tuathal Teachâ—mhor Which this Author says consisted not of 3000 but of 15000 Cows and so many Hogs Mantles Silver Chains Cauldrons of Brass or Coppers that is 15000 of each and each Cauldron as large as that in the Monarch's Kitchin at Tarach which boil'd together at one boyling twelve
Beeves and twelve Hogs Add further yet as part of this heavy Leinster Fine says Lucius 30 either white or red Cows with their Calves of the same colour 30 brass Collars for those Cows to keep them quiet in their stabling and 30 other brazen ties for their feet also to keep them gentle at their milking Where nevertheless I must take notice that Lucius in this Account does much vary from Keting and that whatever may be thought of all other particulars of it surely the number of 15000 Cauldrons or Coppers as we call them now of that capacity seems to me somewhat incredible But leaving this to the Readers indifferency what is more proper here may be read in the same Author Lucius where he tells us next of this Monarchs port and magnificence in House-keeping which though very great indeed is however I think credible enough He had eleven hundred and fifty Waiters that serv'd him ordinarily at Table in his great Hall at Tarach And this Hall was by himself built of purpose to answer in its capacity the entertainment and attendance of a great King It was 300 Foot long 30 Cubits high and 50 Cubits broad with fourteen Doors opening into it And the daily service of Plate the Flagous and Cups of Gold Silver and precious stone at his Table there consisted of a hundred and fifty pieces in all What is besides delivered of this Monarch is That which among the truly wise must be more valuable than any worldly magnificence or secular glory whatsoever He was to all mankind very just and in his later days through the mercy of God very pious also religious towards him That so strangely powerful on a sudden were his inward illuminations That in plain terms he now refus'd his Druids any more to worship their Idol Gods That soon after he openly professed he would no more worship any but the only true God of the Universe the Immortal and Invisible King of Ages as the great Apostle calls him And finally that those Priests of the Devil by their Necromantical adjurations and ministery of damned Spirits raised from Hell God permitting it wrought his destruction by choaking him as I have said before For in such manner and for such a cause died this great and happy King of Ireland An. Christi 266. But whether he may or may not therefore be rank'd among the true Christian Martyrs I leave others to judge And the same question might peradventure be rationally put though not I confess with the same advantage of the circumstance of violence from an external cause concerning Connor the first Provincial King of Vlster made by the Monarch Eochuidh Feilioch himself the Author of the Pentarchy about 400 years before the Birth of Christ This Connor's Druyd or Magitian which you please to call him having it seems the spirit of Prophecy as you see in the Book of Judges that Baldam though otherwise a Heathen wicked Idolater had the like on a day speaking his Raptures to Connor and among other things delivering much of the Son of God that was to come down from Heaven to save mankind and was nevertheless to suffer the most cruel death of the Cross from his own beloved Countrymen the Jews whom he came to save before any others Connor says Keting on the hearing of all became so affected first with the stupendious mercy of God to Sinners and then presently so transported against the ungrateful Jews that being in a great Wood at the time of this Discourse he drew his Sword fell a slashing and cutting the Trees about him on every side with the greatest fury could be imagining he had before him still those cruel men that put our Saviour to death and continued so long in this passionate action of transport till by over-heating himself and the opening thereby of some old wounds he had in his shull he died What the Reader may answer to the foresaid Quere in relation to either of these two Kings I know not But think nevertheless what St. John Chrysostom would have answer'd it very consequently at least in reference to the former had the case been debated by him when he wrote his Three Books de Providentia Dei to Stargirius a holy Monk that notwithstanding his holiness was through the permission of God either possess'd or obsess'd or both by the power of the Devil It was also in the time of Ireland's Paganism that Niall the Great surnamed Naoighiollach in Latin Noui-obses in English Niall of the Nine Hostages because says Colgan in his Trias Taumatorge from Vlster Connaght Mounster Leinster the Britons Picts Dal-Rheudans and Morini a People of France in all nine Nations he had Hostages did reign the CXX or CXIX Monarch of the Irish Of whose great cruelty in his judgment given against Eochuidh King of Leinster because I have so particularly spoken before I will not conceal now what I have since observ'd in Gratianus Lucius of the extraordinary favour of God unto him For such we must undoubtedly acknowledg it to have been seeing it was no less than a heavenly illustration of his mind with the beams of Christianity to that degree as turn'd him wholly to a new man of perfect holiness Nor yet less than that above a hundred years after his death his Body on the opening of his Shrine or Tomb which I take to have been on Cruach Phadruig in Connaght whither the Army brought his Body from France was found entire without any corruption Nay nor a jot less than that a Christian Bishop namely St. Cernachus infected with the Leprosie was perfectly cured by visiting and lying down in that very Shrine of this Great Niall Naoighiallach So writeth Gratianus Lucius quoting for his Author Colgan And so I have done with those few of the Kings of Ireland in the time of Paganism that besides many more of that very time and their Catalogue have been for several great Excellencies other than those of warlike bravery or success renown'd in that Nation 34. But after Christianity had been among the people of Ireland universally preach'd and establish'd yea and all along from time to time in the succeeding Ages not even those very Ages following the horrible desolations by the Danish Wars excepted they had questionless notwithstanding all their intestin Feuds many more both Monarchs Provincial Kings and other lesser Kings too famous in their generation as well for other great Vertues especially those peculiar to Religion as for those of Martial fortitude and Valour Yet because I perceive this little Book to swell insensibly beyond my design I pass over much of that which otherwise I would have willingly mention'd in this place And therefore what I can briefly on the present Subject observe is First in general the wonderful Devotion Zeal Religious Liberality of the first Christian Monarchs Provincial Kings and other great Lords of Ireland who upon their first conversion not only parted so readily with the whole Tenths of their Estates real
and personal nay and of their Subjects also both men and women by the dedication of all in a peculiar way to God as hath been said before but were so fervently Zealous even to a degree of excess in this kind that as both Keting and Lucius relate it if St. Patrick would have receiv'd what they offer'd more their Successors should have scarce been left the grazing of four Beasts to bestow on the Church Secondly in particular the great number of those Princes one after another in the succession of so many Ages that notwithstanding all the bloody Feuds and warlike humor of their Nation withdrew themselves in time from sin yea from all the pleasures vanity pomp earthly glory of their condition and by contemning the world for the sake of God made themselves greater than the World A large list of them you may find partly in Keting but more amply and exactly in Lucius And they were those that stripping themselves naked to follow Christ and shutting themselves up in Cloysters made choice of the better part with Mary at the feet of out Lord. Such were the Monarchs 1. Maâ—â—â—hoba who by the prayers of Columbe-Cille recovering from death to life thereupon without delay Anno 610. renounc'd the World enter'd a Monastery profess'd himself a Monk and was after in regard of his holiness made Bishop of Kildare 2. Flaithiortach who likewise though without any such inducement as Maolchoba had in perfect health vigour streingth deliberately chose to dispoil himself of all earthly greatness Goods Employments and exchange them all for a poor monastick Weed in the Monastery of Ardmagh for a penitential course of life within the walls of that enclosure and for a Christian happy death which he found in that same place after nine years more had been over in his holy exercises there 3. Niall Frassach that not only quitted the Crown and Power but the very Soil of Ireland by retiring to the Scottish Isle of Hy and there in Columb Cille's Monastery devoting himself wholly to works of Christian repentance after eight years continual preparation by them for his passage to immortality had it in the year 773. of our Saviour's Incarnation 4. Muirchiortach great Grandchild to Brion Buraimh and one of Ketings Monarchs of Ireland who having resign'd his Royal Authority and together with it whatever else he possess'd or loved on earth put on the habit of a pooor religious man at Lismore where without looking back he ended happily his days 5. Domhnal mhac â—rdghair who according to Colgan as we have seen before was also King of Ireland though in his declining years yet amidst his prosperity retiring to the Abbey of Doire Cholumb-Cilie employing the remainder of his life there in exercises of piety holiness and mortification and lamenting the sins of his former days prepared for encountred and receiv'd death with a serene countenance full of hopes of a glorious Immortality But whether he took upon him the outward profession of a Monk in those exercises there or did not I can say nothing on either side Nor is it very material to know seeing the inward habit of his Soul yielded fruits worthy of true repentance and the severest outward profession of it 6. Ruaruidh O Conchabhair the very last Irish Monarch we have shewn likewise before to have made a religious life under the Habit and in a Cloister of Augustinian Chanon Regulars his last refuge in this World from so many vicissitudes of Fortune There it was he became so truly wise indeed as to prepare only for that other World which being planted far above all the glory of the Sun and all the Circles of time expects only Souls either never tainted with sin at any time or by perfect repentance at least before death throughly purified from its deadly sting And such indeed for making choice either sooner or later of the better part with Mary were those now enumerated Monarchs of Ireland And yet I know not why I might not add to their number Maolseachluinn I. and Brian Boraimh For albeit they never had been either profess'd Monks Anchorites or Clerks nor divested of their Authority Royal nor at all outwardly retired from the cares of the Publick or management of their own domestick affairs or comfort of their Wives and Children yet their piety of life was such as purchas'd for them after death the reputation of holy men Yea S. Cairbre Bishop of Cluan-mhac-Noise when the former died Anno 860. being in extasy beheld his Soul ascending to glory says Lucius And the later has been inserted not only by John Wilson in his Martyrologe but by Henry Fitz Simons in his Catalogue of the Saints of Ireland both these Authors having in this particular followed Marianus Scotus Of the Provincial Kings a far greater number and some of them very early that is in their very youth made the same prudential wise divine choice Aillill Anmbanna King of Connaght led so wonderfully strict a life according to the exactest Rules of Christianity that upon his death it pleased God to shew his Soul to Columb-Cille ascending to Heaven Anno 544. Cormac King of South Leinster about the Year of Christ 567. quitting voluntarily his Kingdom went to Beannchuir profess'd himself there a Monk continued in the same place leading a life truly answerable to his profession till death translated him to happiness Anno 567. which the Irish Church believing has placed him in her Calendar of Saints Aodh Dubh King of Leinster forsaking in the same manner both his Kingdom and whatever else he might enjoy on earth took the Monastical habit and Vows upon him lived accordingly some years in the Monastery of Kildare an underling was after made Abbot then Bishop of the same Cloister and See deceased Anno Christi 638. and in fine was recorded in the Register of Saints Ceallach mhac Reghal King of Connaght made the like exchange of a Kingdom for a Cloister died in the Year of our Lord 703. and is invoked particularly at Lochkinne as their tutelary Patron Ardghal mhac Cathail King of Connaght the very same only that to be further off from all noise of the World he retired out of Ireland to the Monastery of Columb-Cille in the Island of Hy where in the seventh year of his peregrination which was of Christ 786 he ended his mortal course Before him a little that is Anno Christi 739. flourished the good King of Vlster Fiacha mhac Aodh Roin surnamed In Droiched from his continual care of building Bridges every-where throughout his Kingdom to make the ways more passable for Droiched in their Tongue signities a Bridge He was even to admiration vertuously just and equitable to all persons whatsoever Only one Cow taken away by stealth within his Dominion and because peradventure says Gratianus Lucius the Author of this stealth had not been with due severity punish'd he inflicted the remainder on his own person by going a Pilgrimage to Beannchuir In his Reign and
Year of Christ 743. not as Cambrensis has it biâ—nnio ante Topog. dist 2. c. 10. adventum Anglorum two Years only but 424 Years before the first landing of Fitz Stephens in Ireland So far is Cambrensis out in his relation of the very time of this matter it happening that a prodigious Whale with three golden Teeth stianded at Carlingford within his jurisdiction each Tooth weighing fifty ounces of Gold he gave one of them to the chief workman-builder of the foresaid Bridges the other two he dedicated to the making of Shrines in the Monastery of Beannchuir for those holy relicks there on which the Countrey people did use to take their most solemn Oaths for ending all Controversies arisen Felim mhac Criomthain alias in Latin Feidlimidius that most famous King though not of Ireland wherein also Cambrensis as in most his other Relations concerning Ireland has most grosly err'd but of Mounster having prosperously reigned 27 years and within that time what by harrassing what by fighting Leath-Cuinn humbled them mightily at last resign'd his Crown retired from all secular Employments all earthly joys pleasures vanities withdrew to a Wilderness turn'd a poor Hermit there continued so the rest of his life devoting himself wholly to God till death call'd him away under the Monarchy of Niall Caille in the Year of Christ 845. For then it was that he departed hence with the Opinion both of a great Saint and of as excellent a Writer too as that Age might have says Lucius The Irish Book call'd an Leabhar Irsi or as Keting expounds it the Book of their Annals has in short this Elogy of him Optimus Sâ—piens Anachoreta Scotorum quievit Contemporary to him was Fionachta-Luibhne King of Connaght who in the same manner exchang'd his Royal Robe for an Hermits Coat and all the attendance wealth delights pomp gayety of a Palace for the laonliness poverty silence obscurity of an uncouth naked solitude to prepare himself for the last day of his life which he ended there Anno 846. Next to this Fionachta in order of time the King of Leinster Dunling mhac Muireadhach retired both from his Kingdom and all worldly things else into the Monastery of Kildare professing Monk and continuing there in the exercises first of an Underling then of an Abbot till in the Year 867. he finish'd happily his course And after him Domhnal son to the Monarch of Ireland Aodh Fionnliach devoted himself to the service of God in the habit and profession of a most godly mortified Ecclesiastick In which condition he received without any fear at all the King of terrours Death in the Year of our Saviour 911. Him although at a great distance of time followed Ruaruidh O Conchabhair King of Connaght I mean the Father of Toirghialiach mor O Conchabhair Monarch of Ireland who in the 20th year after that O Flaithâ—â—iortach had put out his eyes enter'd the Order of Canon-Regulars and among them rendred his Soul to his Redeemer An. 1118. And so did the King of the Dublinian Danes and Leinster Irish Domhnal O Brien son to Muirchiortach O Brien King of Ireland renounce his Kingdom profess Clerk at Lismore and accordingly there continue a life of pennance to his death which happened Anno Dom. 1135. Lastly the religious Devotion of Cathal Cruddhearg King of Connaght Lucius calls him in Latin Cathaldus à rubro Carpo is very much celebrated amongst his Countrymen in all their Histories He after the death of his Wife gave up his Kingdom profess'd Cistercian Monk in the Monastery built by himself at a place in Connaght call'd the Hill of Victory and in the Year of Christ 1224. breath'd out his last in the same religious Cloister The great liberality of this Provincial King to the Church and particularly the large extent of Lands bestowed for ever by him upon that Cistercian Abbey de Colle Victoriae when he built it may perhaps be elsewhere in this Treatise reflected on At present and because I have now done with all the most singular patterns of Piety recorded among the Provincial Kings of that Nation I proceed to those of the most celebrated memory in that respect among their Lesser Kings Such were Damhin mhac Dambinghoirt King of Orghillae departed this life Anno Dom. 560. and Ferrhadhach mhac Duacha parted in the Year 582. whose Souls are said by the Irish Writers to have been shew'd to Columb-Cille ascending to Heaven absque poenis purgatoriis Such was Brian Boraimh's Ancestor in the seventh degree of ascent by name Toirrghiallach by Title or Dignity King of Dal-Gheass or rather indeed says Keting of North-Mounster who in the Year 690. or thereabouts after he had bestow'd all the Islands in his Kingdom on poor strangers to be inhabitâ—d and cultivated by them put on a Monks Cowl at Lismore and for his daily employment either polish'd stones for the building of Churches there or mended High-ways So that he was never idle but discharging continually with his own hands the part sometime of a Stone-cutter at other times that of a poor ordinary Mason or meanest Day-labourer Such Maol-bressal mhac Cearnaigh King of Mogh dornuigh who after quitting the World professing Monk and living in that profession many years like a Saint was kill'd at last by the Danes Anno 847. Such Maolduin King of Oiligh son to Aodgh Ordnigh the Monarch that forsook all whatever was desireable on earth took the same course of a profess'd religious Life in a Monastery for many years never look'd back never took his hand off the Plough till death seiz'd him in the Year of Christ 865. Such also were Maolbride King of Cineal-Gonail and Domhnal King of Cineal-Laoghaire who trampling underfoot all worldly temptations assumed the Monastic habit retired into Cloister'd Cells and for the remainder of their lives which was of many years continued their station there practising only the methods of dying to themselves and living to Christ till the blessed hour came when he call'd them to himself the former Anno 897. the later Anno 882. And after them Donochadh the son of Ceallach and Son-in-law to Donochadh mhac Floinn the Monarch King of Ossory is next recorded as a man of exceeding piety and godliness though never so profess'd Monk nor at all retir'd in outward appearance from the duties of his secular Employment His care of the poor was such that in his time every house in Ossory had three several Bags for daily Collections of Victuals to feed them One that receiv'd the tenth part of every persons meal none at all of the Family no not even of the servants excepted Another design'd for the portion of Saint Michael the Archangel as they call'd it And a third was under the peculiar charge of the good Wife to see all the scraps gathered into it Besides he was himself exceeding bountiful to them And then his devotion at Church frequentation of the Sacrament watch over his own senses delight in all
wickedness committed by his Brother Which yet he had not forgiven but only delai'd to judg as having never once heard of it before that very morning when he was preparing for Battel and consequently his Soul taken up wholly with other cares Whereby says Gratianus Lucius relating this matter at large and quoting O Duvegan for it we may guess at the condition of those Governors that wilfully and deliberately not only delay the punishment of so many horrible crimes they see daily committed even against all Justice and Religion but resolve never to punish them Neâ— enim injuria quis dixerit eum saevire in bonos qui parcit-malis But if you be of an other judgment as to this Maxim I mean That he is cruel to the good who spares the wicked or if peradventure you boggle at the miraculous part either of this Relation of Conchabhar O Cealla's death or of the former enumeration of such Irish Christian Monarchs Provincial and other Lesser Kings who have been famous in their time for piety you may pass it over and leave it to the devotion and credulity of other men that have not the same apprehensions doubts or scruples as they have not the same soul with you I am sure that laying all such matters aside there is among those great Examples of Virtue enough still remaining to edifie any good Christian or any sober man alive Though I must tell you withal that as no Writer holds himself accountable either for the verity or falsity of any other matters of Fact whatsoever written by him out of ancient History so much less for those of Miracles And yet further I must acknowledg that I know not whether any man writing purposely of a Nation or People that both firmly do believe such miraculous works to have been wrought by God among their Predecessors and would perhaps hold it a very invidious malevolent diminution of their glory for such a man to pass them over wholly in silence it were just or prudential in him to do so However I have avoided the two extreams I have not been wholly silent as to such matters nor have I given but a very few of them Besides I do not interpose a syllable of my own judgment Though I would nevertheless be as free either to assent or dissent or even to suspend as any other upon sufficient ground But enough of this and together with it of all I intended to give in the second Point 35. The third is an Appendix to what has been hitherto said of the personal piety of those Princes For I am now to give in order what was done partly by some of the very same partly by other Irish Kings Princes Lords as well to reform the Commonwealth regulate the Church restore Learning to the Nation as to promote Christian religious piety among all their Subjects no less than in themselves And all this I mean acted by them after the general calamity of the Danish Wars yea and acted by them notwithstanding their own so frequent relapses at this very time into their old Feuds again Brian Boraimh so often mention'd but never enough praised must be the first Instance in this place He set all men free from the exactions of the Danes All the spoils gained by him from the Danes he bestow'd on others All the Lands and Territories of the Kingdom he restor'd to the ancient Proprietors and lawful Heirs not retaining to himself or any Relations one foot of Land belonging to others He conferr'd on each Temporal Lord great Priviledges and Immunities according to his degree He restored to each Bishop his own Diocess to each Priest his Church throughout Ireland He founded built endow'd many Churches Schools Colledges and with Royal munificence care solicitude gave a new beginning again to the destroy'd Universities He bestow'd on every person that would learn money to bear his charges competently He built at his own proper cost the Cathedral of Cill-da-Luagh the Church of Inis Cealtrach and re-edified the Steeple of Tuaim-Ghreine He built many Bridges made many Causeys mended many High ways before not passable He erected many new Forts strengthened the old ones with new Bulwarks and in particular fortified Cashel the usual mansion of the Mounster Kings He re-edified all the Royal Houses or Palaces in Mounster that before his time had been either utterly ruin'd or wholly neglected in particular thirteen of them His Government was so rigid that under it a young Woman travail'd all alone from Toruidh to Cliodhna the length of Ireland with a gold Ring hanging on the top of a Wand in her hand without meeting any that attempted to rob or ravish her Besides he enter'd not on the Sovereignty by murdering or killing his Predecessor as so many others did who nevertheless were not tax'd with Usurpation because of their descent from the Royal Line and yet Brian was undoubtedly of the Line from Heber Moreover he was gloriously magnificent in his Port. No man could carry Arms in his Court where ever it chanc'd to be except only Dal-Gheass that were his own peculiar Guards All the Provinces of Ireland every one and some lesser Countreys too besides the Danes inhabiting Dublin and Limmeric lay under a considerable Boraimh or Tax which they paid yearly for the maintenance of his House at Ceann-Chora viz. Connaght 800 Beeves and so many Hogs Tirchonail 500 Mantles and 500 Beeves Tir-Eoghuin 600 Beeves 600 Hogs and 60 Tun of Iron Clanna Ruidhruidh in Vlster 150 Beeves and so many Hogs Oirghilluibh 800 Beeves Leinster 300 Beeves 300 Hogs and 300 Tuns of Iron Ossory 60 Beeves 60 Hogs and 60 Tuns of Iron Danes of Dublin 300 Pipes or Buts of Wine Danes of Limmerick a Tun of Claret for every day in the Year what Mounster paid I do not find In short his Hospitality at Ceann-Chora in every degree was such that excepting the Monarchs Cormock mhac Airt and Conair mor mhac Eidrisgceoil no other King of Ireland ever did an near it Maolseachluinn II. in his Second Reign especially towards the middle of it when he gave himself to Devotion and thoughts of an other life did as well in good Government and care of the Publick as in Piety shew himself both a great and good King He reedified many Schools repair'd many Churches maintain'd 300 Scholars out of his own Revenue laid the foundation of S. Mary Abbey in Dublin built and endow'd it An. 1039. * Vnderstand this according to Ketings Computation that gives Clantar Clantarâ—â— Battel fought on the 16th of April 1036. but not according to Gratianus Lucius or others that deliver it fought earlier by 20 years viz. Anno. 1014. the very first Abbey we read of built in Ireland since the universal destruction by the Danes For the Monarch Toirghiallach mhac Teaidhg mhic Brian Boraimh that he was not only a good man but excellent King you may read in Lucius very convincing Arguments 1. That during his twelve years Reign there was
known and his name celebrated among all the Clergy and People and Princes of that Province too Then by his returning back to his own Province of Vlster upon the commands of Celsus and Imarius and there presently repairing the old ruins of the famous Beannchuir which till this time lay in rubbish for so many years ever since the destruction of it by the Danes though not without a Titular Lay-Abbot made still by Election of the Lay-Natives who possess'd all the Revenues nor at this very time neither with-such an Incumbent and he both a very powerful man and Uncle also to Malachias himself but on the return of Malachias from Mounster suddenly chang'd and as it were by a powerful touch of the very finger of God himself so mightily chang'd that without delay he resign'd both the place and whole Estate belonging to it yea and his own person also to this holy Nephew's disposition Then by his refusing the Estate building nevertheless the place planting it with some of his own blessed condisciples under Imarius and in obedience to Celsus and Imarius both taking upon him now as well the true Office as the title of Abbot of Beannchuir imitating so in all respects the sanctity of his great Predecessor Congellus though not equalling his number of Monks Then by the glory of Miracles beginning first to appear wrought by him to the astonishment of the beholders as he was at work with his own hands among the Carpenters that were building this Monastery Then by the Election made of him in the thirtieth year of his Age for the See of Conner and his reluctance for a long time and the perseverance of the other side and his submission at last to the positive commands of Celsus and Imarius Then by his entring upon his Episcopal Function there but withal his finding presently as St. Bernard expresly writes He was not sent to men but Beasts That he had never before not even amongst the most barbarous any where observ'd the like No where the People so stubborn as to Manners so bestial as to Rites so impious as to Faith so barbarous as to Laws so headstrong as to Discipline so filthy as to Life Christians by Name but in very deed Pagans not paying Tithes not offering First-fruits not joyning in lawful Marriages not confessing their sins None among them found either to receive or to enjoin penance The Ministers of the Altar few and yet no work among the Laity for those same few no opportunity given them to make use of their Ministery among a wicked generation of people nor they endeavouring it much if not rather scarce any way at all for in their Churches the voice neither of a Preacher nor Singer was heard Then by his Divine Sermons Exhortations Entreaties Visits Prayers Tears Mortification austerity of Life both in publick and private together with the assistance of his 150 Monks that were never from his side overcoming though with great labour yet in a little time all opposition and working so wonderful either a conversion or Reformation which you please to call it of all that Diocess that they are all now become a new people i. e. the People of God now who had been nothing less before and every where now to be seen the repairing of Churches adorning of Altars and Choires resounding now the praises of God and wicked Laws abolish'd and Christian Institutions receiv'd in their place the Churches thronging from every side with people greedy of hearing the Word and Sacraments frequented and confession of sins made and Concubinage yielding to lawful marriage Then by his necessary migration to Mounster when the King of Vlster had on some pretence destroy'd the City of Conner and by the reception he found there from his former Disciple King Cormac who came to meet him now and withal to entertain both him and his 150 Monks of Beannchuir come along with him out of the North. Then by his building here in Mounster the Abbey of Ibrac Monasterium Ibracense St. Bernard calls it King Cormac with Royal munificence abundantly furnishing Gold and Silver and all other necessaries both to finish the building and maintain the Convent after Then by his living there so exemplarily mortifiedly humbly among them as he had elsewhere perpetually even from the first day of his Episcopal Charge at Conner done taking his turn like an other Monk both in reading and serving in the Refectory at meals yea in all the very meanest Offices of the Cloister even that of Cook to dress their meat in the Kitchin not excepted Then by the last sickness of Celsus who had successively ordain'd him Deacon Priest and Bishop and by the choice made by him of Malachias for his Successor and his Letters to all the Princes of the Kingdom especially the two Mounster Kings * Cormack was one of them his Kingdom South-Mounster his name and surname Cormack mhac Cartha his end by a soul murther committed on him by his own Son in Law All which and the revenge of this murder you may see in the former â—ection page 183. to see after his death Malachias install'd in the Metropolitical See of Ardmagh Which for the memory of their great Apostle St. Patrick who living govern'd it and dying chose it for his place of rest was held in such veneration that all the people of Ireland Clergy and Laiety Nobles Bishops Princes and Kings were subject in all obedience to the Metropolitan thereof Then by the Vision about this time but before any notice had of Ceallach's being sick the Vision I say of a Tall ancient venerable Woman appearing to Malachias and upon his demand what she was answering him she was the Wife of Celsus but withal delivering him a Pastoral Staff Then by a real Messenger come from Celsus as he was yet on his death bed alive with his real Staff indeed and by the real delivery thereof by him as he was commanded by Celsus to this man of God Then by the unanimous application of all the Kingdon from all parts made unto him to accept of this Election and by his declining it nevertheless a very long time alledging now his own unworthiness now his poverty and meanness and inability to contend with the powerful Family that hitherto well nigh two hundred years had possess'd that See besides that not even with the death of men their stubbornness could be overcome moreover that to see blood spilt in his behalf or by his occasion did not become him or his calling finally that he was already join'd to an other Spouse the Church of Conner Then after three years continual reluctance by the National Synods meeting on purpose wherein the Pope's Legat Gillaspuic alias Gilbertus Bishop of Limmeric and Malchus Bishop of Lismore were the chief and by their laying their commands upon him adding threats withal to excommunicate him if he resisted any longer and his own reflecting at the same time on the Vision he had formerly had in
Mounster of the grave Matron c. which frighted him above all other considerations and by his yielding thereupon at last but on this condition that if and whensoever by his means or Ministery God were pleased to restore peace to that Metropolitan See it should be lawful for him to ordain an other in it and return to his former Spouse the poor Bishoprick of Conner Then by his not entring for the two next years either the Cathedral Church or City it self of Ardmagh and not medling with the Revenue while the Usurper Mauritius lived but officiating abroad and discharging so his duty to the Diocess at large without any bloodshed or quarrel Then upon the death of Mauritius when the King and Nobles of the Province came to introduce him and were to that purpose together with him assembled on a Hill near the City but without any armed Troops and intelligence was brought him that hard by there lay in ambush a strong party of the malignant bloody Generation ready to fall on and kill them all not even him nor the King himself excepted Then I say by his withdrawing into a little Church hard by putting himself to prayer and presently obtaining of Heaven such a formidable judgment as ended all the danger and all the controversie too in a trice â—ay all the hopes of that perverse Generation for ever after Even on a sudden such a prodigious tempest of Rain Wind Lightning Thunder which as to the place and persons of the Conspirators turn'd the day to night commix'd all the Elements struck dead their Captain with three other of his principal Associats hung them up on the boughs of Trees for so they were found next morning half burnt and stinking dispers'd all the rest save only three more left groveling on the ground half burnt likewise but some life remaining in them still and yet no harm done by it nor feeling of it by the King or of his company though they stood close by that very place and saw the storm falling on it Then by his entring now into the Metropolitan Church taking the possession of it delivered him by the King Princes and other Nobles of the Land and after their departure exposing himself to the continual danger both day and night impending over his head from that bloody sacrilegious Progeny that breath'd no more now any thing less than mortal revenge in behalf of their Cousin Nigellus that by usurpation and actual possession succeeded Mauritius till he was now compell'd to fly but retaining nevertheless in his own possession still by conveying them away in his flight the chief holy Ensigns of that See the Staff of Jesus and Gospel of St. Patrick which the common people held in such veneration that the possessor of them whoever he was they esteemed the only true Bishop of Ardmagh Then by his overcoming with the Arms of Faith and a Christian resolution to suffer Martyrdom the arms of Flesh and fury and rage of a great man of the foresaid impious Tribe who came of purpose to Ardmagh to murder him For though the King before his departure had made this very man not only to give Hostages but take his corporal Oath that he would inviolably be and keep at peace with Malachias yet without regard of either he soon after in a consult of his own People determines the place and time and manner to dispatch him comes thereupon with his Assassines to Ardmagh and after Evensong had been ended in the Church sends to Malachius as desiring on pretence of peace and friendship to speak with him at his own Lodging But the whole Clergy and People at Church entreat Malaachias beseech him conjure him with tears and lamentations not to go to his death And yet Malachias after some other words of comfort and edification telling them it became not the Disciple of Christ to fear death immediately departs accompanied only with three religious men resolv'd to die with him enters the House sees the Assassins all together in the same Room with that great man their Leader as they were prepared to assassinate him and yet coming up a little nearer finds them all every one strangely seized as with some panick fear appalled astonish'd mute as if they had been Planet-struck as if they were unable to lift up an armed hand against him or any other Nay their very Chieftain instead of giving them the word submitting himself in all humility and obedience and promising to continue both as he did sincerely until his death Then by the submission likewise of Nigellus the Pseudo-Bishop and his yielding up to Malachias the sacred Ensigns which he had hitherto so wrongfully detain'd but now together with them delivering also himself in all humility to the disposal of Malachias Then by the sudden ceasing of a pestilential Disease at Ardmagh so soon as Malachias went about the Town in Procession and pray'd God that in his mercy he would command his exterminating Angel of Justice to put up his bloody Fauchion and spare the people thence forward Then by the dreadful Judgments fallen upon the two remaining chiefest boldest and most blasphemously virulent detractors of his Name a Man and Woman of the accursed Race the man's tongue rotting in his mouth spitting out Worms almost continually for seven days and together with them at last his miserable Soul the Woman turned frantick crying out frequently that she was a strangling by Malachias and in that wretched condition yielding up her ghost Finally by the universal terror fallen upon all his Enemies considering now at last so many Wonders wrought in his behalf and therefore crying one to an other now as the Canaanites did of old concerning Israel Let us fly from the Face of Malachias for God fighteth for him Tho too late indeed for that adulterous generation of Vipers who by this time were all of them every one perish'd without leaving either Heir or other memory behind them save only that of their having continued the sacrilegious possession violation pollution destruction of the Sanctuary of God well nigh 200 years And such indeed were the means and such the degrees and order of them by which the Almighty himself fitted prepared carried on placed at last his beloved Malachias in that full power which he had from the beginning design'd for him undoubtedly of purpose to repair those lamentable ruins reform those horible corruptions enlighten that universal darkness and breath new life again into the whole Body of the Irish Church that really for so many Ages before did seem at least for the greater part of it utterly dead But that which appears to me most admirable in this holy man is that having within three years of his acceptation of the Metropolitical charge of Ardmagh and but a twelve month after his instalment in the See or the Cathedral it self humbled nay brought to nothing all the proud Usurpers restored the Church extinguish'd Barbarism reform d every where throughout the Diocess all degrees of
or his invoking the name of God on three Apples and sending them to a Lady in the last agonies of death be reputed a Diabolical Charm And yet after all I am of Bernard's opinion that the first and greatest Miracle wrought by Malachias was himself From the first day of his conversion to the last of his Life sine proprio vixit he lived without property in any kind of thing Even when he was Bishop he had neither man-servant nor maid-servant nor Town nor Village nor Land nor one farthing either of Ecclesiastical or Temporal Revenue no not for allowance to his Episcopal Table He had not so much as a House of his own He almost incessantly went about the Parishes preaching the Gospel and living on the Gospel as our Lord had shew'd him the Example save only that for most part he preach'd it without putting his Auditory to the charge of entertaining him but maintain'd himself and his Religious Train by the labour of his own hands and theirs When he found it necessary to take a little rest he took it in some of the holy places founded by himself in all Countreys of the Kingdom For it was he that was the great Restorer of the Monastick Life and Cloisters in Ireland where for so many Ages before i. e. ever since the Universal desolation by the Danes the people generally though they had heard of the name yet they never saw any such thing as a Monk till he begun A diebus antiquis Monachi quidem nomen audierunt monachum non viderunt says Malachias himself Vit. cap. xi And wheresoever he rested how shor tor how long soever his abode was he conform'd to all their observances their Habit their Table their Diet. Insomuch that as to the exteriour man he could not be discovered from the meanest Brother of the House Lastly in his going about the Parishes or Countreys either to preach or to visit he never made use of Horse or Coach or Waggon he went a foot constantly as likewise did all his Train though now both Bishop and Legat. And was not all this trow you to be a true Heir indeed a true Successor to the Apostles or was it not in Malachias to be himself the first and last and greatest of his Miracles O virum Apostolicum quem tot talia nobilitant signa Apostolatus sui Quid ergo mirum si mira operatus est sic mirabilis ipso Imo verò non ipse sed Deus in ipso Alioquin tu es Deus inquit qui facis mirabilia says Bernard exclaiming here with admiration of this wonderful man However this Life he led for about a dozen years perpetually going about all the Provinces reforming all the abuses doing good to all mortals and working those other prodigious signs every where that I have touch'd upon before At last understanding that Innocent II. was dead and after him within sixteen months more Celestin II. and Luoius the second too and that Eugenius III. a Disciple of Saint Bernards being chosen to succeed them was come so near as France he calls a National Synod holds it dispatches in the three first days of it what was thought expedient as to Reformation on the fourth proposes that of sending to the See Apostolick for the Archiepiscopal Ensigns called Pallia offers himself to be the Solicitor of it in person and tho with great difficulty to part with him at all for any time yet obtains their consent the rather that the Pope was so near And now he takes his Journey again through Scotland where being receiv d with all veneration by King David he founds the last of his Monasteries at a place call'd stagnum viride the Green Lake haviug to that purpose brought with him out of Ireland a sufficient number of Cistercian Monks And then he goes forward the second time to Claravallis in France taking that in his way to Rome whither the Pope before his arrival on that side of the Sea was returned And finally now and from hence i. e. from Claravallis but after a few days of sickness and by a death answerable in all respects to his life he is call'd to glory on that very day which himself had both desired and foretold the day of the Commemoration of all faithful souls departed which as I have noted before was in the Year of Christ 1148. More particulars either of his life or death or miracles whoever desires may find them at large in the funeral Sermon preach'd and Life also most exactly and divinely written of him even by St. Bernard himself Who besides many other Abbots and the whole Cistercian Convent of Claravallis was present with him at his death as they all ministred to him all along in his sickness And it is even this very Bernard that with his own Eyes beheld the great Miracle which he tells wrought on a Paralitick by touching the hand of Malachias while after his death he was yet expos'd in publick before Burial But it is not for the sake of this or any other Miracle wrought by him that I have dilated so much upon him but to shew the state of the Church of Ireland in those days out of so good an Author as St. Bernard is For in that Life of Malachias written by him besides many other points relating directly to the most healthful use of Confession saluberrimum usum confessionis are Bernards own words and the Sacrament of extream Unction and the real presence of Christ in the consecrated Host and Prayers for the Dead all which I pass over as not to the purpose of this Historical Discourse it is very observable That so blessed a Man as Ceallach was even by the character of a Saint Sanctus Celsus given him by Colganus and so learned withal as Sir James Ware represents him to have been did without consulting the See Apostolick of Rome and did I say by his own authority alone as Primat of Ardmagh erect another Metropolitical See in Ireland That not even at any time from the beginning the Irish Church or Metropolitans thereof until this time of Malachias either had or for ought we know ever desired the Pallium but without it exercis'd all plenitude of Archiepiscopal and Primatial jurisdiction all over Ireland Besides we may plainly see by whose solicitation at first the Court of Rome was moved in the concern of Palls of Ireland And that Cardinal John Papiron's bringing them to Ireland about four years after the death of Malachias was undoubtedly an effect of those two Journeys made by him out of Ireland to obtain them Albeit we know not certainly whether it was Malachias that desired so many as were brought by Papiron Or whether after his death others did suggest for the reasonableness and expediency of so many that in Ireland were chiefly four Partiâ—ions Governments or Provincial Kingdoms of very different natures manners interests Feuds and Kings too that would not yield any of them to the other willingly and by
Kingdom been destroy'd but for the enormity of their sins Whereof whoever pleases may see proofs at large in Fitz-Herberts Policy and Religion Part 1. chap. 21. 22. 23 c. yea Jesus the son of Syrach for he may be more easily consulted in every Bible at hand may give to a sober man assurance enough where he says First cap. 10. 8. that the Kingdom is translated from Nation to Nation because of unjust dealings injuries calumnies and various deceits Secondly c. 40. 10. that death and bloodshed strife and the sword oppression famine contrition and scourges were all of them created for the wicked and for them the deluge was made Nay if we consult the Books of Kings read the Prophets run over the Books of Josuah Judges Deuteronomy Chronicles and the rest of the old Testament examine all the Histories of Christendom we shall not find any whole Kingdom or Nation destroy'd but for grievous and horrible sins either of the Rulers or People or Priests or all together Yea we shall commonly find the very quality and species of those transgressions mentioned that brought the vengeance on them However and notwithstanding that further yet we know that bloodshed is one of those four sins that cry to Heaven Gen. X. 11. for vengeance the Voice of thy brothers blood cries to me from the earth said God himself to Cain and that the very second of the Gen. IX 6. Laws he gave to Noe was that whosoever did shed the blood of man his also should be shed after all I dare not affirm positively that either those very Feuds of the Irish how unparallel'd soever in blood or those other transgressions in specie be they what you please were the sins that moved God to pronounce this final doom against them but only in general That their great sins compell'd him to it And how should I indeed For who was the Counsellor Esay XL. 13. Rom. XI 39. of God or who knows any thing of the secrets of his Providence except only those to whom himself was pleased to reveal them Nevertheless I dare acquaint the Reader that although I give but little credit generally and sometimes none at all to the Relations of Cambrensis where he seems rather to vent his passion and write a Satyr against that People than regard either Modesty or Truth yet I will not call in question what he relates l. 2. de Expug Hib. c. 33. of the Prophetical predictions made so many Ages before by the four Prophetical Saints of that Nation Moling Brachan Patrick and Columb-Cille and written by themselves says he in their own Irish Books extant yet in Ireland concerning the final Fate of their Countreymen the old Milesian Race viz. That the people of Great Brittain shall not only invade them but for many Ages continue a sharp cruel and yet doubtful War upon them at home in Ireland sometimes the one and sometimes the other side prevailing That although those Invaders shall be often disturb'd worsted weakned especially and according to the prophecy of Brachan by a certain King that shall come from the desert Mountains of Patrick and on a Sunday-night seize a Castle in the Woody parts of Ibh Faohlain and besides force them almost all away out of Ireland yet they shall continually maintain the Eastern Sea-Coast in their possession That in fine it will be no sooner than a little before the day of judgment and then it will be when they shall be throughly and universally victorious over all Ireland erect Castles every where among the Irish and reduce the whole Island from Sea to Sea under the English Yoak And verily those Prophetical predictions five hundred years since delivered us by Cambrensis as he received 'em from the Irish themselves are the more observable That by consulting the History of after-Ages from Henry II. of England to the last of Queen Elizabeth and first of King James we may see them to a tittle accomplish'd Unless peradventure some will unreasonably boggle at the circumstance of time express'd in these words Paulò ante diem Judicii a little before the day of Judgment Which yet no man has reason to do Because we know not how near this great day which shall end the World may be to us at this very present As for that King foretold as coming from the desâ—rt Mountains of Patric there may be occasion and place enough to speak of him again that is hereafter in the Second Part of this Treatise But whether from this Irish Prophesie either had as for the substance not the exact words of it from Cambrensis for he pretends not to give to us the exact words or had perhaps at least for some part of it from the Irish themselves resorting to Rome in those days the famous Italian Prophet of Calabria Joachimus Abbot of Flore did foretell in his time the utter destruction and eternal desolation that Joachimus Ab. post Tract super cap. X. Isaiae Part 1. de Oneribus sexti Temporis was to come upon the Irish Nation I cannot say This I know 1. That in all his predictions all along in his several Commentaries on Jeremy Esay the Apocalyps c. he pretends to divine Revelation 2. That he lived several years after the Writings of Cambrensis on Ireland had been publick For Cambrensis dedicated one part of them to Henry II. himself who died in the Year of Christ 1189. and the rest to his Son Richard when yet but Earl of Poicton And Joachim was in Sicily with Richard now King of England and Philip Polydore Virgil. in Ricardo primo King of France both wintring there with their Fleets An. 1190. in their way to the Invasion of the holy Land Nay I have my self read his submission of his Works to the See Apostolick dated by himself ten years after which was the Year 1200. of our Saviours Incarnation 3. That being ask'd what the success of this great expedition to the holy Land against Saladine should be his Answer was it should prove unsuccessful and that the time of recovering Hierusalem was not yet come 4. That this prediction of his was punctually true as appear'd ere long 5. That his Prophecy of the old Irish Nation is in these genuin words you read in the Margin * Ex rigoribus horribilis hyemis glacialis flatibus Aquilonis parit Hibernia Incolas furibundos Sed si sequentium temporum terrores praenoscerent internos impetus cogitarene à facie spiritus Domini ferreum pectus averterent se à sempiternis opprobriis liberarent Sed ex quo invicem vertitur furor aspideus involvit tam Clerum quam populum par insultus non video quod superna Clementia ulterius differat quin in â—os exactissimum judicium acuat in stuporem perpetuae desolationis impellat Omnes istos populos Cathedra Dubliniensis astringit Sed Darensium enormis iniquit as totum defaedat ordinem charitatis Et ideo
à planta inquit pedis usque ad verticem capitis non est in eis sanitas Isaiae 1. temporalibus molestiis repercussis Joachimus Ab. supra which I English thus as well I can or can guess at their sense Of the colds of horrible Winter and winds of the icy North Ireland brings forth outragious Inhabitants But if they had foreknown the terrors of following times and thought of their intest in rage they would turn away their iron breast from the face of Gods anger and free themselves from everlasting reproaches But since their fury of Asps is turn'd against one another and the same violence involves as well the Clergy as the People I do not see that the Clemency of Heaven may or will delay to sharpen the most rigorous judgment against them and force them on to the astonishment of perpetual desolation And this is all that Abbot Joachim prophesied of that People Which indeed I had the curiosity to see in his own Works and words because I heard it by chance some twenty years ago much spoken of by a Gentleman that read it Nor has this Prophet a word more of Ireland but only those other few that in the same place immediately follow which yet I must confess I do not understand though perhaps I might afar off guess at their meaning did not the Latin word defaedat or English of it make no reasonable construction at all where it is placed All these People says he speaking of Episcopal Diocesses the See of Dublin joyns fast together But the iniquity of the Kildarians defaedat makes clean the whole order of Charity And therefore says Esay from the sole of the foot to the top of the head there is no health in them being struck anew with their temporal evils 6. That albeit his Book asserting a Quaternity against Petrus Lombardus the Master of the Sentences and Bishop of Paris who taught the undivided Unity of one Thing or Essence in the Trinity of Persons was condemned in the Council of Lateran under Innocent III. yet so was neither himself as who had submitted all his Doctrine to the Apostolick See nor any part of his prophetical Books wherein this Prophecy of Ireland is 7. And lastly That notwithstanding he be not so particular in many circumstances as for Example in those either of the Nation of the Invaders or of the Defence made by the Invaded or of that King foreseen coming from the Desert Mountains of Patrick or of the time when the English should be throughly victorious Paulo ante diem Judicii A little before the day of Judgment yet as to the main he is no less positive than the Irish prophetical Saints themselves were by foretelling the eternal desolation of that People and that with as much assurance as any could who by special Revelation had been made privy to the immutable Decree of the Watcher and Holy one of Heaven pronounc'd against them Which Decree of Heaven for such it was undoubtedly on what occasion by what means degrees methods and for how many Ages it was a putting in execution before the final accomplishment or final effect of it had been atchieved will be the subject of the Second Part of this little Treatise but after I have given here one Section more that relates wholly to that ancient People alone as they were yet a free Nation SECT VI. Gathelus Milesius Briotan of the posterity of Nemedus New History of Galfridus considered Ithius employ'd c. Irish Language common c. Milesians in their Antiquity yield somewhat to the Israelites Scotia lately so called Errors in page 18. and 19. Battel 'twixt Coilus and Fergus a meer story Again Geoffrey of Monmouth The late Histories of Scotland examin'd A true account of Reuds and the Dal-Reudini Descent of Charles II. of Great Brittain from 81. Irish Monarchs Joannes Scotus Erigena The Southern Towers and Wall c. First Invasion of the Danes on Ireland as recorded by the French Hanmer's History of Ireland in very many points reproved Battel of Degsestan Both Cambrensis and Cambden out Again Cambrensis refuted Aonach Tailtionn Vnparallel'd Hospitality of the Ancient Irish Beginning and Appropriation of Meath by Tuathal Teachtmhor and his four Pallaces Idolatrous Fires at Tleaghtghae and Visneach Error in the 229 page Costly Progress of the Kings of Cashel Antiquity and Kings of Dublin Of Clanna Ruaruidh Golden Mines and abundance of Treasure in Ireland The Irish Cloister at Reinsburg in Germany Marianus Scotus Saxon Abby at Maio in Connaght Last Parliament held by the Milesian Race Prophecy of Malachias History of the Staff of Jesus Monastery of Beannchuir Gallus and Columbanus Whether an Interregnum Of Ainmhire and Doâ—â—hnall two Irish Monarchs and Gildas Badonicus Reynerus the Lvi King of Denmark dying prisoner in Ireland Kings of the Heruli and Princes of Biscay descended of the Irish FOR although according to my first design and order of these Discourses and sequel of things in them all along hitherto I might now conveniently enough enter upon that Second Part yet upon after-thoughts I judg'd it not amiss to interpose here this one Section more though it be no other than a Miscellany partly of Reflections on some things touch'd before and partly of Additions to them 42. Wherefore to begin and because I have in my very first entry on these Historical Discourses of Ireland pag. 5. alledged Cambden acknowledging that the Irish fetch the beginning of their Histories from the most profound and remote Records of Antiquity so that in comparison of them the Ancientness of all other Nations is but Novelty and as it were a matter of yesterday and also because in mentioning page 11 Clanna Gaodhel or posterity of Gathelus I have said that from him all the Clanna Mileadh or children and posterity of Milesius descended long before either Milesius himself or his predecessors came into Spain and further because it may be of some use elsewhere in this very Section take here in short out of D. Keting an account as well of some memorable passages of those most profound remote Records of Antiquity concerning both Gathelus himself and his Father Niull and the travels of their posterity for some Ages before any of them arrived in Spain as of the descent of Milesius through twenty Generations from Gathelus and 25 in all from Noe. Viz. That Niull a younger son to Feanusa Farsa King of Scythia and a most learned man especially in all or most of the Languages that not very many Ages before confounded the Builders on the Plain of Sennaar having travail'd into Egypt had for his admired Excellencies not only a large Countrey there by name Capacyront bestow'd on him for ever by the Pharaoh that govern'd Egypt then viz. Pharaoh surnamed Cingeris from whose name all the following Kings of Egypt were call'd Pharaoh's as the Emperours of Rome from Julius Cesar were call'd Cesars but also one of this Pharaohs own Daughters to Wife by name or rather
over his designed return and instead thereof going to Rome and soon after dying there upon the 12th of the Calends of May in the Year of our Lord 689 left his Countrey a prey to the Saxons who till then could never subdue it nor prevail against the Brittons but were themselves always overthrown and forc'd all along e'n by so many Brittish Kings in succession from Aurelius and Arthur to Caduallo either to fly the Land or submit to their mercy All which in substance and much more at large we are told by Geoffrey * Galfridus Monumetensis in his Latin History de Origine Gestis Britannorum printed at Paris by Ascensius Badius Anno 1517. But the fourth Book of this Romantick story iâ— wholly taken up with the deceitful Propâ—ecies of Merlin though Prophecles much augmented says Neubrigensis by additions of Geoffrey's own inventive Brain which he foisted in as Merlin's Nor has been ashamed to endeavour to make us believe that Merlin was a great and wonderful and true Prophet indeed yea notwithstanding that Merlin's own Mother confessed him to be the Son of an Incubus Devil See Galfridus himself l. 3. c. 3. of Monmouth in his seven Books of History and out of him by others Only besides my summing up the number of Kings and fixing the period of times and contracting the whole story and digesting it into this order and Method give me leave to except the particular of Dioclesian the Syrian King 's thirty Daughters and the Incubi Devils with their Gigantic procreation For this I had from Buchanan's relation of it l. 2. Rer. Scot. as added by some others to supply a defect of so much in the new History of Galfridus 45. But as William of Newbery commonly called in Latin Neubrigensis this Geoffrey's own Contemporary in England has in Proemio Histor five hundred years since reflected with much freedom and tartness on the Vanity incredibility and falsity of his History in general and more particularly on that part of it which represents King Arthur such a wonderful Heroe so has in later times Polydore Virgil first and after him George Buchanan ruin'd the very foundation of the whole Fabrick I mean the very Being or Existence of Brute himself at any time on Earth And certainly in my opinion the reasons of Polydore seem convincing enough to any unbyass'd man For says he l. 2. Histor Anglic neither Titus Livius nor Dionysius Halicarnasseus nor any of those other Authors that most diligently write of Roman Antiquities have one syllable of this Brutus Nor could any thing concerning so much as either his Name or Existence be fetch'd from the ancient Annals of Great Brittain seeing that five hundred years or thereabouts before this new History of Galfridus had been contriv'd Gildas I mean the true and not the supposititious one complain'd that if ever the ancient Britons his Countrey-men had any such or other Annals at all they were undoubtedly either perish'd in the War at home or carried away so far abroad as no news could be had of them Besides the particular of the taking of Rome by Belinus and Brennus quite over-throws all both Fabrick and foundation of this New History if we compute the times set down in it and compare them with those in the Greek and Roman Chronicles For in this New History not only Brute is said to have conquer'd Albion about the tenth year after his Father Silvius had been kill'd which was the year of the World 4100 but the two Brothers Belinus and Brennus sons to Molmutius the XX. King and they the XXI Generation from Brute are said to have taken Rome about four hundred years after the same Brute had conquer'd this Island And yet according to the Epitome or account of times both in Eusebius and all other as well Greek as Latin Histories Rome was taken by Brennus and his Gauls even after full seven hundred years and ten had been over from the foresaid year wherein Brute is said by the new History to have enter'd Albion So that by this new History Brennus must have taken Rome three hundred and ten years before it was really taken at all Then which I think nothing can be desired more convincing to ruin both the Fabrick and foundation of this Romance of Brute And so in effect has Polydors thought before me But if you would have more yea many more unanswerable arguments on this Subject you may consult George Buchanan where he has them at large L. 2. Histor Scot. For as it ought to be no part of my purpose here to compare or confront so many or indeed any of those vain particulars in the new History of Brute either with the Commentaries of Caesar or Annals and History of Tacitus or his Life of Agricola or Venerable Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English or the Saxon Chronology publish'd by Wheloc or the most ancient Monuments of the Irish or any other sacred or profane of so many other Kingdoms of Europe or with Reason it self so it is neither any part of it to dilate or give those manifold arguments of Buchanan though they be directly home against the very foundation of the same new History or the Being or Existence at any time of Brute It sufficeth me in this place to have given the reasons of Polydore against it My purpose here being no other than in relation to the above passage in my eighth and ninth page to conclude out of all That the Irish Cronologers and Historians have at least much more probability on their side in asserting unanimously that their true Briotan who descended of Nemedus and planted a Colony in the North part of this great Island so early was he that gave the whole Island the denomination of Brittain from his own name than they on the other side have who if the arguments hitherto be conclusive tell us in effect that a false and forged Brutus one that never was in Being should have given it And indeed the Authority of the Irish Monuments in the Psalter of Cashel an authentick Book of Irish Histories written above eight hundred years since by so great and knowing and holy a man as Cormack who was at the same time both King and Bishop of Mounster and the further derivation of the more remote Antiquities inserted in it from that other Book much more ancient yet which above one thousand two hundred years since in the composing or collecting of it out of all the former Chronicles of that Nation from the very first Plantations of it had been in the Parliament or National Assembly of all the Estates at Tarach under Laogirius the Monarch supervised and agreed upon by the choicest Committee they could appoint of three Antiquaries three Kings and three Bishops whereof S. Patrick himself was one over-ballances by much the credit of Geoffrey of Menmouth in his new History of Brutus written by him no earlier than Henry II. Reign and opposed nay quite run down by his own
less than the Milesians themselves and all other Gathelians whatsoever had the same very speech their Mother Tongue though with some difference in the Dialect So that only those I called once the Aborigenes of Ireland I mean the progeny of Ciocal and his followers descended from the accursed Cham and come out of Africk had another peculiar Language of their own 57. Though I have page 15. said the Antiquity of the Milesian Irish to be no-where parallel'd if not peradventure among the Chineses only c. I hope no man will understand me so as to think I would not have still excepted the Children of Israel had I feared that any would entertain such a thought of my meaning as would need the exception I am sure none could justly do so that pleas'd to consider what I said before page 5. viz. That the Milesians had not before two hundred eighty three years after Moses's passing the Red Sea landed in Ireland For until then whatever they were called it is plain they could not be called Irish because this name they derived from that Island where they never lived before this time And 't is no less plain that before this time the Children of Israel had as a free and brave and conquering Nation inhabited Palestin at least two hundred and forty years had also lived forty years in the Wilderness and before that too had been a great numerous people in Egypt where they lived in all from the descent of Jacob out of Canaan thither till their departure under Moses through the Red Sea two hundred and fifteen years as Josephus expresly tells in his Antiq. L. iii. c. vi though under great bondage for some part thereof And therefore to them or their ancientness I could not intend to compare that of the Milesians nor as now become Irish no nor as Gathelians neither For Gathelus himself the original stock of all the Gathelians and consequently of the Milestans being these were only a branch of those was but a youth in Egypt with his Father Niull when Moses cross'd the Red Sea as we have lately seen at large 48. Yet in the 18th Page I must confess there is an Errour committed by saying that the six sons of Muredus alias in Irish Muiriach King of Vlster went to Scotland under the Monarchy of Laogirius or Laoghaire King of Ireland But I have corrected it page 93. where you read it was in the Twentieth year of this Monarch's Successor and son Lugha they invaded Scotland 49. Whether Niall Naoihghiallach did or did not order Albania to be call'd Scotia as Keting says he did whereof see the same 18th page you are nevertheless to know that the most eminent Antiquary Primâ—t Vsher hath sufficiently evinc'd de Primord page 784. That as neither Dalrieda nor Argathelia alias Argyle though the proper Seat of the Scots inhabiting Brittain until the year 840. so neither the whole Countrey of Albania even after that year had ever been called Scotia by any Writer until about the year of Christ 1100. when both Nations I mean the Picts and Scots were come by degrees to make one people And that Marianus Scotus who flourish'd at that time was one of the very first Authors that call'd it by this name of Scotia Where you are further to observe that according to this most learned Primat's account of the confinement of the foresaid Scots to their ancient Dominions of Dalriada and Argyle it was the year of Christ 840. before they had inlarged themselves by overthrowing and subduing the whole Kingdom of the Picts Which is a hundred years later than my account of this matter out of Cambden in my said 18. Page 50. Page 19. where I supposed that the Nine several Countreys or Nations forc'd to deliver every one of them Hostages to Niall the Great otherwise and from the nine several sorts of Hostages surnam'd in Irish Naoighiallach in Latin Noui-Obses were only the five Provinces of Ireland and the distinct Dominions of the Dal-Rheudans Picts and other Inhabitants of that Countrey we now call Scotland there I follow'd Keting But after having lighted on the Author of Cambrensis Eversus and found in him That the great Irish Antiquary Joannes Colganus in his Trias Taumaturga Gratianus Lucius page 299. * page 447. num 56. had otherwise counted those nine Countreys and Nations I thought fit as occasion was offered page 221. to count or give them as he did viz. Mounster Leinster Connaght Vlster the Brittons Picts Dal-Rheudans Saxons and Morini a People of France towards Calice and Picardy For the word Saxons is in the said later page omitted through the Printers fault And yet I cannot but acknowledg that if Niall the Great had any Hostages from the Saxons he must either have taken 'em at Sea or from the Coasts of Germany the Higher or Lower but by no means from Great Brittain Because Niall was kill'd in France anno Dom. 405. as the foresaid Author of Cambr. Euers Gratianus Lucius himself does write in the short Account he gives of this Monarchs Reign and the Saxons were not come into Great Brittain before the year of Christ 440. as Polydore Virgil in his Reign of Vortigern says that is forty four years after the said Niall the Great Naoighiallach had left behind him all his Hostages and ended all his Greatness in this World 51. With the Battel or loss or name of Coilus as King of Great Brittain mention'd by me page 19. though I took it from Keting and quoted Buchanan as he does and find by reading Buchanan himself that Keting has rightly quoted him yet now I am not my self otherwise affected with it than to reject it utterly And my reason is not only Buchanans fixing the time of that Battel fought as he says between Coilus King of the Brittons and Fergus I. King of the Scots eight or nine hundred years before this very Fergus came from Ireland nor only Buchanan's borrowing this whole story out of Hector Boethius whom Humphry Lloyd calls hominem impurissimum a most impure Author and Lucius Scriptorem corruptissimum a most corrupt Writer nay one who in the far greater part of his History scarce delivers any truth at all but the very name of Coilus here deriving its original from the fertil invention of Geoffrey of Monmouth's new History of Brutus For it is only in this Romance we find the first mention of any Coilus among the Kings of Great Brittain And there indeed I must confess we have not only one but three Monarchs of this Island bearing that name The first of them being the fortieth King in order of time the second being the seventieth second King and the last whom he names Coel. being the seventy ninth according to Geoffrey's disposition of them and my account out of him But I must withal acknowledg that he has not a word nor a syllable either of the first or last of these Three save only the bare names of Coilus and Coel hudled
in among so many other mostly too bare names of other pretended Brittish Kings Neither has he any more of the very Second Coilus than that he was the son of King Marius and the Father of King Lucius the First Christian King of Great Brittain and that having in his youth been bred at Rome he continued after e'en all along his Reign both devoted to the Roman State and in Peace with all his Neighbours And therefore the rest of the story in Buchanan either of this or any other Coilus must be a later additional Invention and in reference to the real true Records of Antiquity as ill contrived as might be though answerably enough to the foundation laid for such a superstructure of the new History of Brute and his Descendants But since we are occasionally return'd again to this famed Work of Galfridus Monumetensis whereof you have elsewhere so lately had from my own reading it over a pretty just Summary give me leave here to let you see out of others as just a censure of it Give me leave to tell you that Alanus Copus has compared it with Ovids Metamorphosis and Lucians Tales That William Neubrigensis has spent even three whole Leaves in Prooem Hist to demonstrate by instance of particulars how it is wholly compos'd of the most improbable incredible and ungrounded Lyes that ever were invented That Cambden also in his Britannia relates to others who stick not to say it is all patch'd up of untunable discords and jarring absurdities yea compos'd of such Milesian Fables such intolerable meer inventions of the Authors own brain that the Roman Church at last thought fit to enroll it in the Index of Prohibited Books Yea that Cambrensis himself though a Britton by birth and blood and as desirous of the glory of his Countrey-men as any could be gives it nevertheless the Character of a fabulous History as you may see in his Description of Wales cap. 7. Nay that in his Itinerary of Wales l. 1. c. 5. he tells us that and the occasion and manner how the Devils were seen leaping and skipping and dancing on it However and though it be manifest that as well these Censures as the Summary aforesaid are sufficient even each of them apart to ruin the story of Coilus and Fergus in Buchanan which derives originally from Galfridus and ultimately relies on his invention I shall nevertheless give now another Argument shewing more peculiarly how little Faith ought to be given him in his Catalogue of Brittish Kings and consequently none at all to his naming of Coilus among them In his Seventh Book Chap. V. where he so confidently relates the mighty Battel fought and overthrow given by King Arthur in France to those four hundred thousand Romans and their Auxiliaries mentioned before part Europeans part Asians and the rest Affricans under many Kings come to assist the Roman Emperour against Arthur he has also the brazen brow to invent not only those three names of the Emperour himself and his two Lieutenant Generals which we have seen before but many more of the Auxiliary Kings viz. Epistrephus King of Greece Mustemphar King of Parthia Aliafatina King of Spain Hirtacus King of Affric Boetus King of the Medes Sextorius King of Libya Teucer King of Phrygia Xerxes King of the Itureans Pandrasus King of Egypt Misipsa King of Babylon Politetes Duke of Bithynia Teucer Duke of Phrygia Evander of Syria Ethion of Boetia sure it should be Beotia Hippolitus of Creet c. whereas indeed there were no such names or men and most of these Countreys named by him in the last place were but Provinces then under the Roman or Constantinopolitan Empire and no Kings nor Dukes but only Presidents ruling them under the Emperour Wherefore if he could so boldly invent such a list of Kings abroad in the World for the sixth Age of Christianity wherein he could be so easily disproved by a thousand arguments we have no reason to think that for home and those early Ages of the World wherein he could not be disproved by any Records he did otherwise than meerly forge his Catalogue of Brittish Kings And these are the Reasons that moved me to this Reflection upon that story of Coilus and Fergus in Buchanan as related out of him in my foresaid 19th page And the same reasons or at least a sufficient part of them makes me likewise not insist now upon the name of Notium which you have seen before page 13. given to Breoghuin's Tower in Gallicia It was I doubt not borrowed by Keting from Hector Boethius who says in express terms that place was called first Brigantia but after Notium and last of all Compostella I know there is a Promontory in Dâ—smond the South of Mounster which is by Cambden in his Map of Ireland called Notium but whether from any of that name in North Spain or elsewhere I know not 54. But what is more material to be noted occasioually in this place is Buchanans account of Fergus and the rather because he seems to give it from the Scottish Historians in general He says that this very Fergus pretended by him to have been the over-thrower of Coilus and by Hector Boethius to have also been the son of Ferchardus King of Ireland was the Founder of the Scottish Kingdom in Albania and first of all the Kings of the Scots inhabiting Great Brittain That he came to Albania or Scotland about the time of Alexander the Great 's taking Babylon almost 331. years before the Birth of Christ And that within twenty four years more having reign'd in all so long in his return from Ireland whither he had gone back from Scotland to quiet some disturbances there he perish'd at Sea in a Tempest near that Rock in the North of Ireland which from his wrack hard by is ever since call'd in Latin Rupes Fergusii in Irish Carrig-Fhearuis by us Knock-Fergus So says Buchanan and so said before him Hector Boethius and some others of his Countreymen Historians both he and they either seeming to know nothing at all of those Annals and Books whence only the real true History of their Antiquities could be known or else wittingly and willingly to have taken up a fabulous story of purpose to establish a glorious succession of a hundred and seven Kings of the same Nation reigning one after another from that Fergus I. to James VI. even for above 1900 years Whatever the cause might be the one or the other or perhaps which is likely enough both together it is plain out of the antient Annals and other Histories of Ireland which are indeed the only Fountain of all such truly real Scottish Antiquities as concern at least the Irish Invaders and time of their Invasion of any part of Great Brittain that Buchanan and those follow'd by him have created the said Fergus I. King of the Scots in Albania even 819 years before he landed from Ireland in Brittain For those Irish Monuments fix on the year of
Christ 498. the time of Fergus Mor as they call him son to Ercho Nephew to Eochadh Muinreamhar and of his five Brothers with him invading the North of Brittain And Tigernacus who commonly delivers in Latin what was done abroad as what was done at home in Irish has of the present subject this following passage Fergus Mor mhac Ercha id est Fergusius Magnus Erci filius cum Gente Dalrieta partem Britanniae tenuit ibi mortuâ—s est c. That is Fergus Mor the son of Erch with his people of Dal-Riada possess'd himself of part of Brittain and died there about the first year of the Popedom of Symmachus Which was the year of Christ 498. as Primat Vsher has rightly observed Besides the old Irish Book containing the Synchronism or if I may so speak the contemporariness not only of the Monarchs and Provincial Kings of Ireland but of the Kings in Albania too expresly relates how it was in the twentieth year after the Batâ—â—l of Ocha that the six sons of Ercho viz. the two Enguses the two Loarns some Copies have Coarns and the two Ferguses whereof one was this Fergus the Great pass'd over into Albania I say nothing how Nennius translated into Irish among O Duncgans Miscellanies says it was in the sixth Age of the World 〈…〉 〈…〉 the Dal-Riadans had conquer'd part of the Countrey of the Picts and the Saxons enter'd on other parts of Great Brittain Nor do I insist on O Duucgan himself though he most minutely prosecutes this Adventure of Ercho's Children telling the Families issued from them in Scotland which he calls Albain what Lordships or Lands each of them was possess'd of there and what Forces by Land or Sea they usually raised But what I am particularly to observe is that of all hands among the Irish Annalists and Historians it is without any contradiction admitted That this Fergus the Great son to Ercho is the same with Fergusius I. King of the Scots though in Boethius Major Buchanan c. called in Latin the son of Ferchardus That the foresaid Battel of Ocha wherein the Irish Monarch Oillioll Molt perish'd was fought in the year of Christ 478. And that from this year to the year 498. there is no man but sees the just interval must be those twenty years on expiration whereof the foresaid Book of Syncâ—ronisin relates the passing of Fergus Mor to Brittain And the issue of all must be that certainly as to this particular either all the ancient Irish Annals and Monuments besides the late Histories of Keting and Lucius are extraordinary false or Buchanan and Hector Boethius and all other Scottish Authors follow'd by them are extreamly out Even so far out as to have at least inverted the whole succâ—ssion descent line and genealogie of their Kings by giving us a Catalogue with the Lives and Reigns of two or three and forty Kings as descended Lineally from Fergusius I. before he had been existent on Earth For Congallus is the Xliiii King in Buchanan c. and yet the eighteenth year of this very Congallus according to Buchanans computation must have been the year of our Lord 498. in which all the Irish Records place the landing of Fergus Mor in Scotland tho the very first of the Catalogue in him and other Historians follow'd by him Moreover and which yet is no less considerable than any of the former Arguments we may take notice that Buchanan and his Authors make Reuda the sixth King of those in his Catalogue descended from Fergus Then which nothing can be more plain against all the Irish Antiquities To say nothing of V. Bede in his Eccles Hist l. 1. cap. 1. whom you may consult at leasure But for the Irish Chronicles I am sure they tell us particularly that the Monarch of Ireland Conaire mhac Mogha Lauae had three sons call'd the Three Carbry's viz. Cairbre Muisck from whom the Tract of Musckry and Cairbre Baisckin from whom the Land of Corca bhaiskin both in Mounster has denomination and Cairbre Riada alias Riadhfada That this last of the Three was the first Irish Conqueror of the Countrey in Albania which bore his name being called in Irish Dal-Riada in English the Part of Riada and by Latin Writers Dal-rieta Dal-Reuda and the Inhabitants Dal-Reudini as Bede calls ' em And that his foresaid Father the Irish Monarch Conaire mhac Mogha Lauae having reign'd in Ireland eight years was kill'd in the year of the World 5364. being the year of Christ 165. Whence it must follow that his said son Cairbre surnamed Riada in Irish though by V. Bede and others called Reuda must have invaded the Picts and possess'd himself of that part of their Countrey named from him at least three hundred years before the time of Pergus the Great who as we have seen before invaded not Albania till the year of Christ 498. So wide in this very particular of Reuda is the Irish account and History from the Scottish in Buchanan How to reconcile the difference in either particular being it is so great and concerns so great a succession of Kings and Ages too for at least 819 years I leave to such as shall please to concern themselves in it more than my purpose in this place requires I should my self But let them withal take these further Animadversions to thought 1. That the Father of this Fergusius the Great however you call him Erck Ercho Ercha or either as Buchanan has it Ferchardus or any other name whatsoever was never King of Ireland as no more was Fergus Mâ—â— himself notwithstanding Buchanan's intimation to the contrary but only a Brother to Muirchiortach the Irish Monarch that reign'd over all Ireland from the year of Christ 503 to the year 527. wherein he was murder'd 2. That Joannes Major himself though a Scotchman has in his little History of Great Brittain cap. X. reflected on that Vulgar Errour in the Annals of Scotland where they place Fergusius I. before Reuda's time 3. That Hollingshed in his English Translation of Hector Boethius professes himself to be of Opinion That very many of those Kings related by the Scottish Histories to have reigned successively one after another in Scotland were such as neither successively nor in Scotland but together at the same time reigned part of them in Ireland and part in other adjacent lesser Islands 4. That Gratianus Lucius in his Camb. Evers page 93. adds moreover Himself to think not improbably that the Scottish Authors borrowed a great number of their Kings from those indeed that were Pictish Kings Where to ground this Opinion of his he produces an old Irish Translation of Ninnius I mean as to the Catalogue of Pictish Kings in that ancient Author and fixes in particular on eighteen of them by name among which is one Gregory albeit Gregory be the Lxxiii King of Scots in Buchanan's Catalogue and that King too in whom Buchanan glories so much as to record him to posterity by the
Title of Gregory the Great which he says was deservedly given him by his own People 5. That although in Buchanan's account this very Gregory began his Regn an Christi 870. and finish'd it by his death anno 892. and consequently was not only King of Scots but of Scotland being the Pictish Kingdom there at least as 't is commonly suppos'd had been utterly destroy'd full thirty years before the very first of his Reign yet if his being either King of Scotland or King of Scots be no truer than Buchanan's Relation of his invading Ireland fighting a great Battel victoriously there against the two Protectors or Tutors of the young King Duncanus a Minor and then visiting this young King at Dublin where he resided and then appointing new Tutors for him and last of all taking with him to Scotland threescore Irish Hostages out of the several Provinces of Ireland I dare say there was never any such thing or Person or Prince as Gregory King of Scots For besides what I have given before page 23 24. to disprove this great fiction of Gregory the Great either conquering or at all invading Ireland 't is clear out of all the Irish Antiquities recording the Danish Wars that not the Irish nor any Irish King Minor or not Minor did possess Dublin at that time but the Danes And indeed to confirm this truth the Annals of Vlster tell us that in the year of our Lord 871. two great Danish Captains viz. Ainlaph and Juor came from Albania to Ath-Cliath alias Dublin with two hundred sail and an exceeding great Prey of English and Brittons and Picts whom they brought Captives to Ireland So that Dublin most certainly was in the Reign of that Gregory of Scotland not under any Monarch or other Irish King as no more was it in a hundred and fifty years following but in the power of the Danes who were at least the first Re-builders of it much about the same time that Buchanan supposes it to have been the Metropolitan City of Ireland tho it came not to be so till Henry the Second's Reign For he indeed was the first King or Lord of Ireland that ever kept his Court there and by appointing it the Residence of his Vice-Roys gave it in a little time so great splendor that the Forger seeing it so in his own time thought fit in much earlier times to place his forged Irish Monarch of Gregory of Scotlands story Duncanus in it as in the Royal Mansion of the Kings of Ireland Whereas to the contrary nothing is more known in the Irish Histories than that the City of Tarach full twenty miles from Dublin was the Royal Seat of the Kings of Ireland till its destruction by the first Danish War and in the same days Dublin at best but a very mean place respectively 6. That nevertheless as I am apt enough to believe that allowing Cambden the liberty of an hyperbolical expression he has upon sufficient grounds told us that the Earls of Argile derive their Race from the ancient Princes and Potentates of Argile by an infinite descent of Ancestors so I am verily persuaded that by how much the Genealogy of Kings must be more narrowly sifted than that of any Subjects by so much Gratianus Lucius has upon surer grounds exactly derived in a direct Line the descent of James the sixth of Scotland and first of Great Brittain not only through so many Kings his Predecessors of Scotland from the ancient Kings of Argile up along to Fergus I. nor only from those before that very Fergus through fourteen Generations up to Reuda but even before this Reuda through fifty three Generations whereof Twenty four were Monarchs of Ireland up along to Herimon the first sole absolute Monarch of the Milesian blood in that Kingdom even so long since as Three thousand years wanting only seven Nay I am likewise persuaded that he has also very exactly in two other Lines carried up the descent of the same King James through thirty one other Monarchs of Ireland to the said Herimon as also in a fourth and fifth Line through four and twenty more of the Irish Monarchs and here I mean twenty four more wholly different from all those fifty six already given of Herimons Race up along to Heber who being the stock in these two last Lines makes the 25th King of Ireland in this number ascending upwards for so he was during his short life in a joynt Sovereignty with his foresaid Brother Herimon 7. That undoubtedly this derivation of King James through so many Lines for three thousand years and from the Loins of eighty one Irish Monarchs besides all the truly real both Kings of Scotland and Kings of Scots or Dal-Riada and Argathelia in Scotland given us at large by Gratianus Lucius in his Camb. Evers page 242. 243 and 244. as it is by many degrees a much more ancient so it is a much more glorious derivation of the Royal Pedigree than either Buchanan or Boethius or Major or indeed any other Scottish Historian nay or even any Scottish Herald whatsoever among those called English Scots was capable to make even so much as in any manner well or ill as being wholly ignorant of the Irish Antiquities which they could neither understand nor read if they had had ' em And these are the Animadversions I desire them take to thought who shall either persuade themselves they can reconcile the difference 'twixt the Scottish and Irish Histories concerning Fergus or except against me for laying it open how justly soever the story of Him and Coilus given by me page 20 out of Buchanan has put a necessity on me to do so here There is a passage in my 21 page that says The Romans built Towers and Bulwarks all along the Southern Coast of Brittain at convenient distances against the landing of the Irish on that side out of their plundering Fleets Herein also I followed my Author Keting if I understand him rightly But having since consulted Cambden I found that either Keting had mistaken the matter or I him For the truth is that albeit in relation to the Caledonians or Picts and Scots inhabiting or those driven at that time to the Countreys lying North of Grahams Dyke the foresaid Towers or Castles must be acknowledg'd built in the South yet in relation to the whole Island of Great Brittain or to us now in England they were not so Which and whatever else concerning either that Dyke or Wall of the Romans that you may the more fully understand take this following Extract out of Cambden according to Hollands translation of him Camden in his Scotia and Sterling Sheriffdom Julius Agricola observing the narrow land or Streight by which Dunbritton Frith and Edenborough Frith are held from commixing fortined this space between with Garrisons So as all the part this side was then in possession of the Romans the Enemies remov'd and as it were driven into another Island In so much as Tacitus judg'd
Conchabhar Abhraruadh was King before him for one year only but before him Lughadh Sriabhndearg had continued Monarch six and twenty years compleat That this same Lughadh married the King of Denmarks Daughter and before his Reign immediately an Interregnum of five years had been which followed upon the murder of Conair Mor mhic Eidirsceoil and before this Interregnum the same Conair Mor had reigned full seventy years in great prosperity That after the foresaid Crioffan Niadnair those who immediately succeeded in the Sovereign power of Ireland were Fearrhadlach for twenty years then Fiacha Fionn for three and after him Fiocha Fionnolladh for twenty seven years more That these those in all seven Monarchs were every one of them kill'd in such and such manner and by such and such men of their own very Nation That after the seventh of them had been slaughtered by the Athaghtuachi or Countrey Boors and Plebeians in their General conspiracy against all the Royal and noble Blood the same Athatchtuachi set up for King of Ireland one Cairbre surnamed Ceannchait or Caitcheann from his Cats face an Irish man indeed by birth but by descent originally that is in the Ninth generation before come out of Denmark as one of the King of Denmark's sons who had accompanied Lauradh Loinnsioch returning with Anxiliaries from France to recover his inheritance the Monarchy of Ireland which Lauradh did Anno 3727. according to the computation followed by Gratianus Lucius Lastly that this Usurper Cairbre Caitcheann was at the end of five years kill'd and all his rebellious rout of Peasants and their partakers overthrown by the Nobles headed then by the rightful Heir of the Monarchy Tuathal Teachtmhor who thereupon was received as such being now the C. Monarch of the Milesian Race And all these matters together with so many other particular appendants on them within the Reigns of those eight or nine Monarchs which Reigns compriz'd the whole Reign and Life too nay much more time before and after than the whole Reign or Life either of Augustus in the Roman Empire the Irish Antiquaries give us most exactly at large And yet not a syllable of Fredelenus nor of either of the Frotho's no nor indeed of any other forein King or Prince or Adventurer so much as invading Ireland within or near that time though they wanted not occasion in Lughad's Reign and in Caibre Ceannchaits as we have seen to reflect on such matters if any such had really been The same or like argument though but a Negative one yet founded on the general silence of all the Irish Annals Chronicles Histories in the greatest concern of their Nation must be to every indifferent person a clear proof and conviction enough against the vain relations of Hanmer and Campion c. borrowed by them out of Cambrensis as by him from Geffrey of Monmouth I mean at present only those Fables of their great Brittish Heroe King Arthur's forcing the Irish Kings to pay him Tribute and their appearing at his great Court and City of Caer Leon upon Vsk and the Irish Monarch that as they idly fain was contemporary and tributary to him to have been called Gillemer In any of the Irish Annals Chronicles Histories there is not a syllable of any part of these matters no not so much as of Arthur's attempting once at any time on Ireland or picking or having any quarrel with any of the Kings or Lords there Nay Keting does quote Speed himself though a late English Auhor asserting in effect the whole to be a meer fiction and that Ireland was neither subject nor tributary to Arthur And the Keting in his Preface same Keting is positive herein that there was never any King of Ireland by name Gillemer Besides that Muirchiortach Mor mhac Ercha was not only Monarch of Ireland when Arthur was King of Great Brittain but in peace and amity all his life with him Where it may be added that if Arthur was created King of Great â—rittain in the 18th year of his age and was kill'd Anno 542. as Buchanan says he was then Buchanan l. 5. Rer. Scot. in Goran Rege XLV certainly the said Muirchiortarch Mor and his two next Successours immediately following one another Tuathal Maolgharbh and Diarmuid mhac Cearbheoil were those three Kings or Monarchs of Ireland that by succession were contemporary to the whole Reign of Arthur which if Buchanan be judg consisted of 24 years And yet there was no quarrel at all by any of them with Arthur much less subjection to him Also it may be added That as Keting says Fergusius the First of Scotland was Brother to the foresaid Muirchiortach King of Ireland And consequently that the Subjects of Muirchiortach were great Conquerors in the Northern parts of Great Brittain at that very time Yea that as Buchanan himself in the Reign of Goranus the XLV King of Scotland in his Computation and History relates it The great Battel of Humber wherein Arthur was not only defeated but mortally wounded nay in effect lost both Kingdom and life was fought against him by an Army of Irish Scots however in confederacy and conjunction with the Picts and some Brittons led in the same Field by Modrocdus against him Out of all which may be seen how unlikely the stories of King Arthur in Polychronicon Hanmer Campion c. which relate to Ireland are How improbable that must be of Westmonasteriensis in his years of Christ 497. and 592. which attributing the Monarchical power of Ireland to one Gillamurius alias Gillimer one that was never heard of in Ireland represents him notwithstanding as taken there by King Arthur and thereupon the rest of the Irish Princes e'en plainly forc'd to yield themselves all and do homage to Arthur How vain also is that of Cambrensis to the same purpose written before telling us It is read that the famous King of the Brittons Arthur had the Kings of Ireland his Tributaries and that some of them waited on him in his great Court of Caer Leon. But above all the candor and ingenuity of honest Galfridus the first forger of these among so many other Fables appears in grain however Cambrensis had not the confidence either to quote him for it or to mention at all Gillamurius though a part of it And yet notwithstanding any thing hitherto either in this place or elsewhere said I doubt not the posterity of the ancient Brittons have just reason if not to glory of King Arthurs Trophies at least to be sorry for his untimely Death and heartily wish their Ancestours had not deserv'd to see their blooming hopes in him so suddenly vanish Though at the same time I must ingenuously confess there are but too too many reasons able to suspend any judicious knowing man's belief of what even Buchanan himself has in our own days transmitted to Posterity for authentick Truths of this famous Kings renowned glorious performances viz. That he had continually been for many years but most particularly
and gloriously in twelve great Battels victorious over the Saxons That he took at last even York and London from them and after this again overthrew them in very Essex and Kent where they were strongest and placed their last reserve That he forc'd the remainders of them either to fly the Kingdom or submit to his pleasure In a word That he restored his whole Countrey and perfect peace unto it And that this happy effect of his pious and victorious Armes continued until the ambition anger and which you please to call it either treacherous rebellion or just indignation and resentment of his Nephew Modroedus for being put by the right of Succession gave too great a turn to his fortunate successes chiefly by the Scottish i. e. Irish Army's falling from him and their conjunction with Modroedus against him For this also I must here particularly note that during their confederacy and sideing with him which had early begun and always continued from the very beginning of his Wars until this unlucky difference about the succession and second unlucky Battel of Humber that followed thereupon he also continued perpetually successful But so soon as they joyn'd against him fortune deserted him and together with him his Countrey But whether so or no or whether indeed any of those other particulars related of K. Arthur by Buchanan himself as true History be or be not such as he would have us believe I think enough return'd in answer to Hanmer and Campion's making the Kings of Ireland Tributary to King Arthur of Great Brittain However because I believe it not very forrein nor much beside the matter I do on this occasion add That Polidore Virgil found so little satisfaction to his mind nay so great certainty of untruth in the relations written of this so much celebrated King Arthur that although in his History l. 3 he sums up in brief that is in seven or eight lines all the Wonders of them yet as he calls them so he reputes them no other than Vulgar stories Which to have been his inward sentiment of those relations may be further seen by his telling us That although King Arthur died in the very flower of his youth yet because of his exceeding great strength of body and no less vigorous heroick bravery of Soul Posterity has reported almost the very same Wonders of him which in our own time are among the Italians Romantickly sung of Rowland Nephew to Charles the Great And this without so much as mentioning any years at all of his Reign is all that Polidore has of this great Brittish Heroe Save only that he was the son of King Vter-pendragon That if he had lived a while i. e. his just age longer he had at last restored his perishing Countrey And that but a few years before the Reign of Henry VIII there was in Glastenbury Cloyster a very magnificent Tomb erected to his memory of purpose that after Ages might be thereby persuaded he had been a Prince adorned with all whatever ought be reputed most excellently great and stupendious and that this Tomb as if it had been erected soon after his death had certainly been design'd a memorial of his glory whereas indeed the Cloister it self wherein it stood was not in being then So this Author Polydore Virgil. And yet after all I cannot but acknowledg that so great a concurrence of other Authors together with the general vogue of King Arthur even all along to our time in these Nations of England Scotland and Ireland especially considering that all sides are agreed about his having existed or been and been also about the year of Christ five hundred King of Great Brittain must argue of necessity some great extraordinary exploits of his against the Saxons Nor truly do I see how otherwise Polydore himself cou'd say That if he had lived longer a while he had enfranchiz'd his Countrey Neither is it a valuable argument to the contrary at least if we believe the judicious impartial Cambden That the Saxon Chronologie or other Saxon Authors have nothing of him and his brave atchievements against them I am sure I have my self read in Cambden this very day to this purpose That he has observ'd the Saxon Writers defective in this particular viz. That they pass over in silence what was bravely done against their own Nation and only care the recording what redounded to their glory or concern'd their own People The conclusion of all is That the Romantick stories made of King Arthur by idle Wits in part and part by others who as they were equally ambitious to magnifie their Nation and ignorant or heedless how easily they might be disprov'd out of the known undoubted Histories of the times brought his true deeds into question so far that no man knows which or what to believe of them 51. To ruin the Romantick Fable indeed of Hanmer's three incredible Armies * In my 26 page my memory fail'd me when relying upon it as having not had the Hiâ—â—ory of Hanmer by me then or at hand I suppos'd those truly incredible and false numbers of men related by him to have been really poured into Ireland by the Danes in the first true War made by them on that Countrey Whereas indeed upon review of Hanmer himself I found he related those very incredible Numbers as landed there long before that is when truly there was neither Invasion nor any kind of Number either of Danes or any other forein Enemies troubling that Kingdom invading Ireland by combination at the same time and this the very time when Constantine the Great was Emperour of Rome Cairbre Laoffachair Monarch of Ireland and Conn Ceadchathach one of the Princes of Vlster c the Irish Analists are unanimous in furnishing us abundantly with particulars Out of them it is clear and manifest that Conn Ceadehathach was not one of the Princes of Vlster as Hanmer says he was but Monarch of Ireland That he came to the Monarchy in the year of the World 5324. of Christ 122 and continued Monarch thirty five years till he was murthered by Assassines employ'd on that Errand by Tibraid Tiriogh King of Vlster which happened at least a hundred and twenty years before Constantine the Great was Emperour of Rome That as he was called or surnamed in Irish Ceadchatach in Latin Centimachus from the hundred Battels which he had fought so he fought not any of them or other soever against any Foreiner but all against his own Countrey-men the native Irish nor in all his Reign as neither indeed for some Ages before and after it did any Foreigners invade the Irish That although Cairbre Lissechaire was Monarch of that Kingdom begun his Reign Anno Mundi 5456 Christi 267. and continued it twenty seven years and so perhaps might have been contemporary for some part of his Reign with Constantine the Great of Rome yet during his Reign there was no other Battel fought in Ireland but the Battel of Gowra I am sure
none at all mention'd by Keting who yet makes it the chief business of his History to mention the Battels fought in the Reign of every Monarch That the Battel of Gowra was occasion'd by a difference happening and continuing some years betwixt the family or Sept of Baoiskin whereof Fionn mhac Cuuail was one and the Sept of Morna meer Irish of the Milesian Conquest both and both contending for the command of the standing Militia of the Countrey and Caibre Lioffechair the Monarch favouring one side and others of great power the other the contention at last came to a Battel called from the place where it was fought the Battel of Gowra where this Monarch was kill'd by one Kirbe Which is all the account Keting has of it but without mention of any other Fight in this Monarchs Reign Though by his telling us the quarrel and the Parties that fought you see they were no Danes nor Danish Bowny's but meer Irish Bowny's and these neither of one side but some of one and some of the other the quarrel requiring it should be so These are the particulars and many more I might add which together with the general reason before them given moved me to pass by so many ill-contrived stories as I have mention'd here besides many other out of Hanmer But for his relation of the Battel of Clantarff being it is not only almost in every particular so contrary to all the Irish Chronicles but indeed as to the White Danish Knight and his injur'd Bed and Sword and Scabbard and thirty thousand Danes landed with him c. a meer Romantick story there needs no more be said of it Nor am I moved at all by Hanmers quoting the Book of Houth for himself both in this Relation and several other 1. Because for many reasons needless to be given here I take not the Book of Houth as neither indeed any English or other Foreign Author to be of any credit in such matters of Irish Antiquity as preceded the English Conquest in Ireland if otherwise in themselves either improbable or contradicting the whole current of the genuine Monuments of that Nation extant still and written in their own Language That is to say in a Language which neither the Authors of the Book of Houth nor other English Writers nor any Foreiner whatsoever could understand without the help of a very skilful perfect Scholar in it even such a one as among ten thousand Irish Natives cannot be found at present nor could for many Ages past 2. Because having never seen that Book of Houth I cannot rely on Hanmers quotation of it as whom I have manifestly found in several places to make too bold with several other Authors For having these Authors at hand perused and compared them with his quotations of them I have reason to persuade my self that either he never read 'em or which must be worse wilfully impos'd upon them against his own knowledg 53. Where I distinguish page 95. the present Scottish Nation into Irish and English Scots you are to suppose that very many among these must of necessity be Descendants partly of the more ancient Britons who sometimes inhabited the Northern Parts of Great Brittain and partly too of the Pictish Nation For the Irish that conquer'd both ' were not so numerous then as to plant the one half nay nor a third part of all those Countreys now comprehended under the name of Scotland though they became Lords of all by that Battel wherein they destroy'd utterly the Pictish Kingdom So that you may conclude the present English Scots as they are commonly call'd but not those other who go by the name of Scoti Albini * George Bu-l 2. Rer. Scotic page 54. tells us That in the beginning as well the colonies sent by the Irish to the North of Great Brittain as those that sent them went by the common name of all their Nation to wit that of Scoti or Scots But soon after to distinguish the one from the other those in Ireland were called Scoti Jerni that is Irish Scots and these in Brittain Scoti Albini i. e. Albanian Scots So says he And the distinction is proper and significant enough But that other which the Irish make even to this day in their own Language 'twixt an Irish and an English Scot is no less observable For the former they call Albanach Gaodhleach denoting both the Countrey of his Birth Albania and the Stock of his Extrnction Gathelus but the latter they call Albanach Gallda i. e. a Saxon or English Albanian are a mix'd People descended part from Britons Picts and part from Saxons and Normans whether any be remaining still of Danish posterity there I cannot tell nor is it necessary in this place I should What may be of more advantage for understanding somewhat better those affairs of Scotland is I doubt not this following passage out of Cambden After that the Scots were come into Brittain and had joyn'd themselves unto the Picts albeit they never ceas'd to vex the Brittons with skirmishes and inroads yet grew they not presently into any great State but kept a long time in that corner where they first arrived not daring as Beda writes for the space of 127 years to come forth into the Field against the Princes of Northumberland Until at one and the same time they had made such a slaughter of the Picts that few or none of them were left alive and withal the Kingdom of Northumberland what with civil Dissentions what with Invasions of the Danes sore shaken and weakned fell at once to the ground For then all the Northern Tract of Brittain became subject to them and took their name together with that hithermore Countrey on this side Cluyd and Edenborough Frith For that it also was a parcel of the Kingdom of Northumberland and possess'd by the English Saxons no man gainsayeth And hereof it is that all they which inhabit the East part of Scotland and be called Lowland-men as one would say of the Lower-Country are the very off-sping of the English Saxons and do speak English But they that dwell in the West Coast named Highland-men as it were of the upper Countrey be meer Scots and speak Irish as I have said before and none are so deadly Enemies as they be unto the Lowland men which use the English Tongue as we do Hitherto Cambden in his Britannia Tit. Scots pag. 126. Holl. Translat But as well to give the true reason why as to particularize more exactly that period of time during which the genuine Scots had ceas'd from acts of hostility against the Saxons I add out of V. Bede in his Eccles Histor of England l. 2. c. ult That Anno Dom. 603. Edan King of those Scots that inhabited Brittain at that time moved by the success of the Northumbrian King Ethelfrid against the Britons drew to the Field cum immenso exercitu with an exceeding great Army against him but was overcome and fled with a
hand but by stooping and putting down his mouth like a Beast on all sides of the very bathing Cistern or Cauldron at large wherein he had wash'd Which being over the whole Rite and Solemnity of his inauguration was ended and he compleatly install'd in his Kingship of Tirconel So says Cambrensis intimating hereby as if this filthy custom held in that Countrey even in his own time But Keting has abundantly refuted this no less filthy abominable Fiction where he shews at large in the Reign of Brian Boraimh the known solemn decent and significant Rites yea and places too of Inaugurating every King and Prince in all the Provinces of Ireland and who were the Lords or which were the Families that bore the chief Offices at the respective Inaugurations Particularly as to the Prince of Tirconel namely O Donel of whose creation this Fable of Cambrensis must be understood the same Keting shews that the place both of his Election or Inauguration or Investiture was Cill-mhic-Creunain and the chief Officers at it were O Fiorghaill who carried before him and solemnly put into his hand the White Rod which was his Scepter and O Gallechuir who was his Marshal But Gratianus Lucius page 316 of his Cambrensis Eversus takes a little more pains in this particular He tells in the first place how when any was to be created O Donel all the Estates of the Countrey met together upon a certain Hill And how the Assembly being full one of the greatest Peers amongst them rising up and standing in the middle of the multitude with a pure white streight un-knotty Rod in his hand address'd himself to the new Elect in this manner and words Receive Sir the auspicious Ensign of your Dignity and remember to imitate in your Life and Government the whiteness and streightness and unknottiness of this Rod to the end no evil Tongue may find cause to asperse the candour of your Actions with blackness nor any kind of corruption or tye of friendship be able to pervert your Justice Take therefore upon you in a lucky hour the Government of this People and exercise the Power given you hereby with all freedom and security And how these words spoken he deliver'd the Rod into the Prince's Hand and so the whole Solemnity was perclosed In the next place Lucius desires it may be consider'd that the whole controversie in this matter with Cambrensis may be in short reduced to these Queries Whether we ought to believe one Hear-say-mans denial before the affirmation of very many both ear and eye-witnesses Whether Domestick Writers especially those whose peculiar employment calling charge it is are not more likely to deliver the truth of matters to Posterity than a meer Foreigner that not only never was in the Countrey he speaks of as Cambrensis was never in Tirconel but shews himself in too too many Instances a perfect Enemy even to all that wish it well And whether we owe belief rather to publick National Records and Monuments than to the Narration of a private man which was not more purposely invented by some Bard or Ballad-monger than desirously taken up by an invidious Writer Thirdly to these and after these Questions Lucius in effect answers and reasons thus That without question the Irish Chroniclers wrote of these matters to discharge the duty of their place but Girald both in his Topographical and Historical Books of Ireland such as they be yielded so far to passion even that of extream hatred as made him not only obscure the Truth but suppress it even with manifest Lyes and Fictions That no indifferent considering Person can believe that St. Patrick who accurately surveying this Countrey of Tirconel converted all the People of it and together with them instructed so their Prince Conall Gubhan in the austerest principles of Christianity that in a secular habit he lived an Hermits Life would have permitted such filthy dregs of Pagan superstition to remain Jocelin c. 138. had there been any such and this not only among the baser obscure sort of Plebeians but among the very most illustrious the very Princes themselves of the People That if such obvious and conspicuous turpitude had which is not credible escap'd the knowledg of St. Patrick who lived among 'em threescore years assuredly it could by no means have escap'd either the notice or reprehension of those many other Saints who in the succession of so many after-Ages of Christian Religion lived in that very Countrey of Tirconel That above fifty eminent Saints are upon Record of those descended from the Loins of that Conall Gubhan alone whereof the greatest part fix'd their dwelling there and built also there above twenty Monasteries That the two Episcopal Sees of Doire and Rapoth were constituted in those early days in the same most Northern Tract of Vlster wherein as many Bishops and Abbots succeeded one another so many religious Watchmen must be acknowledg'd to have been viewing far and near about them in such manner as it was morally impossible so hideous and withal so publick notorious a blemish could all along even for six hundred years compleat till the time of Cambrensis escape their animadversion That betwixt many of the Bishops and Abbots of those two Dioceses and the Lords or Princes or Kings which you please to call 'em of Tirconel there was often both very great familiar friendship and near kindred too That if the reverence of the Princes did awe other Prelates from reprehending this nasty bestial ceremony of their creation undoubtedly at least among their kinsmen Prelates some would have been found that out of Nature and for the sake of consanguinity would have admonish'd them and procured the reformation of it That no man can believe that the Saints Columb-Cille Bathenus Lasrenus Fergnaus Suibhneus Adamnanus and other most holy men who had both their extraction and birth and their Education too in all Piety in Tirconel and been such fearless undaunted tramplers under foot of all Vice and superstition would not have cut off by the root so hideous loathsom brutish a custom if any such in their days had been That in case these great servants of God had wanted power enough to do so yet surely the more powerful Saints Moelbridius and Malachias Primats of all Ireland who derived their extraction from that Countrey of Tirconel would not have suffer'd the example to continue That hesides it is beyond belief That the very Princes themselves of Tirconel whereof so many were famous for Humanity Liberality Piety Religion would have enter'd on their Princedom by so inauspicious and execrable a Rite Lastly that without any peradventure if they or their People had prov'd herein pertinacious yet so many pious excellent Monarchs of Ireland as we have before seen who had supream Authority over them would not have connived at it So in effect Lucius against this equally injurious vain ridiculous filthy Fiction vented first of any Mortal as the former of Loch Ern by Girald
put out then and under great penalties not kindled again but from or out of this holy Fire of Tlaghtghae And every house in the Kingdom as receiving from this new consecrated Fire and because the ground of Tleaghthae had been formerly the Mounster King's Dominion to pay him yearly three pence for ever At Visneach House or that which he had built hard by and West of it on the ground taken from the Connaght King he ordained That each May day for ever a general Meeting of all the Nobility should be held which Meeting they call'd in their Language Morhail Visneach and it may be English'd the Magnificence of Visneach That two great Fires should be made at this Meeting and betwixt them both all beasts sacrific'd to their great God Beile which Keting conceives to have been the same with Belus for expiating their sins appeasing his wrath and obtaining from him favour for the following year That the same day and hour in every District or Territory of the whole Kingdom two such other Fires should be made for the like purpose that is for all the respective Inhabitants to resort unto them with their Heathen Priests and sacrifices In fine that every Chieftain and person of Quality come to the said great Meeting at Visneach should present the Connaght King with a Horse and compleat harness for a Horseman as a Chiefry reserv'd to him for that ground Where Keting adds that from these yearly Paganical Fires at Visneach and elsewhere made in those days of Idolatry to honour Beall it is that ever since even along to this very day the Irish call the first of May Lae Beall-tine which imports in English Beali's Fire day for in their Tongue Lae is day and Tine is Fire At or near the Palace of Tailltionn he by a new Ordinance of his own commanded the ancient Fair called Aonach Tailltinn whereof we have spoke before to be kept yearly on Lammas day with much more solemnity and a far greater conflux of people than ever And there it was that Wedding-matches were usually treated agreed upon concluded betwixt the Parents of young Folks And by this Monarchs new Law every couple marrying there paid six shillings eight pence which the Irish then did call Vinghe Airgiod an ounce of Silver to the King of Vlster as an acknowledgment of his having formerly been Lord of that portion But for Tarach alias Teambhuir where he had built his fourth Royal Palace I find nothing ordained by him concerning any solemnity or Assembly there And the reason I suppose might be that even the very greatest and most solemn Assembly of all the Estates in Parliament either to make new Laws and repeal the old or to exercise any other Acts of Supream Jurisdiction had been already both by Law and Custom fix'd in that place ever since Ollamh Fodhlas's Reign that is full 1200. years wanting only seventeen before Tuathal Teachtmhor came to be King No more do I find any duty or Chiefry payable to the K. of Leinster Whereof I conceive also the reason might have been That indeed as Keting elsewhere and upon an other occasion than this here observes Cairbre Niafearr the very first King of Leinster had full two hundred and six years before Tuathal Teachtmor's time pass'd away both his own right and that of his Successors after him in the foresaid portion of Land wherein Tarach was built and for ever made it over by way of sale and bargain to Connor the first King of Vlster and his Successours after him in lieu of his beloved Daughter by name Feilim Nua Chrothach or Felicia the Beautiful whom Cairbre had bought so dear to be his Wife So dear I say because that fourth portion from Visneach to the Eastern Sea being in his time and until this bargain made part of Leinster contain'd three Cantreds of Land of the very best in Ireland even all the Land which now goes under the name of the County of Meath I mean East-Meath along to Droghedagh besides Fingale and all the other Lands too on that side of the River Liffy to Dublin But if you desire to know what or how much Land a Cantred means being I have told but now of three Cantreds in this Fourth portion Cambrensis in his Hiber expug l. 2. c. 18. answers that as well in the Irish as Brittish Tongue by a Cantred is meant that proportion or quantity of Land which usually contains a hundred Villages And whether Keting disagree in this signification of that word I know not certainly because I know not how much Land Cambrensis would assign to a Village or Villa his Latin term Of this I am certain that Keting assigns according to the Irish account but thirty Feeding Towns or Bailite â—iath as he calls ' â—m to a Cantred every one of them containing twelve Plow-lands and every Plowland a hundred and twenty acres of Irish measure which is commonly three or four times greater than the English And this is both reflection and digression enough occasion'd by the mention made of Tuathal Teachtmhor the Irish Monarch in my foresaid 217. page 59. My next Reflection is to correct an Error which I observe in my 229. page For there and whether through my own mistake or the Printers I know not it is said That Connor the first Provincial King of Vlster was made so by Eochuidh Feileach the Monarch and Author of the Pentarchy about 400 years before the Birth of Christ whereas indeed it could not be so much by at least two hundred and eighteen years Because this Monarch Eochadh Feileach who made that Connor King of Vlster could not make him King before himself was Monarch and this he was not before the year of the World 5057. in which he kill'd his Predecessor and possess'd his Throne Now according to the Chronology of Lucius that year of the World was just one hundred forty two years before the Birth of our Lord because says he this Birth hapned in the year of the World 5199. after the deluge 2957. and in the 8th year as some say or as others in the 12th year of the Monarch of Ireland Criomthain Niadnairs Reign Now 't is plain that from the year 5057 to the year 5099. no more efflux'd but 142 years 60. The review of my 229. page and what is given there of that happy King of Mounster Feilim mhac Criomthain brings to my thoughts here a passage in Keting that is very lingular both for the Author and matter of it The Author is holy Bennin as the Irish call him in their Language whom the Latins call St. Benignus even that very beloved Disciple of St. Patrick their great Apostle who was consecrated and install'd by him in his own days and in his own stead Arch-bishop of Ardmagh And the matter is the magnificent and costly progress of the Kings of Cashel in former times about Leath Cuinn and Leath Mogh throughout all Ireland And says Keting it is in the Irish Book
call'd Leabhar na Geart i. e. the Book of Rights or Dues a Book beginning with these words Dligh gach Riogh O Riogh Cassil and a Book written wholly by S. Benignus himself 1200 years since that the particulars of that stately Progress are set down as here they follow Bestow'd by him that is by the King of Cashel when he went that Progress on the King of Cruachain a hundred Swords a hundred Cups of Plate a hundred Horses and a hundred Mantles Receiv'd from this Cruachain or Connaght King half a years entertainment and the Rising out as they call it of all the Countrey waiting on him to Tirconail Bestow'd by him on the King of Cineal Gonuill twenty Rings twenty pair of Tables which they call'd Fithchioll and twenty Horses Received a months entertainment and the rising out of that Countrey along with him to Tir-oghain Bestow'd by him on the King of Oileach fifty Silver Cups and fifty Swords Receiv'd a months entertainment and the waiting of the Countrey on him to Tullenoge Bestow'd by him on the Lord or Chieftain of Tullenoge thirty Silver Bowls and thirty Swords or Lances Receiv'd twelve days entertainment and waiting on as elsewhere to Oirgialluibh Bestow'd by him on this King I mean of Oirghialluibh eight shirts of Mayle sixty Coats and sixty Horses Receiv'd a months entertainment at Eambaine with the rising out into Vlster against Clanna Ruidhruidh Bestow'd by him on the King of Tarach 30 shirts of Mayle thirty Rings a hundred Horse and thirty Harpers Receiv'd there a months entertainment and the four chief Families accompanying him thence to Dublin Bestow'd by him on the King of Dublin ten Women ten Ships and ten Horses Receiv'd a months entertainment and this Kings Company into Leinster Bestow'd by him on the Leinster King thirty Cows thirty Ships thirty Horses and thirty young Maids which they termed Cumbhall Receiv'd two months entertainment i. e. one months from Vpper Leinster and another from the Lower which they call Jachter Laighion Finally to the Tanist of the same Low-Leinster thirty Horses thirty shirts of Mayle and 30 Swords And this was the costly splendour of that general Progress of the Mounster Kings over Ireland in former Ages when they thought fit to make or undertake it Which Feidlimidius alias Felim mhac Criomthain King of that Province did in his Reign and this no longer since then the 845 year of Christ for he enter'd upon that Kingdom An. Dom. 818. and retir'd from it to lead an Eremitical Life in the 27th yearafter What the Original or Rise of it was or what right a Provincial King of Mounster could pretend to such a Progress I do not find Nor do I know what moved Keting to desire the Reader not to account him the Author of the Relation Or why so contrary to his custome elsewhere generally throughout his whole Chronicle he quotes here the Author It had been indeed very well and much to be wish'd that he had done so all along for his other Relations But here perhaps he thought fit to do it of purpose to decline the invidious Censure of those of other Provinces for magnifying so much his own Province of Mounster without so good a warrant as Benuin's Book Whatever his motive was the Relation it self puts me upon some occasional observations here which shall be in all three First Observation That Dublin must have been a considerable place in the days of Benuinn seeing it had then or at least before his time a King and was a Kingdom of it self different from that of Leinster And therefore that however or whenever it was first after that time destroy'd yet surely none of those three Norvegian Brethren Amelacus Sitaracus Juor was the first Founder but only the Repairer and Fortifyer of it a little before the second Danish War In which persuasion I 'am fix'd by considering that in the Chorographical Tables of Ptolomy who flourish'd under the Emperour T. Aurelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius in the year of Christ 153. the People Eblani and the City Eblana is placed where Dublin has always been And therefore Eblana in Ptolomy is the very self-same Town we now call Dublin the Latin Writers Dublinium and Dublinia the Welsh Britons Dinas Dulin the English Saxons in times past Duplin and all from one of the two original Irish names of it The first of them was Dubh-linn which imports a black Depth of Water that was there And the second not only was but is still among all sorts of Irish not as Cambden has it Bala-Cleigh but Bala-Ath-Cliath importing not the Town upon Hurdles but the Town of the Ford of Hurdles Which nevertheless is consistent enough with the Tradition that when Dublin was first built the foundation was laid upon Hurdles by reason the place had been deeply moorish I could here add out of Cambden not only that Saxo Grammaticus writes how it was pitifully rent and dismembred in the Danish Wars but also that in the Life of Griffith ap Synan Prince of Wales 't is read that Harald of Norway when he had subdued the greatest part of Ireland built Deuelin I could likewise add my own animadversions on both the one other passage viz. That the Irish Chronicles make no mention of any Harald either conquering any part of Ireland or building or so much as repairing Dublin That neither does the Author of Polichronicon agree in the one or other point deriv'd from that Life Nay that according to him Sitaracus or Sitric was the Noruegian Builder of Dublin And yet I could further add that what Cambden has next out of the foresaid Life may be very true For after telling us his own opinion of the above Harald to be That he was Harald surnamed Harfager i. e. of the Fair Locks or Tresses who was the first King of Norway he adds that his Lineal descent goes thus in that Life Harald begat a Son named Auloed alias Abloicus Aulafus and Olauus Auloed begat another Auloed this had a Son by name Sitric King of Dublin Sitric begat Auloed whose Daughter Racuella was Mother to Griffith ap Synan born at Dublin whilest Tirlough reign'd in Ireland And all these matters and much more relating to them I could dilate upon were they to my purpose here But they are not because my purpose here is only to trace up the antiquity of Dublin as far as I can And this I have done before out of Ptolomy by shewing that City to have been famous in his time which was above 1510 years since But how long before is a thing wholly buried in oblivion for want of Records And therefore I pass to my Second Observation Which is to give the original of those Clanna Ruidhruidgh against whom the King of Oirghillaedh alias Vriel with his People was bound to wait on the Mounster Kings in their Progress And this I do because their name is very frequent both in the Irish Histories and in all the Provinces of Ireland among the
soever that Athboylochia was the Meeting there was so numerous that besides the several peculiar Trains of the Provincial Kings and other Princes and great Nobles of Lay-degree and of three Arch-bishops too of the four thirteen thousand Horse at one time were counted at it Nor was this great and for ought I have read very last Parliament of the Milesians in Ireland more numerous than it was careful to provide for the Commonwealth by ordaining That the former ancient good Laws which length of time and corruption of men had brought to disuse should receive new vigour by a severe observance and execution of them but especially that none should dare infringe the sacred Immunities of the Church So in effect says my foresaid Author Gratianus But all would not do No ordinances of men could prevent the Fate impending from Heaven over their Heads at that very time For what is decreed by God to fall must fall some time And the time of their Fall had its visible beginning the very next year which was 1167. as I have hinted before page 194. and you thall see at large in the following Second Part of his little Work 62. Reflecting upon my account of Malachias given from page 262 to page 287 inclusively and considering that I have therein said nothing at all of the famous Prophesie which goes in his name of all the Popes of Rome who were to succeed one another from his time forward either to the day of general Judgment or at least to the final desolation of that seven-Hill'd City therefore to satisfie in some degree such as have the curiosity and leasure to read predictions of this kind I thought it no great enlargement or extravagance to let them know of that Prophesie what follows here 1. That all the best account I have found of it hitherto is from Thomas Messingham's Book entitled Florilegium Insulae SS printed at Paris an 1624. who extracted it as he says out of Arnoldus Wion l. 2. Ligni Vitae c. 40. pag. 307. 2. That under this Title Prophetia S. Malachiae Archiepiscopi Ardmachani totiusque Hiberniae Primatis ac Sedis Apostolicae Legati de Summis Pontificibus it begins with a short line of three words only and so proceeds on in a hundred and eleven short lines more one after another which like the first contain but three words or four at most commonly but two and all in Latin 3. That by so many lines are signified so many Popes and consequently a hundred and twelve Popes in all that were to succeed in S. Peter's Chair from the time as 't is pretended of that Prophetie's date until the consummation 4. That it names none of them save only the Last and for the rest it leaves us wholly to divine of 'em and of each a part by the character given of him in the short line answerable only to him by the order of times and succession in the Holy See 5. That one Alphonsus Giacconius of the Dominican Order has paraphras'd on the first threescore and sixteen of those prophetical Lines in a Writing distinguish'd into two Columns Wherein the short Lines of the Prophesie it self plac'd in order take up the first Column the names of the Popes prophesied of the Second each Pope directly placed against the Prophesie that foretels him and the Paraphrases or Expositions that interpret the predictions and apply them take up the last in the same order and opposition 6. That as this Interpreter begins with Celestin the II. of that name expounding the first Line of him so he ends with Vrban the VII of whom all the Prophesie is only this De rore caeli which rendred in English is Of the Dew of Heaven and interpreted almost in as few words by Ciacconius viz. Qui fuit Archiepiscopus Rossanensis in Calabria ubi manna colligitur Who was Arch-bishop in Rosanna in Calabria where Manna is gathered 7. That by this one Example we may both partly guess at the nature of the Prophesies and plainly see what kind of interpretations of them those of Ciacconius are Whereof every one runs in the same or like manner endeavouring to verisie the prediction either in the Countrey or Institution or Family or Gentilitial Ensigns or some accident happen'd to the Pope foretold by it 8. That as no man has yet ventur'd on the interpretation of the next eleven prophetical Lines which must be answerable to the next eleven Popes that before the now reigning Pope Innocent XI have since Vrban VII succeeded in the Pontifical Chair so we can hardly in our days expect any publick interpretation or application of Bellua insatiabilis to the same present Pope Innocent tho it be what is answerable to him in those foresaid Lines and Columns if we take exact notice of the Succession 9. That which is more my design to give here all the remaining number of those prophetical short Lines and consequently of Popes to succeed the present is only twenty six in the whole a number of Popes not so very great but that much less than the ordinary age of a man may see it over if they should prove no longer lived than many of their Predecessours have whereof no fewer than eight in a succession took up in all but twelve years time 10. That for the better satisfaction of those who may be affected with this kind of reading and because it will not take up much room nor require any further dilatation I give here those very six and twenty genuin Lines which however briefly and obscurely too all of 'em except the last yet in some prophetical manner tell us of those six and twenty Popes to come in succession after his Holiness that now steers in a great Tempest the old Fisher-Boat of Peter 1. Poenitentia gloriosa 2. Rastrum in Porta 3. Flores circumdati 4. De bona religione 5. Miles in bello 6. Columna excelsa 7. Animal rurale 8. Rosa Umbriae 9. Ursus Velox 10. Peregrinus Apostolicus 11. Aquila rapax 12. Canis Coluber 13. Vir religiosus 14. De balneis Etruriae 15. Crux de Cruce 16. Lumen in caelo 17. Ignis ardens 18. Religio depopulata 19. Fides intrepida 20. Pastor Angelicus 21. Pastor Nauta 22. Flos Florum 23. De medietate Lunae 24. De labore solis 25. Gloria Olivae 26. In persecutione extrema S. R. E. sedebit Petrus Romanus qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibas quibus transactis Civitas sepcollis diruetur Judex tremendus judicabit populum suum Finis 11. That albeit these Predictions cannot be interpreted before the Popes whom they signifie are chosen yet the last of them is very singular being it names the Pope and is withall both long and plain and terrible For thus it runs in English In the last persecution of the Holy Roman Church Peter a Roman shall sit who shall feed the sheep in many tribulations which being over the seven-Hill'd City shall be destroy'd and
the dreadful Judg shall judg his People Though whether we must understand here the final persecution of Antichrist and the end of the World and general Judgment of all Nations in the Valley of Josaphat or whether only the last particular desolation judgment and ruin of Rome and of the Papacy it self never to recover more in this World or at least in that place I can say nothing to it of either side But no more of this Prophetical Subject What remains either of Reflection or Addition are the few points that follow I forgot to give them in their due places according to the order of pages hitherto observ'd and therefore I give them here 63. The first relates to that famous Beannchuir Abbey in the North of Ireland whereof I have treated before page 62 c. For concerning the greatness of it you have here an illustrious testimony out of a forein Writer Antony Yepez in his general Chronicle of the Benedictin Order ad ann Christi 565. cap. 2. where speaking of that Irish Monastery he says in express words It was one of the greatest our sacred Religion he means the Benedictin Order had in all Europe nay the very greatest of all that were built in the whole Occident and that no other was comparable to it But for the austerity of their lives the sanctity of their conversation the power of their doctrine and example their supernatural gifts and in a word the extraordinary stupendious hand of God with them in all their undertakings who were profess'd Votaries in that illustrious Cloister we have no less forein and much more ancient Writers than Yepez to inform us And certainly if we may judg of this matter by what such credible Authors have written some eight hundred and some a thousand years since of the Missionaries of that Abbey the disciples of St. Congellus Founder and first Abbot thereof sent abroad into other parts of Europe by him for the conversion of Infidels and reformation of evil Christians there needs no more to convince us that Beannchuir was a most perfect Seminary of the most truly vertuous and wonderful Monks on Earth For Example of St. Gallus the Irish call him in their Language Gall who was one of the twelve that in one Mission at one and the same time went thence with Columbanus who was the thirteenth of them and Prefect of this Mission thus writeth St. Notkerus Balbulus in his Martyrologe 17 Cal. Nov. that he converted the people of Switzerland and Suevia from Idolatry confirm'd his preaching to them with the power of Miracles and that him the divine goodness made Apostle of the Allemaigns as by whom that Nation which he had found enveloped in Paganism was enlightned with true Religion and brought from the darkness of ignorance to the Sun of Justice who is Christ So and much more in short writeth the said holy Notherus of this great Apostle of the Allemaigus St. Gallus from whom or whose Monastery the Town of St. Gall so famous even at this day hath been called As for the particulars as well of his stupendious austerity as Miracles above Nature they may be seen at large in his Life extant in Messingham and Surius written originally by Walafridus Strabo But for Columbanus himself a Leinster man born and but twenty years old when he went to Sea from Beannchuir Head of that Mission whoever please to read over seriously his Acts written about a thousand years since by one of his own well-nigh Contemporaries Abbot Jonas must needs I think be suspended in admiration of a man so prodigious in all respects I cannot be otherwise my self when I observe the whole course of his Life in Ireland France Burgundy Allmaign and last of all in Italy where he died Nor verily does e'â—n Caesar Baroniug himself after so many other both ancient and modern Authors seem less affected with admiration where he speaks thus of him ad an Christi 612. It appears says he to have proceeded from an extraordinary favour of God that so great a man come from Ireland to France should in the most profligate times illustrate the Church A man of such transcendent merits that if any would in some things equal him to Elias I should not think he err'd Whereas in this most holy man living with his disciples in the Wilderness besides wonderful abstinence and the most exact observance of all Monastick Rules and other his eminent Virtues may be observ'd so great a zeal of the honour of God and fortitude of Soul to reprove evil Princes Who also herein was the more like to Elias that he wanted not Pâ—rsecutors not even a new Achab and another Jezabel as you your self may find by reading his Life But truly his banishment out of Burgundy by King Theodorick at the instigation of the wicked Queen Brumchildis that bane that Murdress of ten Kings for she destroy'd so many some by poison and some by other damnable ways and his Journey thereupon to Italy appear'd to be no other than a long continued Triumph for his victory over Kings and their detestable cruelty yea and a wonderful Triumph indeed because accompanied with so many prodigious signs and Wonders wrought by him every where as he went along So says Baronius in the foresaid place wholly without doubt suspended in admiration of what himself does so relate of this stupendious man of God Whose prophetical Spirit also in foretelling King Lotharius so positively and precisely that within three years the two other Kings Theodorick and Theodobertus should be destroy'd and he Lotharius succeed them by that time and be Monarch of all France the same Baronius ad eund an particularly relates As also he doth the quarrel of Bruinchildis to Columbanus and only cause of his banishment to have been His exhorting the said King of Austrasia Theodorick to marry a Wife and turn away his Concubines For she apprehended that a regnant Queen or which is the same thing a lawful Wife would surely at long running turn her out from the management of State-affairs which Whores could noâ— And then again our great Annalist the same Baronius ad an 615. returning once more to that heavenly Man and telling us of his death in Italy after he had founded there the most renowned Cloister of Bobium as he had formerly done before his banishment that of Luxovium in Burgundy he delivers it with this Elogium of him This year says he that Wonder-working Adorer of God Columbanus the terrour and scourge of evil Kings departed this Life Which Elogium given by so eminent a Cardinal Historian because there Ordericus Vitalis Angligena in his Book of Ecclesiastical History needs no more be said of Columbanus I will only add the testimony of an ancient English Author whom I suppose to have lived and died in forein parts a Monk of Vtica many hundred years since though lately printed in the History of the Normans published by Andreas du Chesne Anno 1619. They cannot be
it be not the greatest of them all I am sure that as it was very great indeed so the Irish Nation is beholden to a Foreiner namely Adolphus Cypreus for transmitting the remembrance of it to Posterity in his Annals of the Bishops of Sleswick a City in Denmark For these are his own Latin words in the sixth page of that Work Reynerus Rex Danorum LVI potentissimus qui tamen ab excitata fortuna quae ipsi in subjugandis Regnis Sueciae Russiae Angliae Scotiae Norvegiae Hiberniae plurimum favit ad inclinatam pene jacentem descivit Namque ab Hella Hiberniae Rege captus in carcere expiravit sub an 841. In English these Reyner the LVI most powerful King of the Danes who nevertheless from the height of Fortune that favour'd him so mightily in subduing the Kingdoms of Swedland Russia England Scotland Norway Ireland was thrown down as low For being taken by Hella King of Ireland he died there in prison about the year 841. And yet I must observe here with Gratianus Lucius 1. That Cypreus mistook both the name and quality of him that took Prisoner this great Danish King 2. That no King of Ireland nor Provincial nor even other lesser King in Ireland was ever call'd by the name of Hella nor was that name of any body at all known among the Irish 3. That the right Irish name in all likelihood was Oillioll which because hard of pronuntiation Foreiners mistook or chang'd it to Hella 4. That since Christianity planted in that Countrey not even any Oillioll was King among 'em save only the Monarch Oillioll surnamed Molt who was next successour to Laoghaire mhac Neill in the year 458. and was killed in Battel An. 478. And lastly therefore that he must have been some great General of an Army and his name Oillioll that took this great Reynerus and kept him in Prison till he died 68. Another is of the Fatal Stone as they call it and refers to page 378. where I ended my Animadversions on the Scottish Histories concerning Fergus I. Of that famed Stone Keting in his Relations of the People call'd Tuath De Dainainn gives this account 1. That this Nation who were the last possessors of Ireland immediately before the Milesian Race had on their arrival there from Norway brought with them four special Jewels of extraordinary use namely a Sword Lance Pot and the Enchanted Stone which in Irish they call by one name Liath Fail by an other Cloch na Cineamhna this later importing in English the Stone of Destiny or Fortune 2. That after the Milesiaus had conquer'd those Tuath-Da-Danan and consequently got possession of this Stone and after they had not only plac'd it at Teambhuir our Tarach where all their Nobles and people did usually meet to chuse the King of Ireland but ordain'd that the new Elect should sit thereon as son as he did so the Stone under him by vertue of some Magical or Diabolical Charm gave such a mighty loud ecchoing astonishing sound that presently the Election was known thereby far and near 3. That this Oraculous Vertue of it ceased as some say when the Pentarchy was set up in that Kingdom by the Monarch Eochadh Feilioch or as others say about the time of our Saviours birth when throughout the World all the sallacious Oracles of the Gentiles became mute 4. That for its name of Cloch na Cineamhne or Stone of Destiny or Fatal Stone the reason was an old Prophesie deliliver'd of it by Tradition which Hector Boethius rendred thus in Latin Verse Ni fallat Fatum Scoti hunc quocumque locatum invenient Lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem But in Irish Meeter it is in Keting thus Ciniodh Scoâ—t saor an Fine man baâ—breag an Faisdine mar a bhfulghid an Liath Fail dlighid flaitheas do ghabhail Importing in both that where-ever the Seottish Nation did find that Stone they should have Dominion Power and Regal Majesty 5. That because of this prophetical Prediction and reputation of it when Fergus that famous Invader of the Picts I mean Fergus Mor mhac Ercho mhic Eochadh muin reamhair as the Irish call and genealogize him from his Father and Grandfather whom the Scottish Historians call Fergus I. would be created K. over hisown conquering Nation the Scots of Pictavia or Albania in Great Brittain he sent to his Brother Mairchiortach Mor mhac Ercha then Monarch of Ireland for this fatal Stone and had it over into Scotland of purpose that by sitting on it when he was created King he might assure the establishment of his Crown and power of his own People in his new conquer'd Kingdom 6. That for many ensuing Ages it remain'd there for a monument either of Religion or Superstition being in the same manner and to the same purpose sate upon by the succeeding Kings of Scotland till Edward I. of England in the current of his Victories had it brought away out of the Abbey of Scone to the Abbey of Westminster Where ever since it has been kept placed under the Royal Chair which the Kings of England usually sit in at their Coronation 7. That in the memory of our Fathers that prophetical Prediction of it and the ancient Scots which you have but now seen was fulfill'd in England too when James VI. of Scotland was crowned King of England at Westminster and has ever since continued to be more and more verified in the succession of Charles I. of glorious memory and Charles II. our present most gracious King For by the line of Maine mhic Cuirek mhic Luighc they are descended through a World of Generations of ancient Scots the Milesian Irish from Heber who as has been already noted elsewhere being the son of Milesius and in a joint Sovereignty ruling with his Brother Herimon was three thousand years since King of all Ireland And this is the account which Keting where he treats of Tuath-De-Danainn gives of that fatal Stone Save only that he makes no express mention of Charles II. nor could indeed as who died himself in the Reign of Charles I. But nevertheless he express'd his mind sufficiently as to the purpose of that Fatal Prediction by naming his Father and Grandfather both I am sure his expression of joy in the same place for their having successively come to be Kings of England Scotland France and Ireland must have involv'd the concomitant wishes of his heart for their posterity after them to attain and continue the same glory while time shall be And therein he has me to join with all my very Soul 69. The Fifth may be referr'd to page 155. where I treated briefly somewhat of Cormock O Cuillenain that excellent pious holy man who was at the same time both Arch-Bishop and King of Mounster and continued so for seven years together that is even all along till he lost his life in the Battel of Mughna For to this rare Example of the same man's being both King and Priest may be added
the other then Buchanan has before him nay wider from it as to the later Question than either Campion or Hanmer or any other follow'd by them These for so much had the good luck to yield to the Authority of V. Bede in his Eccles Histor l. 1. c. 1. where he expresly tells us to this purpose 1. That when the ancient Britons had possess'd themselves of the Southern Parts of this Noble Island which derives its name from them it happen'd that the Nation of Picts departing from Scythia entring the Ocean wind-driven to Ireland landing there desiring the Inhabitants the Scots to afford 'em Elbow-room for Cohabitation and being denied this but nevertheless directed by 'em to the Northern Tract of Great Brittain and withal promis'd their assistance if need should be to conquer it by force they by this direction and promise encourag'd put to Sea presently for that same Northern Tract and landing therein made it their habitation 2. That wanting Women and desiring Wives of the Scots they had 'em on this condition That whenever the succession to the Crown amongst their People should chance to be controverted the Female's line Royal should prevail and the King be chosen thence Which is even to this day observ'd among the Picts says Bede speaking of his own time 3. That they had a peculiar Language of their own For in the same Chapter he notes particularly how according to the number of the Five Books of Moses wherein the Divine Law had been written Brittain in his time praised God in five divers Languages viz. those of the English Britons Scots Picts and Latins this last made common to them all by their studying the Holy Scriptures Yet notwithstanding this plain account of the Picts given by V. Bede as to their great Antiquity or Time of their first appearance in these Western Islands and the Countrey whence they came to them being that of Scythia not only Buchanan but Cambden by little Criticisms and other weak conjectures would fain persuade us they had only been a part of the ancient Britons retired from the South and power of the Roman Legions in the same Island of Great Brittain c. into the more uncouth inaccessible Northern parts thereof That they were no earlier known by the name of Picts than the Reign of the Roman Emperours Diocletian and Maximian Herculeus And that their Language differ'd not in substance but only in a certain kind of Dialect from the Brittish Tongue spoken by the rest of their Countrey-men the other Brittons But the words of Bede are clearer and his authority greater than the arguments they bring are able to elude or impeach Nor indeed can any thing more be desired to end these two vexatious Questions concerning that Pictish Nation save only the particulars given by Keting out of the most ancient authentick Records of Ireland These are of such irrefragable authority that I am persuaded were they known to Cambden he had never disputed the matter At least I believe he should not if he had well consider'd of it The Irish were the Nation that by the confession of all sides from the beginning press'd longest and hardest of any upon that Northern Countrey inhabited by the Picts in Great Brittain They were the Nation that by degrees conquer'd so many of their Provinces planted so many Colonies in 'em establish'd a King of their own over the same Provinces long before the Romans attack'd either Yea they were the Nation that utterly subdued at last the whole Pictish Kingdom and extinguish'd in it the very name of Picts Wherefore it is plain that as the Irish were most concern'd so they had the best means of any to know both the time of their first appearance and Countrey too from whence they came as the Picts themselves were pleas'd to tell ' em And seeing it is no less plain out of what has been said elsewhere in these Discourses that the Irish Nation in all times had their publick Registers wherein with the greatest care and certainty could be all the Concerns of their People both at home and abroad together with all other matters they thought fit were recorded it must follow that their account of the Pictish Nation as to those two controverted points ought in reason to silence any other fancied by men of later days Now in that Irish account besides what you have seen already out of Venerable Bede there are many more particulars given at large by Keting out of the Psalter of Cashel whereof the chief heads are these 1. That in Thracia this People we call Picts serving Policornus the King of that Countrey in his Wars for pay but under a General and other Commanders of their own it happen'd that their General whose name was Gud understanding for certain how the King had design'd to ravish his beautiful Daughter if he could not otherwise make her his Whore prevented him by taking away his Life 2. That thereupon this Gud flying immediately with those of his Soldiery who were resolv'd to run his fortune put to Sea where he found convenience and roam'd up and down till he arriv'd in Gaule where being well entertain'd by the King of that Kingdom his Daughter's beauty prov'd the second time his bane after he had built or at least began the building of Pictavis from his People so called we call it now Poictiers For then observing that this Gaulish King also had the same design upon her that the Thracian had he saw there was no abiding there without sacrificing her honour to his Lust And therefore in all haste but as privately as he could he put to Sea again with his own People where he was toss'd so long till the occasion of all his woe his beautiful Daughter died and soon after he and his People arriv'd safe in Ireland at a place call'd in the Irish Tongue Inbher Slaine or the Mouth of the River Slane in Leinster which now we call the Haven of Weixford 3. That one by name Criomthann Sciatbheal being then Commander of Leinster under Herimon the First Milesian Monarch of Ireland hearing of their landing came to them and seeing them brave men entertain'd 'em willingly of purpose to assist him in fighting some Brittish Troops whom the Irish Books call Tuath Fiodhgha whose Lances and Arrows were poison'd to such degree that whoever was wounded by 'em could have no cure but Death 4. That after this League of Friendship made one of the Picts called Trosdan a great Magitian understanding of the common danger from those poison'd Weapons advis'd the said Leinster Commander to provide against the day of Battel a 150 white milch crumple-horn'd Cows to be milk'd all together when the Fight began the Milk put into a Hole prepar'd of purpose hard by and the wounded men to run presently and bath therein which being observ'd the effect prov'd answerable to expectation and the Brittains were quite overthrown with the loss of most of their Lives upon the spot 5.
That upon this success at least not long after it the Picts looking big growing unruly and even aspiring to the Command of that whole Province of Leinster but the Monarch Herimon made acquainted with it drawing together a greater Power then they dared fight they were compell'd to accept of his Terms and hye them away out of hand with his directions and assistance for the Northern parts of Great Brittain 6. That nevertheless before their departure they obtain'd of Herimon three Irish Ladies by name Beanbhreasi Beanbhuais and Beanbhuaisdhne who had been the Widows of three of Herimons Commanders and taken these names from 'em kill'd in the late War with Tuath-De-Danann and these were all the Women they could obtain at least then though upon that very condition told us by Bede The first of 'em married to Cathluan the chief Commander now of the Picts for it seems his Father Gud was before this time departed the World the other two married to two more of their Nobles Nor could any of them obtain leave to stay in Ireland but only six viz. Trosdan the foresaid Magitian Soilean Vlpre Neachtan Nar Aongus and Leatan who had possessions given them for ever by Herimon in the Countrey of Breagh Mhoigh now call'd by us East and West Meath 6. That the foresaid Cathluan was the first King of the Picts in Cruithin-Tuath or Tuath Chruinigh for by both these compound names indifferently the Irish Books call that Countrey in the North of Brittain which the Picts erected to a Kingdom and call it so properly enough as importing in English the Lordship Lordship or Dominion of the Picts the simple word Tuath signifying in Irish a Lordship and Cruinigh the Picts themselves 7. That after him in a succession reign'd in the same Countrey at least in some part of it and of the same Pictish Nation Threescore and Ten Kings more to Constantine the last of ' em And these being the Heads of those particulars that concern them in the Psalter of Cashel written by the Holy Cormock O Cuilenain Arch Bishop and King of Mounster eight hundred years since and by consequence written either immediately before or immediately after I am sure much about the time of their last fatal overthrow by his Countrey men the Irish and their Issue in Scotland we need no longer question either the time of that Pictish Nation 's first appearance or the Countrey they came from to the Western parts of Europe As neither indeed whence they deriv'd the custom of painting themselves They might have learn'd this from the Agathyrsi in Thracia if themselves had it not before yea they might be the first that us'd it in Great Brittain and the Brittons might have only had it from them for any thing said to the contrary And they came as early to Ireland and Scotland both as the Reign of Herinton the first Milesian Monarch of Ireland after he had kill'd his elder Brother Heber to whom he was but joyn'd in Sovereignty while Heber lived Nay we need not question how long this Pictish Kingdom lasted For seeing it began at least as early as Herimon's death I mean by this account in the Psalter of Cashel and that by Primat Vshers account it continued to the year of Christ 840. then we must conclude that according to Gratianus Lucius's computation of the years of the World and years also of all the several Irish Monarchs Reigns the Pictish Kingdom lasted 2623 years in all For this Author fixes the death of Herimon in the year of the World 3516. and the Birth of Christ in the year 5199. as Eusebius Caesariensis one of the Fathers of the first General Council of Nice did long before him What more I have to say in reference to the Picts their Kingdom or Kings is That as I was writing this Reflection Mr. Langhorn's Introduction to the History of England being brought me by chance and looking it over I observ'd That altho the ingenious Author gives no more light therein concerning the Countrey whence those Picts came first to Ireland and thence to Scotland nor of their Leaders name nor of the time of their arrival amongst us than other late Writers especially Campion and Hanmer did before him who call that Leader King Roderick and say this Roderick came to Ireland from Scandia alias Scandinavia which goes under the name of Scythia Germanica or the German Scythia yet he gives therein page 197 a Catalogue of the Brittish Kings and years of their several Reigns partly out of John Fordon's M. S. Scoto-Chronicon and partly out of Hector Boethius who adds to the 76 Kings in Fordon five more So that both numbers put together make just the very same number of Pictish Kings which the Psalter of Cashel has Though I must confess there is no other agreement in any point between that Psalter these Authors either as to the names of those Kings or years of their Reigns or total sum of these years Neither is there in that whole Catalogue any Roderick either as first or last or any at all of them nor any thing near his name The very same you may assure your self of Cathluan whom nevertheless you have seen before out of the Psalter of Cashel to have been the first Pictish King As for the total sum of the years of their Reign which by casting it up out of the several Reigns every body may see is 1165. it plainly comes short by 1452 years of the former account derivable from the Psalter of Cashel and Vsher Lucius Besides it necessarily must suppose the Pictish Kingdom began in Scotland e'en four hundred years full before any Picts landed in Scotland or came from Scandinavia to Scotland or Ireland which does not stand with the time of their coming set down by our new Historians and last of all by Langhorn himself As for the names express'd in that Catalogue all I can say is that if we give credit to Nennius a Brittish Author that liv'd as himself writes an Christi 830. under Anaraugh King of Anglesey and Guinech if besides we suppose his Book rightly translated into Irish in O Duvegans Miscellanies and if withal we believe that Gratianus Lucius quoting both would not impose upon us nor I on you or my self what follows must be That we give no kind of credit to the foresaid Catalogue drawn out of Fordon and Boethius not even I mean as to those names of the Pictish Kings contain'd therein For the same Gratianus Lucius after letting us know in his Cambr. Evers page 93. That himself had a Copy of those Miscellanies and among 'em the Catalogue of all the Pictish Kings written by the said Nennius then presently though upon another occasion names five and forty of 'em and I am sure that of this very number tho only a part of Nennius's Catalogue there are at least six and twenty names that have no affinity with no resemblance at all nor imitation of any in the whole Bedâ—oll
of Boethius and Fordon as I find this given by Langhorn So much of the Picts And therefore now to my Eighth Note Which as it refers to several places of this Book particularly to page 5. and all other pages indeed where I suppose the Milesians either to have possess'd themselves of Ireland as early as the year of the World 2736. or not to have continued longer a free People under their own Laws and Kings then about 2500 years so it is meerly occasion'd by what I said but now in my Seventh Note concerning the extent of time which the Pictish Kings must have lasted according to the Chronology of Lucius and Vsher In short I must on this occasion tell you here That as to the Milesian Kingdom 's answerable extent of Time Keting and Lucius agree Save only That Keting as himself professes in his Preface following that computation of the years of the World which allows only 4052 years from the Creation to the Incarnation and consequently in this coming short 1138 years of the computation of Eusebius would needs reform the Irish Regnal for so they call the Book of their Reigns by shortning the Reigns of several of their Monarchs by so many years in all as amount to above four hundred that is 491 years and this of purpose to make the whole extent of Time and the several Periods from the first Plantation of Ireland by Partholan to the Reign of Ruaruidh O Conchabhar the Last Irish Monarch of the Milesian Race agree the better with his own foresaid Computation of the years of the World And Lucius on the other side as he follow'd Eusebius's Computation of the same years of the World which is that commonly follow'd by both Greeks and Latins says Sixtus Senensis * Biblioth S. l. 2. page 46. verb. Adae Genealogia so he held stiffly and throughly to the Irish Regnal as to the years of each Milesian Monarch's Reign And therefore the difference 'twixt these two Writers in relation to Ireland or to any period or extent of the periods of Time since its first Plantation is only that of near five hundred years during the Milesian Monarchy In all other points concerning this matter they both agree As for Example That Ireland was first planted by Partholan about three hundred years after the Deluge that his Posterity continued there three hundred years and the next Invaders Clanna Neimheadh 217 more and after them the Nation call'd Fir-bholg thirty six and after these another Nation by name Tuath-De-Danann for 197 years and then immediately the Milesians coming in continued since to the year of Christ 1172. So that Keting and Lucius being throughly agreed in all these points their difference about the whole extent of their several periods mention'd before can be no other than that of Keting's voluntary cutting off from the Milesian Reigns about five hundred years Or rather indeed especially if we consider how Keting himself confesses he did so and for what end he did it even contrary to the Irish Regnall we may conclude there is no difference at all as to the undoubted extent of all those several Periods of Time though Keting place the Milesian Epocha in his year of the World 2736. and Lucius the very same Epocha in his year of the World 3500. For albeit this diversity of placing it argues 1172. years difference between 'em in stating the years of the World and that Keting chose rather to follow the far more likely computation of Augustinus Torniellius in his Annales Sacri Profani * Torniel Sext. M. aetat ad an 4052. ab Orbe condito ad eundem Christi passione redemptum come out a little before Keting's time though he makes no mention of them or him than be led by that of Eusebius who was himself most probably misled by the grand Errour of the Septuagint Version * See Sixtus Senen Biblioth S. â— 2. page 45. but more at large l. 5. page 440. where he shews that the computation of Eusebius as to the years only from the Creation to the birth of Abraham exceeds the Hebrew true computation in One thousand two hundred thirty six years Nay in the former Place he shews that whereas from the Creaation to the Flood Moses counts only 1656 years the Septuagint Interpr exceed him in 786 years So that by their supputation to the Flood only the number of years is 2242. From which diversity the great contention arose betwixt the Hebrews and the Greeks in computing the years of the World So says he l. 2. pag. 45. verb. Adae Genealogia yet no difference at all as to stating strictly the extent of Time or number of years which the Milesian or other former Conquests or Plantations of Ireland had continued can be deduced thence Only it argues that either the one or other was mistaken in the number of the years of the World or in fixing ' em Which is enough to be said on this Subject occasionally And therefore I will only add here what as occasionally comes now to mind That whether in my Title-page by the year of the World 2736 you understand the year accounted such according to the computation of Torniellius and Keting or the other accounted such by Eusebius and Lucius I am neither way my self nor any thing in this Book concern'd Though otherwise I would as to this point much rather hold with those than these retaining nevertheless all due veneration to the name of Eusebius as who had been not only one of the Three hundred and eighteen Nicene Fathers and Bishop of Caesarea in Palestin but worthy as Constantine the Great said of him to be Bishop of the whole Earth The Ninth and last Additional Note has no reference that I can remember to any thing said before in any of my pages However I give it because I see Gratianus Lucius thought it not unconducing to the honour of the Ancient Irish For it is in short That the Warlike Nation of the Heruli who inhabited some Northern Islands and other Tracts near Germany a Nation too well sometimes known to the Roman Provinces harrass'd by them did glory in their two Kings Dathen and Aordon as descended from the Irish and that Suria born of an Irish Lady descended from the Kings of Ireland had the supreain Power of Biscay an 870 as absolute Princess thereof which she transmitted to a long succession of Descendants from her Whereof you may see Gratianus Lucius page 299. where he quotes Wolfgangus Lassin de Migrat Gent. l. 13. And so Reader you have at last an end of all my additional Notes and consequently of all whatever I thought necessary to say according to the design and method of this little Tract of the Ancient Irish as they were a free Nation about 2500 years under their own Laws and Government For indeed my design hitherto as you may easily perceive was either only or at least chiefly to represent them as they appear'd
in the World before the loss of their freedom or their subjection to a forein Power Nor had I any farther if it be a farther end in the matter then That of your understanding throughly at least sufficiently who or what kind of People were the former of those two Nations whose Posterities I have before i. e. in the very beginning of the first Section page 5. observ'd like the Twins of Rebecca contending these last five hundred years in the bowels of Ireland But who the later Nation were and how and by what degrees and means they not only for many Ages got the better of the former but subdued them utterly at last in the memory of our Fathers and what besides happen'd in our own days to the Issue as well of these Conquerours as of those conquer'd by 'em in that Country will be the subject of the Second Part. FINIS Additions 1. AFTER the Fourth Observation on the Catalogue of Kings add what follows here viz. That although it be no part of my business in this Place to speak in particular of any of those Kings other than what I have already of a few of 'em and that only for thy better understanding the said Catalogue yet because I considered that peradventure the Relation of Siorna Saoghall-ach's See the Catalogue Numb 27. long extent of Life and Beign is the only extraordinary of all whatsoever delivered anywhere in the whole Irish History concerning any of so great a number of Monarchs or Kings and Sovereign Princes of Ireland some Readers will boggle at or scruple the truth thereof by objecting How it seems at least improbable that he should be a hundred years old when he came to be Monarch or should reign a hundred and fifty years after or should be in all two hundred and fifty years of Age when he was kill'd by Roitheachtsigh alias Roithsigh mhac Roain therefore to shew that this Relation of him is not improbable I give here those arguments that convince my self And to say nothing of his Surname Saoghalach which attributed to him alone among all other Irish Kings whereof notwithstanding some had reigned 60. others 70 years must import him to have been of extraordinary Long Life and even a man of Ages what convinces me is 1. That not only the Irish Book of Reigns besides many other ancient Monuments and Historians of that Nation who speak of this Subject and after them Gratianus Lucius in our own time have deliver'd it so but Keting himself though he be the chiefest of all the Historians of later days that to reduce the Irish Chronology to an agreement with his own Computation of the years of the World would consequently needs reduce those hundred and fifty years of Siorna's Reign to 21. confesses they did so 2. That very good Historians both ancient and modern of other Countreys tell us how in later Times then Siorna Saoghallach's Reign there have been many that lived as long and some longer then he And yet I 'le lay no stress on Xenophon's writing That a certain Maritim King lived 800. and his son 600 years Nor on Ravisius giving the very same or at least the like Relation of one Impetris King of the Plutinian Islanders and his Son Nor on Pliny recording the five hundred years life of Dondonius a Sclavonian Nor on Homer or his Followers speaking Nestors age to have been 300 years Neither on Hellanicus a most ancient Writer saying That in the Province of Aetholia some lived 200. others 300 years Nor on Onesicritus neither though attesting the same age of two and three hundred years even as very ordinary in the Island of Pandora All these I pass over because I am not certain of the Age of the World they lived in that is whether it was not of earlier Date than Siorna Saoghalach's reign who was kill'd An. M. 4â— 69. according to Lucius My instances are in Servatius Bishop of Tongres and Joannes de Temporibus and Xequipir an Ethiopian and the Nameless Indian living in the same Time and Kingdom of Bengala with Xequipir The first of these four died in the year of Christ 403. after he had lived 300 years as Sigebert in his Chronicle and others write The second took his denomination or surname de Temporibus from those 336 years he had lived under many Emperours whereof one was Charles the Great of whose Life-guard he had sometimes been and another was Conrad III. in whose Reign he died in France An. D. 1139. as not only Petrus Messias in the said Conrad's Life but the Author of Fasciculus Temporum and many more Writers affirm The third I mean Xequipir was yet alive so near our own time as the year of Christ 1536. after having lived till then 300 years For so Hernandus Lopez à Castagneda â— 8 Chronici has written of him The Last or the Nameless Indian had in the foresaid year of Christ 1536 come to the year of his own age 335. says Joannes Petrus Maffeius â— XI Histor Indic and before him the above Lopez both the one and the other telling us many more particulars of Xequipir and Lopez som of this Anonimus Indian but neither being able to recount or give us any light to see how many years more either of 'em lived nor when they died Of all which you may read more at large in Augustinus Torniellius's Annales Sacri c. ad an M. 1556. n. 4. 5. And so I have given the two arguments which convince my self that from the Relation of Siorna Saoghalach's Life of 250 years c. nothing can be derived to make any Reader at all scruple the truth of the Irish History of that Kingdoms Monarchs or Kings Nor by consequence any thing against the Catalogue of them which you have in the beginning of this Book or the long extent of Time which in all they reign'd according to the Title of that Catalogue 2. After the Last Inference from the same Catalogue add this here as an other viz. That notwithstanding any thing said hitherto as it is confess'd that the former sixteen of those 23 of the English or Fourth and Last Conquest of Ireland never assum'd the Stile or Title of Kings of Ireland for Henry VIII was the First of this Conquest that assum'd it altho nevertheless all the same former sixteen Kings of England were Sovereign Lords of Ireland too at least by Title every one in his turn since the 17th year of Henry the II's reign over England so it must be confess'd That properly speaking none of those Irish Kings who rul'd in Association with any other could be called Monarchs while their Association lasted And we see by this Catalogue that such were in all at least for some time 29 among those of the former Three Conquests whereof One and Twenty were Milesians Which is the reason that Cambrensis where he tells us of 181 Monarchs of the Milesians must be corrected as to that appellation or Title of Monarch attributed so indistinctly by him to them all and so must I wheresoever in this Former Part of my Prospect I have in this particular follow'd him The Irish Historians in their own Language speak more properly giving 'em all the Title of Kings of Ireland Errors in the Matter where and where they are corrected THE First in Page 4. and 16. concerning Eoghun Mor and Aonghus Ollbhuodhach but corrected p. 89. and 435. The second p. 67. about Dearmach corrected p. 181. Third in p. 18. concerning Muâ—rieadhach's Six sons c. and corrected p. 93. Fourth p. 19. about the nine Hostages corrected p. 359. Errors in Words and Letters to be corrected by this following Table wherein the first Number signifies the Page the second the Line a add d dele and r read First in the Dedicatory 2. 7. d. as Secondly in the Preface 7. 18. d. his 35. 16. r. 1662. p. 39. 31. r. 1604. Thirdly in the Former Part 35. 5. d. the Monarch 71. r. Tighernmhais 99. 16. d. to 107. 29. d. of 137. 6. r. theâ— and again 8. r. the. 180. 14. for Diarmuid r. Dombnall 221. 7. Taumaturga 272. 5. for him r. bâ— and 24. r. or any 317. 13. d. to 319. â— a. as 351. 14. r. Monmouth 354. 13. r. understood 382. 21. r. Aetius 385. 26. r. other 387. 8. r. 51. 389. 19. r. Language and 29. r. Niull 395. 7. d. was and for kill'd r. died 413. 9. r. Trouts 414. 1. r. Leap and 8. for though r. the. 434. â— 26. r. 219. 459. 2. r. Notkerus 461. 26. r. To and in the Note â— penvâ—t r. Books Lastly observe that the Orthography of all the proper Irish Names and Surnames of the Kings throughout this whole Book must be corrected by that in the Catalogue where any variation appears
of Captives And so could one Conghallach some time after this but in the same Monarch's Reign make it either his interest or his revenge to murder that very same Connaght King Besides it was against this Monarch Domhnal mhac Muirchiortac that another Domhnal the Son of Conghallach had the prefidious hard unnatural heart to joyn with the Danes of Dublin and fight him in the great Battel which the Irish call in their Language Cath Chille Monae wherein Ardghall mhac Madagain King of Oirghillac and many other illustrious persons of the Monarch s side were lost although himself after this and many other Battels fought in his Reign had the good luck to die a natural death at Ardmagh Maolseachluinn the II. who appears next for 20 years as Monarch on the stage of Ireland notwithstanding that he had known very well how one Gluneran had lately assum'd the Title of King of the Danes in Ireland that he had fought them victoriously in the Battle of Taragh that he had from thence directly march'd to Dublin forc'd it enter'd it enrich'd himself with all the spoils of that City and that he could not but see work enough remaining still among so many several sorts of Enemies Danes Normans Easterlings and their Irish Confederates yet he found leasure and pick'd some quarrel to march his Army to Mounster against Dal-Gheass and prey and spoil them too albeit they were the bravest Warriours there against the common Enemy In his Reign the three sons of Gearbheoill mhac Lorcain sacrilegiously spoil'd the Sanctuary of Glean-da-Logh For which impiety they were all three kill'd the very next following night And in his Reign Muirchiortach va Conghalla heading or at least assisting the Danes of Dublin plunder'd the Sanctuary of Domhnach-Padruig though to all their cost for they all every one died within a month after this wickedness committed by them Now Brien mhac Kinede surnam'd Boraimh succeeding his murder'd Brother in the Kingdom of Mounster which happen'd in the fourth year of the Monarch Conghallach mhic Mhaolmhithe after he had in the second year of his reign over that Province only and in revenge of his foresaid Brother's most barbarous death challeng'd Maolmodh mhac Brain King of Eonachta to a set Battel sought it accordingly at Bealach Leachta kill'd the greater part of Mac Brains Army and taken all the rest prisoners an Army consisting of a numerous Body of Irish and 1500 Danes that join'd them and when this Battel was over upon intelligence brought him that during his diversion by it Domhnal O Faolan King of the Desies over-ran the greatest part of Mounster preying and spoiling all before him after Brien hereupon had immediately march'd towards him overtaken him fought him at a place called Fane mhich Conrach routed him pursued him kill'd him in his flight and together with him the most part of the Danes of Waterford that join'd with him then forc'd that Town plunder'd it burn'd it and enrich'd his Army the brave Dal-Gheass with the spoils of it and preys of all the parts about it after that within the 8th year of his reign over Mounster he had brought the whole Division of Leathmogh to acknowledg his Sovereignty with perfect obedience and that nevertheless upon the death of Domhnal Claon King of Leinster which soon follow'd that Province withdrawing their obedience and joyning anew with the Danes he had with the whole power of Mounster enter'd it and given both the Leinster-men and their Danish Confederats join'd together the memorable overthrow at Gleannmhama killing 4000 of them in that place I say that after all these and many other bloudy Fights against the Danes only fought by him during his Reign over the Provinces of Mounster and Leath-Mogh under the successive Reigns of three Monarchs or Kings of Ireland Conghallach mhac Mhaolmhthe Domhnal mhac Mairchiortae and Maolseachluinn the Second yet when he was chosen by the far greater part of Ireland in the 23d year of this Maolseachluinn to be Monarch he was nevertheless necessitated to make that choice good and establish himself by fighting on still against some other Irish Lords that opposed him till he had subdued all at last by main force and dint of Sword For to this end it was That with the flower of his Army he march'd to Cineall Laigthagh prey'd it spoil'd it and brought thence 300 Hostages That in like manner he enter'd the Countrey call'd Magh Coruinn seiz'd there Maolruanuidh King of Cineal Gonuill and brought him prisoner along with himself to Ceann Chorah in Tuath Mhumhan In fine That Leinster was wholly over-run and burn'd by him even to the Valley of Gleann-da-Logh and from thence again cross to Cill-Mhuighnionn we call it now Killmainam within a small English mile of the walls of Dublin Westward And yet that also may be true which Keting here observes viz. that Brien was mightily moved to this destruction of Leinster because they were Leinster-men that join'd with the Danes in â—ansacking spoiling and leading away a great number of Cap tives from the Sanctuary of Termon Feichin in Meath I say nothing more of any part of those 21 Battels in all fought as you have elsewhere seen by this Brian Boraimh a great part of them while he was only King of Mounster and the rest after he was Monarch only that in 'em all taking one with another especially counting among 'em as I should the greatest last Battel of them which was that of Clantarff I doubt not there was much more Irish bloud spilt by the Irish themselves on both sides than there was of Danish or by the Danes on either Besides I observe it as worthy of special remark here That immediately after this Battel of Clantarff had been over and the Victorious Army of Brian Boraimh had buried their dead especially this Monarch himself and Murchoe the Prince his oldest Son with the rest of greatest quality of their side that were lost in the Battel and interr'd 'em all at Cill-mhuinionn after those funeral rites perform'd by the whole Army before they separated after the Conacians had then parted and return'd the shortest way home to their own Countrey of Connaght and the Momonians likewise in one body taking another as the nearest way to Mounster these being in all but 4000 men and marching through an Enemies Country were no sooner come to Mullach Mastion about some 20 miles from Dublin in their way to Mounster than those of them who were of West-Mounster and they were three parts of the whole i. e. 3000 men withdrew themselves mutinously apart from the rest who were only a thousand North Mounster men but Dal-Gheass the survivors of those other brave Dal Gheass their Companions that with the loss of their own lives made all their Army Victorious That the Westmounster men being so withdrawn a little distance of ground immediatey sent defiance to Donochadh the Leader till then of both parties as being one of the sons of Brien Boraimh and heading