Part 7 (1/2)
[77] _Genealogies_.-There is a ”distinction and a difference” between a genealogy and a pedigree. A genealogy embraces the descent of a family, and its relation to all the other families that descended from the same remote parent stock, and took a distinct tribe-name, as the Dalca.s.sians.
A pedigree traces up the line of descent to the individual from whom the name was derived.
[78] _Events_.--Arnold mentions ”the _family traditions_ and funeral orations out of which the oldest annalists [of Roman history] compiled their narratives.” vol. i. p. 371. Sir G.C. Lewis, however, thinks that the composition of national annals would precede the composition of any private history; but he adds that he judges from the ”example of modern times.” With all respect to such an authority, it seems rather an unphilosophical conclusion. Family pedigrees would depend on family pride, in which the Romans were by no means deficient; and on political considerations, which were all-important to the Irish Celt.
[79] _Tales_.--O'Curry, p. 241.
[80] _Verse_.--See Niebuhr, _Hist_. vol i. pp. 254-261. Arnold has adopted his theory, and Macaulay _has acted on it_. But the Roman poems were merely recited at public entertainments, and were by no means a national arrangement for the preservation of history, such as existed anciently in Ireland. These verses were sung by boys _more patrum_ (Od.
iv. 15), for the entertainment of guests. Ennius, who composed his _Annales_ in hexameter verse, introducing, for the first time, the Greek metre into Roman literature, mentions the verses which the _Fauns_, or religious poets, used to chant. Scaliger thinks that the _Fauns_ were a cla.s.s of men who exercised in Latium, at a very remote period, the same functions as the Magians in Persia and _the Bards in Gaul_. Niebuhr supposes that the entire history of the Roman, kings was formed from poems into a prose narrative.
CHAPTER VI.
Tighearnmas--His Death--Introduces Colours as a Distinction of Rank--Silver s.h.i.+elds and Chariots first used--Reign of Ugaine Mor--The Treachery of Cobhthach--Romantic Tales--Queen Mab--Dispute which led to the celebrated Cattle Spoil--The Story of the Tain bo Chuailgne--The Romans feared to invade Ireland--Tacitus--Revolt of the Attacotti--Reign of Tuathal--Origin of the Boromean Tribute.
[B.C. 1700.]
Our annals afford but brief details from the time of Eremon to that of _Ugaine Mor_. One hundred and eighteen sovereigns are enumerated from the Milesian conquest of Ireland (according to the Four Masters, B.C.
1700) to the time of St. Patrick, A.D. 432. The princ.i.p.al events recorded are international deeds of arms, the clearing of woods, the enactment of laws, and the erection of palaces.
Tighearnmas, one of these monarchs, is said to have introduced the wors.h.i.+p of idols into Ireland. From this it would appear, that the more refined Magian, or Sun-wors.h.i.+p, had prevailed previously. He died, with ”three-fourths” of the men of Ireland about him, on the night of Samhain,[81] while wors.h.i.+pping the idol called Crom Cruach, at Magh Slacht, in Breifne.[82] Tighearnmas reigned seventy-five years. He is said to have been the first who attempted the smelting of gold in Ireland; and the use of different colours,[83] as an indication of rank, is also attributed to him.
Silver s.h.i.+elds were now made (B.C. 1383) at Airget-Ros, by Enna Airgtheach, and four-horse chariots were first used in the time of Roitheachtaigh, who was killed by lightning near the Giant's Causeway.
Ollamh Fodhla (the wise or learned man) distinguished himself still more by inst.i.tuting triennial a.s.semblies at Tara. Even should the date given by the Four Masters (1317 B.C.) be called in question, there is no doubt of the fact, which must have occurred some centuries before the Christian era; and this would appear to be the earliest instance of a national convocation or parliament in any country. Ollamh Fodhla also appointed chieftains over every cantred or hundred, he constructed a rath at Tara, and died there in the fortieth year of his reign.
At the reign of Cimbaoth (B.C. 716) we come to that period which Tighernach considers the commencement of indisputably authentic history.
It is strange that he should have selected a provincial chief, and a period in no way remarkable except for the building of the palace of Emania.[84] But the student of Irish pre-Christian annals may be content to commence with solid foundation as early as seven centuries before Christ. The era was an important one in universal history. The Greeks had then counted sixteen Olympiads, and crowned Pythagoras the victor.
Hippomenes was archon at Athens. Romulus had been succeeded by Numa Pompilius, and the foundations of imperial Rome were laid in blood by barbarian hordes. The Chaldeans had just taken the palm in astronomical observations, and recorded for the first time a lunar eclipse; while the baffled a.s.syrian hosts relinquished the siege of Tyre, unhappily reserved for the cruel destruction accomplished by Alexander, a few centuries later. The prophecies of Isaiah were still resounding in the ears of an ungrateful people. He had spoken of the coming Christ and His all-peaceful mission in mystic imagery, and had given miraculous evidences of his predictions. But suffering should be the precursor of that marvellous advent. The a.s.syrian dashed in resistless torrent upon the fold. Israel was led captive. Hosea was in chains. Samaria and the kingdom of Israel were added to the conquests of Sennacherib; and the kingdom of Judah, hara.s.sed but not destroyed, waited the accomplishment of prophecy, and the measure of her crimes, ere the most ancient of peoples should for ever cease to be a nation.
Ugaine Mor is the next monarch who demands notice. His obituary record is thus given by the Four Masters:--”At the end of this year, A.M. 4606, Ugaine Mor, after he had been full forty years King of Ireland, and of the whole of the west of Europe, as far as Muir-Toirrian, was slain by Badhbhchad at Tealach-an-Choisgair, in Bregia. This Ugaine was he who exacted oaths by all the elements, visible and invisible, from the men of Ireland in general, that they would never contend for the sovereignty of Ireland with his children or his race.”
Ugaine was succeeded by his son, Laeghaire Lorc, who was cruelly and treacherously killed by his brother, Cobhthach Cael. Indeed, few monarchs lived out their time in peace during this and the succeeding centuries. The day is darkest before the dawn, in the social and political as well as in the physical world. The Eternal Light was already at hand; the powers of darkness were aroused for the coming conflict; and deeds of evil were being accomplished, which make men shudder as they read. The a.s.sa.s.sination of Laeghaire was another manifestation of the old-world story of envy. The treacherous Cobhthach feigned sickness, which he knew would obtain a visit from his brother.
When the monarch stooped to embrace him, he plunged a dagger into his heart. His next act was to kill his nephew, Ailill Aine; and his ill-treatment of Aine's son, Maen, was the consummation of his cruelty.
The fratricide was at last slain by this very youth, who had now obtained the appellation of Labhraidh-Loingseach, or Lowry of the s.h.i.+ps.
We have special evidence here of the importance of our Historic Tales, and also that the blending of fiction and fact by no means deteriorates from their value.
Love affairs form a staple ground for fiction, with a very substantial under-strata of facts, even in the nineteenth century; and the annals of pre-Christian Erinn are by no means deficient in the same fertile source of human interest. The History of the Exile is still preserved in the Leabhar Buidhe Lecain, now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. It is a highly romantic story, but evidently founded on fact, and full of interest as descriptive of public and private life in the fifth century before Christ. It tells how Maen, though supposed to be deaf and dumb, was, nevertheless, given in charge of two officers of the court to be educated; that he recovered or rather obtained speech suddenly, in a quarrel with another youth; and that he was as symmetrical of form and n.o.ble of bearing as all heroes of romance are bound to be. His uncle expelled him from the kingdom, and he took refuge at the court of King Scoriath. King Scoriath had a daughter, who was beautiful; and Maen, of course, acted as a knight was bound to do under such circ.u.mstances, and fell desperately in love with the princess. The Lady Moriath's beauty had bewildered more heads than that of the knight-errant; but the Lady Moriath's father and mother were determined their daughter should not marry.
The harper Craftine came to the rescue, and at last, by his all-entrancing skill, so ravished the whole party of knights and n.o.bles, that the lovers were able to enjoy a tete-a-tete, and pledged mutual vows. As usual, the parents yielded when they found it was useless to resist; and, no doubt, the poet Craftine, who, poet and all as he was, nearly lost his head in the adventure, was the most welcome of all welcome guests at the nuptial feast. Indeed, he appears to have been retained as comptroller of the house and confidential adviser long after; for when Labhraidh Maen was obliged to fly the country, he confided his wife to the care of Craftine. On his return from France,[85] he obtained possession of the kingdom, to which he was the rightful heir, and reigned over the men of Erinn for eighteen years.
Another Historic Tale gives an account of the destruction of the court of Da Derga, but we have not s.p.a.ce for details. The Four Masters merely relate the fact in the following entry:--
”Conaire, the son of Ederscel, after having been seventy years in the sovereignty of Erinn, was slain at Bruighean Da Dhearga by insurgents.”
Another prince, Eochaidh Feidhlech, was famous for sighing. He rescinded the division of Ireland into twenty-five parts, which had been made by Ugaine Mor, and divided the island into five provinces, over each of which he appointed a provincial king, under his obedience. The famous Meadhbh, or Mab, was his daughter; and though unquestionably a lady of rather strong physical and mental capabilities, the lapse of ages has thrown an obscuring halo of romance round her belligerent qualifications, and metamorphosed her into the gentle ”Faery Queen” of the poet Spenser. One of Meav's exploits is recorded in the famous Tain bo Chuailgne, which is to Celtic history what the Argonautic Expedition, or the Seven against Thebes, is to Grecian. Meav was married first to Conor, the celebrated provincial king of Ulster; but the marriage was not a happy one, and was dissolved, in modern parlance, on the ground of incompatibility. In the meanwhile, Meav's three brothers had rebelled against their father; and though his arms were victorious, the victory did not secure peace. The men of Connacht revolted against him, and to retain their allegiance he made his daughter Queen of Connacht, and gave her in marriage to Ailill, a powerful chief of that province. This prince, however, died soon after; and Meav, determined for once, at least, to choose a husband for herself, made a royal progress to Leinster, where Ross Ruadb held his court at Naas. She selected the younger son of this monarch, who bore the same name as her former husband, and they lived together happily as queen and king consort for many years. On one occasion, however, a dispute arose about their respective treasures, and this dispute led to a comparison of their property. The account of this, and the subsequent comparison, is given at length in the _Tain_, and is a valuable repertory of archaeological information. They counted their vessels, metal and wooden; they counted their finger rings, their clasps, their thumb rings, their diadems, and their gorgets of gold. They examined their many-coloured garments of crimson and blue, of black and green, yellow and mottled, white and streaked. All were equal. They then inspected their flocks and herds, swine from the forests, sheep from the pasture lands, and cows--here the first difference arose. It was one to excite Meav's haughty temper.
There was a young bull found among Ailill's bovine wealth: it had been calved by one of Meav's cows; but ”not deeming it honorable to be under a woman's control,” it had attached itself to Ailill's herds. Meav was not a lady who could remain quiet under such provocation. She summoned her chief courier, and asked him could he a match for Finnbheannach (the white-horned). The courier declared that he could find even a superior animal; and at once set forth on his mission, suitably attended. Meav had offered the most liberal rewards for the prize she so much coveted; and the courier soon arranged with Dare, a n.o.ble of large estates, who possessed one of the valuable breed. A drunken quarrel, however, disarranged his plans. One of the men boasted that if Dare had not given the bull for payment, he should have been compelled to give it by force.
Dare's steward heard the ill-timed and uncourteous boast. He flung down the meat and drink which he had brought for their entertainment, and went to tell his master the contemptuous speech. The result may be antic.i.p.ated. Dare refused the much-coveted animal, and Meav proceeded to make good her claim by force of arms. But this is only the prologue of the drama; the details would fill a volume. It must suffice to say, that the bulls had a battle of their own. Finnbheannach and Donn Chuailgne (the Leinster bull) engaged in deadly combat, which is described with the wildest flights of poetic diction.[86] The poor ”white horn” was killed, and Donn Chuailgne, who had lashed himself to madness, dashed out his brains.[87]