Part 18 (1/2)

”Sorrowful this day is sacred Ireland, Without a valiant chief of hostage reign!

It is to see the heavens without a sun, To view Magh-Neill[205] without a Nial.”

”There is no cheerfulness in the happiness of men; There is no peace or joy among the hosts; No fair can be celebrated Since the sorrow of sorrow died.”

Donough, son of Flann Sinna, succeeded, and pa.s.sed his reign in obscurity, with the exception of a victory over the Danes at Bregia. Two great chieftains, however, compensated by their prowess for his indifference; these were Muircheartach, son of the brave Nial Glundubh, the next heir to the throne, and Callaghan of Cashel, King of Munster.

The northern prince was a true patriot, willing to sacrifice every personal feeling for the good of his country: consequently, he proved a most formidable foe to the Danish invader. Callaghan of Cashel was, perhaps, as brave, but his name cannot be held up to the admiration of posterity. The personal advancement of the southern Hy-Nials was more to him than the political advancement of his country; and he disgraced his name and his nation by leaguing with the invaders. In the year 934 he pillaged Clonmacnois. Three years later he invaded Meath and Ossory, in conjunction with the Danes. Muircheartach was several times on the eve of engagements with the feeble monarch who nominally ruled the country, but he yielded for the sake of peace, or, as the chroniclers quaintly say, ”G.o.d pacified them.” After one of these pacifications, they joined forces, and laid ”siege to the foreigners of Ath-cliath, so that they spoiled and plundered all that was under the dominion of the foreigners, from Ath-cliath to Ath-Truisten.”[206]

In the twenty-second year of Donough, Muircheartach determined on a grand expedition for the subjugation of the Danes. He had already conducted a fleet to the Hebrides, from whence he returned flushed with victory. His first care was to a.s.semble a body of troops of special valour; and he soon found himself at the head of a thousand heroes, and in a position to commence ”his circuit of Ireland.” The Danish chief, Sitric, was first seized as a hostage. He then carried off Lorcan, King of Leinster. He next went to the Munster men, who were also prepared for battle; but they too yielded, and gave up their monarch also, ”and a fetter was put on him by Muircheartach.” He afterwards proceeded into Connaught, where Conchobhar, son of Tadhg, came to meet him, ”but no gyve or lock was put upon him.” He then returned to Oileach, carrying these kings with him as hostages. Here he feasted them for five months with knightly courtesy, and then sent them to the Monarch Donough.

After these exploits we cannot be surprised that Muircheartach should be styled the Hector of the west of Europe. But he soon finds his place in the never-ceasing obituary. In two years after his justly famous exploit, he was slain by ”Blacaire, son of G.o.dfrey, lord of the foreigners.” This event occurred on the 26th of March, A.D. 941, according to the chronology of the Four Masters. The true year, however, is 943. The chroniclers briefly observe, that ”Ard-Macha was plundered by the same foreigners, on the day after the killing of Muircheartach.”[207]

Donough died in 942, after a reign of twenty-five years. He was succeeded by Congallach, who was killed by the Danes, A.D. 954. Donnell O'Neill, a son of the brave Muircheartach, now obtained the royal power, such as it was; and at his death the throne reverted to Maelseachlainn, or Malachy II., the last of his race who ever held the undisputed sovereignty of Ireland. But it must not be supposed that murders and ma.s.sacres are the staple commodities of our annals during this eventful period. Every noteworthy event is briefly and succinctly recorded. We find, from time to time, mention of strange portents, such as double suns, and other celestial phenomena of a more or less remarkable character. Fearful storms are also chronicled, which appear to have occurred at certain intervals, and hard frosts, which proved almost as trying to the ”men of Erinn” as the wars of the Gentiles, black or white. But the obituaries of abbots or monks, with the quaint remarks appended thereto, and epitomes of a lifetime in a sentence, are by no means the least interesting portion of those ancient tomes. In one page we may find record of the Lord of Aileach, who takes a pilgrim's staff; in another, we have mention of the Abbot Muireadhach and others, who were ”destroyed in the refectory” of Druim-Mesclainn by Congallach; and we read in the lamentation of Muireadhach, that he was ”the lamp of every choir.” Then we are told simply how a n.o.bleman ”died in religion,”

as if that were praise enough for him; though another n.o.ble, Domhnall, is said to have ”died in religion, after a good life.” Of some abbots and bishops there is nothing more than the death record; but in the age of Christ 926, when Celedabhaill, son of Scannal, went to Rome on his pilgrimage from the abbacy of Beannchair, we are given in full the four quatrains which he composed at his departure,--a composition which speaks highly for the poetic powers and the true piety of the author. He commences thus:--

”Time for me to prepare to pa.s.s from the shelter of a habitation, To journey as a pilgrim over the surface of the n.o.ble lively sea; Time to depart from the snares of the flesh, with all its guilt; Time now to ruminate how I may find the great Son of Mary; Time to seek virtue, to trample upon the will with sorrow; Time to reject vices, and to renounce the demon.

”Time to barter the transitory things for the country of the King of heaven; Time to defy the ease of the little earthly world of a hundred pleasures; Time to work at prayer in adoration of the high King of angels.”

The obituary notices, however, were not always complimentary. We find the following entry in the Annals of Clonmacnois:--”Tomhair Mac Alchi, King of Denmark, is reported to go [to have gone] to h.e.l.l with his pains, as he deserved.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: GREY MAN'S PATH, GIANT'S CAUSEWAY.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: RATH AT LEIGHLIN, CARLOW]

FOOTNOTES:

[192] _Expanded_.--I take this opportunity of requesting from laymen or ecclesiastics who may read this announcement, the favour of any information they may consider valuable.

[193] _Heaven.--Ec. Hist_. lib. iv. c. 26. ”From that time the hopes and strength of the English crown began to waver and retrograde, for the Picts recovered their own lands,” &c. The Annals of the Four Masters mention a mortality among cattle throughout the whole world, and a severe frost, which followed this invasion: ”The sea between Ireland and Scotland was frozen, so that there was a communication between them on the ice.”--vol. ii. p. 291. They also mention the mission of Ad.a.m.nan to ”Saxon land.”

[194] _Galls_.--Gall was a generic name for foreigners. The Danes were Finn Galls, or White Foreigners, and Dubh Galls, or Black Foreigners.

The former were supposed to have been the inhabitants of Norway; the latter, of Jutland. In Irish, _gaill_ is the nom., and _gall_, gen.

[195] _Streets_.--In Armagh the buildings were formed into streets and wards, for the better preservation of monastic discipline. Armagh was divided into three parts--_trian-more_, the town proper; _trian-Patrick_, the cathedral close; and _trian-Sa.s.senagh_, the home of the foreign students.

[196] _Michaelmas_.--Annals, p. 371. Another fearful thunderstorm is recorded in the Annals for 799. This happened on the eve of St.

Patrick's Day. It is said that a thousand and ten persons were killed on the coast of Clare. The island of Fitha (now Mutton Island) was partly submerged, and divided into three parts. There was also a storm in 783--”thunder, lightning, and wind-storms”--by which the Monastery of Clonbroney was destroyed.

[197] _Reachrainn_.-Rechru appears to be the correct form. It has not yet been ascertained whether this refers to Lambay, near Dublin, or the island 01 Rathlinn. See note, p. 32, to the ”Introduction” to the _Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gall_.

[198] _Mistake.--Ethel. Chron. Pro._ book iii.

[199] _Irish_.--The history of the two hundred years during which these northern pirates desolated the island, has been preserved in a MS. of venerable age and undoubted authenticity. It is ent.i.tled _Cogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh_ (the Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gall). It was quoted by Keating, known to Colgan, and used by the Four Masters; but for many years it was supposed to have been completely lost, until it was discovered, in 1840, by Mr. O'Curry, among the Seabright MSS. The work is now edited, with a translation and most valuable notes, by Dr. Todd.

Several other copies have been discovered since, notably one by the Franciscan Brother, Michael O'Clery, which is at present in the Burgundian Library at Brussels. From internal evidence, it is presumed that the author was a contemporary of King Brian Boroimhe. Dr. O'Connor refers the authors.h.i.+p to Mac Liag, who was chief poet to that monarch, and died in 1016, two years after his master. Dr. Todd evidently inclines to this opinion, though he distinctly states that there is no authority for it.

[200] _Death_.--It appears doubtful whether he really died at this time.

It is said that he repented of his sins of sacrilege, and ended his days in penance and religious retirement. See Four Masters, p. 472.