Part 1 (1/2)

The Story of Ancient Irish Civilization.

by P. W. Joyce.

PREFACE.

This little book has been written and published with the main object of spreading as widely as possible among our people, young and old, a knowledge of the civilisation and general social condition of Ireland from the fifth or sixth to the twelfth century, when it was wholly governed by native rulers. The publication comes at an appropriate time, when there is an awakening of interest in the Irish language, and in Irish lore of every kind, unparalleled in our history.

But the book has a further mission. There are many English and many Anglo-Irish people who think, merely from ignorance, that Ireland was a barbarous and half-savage country before the English came among the people and civilised them. This book, so far as it finds its way among the two cla.s.ses above mentioned, will, I fancy, open their eyes. They will learn from it that the old Irish, so far from being barbarous, were a bright, intellectual, and cultured people; that they had professions, trades, and industries pervading the whole population, with clearly defined ranks and grades of society, all working under an elaborate system of native laws; and that in the steadying and civilising arts and pursuits of everyday life they were as well advanced, as orderly, and as regular as any other European people of the same period. They will find too that, as regards education, scholars.h.i.+p, and general mental culture, the Irish of those early ages were in advance of all other countries of Europe; that they helped most materially to spread Christianity, and to revive learning, all over the Continent; and that to Irish missionaries and scholars, the Anglo-Saxons of the Heptarchy were indebted for the greater part of their Christianity, and for the preservation and restoration of learning when it was threatened with extinction all over England by the ravages of the Danes.

But there were, and are, Englishmen better informed about our country.

More than three hundred years ago the great English poet, Edmund Spenser, lived for some time in Ireland, and made himself well acquainted with its history. He knew what it was in past ages; so that in one of his poems he speaks of the time

”When Ireland flourished in fame Of wealth and goodnesse, far above the rest Of all that beare the British Islands name.”

But it is better not to pursue these observations farther here, as it would be only antic.i.p.ating what will be found in the body of the book.

This book is the last of a series of three, of which the second is abridged from the first, and the third from both.

The First--”A Social History of Ancient Ireland” (2 vols., richly gilt, both cover and top, in 31 chapters, with 361 Ill.u.s.trations)--contains a complete survey of the Social Life and Inst.i.tutions of Ancient Ireland.

All the important statements in it are proved home by references to authorities, and by quotations from ancient doc.u.ments.

The Second--”A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland” (1 vol., cloth, gilt, 598 pages, in 27 chapters, with 213 Ill.u.s.trations)--traverses the same ground as the larger work; but, besides condensation, most of the ill.u.s.trative quotations and nearly all the references to authorities are omitted.

This Third book--”The Story of Ancient Irish Civilisation”--gives in simple, plain language, an account of the condition of the country in the olden time; but as it is here to speak for itself, I need not describe it further. For all the statements it contains, full and satisfactory authorities will be found in the two larger works.

I have done my best to make all three readable and interesting, as well as instructive.

The ordinary history of our country has been written by many, and the reader has a wide choice. But in the matter of our Social History he has no choice at all. For these three books of mine have, for the first and only time, brought within the reach of the general public a knowledge of the whole social life of Ancient Ireland.

P. W. J.

LYRE-NA-GRENA, _February, 1907_.

The old Irish writers commonly prefixed to their books or treatises a brief statement of ”Place, Time, Person, and Cause.” My larger Social History, following the old custom, opens with a statement of this kind, which reappears in the Preface to the Smaller Social History, and which may be appropriately repeated here:--

_The Place, Time, Author, and Cause of Writing, of this book, are:--Its place is Lyre-na-Grena, Leinster-road, Rathmines, Dublin; its time is the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seven; the author is Patrick Weston Joyce, Doctor of Laws; and the cause of writing the same book is to give glory to G.o.d, honour to Ireland, and knowledge to those who desire to learn all about the Old Irish People._

CHAPTER I.

HOW THE ANCIENT IRISH PEOPLE WERE GOVERNED BY THEIR KINGS AND CHIEFS.

There were in Ireland, from times beyond the reach of history, kings, who were of various grades according to the extent of the country or district they ruled over. The highest of all was the king of Ireland, who lived in the royal palace at Tara. He was called the Ard-ri [ard-ree], _i.e._, 'High king' or Over-king, because he claimed authority over all the others. There was also a king over each of the five provinces--Leinster, Munster, Connaught, Ulster, and Meath--who were subject to the Ard-ri. The provinces were divided into a number of territories, over which were kings of a still lower grade, each under the king of his own province. If the district was not large enough to have a king, it was ruled by a chief, who was subject to the king of the larger territory in which the district was included.

The king was always chosen from one particular ruling family; and when a king died, those chiefs who had votes held a meeting, lasting for three days and three nights, at which they elected whatever member of that family they considered the wisest, best, and bravest. After this a day was fixed for inaugurating the new king, a ceremony corresponding in some respects with the _crowning_ of our present monarchs. This Inauguration, or 'making' of a king as it is called in Irish, was a great affair, and was attended by all the leading people, both clergymen and laymen. There was always one particular spot for the ceremony, on which usually stood a high mound or fort, with an 'Inauguration Stone' on top, and often a great branching old tree, under the shade of which the main proceedings were carried on.