Chapter 28

[1]"Ionann dam sliabh a's sáileEire a's iarthar Easpáine,Do chuireas dúnta go deasGeata dlúth ris an doilgheas."Copied from a MS. in Trinity College. I forget its number.

[1]"Ionann dam sliabh a's sáileEire a's iarthar Easpáine,Do chuireas dúnta go deasGeata dlúth ris an doilgheas."

Copied from a MS. in Trinity College. I forget its number.

[2]Published by the Celtic Society in 1848, in 3 vols., with a translation and copious notes.

[3]Regal Visitation Book, A.D. 1622, MS. in Marsh's Library, Dublin, quoted by D'Arcy McGee in his "Irish Writers of the Seventeenth Century," p. 85; but Hardiman, in his "West Connaught," no doubt rightly gives the date of this visitation as 1615. A writer in the "Dublin Penny Journal," identified this schoolmaster with the author of the "Cambrensis Eversus," but Hardiman shows that it, must have been his father.See"West Connaught," p. 420 note.

[4]Elrington's great edition of Ussher's works in 17 vols., but I have not noted volume or page.

[5]The books of ancient authority which Keating quotes as still existing in his own day, are the Psalter of Cashel, compiled by Cormac mac Culinan; the Book of Armagh, apparently a different book from that now so-called; the Book of Cluain-Aidnech-Fintan in Leix, the Book of Glendaloch, the Book of Rights, the [now fragmentary] Leabhar na h-Uidhre, the Yellow Book of Moling, the Black Book of Molaga. He also mentions the Book of Conquests, the Book of the Provinces [a book of the genealogies of the Gaelic tribes of each province], the Book of Reigns [said to have been written by Gilla Kevin, a bard of the eleventh century], the Book of Epochs, the Book of Synchronisms [by Flann of the Monastery], the Dinnseanchus [a book of the etymologies, and history of names and places, published from various MSS. by Whitley Stokes, in the "Folklore Review"], the Book of the Pedigrees of Women, and a number of others.

[6]"Innus gur ab é nós, beagnach, an phrimpolláin do ghnid, ag scríobhadh ar Eirionchaibh."

[7]The first volume of Keating's History was published in Dublin by Halliday, in 1811, but that brilliant young scholar did not live to complete it. John O'Mahoney, the Fenian Head Centre, published a splendid translation of the whole work from the best MSS. which in his exile he was able to procure, in New York in 1866, but its introduction into the United Kingdom was prohibited on the grounds that it infringed copyright. Dr. Todd remarks on this translation, "notwithstanding the extravagant and very mischievous political opinions avowed by Mr. O'Mahoney, his translation of Keating is a great improvement upon the ignorant and dishonest one published by Mr. Dermod O'Connor more than a century ago,"—a foolish remark of Dr. Todd's, who must have understood that most readers of Keating are to be found amongst men to whom his own political opinions thus unnecessarily vented, were equally "mischievous." Dr. Robert Atkinson published the Text of the "Three Shafts of Death" without a translation, but with a most carefully-compiled and admirable glossary in 1890. Keating's third work has never been published, but I printed some extracts from a good MS. of it lent me by the O'Conor Don in an American paper. My friend Mr. John Mac Neill has pointed me out what is apparently a fourth work of Keating's on the Blessed Virgin.

[8]From the Kerne's, who was of course utterly ignorant of English, mistaking "make" for the Irish "Mac," it is plain that the ancient pronunciation of this word (Anglo-Saxonmacian) had not then been lost.

[9]"Cum Hiberni et bene sint affecti, et insigniter idonei ad studia literarum et liberalium artium, utpote ingeniis bonis et acutis passim præditi, non potuit hactenus obtineri unquam à præfectis Anglis ut in Hibernia Universitas studiorum erigeretur. Imò dum aliquando de eâ re etiam, Catholico tempore, in Concilio Angliæ propositio fieret, obstitit acerrimé unus e primariis Senatoribus, et ipse quidem celebris episcopus, quem cum postea alius quidam admoneret, mirari se quod is utpote episcopus Catholicus tam sanctum atque salutare opus impediret. Respondit ille se non ut Episcopum Catholicæ Ecclesiæ sed ut Senatorem regni Angliæ sententiam istam in concilio protulisse, quâ opus istud impediretur."Quod bene forte se haberet si in Concilio Dei et Sanctorum ejus quando de Episcopo severior daretur sententia, ab eâ, pari posset acumine Senator liberari" ("De Hibernia Commentarius." Louvain, 1632).

"Quod bene forte se haberet si in Concilio Dei et Sanctorum ejus quando de Episcopo severior daretur sententia, ab eâ, pari posset acumine Senator liberari" ("De Hibernia Commentarius." Louvain, 1632).

[10]"Toties requisita studiorum Universitas ante annos aliquot erectum fuit decreto Reginæ (tametsi sumptibus Indigenarum) juxta civitatem Dubliniensem, capacissimum et splendidissimum collegium, in quo ordinatum est ut disciplinæ omnes liberales traderentur, sed ab hæreticis magistris, quales cùm Hibernia nequaquam subministraret ex Anglia submissi sunt. Qui pro sua etiam propaganda et confirmanda religione, insuper acceperunt, et munus prædicandi doctrinam suam Evangelicam in civitate Dublinensi et mandatum exigendi juramentum, supremæ potestatis Reginæ in rebus ecclesiasticis, ab adolescentibus quos in literis instituebant," etc.These extracts show the light in which the native Irish regarded the foundation of Trinity College.

These extracts show the light in which the native Irish regarded the foundation of Trinity College.

[11]The late Mr. Hennessy I believe discovered and made a transcript of a portion of this book, which is in the Royal Irish Academy, but I have been unable to lay my hands on it.

[12]It must be observed that no Irish family is traced to a Tuatha De Danann ancestry.

[13]O'Curry. MS. Mat. p. 224. For a very different estimate of the Gailiuns or Gaileóins,seeabove p.323.

[14]It is a mere accident that this valuable work has survived. The only known copy of it is in the handwriting of Lughaidh's son Cucogry, and the book was unknown to O'Reilly when he compiled his "Irish Writers." It was handed down in the O'Clery family until it came to Patrick O'Clery who lent it to O'Reilly, the lexicographer, some time after 1817, and, O'Reilly dying, the book was sold at his auction in spite of the protests of poor O'Clery. It is now in the Royal Irish Academy and has been edited by the late Father Denis Murphy, S.J., in 1893, whose translation I have for the most part followed. The text of this biography would fill about 150 pages of this book.

[15]This interesting work, though drawn on by Father Meehan, seems to be unknown to Irish scholars. It contains 135 closely written pages. It was discovered in Colgan's cell at Louvain after his death, and is now amongst the uncatalogued manuscripts in the Franciscans' Monastery in Dublin, where it escaped the research of the late Sir John Gilbert, who catalogued their books for the Government, and of M. de Jubainville, who also spent some days in examining their MSS. I owe its discovery to the courtesy of the learned librarian, Father O'Reilly, who has permitted me to make a transcript of it for future publication.

[16]Here is a specimen of the language of this book: "Do rala ambasadoir rig Saxan sa geathraighin tan sin. Bui ag dénomh a landithill aidhmhillteocusurchoide do na maithip dia madh eidir leiss. Teid sin a ndimhaoineassocusa mitharbha, oir ni thug in Ri audiens no eisteacht gofeadh trilá doachtag dhol dfiadhach gach laithe."

[17]Here is a specimen of the language of this work which is much shorter than the account of O'Neill's and O'Donnell's wanderings; there is a fine copy of it made by O'Curry from the original in the Royal Irish Academy, which fills one hundred pages: "Fagbadh na croidheachta [what the English calledcreaghts] bochta, rugadar leo a ttoil féin diobh, an chuid do imthigh dona croidheachtaibh sios suas sair siar. Ann do marbhadh Cormac Ua Hagan mac Eoghain, oc oc as bocht! S do bhi Sior Feidhlinn a Cill Cainnigh an tan so. Do cuaidh cuid dinn don Breifni, cuid dinn go Conndae Arda Macha, co Conndae Tir Eoghain, co condae Luth," etc.

[18]Published in "Reliquiæ Celticæ," vol ii. p. 149, with an interesting introduction, but a most inaccurate translation.

[19]Seepp.491-2for an account of this O'Daly.

[20]These are the names alluded to by Milton in his famous sonnet, on hisTetrachordon, which name, he says, the public could not understand."Cries the stall-reader, 'Bless us! what a word onA title-page is this!' and some in fileStand spelling false while one might walk to Mile-End Green. Why it is harder, sirs, thanGordon,ColkittoorMacdonnelorGalasp!""Colkitto" is for Colla Ciotach, "left-handed Coll or Colla," and "Galasp" is Giolla-easpuig, now Gillespie. Alaster Mac Donald was killed at the battle of Cnoc na ndos by the renegade Murough O'Brien in 1647.

[20]These are the names alluded to by Milton in his famous sonnet, on hisTetrachordon, which name, he says, the public could not understand.

"Cries the stall-reader, 'Bless us! what a word onA title-page is this!' and some in fileStand spelling false while one might walk to Mile-End Green. Why it is harder, sirs, thanGordon,ColkittoorMacdonnelorGalasp!"

"Colkitto" is for Colla Ciotach, "left-handed Coll or Colla," and "Galasp" is Giolla-easpuig, now Gillespie. Alaster Mac Donald was killed at the battle of Cnoc na ndos by the renegade Murough O'Brien in 1647.

[21]"Do mhuinntir bhug na gaoithe, agus srathabhalgaidh agus bhraighe an mhachuire."

[22]"Do bhi marbhadh tiugh ag lucht bóghadh ga dhénamh ar na coisidhibh Gordonac[ha]." Readers of the "Legend of Montrose" will recollect the surprise and scorn with which Major Dugald Dalgetty learns that some of the Highlanders carried bows, but here we see the execution they wrought even in the hands of the Covenanters.

[23]"Sgathán an chrábhaidh."

[24]"Sgathán Sacrameinte na h-Aithrighe."

[25]"Párrthas an Anma."

[26]"Lóchran na gcreidhmheach."

[27]In the MS. marked H. 2. 7. in Trinity College there is a story of Sir Guy, Earl of Warwick and Bocigam [Buckingham], and p. 348 of the same MS. another about Bibus, son of Sir Guy of Hamtuir. These must have been taken from English sources. Of the same nature, but of different dates, are Irish redactions of Marco Polo's travels, the Adventures of Hercules, the Quest of the Holy Grail, Maundeville's Travels, the Adventures of the Bald Dog, Teglach an bhuird Chruinn,i.e., the Household of the Round Table, the Chanson de geste of Fierabras, Barlaam and Josaphat, the History of Octavian, Orlando and Melora, Meralino Maligno, Richard and Lisarda, the Story of the Theban War, Turpin's Chronicle, the Triumphs of Charlemagne, the History of King Arthur, the Adventures of Menalippa and Alchimenes, and probably many others.

We have already at the beginning of this book had occasion to discuss the reliability of the Irish annals,[1]and have seen that from the fifth century onward they record with great accuracy the few events for which we happen to have external evidence, drawn either from astronomical discovery or from the works of foreign authors. We shall here enumerate the most important of these works, for though the documents from which they are taken were evidently of great antiquity, yet they themselves are only comparatively modern compilations mostly made from the now lost sources of the ancient vellum chronicles which the early Christian monks kept in their religious houses, probably from the very first introduction of Christianity and the use of Roman letters.

The greatest—though almost the youngest—of them all is the much-renowned "Annals of the Four Masters." This mighty work is chiefly due to the herculean labours of the learned Franciscan Brother, Michael O'Clery, a native of Donegal, born about the year 1580, who was himself descended from a long line of scholars.[2]He and another scion ofDonegal, Aedh Mac an Bháird, then guardian of St. Anthony's in Louvain, contemplated the compilation and publication of a great collection of the lives of the Irish saints.

In furtherance of this idea Michael O'Clery, with the leave and approbation of his superiors, set out from Louvain, and, coming to Ireland, travelled through the whole length and breadth of it, from abbey to abbey and priory to priory. Up and down, high and low, he hunted for the ancient vellum books and time-stained manuscripts whose safety was even then threatened by the ever-thickening political shocks and spasms of that most destructive age. These, whenever he found, he copied in an accurate and beautiful handwriting, and transmitted safely to Louvain to his friend Mac an Bháird, or "Ward" as the name is now in English. Ward unfortunately died before he could make use of the material thus collected by O'Clery, but it was taken up by another great Franciscan, Father John Colgan, who utilised the work of his friend O'Clery by producing, in 1645, the two enormous Latin quartos, to which we have already frequently alluded, the first called the "Trias Thaumaturga," containing the lives of Saints Patrick, Brigit, and Columcille; the second containing all the lives which could be found of all the Irish saints whose festivals fell between the first of January and the last of March. Several of the works thus collected by O'Clery and Colgan still happily survive.[3]On the break-up of theConvent of Louvain, they were transferred to St. Isidore's, in Rome, and in 1872 were restored to Ireland and are now in the Convent of the Franciscans, on Merchant's Quay, Dublin, a restoration which prompted the fine lines of the late poet John Francis O'Donnell.

From Ireland of the four bright seasIn troublous days these treasures came,Through clouds, through fires, through darknesses,To Rome of immemorial name,Rome of immeasurable fame:The reddened hands of foes would riveEach lovely growth of cloister—crypt—Dim folio, yellow manuscript,Where yet the glowing pigments live;But a clear voice cried from Louvain"Give them to me for they are mine,"And so they sped across the mainThe saints their guard, the ship their shrine.

Before O'Clery ever entered the Franciscan Order he had been by profession an historian or antiquary, and now in his eager quest for ecclesiastical writings and the lives of saints, his trained eye fell upon many other documents which he could not neglect. These were the ancient books and secular annals of the nation, and the historical poems of the ancientbards. He indulged himself to the full in this unique opportunity to become acquainted with so much valuable material, and the results of his labours were two voluminous books, first the "Réim Rioghraidhe," or Succession of Kings in Ireland, which gives the name, succession, and genealogy of the kings of Ireland from the earliest times down to the death of Malachy the Great in 1022, and which gives at the same time the genealogies of the early saints of Ireland down to the eighth century, and secondly the "Leabhar Gabhála," or Book of Invasions,[4]which contains an ample account of the successive colonisations of Ireland which were made by Partholan, the Nemedians, and the Tuatha De Danann, down to the death of Malachy, all drawn from ancient books—for the most part now lost—digested and put together by the friar.

It was probably while engaged on this work that the great scheme of compiling the annals of Ireland occurred to him. He found a patron and protector in Fergal O'Gara, lord of Moy Gara and Coolavin, and with the assistance of five or six other antiquaries, he set about his task in the secluded convent of Donegal, at that time governed by his own brother, on the 22nd of January, 1632, and finished it on the 10th of August, 1636, having had, during all this time, his expenses and the expenses of his fellow-labourers defrayed by the patriotic lord of Moy Gara.

It was Father Colgan, at Louvain, who first gave this great work the title under which it is now always spoken of, that is, "The Annals of the Four Masters." Father Colgan in the preface to his "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniæ,"[5]after recountingO'Clery's labours and his previous books goes on to give an account of this last one also, and adds:

"As in the three works before mentioned so in this fourth one, three [helpers of his] are eminently to be praised, namely, Farfassa O'Mulchonry, Perigrine[6]O'Clery, and Peregrine O'Duigenan, men of consummate learning in the antiquities of the country and of approved faith. And to these was subsequently added the co-operation of other distinguished antiquarians, as Maurice O'Mulconry who for one month, and Conary O'Clery who for many months, laboured in its promotion. But since those annals which we shall very frequently have occasion to quote in this volume and in the others following, have been collected and compiled by the assistance and separate study of so many authors, neither the desire of brevity would permit us always to quote them individually, nor would justice permit us to attribute the labour of many to one, hence it sometimes seemed best to call them the Annals of Donegal, for in our convent of Donegal they were commenced and concluded. But afterwards for other reasons, chiefly for the sake of the compilers themselves who were four most eminent masters in antiquarian lore, we have been led to call them the ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. Yet we said just now that more than four assisted in their preparation; however, as their meeting was irregular, and but two of them during a short time laboured in the unimportant and later part of the work, while the other four were engaged on the entire production, at least up to the year 1267 (from which the first part and the most necessary one for us is closed), we quote it under their name."

Michael O'Clery writes in his dedication to Fergal O'Gara, after explaining the scope of the work—

"I explained to you that I thought I could get the assistance of the chroniclers for whom I had most esteem in writing a book of annals in which these matters might be put on record, and that should the writing of them be neglected at present they would not again be bound to be put on record or commemorated even to the end of the world. All the best and most copious books of annals that I could find throughout all Ireland were collected by me—though it was difficult for me to collect them into one place—to write this book in your name and to your honour, for it was you who gave the reward of their labour to the chroniclers by whom it was written, and it was the friars of Donegal who supplied them with food and attendance."

The book is also provided with a kind of testimonium from the Franciscan fathers of the monastery where it was written, stating who the compilers were, and how long they had worked under their own eyes, and what old books they had seen with them, etc. In addition to this, Michael O'Clery carried it to the two historians of greatest eminence in the south of Ireland, Flann Mac Egan, of Ballymacegan, in the Co. Tipperary, and Conor mac Brody of the Co. Clare, and obtained their written approbation and signature, as well as those of the Primate of Ireland and some others, and thus provided he launched his book upon the world.

It has been published, at least in part, three times; first down to the year 1171—the year of the Norman Invasion—by the Rev. Charles O'Conor, grandson of Charles O'Conor, of Belanagare, Carolan's patron, with a Latin translation, and secondly in English by Owen Connellan from the year 1171 to the end. But the third publication of it—that by O'Donovan—was the greatest work that any modern Irish scholar ever accomplished. In it the Irish text with accurate English translation, and an enormous quantity of notes, topographical, genealogical, and historical, are given, and the whole is contained in seven great quarto volumes—a work of whichany age or country might be proud. So long as Irish history exists, the "Annals of the Four Masters" will be read in O'Donovan's translation, and the name of O'Donovan be inseparably connected with that of the O'Clerys.

As to the contents of these annals, suffice it to say that like so many other compilations of the same kind, they begin withthe Deluge: they end in the year 1616. They give, from the old books, the reigns, deaths, genealogies, etc., not only of the high-kings but also of the provincial kings, chiefs, and heads of distinguished families, men of science and poets, with their respective dates, going as near to them as they can go. They record the deaths and successions of saints, abbots, bishops, and ecclesiastical dignitaries. They tell of the foundation and occasionally of the overthrow of countless churches, castles, abbeys, convents, and religious institutions. They give meagre details of battles and political changes, and not unfrequently quote ancient verses in proof of facts, but none prior to the second century.[7]Towards the end the dry summary of events become more garnished, and in parts elaborate detail takes the place of meagre facts. There is no event of Irish history from the birth of Christ to the beginning of the seventeenth century that the first inquiry of the student will not be, "What do the 'Four Masters' say about it?" for the great value of the work consists in this, that we have here in condensed form the pith and substance of the old books ofIreland which were then in existence but which—as the Four Masters foresaw—have long since perished. The facts and dates of the Four Masters are not their own facts and dates. From confused masses of very ancient matter, they, with labour and much sifting, drew forth their dates and synchronisms and harmonised their facts.

As if to emphasise the truth that they were only redacting the Annals of Ireland from the most ancient sources at their command, the Masters wrote in an ancient bardic dialect full at once of such idioms and words as were unintelligible even to the men of their own day unless they had received a bardic training. In fact, they were learned men writing for the learned, and this work was one of the last efforts of theesprit de corpsof the school-bred shanachy which always prompted him to keep bardic and historical learning a close monopoly amongst his own class. Keating was Michael O'Clery's contemporary, but he wrote—and I consider him the first Irish historian and trained scholar who did so—for the masses not the classes, and he had his reward in the thousands of copies of his popular History made and read throughout all Ireland, while the copies made of the Annals were quite few in comparison, and after the end of the seventeenth century little read.

The valuable but meagreAnnals of Tighearnach, published by the Rev. Charles O'Conor with a rather inaccurate Latin translation, and now in process of publication by Dr. Whitley Stokes, were compiled in the eleventh century. Clonmacnois of which Tighearnach was abbot was founded in 544, and the Annals had probably for their basis, as M. d'Arbois de Jubainville remarks, some book in which from the very foundation of the monastery the monks briefly noted remarkable events from year to year. Tighearnach declares that all Irish history prior to the founding of Emania is uncertain.[8]Tighearnach himself died in 1088.

Another valuable book of Annals is theChronicon Scotorum, of uncertain origin, edited for the Master of the Rolls in one volume by the late Mr. Hennessy, from a manuscript in the handwriting of the celebrated Duald Mac Firbis. It begins briefly with the legended Fenius Farsa, who is said to have composed the Gaelic language, "out of seventy-two languages." It then jumps to the year 353 A.D., merely remarking "I pass to another time and he who is will bless it, in this year 353 Patrick was born." At the year 432 we meet the curious record, "a morte Concculaind [Cuchulain] herois usque ad hunc annum 431, a morte Concupair [Conor] mic Nessa 412 anni sunt." Columcille's prayer at the battle of Cul Dremhne is given under the year 561, and consists of three poetic ranns. Cennfaeladh is another poet frequently quoted, and as in the "Four Masters," we meet with numerous scraps of poems given as authorities. On the murder of Bran Dubh, king of Leinster, which took place in 605, two verses are quoted curiously attributed to "an old woman of Leinster," "de quo anus Laighen locutus rand."

TheAnnals of Ulstercover the period from the year 431 to 1540. Three large volumes of these have been published for the Master of the Rolls, the first by Mr. Hennessy, the second and third by Dr. Mac Carthy. Some verses, but not many, are quoted as authorities in these annals also, from the beginning of the sixth century onward.

TheAnnals of Loch Cébegin at 1014 and end in 1590, though they contain a few later entries. They also are edited for the Master of the Rolls in two volumes by Mr. Hennessy. They contain scarcely more than half a dozen poetic quotations.

TheAnnals of Boylecontained in a thirteenth-century manuscript, begin with the Creation and are continued down to 1253. The fragmentary Annals of Boyle contain the period from 1224 to 1562.

TheAnnals of Innisfallenwere compiled about the year1215, but according to O'Curry were commenced at least two centuries before that period.

TheAnnals of Clonmacnoiswere a valuable compilation continued down to the year 1408. The original of these annals is lost, but an English translation of them made by one Connla Mac Echagan, or Mageoghegan, of West Meath, for his friend and kinsman Torlough Mac Cochlan, lord of Delvin, in 1627, still exists, and was recently edited by the late Father Denis Murphy, S.J.

These form the principal books of the annals of Ireland, and though of completely different and independent origin they agree marvellously with each other in matters of fact, and contain the materials for a complete, though not an exhaustive, history of Ireland as derived from internal sources.

It is very much to be regretted that no Irish writer before Keating ever attempted, with these and the many lost books of annals before him, to throw their contents into a regular and continuous history. But this was never done, and the comparatively dry chronicles remain still the sources from which must be drawn the hard facts of the nation's past, with the exception of those brief periods which have engaged the pens of particular writers, such as the history of the wars of Thomond, compiled about 1459 by Rory Mac Craith, or the Life of Red Hugh written a century and a half later by Lughaidh O'Clery, and the many historical sagas and "lives" dealing with particular periods, which are really history romanticised.

[1]Seeabove pp.38-43.

[2]For an account of how these O'Clerys came to Donegal see the interesting preface to Father Murphy's edition of the "Life of Red Hugh O'Donnell."

[3]Copies of the lives of the following saints are still preserved in the Burgundian Library at Brussels, copied by Michael O'Clery, no doubt from vellum MSS. preserved at that time in Ireland. The Life ofMochuaof Balla, the Life of St. Baithin (fragmentary), the Life of St. Donatus (fragmentary), the Life of St.Finchuaof Bri Gabhan, the Life of St. Finnbharr of Cork, the Life of St. Creunata the Virgin, the Life ofSt. Moling(see above p.210), the Life ofSt. Finian(see p.196), the Life of St. Ailbhe, the Life of St. Abbanus, the Life of St. Carthach (p.211), the Life of St. Fursa (see above p.198), the Life of St. Ruadhan (who cursed Tara, see p.229), the Life ofSt. Ceallach(seep.395), the Life of St. Maodhog or Mogue, the Life of St. Colman, the Life ofSt. Senanus(see p.213), the Miracles of St. Senanus after his death, the Life of St. Caimin (see p.214) in verse, the Life of St. Kevin in prose, another Life of St. Kevin in verse, a third and different Life of St Kevin, the Life of St. Mochaomhog, the Life ofSt. Caillin, his poems and prophecies, the Poems of St. Senanus,St. Brendan, St. Columcille, and others, the Life of St. Brigid, the Life of St. Adamnan, the Life of St. Berchan, the Life of St. Grellan, the Life of St. Molaise, who banished St. Columcille (see above, p.177), the Life of St. Lassara the Virgin, the Life of St. Uanlus, the Life of St. Ciaran of Clonmacnois and of St. Ciaran of Saighir, the Life of St. Declan, the Life of St. Benin, the Life of St. Aileran (see p.197) the Life ofSt. Brendan.The lives of those saints which I have printed in italics are preserved on vellum elsewhere. Many more lives of saints doubtless exist. The father of the present Mac Dermot, the Prince of Coolavin, who was a good and fluent Irish speaker, had a voluminous Life of St. Atracta, or Athracht, and I believe of other saints' lives, on vellum, but on inquiring for it recently at Coolavin, I found it had been lent and lost. Many other old vellums have doubtless shared its fate.

[4]There are several large fragments of other "Books of Invasions" in the Book of Leinster and other old vellum MSS., but when the Book of Invasions is now referred to, O'Clery's compilation is the one usually meant. It contains (1) the invasion of Ceasair before the flood; (2) the invasion of Partholan after it; (3) the invasion of Nemedh; (4) the invasion of the Firbolg; (5) that of the Tuatha De Danann; (6) that of the Milesians and the history of the Milesian race down to the reign of Malachy Mór.

[5]This great work was not the only one of the indefatigable Colgan. At his death, which occurred at the convent of his order in Louvain in 1658, he left behind him the materials of three great unpublished works which are described by Harris. The first was "De apostulatu Hibernorum inter exteras gentes, cum indice alphabetico de exteris sanctis," consisting of 852 pages of manuscript. The next was "De Sanctis in Anglia in Britannia, Aremorica, in reliqua Gallia, in Belgio," and contained 1,068 pages. The last was "De Sanctis in Lotharingia et Burgundia, in Germania ad sinistrum et dextrum Rheni, in Italia," and contained 920 pages. None of these with the exception of a page or two have found their way back to the Franciscans' establishment in Dublin, nor are they—where many of the books used by Colgan lie—in the Burgundian Library in Brussels. It is to be feared that they have perished.

[6]In Irish Cucoigcriche, which, meaning a "stranger," has been latinised Peregrinus by Ward. I remember one of the l'Estrange family telling me how one of the O'Cucoigrys had once come to her father and asked him if he had any objection to his translating his name for the future into l'Estrange, both names being identical in meaning!

[7]It is noteworthy that no poem is quoted previous to the reign of Tuathal Teachtmhar in the second century. After that onward we find verses quoted at the year 226 on the Ferguses, A.D. 284 on the death of Finn, A.D. 432 a poem by Flann on St. Patrick, at 448 another poem on Patrick, at 458 a poem on the death of King Laoghaire, in 465 a poem on the death of the son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, at 478 on the Battle of Ocha, which gave for five hundred years their supremacy to the House of Niall, and then more verses under the years 489, 493, 501, 503, 504, 506, 507, and so on. The poet-saint Beg mac Dé [seep.232] is frequently quoted, as is Cennfaeladh, [p.412] but the usual formula used in introducing verses is "of which the poet said," or "of which the rann was spoken," or "as this verse tells."

[8]See above, p.42.

Although treatises on law are not literature in the true sense of the word, yet those of Ireland are too numerous and valuable not to claim at least some short notice. When it was determined by the Government, in 1852, to appoint a Royal Commission to publish the Ancient Laws and Institutions of Ireland, those great native scholars O'Donovan and O'Curry (the only men who had arisen since the death of Mac Firbis who were competent to undertake the task) set about transcribing such volumes of the Irish law code as had escaped the vicissitudes of time, and before they died—which they did, unhappily, not long after they had begun this work—O'Donovan had transcribed 2,491 pages of text, of which he had accomplished a preliminary translation in twelve manuscript volumes, while his fellow labourer O'Curry had transcribed 2,906 pages more, and had accomplished a tentative translation of them which filled thirteen volumes. Four large volumes of these laws have been already published, and two more have been these very many years in preparation, but have not as yet seen the light.

The first two of the published volumes[1]contain theSeanchus Mór [Shanăχus more], which includes a preface to the text, in which we are told how and where it was put together and purified, and the law of Athgabhail or Distress. The second volume contains the law of hostage-sureties, of fosterage, of Saer-stock tenure and Daer-stock tenure, and the law of social connexions. The third volume contains the so-called Book of Acaill, which is chiefly concerned with the law relating to torts and injuries. It professes to be a compilation of the dicta and opinions of King Cormac mac Art, who lived in the third century, and of Cennfaeladh, who lived in the seventh.[2]The fourth volume of the Brehon law consists of isolated law-tracts such as that on "Taking possession," that containing judgments on co-tenancy, right of water, divisions of land, and the celebratedCrith Gabhlachwhich treats of social ranks and organisation.

The text itself of the Seanchus Mór, which is comprised in the first two published volumes, is comparatively brief, but what swells it to such a size is the great amount of commentary in small print written upon the brief text, and the great amount of additional annotations upon this commentary itself. Whatever may have been the date of the original laws, the bulk of the text is much later, for it consists of the commentaries added by repeated generations of early Irish lawyers piled up as it were one upon the other.

Most of the Brehon law tracts derive their titles not from individuals who promulgated them, but either from the subjects treated of or else from some particular locality connected with the composition of the work. They are essentially digests rather than codes, compilations, in fact, of learned lawyers. The essential idea of modern law is entirely absent from them, if by law is understood a command given by some one possessing authority to do or to forbear doing, under pains and penalties. There appears to be, in fact, no sanction laid down in the Brehon law against those who violated its maxims, nordid the State provide any such. This was in truth the great inherent weakness of Irish jurisprudence, and it was one inseparable from a tribal organisation, which lacked the controlling hand of a strong central government, and in which the idea of the State as distinguished from the tribe had scarcely emerged. If a litigant chose to disregard the brehon's ruling there was no machinery of the law set in motion to force him to accept it. The only executive authority in ancient Ireland which lay behind the decision of the judge was the traditional obedience and good sense of the people, and it does not appear that, with the full force of public opinion behind them, the brehons had any trouble in getting their decisions accepted by the common people. Not that this was any part of their duty. On the contrary, their business was over so soon as they had pronounced their decision, and given judgment between the contending parties. If one of these parties refused to abide by this decision, it was no affair of the brehon's, it was the concern of the public, and the public appear to have seen to it that the brehon's decision was always carried out. This seems to have been indeed the very essence of democratic government with no executive authority behind it but the will of the people, and it appears to have trained a law-abiding and intelligent public, for the Elizabethan statesman, Sir John Davies, confesses frankly in his admirable essay on the true causes why Ireland was never subdued, that "there is no nation or people under the sunne that doth love equall and indifferent justice better than the Irish; or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof although it be against themselves, so that they may have the protection and benefit of the law, when uppon just cause they do desire it."

The Irish appear to have had professional advocates, a court of appeal, and regular methods of procedure for carrying the case before it, and if, a brehon could be shown to have delivered a false or unjust judgment he himself was liable to damages. The brehonship was not elective; it seems indeedin later times to have been almost hereditary, but the brehon had to pass through a long and tedious course before he was permitted to practise; he was obliged to be "qualified in every department of legal science," says the text; and the Brehon law was remarkable for its copiousness, furnishing, as Sir Samuel Ferguson remarks, "a striking example of the length to which moral and metaphysical refinements may be carried under rude social conditions." As a makeweight against the privileges which are always the concomitant of riches, the penalties for misdeeds and omissions of all kinds were carefully graduated in the interests of the poor, and crime or breach of contract might reduce a man from the highest to the lowest grade.

There is little intimation in the laws as to their own origin. Like the Common Law of England, to which they bear a certain resemblance, they appear to have been in great part handed down from time immemorial, probably without undergoing any substantial change. It is curious to observe how some of the typical test-cases carry us back as far as the second century. Thus the very first paragraph in the Law of Distress—one of the most important institutions among the Irish, for Distress was the procedure by which most civil claims were made good—runs thus:[3]

"Three white cows were taken by Asal from Mogh, son of Nuada, by an immediate seizure. And they lay down a night at Lerta on the Boyne. They escaped from him and they left their calves, and their white milk flowed upon the ground. He went in pursuit of them, and seized six milch cows at the house at daybreak. Pledges were given for them afterwards by Cairpre Gnathchoir for the seizure, for the distress, for the acknowledgment, for triple acknowledgment, for acknowledgment by one chief, for double acknowledgment."

But these things are supposed to have happened in the daysof Conn of the Hundred Battles, yet the case remained a leading one till the sixteenth century.

The Brehon laws probably embody a large share of primitive Aryan custom. Thus it is curious to meet the Indian practice of sitting "dharna" or fasting on a debtor in full force amongst the Irish as one of the legal forms by which a creditor should proceed to recover his debt.[4]"Notice," says the text of the Irish law,

"precedes every distress in the case of inferior grades, except it be by persons of distinction or upon persons of distinction;fastingprecedes distress in their case. He who does not give a pledge to fasting is an evader of all. He who disregards all things shall not be paid by God or man. He who refuses to cede what should be accorded to fasting, the judgment upon him according to the Feini [brehon] is that he pay double the thing for which he was fasted upon, [but] he who fasts notwithstanding the offer of what should be accorded to him, forfeits his legal right to anything according to the decision of the Feini."

There were, according to Irish history, four periods at which special laws were enacted by legislative authority, first during the reign of Cormac mac Art in the third century, secondly when St. Patrick came, thirdly by Cormac mac Culinan the king-bishop of Cashel, who died in 903, and lastly by Brian Boru about a century later. But the great mass of the Brehon Code appears to have been traditionary, or to have grown with the slow growth of custom. None of the Brehon Law books so far as they have as yet been given to the public, shows any attempt to grapple with the nature of law in the abstract, or to deal with the general fundamental principles which underlie the conception of jurisprudence. A great number of the cases, too, which are raised for discussion in the law-books, appear to be rather possible than real, rather problematical cases proposed by a teacher to his students to be argued upon according to general principles, than as actual serious subjects for legal discussion.This is particularly the case with a great part of the Book of Acaill.

The part of the Brehon Law called the Seanchus Mór was redacted in the year 438, according to the Four Masters, "the age of Christ 438, the tenth year of Laeghaire, the Seanchus and Feineachus of Ireland were purified and written." Here is how the book itself treats of its own origin:

"The Seanchus of the men of Erin—what has preserved it? The joint memory of two seniors; the tradition from one ear to another; the composition of poets; the addition from the law of the letter; strength from the law of nature; for these are the three rocks by which the judgments of the world are supported."

The commentary says that the Seanchus was preserved by Ross, a doctor of the Béarla Feini or Legal dialect, by Dubhthach [Duffach], a doctor of literature, and by Fergus, a doctor of poetry.

"Whoever the poet was that connected it by a thread of poetry before Patrick, it lived until it was exhibited to Patrick. The preserving shrine is the poetry, and the Seanchus is what is preserved therein."[5]

Dubhthach exhibited to Patrick—

"The judgments and all the poetry of Erin, and every law which prevailed among the men of Erin through the law of nature and the law of the seers, and in the judgments of the island of Erin and in the poets.... 'The judgments of true nature,' it tells us, 'which the Holy Ghost had spoken through the mouths of the brehons and just poets of the men of Erin from the first occupation of this island down to the reception of the faith, were all exhibited by Dubhthach to Patrick. What did not clash with the Word of God in the written law and in the New Testament and with the consensus of the believers, was confirmed in the laws of the brehons by Patrick and by the ecclesiastics and the chieftains of Erin; for the law of nature had been quite right, except the faith and its obligations, and the harmony of the church and the people—and this is the Seanchus Mór."

M. d'Arbois de Jubainville,[6]however, has shown that the Seanchus Mór is really made up of treatises belonging to different periods, of which that upon Immediate Seizure is the oldest. While some of the other treatises must be of much later date, this tract, he has proved, cannot in its present form be later than the close of the sixth century, because it contains no trace of the right of succession accorded to women by an Irish council of about the year 600, while at the same time it cannot be anterior to the introduction of Christianity, because it contains mention of altar furniture amongst things seizable, and contains two Latin words,altoir(altar) andcîs(cinsus = census).[7]This, however, does not wholly discredit the tradition that St. Patrick had a hand in the final redaction of at least a part of the Seanchus Mór, for altars were certainly known in Ireland before Patrick, and the insertion of the clause about altar furniture may even have been due to the apostle himself. How far certain parts of the law may have reached back into antiquity and become stereotyped by custom before they became stereotyped by writing there is no means of saying. But, as M. d'Arbois de Jubainville has pointed out, the Seanchus Mór is closely related to the Cycle of Conor and Cuchulain, as the various allusions to King Conor, and to his arch-brehon Sencha, and to Morann the Judge, and to Ailill, and to the custom of the Heroes' Bit, show, while the cycle of Finn and Ossian is passed over.

There are many allusions to the Seanchus Mór in Cormac's Glossary, always referring to the glossed text, which must have been in existence before the year 900.[8]Again the text of the Seanchus Mór relies uponjudgmentsdelivered by ancient brehonssuch as Sencha, in the time of King Conor mac Nessa, but there is no allusion in itstextto books or treatises. The gloss, on the other hand, is full of such allusions, and it is evident that in early times the names of the Irish Law Books were legion. Fourteen different books of civil law are alluded to by name in the glosses on the Seanchus, and Cormac in his Glossary gives quotations from five such books. It is remarkable that only one of the five quoted by Cormac is among the fourteen mentioned in the glosses on the Seanchus Mór, and this alone goes to show the number of books upon law which were in use amongst the ancient Irish, most of which have long since perished.

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