DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY THE IRISH
|
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY THE IRISH
The geography of the western world, according to the old Norsemen, consisted of
- (1) Helluland (Newfoundland),
- (2) Markland (Nova Scotia),
- (3) Vinland (Massachusetts or some part of New England), and then
- (4) stretching far to the south of Vinland lay Whitemen's Land or Great Ireland.
About the 5th century, a northern tribe moved into East Galway; they were said to be descended from Colla dá Críoch (one of the Three Collas). They occupied an area around Ballinasloe, and Creagh supposedly takes its name from them. One of their chieftains was called Máine Mór, from whom are the descended tribes of Uí Máine, aka Hy Many. Uí Maine, or Hy Many, was centered in eastern Co. Galway and southern Roscommon. (Clan Nechtan) By the beginning of the 9th century the Cenél Eóghain were the dominant Northern dynasty, as they spread their influence east into modern county Derry, pushing aside the Cruithin east of the river Bann, gaining control over the Ciannachta of mid-Derry, and steadily encroaching on the Airgiallan tribes of Uí Macc Uais. The dominance of the Cenél Eóghain continued as they drove further south, subjugating other Airghiallan tribes, and by the 11th century the Cenél Eóghain had moved their power base from Aileach to that near Tullahogue in modern day county Tyrone (named from Tir Eóghain, or Tir Owen). Cenél Eóghain included those of Clan Neill, Clan Domnaill, Clan Birn, Cenél Fergusa, Cairrge Brachaidhe, Cenél Binnigh, Cenél Moen, Cenél Fearadhaigh, Cenél Tigernaich, Clan Conchobhair, Clan Diarmatta.
Brian Boru's fort is located in a very serene and spectacular setting - overlooking Lough Derg on the River Shannon, just one mile north of the picturesque village of Killaloe. Beal Boru, as it is more commonly known, stands on a spur of land which commands the point where the lake narrows into the River Shannon. The interregnum ended by the accession of Olaf, the son of Harold, afterwards St. Olaf, to the Norwegian crown in 1015. Thorfinn, Earl Sigurd's fourth son, who, like his father, because one of the most powerful princes in those parts, extended his rule also to the Subreys. The Norse sagas credit Thorfinn the Great with rampaging through Scotland and being proclaimed king. In the late 10th and early 11th centuries, the northernmost province of Scotland--Caithness--was held by the Norse, along with the Orkney Islands just north across the Pentland Strait. They were the domain of Sigurd II Hlodvirsson of Orkeny, a jarl (earl) of the Norse king. When Sigurd already had two grown sons, he divorced their mother to marry the daughter of Malcolm King of Scots--an alliance quite possibly part of a peace treaty. For years, it was assumed this Malcolm was Malcolm II, the ruler of Alba; however, one scholar has recently proposed that it might have been Malcolm of Moray, cousin to Macbeth. It is possible that Princess Bethóc had previously been married to 14th Jarl Sigurd of Orkney, and to Findláech, the Mormaer of Moireabh. As noted elsewhere, rulers of Moray as well as Alba were referred to as "King of Scots" in the Irish annals.
Brian Boroimhe (940–1014, king of Ireland.) A clan prince, he succeeded his brother Mathghamhain, who had seized the throne of Munster from the Eoghanacht rulers (963). Brian subjugated all Munster, then extended his power over all South Ireland, and in 1002 became high king of Ireland by right of conquest. As his power increased, relations with the Norse rulers on the Irish coast grew steadily worse. Sitric, king of the Dublin Norse, formed against Brian a coalition of the Norse of Ireland, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Iceland as well as Brian’s Irish enemies. The first is the Battle of the Crew Hill, in 1003 A.D., in which the Ulidians were defeated by their old enemies, the Kinel-Owen.
On Good Friday (Apr. 23), 1014, Brian’s forces met the allies at Clontarf, near Dublin. Soon after the Battle of Clontarf, he was murdered in his tent. Brian’s victory broke the Norse power in Ireland forever, but Ireland fell into anarchy. In reality, the battle actually marks the failed attempt by Leinster and Dubhlinn to assert their independence from Munster. During the 11th century Dublin became an important aquisition for any King with eyes on the High Kingship and, by the end of the 1000's it had overtaken Tara to become the de-facto capital of the island. The O’Byrnes descend from Bran, son of Maolmordha, King of Leinster in 1014. Maolmordha died fighting on the side of Earl Sigurd of Orkney against Brian Boru, High-King of Ireland, at the battle of Clontarf in 1014.
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin dates from 1038, when Sitric (Sigtrygg), Danish king of Dublin, built the first wooden Christ Church here. Olaf, the son of Sigtrygg, is not the only king of this name at that time appearing in the English and Irish annals, and making war against Athelstane. There was also another Olaf, son of the cruel Guđred King of Dublin, who left Dublin some time after the death of his father, A.D. 934. Certain it is, hat the son-in-law of Constantine had amongst his auxiliaries his namesake, the other Olaf. In 1171, the original simple foundation was extended into a cruciform and rebuilt in stone by Strongbow. England properly became England during the reign of Athelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great. Athelstan succeeded his father Edward as king of Wessex in 924. In 927 at the death of Sitric, the Danish ruler of Northumbria which at that stage stretched from the Humber to the Tees, Athelstan claimed the kingdom. In so doing he became the ruler of the whole of what we now understand as England.
In addition Sitric received the kings of Wales and Scotland who acknowledged him as their overlord, and put down a rebellion in Cornwall. Thus the Kings of Wessex, with their base at (Armorica) Winchester, won through. Northumbria had been the only Anglo-Saxon kingdom to resist the Danes and eventually they were able to bring together all the kingdoms of England under one throne. This was the unification of England bringing together Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria. In 927 Athelstan snatched York from the Danes and forced the King Constantine of Scotland and the northern kings to submit. At a meeting at Eamont (near Penrith), he received the submission of the Northumbrians and the Scots, the Welsh and the Strathclyde Britons. The northerners had previously submitted to Edward, but Æthelstan was the first southern king to exercise real control over Northumbria: he held councils at York in the 930s, and coins were minted there in his name. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that he led his army into Scotland in 934, and in 937 the Scots allied with the Norse and invaded England, to be roundly defeated at the Battle of Brunanburh. In 934, Athelstan lost Northumbria to the Danes and was repelled in his Scottish invasion. Domnon and Domnann are place names in west and northwest Co. Mayo (Breifne) as referenced in a 7th century work by Tírechán. The Domnonee came from the Bretons relative to Conmore I of Poher 490. Many given names for the Donnonee is Rivallon- one is son of High King Constantine or grandson of Solomon I of Britain from Sillurian Brittany and Gaul. The Druidical Remains, called Long Meg and her Daughters one half mile south of the church of Addingham about six miles north-east of Penrith. Penrith is the chief northern town of the Vale of Eden, and, for many centuries, was a gateway north and south, east and west. From Cockermouth and Penrith by the forests to the lakesides Carlisle Castle is supposed to occupy the site of the old Roman fort, and was repaired by Egdrid, king of Northumberland, in A.D. 680. A great Roman causeway branched off near Penrith, by Brougham Castle, Temple Sowerby, Kirkby Thore and passed to that largest of all the Roman roads, Watling Street, which extended from the wall in Northumberland, through Durham and Yorkshire, to Dover- as the King's Highway. While the stations on the wall were well garrisoned, it was impossible for the Picts and Scots to pass them, soldiers being ready to oppose them in every direction. Constantine was the first emperor who neglected this barrier and its stations, and he is said to have suppressed their garrisons and removed most of the troops from the frontier to the towns in the interior of his territories.
Two out of the four Roman legions brought over into Britain in the reign of Claudius, remained till the last. The ninth legion was surprised and destroyed by queen Boadicea of the Iceni, and the fourteenth and the vexillarii of the twentieth, were in the battle which decided the fate of that heroine. Between about 65 and 100 a wall was built around the town Colchester. Verulamium gained the status of municipium ca 50, allowing its leading magistrates to become Roman citizens. Verulamium was destroyed in the rebellion of Boudica in 60 or 61. Their name survived in British legend as Trinovantum, connecting this with the legend that Britain was founded by a Roman consul Brutus of Troy and other refugees from the Trojan War who conquered Spain and Britain. Devon was called Dunan by the Cornish Britons; Deuffneynt by the Welsh; and Devnascyre by the Anglo-Saxons. [Dinan] In County Down, Downpatrick was originally named ‘Aras-celtair’ and ‘Rath-Keltair,’ one signifying the house and the other the castle or fortification of Celtair, the son of Duach; by Ptolemy it was called ‘Dunum.’
The first bishop Donatus (Dunan) of Dublin, an Irish man died in 1074 and was succeeded by Patrick who was sent to Canterbury for consecration. But Bishop O' Hanley (1095-1121) had been a monk in England, conceived a plan to make Dublin an archepsicopal see independent of Canterbury and Armagh. Its independence from Armagh were encouraged by the Canterbury primates LaFranc and Anselm. Canterbury recognized Armagh with its prevailing name of St. Patrick as its natural rival for the primacy of Ireland and the abbot-bishops of Amragh, as coarbs of St. Patrick made visitations receiving tribute in far-off areas of the island.
VOYAGE OF GUDLEIF GUDLAUGSON TO GREAT IRELAND. A. D. 1029. EYRBYGGJA SAGA, CAP. 64. VELLUM FRAGMENT, No. 4456, in 4to. Collated with the before mentioned MSS.