Early History Of Ireland - Health Care Netipot Manufacturer - Disposable Vaginal Speculum

Prehistory

Prehistory

Main article: Prehistoric Ireland

There is no evidence of the human habitation of Ireland during the Glenavian warm period, before the glaciers of the Midlandian glacial period eradicated any traces of early human settlements. Maritime fishing was still possible during this glaciation. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers resettled between 8000 and 7000 BC. Farming, and the proliferation of megalithic monuments, began in the neolithic, beginning c. 4500 BC. The bronze age began around 2500 BC, and the iron age around 700 BC.

It was during the Neolithic that stone structures first came to be built. They include the following:

Burial and ritual use

Newgrange, dated to 3,000 BC (older than Great Pyramid of Giza and Stonehenge, the oldest roofed structure in Europe.

Knowth, largest passage grave within the Br na Binne complex.

Drombeg stone circle, Recumbent stone circle nicknamed The Druid's Altar

Hill of Tara, ritual centure of pagan Ireland.

Uisneach, a hill considered the omphalos (mystical navel) of Ireland.

Lia Fil, inauguration stone of the High Kings of Ireland

Turoe stone, decorated granite stone, c. 500-100 BC (see also Castlestrange stone).

Poulnabrone dolmen, portal tomb dated to c. 4200-2900 BC.

Brownshill Dolmen, featuring largest capstone on an Irish portal tomb.

Knocknakilla megalithic complex, with artefacts from around 3500 BC.

Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery, built c.5400-5100 BC

Knocknarea, area in County Sligo containg cairns, tombs and other monuments.

Listoghil, a central monument surrounded by satellite tombs.

Uragh Stone Circle, five megaliths overlooking Lake Inchiquin.

Settlements and fortresses

Grianan of Aileach, Iron Age fort, later capital of the kingdom of Ailech

Loughbrickland Cranng, artificial island.

Caherconnell Stone Fort, exceptionally well-preserved Ringfort.

Randoon, hilltop fortress near Lough Lene

Rathcroghan, residence of the Kings of Connacht.

Emain Macha, pagan ceremonial site and capital of the Ulaid.

Black Pig's Dyke, defensive, discontinuous ditches built between the provinces of Ulster and Connacht, c. 100 AD.

Dn Aonghasa, "the most magnificent barbaric monument in Europe."

Social and community

Dn Ailinne, a part-time refugee.

Corlea Trackway, Iron Age trackway preserved in a bog.

Tailtiu, site of the Taillten Fair, principal assembly of the early U Nill dynasties.

Lough Gur, site of important population archaeology.

Protohistory

Main article: Protohistory of Ireland

Ireland can be said to have had a protohistorical period, when, in prehistory, the literate cultures of Greece and Rome began to take notice of it. The most detailed Classical information on Ireland is in Ptolemy's Geography, written in the 2nd century AD, which includes the names of sixteen population groups, and plots the latitude and longitude of six promontories, fifteen river mouths, ten settlements and nine islands. There followed a further proto-literate period of ogham epigraphy, before the early historical period began in the 5th century. Attempts have been made to reconstruct the political developments of this period by reference to early medieval Irish genealogical texts.

Early Christian history

True Irish history begins with the introduction of Christianity and Latin literacy, beginning in the 5th century or slightly before. When compared to neighbouring Insular societies, early Christian Ireland is extremely well documented, but these sources are not easy to interpret. Many questions remain unanswered and the study of early Christian Ireland continues to produce new theories and new discoveries. Since the later 19th century, when scholars such as Kuno Meyer and Whitley Stokes applied an increasingly rigorous approach to the study of written sources, a great deal of new information has been extracted from the written material. New fields, such as paleobotany, have contributed to the debate, while the volume of archaeological evidence has increased.

Ecclesiastical history

Main article: Celtic Christianity

Gallarus Oratory, one of the earliest churches built in Ireland.

The first reliable historical event in Irish history, recorded in the Chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine, is the ordination by Pope Celestine I of Palladius as the first bishop to Irish Christians in 431 - which demonstrates that there were already Christians living in Ireland. Prosper says in his Contra Collatorem that by this act Celestine "made the barbarian island Christian", although it is clear the Christianisation of the island was a longer and more gradual process. The mission of Saint Patrick is traditionally dated around the same time the earliest date for his arrival in Ireland in the Irish annals is 432 although Patrick's own writings contain nothing securely dateable. It is likely that Palladius' activities were in the south of Ireland, perhaps associated with Cashel, while Patrick's were later, in the north, and associated with Armagh. By the early 6th century the church had developed separate dioceses, with bishops as the most senior ecclesiastical figures, but the country was still predominantly pagan. The monastic movement, headed by abbots, took hold in the mid 6th century, and by 700 Ireland was at least nominally a Christian country, with the church fully part of Irish society. The status of ecclesiastics was regulated by secular law, and many leading ecclesiastics came from aristocratic Irish families. Monasteries in the 8th century even went to war with each other.

From the 7th century on, Irish churchmen such as Columbanus and Columba were active in Gaul, in Scotland and in Anglo-Saxon England. The mixing of Irish, Pictish and Anglo-Saxon styles created the Insular style of art, represented by the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells. Ireland's reputation for scholarship was such that many scholars travelled from Britain and the European mainland to study in Irish schools.

Political history

Eoin MacNeill identified the "oldest certain fact in the political history of Ireland" as the existence in late prehistory of a pentarchy, probably consisting of the ciceda or "fifths" of the Ulaid (Ulster), the Connachta (Connacht), the Laigin (Leinster), Mumu (Munster) and Mide (Meath), although some accounts discount Mide and split Mumu in two. However, by the dawn of history this pentarchy no longer existed. The rise of new dynasties, notably the U Nill in the north and midlands and the Eganachta in the south-west, changed the political landscape. The U Nill, or their parent group the Connachta, reduced the former fifth of the Ulaid to counties Down and Antrim in the 4th of 5th century, establishing the tributary kingdom of the Airgalla in the centre and the U Nill kingdom of Ailech in the west of the old province. Early Irish annals also show regular warfare between the U Nill and the Laigin in the midlands, with the U Nill conquering as far south as the Kildare/Offaly border, and claiming the kingship of Tara, beginning to be conceptualised as the High Kingship of Ireland. This led to a new division of the country into two halves, Leth Cuinn, "Conn's half" after Conn Ctchathach, supposed ancestor of the U Nill and Connachta, in the north, and Leth Moga, "Mug's half", after Mug Nuadat, supposed ancestor of the Eoganachta, in the south. Dynastic propaganda claimed this was a traditional division dating back to the 2nd century, but it probably originated in the 8th, at the height of U Nill power.

Genealogy

Genealogy was cultivated since at least the start of the early Irish historic era. Upon inauguration, Bards and poets are believed to have recited the ancestry of an inaugurated king to emphasise his hereditary right to rule. With the transition to written culture, oral history was preserved in the monastic settlements. Dibh Crinn believed that Gaelic genealogies came to be written down with or soon after the practise of annalistic records, annals been kept by monks to determine the yearly chronology of feast days (see Irish annals).

Its cultivation reached a height during the Late Medieval Era with works such as Leabhar Ua Maine, Senchus fer n-Alban, Book of Ballymote, De Shl Chonairi Mir, Book of Leinster, Leabhar Cloinne Maoil Ruanaidh and the Clirigh Book of Genealogies. This tradition of scholarship reached its zenith with Leabhar na nGenealach, composed mainly between 1649-1650 in Galway.

It had at first served a serious purpose in determining the legal rights of related individuals to land and goods. Under the Brehon Laws, ownership of land was determined by Agnatic succession, female ownership been severely limited.

Over time, genealogy was pursued for its own merits by the Gaelic learned classes. From c. 1100, various families such as Clirigh, Mac Fhirbhisigh, Duibhgeannin, Mac Aodhagin and Mac an Bhaird became professional historians. They were often employed by ruling families, the most important of whom included Conchobhair, Neill, Domhnaill, Cellaigh, Mac Murchadha Caomhnach, Mac Carthaigh, Briain, Mael Sechlainn, Mac Giolla Padraig. It also became pervasive among the Anglo-Irish, with the recording of the family trees of FitzGerald, Butler, Burke, Plunkett, Nugent, Bermingham and others.

Some clans (such as Mac Fhirbhisigh, Mac an Airchinnigh, and Duibhgeannin) were originally hereditary ecclesiastical families, while others ( Clirigh, Mac an Bhaird, Domhnallain) were dispossessed royalty who were forced to find another profession (see also Irish medical families).

The transmission of this body of lore (seanchas) has resulted in detailed knowledge on the origins and history of many of the tribes and families of Ireland. An anglacised tradition has continued since the 17th-century, translating many of the scripts into English. The practise of genealogy continues to be of importance among the Irish and its diaspora. Historians (such as Dibh Crinn and Nollaig Murale) consider the Irish genealogical tradition to have the largest national corpus in Europe.

The Irish nations

Over a dozen main nations, dynasties and ethnic groups are known from medieval genealogical compilations. They included:

Airgialla, a confederation of states in central Ulster, some of whom featured the Cruthin (see below).

Cruthin, a race, anciently of British origin, inhabiting parts of Counties Down, Antrim and Londonderry.

Dirine, an apparently quite powerful but shadowy pre-historic dynasty intimately associated with both the rainn and Ulaid below

Dl gCais, a dynasty that emerged from the Disi Tuisceart people of Munster.

Dl Riata, an overkingdom spanning east Ulster and western Scotland.

Delbhna, an ethnic group based in central and western Ireland. Thought to take their name from a deity-figure.

Conmaicne, a tribal group consisting of different branches scattered all over Ireland.

Connachta, a immensely successful dynasty thought to have originated in the heart of north County Roscommon; the entire provice was later re-named after them.

Eganachta, a powerful and innovative but famously disorganized dynasty that ruled much of Munster and southern Ireland in the early historic period.

rainn, a people first mentioned by Ptolemy (died c.168) as inhabitants of south-west County Cork.

Erdini, referred to as living around Donegal Bay during the 2nd century.

Fir Bolg, a semi-mythical people of deep antiquity.

Fir Ol nEchmacht, flourished as late as the 2nd century, all of Ireland west of the Shannon was named after them prior to the advent of the Connachta.

Laigin, a close-knit dynastic kindred first mentioned in the Tin B Cailnge, and gave their name to Cige Laighean, the province of Leinster.

Mairtine, a prominent pre-historic race of North Munster known only from scattered fragmentary references.

Osraige, the inhabitants of what is now County Kilkenny, who's ruling dynasty held power into the 17th century.

Soghain, a branch of the Cruithin, sub-divided into seven branches, the most prominent in what is now central County Galway.

U Maine, a kingdom comprising much of what is now south-east and east-central Connacht. Primary descendants include the families of Kelly and Madden.

Ulaid, apparent kin to the Dirine and so-called rainn, and after whom the province of Ulster is named.

Obscure peoples

Cauci, Corcu Duibne, Corcu Logde, Coriondi, Conaille Muirtheimne

Darini, Dartraighe, Disi

Eblani

Fir Domnann

Gamanraige

Mscraige

Senchineoil

Tuatha Taiden

Uaithni

The Irish Genealogical Doctrine

Over the course of several centuries, an evolving genealogical dogma created by the bardic viewed all Irish as descendants of Ml Espine. This ignored variant traditions, including those recorded in their own works. The reasons behind the doctrine's adoption is rooted in the policies of dynastic and political propaganda.

The doctrine dates from the 10th-12th centuries, as demonstrated in the works of Eochaid ua Flainn (936-1004); Flann Mainistrech (died 25 November 1056); Tanaide (died c. 1075); and Gilla Cmin mac Gilla Samthainde (fl. 1072). Many of their compositions were incorporated into the compendium Lebor Gabla renn.

It was enhanced and embedded in the tradition by successive generations of historians such as Sen Mr Dubhagin (d.1372), Gilla osa MacFhirbhisigh (fl. 13901418) and Flann Mac Aodhagin (alive 1640). By 1600 it was refined to the point that certain Anglo-Irish families were given spurious Gaelic ancestors and origin legends, such was their immersion in Gaelic culture.

The first Irish historian who questioned the reliability of such accounts was Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (murdered 1671), who's massive Leabhar na nGenealach included diseperate and variant recensions. Unlike Geoffrey Keating Foras Feasa ar irinn, he did not attempt to synthesise the material into a unified whole, instead recording and transmitting it unaltered. However, historians as late as such as Eugene O'Curry (1794-1862) and John O'Donovan (1806-1861) sometimes accecpted the doctrine and a nationalistic interpretation of Irish history uncritically. During the 20th century the doctrine was reinterpreted by the work of historians such as Eoin MacNeill, T. F. O'Rahilly, Francis John Byrne, Kathleen Hughes (historian), and Kenneth Nicholls.

See also O'Rahilly's historical model, Genetic history of Europe, Genetic history of the British Isles.

Culture and society

Main article: Gaelic Ireland

This section does not cite any references or sources.

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Literature

Main articles: Early Irish literature and Insular script

Written Irish literature is during this period mostly tended by monks and it is overwhelmingly religious. Many books are exquisite works of art on parchment like "Book of Kells". Apart from this written literature there is the oral literature which is remembered and retold by bards. Both are utilized for educational purposes, for instance ook of Joshua in the Bible contains a lot about warfare. The Bible also has the advantage that it is permanent, standardized and holy, in other words well suited as a source of law.

Bards tell epic stories about the background for current state of affairs, the words are fixated by rhymes. They are, like the Bible, important sources for precedences for law, but they are not so fixed that it is impossible for a bard to amend the stanzas to fit with political desires of someone willing to pay well for it, to give him an advantage in controversies of the day. This jurisprudential aspect of the ancient sagas of Ireland makes them dreary and tedious to read for a modern audience, and they often dabble in gruesome detail to demonstrate humiliation and exaltation of somebody.

On the other hand, in the opening chapters of some of them there is a lot preserved about pagan mythology and Irish relations before St. Patrick. These were preserved from oblivion for reasons of law precedence, much like Norse mythology in the main has been preserved, because Scandinavian poets needed to know the allusions to mythology if they were to compose poems that gained respect.

Occasions for celebration

Main articles: Celtic calendar, Irish calendar, and Christianised calendar

The religious holidays are self evident, some of them are pre-Christian in a thin disguise.

The rule of thumb is that all occasions when the laws are at work are occasions for festivity, whether secular or spiritual. Baptism is a de jure declaration that a lawful offspring has been sired, with the priest as head witness. The First Communion (catholic Confirmation) is a de jure declaration that this offspring now is formally adult and has been given the due rights to inheritance, sealed by the priest. Marriage is an alliance with a different clan or kingdom, rights to inheritance is exchanged in return for political support. Marriage without religious ceremony does occur, it is called ecular marriage and is regarded as a cohabitation registered by law and can take place even if both parts are legally married otherwise, even more than one at the time. Mistresses of this kind mostly come from a lower social class than the man and they rank in status below the wife wed by the church. The arrangement can be called a semi-polygamy, but children born to such unions are socially the equals of their brothers. The central point about marriage is not mutual faith and love between him and her but juridical contracts about alliance and cooperation.

An enthronement is a completely secular affair arranged like a secular marriage with the land itself. The priest will, at most, pronounce a divine blessing over the now enthroned. It always takes place at a public assembly, with the bard as master of ceremony. He initiates the ceremony by announcing that the king is either dead or has shown himself unfit for his dignity. Then the brehon will recite the laws of inheritance and explains what they imply at this opportunity. It is then for the population present to decide among the lawful candidates of each preference category. When the vote is ready the bard takes over; he commands the royal elect to mount the top of the royal stone or heap. The chain of royal predecessors back to the Celtic colonization of Ireland is then recited, and the speech ends with an exhortation about what suits a good king. Then the royal elect is handed his royal cane, and that is the starting point of a merry celebration with good food and strong beer, exciting music, solemn poetic recitation and humoristic storytelling, much boasting and sometimes a drunken fistfight or two.

Less solemn occasions also to be ratified by the public assembly, or at least made known there, is blood brotherhood declarations, fosterage of children, verdicts from a trial at superior level, alliance treaties, office inaugurations, declarations of war, peace agreements, diplomatic receptions and presentations of diplomatic notes.

Geography

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