Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/262

246 IRELAND [HISTORY. petty kingdoms, was ruled over by three princes of that family. A chief of the Eberians named Eogan, better known as Mug Niiadat, 1 by the aid of his foster-father the king of Leinster, succeeded in defeating the Degaidian princes and driving them out of Munster. The latter asked the aid of Cond the over-king, who took up their cause, and a fierce war arose, in which Cond was beaten and compelled to divide Ireland with his rival. The boundary line ran from the Bay of Galway to Dublin along the great ridge of gravel which stretches across Ireland, The northern part was Leth Cuind or Cond s Half, and the southern part Leth Moga or Mug s Half. By this arrangement the present county of Clare, which had hitherto belonged to Olnegmacht, was transferred to Munster, to which it has ever since belonged. It was about this time too that the former province received the name Connacht, now Connaught, from the name of King Cond. In the wars between Mug Nuadat and Cond a considerable number of foreigners are said to have been in the army of the former, among whom are specially named Spaniards. Perhaps these foreigners represent the tribe of Lugaid, and this was really the period of the arrival of that tribe in Ireland out of which grew the Milesian story. The earliest of the Ogam inscriptions are perhaps of this date, and support the view just stated. Mug Niiadat must have been an able man, for he established his race so firmly that his descendants ruled Munster for a thousand years. He seems to have been as politic as warlike, for we are told he stored corn to save his people from famine. He was also enabled to give some to many chieftains who in a tribal community had no such forethought, and thus made them his vassals. His success, however, created a rivalry which lasted down to the final overthrow of the native government, and led to constant war and devastation, and mainly contributed to the final overthrow of the central monarchy. Although Munster remained nominally in subjection to that power, it was thenceforward in reality an independent kingdom, or rather federation of clans under the king of Cashel. Scotic Conquest of Ulster. If the Scots failed to subdue the south thoroughly, they succeeded in crushing the Ultonians, and driving them ultimately into the south eastern corner of the province. One of Cond s successors, Fiacha Srabtine, was slain by his nephews, known as the three Collas, one of whom, called Colla Uas, " the noble," became king about 327; but after a reign of four years he and his brothers were driven out of Ireland. They took military service with their maternal grandfather, a certain Ugari, called king of Alba. After three years in this position they returned to Ireland, and succeeded in making peace with their cousin Muiredach Tirech, who became king after the banishment of Colla Uas. The Ard Hi, in order to give them employment, recommended them to carve out territories for themselves among the Ulaid. Finding an excuse in an insult offered to their grandfather, King Cormac, son of Art, they invaded Ulster, plundered and burned Emain Macha, the ancient seat of the kings of the Ultonians, and made "sword-land " of a large part of the kingdom, which was afterwards known as Airgeill or Oriel. Afterwards the sons of the celebrated Niall of the Nine Hostages, the most powerful monarch of the Scotic dynasty after Tuathal, also carved out principalities for themselves in Ulster which bore their names for centuries : Tir Conaill, or as it was called in English Tyrconnel, the land of Conall, and Tir Eogain, the land of Eogan, from which has come the name of one of the Ulster counties, Tyrone. 1 That is, the slave or servant of Nuadu,one of the chief gods of the Goedel. Invasions of Britain ly the Irish. Constant allusions are made in the legends of the prehistoric kings to warlike expeditious to- Alba. In the legends of the heroic period an expedition to the Isle of Man forms the subject of one 01 the tales, in which Curui Mae Dairi, of the clan of Degaid, king of West Munster, accompanied by Cuchulaind, carries off Blathnat, daughter of the king of Man. Crimthand, surnamed Nar s Hero, a prehistoric king just preceding the Aithech Tuatha war, brought back many trophies from abroad which are celebrated in legend. The Annals of the Pour Masters, quoting the Annals of Tigernach, tell us at the year 240 that Corrnac, son of Art, and grandson of Cond, sailed across the sea and obtained the sovereignty of Alba. This Cormac was a noteworthy king, who ruled with much state at Tara from about 254 to 277 A.D. He is said to have introduced water-mills into Ireland, and to have established schools for the study of law, military matters, and the annals of the country. Laws attributed to him continued in force all through the Middle Ages. A book of moral precepts for the guidance of princes, called Tecosc na High, is attributed to him, a copy of which occurs in the Book of Leinster, a MS. of the 12th century. Another work compiled under his direction, and containing what may be called the history and geography of Ireland, has unfortunately not survived. He was the enemy of the Filid, owing it is said to his having learned something of Christianity in his expeditions. It was, however, during the reign of Crimthand son of Fidach (366-379) and of his successor Niall of the Nine Hostages (379-405) that the Irish invasions of Britain acquired for the first time historic importance. The former was a Munster prince, the most powerful of his race, and the only Eberiau prince who was king of Ireland until Brian Boruma (1002). His successor Niall was also the most powerful of the rival race of the Erimonian Scots. There appear to have been three distinct settlements of Irish tribes in Britain : (1) of Munster tribes in South "Wales, Devon shire, and Cornwall; (2) of Erimonian Scots in the Isle of Man, Anglesey, and other parts of Gwyuedd or North Wales ; and (3) of the Erimonian Scots, called the Dal-Riada. The Cruithni or Picts of Galloway seem to have been a fourth settlement, but definite evi dence on this point is wanting. The first invasion and the extent of the settlement of the Irish in south-west Britain are established by the Ogam inscriptions, and there is other proof besides. The most important piece of Irish evidence is the article " Mug-Eime" in C ormac s Glossary, which gives a legend of the introduction of the first lap-dog into Ireland. "Mug-^ime, that is the name of the first lap-dog that was in Ireland. Cairpre Muse, son of Conaire, brought it from the east from Britain ; .... for when great was the power of the Gael on Britain, they divided Alba between them into districts, and each knew the residence of his friend, and not less did the Gael dwell on the east side of the sea quam in Scotica, and their habitations and royal forts were built there. Inde dicitur Din Tradui, i.e., triplc-fossed fort of Crimthaud the Great, son ot Fidach, king of Ireland and Alba to the Ictian Sea, tt inde est Glastonbnry of the Gael, i.e., a church on the border of the Ictian Sea (the English Channel) And it is in that part is Dinn map Lethain in the lands of the Cornish Britains, i.e., the fort of Mac Liathain, for Mac is the same as Map in the British. Thus every tribe divided on that side for its property to the east was equal [to that on the west], and they continued in this power till long after the coming of Patrick." The Cairpre Muse here men tioned was son of Couaire, sou of Mug Lama, of the Degaidiiin race of Munster, and his visit to Britain took place during the reign of Cormac, son of Art, and when Ailill Fland Beg was king of Munster. As the latter began his reign about 260 A. P., and the former died about 277, the visit lies between those dates. It appears therefore that the occupation of south-west Britain by the Munster Goedel began at least a century earlier than Crimthand s time. The reference to the occupation of Cornwall is curiously corroborated by the story of Tristan and Yseulte, in which Morault is sent by the king of Ireland to collect tribute from the king of Cornwall. British and Welsh records are equally explicit about this occupa tion. The earliest edition of the Historia Britonum (represented by the Paris MS.) dates from 675, according to the Rev. D. Haigh, who attributes its authorship tD Gildas, and gives the date of its composition as 471. If we were certain that we had Gildas s work we should have almost contemporaneous evidence, but, whoever wrote the work in question, the actual MSS. arc of such antiquity that their authority on the point we are discussing is of great value. The passage referring to South r ales is as follows : But the sons of Liethan possessed the country of the Demetians (Dyfcd), and other provinces Guohcr (Gower) and Cetgucli (Kidweli), until they were expelled by Cuneda and his sons from all British territories." This statement bears out that taken from Cormac respecting the name of the leaders of the Goedel in South Wales. The name Lia- tl in is of great interest, because it is the eponym of an important Munster clan, the Ihii Liathain, whose territory Crich Liathain in cluded the barony of Barrymore in the county Cork. The Historia Britonum further tells us that Cuneda and his eight sons came from a region in the north called Manau Guotodin, probably about the cud of the 5th century. The Welsh traditions referring to the