History of Ireland from the Earliest Period to the English Invasion |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Aedh Aengus Alba amongst ancient Annals ARD-RIGH Ath-cliath bard barony battle bishop Brian brother called Carbri Cashel Cathal century chief chieftain church Clanna clans Columkille Conall Concobar Connla Cormac Cormac Cas Crimthann daughter death descended Diarmaid died Domnall Donncadh Dublin Earl Eber English Eocaidh Eogan fell Fergus Fiacaidh Finn Flann Fodla fought Four Masters Gaedal Gaelic Gaels Galway Guairi held the sovereignty hostages hundred Irish Iugani Keating Kinel king of Connaught king of Ireland king of Leinster King of Munster Laegari land Limerick Loch Lochlannaigh lord Lough Lugaidh Macha Maelsechlainn Magh Meath Medb Mochuda monarch of Ireland Murcadh Muredach Murkertach Niall nobles O'Dugan O'Heerin Olild Olum Ollamh Patrick PEDIGREE Picts plundered possessed prince race Rath reign Ruaidri saint Scythia sept slain Sliabh sons of Miledh sovereignty of Ireland sprung surname Tadg Temhair territory thence Tipperary Tordelbach tribe Ui Neill Ulster warriors
Popular passages
Page liv - Pent in this fortress of the North, Think'st thou we will not sally forth, To spoil the spoiler as we may, And from the robber rend the prey ? Ay, by my soul!
Page lii - And by the Irish custom of gavelkind the inferior tenantries were partible amongst all the males of the sept, both bastards and legitimate ; and after partition made, if any one of the sept had died, his portion was not divided among his sons, but the chief of the sept made a new partition of all the lands belonging to that sept, and gave every one his part according to his antiquity.
Page lxvii - This learned writer also tells us, that " at a period, when the fine arts may be said to have been almost extinct in Italy and other parts of the Continent — namely, from the fifth to the end of the eighth century — a style of art had been established and cultivated in Ireland, absolutely distinct from that of all other parts of the civilized world. There is abundant evidence to prove that in the sixth and seventh centuries...
Page lxvii - ... of the Gospel, the excessive minuteness of the ornamental details, the number of its decorations, the fineness of the writing and the endless variety of initial capital letters, with which every page is ornamented ; the famous Gospels of Lindisfarne, in the Cottonian Library. But this manuscript is still more valuable on account of the various pictorial representations of different scenes in the life of our Saviour, delineated in a style totally unlike that of every other school, and of which...
Page 160 - Quae ante conditam condendamve urbem poeticis magis decora fabulis quam incorruptis rerum gestarum monumentis traduntur, ea nee adfirmare nee 7 refellere in animo est. Datur haec venia antiquitati, ut miscendo humana divinis primordia urbium augustiora faciat...
Page 355 - In that book were entered the coeval exploits and synchronisms of the kings of Ireland with the kings and emperors of the world, and of the kings of the provinces with the monarchs of Ireland. In it was also written what...
Page 491 - The fair of the Clapping of Hands (so called), because terrific and horrible signs appeared at that time, which were like unto the signs of the day of Judgment, namely, great, thunder and lightning, so that it was insufferable to all to hear the one and see the other. Fear and horror seized the men of Ireland, so that their religious seniors ordered them to make two fasts, together with fervent prayer, and one meal between them, pre.
Page 478 - This pestilence did no less harm in the island of Ireland. Many of the nobility, and of the lower ranks of the English nation...
Page 145 - It appears, from a very curious and ancient tract written in the shape of a dialogue between St. Patrick and Caoilti-MacRonain, that there were very many places where the TuathaDe-Dananns were then supposed to live as sprites or fairies, with corporal or material form, but endued with immortality. The inference naturally to be drawn from these stories is, that the Tuatha-De-Dannans lingered in the country for many centuries after their subjugation by the Gaeidhil, and that they lived in retired situations,...
Page 250 - ... not to accept of a supreme monarch from any other line. For the Pentarchal government,' this monarch substituted a division of the kingdom into twenty-five districts, or dynasties ; thus ridding himself of the rivalry of provincial royalty, and at the same time widening the basis of the monarchial or rather the aristccratical power.