whose death-song are commemorated his combat with 'Marstein, Erin's king, who, whelmed by the iron sleet, allayed the hunger of the eagle and wolf;' his 'stubborn struggle against three kings in Leinster,' when few went joyous from the conflict,' and when 'Erin's blood, streaming from the decks, flowed on the deep beneath!' A Danish tax was called nose-money, either, as is said, because defaulters lost their noses, or, as is hoped, because to count noses is to count heads.

The island at this period was commonly a pentarchy, or, for convenience' sake, is regarded as such: it consisted of the four provinces-Leinster, Munster, Connaught, and Ulster, with the addition of Meath. The last comprised the county of Meath, Westmeath, and part of King's County: it extended from the sea to the Shannon. Munster was sometimes divided into Thomond and Desmond. Thomond contained the counties of Clare, Limerick, and the country about Cashel its capital was Limerick, or, previously, Cashel, and its inhabitants were called Dalcassians. Desmond was divided from Leinster by the Suir: it comprehended the counties of Waterford, Cork, and Kerry : its people were Eugenians. Leinster, besides other portions, comprised Ossory, and Hy Feolan, or Offaly (King's County). These kingdoms were supposed subordinate to one supreme monarch, sovereign of all Ireland, but they carried on perpetual hostilities on all sides.

The hero of the deliverance of Ireland from the Danes was Brian Boru, king of Munster, of Milesian race, descended, not like the royal family from Heremon, but from Heber. Before his accession to the throne, he had proved his valour against the enemy in Limerick, and won trophies from them. He avenged the murder of his brother by victory, and cleared the holy island of Inis-cathy, or Iniscattery, in the Shannon, from the Danes, who had made it their depôt. The nominal sovereign, Melachlin, assisted in the work by gaining a victory (980) at Tara, and besieging them in

Dublin (989). Nevertheless, the more honourable contest, in the estimation of posterity, ceded to the passion of the hour, and the sovereign of the North, Melachlin, engaged in frequent war with Brian Boru, who, extending his influence over Leinster, became monarch of the South. In these hostile expeditions, Brian Boru burnt the palace of Tara. Brian also took his share in restraining the Ostmen of Dublin, and avenging their affronts or inroads. At last he compelled Melachlin to do him homage, and cede the titular supremacy, retaining only Meath (1001). The Northmen having obtained the aid of the regulus of Leinster, and temporary reinforcements from the Baltic, assembled in Dublin, and at Clontarf fought a great action (1014). particulars are so variously stated, that no certain account can be given. The loss on both sides was great. Brian Boru and his son were killed; the regulus of Leinster also was left dead, and the Ostmen retired to Dublin.

The

The last Milesian monarch of Ireland, Roderic O'Connor, came to the throne, as king of Connaught, in 1166.

12

CHAPTER II.

ENGLISH INVASION.

DERMOT M'MOROUGH, king of Leinster, or rather (as the land was uncultivated) of the Lagenians, entered on his petty savage sovereignty in 1126. He is described at a later period as a big man, robust and strong; his voice hoarse with frequent shouting in battle; hated, and truculent in character. In 1137, he made himself odious to his subjects by perfidiously seizing seventeen chieftains, of whom he put the most powerful to death, and deprived the rest of their eyes. He retained his station, however, till 1142, when, being driven out by the king of Munster, or of the Momonians, he fled to Tordelvach (Turlogh) O'Connor, king of Ireland and Connaught, for relief. The aid which he demanded was accorded to him, and the Momonian king was defeated (1151). In return for this service he joined Turlogh and Maclachlin, king of the Medians, or Meath, in a war upon O'Ruark, regulus of Hy Brune Breffny, which comprised what is now Cavan and Leitrim. Ö’Ruark, defeated, retired into the fastnesses of Connaught. In the course of this war, Dermot (1153) carried off Dervorgoil, the wife of O'Ruark and daughter of the king of the Medians, with the consent of the woman herself (rapta nimirum fuit, quia et rapi voluit) and of her brother. O'Ruark then in turn implores the aid of the O'Connor, and gets back Dervorgoil. Whether he dealt harshly with her crime is unknown; it is only stated that she died in 1193, having spent the seven last years of her life in penitential retirement, and having presented rich gifts and sixty ounces of gold to the abbey of Drogheda, in her father's territories.

In 1166, the throne of Connaught, or the Conacians, became vacant; and Dermot, taking part with the unsuccessful competitor, found Roderic O'Connor a powerful and dangerous enemy. The Lagenians now sought their opportunity for revenge, and Dermot fled. There was nothing extraordinary in his resorting to England. The Ostmen had perpetual communication with other shores, and especially Dermot's own tributaries in Waterford and Dublin. They even borrowed the sacred character of their bishops from the more wealthy kingdom. The fugitive prayed assistance of the energetic and successful King Henry II., then in Aquitaine. To avoid charges, the king refused to undertake the war himself; but gave licence, by his letters patent, that such of his subjects might pass over into Ireland as would, at their own charge, become adventurers in the enterprise. So that the first attempt to conquer the kingdom was but the risk of a few private gentle

men.

With his royal letter Dermot proceeds to Bristol, and there he many times read the guarantee of the king's licence and favour,' and promises of lands in Leinster, all to no purpose. At length he meets with Richard de Clare, surnamed Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, a man whose circumstances were uneasy, and whose mind was ductile, not in itself enterprising, but impressed by others (omnia suorum audens consilio). To him he offered his daughter, and the rule over the Lagenians. Strongbow listened to the offer, and Dermot, proceeding towards Milford, met, in the custody of Rees ap Griffith, the Welsh prince, with Robert FitzStephen, who, having already endured three years' imprisonment, asked leave to accompany Dermot. FitzStephen was a son of Nesta (Agnes), who had had children by King Henry I.; she afterwards married Gerald, lord Carew, by whom she had Maurice Fitzgerald, and, after him, Stephen de Marisco, to whom she bore Robert Fitz-Stephen. As a reward for his

support, Fitz-Stephen was to have the city of Wexford and two cantreds' of land adjoining.

Dermot, having secured a prospect of succour, crossed the sea, and lay hid during the winter in the monastery of Ferns.

In the spring of 1169 Fitz-Stephen arrived, with three ships, sixty horsemen clad in mail, thirty knights, and three hundred archers. Next day, a Welsh gentleman brought two ships, ten knights, more archers. They land on an island called the Bann, twelve miles from Wexford. Dermot meets them with five hundred men. The Wexfordians, to the number of two thousand, come out to look at them, but retreat, burning the suburb before the town. The invaders then prepare an assault: they fill the ditch, and their archers watch the battlements; but the citizens, by rolling logs of wood and stones upon the enemy, repulse their attack, and the baffled English turn upon the ships in harbour. They burn the rest, but one laden with corn and wine from Britain the soldiers boarded and took: the sailors had cut the cables, and she drifted out to sea, but with difficulty was towed in again. Next day, the invaders took their measures more carefully: they heard solemn mass, and applied to the attack the resources of their skill and experience. Two bishops then interposed, and the town surrendered to its old king, Dermot, who gave it to Fitz-Stephen and Maurice Fitzgerald, the latter of whom had not yet arrived.

Success having thus dawned upon them, Dermot advanced into Ossory against an old enemy, who had put out the eyes of Dermot's eldest son, his captive. The combatants met in narrow ground, amidst woods and marshes. A stratagem led the Ossyrians into the plain, where the armed horsemen dashed upon them, broke and overthrew them, and Dermot's warriors with their battle-axes despatched the fallen. Two hundred heads were laid before the great MacMorough, who danced for joy at the sight; and, recognising one