CHAPTER II.

Earliest known History-By whom peopled-Race of Eber-Mogha Nuadhat-Division of Ireland into Leathmogha and LeathcuinLuighaidh Meann, descended from Ossian, drives the Firbolgs out of Clare-Tuadh Mhumhain-Thomond-North Munster-Will of Oilioll Oluim-Origin and Division of the Thomond Clans-Their present Descendants-Crimhthan, King of Munster, becomes King of Ireland-Is poisoned at Cratloe-Conal Eachluaith-Niall of the Nine Hostages-Exclusion of the Dalcassians from Sovereignty.

THE history of Clare before the Milesian occupation is lost in obscurity; and for centuries even after that remarkable epoch, references to it in the national records are so few and so scattered as to give no reliable materials for a continuous narrative. Some reliance is placed on passages in Ptolemy, in which he is believed to refer to the inhabitants of this county and part of Galway, calling them Gangani. This opinion is strongly supported by the fact that in ancient Erin they were known as the Siol Gangani; and Camden and Dr. O'Connor trace their ancestry to the Concani, a people of Spain.1 Eugene O'Curry, one of Clare's most illustrious sons, and of whom much will appear from time to time in these. pages, notes it as a curious fact that all the ancient colonists of Ireland carry up their pedigrees to Magog, the second son of Japheth,2 concerning whose descendants Holy Scripture is silent. From him also the Bactrian, Parthian, and other tribes claim descent.3

The Irish pedigrees were all collected into one book, called Cin Dromsneacth, or Book of Dromsneacth, written by Duagh Galach, King of Connaught, an Ollamh or Doctor in history and genealogy, who reigned just before the arrival of St. Patrick in 432. He must have used in this great work the

1 Lewis' Top. Dict.

3 O'Curry's Man. Mat. p. 205.

2 Genesis x.

tribe-books then in existence, and have observed strictly the accuracy in his quotations, which ancient Irish law rigidly prescribed under severe penalties.1 According to the law universally accepted over the whole island, every man in the tribe was eligible for the chieftaincy if it came to the turn of his family; and so the greatest care was taken in the principal families to keep a clear record of their descent, and this record was again checked by that of the public officer named for the purpose by the tribe or province. This is the foundation. upon which we have to build when bringing together the facts of Irish history; and, taking an impartial view of the question, it is a matter for serious inquiry whether any other nation except the Jewish, and not excepting the Greek or Roman, can justly lay claim to anything more solid or more unassailable. It is beyond all rational doubt that a people called the Milesian did colonise Ireland at a very early period, having brought to complete subjection all whom they found in possession of the country. From this race the bulk of the Irish people are descended; and with their fate and fortunes, this, I fear, weak attempt at the history of my native county must be chiefly concerned.

It would be vain to try and find the exact date of the Milesian Conquest with anything approaching to historic certainty. Our annalists trace to Ugaini Mor, who flourished more than five centuries before the Christian era, all the principal families of Ulster, Leinster, and Connaught; so the invasion must have taken place at some period far more remote. After the successful struggle for the possession of the island, the two sons of Milesius, Eber and Eremon, divided it between themselves and their followers, each one ruling supreme in his own territory. This amicable arrangement did

2 Saltair of Tara.

1 O'Curry's Man. Mat. p. 206. 3 Sir James Mackintosh, History of England, vol. i. chap. ii., writes: "The chronicles of Ireland written in the Irish language . . . enable the Irish nation to boast that they possess genuine history several centuries more ancient than any other European nation possesses in its present spoken language. Indeed, no other nation possesses any monument of literature in its present spoken language which goes back within several centuries of these chronicles." He is here giving his unbiassed opinion of the authorities relied on by the Four Masters and other Irish historians.

...

not last.

Brothers as they were, they quarrelled over their prize, and Eber being slain in the unnatural conflict, Eremon reigned over the whole kingdom. The family of Eber, however, was not extinct, and they in time recovered the possession and the sovereignty of the whole of Munster. To this family and their followers is traced the ancestry of the Milesian inhabitants of Clare. How they lived and fought and died in those truly dark ages is in all probability beyond the possibilities of historic research. Later on, we arrive at a period on which light at last begins to dawn. The events of this latter period were of a kind to impress themselves on the whole future of the Irish nation, and, occurring as they did within the Christian era, and not very long before the introduction of Christianity into Ireland, can be relied on as in substance fairly authentic.

1

About the year A.D. 150, a fierce struggle was carried on for the supreme rule between the famous Con of the Hundred Battles, the recognised King of Ireland, and Mogha Nuadhat (of the Silver Hand), King of Munster. The former claimed as the representative of the line of Eremon, while the latter insisted on his right as head of the line of Eber. After much waste of life and destruction of property, a compromise was effected, by which the island was partitioned. The northern half was made subject to Con, while Mogha ruled over the southern. To this day, in the language of the people, this partition is recognised, the northern division being called Leathcuin, or Con's half, and the southern Leathmogha, or Mogha's half. A line of gravel hills extending from Dublin to Clarinbridge in the county of Galway, and called Eiscar Riada, formed the boundary.

It is evident that this treaty must have made a profound impression on the Irish mind, probably from the feeling of relief occasioned by it, as the recollection of it is so well and so universally preserved, whereas the arrangement itself lasted for little over a year. The blessing of peace was only just beginning to be felt when the old rivalry flamed out again.

1 These events find a place in all authentic histories of Ireland. They are introduced here, as they have a direct bearing on the internal history of Clare.

In the battle of Moylena, fought in A.D. 167, Mogha was overthrown and slain, and Con resumed supreme authority. Oilioll Oluim, son of Mogha, became then King of Munster, and Con wisely secured his submission and friendship by giving him his daughter in marriage. Of this marriage eight sons were born, seven of whom were slain in the great battle of Magh Macruimhe, A.D. 195, in the county of Galway. Between the surviving son, named Cormac Cas, and Fiacha (the eldest son of Mogha's eldest son, Eoghan), the dying king divided his territory of Munster, giving to Fiacha the southern, to Cormac Cas the northern half. At this time the county of Clare was still in the possession of a tribe of the old Firbolg race. Cormac Cas1 took to wife the daughter of the great poet, Oisin or Ossian, who was son of the celebrated warrior Finn MacCumhaill, and had by her a son, Mogh Corb, whose great-grandson, Luighaidh Meann, wrested from the Firbolgs the county of Clare, in which they had hitherto succeeded in holding sway. From him this territory thus added to his patrimony received the name of Tuadh Mhumhain, or North Munster, which, in modern times, is Anglicised into Thomond; and now begins whatever is most reliable in the history of the ancestors of its present inhabitants.

In all probability the Milesian invaders utterly extirpated or drove north into Connaught the Firbolg race, as we find very few among the people of Clare of that low-sized, thick form and swarthy complexion which tradition attributes to those Irish aborigines. It would be deeply interesting to take, so to speak, a good look at the Clare of that day—its people, their customs, their modes of life, their religion.

It is not unlikely that then the land, that now is stripped for far the greater part of all ornament, was extensively and thickly wooded. At an earlier period the whole island was known by the name of the "Wooded Island," and we have no reason to think that when the Milesians first took possession it had changed its aspect. I could point to places on our seaboard, where, under high-water mark, trees still stand rooted as they grew, no one can know how long ago, but where certainly no tree can now rear its head for miles around and O'Curry's Man. Mat. p. 209.

hope to live. Atmospheric changes in all probability account for much of this; but it is certain that since the Norman invasion it became the policy as well as the profit of those marauders to strip the country of the woods, which to the Irish, in their long and stubborn resistance, served as fortresses. We can, without much effort, picture to ourselves the beauty of this county in those early days, when the full and varied. foliage of summer and autumn clothed the hills with majesty, making of it, with its Shannon and Atlantic surroundings, one of the most charming spots of earth for man to dwell in. Of its people it may in good truth be confidently asserted, that they were a "brave and hardy race" in every generation, noted, even in Ireland, for the most splendid soldierly qualities. In every battle in which they engaged, the tall, well-formed, vigorous Claremen made sure of being "first in the fray and last out of it;" and, as we go along in this history, we will find proofs without number that they have always held a foremost place in the sustained struggle for Irish liberty.

For many centuries before the introduction of Christianity, though frequently there was fierce internal conflict, public law was acknowledged and enforced. The decisions of the legislative assembly held at regular intervals in Tara, were known and respected in every part of Ireland. She alone of all the countries of Northern and Central Europe had learned to substitute law for mere force. She could boast in those early days of a civilised government and a homogeneous free people, enlightened in all the then known arts of peace, and possessed of literary culture. Their religion had one great blot. It sanctioned and required human sacrifice in time of war. But apart from this barbarity, which in all likelihood was practised rarely, and only in time of great popular excitement, it was of a more spiritual nature than the idolatrous worship practised in even the cultivated Greek and Roman nations. We hear nothing of the grossness conveyed in the character ascribed to Venus or Bacchus or Mercury or Jupiter. The Irish worshipped a Supreme Being called Crom. They took as his representative the sun; and, probably following their Eastern traditions, offered to this great luminary, and to fire in general, worship and sacrifice. They had two great religious festivals on the days