The Vikings

Through the ages, this settlement, on the river mouth, was important. Later called Limerick, and came to play a vital role in the development of the country… a place well known for its salmon fishing and its access, up the river, into the heart of the country. In Loch Derg, longboats were often at anchor, close to the shore… some drawn up on the beach others hauled up onto logs - under repair. These are the property of Viking raiders, who are frequent visitors – their coming and going accepted by the inhabitants. A number of the Vikings strike up relationships with the inhabitants, marry, and have children… They remain working the land and fishing. This convenient fraternization ensured a safe harbour, a place where boats restocked whilst taking on water. Like many immigrants to a new land, they took an active part in its development becoming more committed to its survival than the original inhabitants, which the incoming Normans found to their cost…!

In the 830s, the Viking raids became even more extensive defeating the Uí Néill in battle and plundering widely... the clergy were at this point part of the nobility and church property protected by law. Monks could not act as security nor make bequests without his abbot’s consent for the abbot was the administrative head of the church. The Norse raids lasted until the 870s… died out, and erupted again. Ten years later ‘the great Norse tyrant’ Barith was killed… not before destroying Cianan of Duleek’s oratory. The kingdom of Uí Failge comprised the baronies of Offaly in County Kildare and part of the diocese of Kildare… their kings related to the ruling Laigin dynasty. However, the southern Uí Néill maintained precedence in Munster until the reign of Feidlimid mac Crimthainn in AD886. In the latter part of the first millennium, the Uí Néill was probably the most important family grouping – dominating both the northern and southern parts of Ireland. They were descended from Niall Noígiallach who themselves were from Conn. The Vikings at the battle of Dublin 919AD killed Niall Glundub, ancestor and over-king of the Uí Néill. During the battle, five other kings, and many other nobles killed. Glondub related to Niall, the last of the kings of Tara, the legendary seat of the high-kingship - ejected by Brian Boru, when he rose to power. In 920, the Norse settlement enlarged, at the mouth of the Shannon, which became the city of Limerick. It was the start to a flourishing trading place, the beginning of the salmon industry and the re-stocking of many Viking boats. In 937, the Limerick Vikings clashed with those of Dublin on Lough Ree and were defeated. The Shannon was of major importance in military campaigns in all of Ireland’s history. The association with the Norse never diminished – eventually they become integrated into the Irish community. The city was criss-crossed by wooden streets, houses and workshops. Mathgamaim sacked the city in 964 after previously capturing Cashel from the Eoganachta. All those he found fit to fight killed, the others enslaved. His brother Brian later killed him.

The monastic movement established great ecclesiastical centres and one of these was at Kildare, in the early ninth century, where Uí Néill appointed provincial governor by the monasteries and king of Leinster. He lived there with his brother the abbot and his sister the abbess. The heartland of Leinster was the Vale of the Liffey, and the valleys of the Barrow and the Slaney. At Domnach Sechnaill generations of the same family reined as abbots; this fact gives light how leadership of the church passed onto succeeding generations.

The Irish chieftain’s allegiances fluctuated, depending on what thought to their advantage. In this, the Ciardha clan was no different. Frequently mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters from 952 onwards to the death of Ua Ciardha tighearna Coirpre (O'Keary lord of Carbury). Again in 993 when Mael Ruanaig O’Ciardha, the then king of Carbury, was killed by the Teftha. This killing went on… the tribes were continually seeking a way to gain territory. Even in 1128, we finally read of the slaying of H. Ciardha ri Cairpri - another king of Carbury.

The kingship of the Cenel Eoghain weakened - dropped out of succession. By 976, Brian Boraime (Boru) asserted control over the whole of Munster. It was during this time that Amlaib Cuaran’s (AD945-80) daughter and grandson were baptised and given Irish Christian names – Mael Muore and Gilla Ciarain. Later, during the Battle of Clontarf, 1014, Brian heralded the claim to the throne of all Ireland including the land held by the Ostmen. Support however by other Irish leaders was not forthcoming. A number of clans leaders populating north Leinster and Munster, one being Maelsheachlainn O′ Ciardha, bribed just before the battle to desert with his men, fought with the Norsemen - to remove Brian’s power in Limerick. This united gathering failed and Brian won a great victory, although never lived long enough to reap the rewards killed in his tent pitched on the field of battle.

Boru’s reign shattered the old order, his death allowed Máel Sechnaill II to be high king of Ireland until his demise in 1022. The Ostmen, given leave to stay and develop their towns, which gradually became main centres of importance. All those clans linked to the O’Neill’s, including the O’Ciardha, lost political power – new relationships were formed – some gained advancement others declined. The O’Ciardha clan started to split up - part moved to the kingdom of Man, others to the Isles and a further group retreated to western Munster – today’s Co Cork and Kerry, whilst others fled to the hills or joined other clans. The main nucleus of older members continued to maintain their old ways close to the ancestral home.

Enjoying large areas of land, or what it produced, did not burden the Irish lord or ‘leader. It mattered not to him that another might quote amounts he was more concerned about ‘status’ according to whom he knew, who served him and who needed his power and position. This was a major failing in the Irish leadership system accepting the rank others accorded him, showing greater deference, that ‘the other was the greater lord’. When he died all that deference died with him and there was turmoil, until the whole lot settled down again…more than likely, to show a different order! The king was not a judge… he was there to lead his people into war and to be a chair at the various meetings. However, it was rare that the eldest male descendant or nominated leader not accepted… he had to be strong enough to demand obedience, having proved his worth with deeds. The pagan Brehons, previously known as the Druids, were the lawyers and governed the social system. They were not the poets or filid although holding the same high office.

Kincora was a stone-built fortress guarding Lough Derg and was at one time Brian Boru’s capital, although Cashel still represented the ancient seat of the Munster kings. Brian first established himself as king of Munster in place of the traditional Eoganacht king of Cashel in 1002. Mael Sechnaill, king of Tara, who had been ruling since 980, acknowledged his supremacy. Two years before, High king, Murchertach, presented Kincora to the Church - becoming the seat for the new archbishopric of Munster. Gilla Espaic, or Gilbert; made bishop of Limerick about 1106, and appointed papal legate. This action made an alliance between the High king and southern reformers to the traditional head of the Irish Church. The O’Brian’s' moved to their new capital in Limerick ruling the Ostmen - their vassals. It was at Limerick, called by the Norse name, ‘the Lax Weir’, that salmon fishing was highly valued becoming a chief industry - many Viking ships rode at anchored in the Shannon lakes. Ostmen, meaning ‘Eastmen’, the name given to Christianized semi-Irish settlers in Ireland after 1014, were an established entity before the invasion of England by the Normans.

The waves of the sea and salmon depicted on the bottom-third of the family Coat of Arms suggests that the sea that feeds the River Shannon and Lough Derg played an important part in the life of the family - sufficient to be recorded on the O’Ciardha shield…

Murchertach divided Ireland up into twenty-four sees in 1111. This action replaced the old monastic order. Eight years later Turloch sought High kingship after Murchertach’s death. The O’Brian’s and the kingdom of Cashel never assumed great power again. Turloch had his fleet based on Loch Derg and his fortress at Dunleogha, which held Connacht and the bridges over the Shannon. Turloch had twenty-three sons all had land at the expense of others taken on as vassals or else thrown out. The aristocracy was so avarice, so numerous, that there was no other outlet for them but war. Munster, divided between three of his sons: Murchertach’s, Diarmait, and Tad who died within a month. Tribe extinction by war, expulsion, or ill health, frequently was the case. About thirty years later, with the advent of the Cistercian Order, peace restored.

Turloch More O’Connor, 1119 – 1156, was High king. He was the son of Rory O’Connor, king of Connacht in 1106. Ireland contained a hundred kinglets arranged into five bigger groupings roughly into today’s provinces. The High King also ruled one of the provinces - held the power base of these other provinces. In Ireland, three grades of kings, at the bottom, the king of the smallest kingdom called a Tuath, next in order an over king Ruairi and finally king over kings ‘ri’ redirect. By the middle of the twelfth century, these titles changed to one of lordship. Lower down the social scale came noblemen linked to the lord - normally by a feudal bond – owed an allegiance.  At the bottom of the scale came the commoners some freemen others not. Where a clan inhabited a border between counties or shared land with the diocese, which is the case of the O’Ciardha - Killaloe, the likelihood of that clan remaining strong, is slight. Wars and disputes undermined ancient rights especially when the warrior chiefs were away fighting... weaknesses were soon exposed.

Bridge links Killaloe with Ballina, into north Co Tipperary… along the Nenagh road stands the round tower of Derry Castle in Loch Derg, depending on the tide. In the Loch, Friars Island - which contains the ancient church of St Lua, the first bishop of the See of Killaloe?

THE MACLOCHLAINN KINGS OF CINEL EOGHAIN

Murchertach [High King]

1156 – 66

  Connor               Niall              Melachlin        Murchertach

1166 – 70           1170 – 76       1176 - 85             1188 – 96

Connor Beg                                                Donal

1201                                                       1230 – 81

It is clear that the O’Ciardha clan chiefs were ‘vassals’ under the protection of another – in this case it was the O’Neill’s. They in turn had vassals… and so on. If one or another lost power there was an readjustment… if one clan was split-up through interclan wars they lost status – in some cases the clan became extinct – their land and rights forfeited. For clans to survive their chiefs had to demonstrate their strength, usually in battle… it was necessary to have allegiances to ensure security. The O’Ciardha was part of the Eoghanacht as were the O’Sullivans, O’Donoghue, O’Mahony and possibly the O’Carthys… as well as others. It is impossible to say which the more senior or who favoured most.

The Irish clan system worked through the rent of land – the chief owed his position to an overlord to whom he paid either cash, cattle, service or all three for the land, he was expected to supply men to fight the lord’s battles and to give support and succour – safe haven, in times of defeat… all to contribute towards ‘payback’. Every family in the clan did similarly only towards the clan chief. In its simplest form it worked well but when more complicated broke down, especially when there was nothing to repay or barter with for the sum owing.

This hieratical grouping of families with a corporate entity gave a political and legal involvement recognised by those around them. A single person or group could represent the clan as long as they had political influence or property. Over a period, the clan rulers multiplied by birth and marriage, by so doing displaced those lower down the social scale. Even though you were of the leader’s family this did not guarantee your position.

The clan system revolved around ‘a common people’ based within an identifiable area of land, say, a valley, accepted that a particular man’s claim to noble rank and apparel was derived over many centuries. When the dynastic clans covered the population of this area and its founder accepted as their common ancestor – the chief was born. To marry outside the valley – the community was a rarity. The clan law in Ireland is a customary law, which is slightly different to Scotland and Wales.

The obviously more powerful Normans, whom Sechnaill showed devotion to, particularly towards Henry I, dominated the ruling bodies in Ireland. It was in 1163 that Giolla Ciaran O’Draighnan died at the Abbey of Fore a year before Abbot Moel Coenighin O’Gorman. Six years before Strongbow married Aoife after the subjugation of the native Irish by the Normans in 1169.

Domnall Mac Lochlainn, king of the Uí Néill, had total power of southern Ireland until he fell from office. [Ui Neills’ of Meath and Ailech ruled for over 500 years] Domnall lost his power after appealing to Henry II for help. The English invasion sanctioned and authorized by Pope Adrian 1155 led by Henry’s Cambro-Norman barons under the call to invade and help Domnall re-claim his land. Henry allowed Dermot to recruit sympathisers among the Norman Barons of Wales. Between 1169 and 1171 the Cambro-Normans, under the earl of Pembroke, Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, the earl of Strigoil, ‘Strongbow’, not only seized all of Leinster and Dublin but also invaded neighbouring provinces too defeating Rory O’Connor, high king of Ireland. This sizing of land, given under the guise that it was being a payback for help received. Henry II demanded and received fealty and tribute from all the surrounding kings. There followed a further diminution of the clans, O’Ciardha again elected not to show fealty, although a liegeman of Ui Neill.

From about 1170 onwards, the English began to colonize Ireland. This was to the ultimate detriment of the old order of Gaelic kings; they were never to rule their own provinces again. It was from this point that clan O’Ciardha began to diminish once more – their lands and titles stolen - being distributed to English sympathisers. In 1171 O’Connor and O’Carroll with others were defeated in battle by Strongbow, established the Normans as supreme. In 1175 Kerry, Limerick, Clare and Tipperary, the kingdom of Limerick (land of the O’Brian’s), was signed away by Henry II and given to Philip de Braose. Munster became more French than any other place outside France.

In 1183-5 Gerald of Wales, described Ireland as being a land of bogs, wood and lakes in his commentary Topographic Hiberniae. This was about the only factual thing he wrote about the Irish and was true for most of the north and central plain, at least for the next five hundred years – until land clearing and cultivation took place. What Gerald did predict correctly was that  ‘Ireland would not be conquered’, he noticed, that the native’s fighting skills improved with time - put up a greater organised resistance as new fighting skills were learned and old strongholds strengthened… This certainly attributed to the old order. In 1189, Conor O’Connor, son of Rory was the last native king of Ireland, turned out of Connacht and slain. His son Cathal Carrach, motto The Red Hand of Ireland, claimed the kingship, as did Rory’s brother Cathal Crovderg. De Courcy eventually recognised him as king of Connacht. When Ruaidri Ua Conchobair died in 1198, buried in Clonmacnoise, Gaelic Irish power ended. Limerick fortified by the building of King John’s Castle set on the shores of the Shannon, to quell O’Brian’s kingdom of Thomond. Thirteen years later in 1202 Crovderg, brother of Ard ri, ‘of the Red Hand’ (O’Ciardha clan motto is the same), was inaugurated king by ancient ceremony at Carn Fraoich. The English considered him the greatest of all the Irish kings.