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Title |
Galloglas
- Hebridean and
West Highland Mercenary Warrior Kindreds in Medieval Ireland
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Author |
John Marsden |
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Details |
Soft Cover.
Tuckwell Press Publishers 162 pages |
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ISBN |
1862322511 |
Synopsis.
Galloglas were mercenary warriors from the Hebrides and West
Highlands who settled in Ireland in the later 13th century and
achieved an extraordinary prominence on Irish battlefields
throughout the three hundred years following. Fighting as heavy
infantry - highly-disciplined, mail-armoured and wielding their
characteristic weapon of the long-staved war-axe - they were the
decisive military component in the Gaelic Irish resurgence of the
14th century and represented the cutting-edge of resistance to Tudor
re-conquest two hundred years later. Found first in the service of
native Irish lords in Ulster and Connacht, they were later brought
into Munster and Leinster by the gaelicised Anglo-Irish earls. By
the 15th century they were established as Ireland's first
professional warrior class and, like other professional classes in
the Gaelic world, they were organized on the basis of kin-group. The
names of hereditary commanders of galloglas entered in the Irish
annals identify these mercenary warrior kindreds as the MacCabes,
MacDonnells, MacDowells, MacRorys, MacSheehys and MacSweeneys, all
of them families descended from the Gaelic-Norse aristocracy of
Argyll and the Isles - and yet their story has been called "a
forgotten chapter of West Highland history". This account of the
galloglas is written from a decidedly Scottish perspective, tracing
the origins of six kindreds and investigating the circumstances
which brought about their relocation to Ireland. It goes on to
examine the galloglas as warriors, pointing to their distinctly
Norse character and proposing their battle-fury as "the last
unmistakable echo of the Scandinavian impact on the Celtic west".
Comment:
An excellent history of the Hebridean and Highland
mercenaries in Ireland and the Irish magnates who employed
them.
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