Galloglas: Hebridean and West Highland Mercenary Kindreds in Medieval Ireland by Marsden John

Author:Marsden, John [Marsden, John]
Language: eng
Format: azw
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd
Published: 2015-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

Two of the figures from the late 15th-century carvings of galloglas decorating the ‘O’Connor’ tomb in Roscommon abbey.

(Photo: Duchas, The Heritage Service)

Albrecht Dürer’s drawing of ‘war men of Ireland’ dated to 1521 provides the most impressive contemporary portrait of galloglas with their armed attendants. (facsimile print, National Gallery of Ireland)

The enigmatic warrior figure from the hunting scene carved above Alexander MacLeod’s tomb of 1521 in St Clement’s church at Rodel, Harris.

(Photo: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland)

Some ten years earlier, however, an entry in the Annals of the Four Masters at 1386 offers the first indication of the kindred’s expansion beyond Oriel and Fermanagh into neighbouring Breifne when it notices a Donough MacCabe ‘slain by Manus O’Reilly’. Even without any further detail of circumstances, the entry might be taken to suggest this Donough as the first of generations of MacCabe galloglas associated with the O’Reillys of east Breifne (now County Cavan) through the following two centuries. If he had somehow come awry with his employer and suffered the fatal consequence, it may have encouraged his son to seek service elsewhere, because the same annalists notice a ‘son of Donough MacCabe’ with the O’Donnells when he was killed at Farsetmore in Donegal some six years later. It is otherwise possible that Donough had been with the O’Rourkes of west Breifne (now County Leitrim) who were not infrequently at odds with the neighbouring O’Reillys. A branch of the kindred are known to have entered service with the O’Rourkes by 1416, in which year the Annals of Ulster record an incursion to the west of Upper Lough Erne and make reference to MacCabes as ‘their [the O’Rourkes’] retained galloglas’.

MacCabe galloglas were certainly in the service of the O’Reillys by the early years of the fifteenth century when they were taking an active part in hostilities against the O’Rourkes, and the entry in the Annals of Connacht at 1402 might be read to suggest the duties of their service having extended to assassination:

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.