Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 1 (of 3)Bagwell, Richard
History
Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 1 (of 3)
Bagwell, Richard
Ireland -- History -- 16th century
In or about 830 a chief arrived who pursued a more ambitious policy. He
is called Turgeis or Turgesius by the Irish, and by the Irish only: this
may be a form of Thorkils or Trygve, and may perhaps be a name applied to
the mysterious hero whom the Scandinavians call Ragnar Lodbrok. Turgesius
landed in Ulster, and planned the complete subjugation of Ireland. He
burned Armagh and drove out St. Patrick's successor, and then took up a
central position near Athlone, whence his flotillas could act on Lough
Ree and Lough Dearg. We know that the Northmen dragged ships or boats
overland to Loch Lomond, and similar feats may have been performed in
Ireland. There was another plundering station on Lough Neagh about the
same time.
Turgeis mastered the northern half of Ireland, and made frequent
incursions into the other half. Against the Church he showed peculiar
animosity, and his wife used the high altar at Clonmacnoise as a throne
when she gave audience; perhaps she uttered oracular responses from it.
In the south Turgeis was less powerful, for the dispossessed abbot of
Armagh took refuge at Emly in Tipperary. But the whole coast was attacked
by innumerable corsairs, who sometimes made raids far into the central
districts. Dublin was fortified by the Norwegians about 840, and became
the chief seat of the Scandinavian power. Turgeis did not live to unite
the various bands, but fell into the hands of Malachi, King of Meath, in
845, and was drowned in Lough Owel. The Northmen of Limerick were
defeated in the same year at Roscrea, and their earl, Olfin, was
slain.[16]
[Sidenote: A.D. 852.
The Black and White Gentiles.]
Seven years after the death of Turgeis came the Black Gentiles, who are
generally supposed to have been Danes, as the White Gentiles were
certainly Norwegians. Whether the colour of their armour or their
complexion was referred to is doubtful. The new-comers made themselves
masters of Dublin, and of the plunder which the first invaders had
accumulated from all the Irish churches. Before one of the battles fought
to decide whether Black or White Pagans were to enjoy this property,
Horm, or Gorm, the Danish chief, is said to have invoked St. Patrick, a
singular confusion of ideas, which may have resulted from intercourse
with Christians in England. Victory followed. The Black Gentiles seem to
have retained their supremacy; but the distinction becomes partly
obliterated, and the Danes, of whom we read later, were probably
intermingled with Norwegians. It is recorded that Amlaf, son of the King
of Norway, came to Ireland in 852 or 853, that all the foreigners of Erin
submitted to him, and that the Irish also paid tribute. The name of the
Black Gentiles is believed to be preserved in the little town of
Baldoyle.
[Sidenote: Forty years' peace.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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