CHAPTER 1
The Civilization of
the Celts
To live, to err, to
fail, to triumph,
To recreate life
out of life
–
James Joyce
THE ORIGINS OF THE CELTS
Because the
Irish inherited many of the traits and outlooks of their Celtic ancestors and carried
these into modern times, many aspects of the Celtic way of life had a
remarkable historical continuity. These
customs and beliefs that originated in the distant past endured the
unpredictable currents of time and history to serve the Irish as cultural
moorings in both the medieval and modern worlds. When Irish émigrés found themselves in
strange and exotic lands, Celtic traditions long embedded in their society
helped them deal with their new circumstances.
The saga of
the Celts began in the southern steppes of Russia more than 8000 years before
Christ. At that time, the Celts were not
a culturally distinct people. They had
yet to emerge from the great tribe of nomads called Indo-Europeans whose
language, behaviour, and view of the world would become the foundation of the
heritage of all Europeans. Between 5000
and 3000 B.C., the Indo-Europeans began to migrate westward in successive waves
which broke into small groups as they travelled further from their homeland.
Indo-Europeans
were patriarchal and warlike. Their
principal gods were males who were usually portrayed as warriors. Indo-European society was organized into
clans led by a chieftain. In this rigid
social hierarchy, warriors enjoyed the highest status while women held the
lowest. A man's wealth was measured by
the number of cattle he owned. To
increase the amount of grazing land available for their herds, clans sent bands
of mounted war parties to conquer neighbouring tribes. Because the Indo-European warriors were so
successful in defeating the less warlike societies they encountered, they
became the dominant society in Europe; and hence their beliefs and customs
became the foundation for all later European civilizations. The acceptance of their symbols throughout
Europe which continued into the modern world demonstrates the enduring impact
of the Indo-European way of life. Black
was the colour of death; evil was represented by the serpent; the bull
illustrated male virility; and the sun was the emblem of life.
During the
millennia of their migrations, some of the Indo-Europeans went south into
Turkey and settled; while later generations of the Turkish branch resumed
roaming as far as India. Other groups
travelled into Greece and Italy. By 3000
B.C., the Indo-Europeans had spread across all of Europe and much of Western
Asia.
After this
period of migration, when they had been settled in an area for several
generations, the people who had been Indo-Europeans began to develop varied
cultural traits which would distinguish them from one another to some
degree. As time passed, the far-flung
groups originating from the Indo-Europeans of the steppes became more and more
distinct from one another in overt ways.
The groups developed their own languages, building styles, clothing, tools
and weapons - and even customs and mythology after a time. The link of these varied people to their
Indo-European origin could not be erased, but as time when on, it became more
and more attenuated.
The group
of Indo-Europeans which settled in Central Europe along the Danube River was
the group that would become known as the Celts.
The Celtic language, the fierce warrior ethic, and the clan structure
which was more or less a large extended family were aspects of their
Indo-European heritage which they retained, although in a refined or modified
form. Aspects of Celtic culture
developed in this central European setting that varied from other
Indo-Europeans were a relatively high status for women, a decentralized system
of government and the tripartite nature of their deities. This period of cultural development, during
which the distinguishing cultural elements of the Celts formed, lasted for
roughly a little more than a millennium.
When
between 800 and 600 B.C. the resources of the Danube River region became
strained by the growing population of the Celts, bands of Celts and larger
groups, sometimes entire clans, moved out of this incubator of Celtic
culture. From the area of Hallstatt, Austria, which by 800 B.C. had become the centre
of Celtic society, the Celts migrated to other parts of Europe. Towards the end of this time of Celtic
expansion throughout Europe, about 500 B.C., the centre of Celtic culture had
shifted to the La Tčne region of western
Switzerland. The westward expansion of
the Celts primarily from these two cultural centres brought them to the
Atlantic islands of Britain and Ireland between 500 and 300 B.C. By this time, the distinctive culture of the
Celts formed in the Danube Basin had spread over all parts of Europe. Wherever the Celts settled, they carried with
them the same cultural practices and beliefs that had developed in the Danube
Basin.
The Celts
got their name from the Greeks. When the
Greek geographer Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c. 490 -
425 B.C.) encountered a group of strangers from the north, he called the Keltoi, which meant strangers. The Romans named the Celts in the area from
the Alps of northern Italy to the Atlantic Ocean, in what is roughly
present-day France, the Galli, or Gauls, after the Roman name for the area. Because the Romans regarded the Celts from
other areas as culturally similar to the Gauls, with
the same basic language, social structure, weapons and ornamentation, the
Romans used names for these Celts containing the root "Gal". When the Romans encountered a group of Celts
who had migrated into Turkey after being defeated by the Greeks in a battle
near Delphi in 279 B.C., the Romans called these Celts the Galatians. For the Celts of Spain, the Romans used the
name Gallicians.
However, some Roman geographers and historians relied on Greek writers
for their information and referred to the Celts of Spain as Celtiberians. The Celts described themselves simply as tuatha, or people.
The waves
of Celtic migration came to an end about 300 B.C. From the
This vast
territory was not an empire in the usual sense of this term. For the Celts had not set out from their
Danube Basin settlements with political or imperialistic ambitions, but rather
for the purpose of finding new land and resources for the growing
population. Although there was a pattern
to the migration, it was not systematic.
The pattern was determined not by the desire for conquest, but always by
the needs for new land and resources as populations of existing Celtic
settlements grew beyond the capacity of local resources to support them; and a
segment of these settlements would in turn migrate farther westward or
north-westwards to a new location.
Although in their aim of finding a suitable location to support a new
settlement, the Celts readily drove off the inhabitants of a location they
found desirable, the Celts did not take on the position of a "ruling
class", but followed their customary tribal way of life.
Although
Celtic tribes and clans dominated most of Europe, their tradition of
independence and their communal form of government based on the clan precluded
a political organization or network throughout this area. Nonetheless, because the far-flung Celtic
people all had the same origin and followed the same way of life, there was a
homogeneity and stability over this area.
Wars between Celtic tribes were fought by small numbers of warriors; the
vanquished peoples did not become strong enough to challenge Celtic dominance;
and the Celts occupied all the land that was available to them, so their
migrations came to an end.
Evidence of
the Celtic migrations and settlements has come largely from Celtic grave sites,
often marked by a heap of stones which archaeologists call a tumulus. Celtic chieftains and warriors were sometimes
buried beneath vertical boulders capped with a large flat rock - a type of
grave site called a dolmen. Most of
these graves have been found in clusters along rivers and streams. The Celts often buried their dead by rivers
or streams because they believed that flowing water weakened the barrier
between this world and the Otherworld.
Believing in reincarnation, the Celts thought that the dead could most
easily return to this world near a place where the water flowed. For the needs and solace of the dead during
their time in the Otherworld waiting to be reborn, the Celts buried with them
tools, clothing, weapons, jewellery, vases and other familiar articles.
The grave
sites along with the articles in them provided a guide by which the migrations
of the Celts could be traced, and helped considerably in reconstructing the way
of life of the Celts. Many of the blanks
in the picture of Celtic history and society began to be filled in when numbers
of Celtic grave sites were discovered in Central Europe in the late
1800's. Assessment of iron ploughs along
with other findings in the graves led archaeologists to the conclusion that the
Celts had been cultivating crops from 1000 B.C.
The durability of the iron ploughs compared to the bronze agricultural
tools of other cultures of the region also led archaeologists to conclude that
the Celts practised advanced agricultural methods. The Celtic migrations were linked to these
advanced agricultural methods, which would have yielded an increased food
supply, leading to an increasing population outgrowing the resources of an
area, and thus prompting the initial migrations.
Findings in
these grave sites and other discovered later also disclosed that Celtic society
was advanced in other ways compared to the surrounding cultures. Blades of weapons were made of iron, when
weapons of most other cultures were still being made of bronze. The intricately designed handles of weapons
and the designs of jewellery showed a superior skill in metalworking.
Because of
the steadiness of the Celtic migration and the advanced practical skills of the
Celts, Celtic culture came to dominate most of western and central Europe. It continued to dominate until the Celts were
conquered by the Romans, first in Spain by Scipio in 204 B.C. and later in Gaul
by Caesar about 53 B.C. After Caesar's
conquests, Celtic society was confined to parts of central Europe, around the
original Celtic lands of the Danube Basin, and the islands of Britain and
Ireland. After German tribes pushing
down from the north overran the Danube Basin lands and Rome conquered much of
Britain, Ireland became the centre of Celtic culture. From 800 B.C. when the Celts first spread out
from their Danube Basin settlements until about 50 B.C., Celtic culture exerted
its influence on Europe mainly because it was mostly benign, its clan structure
offered a balance of security and independence, its mythology and spirituality
were relevant, and it had much to offer in the way of agricultural methods and
practical skills. The tolerance,
capabilities, practicality, skills, and power of example the Irish would bring
with them when they emigrated to Europe centuries later were evident in the
Celtic tribes and clans which had spread across Europe.
GREEK AND ROMAN
DOCUMENTATION
Archaeological
evidence confirms that the Celts were a dominant force in Central and Northern
Europe during the first millennium B.C.
But the picture derived from this evidence is far from complete. Having no written language, the Celts left no
documents relating to their way of life - only fragments of artefacts. Observations by Greek and Roman historians
help to fill in the picture to some extent.
But these observations have to be taken with due scepticism because
these historians were biased against the Celts.
Taking the prevailing perspective of their own cultures which regarded
themselves as being self-evidently superior, the Greek and Roman historians saw
the Celts as crude and primitive; although they did acknowledge their fierce
warrior pride and joy in fighting. Roman
historians especially played up this warrior image to explain the defeats that
Roman legions periodically suffered at the hands of the Celts.
Greek and
Roman historians did not rely exclusively on first-hand sources such as their
own observations. They often based large
portions of their work on the writings of earlier historians. Thus, when it comes to the ancient historians
who wrote about the ancient Celts, it is difficult to sort truth from
half-truth and fact from misconception.
With some historians, the Celts appear as fierce savages lurking in
untamed forests; while other historians saw them as noble, but unsophisticated,
warriors.
In his Historiai, or Researches, the Greek historian
Herodotus of Halicarnassus wrote that the Celts
occupied a vast area north of Greece. He
commented on their "simplicity" and the absence of cities and money
in their culture. Coming from the
perspective of a complex urban society of the Mediterranean, he believed that
the wandering lifestyle of the primitive Celts promoted honesty and
innocence. In the Eudemian
Ethics, Aristotle gives an ambivalent portrait of the Celts - admiring
their courage, but in the same breath questioning their sanity. He remarked that "anybody would be mad
or completely bereft of sensibility if he feared nothing: neither earthquake
nor wave of the sea, as they say of the Celts." Aristotle was referring to the practice of
some Celtic warriors of battling against the sea or the land with their
swords. The warriors believed these
features of nature were living beings.
They would beat their swords against the seashore or slash at incoming
waves; or they would beat their swords against the ground, particularly when
the earth tremored.
The Roman
historian Diodorus (c. 60 - c. 21 B.C.) was the first
to describe the physical appearance of the Celts. In his Bibliotheca Historica,
he wrote they were "tall of body with rippling muscles and white of skin, and their hair is blond. But not only naturally so ... they also make
it their practice by artificial means to increase the distinguishing colour
which nature has given it ... they wash their hair in lime water. The clothing they wear is striking - shirts
which they have dyed and embroidered in varied colours, and breeches ... and
they were striped coats, fastened by a buckle at the shoulder."
Greek and
Roman historians often portrayed the Celts as barbarians. Their criticisms were usually exaggerated and
their praises were granted only grudgingly.
Because Roman legions were frequently defeated in battle by hordes of
Celtic warriors, classical historians portrayed the Celts as formidable
warriors. A Roman historian of the first
century B.C. named Poseidonius noted that the Celts
were "belligerent in their customs.
They often have single combat at dinner in which real injury is possible
and even the death of the combatants.
There is great rivalry for the champion's portion."
Besides the
Roman and Greek historians, Mediterranean artists have also left an image of
the Celts. In sculpture, the Celts were
identified by a torc around their necks which was a
sign of leadership. Statues and scenes
on friezes often depict Celtic leaders releasing captured prisoners, portraying
the Celts with a primitive fierceness balanced by courage and a personal code
of honour. A Roman frieze from Civitas Alba in northern Italy shows Roman gods driving
Celtic raiders out of a temple, but the Celts appear defiant despite the
daunting supernatural power arrayed against them.
Greek and
Roman descriptions of the Celts often vary from the archaeological evidence and
the oral tradition of the Celts which survived long enough to be recorded by
Celtic Christian monks during the medieval period. Nonetheless, writings of the Greek and Romans
record how other societies viewed the Celts.
Weighed with the archaeological evidence, such writings help in giving a
fuller understanding of the Celts and their culture.
WOMEN IN CELTIC CULTURE
Many other
Romans, not only the historians and artists, were intrigued by the Celts who
dwelled along the northern fringes of their Empire. They were fascinated by the Celtic way of
life, by the practices and beliefs that seemed so strange, so different from
the customs of Mediterranean society. Of
particular interest was the behaviour of Celtic women, which Roman observers
often found scandalous.
While
Celtic society was a patriarchy, women enjoyed higher status than in other
cultures descended from the Indo-Europeans.
They had the right to bear arms, form contracts, and engage in a
profession such as physician or scholar.
On the field of battle, women warriors often led troops. In the epic poem Táin
Bó Cualinge, Queen Maev of the Irish province of Connaught
instigated a war with neighbouring Ulster and oversaw the battle of her
troops. To try to drive the Roman
invaders from Britain, Queen Boudicca led the Iceni tribe into battle.
When
Christianity first came to Ireland, women were allowed into the priesthood and
given a full spiritual role and full spiritual powers, such as administering
the sacraments and consecrating the host.
Since women could become Druids in the older Celtic society, the Celts
expected that women could naturally become spiritual leaders in the new religion. Although this practice of letting women into
the priesthood was objectionable to the Roman Christians, the turmoil following
the collapse of the Roman Empire during the early part of the Dark Ages, when
Christianity was becoming widespread in Ireland, prevented them from
interfering with Celtic customs. During
the 5th century, the quasi-mythical Brigid was
elevated to the position of bishop so that she might consecrate other female
priests without having to allow any men into her enclave of celibate females
living at her monastery in Kildare. For
the next several centuries, the Abbesses of Kildare who succeeded her had the
authority of a bishop. As late as 703
A.D., women were still present in the priesthood and some of them achieved high
status in the clerical hierarchy. The
Venerable Bede records in his Opera Historica that Beverly, who was Bishop of Hexham,
ordained him a priest in that year. The
last records of women serving as priests are from the 8th century, after which
Roman Christianity began to exert a stronger influence on Celtic Christian
practices.
Although
women were denied the opportunity to become priests when the Roman version of
Christianity gained ascendancy over the Celtic version, women continued to
remain their status in the traditional Celtic culture. One prime example of the role and influence
of women in this culture was their ability to shame a warrior or other man who
was behaving dishonourably by becoming partially, or sometimes fully, naked
before him. In such an instance, a woman
would stand before the man and bare her breasts or more of her body as if the
man were forcing her to disrobe. In the Táin Bó Cualinge, the destructive rage of the warrior Cúchulain faded when he was confronted by women who had bared
themselves in front of him. But when
Celtic women assumed that this practice would produce shame in non-Celtic
warriors, the results were disastrous.
At the siege of Gergovia in Spain when the
Romans were mistreating their Celtic prisoners, Celtic women descended from the
walls of the city and bared their breasts to try to shame the Romans. But instead of feeling disgrace, the Romans
ravaged the women, responding to their nakedness as a
stimulation to rape.
Marriage
did not constrict the rights of women.
Virginity was not important as a criteria to determine
the desirability of a woman as a wife.
Dowries were passed to the husband before the bonding ceremony, but
remained the property of the woman. If a
woman found the marriage dissatisfying, she could easily divorce her husband,
taking her dowry with her along with all other property she had acquired
independently from her husband. The
purpose of the Celtic marriage was children, and a woman could find grounds for
divorce in a wide variety of circumstances which interfered with
procreation. Male impotence, sterility,
homosexuality and obesity were sufficient to dissolve a marriage. In addition, a Celtic woman could also form
legally-sanctioned relationships for procreation with several men at the same
time, a polyandrous custom that Romans and Greeks found shameful and
outrageous.
While most
of the descendants of the Indo-Europeans traced their ancestry through their
fathers, the Celts traced their lineage through their mothers. A mythological Celtic king was known as Cónchobar mac Nessa,
Cónchobar son of Nessa, his
mother. Even Christ was referred to as mac Mhuire, the son of Mary. The custom reflected the fact that children
could never truly know the identity of their fathers. Since women in Celtic society could choose
the person who impregnated them, and often had multiple sexual partners to
increase the chances of procreation, no man could be absolutely certain if any
child was indeed his offspring.
In the
patriarchal societies surrounding the Celts, the rough equality between the
genders in Celtic society was scorned by Roman writers and historians as
further evidence of their barbarism.
This difference with respect to women between Celtic-Irish culture and
the Romanized cultures of Europe continued through the medieval period and into
modern times. When Irish women began
emigrating from Ireland as the wives of soldiers and merchants who made up the
large majority of the émigrés in the 17th century, they were restricted to the
roles of housekeepers, mothers, and wives in keeping with the view of women in
the patriarchal societies of Europe.
Only within the Irish communities were Irish women given their customary
status and able to engage in activities open to them in Irish society. Women could act as physicians only in their
own communities. There were also
occasions when the wives of Irish soldiers took part in battles, temporarily
taking on the role of the female combatants of ancient Celtic culture.
THE CELTIC FAMILY
The Celts had a strong family structure based on the extended
family. It was not unusual for sons and
daughters to reside with their parents even after they grew into adulthood and
formed their own families. A Celtic
extended family included everyone in a clan who could trace their descent from
a common ancestor, even if the ancestor lived many generations in the
past. This family and clan loyalty was
reflected by Celtic law making each member of a clan responsible for the
behaviour of other clan members.
To teach
the children to behave in accordance with the norms of Celtic society and not
to bring disgrace upon the clan, the Celts followed a child-rearing custom
called gossiprage.
The adults constantly observed a child's conduct and reported to the
parents both the good and the bad behaviour.
Within the local area of a Celtic settlement, every adult assumed a
degree of responsibility for raising children by acting as a surrogate parent,
even if the degree of kinship was remote.
Fosterage
was another child-rearing practice of the Celts, whereby a child was formally
placed in a household of another clan.
Young Celtic men or women placed in fosterage lived as an adopted member
of the clan until they were adult.
Sometimes fosterage was used to form an alliance between clans. Other times it was used so children could
learn a particular skill from their adopted parents. Both gossiprage and
fosterage demonstrated a high degree of community involvement in family affairs
which caused children to develop loyalty to the entire clan.
The Celtic
practice of fosterage helped the Irish to adjust to life in European
societies. With their familiarity with
this age-old Celtic practice, new émigrés saw Irish communities abroad as large
families to whom they could easily attach themselves while getting their
bearings in the foreign lands. When the
émigrés were ready to take a larger role in their new societies, this step was
taken smoothly because the émigrés readily gave their loyalty and services to a
monarchy or nation, which they viewed as an enlarged clan. Because by custom the Irish were loyal to
clans and received loyalty in return and were used to interacting with all
types of persons beyond the unity of the family, Irish émigrés readily adapted
to their new circumstances and opportunities in the different societies of
Europe.
But even
after emigrating to
The bonds
of the Irish with their extended families enabled many Irish émigrés to thrive
in the countries they journeyed to. It
gave the Irish a sense of familiarity and comfort in their new lands. In so doing, it served as a means for
adapting to them and also as a foundation for taking an initiative in their
various fields of endeavour.
CELTIC RULERS AND
WARRIORS
The Celts
developed a form of government suited for the small, independent communities of
their agrarian society. The families in
an area formed a clan cluster whose members would elect a chieftain. If he was not a capable leader, the clan
replaced him by electing another chief.
When threatened by an enemy, the clan chiefs would elect a warlord to
lead them into battle. After the war
ended, the warlord relinquished his authority.
In those
regions of Ireland and Britain where Celtic culture survived the longest, it
was nonetheless affected by the form of government of the cultures that
dominated parts of Europe, including parts of the British Isles. This form of government was a hereditary
monarchy. Following this form, clan
chieftains who had been elected became petty kings whose position was filled by
their eldest son upon their death. This
development in Celtic culture rarely extended beyond the clan. No charismatic or powerful ruler rose to
unite a number of the clans into a permanent kingdom or nation.
The closest
the Irish came to a united system of government was when clan chiefs began
electing a High King during the early Middle Ages, about the 5th century. Mythology tells of even earlier High Kings in
Ireland who behaved more as local warlords than monarchs by engaging in
frequent wars with rival clans. The
authority of the High King was limited and his effectiveness as a ruler depended
on his ability to persuade the clan chieftains to agree with his
decisions. In matters affecting all of
the clans, the High King had to call a convention of chieftains to decide the
issues and could not act on his own initiative.
The failure
of the Irish to form a unified, cohesive government is one of the main reasons
for the surge in Irish emigration in the late Middle
Ages. Acting independently from one
another, the clans were unable to resist the Anglo-Norman invasion of the 12th
century. Although the invaders were
vastly outnumbered by the Celts, the Anglo-Normans permanently established
themselves in many parts of Ireland.
Once all of the clans were defeated, the Anglo-Norman overlords
instituted a strict rule decreed by the English Crown. By this rule, the Irish had negligible political
and civil rights. Farmers could
arbitrarily have their land taken from them, and Irishmen could hold no
political or judicial office. This led
to ineffective rebellions by the Irish against England during the closing
centuries of the medieval period. By the
early modern era, the Irish came to realize that they were not going to free
themselves from English oppression and they began to emigrate
in large numbers to various countries of
Although
they were ineffective in their wars with other societies, such as the Normans
and before them, the Vikings and the Romans, the fierceness and bravery of the
Celtic warriors was often noted by those they fought against. In his work Geography, the Greek Strabo wrote that "the whole race is war-mad, and both
high-spirited and quick for battle.... For those that wish to defeat them by
stratagem, they become easy to deal with.
In fact, irritate them when, where, and by what pretext you please and
you have them ready to risk their lives with nothing to help them but might and
daring."
The Celts
favoured individual combat between opposing champions instead of the
coordinated deployment of disciplined units.
Julius Caesar was struck by the tactics of the Celtic charioteers. In writing about one of his encounters with
the Celts in his conquest of Gaul, Caesar described these charioteers as
driving "in all directions hurling spears.
Generally, they succeeded in throwing the ranks of their opponents into
confusion just with the terror caused by their galloping horses and the din of
the wheels. They make their way through
their own cavalry, then jump down from their chariots and fight on foot ...
thus they have the mobility of cavalry and the staying power of
infantry." As Hannibal in his
invasion of the Italian peninsula and as Caesar himself recognized in his own
use of Celtic warriors in his army, with appropriate leadership and used in
certain ways in warfare, the Celts made formidable soldiers. But their loose, compulsive and sporadic
style of warfare was no match for the organization and persistence of Roman
legions and other well-disciplined enemies the Celts faced in their history.
While a
loose political organization based on clans was suited for the Celtic way of
life, it did not allow the Celts to muster an effective defence when attacked
by the legions of Rome. This was
particularly evident when Julius Caesar easily conquered Gaul in a way that
began in 58 B.C. Some Celtic clans sided
with the Romans while other clans watched with indifference as their neighbours
were overrun by the invaders. By 53 B.C.
Caesar believed that Gaul was pacified.
But the clan chiefs had finally awakened to the danger posed by
Rome. They elected Vercingetorix
of the clan Arverni to be their warlord. Under his leadership, twenty-nine Celtic
clans revolted against Rome in 52 B.C.
Caesar's legions were soon surrounded in a fortified camp, defending
themselves against constant Celtic attacks.
But after suffering a large number of casualties without annihilating
the Romans, the Celtic chieftains withdrew their support of Vercingetorix
and returned to their homes. Vercingertorix was captured by Caesar and ritually executed
in Rome as an example to dissuade other potential Celtic warlords from defying
Rome.
Although
Caesar admired the courage of the Celts in Gaul, he was disdainful of the way
that they gathered military intelligence and made important tactical
decisions. He wrote in his Commentaries,
"in the town, a crowd [of Celts] gathers around traders and forces them to
say what country they are from and what information they have gathered
there. Influenced by these reports, even
when they are hearsay, the Gauls frequently adopt
plans about important matters which they are bound to regret almost
immediately.... They are slaves to unsubstantiated rumours and most of the
people they question make up answers they think will please them." This tendency of the Celtic warriors to make
decisions based on unreliable information enabled Caesar to deceive them as to
the strength and deployment of his forces.
At times,
Celtic warriors from different clans would join together to form a
sodality. This was a band whose members
followed a charismatic leader and closely supported each other in combat. But the warrior sodality was more than a
tactical unit. It was also a way of life
based on honour among the members of the sodality and loyalty to a military
ideal that superseded allegiance to clan or kin. These warrior groups formed an integral part
of Celtic society, distinct from the social classes of nobles, scholars and
peasants. The concept was immortalized
by the hero of one Irish myth names Finn MacCumhail. His young warriors called themselves the Fianna and were led by his son, Oisín. In times of peace, they practised their
military skills by hunting and fighting in lands far from their own clan
territories. When Finn's land was
threatened by enemies either mortal or supernatural, the individual champions
of the Fianna vied with each other for the privilege
of engaging in a death struggle to protect Finn's territory. Most of the warrior sodalities were exclusive
male fraternities who disdained the company of women. But the Irish epic poem Táin
Bó Cualinge mentioned a
female warrior band led by a woman named Scáthach,
who also trained the hero Cúchulain in the use of
weapons. This mythical female warrior
sodality demonstrated the level of equality between men and women in ancient
Celtic society.
The warrior
sodalities provided a socially acceptable outlet for young Celtic men with an
excess of leisure time on their hands.
They gave warriors military training while forging bonds with other
young people from different clans.
During times of war, the sodalities provided a highly-trained force that
was prepared to engage an invader while other warriors gathered to meet the
foe. In
Because of
the Celtic tradition of the warrior sodality, many Irish émigrés were prompted
to join the armies of different European countries. In some cases, so many émigrés filled the
ranks of an army that they were made into a special military unit. There were also instances of émigré soldiers
presenting themselves as a unified unit, complete with Irish officers. The model for these all-Irish military units
was the warrior sodality of traditional Celtic culture. Although these fighting forces wore the uniforms
of a foreign land and were often led by foreign officers, the strong bonds of
camaraderie among their members and the fighting spirit they found in the
company of one another was the same as with the medieval warrior sodalities
which bravely, and sometimes desperately, tried to keep Vikings and
Anglo-Normans from occupying Irish soil.
There were times in European history when such Irish military units
turned the tide of battles, and in some cases played a major part in winning a
war. At Cremona
in 1701, the Irish Brigade of France transformed defeat into victory by driving
the Austrians from the city; and the Ultonia Regiment
of Spain blocked a critical supply line of Napoleon's army by withstanding a
year-long French siege of Gerona.
By the
early modern era, Irish soldiers had adapted to the methods of contemporary
warfare. They no longer approached the
field of battle as champions seeking fame and glory in individual combat
against an enemy champion, but rather plunged into battle as a cohesive,
coordinated fighting unit. Such a unit's
movements and objectives were usually a part of an overall battle plan. But in recognition of the exceptional
courage and enterprise of the Irish soldiers, in most cases their units were
given wide latitude in their actions on the battlefield.
Because of
the fierce loyalty of the Irish émigrés to their adopted lands, the kings and
queens of Europe were not concerned about enlisting the services of so many
foreigners in their armies. The Irish
were not mercenaries offering their swords to the highest bidder. Instead they generally fought for the benefit
of their adopted lands and for the kings and queens they had sworn allegiance
to. Even when they found themselves in
combat with other Irish émigrés, their sense of duty to their adopted
countries, which they saw as their foster clans, prevented any compromise with
their cousins and former neighbours.
The casual
political system and the style of combat of the Irish were unable to stand up
to the powerful Anglo-Norman forces which invaded Ireland in the 12th
century. The Celtic virtues of individuality
and clan ties became fatal weaknesses in the increasingly complex and
highly-organized societies of the late Middle Ages and
the early modern era. Although these
Celtic virtues could not save Ireland, they did save a number of foreign
monarchs and societies when the émigrés put them to the service of their
adopted lands. As with other virtues and
skills, the military abilities of the Irish émigrés enabled them to take
leading roles in the armies of foreign lands.
THE DRUIDS AND EDUCATION
The Druids
were the spiritual leaders in Celtic society, and were given a social status
equivalent to the warriors. They were
known as the men and women of "special gifts", the áes-dana.
They were shamen and seers articulating the
unique Celtic vision of the world and the role of people in it. Spiritual guidance was only one of their
activities. They were also scholars who
served their society as doctors, lawyers, priests and poets. For the Celts, these were not separate
professions as they were in other parts of Europe. Any áes-dana
had the knowledge and skills to compose entertaining verse, decide a complex
question of property rights or set a broken bone.
Many years
of study were required for a person to become a Druid. Although most Druids were men, women could
become Druids too. The Celtic
association of knowledge and spirituality comes from the recognition of the
value of the Druids to Celtic society.
Julius Caesar wrote that a person had to study for twenty years before
he or she could be made a Druid. This
study included both formal education and apprenticeship with a Druid. During this time of study, the Druid had to
learn a large body of law, the intricacies of human anatomy, the Celtic oral
literature and the rules and rhetoric of poetics, and also the Celtic spiritual
system and its rituals. Druid formal
learning ordinarily took place in a fixed location at schools which were called
colleges by the Romans. To complement
this formal study, students would also travel about the countryside practising
their skills and learning how to interact with the communities. Students, as well as Druids, would visit
different clans performing rituals, reciting myths and poems, healing the sick,
and rendering other services in exchange for temporary lodging.
Because of
their authority in Celtic culture, the Druids were singled out by the Roman
historians for particularly hostile criticism.
Many Romans believed that the Druids wielded dangerous supernatural
powers. Roman generals also recognized
that the Druids were a rallying force in Celtic culture that stiffened
resistance to Roman territorial ambitions.
In their chronicles, the Romans often accused the Druids of bizarre
practices, only some of which have been confirmed by archaeological evidence. Diodorus claimed
that Druids would attempt to predict the future with "a strange and
incredible custom: they devoted [i.e. sacrificed] to death a human being and
stab him with a dagger in the region above the diaphragm, and when he had
fallen, they foretell the future from his fall, and from the convulsions of his
limbs." Pliny the Elder during the
1st century A.D. suggested that the Druids engaged in a ritual animal slaughter
to prepare a magical potion of blood mixed with mistletoe. While the Roman historians do mention the
legal, medical and philosophical roles of Druids in Celtic society, they dwell
far longer on the lurid and sensational, as if they were the tabloid
journalists of their age. It is from
writings of Roman historians that many of the European folktales about Druids
sprang to life. Because the early Celts
had no form of literacy, accurate knowledge of Druid practices can come only
from archaeological evidence which allows modern scholars to reconstruct Druid
rituals.
One such
reconstruction was based on the perfectly preserved body of an ancient Celtic
man retrieved from a peat bog near Lindow, England,
in 1984. He had died around 60 A.D. from
the "triple death" - a ritual slaying involving garrotting him into
semi-consciousness, severing his jugular and drowning him before he bled to
death. Archaeologists assumed that each
separate act was an offering to a different god. Because the victim was not bound and because
he enjoyed a sumptuous meal prior to his death, archaeologists also concluded
that he was a volunteer victim for the fatal ceremony. The evidence of Lindow
Man together with the Celtic bodies recovered from other parts of Europe
confirmed the Roman assertion that the Druids engaged in ritual slayings as
part of their rites.
By 58 A.D.,
the mystique of the Druid loomed large in the minds of the Roman occupiers of
Britain. In that year, concern over the
Druids dictated military decisions of the Romans in their measures to put down
a Celtic rebellion. Boudicca
of the Iceni clan led her warriors in rebellion
against the legions of the Roman Emperor Claudius. The Roman military commander, Gaius Seutonius Paulinus, decided not to deploy his soldiers against the
insurgents, but instead marched north to the Druid enclave located on the
island of Anglesey. He knew that the Iceni warriors would easily be able to assault his
undefended headquarters at Londinum (London), but he
believed that the magic wielded by the Druids was a more serious threat to the
Romans in Britain. The Druids at
Anglesey were defended by only a few warriors, and the battle was brief. The Roman legions quickly cut them down,
despite the supposed magical powers of the Druids. Paulinus then
marched his legions back to Londinum and defeated the
Iceni rebels.
With the
characteristic determinations and methodicalness that
they exhibited in all of the territories they conquered, the Romans undertook
the Romanization of the parts of Britain they controlled. Londinum soon
became an important, thriving administrative, military, and commercial
centre. Roman legions were stationed far
north of Londinum as a deterrent against incursions
into Roman territory by the warlike, unpacified Picts. The natural
bellicose inclinations of the Picts had been
heightened even further by a wave of refugees of fellow Celts fleeing from the
advance of the Roman army. Once the bulk
of Britain had been pacified, a network of trade and information exchange was
formed among the conquered territories and the outlying areas. Given the proximity of Ireland to Britain and
the varied activity of this network, Celtic culture in Ireland was inevitably
exposed to elements of Roman civilization.
Nonetheless, Celtic culture maintained its distinctiveness not only due
to the independent spirit of the Celts, but also because of Ireland's unique
geographical position which kept it safe from any Roman territorial ambitions.
Writing was
one of the elements of Roman civilization which found its way into Celtic
culture. With their recognition of the value
of knowledge, the Druids of Ireland, like the Druids of Britain, quickly
grasped the importance of writing and realized its uses. About 200 A.D., the áes-dana
of Britain and Ireland developed a script known as ogham. This was a runic form of writing in which
each letter was represented by parallel lines inscribed at different angles
from a main vertical line or stem. It
resembled the runic scripts used in Scandinavia and Germany at the time. Although modern scholars disagree on the
origin and purpose of ogham, many of them
believe that the keen interest in writing among the Druids was prompted by the
success of Christian missionaries in spreading this religion by emphasizing
reading and copying the Gospels.
Within
Celtic society, the Druids were secretive about the use of ogham
and discouraged the development of other forms of writing in order to guard the
secrets of their herbal remedies and religious rituals. It was used extensively on tombstone
inscriptions, suggesting that it may have had a significance
in religious rites for the dead.
Contemporary Roman observers record that the Druids occasionally passed
messages to each other written in ogham runes
carved on wooden staves. To the Roman,
this script seemed to be magical symbols, which they related to the
supernatural powers attributed to the Druids.
This Roman misunderstanding is the basis for the "magic wand"
which frequently appears in the myths and folklore of the British Isles. The wizard Merlin of the Arthurian legends
and his "magic wand" and other supernatural powers are based on the
Druids of Celtic culture.
The Celts
of the British Isles who embraced Christianity spread their religious message
by using the Latin form of writing. When
the Christians of Ireland saw how easily spiritual doctrine could be
transmitted with just a few scratches on parchment, every monastic school began
to teach the invaluable skill in order to attract converts to the new
religion. During the early Middle Ages, the Celtic passion for education inspired monks
and nuns to use their newly-acquired literacy to copy thousands of intricate
manuscripts such as the famous Book of Kells,
thus preserving a vast trove of Celtic and Christian wisdom for future
generations. They also wrote down their
own ideas and observations in chronicles and in the margins of manuscripts,
putting their personal interpretation on historical events and social
practices. At the same time, they
preserved a substantial body of literature, philosophy and law.
To relieve
the tedium of copying manuscripts, the monks played elaborate Latin word games
with each other in which they invented words and altered grammatical
rules. This eventually produced enough
variations of standard Latin to create a language of their own which was called
"Hisperic-Latin" by later historians. Because only the Celtic Christian clergy
understood this language, they used it whenever they wished to pass secret
messages to each other, much as the Druids used ogham. This practice was particularly useful when
the medieval monks of Ireland communicated with other Irish monks who had
settled in Europe. Because of the
rivalry between the Celtic Christians and the other Christian sects in Europe,
they wanted their messages to be understood only by the intended recipients.
As Celtic
society evolved, Christian clergy gradually took the place of the Druids. Yet the high reward of Celtic society for
intellectual pursuits based in the reputations and importance of the Druids was
not lost. The Irish monks of the medieval
period were noted for their intellectual achievements as well as their
religious work. Only persons convinced
of the crucial importance of the written word would have anonymously toiled the
long hours many of the monks did in copying classical and Christian
writings. Many Irish monks had leading
roles in the Carolingian Renaissance of the 9th century. Many of the early monasteries in Ireland and
later in Europe were founded to provide education for students and scholars
from near and far as well as serve as religious centres. The outlawing of education for the Irish
under the oppressive rule of the English during the early modern era could not
stamp out the Irish desire for learning.
This prompted numbers of Irishmen to emigrate
to European countries where they could pursue the studies denied to them in
their own land. It was mainly for this
reason that the Irish Colleges at Paris, Salamanca and Rome were founded. The respect for education in Irish culture
and the realization of its role in the well-being of society, the abilities and
ingenuity of individuals, and in the practical arts such as medicine and
agriculture can be traced back to the place of the Druid's in Celtic culture.
CELTIC ART
The Celtic
view of reality, which was also a manifestation of their spirituality, was
embodied in their works of art. Like
many other ancient cultures, the Celts had a holistic view, or sense, of
reality. There was an interconnection
among all things in the world of nature, and human beings were a part of
this. Birth and death were experiences
belonging to the natural processes which governed the life of a person. The essence of a person, or soul, was
endlessly reincarnated in the world of nature.
While their spirituality was similar to that of other ancient cultures,
the objects and articles the Celts made to express their spirituality had a
sophistication and permanence that set them apart from the artistic creations
of other cultures.
The
distinctive style and imagery of Celtic art were developed in the La Téne region about 500 B.C.
The most primitive Celtic art was carved into stones. Stones with the loops and interlacings
which are the chief characteristic of Celtic art have been found throughout
Europe. These loopings
and interlacings represent the central matters of
Celtic spirituality - the interconnection of all things, the patterns of
nature, reincarnation. This imagery was
also used for the metalwork and the jewellery made by Celtic artisans. It appears frequently on metal shields and
the handles of swords. Brooches, rings,
bracelets, clasps and other pieces of Celtic jewellery were often made in the
form of such imagery, or else the imagery was carved into the jewellery.
Celtic
jewellery appealed to people of the more developed, urban cultures of the
Mediterranean for its exceptional workmanship and attractiveness of its
patterns. However, people from these
other cultures did not realize the symbolic value such jewellery had for the
Celts. They saw it being worn by the
Celts merely for personal adornment. As
the Greek Strabo wrote, the Celts had a
"fondness for ornaments ... both chains around their necks and bracelets
around their arms and wrists." Strabo remarked only on the Celts' fondness for jewellery,
not its meaning for them.
One of the
most impressive works of art of the Celts is the Gundestrup
Cauldron. Dated at approximately 100
B.C., it was discovered in the bogs of Denmark at the beginning of the 20th
century. The silver Cauldron symbolized
life and death for the Celts. Carvings
of myths and scenes relating to life and death ring the Cauldron. One of these depicts a goddess dipping slain
warriors into the Cauldron to restore them to life. Another scene shows figures - probably
prisoners of war - with decapitated heads lying between their legs. This scene tends to confirm Roman assertions
that the Celts decapitated their prisoners.
The art
forms of the Celts were not confined to moulded metal and carved stone. The Celts were also skilled poets, using
imagery and metaphor to articulate their beliefs about the interrelationship
between humans and the world around them.
In the Irish Book of Invasions, a collection of Celtic myths from
early Ireland, a poem attributed to Amhairghin showed
the interconnection of all living things.
I
am the wind which breathes upon the sea.
I
am the wave of the ocean.
I
am the murmur of the billows.
I
am a powerful ox.
I
am a hawk on a cliff.
I
am a beam of the sun.
I
am a wild boar in valour.
I
am a salmon in a pool.
I
am a lake in a plain.
I
am a word of science.
I
am a lance point in battle.
I
create in people the fire of thought.
Amhairghin was not merely like the things he named. In his mind and the minds of his audience, he
became a hawk on a cliff and he became a lance point in battle. His words underscore his belief in
shape-shifting, in the ability for his spirit to enter the bodies of animals,
the inanimate objects around him, and even abstract concepts such as a word of
science. Like the intricate knots etched
into Celtic stone and metalwork, the power of Amhairghin
demonstrated that the Celts believed that all natural phenomenal were
interrelated.
The
elements and subjects of Celtic art remained the major influence on Irish
artists into the medieval and early modern period. The Irish artists continued to use recurring
patterns when making stone engravings or working with metal, and often used
recurring imagery in their poetry.
Because of its connection to the Celtic art of ancient times, the art of
the Irish émigrés during these periods had a universal quality. For this, many Irish artists gained
prominence in countries they emigrated to, just like émigrés with military
skills, intellectual abilities, business aptitude and other skills. In some instances, an émigré was made the
poet laureate in his new country, to write verse to entertain the monarch and
his royal court. In the 9th century, the
Frankish Queen Ermingarde took a liking to the poetry
of the Irishman Sedulius; and she rewarded him with
special recognition and riches. Later in
the Middle Ages, Irish poets had a strong influence on
the metaphor and imagery used in Norse sagas.
Many Celtic art forms endured into the modern period, with the Irish
émigrés becoming especially noted for their Celtic-style jewellery.
Celtic art
forms were part of the cultural inheritance of the Irish émigrés during modern
times. The theme of the interconnection
of all living things contained in Celtic art became an integral part of the
Irish view of the world and helped émigrés feel connected to their adopted
European societies. The themes of
Celtic-Irish art also reflected the émigré's belief that although they may
appear outwardly Spanish, French, or Austrian, they remained Irish in spirit.
The close
connection between ancient Celtic culture and the Irish émigrés was brought
about by a series of historical events which began approximately 300 B.C. and
continued for more than a millennium.
During this time, the Celtic way of life vanished from continental
Europe, and the British Isles became the last place where Celtic culture
survived.