become irremediable. Still, the loss was less than might be supposed, as many remote shrines were never reached, and in the periods between the raids copies of manuscripts could be, and were, made. The entries in the Chronicles justify us in considering these raids of the Norsemen no more than episodes in the general fighting.

58. The Norsemen begin their raids. The first advent of the Norse raiders is recorded to Lambay have taken place in 795 A. D. Lambay, an Islands. island of considerable extent off the Dublin coast, some six or seven miles north of Howth Head, was plundered and burned. There was a large and rich religious settlement there, with

many books,
books, which
were stripped of their
Covers and burned.
Three years later, the
little island of Saint
Patrick, six miles north

ANCIENT DANISH BOAT

of Lambay, met with This boat was found in a peat bog near Nydam, South Jutland a similar fate. It was "burned by the Gentiles," as the Chronicles say, meaning that the pirate Norsemen were pagans, ignorant of Christianity.

From that time forward we hear of their long ships

again and again hovering hawk-like around the Iona raided.

coasts of Ireland and Scotland. In 802, and

again in 806, the settlement of Iona was raided, and Inismurray was plundered in the following year.

In 812, five years later, the pirates made their way farther round the coast, and a great slaughter of the people of Connemara took place. In 819, Howth was plundered, and a great many women taken captive.

Captives as missionaries.

Exposed

These captives were doubtless the first to bring the message of the gospel to the wild granite lands of Scandinavia. A year later, in 820, the raiders found their way to the southernmost extremity of Ireland, to Cape Clear Island, off the coast of Cork. This once more brings to our notice the position of so many of the early religious settlements, on rocky islands. off the coasts, placed there to be well outside position of the turmoil of tribal strife, which raged uninterthe schools. rupted on the mainland. Saint Patrick's island, and Lambay on the east, Cape Clear Island on the south, and Inismurray on the northwest, so well protected by the sea from disturbance at home, were, by that very isolation, terribly exposed to the foreign raiders, who made the sea their highway. The religious settlements and schools of Howth, Moville, and Bangor, all on peninsulas, were open to a like danger. Therefore we are not surprised to find that they in their turn were "plundered by the Gentiles" two years later.

IM

THE CHALICE OF ARDAGH

This chalice is 7 inches high and 9 inches in diam-
$7
eter, and in form like those in use in the tenth
century. The bowl is silver, with gold plates on
the bands

59. Native resist

ance to the invaders. At first, the Norsemen had confined their expeditions to islands, or to

coast settlements, and

they had been wholly successful, leaving death and destruction in their wake. In 823, we find them attempting a raid against Dun-da-leth-glas, "the dwelling of the two broken fetters," the great royal fort beside Downpatrick, close to the mouth of the Quoyle River. This

is a great circular earthwork, like those at Tara, with a high mound inside for the chief's dwelling, and a moat skirted by a lesser exterior earthwork, and filled by a channel from the tidal river. This "fort of the two broken fetters" was thus almost impregnable from the land, but an enemy coming by sea could easily enter the channel of the moat, and so come close up under the fortress. The raiders were successful, but did not wholly escape. We find that they were overtaken by the soldiers of Dun-da-leth-glas and defeated shortly afterward. This is the first repulse suffered by the pirates in their incursions against the coasts of Ireland.

60. The pirates penetrate inland. Three years later, they plundered Lusk on the mainland opposite Lambay, but in the same year, 826, they were twice Lusk plundefeated in battle, once by Cairbré, and again dered. by the Ulster armies. From this time on, the raids of the northerners become more determined and frequent. The first pirates seem to have spread tidings among the northern fiords that Ireland was Ireland's inexhaustibly rich in jewels and gold, and all kinds of costly stuffs dyed in red, blue, and purple; so that swarms of pirates followed in the tracks of the first adventurous raiders.

Fame of

riches.

Armagh

We read that Armagh, the centre of Saint Patrick's work, and the chief home of learning, was plundered three times in 830, the raiders sailing up Car- Raids lingford Lough, and then making a dash of against some fifteen miles across the undulating country separating them from the city of churches on the Hill of Maca. This is the first time they ven- and Clontured out of sight of their boats. Two years dalkin. later, they plundered Clondalkin, nine miles inland from the Dublin coast.

61. The Round Towers of Ireland. At Clondalkin stands a Round Tower, which still marks the site of the old church and school; and round towers of the same form are found all over the country. They were at once bell-towers and places of refuge, and their building is to be attributed to the growing frequency of the raids of the Norsemen. The doors of these round towers are almost always eight or ten feet above the ground, and were reached by ladders, which could be drawn up by those inside. As the walls were of great thickness, and as very heavy oak doors were used, these towers were safe even from fire, and the refugees could wait patiently until they were relieved by some neighboring chieftain, or until the invaders withdrew.

of Dublin.

62. The first permanent Norse settlements. In 836, a fleet of sixty Norse fighting galleys sailed up the river The capture Boyne, and the same number, or perhaps even the same ships, later sailed up the Liffey. In the following year, the Norsemen captured "the Ford of the Hurdles," At-Cliat, the old name for Dublin. Up to this time, the Norse raiders had come only in early summer, retiring with their plunder to their native fiords a few months later, before the North Sea was swept by the autumn storms. But once they had gained a footing at the mouth of the Liffey, they changed their plans, and determined to remain in Ireland through the winter. Not until the year 846 was any definite and concerted In that attempt made to oust the intruders. year, the native powers made a concentrated attack, and gained a victory over the Norsemen at At-Cliat, slaying twelve hundred of the pirates. Four other successful attempts to beat back the raiders are recorded for the same year.

Slaughter of the Norsemen

at Dublin.

About the same time, the Norsemen gained a second

point of vantage by seizing and fortifying a strong posi tion in a great network of inlets on the south coast, where the town of Cork now stands. Their seamanlike Cork forinstincts led them to fix their first intrenched camps at Dublin, Cork, and Limerick - which

tified by the Norse

men.

remained during subsequent centuries the great ports of the country on the east, south, and west. The Norse language still lin

gers in the names of Strangford, Carlingford, Wexford, and Waterford, the fiords. of Strang, Cairlinn, Weis, and Vadre; and in the names of a few of their settlements, like Smerwick in Kerry.

63. Beginning of national resistance. Four years after the capture of Cork, the contests between the raiders and the Irish chieftains grew more bitter, more centred, and more organized.

In the words of the

CIRCULAR CASTLE ON THE QUAY AT
WATERFORD

Said to have been erected by Reginald the
Dane in 1003

Annals, "A complete muster of the North was made by King Aed, so that he plundered the fortresses of the foreigners. The victory was gained over the foreigners, and a slaughter was made of them. Their heads were collected in one place, in the presence of the king, and twelve-score heads were reckoned

Norse defeat

in 853.