The banquet of Dun na n-Gedh : and the battle of Magh Rath : an ancient historical tale now first published from a manuscript in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin / with a translation and notes by John O'Donovan.

Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The banquet of Dun na n-Gedh : and the battle of Magh Rath : an ancient historical tale now first published from a manuscript in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin / with a translation and notes by John O'Donovan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/410
    itself. This he balanced, by reconciling the most opposite Interests in Britain, when his cause became an Object of Consideration. Saxons, Britons, Albanian Scots, and Piets, flocked to his Standard. His domestic Partizans prepared for his Reception, and he landed with Safety on the Coast of Down. “ Domnall, King of Ireland, was not unprepared. He had Wisdom in his Coun- cils, and Troops, who proved a match for equally gallant Troops raised within his Kingdom, and for those of the four Nations who joined them. He immediately en- camped near the Enemy at Moyrath, and began as bloody a battle as can be found in the Records of that age : It continued with various success for six whole days, untilf Victory declared for the Nation on the seventh. Congal Claon, the soul of the Enemies’ Army, was defeated and slain at the Head of the Troops of Ulad. The foreign Troops were soon broke with great Slaughter ; and Domnall Breac, King of the Albanian Scots, hardly escaped to Britain, with the sorry Remains of a fine Army, which should be employed for the defence of the people he so wantonly attacked. This Contradic- tion to every Principle of sound Policy, was foreseen by Columb Kille, who laboured so much to reconcile the Interests of the British Scots to those of the parent Country : ‘ A Prediction,’ says St. Adamnan, ‘ which was completed in our own Time, in the War of Moyrath ; Domnall Breac, the Grandson of Aidan, having, without any Pro- vocation, laid waste the Country of the Grandson of A nmirey : a Measure, which, to this Day, has obliged the Scotish Nation to succumb to foreign Powers, and which gives our Heart Grief, when we consider it.’ This is the Account of a cotemporary Writer, who was Abbot of the Island of Ily. It is one of the most important Events in the Scotish History; and yet, through the Destruction of Records in the Time of Edward the First, the latter Historians of North Britain were Strangers to it.” “ It is certain that Ireland was never in greater Danger, from the first Entrance of the Scotish Nation, than in this War raised against it by Congal Claon: But the civil Constitution being sound in the main, resisted the Disease, and shook it off in one great effort. In a future [? later] age the Posterity of this very People abandoned their King, their Country, and their own Independence, almost without a Show of Resistance, to a Handful of foreign Freebooters8.” Notwithstanding the celebrity of the monarch Domhnall, the f “ This Engagement, so decisive for the Nation, in the year 637, rendered Moyrath, ever since, famous in the Irish Annals. It retained [ ? retains] the Name down to our own Time, and was rendered grandson memorable of late by giving a title to the present learned and worthy possessor, Sir John Rawdon, Earl of MoyraP s Dissertations on the History of Ire- land, pp. 214 to 218. Dublin, 1766.