About Me
Around 7,000 B.C. settlers crossed the narrow channel between Britain and Ulster to become Ireland's first inhabitants. Thirty centuries later they were peaceably joined by new settlers from what is now Scotland, who brought agriculture and commerce.In continental Europe iron-making caused a technological revolution from 800 B.C. onwards. Prominent in the use of this material were the Celts. These were a group of peoples who spoke related languages and had similar beliefs and lifestyles, although they certainly did not regard themselves as one nation. By 700 B.C. the Celts were established in Central Europe north of the Alps. From there they spread to Asia Minor (the "foolish Galatians"), Italy, Spain, France and the "Islands of the Pretani" (British Isles). From 300 B.C. onwards iron was replacing bronze in Ireland, but archaeology suggests that Celts did not settle on the island in any great numbers until after the time of Christ.Various Celtic peoples became the dominant caste in different parts of Britain and Ireland. However the majority of the population in Scotland and Ireland remained the Pretani. Those of Pretani stock in Scotland are usually called "Picts", while those in Ireland came to be labelled "Cruthin". In Ulster the Celtic Ulaid from Britain became an elite class. However, Ulster was sometimes still ruled by a Cruthinic king, either with the consent of the Ulaid, or through force. Generally, the two peoples united as Ulidians when faced with a common enemy, the Gaels.The oldest story in Western European literature tells of an attack on Ulster by the combined armies of the other kingdoms on the island. Based at the court of the King of Ulster at Navan Fort were the Red Branch Knights. The tales of their prowess and chivalry often seem to have been directly plagiarised by the authors of the tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. The most fearsome of Ulster's Knights was Cuchulaian (Setanta) who was of ancient British stock. His exploits fighting "the men of Ireland" are certainly at least exaggerated, but Ulster did fight wars to preserve her independence from Southern aggressors. There are great "Walls of Ulster", such as the Dorsey in south Armagh, identified by archaeologists, which were used as fortifications against such attacks.In the centuries after Christ, Ulster's Kings tended to rule over not just the territory of present-day Northern Ireland, but also counties Donegal, Louth and Monaghan. There were also tribal kings subservient to the King at Navan. Shifts in borders and allegiances were not infrequent but there tended to be four other kingdoms on the island - Munster, Leinster, Meath and Connaught, making five "fifths" in all. There is no evidence that anyone claimed the right to rule the whole island before the fifth century, and "high-kings" tended to be monarchs of one kingdom who hoped to subdue the others militarily. Few had substantial success.Ulster was continually under pressure from Gaelic tribes. The Cruthin and Ulaid forces were driven from Donegal and the citadel at Navan was destroyed around 450 A.D. South and west of the River Bann a tribe called the Airgialla took control as the Ulstermen retreated eastwards into Antrim and Down. Even here the Gaelic language was finally absorbed. The slow destruction of non-Gaelic power led many to leave for Scotland, particularly in the sixth century. The Romans named those coming from Ireland the "Scotti", from whence Scotland was named. Fergus Mac Ere stretched his Kingdom of Dalriada from North Antrim to Scotland around 500 A.D. Scotland's kings and queens and thus the British monarchy are descended from him. The Gaelic O'Neills set up a Northern Kingdom based on Donegal, and a Southern Kingdom around Meath. They crushed the Cruthin at Moneymore in 563. Although Northern O'Neill kings were slain in 565 and 628, Ulster's resistance to the Gaels received a near mortal blow at Moira in 637, and Dalriada lost its lands in Ulster after siding with the vanquished.Over the centuries Ulster people became the dominant population in the Galloway and Ayrshire area of Scotland. To the native Britons they were "Creenies", which derives from Cruthin; to the English at the battle of the Standard in 1138 they were "Irish". The Ulster-Scottish kingdom of Dalriada continued until the close of the eighth century. Airgiallans migrated into the Hebrides and Argyll (e.g. the Campbells), while Hebridean soldiers or gallowglasses (e.g. the Gallaghers) immigrated back to Ulster from the 13th to the 16th century. There was a constant coming and going between Ulster and western Scotland. The Glens of Antrim were in the hands of Scottish MacDonalds by 1400, and for the next hundred years Scots came in large numbers. The 17th century immigration of a numerous Scots element need not be considered outside the preceding series, and the continuing movements to and fro since then have served to emphasise the essential ancient Britishness of the Ulster homeland. It also serves to show that the Gaelic Irish, who today claim to be the true Irish and rightful heirs to the land, were nothing other than yet another wave of invaders.
