![]() At lower left the men with long axes are probably bonnachts. The particular type of jacket worn, with pleated "frill", is probably an Ulster variation. This print from John Derrick's "The Image of Ireland" (1581) shows Ulster Kern indulging in their usual raiding. The bonnachts might sometimes be dressed like the gallowglasses, or else like the rising-out, as the peasants were called that is, no armour, simply the traditional Irish dress of a linen tunic with very wide sleeves, often dyed yellow with saffron, usually worn over tight trews of a plain color, and sometimes covered with a very short coat of goat's hair or a large mantle or "shag-rug", patterned, and with a long fringe of "an agreeable mixture of colors". The ordinary Irish foot soldiers, made up partly of "bonnachts", or Irish mercenaries maintained by the various nobles, and partly of free peasantry called out to fight. Gallowglasses were organized in "battles" of 80 or 87 men, but each gallowglass was accompanied by two boys, who carried his supplies, armour, and his secondary weapons, three light Irish javelins or "darts". They usually wore an iron bascinet, and either a mail shirt or a short cape of mail over a padded quilted coat called a "cotun" and their characteristic weapon was a heavy two-handed axe, up to six feet long, which could chop the enemy's head off with a single blow (it was still used in 1588 when McLaghlin M'Cabb killed 80 Spaniards from the Armada with one). These were originally Scots mercenaries, but by the 16th Century their clans or "septs" had often been settled in Ireland for two or three centuries (the most famous were the MacDonalds and the McSweeneys) they were still mercenaries, but often owed loyalty to a particular noble (in fact in 1568 there were three septs of the "Queen Majesty's Galloglasses"). ![]() The Irish made good use of difficult country and of field fortifications, digging trenches and "plashing" trees into impenetrable barriers, often in connection with an ambush.Īn Irish chief, probably in a type of brigantine, prepare to mount for a raid In the early part of the 16th Century the warriors of Ireland were very traditional in armament and tactics, but as the wars continued more up-to-date weapons made their appearance and some full scale battles were fought, though the traditional "guerrilla-type" tactics were more successful, as in the Irish victory of the Yellow Ford, 1598. From 1561 to 1603, however, there were a series of campaigns against the English, culminating in that of Tyrone, which was on a really large scale. Until the rebellion of Shane O'Neill in the 1560s, the Irish indulged in constant raiding and ambushing, frequently of each other, occasionally fought a single battle, but did not really fight wars.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |