Ulster and the Isles in the Fifteenth Century: The Lordship of the Clann Domhnaill of Antrim (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Ulster and the Isles in the Fifteenth Century: The Lordship of the Clann Domhnaill of Antrim William Sayers Simon Kingston , Ulster and the Isles in the Fifteenth Century: The Lordship of the Clann Domhnaill of Antrim. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2004. Pp. 256. ISBN: 1–85182–729–3. $65.00. Like the conventions of modern cartography and modern national boundaries, the focus of historians in various parts of the British Isles has contributed to divert our attention from the simple geographical proximity of northeastern Ireland and the Hebrides. There is historical precedent for this, since Ulster and the Isles were ruled by different lordships in the late Middle Ages and were seen as discrete theaters of interest by such larger powers as the Scottish and English thrones, the great Anglo-Norman families of Ulster, the surviving Gaelic lordships, down to individual adventurers like Robert Bruce. Although subsistence economies marked the coastal regions of both, social phenomena were not identical and, on the military front, the Hebridean gallowglasses (gallógláaih) had no Irish equivalents. The great virtue of Kingston's Ulster and the Isles is both to illustrate this ambiguous situation and show how one family, Clann Domhnaill of Antrim, could successfully navigate these both real and political waters, and maintain itself as an independent, if not expansionist, well-defended polity throughout the fifteenth century. This picture is sketched in a most valuable 'Introduction—Air Muir's Air Tir: The Elements of the North Irish Sea World.' Here too will be found a characterization of the rather different perspectives and theoretical standpoints that have informed English, Scottish, and Irish historical scholarship since the Renaissance. Kingston relies on very close readings of fragmentary, self-serving source materials from both sides of the Irish Sea in chapters one and two to create a 'narrative foundation.' This will be a nearly impenetrable thicket for most readers of this journal, with political assassination, raiding and armed intimidation, hostage-taking and imprisonment, violated treaties, and the like giving the impression of volatile and violent political forces continuously washing back and forth across the region. Clann Domhnaill found sufficient internal cohesion and dexterity to be a successful player, albeit seldom a major one, in regional affairs, one that won the respect but did not attract the ambitious greed of larger entities such as the Scottish and English thrones. Chapters 3 and 4, 'The Culture of tigearnais [lordship] in Fifteenth-Century Gaelic Society' and 'The Exercise of Lordly Power,' illustrate how Clann Domhnaill managed this balancing act, which had its ultimate basis in an evolved conception of rulership. This will be one of the most interesting chapters for readers, as Kingston deftly explicates the process whereby, in inauguration ceremonies and sponsored poetic eulogy and genealogical writing, Clann Domhnaill continued to invoke traditional conceptions of sovereignty as bestowed by the land itself on the suitable candidate for secular rule (the sacral theme of many Irish king tales) but [End Page 105] came to rely both on a wider candidate field for the lordship than that provided by agnatic ties and on the advice, in reality consensus-building and support, made available through consultation with usually informally constituted councils of client lords. Chapter 5 is devoted to 'Warfare and Defense'; much of its contents would have been a welcome complement to the barer historical accounts of earlier chapters. We get a good sense of the heavily equipped infantry men, the practice of raiding for livestock—the chief economic unit of these hard-scrabble agrarian societies—the general practice of not physically attacking farmers, in short, the conventions of local war. Unfortunately, we do not find a similarly full picture of the available nautical technology and sea-faring abilities that would have facilitated Clann Domhnaill's operations across the Irish Sea. The traditional Hebridean birlinn, a rowed, Viking-style, open craft with sail-bearing capacity, was the most likely key vessel here. Chapter 6, 'Comparisons and Conclusions,' wraps up the study, which includes a freestanding chronology of events, an appendix on 'Narrative Sources' for the Isles, a bibliography, genealogies for Clann Domhnaill and other major clans (rather unfortunately unlisted in the book's table of contents), and a...