St Martin's Fair Limerick 28th -31st October 2019

Limerick of the warriors

One of our earliest records of Limerick as a city comes from a poem edited in the collection called Metrical Dindshenchas and written sometime before the completion of the Book of Leinster (itself put together between 1151 and 1189 according to the palaeographer, William O’Sullivan). In this poem Limerick is described as Luimnech na laechraide – Limerick of the warriors. The poem then goes on to describe Limerick in the following terms:

Is céte óenaig agair co róenaib co robladaib; rongab slóg saidbir sattail co saidlib co sról-brattaib.

“It is the location for a celebrated fair with many routeways and with great renown. A proud and wealthy people held it, a people with saddles and silken raiment.”

Rider at Smithfield market in the 1990s

The poet then refers to the great multitudes who gathered co lár Luimnig na loingse – to the central area of Limerick of the ships. He also refers to the Shannon as sruth na Sinna séol-brice – the stream of the Shannon freckled with sails. Clearly one of the routeways which made it an important gathering place for a fair was the Shannon itself and the boats which traveled on it.

Reconstruction of Viking trading vessel from Roskilde, Denmark

Having set the contemporary scene, the poet then describes a fight which is said to have taken place far back in the mists of time and after which the city was named. In that far-off period, it was thought that the Shannon was the borderland between the provinces of Connacht and Munster. Troops from each province are said to have come to this area to witness a fight between their two respective champions.

The prose version of the story, found in the Rennes Dindshenchas, then sums up what happened while they were distracted :

“Then came the flood-tide which they had not noticed, owing to the great size of the óenach and the current carried off all their cloaks, Then said the look-out men, “The estuary is full of cloaks – luimnechda. “

A nice point about this story is its emphasis on the dramatic effect of the tide which is still an important feature of the Shannon at Limerick.

Shannon at low tide

This early story indicates that Limerick was a port and a well-known gathering place or óenach for almost as long as we know of it – over a thousand years. In the same Book of Leinster we find a description of what a contemporary óenach would look like:

“7 horse races a day for 7 days and laws and judgements decided for the province for the following three years. It was held every three years with two years spent gathering supplies. Three markets were there – that is a market for food and clothing, a market for livestock including cattle and horses and a market of foreigners and strangers selling gold and silver and other things. Proponents of each craft, from the highest to the lowest were there selling and displaying their knowledge and their merit.”

The poem which accompanies this description makes it clear that horse-racing was only one of the entertainments on offer; there were also fiddle-players, bones-players, bag-pipers and story-tellers as well as, presumably, contests of strength between champions as in the origin story being discussed here.

From a postcard posted to Mrs Ellis in Fulham, London, on November 24th 1910.

We have independent evidence that Limerick had a market by 1108 when the Annals of Inisfallen records the burning of the city with the exception of its marggad i m-maig – the market in the cleared ground outside the walls. Another reference occurs in the Annals of the Four Masters under the year 1171 when Cormac mac Carthaigh overran the Norse-speaking foreigners of Limerick and burnt the marggad and half the dún. In his recent monograph on the excavations at the castle, A place of great consequence (Dublin 2016), Ken Wiggins follows Brian Hodkinson in suggesting that the market may have been outside the walled city to the north and argues that it lay to the east of the paved road found in the lowest levels of the north-eastern quadrant of the castle.

When King John awarded Limerick a week-long fair in August 1204, therefore he was carrying on a tradition of an oenach gathering at the same place that was already at least 100 years old when he issued his order to Meiler Fitz Henry, justiciar of Ireland, at Geddington in late August 1204. Interestingly, the Limerick fair was one of a series which were to be held throughout Ireland:

We wish that a fair should be held each year at DONIBRUN (Donnybrook), lasting eight days on the Finding of the Holy Cross [3^rd May], another around the bridge of Blessed John the Baptist, also for eight days; having such rights to erect stalls, with accompanying payments and tolls, as have been put in place elsewhere; e.g. at Waterford for eight days at the [date of] Chains of Saint Peter [August 1] and another at Limerick on the feast of St Martin [November 11] for eight days. And we order you that you should make this happen and proclaim that merchants must be able to come freely to such places.

It is noteworthy that the fairs are to be held at times which replicate the earlier Irish celebrations of Beltaine at the beginning of May and Lugnasad, in early August while that at Limerick represents the feast of Samain. Whether this means the fairs were already extant in Waterford and Dublin before King John’s decree, as it appears to have been in Limerick, is not clear.

The featured image accompanying this post is from a 13th century manuscript MS 700 in the National Library of Ireland and depicts contemporary Irish axe-men.

When Cú Chulainn and John O’Donovan came to Limerick

Low water at King John’s Castle

An Irish saga, Mesca Ulad (or in English, “the crazy drunkenness of the men of north-east Ireland”) tells the story of a feast held at Emain Macha, just outside Armagh. It was being held to celebrate the reign of King Conchobor mac Nessa as king over most of Ulster and it was such an important occasion that local warriors were determined to be the ones to have the honour of hosting it. Passions ran so high that Fintan son of Niall Niamglonnach (Niall of the Shining Deeds) and Cú Chulainn nearly came to blows over it. In the end and to keep the peace, it was decided that Fintan would host a feast for the first half of the night at Dún dá Benn or the fort of the two peaks, on Mount Sandel outside Coleraine. At midnight, the party would then decamp to the home of Cú Chulainn and his wife Emer at Dundalk and the second half of the feast would take place there.

At the appointed hour, the Ulster warriors, accompanied by their musicians and their poets but leaving their womenfolk behind, got into their chariots and set out for the coast. It turned out that as a result of the good ale they had imbibed, they were not fully in control of their horses and ended up careering off the road and heading south, past Dowth and the river Boyne, through the Slieve Bloom and eventually into Munster. Looking around and trying to orientate himself, Cú Chulainn remarked to his charioteer: “to the south is Slievereagh (in the Ballyhouras) and to the north-east are the Slieve Felim. The distant huge bright water (in lind solosmór) is Lind Luimnig or the Pool of Limerick.” This part of the text, found in the later twelfth-century Book of Leinster, is written in Middle Irish and thus probably postdates the foundation of the Viking city.

Lind or linn (both spellings are used), can be translated into English as “pool”. It is a word found in one of our earliest texts, Muirchú’s seventh-century life of Patrick, to describe a feature on the river Boyne, which could be visited by boat. Lind also occurs in the Middle Irish Dindshenchas where it is said to describe deep water in which people could drown. In both poems on the river Shannon, the Dindshenchas states that key to the origin story of the river, was Lind mná feile, translated by Whitley Stokes as the Pool of the Modest Woman, a feature which was located in the west. In the prose tales of the Rennes Dindshenchas, Lind mná feile is glossed as Brí Ele or Croghan Hill in County Offaly although, since this lies far to the east of the course of the Shannon, it seems somewhat unlikely.

In the Brehon laws, a linn blá is seen as a water boundary, which marks the waters of a river or a lake. It seems quite plausible that an alternative name for Lind Luimnig was Lind mná féile and that this section of deep water was located in the general area of the westernmost ford across the Shannon, located at Curragower.

Admiralty chart for Limerick docks

In this context, it is worth noting that the nineteenth-century Admiralty charts for Limerick note the existence of a feature called the Pool, immediately beside the Limerick docks. Writing about this passage on the 5^th August 1840 (while staying in Bruff, Co. Limerick), the celebrated topographer John O’Donovan described the view from Knockainy as follows:

“What is called Linn Luimnigh [in Mesca Ulad] is that expansion of the Shannon opposite the old castle of Carrigogennell; this linn or expansion of the Shannon cannot be seen today in consequence of a fog generated by the heat, which envelopes the vale of the Shannon but it can be seen at other times.”

In more recent times, traditions about the Limerick Pool can be found in the writings and reminiscences of the Abbey and Strand fishermen who stress the importance for shipping of this area of deeper water located just to the south of the Curragower ford. See https://www.limerick.ie/discover/explore/historical-resources/limerick-archives/projects/fisheries for further details about Limerick fisheries.

Postcard published in Great Britain at unknown date

It seems that what Cú Chulainn saw and what John O’Donovan was prevented by fog from seeing was a topographical feature which was key to the development of Limerick as an international port – an area of deep water in the river, immediately beside a crossing point. This allowed ocean-going ships to come up from the estuary and moor in the deeper water. Goods could then be ferried by local boatmen to the surrounding areas on both shores. The importance of these smaller river craft (known locally as gandelows) to the commerce of the city is witnessed on the earliest map of Limerick dated to 1590. In terms of the relationships between the town, King John’s Castle and the local O’Brien rulers of Thomond, it is also interesting that the castle of Carrigogunnell, held by Donnchad Cairprech Ua Briain under a charter awarded by King John in 1209, was said in the 19th C to overlook this vital maritime resource and that Donnchad’s descendants apparently continued to hold Carrigogunnell through to the fifteenth century.

The origins of Viking Limerick

In the early tenth century, large fleets sailed to Ireland under Norse-speaking commanders and explored her river mouths with the aim of setting up permanent encampments at sheltered harbours. One of the most successful of these was at Limerick. The leader of the Limerick fleet was known to Irish speakers as Jarl Tomrair mac Ailchi or as Þórir Helgason to his Norse followers. Very soon after his fleet arrived, his men were raiding inland to Roscrea and Monaincha (where they attacked a king of Munster living retired in a monastic cell.) His Limerick ships dominated the Shannon as far as Lough Ree and even sailed up the river Bann to control Lough Neagh. Jarl Tomrair’s power throughout Ireland was such that he had to appoint a lieutenant to rule Limerick in his stead: one Kolli son of Bárðr “lord of Luimnech”.

The location of King’s Island – the fortified settlement established by 10th C Viking fleet commanders

The early history of the settlement itself is poorly known although its location, protected by the Shannon and the Abbey rivers, is typical of those occupied by the fortified ships’ places or longphoirt founded by the early Norse settlers. King’s Island has the added advantage that it is located by the first easy crossing point across the Shannon for those making their way upriver from the coast. The tidal variation in this part of the river is extreme, reaching almost 7m, and it was probably only at high tide that the Viking warships could make their way further north, past the Curragower rocks.

Early Viking fortifications were of earth and wood.

As yet, the only extensive excavations on King’s Island have happened in and around King John’s Castle. Viking Limerick is thus less well attested archaeologically than Dublin or Waterford but a Type D Viking sword from Cooperhill, Kilkeedy, Co. Limerick indicates the settlers’ continuing dependence on the work of Scandinavian smiths. Another sword, of Anglo-Saxon type, was found at Askeaton and suggests that the Limerick fleets may have attracted warriors from many parts of the Atlantic west. One early story, apparently from the first fifty years of the city’s history, suggests that the settlement rapidly became known as a trading place where luxuries could be bought. The story goes that a young poet fell in love with a woman of the Corcu Baiscinn, from the northern shore of the Shannon estuary, west of the river Fergus. This woman had great wealth and cattle so the poet decided to send two servants to Limerick to find a suitable courting gift.

The Norse ruler of Limerick imprisoned the two servants, much to the anger of the poet who journeyed to his hall in the city to complain. “In our law”, he told the king, “poets (and their servants presumably) can travel freely throughout Ireland.” The Norseman’s reply was simple: “That is not our law.” Even when the poet threatened to write a satire in retaliation – the main weapon open to poets in early Irish law – the Norse king just shrugged and the Irish poet was forced to retire, discomfited. Whether or not he ever married his Clare beloved or whether he found gifts for her elsewhere is not recorded. The story does suggest, however, that even before Brian Boru and his brother Mathgamain conquered Limerick in 967 and while it was still under the lordship of independent Norse rulers, the city of Limerick had already become a key part of the trading network of the lower Shannon.

The purpose of this blog

This blog is being written by Dr Catherine Swift of Mary Immaculate College and will focus on the early history of Limerick. It is being written to accompany the international conference on medieval Limerick which will be held on King’s Island between the 28th and the 31st October 2019. The conference is named after the fair awarded by King John to Limerick which was said to run for a week from St Martin’s eve, at the beginning of November. It has received funding from the Irish Research Council (New Foundations) and is being sponsored by the Thomond Archaeological and Historical Society. The conference will have papers by scholars from Norway, Denmark, Scotland, England and Germany as well as by Irish academics from Dingle to Belfast. It will be preceded by Lumen’s SAMHAIN street festival running from 24th-26th October and, in addition to the various history papers, there will also be events for younger family members hosted by the Granary Library and elsewhere. During the evenings, various social events are planned as well as a concert of medieval music at St Mary’s Cathedral. Follow us on Twitter: Limerickfair@martinmasf for updates on the preparations for St Martins Fair over the summer and do keep the 28th-31st October free for a visit to King’s Island – we promise you a great few days.

Some of the family names found in records of medieval Limerick which are still found today

St Martins Fair

28th – 31st October 2019

Celebrating Limerick’s medieval urban history – the town, the castle, the cathedral but most of all, THE PEOPLE who lived in all three.

Thomond Archaeological and Historical Society