The following guide gives an accurate, if perhaps general, indication of the contents of the book: General Account of Iar Connacht, pp. 1-17; Galway City, pp. 30-42 & 155-168; Galway Bay, pp. 42-44; Lough Corrib, pp. 25-33, & 687-89; Aran Islands, pp. 65-92; Galway-Lettermullen, pp. 59-62; 97-98; & 84-87; Oughterard, pp. 79-83; Lennane, p. 83; Moycullen, p. 89; Oughterard-Lennane, pp. 44-52; Lough Measc & Conn, pp. 17-20. This is a general breakdown of the areas covered on specific pages in the book. Within each of these sections, which are clearly defined, O'Flaherty's text deals specifically with local geography, history, the inhabitants, their property, their work, local mythologies, places associated with the lives of saints and places of archaeological and historical interest. O'Flaherty's knowledge is explained in more detail in the copious and comprehensive notes supplied by Hardiman on the bottom of each page of the text, which in turn refer you to the indices at the back of the book. These notes bear testimony to Hardiman's own vast knowledge and scholarship. By surrounding O'Flaherty's text with such a wealth of detail, Hardiman increased the cost of publication to such an extent that the Irish Archaeological Society! who published it, almost reprimanded him for his great dedication, “Mr. Hardiman's valuable notes and illustration to O'Flaherty's account of West Connacht had extended the volume to a much greater bulk than the Council had at first contemplated". What may have been their loss is posterity's gain. It becomes clear that many of the Anglo-Irish, who subscribed to the Irish Archaeological Society, and who were often regarded as 'Archtypal Sasanachs' by the Nationalist population, considered themselves Celts of one background with ourselves.2 Much of the research which was done through such enlightened societies subsequently altered the course of Irish National consciousness. The The aims of this society were set out as follows: "To print with accurate English translations and annotations the unpublished documents illustrative of Irish History, especially those in the ancient and obsolete Irish language, many of which can be accurately translated and elucidated only by scholars who had been long engaged in investigating the Celtic remains of Ireland...." 2 This Society was the most significant cultural organisation to emerge in Ireland in the mid 19th century. It had for its patron H.R.H. Prince Albert; His Grace Duke of Leinster as President; VicePresidents were the Marquess of Kildare, the Earl of Dunraven, Lord Talbot de Malahide and the President of Maynooth Seminary. Its Council included the greatest Irish scholars of the day Eugene O'Curry; John O'Donovan; George Petrie; Thomas Larcom; and James Henthorn Todd of Trinity College. Some of the notable subscribers were Crofton Croker, the folklorist; Daniel O'Connell, M.P. the Liberator; Aubrey de Vere, the poet; The O'Connor Don M.P.; William Smith O'Brien; and Sadleir, Provost of Trinity. traditional gaelic concept of national identity was beginning to bridge the gulf, i.e. to cross over from the Irish language into the English language. O'Flaherty and Hardiman subsequently influenced many great scholars, e.g. Lecky, Eoin MacNeill and Douglas Hyde. They also helped to change the course of Irish history. They influenced many politicians, e.g. Parnell, Davitt, Gladstone. They influenced and stimulated the cultural and literary Renaissance which preceeded Independence. A close study of Iar-Connacht makes one suspicious of the easy nationalistic approach to history which artificially divides the Irish Catholic nation from its fellow Irishmen on the basis of post-reformation politics. The division is very often sectarian rather than ethnic, cultural or linguistic. The impulse and impetus of the Irish language movement, which was carried forward by the writings of many German, French, Irish, English and Anglo-Irish scholars, inadvertently became a weapon which was used against the AngloIrish. From the beginning the Anglo-Irish played a significant role through the translation and publication of valuable texts, and they had in many respects been the original inspiration behind the 'Irish Ireland' movement. Douglas Hyde for example whose great cultural movement, the Gaelic League, which was born from the impulse to save and recreate a unique civilization, saw to his profound dismay, his dreams of a pluralistic, vibrant and diverse culture disintegrate. It is important to know that Hyde proclaimed himself a disciple of Hardiman2 and was therefore familiar with O'Flaherty's work. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and Synge were in turn disciples of Hyde, and they sought to demonstrate to the world that the dying Gaelic culture was the richest folk culture in Europe with its songs and stories, sagas, dance, linguistic versatility and poetry. In doing so they sought to restore the self confidence and international prestige of a great culture in its death throes, and their success in this, although limited, was admirable. It was through the efforts of such societies as the Irish Archaeological Society that, in the mid and later nineteenth century, texts such as Iar-Connacht were first made available to the public. Iar Connacht yields its information slowly, and Hardiman's notes should be studied alongside the text. His analysis of the etymology of placenames is particularly fine. The genealogies of many families whose names are commonplace in the West of Ireland are in the book. They give people an opportunity to trace their roots and origins. The historical picture of Connacht which emerges is unbelievably bleak. The vicissitudes, which the indigenous population of Iar-Connacht underwent from the earliest recorded centuries, and especially during the Cromwellian administration, with its unscrupulous abuse of the law, defy comprehension. The Restoration did little to improve their 1 Petrie, Kuno Meyer, d'Arbois de Jubainville, Sir John Rhys, Windisch, O'Donovan, Ferguson, Lecky. 2 It was Hardimen's Minstrelsy which originally inspired Hyde to collect his religious and love songs of Connach' miserable lot. We see the ruin of Connacht's old Irish and old English, the decimation of the population, the rise and fall of Galway city as a trade and cultural centre. We read Cromwell's exact transplantation order,' and what strange reading it makes today. To what extent can the present people of Connacht consider themselves Connachians at all, one wonders? The cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity of the people of Iar Connacht was very considerable from earliest times. Galway was, according to O'Donovan Sullivan, a French speaking town for more than a century, and in 1484 enjoyed the status of a 'city state'. From 1485 the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas was entirely independent of outside control, and this lasted until 1831 when a bishopric was instituted. When one looks at the landscape in West Connacht there is scarcely a field which has not been scarred, or where an event of great local significance occurred. The great personalities of Connacht's history walk through the pages of this book. We meet Grainne Weale, that fierce Amazonian, who with her sons, controlled a hundred miles of Coastline and launched attacks on Ulster and Kerry. We meet MacWilliam Eighter and many famous members of the O'Flaherty clan who were rulers of Connacht with or without each other's consent for many centuries. There are many stories of great dramatic quality, of wars between ruling families, of dirty deeds which went unpunished but which nevertheless had consequences for the subsequent generations. This is not fiction, this is a terrible reality, for as Oscar Wilde, himself part O'Flaherty would have it, 'the wicked very often go unpunished, the good unrewarded, and the meek inherit the graveyard'. It would appear that the families of the O'Flaherties and the O'Connors were often responsible for their own downfall, they hated each other more than the Gall (which meant all foreigners): "thus the O'Connors and the O'Flahertys hastened their own impending doom and entailed irretrievable bondage on their posterity". Nevertheless, Hardiman asserts the superiority of the Gaelic clans system, which in spite of its faults he believes to have been better than the Anglo Norman feudal system. In using foreign aid each against the other, they were often subsequently betrayed by their erstwhile mercenary ally; thus run the fortunes of love and war.3 If there was strife and bloody conflict, so too there were men and women of great sanctity and moral stature. Each parish celebrates the memory of its traditional saints, and churches and wells associated with them are held in great reverence. P. 415. After the Restoration the chief inheritors of lar Connacht became the Earl of Clanrickard, Richard Martin of Dangan, Dr. Seele, Provost of Trinity and John Browne, Archbishop of Tuam. 2 Her first husband was Donal O'Flaherty and her second husband was Richard Iron Burke by whom she had Sir Theobald Burke, 1st Viscount Mayo. (P. 402). 3 Pp. 378-91. Perhaps the best example is that of the Aran Islands, which because of its long association with great churchmen and women was called Ara Sanctorum, i.e. Aran na Naomh. Thus 'homo asceticus' was, and perhaps always will be, in great conflict with that other side of human nature ‘homo ferociens'. Nothing is ever persecuted except the intellect, and never under its own name. This is perhaps best symbolised by the beheading of Saint Ceannach near Cleggan who knelt and held his cross, an inverted sword, and bowed his head to evil, accepting death rather than countenance wrong doing. An Irish dramatist could well turn to the stories in this book for inspiration. Why do Galwegians cling to false mythologies like the Lynch hanging which Hardiman himself refutes,' saying that O'Flaherty does not mention it and that his omission "certainly renders the truth of the story somewhat suspicious". There are true stories, e.g. that of King O'Connor who put his son's eyes out for treachery, or the story of the murder of Walter Fada Burke,2 which was arranged by his mother so that his brother would inherit his father's title.3 Another great story in the book is that of the quick thinking Abbot O'Donnell who skilfully tricked his kidnappers and left them to perish on an island.4 On (Pp. 407-412) we read the story of the pursuit and dramatic capture of Edmund O'Flaherty after the Rising in 1641. He was tried and executed at Galway where the Lord Viscount Mayo had shortly before perished for the massacre at Shrule. In what are now Galway suburbs great battles had taken place, e.g. in 1564 the Earl of Clanrickard and Morogh na d-tuadh O'Flaherty met in bloody confrontation at Trabane (the white strand). "The Earl's people were forced to turn their backs, and the most part of them were drowned in the sea and river of Galway".5 Galway, therefore, has real stories which rival its mythologies but surprisingly it is the legends which are recalled. To take one famous yet random example which is now completely forgotten, one could point to the 'billiard room murder', and the subsequent trial on 2nd May, 1735 of Mr. Robert Martin for the murder of Lieutenant Henry Jolly. The trial took place in Dublin and the jury was from the "venue of the offence". The verdict returned was not guilty and "the leniety of a Galway jury has since become proverbial". This contrasts sharply with the harsh justice of the Lynch myth. Great historical events really took place in Galway, e.g. on the 12th of June 1589 the Gaelic Chieftains of Connacht submitted in St. Nicholas' church in Galway; The Restoration began in Galway when Coote took the garrison for the P. 62 3 The de Burgos of Galway subsequently became part of the Royal family of England. MacWilliam Eighter of Galway was related to a cousin of Elizabeth's, who married Lionel, Duke of Clarence. 4 P. 102. 5 P. 384. King; the Fort Hill massacre of 300 people took place in Galway after the Spanish Armada - these are but a few examples of significant historical events. Roderick O'Flaherty's life was cruel and hard. Paradoxically, however, it was also successful. The last great scholar chieftain of the O'Flaherties has written great books which illuminate and give a secure anchorage to Irish history from the earliest times. "O'Flaherty is something of an antiquarian, for him the Christian Era is quite a modern date". Through him we learn of our cultural roots, and hence about ourselves individually. The accuracy of his work is widely acknowledged and Celtic scholars are unanimous in their esteem for his sholarship. But Roderic O'Flaherty must have felt despondent that he was fighting a losing battle because each historical tragedy during his own lifetime seemed to reduce a great people to bondage. Roderic O'Flaherty lived in one of the worst periods in Irish history. He saw the arrival of Cromwell with his ironsides in 1649; the Restoration without recompense; The Revolution of 1688; the Boyne and Aughrim; Limerick and the infamous broken treaty; the passing into exile of Sarsfield and Irish chivalry; the penal code and the 'ferocious acts of Anne'. In spite of the destruction of Ireland's ancient polity and civilization, and the ruination of her national institutions, Irish scholars fought a tremendous rearguard action. They sought to preserve the priceless heritage of their culture from oblivion. It is paradoxical that these disasters inspired a galaxy of Irish scholars. Keating and the Four Masters, Ward & Colgan, McFirbis, Lynch and O'Flaherty laboured with a common purpose 'pro deo et pro patria.' Roderic, one of the most distinguished of his line, was a proud man. He was of a commanding presence and he was proud of his blood and his noble ancestry. His mind was a complex mixture of simplicity and wisdom. His personal dignity and love of books are recorded in the Annals of Western tradition, and although a dispossessed prince and living in great poverty he was treated with great respect by the humble retainers of his house. Edward Lluyd of Oxford visited O'Flaherty in 1700. He described him as 'affable and learned' but added that the late revolutions in Ireland had "reduced him to great poverty and destroyed his books and papers". He wrote "I have forwarded a book and a letter to old O'Flaherty, who unless they come frank, will, I fear, be unable to pay the postage". Lluyd bore testimony to the erudition of O'Flaherty in 'Archaeologia Britannica' published in 1707. Sir Thomas Molyneux, brother of William, the Irish patriot, visited O'Flaherty in 1709. He wrote "I went to visit old O'Flaherty. He lives in a miserable condition at Parke, some three hours journey West of Galway, in West or lar-Connacht. I expected to have seen some old Irish manuscripts, but his ill fortune has stripped him of all these, as of his other goods, so that he has nothing |