Gaelic warfare

formations, consisting of pikemen mixed with musketeers

and swordsmen. Indeed, from 1593 to 1601, the Gaelic
Irish fought with the most up-to-date methods of war-
fare, including full reliance on firearms (see Nine Years’
War).[3]

1.2 Armour

Irish gallowglass and kern. Drawing by Albrecht Dürer, 1521.

Gaelic warfare was the type of warfare practised by

the Gaelic peoples, that is the Irish, Scots and Manx, in
the pre-modern period. Though in Scotland it may refer
only to the type of military organisation of the Highland
people, rather than the Lowland Scots, who had mainly
adopted an English style of fighting during the Middle
Ages.

1 Indigenous Gaelic Warfare

1.1 Weaponry

Irish warfare was for centuries centred on the Ceithearn

(pronounced "Kern"), light skirmishing infantry who har- Irish round shield.
ried the enemy with missiles before charging. John
Dymmok, serving under Elizabeth I’s lord-lieutenant of
Ireland, described the kerns as: For the most part, the Gaelic Irish fought without ar-
mour, instead wearing saffron coloured belted tunics
"... A kind of footman, slightly armed with a sword, a called leine. Armour was usually a simple affair: the
target [round shield] of wood, or a bow and sheaf of ar- poorest might have worn padded coats; the wealthier
rows with barbed heads, or else three darts, which they might have worn boiled leather armour called cuir bouilli;
cast with a wonderful facility and nearness...”[1] and the wealthiest might have had access to bronze chest
For centuries the backbone of Gaelic Irish warfare plates and perhaps mail (though it did exist in Ireland,
were lightly armed foot soldiers, armed with a sword it was rare). Gallowglass mercenaries have been de-
(claideamh), long dagger (scian), bow (bogha) and a picted as having worn mail tunics and in latter period,
set of javelins, or darts (ga).[2] The introduction of steel burgonet helmets, but the majority of Gaelic war-
the heavy Norse-Gaelic Gallowglass mercenaries brought riors would have been protected only by a small shield.
long broadswords, similar to the Scottish claymore. Shields were usually round, with a spindle shaped boss,
Gaelic warfare was anything but static, as Irish soldiers though later the regular iron boss models were introduced
frequently looted or bought the newest and most effec- by the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. A few shields were
tive weaponry. By the time of the Tudor reconquest of also oval in shape or square, but most of them were small
Ireland, the Irish had adopted Continental "pike and shot" and round, like bucklers, to better enable agility.

1
2 1
1.3 Customs
In Gaelic Ireland, before the Viking age (when Vikings
brought new forms of technology, culture and warfare
into Ireland), there was a heavy importance placed on clan
wars and ritual combat. Another very important aspect of
Celtic ritual warfare at this time was single combat. To
settle a dispute and measure one’s prowess, it was cus-
tomary to challenge an individual warrior from the other
army to ritual single combat to the death while cheered
on by the opposing hosts (see Champion warfare). Such
fights were common before pitched battle, and for ritual
purposes tended to occur at river fords.
Ritual Combat would later manifest itself in the Duel, as
seen in the Scottish Martial Arts of the 18th century. The
victor was determined by who made the first-cut. How-
ever, this was not always observed, and at times the duel
would continue to the death.
1.4 Tactics and organisation
Cú Chulainn in Battle, an artistic depiction of Iron Age Chariot
warfare, though similar chariots were still used in Ireland for
some time in the Early Middle Ages.
One of the most common causes of conflict in early Me-
dieval Ireland was Cattle raiding. Cattle were the main
form of wealth in Gaelic Ireland, as it was in many parts
of Europe, as currency had not yet been introduced, and
the aim of most wars was the capture of the enemy’s
INDIGENOUS GAELIC WARFARE
cattle. Indeed, cattle raiding had become a social insti-
tution, and newly crowned kings would carry out raids
on traditional rivals. The Gaelic term creach rígh, or
“king’s raid”, was used to describe the event, implying
it was a customary tradition.[4] Initially Ceithern were
members of individual tribes, but later, when the Vikings
and English introduced new systems of billeting to sol-
diers, the kern became billeted soldiers and mercenaries
who served anyone who paid them the most. Because
kerns were equipped and trained as light skirmishers, they
faced a severe disadvantage in Pitched battle. In battle,
the kerns and lightly armed horsemen would charge the
enemy line after intimidating them with war cries, horns
and pipes.[5] If the kerns failed to break an enemy line af-
ter the charge, they were liable to flee. If the enemy for-
mation did not break under the kern’s charge, the heavily
armed and armoured gallowglass would advance from the
rear and attack.
By the time of the Tudor reconquest of Ireland, the forces
under Hugh O'Neill Earl of Tyrone adopted Continental
pike-and-shot tactics to fight the invading English, how-
ever these formations proved vulnerable without adequate
cavalry support. Firearms were widely used, often in am-
bush against enemy columns on the march.
1.5 Adaptations
A mid-16th-century tomb effigy of a warrior bearing a Clay-
more from Finlaggan, Scotland. He is shown in West Highland
armour, implying his status as a mercenary in the wars in Ire-
land.
1.6 Standards and Music
A Connemara pony, modern descendent of the Irish Hobby Horse
which was used for skirmishing and light cavalry.
As time went on, the Gaels began intensifying their raids
and colonies in Roman Britain (c. 200–500 AD). Naval
forces were necessary for this, and, as a result, large
numbers of small boats, called currachs, were employed.
Chariots and horses were transported across the sea to
fight, but, because Gaelic forces were so frequently at sea
(especially the Dál Riata Gaels), weaponry had to change.
Javelins and slings became more uncommon, as they re-
quired too much space to launch, which the small cur-
rachs did not allow. Instead, more and more Gaels were
armed with bows and arrows. The Dál Riata, for ex-
ample, after colonising the west of Scotland and becom-
ing a maritime power, became an army composed com-
pletely of archers. Slings also went out of use, replaced
by both bows and a very effective naval weapon called
the crann tabhaill, a kind of catapult. Later, the Gaels re-
alised (probably learning from the Anglo-Saxons, whom
they contacted in Britain), that the use of cavalry, as op-
posed to chariots, was cheaper, and by the 7th century
AD, chariots had disappeared from Ireland and had been
replaced by cavalry.
Later, when the Gaels came into contact with the Vikings,
they realised the need for heavier weaponry, so as to
make hacking through the much larger Norse shields and
heavy mail-coats possible. Heavier hacking-swords be-
came more frequent, as did helmets and mail-coats. The
3
Gaels also learned how to use the double-handed "Dane
Axe", wielded by the Vikings. Irish and Scottish in-
fantry troops fighting with axes and armour, in addition
to their own native darts and bows, were later known
as Gall òglaigh (Gallowglass), or “foreign soldiers”, and
formed an important part of Gaelic armies in the future.
The coming of the Normans into Ireland several hun-
dred years later also forced the Irish to use an increas-
ingly large number of more heavily armoured Gallow-
glasses and cavalry to effectively deal with the mail-clad
Normans.
1.6 Standards and Music
A raid depicted in The Image of Irelande (1581). Kerns made
up the bulk of the army, as light infantrymen. Note the Bagpiper
leading the troops.
Standards and hollowed out bull horns (a primitive battle
trumpet) were often carried into battle to rally men into
combat. Bagpipes and Uilleann pipes would gain popu-
larity in the later period notably the Great Highland Bag-
pipe and Great Irish Warpipes which would go on to be
used by Gaelic mercenaries in Continental Europe and
eventually develop into ceremonial instruments.
2 Exported Gaelic Warfare
2.1 Norse-Gaelic mercenaries
Main article: Gallowglass
The most prolific Norse legacy in general Gaelic war
though is the creation of the gall-òglaich (Scottish Gaelic)
or gall-óglaigh (Irish), the Norse–Gaelic mercenaries
who inhabited the Hebrides. They fought and trained in a
combination of Gaelic and Norse techniques, and were
highly valued; they were hired by everyone in Britain
at different times, though most famously the Irish, who
hired significantly more of them than anyone else. The
French also found need of hiring them. They often opted
to hire Irish- and Scotsmen to assist them in their con-
flicts. Additionally, both the English and French hired
4 3 REFERENCES

Gaelic horsemen, called hobelars, the concepts of which • “Tain Bo Cuailnge”, From the Book of Leinster
were copied by both nations.
• Geoffrey Keating, “History of Ireland”
• “The Wars of the Gaels with the Foreigners”
2.2 Later Weaponry
• http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_armies_irish.
During the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, weapon html
imports from Europe had an impact on Gaelic weapon de-
sign. Take for example the German Zweihänder sword, a • http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_armies_
long double-handed weapon used for quick, powerful cuts scots.html
and thrusts. Irish swords were copied from these models,
which had unique furnishings. Many, for example, often
featured open rings on the pommel. On any locally de-
signed Irish sword in the Middle Ages, this meant you
could see the end of the tang go through the pommel
and cap the end. These swords were often of very fine
construction and quality. Scottish swords continued to
use the more traditional “V” cross-guards that had been
on pre-Norse Gaelic swords, culminating in such pieces
as the now famous "claymore" design. This was an out-
growth of numerous earlier designs, and has become a
symbol of Scotland. The claymore was used together
with the typical axes of the Gallowglasses until the 18th
century, but began to be replaced by pistols and muskets.
Also increasingly common at that time were basket-hilted
swords, shorter versions of the claymore which were used
with one hand in conjunction with a shield. These basket-
hilted broadswords are still a symbol of Scotland to this
day, as is the typical shield known as a "targe.”

3 References
[1] Fergus Cannan, 'HAGS OF HELL': Late Medieval Irish
Kern. History Ireland , Vol. 19, No. 1 (January/February
2011), pp. 14–17

[2] 'HAGS OF HELL': Late Medieval Irish Kern. History

Ireland , Vol. 19, No. 1 (January/February 2011), pp. 17

[3] G. A. Hayes-McCoy, “Strategy and Tactics in Irish War-

fare, 1593–1601.” Irish Historical Studies , Vol. 2, No. 7
(Mar. 1941), pp. 255

[4] http://www.applewarrior.com/celticwell/ejournal/
beltane/cattle_early_ireland.htm

[5] Fergus Cannan, 'HAGS OF HELL': Late Medieval Irish

Kern. History Ireland , Vol. 19, No. 1 (January/February
2011), pp. 17

• G. A. Hayes-McCoy, “Strategy and Tactics in Irish

Warfare, 1593–1601”. Irish Historical Studies, Vol.
2, No. 7 (Mar. 1941), pp. 255–279
• Fergus Cannan, "'HAGS OF HELL': late medieval
Irish kern”. History Ireland, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Jan-
uary/February 2011), pp. 14–17
• The Barbarians, Terry Jones
• Julius Caesar, “De Bello Gallico”
 5

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