3611
Online museum and repository for historical and ancestral knowledge.
7th century Irish cross slab and early Christian monastery at Reask in County Kerry, Ireland. 🇨🇮
The monastery was built by Culdee monks (Irish: Céili Dé, lit. “Companions of God”) in the late 5th century and later abandoned in the 9th century, used thereafter only as a “ceallurach”, or children’s burial ground. The move may have been necessary to avoid Viking raiders, who’d become a plague by that time. The cross bears the abbreviated inscription “DNE”, which stands for the Latin word ‘Domine’, meaning “Lord”. Within the monastery was an ‘oratorium’ or house of prayer (second image), a kiln to bake grains, and several ‘clocháns’ or beehive-shaped drystone huts, where the monks lived with their families (the concept of mandatory celibacy was unknown to early Christians in the Celtic world). A modern reconstruction of a clochán is shown in the last image.
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The Wreck of the San Juan de Sicilia off the coast of Mull, Scotland; year 1588. 🇪🇸🏴
In September of 1588, the Spanish galleon San Juan de Sicilia arrived in Tobermory Bay on the Isle of Mull, in Argyll, Scotland. The ship was part of the famous and ill-fated Spanish Armada sent to invade England by king Philip II of Spain. After their defeat, many Spanish ships rounded the British isles in their attempt to return homeward. The San Juan de Sicilia was the only one that landed in Scotland, carrying a crew of 62 Croatian seamen and 279 soldiers — 54 Flemish, 135 Sicilians, and 90 Spaniards. Despite differences in religion, these stranded Catholics were welcomed and cared for by the staunchly Protestant chief Lachlann Mòr McLean of Duart. McLean was eager to use them as muscle for his clan feuds against rival Highland chiefs, namely the McDonalds of Clanranald & Ardnamurchan. McLean gave five hostages as surety and provided the Spanish with supplies in exchange for military assistance. The crew of the San Juan then helped McLean raid the isles of Rùm, Eigg, Canna & Muck, as well as to unsuccessfully besiege Mingary Castle. Eventually, the ship was sabotaged by a Scottish merchant from Dumbarton, John Smallett, who’d agreed to help McLean supply the Spanish, but was secretly working for the English spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. Smallett detonated the powder supply on the San Juan one night, and the explosion killed most of the crew. About 50 survivors remained on Mull, being hosted and provided for by McLean for about a year before he arranged return journeys to Spain. Upon arrival, the Spaniards would have heard the news of how England had prepared its own Counter-Armada for a retaliatory invasion of Spain and Portugal, commanded by the celebrated Sir Francis Drake & Sir John Norris. The English Armada was an even bigger debacle than the Spanish one, losing 40 ships and over 18,000 English either killed or captured, compared to the 11-13,000 lost by Spain in its own disaster the year prior. Centuries after these events, repeated attempts have been made to retrieve treasure from the sunken wreck of the San Juan de Sicilia; thus far, no bullion has been recovered. The first ever female deep-sea diver, Margaret Naylor, died in one such attempt in 1967.
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On this day in history, July 18, 387 B.C:
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On this day in history, July 16 of the year 1212, was fought the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, near Santa Elena, in Jaén province, Spain. 🇪🇸
The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa is one of the most important battles of the Spanish reconquista: An army of 12,000 Christians led by kings Alfonso VIII of Castile, Peter II of Aragón, and Sancho VII of Navarre utterly defeated and routed a Muslim army over twice as large, led by the Almohad Caliph Muhammad an-Nasir. The Christian forces were mostly Castilians, with the other kingdoms providing smaller contingents and the host being joined by volunteers from León, Portugal, and France, including crusaders of the Templar and Hospitaller Orders (Pope Innocent III had called for a crusade to help Alfonso of Castile get volunteers). The Muslim forces included not only Andalusians, but countless Berbers from North Africa, Sub-Saharans from An-Nasir’s palace guard, and even an elite contingent of Kurdish cavalry. The devastating defeat irreversibly broke the power of the Muslim occupiers of southern Spain, beginning a period of decline from which they’d never be able to recover and which would end in the total reconquest of Iberia.
The Muslim powers or “Taifa Kingdoms” of Iberia had been able to recover from decline in the 11th century by inviting the Almoravid Empire of north Africa to take over and help them stem the tide of aggressive Christian conquests. But the Almoravids’ initial string of victories was soon reversed and they found themselves so weakened that they were soon overthrown both in North Africa and Iberia by the Almohads. The Almohads continued the struggle and gained a notable victory over the badly outnumbered and exhausted army of Alfonso VIII of Castile at the Battle of Alarcos in 1195. Las Navas de Tolosa was a revanche for Alfonso. The Muslims attempted the same feigned retreat and envelopment tactics that had served them so well at Alarcos. But Alfonso had learned his lesson: He prevented his cavalry from pressing their attacks into the trap and used his reserves to check the Muslim wings attempting to envelop his flanks. Only toward the end of the day when the Almohad army was exhausted and degraded through killing and wounding was a full charge unleashed, which broke their resolve and sent them packing.
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🔹 Cruces emboladas
• Citánia de San Vicenzo
(Avión, 📍Galiza)
• Petróglifos de Uíbh Ráthach
(Kerry, 📍Irlanda)
Baroña; Gallaecian promontory fort in Galicia, Spain. 🇪🇸 Baroña was inhabited between the 1st century B.C. & 1st century AD. The town was primarily a fishing settlement, depending heavily on the sea for sustenance.
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Trophy skull from the Gallic settlement of Kobern-Gondorf, in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany; 1st century B.C. 🇩🇪 With a metal stake driven through it, the victim’s head was apparently mounted in some form of gruesome display. 💀
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Greek bronze statue depicting a Gallic warrior (image 1), kept in the British Museum; 1st century B.C. ⚜️🇫🇷🏳️
Interestingly, the Celtic warrior’s attire is identical to that of Roman auxiliary soldiers (i.e. non-citizen soldiers recruited from the “barbarian” populations of the provinces): Images 2-5 show Roman auxiliaries —including cavalry— as depicted on Trajan’s Column in Rome (erected AD 113). Trajan’s Column was erected to commemorate the Roman Empire’s victory over the Dacian peoples of Romania during the reign of emperor Trajan (AD 101-106). Auxiliaries are shown in contrast to citizen legionaries in images 2 & 5. The latter wore segmented plate armor (lorica segmentata), a knee-length tunic, and carried rectangular shields. Auxiliaries on the other hand, wore a short chainmail shirt (lorica hamata), tights pants reaching just below the knee, and carried oval shields just like the ones the Gauls had always been wont to use. The equipment and uniform of the Roman auxiliary seems to have been derived directly from Gallic usage, which makes sense considering that early on in the imperial period, Gauls made up a huge proportion of Rome’s auxiliary corps, together with Spaniards and Germanics. During this period, auxiliaries did most of the heavy fighting, always on the front line while the legions were usually held in reserve.
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Gallic helmet discovered in the river Sava, near Stara Gradiška, Croatia; 1st century B.C. 🇭🇷
All parts of the helmet are bronze except for the calotte, which is iron. The helmet is decorated with typical Celtic motifs: Triskeles and images of severed human heads on the reinforcement pieces of the calotte, and a stylized crane or heron on the cheek-pieces (cranes and herons symbolized the afterlife).
Helmets of this type have only been found in locations in the Balkans and eastern Europe where Gallic armies and mercenaries were active in the last three centuries B.C. This eastern Celtic helmet design was later copied and adapted by the Roman army for their infantry. British historian H. Russell Robinson noted this and even coined the term “Imperial Gallic” to describe Roman helmets of the early imperial era. It’s perhaps not terribly surprising that the Romans copied Gallic equipment designs, since the principal armorers and suppliers of the Roman army were the Celts of the allied Kingdom of Noricum, which was located in eastern Austria and parts of Slovenia.
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Hills of Cromdale; Strathspey, Scotland. 🏴
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Folio 33r from the Book of Kells; 8th-9th century AD. 🇮🇪🏴
The Book of Kells was created by Irish monks, probably on the Island of Iona in Scotland. It’s believed to have been transported to the monastery of Kells in Ireland —which had been founded by monks from Iona— shortly after Kells was built (AD 807-814); probably to protect it from Viking raiders.
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Pointe du Raz; Finistère, Brittany. 🇫🇷
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Digital reconstruction of a village of the Gallic Osismii tribe excavated near Paule, in Côtes-d’Armor, Brittany: 3rd-2nd centuries B.C. 🇫🇷
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Carved poplar-wood cauldron with incised decoration found near Altartate Glebe, county Monaghan, Ireland; 2nd century B.C. 🇮🇪
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Bronze mount for a wooden jug crafted in La Tène style. Found in a Gallic burial site at Brno Malomerice, in Moravia, Czech Republic; 3rd century B.C. 🇨🇿
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Statue of María Mayor Fernández de Cámara y Pita, a.k.a. “María Pita”, holding her deceased husband Gregorio de Rocamunde, in A Coruña; Galicia, Spain. 🇪🇸
María Pita acted heroically during the defense of A Coruña against the 1589 siege by the English Armada. The attack was being led by the victor against the Spanish Armada: Sir Francis Drake, as well as by Sir John Norris, his brother Edward, and the famous 2nd Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux. Drake had disobeyed orders to attack the remnants of the Spanish Armada in Santander and chose to attack the poorly defended A Coruña instead. To his surprise, the English assault was courageously resisted by the small garrison and civilian population over the course of several days. Toward the end, María Pita led a change that routed the English in the final moments of the battle. After her husband was killed in action, she became enraged and killed an English standard-bearer, snatching the flag from him and leading the Spanish in the final charge. The defeated English abandoned the siege upon hearing that Spanish reinforcements were headed their way. They then sailed around to attack Lisbon, but their Portuguese expedition fared even worse: They were defeated with heavy loss in a series of violent running land-battles against Spanish and Portuguese troops. The battered survivors returned to England humiliated and in tatters. To this day, English language schools and history textbooks boast about the defeat of the Spanish Armada… But they always conveniently fail to mention the humiliating debacle suffered by England’s Counter-Armada the following year.
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Bronze sculpture of the Gallic chieftain Brennus, made in Toulon to be the figurehead of the French Marceau class battleship Brennus (Completed 1896, Decommissioned 1914). ⚜️🇫🇷
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On this day in history, July 17, 1453, was fought the Battle of Castillon, near Castillon-la-Bataille, France. ⚜️🇫🇷🇫🇷⚔️🏴 Image: 1839 Painting of the battle by Charles-Philippe Larivière.
The Battle of Castillon was the last battle of the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) between England and France. It was a devastating defeat for England, resulting in the death of England’s best general, Sir John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, a.k.a. “Terror of the French”, together with his son, also named John, Viscount Lisle. A lifelong soldier, Talbot had served with distinction in England’s many wars. He fought against Welsh rebels during Owain Glyndwr’s Rebellion (1400-1415) and was also dispatched to Ireland as a commander from 1414 to 1419. There, he was noted for committing numerous atrocities against the native Irish of Leinster. The rest of his career was spent fighting France, where he initially suffered defeats such as at the 1428-9 Siege of Orléans and the 1429 Battle of Patay, in which he was taken prisoner. After being set free, Talbot returned to France with a vengeance, and won a string of spectacular victories over the years through his aggressive fighting style. His luck ran out at Castillon however, when he tried the same methods against a fortified French position equipped with cannons. Talbot’s army was shredded by shot as they advanced, with those that reached the French position being quickly overpowered in hand-to-hand combat. Reinforcements began arriving only for the same pattern to play out. Talbot became pinned under his own horse after it was killed by a cannon. Before he could be rescued, the English force was smashed by a Breton cavalry charge emerging from the French rear and led by Duke Peter II of Brittany. The Bretons routed the English, with the French emerging from their defended position to join in the pursuit. A French soldier found Talbot helpless on the battlefield and hacked him to death with a battle-axe. The battle ended the war and its primary cause: English occupation of France. News of the devastating defeat caused king Henry VI of England to have a complete mental breakdown, which triggered his nobles to begin plotting and eventually led to the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487).
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“The lyre player of Paule”. Stone sculpture of a bard (Celtic minstrel) holding a lyre, discovered at Paule in Côtes d’Armor, Brittany; 2nd century B.C. 🇫🇷 Note the torc (neck-ring), indicating status as a member of nobility.
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Gallic warriors wounded in battle; 2nd century B.C. Art by Laurent Libessart. ⚜️🇫🇷
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Pictish cross-slab from Kirriemuir Kirkyard in Angus, Scotland. 🏴 The stone features hunting scenes and angels, and some stylistic elements have led to speculation that it’s a particularly late example of a Pictish stone, probably from the late 10th century.
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Roman auxiliaries during Trajan’s Dacian Wars (AD 101-106); art by Angus McBride. 🏳️⚔️🇷🇴 Hexagonal shields usually characterised units recruited from among Gallo-Belgic and Rhineland Germanic populations. Trigger Alert: Violence against civilians.
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The Ballycrovane Ogham Stone, in county Cork, Ireland. 🇮🇪
At 5.3 meters in height, it is the tallest stone known to have an Ogham inscription. The inscription bears the name of a person: “Maqi-Decceddas Avi-Turanias”, which in a more modern Irish would render “Mic Deichet Uí Thorna”, meaning “Of the son of Deichet, descendant of Torna”. Ogham was a form of writing that was prevalent in Ireland and parts of Britain influenced by Irish colonists or missionaries. It was in use from the late Roman to early medieval period before it was mostly phased out by the Latin alphabet. The inscription on the Ballycrovane stone is thought to date between the 4th and 6th centuries AD.
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Silver hexadrachm coin of the Gallic Boii tribe, found near Bratislava, Slovakia; 1st century B.C. 🇸🇰 The obverse features a depiction of the Roman god Honos and goddess Virtus, personifications of honor and masculinity/bravery. The reverse shows a horseman carrying an ivy branch and is stamped with the abbreviated name ‘Biatec’.
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Gold torc from a Gallic treasure hoard unearthed near Tayac, in Gironde, France; 2nd century B.C. ⚜️🇫🇷
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The burning of Castle Brodie in Moray, Scotland; art by Angus McBride. 🏴
In the year 1645 the castle and main residence of the chieftains of Clan Brodie was attacked and burned during a raid led by lord Lewis Gordon, 3rd Marquis of Huntly. The records of the clan Brodie, documenting their history and origin, were lost in the fire. To this day, the origin of the clan Brodie remains a mystery, with some speculating that the name indicates descent from the Pictish kings of Foirtriu, many of whom bore the name Bridei. The Brodies had recently fought on the losing side at the Battle of Auldearn, part of the Scottish Civil War (1639-1653), and the raid was retaliation for their participation in the Covenanter cause. Still, chief Alexander Brodie “the good” remained an ardent Scottish patriot and rebuffed attempts by Oliver Cromwell to support the annexation of Scotland by England. Brodie later fought against Cromwell in the 1650 Battle of Dunbar.
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The reconquest and recolonisation of medieval Iberia; 8th-13th centuries. 🇪🇸🇵🇹
The earliest and most notable efforts were carried out by the Kingdom of Asturias, which later changed its name to León. Initially, lands reconquered from the Muslim Umayyad Caliphate/Caliphate of Córdoba were recolonised by people from the Cantabrian Mountains following a system known as presura. This would have been functionally very similar to the Anglo-Saxon colonization of what would later be the United States: Settlers who could develop wasteland into viable and productive farms would be granted legal recognition as proprietors. Later, charters known as fueros became commonplace, imitating the wider feudal usage of medieval Europe. Muslim raids made recolonisation a particularly dangerous affair, necessitating the creation of militarised frontier counties such as Álava, Castile, and Portugal. The latter two would end up splitting off and forming separate kingdoms. In the case of Castile, it would eventually absorb León to become the largest and most powerful of the Spanish kingdoms: The Crown of Castile. The territories of the Crown of Castile would include most of those parts of Spain that had been inhabited by Hispano-Celtic peoples, such as Gallaecians, Asturians, Cantabrians, Celtiberians, etc. It wouldn’t be at all unreasonable to regard these peoples as the ancestral originators of of the Castilian ethnos. To a somewhat lesser extent, the same could be said of the Portuguese, as the county —and kingdom— was initially formed by a core of Gallaecian and Asturian conquerors. The peoples of Navarre and Aragón on the other hand, were principally derived from the peninsula’s other nations: Basques and Iberians; French colonization was also responsible for the creation of the County of Barcelona, later absorbed by Aragón.
As the reconquista progressed, the settlers would mingle with and absorb other native Iberians —known as Mozarabs— who’d retained the Christian faith in spite of decades or centuries of Muslim domination. Muslim and Jewish presence continued for some time, until their descendants were formally expelled in 1609-1614 and 1492 respectively. Large numbers of them also left the peninsula before expulsion, either fleeing the Spanish Inquisition of Tomás de Torquemada, or searching for a better life in Latin America, which Spain had begun conquering in the same year that the Alhambra Decree had been issued (1492), which also marks the beginning of the Spanish Golden Age.
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Bronze bridle-bit discovered among the votive deposits in Llyn Cerrig Bach, in Anglesey, Wales; 1st century B.C. 🏴
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Montefortino-type Gallic helmet decorated in La Tène style, discovered in Umbria, Italy; 4th or 3rd century B.C. 🏳️
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Portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, a.k.a. “Bonnie Prince Charlie”, disguised as an Irish maid supposedly named “Betty Burke”.
Having fled defeat at the 1746 Battle of Culloden, Charles fled through the Highlands to the Isle of Skye. For his passage, he donned women’s clothes and pretended to be the maid of his hostess, lady Flora MacDonald. This disgraceful episode later inspired a folk-song known as the Skye Boat Song. During his flight through the Highlands, many Highlanders had protected and aided Charles. None, Catholic or Protestant, had betrayed him, in spite of a £30,000 bounty being placed on him by the British government. But then… he decided to dress up like a woman to flee and hide, eventually leaving Scotland for France. Years later, when France was preparing a fleet to invade England, Charles was considered for a role, including possibly being placed on the English throne… But the French changed their minds after a single meeting with him; he’d made an abysmal impression.
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