Hello there...
Well, I must say that this is quite an engaging discussion and I am happy
to see so many people getting involved and speaking up. A few of you have
mentioned Leabhar Gabhála, also known as the Book of Invasions, and its
characters in passsing or directly and I would like to clarify a few points.
First of all, The Book of Invasions was transcribed by monks and translated
into English in 1916 by two Irish academics, Eoin MacNeill and RAS
Macalister. This translation was made in order to promote national
sentiment among the Irish during a pivotal time in Irish history. (The
translation itself was not well received by the European academic community
and was criticised for its numerous mistranslations. Macalister later
offered a new translation.) At that period, however, 'Celtic' studies were
more popular in Germany than in Ireland. These two men attempted to change
that via their translation. Originally they suggested this the text in
question was fact, but after 1916, MacNeill and Macalister re-evaluated
their conclusions regarding the historical value of the text and later
rescinded their earlier statements, revising them to reflect that the text
was MYTH, NOT FACT, and concurring with some previous scholars’ works. For
discussions regarding the historic authenticity of Leabhar Gabhála, I
suggest that those interested can consult H. D’Arbois de Jubainville, H.,
The Irish Mythological Cycle and Celtic Mythology, trans. by Richard Irvine
Best (Dublin: O’Donoghue and Co. and M.H. Gill and Son, 1903); Myles Dillon
and Nora K. Chadwick, The Celtic Realms (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson,
1967); Douglas Hyde, A Literary History of Ireland: From Earliest Times to
the Present Day (London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1967); R.A.S. Macalister,
Ireland in Pre-Celtic Times (Dublin and London: Maunsel and Roberts,
Limited, 1921); Eoin MacNeill, Celtic Ireland (Dublin: The Academy Press,
1981).and Eoin MacNeill, Phases of Irish History (Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son,
Ltd., 1919).
With regard to the Milesians’ journey from Galicia to Ireland, Douglas
Hyde, an esteemed Irish scholar, writes,
“[The Irish Gael’s] own account of himself is that his ancestors, the
Milesians, or children of Miledh [the Champion of Spain], came to Ireland
from Spain about the year 1000 B.C., and dispossessed the Tuatha De Danann
who had come from the north of Europe, as these had previously dispossessed
their kinsmen the Firbolg, who had arrived from Greece.
Such a suggestion, however, despite the continuity and volume of
Irish tradition which has always supported it, appears open to more than
one rationalistic objection, the chiefest being that the voyage from Spain
to Ireland would be one of some six hundred miles, hardly to be attempted
by the early Irish barks composed of wickerwork covered with hides, fragile
crafts which could hardly hope to live through the rough waters of the Bay
of Biscay and the Atlantic on a voyage from Spain, or through the
Mediterranean and the Atlantic on a voyage from Greece.” (Hyde, A Literary
History of Ireland, pp. 17-18.)
He also remarks that the term “Spain” may have been used loosely and may
not have referred to a particular country, but a land beyond Ireland. See
Hyde, A Literary History of Ireland, p. 19.
D’Arbois de Jubainville, The Irish Mythological Cycle and Celtic
Mythology, p. 130. D’Arbois de Jubainville further suggests,
“The word Spain in this text is a learned translation of the Irish words
mag mor, ‘great plain’; trag mar, ‘great strand;’ mag meld, ‘pleasant
plain,’ by which the Irish pagans designated the Land of the Dead, the
place whence the living originally came, and their final abode. For these
mythological expressions, which testify to the beliefs held in the most
primitive ages, Christian euhemerism substituted the name of Spain. The
legend of Tuan Mac Cairill leaves no room for doubt on this point: ‘The
number of Nemed’s company increased until there were four thousand and
thirty men of them and four thousand and thirty women. Then they all
died’. They all died: that is what an ancient redaction, now lost,
rendered as: ‘They set sail for the Great Plain, for the Great Strand, or
the Pleasant Plain,’ a formula in which Nennius sees indications of a
return into Spain.” (D’Arbois de Jubainville, The Irish Mythological Cycle
and Celtic Mythology, p. 48.)
Anyways, as you can see, this text does not demonstrate that the Milesians
arrived to Ireland from Spain, or from Galicia, for that matter. Vicetto,
Murguia, and Risco manipulated the information so that it could fit their
own agendas - nationalist ones - and differentiate themselves from others
in the Iberian Peninsula. However, as others have pointed out, it was part
of 'imagining their community' and 'inventing the nation'.
Saúdos,
Kerry
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