Chap. VIII
1. Having now finished our survey of Albion, we shall describe the neighbouring country, Hibernia or Ireland, with the same brevity.
2. Hibernia is situated more westerly than any other country except England; but as it does not extend so far north, so it stretches further than England towards the south, and the Spanish province of Tarraconensis, from which it is separated by the ocean.666
3. The sea which flows between Britain and Hibernia is subject to storms, and according to Solinus, is navigable only during a few days in summer. Midway between the two countries is the island called Monœda,667 but now Manavia.
4. According to Bede, Hibernia is preferable to Britain, on account of its situation, salubrity, and serene air, insomuch that snow seldom remains more than three days, nor is it usual to make hay for the winter, or build stalls for cattle.
5. No reptile is found there, nor does it maintain a viper or serpent; for serpents frequently carried from England have died on approaching the shore. Indeed almost all things in the island are antidotes to poison. We have seen an infusion of scraped pieces of bark brought from Hibernia, given to persons bitten by serpents, which immediately deprived the poison of its force, and abated the swelling.
6. This island, according to the venerable Bede, is rich in milk and honey; nor is it without vines. It abounds with fish and birds, and affords deer and goats for the chase.
7. The inhabitants, says Mela, are more than other nations uncivilized and without virtue, and those who have a little knowledge are wholly destitute of piety. Solinus calls them an inhospitable and warlike people. The conquerors, after drinking the blood of the slain, daub their faces with the remainder. They know no distinction between right and wrong. When a woman brings forth a son, she places its first food on the point of her husband’s sword, and, introducing it into the mouth of the infant, wishes according to the custom of the country, that he may die amidst arms and in battle. Those who are fond of ornaments adorn the hilts of their swords with the teeth of marine animals, which they polish to a degree of whiteness equal to ivory; for the principal glory of a man consists in the splendour of his arms.
8. Agrippa states the length of Hibernia to be six hundred miles, and the breadth three hundred. It was formerly inhabited by twenty tribes, of whom (fourteen668) lived on the coast.
9. This is the true country of the Scots, who emigrating from hence added a third nation to the Britons and Picts in Albion. But I cannot agree with Bede, who affirms that the Scots were foreigners. For, according to the testimony of other authors, I conceive they derived their origin from Britain, situated at no considerable distance, passed over from thence, and obtained a settlement in this island. It is certain that the Damnii, Voluntii, Brigantes, Cangi, and other nations, were descended from the Britons, and passed over thither after Divitiacus, or Claudius, or Ostorius, or other victorious generals had invaded their original countries. Lastly, the ancient language which resembles the old British and Gallic tongues, affords another argument, as is well known to persons skilled in both languages.669
10. The Deucaledonian Ocean washes the northern side of Hibernia; the Vergivian and Internal the eastern, the Cantabric the south, as the great British or Atlantic Ocean does the western. According to this order, we shall give a description of the island and the most remarkable places.
11. The Rhobogdii occupied the coast of the island next to the Deucaledonian Sea. Their metropolis was Rhobogdium. In the eastern part of their territories was situated the promontory of the same name; in the Western the Promontorium Boreum, or Northern Promontory. Their rivers were the Banna, Darabouna, Argitta, and Vidua; and towards the south, mountains separated them from the Scotti.
12. On the coast between the northern and Venicnian Promontory, and as far as the mouth of the Rhebeus, dwelt the Venicnii. To them the contiguous islands owe their name. Their capital was Rheba. The Nagnatæ dwelt below the Rhebeus as far as the Libnius, and their celebrated metropolis was called after them. The Auterii lived in a recess of the bay of Ausoba, towards the south, and their chief city was named after them. The Concangii occupied the lower part of the same region, near the southern confines of which flowed the river Senus, a noble river, on which was situated their chief city Macobicum. Hibernia in this part being contracted, terminates in a narrow point. The Velatorii inhabited the country near the southern promontory by the river Senus; their metropolis was Regia, and their river Durius. The Lucani were situated where the river Ibernus flows into the ocean.
13. The southern side of the island stretched from the Promontorium Austriacum, or Southern Promontory, to the Sacred Promontory. Here lived the Ibernii, whose metropolis was Rhufina. Next was the river Dobona, and the people called Vodiæ, whose promontory of the same name lies opposite to the Promontorium Antivestæum in England, at about the distance of one hundred and forty-five miles. Not far from thence is the river Dabrona, the boundary of the Brigantes, who have also the river Briga for their limit, and whose chief city is called Brigantia.
14. The part of this island which reaches from the Sacred Promontory as far as Rhobogdium is called the Eastern. The Menapii, inhabiting the Sacred Promontory, had their chief city upon the river Modona called by the same name. From this part to Menapia670 in Dimetia, the distance, according to Pliny, is thirty miles. One of these countries, but which is uncertain, gave birth to Carausius. Beyond these people the Cauci had their metropolis Dunum [Down]; and the river Oboca washed their boundaries. Both these nations were undoubtedly of Teutonic origin; but it is not known at what precise time their ancestors first passed over, though most probably a little while before Cæsar’s arrival in Britain.
15. Beyond these were the Eblanæ, whose chief city was Mediolanum, upon the river Lœbius. More to the north was Lebarum, the city of the Voluntii, whose rivers were Vinderus and Buvinda. The Damnii occupied the part of the island lying above these people, and contiguous to the Rhobogdii. Their chief city was Dunum [Down], where St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Bridget are supposed to be buried in one tomb.
16. It remains now to give some account of those people who lived in the interior parts. The Coriondii bordered upon the Cauci and Menapii, above the Brigantes; the Scotti possessed the remaining part of the island, which from them took the name of Scotia. Among many of their cities, the remembrance of two only has reached our times: the one Rheba, on the lake and river Rhebeus; the other Ibernia, situated at the east side of the river Senus.
17. I cannot omit mentioning in this place that the Damnii, Voluntii, Brigantes, and Cangiani were all nations of British origin, who being either molested by neighbouring enemies, or unable to pay the heavy tribute exacted of them, gradually passed over into this country in search of new settlements. With respect to the Menapii, Cauci, and some other people, it has been before remarked that many things occur which cannot safely be relied upon. Tacitus relates that Hibernia was more frequented by foreigners than Albion. But in that case, the ancients would undoubtedly have left us a more ample and credible account of this island. While I am writing a description of Hibernia, it seems right to add, that it was reduced under the Roman power, not by arms, but by fear: and moreover, that Ptolemy, in his second map of Europe, and other celebrated geographers, have erred in placing it at too great a distance from Britain, and from the northern part of the province Secunda, as appears from their books and maps.
18. North of Hibernia are the Hebudes, five671 in number, the inhabitants of which know not the use of corn, but live on fish and milk. They are all, according to Solinus, subject to one chief, for they are only divided from each other by narrow straits. The chief possessed no peculiar property but was maintained by general contribution: he was bound by certain laws; and lest avarice should seduce him from equity, he learned justice from poverty, having no house nor property, and being maintained at the public expense. He had no wife; but took by turns any woman for whom he felt an inclination, and hence had neither a wish nor hope for children. Some persons have written concerning these Hebudes, that during winter darkness continues for the space of thirty days? but Cæsar upon diligent inquiry found this assertion untrue, and only discovered by certain water-measures of time that the nights were shorter here than in Gaul.
19. The Orcades, according to some accounts, are distant from the Hebudes seven days and nights’ sail; but this is erroneous. They are thirty in number, and contiguous to each other. They were uninhabited, without wood, and abounded with reeds: several were formed only of sand and rocks, as may be collected from Solinus and others.
20. Thule, the last of the British isles, is placed by Mela opposite to672 the coast of the Belgæ. It has been celebrated in Greek and Roman verse. Thus the Mantuan Homer says,—
“Et tibi serviat ultima Thule.”
Here are no nights during the solstice when the sun passes the sign of Cancer; and on the other hand, in the winter there are no days, as Pliny asserts. These circumstances are supposed to happen for six whole months. The inhabitants, as Solinus affirms, in the beginning of the spring live among their cattle upon herbs, then upon milk, and lay up fruits against the winter. They have their women in common without marriages. Thule, according to the same author, abounds in fruits. At the distance of a day’s sail from Thule the sea is difficult to pass through, and frozen; it is by some called Cronium. From Thule to Caledonia is two days’ sail.
21. The isle of Thanatos673 is bounded by a narrow channel, and separated from the continent of Britain by a small estuary called the Wantsum.674 It is rich in pasture and corn. According to Isiodorus, its soil is not only salubrious to itself, but to others, for no snakes live in it, and the earth being carried to a distance destroys them. It is not far distant from Rhutupis.675
22. The isle of Vecta,676 conquered by Vespasian, is thirty miles in length, on the side next to the Belgæ, from east to west, and twelve from north to south. In the eastern part it is six miles, in the western three, from the above-mentioned southern shore of Britain.
23. Besides the isles just specified, there were VII Acmodæ,677 Ricnea,[677A] Silimnus,[677B] Andros,[677C] Sigdiles,[677D] XL Vindilios,[677E] Sarna,678 Cæsarea,679 and Cassiterides. 680
24. The island Sena, opposite the Ossismican681 coast, is according to Mela famous for the oracle of the Gallic deity, of whom the priestesses, sanctified by perpetual virginity, are said to have been nine in number. The Gauls call them Senæ, and suppose them gifted with singular powers; that they raise the winds and the seas with incantations, change themselves into what animals they please, and cure disorders which in other places yield to no remedy; that they have the knowledge of future events, and prophesy. They are not favourable except to mariners, and only to such as go thither for the purpose of consulting them.
25. The rest of the isles of smaller size and consequence which lie round Albion will be better perceived and known by the inspection of the annexed map682 than from any description. Here, therefore, we stop, and anxiously commend our labours to the favour and judgment of the benevolent reader.
The first book of the geographical Commentary on the situation of Britain, and those stations which the Romans erected in that island, is happily finished, through the assistance of God, by the hand of Richard, servant of Christ and monk of Westminster. Thanks be to God!
Footnotes
666 As we have neither the assistance of an Itinerary to guide us in our researches, nor a local knowledge of Ireland, we have not attempted to specify the situation of the ancient states and cities in that island.
667 Man.
668 In the original is an error in the numerals, the number afterwards specified is fourteen.
669 Nearly one-third of the words in the Irish tongue are the same as the modern Welsh, and many idioms and modes of speech are common to both languages.
670 St. David’s.
671 The Hebudes amount to more than five. From hence it may perhaps be inferred that the Roman fleet in their voyage of discovery did not reach these seas, though they coasted the northern part of Scotland, for the Orcades are rightly numbered.
672 Littori apposita, Richard. From the sense in which this phrase is generally used in geography, it might be rendered under the same meridian.
673 Thanet.
674 See Bede’s Eccles. Hist. p. 37, note.
675 Richborough.
676 Wight.
677 [677A] [677B] [677C] [677D] [677E] No geographer has hitherto attempted to ascertain the modern names of these islands.
678 Guernsey.
679 Jersey.
680 Scilly Isles.
681 From a tribe of the Veneti called Ossismii, who inhabited part of Bretagne.
682 The map being no longer of any use, has been omitted in this edition.