ASIDE:

In early Ireland, there was no 'military warrior class', as existed in Anglo-Saxon England or in Normandy, as G. A. Hayes-McCoy wrote, "Gaelic Ireland knew no permanent military service", but after, or perhaps due to the Scottish invasion of Ireland by Edward Bruce (1310), there appeared to be a rapid reaction to the earlier Norman incursions as large numbers of mercenaries of Scottish parentage were brought into the land (Hayes-McCoy 48). These "foreign warriors" or galloglaich/galloglas, first mentioned in 1290, but probably were in use for a half century before that, were of the same ancestry as the Irish, Norse-Gaelic, spoke the same language and acclimated into a land much the same as the one they had left (Hayes-McCoy 50).

Armed with a six-foot axe, armored with mail and a helmet, the galloglas was described by his contemporaries as "Valiant and hardy...great endurers of cold, labour, and all hardness, very active and strong of hand, very swift of foot...picked and selected men of great and mighty bodies" (Heath 11). Another chronicler further described their two-handed axe; "Their weapons are one foot in length (head of axe), resembling double bladed hatchets...fixed on shafts of more than ordinary length" (Hayes-McCoy 50). The "lustiest men" in Ireland were each accompanied by two retainers, boys who carried several darts, thrown before hand-to-hand contact with a range of 50 yards, capable of stopping horses and unarmored foot, but unable to pierce armor (Hayes-McCoy 51-52).

Organized into 'battles' of from 60-80 galloglas each with their accompanying 'knaves', these tactical units totalled 180-240 fighters per unit. The leader of a 'battle' would mete out fines for lost equipment depending upon value for replacement, except for helmets, where there was no fine "except the galloglas' brain" (Heath 12).

So far as total available numbers went, L. Nowell's contemporary early 16th century work made note of the fact that 3/4 of the irish warlords could muster fewer than 250 fighters, less galloglas, and 1/3 could only raise 100 or less (Heath 9). Donel O'Neill (pre-1509) raised 200 cavalry, 300 kern and three 'battles' of galloglas, while a contemporary chronicler figured the total available strength in Ireland at 3,345 cavalry, 15,704 kern, and 2,460 galloglas (Heath 9).

Bibliography:

Cosgrove, Art, Editor. A New History of Ireland. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987.
Cusack, Mary Francis. The Illustrated History of Ireland. NY, NY: Crown Publishers, 1987.
Davies, John. A Discovery of the True Causes Why Ireland Was Never Entirely Subdued... (Published in 1612) Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1988.
Davies, R.R. The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dwr. New York, NY: Oxford, 1995. Delbruck, Hans. Medieval Warfare. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1990.
Edwards, R. Dudley. Ireland in the Age of the Tudors. London: Croom Helm, 1977.
Hayes-McCoy, G.A. Irish Battles-A Military History of Ireland. Belfast, Ireland: Appletree Press, Ltd., 1990.
Heath, Ian. Armies of the Middle Ages, Vol. 1. Worthing, England: Wargames Research Group, 1982.
_____. The Irish Wars 1485-1603. London: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 1993.
Holinshed, Ralph. Chronicles Volume VI. New York, NY: AMS Press, 1965.
McEvedy, Colin and Jones, Richard. Atlas of World Population. New York, NY: Penguin, 1985.
MacManus, Seumas. The Story of the Irish Race. Old Greenwich, CT: Devin-Adair, 1921.
Otway-Ruthven, A.J. A History of Medieval Ireland. New York, NY: Barnes and Noble, 1968.

More Kockdoe

Knockdoe: Introduction
The Battle of Knockdoe
Irish Medieval Warriors
Knockdoe Scenario Photos (Historicon '97)