Dublin (111 page)

Authors: Edward Rutherfurd

BOOK: Dublin

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In the spelling of personal and dynastic names, I have made use of the following convention. Where an ancient name has passed into modern use, it is given in the modern and easily recognizable form.

Thus Deirdre is used even in the time of Saint Patrick, rather than Deirdriu, and the Norse name of Harald is given as Harold. But where a name is only known in its ancient form-Goibniu, for example-then that ancient form is used.

Similarly, the archaic Ui Neill and Ua Tuathail are given as the more familiar O'neill and O'Toole; but the name Ui Fergusa is left, as it is always found in histories, in the ancient form.

Readers familiar with Ireland will know that the ancient family and tribal groupings are usually referred to as septs. However, there is scholarly doubt at present about what the most appropriate terminology should be for the various social groupings in historical Ireland. Occasionally I have referred to an extended ruling family by the general and nonspecific term of clan. places Except in the case of Dublin itself, I have chosen not to burden the reader with archaic place names and I have not hesitated to use familiar place names-Wicklow, Waterford, Munster, and so forth- at a much earlier date than they would have been in use.

Places are generally as described. The rath of Fergus is sited at Dublin Castle, and it is quite possible that there was a rath there, just as it is possible that the Viking Thingmount was raised over a preexisting burial mound. The walled garden at Malahide Castle has been added for narrative convenience. Harold's farmstead and Rathconan are inventions.

Historic events Wherever possible, I have tried to give the reader some account of the historical context, which has often been reevaluated by modern scholars, within the body of the text.

In particular, readers will have noticed a great degree of uncertainty surrounding the mission of Saint Patrick. I have not given the High King a name, for instance, because we are not sure who it would have been. Indeed, the dates given in the chapter headings for these first three chapters can only be taken as general guides to aid the reader. As to whether Saint Patrick ever came to Dublin, we do not know. But he could have done. The familiar legend of Cuchulainn may in fact have been formulated at a later period, but I have chosen to believe that it already existed then. As to the question of the sacrifice of Conall, there is clear evidence that human sacrifice was practiced, as described, by the druid priests of Celtic Europe. Whether such a ceremony might have taken place as late as this upon the pagan western island of Ireland is simply not known, but it is not impossible.

Readers familiar with the history of Brian Boru will be aware that the names of the various kings of Leinster and of the O'neill kings can become highly confusing.

For this reason, I have decided to avoid their names as far as possible, and to refer to the O'neill King Mael Sechnaill, quite properly, as the King of Tara.

The account of the siege of Dublin at the time of Strongbow is well documented. Some believe that the O'Connor king's men may have been surprised while bathing in the Tolka stream, rather than the River Lifrey, but I have chosen the latter as more likely.

As for the delightful idea that, while his men bathed in the stream, the king himself may have been sitting in a bathtub, I am indebted to Mr. Charles Doherty for sharing with me his note: "Ruaidhri Ua Conchobair's Bath."

The fourteenth-century story of the smuggling at Dalkey and the raid of the O'Byrnes at Carrickmines are a novelist's invention. But the activities of the O'Byrnes at this time are accurately given; there was undoubtedly an organized evasion of customs dues through Dalkey at this period, and a generation later, a Walsh of Carrickmines was accused by the Dublin authorities of withholding the customs dues he had collected at Dalkey for his own personal use.

I have allowed myself some very minor simplifications of the often complex chain of events during the years of tension between the Fitzgeralds and the Tudor kings of England.

It may surprise readers that I suggest that the pretender Lambert Simnel, in the time of Henry VII, may in fact have been the royal Earl of Warwick, as his supporters claimed. We shall never know for certain, but I have followed the arguments of the late Professor F. X. Martin, which show strong circumstantial evidence for this possibility. The version of the curious dispute between the Fitzgeralds and the Butlers at Saint Patrick's Cathedral is my own. And I am grateful to Dr. Raymond Gillespie for pointing out to me that despite the usual version of Archbishop Browne's burning of the relics in 1538, some of the relics, including the great Staff of Saint Patrick, may in fact have survived.

The guide that follows is designed to be helpful to the general reader. It in no sense represents a definitive, correct version of how to pronounce every word, and indeed, in many cases, no such correct rendering exists. For in modern Irish, there are often two different, regional pronunciations for a single word, and the spelling and pronunciation in Old Irish may be different yet again. Thus the May festival known to modern Irish as Bealtaine, and described during the ancient period in the novel, is in fact Beltaine in Old Irish, and would be pronounced Bell-ti-ne.

But since the modern form is widely familiar, it is that form which is given here. The following list, therefore, represents, it is hoped, a sensible compromise.

comch indicates a soft sound, like that at the end of the Scottish word loch.

A final -h indicates a similar sound, but much softer, hardly sounded at all.

Each syllable is usually pronounced separately in Irish words, and this is clearly shown. The stressed syllable is in capital letters.

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