Weaponry

Gaels employed a variety of weapons in combat including javelins (called sleagh in gaelic), harpoons (gae), darts (birin), slings, spears and swords. Javelins and harpoons were used by the wealthiest among them, while less wealthy fighters used slings and darts, although ranged combat was generally disdained in Celtic warfare as being cowardly. Gaels employed a variety of spears, swords, and axes for close quarters combat. The Craisech was also used. It was a long spear used from horseback to pursue a defeated enemy and stab overhand from above, or used with both hands like a bayonet to fight at close quarters after dismounting. Gaelic swords were a very small affair, many not being more than 14 inches long, though blades with lengths of 21 inches were common. They were rigid, double-edged, and had an acute point used for stabbing. There were, however, longer swords based on La Tene Gallic models which were long and capable of delivering crushing blows, but these could only be afforded by the aristocracy, which fought from chariots and later on horseback.

Standards

Standards and hollowed out bull horns (a primitive battle trumpet) were often carried into battle to rally men into combat. The bagpipe would also gain popularity in the later years.

Armour

In Gaelic culture, the use of armor was generally disdained as being cumbersome and impairing the agility of the warrior. However, in a few rare cases, its value was recognized and kings would be covered in armor and helmets to protect them. Armour was usually a simple affair: the poorest might have worn padded coats; the wealthier might have worn boiled leather

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

; and the wealthiest might have had access to bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 chest plates or a cuirass

Cuirass

A cuirass is a piece of armour, formed of a single or multiple pieces of metal or other rigid material, which covers the front of the torso...

, and perhaps mail (though it did exist in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, it was rare). Overlapping iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 or bronze scales could also have been expected. Helmet

Helmet

A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from...

s were rather like Hallstatt

Hallstatt

Hallstatt, Upper Austria is a village in the Salzkammergut, a region in Austria. It is located near the Hallstätter See . At the 2001 census it had 946 inhabitants...

 helmets, even into the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

. That is, they were usually round, some with decorated cheekguards, and crested with horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 hair, or featuring a long plume tail. Like most Celtic helmets, they were modular, so they could be decorated by their owners with such accoutrements. Shields were usually round, with a spindle shaped boss, though later the regular iron boss models were introduced by the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. A few shields were also oval in shape or square, but most of them were small and round, like buckler

Buckler

A buckler is a small shield, 15 to 45 cm in diameter, gripped in the fist; it was generally used as a companion weapon in hand-to-hand combat during the Medieval and Renaissance, as its size made it poor protection against missile weapons but useful in deflecting the blow of...

s, to better enable agility.

Customs

In Gaelic Ireland

Gaelic Ireland

Gaelic Ireland is the name given to the period when a Gaelic political order existed in Ireland. The order continued to exist after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans until about 1607 AD...

, before the Viking age (when Vikings brought new forms of technology, culture and warfare into Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

), there was a heavy importance placed on clan

Clan

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...

 wars and ritual combat. This is known as the heroic age, and Celtic clans would fight wars in an endemic manner; that is, occurring every summer and in a very ritualized fashion. In pre-Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 human sacrifice

Human sacrifice

Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...

 formed a huge part of these conflicts. Very much the same as most other primitive cultures, warriors killed or captured in combat would be sacrificed to the gods in ritualistic ways. Those killed in combat would have their heads cut off and kept as talisman

Amulet

An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...

s. Their dead corpses were offered to the goddess of war, Morrigan

Morrígan

The Morrígan or Mórrígan , also written as Morrígu or in the plural as Morrígna, and spelt Morríghan or Mór-Ríoghain in Modern Irish, is a figure from Irish mythology who appears to have once been a goddess, although she is not explicitly referred to as such in the texts.The Morrigan is a goddess...

, whom they believed would turn into a crow

Crow

Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...

 and come to devour the deceased. Captives were frequently also sacrificed to other gods by either drowning or herding them into a hut and burning them. These acts were accompanied by chants and incantations performed by Druid

Druid

A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....

s (pagan priests). These customs continued even after the advent of Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 into Ireland. Take, for example, the Viking Thorgest, who was said to have been drowned by the Christian Irish. Another very important aspect of Celtic ritual warfare at this time was single combat. To settle a dispute and measure one's prowess, it was customary to challenge an individual warrior from the other army to ritual single combat to the death while cheered on by the opposing hosts. Such fights were common before pitched battle, and for ritual purposes tended to occur at river fords. For examples of this behavior, one can read the epic literature of Ireland, such as the Ulster Cycle

Ulster Cycle

The Ulster Cycle , formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, one of the four great cycles of Irish mythology, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly counties Armagh, Down and...

 and Fenian Cycle

Fenian Cycle

The Fenian Cycle , also referred to as the Ossianic Cycle after its narrator Oisín, is a body of prose and verse centering on the exploits of the mythical hero Fionn mac Cumhaill and his warriors the Fianna. It is one of the four major cycles of Irish mythology along with the Mythological Cycle,...

, as well as accounts of Gaelic wars such as the "Wars of the Gael with the Foreigners" and Geoffrey Keating's "History of Ireland

History of Ireland

The first known settlement in Ireland began around 8000 BC, when hunter-gatherers arrived from continental Europe, probably via a land bridge. Few archaeological traces remain of this group, but their descendants and later Neolithic arrivals, particularly from the Iberian Peninsula, were...

.

Ritual Combat would later manifest itself in the duel, as seen in the Scottish Martial Arts

Scottish martial arts

There is some evidence on historical fencing as practiced in Scotland in the Early Modern Era, especially fencing with the Scottish basket-hilted broadsword during the 17th to 18th centuries....

 of the 18th century. The victor was determined by who made the first-cut. However, this was not always observed, and at times the duel would continue to the death.

Tactics and Organization

War in Ireland and Scotland was based around the cattle raid. Cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

 were the main form of wealth in the Gaelic culture, as currency

Currency

In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...

 had not yet been introduced, and the aim of most tribal wars was the capture of the enemy's cattle. For this task, there were specially trained units of light infantry known as "ceitherne" or "kern

Kern (soldier)

A Kern was a Gaelic soldier, specifically a light infantryman in Ireland during the Middle Ages.-Linguistic roots:The word kern is an anglicisation of the Middle Irish word ceithern or ceithrenn meaning a collection of persons, particularly fighting men. An individual member is a ceithernach...

" (literally "warband") which were lightly armed with either sword

Sword

A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...

s or knives

Knife

A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...

 (sgian) for self-defence. Their main task was the theft and herding away of the enemy cattle. Initially Ceithern were members of individual tribes, but later, when the Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

s and English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 introduced new systems of billet

Billet

A billet is a term for living quarters to which a soldier is assigned to sleep. Historically, it referred to a private dwelling that was required to accept the soldier....

ing to soldiers, the kern became billeted soldiers and mercenaries who served anyone who paid them the most. The Ceitherne were in no way fit to engage in combat because of their light armament and lack of horses. Instead, they were accompanied by the chariot mounted aristocracy, which was the mainstay of the Gaelic army. Chariot

Chariot

The chariot is a type of horse carriage used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Ox carts, proto-chariots, were built by the Proto-Indo-Europeans and also built in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 BC. The original horse chariot was a fast, light, open, two wheeled...

s were later replaced by cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

, known as hobelar

Hobelar

Hobelars were a type of light cavalry, or mounted infantry, during the Middle Ages, used for skirmishing. They originated in 13th century Ireland, and generally rode hobbies, a type of light and agile horse.-Origins:...

s, who acted as a vanguard by harassing the enemy, clearing ambush

Ambush

An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...

es, and dismounting to fight battles on foot. Not only would the chariots or cavalry protect the kern while they stole the cattle, but they also did most of the actual fighting, while the kern simply rustled the cattle and occasionally acted as light infantry skirmishers.

The Gaels tended to be experts in guerrilla ambush, constructing forts in the woods to be used as hidden supply bases which were connected by secret cleared paths. The armies would move through the woods at great speed and frequently avoid open battle. Instead, the Gaels preferred to use harassing tactics. Offensively, they would plunder the countryside; defensively, they would vacuate civilians into the woods and harass the attacker, mostly with darts, javelins, and stones. Close quarters combat was avoided until there was a clear advantage, and cavalry or chariots always dismounted for it. Ambushes were frequently laid for advancing armies in wooded areas, at river-crossings, in valley

Valley

In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...

s, and in any other place where it might be convenient. The Gaels also enjoyed a reputation for night attacks and stealth. This is not to say that the Gael completely avoided set piece battles, for they frequently did have pitched battles, mostly against each other while denying that honor to foreign hosts which they deemed too heavily armed and numerous.

Adaptations

As time went on, the Gaels began intensifying their raids and colonies in Roman Britain (c. 200-500 AD). Naval forces were necessary for this, and, as a result, large numbers of small boats, called curraghs, were employed. Chariot

Chariot

The chariot is a type of horse carriage used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Ox carts, proto-chariots, were built by the Proto-Indo-Europeans and also built in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 BC. The original horse chariot was a fast, light, open, two wheeled...

s and horses were transported across the sea to fight, but, because Gaelic forces were so frequently at sea (especially the Dal Riada/Scots

Gaels

The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....

), weaponry had to change. Javelins and slings became more uncommon, as they required too much space to launch, which the small curraghs did not allow. Instead, more and more Gaels were armed with bows and arrows. The Dal Riada, for example, after colonizing the west of Scotland and becoming a maritime power, became an army composed completely of archers. Slings also went out of use, replaced by both bows and a very effective naval weapon called the staffsling (Gael: Cranntabhaill). Later, the Gaels realized (probably learning from the Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

, whom they contacted in Britain), that the use of cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

, as opposed to chariots, was cheaper, and by the 7th century AD, chariots had disappeared from Ireland and had been replaced by cavalry. Later, when the Gaels came into contact with the Vikings, they realized the need for heavier weaponry, so as to make hacking through the much larger Norse shields and heavy mail-coats possible. Heavier hacking-swords became more frequent, as did helmets and mail-coats. The Gael also learned how to use the double-handed Danish axe

Danish axe

The Dane Axe is an early type of battle axe, primarily used during the transition between the European Viking Age and early Middle Ages. Other names for the weapon include English Long Axe, Danish Axe, and Hafted Axe.-Construction:...

, wielded by the Vikings. Irish and Scottish infantry troops fighting with axes and armor, in addition to their own native darts and bows, were later known as "Gall oglaigh" (English: Galloglass), or "foreign soldiers", and formed an important part of Gaelic armies in the future. The coming of the Normans into Ireland several hundred years later also forced the Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 to use an increasingly large number of more-heavily armored Galloglaigh and cavalry to effectively deal with the mail-clad Normans

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

.

Norse-Gaelic mercenaries

The most prolific Norse legacy in general Gaelic war though is the creation of the gall-òglaich (Scottish Gaelic) or gall-óglaigh (Irish), the Norse-Gaelic mercenaries who inhabited the Hebrides

Hebrides

The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...

. They fought and trained in a combination of Gaelic and Norse techniques, and were highly valued; they were hired by everyone in Britain at different times, though most famously the Irish, who hired significantly more of them than anyone else. The French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 also found need of hiring them. They often opted to hire Irish- and Scotsmen to assist them in their conflicts. Additionally, both the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and French hired Gaelic horsemen, called hobelars, the concepts of which were copied by both nations.

Later Weaponry

During the late Middle ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 and Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

, weapon imports from Europe had an impact on Gaelic weapon design. Take for example the German zweihander sword, a long double-handed weapon used for quick, powerful cuts and thrusts. Irish swords were copied from these models, which had unique furnishings. Many, for example, often featured open rings on the pommel

Pommel

Pommel may refer to:* pommel, the raised area at the front of an equestrian saddle.* Pommel, the counterweight at the end of the hilt of a European sword* Pommel horse, an artistic gymnastics apparatus...

. On any locally designed Irish sword in the Middle Ages, this meant you could see the end of the tang

Tang (weaponry)

A tang or shank is the back portion of a tool where it extends into stock material or is connected to a handle as on a knife, sword, spear, arrowhead, chisel, screwdriver, etc...

 go through the pommel and cap the end. These swords were often of very fine construction and quality. Scottish swords continued to use the more traditional "V" cross-guards that had been on pre-Norse Gaelic swords, culminating in such pieces as the now famous "claymore

Claymore

The term claymore refers to the Scottish variant of the late medieval longsword, two-handed swords with a cross hilt, of which the guards were in use during the 15th and 16th centuries.-Terminology:...

" design. This was an outgrowth of numerous earlier designs, and has become a symbol of Scotland. The claymore was used together with the typical axes of the galloglaigh

Gallowglass

The gallowglass or galloglass – from , gallóglach – were an elite class of mercenary warrior who came from Norse-Gaelic clans in the Hebrides and Highlands of Scotland between the mid 13th century and late 16th century...

 until the 18th century, but began to be replaced by pistols and muskets. Also increasingly common at that time were basket-hilted swords, shorter versions of the claymore which were used with one hand in conjunction with a shield. These basket-hilted broadswords are still a symbol of Scotland to this day, as is the typical shield known as a "targe

Targe

Targe was a general word for shield in late Old English. Its diminutive, target, came to mean an object to be aimed at in the 18th century....

."

Sources

• The Barbarians, Terry Jones
• Julius Caesar
  Julius Caesar
  Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
  
  , "De Bello Gallico"
• "Tain Bo Cuailnge", From the Book of Leinster
  Book of Leinster
  The Book of Leinster , is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled ca. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18...
  
  
• Geoffrey Keating
  Geoffrey Keating
  Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish Roman Catholic priest, poet and historian. He was born in County Tipperary c. 1569, and died c. 1644...
  
  , "History of Ireland"
• "The Wars of the Gaels with the Foreigners"
• http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_armies_irish.html
• http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_armies_scots.html