The remarkably late use of promontory forts can
also be seen on a sixteenth-century map-picture of
Portrush, County Antrim made by a Tudor cartogra-
pher and at the impressive Dooncarton on Broadhaven
Bay in County Mayo where a series of stone buildings
in the interior of the fort constituted the homestead of
a local Gaelic family as late as the seventeenth century.
ELIZABETH FITZPATRICK
References and Further Reading
Barry, Terry. “Archaeological Excavations at Dunbeg Promon-
tory Fort, County Kerry.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish
Academy81 (1977): 295–329.
Edwards, Nancy. The Archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland.
London: Batsford, 1990.
O’Conor, Kieran. “A Reinterpretation of the Earthworks at
Baginbun, Co. Wexford.” In The Medieval Castle in Ireland
and Wales, edited by John R. Kenyon and Kieran O’Conor,
17–31. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2003.
O’Kelly, Michael J. “Three Promontory Forts in Cork.” Pro-
ceedings of the Royal Irish Academy55 (1952): 25–59.
Westropp, Thomas J. “The Promontory Forts and the Early
Remains on the Islands of Connacht.” Journal of the Royal
Society of Antiquaries of Ireland44 (1914): 297–337.
———. “The Promontory Forts of the Three Southern prov-
inces of Ireland.” Journal of the Galway Archaeological and
Historical Society11 (1922): 112–131.
———. “The Promontory Forts and Adjoining Remains in
Leinster.” Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of
Ireland52 (1922): 52–76.
PROPHESIES AND VATICINAL
LITERATURE
Prophesies and Vaticinal literature were important ele-
ments in medieval Ireland. Fore-knowledge is claimed
in St. Patrick’s Confessions, while Adomnán devotes a
third of his Life of Columbato the saint’s prophesies.
Prophesy was used to justify political conditions. The
tenth-centuryTripartite Life of Patrickhas the saint
predicting Ireland’s political history. Prophesies were a
convenient medium for commentary or dissension. The
Prophecy of Berchán was begun in the ninth century
with verses on the Vikings, and continued in the eleventh
century with a critical recitation of Irish and Scots high
kings. A contemporary prophesy is attributed to Bec mac
Dé, and it condemns father to son succession in the
headship of Armagh. Opinion on important clergy is
found in the Prophecy of Bricín, composed around 1000.
Prophesies were also attributed to legendary individ-
uals. An early eighth-century recitation of princes is the
Prophecy of Conn of the Hundred Battles. This work
was the model for an eleventh-century composition
known as the “Phantom’s Frenzy,” written by Dub-
dá-Leithe of Armagh. A phantom and a lady who rep-
resents the sovereignty of Ireland tell Conn who will
ruleIreland. Conn’s son Art is made the author of a
prophesy that foretells his death at the battle of Mag
Mucruimhé and the arrival of St. Patrick.
A group of prophesies from the tenth and eleventh
centuries has the theme of the Last Days. Works such
as the “Fifteen Signs of Doomsday” and the “[Day of]
Judgment” describe the end of the world. After the mid-
tenth century are prophesies about destruction associ-
ated with the feast of John the Baptist. This culminated
in a panic throughout Ireland in 1096 when certain chro-
nological conditions, described in the “Second Vision
of Adomnán,” were believed to herald this disaster.
The twelfth century saw a reaction to prophetic works.
The “Vision of Mac Con Glinne” mocks the “Phantom’s
Frenzy,” and instead of a list of rulers there is a list of
delicacies for a feast. Nevertheless, prophetic texts con-
tinued to be produced. The “Poem of Prophecies,” about
the evils of the age, is a continuation of an eleventh-
century text. Contemporary is a prophesy attributed to St.
Moling, concerned mainly with Leinster affairs.
The Anglo-Norman invasions inspired a new wave of
original composition. A prophesy attributed to St.
Columba, addressing his friend Baitín, called “Harken
O Baitín,” places the invaders in the general context of Irish
history. Ironically, the Anglo-Normans were enthusiastic
students of Irish prophesies, and Gerald Cambrensis’ Con-
quest of Irelandoriginally was called the Vatican History.
He claims that the adventurer John de Courcy had a volume
of Irish prophesies, which he believed had foretold his
conquests. In later medieval Ireland prophesy increasingly
became subordinated to contemporary affairs. Odes to
princes usually claimed that their reigns had been foretold
by an ancient prophet. At the end of the Middle Ages,
prophesy had become a cliché in Irish society.
BENJAMIN HUDSONReferences and Further Reading
Adomnan.Life of Columba, edited by A.O. & M.O. Anderson.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.
Hudson, B., Prophecy of Berchán. Westport: Greenwood, 1996.
———. “Time is Short.” In Last Things, edited by C. Bynum
and P. Freedman, 101–123. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania, 2000.
Knott, Eleanor. “A Poem of Prophecies.” Ériu18 (1958): 55–84.
O’Curry, Eugene. Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient
Ireland. Dublin: Wm. A. Hinch & Patrick Traynor, 1878.
O’Kearney, S. The Prophecies of Saints Colum-Cille, Maeltamlacht,
Ultan, Senan, Bearcan, and Malachy. Dublin, repr. 1925.
See alsoHagiography and Martyrologies; Historical
Tales; National Identity; and Poets, Men of LearningPROVINCESSeeConnacht; Leinster; Munster; Ulster,
Earldom ofPROVINCES