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See alsoArmies; Military Service, Gaelic; Military
Service, Anglo-Norman; Naval Warfare
WELSH INFLUENCE
Welsh influence on various aspects of medieval Irish
life can be glimpsed occasionally in the extant sources,
its precise nature, however, is difficult to assess. It can
be detected in the formation of Ireland’s particular
brand of Christianity, in which British ecclesiastics,
exemplified by Patrick, played a primary role. More-
over, communities termed Gailinne na mBretanand
DermagBritonum(of the Britons) may point to reli-
gious establishments founded and perhaps run by
British monks, though how long these were likely to
have remained British in any real sense is a matter for
debate. In any event, individual Britons continued to
occupy pivotal positions in the Irish Church for a con-
siderable period if the designation Britt(the Briton)
applied to Aedgen, bishop of Kildare who died in 864,
is to be believed. In addition, an interest in the Welsh
Church is revealed by the inclusion of St. David in
Félire Óengusso(The Calendar of Óengus), a ninth-
century metrical list of mainly Irish saints. That the
interest was mutual is underlined by the extended stay
in Ireland of Sulien, an eleventh-century bishop of the
foundation to which St. David gave his name, whose
thirteen-year study trip abroad was motivated by the
wondrous wisdom of the Irish, according to his son,
Ieuan. In actual fact, such scholarly sabbaticals on both
sides of the Irish Sea may not have been unusual. The
eighth-/ninth-century Juvencus manuscript with its
mixture of Old Irish and Welsh glosses bears witness
to active cooperation between Irishmen and Britons in
one particular scriptorium. Irish scholars also formed
part of the group of intellectuals patronized by the
successive kings of Gwynedd, Merfyn Frych and his
son, Rhodri Mawr, and we may suspect that manu-
scripts regularly found their way to and fro across the
Irish Sea. Thus may the author of Sanas Cormaic
(Cormac’s Glossary), possibly the ninth-century king-
bishop of Cashel, Cormac mac Cuilennáin, have
acquired his Welsh, considerable use of which is made
in his Glossary. This degree of knowledge of the neigh-
boring culture, however, is likely to have been the
exception rather than the rule.
Ecclesiastical and cultural connections of this
nature are mirrored in the political sphere. The pres-
ence of a considerable body of Irish settlers in Dyfed
as early as the sixth century, as manifested most
tangibly in the ogam inscriptions they left behind,
provided their kinsmen at home with a gateway
through which all manner of ideas and influences
might emerge. Indeed it was via this channel that the
Irish acquired a name for themselves and for their
language,Goídel (Irishman) and Goídelc (Irish) being
borrowings from Welsh GwyddelandGwyddeleg,
respectively. This Irish power base in South Wales
did not survive; later centuries, however, saw both
Irish and Ostmen kings seeking to involve them-
selves in the affairs of their nearest neighbor. The
eleventh-century king, Díarmait mac Maíl na mBó,
is described as king of Wales, no less, in his death
notice in the Annals of Tigernach, and while the claim
may have no basis in fact it points to intensive
involvement with Wales on the part of the Leinster
ruler. Nor was such political trafficking all one-way.
Among the Welsh rulers to have a close association
with Ireland was Cynan ab Iago, whose son Gruffudd,
by the daughter of the Hiberno-Norse king of Dublin,
grew up in Swords and drew extensively on Irish
assistance in his attempt to regain his Gwynedd pat-
rimony. His name and those of other leading Welshmen
are recorded in the Irish chronicles, ample testimony
that they formed a significant presence in the Irish
political scene.WEAPONS AND WEAPONRY