Researching my heritage I didn’t have to look far to find the name Niall Noigiallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages.)  In researching possible connections to the O’Neills and McNeils in my own genealogy I looked at Niall’s.  He is a fascinating figure in Irish History and Legend, and, as you might expect, this is true of the genealogical connections to this Ard Righ (High King) of Ireland.

Within the scope of this discussion are a legendary (but could it be credible?) connection deep into antiquity, all the way back to Adam.  Christian monks recorded this connection, but was the adding of this part of the genealogy a fabrication or an inescapably obvious connection to the oral tradition that substantiated his right to rule?

Niall was a Milesian King and there are some who would doubt the historicity of this as much as they might the Tuatha de Dana or the Partholonians.  The Book of Invasions would seem somewhat pointless if it was based on nothing at all.  How much of what is put down to myth was real and what impact did this have on Niall in particular, but Ireland in general?

Niall raided Britain and perhaps as far as the Continent, among his abductions was a certain boy named Succat, a boy who would become a transformational force in Ireland known to the world as St. Patrick, the patron of Ireland.  Niall’s son, Loegaire, met this escaped slave brought to Ireland by his father.  As such, I think Niall, the Ui Niall, and Ireland generally faced transformation because of his actions and his descendants continued the process.  One of the most famous Early Irish Churchmen was Columcille who was himself a prince of the Ui Niall dynasty.

I think it is undeniable that Niall Noigiallach is a transformational figure.  In Irish History and Legend he holds a place between the two.  In addition to the title “Nine Hostages” the epithet “Semi-Legendary” is applied to Niall.  Some don’t believe he was all that the Four-Masters said he was, but DNA forces most to admit that, if nothing else, he was.

There is no end of argument about the Ard Righship of Ireland.  Many if not most experts doubt that in the imbroglio that was Irish pre-Christian politics a true over-king that ruled the entirety of Ireland was possible.  Many even argue that nobody back then claimed the title and that it is an invention of later imaginative documentation and dynastic justification after the fact.

All these may be true, but Niall stands at a crossroads in history where, while once, in the dim pagan past, every small Tuath had its king, afterward is seen the  unification and record keeping of Christian monks that made claims a bit more testable, at least to historians.

Strange too (a Christian like me would say miraculous)that Milesian Ireland, so violent, so war prone, should be converted to Christianity so readily and with so little blood-shed.  Christianity’s story is one of violent repressions failing to halt the spread of the Gospel, one after another, after another.  Why in Ireland, where among the elite, war was very nearly a religion of its own, would Christianity conquer bloodlessly?  Why in Ireland did the Irish, feeling they were not made to suffer, invented new sorts of martyrdom, Green and White, that influenced not only the Irish, but the Continent as well? 

It may be that Niall, standing at this crossroad, holds some light to shed on this miracle.

LSO

PS.  This is an introduction of sorts.  I have been working on a post that has swelled to many thousand words.  My goal here should be shorter posts and as time passed and new posts went wanting I realized that I needed to change my approach to this vast topic.  The above is long on assertion and hints, but short on facts.  I’ve broached a myriad of topics in this one little post which I will link to from this as I produce them a bit at a time.

I’m sure you are familiar with the naming convention of many Celtic peoples where a son is named after his father or at least a notable fore-bearer.  Among the Irish you have Mc and Mac and O s which are really Ui s.  The Welsh use Ap and Map the same way.  In short O’Neill means grandson of Neill whereas MacNeill means son of Neill.

How else to keep separate all the Anguses and Rhaurys and Eochaids?  Ah, well, before the application of the now traditional surnames, notable personages received Bye Names (at least we have theirs recorded, likely everybody had them).  After all, in the list of High Kings of Ireland alone there are plenty of Eochaids and Aedhs and Nialls.  Fortunately there are nickname like descriptive names that when added to their given names help to keep track of just which one you are talking about.

Interestingly many people who’s surname is O’Neill or MacNeill might think that their name comes from the famous Niall of the Nine Hostages.  They may share genetics with Noigiallach but the name comes from a later Niall, Niall Glundubh, that is Black Knee.

Much more mysterious to me than how Niall Nine Hostages got his name is what in the world happened to stick Niall Glundubh with the bye name Black Knee.  Does anyone out there know the origin of Black Knee?

All in all, from Nuada Airgetlam (silver hand) to Conn Cetchathach (of the Hundred Battles) to Eochaid Mugmedon (Slave Lord) to Elim Oillfinshneachta (Snow that tasted of wine) to Finnachta Fleadhach (the festive) Bye Names are just good clean fun.

Write me down as a yeah vote on renewing this tradition.

LSO

I mentioned in my post about my progenitor, Niall of the Nine Hostages, High King of Ireland, son of Eochaid Mugmedon (Slave Lord), that I found Finn MacCool in the genealogy of Niall Glundub (Black Knee)

Just an aside.  Does anyone know why Niall Black Knee was called Black Knee?  I have no idea and I’ve been watching for it.  The bi-name thing is kinda cool.  Nine hostages, 100 battles, slave lord, even red sides makes some sense but Black Knee?  I’d like to know what the story is with that.

Fionn Mac Cumhaill is the focus of one of the three great cycles of Irish Mythology.  The Fenian Cycle follows Fionn and his struggles to survive, first of all, and to assume the champions role that his father had, and then as the leader of the Fiana (think Irish knights errant).  In his quest he is opposed by Gol Mac Morna among others.  Later legends turn him into a clever giant, but I like the Finn of the Fiana.

That Finn may have been an actual person is debatable, but what isn’t, is that this character, construct,  or perhaps my distant cousin, this Finn left a mark on the Irish.  And why not?  If there was ever a perfect Irishman then it most likely was Finn.

Finn was a true Renaissance man.  He was an outdoors man and hunter, a warrior or fearsome aspect,( and elf? Well, his mother was a woman of the Sidhewho turned into a deer so Finn ordered his men not to hunt deer… but that’s another tale.) but even more than these or rather despite undoubtedly being these he was also a poet.  A sensitive guy.

He was a smart guy, a politically astute man, who served several kings in an era when regicide was the most common route for prospective sovereigns to reach their thrones.  Finn seemed to know everything, perhaps it was tasting the Salmon of Knowledge, there are stories that he did, but where did all this stuff come from if not from a seed of truth?

Well, I left you plenty to think about, a bit of an intro to Finn, and perhaps you can see why I thought it was sorta cool that he might be a relative through his daughter Aine, if there was an Aine.

Happy clicking,

LSO

Little enough of what I’ve been able to assemble on these pages so far has any basis in the reality of Earth.  I have bent my will and my efforts toward Tir na Nua. 

That is not to say that there are no mythic figures worth looking into.  In Ireland the line between myth and reality is as thin as the line between the living and dead at Samhain.  There are figures, men and women, who bridge the gap between the real and the fantastic.  Whether they approached such legendary status in life is open to debate, but some few have attained it in memory, in lore.

One such real figure is Niall of the Nine Hostages (Noigiallach).  If nothing else, this particular Niall’s story had much to do with my later fascination with things Celtic.  Niall, it appears, was a king and so fixed in memory and genetics that many count him among their progenitors and as many as twenty-five percent of folk in the North of Ireland, and their descendants whether they know it or not, seem marked by his genetics, True Story.

You can read a little more about The Niall Nine Hostages That Was and a little less about me.

I discovered my association on the back of a clan tie at a highland games in Gresham Oregon.  Again, true story.  I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned how I first came across bagpipe music in a small high-school radio station in North Dakota.  I played “Mul of Kintyre“, by Paul McCartney and the Wings every day for the rest of that semester.  But I discovered IT again on a summer day in Oregon when it came through my window and lured me into another world.

Certainly it was different from the run-of-the-mill day in Gresham Oregon, different than North Dakota too.  But the music drew me to the event and the event led me to a small blurb on the back of a MacNeill clan tie.  There I first read anything at all about Niall Noigiallach. 

With only a very few little words on a bit of paper the writer chose to mention this fellow, Niall of the Nine Hostages, High King of Ireland.  Obviously, it was effective marketing, I bought the tie along with some bagpipe music and a banger. 

Truth to tell, though the O’Neills and the MacNeills both have Niall Noigiallach as a progenitor, they are really named after Niall Glundub (Black Knee).  Still, selling ties is easier with Noigiallach than the closer relative Glundub.  I’ve got to forgive the inaccuracy for its impact.

But that is not even near the end of the story.  No dear reader, looking into Niall exposed me to such wonders as a genealogy that stretched back (thanks to dutiful monk scribes) past Noah to Adam himself.  I learned that legend names a grand-daughter of Noah as the leader of the first settlement on the Emerald Isle.  I ran across names like Nuada Silver Hand, and Finn MacCool, and Conn of the Hundred Battles. 

Recently I found links through geneologies back to those three notables in Legend to my heritage (fictional or not).  Isn’t that a wonder?  All this found through Niall Noigiallach.  True Story.

LSO

Tonight George talked to Michael Tsarion.  I have to say that in the past Michael has sounded at least somewhat Christian.  Tonight, not so much.  Here is his main website.

It’s fun to listen to Michael as he is originally from Ireland.  In fact he has some interesting ideas about Ireland and such on this page of his website.

Now Michael has some interesting ideas, some of which ring true.  He does go on about how an elite is controlling all of us and that is the subject of his new book/dvd offering.

I was a bit distrubed to see a lot about divination and such.  I don’t think any of us, even the very best thinkers, is immune to being drawn into error.  Therefore, I guess I have to say, that though I do believe that hyperdimensional forces are at work in the world today as they have been for many many years to enslave and degrade humanity, I’ll have to look a bit more at Mr. Tsarion’s work to know if he might be deluded from a truth into a rare and somewhat unused error.

Because I am no sure arbiter of truth I have to say too, I have been reminded that the unpardonable sin was not misbelief alone, but rather ascribing to Satan the works of the Holy Spirit.  A more familiar bromide is “Judge not that ye be not judged.”  Words to live by without abdicating all responsibility to “Test the spirits so you may discern which are from God.”

LSO

PS. It has been days and days and Coast keeps rolling on and tonight is yet another night.  Tonight one of the guests was Author Henry Kroll. Among the topics he discussed was the early history of Earth and how it transformed from a gas planet with an atmosphere too dense to admit much solar energy into a life-sustaining one. I think he believes that Sol had a close approach to a binary star system with a total of about 3.5 solar masses and at that time there was enough energy to warm earth out of its deep freeze and we are currently heading back toward that binary, and might possibly become a trinary star system.  He had some other interesting thoughts such as that giants and dinosaurs were products of a thicker atmosphere on Earth. Henry Kroll sells his book here.

George also talked to Stephen Bassett, a UFOlogist, who is trying to get disclosure by rebranding it as exopolitics.  Steve feels that more people can be interested in the politics of extraterrestrial involvement and/or the terrestrial stonewalling of people who want to know.  Good luck Steve.  Check him out here.  Interested in exopolitics?  Look here.  And here.  Wana talk about it?  Try here.