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24-544: There have been different interpretations of the terms. Traditionally, historians have speculated whether these distinctions refer to physical features such as skin or hair-colour, weaponry or outfits. Alfred P. Smyth suggested a new interpretation of dub and finn as "new" and "old". There is a long tradition of understanding Dubgaill as Danish Vikings and Finngaill as Norwegian Vikings. This interpretation has recently been challenged by David N. Dumville and Clare Downham , who, building on Smyth's conclusions, propose that

48-532: A "new interpretation was interposed on the earlier terms 'Fair Foreigner' and 'Dark Foreigner ' ". Downham, with reference to a suggestion made by Dumville, offers the alternative interpretation that finngaill and dubgaill identified Viking groups under different leadership. The dubgaill may identify Vikings under the leadership of the Uí Ímair , while the finngaill were those "old" Vikings present in Ireland before

72-685: A lost Irish chronicle, which covered events in Ireland from prehistory to 1408. The work is sometimes known as Mageoghagan's Book , after its translator Conall the Historian . David Sellar , who was the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland, concluded that it dates from 1627. Robert Anthony Welch also stated that while it records history from the earliest times up to 1408, the original manuscript has been lost and it survives in an English translation that dates from 1627. The Irish chronicle

96-650: Is lost, but there are several copies of it in both the Library of Trinity College and in the British Museum . The original work was in Irish Gaelic . Mag Eochagáin more than once refers "to the ould Irish book out of which he wrote, to the old Irish book which he translates, out of which many leaves were lost or stolen.." Mag Eochagáin seems to have preserved the value of the original Gaelic phraseology and rendered it every justice as far as we can determine in

120-682: Is normally given as "dark" or "black", while Middle Irish finn (Old Irish find , Modern Irish fionn ) is given as "light" or "white". Smyth, referring to the Dictionary of the Irish Language by the Royal Irish Academy , adds that Dub can mean "gloomy" or "melancholy" in a moral sense, and has the intensive meaning of "great" or "mighty". For finn there are the additional meanings of "handsome", "just" and "true". Historians have offered various explanations to account for

144-473: Is the 12th-century Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib , who speaks of "Danish Black Gentiles" ( Duibgeinti Danarda ). Downham points out that the last contemporary use of the terms may be Chronicon Scotorum sub anno 941. According to Smyth, medieval Irish writers and later Gaelic antiquaries such as Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh and Geoffrey Keating "were clear on overall Norwegian origin of the Finn Gaill and

168-462: Is translated "fair-haired foreigners". According to Smyth, the most bizarre explanation of the terms was put forward by Jan de Vries . He suggested that the "Black foreigners" were Moorish slaves, carried off to Ireland in a Viking raid on North Africa. Jón Steffensen, rejecting the fair- and dark-haired hypothesis, suggested that the terms originated from the colours on the shields of the Vikings,

192-514: The Annals of Clonmacnoise from the early 17th century, where Sihtric (Sigtrygg) Cáech in his epitaph is called "prince of the new & old Danes". The identification of Finngaill as Norwegian and Dubgaill as Danish has had a long tradition, but it was first made long after the terms fell out of contemporary use. According to Smyth, the oldest Irish source that equates the Dub - with Danes

216-756: The Norman invasion of Ireland in the late 12th century, this appellation was passed on to foreigners of French speech and then to the English at large. The word did not denote "foreigner" in the sense "anyone not Irish (Gaelic)", but the Saxons , Welsh and Picts are identified as such in the Irish annals, and there are also terms used which may identify the Scandinavians based on nationality, like Dene , Northmanni and Lochlainn . Another word frequently used by

240-571: The finngaill carrying white shields and the dubgaill red. Alfred Smyth gives arguments against all colour-related distinctions. Referring to Steffensen, he dismisses the assumption that "any large Scandinavian host could be composed exclusively and over a long period of dark-haired individuals" as being unrealistic. As an argument against Steffensen theory of shield-colour, as well as other theories based on colour of armour, he asserts that regular uniform and equipment were unknown in early medieval Germanic armies, and that "Norwegian pirates could afford

264-548: The Annals do give special prominence to the history of the parts of the country on both sides of the River Shannon at Clonmacnoise and to the families inhabiting the areas of Uí Maine (Hy Many) surrounding them, namely O'Kellys, O'Rourkes, O'Molloys, O'Connors and McDermotts. In addition, the text bears close similarities to the so-called Clonmacnoise-group of annalistic texts. The principal value of these Annals arises from

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288-665: The Danish origin of the Dub Gaill ". Smyth also states that "it is clear from references to Scandinavian activity of the ninth and tenth century within Ireland that the 'White Foreigners' had a predominantly Norwegian origin, and that their opposite number were Danes", without giving any further references for this conclusion. Smyth argued that Finn- and Dub- did not imply an ethnic distinction but rather "old" and "new", and also pointed out that "large viking armies were not exclusively either Danish or Norwegian". He still did not question

312-569: The Dubgaill and Finngaill (or vice versa) was an imperial one held only by three or four dynasts of the Uí Ímair . Alfred P. Smyth Professor Alfred P. Smyth (1 July 1942 – 16 October 2016) was an Irish-born historian specialising in the mediaeval history of the British Isles . In 2002 he was named Dean of Arts and Humanities at Canterbury Christ Church University College , having been Director of Research there since 1999. He

336-459: The absence of the original manuscript. The original manuscript or manuscripts of the Irish annals are lost, and the names of its compilers are unknown. These annals have usually gone by the name of the Annals of Clonmacnoise , because the work was thought to be based on materials gathered at the monastery of Clonmacnoise , though there is some doubt about this. In the book itself there is nothing to show why it should be called by this name. However,

360-517: The books being burnt by marauding Vikings but also by tailors cutting the leaves of the books and slicing them off in long pieces to make their measures. The translation of the Annals was first published in Dublin in 1896 and again reprinted by Llanerch Publishers in 1993. Scholars have repeatedly called for a new edition as Murphy's edition has been deemed inadequate for modern scholarly purposes. Such scholars include Prof David Dumville who has bemoaned

384-596: The chroniclers in the early phase of the Viking age was Gen(n)ti , meaning "foreigner of a different religion". This was derived from the biblical usage of the Latin phrase gentes or gentiles , the latter form common in traditional English translations of the Bible. This terminology was abandoned, which has been taken as recognition of eventual conversion to Christianity. The literary meaning of Old Irish and Old Welsh Dub

408-528: The fact that terms associated with colour denote two separate factions of Vikings. The explanation which has been most widely accepted is that it either relates to hair-colour or armour. The view that it relates to colour was held, for instance, by the Danish antiquary Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae and James Henthorn Todd ; but it also occurs in more modern historical works like in Mac Airt & Mac Niocaill's 1983 edition of Annals of Ulster where Fhinngallaibh

432-418: The historical details given of these districts and families which are not found to the same extent elsewhere. The Annals give the history of Ireland and the areas surrounding Clonmacnoise from the creation of man to the year 1408. Mag Eochagáin points out that several parts of the original work are missing as from 1182 to 1199 and again from 1290 to 1299. He states that the originals were destroyed not merely by

456-471: The identification as Norwegian/Danish. Downham has pointed out that by the time the first sources equating these terms with Norwegian/Danish were written down, changes in Scandinavia had made the Irish aware of a distinction between Norwegians and Danes, a distinction the Irish (or for that matter the "Norwegians" or "Danes") would not have been aware of in the middle of the 9th century. Downham argues that

480-524: The luxury of carrying nothing but white shields is fanciful to the extreme". As a final argument against distinction in colour between Viking factions, Smyth notes that even though these Vikings were active elsewhere, no Anglo-Saxon or Frankish chroniclers have mentioned any particular colour-distinction. Smyth concludes that in this context, finn and dub should not be related to colour or brightness, but must be translated as "old" and "new". He finds precedent for this in part on Mageoghagan's translations of

504-500: The middle of the 9th century. The rivalry between the Uí Ímair and other groups persisted long after the Uí Ímair had gained control over Dublin, and their hegemony over the Viking settlements in Ireland was established when Amlaíb mac Gofraid defeated the Vikings of Limerick. After the death of Ámlaib, the label finngaill fell out of contemporary use in Irish chronicles. The style King of

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528-571: The terms may not be related to ethnicity or origin of the different groups of Vikings. The word Gaill (plural of Gall ) etymologically originates from " Gauls ", who in pre-Viking Gaelic history were the archetypal "foreigners". Dumville says that "what [the Gauls] had done in Gaelic prehistory to gain that status is unknown and was probably unpleasant." During the Viking age, it came to denote Scandinavians or those of Scandinavian descent or speech. From

552-578: Was also Warden of St. George's House, Windsor Castle . Earlier, he was Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Kent , when he was Master of Keynes College . This article about a British historian or genealogist is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Annals of Clonmacnoise The Annals of Clonmacnoise ( Irish : Annála Chluain Mhic Nóis ) are an early 17th-century Early Modern English translation of

576-670: Was translated into English, in the style of the Elizabethan period, in 1627 by Conall Mag Eochagáin , of Lismoyny ( County Westmeath ), near Clara, County Offaly . Mag Eochagáin dedicated this translation to his brother-in-law, Toirdhealbhach Mac Cochláin, whose family was among the last to uphold and practice native Irish Gaelic customs. The translation was completed on 20 April 1627, in the Castle of Lemanaghan in County Offaly. The original manuscript of Mag Eochagáin's translation

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