Milesians

Sons of Míl, Clanna Míled. Final mythic invaders of Ireland according to the pseudo-history Lebor Gabála [Book of Invasions] and fictionalized counterparts of the Goidels, important ancestors of the Irish people. ‘Milesian’ is a Latinized form taken from their eponymous founder, Míl Espáine, but sources outside the Lebor Gabála also suggest a link with ancient Miletus in Asia Minor.

Narratives of Milesian origins and wanderings in the Mediterranean appear fabulous and contrived, while those of their invasion of Ireland have correlatives in history; the two portions of the whole seem forcibly united. In the curious mélange of biblical and classical learning in the Lebor Gabála, the Milesians originate in Scythia, a region the subject of much fantasy in early Irish tradition. Descended from Noah's son Japheth, the first Milesian leader was Fénius Farsaid, who was present at Babel during the biblical separation of the languages. His son Niúl married a pharaoh's daughter, Scota [Latin, Irishwoman] (2), producing Goídel Glas, who fashioned the Irish language, following Fénius' instructions. The Milesians were so intimate with the captive Israelites that none other than Moses had saved the life of the infant Goídel with a touch of his rod. The child had been bitten by a snake, and Moses pledged that Goídel and his descendants would live in a land without serpents. In subsequent generations the Milesians met with persecution in Egypt and so wandered to many lands, first to their homeland in Scythia, later for seven years in the Caspian Sea, and eventually to Spain, which they conquered and settled. Míl Espáine [Irish, soldier of Spain], the Milesian eponym and hero, joins the narrative in Egypt and leads his people through their irregular itinerary to Spain, where he dies unexplainedly. Míl, however, knows of the druid Caicer's prophecy that his people will live in Ireland, a country no Milesian has seen, although one sight of Ireland from afar will crystallize the resolve to go there. After Breogan has built a high defensive tower at Brigantia (La Coruña, in the NW corner of Galicia, Spain), his son Íth climbs it in the cold winter twilight and sees the promised island on the horizon.

The Milesian penetration of Ireland comes in two waves. Íth, who is also Míl's uncle, first leads 150 men on a scouting mission, landing in what is now Derry, proceeding to the fortress of Ailech. There Íth meets three kings from the Tuatha Dé Danann, the previous invaders, who are dividing Ireland among themselves. Suspicious of his attempts to advise them, the three have Íth treacherously slain while returning to his ship. After his body has been returned, his nine brothers join with the eight sons of Míl to invade Ireland and capture it. Two of Míl's sons are drowned before the invasion, Erannán when he falls from a mast lookout and Ír after his oar breaks while he is trying to get ahead of the other warriors; he later became an eponym (one of several) for Ireland itself. The expedition finally lands at Inber Scéne, an estuary in south Co. Kerry (probably Kenmare). Amairgin (1), the poet and son of Míl, was the first to set foot on Ireland.

The Milesian conquest of Ireland is aided by unexpected allies. After defeating a Tuatha Dé force at Sliab Mis (Co. Kerry), the Milesians meet three goddesses, each of whom asks that the island be named for her: Banba, Ériu, and Fódla. At Tara the invaders meet three kings, who were, according to some texts, the husbands of the goddesses: Mac Cuill, Mac Cécht, and Mac Gréine. The three kings seek to put off the Milesians with a trick, asking to hold the country only three days more while the invaders stay nine waves from shore. Although the Milesians faithfully comply, the druids of the Tuatha Dé use spells to raise a storm to drive the invaders further from shore; but Amairgin, the leading spokesman, calms the waters with a verse. Another brother, Donn mac Míled, rages against the Tuatha Dé and vows to slaughter all in Ireland, but a magical wind drowns him and his brother Erech Febria on the south-west coast. Then Éremón, first among the four remaining brothers, leads the Milesians sunwise turn around Ireland to the Boyne estuary at Beltaine; Colptha is the first to go ashore, and Inber Colptha is named for him. The Milesians soon crush the Tuatha Dé Danann, first and more memorably at Tailtiu [Teltown, Co. Meath], and later at Druim Ligen. Éremón and Éber divide Ireland between themselves, but they and Amairgin, the poet brother, continue to contend with one another; Colptha is not mentioned further in the narrative. Aiding the Milesians are the chieftain Eadán and Breaga, eponym of the kingdom of Brega and son of Breogan. Míl Espáine's widow, Scota (1), accompanies the invaders, giving her name to all the Irish people, the Scoti, as Gaelic-speaking Irishmen were known in Latin; later invaders from Ulster would take the name across the ‘Sea’ or Strait of Moyle to what is now Scotland. Milesian hegemony spread to all corners of Ireland. After a century of Milesian rule the Aitheachthuatha [Irish, plebeian races], composed of surviving elements of the Fir Bolg, rebelled and set the usurper Cairbre Cinn-Chait upon his disastrous reign. Cairbre's son Morann, who could have succeeded him, returned the kingship to the Milesians. Although no mention is made of Milesians in early Ulster or Connacht narratives, eventually, through the influence of the Lebor Gabála, all Irish aristocrats could claim a common ancestor in Míl Espáine. Other notable Milesians include: Fuad, son of Breogan, eponoym of Sliab Fúait [Slieve Fuad]; and Bladma, eponym of Sliab Bladma [Slieve Bloom].

Bibliography

• Vernam E. Hull, “‘The Milesian Invasion of Ireland’”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, 19 (1932), 155–60
• T. F. O'Rahilly, Early Irish History and Mythology (Dublin, 1946), 195–9. Charles Maturin employed elements of the invasion story for his historical novel The Milesian Chief (London, 1812), before reliable translations of the medieval texts had been produced