Galloglas

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=300 BGCOLOR="#C0DCC0" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="140f1940.jpg" border=0 width="241" height="404" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>A galloglass soldier of the sixteenth century.  </B></div> <div> <B>The axe, with handle six feet long, and long-sleeved mail shirt were standard equipment.</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Fáilte to the Website of the "Descendants of Mac Sweeney Doe".</B></FONT>    |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fáilte to the Website of the Descendants"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Event 2007: Flight of the Earls/ Imeacht"><U>Event 2007: Flight of the Earls/ Imeacht na nIarlaí.</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Event 2006, Remembering the 90th anniver"><U>Event 2006, Remembering the 90th anniversary of the death of Tarlagh Mac Sweeney (An Píobaire Mór) c. 1831- July 1916. </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Niall Mór Headstone"><U>The Niall Mór Headstone</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Event 2005 Remembering the 400th annive"><U>Event 2005 - Remembering the 400th anniversary of the execution of Eoghan Óg Mac Sweeney.</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Donegal Person of the Year 2004"><U>Donegal Person of the Year 2004</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Genealogical Table of the Mac Sweeney Ch"><U>Genealogical Table of the Mac Sweeney Chiefs of Doe</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ranald MacDonald of Keppoch, Chief of th"><U>Ranald MacDonald of Keppoch, Chief of the Name</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" AT ARMS LENGTH Aristocrats in the Rep"><U> "AT ARM'S LENGTH  - Aristocrats in the Republic of Ireland"</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" The current Mac Sweeney Doe "><U> The current Mac Sweeney Doe </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Doe Castle Graveyard."><U>Doe Castle Graveyard.</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Event 2004 Remembering the Battle of K"><U> Event 2004  Remembering the Battle of Knockdoe</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Great Book of Irish Genealogies "><U>Great Book of Irish Genealogies </U></A>   |   <B> Galloglas</B>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Remembering Daniel Mac Sweeney 18301893"><U>Remembering  Daniel Mac Sweeney 1830-1893, Event 2003 </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Daniel Mór Sweeney of Derryveagh 1840190"><U>Daniel Mór Sweeney of Derryveagh 1840-1901 - Event 2002</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Remembering the March to Kinsale Event"><U>Remembering the March to Kinsale  - Event 2001</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Recalling Myles Mac Sweeneys Swim to Fre"><U>Recalling Myles Mac Sweeney's Swim to Freedom - Event 2000</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mac Sweeney Doe "><U>Mac Sweeney Doe </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Obituary. "><U>Obituary. </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Related Links"><U>Related Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact us"><U>Contact us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="(NEW) Like the Thirteenth Chime, "><U>(NEW) Like the Thirteenth Chime, </U></A></div> <div>  Galloglas</div> <div> <B>Galloglas/ gallóglaigh were heavily armed professional foot soldiers. They were most deadly in the closed fighting of a pitched battle and we are told that </B><I><B>"in every sharp and severe engagement… they either soon kill or be killed"</B></I><B>. Richard Stanihurst tells us, 1571, that they were </B><I><B>"men of great stature, of more than ordinary strength of limb ….. altogether sanguinary and by no means inclined to give quarter". </B></I><B>They were also described </B><I><B>as "great endurers of cold, labour, and all hardness, very active and strong of hand, very swift of foot".  </B></I><B>It was recorded, in 1598, that all the Mac Sweeneys were galloglas. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The </B><I><B>Annals</B></I><B> record</B><I><B> </B></I><B>that galloglas were in the van when approaching an enemy and in the rear when leaving an enemy's territory.</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT><B>No reference can be found to the deliberate flight of galloglas in battle and Dymock who faced them in the 1590's described them as:</B><I><B> "picked and selected men of mighty bodies, cruel without compassion, the force of the battle doth lie in them choosing to die rather than surrender … the weapon they most use is a battle-axe or halbert, six feet long, the blade whereof is somewhat like a shoemakers knife, and without pike; the stroke whereof is deadly where it lighteth"</B></I><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Prof. G. A. Hayes Mac Coy noted that the battle-axe of one type or another was the weapon par excellence of the galloglas in the sixteenth century and he asked the question:</B><I><B> "was the axe the principal weapon that they used"</B></I><B>? The answer was in the affirmative - the use of axes as the characteristic weapon of the galloglas cannot be questioned. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Standish O Grady tells us </B><I><B>"by these implements all Mac Sweeneys lived and most of them perhaps died"</B></I><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>                                                                                      </B> March 3, 2004</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>