Gerald of Wales Quotes
This is a filthy people wallowing in vice…. They do not avoid incest. They do not attend God’s church in true reverence. Moreover, men, … I shall not say marry, but rather debauch the wives of their brothers.
This was the at the time, a typical assessment of the English, Welsh and Scotts about the Irish who were perceived as a lower class of nation. Most interesting was the irreligious perception of a people who would become the most faithful and orthodox of Roman Catholics.
Gerald of Wales, ~1146– ~1223, [Giraldus Cambrensis], Welsh Archdeacon of Brecon & Contemporary Historian, Quoted in Jonathan Bardon, A History of Ireland
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
His memoir is one of the best descriptions of the Irish people at the time. Note that this was before the potato was introduced into Ireland from South America. One of the most interesting things about the Irish at the time is that they did not drink water or eat fish while both were very abundant and of very high quality. The Captain had broken formation in the 1588 Great Armada defeat by England and was ordered onboard another ship of officers to be disciplined (scapegoats for the defeat). His ship was severely damaged, blown off course, and wrecked on the Irish coast. Note that he refers to the Irish as “savages” which was in comportment with the English perception of the Irish at the time—see {639438}. When shipwrecked the Irish robbed and stripped the Spaniards of every shred of their clothing, but they did not kill the few Spaniards who were left alive. They lived off roots and plants until they ran into other Irish who saw them as allied Catholics against the hated English. These Irish assisted them from being captured by the English and helped the escape back to Spain in a small boat.
He had broken formation in the 1588 Great Armada defeat by England and was ordered onboard another ship of officers to be disciplined (scapegoats for the defeat). His ship was severely damaged, blown off course, and wrecked on the Irish coast. Note that he refers to the Irish as “savages” which was in comportment with the English perception of the Irish at the time—see {639438}. When shipwrecked the Irish robbed and stripped the Spaniards of every shred of their clothing, but they did not kill the few Spaniards who were left alive. They lived off roots and plants until they ran into other Irish who saw them as allied Catholics against the hated English. These Irish assisted them from being captured by the English and helped the escape back to Spain in a small boat.
Could not be priests, friars, or deacons. In addition, Englishmen were prohibited from playing hurling, a wonderful Irish type of rough field hockey which is still the traditional Irish sport but played only in Ireland and New York (by the Irish immigrants). The Irish were considered an inferior culture and race in the concept of the time. See {639438}. The similarity of the prejudice of the English against the Irish parallels very closely that or the Southern American whites against the Negroes.
Colton also ordered the Abbot to have no further mistresses. There was a basic concern about and prejudice against the Irish for their relatively promiscuous norms regarding sex. See {639438}.
Gerald of Wales was a Cambro-Norman archdeacon of Brecon and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taught in France and visited Rome several times, meeting the Pope. He was nominated for several bishoprics but turned them down in the hope of becoming Bishop of St Davids, but was unsuccessful despite considerable support. His final post was as Archdeacon of Brecon, from which he retired to academic study for the remainder of his life. Much of his writing survives.
