Hardiman's History of Galway
Chapter 2: From the earliest accounts to the invasion of Henry II
Accounts of Ireland by Tacitus and Ptolemy
Ptolemy, the Greek geographer, who flourished in the second
century has handed down, through the medium of his own language, the
names of several rivers, cities and tribes, then situate on the
western coast of lreland. The accounts which he has given, though
considered correct and highly curious and valuable, are still liable
to many objections; and may, even without going so far as to coincide
with the author of the Oxgygia, in his
remarks on their authenticity,
be pronounced in many particulars erroneous, and such as cannot be
entirely depended upon, without cautious and careful examination. To
the veracity of the geography nothing is imputable; he related what
he heard from those who had visited the country; for it appears that
this Island, though unfortunately never under the dominion of the
Romans, yet carried on an extensive trade with the empire. Tacitus, in
the tract before referred to, asserts that its ports and harbours were
better known than those of Britain, from a greater commerce
and resort
of merchants; and from those visitors it was, that Ptolemy
drew the
accounts which he had of the coasts of Ireland; for he does not seem
to have mentioned, or even known anything of the interior of the
country, except a few places which lay immediately contiguous to the
coasts.
But our native historians having passed over, in silence,
the several places mentioned by Ptolemy,
the truth of his relation
came at length to be doubted, and the existence of the cities and
people, described by him, was called in question: this caused many
writers, amongst whom Camden,
Ware,
Baxter and Harris are the chief,
to exert much ingenuity to reconcile his accounts respecting the
country in general, and to settle the situation of the several places
which he has mentioned; yet, after all their learned conjectures, the
situations of many of these places still remain undetermined. The
geographer having described the northern coast of Ireland, proceeds to
the western, where he mentions a people called the Auterii,
and a city
as then existing, to which he gives the term "illustrious," and calls
by the name of Nagnata, an illustrious city.
That this was the ancient
town of Galway, according to the judgment and decision of some of the
learned writers just mentioned, there can be no doubt, although
others, at the same time, hold a contrary opinion, and think that the
Auterii were the people then inhabiting the district of Galway, which,
according to them, was their principal city. In order, however, to
afford the reader an opportunity of forming his own judgment between
these conflicting opinions, it may not be unimportant or uninteresting
to lay before him what has been said, by those different writers, on
the subject.
Auteriis
Ware, whose opinion on Irish antiquities (though he was
unacquainted with the lrish language, claims every deference, says,
that the Auterii resided in the countries
comprehending the present
counties of Galway and Roscommon. Mr. Beauford, a writer much more
fanciful than correct supposes them the inhabitants of the coasts of
Galway and Mayo; and, as the name, according to him, signifies an
habitation of the western water, he thinks there is the greatest
probability that their city was situate some where on the bay of
Galway, to which the natives, during their commerce with the Gallic,
Iberian and Roman merchants, resorted for the benefit of trafic; if it
were not, adds he, the ancient town of Galway itself. He again changed
his mind, by placing these people in that extensive district, now
comprehending the county of Mayo, and says, they were evidently the
ancient inhabitants of the Irish Ibh-Errus, the present
barony of Errus? in that country.
By this he seems to have abandoned his former
conjectures, leaving the opinion of Ware
uncontroverted; who, with a
great deal of probability, thinks that the town of
Athenry?, commonly
called in lrish Ath-an-righ, or Aitanri, was the city or capital of
the Auterii: and, independently of any coincidence of name, which,
however, is very remarkable, the situation and antiquity of Athenry
very much favour the opinion. From hence, therefore, it may be safely
concluded, that the city of the Auterii, mentioned by Ptolemy,
was not
the ancient town of Galway.
It now remains to ascertain the situation of Nagnata, then the
principal city of the western coast of Ireland; and, although
satisfactory proofs and convincing arguments shall be produced, which
will fully demonstrate it to have been the original town of Galway,
still, from the order and distances, as laid down by Ptolemy, it
might, with every appearance of probability, be concluded, that
Nagnata was situated more to the north, and somewhere in the direction
of the present town or county of Sligo. But, as the writings of this
author abound with errors and mistakes, many arising from
incorrectness of information, and, perhaps, many more from
carelessness of transcribers, no dependance, ought to be, or indeed
is, placed on them by the learned; and particularly as to the
situations of many of the places which he has mentioned. A writer,
referred to in the last paragraph, who endeavoured a good deal, but
often upon erroneous principles, to reconcile those differences,
[j]
places Nagnata in the present
barony of Carbery? and county of Sligo?;
and, to support this allocation, he alleges that the name is derived
from Nagaetaegh, or the habitation on the sea; but he seems to have
forgotten that this would equally well apply to any other situation on
the coast, as to that which was selected by him for the purpose of
establishing his hypothesis. He then adds, that it was called by the
old lrish, Slioght gae, or the race on the sea, but for this he does
not give, nor, in truth, could he give, any authority; and he finally
supposes, that it might be Cnoc na teagh, or Druimcliffe?,
in the
county of Sligo, which, though at present only a desolated village, is
said, in former ages, to have been a large town. Ware,
however,
declares, that he was not able to discover the smallest trace of a
city, so called, in all that tract of country; and though he thinks,
with every appearance of truth, that Ptolemy might have misplaced this
city a little, he does not mention where he supposed it might have
been situated. Eaxter,
whose authority is most respectable, judges
Galway to have been the place,[k] and says that the name means,
in
Irish, Cuan na guactie, or the port of the small Islands,
alluding to the Isles of Arran. Iying at the entrance of the bay, and
the other small Islands Iying nearer the town. He derives the name
from Cuan,[l] a port or harbour, na,
a preposition of the genitive case,
and uact or guact, a little Island which. By transition into the
Greek manner of pronunciation, would form Naguata, for Nagnata he
takes to be an error of transcribers. Harris, the editor of Ware,
agrees with Baxter, saying, that the situation of Galway, according to
Ptolemy, is pretty near the truth of this notion. If, in corroboration
of the foregoing reasonings, recurrence shall be had to
the testimonies of lacitus, and also of our native historians, already
mentioned, relative to the commerce of Galway, at the very time that
Ptolemy describes Nagnata as the most considerable place on the
western coast of Ireland, very little doubt can remain as to their
identity. If it should still be necessary to call in the aid of
probability or conjecture on the point, the reader might be reminded
how indispensable the advantages of natural situation are always held,
towards rendering any place eminent or considerable; and, seeing that
the bay of Galway possesses, in a high degree, all these advantages,
it might be no small reason to conclude, that Nagnata, then the most
celebrated place in this part of the kingdom, must have been situated
somewhere on the bay: and, if he should go farther, and inquire for
the particular spot, he might be assisted by considering the general
practice of mankind, at all times, in building their habitations or
cities at or near the banks of rivers; and then, combining the
numerous advantages, which, in the particular instance of the position
of Galway, attend the contence of a considerable lake and the ocean,
he will find that its situation was the best adapted, and most
probable place of any other in that quarter, for that of the city in
question. Considering therefore, all the foregoing testimonies and
reasonings, and the conclusions drawn from them, our entire
concurrence is given to the opinions of the learned and respectable
writers above quoted, that the ancient town of Galway, though without
any apparent nominal analogy, was the famous city mentioned under the
name of Nagnata by Ptolemy.
Having thus far endeavoured to ascertain the existence of this
ancient place, the next object should be, if possible, to discover its
origin and illustrate its history; but these are tolally involved in
darkness; and the only room that remains even for conjecture, is that
of its having been so often made a point of division, in the various
partitions of Ireland, as mentioned in the beginning of this chapter,
whence it may reasonably be concluded to have been of very remote
antiquity.
It would be foreign from the intention with which this work was
originally undertaken, here to consume too much time in describing the
tribes and people, who, according to Ptolemy or the native writers of
Ireland, formerly inhabitedd
the countries about Galway. As to the
town itself, to which our attention is principally directed, no
mention appears made of it for centuries after the period in which it
is found to have been so considerable; but there are extant several
accounts of sanguinary contests, between the rival princes of Munster
and Connaught,[m]
immediateiy in its neighbourhood; and also of changes
of inhabitants, and new settlements in its vicinity: but a dead
silence reigns as to the place itself, which can only be accounted
for, from the destruction of the ancient records and annals of the
kingdom already alluded to; and this want or omission is not at all
singular in the history of our island, for it is now most clearly
ascertained, that many considerable places formerly had existence, of
which very little more than their names have been transmitted to
posterity. To notice a single instance, out of many; who can peruse
the few and trifling accounts now remaining of the early history of
Dublin, the ancient metropolis of the kingdom, without a conviction of
the loss of the annals and chronicles, which recorded the events of
those distant times?
Next: Destruction of the Town by the Danes (9th century)
Chapter 2
Return to book table of contents
Online edition of Hardiman's History of Galway, © 1995-2001 World Wide
Web Marketing Ltd. This is still a work in progress.