Gaelic Warfare: Strategies, Tactics, and Culture in Celtic Battles

By Fouad Sabry

What is Gaelic Warfare

Gaelic warfare was the type of warfare practiced by the Gaelic peoples, in the pre-modern period.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Gaelic warfare

Chapter 2: Cavalry

Chapter 3: Medieval warfare

Chapter 4: Skirmisher

Chapter 5: Ancient warfare

Chapter 6: Battle axe

Chapter 7: Highland charge

Chapter 8: Light cavalry

Chapter 9: Byzantine army

Chapter 10: Norse-Gaels

(II) Answering the public top questions about gaelic warfare.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Gaelic Warfare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: May 30, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Gaelic warfare

Gaelic warfare was the style of warfare employed by the pre-modern Gaelic peoples (Irish, Scottish, and Manx).

For decades, Irish combat was dominated by the Ceithearn, or Kern in English (and so called in Gaelic), a light infantry unit that harassed the opponent with missiles before charging. John Dymmok, who served under Elizabeth I's lieutenant-governor of Ireland, described the kerns as small, hard, and brittle.:

...A sort of footman, lightly equipped with a sword, a target (round shield) of wood, or a bow and sheaf of arrows with barbed heads, or three darts, which they threw with remarkable dexterity and accuracy...

The employment of armored troops in Gaelic Ireland as a reaction to mail-clad Vikings began in the ninth century. In response to the Norman conquest of Ireland and the Anglo-Norman employment of fully armored Men-at-arms and Knights, the heavily armored Norse-Gaelic mercenary Gallowglasses appeared in the early 13th century.

Other weapons such as lances, poleaxes such as the Dane axe, Lochaber axe, and Sparth axe, and swords such as the arming sword and two-handed swords akin to the Scottish Claymore were commonplace as a result of these adaptations and advancements. Given that many pommels and cross-guard decorations are not of Gaelic provenance, it seems improbable that many of the medieval swords discovered in Ireland today were made locally.

By the time of Brian Bóruma and Máel Sechnaill, Irish rulers deployed massive armies over great distances and employed maritime troops in conjunction with land forces.

Beginning in the 11th century, kings maintained tiny permanent fighting armies called lucht tighe, or home troops., They were frequently awarded dwellings and land on the mensal estate of the king.

These were professionally trained and equipped infantry and cavalry forces.

The Gaelic Irish favored hit-and-run and surprise tactics, such as ambushes and raids (the crech), that involved catching the enemy off guard. Cattle raiding was one of the most prominent sources of violence in Gaelic Ireland. As currency had not yet been introduced, cattle were the primary source of wealth in Gaelic Ireland and much of Europe, and the primary objective of most conflicts was the seizure of the enemy's livestock. If this strategy was successful, the raiders would grab any valuables (mostly animals) and potentially valuable hostages, burn the crops, and flee.

The cattle raid was often called a Táin Bó and was an important aspect of Gaelic literature and culture, with the Táin Bó Cúailnge and Táin Bó Flidhais as important examples.

Gaelic warfare was far from stagnant, As Gaelic soldiers frequently plundered or purchased the most advanced and potent equipment, they were frequently armed with the most cutting-edge technology.

Although hit-and-run raiding was the favoured Gaelic technique during the Middle Ages, the Gaels often employed other methods, In addition, there were pitched fights to resolve larger disagreements.

Especially after the Lochlann Vikings arrived, who brought with them their own style of fighting, raiding, and colonies. Over time, these newcomers established their own kingdom, established a dynastic line, and formed their own culture.

Generally speaking, The Gaelic Irish did not wear armor, instead wearing saffron coloured belted tunics called léine (pronounced 'laynuh'), the plural being léinte (pronounced 'layntuh/laynchuh').

According to Welshman Gerald (in the early 12th century), The Gaels chose not to wear armor, as they regarded it cumbersome to wear and fighting without it brave and honorable.

Armor was often simple: the poorest may have used cushioned jackets, The wealthy may have worn cuir bouilli, which is boiling leather armor, The richest individuals may have had access to bronze chest plates, cushioned textile or possibly mail or scale armors (albeit they existed in Ireland), (They were quite rare).

Gallowglass mercenaries of the early 13th century have been shown as wearing mail tunics and steel burgonet helmets, yet the vast majority of Gaelic fighters would have had simply a modest shield for protection.

Typical Gaelic shields were circular, containing a spindle-shaped boss, The Anglo-Saxons did, however, adopt the standard iron boss forms later on, Norsemen and Normans.

A few shields were circular or square in shape, However, the majority of native shields were small and circular, like bucklers, to improve maneuverability and escape.

Clan warfare was a significant feature of life in Gaelic Ireland, particularly before the advent of the Vikings. When Vikings arrived in Ireland, they introduced new types of technology, culture, warfare, and settlements.

Before the Viking Age, Gaelic clan warfare and ceremonial fighting were of great importance. Single combat was another crucial feature of Gaelic ritual warfare at the period. To settle a quarrel or simply to gauge one's skill, it was common to challenge a single warrior from the opposite army to ritual single combat to the death, while the opposing hosts cheered.

The importance of champion combat in Irish mythology, culture and literature, particularly in the Ulster cycle with Cú Chulainn and the Táin Bó Cúailnge, where the warrior from Ulster overcomes Connacht's entire army one by one.

This was a regular occurrence before to a pitched fight, Moreover, rituals tended to take place along river fords.

In modern Gaelic societies, the spirit and traditions of single battle would endure and present itself in other ways.

In Scotland, events such as Scottish Wrestling are held, The Highland Games and Scottish Martial Arts resemble 18th-century duels.

Where the winner depended on who made the initial cut.

However, this was not consistently seen, Occasionally, the duel might last till death.

In Ireland, the spirit of ritual combat has also manifested itself as single combat style sporting events and Irish martial arts such as Irish boxing (Dornálaíocht), Irish wrestling (Barróg), stick fighting (Bataireacht) and scuffling (Coiléar agus Uille).

Numerous settlements in Gaelic Ireland had some form of defense, such as walls or ditches. Throughout the majority of the Gaelic period, homes and structures were round with conical thatched roofs. Many Irish round towers were constructed after this period.

The Hiberno-Normans eventually replaced these wooden motte-and-bailey castles with stone castles and tower residences during the Norman invasion of Ireland.

Beginning in the 16th century, In Ireland, siege warfare commenced.

During this time frame, Urban defense ascended to the forefront of Gaelic warfare and grew in significance.

Following shocking atrocities at the Sack of Cashel and Oliver Cromwell’s Siege and massacre at Drogheda.

Gaelic Irish insurgents, Realizing they could not expect or rely on any quarter upon capitulation, They began to innovate and set traps for troops that were besieging their cities.

Both at the Siege of Clonmel and the Siege of Charlemont, Irish rebel defenders were able to inflict considerable casualties on English forces. During Clonmel, Cromwell's New Model Army and 8,000 troops eventually captured the town from its 2,000 Irish defenders, but not before incurring enormous losses of approximately 2,000 soldiers, or a quarter of their whole force, the largest single-action loss in their history.

The kern became billeted soldiers and mercenaries who served the highest bidder after the arrival of the Vikings and the English to Ireland, who established new techniques of billeting men. Due to their equipment and training as light skirmishers, Kern were severely disadvantaged in pitched combat. After terrifying the adversary with shock tactics, war yells, horns, and pipes, kern and lightly equipped riders would rush the enemy line in battle.

If after the charge the kern failed to break an enemy line, They might have fled.

If the enemy formation did not shatter under the kern's charge, the battle would be lost, Then, fully equipped and armored Irish troops were sent forward and attacked from behind the lines, these units were replaced in the late 13th century by the Gallowglass or Gallóglaigh, who at first were Norse-Gaelic mercenaries but by the 15th century most large túatha in Ireland had fostered and developed their own hereditary forces of Gallowglass.

The primary purpose of Gaelic Heavy infantry was to allow lighter combatants such as Kern and Hobelars to strike in dense combat, break free, regroup and retreat strategically behind the freshly created fighting line if necessary.

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone's armies had acquired continental pike-and-shot tactics by the time of the Tudor reconquest of Ireland. In fact, beginning in the sixteenth century, the Gaelic Irish employed the most contemporary methods of fighting, including a complete dependence on firearms and modern tactics. Their formations were a combination of pikemen, musketeers, and Gaelic swordsmen who began to equip and fight more like continental groups such as the German Landsknecht or the Spanish Rodelero. They employed similar tactics to combat the invading English forces, but without appropriate cavalry assistance, these formations proved fragile. In conjunction with traditional Gaelic shock and hit-and-run tactics, muskets and other firearms were frequently employed in ambushes against enemy column formations on the march.

As time passed,, Gaels intensified their invasions and settlements in Roman Britain (c.

200–500 AD).

Naval forces were required for this mission, and, as a consequence, a multitude of little vessels, called currachs, were employed.

Gaelic forces were so frequently at sea (especially the Dál Riata Gaels), Weaponry needed to evolve.

Javelins and slings became less prevalent, as their launch required too much room, where the tiny currachs prevented.

Instead, Increasing numbers of Gaels were armed with bows and arrows.

The Dál Riata, for example, After settling the west of Scotland and establishing themselves as a maritime power, the English colonized Ireland, became an army consisting exclusively of archers.

Slings also become obsolete, Replaced by both bows and the crann tabhaill, a highly effective naval weapon, Similar to a catapult.

Later, when the Gaels encountered the Vikings, they understood that they needed heavier weapons to be able to cut through the much larger Norse shields and mail-coats.

The prevalence of heavier hacking swords and polearm weapons increased, similar to Iron helmets and mail jackets.

Gaels began routinely employing the two-handed Dane Axe., Utilized by Vikings.

Infantrymen from Ireland and Scotland fighting with the Claymore, axes and more robust armor, In addition to their native darts and bows, they also had access to European weapons.

These heavy troops became known as the Gallòglaigh (Gallowglass), or foreign troops, In the future, they became a crucial component of Gaelic armies.

Several hundred years later, when the Normans invaded Ireland and Britain, the Irish and Scots were compelled to employ an increasing number of fully armored warriors and skirmisher cavalry to effectively combat the mail-clad Normans.

During the Scottish Wars of Independence, the Scots had to devise a strategy to fight the Anglo-Norman English's combined use of heavy cavalry and the Longbow, which was devastating. Which had dominated nearly every British battlefield since Hastings.

As a countermeasure against the Normans and their early use of combined arms combat, the Scottish rebels Andrew de Moray, William Wallace, and King Robert the Bruce are credited with the invention of the Schiltron. English chroniclers of the time said of the Schiltrons fighters:

They were all on foot; they were determined, armed with sharp axes and other weapons, and their shields were tightly clasped in front of them, forming an impregnable phalanx...

They held axes and lances at their sides and in their hands, respectively. They advanced like a dense hedge, and such a phalanx was difficult to break.

Andrew de Moray is credited with employing the Schiltron early in the campaign, although he perished soon after suffering a fatal wound at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

In early encounters, such as when William Wallace employed Schiltrons at the Battle of Falkirk, the static Phalanx-like formations without enough cavalry support proved vulnerable to the English Longbowmen. Robert the Bruce had modified the Schiltron into a more mobile attacking configuration by the time Edward II encountered the Scots at Bannockburn (much like the later Pike Square of continental fame). With these compact mobility units and appropriate assistance from the cavalry. The Scots were able to exploit this ingenious adaption to pin the English heavy horse against the Bannockburn on the second day of the Battle of Bannockburn, defeating Edward II of England's army and paving the road for eventual Scottish independence.

Numerous Gaelic clans possessed unique cultures, symbols, heraldry, flags, and battle standards. Chieftains and War leaders frequently took hollowed-out bull horns and other wind instruments into battle as a means of rallying warriors into combat. It is believed that bagpipes were employed as early as the 14th century, replacing other rallying instruments such as the horn and carnyx. Eventually, bagpipes would gain popularity among Gaelic clans and replace other rallying instruments such as the horn and carnyx. Most notably, the Great Irish Warpipes, which were employed by Gaelic mercenaries in European battlefields and eventually evolved into ceremonial instruments, were used by Irish warriors. Since