According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, a medieval Irish Christian history, the Milesians, also called the sons of Míl, were the last group to settle in Ireland. The Milesians are considered the ancestors of the Irish people. They were Gaels who traveled from Iberia (Hispania) to Ireland after spending many years moving around the world. When they arrived, they faced the Tuatha Dé Danann, who were the gods of the Irish people. The two groups agreed to share Ireland: the Milesians would live in the world above, while the Tuatha Dé Danann would live in the world below, which is known as the Otherworld.
Scholars believe this story was mostly created by medieval Christian writers.
Myth
The 9th century Latin text Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons) states that Ireland was settled by three groups of people from the Iberian Peninsula. The first group, the people of Partholón, died from a plague. The second group, the people of Nemed, later returned to Iberia. The third group was led by three sons of a warrior from Hispania (mīles Hispaniae). They sailed to Ireland with thirty ships, each carrying thirty wives. They saw a glass tower in the middle of the sea with men on top, but the men did not respond to their calls. They tried to take the tower, but a great wave sank all but one of their ships. Only one ship survived, and its passengers became the ancestors of the Irish. Later Irish texts say that the people of Nemed were drowned while trying to capture a tower by the sea.
The Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland), an Irish text written in the 11th century by an unknown author, claims to describe the history of Ireland and the Irish (the Gaels). It states that all humans are descended from Adam through the sons of Noah, and that a Scythian king named Fénius Farsaid, a descendant of Noah’s son Japheth, is the ancestor of the Gaels. Fénius, a prince of Scythia, was one of 72 chieftains who built the Tower of Babel. His son, Nel, married Scota, the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh, and they had a son named Goídel Glas. Goídel created the Goidelic (Gaelic) language from the 72 languages that arose after the confusion of tongues at Babel. Goídel’s descendants, the Goidels (Gaels), left Egypt at the same time as the Israelites’ Exodus and settled in Scythia. After some time, they left Scythia and wandered the Earth for 440 years, facing trials similar to those of the Israelites, who wandered for 40 years. In some versions of Lebor Gabála, there was a dispute over the kingship of Scythia between Refloir and Míl (also called Galam). Míl killed Refloir and was exiled for this act.
Eventually, Míl and his followers reached Iberia/Hispania by sea and conquered it. There, Goídel’s descendant Breogán built a city called Brigantia and constructed a tower from which his son Íth saw Ireland. Brigantia is believed to refer to Corunna (then called Brigantium) in modern-day Galicia, Spain, and Breogán’s tower is likely based on the Tower of Hercules, built by the Romans in Corunna.
Íth sailed to Ireland with a group of men and was welcomed by its three kings: Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht, and Mac Gréine. These kings were members of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who ruled Ireland at the time. Evidence suggests the Tuatha Dé were the main pagan gods of Ireland. Íth was then killed by unknown attackers, and his men returned to Iberia. The eight sons of Íth’s brother Míl (also called Míl Espáine, “of Hispania”) led an invasion to avenge his death and take Ireland. After landing, they fought the Tuatha Dé and marched toward Tara, the royal capital. On the way, they met Banba, Fódla, and Ériu—believed to be land goddesses—who offered the Gaels good fortune if they named the land after them. Amergin, one of the Gaels, promised this would happen. At Tara, the Gaels met the three kings, who claimed joint kingship of the land. The kings asked for a three-day truce, during which the Gaels had to stay nine waves from the shore. The Gaels agreed, but the Tuatha Dé summoned a strong wind to prevent them from returning to their ships. Amergin calmed the wind by reciting a verse. The surviving ships returned to land, and the two groups agreed to divide Ireland. The Gaels took the world above, while the Tuatha Dé took the world below (the Otherworld) and entered the sídhe, the ancient burial mounds found across Ireland.
Amergin divided the kingship between Éremon, who ruled the northern half of Ireland, and Éber Finn, who ruled the southern half. This division likely explained the 7th- or 8th-century division between the royal capitals of Tara and Cashel. Lebor Gabála then traces Ireland’s dynasties back to Milesian Gaels like Éremon and Éber. Modern scholars believe these were fictional characters, and the writers created them to give medieval dynasties more legitimacy.
Analysis
Modern scholars believe the story was mostly created by medieval Irish Christian writers. These writers tried to connect the Irish people to events and people from the Old Testament, to compare the Irish to the Israelites, and to make their old pagan stories fit with Christianity. They were influenced by other medieval Christian writings, such as the work of Galician cleric Paulus Orosius called History Against the Pagans, Saint Jerome’s Chronicle, and the writings of Isidore.
The idea that the Irish Gaels came from the Iberian region of Galicia may be based on three things. First, the names Iberia/Hiberia and Hibernia are similar to Galicia and Gael. Medieval writers often made similar claims about other groups based only on name similarities. Second, Isidore of Seville described Iberia as the "motherland of the races." His writings were an important influence on the authors of the Lebor Gabála. Third, Orosius wrote that Ireland lies "between Iberia and Britain." The Roman historian Tacitus also believed Ireland was located between Iberia and Britain. John Carey explains that if Iberia was thought to be the part of Europe closest to Ireland, it would make sense to see it as the place where people from overseas came.
The name Míl Espáine is a Gaelic version of the Latin term mīles Hispaniae, meaning "warrior or soldier of Hispania." This term first appears in the Historia Brittonum. Some early scholars connected the Irish Milesians to the ancient Greek people of Miletus. However, Joseph Lennon notes that no connection exists between Míl, Milesians, and Miletus in early legends. He believes the name Milesian likely came from later English translations of the story, as the term was not commonly used to describe the Irish before the 18th century.
Some medieval writers invented names for the Milesians based on Gaelic ethnic names: Goidel Glas (from Goídel), Fenius (from Féni), Scota (from Scoti), Éber (from Hiberni), Éremon, and Ír (from Éire).
Legacy
Professor Dáithí Ó hÓgain explains that the story of how the sons of Míl took Ireland was a made-up tale, but many poets and scholars believed it was true history until the 19th century. For many years, this legend was used in Ireland to support the power and authority of certain families and leaders. For example, in his book Two Books of the Histories of Ireland (1571), Edmund Campion tried to use the myth to claim that the British king had a right to rule Ireland. In A View of the Present State of Ireland, Edmund Spenser both accepted and rejected parts of the story. He used it to criticize the Irish people of his time and to support English efforts to control Ireland during the 1590s, which was a period of conflict between England and Spain.
The myth was discussed during the Contention of the Bards, a time between 1616 and 1624. During this period, poets from the north and south of Ireland praised the families that supported them and criticized the families from the other part of the island.
In his work Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (written around 1634), Geoffrey Keating used the myth to support the claim that the Stuart family had the right to rule Ireland. He connected this to the origin of the Lia Fáil, a stone in Irish tradition. He claimed that King Charles I was related to Brian Boru, Éber, and Galamh, who were said to be descendants of Noah and, eventually, of Adam. During the early modern period, many Irish people left their homeland due to political and military problems. In both Ireland and Spain, people believed that the Gaelic Irish were descendants of Míl Espáine and his followers from Spain. Because of this belief, Irish people in Spain were given the same rights and privileges as Spanish citizens, including automatic citizenship for Irish Catholics who reached Spanish territory.
One theory about the origin of the Stone of Scone was proposed by a Medieval Scottish lawyer named Baldred Bisset. He suggested that the stone was brought from ancient Egypt through the Iberian Peninsula or Celtiberia to Ireland by Scota, the daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh and the wife of Goídel Glas, an ancestor of the Milesians. The stone is connected to the Lia Fáil, a stone used for the crowning of Irish kings at the Hill of Tara. According to Bisset, Scota and a group of Irish warriors later invaded Scotland, bringing the stone with them. Eventually, the stone was taken by Edward I of England after he conquered Scotland.