Tea at Trianon: Niall of the Nine Hostages

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Niall of the Nine Hostages

From Ancient Origins:

Niall Noígíallach or Niall of the Nine Hostages in English, was an Irish king believed to have lived during the 4th / 5th century. The Uí Néill dynasties, which dominated the northern part of Ireland between the 6th and 10th centuries, claim descent from him. It is assumed that Niall was a real person, though much of the information preserved about him is legendary in nature, thus blurring the lines between fact and fiction. Perhaps the most tangible evidence of Niall’s existence is his estimated two or three million descendants who live around the world today, a figure obtained from genetic research. The Irish annals and chronicles date Niall Noígíallach’s reign to between the late 4th and early 5th centuries. Modern scholars, on the other hand, have suggested that Niall actually reigned about half a century later than the sources report. In any case, Niall is recorded to have been the son of Eochaid Mugmedón, the High King of Ireland (this title, however, is anachronistic, as the High Kingship only became a reality much later during the 9 ^th century). The Irish king’s first wife was Mongfind and together they had four sons. Niall’s mother was the king’s second wife, Cairenn Chasdub, the daughter of Sachell Balb a Saxon king.
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As king, Niall fought many wars against his neighbors, defeated them, and brought them under his control. In order to ensure peace, Niall took hostages from each of the areas he conquered. According to one version of the story, Niall took hostages from the five provinces of Ireland (Ulster, Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Meath), from the Scots, the Saxons, the Britons, and the Franks. As the number of hostages was nine, Niall earned the epithet ‘of the Nine Hostages’. Another version of the story states that Saint Patrick was one of Niall’s hostages.

Niall’s story becomes rather confusing towards the end. Although there is much disagreement between the various sources, they all agree that Niall died outside of Ireland, and that he was killed by Eochaid, the son of Énnae Cennsalach, King of Leinster. In one version of the tale, Niall was fighting against the Romans. His campaign brought him as far as the Alps and the Romans sent an ambassador to negotiate for peace. In the next instance, however, Niall was in Scotland before an assembly of Pictish bards, where he was killed by an arrow fired from across the valley by Eochaid. (Read more.)