About us
The original mercenary families that entered Ireland under the employ of various chieftains to be armored heavy infantry, were of mostly hebridean/norse origins. These warriors were indispensible to every chieftain who could afford them. They earned a place among his nobility, being given lands for a permanent settlement in his tuath in exchange for their services. In medieval Ireland, a chieftain’s wealth was measured in cattle, but his power was measured in gallowglass. The chieftain assigned each gallowglass two of his young men to act as knaves and handle the mercenary’s armor, provisions and weapons. It was a violent way of life that often ended in death in battle, or execution if captured.
When a gallowglass was killed, it was often one of his knaves that became a gallowglass-in-training to replenish the ranks of the battle (term for unit of gallowglass, usually 60-80 mercenaries). This Irishman, sometimes already a soldier, was taught the skills of hebridean weaponry and warfare, with the honor and customs of that mercenary family, and was essentially absorbed into that clan by way of kinship. This was something that had to be done, especially during fighting seasons, as waiting for more mercenaries to arrive from Scotland was not only timely but expensive. The Constable of Gallowglass, typically a very senior mercenary, and go-between for the chieftains and the battle officers, recruited unskilled native farmboys as well who were physically-dominating and seemed like they could be trained for this type of warfare. A medieval description of the gallowglass stated “...pycked and selected men of great and mightie bodies, crewell without compassion. The greatest force of the battel consisteth in them, chosing rather to dye than to yeelde, so that when it cometh to handy blowes they are quickly slayne or win the fielde.“ The recruiting of native Irish into gallowglass ranks became so widespread that in 1571, Sir John Perrot proclaimed “Twelve months imprisonment for any son of a husbandman or ploughman, who will become a kern, horse-man, or galloglass.“
It is said that by 1600, although there was still a stream of highland mercenaries into Ireland, almost all gallowglass in Ireland were Irishmen with the exception of the Battle’s officers and the Constable of Gallowglass. It is very likely that the overwhelming majority of original hebridean mercenaries that came into Ireland as gallowglass, and their descendants (as it was a heraldric occupation), had their bloodlines end on the battlefield. Genetic genealogy is now leading the way, and showing the sheer amount of Irish with gallowglass surnames may in fact be a result of the Gallowglass families absorbing the native population and not vice versa as it has been commonly believed for centuries.
It is our goal with this group to answer that question.