The O'Briens of Thomond: from royal to rebel

Brian Boru, Chapel Royal, Dublin Castle

Two members of the O'Brien family, a royal and a rebel, are represented in sculpture in Dublin city. Brian Boru (c.941-1014), the founder of the family, and his descendant, William Smith O'Brien (1803–1864). Brian Boru was the greatest of Ireland's medieval kings and he, more than any other, came closest to making the title 'High King of Ireland' a reality. Brian came from the relatively obscure dynasty of Dál Cais in North Munster and would have been considered as somewhat of an upstart by established clans like the O'Neill. The dynasty became increasingly prominent over the course of the 10th century and by the turn of the millennium Brian Boru had become the chief overlord of Ireland's provincial kings.

The 1,000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf was commemorated earlier this year and is probably the best known of Ireland's medieval battles. It took place on Good Friday 1014 and is reputed to have lasted from sunrise to sundown. Brian's forces were victorious that day and it was considered a turning point in curtailing Viking expansion, although Viking control of Dublin continued until the Normans wrested control from them in the late 12th century.

Brian did not live to see the day out and is said to have been killed while praying in his tent. Petty rivalries prevented Brian's descendants, the O'Briens, from keeping other provincial kings in check and building on his work. They did, however, carve out the petty kingdom of Thomond which existed until they accepted titles from Henry VIII and conformed to the established faith.

They became earls of Thomond and barons Inchiquin, and in the 19th century a scion of the family was to emerge as a rebel. Born in 1803, 111 years ago on this day at Dromoland Castle, William Smith O'Brien entered politics in 1828 as MP for the borough of Ennis. His liberal views were those of Young Ireland and frequently at variance with the Old Ireland views of Daniel O'Connell. This came to a head in 1846 when he led a split from O'Connell's Repeal Association over the issue of non-violence.

Detail of  William Smith O'Brien statue on
O'Connell St., by Thomas Farrell

Although a moderate he took up arms against the state during the tumultuous years of the Great Famine. At the head the Irish Confederation's ramshackle insurgency the uprising of July 1848 culminated in what was little more than a skirmish against a group of policemen who had barricaded themselves inside a house  near  Ballinagarry, Co. Tipperary. He was captured shortly after and sentenced to death for high treason but this was commuted to transportation for life to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) along with other Young Irelanders.

His death sentence was was commuted on the condition that he never return to the United Kingdom but he was granted an unconditional pardon in 1856 and returned to Ireland. In his latter years he became an advocate of passive resistance and following his death in Wales in 1864, crowds turned out in Dublin to mourn his passing. His final resting place is in the family mausoleum at Rathronan churchyard, Co. Limerick.

Hibernia through the centuries

The representation of Ireland as female can be dated to some of the earliest manuscript sources and the flowering of writing on the island. Although scant, the early-Christian sources mention the 'Feis Temro', or Feast of Tara, a fertility rite in which powerful kings symbolically 'married' the land.
However, because of its pagan elements, it was frowned upon by Christian clerics and the last recorded staging of the event was in 560 AD during the reign of Diarmait mac Cerbail, king of Tara.

Dublin city is dotted with several sculptures of the female personification of Ireland as Hibernia, with her signature symbol, the harp. One such sculpture, from the tympanum of James Gandon's Customs House, represents co-operation between Ireland and Britain through the embrace of Hibernia and Britannia. It is a projection of the ruling elite's idealistic image of the relationship between the two countries in the late 18th century.

As the 18th century gave way to the 19th and the last vestiges of the Penal Laws were dismantled, Roman Catholics came to wield considerable power at local and national level. They too used the figure of Hibernia to express their experiences and aspirations on buildings and monuments in Dublin.

The best example is on the drum of John Henry Foley's O'Connell monument commemorating the achievements of Daniel O'Connell. It can be seen (pictured left) with Hibernia holding the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, while she tramples the chains of oppression. It was unveiled with spectacular fanfare on Sackville Street (O'Connell Street) in 1882.

Those that were supportive of the British Empire and the union between Ireland and Britain continued to cast Hibernia to promote these ends. Following Queen Victoria's visit to Ireland in 1900, and her subsequent death the following year, the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) raised considerable funds to erect a commemorative monument.

The result was John Hughes' Victoria monument which was unveiled outside Leinster House, the headquarters of the RDS in 1908.

The monument was adorned by three supporting sculptures, two of which depicted 'Hibernia at war' and 'Hibernia at peace'. 'Hibernia at war', also known as 'Hibernia and the dying soldier', illustrates the final moments of an Irish soldier dying from wounds received in the service of the British Army during the Boer War (1899-1902). (See image bottom left).

Following the dismantling and removal of the statue in 1948, 'Hibernia at war' finally came to rest in the grounds of Dublin Castle where it remains to this day. Queen Victoria took a somewhat longer voyage and finally came to rest outside the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney, Australia.

William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory were vociferous opponents of Queen Victoria's visit in 1900 as they regarded it as a cynical move by the British authorities to bolster flagging recruitment for the Boer War in Ireland. Yeats and Lady Gregory were key players in the Gaelic League and collaborated to write the play Caitilin Ni Houlihan. 

Caitlin Ni Houlihan, the play's principal character, is an allegorical representation of the Irish nation -- a Hibernia type figure cast from the mold of Roisin Dubh -- who requires young men to take up arms and aid in "putting the strangers out of [her] house". It romanticized militant separatism and was considerably influential in nationalist circles.

To people of a certain vintage, the most well-known  representation of Ireland as a woman is Sir John Lavery's 'Portrait of Lady Lavery as Caitilin Ni Houlihan', on display at the National Gallery of Ireland. The reason that this image is so familiar is that a likeness of Lady Lavery's image in the portrait was used in a series of banknotes issued by the Central Bank between 1927 and 1977.

Cuchulainn, the warrior par-excellence in Irish mythology, was idolized by Patrick Pearse so the General Post Office (GPO), the headquarters of the 1916 Rising, seemed an appropriate to erect a statue of the hero.

This was certainly the view of Eamonn de Valera who arranged for Oliver Sheppard's bronze casting to be installed there in 1935. It is interesting to note the juxtaposition of the Cuchulainn statue on the ground floor with that of Hibernia directly above it standing on top of the tympanum.

This created an association between the female representation of Ireland and the sacrificial warrior and it is unlikely that the symbolism went unnoticed by Yeats.

Some of Yeats' last works reflect on aspects of the 1916 Rising. In Man and the Echo, he muses, "Did that play of mine send out certain men the English shot?" and in The Statues, he asks "When Pearse summoned Cuchulainn to his side, what stalked through the Post Office?"

 Pictures: From top. Britannia and Hibernia embrace at the tympanum of the Customs House; Hibernia tramples the chains of oppression at the O'Connell monument; 'Hibernia and the Dying Soldier' at Dublin Castle; Oliver Sheppard's statue of Cuchulainn at the General Post Office; Hibernia on the tympanum on the top of the GPO.

From royals to rebels: Dublin Castle 1915-1922

Dublin Castle was the power centre from which English, and later British, power ruled and administered Ireland from the 12th century. Functioning as a surrogate court headed by successive lords deputy and lords lieutenant, its levees, balls and other social events were the epitome of conspicuous consumption.

Pomp and circumstance was also visible on the streets of Dublin as the cavalcade of the lord lieutenant frequently traversed the city. Peter Gray and Olwyn Purdue, in The Irish Lord Lieutenancy have remarked on the passing of this era and how British rule "unceremoniously came to an end" with the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922.

The Irish Times summed up the transition very well in its reporting of the handing over of Dublin Castle on 17 January 1922: "Having withstood the attacks of successive generations of Irish rebels, Dublin Castle was quietly handed over to eight gentlemen in three taxicabs."

These contrasting video clips, captured less than seven years apart, illustrate the transition from British rule to independence.

The first clip shows the state entry of the lord lieutenant, Viscount French of Ypres, at Dublin Castle in 1915 with all the attendant ceremony while the second shows its informal handover to the "eight gentlemen in three taxicabs," including Michael Collins and Kevin O'Higgins. You might say there had been a transition from 'royals' to 'rebels'.