Fionn mac Cumaill

Fionn mac Cumaill Comes to the Aid of the Fianna

Fionn mac Cumaill anglicised to Finn McCool in the Romantic Period of the 1800s) was a mythical hunter-warrior of Irish mythology, occurring also in the mythologies of Scotland and the Isle of Man.
The stories of Fionn and his followers, the Fianna, form the Fenian cycle or Fiannaidheacht, much of it purported to be narrated by Fionn's son, the poet Oisín.

Fionn or Finn is actually a nickname meaning "fair" (in reference to hair and/or skin colour), "white", or "bright". His childhood name was Deimne "Sureness, Certainty", and several legends tell how he gained the nickname when his hair turned prematurely white. The name "Fionn" is related to the Welsh name Gwyn, as in the mythological figure Gwyn ap Nudd, and to the continental/Roman British Celtic Vindos, also a 'nickname' for a god such as Belenos.

The 19th century Irish revolutionary organisation known as the Fenian Brotherhood took its name from these legends. The Scottish name Fingal comes from a retelling of these legends in epic form by the eighteenth century poet James Macpherson.

Contemporary Scottish poet Marie Marshall has written a semi-serious ballad in parody of 19c neo-medievalism "How Finn McCool became Lord of Tara". It deals with how Finn saved the noble house of Tara from the evil spell of Allan-of-the-Harp, an elf-king with a hatred of human prosperity. A sample passage runs thus:

For three and twenty years the hall
Of Tara’s King was razed and burned
On Harvest Eve. But none recall
Who from that eldritch sleep returned
The harping of the evil elf –
In mystery was Tara cloaked –
Until young Finn McCool himself
The right of rest and board invoked
One summer’s end, and joined their feast.
A modest boy of humble mien,
He sat the lowest, ate the least,
Observed the merrymaking scene.
At midnight sharp came Allan in
And shrouded all with slumber foul
Except the youthful paladin,
Who hid a spear beneath his cowl
And pressed the blade against his cheek.
Then Allan stalked around the room
And wrathfully began to speak.
“This is brave Goll McMorna’s doom,
That once a year shall Tara fall
And fire her rising towers destroy.
And thus I curse you, one and all!”
At which, up sprang the noble boy…

Cúchulainn

Drawing of Cúchulainn by John Duncan, Scottish 19th C. artist

I am taking a turn here to start from the beginning of Irish History and its heroes. There are many heroes of Irish History, not just the ones from 1916. Ireland was not always in the possession of foriegn invaders. Some of the wars were internal.

Cúchulainn (pronounced koo hool n) is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore. The son of the god Lug and Deichtine (sister of Conchobar mac Nessa), he was originally named Sétanta.

He gained his better-known name as a child after he killed Culann's fierce guard-dog in self-defense, and offered to take its place until a replacement could be reared. At the age of seventeen he defended Ulster single-handedly against the armies of queen Medb of Connacht in the epic Táin Bó Cúailnge ("Cattle Raid of Cooley"). It was prophesied that his great deeds would give him everlasting fame, but that his life would be short–one reason he is compared to the Greek hero Achilles.

He is known for his terrifying battle frenzy or ríastrad (similar to a berzerker's frenzy, though sometimes called a "warp spasm" because of the physical changes that take place in the warrior), in which he becomes an unrecognisable monster who knows neither friend nor foe. He fights from his chariot, driven by his loyal charioteer Láeg, and drawn by his horses, Liath Macha and Dub Sainglend. In more modern times, Cú Chulainn is often referred to as the "Hound of Ulster".

12 May 1916

James Connolly

Sean McDermott

Sean McDermott and James Connolly were the last to be executed by Maxwell on 12 May 1916. Both were signatories of the proclamation.

It was Sean MacDiarmada that read Padraig Pearse's letter of surrender to those in the G.P.O. Sean "limped his way to the Stonebreakers Yard. The time was 3:45 a.m." (Rebels: The Irish Rising of 1916 by Peter De Rosa pg. 502)

Connolly was severely wounded and had to be transported to the execution on a stretcher. They also had to prop him up in a chair in order to execute him. "Connolly was the only one of the ring leaders not to be jailed at Kilmainham." (Rebels: The Irish Rising of 1916 by Peter De Rosa pg. 502)

11 May 1916

J Dillon Irish Nationalist MP

"The great bulk of the population were not favourable to the rebels, they got no popular support whatsoever. What is happening is that thousands of people in Dublin, who ten days ago were bitterly opposed to the whole of the Sinn Fein movement, and to the rebellion, are now becoming infuriated with the Government on account of the executions, and, as I am informed… that feeling is spreading throughout the country in an almost dangerous degree." J Dillon Irish Nationalist MP, 11 May 1916 speaking in the House of Commons.

10 May 1916

Prime Minister Herbert Asquith

John Edward Redmond M.P.

In the House of Commons on Monday Mr Redmond asked the Prime Minister to put an immediate stop to the execution of rebels in Dublin. His demand reflects the attitude of the official National Press and of some of the leading Liberal newspapers in England. They will not be satisfied with the Prime Minister’s reply. He refused in effect to interfere with the full discretion which has been left in the hands of the General Officer Commanding the Forces in Ireland. Sir John Maxwell is not in Dublin for the purpose of conducting a "Bloody Assize". He would reject so hateful a task with anger and scorn. The Government sent him to Ireland in order that he might suppress a dangerous insurrection, exact the necessary penalties and lay a solid foundation for the re-establishment of order and law. He has done, and is doing, this responsible work to the satisfaction of the Government, which nobody will accuse of indifference to Irish Nationalist opinion. Mr Asquith told Mr Redmond that Sir John Maxwell has been in direct and personal communication with the Cabinet. It has great confidence in the exercise of his discretion in particular cases. His general instructions are "to sanction the infliction of the extreme penalty as sparingly as possible, and only in cases of responsible persons who were guilty in the first degree." The government and Sir John Maxwell are equally anxious that these cases should be confined within the narrowest limits, and should cease at the earliest possible moment. In reply to Mr Ginnell, who asked that no more rebels should be executed before the House of Commons had received an opportunity of discussing the matter, Mr Asquith said: – "I cannot give any such undertaking." We suppose that Irishmen who support the Government’s attitude will be accused of promiscuous ferocity, even though, like ourselves, they have expressed an earnest desire that a generous measure of mercy should be attended to the ignorant and misguided rank and file of the rebel army. Nevertheless, we hasten to express our strong conviction that Mr Asquith is taking the right – indeed, the only possible – course. It is not a question of fair play to Sir John Maxwell or to any other individual. The safety of the whole Kingdom and the peace of Ireland are at stake.

9 May 1916

Born in 1865, Kent was arrested at his home in Castlelyons, Co. Cork following a raid by the Royal Irish Constabulary on 22 April 1916, during which his brother Richard was fatally wounded. It had been his intention to travel to Dublin to participate in the Rising, but when the mobilisation order for the Irish Volunteers was cancelled on Easter Sunday he assumed that the Rising had been postponed, leading him to stay at home. He was executed at Cork Detention Barracks on 9 May 1916 following a court martial. In 1966, the railway station in Cork was renamed Kent Station in his honour.

8 May 1916

Éamonn Ceannt

Sean Heuston

Michael Mallin

Ceannt's position was one of only two that was not taken in the rising, along with Éamon de Valera's at Boland's Mill. Ceannt was held in Kilmainham Jail until his execution by firing squad on 8 May 1916, aged 34.

At twenty-five years and two months, he was the youngest of those executed. Between 3.45 and 4.05 a.m. on 8 May 1916, Sean Heuston was shot in the former stonebreakers yard at Kilmainham Prison.

Michael Mallin refused to abandon the Royal College of Surgeons. It took a direct order from James Connelly to persuade Michael Mallin to surrender on Sunday 30 April, two days after Pádraig Pearse and James Connolly. Michael Mallin was executed on 8 May 1916 in Kilmainham Gaol.