Day 190, Wednesday July 31, 2019
“You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
-Anne Lamott
Sites Covered in this Post
• Dublin Castle
• Trinity College
The Legend of the Irish
The trip from County Donegal to Dublin was uneventful. The roads are very good, the traffic tolerable, and it wasn’t too long of a drive (about 4 hours, give or take). The worst think about Dublin was our hotel. Well, it wasn’t awful. It was clean, it was in a great location right next to Saint Stephens’ Green, the staff was friendly, and the rate was reasonable for Dublin (which means it wasn’t cheap). It was a Travelodge. It was a hostel (almost). I don’t mean to disparage the hotel, it was just bare-boned and spartan compared to most others we’ve stayed during our trip, but it was just fine for three nights.
The area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times, but the writings of Ptolemy (the Greco-Roman astronomer and cartographer) in about 140 CE provide possibly the earliest reference to a settlement there. He called it Eblana polis. Dublin celebrated its ‘official’ millennium in 1988, meaning the Irish government recognized 988 as the year in which the city was settled and that this first settlement would later become the city of Dublin.
A few interesting facts. 1) the Greeks visited southwest Ireland in the 2nd century and 2) the Gaels trace the origin of their people back to an ancestor named Goídel Glas. He is described as a Scythian prince (the grandson of Fénius Farsaid), who is credited with creating the Gaelic languages (supposedly from the 32 tribes that tried to build the Tower of Babel). Goídel’s mother is called Scota, described as an Egyptian princess. The Gaels, not being popular with other tribes in the Middle East or Northern Africa wandered from place to place, fighting, conquering, and bugging out if they got their asses kicked for hundreds of years. They bounced from Egypt, Crete, Scythia, the Caspian Sea and Getulia, before arriving in Iberia, where their king, Breogán, is said to have founded Galicia which is a spot on the Atlantic coast of Spain. The Gaels are then said to have sailed to Ireland from Galicia. Now, if you buy all that I’ve got some land in Pecos County, Texas I can let you have for a great price.
So, archeologists think that Dublin was established by the Gaels (people who spoke the Gaelic language) in or before the 7th century CE. Later expanded as a Viking settlement (which means they came in/kicked ass/and called the shots), the Kingdom of Dublin, the city became Ireland’s principal settlement following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire. The Irish have been conquered quite a lot, and they aren’t happy about it.
We did come across the statue of Molly Malone. The statue is based upon an Irish song that tells the fictional tale of a fishmonger who plied her trade on the streets of Dublin, but who died young, of a fever. Its all legend that Molly lived in the 17th century and lived a hard, short life. She is typically represented as a hawker by day and part-time prostitute by night or in contrast as one of the few pure (chaste) female street-hawkers of her day. Though there is no evidence that the song is based on a real woman the statue does have nice tits, and you can tell by the luster that they’ve been handled quite a bit by visitors.
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle was first founded as a major defensive work on the orders of King John of England (of Robin Hood infamy, and the signer of the Magna Carta) in 1204, after the Normans invaded and became well established i.e. suppressed the local population including the Vikings, he commanded that a castle be built to defend the city, protect his investments, tax base, and the his treasures. The castle was completed in 1230. Its located on the south-east of Norman Dublin, and the castle formed one corner of the outer perimeter of the city.
The castle later evolved into an official residence, used by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the overseer of Ireland for England. Upon formation of the Free State in 1922, after Ireland booted the Windsors (or at least they decided to leave) the Irish parliament and law courts met at the castle before moving to new purpose-built quarters. It also served as the base for a military garrison and intelligence services. The castle has become administrative offices and the site for many Affairs of State such as important foreign visits (the Pope, Nelson Mandela, Brittany Spears and such) and the swearing in of the Irish Prime Minister. Its an interesting castle, though not much of the original medieval structure remains.
Trinity College/ Book of Kell
The college was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I and modeled after the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. It is one of the seven ancient universities of Britain and Ireland, as well as Ireland’s oldest surviving university. Trinity College is widely considered the most prestigious university in Ireland and amongst the most elite in Europe. It has an unique relationship with both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. In accordance with the formula of ad eundem gradum, a graduate of Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin can be conferred with the equivalent degree at either of the other two universities without further examination. Trinity College, Dublin is a sister college to St John’s College, Cambridge and Oriel College, Oxford.
Originally Trinity was ordered to exist outside the city walls of Dublin in buildings of the outlawed Catholic Augustinian Priory of All Hallows. Trinity College was set up to consolidate the rule of the Tudor monarchy in Ireland, and as a result was the university of the Protestant Ascendancy for much of its history. Women were admitted to Trinity College as full members for the first time in 1904. For the period from 1904 to 1907, women from Oxford and Cambridge came to Trinity College to receive their ad eundem degree and were known as Steamboat ladies.
Trinity College maintains its tranquil collegiate atmosphere despite its location in the center of a bustling, pub-crawling, whiskey distilling, and stout-brewing Dublin (and despite its being one of the most significant tourist attractions in the city). It also houses the Library of Trinity College. Trinity College Library Dublin is a legal deposit library, for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and has a similar standing in Irish law. The college is therefore legally entitled to a copy of every book published in Great Britain and Ireland and consequently receives over 100,000 new items every year. Three million books are held in the book depository, “Stacks”, in Santry.
The Library is the permanent home to the Brian Boru harp which is the national symbol of Ireland, a copy of 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, and the Book of Kells, of which two of the four volumes of the Book are on public display, one opened to a major decorated page and the other to a typical page of text. The volumes and pages shown are regularly rotated for a little variety of the thousands of visitors who will never return to ever see the difference. The Long Room, was a magnificent area of the library that you must see to believe.
The 65-metre-long (213 ft) main chamber was built between 1712 and 1732 and houses 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books. By the 1850s the room had to be expanded, in 1860 the Long Room’s roof was raised to accommodate an upper gallery. Its lined with marble busts of great philosophers, writers, and men who supported the college. The most outstanding bust in the collection is the writer Jonathan Swift.
The Long Room also holds one of the last remaining copies of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic. The Brian Boru harp which is the oldest of its kind in Ireland dating back to the 15th century.