Great Deeds in Ireland: Richard Stanihurst’s De Rebus in Hibernia Gestis

Liber Tertius / Book Three

Strangbous cum copiis Hiberniam appellit. Is opidum ipsumWaterfordiense aggreditur. Et tandem expugnat. [104] RICHARDI STANIHVRSTI DVBLINIENSIS DE REBVS IN HIBERNIA GESTIS, 204 Liber Tertius HIS rebus, propter Waterfordiam, inconsideratè ac temerè gestis: Richardus Strangbous, posteaquam diligentem præparationem in re militari adhibuit, ex opido Milfurdico soluens, in Waterfordiæ portum, ante diem nonum calend(as) Septemb(ris) vsus felicitate nauigandi, se coniecit. Habuit sub signis ducentos milites primarios, inferioris ordinis mille: quos ex præcipua totius Meneuiæa25 iuuentute, magna conquisitos cura, elegit. Vna, aut altera nox intercessit, cùm Britannicus exercitus, probè instructus & armatus, signa sustulit, & ad vrbis mœnia, ordinem militarem tenens, peruenit. Superstites ciues, in his republicae parietinis, dupliciter ad dimicandum incendebantur: primùm, vt hostes ab vrbe arcerent; tum deinde, vt in præsenti Britannnorum strage præteritam captiuorum cædem, totis, quoad eius fieri posit, viribus vindicarent. Necdum enim Brittanicæ crudelitatis memoriam, cùm esset recentissima, abiecerunt. Britanni tandem pugnaciter insistent, ciues contra eos, summa vi, inpetuque contendunt , & à mœnibus acriter propulsant. Nam bis coacti sunt alienigenæ, lapidibus appetiti, & vi pulsi, nec quidem æquo animo, auersari. Tum demum, circumspectis locis omnibus, sub vrbanam casam Britanni adspectant, ad vrbis mœnia [105] adhærescentem, quam vnus solummodo postis obtentat. Eo columine serrula circumsecato, tugurium, cum non parua muri particula, labat. Britanni ad ruinam, satis decumanam, conuolant: nouum oppugnationis genus pertinaciter inferunt: balistis & missilibus ciues vehementissimè sauciant. Ad manus atq(ue) ad pugnam res venit. Oppugnatoribus, impulsu scutorum irrumpentibus, obsisti non potest, licet cædes lapidationesque fiant, quo minus in vrbem intrent. 25Meneniaea. [104] HISTORY OF IRELAND BY RICHARD STANIHURST OF DUBLIN 205 Book Three IN the aftermath of these rash and senseless actions near Waterford, Richard Strongbow, following careful military preparations, set sail from the town of Milford. Having experienced good sailing weather, he put into the port of Waterford on the 24th of August.200 He had under his banner two hundred knights of the first rank and a thousand of lesser rank. These he had picked, choosing them with great care, from the most distinguished young men of the whole of St David’s.201 One or two nights passed; then the British army, properly marshalled and equipped, arrived at the walls of the city, maintaining military formation. The surviving citizens, amid this destruction of their polity, were doubly inflamed for battle: first, that they might ward off the enemy from their city; but also that, in the present slaughter of British soldiers, they might insofar as lay within their power, avenge the previous massacre of the captives. For they had not yet put aside the memory, still very fresh, of British cruelty. Finally the British advanced in martial fashion, the citizens fought against them, attacking with all their might, and drove them fiercely from the walls. For the foreigners were doubly constrained to retreat, albeit reluctantly, being pelted with stones and driven back by a forceful counterattack. Then in the end, having reconnoitred the whole area, the British espied a house clinging to the walls at the edge of the city, [105] which was held up only by a single post. When this support was cut with a saw, the hovel collapsed , along with a considerable portion of the wall. The British quickly concentrated their forces at the ruins, which were fairly extensive. Persisting, they introduced a new type of assault and inflicted severe casualties on the citizens with catapults and missiles. The affray then became a hand-to-hand combat. It was impossible to stop the attackers, who burst in with a push of shields, from entering the city, although killing and stone-throwing continued. The attackers slaughtered those who offered resistance. They Strongbow with his forces, lands in Ireland. He attacks the town of Waterford itself. And finally takes it by storm. Strangbous Dermicij filiam nuptiis sibi iungit. Inde omnes iunctim ad Dublinium obsidendum properant. Caussa odij Dermicio in id opidum. Cædes Murchardi. Laurentius antistes pro ciuibus intercedit. Resistentes trucidant; tecta disturbant; ædes exspoliant; ciuitatis principes capiunt; in quorum numero Raganaldus, & Machlathelinus Ophelanus reputantur: quos omnes Strangbous communi luce priuasset , nisi Dermicius, Lageniæ regulus, qui, audito Comitis aduentu, cum Mauritio Giraldo, Roberto Stephanide, ac Reimundo Giraldo, ad vrbem Waterfordiam accessit, eorum vitam à victore esset deprecatus. Hîc Strangbous Dermicij filiam, cui Eua nomen fuit, in matrimonium duxit. Socer generum & filiam (vt promissi sui summam compleret) regno suo heredes instituit. Nuptiis, matrimonij dignitate, regiè magnificeque coniunctis, & firmo præsidio, in vrbe, posito, Dermicius ac...