CHA P. IX.

OF THE

MILESIAN EXPEDITION,

From Spain to Ireland, drawn from Spanish Authors.

Franc. Tarapha Bariconen. de origine ac rebus geftis Regum Hifpaniæ liber.Antverpiæ, 1553.

P. 11. Hyberniam item Infulam non procul ab Anglia, ab Ibro duce Hifpano nominatam ferunt, qui primus magna hominum congregata multitudine, eam occupavit. Sive (ut alii fentiunt) ab Ibero flumine Hifpaniæ celeberrimo.

S

Pedro Mexia. Hift. Imp.

URE it is that in the days of Gurgwintius or Gurguntius King of Britain, the Chief Governor of Bayon, with four brethren Spaniards, two of which are faid to be Hiberus and Hermion, not the fons (as fome think) of Gathelus, but fome other perhaps, that were defcended of him; who underftanding that divers of the Western Isles were empty of inhabitants, affembling a great company of men, women, and children, embarked with the fame in Sixty great Veffels, and proceeded to Ireland.

Thus

Thus it feemeth certainly, that the Spaniards of the north parts of Spain, inhabiting about the countries of Bifcaie and Gallicia, came and peopled Ireland, as both their own hiftories and the British do wholly agree-but from whence they came first, to inhabit Spain, cannot by me be avouched.

N. B. This paffage is tranflated in Time's Store-boufe, printed in London. 1619, and dedicated to Sir Phil. Herbert, Knt. of the Bath.

Padre Pineda en monarq. Ecelef. L. 27. C. 12.

Hibernia, one of the Iflands adjacent to England and about half its fize, is fo called, according to fome, from the winter feafon, because of the length of the winter there: Others fay from Hyberus a Spaniard, who took poffeffion of and peopled it with a great number of Spaniards-others fay, that the inhabitants of the banks of Hybero, now called the Ebro, were those who peopled it.

Tefora de la lingua Caftellana por D. Scb. de Cobarruvias. Madrid, 1611.

The four firft books of the general chronicle of Spain, which were abridged by Florian de Campo in Zamora 15. 44 fol. fay, that the King Brigo of Spain, fent inhabitants to a great Ifland which is at prefent named Ireland, and formerly called Hibernia, in the neighbourhood of England, in order that they might take poffeffion of it and peopled it, and that thofe who went thither, were called Brigantes. I remember, fays de Campo, that in a ftorm at fea, having taken fhelter in the harbour of

Catafurde

Catafurde, (a) the inhabitants of that place, and many others of the country round, fhewed great fatisfaction at seeing us (Spaniards) and took us by the hand in token of friendship, telling us, that they were of Spanish extraction.

There were other ancient people of England, called Brigantes, who it is affured were originally Spaniards; they inhabited the district in which now ftands the City of Bristol, and the town of Galez fronting Ireland, an Ifland very near its coafts to the weft. (b) It is indifputed that from thefe Brigantes, after they had multiplied confiderably in that country, they paffed over to Ireland, and this agrees with the records of Ireland, who, as we have faid, publicly avow themselves to have been of Spanish descent.

Hiftoire generale d'Espagne, par Jean de Ferreras traduite par D'Hermilly.

D'autres Espagnols pafferent en Sicile & y fixerent leur demeure, Quelques fçavans prètendent que ce païs fut anciennement appelle Sicanie du nom de leur chef. Il y eut d'autres Efpagnoles qui allerent en Irelande.

Hiftoire de Portugal, 8 tom. 12mo.

Tom. 1. p. 6.

Lorfque deux peuples fortent de la même fource, quoique dans la fuite des tems il arrive parmi eux

(a) Waterford. Keating mentions this Author, in the hiftory of Milefius: the English tranflator has omitted the paffage.

(b) The words of the Spanish author are, la ciudad de Bristol y la villa de Galez frontero de Irlando, ifla muy cercana de fus

riberas al occidente.

The author certainly meant Tierra de Galez, instead of Villa de Galez; the fense would then be, in which stands the City of Bristol, and the Country of Wales, oppofite to Ireland.

defchan

des changemens confiderables dans leurs habits, leurs mœurs, leurs ufages, leur langage, dans leurs figures même, ils confervent toujours quelque trace de leur ancienne reffemblance.

Telle eft celle qu'on trouve entre les Iberians & les Hiberniens, toux deux, fortis des anciens Iberiens.

The Iberians of Afia were originally Scythians, divided at length into Armenians and Perfians: they are supposed by fome Authors to have been the Iberians of Spain, tranfported there by Nabucodrofor, or Nebuchadonofor, as we learn from a fragment of Megafthenes preferved in Eufebius. Strabo has the fame remark, but as Voffius and Bochart obferve, Hifpanos effe colonos Iberum in Afia. Voffius (C. 33. de Idolol.) takes the proper method to prove they were one people: The Afiatick Iberians, fays he, worshipped the Heavens, the Sun and the Moon: fo did the Iberians of Spain.

The Afiatic Iberians paid a particular veneration to Mars, who is faid to have been a Thracian, an ancient Colony of Scythians: & Iberia habuit homines, ut Strabo narrat, bellicofos & Scytharum more ac Sarmatarum viventes.

They were in truth all Scythians, and all worshipped the Deity Mars under the fame name, viz. Neith, a name well known for the God of War in the Irish MSS. (c) See Chap. X. Mythology.

(c) It is alfo worthy of remark, that the country between the Euxine and Cafpian Sea, is named Iberia and Albania, that is the Eaft and Weft Country, viz. 7y and

Eaft and Weft of each other, in the fame lands of Britain and Ireland, which alfo

thefe Seas lying due manner as the two Ifreceived the names of

Iberia and Albania on the fame account: the names are Irish and

Phænician as we have fhewn in the Introduction.

Scythæ

Scythæ per acinacen jurarent, ut Lucianus in Toxari refert; non tam eo videtur fpectaffe, quod acinacen crederunt Deum; fed quia Martis efle fymbolum putarent. Quare, fi Hifpani Iberum Afiæ fuerint propago, hinc fortaffe Martis cultum acceperint. Martem quidem in Acci, Tarraconnenfis Hifpaniæ oppido, divinos adeptum honores, teftis nobis Macrobius, L, 1. Saturn. C. 19. Accitani, inquit, Hifpania gens, fimulacrum Martis radiis ornatum maxima religione celebrant, Neton, vocantes. (Vofs. de Idol. ibid.) Neton is here made the accufative cafe of our Neith, fometimes written Neidh.

Varro and Pliny place the Iberians and Perfians, as Colonies in Spain, but neither have described the route of their migration: the Irish history details the particulars. See Ch. 4.-it produces the fame Authority as Voffius brings, with refpect to the name of a deity; and the Accitani were not of Tarracon, but of Turdutani the Seat of the Phanicians in Spain. Acci, Julia Gemella, ubi in antiqua infcriptione extat integrum nomen, Colonia Julia Gemella Accitana, quæ hodie eft Guadix. (d).

Another strong proof of the Spanish Colony, I draw from the name of a very extenfive tribe fettled in the South of Ireland, called Clanna Basifgaine or Bifgaine, that is, the Bifcaynan Tribe. They make a great figure in the Annals of Ireland, in the third and fourth Centuries. There was a territory named Corca-Baifcinn after this tribe: The celebrated Fionn Mac Cumal, or Mac Cuil, is

(d) Majanfius. Topogr. Hifpaniæ.

called