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From: Pádraig Mór Ó Gealagáin <>
Subject: [LIMERICK] Re: Rapparees of Tipperary & Ireland (Dual Posting to IRL.LIMERICK List)
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 14:59:51 -0400
References: <002e01c2695c$ba3c0ac0$4c0a0a0a@l7n1z4>


Your understanding is well founded, indeed, Ted, a chara.

From www.bartleby.com/250/20.html
(Ref.Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse.
1922)

The Ballad of Douglas Bridge, by Francis Carlin

"ON Douglas Bridge I met a man, Who lived adjacent to
Strabane,
Before the English hung him high, For riding with O’
Hanlon.
The eyes of him were just as fresh, As when they burned
within the flesh;
And his boot-legs were wide apart, From riding with O’
Hanlon.

“God save you, Sir,” I said with fear, “You seem to be a
stranger here.”
“Not I,” said he, “nor any man, Who rides with Count O’
Hanlon.
“I know each glen from North Tyrone , To Monaghan, and I’ve
been known
By every clan and parish, since I rode with Count O’
Hanlon.”

“Before that time,” said he to me, “My fathers owned the
land you see;
But they are now among the moors, A-riding with O’
Hanlon.”
“Before that time,” said he with pride, “My fathers rode
where now they ride
As Rapparees, before the time, Of trouble and O’Hanlon.”

“Good night to you, and God be with, The tellers of the
tale and myth,
For they are of the spirit-stuff, That rides with Count O
’Hanlon.”
“Good night to you,” said I, “and God Be with the chargers,
fairy-shod,
That bear the Ulster heroes forth. To ride with Count O’
Hanlon.”

On Douglas Bridge we parted, but, The Gap o’ Dreams is
never shut,
To one whose saddled soul to-night, Rides out with Count
O’Hanlon. "

Francis Carlin supplies me with this note. “Redmond O’
Hanlon was born about 1623 in the Country Armagh where his
father owned seven townlands. During the Cromwellian
settlement this estate was taken over by the English. Then
Redmond and his three brothers took to the hills as
“Rapparees.” He went to France, where he was given the
title of Count, which title was credited to him later in
the French gazettes. He returned to Ireland before 1671 and
became the leader of the “Rapparees” of Ulster. Having
refused to bear witness against the Primate, Oliver
Plunkett, one hundred pounds was offered for his head by
Ormonde, the viceroy of Ireland. He was slain while asleep
by a clansman who brought his head to Downpatrick Gaol. The
Receiver’s Book in the Dublin Record Office contains the
following entry, ‘Paid to Art O’Hanlon as a reward for
killing Redmond O’Hanlon, a proclaimed Rebell and Traytor,
as by Concordation dated 6th of May 1681—One Hundred
Pounds.’ ”

The nearest translation of “Rapparees”would be “guerillas,”
and perhaps the best comparison would be with the
“Comitadjis” of Turkish Bulgaria and Macedonia. The
disbanded Irish armies formed the nucleus for these bands.
They levied toll on the Planters who had taken over the
confiscated Irish estates; they avenged some of the wrongs
inflicted upon the peasantry, and they checked the
exactions of “the Bashaws of the west and south,” as Lecky
calls the landowners of the time. Unfortunately there was
always a pull from the woods and hillsides of Ireland
towards the camps of the Irish Brigade in France. See “The
Irish Rapparees” and note to it.

=============================
>From www.bartleby.com/250/135.html

135. The Irish Rapparees by Charles Gavan Duffy


RIGH SHEMUS he has gone to France, and left his crown
behind; [Riogh Shemus = King James]
Ill luck be theirs, both day and night, put running in his
mind
Lord Lucan followed after, with his Slashers brave and
true, [Lord Lucan=Gen. Patrick Sarsfield]
And now the doleful keen is raised—“What will poor Ireland
do?
What must poor Ireland do?
Our luck,” they say, “has gone to France—what can poor
Ireland do?”

Oh! never fear for Ireland, for she has soldiers still;
For Rory’s boys are in the wood, and Remy’s on the hill;
And never had poor Ireland more loyal hearts than these—
May God be kind and good to them, the faithful Rapparees
The fearless Rapparees!
The jewel were you, Rory, with your Irish Rapparees!

Oh, black’s your heart, Clan Oliver, and colder than the
clay!
Oh, high’s your head, Clan Sassenach, since Sarsfield’s
gone away!
It’s little love you bear to us, for the sake of long ago
But hold your hand, for Ireland still can strike a deadly
blow—
Can strike a mortal blow—
Och, dar-a-Críost ’tis she that still
Could strike a deadly blow.

The Master’s bawn, the Master’s seat, a surly bodagh fills;
The Master’s son, an outlawed man, is riding on the hills.
But God be praised that round him throng, as thick as
summer bees,
The swords that guarded Limerick wall—his faithful
Rapparees!
His loving Rapparees!
Who dare say “no” to Rory Oge, with all his Rapparees?
Black Billy Grimes of Latnamard, he racked us long and
sore—
God rest the faithful hearts he broke!—we’ll never see them
more
But I’ll go bail he’ll break no more, while Truagh has
gallows trees;
For why?—he met one lonely night, the fearless Rapparees
The angry Rapparees!
They never sin no more, my boys, who cross the Rapparees.

Now, Sassenach and Cromweller, take heed of what I say—
Keep down your black and angry looks, that scorn us night
and day:
For there’s a just and wrathful Judge, that every action
sees,
And He’ll make strong, to right our wrong, the faithful
Rapparees! 35
The fearless Rapparees!
The men that rode by Sarsfield’s side, the roving
Rapparees!

See the note on the “Ballad of Douglas Bridge.” The author
of “The Irish Rapparees” makes the following note on his
poem: “When Limerick was surrendered, and the bulk of the
Irish army took service with Louis XIV, a multitude of the
old soldiers of the Boyne, Aughrim and Limerick preferred
remaining in the country at the risk of fighting for their
daily bread; and with them some gentlemen, loth to part
from their estates or their sweethearts, among whom Redmond
O’Hanlon is, perhaps, the most memorable. The English army
and the English law drove them by degrees to the hills,
where they were long a terror to the new and old settlers
from Limerick, and a secret pride and comfort to the
trampled peasantry, who loved them even for their excesses.
It was all they had left to take pride in.”
=====================================

>From my own library, here's a brief historical background
on the exploit involving Galloping O'Hohan in 1690, just
prior to the first Williamite siege of Limerick.
.
Based on intelligence received from a French deserter that
King William of England - who was already at Caherconlish
with his troops awaiting the arrival of his siege train,
said to arrive in Limerick on August 12, 1690 - General
Patrick Sarsfield, commander of the Irish cavalry at
Limerick, with 600 of his troops, led by Galloping
O'Hogan, a well known local rapparee went on an unique
exploit on 10th August, 1690 to intercept that siege train.

Setting out in secrecy from King John's castle (Sarsfield's
headquarters) and heading westward into Co.Clare, almost
in the opposite direction of Cullen, near Ballyneety in Co.
Limerick, where the enemy siege train was expected to camp
the following night, the expeditionary force travelled the
Clare hills towards Killaloe. Crossing the Shannon river at
Ballyvalley, 1.5 miles north of Killaloe Bridge.

" The Sentinel on Killaoe, looked out but failed to see,
600 horsemen ride behind the Rapparee"

O'Hogan and Sarsfield were now in Co. Tipperary to Labadiha
Bridge ( also known as Hogan's Glen ), it was here that
they were joined by another group of local rapparees who
best knew that neck of the woods - the hills and the
valleys - leading to the Silvermine Mountains. About two
miles
from Bushfield at the ford of Aughbee ( also known as
Cromwell's road, whose troops had travelled this road 40
years before Sarsfield ), a short distance onward Sarsfield
made his first encampment to rest and feed their horses in
the small hours of the morning of August 11th. Passing by
North Tipperary's highest peak, Keeper Hill, they are in
the heart of Slieve Felim mountain country.

Passing around Rearcross, Doon, Toem and Clonbrick, they
are now heading west to Cullen and Ballyneety in Co.
Limerick. About 1.5 miles from Momard, legend has it that
some of Sarsfield's scouts came across a woman said to be
the wife of a Williamite soldier, who was bathing her
tired feet in the stream. The story is they invited her to
an Inn in Cullen village, and over whiskeys and beers, she
whispered the password to the Williamite siege train camp
at Ballyneey village. The password being "Sarsfield" ! It
was at Glengar that plans were drawn by Sarsfield for a
2:00 A.M. successful attack on the siege train, which was
blown to smithereens.

Altogether O'Hogan and Sarsfield and their 600 men had
travelled about 70 miles to pull off a most successful
manouever.


Mise Pádraig †
(No Personal Replies Please - If my address appears when
you press "Reply All', please delete it before sending to
the LIST, Thank you)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ted Meehan" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 11:10 AM
Subject: Rapparees of Tipperary


>
September 30, 2002
> A chairde,
>
> I wonder if anyone might help me to uncover more
information of the Rapparrees of Tipperary. I have a
particular interest in "Galloping Hogan", but I'd be quite
interetsed to know more about Rapparees in general.
>
> My own knowledge is limited to the understanding that
these were men evicted from their lands in the wake of the
Cromwellian confiscations, and later in the wake of the
Willaimite Wars. rather than being deported to some
god-forsaken lands, they fled to the hills and bogs
(somewhat like Robin Hood). From there, they carried on a
war (of sorts) against the new settlers upon their lands,
as well as English soldiers. Weapons being at a premium,
they often used the shileleh, which the English called a
"rapper". Thus, their name - Rapparees.




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