Medieval and Renaissance Irish Dancing

This is an article which I wrote for the Society for Creative Anachronism's newsletter, the Letter of Dance.

General

There are general references to Irish dancing in period. There is a short poem called The Irish Dancer [8, p. 167] which comes from the fourteenth century:

Ich am of Irlande,
And of the holy lande
Of Irlande.
Goode sire, pray ich thee,
Of sainte charité
Come and daunce with me
In Irlande.

There is an engraved bone plate in the National Museum, Dublin, dating from the early 17th century which shows several people dancing. [4, p. 15]

Types of dances

There are references at the end of the 16th century to "Hay de Gigue", "Hays Jigs", "Roundelays", and "Irish Hays" [2, p. 8]. There is a letter from Sir Henry Sydney to Queen Elizabeth in 1569 which mentions the "dancing of jigs by the Anglo-Irish ladies of Galway." [1, p. 11]

There were Irish country dances which were unlike the court dances. Here is a reference from the 17th century [4, p. 15]:

"[The Irish] delight much in dancing using no arts of slow measure of lofty Galliards but only Country Dances of which they have some pleasant to behold, as Balrudery, and the Whip of Dunboyne, and they dance about a fire commonly in the midst of a room holding withes in their hands, and by certain strains drawing one another into the fire; and also the matachine dance, with naked swords, which they make to meet in divers comely postures."

Several of these items are confirmed by the engraved bone plate mentioned earlier: dancing with withes (or strings) held between the dancers and dancing with swords. As well, the plate also shows dancing with tambourines.

There is also mention of caroling. In this time, caroling referred to a combination of singing and dancing. The two references are both from The Entrenchment of New Ross (c. 1270). The first quote is from [7, p. 24]:

	"Then the youths advanced in turn,
	And the town they made it ring
	With their merry caroling;
	Singing loud, and full of mirth,"

A later verse also mentions caroling [7, p. 25]: "and the crowd carolled and sung aloud."

Hornpipes are not mentioned until 1718 [3, p. 27].

Rinnce Fada

There are numerous mentions of the dance fada, fading, or rinnce fada. Rinnce fada is a Gaelic term that means "long dance". This dance almost seems to be the stereotypical Irish dance in the literature. Several plays mention fada. Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale uses the word fadings [6, p. 71]. The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607) [9, p. 355] metions fadings as well:

	"I will have him dance Fading.
	-Fading is a fine jig, I'll assure you, gentlemen.
	-Begin, brother
	-Now `a capers, sweethart!
	-Now a turn o'th' toe, and then tumble!  Cannout you tumble, youth?"

This implies that fada was an athletic and possibly acrobatic dance.

The Rinnce Fada was performed for King James on his arrival in Kinsale in 1689. [2, p. 7]

Music

There are numerous references to music, musicians, and instruments. Harps, drums, and flutes were used in period. The annals have the following for the year 1328 [5, p. 264-5]:

"Et Rina Senma i Maelruanaid Mac Cerbaill i in Gill Caech derbrathair aili do marbad mac aen ris, ni fes co tanicce na ca ticcfa chaidchi a commaith do timpananch."

"And with him was killed Maelruanaid Mac Cerbaill, the king of music-making, called Gilla Caech, and a brother of his; and none knows if there ever was or ever will be so good a player on the timpe."

And for harping, under the year 1469 [5, p. 548-9]:

"Ruaidri mac Dondchada meic Eogain Oic h.Dalaig, in lam chiuil chlarsige is binne bai i nErinn uile, mortuus est."

"Ruaidri son of Donnchad son of Eogan Oc O Dalaig, the most musical-handed harpist in all Ireland, died."

Flutes are mentioned in The Entrenchment of New Ross (c. 1270), "Gay with banners, flutes, and tabors." [7, p. 24]

Hospitality and generosity towards musicians was considered praiseworthy. From the annals in 1562 [5, p. 738-9]:

"...na comur[sann] a fá chíos fa canachus do fein, fer bud mó enech aird tidhlaicthi daois ciuil oirpetid ealadan, fer is ma do chenduigh dán"

"...who offered the best hospitality and the greatest gifts to musicians and entertainers and me of art"

References

1. Baskervill, Charles Read, The Elizabethan Jig and related song drama, the Univeristy of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1929.
2. Cullinane, Dr. John P., Aspects of the history of Irish dancing, Cork City, Ireland, 1994.
3. Cullinane, Dr. John P., Further aspects of the history of Irish dancing, Ballineaspig Publications, Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland, 1990.
4. Emmerson, George S., A Social History of Scottish Dance - Ane Celestial Recreation, McGill-Queen's University Press, Canada, 1972.
5. ed. Freeman, A. Martin, Annála Connact, The Annals of Connacht, Robert Hogg Printer to Irish University Press, Shannon, 1970.
6. ed. Pierece, Frederick, The Winter's Tale, Yale Univeristy Press, New Haven, 1918.
7. Seymour, St. John D., Anglo-Irish Literature 1200-1582, Octagon Books, New York, 1970.
8. Sisam, Celia, The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989.
9. ed. Wine, M. L., Drama of the English Reanaissance, Random House, Inc., New York, 1969.

Last updated: October 17, 2003