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Here’s some points to support for my contention the Gall Gaedil lived apart from Ingimund’s Norwegian’s, as a distinct Norse-Christian enclave on the Wirral:
- Intense animosity between Christian and pagen at the time.
- Early Christian relics on the such as the Hogstone, High Crosses and numerous fragments
- Detailed reports confirming Gall Gaedil Christians fighting Danes and Lochlanns to defend Chester soon after settling down. It is implausible the Gall Gaedil lived amoung with their enemies at Chester (Lochlanns and Danes).
- Evidence of Lochlann settlement (and pillage) across the Mersey
- Athelfreads policy of alliance with other Christain parties and the proximity of her interests in Mercia.
- If Athelfraed was able to negotiate with the Gall Gaedil, this implies they were organised as a distinct group with a leader and assembly.
- The Wirral hundred is so named as much later it was still only deemed sufficient to support 100 households (with servants and slaves), which doesn’t leave much space for all the rival groups to have the impact described in Chester
- The pattern of Athelfraed’s burh building suggest the threat to her was from across the Mersey. (A defensive burh against the Wirral Gall Gaedil would have been made on the populated Western side rather than in Bromborough in the barren East, furthermore it is sited on her side of the border indicating a respect for the autonomy of Gall Gaedil Wirral)
- The high density of Gall Gaedil placenames in the Wirral (compared to Liverpool) implies little subsequent Anglo-Saxon interference (in spite of the battle of Brunanburh) and respect for the autonomy of Gall Gaedil
- There is a significant representation of Gaelic derived placenames on the Wirral, but not in Liverpool.
This may help account for the strong sense of local identity which has survived on the Wirral despite its demographic eclipse first by Chester, then Liverpool.
I propose that the Wirral Gall Gaedil are one of the least recognised, but most crucial local tribes in English history because of the following points:
- The Wirral Gall Gaedil were unique in probably being the first group of Norse Christians to enter Britain. In contrast to the Normans (Norse Christians who ultimately failed to break the language, law and culture of the English), the Gall Gaedil helped Anglo-Saxons build England.
- The strategic city of Chester was described as deserted prior to their arrival, a ‘black hole’ around which swirled a vortex of rival tribes. (Welsh Britons, Athelfraed’s Mercians, Danes of the Danelaw, Norse Northumbrians and the Gall Gaedil’s ‘compratiots’ pagen Norweigan Lochlanns). In her call for help from Gall Gaedil warriors and clergy against the Danes, Athelfraed points out:
“this inimical race of pagans is equally hostile to you also”
In answering Athelfraeds plea, against their pagan blood brothers, the balance tilted in favour of the Christian forces sufficiently to allow Mercia to consolidate Chester.
- Both Ireland and Britain were in the midst of ongoing pillaging by pagans of Christian monasteries. Despite having been ejected from Dublin with their pagan kin, their rapid alliance with Mercia demonstrates the predominance of religious faith in asserting cultural identity at the time. They had the foresight to ally themselves with the Mercians, despite the close blood ties of their rivals in Liverpool.
- The Gall Gaedil established a distinct community with a clearly defined border at Raby (‘settlement on the border), their own church, trading port, and at Thingwall in the heart of the community a place of assembly or government. The Wirral remained an essentially independent mini-state for centuries.
- Depictions on a 10th Century Cross show the Gall Gaedil were engaged in Jousting matches some 400 years before it became popular in medieval England. It appears their carvings are have a distinctive style reflecting their heritage and quite different to the art in Chester.
- The influence of the Gall Gaedil on the Battle of Brunanburh itself can never be known. However given their critical role in hosting the five armies, and their early allegiance to Athelfraed’s Mercians, it may well have been more significant than we imagine. The fragments report that earlier although Ingimund plotted to take Chester and “although they held that council secretly, the Queen learned of it”.
This suggests Gall Gaedil cooperation with Athelfraed from an early stage which was to be instrumental in saving Chester, (they are the most likely participants to have betrayed Ingimunds plot).
- The level of detail accorded to Gall Gaedil activities in the Irish Fragments indicates enduring links and articulate contact was maintained between the Gall Gaedil and Gaels on the other side of the Irish sea.
- This was a time where ethnic powers waxed and waned according to the fortunes of the leaders of the time. The Gall Gaedil arrived at a critical time in the genesis of England. Acting as valuable agents for Athelfraed both in espionage and in allegiance, they performed a role which no other could due to their kinship with Athelfraed’s enemies.
- The Gall Gaedil take their name from the place of their origin. The terminology was used both by native Irish and by the Norse-Gaels themselves who wished to stress their Scandinavian heritage and their links with Norway. The Orkney saga’s use the Old Norse version describing Galloway as ‘Gaddgeolar’ There are various spellings with a similar pronunciation. The Wirral Gall Gaedil were amoung the first of the Gaelic-Norewigan Christain communities which were later to so characterize most regions around the Irish Sea until the Norman era, founding kingdoms, such as Man, Argyll, Dublin, York and Galloway.
- Given the numbers involved at Brunanburh, it is clear that the site of the battle was agreed between the combatants beforehand. Athelfraed may have been conscious of the psychological effects on her enemy of arriving at the Wirral to only find their hosts and kin here were all Christian.
- Chester appears to have been almost lost around 907, despite military intelligence about Ingimund’s plot, and devious but effective strategies used against the pagans. If the ‘Fragments’ are to be believed, were it not for the Gall Gaedil, Chester would almost certainly have been lost. Without Chester, no Brunanburh, no England?
Has their ever been any other local tribe, as small in number, who had more impact on shaping the nation?
It is evident from the accounts of Gal Gaedil attacks on churches in Ireland and elsewhere that they were no less feckless or fickle than any other unfortunates born into these anarchic ages. Their ‘Christain’ religion was really a hybrid fusion of Christianity with Norse paganism. They were no less inclined to act in their own immediate interests as any, and Irish commentators of the time bemoaned their fickle nature. Perhaps Athelfread recognised and capitalized on this trait, employing it against her foes - the revealation of Ingimunds plot and the ‘Danish Deal’ forged in Chester might suggest she was just as shrewd as her father in pursuing her interests, by understanding and exploiting the nature of those who entered her realm.
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