The Irish harp has no rival as the most authentic symbol of Ireland. Its story has been etched in stone, its musicians elevated to high status. Its sound suppressed to deter Gaelic ways. Remarkably, the origins of the harp to denote Ireland was widely misunderstood until the mid-20th century, a situation which played some part in the Irish tricolour becoming the national flag. This was something of a travesty for the much older green harp flag. How did this occur?
Ancient origins
Late 19th century historians associated the harp with Ireland as early as 500 B.C, attributing the following quote to Greek historian, Hecataeus of Miletus who described the Irish Celts as: “singing songs in praise of Apollo, and playing melodiously on the harp”.[1] A review of the quotation does not stand up to scrutiny but it is a fact that the harp was well used in Gaelic Ireland.
Harpists were frequently recorded in the Annals, generally on the occasion of a notable death which implies they held high status. These includes references to Cruitirí or cláirseoirí in works like the Annals of the Four Masters, an example the 983A.D death of Mael Ruanaidh, son of Cnaimhin, the harper.[3] Later centuries records include genealogies of harpist families like the Ó hUallacháin, showing a revered status. The harpists were attached to ruling families, this patronage allowing them to develop a very high degree of skill.
Their role was defined thus:
“The only entertainer with independent legal status (soíre) is the harpist… He is expected to be able to play music to bring on tears (goltraige) to bring on joy (gentraige), and to bring on sleep (súantraige).’[4]
They played an important role in inaugurations, feasts and ceremonies, the event potentially not proceeding if they were unavailable. Their extraordinary levels of talent was noted by English visitors like Gerald of Wales, who in a rare complimentary statement said:
‘They are incomparably more skilful than any other nation I have ever seen. For their modulation on these instruments, unlike that of the Britons to which I am accustomed, is not slow and harsh, but lively and rapid, while the harmony is both sweet and gay… It must be remarked… that both Scotland and Wales strive to rival Ireland in the art of music’.[5]
Irish harpists may have benefitted from an early adoption of wire or brass / metal strings, as opposed to gut strings, although this is not certain. A reference to the use of wire strings by Gerald of Wales in the 12th century is somewhat unclear, but some early Irish harp examples have thicker, stout structures which implies they were built to take the higher tension requirement of metal strings. Early references to Cruit or Crott are likely referring to the four-sided lyre, the Irish harp beginning to take preference no later than the 9th century.[6]
The harp appears extensively in early Irish folklore including the Book of the taking of Ireland, in which the Dagda or High God of the Tuatha De Danann used a magical harp to illicit joy, sorrow or sleep, the latter useful for casting a spell on enemies. The instrument was captured in pictorial form in stone high crosses around the 8th century, where images of a harp, or lyre, are typically played by biblical figures like King David. These can be found at multiple sites like Clonmacnoise, Durrow, Castledermot, Kells and Monasterboice. Its likely the High Cross depictions are all depicting biblical scenes, but they do offer a window in to the potential shape and style of instrument in use at the time in Gaelic Ireland.
French association
By the 13th century the harp was so strongly linked with Irish culture it was the obvious choice to represent the island of Ireland, which is when the first ever ‘national’ association is made. Incredibly, it would be made by French heraldists, and not the recent Anglo-Norman or English arrivals, something misunderstood in Ireland until the middle of the last century. The harp first appeared in formal world of European heraldry on part B of the Wijnbergen Roll, commissioned in modern day France in the second half of the 13th century.
The heraldry roll showcased dozens of family Coats of Arms from across the Netherlands, Germany and France, complimented in its final part by the arms of several Kings including ‘le roi d’irlande, the King of Ireland.[2] The harp appeared on a blue field, known in heraldry as Azure. Interesintly, it doesn’t matter the shade of blue used and much variety exists in international symbols, but regardless the heraldric term is blue.
We cannot presently explain with absolute certainty. No national colour was associated with Ireland at this point. Ireland has never had an association with blue (the notion of St Patrick’s blue is an 18th century fabrication with no historical basis whatsoever, as nothing supports blue in earlier use for the saint or for Ireland). The most likely explanation is the colours association with royalty, which was then established in France. In Ireland, also, there are modest examples of blue and purple being associated with higher ranks, but this may be just coincidence. The colours were more expensive due to the intricate dyeing process, often involving importation.
The document is truly remarkable, not least for containing the first formal recorded use of a symbol to represent Ireland, or the King of Ireland, but also for assigning a separate symbol for the arms of the King of Ireland as the King of England. The English had a significant if incomplete foothold on the island of Ireland by this point. Centuries would pass before an English King would claim Ireland as their Kingdom and used the harp to represent their Irish dominions, which raises some questions – what inspired this first harp association with Ireland, and was it made by English or French heraldists?
To answer the first question, why the harp for Ireland, is not so difficult. The harps extensive historic use in Gaelic Ireland made it an obvious choice. The harp was essential to the Gaelic way of life, its use in ceremonies and festivities an ever present. The Heraldry Society offer two plausible sources for how and why the device may have been chosen in France at the exact moment of the mid-13th century. Popular poems and stories associating the harp with Ireland were reaching French ears, one a celebrated bardic poem, Tabrhroidh chugam cruit mo riogh, roughly translated as ‘Bring me the harp of my King. It was written by Giolla Brigidhe Mac Con Midhe, or Gilbride MacNamee in the first half of the 13th century, a court poet working for Irish Kings and Ulster nobles.[7]
The role of Irish High King was a difficult tradition to maintain across the island following the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in the late 12th century. Ruaidri Ua Conchobair or Rory O’Connor ended his term when he signed the Treaty of Windsor with Henry II in 1175, although he remained the King of ‘free Ireland’, its remaining Gaelic regions. Regional Kings would remain in power in Ireland for centuries, but the title of High King of Ireland was never fully reclaimed.
There was one exception which intriguingly occurred not long before the harp emblem emerged. Brian Ua Neill would claim the title and seek to revive Gaelic unity to remove the Anglo-Norman incursion. His defeat at the Battle of Down in 1260 ended his claim. The harp symbol would appear with the title ‘King of Ireland’ in the French roll a few decades later, its adoption date not specified, making it at least possible the symbol and title referred to the last of the claimed High Kings in Ireland.
A symbol assigned to the ‘Le Roi d’Ecosse’, King of Scotland, in the same roll is likely referring to Alexander III, who ruled an independent Scottish nation under a banner of red lion rampant on a yellow field, retained as the royal banner today. The existence and recognition of one King, independent of England, does not discount similar recognition of an Irish King, even if part of their island Kingdom was then occupied by an English King. Equally, the roll could be suggesting a separate arms for Ireland under the rule of the King of England, even if the correct term was Lordship of Ireland at the time.
The poem by Mac Con Midhe referencing a harp and King had ample transmission paths to French heraldists. Flemish wool merchants were sourcing Irish wool following a sheep blight in England around 1290, while Irish nationals serving as troops in Edward I’s Flanders campaign in 1297 demonstrate military movement. With or without a sitting Irish High King, a poem associating the harp, Ireland and Kings may have proved inspirational.
A second explanation for the Irish association with the harp at this period, besides its obvious antiquity, is the fictional character of Le roi Irelande from the well-travelled story of Tristian and Yseult, or Tristian and Isolde, a much-retold romance story alluding to the court of King Arthur. Versions include Tristian being an Irish King, others make him a Cornish Knight and Isolde an Irish princess, but all make use of the harp.[8] Both poem and story may have cemented the linkage of Ireland to the harp at this moment of adoption, but in reality, any French traveller to Ireland could not have missed the ubiquitous presence and reverence of the harp, then and historically, across the Gaelic island.
To answer the second question – is the harp device for Ireland an Anglo-Norman, that is to say English, choice for Ireland or a French one, is more complex but clearly settles on the latter. What we know as modern day France was separated into the Capetian Kings of France to the east and their Anglo-Norman rivals, the Angevin Empire, to the west, around the time of the creation of the Wijnbergen Roll. The Wijnbergen Roll was a document commissioned and utilised by the Capetian Kings, not their Anglo-Norman (Angevin) rivals. There is no evidence that the Anglo-Normans knew of or utilised the symbol, the harp not evidenced in use by English Kings in association with Ireland until over two centuries later around 1480.
The Heraldry Society have even uncovered a direct transmission path from French to English heraldists right before the moment of English adoption, as a French trade mission to England in 1467 included Burgundian heraldists keen to impart their knowledge and advanced heraldic approach. Richard III had also personally visited Flanders in 1471 and may have encountered the harps use, the future King a keen heraldist.[9] The coincidences, and lack of English use for two hundred years previous, are too great to suggest this was not the moment of English discovery of the harp symbol, or certainly the moment of inspiration for its adoption.
Forgotten origins
The harps first association as a French choice for Ireland, so admired it would be adopted by a future English King and independent Ireland, was a reality not widely known in 20th century Ireland. This led to an inaccurate origin story which stated King Henry VIII had chosen the harp as the symbol of Ireland, a false narrative that did much damage to its prestige. Would be Republicans were always likely to turn their backs on a symbol that not only saw use by occupying English forces in their time, but one allegedly selected for Ireland by their occupier. This false origin story played an important role in securing the triumph of the tricolour as the flag of Ireland, the harp discarded partly due to misunderstanding.
The harp appeared among the crests of Richard III as a symbol for Ireland in the late 15th C before Henry VIII’s use on Irish coinage cemented its status. [10] The harp flag still sees frequent use today in the Irish Naval Service Jack, the Presidential flag, the Leinster provincial flag and many other state and public institutions. Ireland’s most famous drink, Guinness, boasts the harp as its symbol, one trademarked so early in 1876 it created headaches for the Irish government when seeking formal symbols of state in 1922.
By the 16th C the harp held sway as a national emblem, appearing on coins in 1534 and a map of Ireland in 1567 exclusively on a blue field. The harps status as a native Irish symbol of identity got a twist in 1642 when it was recorded on a field of green on the ship of Owen Roe O’Neill, who belonged to a Northern Irish Gaelic dynasty.
Though just a teenager he took some part in the nine years wars largely decided by the English victory at Kinsale. He was part of the flight of the earls around 1607 which hoped to secure Spanish assistance for Ireland. Failure to procure help abroad saw Irish chiefs languish for decades. Ireland lamented the loss of its spiritual leaders, poets like Fear Flatha Ó Gnímh writing in The downfall of the Gael ‘My heart is woe, and my soul deep in trouble, for the mighty are low, and abased are the noble’.1 Despite the loss, nothing would be forgotten regarding the desire for a self-governing island.
Owen took up service in the Spanish Army and served with distinction while continuing to petition Spanish authorities as late as 1627. Despite being in his fifties by the time rebellion next broke out in Ireland in 1641, he was soon en route aboard the St Francis, dodging naval intercepts sent in his honour to safely make landfall. O’Neill disembarked with experienced soldiers and much needed arms before his vessel returned to France, its cargo of hides, tallow and butter far more benign than its initial weapons of war.
It carried something else substantial.
On arrival to Dunkirk it was recorded ‘This frigate bear the Irish harp in a green field, in a flag, on the main top’. So was born a banner still in common Irish usage four centuries later, one which later vied with the tricolour for the status of symbol of Ireland. Green was the primary colour choice in Confederate unit flags, being a consistent colour on one side across all eight units. This uniform use suggests it was the primary colour associated with Ireland by the native Irish by this point, of such esteem it took pride of place.
The emergence of the green harp flag brought a symbol of near universal appreciation which remains to this day. While interpretations vary, this author would suggest the green represents the majestic Irish landscape, a lush breakwater on the edge of the European world. The harp stands for craftsmanship, musicians and culture. The symbolism of a society that deeply appreciates artisans, music, singers and song. It is an emblem of gathering and kinship, suited to a nation of gathering communities.
The world’s only national flag to include a musical instrument prior to it being usurped by the tricolour, the green harp flag is a banner far beyond anything defined by factions, feuds and political associations, as many modern flags have become.
The symbol was cemented as the national symbol following its use in the 1798 rebellion, occupying the position of number of emblem of Irish identity until 1916. The tricolours emergence in the 1830’s did not end this status, the two often seen side by side in the second half of the 19th century. But the Irish tricolour did overtake the harp following the Easter Rising of 1916, the heroics of the combatants seeing the Irish population convert to their ideas of an independent Republic and adopting their proposed symbol for that Republic.
The perception of the harp as an English choice for Ireland was well established by this period. Diarmuid Lynch, a senior figure in the Irish Republican Brotherhood behind the Easter Rising had voiced a distaste for the symbol, stating ‘we Irish Republicans of that generation felt the green harp flag was the subject of much ‘union-jackery’ at the time’. Popular press reinforced an incorrect narrative that the harp only came to be associated with Ireland following King Henry Viii’s adoption of the symbol in the 1400’s. There was very little public knowledge of the much earlier French use, pre-dating Henry by 200 years. The harp also appeared in the uniforms of groups like the Royal Irish Constabulary who were arresting and killing Irish Republicans, a situation hardly likely to endear the harp to the group.
The harp would be downgraded in deference to the tricolour for the choice of national flag. It was at least retained in the symbols of state in 1922 when Ireland gained independence, later being chosen as the symbol of the Presidential flag on its original field of azure blue (not the imagined Saint Patrick’s blue).
Today the harp on green or blue is a treasured symbol of Irish identity, on an island proud of music, craft and song. It adorns Irish passports, coinage and symbols of state – a symbol reclaimed from its colonial connotations – a true symbol of the people of Ireland.
[1] M. Ni Bhroin, The Harp and the Gael: Symbols of Ancient Ireland, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2008), p. 22 – The quote is attributed to Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 500 B.C.) through later classical sources, and is commonly cited in discussions of Ireland’s association with Apollo and the harp – however – there can be no confidence in the accuracy of the late 19th century translation / interpretation
[2] G.D. Burtchaell and J.M. Rigg, Report on Franciscan Manuscripts preserved at the convent Merchants Quay, Dublin, 1906, p.208, referencing Matthew O’Hartegan to Luke Wadding, O.S.F of St Isidore’s Rome, 17th Oct 1642
[1] M. Ni Bhroin, The Harp and the Gael: Symbols of Ancient Ireland, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2008),p. 22 – The quote is attributed to Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 500 B.C.) through later classical sources, and is commonly cited in discussions of Ireland’s association with Apollo and the harp
[2] John J Kennedy, The Arms of Ireland Medieval and modern, Coats of Arms, No 155, 1991, republished online by the Heraldry Society at https://www.theheraldrysociety.com/articles/the-arms-of-ireland-medieval-and-modern/
[3] Jeffery William Benedict, References to Pre-Modern Music and Performing Arts Culture in the Irish Annals: A Survey of Common Themes, Eolas the Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies, Vol 5, 2011, pp. 124-125
[4] A. Lawrence King, K. Antonenko, N. O’Shea, The Historical Irish Harp: Myths demystified, pp. 253 – multiple locations including https://www.ulster.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/942506/0720.pdf
[5] Thomas Wright, The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis: Containing the Topography of Ireland, and the History of the Conquest of Ireland, London, H.G. Bohn, 1863, p.126, available online
[6] A. Lawrence King, K. Antonenko, N. O’Shea, The Historical Irish Harp: Myths demystified – multiple locations including https://www.ulster.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/942506/0720.pdf
[7] Ibid – The interested reader will find excellent references in this account. It seems, like the tricolour to this point, the history of Ireland’s earliest symbols is by no means complete
[8] Ibid
[9] John J Kennedy, The Arms of Ireland Medieval and modern, Coats of Arms, No 155, 1991, republished online by the Heraldry Society at https://www.theheraldrysociety.com/articles/the-arms-of-ireland-medieval-and-modern
[10] Hayes-McCoy, G.A, A history of Irish flags, from earliest times, The Academy Press, Dublin, 1979, p. 22
[11] Ibid, p.21
- Fear Flatha Ó Gnímh, The downfall of the Gael, online at https://celt.ucc.ie/published/E860001-011/text001.html ↩︎
