Portal partners
About lynching and Irish
Author:Mariusz Dasiewicz
Writing on my blog, on another portal, I was once provoked to discuss with a blogger from the opposite political side of the barricade. Although I did not give reasons, the blogger was very aggressive and almost wanted to lynching me. Of course, I'm kidding about that lynching. But the aggressiveness of that blogger reminded me of a true lynching story. A story I once heard in Galway, Ireland, about an event that supposedly came from a concept of lynching.
The Irish are redheaded. Such a stereotype of the Irish look functions in our consciousness, and when I first arrived in Ireland many years ago, I remember being very surprised that many Irish (and Irish) 🙂) has black hair and dark skin complexion. How come there's so common black hair and black skin among Irish people?
In the 15th and 16th centuries there were very strict economic unions between Ireland and Spain. If we mention Ireland and Spain, we think that these two countries are in two different directions, Ireland in the west and Spain in the south. But if we look closely at the map, we will see that this is not the case. In fact, both countries lie west of Poland. Only that Ireland slightly north and Spain slightly south.
So to sail from Spain to Ireland, you have to head straight north.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, shipping, particularly Spanish, was already a permanent part of the then European economy. However, the navigation equipment of the ships was still poor. And at sea, it's a problem to determine the position of the ship. There are no roads or direction indicators at sea to show where to sail to reach the destination.
At the time, or in the 15th and 16th centuries, stars (except magnetic compass) were the basis of navigation. But determining the course and position of the ship based on the stars is quite complicated. However, except when the ship is heading north. Then it's easy. Just follow the north star. And that is what happens when you sail from Spain to Ireland. The ship on course still has a Polar star.
Thus these strict economic unions (of course other causes were also) between Spain and Ireland at the time. It was simply easy to find from Spain to Ireland. It was only during the cruise that it was necessary to steer to the north star and after a few days of sailing on the ship's course from behind the horizon, Ireland emerged (although satellite navigation, which ships are equipped with today, standing on the bridge at night and sailing from Spain to Ireland also happens to see if the Polar star is on the course).
But let's go back to Galway. Galway is currently a small town and there are few ships in the port. But it was different at the time. Galway was alive. Spanish ships, mooring at the docks of the port were a daily sight.
There are no Spanish ships today, but there is another souvenir from that time. A fragment of a house with a preserved window where the mayor of the time lived.
And this mayor had a daughter. And there was a young captain on a Spanish ship that often flew to the port of Galway. And then these two met. And as it happens (with young people) they fell in love at first sight. After another cruise and another port trip to Galway, the young Spaniard proposed to the mayor's daughter.
But who was it for the mayor of Galway, an officer from a Spanish ship? Little more than a bum and a brawler! And of course, the mayor didn't agree to the wedding.
But the young loved each other for real. So they decided to flee. And as they decided they did. One night the mayor's daughter disappeared. She ran away with her beloved through a window that remained until today. Of course, the mayor immediately figured out what happened and ordered a chase. And what's more, this pursuit led itself. The chase quickly caught up with the young. And when the mayor's soldiers caught the Spaniard, the mayor ordered it. Hang! And they hung the boy. No court, no conviction.
That mayor of Galway, his name was Lynch.
Well, Lynch lynched his beloved daughter. But the other fathers did not have such authority, and certainly no such will. Perhaps this explains why this black hair and stale complexion is so common among Irish people.
In fact, the story about Lynch has little to do with the blogger I mentioned at the beginning. The only link is that this discussion happened just before the ship departed from Spain to Ireland. And that's probably why, by steering the Polar star on the way from the port of Spain to the port of Ireland, an aggressive blogger and Lynch from Galway somehow sort of got into one whole and so they stayed in my memory.
Signature: Tadeusz Hatalski, Capt. W.
Footnotes:
*The polar star is not a first-size star, and it's barely visible. To find it, you have to find the constellation of the Great Bear. The Polar star is on a line extending the line passing through the stars constituting the last two wheels of the Great Woz and lies at a distance of six times the distance between the two stars. The Polar star itself is the end of the constellation drawbar Small Car.
** The story of Lynch of Galway presented above may not quite match the official version of this legend [James Lynch Fitzstephen from Galway, Ireland, who was the Mayor of Galway when he hung his own son from the balcony of his house after consulting him of the Murder of a Spanish visitor in 1493 (James Lynch Fitzstephen of Galway, Ireland, being mayor of Galway, hanged his son on the balcony of his home, after accusing him of murder of a Spanish visitor in 1493), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching]. However, I told it as I did a long time ago when I heard it in Galway.
