Example research essay topic: Irish Bagpipes Brian Boru Pipe - 1,568 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

Irish Bagpipes (Brian Boru pipe) The bagpipes have been a huge part of Irish music for many years. Today the bagpipe is synonymous with Scotland, but the pipes really came from Ireland. The earliest bag pipes date back to 4000 B. C.

in the Middle East, where a bagpipe is found in Chaldean sculptures. This evidence shows it is ancient, certainly as old as the harp and nearly as old as the drum. Greeks, Egyptians and Romans all marched to the sound of the pipes to battle. As for Ireland, a seventh-century account at the palace of Da De in Bohernabreena, County Dublin, lists people who came to pay homage to King Confirm the Great in 35 B. C. , tells of nine pipers who came from the fairy hills of Begin (County Meath), 'the best pipe-players in the whole world, ' who are listed by name as Bind, Round, Riarbind, Site, Date, Deicrind, Usa, Cum & Ciallglind. The bagpipe was even given place in the Break Laws of the 400 s.

Here it is called the cruise, meaning 'the pulse, ' being a reference to the blood pulsing through one's veins. It's also in reference to the hum that comes from the drones. At the great Feis' held at Tara, the pipers occupied a prominent position. The pipes (called a cuisleannoch) were one of the favored instruments down to the last Feis that was presided over by King Dermot Mac Fergus in 560 A.

D. , there after Tara's Halls were silent. After the Irish embraced Christianity, the bagpipe was used in church service to sustain the sacred chant or as a solo instrument. Depicted in one of the panels on the High Cross of Clonmacnois (dated about 910 AD) is a sculpture of a man playing a bagpipe standing on two cats. It is clear that the bagpipe existed in Ireland long before Scotland.

The bagpipe is believed to have made its way to Scotland with the Dal radians upon their exodus from County Antrim across the Irish Sea at about 470 A. D. , when Prince Fergus Mac Erc lead his clan in the invasion of the lands of the Picts at present Argyle. The difference in the Scottish and Irish bagpipe is their name and the number of drones. The Scottish refer to their bagpipe as 'the Great Highland Bagpipe, ' which today has three drones: one bass and two tenor. The Irish call theirs 'the Great Irish Warpipe, ' which has two drones: one bass and one tenor. In Gaelic the bagpipe is called 'Pro Mor. ' By the eleventh century the bagpipe slowly lost favor with the upper and middle class in favor of the harp.

Yet in two deeds, one dated 1206 and the other in 1256, both near Dublin, mentioned Geoffrey the Piper and William the Piper. Even though the upper class shunned the pipes, its music could still be heard among the working class, especially the military who used it on the battlefield. Unique to the Irish soldiers was that the pipers actually lead their men into battle playing the warpipe's. After the Normans came to Ireland in 1169, the Irish were forced to enlist its men into regiments to assist the English Kings in their wars. The Irish regiment marched to France in 1243 for King Henry III, and into battle they advanced to the sounds of their warpipe's; as they did at Gascony in 1286 - 1289 under King Edward I, and into Flanders in 1297. In the following year, the Irish army was assigned to the English army at the Battle of Falkirk in Scotland against Sir William Wallace where the Irish marched into battle to the sound of the warpipe's as the Scottish watched in amazement on the other side of the battlefield.

It was at Falkirk that the Scotsmen saw the effect of the bagpipes upon the Irish soldiers and thereafter began bringing bagpipes into battle. The first mention of the Scots using their bagpipes in battle was at their victory at Bannockburn in 1314. Just like in Falkirk, Irish pipers marched 6, 000 men into the Battle of Crecy in France, which was fought in 1346. This Irish army contributed heavily to the English victory over the French. King Richard II delivered a silencing blow to the long tradition of the Irish wartime playing. The King recognized the warpipe's ability to rouse Irishmen to acts of 'insurrection' and 'violence. ' England caused for the Statute of Kilkenny to be passed in 1366 making the possession and playing of the warpipe's a penal offense, which included having pipers entertain in the home.

The English government became paranoid that Irish pipers acted as '... agents or spies on the English whereby great evils often resulted. ' The penalty for breaking the Kilkenny statute was death. No doubt the English were pleased with the results. The silencing of the wartime in Ireland would not raise the Gaelic Clans anymore. Queen Elizabeth I again supported this edict and again by Cromwell, whose punishment was banishment to Barbados or other West Indies islands. Ironically, the English were delighted to have Irish regiments retain pipers outside of Ireland.

Even in Ireland pipers still played, but by special order. Two men, Donal O'Morgan in 1375 and Richard Bennet in 1469, received special permission to play the pipes. Both men, having proved their loyalty to the crown, were allowed to play their pipes. During the 16 th century the warpipe's of the Irish soldiers sounded throughout Europe.

In May 1544, Lord Power marched his 800 Irish soldiers in a warlike manner into London, and assembled them before the King in St. James' Park, with ten war pipers leading the way. These Irish soldiers later served at Boulogne, where the Irish pipes were played during its siege in September. The wartime also served the purpose of the bugle in sounding battle commands. For example, in 1600 during the siege of Kinsale, Earl Tir Owen signaled retreat with his piper when he found himself outnumbered.

Also at the Battle of Yellow Ford on August 14, 1598, the Earl of Tyrone, assisted by O'Donnell and Maguire, charged their Irish soldiers to the sound of the warpipe's, utterly defeating Marshal Sir Henry Bagenal and his 4, 500 troops. In 1647 with the surrendering of Ardlonan Castle, numbered among the garrison was a lone piper. During this same year Alastair MacColl Mac Donnell found himself besieged in a northern castle. He embarked in a boat and placed a lone piper in another, which deluded his enemies who were trying to pursue him.

Cromwell laid waste to Ireland in the mid - 1600 s, and during this period various histories note the presence of warpipe's as the Irish fought the English foe. It was the last golden era of the instrument on the Emerald Isle. Piper Cornelius O'Brien was sentenced on January 25, 1656, 'to receive twenty lashes on the bare back, on suspicion of inciting to rebellion. ' He was deported to Barbados. King James fought King William of Orange in the Siege of Derry in 1689 in Northern Ireland. Both kings had Irish pipers playing the troops into battle, which truly must have been incredible to see and hear. But the warpipe's failed to rouse King James' troops to victory.

King William banned all Irish minstrels, harpers and pipers. When King William asked which king the Irish guards would serve, only seven of the 1200 soldiers chose William. The others followed the exiled King James to France, where the defeated king accepted the men who had helped to defeat him. Having been banned from Ireland once again, the warpipe's found a home in France, where they led the Irish into war for the next hundred years.

Their greatest moment in France was at the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745. As was the custom of the Irish soldiers, the pipers led their men onto the battlefield. Knowing that the Royal Scots regiments of the 21 st, 25 th and 42 nd were assembling on the other side, the war pipers struck into the great Jacobite song 'The White Cockade. ' It must have really confused the Scots to no end in hearing played the famous Scottish rebel song. The Irish were victorious in this battle.

While the wartime was alive and well upon the battlefields of France, the wartime had almost disappeared in Ireland. Queen Elizabeth and Cromwell succeeded in abolishing the wartime. But the clever pipers invented another pipe to take its place. The Uileann pipe required the joining of a bellows under the right arm, which pumped air via a tube to the bagpipe under the left arm, with the bellows replacing the blowpipe.

The instrument could only be played sitting down and had a much lighter sound. The English placed no ban upon this new pipe, and by 1710 the wartime was gone and the Uileann pipe was alive. Today the Uileann pipe is the national instrument of Ireland. Today, the Scottish highland pipes are used the most in pipe bands because of their loud and boisterous tones. There are many pipe bands playing today. It was a surprise to me to find out that the bagpipes were originally from Ireland.

I had always thought they were from Scotland, as most people probably believe. There is nothing like the unique sound of bagpipes.

Research essay sample on Irish Bagpipes Brian Boru Pipe