Cong Abbey, #Mayo - from where the cross of Cong takes its name. The last High King, Rory O'Connor, lived the last years of his life here.

Rory O'Connor: "King of Connacht & Ireland, both the Irish & English, died after exemplary penance, victorious over the world & the devil."

The ruins of Cong Abbey, Co #Mayo - The last High King once walked these #Gothic halls, and prayed for Éire, amid its holy walls.

The #Gallowglass were elite mercenary warriors descended from the Irish invaders of Scotland. Active in many European armies in the 13-17thC

One of the signature weapons of the Gallowglass was the Highland 'Claíomh Mór', or #Claymore; a heavy two handed great-sword.

Hardened by centuries of warfare in #Scotland, Gallowglass clans returned to Ireland 13thC, where they pushed back & stalemated the Normans.

Surnames of Gallowglass ancestry incl. McCabe, McDonald, Sweeney & McDowell. The McCabe family motto: 'Either to conquer or to die'.

The word 'Scot' originally refers to Irish people & Gaelic invaders of #Scotland. Boru was called 'Imperator Scottorum': Irish Emperor.

Tomb effigy of Cooey-na-Gall O'Cahan (†1385) surrounded by his loyal Gallowglass warriors, Co #Derry. His name means 'Terror of the Norman'.

The Gallowglass was an Irish equivalent of the Samurai warrior: His loyalties were hereditary in nature, his honour belonged to the clan.

The five-foot-long Sparth axe was the primary weapon used by the Gallowglass. Employed in axe-wall formation it stopped Norman cavalry cold.

Felim O'Connor, reigned as the king of Connacht, 1233–65. Eight of his Gallowglass soldiers keep vigil at his tomb-effigy, Co #Roscommon.

'Gaelic society in Ireland and Scotland encouraged a particularly strong martial ethos.. the retaining of Gallowglass was nurtured by lords'

Knockdoe, site of the bloodiest battle in Irish medieval history. It means 'Hill of the Axes' due to the vast number of Gallowglas who died.

Many Icelanders look very much like Irish people, as almost half of Icelanders originally came from Ireland/Scotland as bondsmen. Examples:

Genetic studies of #Iceland show that a quarter of men and up to half of women among the founding pop. would have been of #Gaelic origin.

#Icelanders trace about 37% of their matrilineal and 75-80% of their patrilineal DNA ancestry to Scandinavia:

On #Iceland's bleak southern coast an ancient carving on a stone column reads: "Fionn mac Cumhaill was here."