Gaelic-Irish Kern #1

Hello friends!

Today I wish to present to you the first four Irish warriors called Kern.
Kern was an Irish soldier, a specialized lightweight walker in medieval Ireland.

A Kern was a Gaelic soldier, specifically a light infantryman in Ireland during the Middle Ages.
The word kern is an anglicisation of the Middle Irish word ceithern [kʲeθʲern] or ceithrenn meaning a collection of persons, particularly fighting men. An individual member is a ceithernach. The word may derive from a conjectural proto-Celtic word *keternā, ultimately from an Indo-European root meaning a chain Kern was adopted into English as a term for a Gaelic soldier in mediaeval Ireland and as cateran, meaning Highland marauder, bandit.

Kerns notably accompanied bands of the mercenary Gallóglaigh as their light infantry forces, where the Gallowglass filled the need for heavy infantry. This two-tier "army" structure though should not be taken to reflect earlier Irish armies prior to the Norman invasions, as there were more locally trained soldiers filling various roles prior to this. The Gallowglass largely replaced the other forms of infantry though, as more Irish began to train to imitate them, creating Gallowglass of purely Irish origin.
Earlier, the Ceithernn would have consisted of myriad militia-type infantry, and possibly light horse, most likely remembered later in the "horse boys" that accompanied Gallowglass and fought as light cavalry. They would be armed from common stock or by what they owned themselves, and filled out numerous portions of an army, probably forming the vast bulk of most Gaelic forces. In the mid sixteenth century Shane O'Neill was known to have armed his peasantry and Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, outfitted many of his Ceithernn with contemporary battle dress and weapons and drilled them as a professional force, complete with experienced captains and modern weapons.

Like many Gaels historically, Kerns often found themselves on multiple sides of conflicts; for example, the native Irish forces of the Norman-English in Ireland would have had levies of Kerns in them. As a result, they also found themselves fighting upon distant shores in Europe where they were famous as ferocious light infantrymen. 
Native Irish displaced by the Anglo-Norman invasion, operated as bandits in the forests of Ireland where they were known as "wood kerns" or Cethern Coille. They were such a threat to the new settlers that a law was passed in 1297 requiring lords of the woods to keep the roads clear of fallen and growing trees, to make it harder for wood kerns to launch their attacks.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the common clothing amongst the Gaelic-Irish consisted of a Brat (a woollen cloak) worn over a Léine (a loose-fitting, long-sleeved tunic made of wool or linen). 

Witajcie wojownicy!

Dzisiaj pragnę zaprezentować wam pierwszą czwórkę Irlandzkich wojowników, zwanych Kern.
Kern był żołnierzem, wyspecjalizowanym lekkim piechurem, mieszkającym w średniowiecznej Irlandii.

Słowo Kern jest bliskoznaczne z irlandzkim słowem ceithern [kʲeθʲern] lub ceithrenn czyli grupa osób, zwłaszcza walczących mężczyzn. Kern został przyjęty na język angielski jako określenie dla gaelickiego żołnierza średniowiecznej Irlandii oraz jako Cateran, czyli górski maruder i bandyta.

Jak wielu Irlandczyków w historii, Kern często najmowano w wielu wojnach średniowiecznej Europy. Na przykład, rodzime siły irlandzkie wchodzące w skład Normańsko- angielskich sił w Irlandii były opłacanymi wojskami Kern. Walczyli oni także na dalekich wybrzeżach w Europie-Francji, Szkocji, Anglii, gdzie byli znani jako lekko zbrojni okrutni wojownicy.

Przez okres średniowiecza,wspólnym charakterystycznym i powszechnym ubiorem dla Irlandczyków był- Brat (wełniany płaszcz), noszony na Leine (luźno dopasowana, z długimi rękawami, tunika z wełny lub lnu).

Coś dla ucha // Something to listen