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Western Civilization's Base of Supply
down into a deeper well of degradation by the Frank, by
whom he was classed with the cattle in the field and to
whom he remained as much a stranger. We can judge
in no clearer way of the military prowess of the Irish and
of the strength and brilliancy of their civilization than
by their contrasted effect on the all-conquering Frankfrom
Normandy, Anjou and Aquitaine, whose name had become
a terror in England, Sicily and in the East.
2. LAND OF ENORMOUS WEALTH
Ireland, however, was a country not only militarily
powerful and highly cultured, but also a country of enor-
mous wealth. This is evidenced, among other things, by
her large population of English slaves. The English
slave, as will later be shown, was as familiar a figure to
the medieval Irishman as the negro slave to the southern
planter in the United States in the early half of the last
century. These English slaves were carried in cargoes to
Ireland from English ports much as the negro slave was
carried from Africa to America at a later epoch. Irish
families of station had their Anglo-Saxon "fudirs," male
and female, just as the family of the southern planter
each had its "nigger." Many Irish families had large
numbers of these English slaves, and herds of them were
often included in the tributes, donations and stipends that
passed between one Irish family of rank and another.
These English slaves were not taken in war, as some historians
try to make out, the tolerance which the medieval
Irishman showed to the Englishman, and the almost sav-
age worship which the Englishman
manifested towards
the Irishman, rendering hostilities almost impossible. 1
i During the entire period before the French conquest and after the arrival
of Aidan only one act of hostility is recorded as having been perpetrated by
the English against Ireland, namely, the raid made by the order of Ecgfrith,
referred to by Bede, and really directed, it would seem, against the protection
there afforded to Aldfrid, his half-brother and rival, who succeeded him.
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