Kern (soldier)

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From the word Middle Irish word 'Ceithern' or 'Ceitherne', a Kern was a Gaelic soldier, specifically a light infantryman during the Middle Ages. The term exists earlier as 'Ceithernn', and designated levied warbands used in Gaelic armies. These soldiers were, in any period, the lowest portion of the army, outclassed initially by 'Fianadi', infantry, and 'Cliarthairi', meaning guards or troopers; the professional retinue of a Boaire. Ceithernn is loosely a 'warband', but can also be more generic and simply mean a troop of soldiers, without distinction between various classes of soldiers involved.

During the middle ages, the English adopted the Middle Irish 'Ceithern' into the term 'Kerne', referring mainly to Irish levies, but also highland Scots, who were initially difficult to distinguish from the Irish due to similar armaments and dress, prior to the invention and wider adoption of the kilt by Scots. Kerns notably accompanied bands of the mercenary Scottish 'Gallóglaigh' as their attendants and to fight in their bands as supplementary forces, where the Gallowglass filled the need for heavy infantry. This two-class "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 fields prior to this. The Gallowglass largely replaced the other forms of infantry though, as more Irish began to train to imitate them, creating native "Gallowglass", though then the term becomes a misnomer, as it implies a foreign origin.

Shakespeare showed disdain for the Kern in Macbeth:

The merciless Macdonwald-- Worthy to be a rebel, for to that The multiplying villanies of nature Do swarm upon him--from the western isles Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied; .... Mark, king of Scotland, mark: No sooner justice had with valour arm'd Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels, But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage, With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men Began a fresh assault. .... I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms Are hired to bear their staves: either thou, Macbeth, Or else my sword with an unbatter'd edge I sheathe again undeeded. ^[1]

Earlier, the Ceithernn would have consisted of a myriad of militia-type infantry, and possibly light horse, likely remembered later in the "horse boys" that accompanied Gallowglass and fought as light cavalry. They would be armed from a dole or by what they owned themselves, and filled out numerous portions of an army, likely forming the vast bulk of most Gaelic forces. 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.

The Kern made it outside Ireland, as far afield as northern France. They were famous across Europe as ferocious light infantry.

The Prior and many of his men were killed. The kern had made a strong impression by their outlandish dress and their ferocity, riding back from raids with severed heads and even babies dangling from their bareback ponies. There were other Irishmen who, led by the Butler family, made a small but effective contribution to the Lancastrian war effort in France. The fourth earl of Ormonde – Fra’ Thomas was his bastard son – had been on Clarence’s chevauchee in 1412 and also took part in the siege of Rouen. Two more of his sons, Sir John and Sir James Butler (later the fifth Earl) were to be noted captains under Bedford and Old Talbot in the 1430s and 1440s. Besides a long-haired, moustachioed, saffron cloaked, barefooted ‘tail’ of javelin men and axe- and claymore-wielding gallowglasses, these Anglo-Irish chieftains would have brought more conventionally armed daoine uaisle (gentlemen) recruited from their relations. ^[2]