Nemedians- Celtic RaceRace

The Second Settlement

The Nemedians were the third group to arrive in Ireland according to the Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions), following Cessair's ill-fated company and the Partholonians. Led by Nemed son of Agnoman, they sailed from Scythia with a fleet of ships and endured a harrowing voyage during which many were lost to plague and shipwreck. Nemed and his followers reached Ireland and began to settle the land, clearing plains and establishing lakes through their labors. The text credits the Nemedians with clearing twelve plains and creating four lakes during their time in Ireland.

Nemed himself died of plague, one of three thousand of his people carried off by disease. His death left the community leaderless and vulnerable at a time when they faced their most dangerous neighbors.

Fomorian Oppression

The Fomorians, the hostile powers associated with the sea and the outer darkness, imposed a crushing tribute on the Nemedians. Each Samhain (the festival at the turning of the year), the Nemedians were required to surrender two-thirds of their children, their grain, and their milk to the Fomorian lords Morc and Conand, who ruled from a tower on Tory Island off the northwest coast.

This tribute is one of the recurring motifs of the Lebor Gabála: each wave of settlers must contend with the Fomorians, and each relationship follows a pattern of subjugation, resistance, and eventual catastrophe or liberation. For the Nemedians, the subjugation was total and the resistance desperate.

The Battle of Tory Island

Driven beyond endurance, the Nemedians rose against their oppressors and attacked Conand's tower on Tory Island. They stormed the fortress and killed Conand, but the Fomorian reinforcements under Morc arrived and a terrible battle followed. During the fighting, the sea rose and overwhelmed the combatants. The Nemedians were shattered: of their entire people, only thirty survived.

The survivors scattered in three groups, and the Lebor Gabála traces through their exile the origins of the later settlers of Ireland. One group went to Greece and became the ancestors of the Fir Bolg. Another traveled to the northern islands of the world and learned druidry and magic, becoming the Tuatha Dé Danann. The third group is traced to Britain. In this way, the Nemedian catastrophe becomes the seed from which the later, more successful invasions grew.