"Did Irish Kerns fight during the EcW?" Topic

I am putting together a 6mm Montrose Irish army. I noticed the Piquet's Anchor of Faith supplement lists Irish Kerns as a forlorn hope / skirmishING unit.

I have looked around a little and discovered that Kerns ceased to exist in the late 1500s. There could have been some traditionalists lingering on for a while after this. Or at least my mind works this way. I am unable to give a historical example of a body of warriors using outdated weapons. All I can think of are the warrior ladies in Mad Max Fury Road. They were using black powder weapons while the other guys had automatic weapons.

That was a terrible example.
Oh. Some Of the Scots were still using Bows . The battle of Moore's creek bridge is an example of outdated weaponry. My credibility is redeemed… maybe. At least it is still Scottish in origin.

Were Irish Kerns still in existence during the English Civil War? Is it at least somewhat plausible? I think a nice skirmishING base of Kerns mixed in with some Musketeers bases would be a nice touch.

If you are talking about chaps with darts ans swords then the answer is pretty much no. The native Irish had been disarmed following the Tudor conquest and prior to to that had gone over to firearms in a major way.

When Eoin Ruadh arrived to organise the northern Gaels one of his first tasks was to arm and equip his men pike and shot for the infantry and lances for the cavalry.

The Irish serving with Montrose were shot with some say a few pikes. I would not consider them skirmishing troops.

I don't think its likely at all for Montrose's Irish brigade, they were three 'regular' (for want of a better word) regiments, plus later a small bodyguard for MacColla recruited from the Western Isles.

In Ireland itself I think it could be justifiable. Although as OB says they were organised as soon as possible with pike & shot, the Confederates were very short of weaponry, certainly early in the war, especially muskets. Also there are many mentions of wandering bands of Irish rebels during the early years. Whether they were equipped similar to kerns of earlier years I don't know (perhaps more like clubmen??) but possible I think. More than likely they used whatever they could get hold of.

Armed with long knives Timbo 'skeans' was the anglicisation So not as well equipped or for that matter as skilled as the old Kern. But until arms arrived they could not really take the field against conventional troops and none such were with Montrose.

Kern is the term used by George Gush to describe these fellows and followed by us. He uses the term in Renaissance Armies 1480 – 1650 and in his WRG Army List for Irish Catholic Confederate Army 1640s.

He describes them in his book as "ordinary Irish foot soldiers, made up of 'bonnachts', or Irish mercenaries maintained by the various nobles, and partly of free peasantry called out to fight." He pictures a 17C Kern in the book, describing the image as "..He wears a very short, loose coat of blue and tight hose (pinkish red seems to be the usual colour). He holds a sword…..In his left hand is a javelin, in this case having actual flights."

In the WRG lists they are LI (unarmoured infantry), E (peasant) or 50% D (militia) class, order or open order, improvised weapon or javelin, or up to 25% bow – up to 50 (figures).

We thought this was too 'populace' for this period so we included less, but kept them, especially for those with existing armies. We classed them as warriors, there being less they would be the better ones (rather than a mob). Also please note that the list is for Irish Catholics, not Montrose in particular.

James Roach

I am really curious to know what the authors of Anchor of Faith intended when they put Kerns in the army selector.

Well, now you know!