Irish Brigade (France) - Language

Language

Some officers of the Irish Brigade are believed to have cried out Cuimhnígí ar Luimneach agus ar fheall na Sasanach! ("Remember Limerick and Saxon Faith" or "Remember Limerick and Saxon perfidy") at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745. Modern research by Eoghan Ó hAnnracháin claims that it is very doubtful if the regiments would also have been chanting in Irish, a language unknown to probably a majority of the brigade at the time. Others strongly dispute this point, as over the course of 100 years new recruits were brought into the brigade mostly from the Irish speaking regions of West Munster, the homeland of, among other the O'Connell family. Daniel O'Connell's uncle was the last Colonel of the French Irish Brigade and both he and Daniel O'Connell were native Irish speakers. According to official French Army regulations, officers of the Irish Brigade regiments had to be Irish, half of which had to be born in Ireland and the other half born of Irish parents in France.

Seamus MacManus shows in his book The Story of The Irish Race (1921):

"In truth it was not the "Wild Geese" who forgot the tongue of the Gael or let it perish. We are told that the watchwords and the words of command in the "Brigade" were always in Irish, and that officers who did not know the language before they entered the service found themselves of necessity compelled to learn it."