Does Gaelic rather than Irish would work?How could it be possible for the inhabitants of what we now know to be Ireland dominate both islands? And be the principal ruling party of such.
If you could butterfly away the Viking raids and have the Synod of Whitby go a bit differently, Ireland becomes the intellectual and religious heart of the British Isles. Trainee priests and the sons of kings and great nobles go to Irish monasteries to finish their education and have Irish priests and tutors. Gaelic, as well as the common tongue of Ireland, Man and Scotland (including OTL Cumberland, Westmoreland and Northumberland) is the court and trade language of the rest of the British Isles and gradually supplants Anglic over the next five centuries and Welsh and Cornish over the following five. By the C21st, Cornish is still extinct (just not enough speakers though more loan-words have moved into the more similar Gaelic TTL than into English) Welsh is still widely spoken by 20-25% of the population of Wales (as OTL. North Wales is remote enough that I suspect survival rates to be broadly similar, South Wales still has coal, iron and decent ports and will speak the main language of the economy in which it is intertied). Anglic (Sassenach) is a minority language still spoken in OTL rural East Anglia, Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Many more loan words from Dutch and Friesian than OTL.I guess they probably call themselves the Irish.
So a Celtic dominated British Isles.
How could it be possible for the inhabitants of what we now know to be Ireland dominate both islands? And be the principal ruling party of such.
Does Gaelic rather than Irish would work?
Picts invading Scotland from Ireland? What?If you could butterfly away the Viking raids and have the Synod of Whitby go a bit differently, Ireland becomes the intellectual and religious heart of the British Isles. Trainee priests and the sons of kings and great nobles go to Irish monasteries to finish their education and have Irish priests and tutors. Gaelic, as well as the common tongue of Ireland, Man and Scotland (including OTL Cumberland, Westmoreland and Northumberland) is the court and trade language of the rest of the British Isles and gradually supplants Anglic over the next five centuries and Welsh and Cornish over the following five. By the C21st, Cornish is still extinct (just not enough speakers though more loan-words have moved into the more similar Gaelic TTL than into English) Welsh is still widely spoken by 20-25% of the population of Wales (as OTL. North Wales is remote enough that I suspect survival rates to be broadly similar, South Wales still has coal, iron and decent ports and will speak the main language of the economy in which it is intertied). Anglic (Sassenach) is a minority language still spoken in OTL rural East Anglia, Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Many more loan words from Dutch and Friesian than OTL.
It would have to seeing as how the situation is somewhat confused. The Picts and the Scots seem to have invaded Scotland from Ireland and the Milesians Ireland from Scotland. The original Irish culture was thoroughly extirpated by the Milesians to the degree that we have one surviving word from their language, the word "mourn" meaning "slave" (which is why we have the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland)
It's difficult.Picts invading Scotland from Ireland? What?
I know little about pre-Dark Age Britain but from what I can read the Milesians aren't actually real but are just a mythical people, also seems weird to think there was an invasion from Ireland during this time.It is disputed, but the Picts are believed to have supplanted the Caledonae after being pushed out of Ireland by the Milesian invaders. The Scots definitely invaded from Ireland. Dalriada started as a kingdom in east Ulster and ended up as one on the west coast of Scotland.
The Picts and the Scots seem to have invaded Scotland from Ireland and the Milesians Ireland from Scotland
Picts are much more probably the result of Northern Brittonic coalitions of people in the IIIrd century (not unlike other Barbarians),giving their association with early mentioned peoples.It is disputed, but the Picts are believed to have supplanted the Caledonae
What remains of the Milesians once the Galician theory is cleaned off? (Honest question, I'm quite blurry on ancient Irish history)The original Irish culture was thoroughly extirpated by the Milesians to the degree that we have one surviving word from their language, the word "mourn" meaning "slave" (which is why we have the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland)
Re the "Milesians" it is a bit like "Aurelius Ambrosianus" or "Arthur" as historic figures they are much more likely (virtually certain in fact) to be mythological rather than reality but it has been archaeologically demonstrated several generations of someones did marshall resistance against the invading Angles and Saxons and led the Britannic forces to victory at Badon delaying/retarding the invasion by a generation.I know little about pre-Dark Age Britain but from what I can read the Milesians aren't actually real but are just a mythical people, also seems weird to think there was an invasion from Ireland during this time.
I'm not sure I get it, when are you claiming this invasion happened, from where more or less and by what groups(linguistic or ethnic)?Re the "Milesians" it is a bit like "Aurelius Ambrosianus" or "Arthur" as historic figures they are much more likely (virtually certain in fact) to be mythological rather than reality but it has been archaeologically demonstrated several generations of someones did marshall resistance against the invading Angles and Saxons and led the Britannic forces to victory at Badon delaying/retarding the invasion by a generation.
Likewise the "Milesians", call them what you like and speculate on their origins as you will, a Gaelic speaking invader conquered the island of Ireland and smashed, supplanted or assimilated the existing tribal cultures. Stripping ancient legend of its more improbable features, it seems likely that they found an admixture of several older cultures living in relative peace(which are remembered in myth as the Formorians and Firr Bolg -Bag Men sounds like a plausible description for a nomadic hunter-gatherer culture to me), uniting to resist the invaders (Gaels/Milesians). Take away all the trappings of myth oabout how evil these two peoples were and you see a picture of a local confederation of tribes or trading alliance massing to repel the newcomers (again this sounds suspiciously like what would have happened). Deconstructed the legends do indicate a (simplified and sanitised) narrative of invasion. I am using the term "Milesian" as shorthand you understand, not as a literal belief in their origin myth. I don't believe that Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf either but I am quite happy to talk about "Romans" as a historic people.
Invasions are generally more likely to go the other way Scotland to Ireland. They may have grander scenery but Ireland has better land and milder weather. However if a group was pushed out of Ireland, they really had nowhere else to go. Such groups or movements of folk tend to be a) battle hardened (by whoever is doing the pushing); b) desperate and c) concentrated (they have no other frontiers to watch, taxpayers to placate or allies to entreat). So they aren't good news for a settled culture when they arrive!