Tallen Cyenns, Tales Of The Second Irish Revival (1200-1520)

Tallen Cyenns was born, lived and died during the years of the Second Irish Revival. He was born in the year of 1289 supposedly in the southeastern area of the County of Cork in Ireland. In the year of 1308, when he was nineteen years old Tallen joined the ranks of the military, as did all men of the times who had a love of their Country and a desire to Serve and Protect it. Tallen's whereabouts were unknown for a long time prior to what is thought to be the year of his death in 1396, which would have made him 107.

The first Irish Revival was from 1014-1169 after the Danish wars showed the strength of the ancient Gaelic civilization. It is said that the second victory in which the genius of the people won over the minds of the new invaders was a more astonishing proof of the vitality of the Irish culture, the firm structure of their law, and the cohesion of the people. During this time Irish manners had been entered also into the town houses of the merchants. Foreign traders were welcomed as "natives" to the seaports, they were employed, their wares were bought, they were made taken into partnerships, marriages among them were made, they were allowed to plead Irish laws in the courts. They also wore the forbidden Irish dress and talked Irish with the townsfolk also joining in the national festivities, ceremonies and songs.

And with that mention of the vitality of the Irish culture, some of the readers of the Scrolls of Taloned Claws, may remember an earlier story about Tallen and his life long friend John FitzStephen along with some of their companions, each of which were experienced young horseman. There came a time for them to be called upon to go on a scouting mission during one of the battles they were in. For several days torrential rain had fallen and as they were moving down a storm struck road in the forest they ran upon some of their opponents that were also on horseback. Being outnumbered, Tallen and his friends turned their horses to make their escape and were quickly pursued. They ran their horses into a mire and the horses fell and they were surrounded and thought to be captured at the moment. The leader of the opposing force immediately took their weapons and requested their headgear. It was told that Tallen being young and daring replied, "Damn you, if you think you can take my headgear, try it, and someone will meet their fate from the grip of my bare-hands". The other Soldiers began laughing at hearing the young "up-start" speaking like this and their leader replied "I like your spiritedness, you may keep your headgear". This moment turned out to be just the distraction needed to keep Tallen and his companions from actually being captured, for it was during this time when some reinforcements arrived and ended up capturing the opponents. So it was with that vitality of the Irish culture of his ancestors that Tallen ended up wearing that headgear long after the his time served.

This Second Irish Revival has been attributed to a number of causes. From the invasion of Edward Bruce in 1315, to the "degeneracy" of the Normans, to the vice of the Irish, to the War of the Roses, to the want of energy of Dublin Castle, to the over-education of the Irish people in Oxford, to agitation and lawyers. Some think the cause lay far deeper and say it lay in the rich national civilization which the Irish genius had built up, the Irish language preserved to the people their old culture they never failed to absorb into their life every people that came among them, and strangers no longer yielded to their power.

Again, some of the readers of the Scrolls of Taloned Claws, may remember an earlier story about the Great Famine of 1315-1317 which coincided with and greatly influenced the Bruce campaign in Ireland. This was when Edward de Bruce, a younger brother of Robert the Bruce of Scotland, attempted to make himself High King of Ireland. At first, the Irish-Scottish alliance seemed unstoppable, as it won battle after battle and gained control of most of Ireland in less than a year. It was on the verge of driving the Anglo-Norman settlers out of Ireland altogether. And those readers may also remember about Tallen originally been from the County of Cork Ireland, which is the most southerly and the largest of the modern counties of Ireland and has colloquially been referred to as "The Rebel County". This comes as a result of the support of the townsmen of Cork in 1491 for Perki Warbeck, a pretender to the throne of England during the Wars of the Roses.

The fighting "rebel" Irish spirit along with that vitality of the Irish culture, the firm structure of their law, and the cohesion of the people, continues to live on in the ancestors of Tallen and his life long friend John FitzStephen among others!