Stephen's proximity to "the
Pigeonhouse" makes him think of Léo Taxil's funny story
about the Virgin Mary's insemination
by a pigeon, and that memory triggers a long
recollection of the time he spent in Paris with Patrice Egan,
the young man who told him about Taxil's book. But he is also
thinking of a second kind of bird, since Patrice's father is a
"wild goose": an Irish patriot who has fled
his homeland for the Continent.
The term was apparently first coined to describe expatriate
Irish soldiers who had supported the English Stuart monarch James II during his
struggle against Protestant forces loyal to William of Orange.
After James' defeat at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, two
treaties were signed at Limerick in 1691 which gave Jacobite
soldiers under the command of Patrick Sarsfield the choice of
returning to their homes, joining the victorious army, or
emigrating to France or other Catholic European nations. Over
14,000 Irish soldiers, many of them with their families,
emigrated to France where James maintained an army. Others
went to Spain or Austria.
Some Irish Catholic troops had already served in Spanish
armies in the 1580s and 90s, fighting against the English in
the Low Countries. In 1607 the "Flight of the Earls" after
their defeat in the Nine Years' War brought more Irish
soldiers into service to the Spanish crown, but as Spanish
power declined over the next century and French power rose,
France became the more attractive destination. Sarsfield's
wild geese, whose flight to Europe recalled the Flight of the
Earls 85 years earlier, kept their regimental colors but
joined a French army that nearly invaded England in 1692. A
half century later, after facing another such Jacobite revolt
in Scotland, the British reconsidered their policy of
encouraging disaffected young Irish Catholics to leave their
country and join foreign armies.
In Aeolus, the mention of Austrian cattle in Mr.
Deasy's letter sends Myles Crawford off into a recollection of
how the son of one of the Austrian "Wild geese,"
an O'Donnell, saved the life of the Austrian emperor in 1853.
Gifford notes that "The O'Donnells in Spain and Austria were
one of the most famous of the wild-goose families." In Cyclops,
John Wyse Nolan bitterly proclaims that "We gave our
best blood to France and Spain, the wild geese. Fontenoy,
eh? And Sarsfield and O'Donnell, duke of Tetuan in Spain,
and Ulysses Browne of Camus that was fieldmarshal to Maria
Teresa. But what did we ever get for it?"
At the battle of "Fontenoy" in the Low
Countries in 1745, which proved crucial to the stability of
the French ancien régime, the Irish Brigade in the
French army fought with great distinction against the British
and their allies. Leopold "O'Donnell," a 19th
century descendant of the Spanish O'Donnells, was the first
Duke of Tetuan, the first count of Lucena, and the first
Viscount of Aliaga, and he served three separate terms as
Prime Minister of Spain in the 1850s and 60s. "Ulysses"
Maximilian, Count von Browne, an Austrian-born son of a
Jacobite exiled after the Battle of the Boyne, served with
great valor as a colonel, lieutenant field marshal, and field
marshal in the Austrian army in the 1730s, 40s and 50s and was
made Count of the Empire by Charles VI. When John Wyse says
that this general officer was "of Camus," he
is mixing him up with another, nearly contemporary Irish Count
de Browne, this one from Camus in County Limerick. (According
to the genealogical book Browne/Brown by Lanette
Brown Brightwell, they were kinsmen.) As a result of the
disappointment of Irish Catholic hopes after the Battle of the
Boyne, George Browne's parents sent him off to seek military
success in foreign lands. After fighting with skill and
courage in the Russian army he rose to the rank of field
marshal in the Russian army, and like Ulysses Maximilian
Browne he was favored by "Maria Teresa," the
queen of Hungary and archduchess of Austria.
In Circe, the brilliant success of all these Irish
noblemen serving in Spanish, Austrian, French, and Russian
armies (and even governments) briefly hoists its banner aloft
as "DON EMILE PATRIZIO FRANZ RUPERT POPE HENNESSY"
appears "In medieval hauberk, two wild geese
volant on his helm." In the language of heraldry, "volant" means
"in flight."
Joyce's Kevin Egan, a stand-in for the revolutionary Joseph Casey, has emigrated
to Paris after his release from London's Clerkenwell prison. Though not
a member of a French army, he perhaps deserves the term "wild
goose" as someone who allegedly once took up arms against the
English and now lives in exile. And his son Patrice (or
Patrick) is continuing the long tradition of serving
in European armies. Near the end of Stephen's long
recollection of the Egans, Kevin says, "Mon fils, soldier
of France."
