The Soldier of Spain
Míl Espáine — “the Soldier of Spain” — is the ancestor from whom the Milesians take their name. The Gaelic peoples of Ireland claimed descent from him. He never reached Ireland. He died in Spain before the invasion fleet ever sailed.
His genealogy was long and deliberately impressive. He was descended from Goídel Glas through many generations, the line passing through Scythia, Egypt, and Spain before arriving at him. His wife was Scota — an Egyptian princess, daughter of a Pharaoh — whose name the tradition used to explain why the Gaelic peoples were called Scots. His uncle Íth mac Breogáin was the first of the family to see Ireland, sailing there from the tower his grandfather Breogán had built on the Galician coast.
Íth was killed by the Tuatha Dé Danann. His body was brought back to Spain. Míl’s sons saw it and resolved to invade Ireland to avenge him. The fleet assembled, the sons set sail — Amergin, Éremon, Éber Finn, Donn mac Míl among them — and the last and final settlement of Ireland began.
Míl never saw any of it. Ireland was the land his children won, not a land he ever stood on. He is the name behind the invasion, the ancestry behind the claim, the father whose death in Spain before the voyage even began made him the tradition’s most purely genealogical founding figure.
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