SNIPPET: Giraldus CAMBRENSIS (1146-1223), also called Gerald of Wales, was a member of a Norman Welsh family involved in the Norman invasion of Ireland in the late 12th century. His basically unflattering portrait of the Irish as uncivilized barbarians, reserving his only positive comments for their musical skill, caused great offense to the Irish, but because there are so few sources about medieval Ireland available, his books are still consulted today. In part, he wrote: "I have thought it not superfluous to say a few things about the nature of this people both in mind and body, that is to say, of their mental and physical characteristics. To begin with: when they are born, they are not carefully nursed as is usual. For apart from the nourishment with which they are sustained by their hard parents from dying altogether, they are for the most part abandoned to nature. They are not put in cradles, or swathed; nor are their tender limbs helped by frequent baths or formed by any useful art. The midwives do not use hot water to raise the nose, or press down the face, or lengthen the leg. Unaided nature according to her own judgement arranges and disposes without the help of any art the limbs that she has produced. As if to prove what she can do by herself she continually shapes and moulds, until she finally forms and finishes them in their full strength with beautiful upright bodies, and handsome and well-complexioned faces. But although they are fully endowed with natural gifts, their external characteristics of beard and dress, and internal cultivation of the mind, are so barbarous that they cannot be said to have any culture. They use very little wool in their dress and itself nearly always black -- because the sheep of that country are black -- and made up in a barbarous fashion. For they wear little hoods, close-fitting and stretched across the shoulders and down to a length of about eighteen to twenty-two inches, and generally sewn together from cloths of various kinds. Under these they wear mantles instead of cloaks. They also use woollen trousers that are at the same time boots, or boots that are at the same time trousers, and these are for the most part dyed. When they are riding, they do not use saddles or leggings or spurs. They drive on, and guide their horses by means of a stick with a crook at its upper end, which they hold in their hand. They use reins to serve the purpose both of a bridle and a bit. These do not keep their horses, accustomed to feeding on the grass, from their food. Moreover, they go naked and unarmed into battle. They regard weapons as a burden, and they think it brave and honourable to fight unarmed. They use, however, three types of weapons -- short spears, two darts ... and big axes well and carefully forged, which they have taken over from the Norwegians and the Ostmen ... They are quicker and more expert than any other people in throwing, when everything else fails, stones as missiles, and such stones do great damage to the enemy in an engagement."