T Archives - PIOBTUNES

The first blow struck at the popularity of the bagpipe in Ireland was the Statute of Kilkenny enacted at a Parliament held in Kilkenny before Lionel, Duke of Clarence, Viceroy of Ireland, in March 1366. Among the enactments of this infamous statute was one which made it penal to receive or entertain "pipers, story-tellers, rhymers, etc.," on the plea that they acted as " Irish agents or spies on the English, whereby great evils have often resulted." - The Story of The Bagpipe - W.H. Grattan Flood

A likely first reference to bagpipes being played in war is found in a manuscript written between 1484 and 1487 containing an Irish Gaelic version of “Fierabras”: the quote "sinnter adharca & píba agaibh do tionól bur sluaigh" translates as "let horns and pipes be played by you to gather your host". The first clear references to the Irish píob mhór relate to Henry VIII's siege of Boulogne. - wikipedia