THE TUATH OR TRIBE IN IRELAND.
[Sidenote: Mixed population of Scotland.]
The population of Scotland in the reign of Alexander the Third was, as
we have seen, of a very mixed character. The southern frontier of the
kingdom had by this time been advanced to the Solway and the Cheviots,
while the annexation of the Isles in his reign had extended its western
boundary to its utmost limits. Over the whole of this extended territory
the name of Scotland, originally limited to the country north of the
Forth and Clyde, had now spread, and we find the area of this extended
kingdom occupied by a population consisting of three different races.
These were, in the mountainous region of the north and west, the Gael or
Highlanders, the descendants of the Northern Picts of pure Gaelic race,
and of the Gaelic Scots who had settled among them. The more fertile and
level plains forming the eastern seaboard, extending from the Moray
Firth to the Cheviots, had originally been possessed by the Southern
Picts, a mixed race partly of Gael and partly of Britons, but the Angles
of Northumberland had by degrees colonised the whole of it. On the west
the Britons of Strathclyde had extended from the Clyde to the Solway,
but had likewise given way to the Anglic colonisation; while Galloway
west of the Nith was still occupied by a Gaelic people, who had
encroached upon the British territory by occupying the district of
Carrick in the south, the Northern Gael having likewise encroached on
its northern frontier by spreading over the district of Lennox.
[Sidenote: Sources of information as to their early social state.]
The actual population of Scotland had thus consisted of three races—the
two Celtic peoples of the Gael and the Brython or Britons, and the
Teutonic people of the Angles. To these races had been added by King
David the First and his successors the Norman barons, who were overlords
of a great part of the territory of the kingdom, while a Norwegian
population may to some extent have still lingered in the Western Isles.
In endeavouring to ascertain the early social organisation of these
three races, besides the few hints which historical documents afford, we
have the advantage of an ancient code of laws of each race. For the
Angles we have the Anglo-Saxon laws, and for the Britons the early laws
and institutions of Wales, both published by the Record Commission.[155]
For the Gael we have the ancient laws of Ireland, commonly called the
Brehon Laws, now in course of publication;[156] and besides these there
has been preserved a small code in Scotland termed the Laws of the Picts
and Scots, and some fragments of ancient law retained in the hands of
the different kings of the race of David I.[157]
[Sidenote: Tribal organisation of the Gaelic race.]
It is with the Celtic races alone that we have to do in this work, and
principally with those of Gaelic race, who alone preserved a separate
and independent existence in Scotland; and an examination of all those
documents which tend to throw light upon the early social organisation
of the Gaelic as well as of the Cymric race leads us to the conclusion
that it was not territorial or purely patriarchal, but was based on the
community or tribe. Among the people of Gaelic race the original social
unit appears to have been the _Tuath_, a name originally applied to the
tribe, but which came to signify also the territory occupied by the
tribe community;[158] but when we endeavour to ascertain the original
constitution of the Tuath or tribe of the Gaelic race, we are met by a
difficulty analogous to that which we have to encounter in investigating
the history of their language. ‘The formation of the mother tongue
belongs to the prehistoric period, and it is a process which, carried on
in the infancy and growth of the social state, is concealed from
observation. When its possessors first emerge into view and take their
place among the history of nations, counter-influences have already been
at work, their language has already entered upon its downward course,
and we can only watch it in its process of decomposition and alteration,
and reach its primitive condition through the medium of its
dialects.’[159] So it is with the tribe. We nowhere see it in its
primitive form. When it first emerges in the historic period it has
already entered upon a course of modification and change. Various
influences have been at work, both internal, arising from the natural
progress of society, and external, produced from the contact of foreign
organisations, to alter existing forms and introduce new elements, and
thus it undergoes a process of change which leads it further and further
from its primitive constitution.
[Sidenote: Influences affecting the tribe.]
Two leading features of this process can, however, without difficulty be
detected, and may be assumed as tolerably certain. These are, first,
that private property in land did not exist at first, but emerged from a
right of common property vested in the community. Personal property or
individual property in moveables must at all times have existed, but
real property or individual property in the soil is of much later
origin, and is an excrescence upon the common use or property of the
land occupied by the tribe, and is inconsistent with its original
constitution. The second feature is, that the social unit was not the
individual or the family but the community or tribe. The original bond
of union between the members of the tribe was no doubt the belief in a
common origin, a common descent from the _eponymus_, whether mythic or
historic, from whom it took its name; but in the early period to which
we must refer the pure primitive tribe, when the sanctions of marriage
were unknown, and a loose relation between the sexes existed, which is
faintly shadowed forth in a few scattered notices by the Roman authors
of this relation among the Celtic inhabitants of Britain and Ireland,
descent through the females rather than the males must have been viewed
as the more certain link; and it is probable that here as elsewhere
female succession preceded a representation through males, and that the
sons belonged to the tribe of their mothers.[160]
[Sidenote: Effect of the introduction of Christianity.]
The early state of the tribe, however, soon became modified not only by
internal changes but also by external influences. Of these external
influences not the least powerful, and probably the first in order, was
the introduction of Christianity and the adaptation of the Christian
Church to the tribal system. The tribe was thus brought into contact
with a higher civilisation and a purer code of morals. The lax relations
between the sexes, which still survived, must have been checked and
controlled, the sanction of marriage enforced, by which the father is
placed in his legitimate position as head of the family, and the rights
of the children were clearly defined, and the older connection of the
members of the tribe through females reduced in some cases to an
occasional right of succession through the mother, while in others it
entirely disappeared.
[Sidenote: Land originally held in common.]
The oldest tenure by which land was held was that by the tribe in
common. When the tribes passed from the hunting and nomad state to the
pastoral, and became possessed of large herds of cattle, it was a
natural consequence that each tribe should appropriate a special
territory for their better management. The whole of the regulation of
these ancient laws is evidently based upon the fact that cattle formed
the principal property of the original tribes; and long after individual
property in land had become an essential element in the constitution of
the tribe, cattle still formed the standard of value by which everything
was estimated. That a right of individual property in the cattle existed
at a very early period seems very evident, but the land on which they
were pastured was the common property of the tribe, and, after the
cultivation of land began, the arable land was annually divided into
lots, to one of which each member of the tribe had a right. The special
district occupied by the tribe would thus consist of pasture land held
by the tribe in common, on which each member had a right to pasture the
cattle which belonged to him; arable land divided into lots which were
annually or at certain periods assigned to him; and unoccupied and waste
land remaining as the common property of the tribe.
[Sidenote: Distinction of ranks in the tribe.]
These rights belonged, however, to the proper members of the tribe only,
who were as such on an equality with each other; but there soon came,
from other external influences, to be a distinction between those
dwelling within the bounds of the _Tuath_ of _Saor_ or free, and _Daor_
or unfree. The freemen of the tribe were alone recognised as possessing
rights derived from the original constitution of the tribe. The origin
of the class of the unfree is thus stated in connection with the
legendary history of Ireland:—‘The first race of them were the remnant
of the Firbolg themselves, together with the remnant of the Tuath De
Danaan,’ the legendary people who preceded the Milesian Scots. ‘The
second race, the people who passed from their own countries, they being
descended from _Saor chlann_ (or free tribes), who went under
_Daor-chios_ (servile rent) to another tribe. The third people were the
race of the _Saor chlann_, whose land was converted into
_Fearann-chlaidhimh_ (sword-land or conquered country) in their own
territory, and who remained in it in bondage under the power of their
enemies. The fourth race were people of _Saor chlann_ who passed into
bondage for their evil deeds, and who lost their blood and their land
through their evil deeds, according to the law. The fifth people were
those who came from stranger soldiers, _i.e_. from external mercenaries
who left property in Erin. The sixth race were the people who were
descended from the bondmen who came with the Milesians into Erin,’ that
is, who and their forefathers had always been bondsmen.[161]
[Sidenote: The _Ri_ or king.]
Besides this great distinction between the free and the unfree, the free
members of the tribe contained within themselves one distinction which
must have always existed among them, and the germs of others which
became gradually more prominent as the operation of the causes which led
to them more and more influenced the constitution of the tribe. That
combination which produced the tribe must from the beginning have had
leaders and other necessary office-bearers; some one among them must
have had supreme authority as judge in time of peace, and the tribe must
have had a competent leader in time of war. Such functionaries were
necessary as bonds of union; without them the tribe could not have been
kept together in anything like social union; and as the tie which bound
the free members of the tribe together was the belief in a common
origin—a common descent from a mythic _eponymus_ from whom the tribe
took its name—so the _Ri_ or king, who was at the head of the tribe,
held that position not merely by election but as the representative in
the senior line of the common ancestor, and had a hereditary claim to
their obedience. As the supreme authority and judge of the tribe he was
the _Ri_ or king. This was his primary function. Thus we are told that
‘it is lawful for a king to have a judge _though he himself is a
judge_.’[162] As the leader in war he was the _Toisech_ or Captain, and
bore the one or the other title as either function became most
prominent, while in some cases these functions might be separated and
held by different functionaries. Although the _Ri_ or king derived his
authority from his claim to be the senior representative of the common
ancestor, the office was still, from the necessity of being filled by a
properly qualified person, to a certain extent elective. It was
hereditary in a certain family, but elective among the members of that
family; and an additional safeguard against the tribe being left without
a proper head was provided by another member of the family being elected
_Tanaist_ or successor to the _Ri_ or king in the event of his death.
That the hereditary character of this office existed from primitive
times is apparent from this, that a somewhat similar law of succession
prevailed in the early Irish Church, the abbot or head of the monastery
being chosen from a particular family; and while the influence of the
Church may have confirmed, if it did not establish, a strict descent in
the male line in the tribe,[163] a hereditary succession in the Church
must have been derived from the close connection which had been formed
between the Church and the tribe, and from the influence of the tribe
upon the Church and not of the Church upon the tribe. While the whole of
the land was still the common property of the tribe, the _Ri_ or king
had no separate possession of land, but in this respect was on an
equality with the free members of the tribe, and entitled only to the
same right of pasturage for his cattle on the pasture land and to the
share of the arable land annually allotted to him; but in addition to
this he was maintained in the dignity of his office at the expense of
the tribe, and this right of maintenance, according as the tribe and its
wealth increased, assumed various forms, one of which may have arisen
from the influence of the Church, and given the first impulse to
something like separate possession of land. When the Church was
established in connection with a tribe, a grant of part of the tribe
land and its separation from the rest became a necessity for the
maintenance of the Church, and thus those Termon lands which form so
marked a feature in the territorial position of the Irish Church, came
into existence. Analogous to this, one form which this right of
maintenance on the part of the _Ri_ or king assumed was, that a portion
of land was likewise separated from the common land of the tribe as
mensal land for the support of the dignity of the _Ri_ or king for the
time being.
[Sidenote: Distinction of ranks arising from possession of cattle.]
Another cause must also of necessity have produced distinction of
position between the free members of the tribe. Such an equality as may
be held to have existed originally among the members of the tribe can
hardly have been preserved unless there was also an equality in their
personal characteristics and their wealth in cattle. The natural
operation of differences of character and wealth was to create
distinctive classes among them. Those of superior abilities soon take
the lead of others, and those whose prudence and sagacity enabled them
to increase their possession of cattle must soon have occupied a more
important position in the tribe, as their share of the annual allotment
of land was regulated by the size of their herd. Thus there came to be
recognised in the tribe a gradation of ranks founded upon the possession
of personal wealth and importance. The lowest grade in the tribe was the
_Fer Midba_ or inferior man, of whom there were two classes. As soon as
a member of the tribe reached the age of fourteen he was emancipated
from the control of his parents and acquired certain rights, but was not
vested with his full privileges till the encircling of the beard, that
is, till he became twenty years old, when he was entitled to a separate
residence (_Sain trebhta_) and a share of the tribe land (_Sealbh_).
Above the _Fer Midba_ was the _Boaire_ or Cowlord, whose superior wealth
in cattle, with the exclusive possession of a homestead, gave him a kind
of nobility over the tribe’s man. Of the _Boaire_ class there were six
grades. The lowest rank, to which the title of _Aire_ was given, was the
_Ogaire_ or young lord who had ‘newly taken householdship upon him.’ His
property was reckoned by the number seven. He had seven cows with their
bull, seven pigs with a boar, seven sheep, and a horse for work and
riding. He possessed a house but no land in property. The land required
for the support of seven cows was termed a Cow-land, and he left one cow
at the end of the year in payment for it. He had the fourth part of a
plough, and therefore his possession with the arable land attached to it
formed probably the fourth part of a ploughgate, or thirty acres,
equivalent to the husbandland in Scotland. The next higher grade was the
tenant resident (_Aithech ar athreba_). He represented a small community
of four or five, occupying jointly as much land and possessing in common
as much stock as would entitle a single person to be a _Boaire_. He had
ten cows, ten pigs, ten sheep, but, like the _Ogaire_, the fourth part
of ploughing apparatus, which is here defined to be an ox or
ploughshare, a goad, and a bridle. He was so named as occupying a part
only of as much land as would entitle him to be called a _Boaire_ along
with others, the joint possession being sufficient for the purpose.
Above him was the _Boaire febhsa_, so called ‘because it is from cows
his rank as an _Aire_ and his honor price are derived.’ He had land of
the value of twice seven _Cumhals_, or forty-two cows. He had a house
with a back house or kitchen, a share in a mill, a kiln, a barn, a
sheephouse, a calf-house, and a pigstye. These are the seven houses from
which each _Boaire_ was rated, and formed the complete _Rath_ or
homestead. It was surrounded by a precinct or _Maigne_, which was a
space as far as the _Boaire_ could cast a spear with an iron head, or
hammer, sitting at the door of his house, and was inviolable. The whole
was usually enclosed by a ditch and earthen rampart. And he possessed
twelve cows and half a plough. Land of the value of three times seven
_Cumhals_ or sixty-three cows, and the possession of twenty cows, two
bulls, six bullocks, twenty hogs, twenty sheep, four house-fed hogs, two
sows, and a riding-horse, made him a _Bruighfer_, and entailed upon him
the burden of ‘receiving the king, bishop, poet, or judge from off the
road,’ as well as all travellers. And here too the court of judgment was
held for the tribe and the assembly of the tribe’s men. When the
_Boaire_ possessed so large an amount of stock as to be obliged to give
off some to others he becomes a _Ferfothla_, and ‘the excess of his
cattle which his own land cannot sustain, which he cannot sell for land,
and which he does not himself require, he gives as the proportionate
stock of tenants’ (_Ceile_). The highest grade of the _Boaire_ was the
_Aire-coisring_, who represented the people before the king and the
synod.
[Sidenote: Origin and growth of private property, and creation of Fan
order of territorial chiefs.]
The superior position in which the _Boaire_ was placed towards the other
members of the tribe, his more extensive stock, and the exclusive
possession of his homestead, must have naturally led to a desire to
retain the same land in his family, instead of being subjected to annual
change; and the larger his possession the more easily he would obtain
this, which was an inevitable step to the introduction of rights of
private property in the land of the tribe. When the same family had
retained possession of land for three generations it came at length to
constitute a right of property, and thus a class of territorial lords
was created whose position as _Aires_ was based upon property in land.
This right of property and all the privileges connected with it was
termed _Deis_, and they formed a superior class of territorial magnates,
who were termed _Flaith_ or chieftains, and constituted an order termed
the _Grad Flaith_, in contradistinction to the _Grad Feine_ or inferior
order.
In the division of these respective orders, if not in the actual
introduction of an individual right of property in land, we can again
trace the influence of the Christian Church. In one of the tracts
forming the collection of laws termed the Brehon, but not one of the
most ancient, the following account of these divisions is given:—‘How
many divisions are there of these?—Seven. What is the division of the
grades of a Tuath derived from?—From the similitude of ecclesiastical
orders, for it is proper that for every order which is in the Church
there should be a corresponding one in the Tuath.’ But this number of
seven is purely arbitrary, for we are told that the grades of the Tuath
consist of the ‘Fer Midba, the Boaire, the Aire desa, the Aire ard, the
Aire tuise, the Aire forgaill, and the Ri or king. If it be according to
the right of the Feinechus law, it is in such manner these seven grades
are divided.’ But then follows—‘What is the division if it be not the
Boaire with his eight divisions?’ that is, if the ‘Grad Feine,’ or
inferior order consisting of eight divisions, is excluded; and the
answer is—‘The Aire desa, the Aire echta, the Aire ard, the Aire tuise,
the Aire forgaill, the Tanaist of the Ri or king, and the Ri or king.’
Here the number of seven is made up by adding to the Grad Flaith an Aire
echta and the Tanaist.[164]
[Sidenote: The _Ceile_ or tenants of a chief.]
As these ranks of the _Grad Flaith_ possessed an increasing amount of
stock beyond what their own land could maintain, one great
characteristic of the order was their possessing tenants or _Ceile_,
that is, persons of the inferior order to whom they gave their surplus
stock in return for a food-rent, services, and homage; the gift being
termed _Taurcreic_ and the food-rent _Besa_. And as the territorial
lords appropriated more and more land of the tribe as individual
property, it is obvious that the land remaining for division among the
freemen of the tribe must have been proportionately diminished, while
the natural increase of the population must have increased the evil. An
ancient tract tells us that ‘numerous were the human beings in Ireland
at that time (A.D. 658-694), and such was their number that they used
not to get but thrice nine ridges for each man in Ireland, viz., nine of
bog, and nine of smooth or arable, and nine of wood;’ and we read in the
_Lebor na huidre_ that ‘there was not ditch nor fence nor stone wall
round land till came the period of the sons of Aed Slane (the same
period), but smooth fields. Because of the abundance of the households
in their period, therefore it is that they introduced boundaries in
Ireland.’[165] Thus, as the land and the wealth in cattle of these
_Flaith_ or territorial lords increased, the freemen of the tribe who
were still independent became poorer, and their lots diminished, and by
degrees they began voluntarily to place themselves under these lords by
accepting stock from them, in return for which they became their
dependants. Where the _Flath_ contributed merely an addition to the
stock of the freeman who already possessed some, he became his _Saer
Ceile_ or free tenant, and had to return the value of a third of the
stock annually for seven years; and besides this the tenant might be
called upon to give certain services termed _Manchaine_, such as
assisting in building a fort, reaping the harvest, or going on hostings,
and had to pay a food-rent for his house, termed _Bestigi_, likewise did
homage on paying his rent, termed _Ureirge_. Where the Flath furnished
the entire stock for the tenant he had to give security for its return,
and became his _Daer Ceile_ or Bond-tenant, and had to pay a food
tribute termed _Biathad_ twice a year.[166]
The _Aire desa_ had ten such tenants, five bond and five free. He is
described as ‘the son of an Aire and the grandson of an Aire, with the
property of his house.’ The _Aire echta_ seems to have ranked with the
_Aire desa_. The _Aire ard_ had twenty tenants or _Ceile_, ten bond and
ten free. The _Aire tuise_, so called ‘because his race has precedence,
and he takes precedence of the _Aire ard_,’ had twenty-seven tenants or
_Ceile_, fifteen bond and twelve free; and the _Aire forgaill_ or
highest rank has forty tenants or _Ceile_, twenty bond and twenty free.
Besides these _Ceile_ or tenants, so constituted by voluntary contracts
between the freemen and the _Flath_ or chief, he had likewise _Bothach_
or Cottiers and _Fuiddhir_, strangers, or broken men from other tribes,
whom he settled upon his waste land in return for homage and service,
and these, if they had remained nine times nine years on the land,
became what were called _Sencleithe_ or old standers.[167]
This account of how the constitution of the tribe became modified and
altered by the effect of internal change and external influence pretends
to be nothing more than a speculative view of it, but we have now
reached that stage in its progress when it fairly enough represents the
tribe in the form in which we find it in the ancient Irish laws; but as
these laws with their commentaries belong to different periods, some
branches of them being obviously more modern than others, this must be
borne in mind in endeavouring to extract a view of the organisation of
the tribe from them.
[Sidenote: State of the _Tuath_ or territory of a tribe.]
The territory belonging to a tribe is now termed _Tuath_, the tribe
itself _Ciniol_, as implying a race of men sprung from a common
ancestor. The land of the tribe is now found in three different
positions. There was first that part of the original territory of the
tribe which still remained the _Feacht Finne_ or common property of the
tribe, and consisted of the common pasture lands, on which each freeman
of the tribe had a right to pasture his cattle, and of the common
tillage lands annually divided among those freemen who possessed cattle,
a possession which entitled them to the usufruct of a share of the
arable land and to a habitation in each township. The cattle each person
had were termed his _Cro_, a name also applied to the enclosure in which
they were housed, and the entire cattle of the tribe were termed their
_Creaght_. Then, secondly, there was the official or mensal land set
apart for the maintenance of the _Ri_ or _Toisech_, the _Tanist_, and
the other functionaries of the tribe, as the Bard, the Brehon or judge,
the Sennachy or historian, etc.; and along with this land may be classed
the Church land or Termon land given to the Church free of all
imposition, which land was held to form a sanctuary. Lastly, there was
the land held by individual ownership. This land was the _Orba_ or
inheritance land, which belonged to the _Flaith_ or chiefs, and which
was transmissible to their successors. The principal part of this land
was retained by the chief in demesne, and on it he had settled the
strangers called _Fuidhir_ who consisted of two classes, Free and Bond,
and formed a body of retainers entirely under his control; and here too
were the _Bothach_ or Cottiers, and those who by length of residence had
become _Sencleithe_. The land not retained by himself was given off to
freemen of the tribe to whom he had given stock either by _Saer_ or by
_Daer_ stock tenure, and who thus became his _Ceile_ or tenants.
[Sidenote: The _Dun_ or fort.]
The stronghold of the tribe was the _Dun_ or fort, which the _Ri_ alone
had a right to occupy, and of which each king was bound to have at least
three. The description given of it is as follows:—‘Seven score feet are
the dimensions of the Dun every way; seven feet the thickness of the
mound at top; twelve feet at bottom. Then only is he king, when he is
encircled by the moat of servitude. Twelve feet is the breadth of its
mouth and of its bottom, and its length is the same as the Dun. Thirty
feet is its length on the outside.’[168] The average number of fighting
men which a tribe turned out on ordinary occasions appears to have been
700.[169] The possessions of the Church within the territory of the
tribe varied in extent from half a _Ballyboe_ or ploughgate, till in
some cases the Dun itself and the possessions of the king or chief were
granted to found a monastery, and in those cases where the monastery was
said to have consisted of 3000 monks, the tribe itself appears to have
merged in the Church. There came to be a lay and a clerical _progenies_,
and the head of the tribe appears to have been chosen alternately from
the tribe of the land and the tribe of the patron saint.[170] The free
and bond _Ceile_ then became free and bond _Manachs_, their position
being substantially the same.
[Sidenote: The _Mortuath_.]
Such being the aspect in which the tribe is presented to us in the
ancient laws of Ireland, it must not be assumed that these tribes, thus
possessing a complete organisation in themselves, were at this period
independent of each other. From even a much earlier period they seem to
have been united in a constitutional framework, by which they formed a
kind of federal nation. Several of these _Tuaths_ were grouped together
to form a still larger tribe, termed a _Mortuath_ or great tribe, over
whom one of the kings presided as _Ri Mortuath_. The normal number
forming a _Mortuath_ is in one place stated as three, and in another
seven.
[Sidenote: The _Cuicidh_ or province.]
Then several of these _Mortuath_ formed a province, called in Irish
_Cuicidh_, or a fifth. The name is interpreted as implying that the
_Mortuath_ thus united were five in number, but the usual explanation is
more probable, that as there were five provinces in Ireland—Meath,
Leinster, Munster, Connaught, and Ulster—it means that each was the
fifth part of Ireland. Over each province was the _Ri Cuicidh_, or
provincial king, and then over the whole was the _Ardri_, or sovereign
of all Ireland.
[Sidenote: The law of Tanistry.]
The succession to these several grades of _Ri_ or king was the same as
that of the _Ri Tuath_, and was regulated by the law of Tanistry, that
is, hereditary in the family but elective in the individual, the senior
of the family being usually preferred; but as, when the king was chosen,
the Tanist would naturally be selected from the next most powerful
branch of the family, it fell at length into an alternate succession
between the two most powerful branches. This becomes at once apparent
when we examine the actual succession of these kings as recorded in the
Annals. The sovereignty over the whole of Ireland fell for several
centuries into one branch of the great family called the Northern Hy
Neill, and the throne was filled alternately from two branches of it.
The succession of the kings of Munster shows the same peculiarity of an
alternate succession between the descendants of two sons of the mythic
founder of that kingdom, and furnished the illustration upon which a
Dissertation on the Law of Tanistry, attributed to General Vallancey,
but really written by Doctor John O’Brien, Bishop of Cloyne, was
founded. The province of Ulster, where an ancient Pictish population was
encroached upon and gradually superseded by Scottish tribes, exhibits
the remarkable peculiarity of an alternate succession of the kings of
Ulster between a family descended from its old Pictish kings and one of
the earliest colonies of Scots, that of the _Dalfiatach_, who settled
among them.[171]
[Sidenote: Connection between superiors and dependants.]
The tie which bound these groups together, and united the chain which
connected the _Ardri_ with the _Ri Tuath_, was the same which linked the
latter with his dependent chiefs, and those with their _Ceile_. The
dependence of one upon another possessed the invariable feature of a
gift or subsidy from the superior to the inferior, and corresponding
duties from the inferior to the superior. In one of the law tracts the
gift from the superior appears as _Taurcreic_, or proportionate stock,
and the return as _Bestighi_, or food-rent of the house, and ranges from
a _Taurcreic_ of five Seds, and a _Bestighi_ of a wether, with its
accompaniments, consisting of cakes, milk, and butter, as the lowest for
the _Fermidba_ to a _Taurcreic_ of fifteen _Cumhals_, or forty-five
cows, and a _Bestighi_ of eight cows for the _Ri Tuath_.[172] We derive
the fullest information on this subject from the ancient tract termed
the Book of Rights. We there see the gift or _Tuarastach_, as it is
there called, made by the _Ardri_ to the different provincial kings, by
them to the kings of the respective _Mortuath_, and by the latter to the
_Ri Tuath_; while the corresponding returns made by the inferior to the
superior king consisted first of a small fixed rent, which in one case
consisted of a _Sgreaball_, or threepence, from each _Baile_ or
township,[173] and a tribute termed _Cobhach_, which included, in the
case of Munster, a submission paid in cattle, termed _Smacht_, and a
_Biathad_ or refection; and each king was entitled to a maintenance when
going beyond his own territory, called _Coinnim_, corrupted into Coigny;
and besides these, service in war was due from each inferior tribe to
the superior, distinguished into _Feacht_ or expedition, and _Sluaged_
or hosting. The number of fighting men each _Tuath_ had to provide was
700, and each _Mortuath_ three companies, or 2100 men.
[Sidenote: The system of fines.]
Another feature of the ancient tribal system in Ireland, presented to us
in the Brehon Laws, must not be overlooked, and that is the system of
fines, in which respect it closely resembled not only similar
regulations in the Welsh Laws but likewise in those of the Anglo-Saxons.
In that early state of society the idea that the slaughter or injury of
any of its members was a crime against the State, which required the
punishment of the criminal in vindication of the law of the land, was
entirely unknown. The slaughter or injury of the member of the tribe was
considered as a loss to the tribe itself, which must be compensated for,
and when compensation was made and accepted the criminal was free.
Originally the compensation was probably simple retaliation, but
afterwards this right of retaliation might be bought off by payment of a
fine. That a tradition of this kind existed appears from a passage in
the Introduction to the Senchus Mor, in which we are told that
‘retaliation prevailed in Erin before Patrick, and Patrick brought
forgiveness with him. At this day we keep between forgiveness and
retaliation; for as at present no one has the power of bestowing heaven
as Patrick had at that day, so no one is put to death for his
intentional crimes, so long as Eric fine is obtained; and whenever Eric
fine is not obtained, he is put to death for his intentional crimes, and
placed on the sea for his unintentional crimes.’ Sir Henry Maine, in
commenting on this passage, justly remarks, that ‘it is impossible, of
course, to accept the statement that this wide-spread ancient
institution, the pecuniary fine levied on tribes or families for the
wrongs done by their members, had its origin in Christian influences;
but that it succeeded simple retaliation is in the highest degree
probable.’[174]
[Sidenote: The Honor price.]
The system of fines was based in the main upon a fixed value put upon
each person, estimated according to his position and rank, and expressed
by a standard of value in cattle. This was his _Enechlann_ or Honor
price, and it enters as an element into all the pecuniary relations of
the different members of the tribes with each other. This standard of
value was expressed in two forms. First by what was termed a _Set_ or
_Sed_, by which single animals of different value were meant. The next
was the _Ri Set_ or milch cow, which was equal to two _Samaiscs_ or
three-year-old heifers or mules, and each _Samaisc_ was equal to two
_Dairts_ or _Colpachs_, that is, two-year-old heifers or bulls, and the
rule was that of every three _Sets_ one must be of each kind.[175] The
other standard of value was the _Cumhal_, which originally meant a
female bondslave, and was equal in value to three milch cows.
The Honor price of the _Ogaire_ was three _Seds_, but they must be
_Seds_ of the cow kind. Five _Seds_ that of a _Boaire_; ten _Seds_ that
of the _Aire desa_; fifteen that of the _Aire ard_; twenty that of the
_Aire tuisi_; twenty-four that of the _Aire forgaill_; thirty _Seds_
that of the Tanist or successor to the king of the tribe; and seven
_Cumhals_, or twenty-one cows, that of the king himself. The king of a
_Mortuath_ has an additional _Cumhal_, or three cows more, to make up
his Honor price. The Honor price of a son of each rank was equal to that
of the rank immediately below it. The intentional slaughter, then, of
one of these persons might be compensated by payment of the Eric fine,
which was equal to the Honor price of the person slain. Other fines were
the Dire fine for injury to a man’s property, and the _Smacht_ or body
fine. A share of these fines fell to the _Flath_ or chief under whom the
person injured was, and also to the king of the tribe, which formed no
insignificant portion of his revenue.
[Sidenote: System of land measures.]
In combination with the tribal organisation, there was also in Ireland
an ancient system of fixed land measures adapted to it. The largest of
these divisions was the _Trichaced_, which was considered as the normal
extent of the _Tuath_ or territory of a tribe. It contained thirty
_Bailebiataghs_, and each _Bailebiatagh_ twelve _Seisrighs_ or
ploughlands, also termed _Ballyboes_, and these were the townships, and
the distribution of the land among the freemen of the tribe appears to
have been separately allotted in each township to its occupants. An
ancient poem,[176] printed by Mr. O’Donovan in his edition of the Battle
of Magh Lena, gives probably the oldest view of these land divisions
over all Ireland, as it is attributed to the same Finntan who is said to
have preserved the record of the ancient mythic colonisation of Ireland.
The poem is thus translated by Mr. O’Donovan, the denomination of land
being, however, retained untranslated:—
1. How many Trichas in noble Erinn,
How many half Trichas to accord,
How many Bailes in linked array,
How many doth each Baile sustain.
2. How many Bailes and Tricha-ceds,
In Erinn the abundant in wealth.
I say unto thee—an assertion with sense—
I defy all the learned to confute it.
3. Do not say that you defy me,
Said Finntan, the man of sense;
I am the most learned that has been
In Alban, in Erinn.
4. Ten Bailes in each Tricha-ced,
And twenty Bailes (thirty in all), it is no falsehood;
Though small their number to us appears,
Their extent form a noble country (Crich).
5. A Baile sustains three hundred cows,
With twelve Seisrighs, it is no lie;
Four full herds may therein roam,
With no cow of either touching the other.
6. I enumerate eighteen Trichas
In the country of Meath of ample wealth.
And thirty Trichas more
In the country of Connaght yellow-haired.
7. I enumerate fifteen Trichas,
And twenty Trichas; without falsehood
This I say to you—a saying bold—
In the great province of Ulster.
8. Eleven Trichas in Leinster,
And twenty of teaming wealth,
From Inbher Duibhlinne hither
Unto the road of the Boroimhe.
9. Ten Trichas in Munster,
And threescore in full accordance,
In the two proud provinces (N. and S. Munster),
In the great extensive Munster.
10. I enumerate four Tricha-ceds,
And ninescore (184 in all), it is no falsehood,
Without the deficiency to any Tricha of them,
Of one Baile or half a Baile.
11. Twenty Bailes, too, and five hundred
And five thousand (5520 in all), it is no falsehood
Since I have taken to divide them,
Is the number of Bailes in Erinn.
12. Two score acres three times,
Is the land of the Seisrigh;
The land of three Seisrighs, therefore,
Is the quarter of a Bailebiataigh.
13. To twelve Seisrighs in full,
The Bailebiataigh alone is equal;
As I am Finntan, a man of sense,
The tenth generation from Adam.
14. The history of Erinn in memory,
As it is in all the books,
Finntan, the truly intelligent, hath.
Of him is asked how many.
The _Seisrigh_ or ploughgate, which represents the sown land, is here
stated to contain 120 acres and twelve ploughgates, with as much pasture
land as sustained 300 cows, or four herds of seventy-five each formed
the _Bailebiatagh_. Thirty _Bailebiataghs_ constituted a _Tricha-ced_,
which would thus contain 43,200 acres; and as, according to the poem,
there were 184 _Tricha-ceds_ in Ireland, this represents about one-half
of the acreage of the whole country, assuming that the ancient and
modern acre was the same in extent. The other half would thus represent
the waste lands, which were turned to no profitable account.
These measures of land make their appearance at an early period in the
mythic history of Ireland, for it is recorded of Ollamh Fodla, one of
the most remarkable figures who appears in this extraordinary catalogue
of shadowy monarchs, and who is said to have flourished twelve centuries
before Christ, that ‘it was he also that appointed a _Toisech_ over
every _Tricha-ced_, and a _Brughaidh_ over every _Baile_, who were all
to serve the king of Erinn.’[177] They emerge also in the historic
period in the tenth century, when a great fleet of Danes landed at
Limerick and plundered and ravaged Munster, both churches and tribes
(_Cella_ ocus _Tuatha_), and their king is said to have ‘ordained kings
(_Rigu_), chiefs (_Taishechu_), _Maers_ and _Reactdairidu_ or stewards
in each land (_Tir_) and in each _Tuath_, as well as levied the _Cis
rigda_, or dues of the kingdom,’ that is, confirmed the old tribal
organisation, substituting Danes for Gael, so that there was ‘a king
(_Ri_) for each _Tir_, a _Toisech_ for each _Tuath_, an abbot for each
_Cill_ or church, a _Maer_ for each _Baile_, and a _Suairtleach_ in each
_Tigi_ or homestead.[178] In the succeeding century it is told of Brian
Boroimhe, the Munster king who reigned over Ireland from 1002 to 1014,
and defeated the Danes in the great battle of Clontarf, that ‘during his
time surnames were first given, and territories (_Duchadha_) allotted to
the surnames, and the boundaries of every _Tuath_ and every _Tricha-ced_
were fixed.’[179]
But although these ancient measures of land are represented as
possessing a definite and fixed extent, yet there seems to be little
doubt that they varied very much in different parts of Ireland. Thus the
unit of the _Seisrigh_ or ploughgate seems to have been of two kinds—a
larger measure of 120 acres in some parts of Ireland, and a smaller
measure of 60 acres in other parts. We also find the _Ballybiatagh_
consisting of sixteen _Taths_ in place of twelve ploughgates, the _Tath_
containing sixty acres.
[Sidenote: Later state of the tribes.]
But not only do these measures of land vary in size and denomination,
but the _Tuath_ or tribe territory appears also to have varied in
different parts of Ireland as well as the constitution of the tribe
possessing it. The publications of the Irish Archæological and Celtic
Societies afford specimens of this in four of the provinces in Ireland.
Thus the preface to the poems of John O Dugan, who died in 1372, opens
with reference to Meath with the general statement—‘His country
(_Duthaidh_) to every _Ardrigh_ and to every _Urrigh_ and to every
_Taoisech_ of a _Tuath_ in Erin.’[180] In the district of Corca Laidhe
in Munster, which represented a _Mortuath_, instead of containing merely
three or seven _Tuaths_, we find eight _Tuaths_ mentioned, and of seven
of these the head of the tribe is termed its _Toisech_, and bears the
same name, while the _Flaith_ or chiefs are called _Oclaich Duthaich_,
or the champions of the territory. The first is the _Duthaich_ or
country of _O Gillamichil_, with seventeen _Oclaich_. Then we have the
_Tuath Ui Chonneid_, with O Conneid as its _Toisech_, and five
_Oclaich_. Then _Tuath Ruis_, with O Laeghaire as its _Toisech_, and
eleven _Oclaich_ or chiefs. Then Tuath O’n-Aenghusa, with O h-Aenghusa
as its _Toisech_, and fourteen _Oclaich_. Then Tuath O’Fithcheallaigh,
with O’Fithcheallaigh as its _Toisech_, and eight _Oclaich_. Then Tuath
O’n Dunghalaigh, with O Dunghaill as its _Toisech_, and nine _Oclaich_.
Then Tuath Ui-Dubhdaleithe, with O Dubhdaleithe as its _Toisech_ and
seven _Oclaich_. The boundaries of these several _Tuaths_ are likewise
given.[181]
In the province of Connaught we have also an account of four of the
great territories, which furnishes us also with some information
regarding the constitution of the tribes there. In a tract printed in
the appendix to ‘The Tribes and Customs of Hy Fiachraich’ we find the
following statement:—‘Connaught (and, I suppose, other provinces) was
anciently distinguished into countries called Doohie (_Duthaidh_) or
Tyre (_Tir_), named from such and such families or nations inhabiting
them, as in the barony of Athlone, Doohie Keogh, the country or nation
of the Keoghs. In the barony of Ballintobber, Doohie Hanly, the country
of the Hanleys, and betwixt Elphin and Jamestown, that sweet country
Teer O Ruin (_Tir Briuin_) and Teer O Byrne, the country of the Beirns.
These countries were subdivided into townlands (in some other parts of
Ireland known by the name of ploughlands), which were called Ballys, as
in Doohie Hanley _Bally nengulluh_, or Gyllstown, _Ballygilleclinne_,
(the town of the Chlinnes), _Ballyfeeny_, etc.; and each townland was
divided again into quarters, which are generally known and distinguished
by certain meares and bounds, and for that reason the name of quarter is
used as though it signified a certain measure; and now the lands here
are generally set and let, not by the measure of acres but by the name
of quarters, cartrons, and gnieves, a quarter being the fourth part of a
townland, and a gnieve the sixth part of a quarter, and a cartron also
the fourth part of a quarter (although in other parts of Ireland a
quarter is the same part that a cartron is here, and a gnieve the fourth
part of a cartron). I have been sometimes perplexed to know how many
acres a quarter contains, but I have learned it is an uncertain measure,
and anciently proportioned only by guess, or according to the bigness of
the townland whereof it was a parcel.’[182]
From the tract termed the ‘Hereditary Proprietors (_Duthchusaigh_) of
the Clann Fiachrach’ we obtain some further information. The territory
possessed by the tribe appears under different names. These are _Triocha
Cheud_, _Taoisidheacht_, or territory ruled over by a _Taoisech_,
_Tuath_, and _Duthaidh_.[183] The first is the _Triocha Ceud_ of Ceara,
and over it were three kings, O’Muireadhaigh, O’Gormog, and
O’Tighernaigh. It seems to have been exceptionally large. Then we have
five districts termed _Taoisidheacht_. The first is that of O’h-Uada and
O’Cinnchnamha. Then that of O’Cearnaigh, containing the twenty-four
Ballys of the termon of Balla, and therefore nearly as extensive as a
_Triocha Ceud_, but the expression Termon indicates it as being church
land. Then that of Ui Ruadin and of him is the _Dudhchus_ of O’Culachan.
Then that of O’Birn and that of O’Gorrmghiolla, the latter containing
seven Ballys and a half, or the fourth part of a _Triocha Ceud_. Then
there are three _Tuaths_ mentioned. First the _Tuath_ of Partraighe,
co-extensive with the parish of Ballyovey. Of this _Tuath_ we have two
accounts. The first shows us the _Ri tuath_ and the _Taoisech_ distinct,
for O’Gaimiallaigh was its _Ri_ and O’Dorchaidhe its _Taoisech_. By the
second account it was the _Taoisigheacht_ of O’Dorchaidhe alone. O’Banan
of Bally Ui Banan and Magilin of Muine were two _Mac Oglaichs_ or
inferior chiefs. The _Tuath_ of Magh na bethighe contained the seven
Ballys of Lughortan, the _Duthaidh_ of Mac an Bhainbh. The _Tuath_ of
Magh Fhiondalbha, containing fifteen Ballys or half a _Triocha Ceud_,
was the _Duthaidh_ of O’Cearnaigh. Then twelve _Duthaidhs_ or Estates
are given, all connected with surnames. Of these seven consist of one
Bally only. The _Duthaidh_ of O’h-Edhneachan consisted of three
divisions, each containing three Ballys. The _Duthaidh_ of O’Faghartaigh
contained three Ballys, and that of O’Caomhan containing the seven
Ballys of Roslaogh. All of these tribes possessed a common origin with
one exception, for it is added ‘that there was found no _Tuath_ without
its hereditary proprietor of the race of Earc Culbhuidhe except this
well-known _Tuath Aitheachda_,’ that is, tribe of the older subjected
inhabitants, called _Tuath Ruisen_, the old name of Roslaog.[184]
The Tribes and Customs of Hy Many, another great district of Connaught,
throw further light on the subject. This district was considered to be a
third part of the province of Connaught, and the patrimony of the _Clann
Ceallaigh_ or O’Kellys. In a tract giving an account of its boundaries
we are told that it consisted of ‘seven _Tricha_, seven _Tuaths_, seven
_Ballys_, and seven half _Ballys_;’[185] and in the tract called the
‘Customs of Hy Many’ we read: ‘These are the tributaries of the _Clann
Ceallaigh_: the O’Duibhginns, the O’Geibhennaighs, the MacCathails, the
MacFloinns, Muintir Murchadhan, and the Clann Aedhagain, until they
become Ollamhs to the _Ardri_ or head of the whole race. These seven
tributaries correspond with the seven _Tricha_;’ and it is added, that
‘the third part of the _Cuigid_ or province of Connaught, that is, Hy
Many, is to be their _Duthaidh_ for ever.’ They have also the
‘marshalship of the forces’ (_Marasgalacht a Sluag_), as _Saer clann_ or
free tribes, and they are freed from the _Sluaged_, or hostings of
spring and autumn. The seven _Tuaths_ were apparently smaller divisions,
and corresponding with them we have ‘the seven _Oirrighi_ or sub-kings
of Hy Many, viz., O’Conaill, and he has the same patrimony as Mac
Chnaimhin and O’Dubhurrla; the _Oirrighs_ of the _Sil Anmchadha_ are the
O’Madudhains; the _Righs_ or rather _Oirrighs_ of Maenmaigh are the
Muintir Neachtain and the O’Maelallaidhs; the six _Soghans_ with their
_Tricha_; to whomsoever of them they cede the lordship he is called
_Oirrigh_ during his lordship,’ and this makes up the seven.
Corresponding with the seven _Ballys_ we find that ‘the seven _Flaiths_
of Hy Many are these, viz., Mac Eidhigan, _Flath_ of Clann Diarmada;
MacGelli-Enan, _Flath_ of Clann Flaithemael and of the Muintir Chinait;
the _Flaith_ of Clann Bresail is the Muintir Domhnallan, and the
_Flaith_ of Clann Duibgind is O’Duibgind, and O’Gabhrain is over Dal
n-Druithne, and O’Docomhlan over Rinnna h-Eignide, and O’Donnchadha over
Aibh Cormac Maenmuighe, and O’Mailbrigdi is _Flath_ of Bredach.’ The
seven half _Ballys_ correspond with the seven principal _Comharbas_ of
Hy Many, and were the lands attached to seven churches. We have then the
following curious account of the termination of the tribal system in Hy
Many. An agreement is entered into in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, on
the 6th of August 1589, between ‘the Irish chieftains and inhabitants of
Imany called the O’Kellie’s country,’ consisting of, first, the O’Kelly
or head of the race; two O’Kellys, competitors for the name of
Tanistshippe of O’Kelly; two other O’Kellys, and different chiefs
bearing the names of O’Mannine, O’Concannon, O’Naghten, Mac Keoghe,
O’Murry, O’Fallone, and Mac Gerraghte. It is there stated that ‘the
territory of Imany, called O’Kelly’s Country, is divided into five
principal barronyes, all which contain 665-1/2 quarters of land, each at
120 acres;’ and they agree ‘that the Captainshippe and Tanistshippe of
the said country, heretofore used by the said O’Kellys, and all
elections and Irish customary division of lands, shall be utterly
abolished and extinct for ever.’ The O’Kelly is to have four quarters of
land then in his possession, with a chief-rent out of other lands during
his life, and the other two O’Kellys four quarters each.[186]
The third great district or _Mortuath_ of Connaught was that called
‘West, or H-Iar Connaught, the country of the O’Flahertys,’ and in
connection with it we have a tract on the ‘territories of the hereditary
proprietors of Muintir Murchadha of Clanfergail and Meadruidhe and Hy
Briuin Seola and Hy Briuin Ratha and Muintir Fathy; their _Toiseachs_
and high _Mac Oglachs_ and _Ollaves_, that is, O’Halloran is _Toiseach_
of the twenty-four Ballys of Clanfergail (or nearly a _Triocha Ceud_),
and of these are O’Antuile and O’Fergus of Roscam. Mac Cingamain and Mac
Catharnaigh are the two _Toiseachs_ of Meadruidhe, having each their own
people of the tribe subject to them. O’Dathlaoich is the _Toiseach_ of
the fourteen Ballys of the Hy Briuin Ratha (or half a _Triocha Ceud_),
and of these are the O’Kennedies and the O’Duinns and the O’Innogs of
Cnoctuadh and O’Laighin of Lackagh and O’Callanan, Comharba of
Kilcahil,’ the latter being an ecclesiastical sept occupying church
land. ‘O’Canavan was medical Ollamh of O’Flaherty in the _Tuath_ of
Toibrineadh, but others say it was O’Laighidh. The _Flaith_ or chiefs of
Hy Briuin Seola, with their correlatives, are O’Fechin, O’Balbhain,
O’Duff, and O’Madudhain.’ This last tribe does not appear united under
one head but broken up into septs. ‘O’Flaharty is _Toiseach_ of the
fourteen Ballys of Muintir Fathy, with their correlatives under them.’
We have then a list of the hereditary office-bearers of O’Flaherty,
which it may be useful to insert as showing that this designation of
_Toiseach_ was not only applied to the hereditary leaders of tribes, but
when coupled with a qualifying word designated a hereditary officer;
thus Mac Gillagannain of Moyleaslainn is _Toiseach scuir_, or Master of
the Horse to O’Flaherty. The O’Colgam of Bally Colgan are
standard-bearers (_go m-brataigh_) of O’Flaherty. MacGinnain is the
_Comharba_ of Kilcoona. O’Maelampaill of Donaghpatraic is the _Brehon_
or judge of O’Flaherty. O’Cleircin of Rathbuidbh, O’Laibacain, and
O’Maoilin, are the _Erenachs_ of Cillbile. The O’Dubains are the
attendants (_Lucht Comhideachta_) of O’Flaherty at his common house. The
MacKilkellys are the Ollamhs of O’Flaherty in history and poetry, and
for this they have three half Ballys. O’Domnall of Ardratha is the
_Toiseach Comoil_, or Master of the Feast of O’Flaherty, with his own
correlatives under him—viz., O’Daigean of Ardfintain, who was
O’Domhnall’s steward (_Reachtaire_), and O’Chichearan of Lis-chicheran,
and O’Conlachtna of Ballyconlachtna, are the _Beachadoir_, or
beekeepers, of O’Flaherty. O’Murgaile of Muinne-inradain is the high
steward (_Ardreachtaire_) of O’Flaherty.’[187] The king of Connaught,
the head of the O’Connors, had similar officers; for we are told by
O’Ferrall, in his Book of Pedigrees, under the O’Conor family, ‘that the
king of Connaught kept twelve prince officers of the chief families of
his country in his court, attending his person as his council, and to
rule and govern as well his household as to manage the affairs of his
kingdom in war and peace, and were called in Irish _Taoisigh na
Cruachan_, or Toiseachs of Cruachan, the royal residence, which officers
were hereditary from father to son. These chief lords had from the king
certain subsidies for their services.’[188]
These are given in detail in an ancient tract among the Stowe MSS.
Four of them—viz., O’Flanagan, MacGerachty, O’Finnachty, and
O’Maolbrennan—were termed royal _Taoiseachs_, and had each a subsidy
of fifty milch cows and fifty sheep at Beltane, and fifty heifers and
fifty pigs at Samheinn, as well as a domain of forty-eight Ballys; and
of these officers, O’Flannagain had the high stewardship
(_Ardmaoraidacht_), O’Feorinachtaigh was the Hostiarius or doorkeeper,
and O’Maolbrennan was joint steward, and commanded the bodyguards. The
other eight _Toiseachs_ of inferior rank had a domain of twenty-four
_Ballys_ each, and of these O’Hanly had the guardianship of hostages
and prisoners, O’Floinn the stewardship of the horse (_Maoras Each_),
O’Flaithbertaigh and O’Maille the command of the fleet, MacDiarmad was
high marschal, O’Teige was _Taoiseach Teaghlach_ or marshal of the
household, and O’Kelly was _Taoiseach Seud_ or steward of the
jewels.[189]
The province of Ulster likewise presents us with the _Tuath_ or tribe,
several of which form a larger territory equivalent to the Mortuath.
Thus a vast territory, consisting of the two districts of the Route and
Glynnes, was granted by James I. in 1603 to the Earl of Tyrone, and was
at that time subdivided into sixteen smaller districts termed _Tuoghs_
or _Tuaths_, which are recited in the patent. The Route, which was
co-extensive with the ancient territory of Dalriada—from which name
indeed the modern word Route is a corruption—contained nine _Tuoghs_.
These were the _Tuogh_ between the Bandy or Bann and the Boys or Bush,
containing six parishes; the _Tuogh_ of Dunseverick and Ballenatoy; the
_Tuogh_ of Ballelagh; the _Tuogh_ of Loughgill; the _Tuogh_ of
Ballemoney and Dromart, containing two parishes; the _Tuogh_ of
Killeoconway (_Coil na g-Connmuigh_), or the wood of O’Conway; the
_Tuogh_ of Killioquin, or the wood of O’Conn; the _Tuogh_ of
Killiomorrie, or the wood of O’Murry; and the _Tuogh_ of Magheredunagh
(_Machaire Dun Eachdach_), or plain of the fort of Eachdach, consisting
of the parish now called Dunaghy. The district of the Glynnes consisted
of seven baronies, six of which are termed _Tuoghs_. These were the
_Tuogh_ of Munerie, the _Tuogh_ of Carey, the _Tuogh_ of Glenmiconogh,
the _Tuogh_ of the Largie, the _Tuogh_ of the Parke, and the _Tuogh_ of
the Larne. The entire acreage of the two districts of the Route and the
Glynnes was 333,907 acres, giving an average of 20,869 acres to each.
The names of the tribes which were connected with these _Tuoghs_ or
_Tuaths_ have not been preserved, but they are still retained in the
district of North Clandeboy, which with South Clandeboy represented the
ancient Dalnaraighe or territory of the Picts of Ulster. We find from an
inquisition in 1605 that North Clandeboy consisted of twenty
subdivisions, thirteen larger and seven smaller; the former are termed
_Tuoghs_ or _Tuaths_, and are named after the tribes occupying them.
These are the _Tuogh_ of Clanaghartie, containing the entire parish of
Kilconriola and part of Ahoghill, and the _Tuogh_ of Muntir Callie
(_Muintir Ceallaigh_), or the tribe of Kelly, containing the rest of
Ahoghill parish. These two together formed the barony of Lower Toome,
and contained 36,000 acres. The _Tuogh_ of Muntir Rividy, and the _Tuogh
na Fuigh_. These two formed the barony of Upper Toome, and contained
64,000 acres. The _Tuogh_ of Muntir Murigan (_Muintir Mhuireagan_), or
the tribe of Murrigan. The _Tuogh na Keart_. The _Tuogh_ of Moylinny,
which is co-extensive with the barony of Upper Antrim, and contained
36,000 acres. The _Tuogh_ of Killelagh. The _Tuogh_ of Maghery-morne,
the _Tuogh_ of Braden Iland, and the _Tuogh_ of Ballinlyny. These three
formed the barony of Lower Belfast, and contain 56,000 acres. The _Tuogh
Cinament_, containing part of the parish of Shankill, and the _Tuogh_ of
the Fall, containing the rest of Shankill and the parish of
Drumbeg.[190]
We have then a very instructive account of the counties of Monaghan and
Fermanagh in a letter addressed by Sir John Davis, Attorney-General of
Ireland, to the Earl of Salisbury in the year 1606. He states that
Monaghan, otherwise called M‘Mahon’s country, ‘was divided into five
baronies, viz., Dartry, Monaghan, Cremorne, Trough, and Donamayne; that
these five baronies contain an hundred Ballybetaghs, viz., Dartrey 21,
Monaghan 21, Cremorne 22, Trough 15, and Donamayne 21.’ These obviously
represent _Tuaths_, four being about two-thirds, and the fifth the half
of a _Triocha Ceud_. He then proceeds to tell us ‘that every
_Ballibetagh_ (which signifieth in the Irish tongue a town able to
maintain hospitality) containeth 16 _taths_, each _tath_ containeth 60
English acres or thereabout; so as every _Ballibetagh_ containeth 960
acres, the extent of the whole containing 100 _Ballibetaghs_ is 96,000
acres, besides the church lands.’ This territory having been forfeited
to the Crown, four of the baronies were thus regranted to the M‘Mahons.
‘In the Dartrey five _Ballibetaghs_ were granted in demesne to Bryan
McHugh Oge McMahon, then reputed chief of his name, and the heirs-male
of his body, rendering £30 rent, viz., £6 for each _Ballibetagh_; the
other 16 _Ballibetaghs_ were divided among the ancient inhabitants of
that barony, some having a greater portion allotted and some a less;
howbeit every one did render a yearly rent of 20s. out of every _tath_,
whereof 12s. 6d. was granted to Bryan McHugh Oge McMahon as a chief rent
in lieu of all other duties, and 7s. 6d. was reserved to the Crown;
which plot was observed in every of the other baronies, so as out of
every _Ballibetagh_ containing 16 _taths_ the lord had £10 and the king
£6. In Monaghan, Ross Bane McMahon had likewise five _Ballibetaghs_
granted unto him, with the like estate, rendering to the queen £30 rent,
and the like chief rent out of nine _Ballybetaghs_ more, and in the same
barony Patrick McArt Moyle had three _Ballybetaghs_ allotted unto him
with the like estate, rendering £18 rent to the queen, and the like
chief rent out of the other four.
‘In Cremorne, Ever McColla McMahon had five _Ballybetaghs_ in demesne
granted unto him, and the heirs-male of his body, rendering £30 rent to
the Crown, and the like chief rent out of twelve other _Ballybetaghs_;
and in the same barony one Patrick Duffe McColla McMahon had two
_Ballybetaghs_ and a half assigned to him in demesne, rendering £15
rent, and the like chief rent out of two other _Ballybetaghs_ and a
half.
‘In the _Tuough_, containing only fifteen _Ballybetaghs_, Patrick
McKenna had three _Ballybetaghs_ and twelve _taths_ in demesne, given
unto him, with the like estate, rendering £22 rent as aforesaid, and the
like chief rent out of seven other _Ballybetaghs_; and in the same
barony one Bryan Oge McMahowne, brother to Hugh Roe, had the like estate
granted unto him in three _Ballybetaghs_, rendering £18 rent in like
manner, and the like chief rent out of two other _Ballybetaghs_.’
These grants no doubt reflect the ancient occupation of the district,
the various returns in kind and in service being commuted for a money
payment, and the holdings being made direct from the Crown, part of each
barony being held in demesne by the chiefs, and the rest by what Sir
John calls the inferior inhabitants, who had, he says, likewise ‘their
demesne and rents allotted to them, and their several portions of land
granted unto them and to their heirs.’ Besides these temporal lands
there were, he says, ‘the spiritual lands, which the Irish call
_Termons_, which were granted to sundry servitors rendering 10s. to the
Crown for every _tath_; which out of all the church lands amounted to
£70 per annum or thereabouts,’ that is, to 140 _taths_, equal to about
nine _Ballybetaghs_.
From the return with regard to the county of Fermanagh we obtain similar
information, with some additional particulars deserving of notice. ‘For
the lands of inheritance in Fermanagh,’ otherwise called Maguire’s
Country, he says, ‘they stood not in the same terms as the lands in
Monaghan. For the signorie or chiefry and the demesne lands, that were
the inheritance of MacGuire himself, were reduced and vested in the
Crown.’... But forasmuch as the greatest part of the inhabitants of that
country did claim to be freeholders of their several possessions, who,
surviving the late rebellion, had never been attainted, so as we could
not clearly entitle the Crown to their land;’ and he adds, that ‘they
held the same not according to the course of common law but by the
custom of tanistry, whereby the eldest of every sept claimed a chiefry
over the rest, and the inferior sort divided their possessions after the
manner of gavelkind.’ Sir John tells us that, ‘First we thought it meet
to distinguish the possessions, next to inquire of the particular
possessors thereof. Touching the possessions,’ he says, ‘we found
Fermanagh to be divided into seven baronies, viz., Magheryboy,
Clanawley, Clankelly, Maghery, Stephanagh, Tirkennedy, Knockrinie, and
Lough Lurgh. Every of these baronies contains seven _Ballybetaghs_ and a
half of land, chargeable with McGuire’s rent, and other contributions of
the country. Every _Ballybetagh_ is divided into four quarters of land,
and every quarter into four _taths_, so as a _Ballybetagh_ containeth
sixteen _taths_, as it doth in Monaghan, but the measure of this country
is far larger; besides the freeland, whereof there is good quantity in
every barony, is no parcel of the seven _Ballybetaghs_ and a half,
whereof the barony is said to consist. For these reasons Fermanagh,
containing but fifty-one _Ballybetaghs_ and a half of chargeable lands,
is well-nigh as large an extent as Monaghan, which hath in it an hundred
_Ballybetaghs_.’
‘Touching the freeland we found them,’ he says, ‘to be of three kinds—
‘1. Church land or _termon_ lands, as the Irish call it.
‘2. The mensal land of McGuire.
‘3. Land given to certain septs privileged among the Irish, viz., the
lands of the chroniclers, rimers, and gallo-glasses.
‘The Church land was either monastery land, _Corbe_ land, or _Erenach’s_
land. The monastery land lay in the barony of Clanawley, and did not
exceed two _Ballybetaghs_, but the lands belonging to the _Corbes_ and
_Erenachs_ are of far greater quantity, and are found in every barony.
They told me,’ he adds, ‘that the word _Termon_ doth signify in the
Irish tongue a liberty or freedom, and that all church lands whatsoever
are called _termon_ lands by the Irish, because they were ever free from
all impositions and cuttings of the temporal lords, and had the
privilege of sanctuary.’
McGuire’s mensal lands, he tells us, were ‘free from all common charges
and contributions of the country, because they yielded a large
proportion of butter and meal and other provisions for McGuire’s table,
‘and that though lying in several baronies did not in quantity exceed
four _Ballybetaghs_, the greatest thereof being in the possession of one
M‘Manus and his sept.’ The certainties of the duties or provisions
yielded unto McGuire out of these mensal lands were set forth in an old
parchment roll in the hands of one O’Brislan, a chronicler and principal
_Brehon_ of that country. It was not very large, but was written on both
sides in a fair Irish character, and contained not only ‘the certainty
of McGuire’s mensal duties, but also the particular rents and other
services which were answered to McGuire out of every part of the
country.’ ‘Besides these mensals,’ he adds, ‘McGuire had two hundred and
forty beeves or thereabouts yearly paid unto him out of the seven
baronies, and about his castle at Iniskillen he had almost a
_Ballybetagh_ of land, which he manured with his own churles. And this
was McGuire’s whole estate in certainty, for in right he had no more,
and in time of peace did exact no more. In time of war he made himself
owner of all, cutting what he listed, and imposing as many _bonachts_ or
hired soldiers upon them as he had occasion to use. Concerning the free
land of the third kind—viz., such land as is possessed by the Irish
officers of this country, viz., chroniclers, galloglasses, and
rimers—the entire quantities if it were laid down together, as it is
scattered in sundry baronies, doth well-nigh make two _Ballybetaghs_ and
no more.’[191]
This presents us with a graphic enough account of the state of the Irish
tribe as it existed at the time Sir John Davis wrote; and we may
supplement what he says as to the position of the _Termon_ or Church
lands, and their freedom from the burdens to which the other lands were
subject, by two charters preserved in the Book of Kells. The first is a
grant by Conchobhar O’Maelsechlann, king of Meath, in the eleventh
century, by which he gave Kildelga with its territory and lands to God
and to Columkille for ever, free of all claim for _Cis_ or rent,
_Cobach_ or tribute, _Fecht_ and _Sluaged_ or expedition and hosting,
and _Coinnim_ from king or _Toiseach_, and the precise signification of
_Coinnim_ appears from the second charter granted in the succeeding
century, by which the freedom of Ardbreacain was granted by Muirchertach
O’Lochlainn, king of Ireland, Diarmaid O’Maelsechlann, king of Meath,
and Aedh Mac Cu-Uladh, king of Laeghaire. The people of Laeghaire had a
certain tribute on the Church, viz., one night’s _Coinnmeda_ every
quarter of a year. O’Lochlain, king of Ireland, and O’Maelsechlann, king
of Meath, induced the king of Laeghaire to sell this night’s _Coinnmeda_
for three ounces of gold. The Church, therefore, with its territory and
lands, is free for two reasons, viz., on account of the general freedom
of all churches, and on account of this purchase.’[192]
We thus see that the leading features of the Irish tribes, as we have
gathered them in the ancient laws, can to a great extent be recognised
in the state of the native population of the country, as we find it
presented to us at a later period in four of her great provinces.