CHAPTER V

EARLY SOCIAL STRUCTURE

INTRODUCTORY

Approaching Conflict of Systems. In dealing with the succeeding periods the chief element to be considered will be the long and bitter conflict between racial systems based upon different ideas of social and political organisation. The Gaelic race in Ireland had developed upon distinctive lines, and it had definite and fixed conceptions regarding such vital matters as government, laws, ownership of land, etc. Efforts were now to be made first by the Norse, but more thoroughly by the Normans, to force upon it a system which was hostile to everything that it considered wise, just, and practical in these great matters. It is necessary, therefore, to have at least an elementary knowledge of the structure of the Gaelic community.

Gaelic Society not Rigid.-It should be remembered, however, that the social and economic conditions of Ireland, like those of every nation in every age, were constantly changing in details. It would be a fallacy to think that early social Ireland, any more than early political Ireland, was a rigid stereotyped entity between which and later Ireland a clear-cut line could be drawn. The nation was a living organism with periods of progress or decay, and in political, social, economic and intellectual functions many changes took place. But there were certain principles of law and government and social life which were distinctly characteristic of the entire Gaelic people. Upon these principles they remained organised until the seventeenth century, and even to the present day the Irish people are affected by their influences.

The following account of the leading features of the social structure is summarised, with slight alterations, from Joyce's Social History of Ancient Ireland :-

SECTION I. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL GRADES

Political Groups.-The political organisation was based upon. groups of various sizes from the family upwards. The family was the group consisting of the living parents and all their descendants. The

fine was a group related by blood within certain recognised degrees. The sept was a larger group descended from common parents long since dead. All the members of a sept were nearly related, and in later times bore the same surname. The clan or house was still larger. Clann means children, and the word therefore implied descent from one ancestor. The tribe was made up of several septs or clans, and usually claimed, like the subordinate groups, to be descended from a common ancestor. The entire basis, therefore, was kinship. But as strangers were often adopted into all the groups, there was much admixture; and the theory of common descent became in great measure a fiction except in the leading families.

The Rí and the Tuath.-Septs, clans, and tribes were governed by chiefs the chief of a tribe claimed allegiance from the chiefs of the several clans or septs composing the tribe, and received tribute from them. If the tuath, or territory occupied by the tribe, was sufficiently extensive the ruling "flaith" was a Rí (ree) or king. There were 184 tuaths in all Ireland, but all had not "kings."

Election of Kings and Chiefs.-The king or chief was always elected from members of one "fine" but the succession was not hereditary in our sense of the word; it was elective with the above limitation of being confined to one "fine," the freemen being the electors. Any freeborn member of the "fine" was eligible: the tanist might be brother, son, nephew, cousin, etc., of the chief. That member was chosen who was considered best able to lead in war, and govern in peace, and he should be free from all personal deformities or blemishes.

Grades of Kings.-As the "fine" was the basis of succession, so the tuath was the basis of political organisation. Sometimes three or four tuaths were grouped into a mór-tuatha under the "king of the mór tuath." In each state, therefore, the rí or king had under him the kings of the mór-tuatha and tuatha. An under king was called an ur-rí, and such subordinate chiefs in later times were called urriaghs by the English. The title " Rí," therefore, was one borne by numerous chiefs whose power and influence varied considerably.

*NOTE.—The fine (pro. finna) and the clan were the most important of these groups, the fine being the basis of succession (and also the economic unit), and the clan the unit of political organisation, as pointed out later on in the text. The words "sept," "clan" and "tribe" are used arbitrarily and with conflicting meanings by different authors. As clann indicates "posterity" the word is used to indicate, at one time, the original clan, or political unit of the period of the "Book of Rights"; and, at another time, the smaller family groups, with different surnames, into which, in course of time, it became divided. The words "sept" and "tribe," as used by Dr. Joyce, would respectively indicatesept, the groups into which the political unit became divided; tribe, the union of these groups as representing the original political "clan" or "tuath."

† More correctly the group clan which occupied it. "Tuath" means both a group of kindred and the land they occupied.

Tanistry. With the object of avoiding the evils of a disputed succession, the person to succeed a king or chief was often elected by the tribe during the lifetime of the king or chief himself; when elected he was called the tanist. The person who was generally looked upon as the king's successor, whether actually elected tanist or not—the heir apparent was commonly called the roydamna.

Social Classes.-Socially every group was divided into classes, from the king or chief down to the slave, and the law took cognisance of all-setting forth their rights, duties and privileges. These classes were not castes; for under certain conditions persons could pass from one to the next above. There were five main classes :—(1) Kings of various grades from the king of the tuath up to the Ard Rí; (2) nobles; (3) freemen with property; (4) freemen without property (or with very little); (5) the non-free classes. The first three were the privileged classes: a person belonging to these was an "aire " (arra) or chief.

Flaiths or Nobles.-The nobles were those who had land as their own property, for which they did not pay rent. Part of this land they held in their own hands, and tilled by the labour of the non-free classes: part they let to tenants. An aire of this class was called a flaith (flah), i.e., a noble, a chief, a prince.

The brugh-fer or

Free Tenants. A person belonging to the third class of aire, a non-noble rent-paying freeman with property, had no land of his own; his property consisting of cattle and other movable goods; hence he was called a bo-aire, i.e., a cow-aire. A bo-aire rented land from a flaith, thus taking rank as a free tenant, and he grazed his cattle partly on this and partly on the commons grazing land. The bo-aires had certain allowances and privileges according to rank. brugaid (broo-fer; broo-ey) was an interesting official of the bo-aire class. He was a public hospitaller, bound to keep an open house for the reception of strangers. The next class, the fourth, the freemen without property, differed from the bo-aires only in not possessing property in herds-for the bo-aires were themselves rent-payers; and accordingly, a man of the fourth class became a bo-aire if he accumulated property enough.

Unfree Classes. The non-free people were those who had scarcely any rights-some none at all. They had no claim to any part of the tribe land or to the use of the commons; though the chief might permit them to till the land, for which they had to pay an arbitrary rent. Their standing varied; some being absolute slaves, some little removed from slavery, and others far above it. The most numerous class of the nonfree people were those called fudirs; they had no right to any land they

tilled, and were in complete dependence-tenants-at-will, who could be put out at any time.

SECTION II. OWNERSHIP OF LAND

Private Property. The land was regarded as being the property of the clan or tribe which occupied it, and not as the private property of any individual. There were exceptions to this general principle however, for land could be held by individuals in different ways. The chief had a portion as mensal land for his support, for life or for as long as he remained chief. Another portion was held as private property by persons who had come to own the land in various ways. Most of these were flaiths or nobles, of the several ranks; and some were professional men, such as physicians, judges, poets, historians, artificers, etc., who had got their lands as stipends for their professional services to the chief, and in whose families it often remained for generations. Again, persons held as tenants portions of the lands belonging to those who owned it as private property, or portions of the mensal land of the chief; much like tenants of the present day: these paid what was equivalent to rent-always in kind.

Tribe Land. But the rest of the arable land, forming by far the largest part of the territory, belonged to the people in general; no part being private property. This was occupied by the free members of the clan, who were owners for the time being each of his own farm. Every free man had a right to his share. The non-arable or waste land-mountain, forest, bog, etc.--was commons "land. This was not appropriated by individuals; but every free man had a right to use it for grazing, for procuring fuel, or for the chase.

Rent and Subsidies to Chiefs.-The revenue of the chief was derived from three main sources. First, his mensal land, some of which he cultivated by his own labourers, some he let to tenants: second, subsidies of various kinds from the clansmen: third, payment for stock. But in addition to this he might have land as his own personal property. Every clansman had to pay to his chief a certain subsidy according to his means. The usual subsidy for commons pasturage was in the proportion of one animal yearly for every seven, which was considerably less than a reasonable rent of the present day. Probably the subsidy for tillage-land was in much the same proportion. A man who takes land must have stock: cows and sheep for the pasture-land, horses or oxen to carry on the work of tillage. A small proportion of the tenants had stock of their own, but the great majority had not. Where the tenant needed stock it was the custom for the chief to give him as much as he wanted at certain rates of payment. This giving or lending of stock

was very general, and from it the chiefs derived a large part of their income.

Free Tenants and Bond Tenants.-The tenant was called a céile (caila). Some tenants were saer-céiles, free tenants: some daer-céiles, base or bond tenants. The free tenants were comparatively independent -the bond tenants had to pay heavy subsidies, which always kept them down. The céiles or tenants hitherto spoken of were all free men, Each had a house of his own, the right to a share of the tribe land and to the use of the commons. In this sense the daer-céiles were free men as well as the saer-céiles.

"Coyne and Livery."-The daer-tenants were bound to give the chief refection on visitation, called coinmed (coiney); that is, the chief was entitled to go with his followers to the house of the tenant, who had to supply the company with food and drink. The number of followers, the time, and the food were carefully regulated by the law, according to the amount of stock the tenant borrowed from the chief. This custom was adopted by the later Normans, but without its legal checks, and became known to them as coyne and livery.”

Succession to Land.-Land descended in three ways. First, as private property, in the usual way from father to children. Second, by tanistry, that is, the mensal land held by the chief went, not to his heir, but the person who succeeded him in the chiefship. Third, by gavelkind. When a céile or free tenant who held a part of the tribe land died, his farm did not necessarily go to his children; but might be gavelled, or re-divided, amongst his immediate fine.

It should be remarked that all payments were made in kind; cows, horses, sheep, or silver. A cow was the unit of value, and as such was called a séd (shade). A cumal was equal to three séds.

SECTION III. LAWS

The "Brehons."-Judges were called brehons; and the law they administered is, therefore, now commonly known as the "Brehon Law.”* To become a brehon a person had to go through a regular, well-defined course of training. The brehons were a very influential class of men, and those attached to chiefs had free lands for their maintenance. Those not so attached lived simply on the fees of their profession. It generally required great technical skill to decide cases, the legal rules, as set forth in the law-books, were so complicated, and so many circumstances had to be taken into account. The brehon, moreover, had to be very careful, for he was himself liable to damages if he delivered a false or an unjust judgment.

* The proper designation for native Irish law is "fenechas."