Pagan Ireland.

by Eleanor Hull

Kings and Chiefs

Kings and Chiefs

WE have spoken of the duties of the freemen and serfs to the chief; let us now think of the position and duties of the king himself.

In Ireland it was not always the eldest son of the chief who became his successor; the position of the eldest son was not recognised as it is at this day, and if a son succeeded, it might just as easily be one of the younger members of the family as the eldest. But more often it was the brother or cousin of the reigning chief who was chosen as his successor, especially if the sons were young. It was necessary in such wild times to have a strong man on the throne, one who could hold his kingdom against surrounding foes; and it was generally the nearest relation to the reigning chief who showed a fitness for the post who was selected, whether this were his son, brother, or cousin.

This heir to the throne was called the Tanist; he was held in high esteem in the kingdom, and took a position next the reigning king. The chief was the military leader of his people, and much of his wealth was gathered from the spoils of war. A large number of his clansmen were, as we saw, bound to give him military service whenever he required it; but in times when it was the chief occupation of the people to fight, it can never have been difficult to raise a force. There were, besides, mercenary troops always to be had for payment : the Fianna Eirinn were forces of this sort, fighting independently under their own leaders, but attaching themselves for & time to whichever chief required their help. Maive had such mercenary troops in her army. These soldiers of fortune often came from a distance, from England and Scotland, to join the Irish forces for the duration of a war.

The chief was generally the wealthiest man in the tribe, and had more slaves, cattle and sheep, than anyone else. It was to his advantage to have great possessions, in order to loan to his tribesmen, and so oblige them to render him their service. A man could rise to the chieftainship by merely acquiring great wealth, as we shall see in a later lesson that Finnachta the Festive did. For though there was always a Tanist, it did not by any means follow that the Tanist would come to the throne; few, indeed, of the chiefs died in the natural course in their beds to be succeeded peacefully by their heirs. The larger number were either killed in battle, or murdered by their subjects, and the throne forcibly taken possession of by the murderer. The Annals of the Kings show us how seldom a peaceful succession took place; and even when the dynasty did pass on from father to son, as in the case of Conn, the Fighter of a Hundred, his son Art, and his grandson Cormac, we find that Art was killed in battle, and the throne was twice usurped, and held by outsiders, before the succession of the sons.

Election of a King.

How irregular the election of the Ard-Righ or High- King of Tara might be, is shown by such stories as the appointment of Conaire M6r, or of Lugaid Reo Dergt neither of whom had any direct claim to the succession. For though the chief could appoint a Tanist, the election lay in the end with the tribe, or, in the case of the Ard-Righ, with the Under Kings of the Provinces. Now, the choice of the people, when there was any dispute, or a difficulty arose, was frequently, if not always, influenced by the prognostigation of a soothsayer, who was supposed to point out the right man. These curious rites were carried on by the Druids, who were believed to have a knowledge of the future. A white bull was killed, and a man ate of his flesh and drank from the broth. He was then put into a magic sleep by the incantation of the Druids; and he was supposed to see in a dream the person who was to be made king; out of his sleep he gave a description of the person whom he saw, who was then elected by the people.

Keating is very angry that Gerald, the Welsh historian, repeats a story somewhat similar to this about the inauguration of the chiefs of the O'Donnell family, in Ulster, but it is quite likely that a custom in several respects like the old pagan custom, should have lingered on into later times; it is very difficult to change old established customs connected with important public ceremonies. We keep up to this clay at a coronation many old ceremonials the meaning of which has been forgotten and which appear to us ridiculous, merely because they have always, from time immemorial, been considered a necessary part of the functions of state; therefore we need not reject the statement of Gerald so hastily as Keating did, seeing that it corresponds very closely with a custom that was well-recognised in ancient days. Keating, however, adds an interesting account of the later method of in- augurating a Prince of the O'Donnells. He says that, being seated amongst his nobles and councillors, the chief of his nobles would stand before him with a straight white wand in his hand, and present it to the king, in token of authority over the country of his tribe, and to remind him by its straightness that his administration should be just, and by its whiteness that his actions should be pure and upright. It was a symbol which had the same meaning as the sceptre of a modern king.

Another ceremony attending the election of the High-King of Tara was that of standing on the stone called the Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny, which the Tuatha De Danann were supposed to have brought with them from the East. This stone was said to roar when the rightful king stood on it, and to be silent under a usurper. It must often have been silent at Tara. Some people suppose that the Lia Fail was carried over to Scotland in Christian times to crown the Scottish kings upon, because they were descended from the chiefs of the North of Ireland; and that it is the stone which is now under the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey, on which the English Sovereigns are crowned. This stone was certainly brought from Scotland to England in the reign of Edward I. However, I do not think it is likely that the Irish would have parted from their famous stone for this or any other purpose, and it is possible that a great pillar-stone which still stands on Tara Hill may be the Lia Fail. This pillar-stone, 5 ft. 3 in. high, now stands over the " Croppies' Grave " on the Forradh, but it original!} occupied the site of the original Lia Fail on the N.E. side of Rath na Riogh, or the King's Rath. The Lia Fail is mentioned in two poems of the roth century as being- still on Tara Hill, when the poems were written. It is difficult to see, however, how anyone could have stood upon this stone without falling off, but still more curious and impossible things are told of the election of chiefs in some primitive countries to this day.

Duties of a Prince.

The ideal formed by the ancient Irish of the duties and character of a prince was a high one, and there are several old accounts of the admonitions given to a young prince to guide him in his responsible position. One of these is supposed to contain the instructions given by the wise Cormac Mac Airt to his son Cairbrc, who came to him for advice. " O Cormac, grandson of Conn," said Cairbre, " what is the right life for a king? That is plain," said Cormac. " A king must exercise patience and self-governance; he must be affable without haughtiness; he must strictly observe covenants and agreements; he must execute the laws with exactitude but with mercy. He must pay diligent attention to history, he must perform his promises, he must keep peace in his borders, and protect his frontiers. When he makes a hosting, let the cause be just; let him pay the lawful dues of his vassals, let him honour the nobles, respect the poets and historians, and adore the Great God." "It is his duty, too, to exercise boundless charity, to see to the prosperity of agriculture, and the condition of merchandise; to suppress falsehood and criminal deeds, to attend the sick and discipline his armies; above all things to speak truth always, for it is through the truth of a king that God gives prosperity and favorable seasons." Cairbre asks : " What is the chief of all his duties? " Cormac answers : " The lifting up of good men and the suppression of evil-doers, the giving of freedom to those who do well, and the restriction of the unjust." Then Cairbre asks : " What is for the welfare of a country?" and is told that frequent convocations of wise men to investigate its affairs and abolish unwise laws are good; that the government should be in the hands of the nobles, and that the chieftains should be upright; that the study of every art and language should be en- couraged.

Then Cairbre asks : "What are the duties of a prince on public occasions? " " They are," said Cormac, " to light the lamps and welcome the guests with clap- ping of hands at Samhain, in the banqueting house; to prepare for them comfortable seats and have nimble cupbearers to serve them; to have moderate music, short stories, and a welcoming countenance, and to make cheerful and pleasant converse before the learned." Cairbre then asks, for what qualities a king should be elected? " For his noble appearance and birth," answers Cormac, " for his experience and wisdom, his prudence and magnanimity, his eloquence, his bravery in battle, and the number of his friends. He must be without personal blemish of any sort, easy of access and affable, mild in peace and fierce in war, beloved by his people, discerning-, faithful and patient; he is to support orphans, to be cheerful with his intimates, and to appear splendid as the sun at the Banquet of the Mead House of Tara." *

The condition that the king should be without personal blemish was an important one in Ireland, as it still is in many countries; for a king who had sustained any personal injury could no longer retain the crown. Cormac Mac Airt himself, though he was the wisest and most beloved of all the early kings, had to retire from the duties of his post because his eye had been put out by a spear in battle. It was while he was in retirement that Cairbre, his successor, is said to have come to ask his advice. Whether the instructions are actually those given by Cormac or not, they are no less important as showing us how highly the position and duties of a king were thought of in early days were to be spent. Sunday was given to feasting and ale-drinking; Monday, to legislation and the government of his tribe; Tuesday, to chess; Wednesday, to watching greyhounds coursing, Thursday, to the pleasures of home; Friday, to horse-racing; Saturday, to administering judgment, that is, to arbitrating be tween disputants. This sounds as though a king had a very easy time of it; only two days out of the seven appear to have been devoted to duty against five given to pleasure; but perhaps there was more work connected with his enjoyments than appears on the surface, for we find that there were present at the ale feasts persons concerned in assessing taxes, verifying contracts, settling boundaries, regulating disputes between chiefs, and otherwise carrying on the affairs of the kingdom. They were the King's Council of State, and doubtless these matters were discussed and arranged during the long feasts at which the king presided.

The monarch was always accompanied by four men as a bodyguard, or twelve when making an ordinary circuit of his territory; but we find the chiefs and kings on state progresses through their dominions travelling with their whole retinue. The bards did the same, and as in later times the bishops followed their example, and went about with companies of equal size with the king's, the unfortunate people were cruelly oppressed by these visitations, which they dared not refuse to receive It was just as dangerous to refuse a bard as to refuse a king, for he would certainly revenge himself by making a satire on the person who had declined to give him what he required, and a bardic satire was supposed to bring down all sorts of ill-luck on the person to whom it was addressed. All these things had to be regulated in later times. We shall see that it was St. Columcille who set a limit on the exactions of the bards.

The life of the king was naturally considered more valuable than that of any of his subjects. In Ireland in old times every person had his own fixed value according to his rank. That is to say, if a man injured or killed another out of malice, he was obliged to pay a certain fixed compensation either to the man himself, or in case of his death, to his relatives. The price of each wound or insult or murder was fixed by law. Besides the actual compensation for the injury done, there was what was called the " Honour price " to be paid for each man; that is, a compensation according to the rank of the man injured. The honour-price of the chief of a large province was seven women slaves or twenty-one cows, that of the Ard-Righ was eight slaves or twenty-four cows. Three cows or one slave was a fixed price and was called a " cumhall "; a "prime-sed" was one milch-cow. These were two standards of measurement among the old Irish.