.A Concise History of Ireland

Irish History.

From A Concise History of Ireland

by P. W. Joyce

The Brehon Laws | Irish Music | The Law of Compensation | Grades and Groupes of Society
The Tenure of Land | Irish Music

Index Page.

The Brehon Laws.

36. In Ireland judges were called Brehons; and the law they administered - the ancient law of Ireland - is 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.

37. The brehons had collections of laws in volumes or tracts, all in the Irish language, by which they regulated their judgments. Many of these have been preserved, and of late years the most important of them have been published, with translations, forming five printed volumes. Of the tracts contained in these volumes, the two largest and most important are the Senchus Mor [Shan'ahus More] and the Book of Acaill [Ack'ill]. The Senchus Mor is chiefly concerned with the Irish civil law, and the Book of Acaill with the criminal law and the law relating to personal injuries.

38. At the request of St. Patrick, Laeghaire [Leary] king of Ireland formed a committee of nine persons to revise the laws:— viz., three kings, of whom Laeghaire himself was one: three ecclesiastics, of whom Patrick was one; and three poets and antiquarians, of whom Duftach, Laeghaire's chief poet was one. These nine having expunged everything that clashed with the Christian faith, produced at the end of three years a revised code which was called Senchus Mor.

39. The very book left by St. Patrick and the others has been long lost. Successive copies were made from time to time, with commentaries and explanations appended, till the manuscripts we now possess were produced.

The language of the laws is extremely archaic and difficult, indicating a very remote antiquity, though probably not the very language of the text left by the revising committee, but a modified version of a later time. The two great Irish scholars - John O'Donovan and Eugene O'Curry - who translated them, were able to do so only after long study; and in numerous instances were, to the last, not quite sure of the meaning. Even the translation is hard enough to understand, and is often unintelligible.

The Law of Compensation.

40. The Brehon code forms a great body of civil, military, and criminal law. It regulates the various ranks of society, from the king down to the slave, and enumerates their several rights and privileges. There are minute rules for the management of property, for the several industries - building, brewing, mills, water-courses, fishing-weirs, bees and honey - for distress or seizure of goods, for tithes, trespass, and evidence. The relations of landlord and tenant, the fees of professional men - doctors, judges, teachers, builders, artificers - the mutual duties of father and son, of foster-parents and foster-children, of master and servant, are all carefully regulated. Contracts are regarded as peculiarly sacred, and are treated in great detail.

In criminal law, the various offences are minutely distinguished:— Murder, manslaughter, wounding, thefts, and every variety of wilful damage; and accidental injuries from flails, sledge-hammers, and all sorts of weapons.

41. Injuries of all kinds as between man and man were atoned for by a compensation payment. Homicide, whether by intent or by misadventure, was atoned for like other injuries, by a money fine.

The fine for homicide or for bodily injury of any kind was called eric [er'rick]: the amount was adjudged by a brehon. The principles on which these awards should be made are laid down in great detail in the Book of Acaill.

In case of homicide the family of the victim were entitled to the eric. If the culprit did not pay, or absconded, leaving no property, his fine [finna] or family were liable. If they wished to avoid this they were required to give up the offender to the family of the victim, who might then if they pleased, kill him: or failing this, his family had to expel him. and to lodge a sum to free themselves from the consequences of his subsequent misconduct.

In the Book of Acaill there is a minute enumeration of bodily injuries, whether by design or accident, with the compensation for each, taking into account the position of the parties and the other numerous circumstances that modified the amount.

42. For homicide and for most injuries to person, property or dignity, the fine consisted of two parts:—first, the payment for the mere injury, which was determined by the severity of the injury, and by other circumstances: second, a sum called Log-enech or Honour-price, which varied according to the rank of the parties: the higher the rank the greater the honour-price. The consideration of honour-price entered into a great number of the provisions of the Brehon law. This principle also existed in the early Teutonic codes.

To make due allowance for all modifying circumstances in cases of trial, called for much legal knowledge and technical skill on the part of the brehon: quite as much as we expect in a lawyer of the present day.

The principle of compensation for murder was not peculiar to Ireland. It existed among the Anglo-Saxons, as well as among the ancient Greeks, Franks, and Germans.

Grades and Groupes of Society.

43. The people were divided into classes, from the king down to the slave, and the Brehon 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 or cantred up to the king of Ireland; (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.

44. 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.

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. Among their allowances were a share in the mill and in the kiln of the district, and fees for witnessing contracts and for other legal functions.

45. The Brugh-fer or 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. There should be a number of open roads leading to his house; and he had to keep a light burning on the lawn at night to guide travellers. He had free land and large allowances for the support of the expenses of his house; and he was much honoured.

46. The next class, the fourth, the freemen without property, were free tenants; they 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. These freemen without property and the non-free classes will be treated of in next Chapter.

47. The people were formed into groups of various sizes from the family upwards. The family was the group consisting of the living parents and all their descendants. 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. 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.

48. Septs, clans, and tribes were governed by chiefs: the chief of a tribe had jurisdiction over the chiefs of the several clans or septs composing the tribe, and received tribute from them. If the territory occupied by the tribe was sufficiently extensive, the ruling flaith was a Ri [ree] or king: the tuath or cantred was the smallest territory whose ruler was called a Ri. There were 184 tuaths in all Ireland, but probably all had not kings.

There was a regular gradation of sub-kingdoms from the tuath upwards. Some were very large, such as Tyrone, Tirconnell, Thomond, Desmond, Ossory, &c., each of which comprised several tribes.

49. Each of the five provinces - Ulster, Leinster, Munster, Connaught, Meath - had a king; this is commonly known as the Pentarchy. These five provincial kings had sovereignty over the sub-kings of their several provinces, all of whom owed them tribute and war service.

Lastly there was the Ard-ri or supreme monarch of all Ireland. He had sovereignty over the provincial kings, who were bound to pay him tribute and attend him in war.

50. The following are the main features of the ancient territorial divisions of the country. It was parcelled out into five provinces from the earliest times of which we have any record:- Leinster, Ulster, Connaught, and the two Munsters. Laighin [Layen] or Leinster extended from the Suir to Inver Colpa (the mouth of the Boyne); Ulaid [Ulla] or Ulster from the Boyne round northwards to the little river Drowes between Donegal and Leitrim; Olnegmacht or Connaught from the Drowes to Limerick and the Shannon; The two Munsters, viz., the province of Curoi Mac Dara from Limerick to Cork and westward to the coasts of Cork and Kerry, and the province of Achy Avraroe from Cork to the mouth of the Suir. It is stated that these provinces met at the hill of Ushnagh in Westmeath.

51. This division became modified in course of time. A new province - that of Mide or Meath - was created in the second century by Tuathal the Legitimate king of Ireland, who formed it by cutting off a portion of each of the other provinces round the hill of Ushnagh (101). Murthemne, now the county Louth, was transferred from Ulster to Leinster; the present county Cavan, which originally belonged to Connaught, was given to Ulster; and the territory now known as the county Clare was wrested from Connaught and annexed to Munster. The two Munsters ceased to be distinguished, and the whole province was known by the name of Muman or Munster. A better known subdivision of Munster was into Thomond or North Munster, which broadly speaking included Tipperary, Clare, and North Limerick; and Desmond or South Munster, comprising Kerry, Cork, Waterford, and South Limerick. In recent times Meath has disappeared as a province; and the original provinces remain:- Leinster, Ulster, Connaught, and Munster.

52. With the object of avoiding the evils of a disputed sucession, 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.

The king or chief was always elected from members of one family, bearing the same surname: but the succession was not hereditary in our sense of the word; it was elective with the above limitation of being confined to one . family. Any freeborn member of the family was eligible: the tanist might be brother, son, nephew, cousin, &c., 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.

The Tenure of Land.

53. The land was held by individuals in five different ways.

FIRST: The chief, whether of the tribe or of the sept, had a portion as mensal land for his support, for life or for as long as he remained chief.

SECOND: 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, &c., who had got their lands as stipends for their professional services to the chief, and in whose families it often remained for generations.

THIRD: 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.

FOURTH: The rest of the arable land, which was called the tribe 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 tribe or sept, who were owners for the time being, each of his own farm. Every free man had a right to his share. Those who occupied the tribe land did not hold for any fixed term, for the land of the sept was liable to Gavelkind (58) or redistribution from time to time - once every three or four years. Yet they were not tenants at will, for they could not be disturbed till the time or redistribution; even then each man kept his crops and got compensation for unexhausted improvements; and though he gave up one farm he always got another.

FIFTH: The non-arable or waste land - mountain, forest, bog, &c. - 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.

54. 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 tribesmen: Third, payment for stock as described farther on. But in addition to this he might have land as his own personal property.

Every tribesman 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.

55. 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-ceiles were free men, as well as the saer-céiles.

56. 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 Brehon law, according to the amount of stock the tenant borrowed from the chief. But it was a bad and a dangerous custom.

The Anglo Irish lords imitated and abused this regulation by what was called Coyne and Livery. A military leader, when he had no money to pay his soldiers, turned them out with arms in their hands among the colonists to pay themselves in money and food. This was Coyne and Livery. No distinction was made; and the soldiers being under no restraint, plundered and oppressed the people and committed many other crimes. Many severe laws were passed against Coyne and Livery, but notwithstanding these, it continued to be practised by the great lords for generations. Bad as the Irish coiney was, Coyne and Livery was much worse.

57. 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 land, for which they had to pay ruinous rent. Their standing varied; some being absolute slaves, some little removed from slavery, and others far above it. The most numerous class of the non-free 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.

We know that Slavery pure and simple existed in Ireland in early times: and that it continued to a comparatively late period is proved by the testimony of Giraldus Cambrensis, who relates that it was a common custom among the English to sell their children and other relatives to the Irish for slaves; Bristol being the great mart for the trade. Slaves in those days formed a recognised item of traffic in Ireland.

58. LAND descended in three ways.

FIRST: As private property, in the usual way from father to children.

SECOND: By tanistry, i.e. 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 go to his children; but all the tribe land belonging to the sept was redivided or gavelled among all the male adult members of the sept including the dead man's adult sons. Gavelkind in a modified form still exists in Kent.

59. 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.

Irish Music.

60. From very early times the Irish were celebrated for their skill in music. Our native literature abounds in references to music and to skilful musicians, who are always spoken of in terms of the utmost respect.

During the long period when learning flourished in Ireland, Irish professors and teachers of music would seem to have been almost as much in request in foreign countries as those of literature and philosophy. In the middle of the seventh century, Gertrude, abbess of Nivelle in Belgium, daughter of Pepin mayor of the palace, engaged SS. Foillan and Ultan, brothers of the Irish saint Fursa, of Peronne, to instruct her nuns in psalmody. In the latter half of the ninth century the cloister schools of St. Gall were conducted by an Irishman, Maengal or Marcellus, under whose teaching the music school there attained its highest fame.

61. The cultivation of music was not materially interrupted by the Danish troubles. Giraldus Cambrensis, who seldom had a good word for anything Irish, speaks of the Irish harpers as follows:--"They are incomparably more skilful than any other nation I have ever seen. For their manner of playing on these instruments, unlike that of the Britons to which I am accustomed, is not slow and harsh, but lively and rapid, while the melody is both sweet and sprightly. It is astonishing that in so complex and rapid a movement of the fingers the musical proportions [as to time] can be preserved; and that throughout the difficult modulations on their various instruments, the harmony is completed with such a sweet rapidity." For centuries after the time of Giraldus music continued to be cultivated uninterruptedly; and there was an unbroken succession of great professional harpers, who maintained their ancient pre-eminence down to the seventeenth century.

62. It is only when we arrive at the seventeenth century that we begin to be able to identify certain composers as the authors of existing airs. The oldest harper of great eminence coming within this description is Rory Dall (blind) O'Cahan, who was the composer of many fine airs, some of which we still possess. Died 1600.

Thomas O'Connallon was born in the county Sligo early in the seventeenth century. He seems to have been incomparably the greatest harper of his day, and composed many exquisite airs. Died about 1700.

A much better known personage was Turlogh O'Carolan or Carolan: born at Nobber, county Meath, about 1670, died in 1738. He was blind from his youth, and ultimately became the greatest Irish musical composer of modern times. A large part of his musical compositions are preserved.

63. The harp is the earliest musical instrument mentioned in Irish literature. It was called crot or cruit, and was of various sizes from the small portable hand harp to the great bardic instrument six feet high. It was commonly furnished with thirty strings, but sometimes had many more.

The Irish had a small stringed instrument called a timpan, which had only a few strings--from three to eight. It was played with a bow or plectrum.

The bagpipe was known in Ireland from very early times: the form used was that now commonly known as the Highland pipes--slung from the shoulder: the bag inflated by the mouth,. The other form--resting on the lap, the bag inflated by a bellows--which is much the finer instrument, is of modern invention. The bagpipe was in very general use, but it was only the lower classes that played on it: the harp was the instrument of the higher classes.

64. The music of ancient Ireland consisted wholly of short airs, each with two strains or parts, seldom more. But these, though simple in comparison with modern music, were constructed with such exquisite art that of a large proportion of them it may be truly said no modern composer can produce airs of a similar kind to equal them.

65. It was only in the last century that people began to collect Irish airs from singers and players, and to write them down. The principal collections of Irish airs are those of Bunting, Petrie, Joyce, Horncastle, Lynch, and Hoffman. Other collections are mostly copied from these.

The man who did most in modern times to draw attention to Irish music was Thomas Moore. He composed his exquisite songs to old Irish airs. The whole collection of songs and airs--well known as 'Moore's Melodies'--is now published in one small cheap volume.

66. We know the authors of many of the airs composed within the last 200 years: but these form the smallest portion of the whole body of Irish music. All the rest have come down from old times, scattered fragments of exquisite beauty, that remind us of the refined musical culture of our forefathers. To this last class belong such well known airs as Savourneen Dheelish, Shule Aroon, Molly Asthore, The Boyne Water, Garryowen, Patrick's Day, Eileen Aroon, Langolee, &c. To illustrate what is here said, I may mention that of about 120 Irish airs in all Moore's Melodies, we know the authors of less than a dozen: as to the rest, nothing is known either of the persons who composed them or of the times of their composition.