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ON TUE
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
OF
THE ANCIENT IRISH.
A SERIES OF LECTURES
DELIVF.nEI) BY THE LATE
EUGENE O'CURRY, M.R.I.A.,
PROFESSOR OP IKISH HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND; CORBESPONDINO UEIIBEK, OE THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, ETC.
EDITED, ^VITH
AN INTRODUCTION, APPENDIXES, ETC.,
BY
, W. K. SULLIVAN, Ph.D.,
SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, AND PROFESSOR OF CHESIISTRY TO THB CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, AND TO THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE.
VOL. L
INTRODUCTION, -i.-- * rO^/>w
7. ^-6-3
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,
14 HENRIETTA STREET, COVE>iT GARDEN, LONDON, AND 20 SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.
W. B. KELLY, 8 GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN. SCRIBNER, WELFORD, & CO., NEW YORK.
1873.
[All n'Blits leati-veU].
DUBLIN :
JOHN F. FOWLER, PRINTER,
3 CROW STREET, DAME STREET.
2)R
TO JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, D.D.,
OF THE ORATOET,
THESE VOLUMES ARE INSCRIBED,
IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF WHAT HE DID
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEAUNING AND THE
ENCOURAGEMENT OF IRISH ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY,
AS FIRST RECTOR OP THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
OF IRELAND.
PREFACE.
The cliair of Archaeology and Irish History which O' Curry held in the Cathohc University of Ireland, was established chiefly with a view of promoting historical investigation ; and Dr. Newman, the first Rector, intended that all the lectures delivered by O'Curry should be published. One of his last, if not his very last, act as Rector, was to hand me a cheque for three hundred pounds, in order that the printing of the first series of Lectures, those " On the Manuscript Materials of Irish History", might be commenced. The intention of Dr. Newman was not lost sight of by the Catholic Bishops, nor by Dr. Newman's successor, the present Rector, Monsignor Woodlock For, besides giving a further sum for the comple- tion of the first series of Lectures, they purchased, after the death of O'Curry, his glossaries and manuscripts. One object which the University had in purchasing O'Curry 's manu- scripts was, to obtain possession of the Lectures now published, with a view to having them printed. This series of lectures comprises several short courses which were delivered from time to time. According to the original design, it should have included at least three other courses — on the internal arrangements and furniture of houses, on food and drink, and on the burial of the dead. Owing to the sudden death of Professor O'Curry immediately after the completion of his Lectures on Music, the intended Lectures were not written, and I have not been able to discover any materials collected towards their preparation.
8 PREFACE.
Being very anxious that the publication of these lectures should take place with as little delay as possible, I offered to edit them. In undertaking this task, so foreign to my ordi- nary pursuits, I knew that I could rely upon the help of my dear friend, the late John E. Pigot, who, besides being thoroughly acquainted with everything connected with the history, literature, and arts of Ireland, was also intimately acquainted with the special subjects of all O'Curry's Lectures, having aided him in their preparation. I looked upon myself indeed as only the nominal editor, feeling sure from my friend's love of the subject, and his respect for the labours and memory of O'Curry, that he would spare no labour or trouble in this matter, as indeed he never did whenever a patriotic object or an act of friendship was in question.
The manuscript of the Lectures as written out for de- livery, contained no references to the pages of the Codices from which O'Curry drew his materials, and in some instances the Codex itself was not even named ; and, with the excep- tion of some of the shorter ones given in the first ten or twelve Lectures, he had not copied out the Irish text of the pas- sages of which he gave translations. But although his own collec- tion of manuscripts, bought by the Catholic University, included copies of many of the principal poems and prose tales contained in the more important Irish vellum manuscripts, the task of going over, without any references, nearly the whole of the manuscript literature of Ireland in the Irish language in search of isolated passages, appeared so formidable an undertaking to Mr. Pigot and myself, that we determined to print the lectures as we found them, merely omitting repetitions which were necessary for the connection of the subject when delivered as lectures, but which were unnecessary in a book.
When about two-thirds of the first volume of the Lectures had been printed off, Mr. Pigot went to India, so that I was
PREFACE. 9
unexpectedly obliged to go on with the rest of the work un- aided. As the printing progressed, the necessity of supplying references to manuscripts, and the Irish text of the passages translated in the body of the Lectures, impressed itself more and more on my mind, so that at length I determined to make the attempt. This, as the reader will find, has been done in Volume III., and a table is now added at the beginning of Volume II., supplying the references for the passages quoted from Irish manuscripts in that volume.
In performing this task, I found that some of Professor O'Curry's translations Avere only free renderings of the original text, more or less paraphrased, but always sufficiently close and correct for the purposes for which they were used. However anxious I might be to make some emendations in those trans- lations, such as he would have himself made if he had been spared to prepare his work for the press, I thought it due to O'Curry's memory to give his own words, except in one or two instances, where he gave rather an abstract than a translation. When, fortius reason, the text is emended, the part so emended is enclosed in brackets. The nature of the emendations I would suggest in other cases will be seen by comparing the passages quoted in his Lectures from the Crith Gablach, the Brudin Da Derga, the Tain B6 Chuailgne, and the Fair of Cai^man, with the corresponding passages in this Introduction and in the Appendix to the second volume of the Lectures.
In collecting the numerous extracts from the Tain Bo Chuail- gne, which may be called the Iliad of Irish romance, if I inay compare small things with great, it struck me that it would be well to give a translation of some part of it, sufficient to convey an adequate idea of the character of genuine Ancient Irish poetry. With this object I made a literal translation from that romance, of a complete episode recording the combats of Fer- diad and Cuchulaind, which, together with the original text, I
10 PREFACE.
have printed as one of the Appendixes to Volume III. I have also given the complete text and a new translation of the whole of the poem on the Fair of Carman, which O'Curry has made so much use of in his second Lecture, and the value of which, as an illustration of Irish customs, cannot be overrated.
I had originally intended to prefix to the first volume of the present series of Lectures a short introduction chiefly on the subject of the stone, bronze, andiron ages, that being a subject which came more or less within my own proper domain of science. Wlicn after the departure of Mr. Pigot, I was obliged to devote more attention to the general subject, the scope of my Introduction enlarged itself. The account of the classes of society given in the second Lecture appeared to me to be in- complete and unsatisfactory. This account was based on a frag- ment of a law tract called the Crith Gahlach, which I thought ought to be printed in full in the Appendix. On searching among the papers of O'Curry, I found only a rough draft of a translation of the fragment of the tract which he knew, evi- dently made for his own use when preparing his Lectures, and in which he consequently left many of the most important terms untranslated, so that it was almost unintelligible to any one else, and evidently not intended for publication. The frag- ment of this tract, such as it was, appeared to me, however, to be so important that I thought it worth while to institute a search through all our manuscripts in order to ascertain whether a complete copy of the tract, or the missing fragment, might perchance be in them. The task of making such a search was undertaken by Mr. O'Looney, and, as I have fully stated in the preface prefixed to the text and translation of the whole tract in the Appendix (vol. III. p. 465), he was successful in finding two fragments which enabled us to give a complete text and translation.
The thorough study of this law tract occupied me a consider-
PREFACE. 11
able time, but it repaid all my trouble by furnishing me with the key of the whole Irish political system. It was this study which chiefly retarded the publication of the Lectures, and extended my Introduction, from forty or fifty pages, to a thick volume. The results which I have obtained are very different from the current views about the political and social condition of the ancient Irish and their ethnological relationships. They also throw such an unexpected light upon the early institutions of the Anglo-Saxons, and upon the origin of the English representative system, of Gilds, and of the feudal system, as must give to ancient Irish history an importance it never possessed before, and secure for it a high place in early European and Aryan history.
The way in which the Introduction was produced, and especially the widening of its scope according as materials ac- cumulated, account for many of its defects. As I have already said, it was to have consisted of a short dissertation on the ages cf stone, bronze, and iron, and a number of notes, illustrative of special points, which seemed to require some further explana- tion, such as the comparison of the weapons in the museum of the Royal Irish Academ}^, with the descriptions of the arms of the ancient Irish given in Irish tales, the comparison of the houses of the Irish with those of the Gauls, the nature of Glaisin, etc. As it is now before the reader, it contains very little on the subject of the " three ages of human culture", but the notes on the other subjects have been extended into essays, in which I have investigated not only most of the subjects treated by O'Curry, though in a totally different way, but also those which he intended to discuss — namely, the furniture and internal arrangements of houses, food and drink, and the burial of the dead. Until the Introduction had reached nearly four hundred pages, and materials for two hundred more had been accumulated, I did not give up the original intention of pre-
12 PREFACE.
fixing it to the first volume of the Lectures. With the view of carrying out this intention, I endeavoured to save space by compressing my facts into the smallest compass. I hope that " in labouring to be brief I have not become obscure". If I could have re- written the whole when I had ended my investi- gations, the book would no doubt gain much in form, and be perhaps more readable ; but unless I had done it in the way it has been written, it would never have been done at all. As an apology for its shortcomings, I can only say with the Roman orator: " Edidi, quae potui, non ut volui, sed ut me temporis angustiae coegrerunt".
One of the most apparent defects is the paging in Roman numerals instead of Arabic ones. This method, though suitable for prefaces and short introductions, is very inconvenient for a volume such as this. But as fully one-half of it had been printed off before I determined to make a separate volume of it, this defect could not be remedied. This is perhaps the best place to say that nearly one-half of this Introduction was already printed off in the year 1869, and that a considerable portion of the remainder has been in type during the last two years. The chapter on Gilds was printed off before the publication of the admirable essay on the subject by Dr. Brentano, prefixed to the work of Mr. Toulrain Smith on English Gilds, published by the English Text Society. The full information which he has gathered together might have been useful to me, but as I did not aim at writing an essay on Gilds, but merely at showing how the political organization of the ancient Irish indicated their true origin, I am rejoiced that I did not see Dr. Brentano's essay before I had worked out my own views on the subject. The results of his inquiry generally coincide, so far as they go, with those obtained by me. My inquiry may be said, however, to have only properly commenced where his ended. His results suggest that the origin of Gilds is to be sought in the family. I believe I have fully proved it.
PREFACE.
13
Although ray main object in writing the following Intro- duction was to bring the subject of Irish Archaeology and History, as treated of by O'Curry, into connection with those of the other countries of Northern and Western Europe, and thus take them out of the state of isolation in which they have hitherto remained, I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to use different Irish materials for my illustrations from those em- ployed by O'Curry, not only because I was anxious to get passages more suitable from my point of view than those given in the Lectures, but chiefly in order to increase the number and diversity of the examples given. At first I intended to give the Irish text of every passage quoted from a manuscript, but the extent to which this would have increased the volume compelled me to give up the idea. This accounts for some of the notes being set in double columns : the Irish text was to have been in one column and the translation in the other. As most of the manuscripts quoted are accessible, and as I have given all the technical terms in the translation, the absence of the Irish text will not be much felt. In the case of those quoted from the Lehor na h-Uidhri, there can be now no inconve- nience at all, inasmuch as the beautiful lithograph transcript of that MS. published by the Royal Irish Academy, puts a fac- simile of the original within the reach of every one. The Academy is now bringing out a similar facsimile of the vellum MS. called the Lehor Brec, and I trust that it will continue to bring out sim.i\a.r facsimiles of all the other vellum MSS. in their possession, and thus bring the materials of Irish history, literature, and philology within the reach of scholars.
Names and technical terms are always a difficulty to transla- tors, especially if the original language be very different in sound and genus from that of the translation. There is, how- ever, an additional difficulty in Irish. In the first place, we have to deal not with one language, but with several; for be-
14 PREFACE.
tween the language of some Irish tracts and the present spoken lano-uao-e, there is an interval of from one thousand to twelve hundred years, during which the Irish language has been con- stantly undergoing changes. In the second place, as there was no great classical period, the orthography has never been fixed, so that there is often considerable difference in the spelling of the same name in different manuscripts even of the same age. Hitherto it has been the custom of translators, almost indeed without exception, to give the Irish proper names in the exact form in which the translators found them. But as these occur usually in oblique cases, especially in the genitive, many of the best known Irish proper names mentioned in English books are genitives, or some other oblique cases. The word Eriii, which is the genitive of JEriu, is a good example of this. In printing the text of the Lectures, I made at first no change in the spell- ing of the proper names, whether of persons or places, with one or two important exceptions ; but in the later Lectures I took somewhat more liberty. I spelled the words generally as they are found in the manuscripts from which they are quoted, and used where I could do so the nominative forms. In the Introduction I was of course entirely free to adopt any course I chose. I accordingly have endeavoured to give the Irish words in the nominative form whenever I was able to do so, and to spell them as they are spelled in the oldest manuscripts, avoiding especially the modern system of corrupt aspiration, which renders Irish so barbarous looking. I have not used ea for the Irish long e, as is invariably done by most Irish writers, because I believe that any deviation whatever from the original form, is a mistake. Any one who wishes to know the exact value of the diffei'ent letters in Irish words should learn it from an Irish Grammar. It is needless to say that I have not adopted the absurd method of phonetic spelling which is sometimes adopted to guide the reader to
PREFACE. 15
pronounce the words, as it is said, correctly. This may be well enough for modern Irish, but old Irish was not pro- nounced like modern Irish.
It is indeed probable that a person pronouncing the old Irish broadly, sovmding every letter as he would do in German words, would come nearer to the pronunciation of an Irishman of the sixth century, than by aspirating them and pronouncing them as in modern Irish.
To those who object to the strange hard names in this Intro- duction and in the Lectures, as well as in other Irish books, I can only answer, that the same objection applies to works on the history of the Anglo-Saxons, Norse, Germans, Greeks — in fact to the history and literature of every people; who do not speak English; and that proper names, and law and other technical terms so modified as to suit the rules of English pro- nunciation, besides giving a wrong idea of the people and of their language, have often led to serious error ; while correct names and terms are really more easily pronounced, and are valuable instruments of scientific inquiry into the history and antiquities of nations.
The number of important Irish words which occur through- out the folloAving volumes, and most of which are fully ex- plained for the first time, is so considerable, that I thought it would prove useful to scholars to index them separately. This index, or rather glossary — for I have added the meaning of the words as established in these volumes — will be found at the end of the third volume. In preparing it I have taken advan- tage of the latest results of my inquiries, and increased know- ledge of the subject, to improve the meaning and correct the spelling of several words, and of adding the nominative form in many cases where the word occurs in the text or notes in an oblique case. This I have done chiefly in the case of words in the Crith Gahlach and other parts of
16 PREFACE.
the Appendix, which were printed four years ago, and in the early part of the Introduction which was printed more than two years ago.
In comparing Irish law and other terms with those of the Teutonic and other languages, the reader will perceive that I have confined myself to words which differ very little in form, and are either identical or closely related in meaning, as I was anxious to avoid basing any conclusions upon purely theoretical data.
Professor O'Curry's object in the following Lectures being to give pictures of Irish manners and customs, as they are ex- hibited in the ancient laws, and described in the poems and prose tales contained in Irish manuscripts, a task which no one else had ever before attempted, he has rarely referred to any of the published works on Irish history and antiquities. My object, when I went over the same ground, was to compare the results of O'Curry's labours with those of similar inquiries into the manners and customs of other ancient and medi- eval peoples of North Europe. Where I went over new ground, I combined the two objects. In either case I also have made little use of any published works on Irish history or antiqui- ties. Indeed, even had I time and space to go over the prin- ted literature of the last two centuries, I could have gleaned very little that would have been of any use for my special pur- pose. It would, no doubt, have been different if I were en- gaged in the compilation of a general work on the subject of Irish history and antiquities.
But while it was unnecessary to glean facts from published Irish works, which I was in a position to get directly from the original sources — Irish manuscripts, — there are many works, especially many recent German works, on the manners, cus- toms, and laws of the other northern nations, which I reoret I either heard of too late, or could not get access to.
PREFACE. 17
This much by way of apology, if I should appear to claim as my own, results previously obtained by others.
I have endeavoured in all cases to consult the original works, manuscripts as well as printed books, to which I refer. There are, however, one or two books from which I have obtained information, indirectly as well as directly. The latter I have duly acknowledged in the foot notes ; the former I could not always. I have in this way frequently referred to the works of Karl Weinhold, but I think it right that I should also specially acknowledge my obligations to him in respect of the bibliography of old Norse and medieval German customs. With his valuable book Alt nordiscltes Lehen as my guide, I was soon able to make my way through the rich stores of Norse literature. Let me also acknowledge here the aid which I have received from the work of Dr. Lorenz Diefenbach, one of the veteran Celtic scholars of Germany. That help was precisely of a kind which could not be acknowledged in foot notes, but it was not the less valuable.
The reader will see that in comparing the Irish political and social system with those of adjacent countries, I have almost invariably referred to Anglo Saxon England, Scandinavia, and Germany, and hardly ever to France, although the latter was the head-quarters of the so-called Celts. This I believe to have been the true course, and the results of my inquiry have justi- fied it. The customs of the ancient Gauls had been either obliterated, modified, or so mixed up with those of their suc- cessive conquerors — Romans, Burgundians, Franks — that no certain results would be obtained by comparing Irish customs with those of France or Belgium in the eighth or ninth cen- tury. The laws and customs of Ireland had not been directly influenced by Roman law, and should therefore be contrasted with the legal and political institutions of the nations of the north, which had also been directly influenced, only to a very
INT. b
18 PREFACE.
slight extent, by the civilization of the Mediterranean nations before the historic period.
To complete the picture of the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish which these three volumes contain, a fuller ac- count of the classes and organization of the literary orders than has been given in the Lectures would be necessary. But this subject is so intimately wound up with the mythology of the ancient Irish, that it would be a waste of time to attempt to add to what O'Cuiry has said without a thorough investigation of the gods and religious ideas of the pagan Irish. I made some progress with this, and had collected a good deal of information concerning their rather extensive pantheon, when finding that it would take perhaps a couple of years to finish it, and that the Introduction could not be conveniently enlarged further, or the whole work longer delayed, I relinquished the subject, at least for the present.
In conclusion, I desire to thank my friend, Mr. Brian O'Looney, for the aid he has given me since he became connected with the University. I shall perhaps best express the value I attach to that aid when I say that without it I would not have attempted, and could not have written this Introduction. I am consoled, however for the trouble I have given him by the knowledge that he was undergoing the best training to fit him to be the successor of O'Curry in the chair of Irish History and^ Archae- ology— as he is his successor in profound knowledge of Irish and in work done. I have also to thank my friend and col- league Dr. D. B. Dunne, who, from his acquaintance with the theory of music, and especially of Church music, was able to render me great assistance by carefully reading the proofs of the sheets on music, and making many valuable suggestions. I have also to thank him for correcting many of the proofs of other parts aLo.
CONTENTS.
IMPORTANCE OF IRISH HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY, AND CHARACTER QF EXISTING SOURCES.
Rise and growth of geology ; Pre-historic Archaeology, i. Inductive method applied to history, ii. Comparative mythologies of Aryan nations ; scope
■ and objects of history; the Aryan race, ii-iii. Importance of Irish archaeology and history in the comparative history of the Aryan races ; their importance for the history of the laws, etc., of England, France, and Germany ; sources of ancient Irish history : — 1, classic writers ; 2, native sources and their relative values ; Irish MSS. written in a language much more modern than the events recorded, iv-vi. Decay and growth of language explains how this happens ; language of a country does not change uniformly ; the dynamic action of nature greater in languages of savages than of civilized men ; contact with another language affects the pronunciation ; decay and growth dependent on dynamic influences ; phonetic decay of language first recognized by Prof. Max MiLller ; dialects not corruptions of written languages ; a literary language a phonetic crys- tallization ; it becomes necessarily a dead language ; a literary language sometimes changes with the spoken language ; this was the case with the Irish language ; the language of poems and prose tales constantly adapted to spoken language, vii-x. Internal evidence of antiquity in many tales ; localization of personages and events a characteristic of Irish bardic talcs ; absence of this localization in Welsh and Middle High German poems, xi-xiii. Date of Irish law fragments ; age of law MSS. ; glosses on Irish ''i laws prove that many had become obsolete at the date of their compila- tion ; portions of the Irish laws unintelligible in 1509 ; laws and institutes of nations do not change rapidlj^ xiii-xv, Irish laws incompatible with the state of things in Anglo-Norman times, and with those during the Viking expeditions, but compatible with the state of things from the fifth to the eighth century ; advanced social and iiolitical position of Ireland at that period ; Irish laws belong at latest to the centuries just named ; Irish MSS. Uttle more than scrap books ; Irish laws written in verse ; causes that led to this fragmentary character, xvi-xix.
THE FOREIGN RELATIONS OF IRELAND IN THE CENTURIES IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRIS- TIANITY, ^y
Tales of the heroic period, the most valuable ; the latter chiefly used by Prof. O'Curry ; Gaulish mercenaries in the pay of Medb and Ai/iU, according to the tale of the Tain Bo Chuailgne ; marriage of Irish with Britons, Picts,
62
20 CONTENTS.
etc., frequent ; several Britisli tribes represented by branches in Ireland ; frequent mention of foreigners engaged in wars in Ireland ; the Irish en- gaged in British and Pictish wars ; constant struggle of races in first cen- turies of our era, xx-xxii. Ailliech Tuatlia, or Atticotti ; first revolution of Atticotti ; second revolution ; the accounts of these revolutions very con- fused ; Keating's view of Atticottic revolution ; this revolution shows the Scotic power to have been recently established ; distribution of conquered tribes throughout the country ; first appearance of the Atticotti in Britain caused by this distribution ; St. Jerome's account of the Atticotti of no value ; bardic account of Cairpri Cindcait ; the word Cindcait did not mean " cat-head" ; Morand a doubtful character in Atticottic revolution ; Cairpri and Morand probably mythological personages or deities ; Tuatlial a real personage, and the founder of the political organization of Ireland ; the Boireamh Laighen an example of vassalage ; Scotic conquests of Britain, xxiii-xxxiii. The prosperity of Britain under the Eoraans made it a prey to warlike neighbours ; the south-east of Britain inhabited by Saxons before the arrival of the Romans ; the myth of Hengist and Horsa ; Britain barbarized by invasions, xxxiv. The Irish and Saxons came into contact at an early period ; their hostility the result of political relations in the North of England, xxxv. Saxons first mentioned as enemies in the seventh century, and the Danes at the end of the eighth ; the latter circumstance of interest in connection with the date of an im- portant law tract called the Crith Gablach, xxxv-xxxvi. Traces of Irish names in West Britain ; the extent of these names exaggerated ; the Irish invasion, mentioned in the Welsh Triads, took place after the fifth cen- tury ; there was an earlier occupation ; the Nemedians perhaps connected with this occupation ; extent of Irish sway in Wales shown by story of Mvg Eimhe, and by the epithet Glastonbury " of the Irish"; the romance of Tristan and Iseult supports the story of Mug Eime; Middle High German poem of Gudrun belongs perhaps to the same period as the Irish occupation of Wales, xxxvi-xl. Irish dominion precarious in first cen- tury ; the Irish power weak for defence, but strong for offence ; this ex- plains the conquest of the Gauls by the Eomans, of the Roman Empire by the Germans, and of Ireland by the Normans ; state of Irish power in the time of Carausius ; Franks introduced by the latter into Britain, and became known to the Irish at this time ; the Irish, the Picts, and the Saxons kept in check in the reign of Constantius Chlorus and Constantine the Great ; formidable invasion made by those peoples in the reign of Constantine ; their defeat by Theodosius ; acts of Maximus assisted in Germanizing Britain ; British troops settled in Britanny ; the Scotic, Pic- tish, and Saxon invasion of a.d. 39G-397, an important date in Irish history ; NiaJl of the Nine Hostages and his connection with this invasion of Britain ; he may have been the same as the Emperor Marcus under a Roman name, xl-xlv. The Atticotti formed part of the Irish armies, and are mentioned aboiit this period in the Notitia Imperii; Athi or Dathi the last Irish invader of Britain ; St. Patrick carried to Ireland in the time of Athi ; the " Alleluja Victory" marks the end of the Scotic invasion and the beginning of the Saxon supremacy in Britain ; the invasion of Wales by Cunedda, xlvi-xlviii.
CONTENTS. 21
THE LANGUAGE OF ANCIENT IRELAND.
Sir William Jones' opinion as to the connection of the Celtic with the San- skrit language ; i^rejudice regarding the affinities of the Celtic languages ; difBculties in the way of their scientific study ; hence the subject fell into the hands of uncritical Avriters ; hypotheses of philo-Celts not more absurd than those proposed regarding other languages ; Celtic languages could not be included by Schlegel in his Indo-Germanic family ; Prichard's early opinion on the connection of Celtic with other European languages ; his work on the subject ; M. Adolph Pictet's work on the same subject ; Bopp's work on the Celtic languages, xlviii-liii. Causes which render Celtic grammar difficult ; Mr. Garnett's curious way of accounting for cases in Irish, liv. Genealogical classification of languages ; errors re- garding it ; aim of it ; degree of relationsliip of languages not given by comparison of radical and formal elements ; comparative phonology the true basis of the science of language, liv-Iv. Evidence of case-endings in Irish existing in Irish MSS., but not known to those who undertook to treat of the language ; Irish MSS. in foreign libraries ; J. Kaspar Zeuss ; his Grammatica Celtica ; old forms of Irish words to be found in it ; im- portance of this book, Ivi-lvii. Other works bearing on Irish philology, Ivii-lviii. Aryan character of Irish grammar fully established by Dr. Ebel, Iviii. Disadvantage of having no very ancient Celtic text ; the Mar- ceUian formulae pronounced by J. Grimm to be Celtic ; controversy on the subject ; Zeuss' opinion that they were not Celtic ; re-examination of the subject by Grimm ; Pictet's opinion ; Zeuss admits their Celtic char- acter, Iviii-lx. Grimm on the absence of Gaulish inscriptions ; many now known, however, of which several were discovered many years before their true character was recognized ; reasons why their true character was not sooner recognized, Ix-lxii. The more important of the older known in- scriptions ; the first comparative study of GauHsh inscriptions ; M. G. Durand, the Abbe Auber, Prof. J. Becker, M. do Belloguet, M. Adolph Pictet, Mr. Whitley Stokes ; important results of these investigations, Ixii-lxv. Celtic inscriptions in Italy, Ixv. Old Irish inscriptions ; old British and Irish bilingual inscriptions, Ixvi-lxvii. Celtic numismatics, Ixvii. The labours of Irish scholars in the publication of Irish MS. not within the special scope of this Introduction.
ETHNOLOGY OF ANCIENT IRELAND.
Effect of the mixture of several races on their languages ; effect of language of a dominant race on the language of the conquered race, Ixviii-lxix. An Aryan language not a proof of the homogeneity of the race that speaks it ; English people not all Anglo-Saxon; Saxon supremacy imposed the Saxon language on the Britons ; some at least of the Britons were Aryans, Ixix-Lxx. Ireland peopled by different races ; Irish traditions on this sub- ject ; use made of them by Prof. O'Curry ; these traditions not fully made known yet; the interpretation of them hitherto given not correct; the time has not yet come for their proper analysis ; chronological history not older than Christianity in Ireland ; Irish genealogies joined to Biblical
22 CONTENTS.
ones ; this junction has not really affected the value of the former, Ixx-Ixxi. Existence of two types of people in Ireland ; all the early conquering races ■were of the fair-haired type ; comparison between Queen Medb and Queen Boudicea ; governing classess fair-haired, menial classes black-haired ; prejudices of the Irish against black-haired people similar to those of the Norsemen, Ixxii-lxxiv. Identity of all the fair-haired peoples of north Europe ; this explains why some words are German to one and Celtic to another ; this relationship borne out by Irish traditions, Ixxv-lxxvi. The existence of a pre- Aryan brown type in Europe generally admitted ; this type less numerously represented in Ireland than in England, Ixxvi-lxxvii.
ANCIENT TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS OF IRELAND.
Difference of rights among tribes and castes due to diiference of race ; Ire- land no exception to tliis rule, Ixxvii-lxxviii. Tribes composed of houses ; the Cind and Clan, or Cland, the Greek Genos, and the Latin Gens ; nobles only were of the Clan; the Anglo-Saxon Maegtli or Clan, Ixxviii-lxxix. The Tuath ; the Mor Tuath ; the latter vras equivalent to the Gothic Thiuda, and was formed of three or four Tuatha ; the Fi/lk ; the GavioT Gau; Laths, Rapes, etc., Ixxix-lxxxi. The subdivisions of the Phyle, Fylk, etc. ; the Herath; the Swedish Hundari ; the German Cen- tena ; the English Hundred ; the Latin Pagus ; its political organization : used by Caesar and by Tacitus as the equivalent of some German subdi- vision ; the Germans had three different classes of subdivisions of a Ric or kingdom, Lxxxi-lxxxiii. The Irish Baile, the Middle Latin Ballium, the Givelly or Wele of Wales, Ixxxiv-lxxxvii. The Dun and Tun, Ixxxvii. Baile used in two senses ; the Ballyboe equivalent to English By ; pur- chase of a homestead mentioned in the Book of Armagh ; the Ball^bo not a " cowland", Ixxxviii-lxxxix. The Tete or Tate ; occurs only in certain counties ; is of great antiquity, Ixxxix-xc. Occurrence of the Norse Bol and Irish Baile in topographical names ; names formed from £0/ preserve the primitive meaning better than those in "Bally"; occurrence of both forms in Scottish names ; important conclusion to be drawn from the geographical distribution in Scotland of names compounded of Bal and of Bally ; the Baile Biatach, xc-xci. Other topographical denominations ; number of Baile Biatachs in a Tuath ,- the Triucha Ced, or cantred, ano- ther name for a Tuath ; comparison of Irish and Welsh subdivisions ; duo- denary system in Ireland, and probably also in Gaul and Germany ; oc- currence of the numbers twelve and thirty in topographical divisions in Greece, among the Romans, among the Germans ; occurrence of the num- ber twelve in confederations ; the Seisreach or ploughland ; it varied in extent ; the Baile Biatach was also of variable extent, xci-xcv. Land first admeasured by quality and not by area ; curious land measures in the county of Cavan, xcv. Number of Triucha Ceds, etc., in Ireland ; number of freeholders in ancient Ireland ; the Ballyboe or Teii the type of a freehhold, xcvi. The Mor Tuath ; formation of counties, xcvii. Baronies represent ancient Tuathi ; the modern townlands represent several different subdivisions of land, xcviii. Sub-kingdoms of Ireland, and number of Cantreds or Triucha Ceds, etc., in each, xcix.
CONTENTS. 23
THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF SOCIETY IN ANCIENT IRELAND.
The Aires.
The free and unfree classes ; the freemen were called Air^s; there wera two classes of Aires, the Flaths and the Bo Aire's ; relation of the Air€ to the Anglo-Saxon Tliegn, c-cii. The Lombard J.rima«?i ; different opinions as to what he Avas ; etymology of the word, cii-cv. The Irish ^tV^ represents the Arimann; importance of this identification, cv. Arimanns mentioned as freemen ; Arimannen oviij could have slaves; Arimannen as Scabini, and as burghers of a town, cvi-cvii. Arimannia used for the Arimannioi a district ; mentioned by Marculfus ; the same word used in the sense of freehold property, and of rents, etc., cvili-cix.
THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF SOCIETY IN ANCIENT IRELAND.
The Cedes and rent-paying classes generally.
Air^s only enjoyed full political rights ; position of freemen in towns and on the land, cLx-cx. There were two classes of Ce'iles, free and base ; nature of Ceileship ; Taitj-crech_ a,n(]..JlaJji ; Bes Tigi and Biatad ; duties of Cedes on the death of the Flath or lord ; position of the heirs of Ce'iles in respect to the Flath or lord ; reversion of the Taurcrech ; the base C^ilts represented the Anglo-Saxon Ueorlhfastmen, or householders, and the Fotghers; the Irish Amhus or Ambus, cx-cxiii. The free and base classes in Wales, cxiii. Daer Ce'iles, their position, rents, etc. ; jiersons included under the category of free C6les ; rights of Cedes, cxiv-cxv. Bo- thachs ; they corresponded to the Bordarii and Cotarii of Domesday Booh ; etymology of the word Cotarius, cxv-cxvi. Sencleithes, cxvi. Foreigners, cxvii. Fuidirs ; their position ; their Log Enechs determined by tliat of their lord ; exceptions to this rule ; persons included under the category of Daer Fuidirs ; St. Patrick was a Daer Fuidir of the first class ; volun- tary Daer Fuidirs ; Irish '• law of promotion", cxvii-cxxi. Rights of Sen- cleithes ; tradition of them still preserved, cxxi. Different categories of free Fuidirs, cxxii. A certain class of Fuidirs treated like base Chiles, cxxiii. Tenures of free Fuidirs; Fuidir partnerships ; fuidirship under a • strange lord a tenancy from year to year ; this explains an error of Spenser, cxxiv-cxxvi. Irish law protected the tenant ; preference for Irish law discreditable to English rule, cxxvi cxxvii. Damages, etc., of large tenants how estimated, cxxvii. The Saer Fuidir represented the 'Welsh Allud ; the Daer Fuidirs, the Welsh Caeihions, and Anglo-Saxon Theoivas, etc., cxxvii-cxxviii. Kight of Flaths to have serfs ; the Welsh Uchelwyrs ; di&erent categories of Cae^/iwns ,• distinction as to servitude between north and south Wales, cxxviii. Cedes only had political rights ; Saer Ce'iles were vassals, the Daer Ce'iles were villeins or churls ; Ce'des not necessarily related by blood to the Flath; constitution of the clan, cxxix. The classes of society in Ireland were not castes ; naturalization of strangers, cxxix-cxxxi.
2i CONTENTS.
OWNERSHIP OF LAND IN ANCIENT IRELAND.
Sources of information on ownership of land : Greek and Roman writers ; medieval laws, customs, charters, etc. ; modern French writers on this subject ; M. Guizot's opinion ; M. Sismondi's opinion ; the state of thing? pictured by the latter that of nomadic tribes, cxxxi-cxxxiii. Assumed absence of ownership in severalty ; individual property in land known to the Germans; Alod a,nd cognate words; early homesteads in severalty; these homesteads did not form villages, cxxxiv-cxxxvi. Settlers on com- mon land had at first only the usufruct ; the position of such settlers in Scandinavia; Anglo-Saxon "Folc" and "Boc" land; allodial land of Anglo-Saxon Ethelings ; the latter corresponded to the Irish Damna Rig- cxxxvi-cxxxviii. M. Henri Martin's views as to the communism of early Celts ; allodial land in Wales ; ownership of land the special qualification of the Irish Flath, cxxxviii-cxxxix. Duties of tenants of Flaths ; Biatad : Bes Tigi; the Gwes-Twa or Bes-Tigi of the Welsh ; commutation of the Gwes- Twa into Tunc-xeat in the reign of Edward the Third ; this com- mutation proves that the Saer- Ce'ile had a freehold ; such freeholds recog- nized in Wales, but not in Ireland, cxl-cxliii. Relation of the Flaths to the Big or king, cxUii. Amount of the rent of base C€iles, cxliii.
INFLUENCE OF LAND-LAWS AND CUSTOMS UPON THE TOPO- GRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE OCCUPIERS OF LAND.
Four classes of society the result of land-laws : 1, owners of large estates ; 2, holders of homesteads as a separate estate, the marshes, mountains, etc.^ being in common ; 3, those cultivating land in common ; and 4, those hav- ing no land, cxliv-cl. Land sj-stem of the Germans in the times of Caesar and of Tacitus, cU. Distribution of population in Ireland; demesne of the Flath ; comparison with Wales ; Fuidir-l&nd ; number of freeholders, etc. ; extent of the holdings of Ct^iles, clii-cliv. Public land ; its gradual conversion into alledium ; life estates lapsed into estates in fee ; tribe land ; rights of freemen thereon ; establishment of a Selb; the Maigin Digona, or extent of sanctuary, cliv-clvi. Extent of land in usu- fruct of freemen not being Aires ; partnerships or gilds ; their advantages ; Fwu&'-partDerships ; co-tillage partnership in Wales ; in Scotland ; and in Friesland, etc.; rundale or runrig, the relics of partnership, clvii-clix. Brughrechl or Birlaw ; the Bruiyhfer ; the Brugh-town, a prototype of a borough ; different ranks of Bruighfers ; the Form of a Brugh the place of election of a king, etc, ; the representation of a borough ; the Bruighfer the mayor ; the Brugh-town represented the Saxon Burgh ; developement of a Brugh-town into a city ; the towns of lords were governed bj- their Maers or stewards, clx-clxii.
THE FAJVIILY AND THE CLAN.
Meaning of the word Fine or Finead; branches of a Fine ; the council of the
Fine ; remotely related kindred ; mode of establishing a claim to the rights
' of a Fine ; adoption by a Fine ; rights of legally adopted members ; fees
CONTENTS, 25
paid for adoption ; kindred of exiles and of emif^ants ; kindred of mur- derers, clxii-clxvi. The Fine Cis Flalha ; the clan ; clan names were eponyms ; M. Guizot's different view of the clan ; his comparison of the clan with the feudal family ; they were not, however, very different, clxri-cLxviii.
THE DESCENT OF PEOPERTY AMONG THE ANCIENT IRISH.
The ancient course of descent among all the northern nations of Europe was that known as Gavelkind ; position of women under Gavelkind custom, clxviii-clxix. Irish custom of inheritance ; position of women under it ; marriage customs ; the marriage portion ; the Coibche or bridal gift ; the Tindscra, Log Lanamnais, or bride price ; rights of married women ; separation and divorce in Wales ; position of women as to inlieritance in Wales, clxx-clxxviii. Division of property among heirs ; the custom in Wales ; the Irish custom, clxxLx-clxxxii. Law of Tanistry ; estates of Flaths could, however, be subdivided ; estates of Bd Aires might also be subjected to the operation of Tanistry, cLxxxiii. Irish customs not recog- nized in English Law courts in Ireland ; injury thus inflicted on the country ; comparison of the law of Gavelkind in Kent and in Ireland, clixxiv.
TENURES OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.
Nature of the estate of a Flath ; tenures of Saer- Ce'iles, of Daer Ceiles, and of Botachs ; the Daer Cdle represented a copy-holder ; Taurcrech and Eath paid to Ceiles ; relation of lord and Ceile, clxxxv-clxxxix. Land let to freeman of a Tuath, clxxxix. Compensation to tenants for improve- ments, cxc. Insolvent members of a copartnership ; absent members of copartnerships ; insolvent owners, cxc-cxcii. Tenure of Fuidirs, cxciii. The Irish tenures throw light on those of other parts of Europe ; contrast between Irish and Continental land systems, cxciv-cxcvi.
REPRESENTATION OF THE COMMONS AND FRANKPLEDGE.
Protection one object of ownership and tenancy in common ; the Fine and the Gild the source of the representation of the commons ; political or- ganization of society in England after the Norman Conquest ; Irish organization very similar ; the Tuath a political unit ; the responsibiUty of the clan partly territorial ; clan system better preserved among the Irish than among the Anglo-Saxons, cxcvi-cxcLx. Collective Frankpledge; re- presentatives of Frankpledge ; the Aire Fine was the chief pledge of a Fine, and the Ailhech ar a Threba the chief pledge of a Gild ; the Hindena of London ; the Fertliingman or Ferdingus, cc-ccii. Was Collective Frank- pledge a political right ? ccii. The " four men and the Reeve " of the Anglo-Saxon township ; the Gerefa of the Hundred ; the Aire Cosraing or chief A ire Fine; the Aire Fine or chief of family ; the Ailhech ar a Threba was an elected Aire Fine ; the Cuicer na Fine or " Council of five of a Fine" represented the " four men and the Reeve " of Anglo-Sagon townships; the chief of a family always acted for minors, cciii-ccv. The Anglo-Saxon
2Q CONTHNTS.
Mudglh must have also had a family council, which became the "four men and the Eeeve", ccv. Palgravo's opinion that Collective Frankpledge was not universal, harmonises with the foregoing view of its origin, ccv. Kise of Collective Frankpledge.
GILDS xVND TRADE CORPORATIONS.
/ Handicrafts in ancient times hereditary ; each lord had his own base crafts- men ; rise of corporations in towns ; the privileges of the Eoman ones abused ; they were suppressed and re-established several times ; the term Collegium applied to two kinds of corporations — the colleges and the so- daUties ; the trade colleges survived the Roman Empire, ccvi-ccix. The medieval Gilds ; the Gilds of the Kalenders ; confraternities ; Gild mer- chants ; craft Gilds ; the Gilds of Kalenders and confraternities of Christian origin ; trade corporations of Roman origin, ccix-ccxi. Protective or true Gilds ; the Prankish Gildonia ; sworn societies in Flanders, etc. ; the Flemish Gilds of great interest ; Frisian Conjuraii Sodales ; Anglo-Saxon Gegildan ; Frith Gilds ; the term gild extended to different associations, ccxi-ccxiii. Supposed pagan origin of Gilds ; hypothesis that they origi- nated in England ; no real ground for this supposition ; alleged connection between gilds and banquets, ccxiii-ccxiv. Etymology of the word Gild ; Kemble's suggestion that Gegildan embraced the whole population ; that view not correct ; ancient organization of Priesland ; relation between the Ditmarsch or Friesland organization and that of Ireland ; the later civic character of Gilds compatible with a rm-al origin.
ORIGIN OF THE TERM " FEUD", AND RELATION OF THE IRISH L^ySTD SYSTEM TO FEUDALISM.
The neglect of the study of the Celtic languages and laws disadvantageous to the study of Feudalism ; erroneous theory of equality among the Germans ; hypotheses of the etymology of Feud ; Palgrave's objection to them ; not more fortunate in his own attempt, ccxx-ccxxii. Essential principle of a Feud ; original meaning of a benefice ; nature of a " Pre- carium" ; prestariaj or prajstita; ; the lands held by Fuidirs were Precariae ; lands of Cedes were ioew-lands ; Clients, Leuds, and Cffs^cs essentially the same ; the German conquests modified the Benefice ; the barbarian " sortes" : Palgrave's idea that the sortes were allodial ; the barbarian Hospites were Fuidirs ; the Laetic grants ; evasion of prescriptive rights in Ireland, ccxxii-ccxxv. Origin of the words Feodum and Feud; etymo- logy of Vasseur, Vavassor, and Fassa/ ; tribute of food given by the vassal to the lord, and not by the lord to the vassal ; military service not the essential characteristic of vassalage, ccxxvi-ccxxviii.
THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNJVEENT OF ANCIENT IRELAND.
T/ie Kings or Chiefs.
The Rig or chief; other names for the chief ; corresponding titles among the Norsemen ; different ranks of kings ; the Big Tuatha corresponded to the Anglo-Saxon Ealdorman of the Hundred ; the iJux ; the Ealdorman of a
CONTENTS. 27
Trithing corresponded to the Riij Mur Tuatha ; the Ard Rig Erind or paramount king, ccxxviii-ccxxxi. The oflBce of king elective ; but con- fined to certain families ; hence the value of genealogies ; the Rig elected by the Aires ; the Tanaiste or heir apparent ; the election of officials took place at the Brugh ; the power of tlie Rig limited ; extent of the sanctuary of a king ; of the freemen ; of the nobles or Flaths ; of provincial kings, etc., ccxxxii-ccxxxiv. The Folach or leech fee, etc., of a, Rig Tuatha, and of a Rig Mor Tuatha ; a Rig not permitted to do servile -vvork ; his Dam or retinue ; its composition ; persons entitled to a Dam ; the Foleith ; the Amus or Ambus; they represented the Gaulish Ambacti; the soldarii, ecxxxiv-ccxxxvji. The king's residence or Dun ; the Dun of a Rig Rurech ; household of the high king of Eriu ; revenue of a king ; the maiden's marriage ring formed a portion of it, ccxxwiii-ccxl.
THE EXECUTIVE GOVERX5IEXT OF ANCIENT IRISH. The Nobiliti/ and Officers of State. Preference of the ancient Irish for certain numbers ; this had, perhaps, no political importance; the soc-men of a Tuath; the three ranks of Aires For gain ; the Aire Forgaill was the representative of the Welsh Cang- hellor or chancellor ; the Aire Tuisi ; the -word Tuisi cognate with the tog, in H.QVGtog, and with Dux; the ^iVe Tuisi was the Taoisech of later times and the equivalent of the Welsh Twysawg ; the Aire Ard ; he probably acted as the king's Maer or High Steward, the Maer mor of the Scottish kings ; Maers of Charlemagne ; the English Maijor and French Maire ; the Aire Echtai; the Dae ; the Aire Desa, ccxlii-ccxlvii. The Bo Aires ; the ^iVe Cosraing; he represented the Anglo-Saxon Gerefa ; he did not hold a court ; the Bruigh/er ,- his functions, duties, and priAoleges ; his court corresponded to the Scottish Birlaw court ; it was of great antiquity ccxlvii-ccl. The Aithech Bailbidhe ; connection of Bailsidhe with bachelor, baccalaria, and bacele ; the reUeving officer for the poor, ccl-ccli.
POPULAR ASSEMBLIES AXD LEGISLATION.
Information on the legislative and judicial systems of the ancient Irish very fragmentary ; terms applied to assembUes of the people : the Sabaid Cuirmtigi or Council of the Ale House ; Mithal a general name for an assembly ; the Mithal Flatha or assembly of the liegemen of the Flath ; the Mithal Tuatha or assembly of the freemen of a Tuath ; the Mathluagh or assembly of the householders of a Fine ; the Dal ; the Tocomrach ; the Aenach or fair ; it originated in funeral games ; its functions ; it was an organised assembly ; the Cot or Cotha or enclosure for women at fairs, cclii-cclvii. Manner in which each kind of assembly was convened ; the great national fairs were chronological units ; persons who had a right to vote at each kind of assembly, cclvii- cclviii. The Dal and Tocomrach, the representatives of the Anglo-Saxon Hundred and Scire Gemots, and of the German Gauding — the Concilium of Tacitus ; the Mallum of Char- lemagne ; this word cognate with Mathluagh : character and functions of the Mallum ; those of the Mathluagh were analogous ; the general Placitum of the Carlovingians corresponded to the Aenach, cclix-cclxi.
28 CONTENTS.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
The legislative and judicial functions separated in Ireland at a very early period, cclxii. Irish name for a court ; five distinct courts under ancient Irish judicial system ; the Airecht Foleith or Court-Leet ; the Airecht Urnaide or Court of Pleas ; the Neimid and Bretha Neimidh ; connection of this word with personal, ethnical, and topographical names, and with the Scandinavian Nemda, cclxii-cclxv. The Airecht Fodeism or Court of King's Bench ; analysis of the names of the twelve classes forming this court very difficult ; composition of the Airecht Fodeisin, cclxvi-cclxviii. The Taeb Airecht or interterritorial court ; meaning of the term Sic Oc ; it is connected with " sak" and " soke", cclxviii-cclxx. The Cul- Airecht or High Court of Appeal, cclxx. General term for law in Irish ; Urrudas, or common law ; Cairde, or interterritorial law ; Cain or statute law, cclxxi-cclxxii. The judges of the different courts, cclxxii. The attorney ; etymology of the word four grades of barristers ; etymology of the word barrister ; advocates not entitled to Log Enech or honour price, cclxxiii-cclxvx. Aires only could be suitors ; various capacities in which a suitor acted ; the Nadmann or Nascaire ; he corresponded to the Welsh Nodman ; the Raith or Raith- mann, cclxxv-cclxxvi. Procedure in criminal trials ; " worthy" and " un- worthy" witnesses ; different kinds of criminal information ; confirmation of a criminal charge ; simple expurgation ; the Tuarastal or direct posi- tive evidence ; the Fir De or expurgation ; the Crannchur or lot-casting ; complainant might proceed either by criminal indictment or civil process ; costs and damages ; the leech fee ; compurgation ; information of an ac- complice or accessory ; the private information of an accomplice or ac- cessory should be made to three magistrates, or to a " worthy" priest, cclxxvi-cclxxxii. Procedure in civil actions ; the Ease or summons ; tht Gahhail or distress ; the Trosca or fasting ; the Anad or stay ; the pound or Airlis of a Forus; replevin; immediate distress ; the Re Dithma or de- tention in pound ; the Lobad or sale of the distress ; trial in replevin ; for- feiting a Gell or pledge ; the Athgahhail or Withernam, cclxxxii-clxxxv. A Toing or Fertonga or person who gave testimony ; Lucht Fira or com- purgators were kinsmen of the accused ; relation of compurgators to juries, cclxxxvi-cclxxxvii. The Irish Railh corresponded to the English Radman, and Radechenisires of Domesday Book, cclxxxvii-cclxxxviii. The Fiadnaise or witness ; the Irish witness affirmed ; oaths of different, kinds ; Noillechs or jurats ; a jury of Noillechs formed apparently of twelve ; fees of oathmen, witnesses, etc. ; penalties for false witness, cclxxxviii-ccxci. The Aitire or bail ; the Aitire Nadma or Roman Nexus become " addictus"; the Aitire Foesma, ccxcii-ccxciii. Esain or Essoign ; Faesam; Turthvgadh ; Fonaidm ; Snadha ; the Maigin Digona ; explanation of the term Diguin; Sarugh or Sarugud; Enecland; Log Enech; Enechruice : Enechgris, ccxcLii ccxcv.
BUILDINGS OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.
The houses of the Slaves, Germans, and Celts, were built of wood ; the use of stone borrowed from the Eomans ; the earliest stone-built churches belong to the sixth century ; Tunes of the old Germans ; Screuna of the
CONTENTS. 29
Franks ; English " Pennpits", ccxcvi-ccxcvii. Ancient Irish houses of two forms ; the'round wicker houses ; weather boards on wicker houses • cup-roofs of Irish wicker houses hke those of GauUsh ones ; the residence of an Aire consisted of several houses ; the custom of having each room an isolated house existed also in Gaul, Wales, Norway, and Sweden ; the German farm buildings were generally under one roof ; divisions or rooms in Irish, Anglo-Saxon, etc., farm-steadings ; the women's house a separate building ; it was cut off from the other houses ; Norse and German names of women's houses ; the Irish Grianan or sunny chamber, ccxcvii-cccii. Windows and shutters mentioned in Irish tales ; mortar not used in the earliest stone structures ; use of lime for whitewashing known, cceii-ccciii- Fences and trees about Irish homesteads ; the Lis or Les ; the Rath, the Caisel, the Dun, the Catkair, ccciv-cccvi. Stone-buUt Duns and Cathairs chiefly found in the S. W. and W. of Ireland ; ancient stone buildings in the county of Kerry ; these buildings are very old, but are probably ecclesiastical ; ancient civil organization of the Irish Church not incom- patible with this view ; the ancient Irish Church an important field of historical inquiry, cccvii-cdcviii. The ancient buildings of Kerry are like those described in Irish tales ; three types of them : the Caisel, the fort, and the Dun ; the " Fort of the Wolves" at Fahan ; the guard house of this fort corresponds to the " Warder's Seat" of Irish tales ; second type of fortress represented by Dunbeg ; third type represented by the Dun and Cathair of Ballyheabought, cccix-cccxvii. Lawn lights and signals at a Forus ; spring of water in the house of the Brughfer ; running stream in Lios or Airless of Fer Forais, and in the house of a leech or doctor ; number of doors in a leech's house, cccxviii-cccxix.
BURIAL OF THE DEAD IN ERIU.
Reason for writing on the burial of the dead ; cremation of the dead practised in Ireland ; the Gaulish custom of burning slaves, etc., common to all Arj-an nations ; one case of sacrificing hostages recorded in Irish MbS. ; animals of deceased persons were slain ; the mere occurrence cf burnt bones not sufficient evidence of cremation, as some criminals were burnt to death ; bones from the two sources not distinguishable ; no funeral monuments to criminals, cccxix-cccxxiii. The Cluiche Caeniec/i not a pyre, though used to express it ; the Guba and Cuitech Fuait or dirges and games ; the Cepog or panegyric ; manner of chanting the dirges ; the Mnd Caointe or professional mourning women ; instance of a modern Cepdg ; panegyric of Rigs and Flaths made by bard of family ; prostration and plucking of hair and beard part of the Guba ; funeral games ; the Nosad, cccxxiii-cccxxvi. Aenachs or fairs always held in cemeteries ; the fair of TaUt€; TailMwus a cemetery durmg pagan times ; Irish traditions connected with topography of the country ; the ritual of the dead varied with the rank, sex, etc., cccxxvi-cccxxix.
The names of the different monuments of the dead ; the Derc ; the Feri . the Fyhrt of Anglo-Saxon law ; the Leacht and Leacc or Liacc ; Ciarti or pillar stones ; the Tamhaclu ; the Mur, cccxxix-cccxxxii. Human sacri- fice ; legend of Gortigern ; similar legend of Conn and Becuma, cccxxxiii-
30 CONTENTS.
cccxxxiv. The Ctioc ; the Cam ; use of Cam to ascertain the number of those slain ; instances of Cams over the corpse of a warrior, and over the heads of those slain in battle ; the Cam was used to protect the heads of the slain from being carried off as trophies ; stones subsequently added to the Cam ; the Cam always connected with the Firbolgs ; warriors buried with their arms, etc. ; the RochuU or grave cloth, cccxxxv-cccxli. Writing the name of a deceased person in Ogam, part of burial rite ; Ogams generally cut in wood in pagan times, but sometimes cut on stone; Ogams cut on stone, if pagan, probably not older than the Roman occupation of Britain ; old Germans cut their runes on rods or tablets of ash ; some Ogamic inscriptions may be cryptic, but all are certainly not so ; why Ogamic inscriptions may show traces of Latin ; the Irish did not borrow the Ogam from the Norse runes, cccxli-cccxliv.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS AND FURNITURE OF ANCIENT
IRISH HOUSES.
The principal house ; it had but one room ; number and position of the doors ; position of the fire ; position of the I mmdai ox couches ; number of //?i?«c/a» or couches ; decorations of the Immdai, cccxlv-cccxlix. The Fochlu or seat of the chief of household ; bh'th or rank determined the position of the occupants of Immdai as regards the Fochlu ,- position of the seats of the members of the household of a Rig Tuatha ; seats of the liigdn or queen, and of the other women, cccxlix-ccclii. Feather beds and pillows in the Immdai; blankets and coverlets; covering of walls at the back of the Immdai, cccUii. The whole family slept in one room ; this custom common to Anglo-Saxons, Germans, and other northern nations ; marriage customs connected with this habit; early houses had no cliimney; and were only one story buildings ; introduction of lofts ; the common living room contained all the furniture, tools, etc. ; the arras of the men were hung on the walls, and also bridles and other horse furniture ; drinking vessels ; evidence of the use of the compass and lathe in the vessels, etc.; the larger vessels were made of staves, bound by hoops, cccliii-ccclvi. Articles for the toilet; leather bottles j other leather bags and book- wallets ; boxes chests, etc ; spinning-wheel, etc.; cuhnary vessels ; bread made exclusively of meal ; the Bro, quern, or handmill ; was worked by women, who were slaves among the rich ; tools ; the forge, ccclvii-ccclxii.
FOOD AND DRINK OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.
The ancient Irish a pastoral people more than an agricultural one ; eight kinds of corn grown ; wheat ; barley and oats ; Secul and Ruadan ; Ser- nan; MaeJan, was a leguminous plant; Fidbach, probably filberts and acorns ; oats the corn most generally grown ; barley used for making bread ; yeast probably used in making bread ; unleavened oat and barley meal-cakes ; the Bocaire or oatmeal cake ; the Bairgin or cake ; honey sometimes added to dough ; meal and milk ; Maothal or nut meal, ccclxii- ccclxv. JSru</i or broth ; the kitchen garden ; watercress; Didesc ; milk and butter; persons enthled to butter and meat; curds and cheese;
CONTENTS. 31
flesh-meat used by the Irish ; salt meat ; bacon and hams ; puddings and sausages ; game ; birds ; fish, Eriu rich in cattle, ccclxvi-ccclxxi. Ctdrvi or beer the chief drink of the Irish ; the name Cuirm known to the Greeks as a Celtic word ; dl-na-guala ; meaning of the term ; Ce^-^'swort boiler; the oak-vat or Dahach Cuirm Tigi of Conchohar called Daradach ; Lin a general name for beer ; malt ; plants infused in beer wort before the use of hops, ccclxxi-ccclxxiii. Poem of Cano on the celebrated beers of Ireland ; Saxon ale " of bitterness " mentioned in this poem, ccclxxiv-ccclxxvi. Honey added to the wort of beer ; brewing of beer a privilege of the Flaths, and in Germany of the nobility, ccclxxvi. Mede or methefflin ; not the exclusive intoxicating drink of the ancient Irish ; 2V^t?!0(/Mim, or cider of apples and of whorts ; "Norse beer"; the "heather beer " supposed to have been made by the Danes, a myth.
DRESS AND ORNAMENT OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.
The Lena; its material; its colour; the Roman iaena ; was perhaps different from the Irish one ; the latter like the Greek Chiton and the Roman Tunica; the Oris or girdle; ornamented Lenas; dress of an ancient Gaulish figure, ccclxxviii-ccclxxsi. The Caimsi different from the Lena ; Caimsi of the Saxons at the court of Conaire Mor; persons by whom the Caimsi was worn ; derivation of the word ; ornamented shirts and Lenas ; the Scandinavian ISkyrta or Serk, ccclxxxi ccclxxxiiL The Berrbrocc ; the Gaulish Bracae and German Bntoch ; the Tntibhas or trowsers ; the Ocralh or greaves ; the hose or stocking ; true nature of the Ocrath, ccclxxxiii ccclxxxv. The Inar or jacket ; it corresponded to the Norse KyriiJ; materials and colours of Inars ; the German Roch, the English Frock and the Irish Rucid, ccclxxxvi. The Braf ; the Brat called a Fuan; colours of i\iQ Brat ; the Brut was the Saffum ; the Matal; was the Norse Miittul ; mutual influence of the Irish and the Norse on each other's dress, etc., ccclxxxvii-ccclxxxix. The Cothal or Cucullus; Gaul- ish figures with the Cucullus; the Cochlin or Cucullio ; use of Cochal confined to monks ; hooded cloaks of the Norse, cccxc-cccxciii. Dress of Irishwomen ; the Caille or veil ; coverings for the head ; the Culpait ; the At; the Barr ; the Barred; concealment of treasure under water, cccxciv-cccxcvii. Different kinds of shoes : the Cuaran or Brace ; the Ass ; the lalachrand, cccxcvii-cccxcviii. Old German costmue compared with that of the Irish, cccxcix-cccc. Art of dyeing among the ancient Irish; lichens used as dye-stuffs; use of moss for dyeing wool ; red and yellow dye-stuffs ; the yellow bedstraw or Galium verum ; madder ; saffron not used by the Irish ; the blue dye- stuff Glaisin or woad ; was the Glastum of the Gauls ; legend about St, Ciarin and the Glaisin ; ancient custom of dyeing animals ; green dyes, black and brown dyes ; mordants used by the ancient Irish, cccc-ccccvi. The hair Buidne, ccccvii.
32 CONTENTS.
THE SOURCES AND COMPOSITION OF THE ANCIENT BRONZES OF EUROPE.
The three epochs of human time ; distrust of the crude views of writers on prehistoric archaeology ; the subject of the " three ages " the original object for which this Introduction was undertaken ; this subject does not require to be discussed now, ccccvii-ccccviii ; the discovery of metals formed an era in human culture ; there is no evidence that bronze was known before iron ; Pictet's researches on the metals of the Aryans ; iron known to all European Aryans ; bronze swords readily made ; good iron swords more difficult to make ; true use of the term " Bronze Age " ; manu- facture of bronze known to all European Aryans ; error of making all bronze weapons, etc., Celtic ; hypotheses of Phoenician origin of bronze ; Phoenician trade with Cornwall, a mere assumption ; the Egyptians and Phoenicians obtained their tin from Asia ; tin abundant in the Cauca- sus, ccccviii-ccccxii.
Use of analyses of bronzes ; early analyses defective ; newer ones more com- plete ; present information unsatisfactory ; new analyses wanted ; no analyses of Spanish bronzes published ; copper ores used in making copper ; foreign minerals mixed with copper ores, ccccxii-ccccxiv.
Composition of crude copper ; bronzes may contain lead as an accidental in- gredient ; ancient coppers ; origin of small quantities of tin in coppers ; Wibel's opinion that bronze was made by smelting mixed ores ; bronze was probably made from " crude " copper and tinstone ; the impurities of bronze help to indicate the kind of ores from which it was made ; Gobel's classification of the alloys of copper ; true bronze, the oldest alloy ; Euro- pean localities of tin ore, ccccxiv-ccccxix.
Composition of ancient bronzes definite ; classification of antique bronzes ; number and classification of analyses of bronze weapons ; per-centage of tin in each type of bronze ; difficulty of determining whether lead be ac- cidentally or intentionally present ; localities of the lead bronzes which have been analysed ; the vise of lead indicates a knowledge of silver ; silver ornaments mentioned along with gold and bronze ones in Irish MSS. ; zinc bronzes of Roman origin, ccccxix-ccccxxiii.
Constitution of the bronzes of different countries — Egypt, Assyria, Carthage, Greece, Scythia, Rome, Russia, Scandinavia and Denmark, Bohemia and Eastern Germany, Northern Germany — Baltic region, Northern Germany — North Sea region, Bavaria and Central Germany, Rhine-land, Austria, Switzerland and Savoy, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, ccccxxiii- ccccxxvi.
General conclusions deducible from all chemical facts at present known concerning ancient bronzes, ccccxxvii-ccccxxx.
WEAPONS OF WAR OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.
Difficulty of determining nature or material of weapons called by certain names ; frequent mention of bronze and iron weapons ; use of iron weapons of considerable antiquity ; evidence of this use ; the words duhh,
CONTENTS. 33
gorm, and c/las applied to weapons ; evidence of the use of bronze in his- toric times, ccccxxx-ccccxxxvi.
O'Curry's attempt to refer different types of arms to different times ; wea- pons mentioned in Irish MSS. ; the Craisech ; the Fiarlann; the sharp pointed Craisech; the Sleg ; the Gothmnnais; the Gne, Foga, or Fogad, the Gallo-Eoman Gaesiim; Virgil arms his two Gauls with two Gaesa; Irish warriors also carried two Gae; medieval Gesa and old French Gese; the Guisarma ; the German Gleeje ; the Irish Gae was long-handled ; the Lai- gen or lance ; the Cleiin or feathered javehn ; the Bir or spit ; the Foga- Fogablagi or mUitary fork ; light javeUns, ccccxxxvii-ccccxlviii. Battle axes, ccccxlix-ccccli. Bows and arrows, cccclii-ccccliii. The Claidem or sword ; the Colg, ccccliv-cccclvi.
Stone weapons ; the " champion's handstone"; the war-hammer ; stone javelin heads, cccclvi-ccccUx. Slings: the Deil clis; the Crann Tabail : the Tailm, cccclx-cccclxi. The Lurg Fersad, or " morning star"; the Suist, or iron flail, cccclxii-cccclxiii.
Defensive armour : the shield ; forms of the shield ; wooden shields ; rims of shields ; sharp and wave-edged shields ; bronze shield in museum of Royal Irish Academy ; large shield used by the Irish ; German and Danish shields ; colours of shields ; ornamented shields ; shields ornamented with precious metals, etc. ; shields presented to poets ; shields were heirlooms ; names of shields, cccclxiv-cccclxxii.
Defensive armour proper ; the Lorica or cuirass of the Eomans ; used by the Gauls ; not used at first by ancient Germans ; subsequently adopted by them ; Anglo-Saxon cuirass ; the Broigne or hauberk; supposed deriva- tion of the word Broigne ; true derivation — Bruine, the breast ; Irish defensive armour for the body, cccclxxii-cccclxxiv.
The ancient Irish had wheeled carriages ; they used them both in peace and war ; Irish names of vehicles : the Cap ; the Carr ; the Fedhan or Fe'n ; the latter was used as abler or hearse ; Fe'n is related to Anglo-Saxon Waegn ; not related to Covinus ; the Carpai ; both the name and vehicle were probably derived from the Romans, cccclxxv-cccclxxviii. Names of the several parts of the Carpat ; the Fonnad; the Ci-et, Cull, C loin or body ; the wheels ; the axle-tree and axle-spindles ; the Sibthe or pole ; the simple yoke or Mdm ,- the curved yoke or Cuing ; the Pupall or covering ; the Fortche ; the bird plume: the All ; this word had two meanings, accord- ing to one it was a reins ; according to the other, an eye or projection for carrying the reins ; a case where it does not mean reins ; the scythe Carpat, cccclxxviii-cccclxxxiii.
MUSICAL, INSTRUMENTS OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.
Introductory observations, cccclxxxiii ; Irish musical instruments.
Stringed instruments played with the fingers.— The Cruit; liistory of the harp ; the Egyptian harp ; the Assyrian harp ; Asiatic polycliord instruments known to the Greeks, by whom they were looked upon as foreign ; the harp found in the hands of one of the muses on an antique vase ; absence of polychord instruments from sculpture, etc., not a proof that they were not in extensive use ; mention made of a Sambuke in the hands of one of the INT. c
S4 CONTENTS.
muses ; the Trigonon; Eoraan rausical instruments ; the Trigonon on a sarco- phagus of Volterra, and on an Apuleian vase ; the instrument on the latter is represented with a fore-pillar, and is the prototype of modern harps ; the Harpa of Teutonic peoples ; the lyre of the Britons, cccclxxxiv-cccclxxxix.
Musical instruments of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, according to Giraldus Cambrensis ; the Welsh name of the harp, Telyn, and the chronicle of Caradoc; O'Curry's etymology of Telyn; the Irish and Welsh harps called in Latin Ckhara ; some instruments so called, very unlike the harp ; the British Chrotta of the fifth century ; the Irish Crut, and the Welsh Crud ; the EngUsh Crowd ; the Welsh Crwth ; Sir J. Hawkins' de- scription of the Crwth ; the Crud mentioned only once in the Welsh Laws ; not mentioned hy Giraldus Cambrensis ; supposed Chrotta of a MS. of the eleventh century, in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris ; the Chrotta was an instrument of the Franks, according to J. Grimm ; M. de Coussemaker also makes it German, and believes that it became the Rote ; Diefenbach believes the word to be Celtic ; both Eolta and Crowd occur in Eng- lish, ccccxc-ccccxcix. The Rote was not the ancient or modern Viele, nor a harp ; the Cithara Teutonica ; tlie word Rote applied in the middle ages to two different instruments ; evidence that one kind was played with the fingers ; difference between the two kinds of Rotes ; the German Rolta in the ninth and tenth centuries described as a Psalterium, d-diii.
The Psalterium ; two forms of it in use before the eleventh century ; the rect- angular Psalterium or Decachordon ; the " Psalterium in modum Clypei"; quadrilateral instruments of the harp kind in common use down to the twelfth century ; these were ecclesiastical instruments ; the harp re- placed the Psalterium in church music after the twelfth century ; the harp on the Theca of the Stowe MS. is a Psalterium ; the Irish must have known the Psalterium ; the triangular Psalttrium ; it represented the Kinnor ; the latter was an important instrmnent of the Phoenicians ; it was per- haps the origin of the Trigonon ; the Kinnor and the Assyrian harps ; the Kinnor incorrectly called a Cithara ; difference between the lyre and the Cithara ; the Nebd-Nassor, div-dx.
The Nabla or Nablum; it was considered a superior instrument by the Greeks ; it was also an instrument of the elegant Roman world ; may have been used by Tuotilo ; instruments caUed Nabla in the middle ages ; instruments mentioned in Irish MSS., probably of the Psalterium or Nablum class ; disappearance of the four-sided Psalterium in the twelfth century, dxiv. The Salteire or Psaltery of the Trouveres a different instrument from the Psalterium ; method of playing it ; figures of the Sal- teire; the Qwawow ; number of strings in the Quanon; transformation of the Quanon or Canon into the pianoforte ; the Salteire or Sautrie still in use in the seventeenth century ; the Dulcimer or Hackbrett ; Mr. F. Graham's statement that the Quanon came into Europe as the Tympanon must be a mistake, dxiv-dxvii. The oldest figure of the true harp known ; the mo- dern harp originated in the British Islands ; and was a modification of the Tngonon ; the Crut was a true harp ; Irish harpers visited other countries from the eighth to the fourteenth century ; improvement of French harps, and introduction of the harp into Italy, due to those visits ; number of strings in early harps, dxviii-dxx.
Stringed Instruments played with a Sow.— Opinion that bowed instru-
CONTENTS. 35
ments came into Europe at the crusades shown to be incorrect ; such instruments existed in Irchind in the beginning of the twelfth century ; bowed instruments of Arabic origin ; not in use in Western Europe before the eighth century ; Spain in the eighth, ninth, and tenth cen- turies a centre of art and knowledge ; intercourse between Spanish Moslems and Christians ; musical instruments of the east in use in Spain ; the Joglars learned the use of the bow from the Spanish Arabs, dxx-dxxii. The Rehab or Rebec ; used in Britanny, in Ireland, and in Wales ; the instruments in use when the bow became known were adapted to it ; the same kind of instrument was played with the fingers, with a plectrum or with a bow ; the Vidula, Viola, or Viele ; the modern Viol ; Teutonic names for the Viele ; origin of the Irish Fidil ,- form of the Viele up to the eleventh century ; the Rote, Viele, Rebec, and Gigue were like each other ; these instruments changed their form after the eleventh cen- tury ; the Gigue : its origin ; the Viele a favourite instrument ; it was played by women as weU as by men ; bowed instrumen ts mentioned in Irish MSS. ; the Fidil or fiddle, dxxii-dxxvii. The Timpan ; two kinds of Timpan ; one was played with a bow, some of the strings being touched with the finger nail or a quill ; it is not possible to say whether the Tim- pan was a Rote or a Viele ; the Timpan and the Welsh Crwth were bor- rowed from the continent, dxxviii-dxxix.
Wind Instruments The pneumatic organ may have been known in Ireland ;
the Oircin mentioned in the Irish Triads may have been the same as Organum ; the latter in this case being, however, probably a Psalterium, dxxix-dxxx. The Romance Buisine was the Roman Buccina ,- the Irish Buine was formed from the Romance Avord ; the Anglo-Saxon Byrne, dxxx-dxxxi. The Stuc and Stwgan ; relation of these names to the Sans- krit, dxxxi. The Bagpipe ; was not originally used by the ancient Irish ; ■ Celtic, Romance, and Teutonic names of the bagpii)e ; occurrence of the word Pipe inj.a Trouvere poem ; the Celtic forms are found in the oldest MSS. ; the Irish name is nevertheless borrowed from the Romance ; the old Irish bagpipe was the same as the modern Scotch one, dxxsi-dxxxiii. Instruments oj Percussion, and Miscellaneous Instruments, — Antiquity of bells ; uses made of them by the Greeks and Romans ; were probably known before the Christian era in Western Europe ; two kinds of bells used — open and closed ; Clocc, the Irish name of the former, was borrowed from the Lower Latin Clocca ; the origin of the latter word obscure ; used in the eighth and ninth centuries for hand-bells, etc. ; afterwards applied to large bells in belfries ; Campana and Nola ; origin of these names ; the Irish Cluicine ; early use of bells in Irish churches ; they were used as measures of church rights ; examples of the use of small, spherical closed bells; pear-sha2)ed closed bells, Ceolans ; they were called Crotals by Ledwich and others ; objection of O'Curry ; they were, however, really called Crotals in the middle ages ; nature of Ledwich's and O'Curry's mistakes, dxxxiii-dxxxvi. The CraeUi Ciuil, Crann Ciuii, or Musical Branch ; it was used in other countries also ; the Circulus tintinnabulis instructus, a kind of Musical Branch ; the medieval Cymbalum ; the Irish Musical Branch was a lay instrument ; similar instruments may have been used elsewhere in churches ; tlie Bombu/um was a Musical Branch ;
36 CONTENTS.
description of the Bombulum in the "Epistle to Dardanus"; Musical Branch of Porsenna, King of Etniria, dxxxvii-dxxxix. The Fer- Cengail not a musician, but a dancer ; the name is cognate with the old French ginguer ; is represented by the modern Fer Gigaoila, dxl.
IRISH MUSIC IN CONNECTION WITH THE HISTORY OF MUSICAL DEVELOPEMENT.
Necessity of discussing Irish music here ; justification of this course ; the dis- cussion will be confined to the scale and tonality of Irish music ; reasons for omitting time or rhythm from the discussion ; the subject to be treated from a scientific point of view ; it must be prefaced by a sketch of the history of music, dxli. Three epochs in musical developement ; homo- phonous music ; existence of many musical scales ; origin of the notes of a musical scale ; mode in which the quinquegrade scale was obtained ; ex- tent of the tunes of savage nations ; relations of the tones of the quinque- grade scale to each other ; no natural tonic among them ; probable way in which the diatonic scale was completed ; the scale thus obtained not identi- cal with the modern one ; every tone of a scale used as a tonic in homo- phonous music, dxlii.
Polyphonous music. Introduction of music into the service of the Church ; homophonous music always combined with poetry ; Greek tragedies and epic poems musically recited ; the rhythm of this music different from that of metre ; the chanting of the liturgy like the Greek recitative ; the Christian hymns were rhythmed ; state of music before St. Gregory ; in- fluence of Celtic and German poetry on Latin verse and Church music ; the Greeks used, and still use, harmony only in the form of antiphony ; Greek system of choruses ill adapted for Christian congregations ; con- cords used by the Romans in the second century ; those mentioned by St. Isidore ; liis definition of harmony shows that something like the Orgamtm was known in his time, but not generally practised, as is shown by the choir of St. Gall in the ninth century, although there were rules for Organum in the ninth century, dxlvi-dl.
Hucbald's treatment of harmony; he calls it DiapJiony; the original or first kind of Organum; the second kind of Organum or Diaphony ; first kind disused before the eleventh century ; the Organum had no independent meaning ; according to some writers, Organum was not used in secular music ; musicians of the twelfth century accompanied their songs in unison ; there is, however, some evidence that Organum was sometimes used in secular music, dU-dliii. Rise of a new kind of Polyphony — Dis- cant or Dechant ; original mode of making it ; different names given to it ; its supposed origin ; it was a measured harmony ; the rules of Discant given by Francon of Cologne, refer only to a simple counterpoint ; but figured and flowered counterpoint Avere known in his time, dliii-dlv. No artistic connection between the voices in the early Discant; the connection was effected by Canon and Imitation, which were formerly supposed to have first appeared in the fifteenth century ; Discant with words ; this kind gave rise to masses ; Discant with words and partly without words ; this kind was probably practised in Ireland ; rhythm and tonality of
CONTENTS. 37
popular music ; JDiscant first used in ecclesiastical chant ; conclusions of M. de Coussemaker as to the harmony in use in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, dlv-dlviii.
Action of secular music on Discant ; rise of Flemish school of music ; cha- racter of the masses of Flemish composers ; French school of polyphon- ous music ; early Florentine school ; influence of Flemish school on music in Italy ; Palestrina's relation to the Flemish school, dlviii-dlx. Instruments substituted for voices in accompaniment ; the lute one of the first instruments so used ; instrumental accompaniment in the thir- teenth century ; the instrumental accompaniment of the dance music of the sixteenth century of the same kind ; simple accord accompaniment not as yet discovered ; difference between secular song and ecclesiastical chant recognized, dlxi-dlxii.
Revolution in music foreshadowed in works of Palestrina ; causes of that re- volution ; effect of similar causes on the music of Palestrina ; influence of the Opera on the change of polyphonous music into harmonic music ; in- vention of figured or fundamental bass ; first use of the chord of the seventh ; fusion of old Church tones into major and minor modes ; change of the minor seventh into the major seventh ; developement of modern tonality, dlxii-dlxvi.
The artistic music of the Continent known in Ireland ; Roman singers sent to England in the seventh century ; chanting practised in the west of England in the same century ; Irishmen living on the Continent in the ninth century acquainted with artistic music ; Moengal teacher of the inner school of St. Gall ; Tuotilo his scholar ; nothing known of the origin of the latter ; very little known about the distinguished Irishmen who lived on the Continent in the middle ages ; Tuotilo was probably an Irish- man ; the Einsiedeln MS., Liber Hymnorum Nolkeri, was copied by an Irishman ; the Irish MSS. now in Ireland contain no example of musical notation, dlxvii-dlxix.
Peculiarities of Irish music ; Irish music constructed in a gapped quinque- grade scale, or in one of the Church tones ; the sentiment of tonality of modern growth ; all the notes of the Irish scale served as tonics ; keys of the gapped quinquegrade scale ; ancient keys of diatonic scale, omitting those having the notes representing the semitones as tonics ; these keys represent the five melodic families of tones ; authentic tones of St. Am- brose ; extent and tonality of pieces in old Church tones ; extension below the tonic ; compensated by curtailment above the tonic ; peculiarity of the tones thus developed ; origin of the term Plagal given to those extended tones ; original designation of Church tones ; no Church tone having C or A for tonic ; Dominants of Church modes not in coniformity with those of modern music ; the genus of the old Church music and of modern music different, dlxx-dlxxvii.
Developement of music not according to purely scientific laws, but according to caprice ; causes which led to the emancipation of music from the dominating influence of Plain chant ; principal defect m modern music due to its mode of developement ; confusion of musical nomencla- ture ; ratio of the intervals in the typical scales ; comparison of those stales ; existence of two different diatonic scales ; these scales lead to
38 CONTENTS.
different systems of music, as shown by the tuning of two violins, down from the second or A string, or up from the G string ; early Church music constructed on the quinquegrade scale ; natural scale now used in Plain chant ; Irish music is to be compared with the old Church music ; the " Tempered" scale, dlxxvii-dlxxxviii.
The five ancient Irish keys ; key of C; character of the several scales in the key of C ; Irish airs composed in the gapped and diatonic quinquegrade scales of C, dlxxxix-dxc. The key of D ,- character of the scales in the key of D ; Irish airs composed in the gapped and diatonic quinquegrade scales of D, dxci-dxciv. The key of E ; character of the quinquegrade scale of E ; airs in the key of E ; comparison of the several scales in the key of E, dxcv-dxcvi. The key of G ; character of the quinquegrade scale in the key of G ; comparison of the several scales in the key of G ; Irish airs in the key of G ; use of the flat or minor seventh in Irish music ; this pecuUarity is, however, not confined to it, dxcvii-dc. The key of A ; character of the quinquegrade scale of A ; Irish airs in the scale of A ; comparison of the several scales in the key of A, dci-dcii.
Historical position of ancient Irish music ; influence of ecclesiastical music ; ancient Irish music was homophonous ; it was not affected by harmony ; the Irish, nevertheless, practised a rude harmony ; but to what extent we cannot teU ; this Avas the Organum of the Church ; the successive develope- ments of harmony became known in Ireland; Discant was probably known; i?«?(foo« and refrain of songs; called in old Norse Stef; the Vidkvoedi a particular kind of it ; a similar kind of refrain occurs in the Irish poem, the " Fight of Ferdiad"; the Irish Burdoon was not, however, a kind of refrain, but a species of Faux Bourdon; nature of the accom- paniment called Faux Bourdon; nature of the Irish Burdoon, dciii-dcvii.
Conditions necessary for the growth of polyphonous music ; they did not exist in Ireland ; effect of the introduction of Protestantism on Irish music ; social and political state of Ireland in the eighteenth century ; state of national music ; influence of foreign music, as shown in the compositions of Carolan ; commencement of the transformation of Irish homophonous music ; rise of a school of Irish music impossible ; artistic developement of Irish music entirely arrested ; inevitable death of Irish homophonous music ; causes which are hastening this event ; disappear- ance of old. Irish music inevitable ; uses of old national melodies; the air known as EibhUn a rilin ; the Last Rose of Summer ; caprice of collectors in dealing with Irish music ; sources of error in noting down national music ; distinction between the archaeological and artistic use of national airs ; duties of the musical archaeologist ; rights and duties of the musical artist ; Moore and Stevenson judged according to these canons ; Bunting, Petrie, etc., judged by them; Irish musicians do nothing for Irish music; duty of Irish Academy of Music, dcviii-dcxviii.
Two kinds of Scottish music ; Highland Scottish music nearly the same as Irish music ; Lowland Scottish music has the same scale and keys as Irish music; examples of airs in the key of C ; airs in the key oiD ; airs in the key of E; airs in the key of G ; use of the "flat " seventh; this peculiarity originated, [according to Mr. Carl Engel, with the bagpipe ; tills opinion not correct ; its true origin to be found in the old church scale ;
CONTENTS. 39
Macdonald's rule about flats and sharps in pipe music quite correct ; airs in the key of A ; the conventional style of Scottish music ; difference between Highland and Lowland Scottish music ; hypothesis to explain the difference ; Highland Scottish music not affected by polyphonous music ; influence of foreign music on Lowland Scottish music ; preservation of Scottish music ; growth of a conventional style of Scottish music, dcxviii-dcxxiv.
The Welsh did not derive their music from the Irish ; old Welsh music merely restored by Grujffyd ab Cynan ; it was constructed on a gapped scale ; but was more affected by Church music than the Irish music ; if was also perhaps affected by polyphonous music ; the old Welsh music was extinguished by Protestant hymnology, dcxxiv-dcxxvi. Modern Welsh music does not differ from English music; the air of "Rudd- lan Marsh" an example in support of this view ; the Welsh and English dispute concerning the paternity of certain airs ; the Welsh are not con- scious of the great change which has taken place in the structure and character of their music ; the best evidence of the change is to be found in the works of Welsh bards ; traces of true Welsh music to be found still in old airs, dcxxvi-dcxxvii. Supposed musical notation of the ancient Britons found in a Welsh musical manuscript ; Dr, Burney's opi- nion of it ; he deciphered a little of it ; the greater part is said to have been deciphered by Barthelemon ; Mr. Parry's pretended fac- simile of some of the music ; the letters not Ogam ; Dr. Burney's facsimile ; the transcript in the Myvirian Archaiology worthless ; the five Welsh keys as given by Mr. Thomas ; they are all modern keys ; the keys mentioned in the Welsh manuscript ; as deciphered by Mr. Thomas, and printed in the Myvirian Archaiology; they are unintelligible ; Mr, Thomas thinks the music of the MS. was written for the Crwth ; he has deciphered some of it ; he thinks the nota- tion was that of St. Gregory ; it is the tablature of a stringed instrument, and is not older than the sixteenth century ; this instrument may have
■ been the Crwth, dcxxviii-dcxxxiii.
English music ; it was completely transformed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; rise of harmonic music in England ; opinion that the EngUsh have no national music, erroneous, dcxxxiii-dcxxxiv.
The musical feats of the Z)a^^Ja represented different keys; similar keys amongst the early Greeks ; esthetic effects of ancient Greek modes, and of the Church modes ; similar legends to that of the Daghda's feats in other countries ; musical feats of the Norse harper Base, dcxxxiv-dcxxxvi.
Addenda Sepulchral and other monuments of Magh Tuired, dcxxxvii,
Sepidchral and other monuments mentioned in the Dindsenchas of the Fair of Tailt^, dcxxxviii. Sepulchral and other monuments mentioned in the Dindsenchas of Brugh na Boine, dcxxxix.
Passage from the account of the second Battle of Magh Tuired concerning a Derc, etc., dcxxxix . Passage from the poem in the Dinnsenchas on the Fair of Tailte' about human sacrifice, dcxl. Descriptions of the Royal House of Cruachan, dcxli. Passage relating to Brewings, dcxlii. Passage relative to the wearing of the Lena, Inar and Brat, dcxlii. Additional references to Corcur and Rud, dcxliii. Note on the Antipho- nary of Bangor, dcxliv.
CORRIGENDA.
Page
xxi, line 21, zxii, „ 26,
xxxn,
xlix,
Ixxiv,
Ixxxii,
31, 37, 10, 3, from bot-
tom, Ixxxvi, note 104, line 27, Ixxxrili, line 6,
xcix, „ 16, cxxvii, note 345,
READ
Labrad Loingsech. Eogan Mdr. Where this name is written Ogan it should also be made Eogan. Dagda. ExtraTagant. A reference to a foot note should come after Maeg. JJererielra, Herireita.
FOR
Lahraid Loingsech, Ugaine Mdr,
Dagdai, Extravagan,
i
after "and then" insert, a/ier "with water" add
„ cxci, second line of
note 346, „ cclii, note 464,
„ ccclxviii, line 11, „ ccccxxxviii, „ 17, „ ccccxliv, „ 28, „ cccclxxxi, ,, 23, „ cccclxxxviii, second side note, „ ccccxcvi, line 24,
ccccxclx, „ 30, dvi, „ 3, • I If 28, dxvii, note 975,
dxx, line 6, dxxv, note 985, line 3, dxl, third side note,
dlxi, note 1042, line 5, dcxii, line 21,
dcxxll, „ 15,
" was extended". " between them", and every- where this gloss on the word Dun occurs. Concoar, Cojicobar.
I have inadvertently described the manuscript from which this note is quoted as being in the British Mu- seum, whereas it is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The reference should therefore be MS., Bibl. Bod. Oxon., Rawlinson, 487. This correction should also be made at pp. cxxxvi, note 209; clixiii, note 288; clxxvii, note 298; clxxxi, note 329 ; clxxxii, note 330; clxxxiv, note 343 ; cxci, note 345 ; ccl, note 456. There should be no mark of punctuation after " term".
Cuirmlig, Cuirmtech,
armers, farmers.
figure 14, figure 15.
Gillaume, Guillaume.
udi, budi.
Trignon, Trigonon.
Sir R. P. Stewart has suggested to me, and I think
rightly, that the bow of the Crwth was like the bow of
a bass fiddle.
Sir Tristam, Sir Tristrem.
twefth, twelfth.
Petace, Petau.
J J. T. Turenne, J. T. Surenne.
ipinaoforte, pianoforte,
introduced, reintroduced,
fitola, fitolas.
Singuer, ginguer.
Jongleors, Jongleurs.
Sir U. P. Stewart suggests that the characteristic air of
La Dame Blanche, is the " Bush aboon Traquair".
Rev. Mr. Leete, Rev. Mr. Leeves.
i
INTRODUCTION.
13IP0RTANCE OF IRISH HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY, AND CHA- RACTER OF EXISTING SOURCES.
Somewhat more than a century ago a new field of scientific research was opened up. Men yearned to know something of the past of the globe we inhabit, and of the beginnings of the early nations who have lived upon its surface. In the course Rise and
PIT ^ yn i • • • c^ • 1 i giowth of
ot the last hair century this new scientific territory has been ueoiogy. . well occupied, and the domain of the human intellect pushed far into the shadowy regions of the past. The great stone book, in which are written the annals of the globe, every page of which unfolds to us manifold forms of life, which, like the dynasties of ancient kingdoms, have passed away for ever, has been carefully examined ; and fi'om those annals science has enabled us to construct the geography of our globe at the dawn of its time, to people its waters with fish, to clothe its land with vegetation, and people it with birds and beasts. We may, as it were, walk by the shores of its ancient sea, follow the tracks of the marine animals that crawled upon its sands, or of the land animals that came down to its shore, count the ripples left by its receding tide, nay, even note the impressions left upon the dried sand by the rain-droj)S of the passing summer shower. The vastness and beauty of those annals of the globe diverted attention for a long time from the last though perhaps most important pages, in which are visible the first vestiges of man. Within the last few years, however, Pre-mstoric the superficial giavel heaps, the alluvions of rivers and lake bottoms, the caverns in the hill side, have been ransacked,
INT. 1*
11 INTRODUCTION,
and such numbers of the works of man, of his bones, and of those of his contemporary animals, have been brought to light, that already attempts are made to rehabilitate primeval man.
Simultaneously with these researches of the geologist, the archaeologist has been busy in excavating the sites of ancient cities and removing the earth of centuries. Adopting the spirit and method of physical science, the sounds of dead lan- guages of which scarce an echo had reached our ears, have been reawakened ; we can rebuild the fallen cities, people them anew with their ancient inhabitants, assign to them their various duties, and partake in imagination of their daily life.
As a chip of flint, a fragment of pottery, an inscribed stone, a spear, or a ruined building, helps to realize the physical past of mankind, so a fragment of an ancient poem, a legend, or a myth, helps us to resuscitate the intellectual past.
Just as now, man migrated in ancient times from one region to another, and carried with him his arms, his tools, and his mode of building houses. The comparison of the tools and weapons and ancient buildings found in various countries, like the gravel and boulders of the geologist, enables us to trace the stream of migration, and its probable starting point. But there are also intellectual boulders: stray words of languages, frag- ments of myths, even nursery rhymes, have become important helps in tracing out the early history of peoples. Melhod^'ap- '^^^^ introduction of the inductive method of investigation ^o'/yl*" "'^"into historical inquiry has been singularly fertile in results. It is only the other day that Niebuhr applied his keen analysis to the well woven tissue of ancient Roman history handed down to us especially by Livy, and having resolved it into its component elements, began thereout the construction of a real history of Ancient Rome, a labour since continued so well by Arnold, Mommsen, and others. So too the ancient history of Greece is slowly emerging from the Orphic and Hesiodic chaos into a form of life and beauty. Classic mythology, which in the last century only served to explain the allegories of the poet, enable the connoisseur to understand" the works of the sculptor and painter, or the poetaster to give a classic air to his verses, has become in our days an important branch of science.
INTRODUCTION. ill
opening up a new poetic world full of beauty and pliilosopliic grandeur. The anthropoid deities of Greece and Rome, and comparative of the other Aryan races, are found to be but manifold me- of Aryan na-
....-, ■, . . tions.
tamorphoses of the same primitive ideas, the manifestations of the divinity in the phenomena of nafure. Thus the Greek Zeus, Roman Jupiter, or Jus-Pater, Gothic Tins, O. H. German Zio, and even the degraded Deans or Deuce of modern Irish su- perstition, all merge into the Sanskrit Dyaus-Pater, " the father of light", as we may express the signification of the root of the name dyu, to shine. The lovely Saranyu, the creeping dawn of the Vedic hymns, those earliest voices of the Aryan race, is repre- sented by the gloomy Erinys of Greek mythology ; while Eros is the newly risen sun, the Vedic Arusha, from the root ush, to burn. Again, in Dahana, the morning goddess, from the San- skrit dliyai, clM, to see, to understand, we have the Greek Athena, and Daphne. While Varunas, the personification of the ocean, who engirdles the earth and spreads a veil over it, is the Greek Ouranos. Even many of the heroic legends which have served as the materials of the primitive songs of the Aryan nations, have a common origin. Thus the Homeric story oi Paris and Helen is related to the Sanskrit one of Pani and Sarama: the Irish legends of the sons of Tuireand, and of Lahraid Loingsech have a common origin — the former with the La- bours of Hercules and the Argonautic Expedition, and the latter with the story of Midas. So, too, Beauty and the Beast is the Greek legend of Eros and Psyche, while the story of Sigurd in the Volsung Lay is a cognate form, derived from some primitive germ, of the legends of Theseus and Perseus, and others. Thus one by one the myths of the Aryan nations are being purified of the dross in which ages have enveloped their primitive poetry.
According as antique weapons, tools, and implements are collected, classified, amd compared, ancient ruins examined, inscriptions read, languages comparatively studied, myths traced back to their source, legends analysed and their meaning deter- mined, annals sifted, corrected, and synchronized, the primitive history of man becomes a reality. At the same time a pro- scope and
_ , , ' 1 • 1 • • objects of
found change is taking place m our notions of the scope and tistoiy.
1*B
IV INTRODUCTION.
objects of history. We are no longer content that it should be a rehearsal of the drama of a national life, in which the principal performers alone should appear on the stage in con- ventional dress, and play their game of political chess. We are only satisfied with the full opera, in which the chorus of the Plebs is heard as well as the solos of the Kings and Nobles ; in which the labours, joys, and sufferings of the peasant and artizan receive their meed of attention equally with the heroic deeds, the pageants, the pleasures, and misfortunes of kings; in which the creations of art and the discoveries of science, the conquests of man over nature, receive their share of glory, as well as the victories of man over man.
The Aryan It is now a recosfuized fact in science that from the Indus to the Atlantic ocean, and thence across the American conti- nent to the shores of the Pacific, the descendants of one pri- mitive, blue-eyed, fair-haired race, divided into several bran- ches and speaking dialects of what was once a common lan- guage, hold sway. To determine the common elements in the languages, mythologies, legends, laws, and customs of the several branches of this great Aryan race, and thence induc- tively rehabilitate, as it were, the primitive parent race whence they issued, is one of the most interesting, as undoubtedly it is one of the most important, problems of historical science. The solution of this problem requires the union of every possible streamlet of knowledge bearing upon the subject. No tribe of the race can be so obscure, or land so insignificant, that its his-
impoitance torv mav not contribute materials for the purpose. Thou2h it
of Irish ar- ir ^ • - -ti-i •
chatoiogy wcTC truc, therclore, that m ancient times Ireland was an iso- in the c im- latcd comcr of the earth, whose inhabitants were no better
parative his- -n i i p i • i
toiy of the than savao;es, still the study of the ancient language of the
Aryan Uace; '^ . , "^ , . . tab
people, and such historical traditions and legends of them us may have survived, would be valuable. But the ancient lan- gnage, laws, and traditions of Ireland are, in truth, among the most valuable, nay, indispensable materials for the solution of the problem above stated. The Romans, Celts, and Germans have so commingled with each other on the continent of Europe and in Great Britain, that it is almost impossible to say what is peculiar to each and what borrowed. The fully-
INTRODUCTION.
developed judicial, fiscal, and administrative system of the Romans, as well as their othervs'ise high physical culture, have, as might have been expected, deeply modified the political and social organization of the Gauls, Britons, and Germans. The only branch of the Celtic race not directly in contact with this highly-developed political organization was the Irish. That Ireland was not unaffected by Roman civilization, and even by the earlier civilization of other Mediterranean nations in pre-Christian times, is undoubtedly true. But that influence was not such as could deeply modify the laws or customs of the people, and hence in them we ought to find a precious mine of information regarding the political and social organi- zation of Europe before the rise of the Roman power. For- tunately, we possess in the remains of the Irish language, poetry, laws, etc., such a mine, and in greater fulness too than is to be found in the other branches of the Aryan race, except the Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin,
The early history of Ireland possesses value from another their impor. point 01 view, which, il more limited m its scope, is or more history of
: . . „ . . tlie laws, etc,
immediate interest and of far greater practical importance than of Kn^iand,
" ■■■ '^ France, and
the prehistoric history of the greatest of the human races, Germany, namely, in connection with the rise of the laws and institutions of France, Germany, and especially of England. All French institutions, in the opinion of many, are supposed to have a Roman origin, and to have been subsequently somewhat mo' dified by German influence. That the Gauls had political institutions which survived the Roman and Frankish conquests, and in reality formed the basis of the various custumals out of which the later institutions were evolved by a natural process of growth, has only occurred vaguely to a few. That the great principles of English law are the gift of the Anglo-Saxons, who not only borroAved nothing from their predecessors the Britons, but actually exterminated them, has so much the force of an axiom among English writers, that no one, so far as I know, has ever doubted the first part of the statement, and but few the latter part. And yet it may be maintained, that the organization of society in Gaul and in Britain before the dawn of the Christian era, was substantially the same as
VI
INTRODUCTION.
1. Classic writers ; —
in Germany; that all the fundamental principles of Anglo- Saxon law existed among the Britons and Irish; and that the Saxons of Hengist and Horsa found on their arrival what we call Saxon laws and customs, and only effected territorial changes. This is precisely the conclusion to which a study of ancient Irish history in the broad sense of that word in- evitably leads. Sources of The sources of ancient Irish history are two-fold: — one, the iiistory :— brief and often very vague notices of Greek and Roman writers ; the other, the prose and poetic tales and legendary histories, and reliqnes of the laws of the Irish themselves. With the exception of the geographical notices of Strabo and Ptolemy, which are of some use, the materials afforded by the first source are worthless. They consist of mere hearsay reports, without any sure foundation, and in many cases not in harmony with the results of modern linguistic and archaeo- logical investigations. The fuller and more trustwoithy accounts of the customs and institutions of Gaul and Germany, left us by Caesar and Tacitus, are no doubt indirectly of use because they relate to peoples closely allied to the ancient Irish.
I have already said that we do not lack the second category of historic materials, at least as far as quantity is concerned ; their value, but the quality requires careful and critical examination. The Irish historical and legal materials which we possess in our vellum manuscripts are in the first place necessarily fragmentary and incomplete. No early writer in the fifth or sixth century attempted to weave into a connected narrative the legendary history of the country, still fresh and full in the memories of the bards. And it was long after before any attempt was made to establish a chronology of Irish historical events, and syn- chronize them with those of other nations. In the second place, our materials of ancient Irish history, such as they are, have not come down to us in the language which was spoken at the period at which the poems and tales are assumed to have been written. Our oldest historical manuscripts belong to the first half of the twelfth century ; while some of the most valuable frag- ments of our ancient laws are contained in manuscripts written
2. Native sources:
INTRODUCTION. Vll
at the end of the fourteenth or even the beginning of the six- teenth century. It is true, the age of a manuscript does not ne- cessarily fix that of its contents ; but before we give them a higher antiquity, we should weigh well the grounds vipon which we do so. In some cases the evidence of this higher antiquity is conclusive, because the language of some tracts is so obsolete that it required to be glossed in more modern language when they were being copied into the manuscript. In other cases, too, we find the grammatical endings fuller and more archaic than a number of pieces admittedly contemporary with, or only little anterior in date to, the writing of the manuscript itself.
But even such evidences of antiquity only help us to carry irisu mss.,
^ J •> >■ ./ written in a
further back the age of a tale or poem or law a few centuries language
o _ i _ ... . mvicli more
at most than that of the manuscrii^t in which it is contained, i^o<iein than
>■ ' the events
and leave us still in face of the difficulty, that all the tales and^corded; poems referring to pagan times, or perhaps we might say to the first two centuries after the arrival of Saint Patrick, are written in the language of much later times ; and this, too, in cases where we are distinctly told in the manuscript itself that it was compiled from another manuscript written at a certain much earlier period.
The decay and growth of language help us to a certain extent decay ana
"^ ° . . P ^ Ti 1 • prowthof
to understand why this is so; for language, like every tmngiancunge ex-
J . . . , . , P plains how
else in nature, is ever changing. Like the life from which it this happens: emanates, its decay may be said to be the cradle of new growth. Words coalesce, sounds are dropped, or modified to satisfy the feeling for euphony or greater ease of pronunciation, the same word is applied to express distinct ideas, others gradually cease to be vised in the original sense, differences of physical nature produce corresponding effects upon the sounds and mean- ing of words ; nay, even the idiosyncracy of individuals affects their language. Such changes could not take place uniformly language of
° '- _ " \ •'a count! y
over a large area ; so that if a country of considerable extent Ji^fs ""*■ .
P _ •' ^ , cliange ani-
were originally occupied by the same tribe, speaking the same formiy. language, in process of time dialects would arise. The number of such dialects would depend, among other things, upon the extent of country occupied and the physical features of the land. In a mountainous country, the villages would be in
Vlll INTRODUCTION.
general more isolated than on plains, and hence the decay and growth of the language, being subject to different dynamical agencies of change, would be peculiar to each isolated district ; while in a more or less level country, traversed by great rivers, canals, railways, and other means of easy communication, and having great internal commerce, the growth and decay of lan- guage would be almost uniform, and few dialects would arise. That is, where a country is formed of broad valleys and plains and easily accessible mountains, or otherwise, where there are no marked differences of physical character and climate, where the religion, occupations, form of government, etc., are similar, dialects are only slowly developed. the dynamic Xlie direct actiou of nature as a dynamic agent, is powerful
action of na- "' O ' 1
h^ianluTT^^ the language of savages, but gradually becomes insensible than^o/cfvi ^^ clvilizatiou advauces. A good example of the counteracting iizedinen. influence of intercourse, similarity of phj'sical nature, food, and habits, over the natural tendency to decay and growth of languages, is afforded by the Turks, who are more or less mutually intelligible over the vast region from the Bosphoius to the Lena. This is due to the sameness of geographical features over a large portion of the true Turkish area, and to the nomadic life which the nature of the country almost neces- sarily imposes upon the inhabitants, as well as to the great displacements of tribes due to the same cause, which have from time to time taken place. Under other circumstances a dialect may grow up amidst a single family even in two or three gene- rations, as has been shown by the distinguished investigator of Siberian languages, Castren, in the case of the Yennissei Oztyaks. anot'herhinl' Coutact Or intermixture with people speaking a different theffroifuu-^ •^^'^S^^gQ effects the pronunciation of the spoken language, ciation. even though the latter borrows nothings from the foreign vocabulary. There can be no doubt that the growth of dialects takes place most rapidly in the presence of foreign elements. Indeed this is one of the most important causes of linguistic change.
Languages decay and grow with different degrees of rapidity, according to the dynamic conditions to which they are exposed.
INTRODUCTION. IX
It may therefore happen that of two clo?ely related Ian- Rceay and sruafifcs subiectecl to difFcrent dynamic conditions, one may pendent on
n • l^ 1 11 • • /I • 1-11 1 dynamic In-
decay so rapidly as to lo>e all its mllexions, wliile the other flutuces. may do so slowly, retaining nearly all of them more or less mutilated. Jacob Grimm has shown, for instance, that the old Frisian of medieval documents, though contemporaneous Avith the Middle High German, has only reached the same stage of phonetic decay as the Old High German.
The recognition of the true nature of the phonetic decay ofr'i'onetic de-
. ., f ir>Ti' cay first )C-
lano-uaore, and its refifcneration by the growth of dialects, is cogniz.d i.y due to Prof Max IMuller, and it is one of the most important ''''ii'ier principles yet established in the science of language. Another principle, tlifi true importance of which was only recognized fully by the scholar just named, and which is indeed a conse- quence of his doctrine of phonetic decay and regeneration, is that dialects are not corruptions of written language, and con- dialects not
, , , . , . . coriuptions
sequently, that the modern languages which spring up, as it of written were, by the decay of an older language, are not necessarily derived from that language, but may have been irom dialects which coexisted with it: that, for example, the Romance lan- guages are not derivatives of the classic Latin, but the descen- dants of dialects once contemporary with Latin. The literary a nterary
1 r- • 1 p 1 T 1 1 1 language*
languao-e ot a country is but one or the dialects whose pho- piioneiic
. ° . "^ . . , crystalliza-
netic change is arrested, while the other dialects of the country, tion ; spoken by the mass of the people, continue their decay and growth. It is a phonetic crystallization, which maybe more or less modiHed by the growing dialects. But the amount of becomes
. cc- • . J. Tx 1 C necessarily a
change is never sumcient to preserve a literary lanouaefe Irom dead lan-
. . . ^ giiage.
becoming dead. In a country having a centralized despotic ' government, existing for some centuries without many radical changes, and especially if the government were theocratic, and ; where literature would be the office of a pri\ lleged class, the written language would undergo but little clninge ; it would, 1 r however, rapidly become a dead language. It is evidently in | this way we are to explain hieratic and other fticred and occult , writings. Were a revolution to occur in a country circum- stanced as just described, the dead language of the literature would be found to be supplanted by a new language. In a
X
INTRODUCTION.
Literary language sometimes changes with the spoken lan- guage ;
this was the case with Irish lan- guage.
Language of poems and prose tales constantly- adapted to spoken lan- guage.
free country, on tlie other hand, in which literary cultivation would be more or less diffused, the written lanaruas^e would feel almost continuously the dynamic power operating on the spoken language beneath; the action and reaction of the spoken and written languagesf would retard the growth of the one and the decay of the other.
Again, in a country divided into numerous petty states, sub- ject to internal dissensions and foreign intrusive elements affecting the phonetic system of its language, and where, although many writers may flourish, no great ones could arise whose authority would fix for a time its orthography, the written language would always coincide with the spoken, and, conseqviently, change almost equally with it. In this case, we should have the example of what may be considered a lan- guage living rapidly. In reality, however, it would be merely the want of what may be called a classical period which would have crystallized its phonetic system for some time, leaving the under-current of spoken language to go on deve- loping. In the former case the literature would, as it were, float down the stream of popular language.
The last paragraph describes accurately the Irish language and literature : there is no fixed standard of orthography, no classic type. Every bard, as he copied a poem or story, wrote it, not according to the orthography of the text before him, but spelled as it should sound to the ears of the time. Some- times a piece was literally copied, and then had to be glossed. Now, the pieces thus written are in general not such as would be recited by a bard at a feast or fair, and therefore did not require to have the orthography adapted to existing pronun- ciation.
But there is another reason why ancient bardic poems and tales should not appear in manuscripts of the twelfth century in the archaic language in which they were first composed. Those poems and tales were learned by heart by the bards, and recited by them for the princes, at fairs and assemblies. As the language lost its inflections, and some of its words and expressions became obsolete, and new ones were taken up, the bards naturally adapted more or less those tales to the Ian-
INTRODUCTION. XI
guage of tlieir hearers. There can be no doubt that many copies of tales in our existing manuscripts were not taken directly from old books, but Avritten down from memory. This accounts for the different versions of the same tale which may be found in manuscripts of almost the same date — one version being often in very archaic language, retaining consi- derable relics of the case endings and fuller forms of the per- sonal endings of verbs.
If we had no other means of determining the age of the materials of pre-Christian history we possess, than the language in which they are written, we could not go back farther than, at most, the middle of the ninth century. But many of the internal
-, . . ,. evidence of
pieces bear internal evidence of their real antiquity. The heroic anticmity in
, . . . . . . many tales.
period of Irish history has left as indelible an impression upon the popular mind as that of Grecian history upon the Greeks. The tales relating to the pre-Christian period have in some form or other floated down the stream of tradition, preserving in the midst of a richly developed Christian mythos much of their original pagan character. Of course they did not all preserve this character with equal fidelity. While some have all the characteristics of the legends of a primitive people — unaffected simplicity, truthful descrij)tion, confiding faith in the marvellous as the result of supernatural agency, and not introduced merely as part of the plot of the tale, — others, on the other hand, show unmistakable evidence of having been recast by later bards. In the pieces thus recast, instead of de- scriptions which, though often highly coloured by the fancy of the poet, retain always the outlines of reality, we have gene- rally a string of almost synonymous epithets which convey no accurate image to the mind, while they abound in the mar. vellous, often introduced merely to heighten the effect of the tale. This is the character of the greater part of the bardic literature of the twelfth, thirteenth, and later centuries. The episode from the tale of the l^din B6 Chuailgne^ which I have printed in the Appendix to these volumes, is, in my opinion, essentially pagan, notwithstanding that the language is not older, at most, than the tenth century. I do not mean that the tale is word for word as the pagan bard composed it.
Xll INTRODUCTION.
the orthography only being changed, but that Saint Kieran or whoever committed it to writing in the sixth or seventh century, did no more than write in the language of his own time what had hitherto been preserved in the memory of the bards, and transmitted orally from one to another from pagan times. Many of the tales hitherto published, especially those by the Ossianic Society, afford examples of the bardic literature which has been recast, altered, and amplified at various periods since the Norman invasion. Even here the amount of real chanofe made in the recasting of older leorends is often very little. Indeed, many of them have been so little intrinsi- cally altered, that the manners, dress, arms, and ornaments, are often as faithfully represented in the recast tale as in the original. Localization r~^One of the most characteristic features of Irish historical
of person- •iir»-i !•• r ^^ ^
asesand legends aiid poems, isjlie dennite localization of all the person- events a i '-^ . . ' ■ - -~'-"'Z-'" ': " . ■-— — ; — ^
characteiis- ao'cs and mcidcnts of the tales. It is possible to determine
tic of Irish -^ - • — .^_ ^
bardic tales ; with great minutcness and accuracy the ancient topography of the country. We can follow the line of march of an army, or of an individual warrior or bard, with nearly as much certainty as we could in our day. This circumstance affords us one of the most valuable tests of the antiquity of a piece. There are several places the names of which are derived from those of persons, or from some particular event, the date of which can be relatively determined with certainty — that is, can be shown to have been contemporary with or posterior to certain other persons or events. These places were previously known by other names, which became obso- lete after the introduction of the second names. It is quite clear that if we found those old names used throusrhout a piece, to the exclusion of the new ones, we should be justified in assuming that it was older than the change of names.
In the recasting of tales and poems this topographical fea- ture is in general well preserved, — a circumstance which would seem to indicate that the tales were either simply abridged or amplified, the chief events and descriptions of the original being, when retained in the new piece, left unchanged. Thi^ may be accounted for by two circumstances: first, that no 1 great displacements of people took place from about the^
INTRODUCTION. Xlll
second century after the Christian era, to the twelfth cent /
tury; second, tlaut the bardic institution existed in unbro-j '"'■''.<.
ken succession during the whole period, while the circunvf stances of the country which immediately succeeded the intro- duction of Christianity were more favourable to the trans- mission of old tales and poems than to the production of new- ones. There can be no doubt that if the circumstances of the country had been favourable to the development of literature from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, we should have had a more complete and more artistic recasting of the old litera- ture, and that accurate localization of the persons and events which characterizes our ancient poems would be replaced in Sfreat part by vague or wider ffeofj^raphical limits. This is absence of
^ ^ •' ^ to o r iti^ Welsh
exactly what has taken place in many of the Welsh poems an<i Ji- h.
. ^ . •' '^ . German
attributed to Taliesin, Aneurin, and other poets of the sixth pjems. century. These poems bear incontestible evidence of having been recast in the twelfth or thirteenth century. Indeed some of them ajipear to be altogether new poems, — mere imitations of the older ones. So, too, the Niebelungcn Lay, Gudrun, and other Middle High German poems, as well as the Trou- vere Romances, have only preserved the slenderest topogra- phical connection with the original scenes of the events of the poems and tales; while, from the analogy of most original early poetry, we may assume that the primitive legends, from which in the twelfth century the poems above mentioned were fashioned , fixed the locality of every deed and every adventure.
The fragments of Irish laws preserved in our manuscripts Date of Irish belong to every age, from the alleged codification of the an-ments. cient laws, in the time of Saint Patrick, to the seventeenth century. Some of them are unquestionably of high antiquity, carrying us, if not into pagan times, at all events to their threshold. These ancient laws do not appear to have been recast in the sense in which I have used that word in respect of poems and tales. The only change which apparently was made consisted in copying the tracts in the current orthoora- phy. Where the vocabulary was archaic and obsolete — and this is the case in many instances — even this change was not fully carried out ; but a commentary was added, as much to
XIV INTRODUCTION
serve as a kind of translation of the obsolete text as to explain legal difficulties. Again, the case-endings of nouns, the per- sonal endings of verbs, and other grammatical accidents were rarely written out in full, but were expressed by contractions. A scribe copying these contractions would in most cases read the word as it was pronounced in his own day, or employ a new contraction which would express, not the old ending, but the new modified and crippled forms. Evidence of this may be traced in many of our manuscripts. In dead languages, such as Latin, this could not of course occur, or only to a very limited extent.
Aire of law Tlic principal manuscripts containing fragments of ancient Irish laws are not older than the fourteenth century, and some belong even to the beginning of the sixteenth. Yet if we compare the language of some of those fragments with some of the oldest texts of poems or prose tales which remain to us, we shall find that the vocabulary of the law tracts is much more obsolete and the forms in general more archaic. It is true the difficulty of the translation is increased by a number of technical terms and by a peculiar elliptical style, which are characteristic of the later as well as the earlier law tracts. Among the obsolete words which required to be glossed and explained in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are nume-
Giosse.son rous tcrms connected with the social organization of the
Irish laws ,.-,..,,.. . !••
prove that peoplo and the iudicial administration. This implies a corre-
niiiny had ^ '^ . "^ , ^ __
become ob- spouding change in both, and thus proves that a sufficient time had elapsed since the manuscript laws were in force to efi'ect a change in the character as well as in the language of the laws in use when the glosses were written. Of the extent of this change we have some very curious and valuable evidence in an entry in a vellum manuscript classed MS. H. 3. 18, in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, compiled by an in- dustrious legal scribe in the county of Clare, between the years 1509 and 1511. In a fragment of a tract in this book, the various courts held in ancient Ireland, and the officials and different classes of suitors, are mentioned. The compiler attempts to give an explanatory commentary upon each court and the persons connected with it, but at length, abruptly
INTRODUCTION XV
ending his commentary, he confesses his inability to do so in these naive words: " [I am the] laughing-stock of mockery in this anno, and it is in Dniim Gall I am, 1509 the age of the Lord".' It is clear from what he has written that he descended of a family of lawyers of considerable repute, did not understand the organization or even the functions of the ancient courts of Ireland.
In 1509 the Irisli laws were still in force in the county of^'<""*ions un-
•' intellic'ible
Clare, which was indeed the part of Ireland in which the lasti"i^09. judgment of a Brehon was delivered, and the poetry, historic tales, and genealogies of olden times still lived in the memory of the people ; and yet the representative of one of the chief families of lawyers in that county could but very imperfectly understand the most important part of the legal organization of those times. Here we have decisive evidence of a consi- derable lapse of time between the period when the courts were held in their full state, and the beginning of the sixteenth century. Perhaps the following considerations may help us to form some opinion as to the extent of that interval.
Except where ffreat displacements of people took place from Laws ami
-1 1-1T1 -., institutes
conquests, or some great social revomtion had chansfed theofnations
1 1 T • 1 T • r • do not
whole political condition of a nation, the general character of^hai^gera- the law courts and the judicial procedure of European nations underwent change very slowly, previous to the full development of the modern parliamentary system. Thus, in England, the Leet Courts did not materially change their general character from Saxon times to the period of the Tudors, notwithstand- ing the Norman Conquest. Considering the hereditary system of judges, historiographs, and in fact of all professions among the Irish, and the singular tenacity with which they preserved traditions and poetry, there seems no reason to doubt that under similar circumstances the change in the legal institu- tions of Ireland would not have been more rapid than the cor- responding one in England ; and consequently that the legal institutions of the seventh and eighth centuries would not
' "troice-oA An Aicjeonc ifiii Atinofo, octi-p An-o|Miitn jaII aca 1409 J Aeiv 111 •Oomini".— Entry at foot of p. 24 b. MS. H. 3. 18. Trinity CoUegeV ' Dublin.
XVI INTRODUCTION.
have been so difficult to understand in the beginning of the
sixteenth century, as the entry in H. 3. 18, above given, shows
they were.
Irish laws The political and social organizations of Ireland revealed by
biewith the the frasfments of laws which are still extant, especially m the
.Mate of . ^ . . .
things in MS. iust mentioned, are wholly incompatible, as we shall see,
AngloNor- '^ , . „ , .
man times; with the statc of isolation of the numerous small states into which the country was divided, and with the continuous feuds between their chiefs, which existed after the arrival of the Normans. Apart altogether from the fact that the compiler of H. 3. 18, tells us, that he copied his book from another old book, and from the character of the language, no one who hnows anything of the history of Ireland, from the twelfth to
/-■ the sixteenth century, will fail to perceive in the law tract
called the Crith Gablach, published in the Appendix to this work, sufficient evidence to convince him that it belongs to an earlier time.
and with Again, there can be no doubt that from the commencement
those during , ^ , . . . i r> i . n i
ihe Viking 01 the Vikiug expeditions to Ireland, at tlie end oi the eighth
expeditions; , . . „ - . . . ,. . ,
or beginning of the ninth century, the political and legal organizations of the country began to be broken up, and that with the anarchy resulting from the almost continuous incur- sions of the North-men, and the weakening of the ties which bound the several clans or territories to each other and to the central power, the higher courts of law fell into desuetude, and the whole judicial organization became irregular and terri- torial. The political and legal organization indicated by the tract just mentioned, and which I shall presently discuss at some length, is, in my opinion, as incompatible with the state of things which existed during the Danish wars, as with that during the Anglo-Norman times.
wi'rtftiie^^^ Immediately preceding the Danish wars the condition of Ireland was, on the other hand, eminently suited for the de- velopment of so elaborate and advanced a social and political
century; organization as we find in the Crith Gablach and other ancient tracts. The whole energies of the country, which for three centuries previous to the arrival of St, Patrick, were mainly directed to the conquest of the western shores of Britain and
state of things from the fifth to the eighth
INTRODUCTION. XVU
to piratical expedition?, were turned to religious life and mis- sionary labours. The country abounded in wealth, the results of the pillage of former times and the peaceful labours of the present. It was the fame of this wealth, especially the abun- dance of gold, which led the first Viking expeditions to the Irish shores. We have no positive data for determining the po- pulation of Ireland in the sixth and seventh centuries, but there are many ways in which we may indirectly obtain a rough ap- proximation to the truth. I have no doubt that at the period just named the population was fully equal to that of the last century, that is, about three millions. In tliose centuries and the foUowino- one considerable intercourse was carried on be- tween Ireland, Britain, Gaul, and even Spain. When the authorities of Nantes were desirous of sending Columbanus back to Ireland, they had no dlffindty in finding a ship for the pur- j pose just ready to sail " quae Scottorum commercia vexerat", j as the life of the saint informs us.^ We find repeated mention of wine imported from France, as, for instance, in a life of St. Kieran quoted by Dr. Reeves f while the poem on the Fair of ^ Carman fully records the tradition of the customary pre- sence of foreign merchants (there called Greeks) at the Irish fairs.
External peace, a population numerous for that Period, idvanced^ wealth, and commerce were not the only circumstances ft"om p^^^'J^'^^iJ jPo- which we may conclude that the social and pohtical institaj;^]^.^^^***"' tions of Iicland, in the period from the mission of St. Patrick to the commencement of the expeditions of the Northmen, were highly organized. The culture of such men as Coluin- banns, Scotus Erigena, Virgilius, Dicull, and many others, down even to Marcellus, the founder of the ^lusic SchooLpf St. Gall, long afteT the devastation of the country by the Danes — a culture which they had in great part acquired be- fore setting foot on the Continent, is a still more striking proof of the existence of a very advanced social and political lite in Ireland at that period.
If the state of Ireland from the commencement of the Vik-
« Jonas, Vifa S. Columbani, cap. 22, quoted in Ileeve Adamnan, note, p.
3 Ibid. Int. ii*
XVlll
INTRODUCTION.
Irish laws belong at latest to tbose cen- turies.
Irish MSS. little more than scrap- hooks.
Ii ish laws written in vcrsj.
ing expeditions until the fall of the Irish judicial system in the sixteenth century, was incompatible with the growth and full development of the legal and political institutions which the existing fragments of old Irish laws represent, and if it be that the latest period at which those institutions could have attained their full development was the seventh and eighth centuries, we may safely assume that the fundamental principles of those institutions belong to far earlier times. They are, as I shall show presently, based upon the territorial divisions of the country, which, beyond doubt, were of pagan origin.
The majority of existing Irish MSS. are little more than mere scrap books, into which the compiler copied whatever he could find, or as I have already remarked, heard sung or nar- rated. In many instances the poem or tale is only a frag- ment. This is especially true of the law manuscripts. We no where find the whole body of laws in force at any particular period, or under some particular sovereign, although there is mention of such a codification, as for example the Cain Fuitlir- ime. Like the old Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, and doubt- less the laws of all early nations, the old Irish laws were written in verse.* But many of the law fragments which have come down to us consist of a mixture of prose and poetry, such as the law tract published at p. 513 of the Appendix, showing that a recasting of the originals had taken place perhaps with a view of making them more intelligible by prose paraphrases, or commentaries. It is probable that all the early historical \ tales were originally written in verse, and that where we find / a tale told partly or wholly in prose, it may be considered as a recasting of the narrative of the original. The legendary his- tory of the discovery of the Jam B6 Chuailgne, the most im-| portant in every respect of all the heroic stories of ancient! Ireland, fully bears out this view. When we are told that the perfect tale was lost for ever, and that only a fragmentary and broken form of it would go down to posterity, there can be no doubt that the filling up the gaps in the poem by prose narrative is meant. Even some of the older lives of the saints / were in verse, and I think that the occurrence of prose in ' * MS. H. 3. 18. p. 360, b.
INTRODUCTION. XIX
such a life is either a later addition or a proof of the recasting of the narrative by a later author.
This fragmentary character of Irish MSS. is to be expected causes tiut from the state of the country, not merely after the Anglo- fragmentary Norman invasion, but for nearly three centuries preceding that event. The absence of walled towns, or even of stone build- ings, except the small early churches, exposed the residences of the nobles and poets to frequent destruction from acciden- tal fires, or the still more frequent burnings and pillage during the almost incessant forays of the stranger, or of native chiefs. There was no safe place where books could be securely pre- served, and there can be no doubt that were it not for the duty which was enjoined upon the several classes of learned pro- fessors of committing to memory a certain number of pieces, scarcely an echo of the poems, or a vestige of the laws or his- tory of the ancient Irish would have reached us through the medium of written documents. It seems to have been ever the task of one generation of the Irish to gather again the scattered leaves of its predecessor. It is marvellous how much of this fragmentary literature reached the seventeenth century, when a new source of evil arose. During the first part of the eicfhteenth century, the possession of an Irish book made the owner a suspected person, and was often the cause of his ruin. In some parts of the country the tradition of the danger in- curred by having Irish manuscripts lived down to within my own memory, and I have seen Irish MSS. which had been buried until the writing had almost faded, and the margins rotted away, to avoid the danger which their discovery would entail at the visit of the local yeomanry.
THE FOREIGN RELATIONS OF IRELAND IN THE CENTURIES IMME- DIATELY PRECEDING THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY.
An observation which I made, page xvi., that previous to the mission of St. Patrick the energies of the Irish were mainly directed to piratical expeditions and the conquest of the western parts of Britain, demands some further discus- sion here, fortwo reasons : First, to see how far the poems and tales relating to that period found in MSS. afford us any
means of directly connecting Irish personages and events with
2 b*
XX INTRODICTION.
those of other parts of Europe, and thus get as it were a measure of their accuracy; and secondly, to see whether the relations of the Irish with the Romans were of such a kind as to be likely to influence their dress, customs, or laws. Of the tales relating to events supposed to have occurred in the Tales of the first four ccnturics of the Christian era, the most valuable in
" Heroic n i -i ■, • l
Period", the every point of view refer to what has been very appropriately »'''®5 called the heroic period of queen Medb and Concliohar Mac
Nessa, of Ferdiad and Cuchulaind^ which is considered to have corresponded with the commencement of the Christian era. The prose and poetic tales celebrating the later and very ob- scure Ossianic period, — which is usually reckoned to corres- pond to the second century, are of much less value both from a these chiefly historical and literary point of view. It is from the first class oxuny.^'^*'*" of tales that Professor O'Curry has drawn his best materials relating to the manners and customs of the ancient Irish. It is necessary, therefore, to determine how far they can be looked upon as trustworthy evidence of the state of Ireland during the later pagan times. I have already expressed an opinion as to the pagan character of the most important of the early tales, Gauiisii the Tciin B6 Chuailgne. That great romance speaks of a ', hi^thTpIy of considerable body of Gaulish mercenaries in the service of Aiiiii accord- M edl) aiid her husband A Hill. In the story of the Brudin js'ai'i Dd chu' Daderga we find mention of the presence of many foreigners, among others of Saxons, at the court of the monarch of Ire- ^^ land Conaire Mor. Ingcel, the leader of the piratical ex- Cjj pedition so graphically described in that fine tale, is stated to have been a British prince wlio had been banished from his own country, but from other accounts he appears to have been the son of a prince of the Connaught Dam- Marriage of noniaus, CuscracJi, by a British princess named Bera, daugh- \'^ iiriti.vh. ter of the " king of Britain of Manand".^ The annals and frequent. ' talcs are fuU of instances of such alliances, not merely with the British, but with the Picts and other races of Great Britam. Besides the Damnonii, several other British tribes appear to Several have had branches in Ireland, among others the Biigantes. \\ tr'ibeshad Pei'haps the Colciisti, a foreign race against whom Aerigus ,
Vii [inches in .» ^ /
ireiaiKi. ^ ggg Vellum MS. R.l.A. Book of Lccan, f. 228, a. A
INTRODUCTION. X\i
Olmucadha, a inonarcli of Ireland considered by some of our annalists to have lived in the fifteenth century B.C., is recorded to have fought a battle, may also have belonged to that tribe, for we find mention of a town of the Brigantes called Cala- tum, which Horsley places at Appleby, and Baxter at Kirby- thore in Westmoreland.
In our annals for the centuries immediately preceding and following the commencement of the Christian era, there is fre- Frequent quent mention of foreigners engaged in the civil wars of the foieiu'ners country. The Annals of the Four Masters inform us that war'sln ire lighernmas gained battles "over the race of Emher and others of the Irish and foreigners beside". The Aengus above men- tioned is also stated to have fought ajjainst the " Lonj^obardai".
DO O
If these were a tribe of the people known later by the same name, we must either assume that the race made its appear- ance in the northern struggles before they became known to the Romans, for the earliest mention of them by Roman writers is by Tacitus and Suetonius in the first century; or that the time of the Irish monarch falls within the Christian era ; or lastly, that the name was interpolated by a later scribe. -, Again, in the curious history of Lahraid Loingsech, who was forced into exile when his grandfather, Laeghaire Lore, was murdered by his own brother, who then usurped the throne, we are told that he came' back from the) foreign countries in which he lived during: his sfi'anduncle's reign, accompanied by a body of foreigners armed with a kind of spear, called a Laigen, from which it is supposed thCj^name of the province of Leinster is derived. And again, in one of the most celebrated battles in Irish story, that oi' Ifagh 3Iucreimhe, near the present Athenry in the county of Galway, fought ! about A.D. 195, between 3Iac Con and A?t, son of Conn of the Hundred Battles, the former, we are told, had the aid of fo- reigners, described as Franks, Saxons, Britons, and Albanians. An important observation of Tacitus, to which I shall have occasion to refer later, shows us that at least one Irish prince was in the camp of the Roman general, Agricola, and en- deavoured to induce him to invade Ireland.
The interference of neighbouring peoples in Irish struggles
XXU INTRODUCTION. «
led naturally to the converse, whenever, from foreign invasion The Irish Or internecine war, Britain, Alba, or the neighbouring coast of British and Gaul, offered a weak point of attack or sufficient inducement wars. to plunder. These expeditions began, or at least became
more frequent, about the beginning of the Christian era. One of the most romantic tales of the heroic period is connected with a plundering expedition to the Isle of Man, in which Cuchu- , laind and the celebrated West-Munster king Curoi Mac Daire 5 took part, and which is described by Professor O' Curry in his lectures. In the ancient tale called the Tochmorc Trehlainne^^ ' which belongs to the same cycle as that just mentioned, Fraech induces the hero, Conall Cernachy " to go over the sea eastward into Britain, over the Muir NicJit, or English channel, over Saxony to the north of Lombardy, until they reached the Alps", in order to recover his plunder. The only value of this legendary journey is the tradition which it preserves of fre- quent foreign expeditions. The legendary history of Crimh- \' thann Niadhnair, in the eighth year of whose reign, according to the Four Masters, Christ was born, contains an account of some wonderful jewels which he brought back from an expe- dition beyond the sea. Under the year ad. 240, the Four. Masters record the battle of Magh Techt, and the exile of • Cormac across Magh Rein^^ that is the " Plain of the sea", on which "occasion he obtained the sovereignty of Alba". A' previous monarch, whose death is placed in the beginning of , the sixth century B.C., Ugaine M(Sr, is described as "king of C Ireland and of the whole of the west of Europe as far as the v Afuir Toirrian\ The Mediterranean sea, or that part of it ^ called the Tuscan or Tyrrhian sea was certainly known by ' this name in the Ilth and 12th centuries, but it is much more likely that the sea between Cornwall and the coast of Britanny, ' and perhaps part of the ocean to the mouth of the Loire, is ' the one referred to under this name in the ancient pagan tales. , There can be little doubt that in the period between B.C. 100 to ' A.D. 400, the Irish shared in the general movements of the people ,
* O'Curry mistook this tale for part of tlie Tain Bo Fraech.
' Cf. Goth, etc., Rinnan, Old Norse Renna, to flow. Magh Rein would therefore be the " flowing plain". Compare also Sanskrit ri, whence Benguli lina, flowing, Greek, pew.
INTRODUCTION XXIU
of northern and western Europe, and that they themselves by ' their incessant inroads upon the coast of Britain materially v assisted in establishing Saxon domination there ^
The internal struggles of hostile races, and external aggres- constant
r 1 ^ ■■ n 1 T • i • • i i stiugg'.u of
sion 01 the dominant one, naturally led, as it has invariably races in first
11 1 1 1 1 1 1 IT "^ centuries of
led everywhere, to tyranny on the one hand, and rebellion on our era. the other. During the first three centuries of the Christian era, the war of races was constant, and one, or as some think two, political revolutions occurred. These revolutions are of very great interest, but unfortunately the accounts of them are not only obscure, but distorted by those who have transmitted them. The latter belonged to the dominant race, and have accord- ingly taken care not to put their opponents in a favourable light. These revolutions are connected with people called AMech xna Aithech Tuatha, or rent-paying tribes, as Professor O'Curry cotu, . explained the word. That explanation, though not strictly cor- rect, indirectly gives us the character of the people. They are usually identified with the Atticotti of Roman writers; the period at which the revolutions are supposed to have occurred and the resemblance of names, no doubt suggesting the notion of their identity. There are, however, no reliable data to confirm the hypothesis, althougli there is much in- direct evidence in its favour. Dr. O'Connor interprets Aithech Tuatlia as "giganteam gentem"; Dr. Lynch, in his Camhrensis Eversus, by " Plebeiorum hominum genus", an explanation which agrees in the main with O'Curry 's Dr. O'Donovan® looks upon them as descendants of the Firbolgs and other colonists who were treated as a servile and hostile race by the dominant Scoti. This opinion is supported by tradition, for, according to our legendary history, Breas Mac Elathan^ one '\/~^ of the Tuatha De Danand kings, was the first who imposed rents in Ireland, and the rent-payers were chiefly the Firbolgs, and so grievous were the burthens he imposed upon the whole country, that he was deposed. The Scoti or Milesians con- quered the Tuatha De Danand, and in turn made Aithechs or tenants of them, and so it has continued as in most other coun- tries, each succeeding conquering race obliging their conquered
' Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 95, note m.
XXIV INTRODUCTION.
predecessors to pay tributes and rents. The Irish Aithechs or tenants of to-day are composed of the descendants of Fir- bolgs and other British and Belgic races, Umorians, Fomorians, Tuatha De Danands, Milesians, Gauls, Norwegians, Anglo- Saxons, Anglo-Normans, and English, each successive dominant race having driven part at least of its predecessors in power into the rent-paying and labouring ranks beneath them, or gradually falling into them themselves, to be there absorbed. This is a fact which should be remembered by those who theorize over the qualities of " pure Celts", whoever these may be. First revoui The first of the Aithech Tuatha revolutions, if indeed there
tion of Atli 1JT/.7
eotti. were more than one, occurred, according to the Annals of the
t Four Masters, about ad. 9 or 10. We are told that the monarch, ' Crimthann Niadhnair, died at his Dun on the Hill of Howth, near Dublin, a.d. 9. The entry for the following year is: "The age of Christ 10. The first year of the reign of Cairpri Cindcait, after he had killed the nobility, except a few who escaped from the massacre in which the nobles were murdered by the Aithech Tuatha'\ This massacre, we are elsewhere told, X took place on Magh-Cro, or the Bloody Plain, in the county of Galway, whither they were invited to a feast by the con- spirators of the Aithech Tuatha, who then elected Cairpri Cind- cait as king. According to the story as told in nearly all our ancient manuscripts," the kingly race was preserved by three \ queens, wives of the lords of Ireland, being at the time preg- nant. One of them was Baine, the daughter of Luath Mac Derera, king of the Cruithent^laiih, or Picts, or, as he is styled in the Annals of the Four Masters, king of Alba; the second / was Gruibo, or, as she is called in the annals just referred to, Cruife, daughter of Gortniat, king of South Britain ; and the third was Aine, daughter of Caindi,^^ the great king of the ^ South Saxons. Baine had a son called Feradhach Findfecht-
^ '•' In the copy of tbe tract coutaining this story in the Book of Ballymote
(f. 140, a.a,), it is stated that the tract was copied from the Book of Glendaloch. 1° This name is interesting, for, although it cannot be identified with any of the Saxon kings' names, it betrays a striking family likeness to the names of the kings of Wessex. In the ^Annals of the Four Masters he is absurdly called king of iSaxony.
INTRODUCTION XXV
nach^ 01 the Fair Righteous, who is described in the Annals of the Four blasters under the year a.d. 36, as the son of Crimthann Niadlmair, but in the tract in the Book of Bally- ^ mote and other ]\ISS. he is mentioned as the son of Fiachnadh ^ Finnolaidh, who was killed a.d. 56, according to the same annals. Gruibo, or Cruife, who was married to Fidfech, the V blind king of Munster, bore a son called Corb Olum; and f Aine, who was married to Breasal Mac Firb, king of Ulster, >c bore a son called Tiprait TireacJt. jr
Cairpri Cindcait, after a reign of five years, died, and his son, Morand, surnamed the " Just", refusing the crown, recom- ^ mended the restoration of the princes so providentially pre- served. Feradhach became monarch of Ireland, and progeni- -^ tor of Con7i of the Hundred Battles, from whom are descended the principal families of Ulster and Connaught; Corb Olum became king of Munster, and progenitor of the celebrated Olioll Olum, from whom are descended the principal families of Munster ; Tiprait Tireach became king of Ulster, and was •^ the ancestor of Magennis and other families in the east of ^ Ulster. This was the Morand about whom the legend has come down to us, that he had a collar which, when put about the neck of a guilty person, squeezed him to death, but when put about the neck of an innocent person, expanded until it reached the earth.
According- to the Annals of the Four Masters, a second revo- second icto-
° . "^ ' lution.
lutlon took place in the year of our Lord 56, when the Fiacha , Finnfolaidh above mentioned was slain at the slaughter of Mayh-bolg (now Moybolgue, in the county of Cavan), by the "^ provincial kings, leaving his wife, Fithne, daughter of the X king of Alba, pregnant of a son, Tuathal Teachtrnliar, or the <• legitimate, who afterwards became monarch of Ireland. The leader of the second insurrection was Flim, son of Conra, king "^^ '\ of Ulster, who like Cairpri became monarch, and is said to ^ have reigned for twenty years. In the end, however, he was slain at the battle of Aichill, now the Hill of Skreen, near ''' Tara, by the Tuathal above mentioned. The latter there- upon succeeded to the monarchy, though not, it would appear, without great opposition, as he is reported to have fought no less
JCXVl INTRODUCTION.
than one hundred and thirty-three battles against the various tribes of Firbolgs and other non-Scotic peoples in the country. These accounts are very confused, and require to be very The accounts carefully analyzed. The Annals of the Four Masters tell us
of these re- J J •^
voiutiona that Crimtliamx died quietly at his Dun; while it is implied in
fused. the account in the Book of Invasions that he perished in the revolution of the Atticotti. According to the Annals, Caiiyri Cindcait obtained possession of the throne immediately after the death o^Crimthann, the usurper succeeding to the legitimate sovereign without any interregnum. In the second revolution the chief actors are provincial kings, who must have been either the immediate legitimate successors of the very men re- stored by 3Iorand after the first; or they must have been themselves usurpers of the party of Cairpri. It is important, however, that the plot in both cases is the same — an assembly of the people, a massacre at a feast, by which the whole of the royal line was cut off, save, in the first instance, three unborn children, and in the second, one, who are subsequently re- stored. There is the further confusion that not only is the mother of Feradhach, the prince restored by Morand, the daughter of Baine, daughter of the king of Alba, but the mother of Feid- limidh Rechtmhar, or the Lawgiver, son of Tuathal, is also a Baine; this Fcidlimidh having been, like his father, restored to power after what may be called a third revolution. Again, the son of this Feidlimidh the Lawgiver, the celebrated Conn of the Hundred Battles, was slain by an Ulster prince of the same name as the restored Ulster prince who escaped so provi- dentially the massacre of the first Aithech Tuatha revolution. But the confusion of the narrative of the Four Masters attains a climax when, under the year a.d. 15, it makes Feradhach, who was not yet born in a.d. 10, king of Ireland ! Keating,
Keatiiig's like tlic tract in the Book of Ballymote, and in other MSS.
cotticrevo- wliich I quotcd above, makes Cairpri succeed Fiacha Fino- ^ laidh, A.D. 56, and thus gets rid of the first Aithech Ttialha > revolution altogether. His account is certainly quite as con- sistent, notwithstanding the adverse criticism of Dr. Lynch and Dr. O'Donovan," as the contradictory and confused narrative of
" Annals of the Four Masters, i. p. 9", note.
^'
/
INTRODUCTION.
XXVll
/
lutioa.
the Four Masters. The revokition of the Aithech Tuatha, soKeatmg's far as we can judge of it by the traditions which have come ootuc°f ^"'" down to us, and especially by the lists of tribe names of the ruling and of the paying classes,''^ proves that the power of the dominant Scotic or Milesian lords was confined to a por-
'2 "The names of the Eent-tribes and their divisions according to tlie Book of Glendaloch: Tlie Kent- payers now distributed tlieniselves over Kriu after the extinction of lier free chil- dren and her free men, namely forty- eix tribes, viz. : — Semrighe, Saith- riffhe, Benntraighc, Cathraighe, Croth- ruigh, Brughraide, Scothraigh, La- thraighe, Carraighe, Gahhraigh, h- Uraighe, Mendroighe, Teocraighr, Rathraighc, Nndhraighe, Calli-aighe, JBondraighe, Bladliraighe, Ludraighe, Liiffrdtghe, Condraighe, Sedraighe, Granraighe, Curaigfi, Glosraighe, Bibraighe, Boecraige, Corcuige, Corco Ainge, Corco Dega, Corco Maiglii, Corco Muich, Corco Soilchend Corco Bili, Corco Bruidi, Dal Mochon Dal n-Didail, Dal Mathrach, Dal Maigni, Dal Tidilli, Dal Mochoirp Dal Mendato, Dal Muide, Dal Muig- id, Dal Mecon, Dal-h Uiscide".
'• These are the tribes of the Rent- payers. Their Tuatks follow here: — Gaileoin, Tuath Aitliechtha, Tual/i Fochmaind, Tuath Fidhga, Tuath Firbb, Tualh Brecraighe, luath Trei- thirni, Tuath Semonn, Tuath Biob- raighe, Tuath Mac Derbhchon, Tuath Benntraighe, Tuath Maistini, Tuath Cairige, Tuath Bibraighe, Tuath Sen- mogad. Tuath Sen-Erann, Tuath Fer More, Tuath Gebtine, Tuath Emeurighe, Tuath Mac Umoir, Tuath Cathbarr, Tualh Currat, Tualh Fcr- Bnidi, Tuath Fer-Ninais, Tuath Cath- raige, Tualh Stn-Chiiieoil, Tuath Choncobairni, Tuath Mac Umor, Tuath Resent Uinoir, Tuath Doinnann, Tuath Cruithnech, Tuath Cregraighe, Tualh Ochuinne, Tuath Guaire, Tuath Fard- uis, Tuath Cruithnech [of the North], Tuath Buain, Tualha Selli, 2'ualh,
n Eibluirg, Tuath Ligmniiie, Tuath, Tregae, Tuath Mauaige, Tuath Airbrt, Tualh Glasraighi, Tualh Connraighe, Tuath Dicaigne".
" Jt was after these that rent of base service grew upon the free elnnns of Eriu, viz., the lands on wliichthey [i.e. the rent-paying clanns] served were taken from them by the free clanns, and they were subdued, and the free clanns multiplied over them, and took their lands from them, so that the base rent followed upon the free clanns consequently, as attached to the land. For all the men of Eriu were free, except those we have enu- merated".
" The Kent-paying tribes were distributed throughout all Eriu, and the bondage rule of the lords of Eriu was established over them alter they had distributed them, ut est hie.
"I he Gadeoin in the province of Leinster, north of (za6a/-,-'^')and three divisions upon tliem; Tuath Fidga, Tuath Fochmain, and Tuath Aithe- clida, Tualha Fochmann in Ui Failgi^^^ and on the Fotharta Air- brech,('^> and on Almuun'^'^) [and the Martini, D. McFirbis], and what be- longs to it of families. Tuath Aithechda were upon the east of the Litiey, to the sea. Tuath Fidga upon the Forthu- ata'^^ of Leinster, and upon Ui Cenn- sellaighS^f [Ui Jrailge, D. McF.]
" Tuath Brecraighe upon Leinster, South of Gabur, i.e., upon Ossory.^^-* Tuath Treiihirm in Mag Bregmn,^^') and in the E ganacht of Cashel, etc. Tuath Hemonn in the Uecies of Mun- ster.^^^ Tuath Carraiq in Ui Lia^ tha7i,<-^o^ and in Ui Mac Cail/i.<^'> Tuath Bibraighe in Corcolaighe.'-'^^ Tuatha Mac Derbchon in Feara Mui-
(1) Probably Loch Gabhon, i.e., Lough Gower or, Logore, near Dunshaughlin, county of Meath (2) Offaly— the baronies of Kast and West OfFaly in the county of Kildare ; Portnahinch and Tiniiahinch in Queen's County, and the part of King's County in the dio- cese of Kildare and Leighlin (.3) A territory aLjout thu Hill uf Croghan, in the King's County. (4) J he Hill of Allen, county of Kildare. (5) Pait ot tlie counties of Wicklow and Carl .w. (0) South Leinster. (7) The territory included in the piesent diocese of Ossory. (8) 'Hie baronies of Iffa and Offa Kast, county of Tipperary. (9) The west part of the county of Waterford. (10) Barony of Barrymore, adjoining Corli Haibour. (11) Barony of Imokilly, county of Cork. (12) Baronies of West Carbery, Bcare, and Bantry, county oi
XXVlll
INTRODUCTIOX.
This revo- liition shows the Scntic jKiwer to have been recent.
I'istiibutioa of conquered iribes
throughout the country.
tion of the country at some short time previous to the series of cdvil wars which ukimately ended in the revolution; and that these wars were caused by their efforts to extend their power over the whole country. It is probable that the fo- reign expeditions, and the occupation of part of Britain, of which I shall presently speak, had momentarily weakened the Scotic power, and enabled the subjugated races to assert for a time their independence. After the restoration, the Sco- tic lords, in order to prevent a repetition of the overthrow of their domination, appear to have distributed the subject tribes throughout the country, and so arranged their strongholds or
gheS^^> Tuath Bentraighe in UiEchach of Munster.C*' Tuath Mairlini in Mus- craiqhe Mitainey^^ and the east of /"e- m"w,"^'6) and Uay Tuiliy^) and Tir Aeday^> and Breguin^^^ etc., and ill Ui Cairpre '•^^'>
"The seed of the slaves of the sons of Miledh, in West Munster,and in Corco- Duib.'me,'^^^ and in the Eoganacht of Loch Leiny^') and of Raitiilmn,^'^^'> and of Aine,^^*^ and of Glennamh- nach,'-^^') etc. Tuath Seti Erann firstly in Ciarraighe LuuchraX^^) and in Lau- chairDeagaldS^^) Tuath [Fer'l More, and Tuath Geibtine in Ui Chonaill
[Gabhral.C^**^ Tuath Eminrighe in Or- mond, <.-^) and in the Ellies,^'-'^ Tuatha Maca n-Umoir in Dal Ca('s,(^') and in Ui Fiachrach AidniS^^^ The Tuatha Ua Cuthbar and Ua Carra in Cor- ca Muiclii,^^^^ and Corca Bascainn,^* and of Didbne, ^^^'> iu Corcomruadh and Luighdi, ^^si and in the Ellies,<in<i in Uaithni, '3') in Muscraiyhe,^^^ and of Oic/ie,<^^^> in Ui Chonaill.
" Tuath Ferrudi in Corcmodh- riiadh.'^*^) Tuath Fer-mnais'-^^^ in the Eoganacht of Ros Argait, and ia ArainnS*'^ Tuath Cathraighe in Southern Ui MaineS*^^ Tuath Sen
Cork. (13) The ancient territory of Fermoy, comprising the present baronies of Fermoy, and Condons, and Clangibbon. (14) The southern Decies, east of the county of Waterford. (15) Baronies of Coislea and Small County in the county of Limericl<, and Clan- ■william in the county of Tipperary, a district of which the village of Emly was the centre. (16) Baronies of Iffa and Ofla, county of Tipperary, about Slieve na-mBann. (17) The district about Kells, county of Meath. (18) No doubt Muscraidhe Luachra, the country of O'h-Aodha, along the Blacliwater, county of Cork, and not the barony of Tir Hugh, county of Donegal. (19) Barony of Clanwilliani, county of Tipperary. (20) Baronies of Carberry, county of Cork. (21) Barony of Corcaguiny, county of Kerry. (22) A district around the Lake of Killarney. (23) Barony of Ivinelraeaky, county of Cork. (24) Knockany, county of Limerick. (25) Glanworth, barony of Fermoy, county of Cork. (26) North of Kerry and adjoining pait of the county of Limerick. (27) Slieve Loughra, near Castleisland, county of Kerry. (28) Baronies of Upper and Lower Conello, county of Limerick. (29) Barony of Lower Ormond, county of Tipperary. (30) Ely O'CarroU, i.e., the baronies of Clonlisk and Ballybrit, in King's County, and the baronies of Ikerrin and Elyogarty in the county of Tipperary. (31) The county of Clare. (32) The territory in- cluded in tlie diocese of Kilmacduagli, in the south of the county Galway. (33) Tlie Corca Muiche were a sept of the Ui Fidhgente whose chief was Mac Enerije (or Mac Ennery). The parish of Castletown where he resided is still called Corca Muichel. (34) Baronies of Clon- derlaw, Moyarta, and Ibricken, in the west of the county of Clare. (35) Barony of Corcoin- roe county of Clare. (36) Co-extensi.ve with the present diocese of Koss, in the south-west of the county Cork. (37) Barony of Owney, county of Tipperary. (38) i.e., Muscraidhe Breoghain, part of the barony of Clanwilliam, county Tipperary. (39) A territory in Ui Chonaill, see note 28. (40) That part of tlie territory of ancient Corcomroe, extending westward from Corra an Ruaid, now Coranroe, to Ath an lioide, now Koadford ; it also included the mountain of Sliabh Eibhline, and perhaps that part of Tuaheran, or Tuatha Ranna, called Mohar Ui Ruaidhin, i.e., Fer Ruidi In the barony of Corcomroe, county of Clare. (41) The district of tlie present barony of Galmoy, county of Kilkenny. (i2) Tuatha Fer Ninais, probably the Eoganaclit Jndassa, or of the Islands of Aran in the bay of Galway, which included some of the sea-board land of that county, and also of the north-west coast of Clare. It appears to have extended as far as Leim in Eich castle, or Horse Leap eastle, the well known residence of the kings of Tliomond, in the barony of Corcomroe. O'Douovan marks it as a place unknown. See O'Dugan's Topogr., p. 220, n.n. 690, 691. But see Wanderings of Maiolduin's Boat, Leabhar na h-Uldhre, p. 22. (43) A district on
INTRODUCTION. XXIX
Duns as to support each other, and enable them to warn the Distribntion country of any hostile movement of the people. This distri- tiibe"'^'^^'^*'' bution ig said to have taken place after the restoration of the°couiitry.
A Feradach Finnfeclitnacli^ son of Crimthann Niadlmair, ac- cording to the Four Masters, but son of Fiaclia Finola,
■^ according to the tract already referred to. Now, this Fiaclia^
accordinsf to the Four Masters, was father of Tuathal Techtmhar.
After this distribution it is not probable that the subjected
tribes succeeded in regaining their lands and power, and itis there-
' V foreprobable thatthe chief revolution ofthe Ailliech Tuaiha took
Cheneoil in Northern Ui Maine. '-**'> TuredhS^'^
The Tuath Concobarni, and of the " Tuath Ochaine \_FocJimuiiii, D.
sons of Umor upon Ui Briuin,^*^') and McF ] and Tuath Giiaire from Ross
around Loch Cime,^*'^^ and in Cluain Guilh^^' in Tir Viulla, [Chonnail,
FuicheM''') Tuath Resen upon the D. McF.] to Magh Ce/?(e,"''') and
C'onmaicni,'-*^) from Ath Mogho to [''ound, D. McF.] to Easruai/h,^^^>
the sea. The Tuath Mic Umor in Tuath Tarduis in Tir Eogain,^^^> and
UmallS*^) Tuath Fer Domnann in in Ui Neill of the north, Tuath Criiit-
the country of Ceara,'-^'^'' and in Ui nech [not given by J). McKirbis],
Ama/gad,^^*') and in Ui Fiachrach of the north from the Sidhan of
north/''^' from the [river] Rodb^^> Sliabh an Chaini'~'''->> to Jjowgh Foyle,
to the [river] Congnaig,'^*) in Car- and from Bernas of Tir Hugh '•^"i to
p;-j(5.'i) of D/oin Clialih ^^'^1 tlie Bann. Tuath Cruithuech in the
" Tuath Cruithnech in Magh Aei,'^'^-' country of U/idiaS^'^ and in Magh
and Magh Luiig,^^*^' from Loch Ce to Cobha.^^-^ Tuath Buaini of the Dim-
Brogail [ Bruigheol],'-^^) and to the buair, and Tuath Se/le in Dal Ai-
Shannon. raidhe.^''^^ Tuath Neb/iurg in Airghi-
^' 2\cath Crecraighe in Luighni'-''^'' of o//«,'^^) from Glen Righe^^> to Lough
Connacht and around Loc/; 2 ec/zflf?,('^'^ Erne, and from Buaigh [^Banna'] to
and about Corann '^^^ and about Bcr- Lough P\>yle, Tuath Liguiuine in
was of Tir Oiiilla,'-^'^> as far a.?, Magh GalengaS'^^ Tlie Tuath of the sons
hoth sides of the river Suck, barony of Clonmacnowen, county of Gahvay. (14) A district between Lough Kee and the river Suck, in the county of Roscommon, and on the bor- ders of Sligo and Mayo (45) Barony of Clare, county of Galwiiy. (-IG) Lougli Haekett, barony of Clare. (47) I have not identified tliis place]; it must be, however, in the same district as the two preceding places. (4S) Baronies of Kilmaine, county of ilayo, and Duniiiore, county of Galway. (49) Baronies of iluuesli and Burrishonle, in the west of Mayo. (.50) Barony of Carra, county of Mayo. (,J1) 'I'irawley in the county Mayo. (52) A territory embracing part or tlie wliole of tlie bamnies of Carra, lirris, and Tirawley, in Mayo, and Tireiiagli, and that part of Carbury south of DriimcUlf in Sligo. (S-j) Now the liobe, v/hence the town name Balliniobe, county JIayo. (54) A small stream which flows into the sea at Druinclilf, county of Sligo. (55) Barony of Carbury, nortli of county of Sligo. (56) Drumclitt', counlv of .Sligo. (57) A i.laiu in lios- commou extending from near the town of tliat name to the barony of Boyle, and from the .Shannon to Castlereagh. (58) The piesent barony of Boyle, county of Ros- common. (59) Briole in the barony of Athlone, county of lioscommon. fOO) A ter- ritory represented by the diocese of Achoiiry, and the name of which is preserved in that ofthe barony of Lagney, in tlu' county of Migo. (01) Lougli Gara, county of Sligo. (G2) Barony of Corann, counly of Sligo (tio) Barony of Tireriill, county of Sligo. (Hi) i.e., Magtt Turedli na b/i- Fonwrach, a townland in the parish of Kilinactranny, barony of Tirerrill, and county of >ligo. (05) BossguU. a piomontory in the barony of Kilmacrennan, county of Lionegal. (GO) The plain of Moy, between the rivers Erne and iJrowes, county of Donegal. (67) the falls of the Erne at Ballyshannoii (6S) Tyrone. (6;)) I'robiibly Carnteel or Cam tsiadhail, the earn of Siadliail, bar ny of Dunganoii, cownty of Tyrone. (70) Gap o. Barnis- more, county of Donegal. i71) Counties of Down and Antrim, east of the Bann and Lough Neagh, (I'l) Baronies of Upper and Lower Iveagh, county of Down. (73) Eastern coa.'>t of Down and Antrim, as far north as Sltmmish. (74) Oriel, consisting of parts of t)io counties of Louth, Monaghun, Armagh, and Fermanagh. (7-5) Tlie vale of Newiy. (76) I he barony of
XXX INTRODUCTION.
place under Fiacha, as Keating and the Book of Invasions assumed, and tlie distribution under his son Tuathal. The resistance offered to such forcible displacements of tribes would account for the one hundred and thirty-three battles the latter is said to have fought, as already mentioned, against the va- rious non-Scotic tribes. We may assume that this distribution of the tribute-paying tribes occurred in the first years of TuathaVs reign, which ended after over thirty years' duration, in A.D. 106, according to the Four Masters, while, according to other authorities, the Aithech Tuatha war was only finally suppressed in the year 130, so that his death may not have occurred before the year 160.'' First appear. If the Atticotti of historv be identical with the Aithech 4^
ance of Atti- -;—_ ^ — . ...
coitiinBri- Tuatlia. their first appearance in Britain must have been
tain caused . *■ ^ ,
by tiuscus- caused by the forcible displacement of the conquered tribes. Large bodies of them must also have acted as mercenaries to
/
the Irish monarchs on their foreign expeditions. They are not named by Ptolemy among British tribes, which is negative evidence in favour of their Irish origin. The first Roman
of Tredha in Westmeath and upon Liiaighne in the Breagha,^^'*'' and in
the Feara Ftara^^^> and in Cuir- Laeghaire,^^'^ and in Ardfful,^^^^-dnd m
cneS^^^ Tuath Masrair/he in ]\lafjh tlie two Delvins,^^^^ and Ui Mac
Slechl^''^' in Ui Brixdn of Breifne i«") Uais,^^*) and to Temar,(^^> and from
Tuath Airbri in Ttahtha [on the Inhher Colptha,^^^) to the confluence
south side of, I). McFirbis]. Tuath at Clonard. And in such way were
Glasraighe in Cairpri,^^'^ and about they distributed" [and the rent of
Loch ai/en.''^-') Tuath Connraighe in Eiriu was imposed upon them. And
Sliabh B?-eaghS^^ and in Mughdor- it is forty-seven Tuaths in all that
«rt"*'> and in Uib Saghuin,^^^> and in are to be counted of theni. I).
the Feara Rois,^^^ and in the Feara McFirbis]. Book of Ballgmote,f. 140,
Arda,'-^^> and in the Feara Lurg,'-^^) a.a., and McFirbis, Book of Genea-
and in the two CremthannsS^^i Tuath logics, pp 47 to 52.
Mor-Gallion in Meath, and part of Clanlsea in Cavan. (77) Teathbha, or Taffla North, consisted of the greater part of the county of Longford. Teathbha, or Taffia South, of the western half uf Westmeath, the boundary line being the river Inny (7S) The barony of Kilkenny West, county of Westmeath. (79) A district around Bdllyniagauran, county of Cavan. (80> The counties of Leitrim and Cavan, the Ui Bruin being in the latter, (si) Cairpre Gabhra, barony of Granard, in the north of the county of Longford. (82) Loch Sailen — Lough Shealin, on the borders of Cavan, Longford, and Westmeath. (83) Slieve Hreagh, county of Louth. (84; Barony of Cremorne, county of Monaghan. (85) A territory to the north of Ardbraccan, county of eatli. (86) Part of the barony of Farney, in Monaghan, and the adjoining district in the counties of Louth and .\Ieath. (87) Barony of Ferraid, county of Loutli. (88) Barony of Lurg, county of Monaghan. (89) Barony of Slane, county of Meath. (90) The plain along the sea coast in East Meath and Louth, to the r.ver Annag>iis, near Dundalk. (91) The dis- trict about Trim, coriesponding to the greater part oi the baronies of Upper and Lower Navan, in the county of .Meath. I'rim is described in the Book of Armagh, f Iti, b. b. as " in- finibus Loiguiri Breg". (92) In iiast xMeath, but position not determined. (93) Dealbhna Beg, the Barony of Demi Fore in Jiast .Meath Dealbhna Mor, the bai ony of iJelvin in the east- ern part of Westmeath. c91) Barony of Moyfenrath, East Meath. (95) Tara, county of Meath. ^96) The estuary of the Boyne.
'^ See A. Four M., note 7, vol. i. p. 98.
INTRODUCTION. XXXI
author who mentions them is Ammianiis,'* and their historic st. Jerome's existence was short. St. Jerome mentions them in connection the Auic'otti with the Scots, the picture which he paints of both being very unfavourable, and based rather on prejudice than accurate in- formation.'^ Milesian writers themselves have not been very favourable to the Aithech Tuatha. Cairpri Cindcait, like all other revolutionists, whether in the interest of royalty or re- publicanism, of oligarchy or democracy, has suffered the penalty of the final unsuccess of the cause. One of the most Bardic ac- striking instances of the way in which the Bards distorted (^oTriori history in the interest of the ruling race is afforded by the re- pulsive colours in which the person as well as the rule of Cairpri have been painted. He was called the " Cat-head", and figured by the poets with the ears of a cat, and his face covered with fur. The state of the country during his supposed reign is pictured in the gloomiest colours; nature is said to have pro- nounced in favour of the legitimate rulers by refusing her accustomed gifts : the grass withered, the corn was blighted, the cattle got murrain. But when the Milesian rule was restored, according to the Four Masters, in Feradhach the " Just", " ffood was Ireland during his time. The seasons were riorht tranquil. The earth brought forth its fruit; fishful its river mouths ; milkful the kine". During the supposed reign of the second Aithech king, Elim, nature again declared against the usurper, and the land was without corn, milk, fruit, or fish.
The translation of Cindcait by "Cat- Head" is probably the cindcait di.i suggestion of some malignant bard. The Welsh laws applied "cathead", the term " caeOi^ to the lowest class of serfs or slaves, and Cindcait would consequently mean head of the serfs or unfree men. This explanation is rendered the more probable by the
'* xxvi. 4 ; xxvii. 8.
'* Scotorum natio uxores proprias non habet, et quasi Platonis politiam le- gerit et Catonis sectetur exemplum, nulla apud eos conjux propria est sed ut quique libitum fuerit, pecudum more lasciviunt. — Advers. Jovinian. Scoto- rum et Atticotorum ritu ac de Republica Platonis promiscuas uxores com- munes liberos liabeant. Epist. ad Ocean. Ipse adolesceiitulus in Gallia vidi Atticotos {al. Atticottos), geutem Britanuicam, bumauis vesci carnibus. Advers, Jovinian,
XXXll INTRODUCTION.
circumstance that tlie subjected clans appear to have belonged to the same race as many British tribes on the west coast of Britain, and that according to the Book of Invasions, Cairpri was himself an Aithech. Another explanation may, however, be found in the existence of the name Cat among the Cruithentuaith, who were, as will be seen from the list at p. xxvii., among the defeated rent-payers. One of the seven sons of Cruithne who divided Alba between them was called Cat. Moranda Thcrc is just as mucli, if not more, doubt about 3forann or tov^lJtL^'^' Morand, as about Cairpri and the other personages who levoiution. figuTcd in tlic AHhecli Tuatha revolution. According to the Four Masters, Morand was the son of Cairpri. But the tract already quoted tells us that : " These were the three rent-payers who were the chief advisers of the rent- paying tribes of Eriu at this time, viz., 3Iorand, and Buan, and Cairpri Cinclcait; and Cairpri Cindcait was the head of them all: and they ad- vised the Aithech Tuatha to kill their lords". In the Tain Bo Chuailgtie, which belongs to an earlier period, Morand and Cairpri are, however, offered by Medh as sureties for the per- formance of her promises to Ferdiad,''^ and are clearly intro- duced there as gods, or mythical personages. The name of the third adviser, Buan, is so like Buand, or Baanand, — which also occurs in the Tain Bo Chuailgne^^ — forms of the name of the great goddess Anand, that taken in connection with the reference to the others in the " Fight of Ferdiad" just alluded to, we may safely conclude that the three advisers of the Morand Aifhech Tuafha were their gods. '^ If there was a real Morand
probably . _^ ,..^
niythoiogi- connected with the Atiicotti, some of the qualities of the my-
cal person ^ , . _ •*• •'
Hcesor thical pcrsonao;es were attributed to him exactly as the Icijends
deities. i o J D
of the Tuatha De Danand goddess Brigit daughter of Dagdai
'^ See Fight of Ferdiad, Appendix, vol ii. p. 419.
'* MorQnd is usually called Muc.^Maein. See Cormac's Gloss v. Morann.
''' See Fight of i-erJ/ac?, Appendix, vol ii, p. 455. A Tuatha D€ Danand chief named Sainer, had a daughter also name Buan. She gave judgment between the (Jltonians as to who was most M-orthy of the champion's bit at a feast, and is said to have fallen in love with Cuchulaind. bhe t )o appears to have been a goddess, as she is said to have^ruiecTthe spirits of the glens, t"ie Geiniii Glindi. Queen il/ec?6 herself appears to have exercised supreme authority over those spirits. See Leab. na h-Uidhri,p 109, col. 1.
INTRODUCTION. X\Xm
Mor^ have been confounded with those of St. Bj:<rit. It is more probable, however, that Cairpre, Morand, and Feradhach are all mythical personages.
Tuatlial Tecldmhar or " the Legitimate", has all the charac- Tnaihiit^ teristics of reality about him, and his reign is especially inte-age;' resting as marking perhaps the epoch of the complete organi- zation of the political system which existed down to the estab- lishment of English power in Ireland. Until the time of this king, ]\Ieath consisted of only one principality or 7uath, a term whicli will be fully explained in a subsequent section; ho enlarged it to eighteen, in order to provide sufficient mensal land for the king of Eriu. In other words, he was properly the founder speaking the author of the ancient Irish Pentarchy. He cele-ticai organt- brated the Feis Teamhrach, or great feast of Tara, and cstab- Ireland, lished the fairs of Tlachtjja, Uisnech, and TaiUe, and lastly he imposed the fine upon Leinster, known as the Boireamli Laig- hen, or " Cow-Tribute of Leinster", which continued to be paid during the reigns of forty monarchs of Eriu. The cause of the imposition of this tribute is assigned by legend to the insult offered by a Leinster king to I'uathal and liis two daughters. The Leinster king having rnarrieJ one of Tuathais daughters, pretended after some time that she had died, and then (jot her sister in marriage. When the sisters discovered the fraud, they are said to have both died, one of shame and the other of grief. This leijend is valuable as showing that ti.e state of morality in pagan Ireland, was very different from that depicted by St. Jerome. The tribute itself affords an cx-TheBve- ample of vassalage as perfect as any offered by Trance or the laighen. m
„ „ . ? . 1 ,. , . , T 1 • 1 example of
German Eiupire during the medieval times, and proves, 1 think, vassalage beyond doubt, that the principle of the political organization exhibited by the law tract called Crith Gablach, published in the appendix, and to which I shall make fiequent reference in the sequel, and consequently the laws regulating the occu- pation of land, date at least from this period.
It is probable that, after the non-Scotic tribes had been ?cotic con- successfully reduced, and amalgamated with the dominant coasts of one, by being transplanted from difFeient districts, the preda- tory excursions from Ireland to the coasts of Britain assuuied INT. o*
XXSIV IXTRODUCIION
the more steady purpose of permanent conquest. I have already stated that such conquest appears to have preceded the Aithech Tu<i Iha r&volntion, but it must have been confined to parts not easily protected by Roman arms; and the pos- se:-sion of the conquered territory must have been very pre- carious. Indeed the idea naturally suggests itself that tlie advent of the Scoti into Ireland, which undoubtedly took place at a much later date than that assumed by the Irish V annalists, may have been connected with the conquest of Gaul and Britain by the Romans. ProsptTity The Romaus replaced the villages of the Britons by cities uiKieVthe and towns, and introduced mucli of the material civilization .oiiians, ^^ ^1^^ Mediterranean nations. South Britain was celebrated for its mineral wealth, and was by the working of its mines made one of the richest and most important provinces of the empire, made it a and the natural prey of its warlike and less civilized, or less y lii^e^iieigV-'" materially gifted neighbours — thejiish onthe west, the Picts on the north, and the Scandinavians and Germans on the South-east east and south-east. The latter had extended themselves saxonbefore westward along the sea shore from the Elbe to the strait of Dover, at a very early period, and had already colonized the south and south-east of Britain before the invasion of Cassar. There seems little doubt that the part of the Belgic and French coasts to which the Romans gave the name of the " Saxon Shore", got this name not because it was exposed to Saxon incursions, but because it was inhabited by Saxons, as has been already conjectured by Palgrave. Identity of race and language no doubt led to frequent intercourse between the more eastern Saxon races, the " Saxon Shore" and south-east Britain; and accordingly when the movement of the German nations on the Roman empire set In, a stream of adventurers flowed into Britain, allured by its wealth and political dis- Tiiemytb of organization The myth of Hengist and Horsa has no doubt Horsa. ariscn from the arrival of some such body of adventurers, in- vited over perhaps by some deposed prince or outlaw. What- ever civilization penetrated into this Saxon population from Biiiaiu bar- the Roman colonies established in their midst, must have /
liarized by
invasious. almost disappeared owing to the steady influx of barbaric
INTRODUCTION. XXXV
^ Saxons, and the constant war for supremacy which was waged down to the fh-m establishment of Saxon dominion in England. The same phenomenon was presented by Wales, Avhich, in the level countries at least, must have been more or less Roman- ized; yet, owing to the continued incursions of the Irish during the later Roman times, and the conquest of North , Wales, and ultimately of all the country by the Picts or Strathclyde Britons, was almost completely barbarized during several centuries; to such a degree Indeed as to lose almost every tradition of their own past, and adopt in their stead those of a northern tribe.
The common object of attack, Roman- Britain, brought therrishand
■X- t ' y TO • 1 •1*11 Saxons Ciiir.e
Jnsla and Saxons m contact at an early period. And that into contact this intercourse was on the whole of a most friendly character, period, is shown by the frequent intermarriages which, as I have already stated, took place between them, and their presence at the courts of Irish princes, but, above all, by the number of early Irish missionaries who devoted themselves, not only to the establishment of churches and monasteries in tlie north-
, east of England, but curiously enough followed the stream of
[- German population from the strait of Dover through Bel- gium to tlie Rhine, that is, from the Ictian sea, of which there is so frequent mention in Irish MSB. relating to very early times, and to which one Irish prince, at least, led an expedi- tion. We have another proof of this alliance against thcTiieirhos-
V Romanized Britons in the way in which Saxons were received result o'/poi at the schools of, Ireland. The hostility of the two peoples tious m appears to have first arisen in consequence of the quarrels be- England, tween the liish and Saxon churches. Political causes helped to develope this hostility as soon as the Saxon dominion ex- tended to the north of England, and the Saxon kings of Northumbria came into direct contact with the Scotic king- dom established in Scotland. The wars carried on by the Saxon
I kings against the Scots and Picts involved the Irish in the quarrels of their brethren in Scotland, and led to the ra- vaging of the coasts of Ijieland by the Saxons. Venerable Bede records an expedition of this kind sent in the year 684 '
by Egfiid, kmg of the Northumbrians, under a commander ' '6* B
XXXVl IKTROD'JCTION.
named Beort, which " miserably wasted that harmless nation,
which hadalways Leen most friendly to the English, insomuch
that in their hostile rage they spared not even the churches or
Saxons first monasteries".'^ It is in the seventh century that we find men- mentioned .„-.,. n ^ CI • rjM r- as enemies tion lor the tirst time 01 the Ibaxons as enemies. Ihe nrst
century, and notice CI the Danes or Norsemen occurs m 790, or more cor-
Danes in the ., ^
end of rectly 795. After this date, and until the arrival of the Nor-
eighth ; •'
mans, the Danes alone are mentioned as hostile foreigners, of impor- Tliis cii'cumstance is of very great importance in connection
tunce in ^ z-r ■
connection with the date of the law tract, the Crith Gablach. In describ-
Vt ith date of _
Law Tract, ing the rights of a king, it says: " For there are three rights which it is proper for a king to exercise upon his people : one is a right [to raise levies] to drive out foreign races, i.e., Saxons" If the example be not an interpolation of much later times, it shows, taken in connection with other circumstances, that the important document in question belongs to the period anterior to the Viking expeditions, and in all probability to the middle or end of the seventh century.
Whatever may have been the relation between Ireland and Britain before the arrival of the Romans, there can be no doubt that after that event, and before the firm establishment of Roman rule, the state of the western districts offered in- ducements to the Irish to attack them, even before the move- ment of the continental Saxons in aid of their British brethren began. That the Irish attacks on Britain were not always mere plundering expeditions, but ultimately led to a more or less permanent conquest of parts of it, is proved by evidence from different sources.
Traces of Edward Llwyd was the first who noticed that the names of
Irish names . — • r- ^ , - . .
in West nvcrs and other topographical designations m south-west Britain bore traces of an ancient Gaedhelic occupation. He conjectured that the Gaedhil had occupied Britain before
'^ Lib. iv. c xxvi. Alcuin a'so speaks of the same evunt, and of the friend- _\ ship of the Irish and the Saxons, in the fohowiiig Hues: \ Praefuit Egfrldus regno feliciter amis
Ter quinis faciens vietricia bella, quousque, Agminibus missis aninio trans aequora saevo, Precipiens gentes Scotorum caede cruenta Vastare mnocuas, AngHset semper anucns, etc.
Poama de Ponirfic. et SancL Eccl. Ebo^-acensu , 835
INTRODUCTION. XXXVll
tlie Britons; but his hypothesis is wholly inconsistent with the extent our present knowledge of Celtic philology. The Gaedhelic names ex- character of the West British topographical nomenclature has, however, been much exaggerated. So far as it goes, it proves that the Gaedhelic occupation was posterior to, and not earlier than, the so called Cymric colonization, unless by that coloniza- tion be meant the conquest in the fifth century of Wales by the race of Cunedda, which is extremely probable.
Ritson^° suggested the first, so far as I know, that Wales had been invaded and occupied by the Irish. The Rev. W. B. Jones, who evidently favours Llwyd's theory, has shown, in an / essay of great value, that several such invasions are referred to in Welsh traditions, which variously state their duration from 29 to 329 years.''
One of the invasions of the Gwy^ddyl, as the Irish are al- -t^ ways called in Welsh manuscripts, is recorded in the Triads.
Among the three people who invaded the Isle of Britain and again quitted it, mentioned in the eighth Triad, is the army which the Gwyddelian or Irishman Ganfael led into the country of Gwynedd or North \A'ales. This occupa- tion is said to have lasted only twenty- nine years, the Irish having been at length driven into the sea by Caswallawn, son of Beli, son of Manogan. Notwithstanding the state of bar- barism into which Wales had sunk for some time after its conquest by the Strathclyde Britons or Cumbrians, under Cunedda and his sons, many historical traditions respecting that period, which are now lost to us, must have come down to the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The Triads belong to these centuries, but no worse vehicle could have been chosen for the transmission of historical materials. The invasion by the Tiie invasion
. •' mentioned
Irish mentioned in them, belonofs, however, to a period longfiiy xnaiis
' ° . ^ took placa
after the conquest of Wales by the northern Britons. (?an- ^f^" ♦^f''*
■*■ . . •' _ cental y.
Jael would be in Irish Cennfaeladh, a name which occurs for the first time in the Annals of the Four Masters under A.D. G70. The Cenvfaeladh there mentioned, was son ot'
»o Annals of the Caledonians, i. 13, etc.
*i Vestiges of the Gael in Gwynedd. Supplement to J rvAao/oyia Cambrenais ;Jl- /or 1850; and separately printed by London and Tenby, Ibol, pp. 17 and 2t<.
XXXVIU INTRODUCTION
Blathmac^ and reigned as monarch of Ireland for four years. So far as can be known from the Annals, this king had no rela- tions with Britain. But under the year 680 we are informed that " the battle of Rath-Mor- Maiyhe-Line"-^ [was gained] over the Britons", etc. ; and in 683 occurred the Saxon invasion already mentioned. It is likely that those two invasions were connected with Ganfael or Cennfaeladlis occupation of T!iere was North Walcs, which probably took place in the first half of
ail eariier . .
occupation, the sevcntli century, and had nothing to do with the earlier oc- cupation of West Britain, with which alone I am here con- cerned.
This earlier occupation was pre Roman. At the period of the conquest of the island of Mona, or Anglesea, by PauUinus Suetonius, and doubtless for a century or more previous to that event, a large part of Wales, as for at least as a line from the river Clwyd in Denbighshire to Swansea in Glammorganshire, was ruled by chiefs who were not only Irisli, but in all proba- bility owed allegiance to Irish kings. The Isle of Man be- came Ivish at the same time, or at some time during the Roman period. Orosius says, that equally with Ireland, it was " inha- bited by pe'^ople of the Scots". The occupation of Man dates perhaps Irom the period of the predatory expedition of Curoi Mac Daire and Cuchidaind, already mentioned. We find, however, through all the oldest legends, refierences to that island, and to Mananand Mac Lir, a mythical personage specially connected with it. JNennius tells us that the sons oi' Liathan ob- tained the country of the Uemetae, and other districts, namely, Guir or Govver, and Cetgueli or Kidwelly, until they v/ere ex- pelled by Cunedda and his sons from all the regions of Britain.
The Neme- Jt may be that the mythical occupation of the Island of Mona
(nans per- •' J i.
ted wlth"^*^ by Britcm Mael, the grandson of Nemid, after the defeat of the Nemedians by the Fomorians,^^ is founded upon a real occupa- tion which began some time before the commencement of the Christian era. The Nemedians of this legend Avere the des- cendants of one of the kast noticed early colonies of Ireland,
'^^ Now Rathmore, in the plain of Moj liniiy, parish of Donnegore, county of Antrim. ^^ See Lecture ix. vol. i. p. 185.
tlrs occu- Iiation.
/
;
h
INTRODUCTION'. XXXIX
but which I have no doubt will prove to 1 ave been one of those wliose history would throw most liglit on the ethnolosry of western Europe. According to legendary history, the Tuatha D6 Danand and FirhoJas were branches of the Nemedians. The latter and the Tuatha De Danand had druids, and prac- tised druidism, and it is in connection with the conquest of the Isle of Anglesey that we first hear of druids in Britain. The name TAathan occurs too in Irish topography, as Crich Liathain^ a district in the county of Cork, which included Ard Neimhidh, or Nemid's Hill, now Great Island in Cork Har- bour. There JVemid, the leader of the first colony of Neme- dians, is said to have died of the plague.
That the Irish dominion over West Britain was of sufficient ••xtcnt r,f duration to leave its impress m some lorm on the country, and simwn by
. '■ . . stoi-v (it
that it was not confined to the Scotic settlement in Scotland ^/"& i^unkt. and to North Wales, but extended over South Wales and Cornwall, appears in many ways. In Cormac's Glossary, under the article Mug Eime, we are told, in connection with the first introduction of the lap-dog into Ireland, of an Irish envoy sent to collect tribute, wTuch was no doubt chiefly bronze or the materials used for making it — copper and tin — from the people of the south-west of Enijland. In the same article, Glaston- Gia.stoTibury
. . . of the Irisli.
bury is called Glastonbury of the Gaedhil, and it is probable^ that much intercourse continued in early Christian times be- tween Ireland and the religious houses of Glastonbury.
The statement in Cormac respecting the levying of tribute in England, is borne out fully by the celebrated romance of Romance of Tristan and Iseult. In that tale Morhault, brother of the iseuUsup queen of Ireland, the mother of Iseult, is sent from Ireland tost'.>i-yof .1/1*^ demand tribute from Marc, king orCoruAvall, uncle of Tristan. There can be no doubt that Chrestien de Troyes, or whoever was the author of the prose romance of Tristan and Iseult, from whom the materials of Gotfried of Strasburg's Middle High German poem of" Tristan und Isold" were almost cer- tainly borrowed, obtained directly or indirectly the story from British tales embodying traditions of the early ages to which the Gaedhelic occupation must be referred. Perhaps to the same cycle may be referred the original tale upon which the beau-
xl INTRODUCTION.
Poem 0 tiful Middle High German poon of Gudrun was founded. The scenes of several cantos of that fine poem are laid in Ireland, '^■ and the whole character of the poem seems to me to indicate that, though much use may have been made of the later Norse saga, part of the materials belong to a Norse or Germanic period of intercourse vv^ith Ireland, earlier tlian the Viking ex- ^ peditions of the ninth and tenth centuries. It may be too that the tales of King Arthur belong to the period of the Irish occu- pation, and that he and his knights fought with the Gaedhil and their British allies, and not with the later Saxons of Wessex. One thing is certain : the traditions that form the basis of Welsh poetry and literature, and many of their laws, are not Welsh, but belong to their earlier conquerors, the Irish, or their later ones, the Stratbclydc Britons. Of the proper traditions of the Sih;res and other races of Wales and the west of England, scarcely a vestige remains; they have died out with the languages which those races spoke. Mr. Basil Jones has also come to the conclusion that the Welsh have no his- tory relating to the time previous to the period of Cunedda, and that the earliest Welsh legends arc nearly all connected with South Wales or North Britain.^*
jr'shdo- The Irish dominion must have been very precarious in the
ri inion Jive- -iiit'l ii ••
carious in first ccnturv : indeed under .Agricola it must have been practi-
llrstcenturj-. . , t-v i i pi r • i i •
cally annihilated. But that the power of the Irish at the time was not as insignificant as the story related by Tacitus'^ would K lead us at first to suppose, may be gathered from the fact that the Romans never invaded Ireland, although no one could have understood better the importance of the possession of Ireland as a means of preserving Britain, than Agricola, judging v by the words put by Tacitus into his mouth. ^"^ The political
"'■^ Vts'iges of the, Gael in Gwynedd, 54,
^^ Agricola expulsuni seditione domestica unum ex regulls gentis exee- perat, ao specie amicitiae in occasionem retinebat. Saepe ex eo audivi legione una et modicis auxiliis debellari obtinerique Hiberninm posse. Agricola, c. xxiv.
2" "Si quidem Ilibernia, medio inter Britanniam atque Hispaniam sita, et Gallico quoque marl opportuna, valentissimam imperii partem magnis invirem usibus miscuerit. Spr.tium ejus, si Critanniao comp:iretar angustius, nostri maris insulas superat. Solum coeluniqueet ingenia cultu^que hominum baud raultum a Britannia differunt, nee in melius. Additus portu?que per com-
,.^x
INTRODUCTION. xjj
oi'ganization of Ireland, it should be rcmemlered, was very The irish weak for purposes of defence against an invading enemy ; the f!"rXftnce», chief king had no power over the numerous subreguli beyond foioflv-nte; I what he could enforce by arms, and there was no cohesion even among clans the most closely related- Tacitus' statement that two tribes of the Britons could rarely be got together to repel the common danger, and consequently while fighting singly they were always conquered," applies with equal force to Ire- land,— indeed I might say to ancient Gaul, Germany, and every country formed of a number of small states practically independent of one another. Such countries might however have sent forth very formidable invading armies, in which the principle of military honour, fidelity to the chosen war chief, and a sense of the common danger in the enemy's country, would give that unity of action which could not possibly be attained at home. An army of this kind would readily adopt the policy of those civilized states with which it came in con- tact, especially of those where a centralized strong government had wholly or in great part obliterated the original tribal go- vernment, while the tribes at home would remain impervious to such influence. This explains why the Gauls always re- explains mained a loose affofretjation of tribes which one by one were '^^aui v^y
Humans
subdued by Rome, while the Germans, who were a closely allied people, composed of a similar loose aggregation of states, and having the same laws and customs, succeeded in break- ing up the Roman Empire when the tribal distinctions were of noman obliterated, by the whole people being resolved into invading Germans; armies. So in like manner the British power fell, and a strong centralized Saxon government arose after the Saxon clanship had been to a great extent broken up by the continuous immi- gration of Germanic adventurers from the continent into a Saxon population already largely influenced by Roman ideas. Lastly, it explains the history of Ireland subsequent to the
mercia et negotiatorca cogi.iti". After mentioning tlie sTiggestion of the Irish king above quoted, he adds: " Idque etiam adversus Britanniam profu- turum, si Komana ubique arnia, et velut a conspectu libertas tolleretur". Ibid. •^' Rarus duabus tril usve civitatibus ad propulsindum commune pericu- lum cunventus: ita,duin singulipugnant universi vincuntur Agricola, c- 12.
xlii INTRODUCTION.
and of Ire- iiivasion of the Normans. Prejudice rather than cahn phi- Kormana. losophic judgment has attributed these events to a superiority of race on the part of tlie conquerors, and an incapacity on the part of the conquered to adapt themselves to certain forms of government, the conquering and conquered races being in most cases practically the same, and the fundamental principles of their original laws and policy alike. On those grounds we may therefore admit Tacitus' statement of the small force necessary to reduce Ireland, to be quite compatible with the opinion above given, that as an invading power it was not in- significant. state of Affain, in the time of Carausius, who made himself emperor of
lush power . . . .
in the Britain, A.D. 289, the Irish inroads must have been checked. A
time of
Carausius. Mcnapian by birth, and therefore probably of Irish extraction,
and a pirate by profession before he was employed under Dio- X^ cletian and Maximian to repress the ravages of the Saxons and of the Franks, whose name first occurs about this time in Roman history, he must have been thoroughly acquainted with the state of Ireland, and with the ability or inability of the Irish to maintain their supremacy along the western and south- Franks western coasts of Britain. Carausius, it is well known, em- N
brought into
Britain by ploved large bodies of Frankish mercenaries, whom he settled
him and he- | "^ , , ° '
came known m Britain. It is important to mention that the Franks are
to Irish at _ _ '■ _
thi.s time, noticcd in several early Irish tales relating to events which are attributed in our annals to a somewhat earlier period than the time of Carausius, though some of them may with more ^ certainty be referred to the latter period ; but we have already seen that the foreigners of 31ac Con at the battle of Magh Mucreimhe consisted chiefly of Frankish and Saxon adven- turers.
Irish. Picts, During the reign of Constantius Chlorus, who passed the
and Saxons, .... .
kept in greater part of his life in Britain, and of his son, Constantino
check in tlie n ^ ....
reignof the Great, the Roman power and civilization were firmly
Constantius , _ -^ J
coiStTn'^ established in that country, which attained a remarkable degree the Great ; of prosperity and peace.^® During these reigns the Irish, Picts,
2* Britannia . . . terra tanto fritgum ubere, tanto laeta munere pastionum, tot mettalorum fluens rivis, tot vectigalibus qusestuosa, tot a cuncta portu- bus". Eumen. Paneg. Const. Caes., c. xi. Cf., also his Paneg. Const. Aug. • c. ix.
INTR :l ICTIdN. xllll
and Saxons appear to have been kept in check; but in the f.irmid.ibie reign of Constantine's successor, Constantius, the rapacity and maJie'by cruel tyranny of the notary Paulus, and the subsequent rebel- cojibiautmu. lion of the Pannonian Valentinus, so weakened the country as to render it an easy prey to the enemies just named, who appear to have formed an offensive alliance. The Irish and Picts are said to have reached London and occupied it. The general commanding the Romano-British troops, Fullofau- des, and the dux, or commander of the maritime district, Nec- teridus, opposed to the Saxons, were slain. It required all the skill and ability of Theodosius, the father of the emperor, to save the province from total destruction. The allies were de- Pefeateci by
. r>>i •• • 11 11 1 1 lieociosius.
feated by him m the year oC8, but it is questionable whether he was able to drive them within their previous limits, notwithstand- ing that he is said to have pursued them to the extremity of Britain, until the Orcades were stained with Saxon gore, Thule warm.ed with the blood of the Picts, and icy Eriu mourned over her heaps of slain, or — as some will have it — the graves, of her slauglitered Scots. ^^ It is probable that the Roman fleets pursued the Scots into the Irish ports also, and yet it is strange that no attempt was made to occupy any part of Ireland, and thereby sto]) the stream of adventurers who used their settlements on the British coasts as vantage grounds for pillaging the Roman provinces.
A noble Briton, or as some think a Spaniard, named Alaxi- Acts of mus, who had acquired great reputation under Theodosius assisted in in the war against the Scots, Picts, and Saxons, took ad- ing urituin. vantage of the condition of affairs in the empire, and was pro- claimed emperor by the army. Had he been prompted by patriotism to found a British kingdom, rather than by his am- bition to establish a western empire at Treves, the destiny of the British Islands might have been very different. As
"^^ Quid rigor aeternus caeli, quid sidera prosunt,
Ignotuiuquefretum? muducruut Saxone fuso
Orcades : incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule :
Scotorum cumulos [a/ tumulos] flevit glacialis lerne. — CI. Claudiani de Quarto consulatu Honorii Augusti, Paneyyris, 30, 34. Fee also Amihianus Marcellinus, lib. xxvi. c. 8.
xliv IXTRODL'CTiON.
it was, his acts greatly assisted in the subseqiicnt Germanizing of the whole of England, a process which had been well begiui already by Carausius, and which was aided by the introduction of German legions by the Romans. Maximus drew away all the veteran troops into Gaul and Germany, and thus opened a way for the advance of the Irish, Pictish, and Saxon enemies. Biitish It is probable that part of the British troops who accompanied settled in him into Gaul were settled down as Lati, or " Milites limitanei", that is, as military colonists, in Britanny, and thvis formed a nucleus around which gathered the fugitives from Britain durincj the desolatinof wars which occurred in the latter in the fifth and sixth centuries.
Maximus, taken prisoner at Aquileia in the year 387, was put to death by order of the Emperor Theodosius, who died him- self in 395, after having appointed his son Honorius emperor of the west, with Stilicho as his guardian and general in chief. That very able general appears to have been in a position, im- mediately on his accession to power, to send troops into Britain to assi.-t in repelling its old enemies, who made scotie, another formidable invasion of it in 396-397. This invasion saxon^im"a. IS of signal importance as a landmark of Irish History, for, on -w^aniin- the onc hand, according to the Irish annals, a prince ruled at mirk in I'lusil the time in Ireland celebrated for his foreign wars, Niall us oiy. ^^ ^^^ Nine Hostages; and on the other hand, we have the /^ positive testimony of a Roman writer that the Scots came from Ireland. The Romans and Britons appear to have been ciaudian's ^^ ^ time morc or less successful in the war. In one of Clau- iHs'irsco^ts" dian's poems, Britain, personified as Britannia, speaks of the^were* Stllicho, the Romau general, protecting her from neighbouring nations when the Scot moved all lerne, and the sea foamed with hostile oars; and adds that, supported by his spears, she should not fear Scotie enterprises, nor tremble at the Picts, or look out alonor the coast for the coming of the Saxons with inauspicious winds.^" We need no other evidence to show
*o Inde Caledonio velata Britannia monstro, ■ FerroPicta genas, cujus vestigia verrit / Coerulus, Oceanique aestuni mentitur, amictus : Me quoque vicinis pereuntem gentibus, inquit,
formidable.
INTRODUCTION. xlv
that t]ie attacks of the Irish were deemed formidable; and we may thence conclude that Ireland at that time must have had a more or less stable government and an advanced military • organization.
The war with the Goths, which commenced in the year 400 and ended with the defeat of Alaric at Polentia in 408, com- pelled Stilicho to recall all his legions from Britain, and leave it almost wholly unprotected, a circumstance at once taken ad- vantage of by the Scots and other enemies, if it be true, as Niaii of the the Irish annals state, and there seems no reason to doubt thetiges, and statement, that Niall of the Nine Hostages, who began his reign tiou with the
r>T 7'jrv- nr • tj • i i invasion cf
AD. o7y, was slam in 4Ua, at Muir ii-icht, i.e. the sea be-nntain; tween France and England — a name which is connected with, if not derived from, the Portus Iccius of Ceesar, which was situ- ated not far from the present Boulogne. It would appear from such authorities as we have, that he was in Gaul at the time, and some specifically state that he was on the banks of the Loire when killed by Eochad, son of Enna Ceinselleach, king of Leinster. But whetlier in Gaul or Britain, his being on the shore of the English Channel at all, implies either that he had marched through the whole of England, or that he had sailed from Ireland up the present English Channel. If the first, he must have had a considerable army ; if the second, the Irish must have possessed ships of good size. The Britons themselves appear to have been anxious to throw off the Roman yoke, and three emperors were elected in succession, the most celebrated of whom was Constantino, who passed over into Gaul with an army, and fixed his camp at Aries, but being defeated, was put to death by order of Honorius. The first of these emperors, named Marcus, was slain a.d. 406, .Vin// may which coincides so nearly with the death of JViall, that one is ti.e Emperor
AT 1 -v" ii~ 1 T-« Marcus un-
tempted to look upon Marcus as merely JSiall under a Roman <ier a i:oraan
^ ^ '' — name.
name.
Munivit Stilichon, totani cum Sc )tus lernen Movit, et iiifesto spumavit remige Tethys. lUius effectual curis, ne tela timerem Scotica, ne Pictum tremerera, ne littore toto Prospicerein duliis vetiientem Saxuna ventis.
In prim urn Consulatnin Fl. Utilic/ioms, lib. II. 247.
xlvi IXTUODUCIIOX.
Atticotti in Niall and the other Irish leaders of military expeditions armies, into Britain must have had large bodies of the subject tribes or Aitlu'ch Tuaiha in their armies. Considering the relations of hostility which existed between these tribes and the ruling Scotic families, they must have formed a very imcertain cle- ment of the Scotic army in cases of danger or difficulty ; and it seems very probable that many of them either deserted volun- tarily to the Romans, or were made prisoners of war, and arpmen- formed Hito Icgious, or incorporated into existinof ones. In
tioned about .... . . „ ,
tins time in the Notitia Imperil^' the Atticotti are frequently mentioned Imperii. about this period. A body orthem appears to have been em- ployed in the Gothic war against Alaric ; others were stationed at Rome and other parts of Italy.
The Roman legions appear to have been finally withdrawn from Britain about the year 409 or 410, when the country was Aihiv.:(t left entirely to the mercy of its enemies. The last great inva- ofBiirain. sion of the Irish Scots appears to have been led by the nephew and successor of Niall, Athi or Dathi, described as " king of Eriu, Alba, Britain, and as far as the mountain of the Alps".'^ According to the Annals of the Four Masters, he was killed by a flash of lightning. There is a legend of the manner of his death near the Alps, in the Leabar na h- Uidhre, which tells us that on his death, his son Amhalgaidh, or Awley, took the command of his army, and brought his body back to Ireland, fighting many battles by land and sea on the way. The places where the land battles were fought are given in the MSS. known as the Book of Lecan and the Lea- bar na h- Uidhri. In the latter, however, they are given on the margin, and not in the text.^'' With the exception of Lundunn, which is clearly London, none of the others have been identified, namely Corpar, Cinge, or Cime, Colom, Faile, Miscal, Coirte, Moile, Grenius, and Fermir. These
I 31 Notitia dignitatum et adiiiinistrationuni omnium tarn civilitim quam milila- rium in partihus oritntis et occidentis. Ad. codd. MSS. editorumque fidein recensuit oommentariisque illustravit Ed. Bocking, Bonn, 1839-53.
i ^' The Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach. Edited h^ John O'Donovan, LL.D. Published by Irish Archaeological Society, 184i, p. 17.
" Ibid., note k p. 24.
\
TNTRODUOTIOV. xl
VU
may be traditional names of some of the Seotic battles against the Romans, and, if so, are deserving of investigation. It may be that the battle of Lundunn refers to the great inva- sion in the reign of Constantius above mentioned, and not to a later event. If Athi really did reach the Alps, he may have done so as an ally in the pay of the Roman emperor, like many of the German and other barbarian kings. It st. Patrick was probably in one of the expeditions organized in this mo ircia'miin narch's reign, that St. Patrick, then a youth, was carried ofi'.iwt.""'° and sold into slavery in Ireland. Keating and others suppose this event to have taken place in the reign of NiaU; but the suggestion just made is more probable. In either case the expeditions must have been on a large scale, if the word " thousands" in the passage in the Confessions of St. Patrick, where he says, " I was carried into captivity to Hiberio with many thousands of men", be not a corrup- tio"ii.^* The celebrated Allelujah victory, in which the Gaulish rhe" Aiie- bishop, St. Germain of Auxerre, is said to have led the Christian too" marks Britons agamst their old enemies, was fou<jht m the year 430. ^"^cotic inva- The event probably marks the end of the Seotic invasions,^^ and inning of the commencement of the Saxon domination in Britain. It is ''ation also noteworthy that St. Patrick came to Ireland as a missionary, according to some, two years after that battle, that is, in 432, and to others, in 431) to 442, and that, according to a tradition preserved by the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn,^*^ he went into Britain with St. Germain, and may have, conse- quently, witnessed the battle. Whether this be so or not, it is
^* "Deum verum iguorabani ; et Hiberione in captivitate adductus sum, cuin tot niillibus hominum, secundum merita nostra, etc. In the Book of Armagh it is "cum tt niilia hominum". Ware read the contraction as just given correcting milia to millibus. Dr. Todd (^St. Patrick, Apostle of Ii eland, etc., Dublin, 1864, p. 3G2, n. 4) thought the ungrammatical milia was pro- bably a confusion of some numeral letters, or tiiat the origi.ial was "cum turba vili hominum".
35 '^'ijg battle is said to have been fought with the Picts ami Saxons only. \ But without supposing with Fatlier Innes that Constantius wrote Saxons ; instead of Scots, there can be no doubt that the Scots took part in nearly all the Pictish wars of the period.
s"* This statement is made on tlie authority of the late Dr. Todd. See his aS^ Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, p. o IS. — ^ ""*
xl\ ill IXTRODICTION. *
probable that that event may have hastened the mission of St Patrick to the Scots. Invasion of To the Same period must also be assigned, if not the first con- Ca^iiedoZ qucst of North Wales by the Britons of South Scotland under Cunedda, at least the extension of their sway over south-west Wales, where they supplanted the Irish. According to British traditions," Cunedda and his sons came from Manau Guotodin in the south-east of Scotland to Gwynedd or North Wales, one hundred and forty-six years before the reign of Maelgwyn, who is said to have died A D 547, that is, in the period from 380 to 401, or during the reign of A^mZZ of the Nine Hostages. It is not at all likely that that warlike and most formidable of all the Scotic invaders of Britain, who was able to carry his arms, if not into Gaul, at all events to the opposite shores, would have allowed his power to have been annihilated in the very district which formed his base of operations. It seems more natural to place the conquest of North Wales after the death of Athi, when Scotic power undoubtedly declined, and uUimately ceased altogether in South Britain. If the epistle about Coroticus, attributed to St. Patrick, be genuine, or whether or not, if it possesses the antiquity claimed for it, and that Coroticus be Caredig or Ceredig, son of Cunedda, as seems very probable, it would entirely confirm this view, which also accords with the tradition of the collection of tribute in Cornwall by the Irish, in the romance of Tristan and Iseult, to which I have above referred.^®
THE LANGUAGE OF ANCIKNT IRELAND.
Nearly a century and a half ago, Edward Llwyd clearly
pointed out an affinity between the Celtic dialects and such
Sir William Europcau langfuasfes as were then generally known. Sir Wil-
nion^sto ham Jones, at the end oi the last century, wrote these impor-
connectiun i -i i i i • ^ a ^ ■
of Celtic tant words: "No philologer could examme the Sanskrit,
witli San- . : "^ . .
«krit, Greek, and Latin, without believing them to have sprung from
some common source which perhaps no longer exists. There
" Nenniits, c. viii., Ixvi. App.
•'* The Rev. W. Basil Jones also placis the invasion of Cu ledda towards tlie mid lie of tlie fifth century C Op. cil., pp. 29 30) ; Rees ( Welsh Saints, p. 1 10> makes it earlier.
INTRODUCTION. xl
IX
is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both Gothic and Celtic had the same origin with the Sanskrit. The old Persian may be added to the same family". The relationship here suggested was far from being the cur- rent opinion amonof writers. To admit a Celtic peasant's Prejudices
IP! r •^ 1 regaiiling
speech to be a co-ordinate member of the same lamiiy as thetueceitic
■•■ .Till- • T languages.
classic Greek and Ivatin, shocked their prejudices even more than did the opinion that the jargon of the Sepoy was in part at least a lineal descendant of the Sanskrit, the structure of which was more perfect than even that of the Greek. Mr. Pinkerton stated, that " the real Celtic is as remote from the Greek, as the Hottentot from the Lapponic ". The Empress Catherine the Second of Russia discovered during her lin- guistic studies, that the Celtic was like the Ostjackian. Any opinions as to the affinities of a language, expressed before the true foundations of the Science of Language were laid, would of course be of no importance now, were it not for the preju- dices which they created, and which acted as a barrier to sub- sequent investigations.
The Celtic dialects having ceased to be the language of an piffleuities educated class, no longer received literary cultivation; while of a scenti- such works as had any merit lay buried in a fragmentary form Ceitic lan- in manuscripts inaccessible except to a few. Scholars, conse- quently, had no such inducements to investigate them as were offiared by the literary Romance languages, by the Teutonic dialects, or even by the Sclavonian, which are still the spoken languages of independent nations, and are on that account of political importance. Comparative grammar was but very -v little studied in Great Britain until within the last few years: the purely scientific interest which such a study creates for even the most unimportant language could not therefore have arisen. Hence foreign scholars had no means of knowing anything of Celtic literature except through the works of authors who were either wholly ignorantof the subject, and Avhose opinions iience mi were merely the expression of their prejudices, or ardent butiiandsnf
. . . , , . iinciitical
uncritical philo-Celts, who, excited by the sneers and scepti- -^vriters cism of their opponents, put forward the most extravagan pre- tensions on the part of the Celtic language and literatiue. INT. 4*
} INTROrUCTION.
Such pretensions, it is unnecessary to say, were not pecvxllar to Irish and Welsh writers, but were characteristic of the nncri- tical writers of every country not a half a century ago. It was not irrational to attempt to connect the Irish with the Phoeni- cians, when we consider that there is strong, if not certain, evidence of considerable intercourse between the Mediter- ranean nations and the South West of Britain, in times Hypotheses anterior to the rise of the Greek republics. The only diffe- ceitsnot rence between the extravajjant theories of Celtic affinities
more absurd .^'~, .,., , l*l
than tiiose and the analogous ones mdnlged m by other peoples, is that languages, they havc lasted longer in Ireland and Wales than elsewhere, in consequence of the exceptional position of the Celtic dia- lects there, the little attention paid to scientific philology, and the political prejudices of the educated classes. It is these exceptional circumstances, rather than the hypotheses them- -^^ selves, which have helped to bring such contempt upon the Celtic scholarship of some thirty years ago. Celtic Looking then at the state of knowledge of the Celtic languages
could M? and literature in 1808, when Fred, von Schlegel published bysciiiyei his Sprache und Weisheit der Lidier, m which he laid indJ Ger- doAvu the true idea of genealogical classifications of language, family. and gavc the collective name of Indo-Germanic to a family of languages, we do not see how he could have thought of including Celtic languages in that family ; nor should we be surprised that continental scholars should have for a long time believed it to be a peculiar language without European rela- tionships. Sir William Jones had better means of forming an opinion, and so had Dr. Prichard, who, in the first edition of his great work, " Researches into the Physical History of Mankind", published in 1813, still more strongly asserted his belief in the community of origin of the Celtic and other European languages in the following passage : Prichard's • " We havc remarked above that there is historical proof on'the^omv" of the conncction of Sclavonian, German, and Pelasgian races ceiti'c wkh with the ancient Asiatic nations. Now the languages of these peai/ian-^*^' raccs and the Celtic although differing much from each other, and constituting the four principal departments of dialects which prevail in Europe, are yet so far allied in their radical
guages ;
INTRODUCTION. ll
elements, that we may with certainty pronounce them to be branches of the same original stock. The resemblance is re- markable in the general structure of speech and in those parts of the vocabulary which must be supposed to be the most ancient, as in words descriptive of common objects and feel- ings, for which expressive terms existed in the primitive ages of society. We must infer that the nations to whom those languages belonged emigrated from the same quarter" (p. 534)
To this passage the following note is added: " The author of the review of Wilkins' Sanskrit Grammar, in the thirteenth volume of the Edinburgh Heoieio has given a comparative vocabulary of the Sanskrit, Persic, Latin, and German lan- guages, which completely evinces the truth of the position here affirmed, as far as the above lajioruaixes are concerned. But the proof would have been more striking if he had added the Celtic dialects and the Greek. I have made an attempt to supply the deficiency, which I intend to make public".
The promise here held forth was not redeemed until 1832, his work when he pubHshed The eastern origin of the Celtic nations"' ie^t- In this work he first discusses the permutations of letters, that is, the changes which letters in certain combinations might be supposed to undergo in passing from one language to another, or their mutual action in the same language, that is, the pho- netic laws which govern the changes of sound as determined by a comparison of analogous words. He next compares the words expressing names of persons and relations, of the prin- cipal elements of nature, of the visible objects in the world, plants, animals, etc. Afterwards he compares the verbal roots, adjectives, pronouns, and particles ; and in the next chapter, which is on the personal inflexions of verbs, he first discusses those terminations in Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Teu- tonic, Sclavonic, and lastly in Celtic. Then comes a chapter on personal pronouns and on the derivations of the personal terminations, which he considered to be pronouns, but without appearing to perceive that they were pronoims in oblique cases, as Mr. Garnett first pointed out. Lastly, he treats of the in- flexions of verbs expressive of time and mode. He only inci- dentally notices the declensions of nouns, in which he evidently
4*B
lil INTROD'^'CTION.
did not see liis \vay, which is not to be wondered at, considering that all his Celtic examples were modern Welsh, in which there is hardly a vestige of the endings preserved. His Sclavonic examples were modern Russian, so that here too he is very weak. Taking into account the im worked condition of the Celtic languages, that he had no ancient forms, and the comparative infancy of the whole subject, such a work must necessarily have been superficial. As a first attempt it was undoubtedly a very creditable performance, and marked the commencement of a new era in Celtic philology, or rather the first step in the subject. The book is now, however, of no value, and I cannot therefore understand upon what principle a new edition was published not very long ago, and still less the kind of one which has been given, m which we are told that nothing has been done of any value in Celtic philology since Prichard's time ! If there was sufficient demand for a new edition, it speaks well for the interest which exists for the subject, but ill for the standard of our philological knowledge, ji. Ad. In 1837 M. Adolphe Pictet of Geneva published his very
work on the [able work, De Taji?iite des langues Celtiques avec le San-, subject. sicrit. He it was who first saw the great advantage which the Irish or Gaedhelic presented over the other Celtic dialects; and he accordingly almost exclusively used it in his compari- sons. Better acquainted than Pri chard with the method of analysis which was now being employed by comparative philo- logists, he was able to throw a considerable amount of light on the phonetic system of the Irish, as is evinced in the success with which he established the radical aflinities of that lanofuaere with the previously recognized members of the Indo-European family. He was unfortunately able to use only the modern cor- rupt forms of Irish, and consequently his analysis is not as rigorous, and. therefore his phonological results not as valuable, as if he had been able to use the old Irish forms. M. Pictet has also used chiefly the modern forms of Irish in his curious and very important work, I^es Origines Indo-Europeennes. Dr. Ebel reproaches him for having done so, now that so many specimens of old Irish have been published, and points out that most of the errors of the first comparative investigations
I
INTRODUCTION U
HI
both of Pictet and Bopp were due to the want of ohl Irish forms. It should, however, be remembered, that in the last- named work, M. Pictet's object was historical induction, and he used comparative philolony as a means to this end. He was obliged to take the words which bore upon his subject, whether their forms were new or old. Had his object been comparative philology itself, he might have chosen his materials and con- fined himself to the older forms. The objection of Dr. Ebel, however, does apply to some extent even here ; and how much more justly in investigations less historical and more philolo- gical, when we recollect that to the same cause may be attri- buted the crude theories and bootless discussions about the pri- Y mitive lanofuaije of Britain — as to whether it was Gaedhlic or Kymric, and whether these two dialects also were spoken in ancient Gaul.
In 1839 Professor Bopp published his work. Die Celtischen Hope's Sprachen. From the skill and profound knowledge of this the ceitic
Til 1 T1T1T11 • liingUiiges.
great scholar, there can be no doubt that, had he been in pos- session of old Irish materials, Celtic philology would have soon occupied a coordinate position with that of the other members of the family. As it was, he made a discovery which must have created a new era in the subject. 1 have stated that Pritchard merely alluded to the declension of nouns, but did not attempt an analysis of the declensional forms, which in truth he did not possess in modern Welsh. Even with the modern Irish forms this would have been the most difficult problem which could have been presented to a comparative philologist. The Irish declensional forms have suffered so much decay, and have so far disappeared, as to almost justify the very pecuHar opinion that Irish was not a language in process of decay, that is, in process of losing its inflexions, but that it had never at- tained the inflexional stage at all. Bopp's discovery was, that the aspirations and eclipses, that is, the silencing or changing of certain sounds, which render the study of modern Irish so diffi- cult, which disfigure it, and make the Irish declension so ex- , ceptional, are simply the relics of the old case-endings, and the / results of the phonetic changes which they have produced . None of the Celtic manuscripts available to Irish scholars in
>
l.v
INTRODUCTION
Censes which ren- der Celtic eiammar difficult.
Mr. Gar-
nett'.i curious way of accounting for cases in Irish.
Qenea logical
classitica- tli>Il of languaijes ;
Ireland, or to Welsh scholars in Wales, are older than the end of the tenth or beginning of the eleventh century, and as there had not lived any great author whose influence and authority could have arrested for a short time the current of the language, and created a standard of orthography — a classi- cal type — the poems, histories, and other works which ex- isted in the earlier language, were modified, as I have before mentioned, in each transcription, to suit the phonetic changes taking place in the language ; so that the full rich verbal forms became crippled, the case-endmgs dropped off gradually, leaving in Irish only traces of their existence in the aspirations and eclipses above mentioned ; while the adoption of an arbitrary mode of spelling at an early period in Welsh, blotted out all traces of inflections. We need not wonder then that the majority of scholars were unable to penetrate the mysteries of Celtic grammar before the old Irish forms were made known. In fact, as Dr. Ebel says, everything true in Celtic philology before that time was the lucky result of a wonderful divinatory faculty.^' We have an excellent example of this inability to understand the true affinities of the Celtic languages in the case of so excellent a scholar as Mr. Garnett, who so late as the year 1843, endeavoured to account for the existence of a genitive and dative case in Irish, by supposing that the dis- tinctive portion of the Irish tongue is of comparatively later introduction into the West of Europe, and that the Cymric and Armoric have more faithfully preserved the peculiarities of the ancient Celtic. For instance, the entire want of cases in Welsh, Cornish, and Breton, is a mark of antiquity exhibited by no other European tongue in its original condition V°
This is the place to say a few words by way of digression upon the fruitless discussions which have been carried on as to whether the Celtic lancjuacres had the same relative sfenealo- gical rank as the Teutonic, the Latin, or other recognised mem- bers of the Aryan family of languages, — whether they formed a
'g Celtic Studies, translated by the Editor, p 13G.
'w On the probable Relations of the Piets and Gael with the other tribes of Great Britain. Proceedings of the Phildogical Society, June 9th, 1843» vol. i.,p. 126.
INTRODUCTION. Iv
sister group of dialects, or were only first cousins — and conso- quently whether they could be added without enlaro-ing the family circle and bringing in a number of other cousir s. The basis errors
PIT.'" 1 • . „ regarding;
of such a discussion rests upon a complete misconception, first, of the manner of growth and decay of language, the nature of which I have already mentioned ; and, secondly, of the true principles of the genealogical classification of languages.
The aim of a classification of languages is obviously to en- aim of; deavour to represent their genealogical relationships. If we take all the languages now sufficiently known, and classify them according to their roots and the actual condition of their grammati(5al forms, it must be clear that a group of languages containing the same roots and havinoj the same dcOTce of de- velopment or decay of grammatical structure, would contain languages whose true degree of genealogical relationship would be very different, because the several languages of the group not having been submitted to the same dynamic agencies of change, could not have attained the same degree of decay and dialectic growth in the same time. Thus, Lithuanian of to- day might almost be compared with the Greek of two thou- sand years ago, while modern Irish would belong to a totally degree of different class. It follows, therefore, that a classification not gwea founded upon the actual state of their radical and formal ele- parison of;
11 •! 1 ' ^ 1-1 r T • radical and
ments could not possibly give the relative decrees oi relation- formal . .
elements.
ships of the languages so classified. Many philologists, or perhaps we should rather say ethnologists, seem not to realise the fact that the object of classifying languages is not to bring together into one group languages whose formal elements are equally developed or decayed, but to endeavour to group toge- ther languages, no matter how far they may differ in the de- gree of development or decay, which started from a common parent, and to exhibit as far as possible their relative degrees of relationship.
The decay and dialectic growth of languages are the result Comparative of interchange and loss of certain sounds, which are repre- tiie rrue sented by letters, and by the reactions of sounds upon each other, scieice of Are these changes arbitrary, or are they governed by definite determinable laws? If the latter alternative be true, we
Ivi
INTRODUCTION.
MSS., tut not known to those ■who wrote on tlie subject.
ouglit to be able inductively to determine tlie exact structure of a language at some previous period, to so restore a language which had decayed rapidly as to be able to compare it with another with which at first sight it may appear not to have any affinity. The true science of comparative grammar is based upon that assumption; and in proportion as the true method of investigation of languages has been understood, all the crude and erroneous theories founded upon what may be styled "columnar philology", that, is, comparing long lists of words from different languages placed in parallel columns, have been cast aside. Evidence of But, to rctum. I havc stated that none of the Celtic manu-
c:ise-endings . -iti -i •
in Irish sciipts available to the investigator or the scrence of language m these countries were older than the eleventh or twelfth cen- tury; but even these were sealed books to the majority of philologists, who could only use the modern and very corrupt forms and vocabulary of the language. Many of the tracts in the Irish vellum manuscripts of the Royal Irish Academy and Trinity College, Dublin, exhibit abundant evidence of gram- matical endings, although in a mrrtilated condition, and had they been published long ago, there would never have been any question as to whether the ancient Celtic was an inflexional languasje.
In the libraries of the Continent many Irish manuscripts are preserved, written tliere, or carried thither by Irish mission- aries from the sixth to the ninth centuries. Among them are especially Latin tracts with Irish glosses explanatory of the Latin texts for the use of Irish students. These works con- tain invaluable materials for the study of Irish grammatical forms, and in J. Kaspar Zeuss they found an interpreter. One does not know which to admire more in this extraor- dinary man — his acuteness of mind and great learning, or his unwearied industry. He visits St. Gall, Wurtzburg, Carlsruhe, Milan, Oxford, and other places, examines every Celtic manus- cript which he can find, copies the glosses or texts with his own hand, and such was his enthusiasm and application that he caught a fever in Milan which prevented him from com- pleting his labours there. Upon the materials thus laboriously
Irish JISS. in foreign libraries.
J. Kaspar Zeuss ;
INTRODUCTION. Ivii
collected from Irish and Welsh manuscripts, and printed Cornish and Armoric books, he constructed a grammar of all the Celtic dialects of which we have any remains. The Gra??i- his oram-
1 p 1 ^ inaiica
matica Celtica, written in Latin, and the result of thirteen Ceiuca;— years of incessant labours, was published in 1853, and took European scholars by surprise. Those who had occupied themselves at all with the subject felt that at length the Celtic languages were placed upon a firm basis. Besides the dis- covery of the relics of a complete system of formal elements, Zeuss determined the outlines of a complete phonetic system of the Celtic dialects. Wot the least valuable part of the Grammatica Celtica is the large collection of old words which oiii forms of
" words in it ;
afford us in the first instance an enrichment of the Celtic vocabidary, and in the second a means of comparing old and modern forms, thus affording means of determining accurately the phonetic laws of the various dialects.
The Grammatica Celtica, imperfect as it must necessarily be importance /^- in many ways, must henceforward be the starting point of all
of the book.
scientific investigations concerning the Celtic languages.
The works I have named are entirely philological ; but there other works
, hoaring on
is another class of books which should not be forijotten — those Wsu on what may be called philological ethnography. Among them may be mentioned the following: — The excellent book by the author of the Grammatica Celtica, Die Deiitschen unci die_Nachbarstdmme, in which wc have an epitome of all the information which can be gathered together upon the various tribes of Germany and Gaul; and the works of Dicfenbach, Cel- ticg^ an examination of the materials of Celtic etlinogfaphy, now antiquated and of little value, being superseded by his later work, Origines Enropaeae,-d work of great research and value. The same aiitKorVcompal-ati-ve lexicon of the Gothic is of con- siderable value to the Celtic student, as it conhiins a large number of comiparisons with Celtic dialects, especially with the Irish. Many of his comparisons require no doubt revision from the fuller information afforded by Irish glossaries, to which he had not access. But even the errors of such a man are often of value, especially when accompanied by the rational and moderate caution which distinguishes him. The veteran
ivni
INTRODUCTION.
otiir^r works Mone, to whose researches am oner continental libraries we owe
liearing on ' - ...
Irish a knowledcre of many relics of old Irish writers, gives some
pliilulogy .... , . .
useful information in his Celtische Forschungen, and in his Die Gallische Sprache und ihre Brauclibarheit fur die Geschichte. In Gliick's invaluable work on the Celtic names mentioned by Cassar, we have a thorough examination in the light of modern philological science of the Celtic words which are to be found in the writings attributed to Caesar. In France, M. Roget de Belloguet's two volumes of the EthnogSnie Gaidoise, the^rst being a Gaulish glossary, has given a new and healthier im- pulse to the study of Gaulish history. Another French work which deserves mention as marking the commencement of this new era for Celtic philology is M Monin's Monuments des anciens idiomes Gauloises.
Although the Grammatica Celtica established beyond doubt the inflexional character of all the Celtic languages, and that the modern condition of the languages is the result of decay, there still, however, remained to be determined the impor- tant question of the Aryan character of those inflexions, and determined qu that being settled/the rank or position they should be assigned in the family. That question has, in my opinion, been fully solved by Dr. JEleinrich Ebel in his various papers contributed under the title of CelCmche Stndien to a German journal for comparative philology, a result, to which a number of papers by Mr. Whitley Stokes in the same periodical also materially contributed.
Celtic philology labours under the great disadvantage of having no very ancient continuous text which, like the frag- ment of the Bible of Ulphilas, could give us the full formal elements. Some fragments and glosses were, however, sup- posed to exist in certain formulae of incantation in the works of Marcellus Burdigalensis ; in the Grarnmarian Virgil, and in the glosses known as the Malbergian in a copy of the Lex Salica.
JMarcellus, physician to Theodosius die Great, who died at Milan in January, a.d. 395, was called Burdigalensis, because he was from Burdigala or Bourdeaux, and Empiricus, because he was reckoned among the Emj^iricists. He mentions many
Aiyan character of Irish grammar
Ebel.
Disadvan- tage of having no veiy ancient Celtic text;
the Mar-
cellian formulae ;
A
INTRODUCTION lix
Gaulish plant-names and several popular remedies, the formulae pronounce j for which he took down from the mouths of the people. Jacob GVinim to
• . ^1 r ^ be Celtic;
Grimm, after a careiui examination or those formulae, came to tlie conclusion that they were Celtic and related to Irish ; he even attempted by means of the latter to interpret them. The discovery of a supposed specimen of Celtic speech as old at least as the fourth century, and which from the character of the formulae is doubtless much older, and further which showed that the language of Aquitania, if not the whole'.Gaulish speech, approached nearer to Irish than to Welsh or Breton or Ar- moric, naturally excited considerable attention, but was received with a ffreat deal of scepticism. Herr Mone warned Grimm controversy
" , '■ ^ on the
that the Celtic should not be improperly extended,*' where- subject; upon Grimm retorted, that he could easily understand how the recognition of the Celtic where it really is, should have escaped a scholar who sees much Celtic where it is not. M. A. de Chevallet was not less unfavourable than Herr Mone to^Grimm's view,^^ though, as the latter remarks, "he appears to plough with a strange ox" (er scheint -aber mit fremden Kalbe zu pflii- gen), or in other words, he is not at home in the subject."
But the most important verdict against the Celtic character zeu^s' of the formvilaries of Marcellus is that given by Zeuss at thetonon-
° ^ , -^ "— ;— Celtic
end of the preface to the Grammatica Celtica, in which he says ''i>'i™cter that if any one seeks in his book for words from Marcellus Marceiiian
. . ... Forraulaa
Bui'diy^aleiisis, the gramnarian Virgilius, or the Malbersf Glosses, he will not find them, for in all these no one has found or will find a Celtic word." Grimm himself had however already A in 1850, stated that there was not a single word of Celtic in the Malberg Glosses ; and he had not discussed or occupied himself with Virgilius. As to Marcellus, as Grimm very
*' Die Gallische Sprache undikre Brauchbmkeit fur die Geschichte, 1851, S. 172.
'2 Oriyine et Formation de la Langue Frangaise, Paris, 1858, pp. 7, 8.
*^ Philoloijische. und hisiorische Abhandlungen der k. Alademie der Wis- senschaften zu Berlin, aus dem Jahre, 1 855, S. 53.
^* " Quae apud Marcellum Burdigallensein, Virgilium grammaticum, in Glossa Malbergica leguntur perigrina, inaudita vel incognita, si qui quaesi- verit in hoc opere non inveniet, in hie otunibus eiiiiu cquidem uec iuveni Yooem Celticam nee invenio".
Ix INTRODUCTION.
properly observes, lie gives no less than ten names of plants and one of a bird, which he expressly states to be Gaulish. Thus: trifolium herbam, quae Gallice dicitur Uisumur as ; hevha quae Graece Chamceacie, Latine Ehuliis, Gallice, Odocos dicitur. He also mentions several which are likewise distinctly referred to as Gaulish by Cicero, Varro, Pliny, Dioscorides, and which Zeuss curiously enough quotes from these writers without 7^ making any reference to Marcellus. The only way to recon- cile these facts with Zeuss' opinions, is to assume that he did not seriouslv examine Marcellus at all, for otherwise he would have been sure to quote him also for those words which are referred to in the authors above mentioned. Reexatni- Tlicse Unfavourable criticisms led Grimm to reexamine the tbesunject subjcct. In 1855 he laid the result of his inquiry bef )re the Academy of Berlin, in a memoir, embodying the results also of M. A. Pictet, in which the Celtic character of the formulae of Marcellus was triumphantly established. I cannot better express the character of those results than in the words of pictet's of M. A. Pictet: "I do not know whether I am mistaken,
opinion. . . ...
but It appears to me that those interpretations, so precise, so rational, obtained like those of Grimm almost without a change of the texts of Marcellus, confirm in a remarkable manner the result brought to light by that scholar, namely, the existence of a dialect of the Gaedhelic branch in Aquitaine in the fourth century, — a result of great importance for the history of the Zeuss Celtic languasfes"." Zeuss also before his death fully admitted
admits their ■, y~. ■, • t '~ r-inr it r i • ^ /
Celtic the Celtic character oi the Marcellian formulae m a letter to ^
cliaracter.
Jacob Grimm, which the latter laid before the Academy of Berlm. The following passage from Grimm's memoir, just referred to, shows how little had been done less than twenty years ago to properly investigate Gaulish history and old Celtic lan- guages, questions of such vital importance for the early history of the whole of Europe. Grimm on " If WG Consider that the discovery of writing, once made, of Gauiisii could not easily be again lost, and that it had penetrated
>
inscriptions ;
■•* Philolog u. hist. Abkand. der k. Akad, d. Wiss. zu Berlin, aus dem Jahre 1855, S. 67. Monin, in his Momments, 6<c., pp. 76, 78, gives a critical account of the analysis of these Formulae by Grimm and Pictet.
INTRODUCTION. 1x1
deeper m tlie old world than is usually supposed, it remains to he regretted that even highly endowed races, as, for ex- ample, the Celtic and Germanic, neglected to engrave lasting monuments on stone and bronze, and thereby give to posterity certain information of themselves and of their language. To be sure, the favour of the Grecian and Italian skies, under whicli writing scarcely decays, is necessary for such monuments ; but the Gauls, however, possessed the greater part of Upper Italy long before the commencement of our chronology, and neigh - bours of Etruscan, Umbrian, Roman peoples, tiicy could have learned from them the use and application of writing on stone and bronze. There is, however, no trace of a Gaulish inscrip- tion from so ancient times being known, which might have im- parted to us the precious explanation of the former condition of the Gaulish language, wliich exhibited an undoubtedly higher perfection of its forms. We understand almost entirely the Oscan inscriptions, half or two-thirds of the Umbrian ; the riddle of the concealed Etruscan will, no doubt, reveal itself one day. But we should have been able to explain the Gaulish from the later Celtic language, just as easily, or more easily, than the Oscan and Umbrian languages have been investigated thoroughly by the help of the Latin and the kindred ISans- krit. For all these languages, possibly even the Etruscan"," come under the law of the Indo-European.
It is evident from this passage that Grimm did not expect mmy now any additions to the linguistic remains of the old Celtic Ian- luwever; guages from such inscriptions. Since then, however, this de-
)(■' partment of archaeology has made so much progress that we are already in possession of a great many Celtic inscriptions, and there can be no doubt that the Celts of Gaul and Italy were acquainted with the use of writing, the former using Greek letters, as indeed Cassar expressly informs us,"' and also Roman ones, in their inscriptions on stone and bronze, and those of Upper
^ Italy, probably Etruscan letters. The general use of the alpha- bets just mentioned does not, however, preclude the use also of a peculiar or occult alphabet of their own, akin to that used in
^ the inscriptions on Iberic coins.
*« Loc. cit, S. 52. « De Bel. Gal., vi. 14, cl. i. 29.
Ixii INTRODUCTION.
sereina of Several of the inscriptions now recognized as Gaulish were covered discovercd long ago, and among them some of the most im- befoie their portant. But the disbelief in the existence of any knowledge ter was outsido that of the classic nations, the complete indifference to
recognized^; ^ ,. t i i t i • i
(jaulisn archaeology amongst most scholars m repute at the time, the small number of the inscriptions found, their unin- telligible, and therefore mostly inaccurately copied, texts, the reasons why successive and isolated way in which they were first disco-
their cha-
racter was vcrcd, the manner in which the inscriptions themselves are dis-
not sooner . . . , t i i t
recognized; perscd in provincial museums, and lastly, the out-of-the-way books in which they were first noticed — books which are almost unknown out of their places of publication, and which ^^ it would be vain to seek for in any libraries, except the great public ones of Paris, London, or Berlin, are sufficient reasons why those precious witnesses of the languages of one of the great branches of the Aryan family, and of one of the princi- pal nations of Europe in olden time, remained so long un- noticed and neglected, or were left to be disfigured by inter- preters, who only showed their utter inability to solve such riddles, or brought ridicule on all investigations into Celtic antiquity. But even though none of the obstacles I have enumerated had existed, it is only since the publication of the Grammatica Celtica, and the other investigations founded on it, that Celtic philology could attempt a rational solution of Gaulish inscriptions. As no account accessible to the general reader has yet appeared upon this important subject, I shall briefly describe the present position of the subject."*^ im^mtant ^^ *^^® insciiptions loug kuowUj the following may be spe- known'^n"' ^i^^lj mentioned: — 1. The stone tablet found at the fountain scriptioua; ^f Nigmes, and now preserved in the ruins of the temple of Diana, near the Roman baths in that city; 2. The inscription
^_ *® Professor J. Becker, in a series of papers in Kuhn and Schleicher's ' Eeitrage zur Veryhichenden Sprachforschung , lias given a most elaborate and very valuable account of all that had been done in the subject up to the time of their publication. See vols. iii. pp. 162, 32(5, 405 ; iv. 129. I have freely used these papers in drawing up the brief account of the subject in the text. M. Monin, in the work above referred to, has given the texts of all the Gaulish inscriptions known to him, ethnologically or geographically classified, and has added analyses of many of them.
V
INTRODDCTIOW. IxiU
on the Menhir of Vieux Poitiers, wliich was known to Rou- rjcrnon de Saintes in 1783. He mentions it in his Dissertation sur A le r{£!t<^-/-'oz^ier'5, published in 1786. A figure and fac-simile of this inscription were published in 1804 by M. E. M. Siauve.*' 3. The fragment of a four-sided Gallo-Roman altar, now in the ^ Musee des Thermos, at the Hotel Cluny in Paris, which Avas found on the 16th of March, 1711, under the choir of Notre Dame. Besides the account published at the time by Baude- lot, it forms the subject of a letter of Leibnitz to the Dowager ^ Duchess of Orleans.^" Montfaucon, Dom Alexis Lobineau,^' ^ and a number of other antiquaries also describe it.
I have mentioned these discoveries thus minutely, merely to show the total inability of scholars to deal with such inscrip- tions, and the prejudices and ignorance of the archaeologists of the last century and of the beginning of this, as to the state of ancient Gaul. It was only in 1851 that the first serious their first attempt was made of a comparative study of this class of in- studyT* ""^ scriptions by M. Germer Durand in a notice^^ of an essay of m. g. Dur- Captain Coulson^^ on the inscription of Nismes, and on a Latin ^" ' inscription in the museum of that city. \tl his comparison M. Durand also included an inscription on a marble tablet found in 1840 at Vaison, which has been in the ]\Iusee Calvet at Avignon since 1841. The Abbe Auber of Poitiers, a zealous Abbe Aubcr. and able antiquary, attracted by the enigmatical word lEVRV which occurs on many of these inscriptions, published a memoir^ on the signification of that word, and on the sense in which it is to be understood in the votive inscriptions of Vieux Poitiers, Alise, and Nevers. 1 his memoir was illus- trated by two plates of fac-similes of the inscriptions found
*' Memoire sur les Aniiqidtes du Poitou. Paris, l?04r, pp. Ill, 129.
*" Lettre a M™*^ la Duchesse Douairiere d' Orleans sur les antiquites deter- rdes dans 1' Eglise Cathedrals de Paris. Leibnilii opera omnia, 4'° Geneva, naS, t. vi. pi. ii. pp. 88 to 90.
*' Dissertation sur Us monuments de la Cat/iedrale de Paris.
"^ Mevwiies de l' Academic du Card, 1850-51, p. 75, et s'q.
*^ Essai sur une inscription Celiiqne trouv^e a la fontaine de Nismes, et stir line insaiplion Laline de Musee decette lille, 1851.
^* Dela signification du mot lEVRV, et du sens qui lui revient dans les inscriptions votives du Vieux Poitiers, d' Alise, et de Nevers. Bulletin de la lSociet€ des Antiquaires de I'ouest, iv. triu estie de 1855, pp. 321-ii35.
gutt ;
Ixiv INTRODUCTION.
in 1839 at Sainte Reine d'Alise, in Burgundy, and now in
the Palais des Archives at Dijon; of that found in 1853 at
Mont-Afrique, near Dijon, on the handle of a bronze patera,
and now in the Mu?ee de la Cote d'Or; the inscription on
the menhir of Vieux Poitiers already mentioned, and that
found at Nevers in 1727. The inscriotion of Sainte Reine
d'Alise had already been described in the journal U Institut^^
for 1850. The same journal also gave m 1856^^ Abbd Auber's
explanation of the word just mentioned, as well as those of
his colleagues MM. de Longuemar and Cardin.
Taking advantage of all these materials and including the
inscription of Vaison above mentioned, and that of Autun,
Professor J. mentioned by M. de Fontenay ;^^ Professor J. Becker pub- Becker ; . •' . .
lished a paper on the word lEVRV in Gallo-Roman m-
scriptions^^ to which he afterwards added a supplement.^^ In M de Beiio- the mean time appeared M. Roget de Belloguet's work Eilinogtnie Gaidoise,*^° which not only contained a new inscrip- tion, that found at the source of a small stream. La Cave, at Volnay, near Beaune in Burgundy, but gave the texts of the inscriptions of Vaison, Sainte Reine d'Alise, Mont-Afrique, Autun, Volnay, Vieux Poitiers, and Nevers, for the first time critically examined. An attempt to explain them was even made. M. Ad. Upon this first extended exposition and examination, M.
Adolphe Pictet founded in the following year an admirable essay, which showed what progress had, in a short time, been made.*' This work contains a copy and a linguistic analysis of the seven inscriptions just mentioned. Simultaneously with , the appearance of M M. de Belloguet's and Pictet's works, the inscription of the fountain of Nismes, which Avas only
" II. Sect. 5™^ Annee, No. f)2, p. 3G.
*^ Interpretation du mot lEVRV, que portent certaines inscriptions. Ibid., 21 annee, Nos. 244-245, 1856, pp. 53, 58.
^'' Archeologique, J <-49, p. 96.
^^ Ueber das Wort lEVRV, in gallo-roniischen Inschriften, Rhmdsches Museum, Bd. xiii, s p 290-296.
69 Rid., Bd. xiv. s. 154-158.
«<> Paris, 1858.
®' Essai sur quelques iuicriptijns en langue Gauloise, Geneve et Paris. >859.
Piciet
INTRODUCTION. IxV
known to provincial aichaiologists in France, was brought under the notice of Celtic scholars by a paper in the Revue Archeologique by M. Boudard.*^- This enabled ]\Ir. Whitley »"jr^|W Stokes to investigate no less than nine Gaulish inscriptions, namely, those examined by M. Pictet, and, in addition, that of Nismes just mentioned, and that of the ancient altar of Notre Dame in the Hotel Cluny ; and this with especial refer- ence to tlie labours of both his predecessors.®' In this paper he gives a translation of the Nismes inscription by the late Dr. Siegfried, in which two datives plural were recognised — Mdtreho A'a/rtaus^/:'c(6o = Matribus Nemausicis, which are descen- dants of the Indo-European datives plural iu -bhias, Sanskrit -bhi/as, the i (t/) being ejected as in Latin -bus. The result important
•^ ' '■^ . ... . . results of
of these successive investigations is very important, for as "'ese inves-
° . . tigations.
Prof. Lottner" has pointed out, we are made acquainted with forms whicli in antiquity yield in nothing to classic Latin, and in many respects are on a par with the most archaic forms of old Latin. They establish beyond a doubt that the ancient Celtic languages, as well as the old Germanic ones, were as highly inflected as the Greek and Latin. Another result has likewise been gained from these investigations which affords a most valuable verification of the inductive method of research of modern comparative philology, namely, they give us in part the very forms which Dr. Ebel had previously induc- tively anticipated from the phonetic laws of the Lish lan- guage.
All the inscriptions I have been discussing belonged toCeUicin-
sci'iptit'iis
Transalpine Gaul; but Mr. Whitley Stokes, believing theofitaiy. bilingual inscription found at Todi, in North Italy, to be Celtic, attempted an analysis of it,*^^ and thus widened the basis of the mvestigation. Herr Theodor Momrasen has published a collection of the monuments of Upper Italy, written in the
*^ Recherches sur I'histoire et la geographie du sud-est de la Gaule avant la domination Komaine, xv""'- Aniiee, Avril, 1858, p. 40 etseg.
®^ Belli iiye zur verglt.icheudin Spracliforscluiuy, Bd ii. (1859) S. 100.
^^Ibid., Bd. ii, S. 309.
s-' Ibid., Bd. iii. S. Go (1860). At the end of this paper the author gives a reading by Dr. Siegfried and himself of the curious inscription on a silver plate found in 1858 at Poitiers. A fac-simile of the inf^cripiiou
0*
X
Ixvi INTRODUCTION.
North Etruscan alphabet/* some of which are undoubtedly in
a Celtic language. Herr Mommsen himself has expressly
stated that the question of the language of the North Italian
monuments is perfectly independent of the alphabet in which
they are written. Here, then, a wide field is opening up for
future investigation, rich in the promise of results, important
not merely for the Celtic languages and history, but also for
the ethnology and early history of Europe.
Old Irish Two classcs of Lapidary inscriptions have been found in Ire-
mscrip !ons. 1^^^ ^ first, those in the Runic-like writing called Ogham;
' and second, those written in the ordinary Irish letters. The
latter are all Christian, and belong to the period of the sixth and
< subsequent centuries.®' Many of the Oghamic ones belong to
pagan times, and are therefore of far greater value. Some of them
have been from time to time described, and attempts have
been made to translate them. Unfortunately many of these
attempts were made by persons who knew little about the
subject, or, what was still worse, were filled with the absurd
ideas about the ancient Irish current about thirty years ago.
The first rational attempt to investigate them was made by Dr.
Graves, the present Protestant Bishop of Limerick, whose book
i on the subject, containing a translation of the tract on Ogham
in the vellum manuscript known as the Book of Ballymote,
was published at the time by M. de Longuemar,' and M. Ad. Pictet^ attempted a translation. M. Monin also gave a reading and translation of it.^ A paper containing an analysis and translation of this inscrip- tion, drawn up from the notes of the late Dr. Siegfried, was read in 1863 before the lloyal Irish Academy by Dr. C. Lottner. Though leaving much room for further investigation, this paper is an interesting contri- bution, not only to the subject of Gaulish inscriptions, but also to Celtic mythology. See Proceedings of the R. 1. A., vol. viii., p. 308.
1 Rapport 8ur line inscription tracde sur une lame d' argent. Bullttin de la Sodeti det Antiq. de I'Ouest, prem. trim, de 1859, p. 7 — 21.
1 Lettre h M. de Longuemar au sujet de I'lnscription Gauloise sur une plaqne d'argent Ibid., deux trim, de 1859, p. 29—41.
a Op. cit. p. 88 (1861).
** Nord-Etruskischen Alphabeten auf Inschriften und Miinzen. Mittheil- ungen der Antiquarischen Gesellschaft in Zurich, VII., 1853.
6' The late Dr. Petrie devoted much attention to the latter class of inscrip- tions. Miss M. Stokes is about to publish his collection, enriched by consider • able additions.
INTRODUCTION Ixvli
made for him by Professor O'Curry, has long been anxiouslv expected by all interested not only in Irish, but in European archaeology.
Examples of bilingual inscriptions have also been discovered ow British within the last few years, both in Ireland and in Wales, and bilingual
, , . . . iiiscnption».
are of the highest importance, both philologically and histori- cally, especially in connection with the history of Oghamlc writing; for the Celtic part of the inscriptions is written in the latter, and the Latin in the usual Roman letters. One was discovered at St. Dogmaal in Cardiganshire in Wales, and a fac- simile was published by Mr. Westwood in the Archceologia Camhrensis for April, 1860. It has also been given, with some observations by Mr. Whitley Stokes, in the preface to his Three Irish Glossaries. Another was discovered by the Rev. John F. Shearman, CC , in an old graveyard at Killeen Cormac, near Dunlavin, in the county of Kilclare, and fully described by him in a paper read before the Royal Irish Academy.^' Mr. Whitley Stokes has given an analysis of both inscriptions, in a paper published in Kuhn and Schleicher's BeitrdgeP
Valuable and extensive collections of Gaulish, British, and Ceitic nu-
uiisraatics.
Iberic coins have been formed, and illustrations of a number of them have, from time to time, been published; but as yet very little real progress has been made in deciphering them and identifying them with historical personages. The subject is still in its infancy ; but with our increasing knowledge of the Celtic languages, manners, and customs, Celtic numismatics is destined to add to our list of old forms of personal and tribe names, and throw light upon the dress, arms, and personal ornaments of the people. I had intended to give a brief accoimt of the present position of the subject, but as this in- troduction has gradually grown too big, I must reserve my available space for the discussion of matters more fruitful at the moment in results bearing on the subjects of these Lectures.
I do not propose to mention here what has been done special ob towards the publication of the contents of Irish manuscripts, introduction as I am not now concerned so much with the Irish language
«*• Proceedings R. I. A., vol. ix. p. 293. «» i>*" Bd. S. 363.
5* B
Ixvui
INTRODUCTION.
i
Effect of mixture of races on
their languages.
%
itself, or the Mstoric and other documents written in it, which remain to us, but rather with Its position as regards comparative plillology, and more especially with the successive steps by which the Celtic languages have been proven to be inflexional languages of coordinate rank with the Germanic and Latin lan- guages, as members of the great Aryan family ; a fact now universally admitted by comparative philologists, and which disposes for ever of the Phoenician origin of the Irish on the one hand, and the crude linguistic theories so long current in England, on the other.^°
ETHNOLOGY OF ANCIENT IRELAND.
Identity of language does not necessarily imply identity of race. Races fuse, but languages do not. One language may borrow from the vocabulary of another, but it subjects its loans to its own phonetic laws and its own grammatical forms. When the loans from a foreign vocabulary are considerable, the pho- netic laws undoubtedly are modified, and the grammatical forms crippled, and ultimately dropped altogether. When two races mix, one language must therefore ultimately suppress the other ; sometimes it is that of the dominant race, but not necessarily that of the most numerous one ; on the contrary we know that a very small minority may impose its language upon the great majority. When this happens, the original conquering race continues to keep up its connection with the parent country, for otherwise the minority would be gradually absorbed into the mass, and their language gradually disappear, adding however many words to the language of the people, crippling its gram- matical forms, and modifying its phonetic system. Thus the old Norse gradually died out of Normandy when the Viking expeditions ceased. In England, the Saxon English of the people finally drove out the Norman-French of the nobility the moment England began to lose her hold of the French pro- vmces, and that her nobles ceased to look upon themselves as Normans. But during the struggle, the French inserted such
^" For the same reason I do not mention what has been done in Wales or Scotland in a similar direction, or allude to the labours of M. de Villemirque and others in making known Celtic legends and songs to the French reading public.
INTRODUCTION. Ixix
a number of words into the English vocabulary, as to give it a new character and difierent phonetic laws.
When a struggle of languages takes place after a conquest, Effect of
,1 n ^ I • • i/r- n ^ language of
and that the language or the subject race wins, the eiiect oi the dominant lano-uao-e of the dominant race upon that oi the subject race that of the
^ o • r IIP! conquered.
during the struggle for mastery, is lar greater than that or the subject race upon that of the dominant one, when the language of the latter wins. The case of the Norman-French and Eng- lish, just cited, is an example of the first, while the gradual suppression of the Irish language by the English, is an example of the second. These effects are such as we might anticipate a priori, and have nothing, or at least very little, to do one way or another with the original superiority of one language over another. The use of such words as "beef", "mutton", >< "pork", "veal", etc., which are only Anglicised forms of the French names of the animals that yield them — hoeuf, mouton, pore, veau, instead of the corresponding Saxon terms, " ox", "sheep", "hog", "calf", does not imply any original superiority of the Norman language over the Saxon, nor is it of itself a proof of the higher civilization of the Norman people over the English, but only that the Normans were those who made the laws, and consequently enforced the legal nomenclature of the several articles of commerce, besides which they were those who chiefly constituted the classes who lead the fashion in language as well as in dress.
The Aryan character then of a language does not necessarily An Aryan
J o o ./ language
imply community of origin of all the people who speak it. "°'jj^''j''°°^ Every one who speaks English, even in England, is not neces-«f '"^^e. sarily an Anglo-Saxon, neither were all those who spoke a so-called Celtic dialect, Celts. The opposite is, however, the conventional opinion of most persons who at all discuss the question of race. I have already mentioned that the people of the south-east of England were Saxon, or more properly speaking Germanic, from pre-Roman times. Beyond E^g^''^^^. this Saxon region, which, at most, did not extend westwards ^jJ^^JJ«^°- and northwards farther than a line drawn from Dorsetshire to the Wash or Tees, the basis of the population, whatever it was under the Romans, remained the same through the whole
i
Sc
/
Ixx INTRODUCTIOX.
Saxon and Norman times, except in so far as it was modified by the intermixture of soldiers of the Roman legions, many of whom were Gauls or Germans, like the Franks of Carausius. A slow intermixture and fusion of the two populations must have taken place along their frontiers. The gradual rise of the supremacy of the Saxon Bretwalda, or chief kings, and the conquest of British principalities by Saxon adventurers, ulti- mately transferred the possession of the land, to a large extent, Sftxon but by no means entirely, into Saxon hands. This Saxon
imposed the Supremacy, which arose upon the fall of the Roman power, languages and which was no doubt materially aided by continuous immi-
bncons. . .
grations from the shores of the English Channel and of the
North Sea, gradually imposed the Saxon tongue upon the
British and British- Speaking population. The language of the latter was
language on as wc iiow kuow a member of the Aryan family, coordinate
closely . •' •'
aa.ed in with the Saxon ; nay more, the two languages must have been
early times, ' j o e ^
SO very closely related to each other a few centuries before the Christian era, that they must have been practically but marked dialects of a common stem. The great difference that now \ exists between the Low German and Welsh, is apt to make us forget how different the two would look with their full inflex- onal forms, and that as we have them now, they aie the result of the action of different and ever- diverging phonetic laws during two thousand years. Some of Some at least of those who spoke the ancient British lan-
wele ' g^^age must have been of the Aryan family, and the same re- mark applies, and with much greater force, as we shall pre- L sently see, to those who spoke the ancient Irish ; but it does not thence necessarily follow that they all originally belonged Ireland to somc branch of that family. The Irish and Welsh tradi-
pe()f)led by . .,-,. t r ^t i • t /->,
dfferent tious asscrt indeed the contiary, and fully admit that Great Britain and Ireland were successively peopled by different races, which in the case of Ireland, we are further told, were Irish related to each other. Professor O'Curry has given a summary
on this of the traditions about the early Irish races, which form the basis of all the eaily history of Ireland. He used these tra- ditions as a convenient mode of classifying personages, legends, and events, which for centuries have been referred to peo-
•v
INTRODUCTION. Ixxi
pies of different origin. Had he lived to complete the use made whole of the series of lectures designed to illustrate the social by iMof.
O'Cu'ry
life of ancient Ireland, he would have discussed the historic value of those traditions. At one time I purposed doing so in this introduction, and to discuss at some length the question of Irish ethnology. But the better I became acquainted with the laws, institutions, and life of the ancient Irish, the more difficult the subject appeared to me. The traditions themselves these have not been yet gathered together from all sources ; each writer not fuiiy in recounting them, selected what suited him, or what appeared known yet; to him to form a consistent whole. Until they are all brought together, no attempt can be made to critically analyse them, and consequently any speculations founded upon them in their present chaotic state would be wholly profitless, and might be injurious to science. The results at which I have arrived regard- interpre- ing the political organization of ancient Ireland, and which are them given in the following pages of this Introduction, appear to me given not to be wholly irreconcilable with the mode in which those tra- ditions have hitherto been interpreted.
In any case the time has scarcely come for dissecting and ana- Time not
. , . . y6t c( me
. . lysing the curious tissue of legends of Umorians, Fomorians, Ne- for their /^ medians, Firbolgs, Tuatha De Danands, Milesians, and others, analysis. which constitutes the mythical part of Irish history. As in the Chiono- the case of the other nations of middle and north Europe, true hi3t( ry not \ chronolosfical history began in Ireland either by contact with the Christianity
^ . . . ... . 'n Ireland.
Romans, or with the introduction of Christianity. And like the Irish medieval chronicles of everywhere else, the early Irish Christian joined to chroniclers and genealogists tacked on the pedigrees of Irish ones, kings and chieftains to those of Genesis. This union in the eyes of many discredits the whole of the data based upon those pedi- grees. But this is unjust, for the junction of the two is easily dis- The junction tinguishable, and the union has had in reality no serious influence reaiiy
11 r. 1 T • 1 • r ^ o • • affected
upon the character oi the Irish portion oi them, bcepticism their regarding ancient traditions may be carried too far, as well as a too credulous faith in their truth, and is often more dangerous to science. Every legend, every myth contains a kernel of truth, if we could only remove the hui-k of fable which en- velopes it.
K
I
XX n
INTBODUCTlOTir.
Existence of two types of people in Ireland.
■•/
All the early
conquering races of
There are, however, a few broad facts regarding the ethno- logy of ancient Ireland, which may be considered as certainly established. In the first place, there were two distinct types of people — one a high statured, golden coloured, or red haired, fair skinned, and blue, or gray-blue eyed race ; the other, a dark haired, dark eyed, pale skinned, small or medium statured, lithe limbed race. The two types may still be traced in the country, and are curiously contrasted in their blushes: the fair-haired type has a pinkish tinge, the other a full red, with scarcely a trace of pink in their blush. The same or an analogous type forms the basis of the Welsh population, and to a varying but often considerable extent of that part of England west and north-west of a line from Dorsetshire to the Tees, which I have already mentioned as being the non- Saxon part of England. So far as the early ancient tales, such as the\ Tain Bo Chuailgne, the Tochmarc Eimire, and the Brudin^ Daderga enable us to judge, the Firbolgs, Tuatha De Danand, Ireland were and Milesiaus belonged alike to the first type. The Dam- fair-haired noniau Firbolg Ferdiad, as well as the Milesian Cuchulaind,
type. . .V
had golden hair, blue eyes, and noble stature. Cuchulaind mourning over the fallen Ferdiad, thus soliloquises : " Dear to me was thy beautiful ruddiness.
Dear to me thy comely, perfect form,
Dear to me thy gray, clear blue eye,
Dear to me thy wisdom and thy eloquence"." Continuing his lamentation in another poem, he speaks of the dead warriors hair in language which might be equally well applied to a long-haired Frankish chief: " Thy yellow flowing hair,
The curled, the beauteous jewel". That the colour of the hair of the ancient nobles of Ireland was golden rather than flaxen, is proved by numerous allusions scattered throughout the older poems and tales: thus Ere, the brother of the celebrated Athi or Dathi, was called " Culhuidhe, ^ because the smelted gold was not yellower than his haii".^' In the
^' See the whole of the beautiful episode of the Fight of Ferdiad and Cuchulaind in the Appendix, vol. ii. p. 413. '^ The Gtnealogies, Tribes, and Customs of H//-Fiachrack. Edited by
/
y
INTIIODUCTION. ' Ixxili
curious poem addressed by Midir, a mythical personage of the Tuatha Dt Danand, to Edain, the queen of Eochad Fedlecli, a king of Ireland who is considered to have lived before the Christian era, she is thus addressed as Defind, or fair woman : ' ' O Befind^ wilt thou come with me To a wonderful land that is mine,
The hair is there like unto the blossom of the Sobarche, - Of the colour of snow is the fair body"." Edain s own hair is said to have been like red gold after • receiving its colourmg, or like the blossom of the AiUster, or "^ yellow Iris.®^ Torna Eigas thus describes the hair of Niall -^ of the Nine Hostages in the first stanza of the lament for that warrior :
" When we used to go the Dal With the son of Eochad Muidhmeati, Yellow as the Soharche was the yellow hair. Which was upon the head of the son of Cairen\^* These comparisons of the colour of the hair to that of the St. John's wort, or of yellow Iris, clearly prove that the colour ad- '- mired most was a rich golden, passing almost to a red hue.
All the ruling races in Britain appear to have had similar physical characteristics. The description given by Dion Cas- comparison sius''^ of Boudicea, queen of the Iceni, a people who occupied the Boudicea country north of the Stour in Suffolk and in Norfolk, Cambridge- shire, and Huntingdonshire, when the Romans first invaded Bri- tain, is almost identical with that given of Medb, queen of Con- V nacht, in the Tain Bo Chuailgne, save only in aspect, a difference easily accounted for by the different sources of the descriptions.
John O' Donovan, LL.D. Published by the Irish Archaeological Society, 1844, p. 5.
^* Professor O'Curry has given a translation of this poem in his ninth lecture (vol. i. p. 192), and I have added a somewhat different one in a note to the twenty-eiglith lecture (vol. ii. p. 191). In the former " the blossom of the 6o6Aarce", or St. John's wort, is translated by golden hue. '^ "1ti cAn ■oo ceijmii" •oon •0A1L Lc niAc eoc1u\c tllin'onieA-oAin "buix)! SobAipce iigle
■potcbAi fojx cint) niAC CAiiMie". MS. H. 2. Ki. col. 785. '* A]t. Xxphxlinus,^ Ixii. l,se<i.
Ixxiv INTRODUCTION
comparisou Boudicea is described as of large size, terrible of aspect, savao-e
ot queens ... p .
lioiuiicea of countenancc, harsh of voice, and having a profusion of flow- mg yellow hair, which fell down to her hips, a large golden collar on her neck, a variegated flowing vest drawn close about her bosom, and a thick mantle fastened by a clasp or brooch, and a spear in her hand. Here is Medb's portrait as given in the 2ainB6 Chuailgne: " A beautiful, pale, long faced woman, with long flowing golden yellow hair upon her, a crimson cloak, fastened with a brooch of gold over her breast ; a straight ridged s/egh or light spear blazing red in her hand".'* Medb is not here described as having a vest or a golden collar like Boudicea; these, it is needless to say, are only accidental omissions ; in this passage she is described as she appeared on one occasion only. Such a vest was worn by all queens and women of noble birth in Ireland, and is described very fully in the Lectures. Irish queens always wore a golden Muinche or torque, as well as a diadem or Mind, which in other parts of the Tain Medb is described as wearing, but which is not mentioned as part of the dress of Boudicea. If the Iceni were a Germanic people, which there is every reason to believe was so, the re- semblance between the two heroines is of greater interest.
Governing While the king of Eriu, Conaire Mor, is described ,^
>v
classes
fair-haired; in the tale of the Brudin Daderga as a tall illustrious >
cia«sos chief, with cheeks dazzling white, and with a tinge like that
haired. 01 the dawn upon stainless snow, sparkling black pupils in blue
eyes glancing, and curling yellow locks, his swine herds are
Dub, Dond, and Dorclia, " black", " brown", and " dark".
Judging from the ancient tales, the ruling classes in ancient
Eriu appear to have had the same prejudices against black
hair that the Norsemen had. All who claimed to be of noble
birth should have fair or rather golden coloured, or at least
brown hair, blue eyes, and a fair skin — three characteristics
which are especially dwelt upon in describing a warrior or king.
of Aorse!^ I'l^^ Norse and Germans had the same prejudices regardingblack
r?a"nst eyes and dark skin, that they had about black hair. In one of
h'alr. the Norse saga," Hrolf Sturlungsson says to the prostrate Hrafn,
'* Lect. xxiii vol. ii. p. 98, note 67.
'^ Gonyuhroljs saga, c. 9.
/
INTRODUCTION. IxXV
who under a plebeian name has been the winter guest of the Jarl Thorgnyr of Jutland, " thou hast a noble man's eyes". There is another curious story in the Norse saga which strikingly indicates the prejudice against dark skin and hair. Hagny, the wife of king Hior Halfson, bare black and ugly twins, which she concealed from her husband, and exchanored with the new born babes of a maid, and the dark royal children grew up in serfdom. The cowardice of the slave soon broke out, we are told, in the white adopted children, while the black youths showed the qualities of their noble origin. Seeing this, Hagny could not bear the deception she had practised any longer, and discovered the cheat to her husband. But Hior, / the king, would not have the " hellskins",'** and they were allowed to grow up in bondage.
The more we investigate the origin of the Gaedhil, Britons, identity of
^ ri f* f'fi. J 1'
Gauls, Germans, and Scandinavians, all fair-haired, blue-eyed iiuiied peoples, the more we are led to regard them as essentially the noi th-west same race, speaking a common language, which, owing to the different dynamic influences, especially contact with other peoples, to which it was subject in different countries, gradu- ally developed marked dialects, which in process of time have become essentially distinct languages. This identity of race and explains language between the so-called Celts and Saxons, at a notwoidsme
-1 1-1 11-1 German
very remote period, explains how words which appear to be ^° ""e, and Celtic to one are good German to another. Thus Herr Holtz- another ; mann and Professor Moke are able to explain most personal and geographical names, and many terms for arms, dress, etc., of the Gauls and Belgians by means of German. The latter is severe upon the so-called " Celtist's" inability to give rational explanations of a great many words of the classes just re- ferred to, his so-called " Celtists" being, however, in most cases persons whose knowledge of Celtic languages consists in the possession of a few dictionaries of the modern dialects. If Professor Moke had been aware of the resources ot Old Irish, he would, no doubt, have expressed a very different opinion on the power of the Celtic languages to explain Gaulish names and
^* Eigi sa ek slik hcljarskinn. Ilalfssaga, c, 17. Landndmabvk, II., 19.
JXXVI INTRODUCTION
terms. Both Irish and German do, and should explain them, for they must have been nearly identical a few centuries before the Christian era. This also affords an explanation of an ob- servation of Dr. Ebel, who, in describing the affinities of con- jugation of the Celtic with the Teutonic and Slavonian lan- guages, says that the analogy " points to a most special con- nection of these [i.e. Irish and Germanic] languages, the re- sult either of long continued unity or of a very special re- lationship of the mind of the peoples".'^ tiiisreia- This relationship is fully borne out by the Irish traditions
tionship . ^ "^ • i • • i r^
borne out which couuect most of the successive colonics witli Germany
by Irish , _ _ ^ •'
traditions.'; and Scytliia. That the tribes included under the general name of Firbolgs were identical with many tribes in Great Britain, and along the Belgic and Frisian coast, there seems no reason any longer to doubt. The mysterious people of the deities DS and Ana7id, and commonly called the Tuatha D6 IJanand, were, so far as our legends tell us anything certain of them, a Germanic people. Another people who, according to our traditions, preceded both the Firbolgs and Tuatha De Da- ^ nand, and from whom legend derives both, the Ncuiidians, are connected in a remarkable manner with Gaul, Germany, and Scandinavia, and have left traces of themselves in our laws. As to the Milesians, or Scots, the whole current of our legends and chronicles bring them from Spain, or, perhaps, ■ more strictly speaking, from the shores of the Bay of Biscay, between the mouth of the Loire and Galicia. We are not, how- ever, yet in a position to positively accept or reject the le- gendary history of this colonization. That they were a fair race is beyond doubt, and judging by the oldest and most characteristic of the historical tales belonging to the heroic period of Cuchulaind, their relations were chiefly with the northern peoples, and not with the south of Europe. On the V other hand, the discovery by Grimm of the Gaedhelic character of the language of Aquitaine, affords an important support to the Irish traditions.
The existence of a brown type in Western Europe before
'* Celtic Studies, translated by the E(lil(;r, p. 127
INTRODUCTION. Ixxvii
the arrival of the Aryans, and which has been gradually fused The with the latter, is a fact which will be generally admitted, a pic- The ancient Iberians and Ligurians are assumed to have been hvo^n type the representatives of this brown type m the ancient world, gen'iaiiy
... . . . . . admitted ;
The type itself is best seen among existing British populations
in Wales, that is, in the country of the Silures, who, according
to Dionysius®" and Tacitus,*' were an Iberic population. What
the value of this testimony may be it is not easy to say,
but it certainly seems to harmonize with the results of modern
investigations. In Ireland this type exists in a much smaller less numer-
proportion than in the West of England, inasmuch as iiiki than in
1 111- • 1 • ? 1 1- -P England.
the people belonging to it being one ot the earliest, it not the earliest race that occupied the country, were dispossessed of the land at a very early period, and being the poorest, fell victims in a larger proportion than other races to the successive famines that have desolated the country. It is curious, however,
■^-^ that we should find this type more marked in Kerry than any- where else in Ireland, where, according to tradition, the slaves of the Milesians were planted after the suppression oHYie A ithech Tuatha revolution. If the Milesians really came from Spain,
■ \\ their retainers and common soldiers should undoubtedly have been Iberians.
ANCIENT TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS OF IRELAND.
Niebuhr has well observed, that " wherever mention is made Differences of tribes in the early part of ancient history, before the period among when an irresistible change in the condition of society led to castes due democratic Institutions, if any difference of rights prevailed of lace ; among them, and anything can be discerned of their nature, it is manifest that they were either distinct castes or of different origin: and even the distinction of castes, where it can be ac- counted for, always arose from immigration or from conquest, even in Egypt and India".^'^ That the state of things in Ire-
*" Dionijsiiorbis Descripiio, 561, Oxford edition of 1710. See also Friscian's translation, — Prisciani Periegesis e Dionysio, 574.
81 Silurum colorate vultus et torti plerumqut' crines, et posita contra His- pania, Iberos veteres trajecisse easque sedes, occupasse fidem faciunt. Ayri- cola, C. xi.
**' Hiitory of Rome,vo\. i. p. 294.
Ixxviii
INTRODUCTION.
Tribes composed of houses.
iieiand no land was no exception to what conquest has always produced among nations — privileged classes, and serfs or slaves — may be inferred not only from the number of distinct immigrations which our legendary history records, but also from the com- plete development of a tribal system aristocratically organized. Tribes in antiquity were made up of Houses, which at first must have had a genealogical origin, that is, comprised persons related by blood, but which afterwards merged into local asso- ciations wherever any considerable development of population occurred in course of time. Nomadic peoples retain with purity for long periods the genealogical character of their families; pastoral peoples, who have fixed domiciles and prac- tise husbandry, gradually introduce foreign elements amongst them ; but in countries occupied by mixed races, and where a systematic division of the country had been made for the purposes of government, and especially where towns and cities grew up, families were mere local associations. Hence we may expect much confusion in the meaning of terms applied to Houses, Tribes, etc., in the later stage of political develop- ment, some being genealogical, and others geographical.
The Irish terms Cinil or Cineal, and Claud or Clann, ex- pressed, at least originally, genealogical relationship. Cinel, the Cenedi of the Welsh, comprised the several Houses deriving from a common ancestor or head. Cland or Clan, that is " the children", embraced not only the families or houses who were connected by blood, that is the Cinel, but also all their clients and retainers. The Greek Genos is probably the repre- sentative of the Cinel,^^ while in some respects we may consider the Phratry as the equivalent of the Ciand. We know at all events that the Houses and Phratrys were genealogical, and had nothing whatever to do with the tribes into which Clis- thenes divided the people of Attica.^^ The Gennetes of the same Houses might belong to diflTerent Domes ; hence the taunt of Aristophanes to new citizens, that they had no Phratrys, or
Cihil and Cland.
The Greek Genos.
®^ Cind is usually translated " Genus", by the compiler of the Annals of Ulster. ** Niebuhr's History of Rome, i. 312.
INTRODUCTION. Ixxix
only barbarous ones."* The Latin Gens represented the Cland The Latin
J Gens.
rather than the CinSl, for we know that the Gentes did not consist of Patricians alone, that is, that it comprised persons not of the same family, though originally it must have been strictly I genealogical. Properly speaking, it was only the noble families ^"):'g^,l?t"J^ that were of the Glands, the tenants and retainers, when not re- ^''"'"'• lated by blood to the chief, only belonged to it. The Anglo- J''^ *"^,'"- , Saxons in very early times had the clan-ship quite as fully deve- °'' ^««9"''- loped as among the Irish or Scotch. The Anglo-Saxon Maegth, from llaeg, a son or kinsman, represented the Irish Fine or House," rather than the clan, which comprised several Fines. The responsibility of the family for the acts of the members, was called the Mdeg-hurh?'' Tacitus, when he tells us that the armies of the Germans were organised according to families and relations, no doubt had in view such a Maeg&ceaft or mate-ship.**
The term Tuatlt^^ vjqs, at the same time genealogical and The ruaM ,- Yv geographical, having been applied to the people occupying a district which had a complete political and legal administration, a chief or Rig, and could bring into the field a battalion of
8*i^/-o5fs, 419; Birds, 765. There is an Irish popular saying which ex- presses the same idea.
*^ Cf. Irish Mac^ gen. Make, old form Macqui.
*'' That the MaegS or family was responsible for the acts of the members, is evident from the following passage in Beowulf, where Wiglaf, looki:ig on the cowards who desert their lord while engaged in a fatal combat with the Firo- Drake, pronounces a malediction in which among others things he says : lond-rihtes mot of land right must
boere maeg-burge of the Tribe
monna aeghwylc every man
idel hweorfan wander void
Beowulf, 57(j6, Thorp's Edition. See also Kemble's Saxons in England, i. 235, who adds the following comment : " Not each of you individually, but each and every man of your kin, cognation, or maegschaft, shall be deprived of his rights of citizen- ship: from which we must infer that the misconduct of one person might compromise his relatives, who are held responsible for his actions".
** Quodque praecipuum fortitudinis incitamentuui est, non casus, nee fortuita conglobatio turmam aut cuneum facit, sed familiae et propinquitates. Ger- mania, c. vii. Caesar's term is cognationes.
*' The term Trebh occurs also in Irish, and means a family, in the sense of a complete legal household establishment.
XXX
INTRODUCTION.
the Mdr Tuath ;
similar to Gothic
Thiada.
Formed of three or four Tuaiha ;
The Fylk.
The Gavi or Oau.
seven hundred men. The word was also applied however to a larger division, consisting of three or four, or even more Tuaths, called a Mor Tuath, or great Tuath, which were associated to- gether for certain legal and legislative purposes, and the troops of which were united toffether in war under one commander. This great Tuath represented Gothic, Thiuda; Old Norse, Thjoth; Old High German, Diut.^° All these words signify " people", that is, a number of families associated together partly by the bond of blood relationship originally, at least of the heads of family, but which gradually became a political association of tribes. In the same way that the IJor Tuath was an aggre- gation of Tuaths, the Scandinavian Thjoth was an aggregation of Fylks. This word is derived from Folk,^^ a number of per- sons, and corresponds to the Sclavonic Pulk, and the Greek Phyle — in which we have perhaps the cognate root. Fylk ap- pears to have originally meant a number — doubtless a fixed number, of armed men organized for battle. In this sense it was like the Irish Tnath, a political division,)but of genealogical origin. The Gothic Gavi or Gau, was perhaps the German
®" Tuath. Old Celtic tout, from a root tu, to grow, to bring forth young, to multiply, to be strong; stem, tut, people or district. In Old British it was tuL, now tud ; and represented the Lithuanian tauta, the Umbrian tuta, tola, Oscan tovt. It occurs in several compounds found upon Gaulish, or Gallo-Romau incriptions, e.g., Toutillus (Muratori, 1281, 6); Toutela (Gruter, 858, 2), Toutio-rix, a Gaulish name of Apollo (Orelli, 2059). The words T00YTI0Y2 NAMAY2ATI2 in the inscription on a marble tablet found in 18i0 at Vaisou have been translated '• Citizen of Nemausus" by Dr. Siegfried, but Prof. J. Becker suggests, and with good reason, that it should be " publicus", that is, magistrate of Nemausus, or Nismes, — a fact of some importance, as it would to show that the cantons of ancient Gaul were called by a name corresponding to the Irish Tuaih, The Irish name Tuuihal a,ad the Gothic I'otilo are perhaps related.
^' N. U. G. Fo/i. Cf. Lat. I'u/^-us. The tribe names Vokae, Volcae-Tec- tosages, Belyue, Irish Fir-Bulg, etc. contain the same root. Volcae in Volcae- Tectobagcs corresponds to Ttiaih in Irish tribe names, e. g. Tuath- Mairlini. The Volcae- Tectosages according to Ausouius QClarce Urbes, xiii. 9.) were ori- ginally called Volcas or Bolgas. 1 he name of the chief of the Gauls who inva- ded Macedonia was called Behjius or Bolgios. Ihis, like the Breunus of the Gauls who besieged Rome, must have been a title and not a proper name; it probably corresponded to the Gaulish Tooutious, or magi;trdte, mentioned iu the preceding note.
INTRODUCTION Ix
XXI
represfciiiacivG of the Fylk and Tuaih. If this be really so,^^ it aflbrds a strong proof of the geographical and political charac- ter, as distinguished from the genealogical, of those divisions '■"' Amonsf the Anglo-Saxons the Laths (Laethe) of Kent, the Laths,
, . Kapos etc.
Eapes of Sussex, and the Tridings or Triihings'^* of other parts of England, were the representatives of the 3Ior-Tuath of Ireland, although in many cases the Laths or Letas were Hundreds;'^ there is, however, much obscurity about those divisions. Here it may be proper to remark that the same regular subordination of divisions which we possess in modern times, need not be expected among the ancient populations of northern and western Europe, and that divisions of different countries which have the same name, or have their names formed from the same root, do not always hold the same relative grade.
The Greek Phyle, the Latin Tribus, the German Gavi orsubdi- Gau, and the Scandinavian Ftjlk, were each subdivided into tue Fhyie, smaller divisions. The Phyle comprised ten Domes, the Spar- tan tribe, ten Obai. Each of the three ancient Romulian tribes, the Raranes, Titles, and Luceres, were subdivided into ten Curice, the Fylk into Heraihs.^^ The latter word appears izera;/..
82 Munch, Die nordisclte yermanischen Volker, p. 131. This work is a German translation of the two first sections of Prof. Munch's Det Norske Folks Hislorie.
82 It may be objected that Jornandes translates F{//t by " gens" ; but it should be borne in mind that well informed modern writers frequently con- found local and personal designations in descriptions of new or little known countries • besides which, Fylk, like the Irish Tuath, had always more or less of a genealogical character. The pure geographical character of divisions only arises with the growth of cities.
9* Of which the modern " Riding" is a corruption.
^* Seo Spelman On the Ancient Government of England, p. 52. Blackstoue considers the Rapes of Sussex and the Laths of Kent as an intermediate divi- sion between the Shire and the Hundred, each of them containing three or four Hundreds, just as the Mor Tuath contained three or four Tuatlis (.see Crith Gahlach, vol. ii. App. p. 502). Each Rape and Lathe had formerly its Gerefa or Reeve, acting in subordination to the Shire Gerefa or sheriff. T/ie Trithing, which was a subdivision corresponding to the two just named, and supposed to have been formed by dividing a shire into three parts, had alfso
a Gerefa.
9« Hera«, from herr, Gothic harjis, O. H. German hari, a body of troops. The Irish Er, Err, and Erad, a champion, and Erad Criche, tlie captain \v\so INT. ^*
Ixxxli INTRODUCTION.
from its derivation to have been applied to a district of variable size, bound to bring a certain number of men into tbe field, that is, some subdivision of the battalion which the Fylk represented. We cannot be certain whether the number of neratlis in a Fylk varied or was always a definite number. Munch states, however, that there are large and small ones in Norway, but he remarks that, considering that the Anglo- Saxons divided the Hundred into ten parts or Tithings, the more general division must have been into ten. Swedish We find mention in Gothland of a division called a Hundari,
and among the Anglo-Saxons one of the best-known divisions The German was the Hundred, which still subsists. In name at least they correspond to a division among the Old Germans, known to us by its Latin name the Ceyitena, from whence has come the modern Canton. It is uncertain whether the Centena was a subdivision of the Gavi or the Gavi itself. In some instances, The English at Icast, they were, I believe, the same. The English Hun- dred might at farst sight appear to correspond with the Herath rather than with the Fylk, but on closer comparison there can, I think, be no doubt that the Hundred represented the Fylk. In ancient times the former had its " Mot" or assembly, and the latter its " Thing", and in heathen days its own temple. This being so, the Irish Tuath may be looked upon as the analogue of the English Hundred as well as of the Scandina- vian Fylk, though there were some points in which they diftered. '^ag\f^^ The word " Pagus" was used by the Romans not only to express subdivisions of their native territory, but generally of other countries ; and was also used by medieval writers. On this account it deserves special consideration here. Pagi were fortified places raised for the protection of the country people in case of forays and hostile excursions, and are said to have been first organized by Servius TulHus,'''' though the division of
commanded the troops of a Crich or district in time of war, are certainly related to Herr and Hera's. The relationship is the more interesting from the Crich being a subdivision of a Tuath. The Bavarian Hererietra consisted of forty - two shields, who were perhaps horsemen.
37 Dionys. Halicarn., iv. 15. The word Pagus appears to contain the same
INTRODUCTION. Ixxxill
the country people into Pagi is as old as the time of Numa. The name was perhaps given in the first instance to the fort and the village which grew around it, and was subsequently applied to the adjoining district cultivated or pastured by the dwellers in the Pasfus. The inhabitants of each Pagus formed its political
^ 1- • i" • • • TIT IT ovganiia-
a regular political society, raising taxes, holding assemblies, tion. having a magistrate, and observing sacred rites in common — the festival of the Paganalia. The two words " pagan" and *' peasant", which are traceable to the Pagus, preserve to us its two-fold character.
In the obscure passage in the first chapter of the fourth book of i^seti ^y
. , . Ccesar as t!ie
Csesar's Gallic War, in which he orives an account of the number equiraient
' "^ 01 some
of Pagi which the Suevi had,^* there can be no doubt that hef^^™'*". uses that word in the sense of Centena or Gau, and therefore as the equivalent of an English Hundred and an Irish Tuath. Tacitus also, in speaking of the German foot soldiers, tells usi^ndby
Tacitus.
that they were selected from all the young men, an hundred from each Pagus,^® a number which may be connected with the name Centena. In another passage, moreover, he tells us that each of the elected judges, when dispensing justice in the Pagi and villages, was accompanied by one hundred men, of the people, who acted at the same time as his council ; and in order better to signify the extent of the authority enjoyed by the judges,'"" he appears to speak of Pagus as a subdivi- sion of some larger territory. It is probable, indeed, that Tiiree-fom
41 r^ 11 o ^ -\ ... subdivision
the Germans had a three-fold subdivision of each Ric or of the
^ ancient
kingdom — the Thuida or Diut; the Gavi, Gate, Centena or •'insdoms.
root as the Irish baga, to threaten, to ward off. This word was used to express the limit or boundary beyond which it was deemed unlawful aggression to go and at which it was lawful to insult and slay those who attempted to cross by force.
'* Hi [Suevi] centum pagos habere dicuntur, ex quibus quotannis singula milUa amiatorum, bellandi causa, suis ex finibus educunt.
'^ Quos [pedites] ex omni juventute delectos ante aciem locant. Definitur et nuraerus : centeni ex singulis pagis sunt : idque ipsura inter suos vocantur : et quod primo nuraerus fuit, jam nomen et honor est. Germania, c. vi.
loj Eliguntur in iisdem conciliis et principes, qui jura per pigos vicosque reddunt, Centeni singulis ex plebe comites, consilium simul et auctoritas adsunt. lUd., c. xii
6*B
IXXXIV lyfTROraCTION.
Hundred ; and a division corresponding to the English Tithing ; and to this last the term Pagus may have been applied. These would correspond to the Anglo-Saxon Rice or king- doms, Lathes or Rapes, Hundreds (called in Yorkshire, etc., Wapentakes), and Tithings; to the Norse Eiki or kingdom, Thjoths, Fylks, and Heraths. The Irish subdivisions of the pro- vincial kingdom or Cuicidh, were the Mor Tiiatha, the Ticath, and the third, a division of considerable interest, the Baile or Bally. The term Ricce, or Rige, was also used by the Irish for a provincial kingdom.
The ivisii The Irish Baile, in its most extensive signification — for, as we shall see presently, it had two — probably represented the Latin Pagus.^*"
Like the latter, it probably had its fort for protection against sudden attacks. If the fort belonged to a Rig or king, it was a Dun, for the laws expressly state that " he is not a king who has not a Dun, and it is not a Du7i without a king". The word Baile itself is cognate with the Sanskirt Palli, a vil- lage or place, the Greek 7roXtc> and the Norse Bol"^'^ or Boeli, which meant a farm or manor, and hence in time a village, the residence of a Boendr or Buendr,^^^ equivalent to the Anglo- Saxon Bonde, German Bauer or peasant. There is also a
The M. Latin Middle Latin " Ballium", which is certainly connected with
"" O'Flaherty translates Baile by Pagus ; speaking of a Carrucate, which he confounds with the Carrow or Ceathramhadh, lie says : " quae ex nominis notione est quarta pars pagi". Ogf/gia^ p. 24.
'"2 B&l:=Byr, praedium {Magnus saga kins berfcetta, 5), byr, m. oppidum (ibid.) gen. Byss and Byjar, pi. Byir, oppida {Olafs saga Tryggvasonar, c. 131, 3), hatt bol, a high place or abode, a fort or castle {Olafs saga, hins helga 15) ; solar bol, the abode of the sun, heaven {Geisli — Vattardrdpa, Christisuna, 1859, stanzas, 38,-64) ; dreka bol, the serpent's bed or nest (ibid. 38) ; dag bol, sedes diei, heaven ; dagb&ls konungr, God, the king of Heaven (ibid. 5) ; b&l ela, the abode of storms (the atmosphere) Arngrimi Historia, Biskupa iSogu7- 1. ii.
^"^ Buondr, Coloni ; Buandmenn,rusticicoloni (Snorra, Edda. Ed. a Magn. Hafn, 1848), Boandma«r, a husbandman {Grdgas, I. 479-480). Cf. Bua (by, bjo, bjuggu), habitare, incoluere: er J^assi bjo, where Thjassi lived {Giim- nismdl, 11); biia j^eir UoSr Hropts sigtoptir, they dwell under the dome of Hropts (I.e. Odin's) martial ball, i.e. valhalla {Voluspa, 65), cf. La.t. ftmd-ns, an estate.
INTRODUCTION. IXXXV
Baile, notwithstanding the double I, which has made some phi- lologists hesitate to connect them. The second I is inorganic, as in "Bally", the modern representative of the Old Irish word, sy and to me there appears to be no doubt that the Latin came from the Celtic form of the word rather than from the Norse.'"* The peasant holdings constituting the ancient villages and hamlets of Wales, were called either Gwelhjs or Gavaels, or. The oweiiv as they are written in Latin documents, Wele and Gahellos, waies or Gavellce. These words are not exactly synonymous; they
'"♦ Stokes (Irish Glosses, 1 10, p, 48) says : " If notwithstanding the singleness of its /, we connect it with the Med. Latin Ballium, we are only led from one difficulty to another: for who shall explain balliura ? The earliest instance
1 have met of the occurrence of baile is in the Tripartite Life of St. Patnck, iii. 12 : tanic victor do ingabail (leg. imgabail?) patricc asin port corraboi
^ immuiniu draigin boi i toeb in baile. " To avoid Patrick, Victor went from the house till he was in the brake of thorns at tlie side of the baile". At p. 15G, he notices an earlier occurrence of the word in the Book of Armagh, f. ii. a
2 (top margin) " is baile inso sis as incertus'^ " there is a place here below that is incertus". Dr. Reeves (Proc. of Royal Irish Academy, vol. vii., p. 48'1) is of opinion that this marginal note is contemporary with the Book of Armagh itself. Ee also considers the meaning implied in this passage — viz., " place", to be opposed to its connection with " ballium", and adds (p. 485) " meanwhile we have unfortunately no certain instance at an early date of a proper name into the composition of which this term enters".
The word in the text of the Tripartite Life, ingabail, is better than the suggested reading of imgabail. The former means to remove, to watch, guard, or take care of, and expresses the meaning of the passage better : "Victor came to meet (to watch or guard) Patrick to the port (place), until he was in the brake of thorns at the side of the Baile, and out of this brake he spoke to Patrick, and commanded him to go back to the Sabail".
Many passages may be given where Bai/e has the meaning of place, thus in the vellum MS. in the Brit. Museum known as Egerton 88, we have: "in ciiAini'ec •DA '001M1 '065, ici]\ A hiA-|\Ann, ociif An bAil-e a nejAjACAix a 1ia'6a]\c ^ui^\|\e". The cnairsech twelve fists is its length from the iron to the place where its horn is fastened upon it (53, b.b.).
In the same MS. the words mbi Baile are used for an ever boiling pot. In the MS. H. 3. 18. T.C.D. the words are Bith Baile, which is probably the more correct form. The ever boiling pot is only a figurative way of express- ing an ever open house. The passage in which the word occurs is about the Dire of the mbi Baile or Bith Baile, and the stay upon the distress levied for its restitution. The following commentary upon the original passage con- tains several meanings for Baile.
" Why is it that it is called Caire ? Because it always keeps a violent boil- ing steam over it on the fire; or it is the name for a pantry or shrine {i.e. a
Ixxxvi INTRODUCTION.
The amiiy could both be applied to holdings in the same villa; and it ap- wkiea. pears each of them could be occupied by freemen or serfs.'"^ The word Gavael or Gabella represented the Irish Gahal or Gauael, pi. Gahla or Gahalla Fine, or the branches of a Fine or family, who were liable, like the Saxon Mcegth, for the penal- ties of the crimes, etc., of the members, and entitled to a share of the inheritance according to the law of Gavelkind.""^ So that Gabella meant all the members of a family having an in- terest in a certain holding, and sometimes meant the holding
cupboard or meat vessel], which is kept behind the co/6a [or partition] , it is in it that sweet seasoned meats are preserved to save the Enechruice [i.e. the blushes of the master and mistress of the house]. Or Baih is the name of kings, and also for the house in which their food is made, and it is their Dire that is upon it while the food is being prepared, and until it is finished and consumed. Or Baih is the name of a Brodmuc Feneada [a cooked crisped pig], i.e. a slice or flitch of pork cooked and browned; or it is a name for an anrath Tuathail [i.e. a house where people are entertained], and it is their Dire that is upon it until they go away out of it". MS H. 3. 18. T. CD. 348. b. ; and MS. Brit. Mus. Egerton, 88, f. 57. b.b.
From this interesting passage it would appear that there was a public re- fectory in every Baile, or at all events in ea,ch Baile Biatach. In the Annals of the Four Masters (O'Donovan's ed. vol. v. p. 1578) at the year 1560, the word Baile occurs for castle. All the meanings given in the foregoing pas- sages agree fully with the meanings given in the preceding notes for the Norse Bdl, Boeli, which originally meant a homestead or place occupied, and then the demesne attached to the house, and ultimately the village or town that grew about it, and then to any place in general, or to place in the abstract. The general use of the word to designate a house and its demesne or farm would explain why it would not be used as a topographical name; just as now we do not use the word " townland", its modern representative, as the name of any special one. The names which are compounded of Bally now in use, are the result of the change of language, and would not have been employed, at least in the same way, if the Irish people had continued to speak Irish. The word Bal^ occurs in Old English for the jurisdiction of a bailiff, who in olden time was of very different rank from the officers now called by that name, as the following passage from Robert of Brunue shows : " Sir Jon of Warenne be is chef justice Sir Henry Percy kepes Galwaye These two had bali/ of these loudes tueye".
105 ^ Wcle or Gabella occupied by the former was called a Wele or Ga- bella libera; and by the latter, a Wele or Gabella nativa. The Liberi and Nativa corresponded, as we shall see hereafter, to the Irish Saer and Daer Cetli.
*c« See on the Fine, post, p. clxii.
INTRODUCTION Ixxxvii
itself. This view is borne out by the use of the word as the name The Gu^eiiy of a measure of land in the Venedotian code, containing sixty- waUi. four erws or acres, so that it appears to have represented the Irish Ballyboe, Gwely, on the other hand, meant, in its most limited sense, a couch or bed, and is often so translated in Latin documents."" In the ancient laws of Wales it meant a settlement for a family'"* or household, and Gweli/gordd, a sub- division of the Cenecll or CinSl, that is a number of Gioellys^ perhaps united for legal and administrative purposes analogous to the Irish Baile-Biatach, to be described presently. A Wele or Gwelly, then, represented a whole, or parcel of land indicated by a special topographical name, often derived from that of the possessors, as Wele Kefwrtli ap Cador; while a Gahella represented, properly speaking, rather the family itself. The word Tir Gwelyawg applied to freehold land which could be inherited,'"^ seems to indicate that Wele or Gwelly was ap- plied to parcels of land, or holdings of which the possessor had socage tenure. Wele and Gwelly are the exact equivalents of the Irish Baile and Bally, the initial Welsh gw representing the Irish b, as is proved by the Irish Bes-tigi being the equi- valent of the Welsh Gives- tva. The existence of the two forms, one containing a single I, and the other a double II as in Irish, is also of great interest. Gwelly was used as a topographical designation exactly in the same way that Bally was used in Ireland, but did not get fixed as part of the permanent names of localities to the same extent as the latter. In Gwelly as a bed or couch, we have the exact equivalent of Bdl in dreka bdl, the serpent's bed, — an interesting confirmation of the relationship of the words.
The word Bun above mentioned represents the old Norse Tiiej5»n T?m, German Zaun, which now as well as anciently signified an enclosed place of residence. In England, however, the
"" Tota villata de Penman tenetur in quatuor leciis et omnes inde teuentes sunt Nativi, videlicet Gwele Ithyk, Gwele Ostroyth, Gwele Llanraynt, Gwele Gwayssaiie. The Record of Caernarvon, published by the Record Commis- sion in 1838, p. 90.
'•8 Ancient Laws, 109, 12 ; 111, 20 infra.
»o* Ancitnt Laws of Waits, 82, 5, G.
Ixxxviii INTRODUCTION.
Anglo-Saxon " Tun", whence the modern " town", signified even in the oldest Anglo-Saxon a real town. Caesar tells ns the Britons called a place surrounded by ramparts and fosses in the thick of the forest a town."" The old gloss quoted by Professor O'Curry, which explains a Dan to be two walls with water, agrees with Cajsar's account of a British town, and we may read his " oppidura" as Gaulish Dun, the centre of the Pagus, and as Scandinavian Tun, Hence the Gaulish Segoduman, now Rhodez, would correspond to Odin's Sigtun. There can be no doubt that wherever a Dim or Tun was erected, a village grew up about it; just as alongside the mediaeval Bane used castlc the village of the retainers and serfs was built.
in two senses ^^ i t) •; rt 1 1 t • i
ihe word haile or Bally as an Irish topographical term
was employed in two senses, the Ballyboe and the Baile-Biatach.
The Boe means a habitation or house, and is equivalent to the
Banyooe, ^
to Fm^'ush -^°^^® -^i/' wliich exists in so many English town-names, ^^- as Appleby, etc. The Norse Bol and By appear to be syno-
nymous; at least there is no doubt that By originally was a mansion or principal farm house, including of course sufficient land to keep a family in independence."' In Ireland this appears
11° Oppidum autem Brit anni vocant, quum Silvas impeditas vallo atque fossa munierunt, quo incursionis hostium vitandae causa conveiiire consuerunt. Bel. Gal., Bk. v. c. xxi. — cf . Strabo, Lib. iv,
'" Thus, atjaabu, eighteen manors {Rigsmdl, st. 35) ; bu er betra jjott litit se, liaer er heima hverr, look upon thy own house as better, however small, each is master at home (Hdvumdl, 36 and 37) ; heima (skal) best feita, en hunda a bui, the horse should be fattened at home, the dog at the bu (i.e. the manor of a vassal), this line (i/oyaMaV, 83) is translated : " domi equus saginandis, canis in domo aliena" in Egilsson's Lexicon Poeticum antiquaa Linguae septentrio- 'nalis; and by Karl Simrock, zieh den liengst daheim, den Hund im Vorwerk (Die Edda, str. 82, s. 107). The explanation I have given accords with the practice of th feudal lords, vho always sent their young hounds to be reared at the houses of their farmers, and practically agrees with ligilsson's. In the liiffsmdl, where Rigr recounts the labours of Karl, we have the words gjorra hu, "and built a house" (strophe 20), that is, established a homestead. See also the note on BuUndr, anle, p. Ixxxiv. Perhaps Bdl and Bi/ being applied to the same thing may explain why the Bye-Laws of the G oths, that is, laws of the By or manor, are rendered by Jornandes as Bellagines. " Nam ethicam eos erudiens, barbaricos mores compescuit; physicam tradens, naturaliter propriis legibus vivere fecit, quas usque nunc conscriptas Belagines nuncu- pant" ; etc. Jordanis de Getarum sive Gotkorum origine et rebus gestis. Eecog- novit, etc. Carol. Aug. Gloss. Stuitgartia, 1861, cap. xi. p. 51.
INTRODUCTION. Ixxxix
to have been tlie quantity of land sufficient to graze twenty- one cows or three Cumals, the legal qualilication of a Bd Aire of the lowest class, that is, of a free man having political rights ; and in addition, a certain quantity of forest, and sufficient meadow land to provide winter fodder. The following curious Irish entry in the Book of Armagh appears to represent such a typical homestead: " Cummen and Bre than purchased Ochter purchase of n- Achid, with its appurtenances, both wood, and plain, and mea- in Book of dow together with its habitation and its garden"."^ Dr. Reeves"' makes the Ballyboe a " cow-land", and thinks the term analogous to the Latin Bovata and Saxon Ox-gang ; in this, however, he errg by supposing ijog to be equivalent toBd, a cow, as indeed most The ;?«//i/ioe people are in the habit of doing."* "Copland".
In some parts of Ireland the Ballyboe is called a " Tate", The Te<e
or Tate •
which Dr. Reeves thinks is properly " Tath", and perhaps connected with " Tothland", the name of a division once used in England. He also mentions a custom in Norfolk and Suf- folk called Tath. The word is, however, obviously " Teti", a house, as distinguished from a hovel or bothy, that is, a Norse Bdl or Bj/, and a Frankish " Mansus".'"^ The compounds of Tate or Tatty, as topographical names, occur only in the occurs nniy
•^ r o r ' J ^J^ certain
counties of Fermanagh, Monaghan, and Tyrone, with the ex- counties; ception of a few in Armagh and Louth. Now it is very im- portant that among the combinations of this word which Dr. Reeves mentions as modern townland-names, is Tattyhrach, which in name, and possibly in position, is the representative of the Teti-Bricc, or speckled house, one of the three royal palaces of Emania, near Armagh.'"' Whether the word be
"^ 'OiiA]\655eL Conimen Ac<\f b]\ecAn occei\ riAcit) coriA ]'eitb ^ze]\ 1p^^o ACAf niAj ACA'p Venu coiiAlUu-p ACAf A\.l.ub5o|\c. fol. 17, ba. See Petrie's Tar«, Trans. R.I. A, vol. xviii., part 2, p. 195; Stokes' [rish Glosses,]^. 81, No. 580 ; and Rev. Dr. Reeves, Loc. tic.
"^ Loc. cit., p. 477.
"* It is right to say that the Norse Bii is also applied to cattle, e.g. hi5ggva bii jjegna, to slaughter the cattle of the citizens (J/tt^w^s saga hins guda,c. 17, strophe 6), but this is a later and a secondary use of the word, which always means house, etc., in the Edda.
•'^The Welsh Tyddtn is the Irish Te.ti. Its primitive meaning was a house or settlement, and afterwards it came to mean a certain quantity of land.
"" This Teti-Bricc is mentioned in the very ancient tale called Seirgliyi
xo
INTRODUCTION.
of great antiquity.
Occurrence of tlie Norse B61
and Irish Baile in topo- graphical names.
Names formed from B61 preserve the primi- tive mean- ing better than those in " Bally" ;
occurrence of both forms in Scottish names.
connected or not with the English terms mentioned by Dr. Reeves, there can be no doubt that the term Teti modernized to Tate is of great antiquity in Ireland. Its application to a division analogous to the Ballyhoe strongly confirms the ex- planation of the origin of that word whicli I have given.
Irish topogi'apbical names afford us numerous examples of combinations of the Irish form Baile or Bally, and of the Noise form B61. The latter always occur along the coast, and in districts once occupied by the Norsemen. Thus in the Dano- English territory of the n orth of the county of Dublin, we have .Ba^briggan, ^aZrothery, jBa^dungan, etc. ; at Howth and in the immediate vicinity there are ^a/scaddan, ^a^glais, jBaMoyle, etc. A comparison of the places the names of which are formed from Norse, B61, with those formed from Irish, Baile, shows that in the case of the former the primitive meaning of the word, — a house or mansion, is more or less preserved ; while in the case of the latter the meaning is extended to the demesne. This circumstance, and especially the existence of the two forms of topographical names, are of great importance, for they prove that the term Baile and the topographical no- menclature in which it is used, were not introduced by the Vikings. Dr. Reeves has drawn attention to the geographical distribution of the two forms of names in Scotland. On the west Bally predominates, and generally as we proceed east the Bal gains ground, and ultimately excludes the other. Thus in Aberdeen there are many Bah, but no Bally; in Elgin, Fife, Forfar, Kincardine, Kirkcudbright, Stirling, and Wigton, Bal is almost exclusively used ; in Argyleshire many ballys, and only five bals; in Inverness, Perth, Ross, and Cro- marty, both forms occur ; in Ayr and Dumbarton, both forms also occur, but the Bals predominate. Dr. Reeves suggests that, as the form Bal predominates in the region of the Picts, whose language, he says, is referred with reason to the British family of the Celtic, that language " predisposed the tongue to
Coinculaind, or the Sick Bed of Cuchulaind, in the manuscript called the Leabar na h-Uidhri, and published by Professor O'Curry in the Atlantis, Tol. i., see pp. 376-377. Una explanation of the use of the term speckled will be found lu Lecture xv. vol. i. p. 33ii.
INTRODUCTION. XCl
despatch the word with that brevity which the genius of the importan t British language encouraged".'" The Norse origin of the form drawn from Bal expkiins, however, the phenomenon completely. But here tiution or; too the coexistence oi the two lorms, and tneir geographical ami Baiiy in
1 •^ • • n n 1 ' • ?iii Scotland.
distribution is a stronger proof of the antiquity of both, than even their coexistence in Ireland. It is evident that the intro- duction of the form Baile into the topographical nomenclature of Scotland was the result of the settlement of the Irish Scots on the west coast of that country. According to Irish tradition, the first colony established themselves there about the middle of the third century. There can be little doubt, however, that the event occurred not later than the fourth century. At what- ever period, however, the Scots first settled in Western Scot- land, the coexistence of the two forms Bal and Baile in that country dates from an earlier period than the Viking expe- ditions.
The second application of the word Baile was in the Baile The Baiie. Biatach, or Bally of the victualler or steward. The Baile Biatach comprised several Ballyhoes, in south and west Mun- ster as many as twenty-four, and was a true political subdivi- sion of the Tuath, corresponding to the Latin Pagus. It had some kind of judicial court and popular assembly, and was probably bovuid to furnish its fixed proportion of armed men and provi- sions to the battalion of the Tuath, though, as we shall presently see, the number of men in a battalion was not a multiple of the number of Baile Biatachs in a Tuath. It is probable, however, that each Baile Biatach did not furnish an equal number of men, because, as we shall hereafter see, they did not contain an equal number of freeholders.
Between the Ballyhoe and the Baile Biatach were several othprtopo- other denominations of subdivisions, namely: i\\Q Seis7'each ortienomina. ploughland, consisting, in the parts of Munster just mentioned, of two Ballyhoes; the Ceathramadh Bhaile, or quarter bally, a term still preserved in the topographical names " carrow" and quarterland, consisting of three ploughlands. The name Ceathramadh Bhaile is derived from the fact of the Baile Biatach, which contained twelve Seisreachs, being divided into
'" Op. cit., p. 485.
XCU INTRODUCTION,
four such quarter lands, each containing three SeisreacJis,^^^ or
number of ploughlands. Each Tuath consisted of thirty Baile Biatachs, one
tarhsma hundred and twenty quarters, and three hundred and sixty
ploughlands. On this account it was also called a Triucha Ced,
that is, a " thirty hundred", a term that would seem to indicate
that the Baile Biatacli was the analogue originally of the Saxon
Triucha Hundred."' Colgan'"" translates Triucha Ced by Canteredus or
(J6(is or
cantreds ceiitivUlaria regis, as if each quarter or Ceathramhadh consti-
other names - ... ' ,_,. i -i ^ c ^ m '
for Tuaih. tutcd a Villa. ^' ihc quarter would therefore represent the Irej Comparison of Nortli Walcs, and the Randir of the Gwentian and Dimetian
of Irisli and Welsl divisions.
and we'isii codcs ; and Triucha Ced would be the Cantref of Wales and the Centena of the Franks, as I have already pointed out. The Baile Biatach corresponded to the "free 7V^/"ofthe Gwentian code, and to the Maynaul of North Wales ; and the quarter, to the Welsh TVe/of the Venedotian code.
Duodenary As the Irish Tuath or Cantred contained one hundred and
use in twcuty quarters, it is evident that the Irish used the duodenary system, or long hundred. The Norsemen used both the long and the short hundred, '^^ and it is probable that the
and pro- Centena of the Germans and Gauls contained one hundred
bahly also ,. . . ■, rni
in Gaul and and twcntv subdivisious also. The existence of an ancient
Germany. ...
duodenary division of the Saxon Hundred parallel with the division of the Baile Biatach into twelve Seisreachs, may be traced in East Anglia in the division of the Hundred into
"* Dr. O'Donovan (Ann, of Four Mast, vol. iii. p. 27, n. 9.) makes Seisreach and quarter the same, and gives the number of the former in a Balli/ Biatach as four, containing 120 acres each.
"' Dr. Reeves, op. cit., thinks the Triucha Cec? savours of foreign extraction, and has its origin in the Saxon Hundred. There was analogy, but no more.
•20 Trias Thaum., 19, n. 5.
'2' Cantredus autem, id est Cantref, a Cant, quod centum, et Tref. villa, composito vocabulo tam Britannica quam Hibernica lingua dieitur tanta terrae portio, quanta centum villas continere solet. Girald. Cambrice, Descr., c. 4.
'22 Hundrade usurpatur pro numero cxx ; scilicet ohservandum, veteres tam per decadas quam duodecadas numerasse, atque ad centenarium pervenientes, ilhvm Jill hundrad vel hundrad-tirad ; alterum vero seu cxx star hundrade, vel hundrad tol freed appellasse. Similiter lilla tusend miile erat, sed stor tusend nwt tusend tolfi ced cr&t MCC. (Ihre, Gloss.).
INTRODUCTION. Xclli
twelve Leets, or rather into four principal Lects, each of which contained three subordinate ones.'^*
The twelve ploughlands in a Baile Biatacli and the thirty occnrrence Bailes in a Tuath or Triucha CSd, are examples of the occur- r.umbers rence of the numbers twelve and thirty in the early topo- H'" ty in graphical divisions of the European nations. Thus each ofp!"'"''! the four tribes of ancient Attica was divided into three Phra- tries, or in all twelve; and each Phratry comprised thirty Houses, or in all three hundred and sixty. The Spartan Obe in Greece; contained ten Triakades, or communities, each containing thirty families. The division into twelve Phratries and thirty Houses is more ancient, as I have already indicated, than the decenary division into Phyles and Domes. The Romans also among tiie had the number thirty or three tens in their divisions. Diony- sius'^* quotes a statement from Fabius, that Servius had divided the Roman territory into twenty-six regions ; so that with the four civic ones there were thirty, and therefore the same number of tribes. Niebuhr, who has amended this passage very happily, '^^ says that it is borne out by a passage of Varro from Nonnius Marcellus. This division of the Plebs corres- responded with the thirty tribes of the Patricians, and the thirty Latin tribes formins^ ancient Rome. Amons^ the Ger- s-™""? t^o
•I <->_ " _ Germaua.
mans too the number thirty appears to have characterized the earliest divisions, as is shown by the thirty Houses of Ditmarsh, the district which has best preserved the ancient Germanic customs. We also find the number twelve occur- occurrence
, . r -\ • p • • ' 1 °^ twelve ia
ring frequently in confederations oi ancient cities and states, confede-
,, ..,,... rations.
showing that some sort of duodenary territorial division pre- existed. Thus, perhaps, the oldest of all such leagues, the Amphictyonic, the establishment of which Avas attributed to a son of Deucalion, or to Acrisius, king of Argos, was originally
1*3 The twelve kings of the Eoganacht of Loch Lein appear to afford traces of an ancient duodenary system of a still higher order than the divisions of the Baile Biatach. We have an example of perhaps an intermediate order in the division of Brentir, now locally known as Breintre in the barony of Inchi- quin in the county of Clare, into twelve divisions known as the dd ceath- ramhadh degna Breintire or the twelve quarters of Brdntirt.
•" iv. 16.
'^* llistory of Rome, vol. i p. 417.
XCIV
INTRODUCTION.
rations.
Occurrence composed of twelve States, each of which elected a judi^-e
of twelve in , ^ at- it Jo
confede- styled a rylagoras or Ampnictyon, who acted as the represen ■ tative of his state. The Panionian synod formed under the sons of Codrus, and of which Ephesus was the leading city, consisted of twelve cities of the Ionic tribes of Asia Minor. Again under Cecrops, Attica really consisted of twelve dis- tinct states or municipalities, which had been incorporated into one state by the policy of Theseus. It is probable, how- ever, that he merely increased the central authority of one state over a loosely united confederation of a much older date. Another example of a similar union of twelve dependent lord- ships, each under a prince, is afforded by the confederacy of which Alcinous was supreme ruler. And again, the supposed Gaulish tribes, the Tecto-Sagi, Trocmi, and Tolisto Bogii, who settled in Bithynia, Phrygia, and Cappadocia, B.C. 241, were each divided into four Tetrarchies, or in all twelve governed by Tetrarchs. And lastly we have the case of the twelve associ- ated cities of Etiuiia, the chiefs or princes of which formed a council of twelve, who in case of war elected a leader or im- perator.
The Irish Seisreach was the extent of land which occupied one plough,'*^ and represented the ploughland or carrucate of England, and the Saxon hide of land. Bede calls the latter " familiara", and says it was as much as would maintain a family. It was known also by other names, as mansum, etc. According to some ancient records, the hyde contained one hundred and twenty acres. Crompton, however, makes it one hundred acres, eight of which made a knight's fee. But Sir Edward Coke is of opinion that a knight's fee, a hyde or ploughland, a yard-land, or an ox-gang of land, did not contain any certain number of acres. This opinion is borne out by the fact that in some parts of the country it had sixty, and in others eighty, one hundred, one hundred and twelve, one hundred and twenty, and even one hundred and fifty. In Ireland the extent of the plough-
The
Seisreach, or plough- land;
"^^Dr. Reeves (^loc. cit.) derives Seisreach from scisr, six, and each, a horse, and says it was understood to denote the extent of ground a six horse plougli would turn up in a year at so much per day. This derivation requires con- sideration.
INTRODUCTION. XCV
land must have also varied, though in general it was one hun- varied in dred and twenty acres.'" This variation in the size of the ploughland or Seisreach, and also in the size of the Ballyhee, may help to explain that of the Baile-Biatach, which some- Baiie
1 m 1 1 • Biatach
times, as m Monasrhan, lyrone, and some other counties, ap- also variable
in extmit.
pears to have contained only sixteen Ballyboes, or an English knight's fee.
The land in Ireland, as among all early nations, was ad- Land first
' D ^ ^ ^ admeasuicd
measured more by quality than by area. A denomination ^y^i^uauty or division of land in a poor country was of larger extent '^"^a. than in a rich one. Hence arose the custom of estimating the quantity of land by the amount of seed required to sow it. Thus in Spain the qviantity of land which could be sown with a Fanega of wheat was termed a Fanegada, and varied as the soil was rich, or poor and arid. It is in some such way we CuHous may explain the curious measures of land formerly used in the measures in
. . the county
county of Cavan. These were a " pint or about six and a Cavan. quarter acres, a " pottle" of twelve and a half acres, a " gallon" of twenty-five acres, and a " polle" of fifty acres. The substi- tution of a geometrical standard for one based upon the relative produce of the soil has always been productive of great hard- ship to the occupiers of land. But in no country did this change press harder upon the peasantry than in Ireland, owing to a concurrence of circumstances that existed nowhere else.'^*
'" According to the Careiv Papers, No. 614, p. 197, the Ballyboe was of three different extents in the county of Armagh : in Orior one hundred and twenty acres; in Clanbrassil and Chinca sixty; and in all other parts two hundred acres.
'^8 Tliere were several other subdenominations of land in Ireland besides the Ballyboe or Tate, the Seisreach or ploughland, the Ceathramhadh, carrow or quarter, and the Baile Biatach or true townland. The Ballyboe was divided generally into three Sessighs, the Sessifjh into two Gneeves, a Gneeve being tea acres. The value of the acre itself also appears to have varied. Thus in Tipperary and Leix, now the Queen's county, etc., there was a greater and a lesser acre. In the former the greater was equal to about twenty English acres, not including bog, mountain, and wood. In some districts, again, the land was estimated in Mart or cowlands, and in Capell or horse lands. In O'Byrne's country, in the county of Wicklow, the former contained thirty great acres, which, if tlie acre was of the same extent as in TijDperary, would be about 600 acres. In Tipperary a Capell of land contained twenty great acres or 400 English acres. They were divided into quarter meeres or Ceath-
XCVl
-»--% .XH^-.'»-^\_.i.j.\^-.
•^ - - According to a curious poem, attributed to the antediluvian cids, etc,, in Fintan, but which belongs in substance, though not in language, to about the sixth or seventh century, and which has been pub- lished by Professor O'Curry in his tract on the battle of Moylena, there were in Ireland 184 Triucha Ceds,^"^^ 5,520 Baile Biataclis, 22,080 Caethramhadhs or quarters, and 66,240 Seisreachs or ploughlands, which would be equal to 132,480 Ballyboes or habitations of freeholders, or 7,948,800 Irish acres. If every ploughland in the country had two Teti or habitations in it, each Triucha Ced or Tuath would have had 720 families of free- Numijerof holders, wliich at five to a family would srive 3,600, or in all
freeholders ^ . •' & ' '
ill ancient Ireland 6(52,400, exclusive of Bothachs, Fuidirs, Sencleithe, and
Ireland _
other poorer and mercenary classes, who lived, as we shall see, upon the personal lands of the chiefs and nobles, an,d the com- monage of each territory. The 7,948,800 acres above mentioned is somewhat less than two-thirds the actual area of Ireland — the remainder nearly 5,000,000 Irish acres represented the commonage, moor, bog, and mountain, or uncultivated part. The Bally. That the Balli/boe or Teti orisfinally represented the holdino-
boe oi-Teti, n r i ^ t ii- •
the type of a of a freeholder, appears to be borne out m a cunous way by
Freehold. r • m • ...
the number of them m a Tuath being almost identical with that of the armed men in the battalion which a Tuath was bound to raise. Indeed, if we allow for the Sabaid, or coun- cillors of the Tuath, and the other Aires, or civil officers, whose number would be about twenty, they are the same. According to the Crith Gahlach, a perfect ploughing apparatus
ramhadh Maoir, of which more hereafter. See memorandum of Capt., now General, Sir Thomas Larcom " On the Territorial Divisions of Ireland", iu Correspondence from July 184G to January 1847, relating to the measures adopted for the relief of the distress in Ireland. Board oj Works series, first part, p. 1 ; and Carew Papers, in Lambeth Library, No. 614, p. 197, copied in 1846 by Dr. John O'Donovan, and published in the Memorandum just referred to. Also " The sundry denominations of the measuringe of land in Ireland"; the MS. Report of the Pleadings during the law-iuit between Teige O'Doyne, chief of O'Regan (now Tinnehinch barony, Queen's county), and his brother, Dr. Charles Dunne, which contains much curious information on this subject, Marshe's Library, v. 3, tab. ii. No. 20 ; and Dr. Reeves 'paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, already referred to.
'^^ Giraldus Cambrensis (Top. Hib., iii. 5, p. 787) gives the number in his time as 176.
/''
INTRODUCTION. XCVll
was tlie ioint property of two or four of the lower fjrades ofTiie^aHv-
'> r L J ^ boe or Teii,
freemen, so that assuminaf that each plou<'hland should possess H'c type of one plou<ifh, this would give from two to four lamilics on many ploughlands. I do not mean that every ploughland con- tinued to have two such free families upon it; on the con- trary, we know that the distribution of land among the upper and middle classes became, as in modern times, unequal. But this inequality was counterbalanced by the system of Ceiles or clients, who, while holding the land in perpetuity, paid rent of various kinds to the landlords. These rents were fixed, as we shall see, in the case of one class of tenants, but were more or less arbitrary in the case of another. I think, therefore, that we would not be wrong in assuming that before the Danish wars there were as many as two families to every Seisreach or ploughland of arable land in Ireland, whose houses might be described as " habitations'", and who possessed an interest in the soil, the nature and extent of which I shall discuss in a sub- sequent section. — Originally the M6r Tuath consisted of three or four Tuaths ^'^^^^Jj^'^'' / but at a very early period, owing to political changes due to / civil wars, invasions, etc., the system of M6r Tuailis was / greatly altered, and many principalities were formed out of ' as many as ten or more Tuaths. Thus as early as the time of Cormac Mac Airt, who was paramount King of Ireland from A.D. 227 to 266, the territory of Feara Aluighe, or Fermoy, was formed by the union of ten Tuaths under one soveteignty; and this in turn has been divided into two baronies. Again, some of the most important principalities were formed either immediately before or consequent upon the ^ English invasion. Many of these large principalities were made yj*"'"^"',' into counties, sometimes by dividing them, as when the kingdom of Meath was divided into the two counties of Meath in 1543; and sometimes without making much change in their extent or boundaries But in other instances the counties were arbi- trarily formed by the dismemberment of two or more terri- tories. The English counties were also formed in this way; thus Kent, Sussex, Norfolk, Lindesse or Lincoln, etc.,
were formed out of ancient principalities, while Yorkshire Avas INT. 7*
ion couiit(e$.
XCVlll
INTRODUCTION.
Baronies
represent
ancient
Tuaths.
Tlie modern townlands ropieseut many diffeient denomina- tions of land
formed out of part of Deira, and Gloucestershire is the union of an ancient shire of that name with Winchelcombeshire in A.D 1017. In like manner the present county of Tipperarj was formed in 1715 by the union of a county of that name with the county of Cross Tipperary. While, therefore, many Irish counties represent Irish principalities, none of them per- haps represent the original M6r Tuaths, which belonged to a much earlier period.
The baronies, on the other hand, in general represent the Tuaths,^^° and did so to a greater extent two centuries ago than they do now. Since then, however, great changes have been made in the number and boundaries of many of them. At present there are no less than '625, or counting as one such new baronies as were formed by subdividing an old one, 271. In one sense, therefore. Dr. Reeves is right in saying that the modern baronies do not represent the ancient Triiicha Ceds. On the other hand, the earliest baronies formed were made out of Tuaths, and as a whole the Irish baronies repre- sent the general distribution of the ancient tribes immediately before and subsequent to the Norman invasion.
The modern townland may be looked upon as the represen- tative of all the parcels of land of whatever denomination from the Baile Biatach down, which had separate designations. ■ Some of those parcels were Gorts or gardens, others Gneeves, Sessighs, Tates, or Ballyhoes, Seisreachs, quarters or carrows, and a few Baile Biatachs. It is probable that very few of the divisions contain now the same extent as the original parcel of land of the same designation ; nevertheless, they exhibit a vari- ation in extent quite as great as what would have existed in
'^» Dr. Reeves, op. cit., says: « It (i. e. the Triucha Ctfd) is sometimes, but incorrectly, identified with the barony, because occupying the second place in the scale", p. 475. Dr. O'Donovan on the other hand says that " Triacha Ci€d, was the Irish name for a barony or hundred {The Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs ofEy-FiachracJi). This is also the opinion of Mr. W. H. Hardinge, who says: "And these cantreds [i.e. Tuaths'], being subject to some changes, were Anglicised into baronies or hundreds, and are now represented by the in- creased Ordnance Survey number of 267, which includes cities, counties oi cities, and towns". On Manuscript Mapped Townland Surveys in Ireland of a Public Character, from their Introduction to 23rd October, 1G41. Proceed- ings R.I.A., vol. viii. p 41.
INTRODUCTION. X'cix
ancient times between a Gort, the smallest plot of land held in severalty, and a Baile Blatach. The smallest modern town- land in Ireland, Mill Tenement, in the parish of Ardclinis, county of Antrim, contains only la. Ir. Ip. ;'^' while Sheskin, in the barony of Erris, county of Mayo, contains 7,012 acres.
Ireland was divided in ancient times into five sub-kingdoms : Sub kin?.
doiTis of
Meath, Connacht, Ulster, Leinster, and Munster. Meath ori- iieiand ; ginally consisted of one Tuath only, but, as I have already mentioned, Tuathal Teachthmar enlarged it to eighteen Triucltaanri Ceds, or Tiiaths, of which thirteen belonged to Meath proper, Trwha and five to the plain of Bregia, along the sea shore from Dublin tach. to the Boyne. Connacht had thirty Tuaths, Ulster thirty- five.'^^ Leinster had thirty-one Tuaths, and Munster seventy Tuaths. Ulster originally had only thirty-two Tuaths, but Cairpri ISlia-Fear, king of Leinster, gave three Tuaths of that province to Ulster, as a bride-price for the daughter of Conco- ar Mac Nessa, whom he took to wife. The relative size of the five provinces may be judged by the following table;
.133
"1 This extent of land constituted the Maigin Digona or sanctuary of the mill. '^2 Dr. Reeves (loc. cit., p. 474) gives 36 Trmcha Ceds to Ulster, which raises the number of Baile Biatachs to 1,080, the Seisreachs to 12,960. This makes for all Ireland 185 Triuclia Ceds, 5,550 Baile Biatachs^ and 66,600 Seisreachs. Dr. Reeves gives the number of modern townlands now defined, named, and laid down on the Ordnance Maps, as 62,205, which would give an average acreage of 324-6. Sir T. Larcom, in the Memorandum above re- ferred to, estimates tlie number at 66,700, and the average extent at 330 acres. '^2 Mr. W. H. Hardinge {loc. cit., p. 43) gives a somewhat different table of the number of Triucha Ceds, or Cantreds, and Baile Biatachs in Ireland, from a manuscript in the British Museum entitled " An abbreviate of the getting of Ireland and of the decaye of the same", compiled by Laurence Nowel, Dean of Lichfield, who died in 1576. The following is the summary : " In Leinster, ... 31 Cantreds, equivalent to 930 Bailebetaghs. In Lister, ... 33 „ „ 1050 „
In Desmond, ... 35 „ ,, 1050 „
InThomoud, ... 35 „ „ 1050 „
In Midth, ... 18 „ „ 540 „
In Connaught, 35 „ „ 900 „
In the Brennies, LS „ „ 400 „
Total, 202 5920
The M.S. states that these divisions were made before the Conquest in 1172. It also states the number of acres in a Baile Biatach to be 9C0,
7* B
/ /
Sub king- doms and number of Triucha C6d$, etc., in each.
Provinces.
in'trodiiction.
_1-
/.
No. of
Tuaths,
or
Triucha Ceds
Meath, inclusive of"
Bregia, ]
Conuacht,
Ulster,
Leinster,
Munster,
18
30 35 31
No. of
Baile
Biathachs.
Total,
540
900 1,050
930 2,100
No of Ploughlands,
or Seisreachs.
No. of acres.
5,520
6,480
10,800 12,600 11,160
25,200
66,210
777,600
1,296,000 1,512,000 1,339,200 3,021,000
7,948,800
THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF SOCIETY IN ANCIENT IRELAND.
The Aires.
Fi-ee and
uiifrc-e
cla&ses.
In Ireland, as in every otlier part of Europe, we can trace the existence, at the earliest period of which we have any tradition, of two great classes — the free and the unfree. As among the Gauls and Germans, the free were not all equal ; there were, besides the families, which in pa/an times were considered to have had a divine origin, and from among whom exclusively the chiefs were elected, also privileged classes. lir^sr' "'^ These privileged classes were called Aires^ a word which may be connected with so many words in the Aryan lano-uao-es that it is difficult to determine its true affinities. In a note to this word in the Crith Gablach,^^* I have brought together the most important of those words, without deciding abso- lutely in favour of any,
= There were two classes of Aires: — 1. those who pos- sessed property in land or Deis, originally corresponding no doubt to the Athelings or'^^ Clitones of the Anglo-Saxons ;
which would give only eight ploughlands instead of twelve to each—that is the amount of a knight's fee. I have already mentioned that this was the case in Tyrone and Monaghan.
'3* Vol. ii. App. p. 467.
'" Cf. Irish Cleith or Cleithe, a chief: literally the best, or the highest chief of the tribe. See note on the Crith Gablach, vol: ii. App. 494.
Two classes
Fl'tths and £d- Aires.
INTRODUCTION. CI
and 2. those who possessed cows and other chattels, and hence called Bd- Aires, oi cow- Aires. The first class were the true lords or Flaths, the Illaford of the Anglo-Saxons, and the Wlad of the Slavonians. The B6- Aires grazed their kine upon part of the common land, and upon land held from a Flath. The Flaths corresponded to the Eorls, ^'''"^*- Eorlcundmen, or Twelf-ha;ndmen of later Anglo-Saxon times. The Bo- Aires, like the Saxon Gesiths,^^^ Sixhaendmen, ovBi>-Mrts. Thegns,'" were not originally noble of birth, but were freemen. The dignity of Thegn was connected with a certain pos- session in land, the lowest having five hides; the dignity of Bu-Aire, on the other hand,was measured by his cattle. But as Thegn-land was simply a portion of the Folc- land allotted to the Thegn, his original right consisted in
'3« Sith is from simian, to journey, and Gesith would therefore mean a com- panion or suitor of the chief or Flath when he held a court. The word Sithar (= suitor?) companion of a judge, occurs in old Frisian law books. It is curious to find this word in the spoken Irish of the present day. Thus in Munster Sutaire an Tiaghearna is the pet or follower of the landlord; and Sutaire a mathar, his njother's pet. In a note on the word Sai in the Crilh Gahlach (see note 567, vol. ii. p. 510), I have considered that word as iden- tical with Suad, the latter being perhaps the former in an oblique case,— and have connected it with Gothic word Saio. It may be, however, that Suad is connected rather with the Irish suilhi. Indeed in a passage on the Cnairsech which will be found further on in a note on p. cliv., the word Suith is used apparently for Sai. The Welsh Swyda, an office, and Swijddog, an officer, give us almost the form of the Irish Suad. Siih is almost identical with the Anglo Saxon Gesith ; the latter represented the O.H.G. Gisindo, a term used as the equivalent of Comes or Count, and of the Gasindu of the Lom- bards, among whom it implied a " trusty vassal".
137 Thegn, i.e. sword, corresponding to the German Degen. Some derive Thegn from thigan, to take or receive; others from thegenian, to serve. It may, however, be connected with another term used for lord or chief, and which is preserved in the spoken Irish as in the example in the preceding note, Tighearna, Welsh Tegrn. In Britanny, the term Mac Tiern was used in much the same sense as Aire in Ireland. Many proper names are compounded of it, as Tighernach, Kentigern, etc. Tighearna is obviously re- lated to O. Norse, 7V(//ian«a//ir, a nobleman, Tignar Konur, a woman of rank, from iign=La.t. dign-\xs. The Irish law term, diguin, gen. dtgona, dignity, so intimately connected with the social life of the ancient Irish, gives almost the Latin form. There is also an O.N. Ti/ggi or Tiggi, a king, but like the Greek rvpavvoQ it is probably not connected. The Irish Tegin, an ollamh's cloak, is, however, evidently related to the Norse Tign and to the Irish Digmn.
cu
INTRODUCTION.
Relation of Jire and A. 3. Thegn
The Lom- bard Arimann :
different opinions on :
its usufruct, like the B6-Aire, who, in right of his cattle, enjoyed the usufruct of a certain portion of the common land proportionate to his rank. The Irish custom obviously represents the original basis of the privileges of the Anglo- Saxon Thegn. This view is borne out by the fact that all Mthe Gesiths, the oldest word for the middle-class, and which //was afterwards supplanted by the word Thegn, did not pos- I sess land.
The Lombards employed the word Arimann to denote a freeman of a similar class. This word offers such striking simi- larity to the Irish term, that I have come to the conclusion they have had a common origin. The first part of the Lombard word is almost the same as the Irish Aire; nor are combinations with the suffix man foreign to Irish, as we find them in our oldest manuscripts, as well as in the spoken Irish language of the pre- sent day. '^^ We have even the word itself Aireman, a term now applied to a ploughman ; but this meaning, as we shall see hereafter, is probably a secondary one.
A good deal has been written on the subject of the Arimani and much difference of opinion exists among the writers who have discussed the subject. Ducaiige'='» appears undecided whether they were some unimportant persons, or vassals. Muratori'^" in one place looks upon them as freemen, and derives the word from the German Ehrej but afterwards he seems in doubt whether they were vassals or possessors of some peculiar kind of peasant holdings ; elsewhere he seems to con- sider them as noblemen; and again as magnates of the empire. Sismondi'^' considered them to have been free peasants, who, in addition to their own lands, farmed land belonging to macj-nates. He believed that they were the only persons besides the nobles
138 Thus aireman and trereman, a ploughman ; caireaman, a shoemaker ; daileman, a cup bearer ;^rew/a«, a witness; ^/ino??ian, a culprit, etc.
'^^ Ducange, v. Herimanni, t. iii. p. 1119.
'^'' Antiquitates Italicae meclii aevi, Mediolani, 1738-1742, 6 tomi fol. The Italian transiation, ^^ Dissertazioni sopra le aniichitd Italiane", does not contain the documents which are important for this inquiry. See t. i. Diss 13, pp. 715, 716,748, 749, etc.
'*' Histoire des R^pubJiqrtes Italiennes du Moytn Age, t. i. c. 2. p. 95 (Zurich, 1807).
INTRODUCTION. ClU
who were bound to attend the Placitum, or assembly of the ctifferent
/^ T • -ij.) • 1 ^ A • ■ opinions on
Uomes or counts. Liruti'^- m one place makes Arimenrii a. -^rima'-n- kind of intermediate class between the freemen and slaves ; in another'^^ he appears to consider them as ordinary vassals who held their fiefs by the tenure of defending their towns or castles. Again,'" he says they were not themselves judges, but the armed body-guard of the justiciary or lord having jurisdiction in the district. Liruti makes the very interesting statement that the Arhnanni still existed in his time in Friuli.'^^ Kluber'''" derives Arimanni from German Heer, but he thinks they were a spe- cial Lombard military organization, not connected with the Heerhann of the Franks, — a kind of association formed in each district for mutual defence, especially against the Romans driven out in Italy by them. Von Savigny looks upon this view as devoid of historical foundation, nor does he accept Kluber's statement that the neighbouring magnates subjected the Arimanni to all kinds of taxation. According to v. Savigny'^^ all such taxes represent the original ones payable by them to the king. Johann von Mliller'^* makes Arimann the same as the Heermann, or captain, in the law book of king Rotharit; the Minister vallis of the imperial lettters, or Ataman of the Cossacks. Jacob Grimm thinks that the proper meaning of Arimann or Hariman is " homo popularis, plebejns", that Is, a freeman who is from the most numerous class, a Folc-man
'** Jo. Jos. Liruti, de Villafredda de servis medii aevi in ForojuUi, Rom. 1752, cap. iv. p. 3J.
'<nbid., p. 39.
141 Ibid., p. 39.
'1* Ibid., p. 48. " Ubi adhuc Armanniae quaedam vigeiit". He is still more definite on this point in his " JS'otizie delle cose del Friuli", tomo 4, in Udine, 1777, p. 110-112, -where he has the following passage; " Giacche in questa provincia vi rimane anchora in qualche luogo questo nome in certa corris- ponsione di Forujento, vino, ed altro . . . noinel nostro I'ialettoli chia- miamo Erinann, e nul nuniero di de' piu Ermanns". See aho F. C. von Savigny 's Ge&chichte des Romischen Rechts im Mittelalter, Bd. I. 211 et seq.
'^^ Jo. Ludw. Kliiber, de Arimannia Comment,, 1 et 2, Erlangae, 1785, 4to, p. 5 and p 37.
'*' Gesehichte des Romischen Rechts, Bd. I. p. 213.
'** Der Gesrhichten Schweizerincher Eidgenossenscha/t, Bd. I. note 30, p. 424.
CIV INTRODUCTION.
different Corresponding to the Folc-land.'*'' Von Savigny agrees to Arimann. tliis meaning of the word ; but he and others considered that these freemen were the descendants exclusively of the German conquerors of the country. From this he was led to mako tlie bold suggestion that the name became extended to the whole race, and that the national names of Germanen, Alle- mannen, are but modifications of Arimannen, and that these are equivalents to a number of other words such as Rachim- burgen, Fiilingi, Freomen, Friborgi, Goths and Franks, all of which simply mean freemen.'^"
M. Guizot'^' thinks that the term Arimann was applied to free- men in general — to the acting citizens without distinction of race, and combats the view that the ancient German social organization continued in the new country which they occupied. He is also of opinion that the word did not mean magistrates or per- sons invested with special functions, judicial or otherwise, and distinct by this title from the rest of the citizens. Neither did the quality of Arimann exclude that of antrustio, leude, or vassal. In the subsequent sections " On the executive Govern- ment", and " On the Administration of Justice", we shall see how far the Irish laws enable us to settle these important ques- tions. Etymology Von Saviguy derived Arimann in the first instance from
of Arimann. t tt- ^ /-t
Old High German Era, New High German Ehre, not, how- ever, in the sense of personal honour, but in that of legal capacity, that is, of the fully qualified freeman. Afterwards, however, he adopted the views of J. Grimm on this subject. The latter'^^ derives the word, as Kliiber did, from Hart, Fieri, New High German Heer, and hence considers that the true form should be Harimamis, which he says also appears in all docu- ments emanating from persons acquainted with German. The Lombard dialect under the influence of the Italian would have dropped the aspirate ; hence the Lombards would have said Ariulfus for Hariulfus, Aripartus for Haripartus; the Franks
'*^ Deiifsche RtLhisalttrthumer, pp. 291-293. '•'"' Op. cit., Bd. I. 232.
'* Essciis sur I'Mstoire de France, p. 237-241. "■i Op. cit. p. 291-293.
INTRODUCTION. CV
would have made tlie latter Charibertus, as they would have Etymology made Ariraannus Charimanus. According to Grimm, the Old High German Ilerimann, Ilariman (Anglo-Saxon, Heremann^ Old Norse, Efertnar), means a soldier, — miles. He, however, considers that this was not the only, or even the oldest meaning, for the Gothic Harjls means a number of persons, " exactly what our word Volk" does. The Anglo-Saxon Here, he says, numbered thirty-six, and the Bavarian Herireita, forty-two shields. Now the latter term is almost the same as the Norse Herath, which I have shown at page Ixxxi. to be a subdivision of the Ftjlk, the representative of the German Volh, so that the Here or Heer was at first a company of the battalion, and being composed of all those able and entitled to bear arms, consisted of freemen who in ordinary times formed the suitors of the local courts. If Grimm's derivation be correct, and no doubt much may be said in its favour, the affinities of Ai7'e which I indicated in a note to that word in the Critk Gablach,^^^ could not, perhaps, be admitted. The Irish evidence shows that the views of Grimm, v. Savigny, Gviizot, and others, that Arimann meant simply a freeman, and not a special or privileged class of persons, are not strictly correct, as we shall see hereafter. The Aire was a privileged person, and formed a species of aristocracy entitled to honour. The word Aire might, therefore, so far as the functions of the persons so called are concerned, be connected with Ehre, unless there be philological reasons of a very strong kind to the contrary.
But whatever may be the derivation of the word, I have noTheiii'^h doubt that the Lombard Arimann and the Irish Aire meant sentedti.e the same thing, and that all the several functions ascribed to the former are compatible with the more complete informa- tion which the Irish laws give us of the latter. The very great importance, historically, of the parallel which I have imriortance instituted between the Lombard Arimann and the Irish ^irg, pai.aiei. induces me to give here a few of the passages from ancient documents which have been made known by Muratori, Du-
»53 Vol. ii. App. p. 467, note 4o4. The Irish Hr, a champion or captain, which T have akeady connected with Uecr {ante, p. Ixxxi. n. 96), is very inte- resting in connection with this subject.
CVl INTRODUCTION.
cange, Liruti, and others, especially by the first mentioned, and which have been so carefully gathered together by von Savigny. Arimeinns Among thoso whicli refer to the Arimamis as freemen, as freemen, without indicating whether all freemen were so called, or only a certain class, I shall mention two. In the year 967 the emperor Otto III. grants to a monastery a castle "Castellum, quod vocatur Romanianum cum liberis hominibus qui vulgo JJerimanni vocantur".'^* In an ancient document of Verona, Henry IV. in 1084, says : " Donamus insuper . . . monasterio . . . liberos homines, quos vulgo Ariniannos vocant, habitantes in castello S. Viti".'^^ That every freeman was not an Arimann is proved by a very important passage which occurs in a diploma of Charlemagne of the year 808. In this he grants to the bishop of Piacenza: " Omnem judiciariam vel omne teloneum de curte Gusiano, tam de Arimannis, quam et de aliis liberis homini- bus".'^^ V. Savigny thinks the other freemen referred to were Romans and foreign Germans, such as Franks, and free vassals, and that the term Ariniannen was only applied to the free Lom- bards ; but he gives no proofs that this was so. In the Lombard laws the Arimannen are mentioned in such a way as to show that they stood in the same relationship to the Comes or Graf, as the Irish Aires to the Rig Tuath, who was the representative in the Irish system of the Comes. Thus, in the laws of Guido we have :
"Nemo Comes, nequeloco ejus positus, neque Sculdasius ab Arimannis suis aliquid per vim exigat, praeter quod con- stitum legibus est" — L. Long. Guido?iis, 3.'"
" Si . . . Comes loci ad defensionem loci patriae suos Ari- mannos hostiliter praeparaie monuerit", etc. Jbid., 4.
In the Lombard laws of Rachis (6) and Liutprand (v. 15), in which the duties of a Comes or Graf in respect to fugitive slaves are indicated, we have evidence that it was only the -4r{-
i»* Muratori, op. cit., p. 735 ; v. Savigny, op. cit. i. 193.
"* Ibid, p. 739; v. Savigny, op. cit., i. 194.
^** Ibid., p. 741 ; V. Savigny, op. cit., i. 194.
'" Upon wiiich Eccardus writes : " arimannis, Erbmaenner, qui bona hjere- ditaria possident, domini minores". Ducange, vol. iii. p. 659; Didot's Ed. of 1824, V. Herrinianni.
INTRODUCTION. CVll
mannen who could hold slaves ; in Ireland it was only the Arimannen higher grades, that is, the nobles oi Flatlis, who could have havVsiaves. FuicUrs, or slaves, on their lands. The Graf or Comes was bound, for instance, either to cause the slave who had fled into a neighbouring territory to be sent back, or information to be given of the whereabouts of the fugitive, Arimanno siio.
As in Ireland, certain of the Aires had sac and soke, or the Arimannen
, , , as Scabini.
right of holding trials, or keeping a court within their own jurisdictions, and of sitting in judgment with the chief or Ri; so the Lombard Arimannen are sometimes mentioned as Sea- bini, the German SchofFen and French Echevins, as in a judg- ment of a Placitum at Lucca, in 785: " Dum in Jesu Christi nomine resedentem Allonem ducem una cum . . . Haremannos, id est Thsso Presbiter, Alio Presbiter etc . . . Et . . . justum nobis paruit esse una cum suprascriptos sacerdotes et Hareman- nos ita judicavimus".'^®
The term Arimannen also appears to have been applied Arimannen to the burghers ot a town who lormed part oi the civic cf Towns, council, and as such concurred with the bishops in certain ecclesiastical preferments, as is shown by a record of the appointment of a parish priest by the Bishop of Lucca in 819: " Una cum consensu sacerdotum et Aremannos hujus Lucane civitatis".'^* If we were to admit with v. Savigny, that Germanus is merely a different mode of writing Arimannus or Errimanus, we could multiply the foregoing examples. The notice quoted by him of a Placitum in the Mantuan territory in 898, in which a great number of Scabini or Echevins are mentioned, appears to support this view. Among the Scabini mentioned are: " dagipertus et teccelinus germanis, et leo de meruda et recuino germanis . . . totile et eribertus germanis . . . Le- derado filio raguerio Warnerio filio . . . Adelperto . . . germanis . . . johane . . . adeperto germanis de ^parma, Ado et Johannes gcrmani de budrio, Benno et Azo germani denandre, . . . Berno et Eberardo germanis de lemo . .
15' Muratori, Ant It., t. i. p. 745; v. Savignj-, Geschichte des RSmischen jRechts, i. 196. »*» Muratori, op. ctt., p. 747; v. Savigny, he. cit.,p. 201.
CVlll INTRODUCTION.
et reliquorum bonorum liominum circum adstantibus". Among the names subscribed occurs: " Sign. ma. Lederado de regien genus Arimannorum qui ibi fuit"."'" The word Germanus is often used for brother, but, as v. Savigny observes, such a number of brothers present as Scabini at a Placitum is very- unlikely, especially as a common father is never mentioned, but on the other hand, the residence is often given. In the case of Lederado we have the distinct statement that a person styled in one place Germanus is elsewhere an Arimannus. Arimannia Wc also meet with the word Arimannia, which is employed
used for the . ♦ _ r J
Ari.nanni in thrcc sonscs. In the first it is used for the whole of the
ot a district.
Arimanni of a district, or, as Eichhorn thinks, those in the
service of an Antrustio ;"" or, as we should say in respect of the
ancient Irish, the Aires of a Mig Tuatha in Ceihini to the Rig
Arimannia M6r Tuatlia. The passa^e which supports this use of the words
ireutioned . ^ .
in Marcuifus occurs in the Formularies of Marculfus,'®^ and is perhaps the
**° Storia deW Augusta JBadia di S. Silvestro di Nonantola, — Opera delcav. ab. Girol. Tiraboschi, t. ii. N. 56, pp. 74-77 ; v. Savigny, Geschichie des Romischen Rechts. i. p. 198.
»^i M. Fauriel considers the Anirustiones to have been identical with the Leudes, Herr Eichhorn beheved that the Leudes, who formed the suite of princes, had the right of determining the succession to the crown, and that the higher . class of them were called Antrasdones. These in turn had, according to him, the right of having a suite of their own composed of freemen, — the Arimannia — and certain immunities. These Antriisliones received several names — proceres, optimates, seniores populi, meliores natu or meliores Franci ; he further adds that they formed the class which might be called the Frankish nobility. Deutt-che Staats-und RecJitsgeschichte, 5te aufl. § 26, s. 190. Sec also Lobell's Gregor. von Tours, S. 160. Herr Wrtlter considers the views of Fauriel, Eichhorn, and Lobel erroneous. Deutsche RecJitsgeschichte, S. 60. I shall have something to say on this subject hereafter, when describing the Foleith of Irish princes. Here I shall only remark that the Foleith corresponded to the Leudes.
162 The following is the chapter of the Formulae in which the word Ari- mania occurs: De Regis Antrustione. Rectum est ut qui nobis fidera poUi- centur inlsesam, nostro tueantur auxilio. Et quia ille fidelis Deo propritio noster veniens ibi in palatio nostro, una cum arimania sua [a/. M.S. cum arma sua,] in manu nostra trustem et fidelitatem nobis visus est coniurasse; propterea per praesentem praeceptum decprnimus ac iubemus ut deinceps memoratus ille in numero antrustionum computetur. Et si quis fortasse eum interficere praesumpserit, noverit se wirgildo suo sol sexcentis esse culpabilem iudicetur. Marculfii monachi Formularum, libri duo I. c. xviii. Corpus Juris Germfimci Aniiqui, ed. Ferd. Walter, t. iii. p. 299.
INTRODUCTION. CIX
only place where mention is made of Arimanni outside the Lombard kinsfdoni. There has been much discussion about the words in the passage just rcfen'ed to, "ima cum arimannia sua". In the codex used by Bignon in his edition of Marculfus, the words were, " cum arnia sua", but he amended the passage on the authority of Pithou, because it does not make good sense. J. Grimm thinks that the word Arhnannia could not occur in Frankish, nor has it been observed in contemporaneous writing. But Eichhorn appears to think that the reading " cum Arimannia sua" is more natural as long as it has not been proved that in every edition of the Formulae in which that reading occurs, it is based on the authority of Pithou, and that it was a mere conjecture of the latter.
The second sense in which Arimannia occurs is that of free- Arimannia
u*ie(l for
hold property as distinouished from property held by feudal fieeiioid
r r J o \. r J j ^ property ;
tenure, etc., exactly as the Roman property was called ex jure Quiritium, with the same reference, as v, Savigny remarks, to the personal position of the Quirites, who alone in early times were entitled to this right. And lastly, Arimannia occurs in the sense of certain dues or rents payable by freemen to the Anmannia state, as distinguished from what may be called the base rents rents, etc. of feudal tenants. These dues or rents were treated like private property, granted, sold, given in tenure, etc. Churches and convents were often relieved of the payment of Arimannia. The term occurs very frequently in the sense just indicated in the Liber Censuum Ecclesiae Romanae of the twelfth cen- tury.'®^
THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF SOCIETY IN ANCIENT IRELAND
The CSiles and rent paying classes generally.
Every free native was eligible, when he possessed wealth, to become a Bo- Aire, and the descendants of the latter might in like manner, when they possessed land for three generations, aspire to become Flaths. It was only the Aires as a class, ^tvcjinniy however, who possessed the full political rights of freemen, — political of being jurors, witnesses, bails, etc. In ancient times the posi-
'»* Cenni, Monum. Dominat. Pontificiae, t. 2, p. xxxvi.; v. Savigny, op. cit. i. p. 207.
ex
INTRODUCTIOy.
Position of tion of freemen who did not own lands was different accordinof as towns and in tliej lived in clties and towns or in the country. In the former, freemen could obtain a livelihood by trade, and, as among civic populations, the greater number possessed no land, they were sufficiently powerful to maintain their common freedom. In the country, he who did not own land was forced to become a dependant in one way or another of the man who did. As there were few or no cities having municipal government in Ireland in olden time, all freemen, not excepting even the craftsmen of privileged crafts such as goldsmiths, blacksmiths, and some others, as well as the professional classes and Bd-Aires, were retainers of Flaths or lords. Theoretically speaking, no freeman need become the dependant of another ; the law, indeed, expi-essly stated that a freeman owed alle- giance to no man except the Rig Tuath, or king of his ter- ritory, unless he wished to give it himself;'" but the con- dition of dependence was imposed upon him by the circum- stances of his position.
The freeman who placed himself under the protection of a Flath was called a Ceile, — a word which seems cognate with the Roman " client". There were two categories of CMles: the Saer or free CSiles, that is, persons who were able to enter into a relationship which left them comparatively independent of the lord ; and the Daer or base Ceiles, who, as the laws say. Nature of had the second bond of servitude upon them. The act of becoming a Ceile consisted in the man commending himself to the Flath, who thereupon presented him with a gift called a Taurcrech, the amount of which depended upon the rank of the Flath who bestowed the gift, the recipient of it, and the extent of the services to be rendered. This gift or wages, for it was also called Rath (wages), generally, if not always, im- plied a benefice in land. The Ceile in return was bound to make certain fixed payments in kind, called in the case of the
1^ "It is competent for a man never to accept base wages from any man, unless it be his own will to do so. And it is competent for him not to receive Saerrath (free wages) from any one but from a king ; but he is not entitled to refuse the free wages of his king. Every man in the Tuath is bound to receive the wages of a Rig Tuaiha". MS. H. 3. 18. T.C.D., p. 119.
Cities, free and base.
C^ilesliip:
Taurcrech &(i(l Rath.
INTRODUCTION
CXI
free CMles, Bes Tiqi or house tribute, and in the case of the Be* Tigi .nd
111 • T Biatad.
base CSiles, Biatad. The former had also to give extraordmary supplies on certain occasions, which were, however, more of the character of pubhc taxes than of rent. They were also bound to attend at Dais or assemblies, at armed levies for defence or retaliation, and to chase and kill foxes.
If a Flath exacted more Biatad, etc., than he was legally entitled to, he was bound to recompense his Ceile by additional wages in proportion to the excess."^ When a Ceile fulfilled all his obligations during a period of not less than seven years, he was entitled to the perpetual possession of the Taurcrech J^]J.*^*^°' on the death of his Flath. When that event took place, he tif«th of paid a renewal fine called the Cumal Be, which represented in Christian times the old pagan custom of the CSiles contributing to the expenses of the funeral games of the dead chief "^"^ When
IG5 u Taurcrech of a cow with her Timtach (accompaniments), thirty beds, together with the Seoid Tciur- claide, is the amount of Be's \^Ti(/i] which a Bo Aire is then bound to pay". On this the commentator remarks: " The thirty Seds, i.e. twenty-eight cows Le. eighteen cows, and twelve Samaiscs,a.Te the i?e's, i.e. the amount of Bia lias (noble food) which a Bo Aire lias then to pay, and if a grade of tliese [the Flaths'] receives an excess above those things whicli we have stated above, he is called upon to give redress for It, as for any other injustice [in- jury or trespass] ; in like manner, should it be the lowest grade of them [th« Bo Aires'] which has exacted the highest liatk (wages), he is not to be called upon to give redress for it, but it is bound upon him, tor it is liath (wagts) in proportion to Folad (sup- plies, contributions) the law has laid down in it [t'.e.in such a case]". MS. H. 2. 15, p, 42, col. a.
" Taurcrech of the Biatad of eight persons, two cows together with the Seoid Taiirclaide. Cedes and their Comarbs are entitled to get Seoid Taurclaide, and Bath ar Ardaig [i e. wages for excesses of Biatad}, pro- vided they have responded fairly to the legal claims of the Flath ; that they shall not wound him ; that they shall not betray him ; that they shall not dis- grace him by receivmg the Daer
Raith (base wages) of an outside Flath; that they shall not do the deed whicli brings death upon their Flath, namely, to violate the wife of a strange FlaiK\
Upon this the commentator re- marks :
" This now is the Crech Torretnach (free wages) wliich is given in return for the Biatad of eight persons. The Rath upon an Ardiaig, i.e. for that which is above what is due, i.e. the ex- cess which is given above the lawful rightful amount, provided that they shall have faithfully responded to the legal claims of their Flath, i.e. in Biatad (victuals), and in his Man- chainne techta (lawful services and supplies), Nacha liuba, i.e. they shall not wound him, the Flath ; that they shall not betray him ; that they shall not disgrace him b}' receiving the Daer Rath of another Flath ; that they shall not do that deed which brings deatli upon their Flath, i.e. go to the wife of an outside Flath", MS. H. 2. 15. p. 42. col. a.
166 i( Every Taurcrech becomes the perpetual property of him who re- ceives it, after having given lawful service, without failing, without wounding, without malice, without deceit or fraud for a period of seven years, [/.e.] if it is the Flath who dies. Not so if it is the Ceile who dies. [In this case] the Flath is entitled to get Ceil- sine (service) irom the Comarbs (heirs)
cxn
INTRODUCTION
Relation of heirs of CUIe to Flaih.
Reversion of Taurcrech.
the Ceile died, the Flath was entitled to get Ceilsini or submis- sion from the co-heirs within one month after the death of the Ceile. The co-heirs of the direct male issue of the deceased also paid Manchaine, corresponding for the higher classes to the heriot, and for the inferior classes to the " best head of cattle" of English law, the Beste Houhet of the Old German and Ebediio of the Welsh. This amounted in some cases to a Samaisc or a heifer in her third year. If the Cede died without children, his property passed to collateral heirs in a way which I shall more fully describe hereafter ; and the new possessors paid investi- ture fees, the Gohyr-estyn of the Welsh."^' In the case of the death of the Flath before the CSile had given any of his legal services, such as paying JBiatad, if the case were one of a Daer or base Ceile, two-thirds of the Taurcrech reverted to the heirs of the Flath, unless he paid three Biatads. In the case of the reversion of two-thirds, the Ceile was entitled to retain one- third, provided he had not evaded paying his legal dues, or otherwise acted badly.''
168
of the Ceile at the end of one month ["after the de ith of the latter] for Man- chaine (heriot), Fuiriud (entertain- ment) Gells (pledges), DdiJs (assemb- lies), Diyails (revenges), Fuha (killing foxes, etc], and Ruba (warding off at- tacks".)
This passage is thus explained by the commentator;
" It is perpetual, i.e. every free gift ■which is given as Rath (wages) be- comes perpetual when due service has been rendered for it by the Ce'ile in Biatad (supplies of food). Taurcrech, i.e. Rath (wages), and Seoid Tu/claide (revertible Seds or chattels; given by the Flath [become the perpetual pro- perty of the Ce'ile'] after seven years, faithful service, provided he fails not in supplying the food for the sake of God, i.e. the Cuma I F>e' (God's Ciimal) [at the death of the Flatli]. Without default, i. e. without curtailment of Manchaine (heriot), or the Fnecland, (honour price), without wounding, i.e. without doing anything hurtful to the honour or interests of the Flath, with- out deceit, i e. without betrayal of trust, the whole of this becomes the perpetual property of the C^ile ; it is
when he has received Seoid Taur- claide that he is thus bound. Not so if it be the Ce'ile that dies, it is not in that way, it is for them [i.e. the Comarbs,'] to give Manchaine, i.e. as Comai- theachs (co-partners) * e. a Samaisc from each man, Farririud, etc. MS. H. 2. 15. p 42 a.
1**' The parallelism of the Irish and Welsh law is shown by the following commutation made in the reiga of Edward III.—" Etdebent V. Sol. pro herietto cum occiddrit cuilibet eorum, Et si aliquis eorum decesserit sine herede de corpore suo propinquior heres de sanguine tenetur in Gob- yrestyn videlicet V Sol." — Record of Caernarvon, p. 104.
'«8 •' If the Flath has not refused Seoid Taurcldide [before his death] the C^ile is entitled toone-tliird of the Seds after the death of the Flath : un- less the C€de has failed to give him any Biatad at all. If he has given him Biatad once, he is entitled to one half of the Seds (chattels) ; if he has given him Biatad twice, he is en- titled to two-thirds of the Seds; if he has given him Biatad three times, he is entitled to them all (t.e. all the
INTRODUCTION. CXUl
The Daer Ceileswho received benefices of land, represented among the Saxons the class of ceorls or villeins, called Heorth- fastmen or householders. The Ceiles who did not receive bene- fices of land, corresponded to the Anglo-Saxon Folghers, and formed part of the military retinue of the chief. Persons of this class were not usually included among the Ceiles, but formed the body of mercenaries which most chiefs endeavoured to keep in their pay. This body guard was sometimes called his Amhus or Ambus, and represented the Ambacti^''^ or military Amhus or retinue of the Gaulish noblemen or equites, whose dignity and consequence, Caesar tells us,''" depended upon the number of clients and persons of this class which each had. In like man- ner each grade of lord or Flath was distinguished by the num- ber of Ceiles of each class which he had.
The same distinction into free and base also existed in Wales, free an<i The villeins of the free Tirfs, which, after the subjection of waies. Wales by the Normans, were called "villae liberae" in the registers of Welsh lands, corresponded to the Irish Saer Ceiles. They paid the lord Gwestva, which, as I have elsewhere pointed out,'^' is the exact equivalent of the Irish Bes Tigi. The posi-
6'erfs), unless he has failed to give him did not do so at the proper time]. his Fognam (attendance or supplies.") " Tlien the Ceile is entitled to one-
Thus explained by the commenta- third of the Taurcrech after the death
tors. of the Flalh. In case that he has never
" Unlessherefuses, I.e. unless he has given uny Bi'tiad, provided that the
evaded paying Biatad to his Flath Ceile is a lawful C^/Ze, he must return
proportionate to his Seoii Taurclaide, two-thirds of the Taurcrech, or pay
until the time of the death of the i^/o<A, three Biatads. He shall give lour
his title becomes good after that, i.e. Biatads to the Comarbs of tlie Flath
the CelVe is entitled to one-third of the incase that he has never given any
Rath (wages) after the death of the Biatad to the Flath when he gets
Flath in rii^ht of the Enech (honour) Seoid Taurclaide and Taurcrech ; and
of his Trebaire (homestead), and this is also the 'case with the Com-
the non-giving of Seoid Taurclaide, arbs of the Bd-Aire and the Comarbs
i.e. unless he had failed, j.e. unless of the Aire Desa [i.e. the Comarbs oi a.
he has evaded payment upon, or that Bd-Aire must pay in the same way to
he has absconded with, the Seoid Taur- the Comarbs of the Aire Desci] in pro-
claide, without having given any portion to his Rath (wages). In case
Biatad, and even if he has given the they have not given any Biatad to
Biatad, unless the time for the Fog- their F/ai/t they must return [part of]
navi had come" [that is, it does not the Seoid Taurclaide, as we have said
avail him to have paid Biatad if he before". MIS. H. 2. 15, p. 42, col. b.
"^3 See note on this word in a subsequent section on " The Executive Government,— The Kings or Chiefs". "° Bello Gall., vi. 15. "' See Crith Gablach, App. Vol. II. p. 272, note 478.
INT. 8*
CXIV
INTRODUCTION.
Uaer Ciiles
their posi- tion,
rents, etc-
Persons in eluded under the term free Ciiles.
tion of the British freemen under the Anglo-Saxon lords, who paid Wylisc gafol-gilda,^'' seems to have been exactly similar.
The Daer Ceiles corresponded to the class of persons called in the ancient laws of Wales Teogs,^^^ and who occupied the lands and villages called in the mediaeval Latin registers of Welsh lands, "villae nativae". Their position with regard to the lord appears to have been analogous to that of the Russian serf to his lord before the emancipation, except that they were not ascribed to the glebe, like the latter. No one was ascribed to the glebe in Ireland except certain categories of the class known as Daer Fuidirs, of whom I shall have much to say presently, and who strictly speaking were convicts. Adscriptio glebce only gradually grew up in Europe from the difficulty the lords experienced in keeping tenants. The Irish liberty is therefore older than the bondage of the feudal system. The Daer CSile, or base tenant, was subject to a variety of imposts, the chief of which was what may be called his rent, namely, the victuals or Biaiad, already mentioned, given at two periods of the year. The corresponding rent of the Welsh Teog was called Daion- bwyd, or donative food, in the latter part of which we have the exact equivalent of the Irish term.
The free Ceiles not only included the class of persons who constituted the villeins of feudal law, but also others of a higher class, belonging perhaps properly to the class of vavassorsi For instance, the Bo-Aires were all high Ceiles of the great Flaths or kings. Persons in the position of the Roman "pos- sessores" among the Salic Franks, such as some of the Fir- bolg chiefs, and many of the original proprietors of districts which had been made sword land of, and who still remained as Biatachs or vassals of the conqueror, belonged to this category. Though the free Chiles were all freemen, and consequently possessed some political rights, it is evident that the extent of those rights differed. In some cases they must have been con- fined to bearing arms and obtaining a share of the common land.
All Ceiles, whether free or base, had certain definite rights
1" Cf. Irish Gabal Gialda. 1" Cf. Irish Toileog.
INTRODUCTION. CXV
in tlie territory, such as the right to have a habitation, and i^oiiits of the usufruct of land; but besides these were several other classes, who possessed either very few rights, or occupied so low a position in the social scale as to have been practically in a state of complete servitude: these were tlie Bothachs, Sen- Cleithes, and Fuidirs.
The Bothach was a cottier, the name being derived from Bo«o<-fts ,• Both, a cabin, or shed, a word still preserved in the Bothan or cabin, and in the '* Bothy" of Scotland."^ There were two classes of Bolhachs, distinguished like the Chiles by the terms free and base. The Saer Bothachs appear to have been a cer- tain class of free men, possessed of no other property than the cabins which they occupied on the lands of a Flath, and earning a livelihood by service to him. The Daer Bothachs were the per- manent farm-labourers of the lord. The hangers-on of this class, horse-boys and other idlers, of whom there were generally too many, were included under the collective name of Daer Accinti or Daer Aicillne.
The Irish Bothachs appear to have corresponded in part to correspon- the Anglo-Saxon " Bbrdarii" and " Cotarii" of the Domesday rion^ru The Bordarii were so called because they lived in a tenement Cotara. called a " bord". This term, if Anglo-Saxon at all, is closely related to the Irish Borth or Beart, a cover or shelter, as in the words Cennheart, a hat or helmet, Coisheart, a word signi- fying any covering for the feet, but usually applied to shoes.
The word Cotarius is represented by the modern English
word " Cottier", German " Kotter", or as in Hanover " Koth-
sass", which is the exact equivalent of another ancient English
term for this class of occupiers, " Cotsetlas". Cotarius is de-
"* O.H.G. boda, M.H.G. buode, a hut, N.H.G. bude, Eng. booth, abode O.N. budh, bud, a tavern, Danish and Swedish bod; Lettish, buda, a hut liXiWi. butlas, Polish buda, a shop, Russian budka, butka,a, little shop; Cor- nish bod (a dwelling), in the names of plac^-s, as in Bodmin, Bodwen ; and also in Welsh names of mansions as in Bodridris ; of parishes, as Bodtdern and Bodwrocr in Anglesea ; also Welsh bwth, Cf. Italian bottega, French boutique, Cf. also Sanskrit root bhu, existere, Irish root bii, esse; Goth. verb, bauan, to in- habit, O.H.G. buwen, M.H.G. biiwen, N.H.G. bauen; bau-er, buwmaa, a peasant; O.N. bua. habitare = Swed. bo, Danish boe; O.N. bu, a peasant's holding = Irish boe in Ball^boe ; 0. Sax. bu, domicilium.
8
*
CXVl INTRODUCTION.
Etymoio- rived from Cot. an enclosure, as in cottage, dove-co^. This
gy of '. . ' .
cotarius. word occiirs also in Irish. In the poem on the Fair of Car- man/" it is used for an enclosure or separate place for the women at the fair, and is the origin of the French coterie. There were two kinds of Cotarii, the Cotarius proper, and the Cotarellus, corresponding probably to the J^rb Kotter and Mark Kotter of the Germans, and the Saer and Daer Bolhacli of the Irish. The Cotarius, Erhhotter, and <Saer^o^/mc/imay have been poor freemen who occupied their share of the common land, and who were in part also inheritors of subdivided estates. The tenure of this class was certainly different, as we shall see hereafter, from that of the Cotarellus, Mark Kotter, and Daer Bothach, who were mere squatters on waste lands. Another word used on the Continent for persons of the class of cottiers was Casati, from casa, a thatched or straw covered hut or cabin.
The Anglo-Saxon "Bordarii" and " Cotarii" may be safely reckoned as descendants in great partof non-Saxons, — an opinion rendered the more probable by the fact of their being men- tioned in connection with the boundary lands of England to- wards Wales.
.^encieithes. Sencleltlies werc the poor adherents of a F'lath, who lived in his house as servants, or upon his demesne as herds and labourers. The name implies that they were old adherents of the Flath, who had acquired the riglit of settlement upon the estate. They were the descendants of strangers, mer- cenaries, prisoners of war, Bothachs, and many of the poorer members of free families were no doubt also included under the term. Among the Norse many of the Hm Karlar or Verhnenn, or workmen on farms, were poor free men, and while in that position were treated in the same way as those who were slaves. The Sencleithes, like the Bothachs or cottiers, did not possess the political rights of freemen, but they formed part of the affiliated family or clan, known in the laws as the Fine Flatha,^^^ and were thus secure of shelter . "5 Vol. ii. Appendix, p. 538. i'" MS. H. 2. 15. pp. 13 b. and 14 a. In a subsequent section will bp found an explanation of the several applications of the important word Fine — Post, p. clxii.
INTRODUCTION. CXVll
and relief, and were irremovable from the estate of the lord. The Fuidir, on the other hand, possessed no rights beyond his contract, and no public responsibilities, and did not belong to the clan ; he was a stranger, but as such was protected by spe- cial laws and customs.
In all ancient nations the foreigner was suspected, and ran Foreigners, the danger of being denied the commonest rights of hospita- lity unless he placed himself under the protection of some citizen of the country. Thus among the Greeks a sojourner chose his Trpoorarjjc or guardian; among the Anglo-Saxons and other Germans he had his Mundhoi'a, or as he was called in medieval Latin, his Mundiburdus. In Wales foreigners admitted to the privilege of domicile, placed themselves under the protection of the king, or of a Breyer or Uchelwt/r, that is, of some lord. In Ireland the immigrant stranger who from choice or necessity came into a territory with a view of re- maining in it, was a Fuidir, — a name applied to all persons who did not belong to the clan, whether born in the territory or not.
The word Fuidir, and the classes of persons included under Puidirs: the term, are alike deserving of special study. Here I shall position: only discuss the position in the community of the persons so designated, reserving for a subsequent section on the Feudal System the consideration of the word itself. The Saer or free Fuidir was simply a free man who entered into a contract upon certain terms with a Flath outside his own territory, or, as we shall presently see, he might be the grandson of a Daer Fuidir. The position of this class will be better understood when I have described the Daer or base Fuidirs. The old laws speak of the position of the latter as the inheritance of bondage and of hardship.^" The Fuidirs, except in certain cases which shall be mentioned presently, were not liable for the fines, mulcts, or damacjes due of them, or of their children or grandchildren, in any civil or criminal action. All these liabilities fell upon the Flath, or lord, upon whose lands they were. If his chattels were stolen, he was not entitled to receive the i)zVe, corresponding to the Anglo-Saxon Wergild; he was only entitled
1" MSS. 11. 2. 15. r.CZ)., p. 11, and 11. 3. 18. T.C.D , p. 122.
CXVUl
INTRODUCTION,
Fuidirs :
their
position;
to obtain their restitution, or to damages for the injury done. So, in like manner, he did not recover Dire for the murder of his son, daughter, or mother, nor JEraic, nor could he inherit the property of his father or other relatives: all these went to the lord.'^^ If a man became a Daer Fuidir, and that he reserved the freedom of his family, namely wife, son, and daughter, he was entitled to get in his own right Enecland}'''^ for four things; for their satire or defamation, for wounding them, for stealing their property, or for the ravishing of his wife or virgin daughter. The son whose freedom was so reserved was entitled to the Corpdire^^^ or special damages for bodily injury, of a free Muirchuirthe, that is, the son of a foreigner by a free- born woman. '^' The wife and the virgin daughter of such a
178 « Every Fnidir with his lawful riothts! they do not pay the liabili- ties (crimes) of their sons, or tlieir grandsons, or their great grand- children, or their relatives in the Fine, or their own liabilities (crimes). It is the FInth upon whom tliey feed that pays their liabilities (crimes) for them. The Dire of his chattels does not belong to him, except only when it iioes to a rtstitution. He does not get the Dire of his son or of his daughter, or of his mother, or the body (if a Dibad [that is, an inheri- tance from his deceased father or relatives], or of an Eraic. It is the Flalh upon whom they feed that is entitled to receive them, and that must pay their fines, and that must suffer for their crimes".
179 "Every Fuidir, i.e. every Fo- daer, i.e. the Daer Aicinta (base-born man), with his lawful rights, i.e., he is the son of a Fuidir and the grand- son of a Fuidir, and he is a Fuidir himself. His lawful inheritance — namely, his bondage — i.e. the worst iniieritance in history it is — namely, the inheritance of bondage and of hardship. He will not pay — that is, unless he himself has their freedom [that is, hiis reserved it] for his im- mediate family, i.e., his brother [and l.ither's brother, etc.]
" Cinaid Fotteisin, i.e., unless he has chattels of his own. It is the F/atfi who feeds h'm that pays his liabilities when he has got no chat-
tels of his own, because he is not entitled to any fines for the stealing of his chattels, but res- titution only for the stealing of his chattels and for liodily injury. His Dire is the right of his lord. He receives no Dire, i.e. he is not entitled to get any Enecland for injury done to his son, or any Dibad. It is the Flath who feeds him that gets all these fines and erics, te. Corp Dire, the restitution of his own chattels alone excepted". — MS. H. 2. 15, T.C.D.,]). 11, col. b.
ISO ^p explanation of this as well as of many other technical terms which occur through this and the next section, will be found in note 473, App. vol. h. p. 471, and also in subsequent ^sections of this Introduc- tion " On Legislation", and " On the Administration of Justice".
181 « 'l]^^^ Daer [Fuidir'] is not enti- tled to [recover] anything [in his own right] for the killing of his son, or of his daughter, or tor any in- jury done to tliein, unless he has re- served their freedam in his own right ; if he has reserved their freedom, he is entitled to get Fiu eland for the Killing of them, and he is entitled to the Corp Dire of a Muirchuirthe'".
" It IS in four things the Darr [Fuidir] is entitled to Fnecla nd, i e. in his satire, and in his wound, and in the stealing of his chattels, and in the ravishing of his wife". — MS. H. 2.15, T.C.D., p. 12 a.
INTRODUCTION. Cxix
Fuidir were entitled to one-half the highest honour price of their i-g the tribe if violated ; and the fine for attempting the seduction rtetemint-d of the daughter was the same. These provisions were evi- t'he'iolds^; dently intended to save the families of FaidiJ's from lawless violence.
The Log Enechs or honour prices of Daer Fuidirs were in proportion to the rank of their lord : thus the Dire of the Fuidir himself was one-fourth of that of the lord ; and that of his wife half that of her husband. There were special exceptions, categories of Fuidirs whose honour prices were not determined by those of their lords. These were the folio <ving: a man who possessed no property in his own right, but who had mar- ried a co-heiress; 2. a man who had married a wife belontrinsr to another territory, and left his own territory to follow his wife into hers; and 3. the Cuglass or "water hound", or foreigner from beyond the sea, who married an Irish woman. The honour prices of these three categories of Fuidirs were determined by those of their wives.'*^ The laws give a curious account of the state of legal dependence in which such men stood to their wives ; for instance, they could not buy or sell in their absence. If such a Fuidir forfeited the affection of his "wife, he lost his right to Enecland; but his misdeeds did not affect her right to receive an Eneclaitd equal to one-half that of the highest member of her Fine or family. In like manner the misdeeds of the wife did not take away the hus- band's right to an Enecland equal to that of his wife.
The Daer Fuidirs included: persons carried oj0f from a conquered country; prisoners of war to whom quarter was
182 "The Log-Enechs of Fuidirs. If is in right of the honour of his wife
he h& a, Dae,7--Fuidir, his Log Emchis his Loy Enech is reckoned; a man
recltoned in proportion to the rank of who follows his wife outside tiie ter-
his Flath, one-fourth of his [tlie ritory, his Log Enech is reckoned in
Flath's] Dire is tlie regular fine of his proportion to tlie honour (rank) of his
Fuidir, and one-lialf of that for liis wife ; and the Cuglass (water-liound),
wife, upon the various grades of tlie his Log Enecli is reckoned in propor-
i^/«e,there are three classes only whose tion to the honour of his wife ; and
Loy-Entchs are reckoned [in right of] she shall pay his debts, if it be after
their wives; a man without a *S'e/6 their marriage, or when he is acknow-
(homestead) or property, whose wife ledged by her i^<ne". — MS. 11. 2. 16.
is a Bean Comarba (a co-heiress) — it T.C.D.,jf. 12 b.
cxx
INTRODUCTION.
Pe»'so"sin- given on the battle field ;'*^ convicts convicted of a capital amniig Daer crime, and who, havincf failed to find a surety or Urradh, were condemned to death by being sent adrift on the sea, and suc- ceeded in getting on land again. A convict who escaped drowning under these circumstances was taken up by the tribe on the shore of whose territory he was cast by the tide, and kept in a state of bondage for life.'** This kind of punishment was evidently a mode of giving persons guilty of death, but whose case presented some extenuating circumstances, a chance of life, and could only be practised on the sea coast. Another class consisted of convicts of the worst class, who, for one cause or another, were not executed; they were the Fuidir Crai Flndgal. The persons included in this class were generally of a superior class, who fled from their own territory when outlawed, and received sanctuary from another territory. Such persons having once accepted the protection of a Flath, could not leave his estate without his sanction.
The first category of I)aer Fuidirs must have been very numerous during the period immediately preceding the intro- duction of Christianity, from the frequency of the inroads upon St. Patrick the coast of Britain, and perhaps of Gaul. It was as a Fuidir of ruidir this class that St. Patrick was first brought to Ireland. The class. second category of Daer Fuidirs^ or persons taken on the battle
field, were kept in fetters until redeemed. Persons convicted of crimes not considered capital, debtors unable to pay their debts or find a security, and such a security when himself unable to pay, that is, when he became a Cimbid or " victim", or as the Roman law said, " addictus", and could find no one to pay the legal price of a victim, or twenty-one cows for him, appear to have also formed categories of Fuidirs, but differing from the others above mentioned in being redeemable.
From the fact already mentioned, that a man could reserve voinntaiy the light of his wife and children, it appears that he could voluntarily enter into base Fuidirship. Persons of this class formed a distinct category from what may be called the con-
'*3 These were included in the class of Daer Fuidirs known as Fuidir Goil)hle, or Fuidirs saved from the gallows, that is from death. '*' This was the Fuidir Cinnad 0 Muir. MlS. H. 2. 15. p. 13. col. a.
Jjaer luiJirs,'
INTRODUCTION. CXXl
vict Fuidirs. They appear to have been generally poor wan- derers, who possessed no property of any kind, and who were obliged to accept this kind of servitude on the estate of a lord. They were, in fact, squatters. There is reason for supposing, however, that these squatters did not become Fuidirs for life, but sometimes entered into a contract for a term of years.
The Daer or base Fuidir or his family could attain to the irish law of
freedom of a Saer Fuidir when he liad served under two*'°""-
Flaius in succession. That is, the bondage of Daer Fuidirship
of a man did not extend to his grandchildren. So favovirable
indeed were the laws to the abolition of this kind of servitude,
that the family of the Daer Fuidir acquired the rights of a
Daer Bothach when his family had served under three lords ;
and those of a Sencleith, when they had served under four.
The immigrant Saer Fuidir who came into the territory
free from crime, might become a Sencleith when his family
had served under three lords. '^* From a passage in the Crith
Gablach^^^ it would appear that Fuidirs could only acquire
fully the rights of free citizens of the territory, after the ninth
generation, except when adopted by the whole tribe, by public
proclamation.
The Sencleithes, as I have already remarked, possessed certain Rights of rights on the land of a Flath, so that a Fuidir family in the fourth generation, indeed in the third, for the Daer Bothach had also right of settlement, could not be ejected from the laud. This circumstance explains the expression so often heard tradition of among the Irish peasantry when they complain of being evicted preserved. by their landlords: "My father and grandfather were there before me"; or, "My grandfather was a tenant of his grand- father ; we^^were free from crime and paid our rent — where is his right to evict me ?"'"
'** He is a Saer Fuidir in the term legal right from that forth". — 3fS. H. of two Flaths, a Dae.r Bothach in tlie 2.15. T.C.D., p. 6. term of three Flaths, a Sendeithe in '8" See vol. ii. App. p. 494. tlie term of the fourtli F/a^A. After the '^^ Or as the Irish saying ex- settling down of Deoriudhs (wan- presses it : •da ^'a-o i-p bi mo fm^eAi\ derers) in Jb'uidirship, and when they vugAc, ni b-fUAijA cu cin coit^ ha have spent for the term of three iAriiA oni\o ha oi\ni fein : acc inAjA Flaths in Fuidirship, they have a AticccA'onA ? " Long as my ancestors
cxxu
INTRODUCTION.
Difi'erent
catcgoriea 01 tree FtiiiUrs.
A man who voluntarily left his own tribe and went into another territory, was called a Fuidir Focsail a aitlireah?^^ A person might become a Fuidir even in his own territory, when through any cause he separated from his Fine or family, or handed over his property to pay his debts. Such a man was called a Fuidir Dedla Fri Fine^^^ A free man who hired land and cattle from a Flath was called a Fuidir Grian. Some- times there was a coHtraot i'or a specified time, but it was usu- ally a grazing contract tacitly understood to be fvr one year and a day. The Fuidir might surrender the land at the expiration of his contract, or at any time if there was no specific contract as to time, on condition, first, that he left no liabilities " of foot or hand", that is no liabilities for trespass or theft, etc., on his Flath, and that he showed the Flath the land and chattels, and everything he received from him, namely, the lesidence, the tilled land, and the madder field. The chattels were divided between them in the proportion of two-thirds to the Flath, and one-third to the tenant. Of the landlord's share, one part, that is one-third of the whole, was considered to be
were under your fathers, they found neither crime of foot or h.and upon them, nor can jou find it upon my- self: what then is your right to turn me off?"
188 "The Fuidir Focsail a aithreab, i.e. a man who has abandoned his home and tribe, and has passed outside of his territory, or gone away from his own land in upon the lands of the FlatK\ MS. H. 2. \5. T C D. p. 13 a.
1S9 «^The Fuidir Bulla fri Fine, i.e. the Fuidir who hns sejtarated from his Fine, but who continues in the same Crick rterritory), or who has trans- mitted [his property] to his faniiiy or relatives, and who continues to live upon his OM-n land". MS. H. 2. 15, T.C.D., p. 13 a.
"It is conspetent in the Fuidir Grian to depart from his Flath, but he sliall show up [his lands] to the Flath ; but he does not carry or take guilt from the Flctth. Ho . hows him [the Flatli\ everything he got from him, great and small, of all that he possesses, both the land and the Gnaim [crops of tilled land], and he takai
away one- third and leaves two- third-".
Upon. which the commentator ob- serves:
" Fuidir Grian, i.e, a man who gets land proportionate to his wealth. It is competent, i.e. the Fuidir, who gets the land, has the power to leave the Flath whenever ]w likes, but he must show (surrender) his land to the Flath. He shall not leave crime of foot or hand ujion iiis Flath. He shows to the Flath everything he received from him, both land and chattels, great and small, everytliing he got from him, both the Tod, i.e. the residence and lands, the Gnaim. i.e. the corn and the madder; he takes, i.e. because it is beyond" [t'.e. from the landlord] he got chattels, i.e. he leaves one-third of wealth [for chattels], and one- third for the land which he got beyond, i.e. from his landlord [i.e. on account of the land, or as rent for it], and one- third for attendance he takes away with him" —MS. H. 2. 15. T.C.D., p. 13 a.
INTKODUCTION. CXxiii
rent, and the other third the equivalent of the working capital Different given to the tenant'^" by his landlord. The tenant's fhare of'of'fi'ee"^'* one-third was the price of his labour and skill. The name Faidir Grian is still preserved in the translated term in use in Munster, of" sky farmer". This term is now, however, ap- plied to small corn brokers, who act as agents for the large fac- tors. The Faidir Grian represents to a certain extent the old colonus partiarius, the medietarius of medieval documents, the metayer of France, and the mezzajuolo of Italy. Indeed the proportion in which the division took place between the pro- prietor and tenant is that which even yet is practised where the mezzeria system is followed out in Lucca.""
A certain class of Fuidirs appear to have obtained a more per- a certain manent tenancy, and to have almost attained the tenure of Ceiles. Futd-rs The Fuidir of this class was called the Faidir auca set, and base cd.ie*. was selected specially by the landlord, and received from him land and cattle. He paid Biotad like a Daer Ceile, and, like the latter, received Bath or wasfes. But while the Ceiles became, after paying Biatad during seven years, owner of the Hath, or, as it was called in the case of Ceiles, Taurcrech, the Faidir always remained liable to return an amount equal to what he received. '^^
""^ G. Capponi, Cinque lettcre di ing been selected in preference to
economia Toscana, 1S45. In other others".
parts of North Jtaly it is generally '^^ '■^Fuidir auca set, he gives Biatad
one-half (Sismondi, Tableau de FAgri- to his Flath^ and the Flalh gives him
cidture Tokcane, p. IPo). In Soiogiie beds in return, but however much he
the metayers give one-third of the gives [of iJiatad], it does not dimi-
corn and one- third of the increase of nish the liability for returning tiie
the cattle, a^id one-half the wool of Bath (wages). The [tine of] default
the sheep (Journal des Economisles, of every Fuidir is settled upon five
JuUl. 1854). The metayage contracts Stds, and that is also what isgiven to
in France are tisually for three years; him [by the FlatK] when he has
in l.ombardy and Tuscany for one year, chosen him [as tenant], for his Cairi
Something like a trace of the ancient for his Cairde, for hi-' Rechtge, fur
customs which the Jrisii laws reveal, Dire of his cattle [quadrupeils], and
appears in the practice which ex- for his Dond [honoui] and for his
isted about Ravenna in the times of drunkenness. Every Fuidir but the
the Hohtpstaufen emperors. When Daer Fuidir has the power to sepa-
a niezz:ijuolo held a farm for ten rate from his Flath, but he shall
years, he could not be sent away with- leave neither liabilities or crimes upon
out cause, nor could his rent be them".
raised. v. 1-Jaumer, Geschichte der The commentary is fis follows:
Hohenstaufen, v. 118. "Fuidir auca set, i e. the man who
^^' "■ Fuidir auca set,i.e. themRn-vfho gels Seds atier having been chosen,
gets Seds (cows) and land, after hav- lie has to show up, i.e. when he is
CXXIV
INTRODUCTION.
Tenures of Although the Fuidirs were, strictly speaking, the only tenants at will in a Tuath, many or them must have acquired a certain permanency of tenure either by specific agreements or by custom, which developed in their descendants into fixity of tenure. This must have been especially the case with the
Fiiidir class of Fuidivs last described. When a Fuidir, even a base
raituerships
one, was wealthy enough to possess or his own, and not lent him by the lord, five Trehas or what constituted a com- plete farmstead, namely, a residence, a cow house, a pig stye, a sheepfold, and a calf shed, he was liable for his own fines and costs, and entitled to Dire and damages. They were, in fact, in nearly the same position as CSiles. They were entitled to the Dire of a stranger, one-third of which went to the Flalh. Of this class were evidently those per- sons who possessed more cattle than they could graze upon the land they held in their own territory, and who accordingly hired land as Fuidirs from a neighbouring Flath.^^^ In order
about to leave, all his substance, for whatever amount of Blatad he gave to the Fluth, it does not dimi- nish or go into counting against the Rath (wages), for he must return it VFhen parting, even though he con- sumed it as supplies. It is arranged that this shall be the amount of the liability of the Fuidir in case of his default of his services [dues] to his Flath at the time of parting, namely, five Stds, that is the Rath (wages) itself; because it is only the Aithgin (restitution) of the amount of the de- fault itself until he is allowed to ab- scond ; and once lie absconds he has to pay double the amount of every- thing which he has allowed to ab- scond [fail] of the substance (pro- perty) which he received at first after having been chosen. Tor his [part of Cain law] he has to pay one-third of the Eraic of his Cain; for his Cairde, i e, one- third of the Fraic of his Cairdi; for his Rechtge (rights), i.e. one-third of his Fnecland (honour price) ; for his Dire, i.e. one-third of the L>ire of his Dula (legal property -qualifica- tions, cattle); for his Dond, i.e. one-third of the amount due to his Dond (honour) of his state, i.e. one- third of the Fnecland to which lie is entitled in case he has Ce'iles, or these
are the things which qualify liis chief- tainship for him, namely, those things which we have mentioned above. For his Meisce, i.e. one-third of the Corp- dire of the wound which is inflicted on him when he is drunk. All but the Daer Fuidir, of whom I am not speak- ing, are competent to separate from the Flath when they think well to do so. They do not, however, leave him to suffer any losses in their leases, — they do not leave the fostering of their children, or anything of their lawful duties or crimes of foot or hand". MS. H. 2. 15. T.C.D., p. 13, col. a.
'" " The Fuidir who has the five Trebads for his own family, he is competent for the payment of their liabilities and for giving Biatad tohia Flath. He is entitled to the Dire of his chattels, but one-third of it goes to his Flath. This Fuidir is not liable for the fines of his immediate relatives unless he has the five qualifying Trebads, If he has the five Tre- bads in fulness, he co-responds [i.e. is in this respect equal] with the tribes [i.e. with the men who have legal rights in the tribe]".
"Five Trebas, i.e. the Cuig-Rath- cedach, i e. an hundred in each. He receives the fines of his sons, [i.e. for
INTRODUCTION
CXXV
to enjoy this advantage, five men might form a partnership, each having " an himdred of chattels" of all kinds, hence, the term Cuig Rath Cedach, or five guarantors of one hundred.'''* In the next section I shall briefly describe the system of partner- ship, which held so important a position in the land system of ancient Europe. A iree man belonging to a recognised Fine, that is, having recognised legal rights as a member of a family in a Tuath, could enter into Fuidirship only from year to year; if he entered into longer engagements than one year with another than his own Flath, he lost his rights, and became permanently a Fuidir. The latter circumstance, and the position generally of Fuidirs, enables us to under- stand and correct a statement of Edmund Spenser, in which he says that the landlords did not let their land for a term of years, but only from year to year, and some during pleasure, and that the Irish tenant would not take his land on any other terms. ''■'^
Fiiidirsliip
under a
st'ange
lord
a tenancv
from ypar
to year ;
this explains an error of Spenser.
their injury, and their benefit (i.e., property), but one- third of it goes to his Flath, and lie is entitled to the Dire of a Deoraidh [a stranger or wanderer] for himself, for his family; for he is competent himself to pay his liabilities when he is so circumstanced. His Flath, i.e. it is competent in him to give Biatad to his Flath, and he is entitled to receive the Dire of his chattels, but one-third of it goes to his Flath, i.e, the Flath has to get one-fourth of the fine bail liability m right of his bail".
Fuidir, i.e. the Daer Aicinta, is not a Fodaer (base bondsman), when he holds the five and the liabdities of his immediate relatives. Unless he has the five Trebads to quality his inde- pendence, i.e., the Cuig Rath Cedach, and provided they do not belong to his Flath. But if he has the five Trebads in fulness, each of them (i.e. the Fuidir and his Flath) will attend (meet) to (the liabilities of) the land of his own family {Fine), i.e. the Trebads are, namely, a big house (re- sidence), a Bo- teach (cow-house), a Foil muc (a pig-st>e), a Lias cae- rach (sheep fold), and a Lias laeqh (calf-shed)".— Jy^: H. 2. 15, T.C.D. p. 12. a.
194 « Fuidir, he does not bear the liabilities of his relations, unless he has the five qualifying possessions; if he has the five possessions in fulness, he participates with his people like the Fines". The comnientary on this is as follows: "t.e. the Fudaer, i.e. the Daer Aqcnta, he does not bear the liabilitii'S of his relatives, i.e. un- less he has the five qualifyinir posses- sions in fulness, i.e. tlie Cuic Hath Cedach, and unless it be with one Flath he has them [that is holds un- der one lord]; i.e. if they have the five possessions of eveiy Daer, i.e. the Cuig Rath Cedach, i.e. if there be five men of them, and that each man of them has one hundred of chattels {Ini/le), each of them is entitled to re- ceive the Dibad and liable for the charges of the other, just like every Urrad. When they have the Cuig Ruth Cedach, and that it is with the one Flath they are, and that afourth of the liabilities falls on them, and when they pay one-fourth of the Dire of the Dili of the Flath to him for his Ddl, i.e. it is then every man of them follows in the succession of the lands of the families of the other, and their Dibad, and tlieir liabilities". MS. H. 2. 15. T.C.D. p. 12 a.
195 «(j^o-v7 we will proceed to other like Defects, amongst which there is one
error :
OXXVl INTRODUCTION.
Spenser's The first part of the statement, so far as it applied to Fuidirs, is perfectly true ; and the second part, so far as it refers to per- sons having, or hoping to have, any tribal rights, is also true. Spenser's error consists in not understanding the constitution of the Fine, or the difference between Ceiles and Fuidirs. In the time of Spenser, however, the number of Fuidirs must have been very large, owing to the continual civil wars and confiscations. In the part of Munster in which he resided, this must have been especially the case, for very many of the original chieftains had been dispossessed, and the new foreign landlords found it more to their interest, as we shall see here- after, to ignore the Irish customary tenure, and treat all the occupiers of their estates as Fuidirs. As long as these tenants had the slightest hope of regaining their rights, they would naturally refuse to accept a tenure by which according to Irish law they would forfeit all claim to those rights. Spenser's statement, that the Irish landlords did " most shamefully rack their tenants" besides exacting their covenants, was doubtless true enough in his time of the majority of Eng- lishmen who owned land in Ireland. That many Irish lords also imitated them and disregarded the rights of their clans- men when there was no longer any means available to the tenants to compel their Flaths to do them justice, is doubt-
irisi. law less equally true. But the Irish law, at least as it pre-
protected ... . . , .
the tenant; vailed at an earlier period, specially provided against such in- justice. One of the seven things forbidden by the law was to give service or rent to a Flath who demanded an excess of
general Inconvenience, which reigneth almost throughout all Ireland : that is, the Lords of Land, and Freeholders, do not there use to set out their Land in Farm, or for term of years, to their Tenants, but only from year to year, and some during Pleasure; neither indeed will the Irish Tenant or Husbandman otherwise take his Land, than so long as he list himself. The Keason hereof in the Tenant is, for that the Landlords there use most shamefully to rack their Tenants, laying upon them Coiyny and Livery at Pleasure, and exacting of them (besides his Covenants) what he pleaseth. So that the poor Husband- man either dare not bind himself to him for longer Term, or thinketh by his continual Liberty of Change, to keep his Landlord the rather in Awe from wronging him. And the reason why the Landlord will no longer covenant with him, is, for that he daily looketh after Change and Alteration, and Hovereth in Expectation of new Worlds". — A View of the State of Ireland,
INTRODUCTION. CXXVll
rent or services from his Ceiles or Cleithes, that is from any of his tenants, until he had paid the fine to which ho was liable for such an illegal demand.'^'' But that notwithstanding prcforenee the oppression which the Irish r laths sometimes exercised, law discred-
• 11 PI 1 !• 1 p -n T 1 11 i table to
especially after the estabhshment oi Jiiughsh power and the English rule, consequent breaking of the Irish legal authority, the Irish tenants espoused their cause rather than that of the Englisli government in Ireland, is perhaps the strongest proof which could be given of the oppression and rapacity of the latter.
The Log JSnech, or honour prices of the larger tenants, Damages, described above, were estimated in a peculiar way: one portion tenants, ii..w was dependent on the land each held, and the other upon the amount of his property; one-half of what he was entitled to in riglit of the land went to the Flath, as a protection fee, the landlord not being, however, liable for any of the costs, fines, or damages which his tenants micdit have become liable to.
The foreigner who settled in Wales under the same circum- stances as the Irish Saer-Fuidir, was called an Aillt (pi. Eill- tion) or Altud^^'' (pi. Altudion) that is, other folk, or other people. The swr His family could only obtain the right to bear arms after three presented generations ; and he could only acquire the rights of a free ^i/uc/. Kymri from the fourth to the ninth generation. The various categories o^Daer Fuidirs corresponded to the Welsh Caethion, and to the Theowas and Esnas or unfree classes of the Anglo- Saxons. The convict cast ashore, and others condemned for
1 «" Allegiance to a lord ■who has service to him, but in proportion to his
made a fiilse charge, namely, a fa'se deeds, until he returns deed for deed
testimony [demand], for excess, or for [justice for justice] ; that is, they are
additional service. For excess, i.e. it is not bound to render the service until
not lawful to render service [to him] they receive their lawful ritrht", i.e.
until he hiis paid the fine of the false until the Flath has made restitution
cliarge [judgment'i, namely, to render for the injustice done them. 3IS.
Ceilsine (service^ to the Flath who has Brit. Mus. Rawlinson, 487, fol. 58, p. 1.
made a false judgment [charge] upon col. a. his CV(7e; i.e. it is not lawful to give
>3' Cf Irish Al-Tuath, another territory, i.e. a man from another Tuath. Cf. also Anglo-Saxon elfjeodig (from {jeod, people).
Ne seah ic elf^eodige Never saw I stranger Thus mani'_'e men Men thus many
Modigiicran Piouder
Beoivulf, 678.
CXXVlll INTRODUCTION.
The Daer crimes, and debtors and their sureties who were unable to pay,
Futdtrs the _ ^ r J '
w.cae(«on« represented the different categories of Wite Theowas or judg- Theoicas, meut Theowas of the A nwlo- Saxons, that is, free men reduced
etc. o ' '
to slavery bj sentence of the law for crime or debt. The Caethion also was not entitled to Galanas, which corresponded to the Irish Dire and the Anglo-Saxon Wergild; nor to Saraad, which corresponded to the Irisli Sarugud, which was another name for Enecland or honour-price, that is the special damages due to a person's rank or position. They had only a legal value like an animal, depending upon beauty and age. They did not therefore stand under the protection of the law, but in the possession of the lord. Right of It was only a. F lath who could have Botliachs and Fuidirs
f laths, etc.
to have of any class on his lands ; ^* so m North Wales it was only the
serfs ; "' •'
ucheiwyrs pcrsous Called Uchelwyrs who could have had possession of
Gaethions. Uchehoyr is literally nobleman, from wc/te^,'^'^ noble,
which corresponds with Irish uasal, German edel; and gwr,
man, corresponding with Irish fer. As in Ireland the Daer
Different Fuidirs, SO in Walcs the CaetMons, belonged to different cate-
of Swoni gories ; some were held for sale, others were domestic or farm
servants, and had a higher value; some again were allotted
lands, and had then the value and the Galanas (Irish Corpdire,
A.S. Wergild) of a Teog, who corresponded to the Irish Daer
Distinction CSile. An important distinction appears to have existed
tudebe-^'" between north and south Wales in respect to the servitude of
s. Wales, the Caethion; in the former it was hereditary, while in the
latter, in many instances at least, it was merely a contract,
as we have seen was the case in Ireland. This difference was
probably the result of the conquest of North Wales by the
Strathclyde Britons. The Altud or foreigner, representino-
198 'iFuidir land it must be the real property of the Flatk; and to the F/ath also belongs the Enecland derivable from it, if he be a wanderer or a foreigner, and if he has no chattels of his own ; or whosoever pays his liabilities; i.e. a File or poet, or an Eclais or church, is entitled to one-eighth of the amount of Enecland which he gets in right of the land, or the propor- tion which one of them bears to the other, and his Marbdile or chattels also".
MS.H.2. 15. r.az)., p. 8.
1^3 This word occurs as an Irish proper name, Uchel or Ochal, the Rigflalh or royal chief of the Tuath D€ Danand of Ralh Cruchain.
INTRODUCTION CXXIX
«
the Irisli Suer Fuidir, appears to have been entitled to Galanas or Dire, and Saraod or honour-price The Aitucl of" the king was indeed placed on the same footing in this respect as a free Kymri ; while if under the protection or in the service of a lord, he had only half as much.
Of all these various classes of persons under the protection o^cAiiPson\y
'■ liml politl-
alord, above enumerated, the Ceiles only could be said to havecai ligiits. political rights, that is, a definite position in the tribe or Tuath. The free or Saer Ceiles were antrustions, leuds, or vassals,^"" who held their lands of their lords in lieu of suit and service ren- saer cuus dered, and the payment of certain fixed lents. As free men etc. they were entitled according to wealth and rank to a portion of the common land, which gradually, like the Boc-land or register land of the Anglo-Saxons, became an inheritance. The Daer Ceiles were the manentes, villeins, or churls of other coun- The Daer tries, and like the latter were not " landagend'", that is, did not viiieins or own land ; but although devoid of political power, their tenure as we shall see hereafter was secure. The free Ceiles of a Tuatli may have been related by blood to the F laths. The Sencleithes, Buth- caus not achs, and Fuidirs, and there can be no doubt the Daer Ceiles veiattd by also, were a heterogeneous body, in part at least, belonging to riath. other tribes, descendants of conquered earlier races, prisoners of war, purchased slaves, immigrant foreigners, and the descen- dants of the latter classes. The Flatlis, Bo Aires ^ and other constitution free Ceiles^ the Daer Ceiles, Sencleithes, and Bothachs, consti- tuted the clan in its territorial or general sense, and all bore .. in common the name of the Flath or chief of the tribes forming the clan.
The constitution of the clan will be better understood when I shall have described in a subsequent section the nature of the Fines or Houses, and tribes composing it.
The different classes of ancient Irish society, though origi- classes of nally possessing, to a certain extent, an ethnic character, were ca not castes. In process of time a family could progress from the lowest to the highest rank. We have seen that the Fuidir could become a Bothach; and that both could become
*"" The terra vassal is here used in a general sense ; strictly speakii.g, Saer Cities were vavasson.
lAT. a*
Sncitly Uv(t
caites
CXXX INTRODUCTION.
Classes of SencleitJies, that Is, fioin belnjj a forelsrner be admitted to certain
society not _ ^ _ ' *-
castes. rights of the territory. In like manner, those once admitted to membership of a clan could ascend in the scale by time and the accumulation of wealth. Thus one of the lower class of Aithechs or tenants became entitled to be a B6 Aire when he possessed twice the wealth of one; and the Bo Aire in turn could become an Aire Desa or Flafh of the lowest degree, when he possessed twice the wealth of one, and had inherited land for three generations. The aspirant for the rank of Flath was called a Fer Fothlai, or man of wealth, and corresponded to the Greek TrXovaiog or rich member of the commonalty, who did not belong to a house, but nevertheless was a per- son of influence in the cities. This gradual promotion from one grade or rank to another appears to have been frequent enough, and to have materially contributed to mingle the different races which successively entered the country. This power of ascending in the social scale corresponds to the old English law of "promotion"; it is probable that originally the Irish and Saxon customs were alike, not only in the principle, but also in detail. We know at all events that amonff the Anglo- Saxons, though personal rank might be gained by crossing the sea thi'ee times at one's own risk,^"' hereditary nobility could only be obtained, as in Ireland, by the possession of property held by the family for three generations.^"^ The Oc A ire, one of the lowest grades of jBJ A ires,^'*^ was considered a " new man", although he inherited property from his grandfather. If a ceorl inherited from his grandfather, through liis father, a sufficient quantity of land, he was admitted into the rank of a Sithcundman or
^'" Anc. LL. and Inst., tit. Ranks, vi. p. 185, fol. ed. The Fergnio who performed the three deeds of championship which entitled him to make the food of a king as described in the Crith Gahlach (vol. ii. App., p. 607), appears to represent the Saxon of three voyages.
^"2 This was the case at least in the North of England. In other pkces the bare possession of five hydes of land for the king's " utware" may have been sufficient to entitle a ceorl to b-come a thane. Anciunt Laws and In- stitutes, tit. Wergilds, ix., Ranks, p. 185, fol. ed., and Lappenberg's History of England, Thorpe's translation, vol. ii. p. 316.
203 See Crith Gahlach, vol. ii. App. p. 479.
INTRODUCTION. CXXXl
TheanJ'^^ The Irish law recognized the principle of naturaliza-Katnr,iiiz.
•^ . . * . . at on of
tion of a stranger, whether living as a guest in a territory, or sti- ngers. already domiciled as a Fuidir. In the case of the guest whom a chief wished to honour by giving him lands, the adoption tool< place by public proclamation after it had been approved of by the Sabaid or councillors of the Taath, of which he had become an adopted citizen. In the case of a Fuidir who had already dwelt in the territory, his term of Fuidirship, family, and wealth were testified to by his Flath, who became guarantee for him, unless he possessed wealth enough to become pledge for himself. His adoption was then approved of by the Sabaid, and proclaimed as in the case of the guest.
OWNERSHIP OF LAND IN ANCIENT IRELAND.
R(iman and Greek writers give us little real information on the Sources of
c information.
laws and customs regulating the occupation of the land among ^"n^^^"^^-^^. the Celtic or German nations with which they came into con- R^j^^nT^ tact. Cffisar, the writer from wdiom we might naturally expect most information, was too intent on his own self-glorification, to devote much attention to the manners, laws, or customs of the vanquished. Tacitus' sketch of Germany is, indeed, the only Roman source from which we can gather any real infor- mation on the subject, and that is so brief that it is obscure. The object of the Germania was not, perhaps, so much to give the Romans information concerning the German peo- ple, as to contrast barbaric virtue with Roman corruption Tacitus, accordingly, brings into relief only those points which he thinks favourable to his design, however insignificant they may be otherwise. Hence, there is very little information on precisely those subjects which are of greatest interest to the historian — the occupation and ownership of land. The medi m^^ii'^''*!? eval sources from which we may glean some information on the subject are of three kinds: First, the laws of the Salic and Ripuarian Francs, the Burgundians, and other Germanic peo-
^°* "And if a churl throve so that he had fully fivehydes of his own land, a cliurch and a kitchen, a bell-house, and a seat at the burgh-gate, and a special duty in the kiug's-hall, he was thenceforth a TJiegn right worthy" — LL. Merc, c. 2.
9*u
CXXXn INTRODUCTION.
medieval ples ; sGConfllv, the various Custumals of France and Germany ;
81 nixes of 1 • m 1 1 r 1 o •
information thirdly, the laws of the Suandmayians, Anfflo-Saxons, Welsh,
on owner- i i • i rn r ' o 7 j
ship of land ; and Irish. Ihe first category of materials is well known; but the laws have been studied too much under the influence of Roman or Feudal law. Although the Custumals of France haye issued in a great measure from feudal times, as is shown by the matters embraced by thein, and although the legal maxims are not always in conformity with the ancient Ger- manic laws above mentioned, there are, nevertheless, un- mistakeable traces of Gaulish and Germanic customs to be found in them. However feudal the Custumals of Germany may be in much of their matter, and in other respects also, no one can deny that their character is fundamentally Germanic. The Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian laws have been of great service in helping to determine what is German in the Latin- Germanic codes and in the Custumals. The Welsh laws possess great value, but they stand in need of critical analysis, illus- trated by comparison with other Celtic codes and Custumals. With the exception of a number of fragments alleged to have belonged to an ancient code called the Seanchas Alor, such of the Irish laws and Custumals as still survive are unpub- lished.
modern Notwithstanding the extensive and valuable literature which
Fiench . , , .
the ^sib-^ect • ^^^^^^ ^^^ subject of the legal antiquities and the develop-
' ment of the institutions of France, we have not found any
satisfactory attempt to determine the nature of ownership in
land among the Gauls. Their special historian, M. Amadee
opiSonT'' '-I'l^iei'iy* has not even proposed the question. M. Guizot has given us his opinion on this important question in his brilliant lectures on the History of Civilization in Europe. Incorrectly assuming, as I shall show hereafter, that the mem- bers of a clan were descendants of the same family, he says: "They inhabited the lands of the chief of the clan, without any regular rights of property, but hereditarily enjoying the privilege of cultivating them in consideration of a rent, and always ready to rally round the chief whose origin and destiny were the same as theirs. Such was the condi- tion m which the agricultural population appeared wherever
INTRODUCXIOK. CXXXlll
that social oi-ganization is found which bears the name ofM.Guizofs tribe, clan, sept, etc., and which evidently results from the progressive development of the family. Now, there is I'eason to believe that before the Roman invasion a portion of the agricultural population of Gaul v?as in this condition I can- not go here into detail, but everything indicates that anterior to the conquests of Cffisar, two forms of society, two in- fluences, disputed for Gaul. Towns, cities, were formed therein, powerful mistresses of a considerable territory around their walls, and organized municipally upon a system analogous to the Roman municipia, if not exactly upon that system. The country parts were inhabited by the chiefs of tribe, of clan, each surrounded by a population which lived upon his domain, and followed him to war".'"^
Another widely accepted view that has been assumed rather Jf-S'smnn-
1 iii'i 1 ■ /^ -I di's opinion ;
tlian attempted to be proved, is, that, among the ancient Gauls, and among all the so-called Celtic peoples, the territory of the clan was common property, to which no member had any special individual right; that the chief was merely the supreme administrator of the property, and only reserved around his house an extensive domain which he cultivated by means of payments in kind, by those of the tribe who pretended to belong to him by blood; that he distributed the remainder of the arable land in a manner as equable as possible between all the families: or rather, that he made every year an allotment of land which had remained sufficiently long fallow to promise a fruitful return. As to the forests, natural pasturage, and the unoccupied land, the usufruct of them remained undivided, each having the right to take what suited him, and to feed as many cattle as he could rear and keep during the winter. Such in general terms appear to have been the views of M. de Sis- mondi among others.
This, no doubt, is the state of nomadic tribes, and even in this the
. „ . . state of
some cases of tribes that have become more or less fixed within nomaiuc
tribes,
certain districts. But it is questionable whether the Aryan race had not passed beyond that stage before the dispersion of
^o* History oj Civilization, translated by Wm. Hazlitt, Esq. London, 1846, iii. p. 132
ex XXIV IKTRODUCTION.
any of the European brandies. The old Romans had private landed property, which they inherited and disposed of at will, Assumed independent of the "ager publicus", or common land. It is ownerthip^ sometimes assumed that in ancient Germany, permanent pro- among'tLe^ perty in any distinct portion or parcel of the soil could not be ac- einians. q^jJ.g(J ]^y .^^ij one, that is, that no German could claim indivi- dually, or hold a certain definite allotment of land, and that the absolute ownership was vested in the state, the rights of the individual occupier being merely usufructuary and that from year to year, a fresh division being made annually by the chiefs or magistrates of the land.^*^ This allotment was not in equal shares, rank and quality being taken into account in the sharinsf. This circumstance alone would show that there ex- isted a class of persons who had privileges — a nobility, and is so far an answer to those who assert that the early Germans had no nobility.^"' The most important privilege which such a class could possess would be perpetual possession, if not abso- lute ownership of some distinct portion of the soil. , ,. ., , Whether or not the German Aryans had advanced so far iMd kM\vi' ^^ ^'^® individual ownership or usufruct of part of the soil in totheGer- severalty before their arrival in Europe, we find the Ripuarian Franks very soon after theii first contact with the Romans in that stage ; and moreover having a specific name, not borrowed ,, J ^ from the Latin, for such property. This term, in the form in cnunate which it has come to us through medieval Latin documents, is A (od^ and is considered by some to be cognate with the Anglo- Saxon etheU Saxon odil, iVl. High German uodal, Old Norse olhal, words which aie very nearly the same in form as the Irish naaal and Welsh i cliel, and which are used in exactly the same sense as the German edel, that is, noble or gentle. Whatever
2"^ See Palgrave — Commonwiahh,'p. 71.
'">^ Sismondi asserts this of the Franks. Pee Iiis Hisioire de Fiance, t. ii. p. 87. It is difficult to undorsland how such an opinion could ever have becni[eDtertained of any Germanic people, after what Tacitus tells us, and still more when the earliest traditions of the north, as they are preserved in the Poetic Edda, plainly indica'e three distinct classes of society. The curious poem of the t.tgsmdl, which recounts the successive births of )7iob11, karl, and jarl, places beyond doubt that social inequality was not new to the Germanic races.
mans.
WOKiS
INTRODLCTION. CXXXV
may have been the nature of tlie tenure of land among the Germans, there can be no donbt that the use of such a word indicated that all did not occupy it upon the same teims.
When the tribes conquered their present country, we may Eaiiy hnn-.e admit that the whole land became common property, and that severalty each freeman could appropriate a certain portion of it in seve- ralty. This right was acquired by the erection of a homestead — Irish Selb,-°^ Dani^h Toft, Swedish Tonipt, — and by fixing the mere stones which marked the Garda or garden/'"^ The amount of arable and meadow land which could be thus acquired
^"^ The word Selb occurs in the Book of Armagh (see note 112 p. Ixxxix.). It is evidently connected with the Gothic saiithva(f. pi. Salilkvos ^ KaraXifia, an inn), O.H.G. selida, silda ; O. Sax. stlidha, a residence,|(lomicilium ; M.H G. seJde, seld, a palac e, and also a hut or cabin ; Anglo-Saxon se 'dh, f., seld, sealc n. a palace, lliere is a medieval Latin selda, f. taberna mercatoiia. There is al 0 a medieval Latin S( //a, which Lucange explains as "domus coloni in sin- gulis mansis''; and Schilter as " praediuru emplij teuticum Lubarii". The med. Lat. sala, whence has come French salle, is probably the same word. The latter form is connected with O.H G. sal, Ang.-Sax. sele, O. Norse salt; O. Sax. stli, a house, palace, or hall, especially the latter, in Anglo-Saxon, and in O.ILG. a temple also. The O.H.G. giseUo,ga><eUo, and the Middle and New H. Ger- n:an geselle, Anglo-Sax. and Lutch ^cseZ, a comrade, and O.H.G. giseUiscaJ't, and N.H.G. gestlhchajt, a society or partnership, are connected with the ued. Lat. form sella. The Anglo Saxon y selda, a guest or one sitting on the same seat, on the other hand is connected with selda. The whole relations of Selb seem to indicate a permanent freehold possession.
To/t, Toftivi, was also used anciently in English law for a messuage dwelling house; in modern times it usually means a piece of ground where a house had stood, or is decayed or casually burnt. It often occurs in docu- ments in connection with Croft, — " cum toftis et croftis". A Croft is an enclosed space for pasture or arable land, or orchard, and corres^ onded to the Irish Fuitdte or la\>n, and was perhaps originally the extent of land which each person was entitled to in severalty. The phrase " cum toftis et croftis" co;- ie>pouds to the Irish one, 1C1|^ fAicci ACAf nigOiine, " both land and pasture land", that is the extent of freehold which a man of rank was entitled to enclose around his chief residence.
^0* Fixing the mere-stones of the Gothic Carda or garden, corresponds to the cur cuailue Gu'ut, or planting stakes to mark the e.xtcnt of the Irish Gort. Ihe latter word occurs frequently in topogrnphical names, and meant a small enclosed piece of land near a house. Fuitche and Goit ; re explained in the laws as follows : " 'Ihe Faithche consists of the four Gorls (fields) « hieh ;.re nearest to the Bade (residence), namely a Gort at each side of tl e Bade all around it ; even if the mountain was the nearest [land] to the Baile it would belong to the FuitcLe. The Scchter Faitihe, or cuter farm, embraced as ftir iis the distance to which the pasture land of his farm extended beyond th«
ex ,\ X VI INTROD UCTION.
appears to have been in proportion to the character o( the build- ing and the extent of its enclosure, which in turn were probably
di.i ii ■ fo--.. determined, as in Ireland, by the rank of the person. These settle- ments, as Tacitus informs us, were not so made as to form con- nected villages or towns,^'" but more or less disconnected, as a well, a field, or a wood happened to suit. They were, how- ever, so placed as to be surrounded by the waste or unoc- cupied land, which served as a kind of protection. The Gauls did exactly the same, as Ctesar expressly informs us.^" This waste land was the" common property of the inhabitants of the district, and was used as pasture for cattle or as forest.
Settlers on The Original common land settled upon by the peasant, and
commons ."^ , . . ,. , , ^ • • r
land hart at brouffht mto Cultivation, did not at once become his m tee.
first only T 1 • p
li-iufruct"; He had only its usufruct as a tenant; the absolute ownership was still vested in the state, and was still under its jurisdiction, their losi- In Scaiulinavia, which affords us the same archaic examples of dinaviit. customs for the Germanic peoples as Ireland does for the Gaulish and other so-called Celtic races, this jurisdiction was exercised by a court of twelve men, called a Nemda, in whom the power of the community was vested. The state could resume posses- sion of the land, if the peasant was too poor to maintain his position, or was idle, or allowed his holding to lie waste, just as an English copyholder forfeits his holding if he allows his buildings to fall into decay .''^ Land held in this way could not
Fai'che. MS. Brit. Mm. Rmvlinson, 487, fol. fi2., p. 2., col b. The Irish Gort is the Welsh Garth, pi. Gerzi, which are mentioned in the Exttntae Commoto- rum of Anglesey, or records of the inquests made in 1353, by order of E iward the Third, under the name of "Gardina de terra nativa", while their owners, who were a class of cottiers, are mentioned as " gardynemen".* In the north of England the term Garth is applied to a little backside or close. The primitive meaning of Gort, Garth, Gar(Ia,etc., as an enclosure, is also illustrated by the word Fishgarth, applied in the same district to a species of weir for taking fisli.
"" Germnnin, c. xvi.
211 "Civitatibis maxima laus est, quam latissimas circum se vastatis flnibus solitudines habere". Da Bella GaU.,vi. 23.
' ' The Bretha ComcH/c/^fs or judgments regulating co-occupation of land, of which more hereafter, contained a similar provision. If a member of such a copartnership allowed his "oencA or buildings to go to ruin, he wns liable to be expelled unless lie put them in repair. MS. H. 3. 18. T.C.D , 224, b. 238.
' The Rgrord of Crr.riiarvon, jip. 49, £0, 63, 84,86.
INTKODL'CTION. CXXXTll
be alienated, but when one family had so enjoyed an undis- turbed possession of it during sixty years, or when it was suc- cessively held by father and son to the fourth generation, tlie holder acquired an absolute property in it, and could alienate or transmit it to his heirs. This was also the custom in Ireland.
In England the common land of the community was called " foIc Land "Folc Land", that is the people's land. The occupier of such land had only the usufruct, and could not alienate it in per- petuity by bequest or sale ; it reverted to the community, and might be regranted by the authority of the Folc- Gemot, or court of the district. Here, as in Norway, we can follow the conversion of this Folc-land into allodial property. One way in which it occurred was that land was set apart for specific pur- poses, sTich as the appanages of certain offices, or as mensal lands for the royal table. As these offices became in most cases hereditary, the land forming the appanage became a freehold. As the authority of the Bretwalda, or chief king of the Anglo- Saxons, increased, and the subreguli sank into mere nobles, large portions of the Folc-land passed into their hands, or became the special appanage of the crown, forming what is called in Domesday Book " terra regis". The conversion of Folc-land was an act of the king, done with the advice, consent, and license of his Witan or counsellors.^'^ Folc-land was also b9c Land, given to reward great public services, and in this way no doubt a good deal of it became allodium. Grants of this kind, as Kcmble has suggested, were analogous to the rs/uiivog or cut off portion of the Greek. ^'^ Land thus alienated for special pur- poses was registered, hence the name of i^oc-land given to it. Of the old i^o^c-land nothing has remained but the common lands of modern English manors and ancient towns and boroughs. These common lands are the joint property of the lord of the manor, or of the corporation of the town, and of the tenants — the former having the dominion and the usufruct, and the tenants the usufruct only. The lord or
^'^ The Saxoiis in England, i. 305.
"* Ibid.,i. 289-90. Kemble suggested that the "hundred tliousand of land" giveu as a reward to Eofer, and to Wulf, for slaying OngeniSe6we,
*i;ii tiik 11 out of til ' F.-\' lairl. Pec Bcowu'f, o\'i\.
Allodi.l iand uf
CXXXVUl INTRODUCTION.
corporation represent in this partnership the ancient authority of the Fvlc- Gemot, and are consequently only trustees.
But beside this Folc-land, which became gradually alienated, Ethehngs. ^^(3 converted into Boc-land or freehold land, the Anglo-Saxon kings and Ethelings, or members of those families eligible to become kings, corresponding to the Irish Damna Rig, undoubt- edly possessed private property independent of the Folc-land, which was devisable by will, disposable of by gift or sale, did not merge in the crown land, but was transmissible by inheri- tance. As in very early Anglo-Saxon times, the number of independent chieftains was very considerable, and as all their families once ranked as Athelings, many Thegns or nobles de- scended from them must have inherited freehold land from them, in. Henri M. Hcnri Martin, in his History of France,"^' tells us that
allege" '"^ at first the tribe was the only proprietor among the Celtic o'f'eaiy " iiatioHS ; and he adds, that traces of this early communism are
Celts. ... .
very evident in the Irish Brehon Laws. As, with the exception of the collection of fragments on the Law of Distress, alleged, as already mentioned, to have formed part of a supposed an- cient code, the Brehon Laws are still unpublished, and to a great extent unknown, M. Martin could only have obtained his infor- mation from very unreliable statements respecting them, pub- lished some years ago. Whether their thorough investigation would give us the evidence stated by M. Martin, and enable us to solve the very important problem of the notions regarding property in the soil of the Aryans, before their contact with Semitic and other early Mediterranean nations, I know not. But I believe that the riiijht of individuals among the Irish and so-called Celtic inhabitants of Britain, to the absolute posses- sion of part of the soil, rests upon as ceitain, peihaps more cer- tain, evidence than among the Angle-Saxon and other Germanic peoples; and further, that, as might have been anticipated among so closely allied branches of the Aryans, the general principles of the laws regulating the occupation of the land were practically the same among all the early northern nation^ , whether called Celts or Germans. »'» Vol I p. 43.
INIRODUCTIOy, CXXXIX
At tlie commencement of the Norman period the right to Aiiodiai:«nd have armorial bearings, and of voting in assemblies in Wales, was connected with ihe possession of land. And that this pos- session was r.ot that of the mere usufruct for the time of a por- tion of the common land, but ownership of some 1- ind in perpe- tuity, is clearly proved by its having been transmissible to heirs. It may be objected that this ownership was a recent usurpation ; but, considerint>- the tenacity with which the Welsh adhered to all their ancient usages, and how slowly the influence of the Saxons or Normans penetrated among them, except where the ancient proprietors were wholly dispossessed, it is not likely that, engaged as they were in a perpetual struggle against English encroachments, they would have usurped rights over the lands of their retainers, which would be entirely foreign to the as- sumed spirit of the Welsh laws.
In Ireland the ownership of land constituted, as it doesTieimh now, the special characteristic of the Flalh or lord. But tue land, tlie whole soil was not thus owned. '1 he territory or land of a Tuath, which constituted the true political unit, was owned in part by Flaihs, one of whom was Big or chief, and in part was the property of the Tuath. The chief had the dominion of this common land, but had no right of possession save only of that part whicli was set apart as the mensal land of his ofiice. This portion, and all land similarly set apart as appanages of the officers of the state, was not, properly speaking, common land, as it was in reality alienated to offices which were at first elective, but which afterwards became hereditary in certain families, the succession being regulated by the custom of Tanistry. Land so held corresponded in some respects to the Ti/r C>/frif of the Welsh, and the Boc-land or Register Land of the Anglo-Saxons. Each chief had his own individual estate, which did not neces- sarily merge in the ro}'al mensal lands. Their own estate and their mensal land was in part occupied by Saer CSiles, and in part by Daer Ceiles, and was thus to a certain extent alienated ; the chief held the remainder in his own hands, or let it from year to year to Fuidirs.
The other Flaths of a territory lived up' n their own estates, and kept as much of the land in tlicir own hand as was neccs-
cxl
IMTRODUCTION.
sary for the dignity of their rank and their legal responsibil- lities."'^ This portion they worked by means of Sen-Cleithes, Bothachs, and Daer Fuidirs, base adherents, who had no pro- perty in the soil and no political rights, as we have seen. As in the case of the chieftain, they disposed of the rest among their
Duties of free and base clients, the former giving them allegiance and ser-
Fiaths: vice and annual tributes of food, etc., and helping them to bear the burthens and pay the mulcts and fines of the tribe, and to ran- som themselves or any of their family who might be taken as hostages: in fact, performing the same duties as the Roman client did to his patron. The base CUles also performed mili- tary service, but, except in not being ascribed to the glebe, they were more or less in the position of serfs ; they were in an especial manner the purveyors of their lords. Their chief rent
Bia'ad; Consisted of Biatad, or victuals given at two periods of the year ; Forgab, or contributions at certain festivals; Cai, or "cosher- ing", that is, entertainment given when on the visitation of the territory, and many other charges exclusively levied upon them. They were also liable, as well as the Saer or free CSiles, to contribute for the entertainment of kings. Aires, judges. Files, etc., when journeying on the business of the state, or making a judicial eyre. This entertainment had different names according to the character and objects of the guests, such as Fecht-Fele, Folacli, Faesam, etc.
£^s Tigi. The Bes- Tigi, or house tribute, paid by the free CSiles of
several grades of officials, is given in the law tract called the Crith Gablach.^^^ Thus a three year old ox and its food for one year were paid by a Bd Aire Febsa, one of the middle class of free men, who corresponded to the Anglo-Saxon Sith-
*'^ This portion corresponded to tlie "hoba dominicalis" of the Continent in medieval times, the " terra salica", that is what was managed from the sala or curds, " mansus indominicatus", or " mansus dominicus", in contra- distinction to the " mansi serviles", " Utiles" or " ingenuiles", according as they belonged to serfs or free peasants, and the more modern " Frohnhot" of the Germans. See Waitz, Deutsche Vtrfassungsgeschichte, II. 190; also his Altdeutsche Huje, 48 et seq. The Anglo-Saxons called it " inland" ; in Nor- man times it was the " manerium" or " manor" or demesne lands, as contra- distinguished from the " tenemental" lands. See Kemble, Saxons in England^ i. p. 320.
»'' See Vol. ii. App. p. 405.
INTRODUCTION. cxli
ciindnifn or Thegns, and whose property qiialilication consisted in land for forty- two cows, with a house of twenty -seven feet, and a back liouse or kitchen of fifteen feet, and out-offices con- sisting of a kiln, a share in a mill, a barn, a sheep-house, a calf- house, a pig-stye, and half the requisites for ploughing, twelve cows, a working horse, and a working steed. ^'*
The Bes-Tigi did not always consist of cattle only: thus i\\QiiitTigi; Oc-Aire who paid a Bes-Tigi of a heifer in her third year at Shrove-tide and her food for a year, appears to have received from his own Cedes a. belly-piece of fat pork, a hog in bacon, a slaughtered cow or pig with flesh an inch high, three bags of malt, and a half bag of wheat. Some tenants paid in furni- ture, iron work, vessels, etc. These were hereditary workers in metal, wood, etc., who paid their Bes Tigi in the produc- tions of their respective professions.
In South Wales (Gwent) the Tref, which represented theweish Irish Baile-Biatach, though it did not contain as large an area, paid a Gives- Tva consisting of a horse-load of the finest meal, a slaughtered cow or ox, a vessel nine palms wide and nine palms deep full of mead, seven double dozen bundles of oats for fodder, a three-year-old swine^ a flitch of bacon three fingers thick, a pot of butter three palms deep and broad. If the mead could not be given, then twice as much Bragaut,^^^ or four times as much beer, should be given in lieu of it.^^" In the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Edward
218 Hid., p. 483.
"' This has been described as a kind of ale sweetened with honey, whence the English Braket, or Bragget. The Russians make a kind of white, or unhopped beer from wheat, which is called Braga. Cf. Irish Brath or Brack, malt ; and also the Gaulish Brace, the Spelt-Wheat : " Galliae quoque suum genus farris dedere, quod illic bracem (a/, bracum, brance) vocaut, apud n(.s sandalam {cil. Ecandalam,- um, etc.) nitidissimi grani". Pliny, Hist. Nat., xviii. c. 7. The Russian ^B/a^a was probably generally made with spelt- wheat. This wheat, there is reason to believe, was formerly cultivated in Ire- land. A particular kind of Wallon beer was also made from the spelt wheat.
2^" Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales,]}. 9f)-l ; p. 260-2, 3, 4; p. 375-t, 2, 7. The settled burthens on the usufruct of Folc-land appear to have re^ire- sented the charges on the Irish Saer Ce'iles. Among the former may be men- tioned: military service, repair of roads, bridges and fortitications, dues to the king and gerefa, watch and w ard, aid to the royal hunting, convoy of mes- sengers, harbouring of the king and his messengers and huntsmen, and pay-
Cxlli INTRODUCTION.
t'ion'of^*^ the Tliird, wKen the "Extentie Commotorum", already seve-
Gwes-Tva j.g^][ times referred to, were taken under the Earl of Arun- del, justiciary of North Wales, for the purpose of deter- mining the legal claims of the Black Prince, the tenures, rents, and services of all tenants, whether free or base, were ascertained upon oath of each, and then examined by a jury of twelve free men empannelled from each Coramot. The " Extentae" are the inquisitions of these juries: each Tref or township being entered in them under a distinct head, and the tenures, rents, and services described by their Welsh names, ^^' Those freeholders who wished to commute the Gwes-Tva due
into "Tunc" from them into a money payment, were allowed to do so. This sum of money was called a Punt T ung or Tiong pound, ^"^^ and still continues to be paid as a crown rent under the name of" tunc rent" in the north of Wales. In this transaction the Black Prince merely claimed the same dues that had hitherto been paid to the Welsh prince of Gwynedd, and did not usurp any
This proves riffhts ovcT the freeholders. The commutation of the Gwes-Tva
that ilie _ °
Saer die into a perpetual rent to the crown, shows clearly the nature of fieehoid; ^}^g Wclsli tcuurc ; and as the Irish Bes-Tigi was the exact
ments in kind to be delivered at the royal vills or cyninges-feorm, or firme- regis. The ancient royal Gafol was apparently the equivalent of Be's-Tigi. I have already suggested that the British freemen who paid Wylisc Gafol- gilda corresponded to free Chiles, and consequently that the Gafol was equi- valent to Gives Tva or B^a Tigi. The payments of this kind reserved upon twenty hides of land at Titchbourn, which had been granted between 901 and 909 by Eadweard to Penewulf of Winchester for three lives, and were trans- ferred to the church as double-commons for founder's day, amounted to twelve sexters of beer, twelve of sweetened Welsh ale, twenty ambers of bright ale, two hundred large and one hundred s nail loaves, two oxen fresh or salted, six wethers, four swine, four flitches, an 1 twenty cheeses; but if the day of payment should fall in Lent, an equivalent offish might be paid instead of flesh. Kemble, The Saxons in England, i. 296. The large and smill loaves remind us of the Bairgin Indriuc or Fer/iiine, or full sized cake sufiicient fur one man's meal, and the Bairgin Banfuine, or cake for one woman's meal, which formed part of the Biatad oi the Oc.-aire. See Crith Gablach, vol. ii. App. p. 481. This sweetened Welsh ale was probably Bragaut.
2^' Palgrave, op. cit., p. cccliii.
*" Twng probably represents the Irish toing, an oath ; that is the sworn pound, because the value in money of the cominuted Gwes-Toa was determined by sworn testimony.
iNrRODC'CTiON. cxiiii
equivalent of the Welsh Gives-Tva, there can be no doubt that the tenures by which the Bo- Aires and other Saer Ce/leshald their land in Ireland would have been treated as free- holds by the Norman Law. But while such freeholds such free-
Iiolds recoff"
were universally acknowledged in Wales, it would be ditFicultnisedin
. . , . . WdWs but
to find a dozen instances in which this occurred throughout not in ue-
land
the whole period of the English occupation of Ireland. I ex- cept, of course, those cases where Norman lords became Irish Flaths, and adopted Irish customs and laws. But their suc- cessors, when they did not share the general fate of the Irish lords, readopted English customs, and gradually confiscated the ricrhts of all this class of freeholders.
The Flalh^ or lords, who possessed Dei'< or an ancient right Relation of
. . Flat/is to
to the soil, which entitled them to have Bothachs and Fuidirs Rig- on their estate, also received Taurcrecli from the chief, and paid him Bes- Tigi, thus acknowledging that he possessed the do- minion of the territory ,^-^ and indicating that the origin of this inherited land called by the Welsh, as I have before men- tioned, TiV Gioelyawp, was the same among the Irish, Welsh, and Anglo-Saxons. This payment of Bes-Tigi by the land- owners is of considerable importance in connection with the oricrin of feudal tenures, and I shall therefore have to refer to this subject hereafter.
The amount of rent paid by the base Ceilesms,Y he iudged Amount of
r J JOG rent 01
by that paid by the five Ceiles of' the Aire Desa, the lowest of ^a»e aues
the Flaths, namely: a cow with a three -year old ox, and three
two-year-old heifers bulled, and their feeding for a year. The
ten base Ceiles of the Aire Ard, one of the higher grades of
Flaths, gave him two cows, three three-year old oxen, and
five two-year-old heifers just bulled, and their food for a year.
In this case the rent paid has increased in exactly the same
proportion as the number of Ceiles, and the same rule applies to
the other l^laths, from which it would appear that the rents of
the Ceiles of Flaths or lords of the different classes were fixed by j
law,^^* as were the number of the'r retinue, the number entitled
to free maintenance on a judicial eyre, etc.
"' MS n. 3 18. T.C.D., iiy. */
*'* Fuod, that is tlie fo ^d whioli is given to the man who gives wages
Cxliv INTRODUCTION.
INFLUENCE OF LAND-LAWS AND CUSTOMS UPON THE TOPOGRA- PHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE OCCUPIERS OF LAND.
Having shown the existence in Ireland of what may be con- sidered as the ownership of land in severalty, and pointed out the general relations of the occupiers of land towards the landlords, we have next to inquire, more fully _.than we have yet done, by what tenure those who did not possess allo- dium, or what we may for the present consider its equivalent, held the land they occupied. Before I can enter_^upon the discussion of this branch of the inquiry , there are, however, some preliminary questions which demand investigation, namely, the distribution of the agricultural population on the land in different parts of Europe, as compared with Ireland, the or- ganization of the family, and the succession to property. Four ciasset The laws and customs regulating the occupation of land de-
of society . •iii itm- f
the rssuit of termine, even yet, to a considerable extent the distribution or the population ; but in olden times these influences were still stronger. In most European countries we can trace four distinct types of society, resulting from the action just referred to, occupying the land to a certain extent apart, namely: 1. owners of large estates; 2. those who held portions of land as separate estate, but held the forests, bog, and mountain in com- mon ; 3. those who held all kinds of land in common ; and 4. those who held no land, or enjoyed only its temporary usufruct. Each type represented a number of classes of very different origins, and whose tenures were nearly as various. I shall con- fer wages, i.e. Ceilsine,t.e. the Flath Forgialna; i.e. gave his plains [lands] to the Fines [that is C^t7e»], because he is not entitled to his own judgment (valuation), though he should desire it, but the valuation of the other man", M.S. H. 2. 15. T.C.D., p. 16 a.
The following passage shows that if a C^ile held land subject to certain head rents, the lord could not rackrent him by giving him Rath or wages of cattle: " The man who gives land as wages, it is he who is entitled to receive the seven Fobiadas (food-rents). The man who gives cows as wages is entitled to two Fobiadas, but this must be upon the lands which are not liable to Dams [i.e. liable to maintain companies, to furnish entertainment for kings, etc., on their eyres] or to pay Biatad ; and if it contributes anything in this way, he is not entitled to it" [i.e. the Fobiad]. 31.S. U. 3. 18. p. 24.
estates;
INTRODUCTION. «x1t
sider each type in succession in the order I have just given them.
The large estates were held by inheritors of allodial land ,^^^5 from ancestors who had made sword-land of it, or had acquired it by gift on account of services, or who had either with the express or tacit consent of the people, or by their own act sus- tained by force, appropriated an estate to themselves from waste or unoccupied land. The names by which the latter classes were knjown are expressive of their origin, "proprisi", "aprisi- ones", " bifiinge*',"^ " Septa",^^« in Danish " Ornum". The residences erected on those large properties were the " Curtes" or " Hufe" already mentioned."" Once an estate was formed in any of those ways, it could be increased by consolidation with others, acquired by inheritance, purchase, etc. A consi- derable part of the Danish nobility raised themselves from the condition of peasants in this way.^^^ The possession of pro- perty created privileges. For instance, it enabled the posses- sor to herd his cattle apart, and thus place himself in the most favourable economical conditions to increase his wealth.^^^
^*^ From Gothic bifahan, to enclose. Cf. Irish fathan or fahan, shelter, enclosure. These words occur in Irish topographical nomenclature. See the section on buildings, for some observations on the townland names of Fahan and Glenfahan, in the Co. Kerry.
^^^ That is, enclosures, — the first mark in ancient times of property in severalty. The enclosing fence was called by the Middle Latin name Falda, and the right of erecting it, Faldagium. Ducange, speaking of Faldsoc, or the liberty of erecting a Falda, says " Nulli quippe olim licuit vel in terris propriis Faldam erigere, aut gregem alere, nisi domino feodaU, sen manerii hoc ex jure publico gaudentl. Est igitur libertas Faldae seu Faldagium, T^reiQ- rogativa dominicalis, tenente plebeis non competens". Ducange says it is derived either from the Saxon fald or the Welsh ffald. There is an old Scottish /aW. The English /oW, as in sheepfold, is evidently the same word. Both may be borrowed, as the word Falda was generally used in tlie English laws for a sheepfold, and the word Faldfey or Fald-fee for the rent paid to a lord by certain cuftumary tenants for liberty to fold their sheep upon their own land. The Irish Fal is used not only in the sense of a fence, but in a legal sense of prescriptive right. This word is of considerable im- portance in connection with tenures. See note p. clxxvii. for the manner of legally establishing a Fal in Ireland.
*2' See Maurer, GescMchte der Markenverfassung, S. 181 et seq.
'2' Dahlraann, Dcinische Gcschichfe, I. 139.
**' According to SachsenspiegeL11.5i,aadSchwabenspiegel, 213 (Lassbergs INT. 10*
Cxlvi INTRODUCTION.
homesteads with
The large proprietor liad his castle, about, or in the neighbour- wmmou;'" ^^^^^ of wliich, grcw up a village or town, in which dwelt his various classes of tenants and adherents.
The second type is represented by the German " Mark- genossenschaft". Each member of the community held a portion of land as an estate in severalty, the forest and waste that formed the wild, untilled boundary land between the various settlements being held in common — hence, the name mark or march. This class of occupiers sometimes lived apart, some- times in villages. The community of forest and waste could equally exist between the isolated proprietors, living on their re- spective holdings, as between the villages, occupied^by the pro- prietors whose estates lay around the village. In Westphalia the former was more frequently the case than the latter.^'^" We have an illustration of this mode of settlement in Anglo-Saxon topographical nomenclature: names of places ending in den, holt, wood, fait, hurst, which indicate clearances of woods or original mark-land, are generally found forming a regular cir- cuit about some place ending in ham, indicating a home, or individual settlement; or stede, which originally implied a group of buildings of a superior class, as in the word Farm- stead— a meaning also preserved in the Irish Stadeir, a family seat or homestead, but which has been expanded in the modern German Stadt; or lastly tun,ou^ modern word town, where a number of landholders settled.-^' In Sweden the same thing occurs, the common grazing lands of the older villages being the mark or boundary land. When those common lands were extensive, new settlements took place in them. In the marks of villages each independent householder, that is every one who had " smoke, or fire, or llame",^*^ was entitled to share in the
edition), no one could have a herd of his own in Germany except he pos- sessed at least three mnnses.
*3" Waitz, Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, I. 30. Lodtmann {Act. Osnahr., t. i. 15 et seq.), gives a list of 118 such marks or marches in the dis- trict of Osnabriick.
^^' Kemble, The Saxons in England, I. 42 et seq.
*^^ Weisthumer gesammelt von J. Grimm, II. 174, III. 291, 413, 491. Maurer, Geschichte der Markenverfassung, 79.
INTRODUCTION. Cxlvii
mark. Such marks had communal organization, elected or immesteads hereditary officers, who had charge of them, called "Mark vogt-maixiies in en", and special tribunals called " Milrkergerichten". common ;
Some of those mark villages represent the original settlers who had obtained each a lot of the folc-land, — a Hyde, Hufe, Mansus, or Bol. Hyde and Hufe refer more to the land, Mansus and Bol to the residence. The Hufe is said to have been thirty Prussian acres. According to Kemble,^^^ it was thirty-three acres among the Anglo-Saxons. We cannot from these numbers determine what was the size of the original allotments, as they must have varied with the character of the country and the number of settlers. We may, however, assume that the general idea of such a settlement was the land that occupied a plough and supported a family. We also know that the farther back we go among the Germans, and indeed among most European peoples, the more landowners will be found in a village or district.-^* The earliest records of the kingdom of Saxony show an inequality in the extent of the holdings of the peasants in the same village. ^^^ Inequality, even when not a characteristic of the original settlement, must necessarily have arisen almost immediately after its formation, owing to greater thrift, failure of heirs, and other causes. Sub- division also took place. Thus cases are mentioned of a Man- sus having been divided into three parts in the year 808 ;"'^ into six parts in 797 f"'' into sixteen parts in 1141.-?* In the Polypti- con of Irminon, containing a census of the manses, serfs, and revenues of the abbev of St. Germain des Pres in the reign of Charlemagne, ^^'^ we find sixteen hearths to six manses, and even twelve hearths to one manse. This accounts for the fre- quent occurrence in documents of the term " hoba integra", corresponding to the modem German " Vollerben" and the
"3 Op. cit., i, 114.
^^* Maurer, GescMchte der Frohtihofe, iii. 97.
235 Gersdorf, Cod. Dipl. Sax., ii. xxxvj.
^^^ Zeuss, Traditt. Wizenberg, Nr. 19.
**^ Lacomblet, Urkundenhuch zur GescMchte des Niederrheins, i. 6.
"8 Guden, Cod. DipL, i. 26.
'■" Guerard, Polyptique de Vabb^ Irminon, etc., i. 595.
10* B
Cxlviii INTRODUCTION.
Westpliallan Howeliuge. This early subdivision is no doubt to be attributed to the operation of the law of descent of property by gavelkind, partnership Among the third type of society, the whole of the land, both arable and waste, was held in common by all the people of a village who had a house, the possession of which was the source of all other rights.^^" The tillage and meadow land were first divided into as many divisions as there were qualities of land, classified according to quality of soil, position, inclination of the ground, liability to flooding, and other circumstances influencing the value of land. Each of these divisions was then divided into as many strips (English Oxgangs, Danish Deele) as there were possessors of houses in the community ; so that each house- holder obtained an equal quantity of each quality of land. All undivided land remained common property. The ploughing of the land, the selection of the crop to be grown, sowino-, har- vesting, cutting of wood, grazing, maintenance of fences and roads, use of water, of the common mill and baking oven, etc., were all necessarily managed by common arrangement. The distribution of the strips took place by lot. The lots once drawn remained in general in possession of the same persons until a new distribution took place. According to old Norse rights such a redistribution might be made at any time that it was thought necessary to restore the original equality of the strips. In some parts of Norway this right continued in force down to the year 1 821, when the custom had to be put an end to by a threat to double the land tax on all land held in this way.'" In the Highlands of Scotland, and the border counties, such as Roxburgh, where this system, under the name of runrig or partnership tenure, existed down to the eighteenth century, and until very lately even in some parts of Argyle, there was a redistribution annually.**^
»*" "Der tompt ist ties ackers mutter; nach ihm wird der acker abgetheilfc; der ackertheil bestimmt dea wiestheil, der wiestheil den waldtheil, der wald- theil den rohrtheil ; der rohrtheil scheidet das wasser nach den netzen".— J. Grimm, Rechtsalterthumer, 539 et seq.
*<' Blom, Statistik von Norwegen, 143.
'" Macculloch, Stalls., i. p. 295 et seq., 523 etseq.; Smallholra, Survey of Roxhurgh.
in common.
INTRODUCTION. CxllX
The system in Russia is almost pure communism. Down to cultivation the time of Peter the Great, the feudal estates were, strictly' speaking, the property of the state ; and even in the so-called allodial estates the idea of real ownership in the modern sense was not fully developed The learned Jesuit Antoine Possevin, who was ambassador of Pope Gregory the Thirteenth in Russia in the latter part of the sixteenth century, says that no one could truly say that he possessed propcrty.^^^ On private estates as well as on the crown domains, this system of culti- vation is fully developed, or at all events had been before the emancipation of the serfs. Each male member of the com- munity is entitled to an equal share of arable land, divided into stripes and put up to lottery ; when a possessor dies, his share goes back to the community, so that there is no family in- heritance of real property. Wood, grazing, and fishing remain in common.^" The crown peasants redistribute every ten to fifteen years, but many private communities do so every year. It has occurred before the emancipation, that peasants who had pvxrchased their land from their lord who had become insolvent, continued to cultivate in common with an annual redistribution of the fallow land.^''^ This community appears to have exten- ded to all kinds of landed property among the Slavonic nations. Each community is a family according to Russian ideas ; hence, Palacky^*** and Schafarik^^^ look upon the Slavonian villages as having arisen out of extended Manses or Bols. The best ex- ample of cultivation in common on a large scale is afforded by the Cossacks of the Ural.^^* In Servia, Croatia, and other southern Slavonic countries the preparation of the land, the sowing, etc., are made in common, and the crops are divided under the superintendence of the elders."' The tenure en hor-
**3 "Nemo vera dicere possit, sibi quidquam esse proprii, — Possevini' Moscovia, seu de rebus Mtiscovicis, etc., p. 291. 2<* V. Haxthausen, Siudien,\. 124 et seq. «« Ibid., ii. 34.
*^' Geschichte von Bohmen, i. 169. 2*7 Slavische Alterthiimer, i. 537. *♦* "V. Haxthausen, op. cit., iii. 153, et seq. '*' C. Robert, Slaven d»r Turkei, i. '>i el eeq.
cl INTRODUCTION
Cuiiivation dekifie wliich existed in France in the Nivernois down to com-
in common. •- . . .
paratively modern times^resembled m many respects the state of things in Servia. The land was cultivated in common and the produce was equally divided between the families form- ing the community. The term hordelage is probably derived from the name of the cottage or bord in which the peasantry lived. In the County of Clare and other remote parts of Ire- land a somewhat similar system existed here and there down to the beginning of the present century.
In Bohemia traces of real estate being held in common existed down to the seventeenth century.^^" Among the southern Slaves community of real estate exists even still. The Starossina directs all the works and transactions of the house, keeps the cash, pays the taxes, etc. ; he need not necessarily be the eldest member of the family, as the word implies, and may be deposed by the family. This community only extends to the land ; the personal property acquired by each member in trade or industry is not included. On the Austrian Mihtary Frontier families numbering from twenty to fifty, and even one hundred individuals, live in common.'^' The same system occurs among the Servians. It was also the law^ of the old Russians.^^^ The laws of Jaroslaw, who reigned about 1,020, ordained that estates should not be divided, and should descend by the yoimger son."* In Lowicz there existed no individual property in land at the beginning of the nineteenth century; there was an annual redistribution of the lots.'"'^*
In the hill country about Treves on the Moselle, the runrig or rundale system is said to be only now fully dying out. One of the best existing examples of the ancient community of agriculture is to be found in the associations in tlie neigflibour- hood of Siegen, in Westphalia, which carry on the prepara- tion of wood charcoal and tanners' bark from the coppice wood
^''^ Palacky, op. cit., i. 169, et seq.
'^' V. Csaplovics, Slavonien und Croatien, i. 105 et seq.
2*'- Ewers, Aeltestes Recht der Russen, 17 et seq.
*^' Karamsin, Rtiss. Geschichte, ii. 49.
*** Krug, Geschichte der StaatswirthschaJtUche Gesetzgehung Preusticns, i. 187.
INTRODUCTION cU
which covers the decHvities of the hills, and the cidtivation of the land. These associations have in turn led to others for the irrigation of the valley lands. ^" Relics of cultivation in com- mon are still to be found in other parts of Germany, Fries- land, and Den mark, -^'^ while the ancient laws of Friesland"' and of Scandinavia and Denmark,^^® show that those nations which contributed so largely to the population of Great Bri- tain, knew both community as well as family possession of land.
It was the German " Feldgemeinschaft", runrig, or co-partner Land system system, rather than the Slavic communism which appears to becaasar and contemplated in Cffisar's reference to the Suevi and to the Germans in general, where he says: no one among them has bounded fields, or lands which belong personally to himself; but every year the magistrates and the chiefs assign the lands in such quantity and in such place as they judge suitable to each family living in the common society, and the following year they oblige them to go elsewhere. ^^' The obscure passage inthe twenty-sixth chapter of the Germania of Tacitus,**^" appears to me to be in harmony with the organization of society and the occupation of the land which I have just sketched, and
2^* Achenbach, Haubergsgenossenschaften des Siegerlandes, 1863.
256 Thus in the Altmark, there are villages where the heads of families, under the presidency of their Schiihen, or magistrates, determine every evening the part to be tilled on the following morning (V. Haxthausen, Land- liche Verfassung, i. 237). The same thing takes place here and there on the Jutic Moor (Hanssen in the Archiv. der Polit. (Ekon., iv. 48), in the Danish island of Sylt (Hanssen, Falck's Schleswig-Holstein. Archio., iv. 351), in Lolland (Dahlniann, Dunische GescJiichte, iii. 82), and in Thuringia (Lan< geihal, Geschichte der deutschen Landwirtkschaft, i. 12).
257 "Wiarda, Asegabttc/i, ii.
2-^8 Olussen in Falck's Neue Staatsbii rgerliche Magazin, iii, 77 et seq. ; Hans- sen, ditto, vi. i. 60.
2*^ " Sed privati ac separati agri apud eos nihil est, neque longius anno remanere uno in loco incolendi causa licet" — De Bell. Gall., iv. c. i. " Neque quisquara agri niodum certum aut fines habet proprios; sed magistratus ac principes in annos singulos gentibus cognationibusque hominum qui una coierunt, quantum, ei quo loco visum est, agri attribuunt, atque anno post aUo transire cogunt" — ibid., vi. c. 22.
260 "Agri pro numero cultorum, ab universis per vices occupantur, quos mox inter se secundum dignationem partiuniur: facilitatem partiendi cam- perum spatia proestant. Arva per annos mutant ; et superest ager".
elii INTRODUCTION.
which there is every reason to believe prevailed during every period of German history. At any rate we have evidence in the Salic Law of the existence of private property in the occur- rence of "pratum alicnum",'^^' "campus alienus".^*^^ Disnibution The distribution of the inhabitants in ancient Ireland was
of popu- lation in essentially the same as that above described; but it offers a few
Ireland : _ •'
interesting peculiarities which help to throw considerable light upon some obscure points in the development of the European land system.
/v"r"' °' Each Flatli had his Les, or if a Rig or king, his Dun, which, as I have before mentioned, appears to have been so placed in connection with other Lesses and Duns, as to suggest that they formed part of a military system capable of giving mutual support. This disposition may have been connected, as I have before suggested, with the distribution of the conquered tribes after the suppression of the Aithech Tuatha revolution. Close to these Duns, the Sencleithes, Dothachs, and other base depen- dents of the lord, erected their wicker houses and formed a village. The Cciles appear to have lived on isolated farms of the better or older land as now, forming a succession of marks. We have reason to believe that the free Cedes and the base Ceiles were located on different parts of the estate.
'=o™P,l''so=^ Such a distinction existed in Wales also. Thus, of the fifty
with Wales ... .
Trefs^^^ or townships comprising a Commot, or half Cantref, in North Wales, twenty-four were occupied by freeholders, sixteen by Teogs and Aillts, eight were Terra Dominica or demesne lands of lords, and the remaining two belonged to the king. So that nearly one-half was occupied by freeholders corresponding to the Irish Saer Ceiles; and nearly one-third by Teogs and Aillts corresponding to the Irish Daer Ceiles and free Fuidirs. One of the king's Trefs was called the Maer Tref, being that
"' L.Sal.,27, 10.
202 Ibid., 27-8, 24, 25.
203 There is an Anglo-Saxon Tree/, a tent, a pavilion, corresponding to the Old French Tref, which is probably related to this word, and perhaps indi- cates its original application — a portion of land upon which was built a good class of house. In Eeowulf there is the combination Aear^-ira/wm, translated by Thorpe " temples". The Irish Trebfi preserves the original meaning of the Welsh Tref, a homestead or settlement.
INTRODUCTION cllii
in wlilcli his Maer or steward resided,^^* and the other was for the summer pasture of his cattle.
The term Faeran Fuidri, or Fuidirs' land, shows that the ^«»'i»> land; land occupied by that class was set apart from the personal domain of the lord on the one hand, and from that occupied by Ceiles on the other. It consisted, no doubt, of the unculti- vated border lands or " mark" of the estates, and generally the poorer and more inaccessible parts. In some cases, however, the richer class of free Fuidirs appear to have had the use of good land, for which they paid a heavy rent, — for it was chiefly this class that could be rack-rented. The interest of the lord was to have as much Fiiidir-\^ndi as possible, " in order", as the Crith Gablach says, "that his wealth may be the greater" ;^^® but the law, by making his rank and privileges depend upon the number of his Ceiles, and holding him respon- sible to his tribe and to the king for all the legal liabilities of the strangers he may bring upon his lands, limited his power to convert the whole of his land into Fuidir-XoxidL. We have no nnmbcr of means of determining accurately the number of the two classes etc. ; of CSiles or tenants in a Tuath having either freeholds, or hold- ing by customary tenure. According to the Crith Gablach, the six grades of Flaths in a Tuath, below the Rig or chief, should have seventy-two freehold Ceiles and eighty base Ceiles, or in all one hundred and fifty-two. The number of CSiles which each grade was required to have in order to be duly qualified, was different in different places, or varied both ways, that is in different places and at different times; for according to a passage in another MS.,^^*^ t\iQ Aire 2)esa had twelve Ceiles in- stead of ten as in the Crith Gablach; the Aire A7'd\\2idi sixteen instead of twenty, as in the latter, and so on. There can be no doubt, however, that the number of Ceiles must have been very
'** The Maer Tre/ appears to have had its representative in Ireland in the Baile Maoir or Stewards' Town or place, and Ceathramhadh Maoir or Maer quarter. The latter word is still preserved in the " quarter meares" of the county of Tipperary, which were not apparently full quarters oi Baile Bia- tachs, or three plougldands, but quarters of Cape//-lands or horse-lands, which were about the same extent as a true "quarter".
'^* App., vol. ii. p. 494.
»«i7. 4. 22. r.C.Z>., fi4, a.
cliv
INTRODUCTION
considerable, as they must have formed the principal part of the battalion of seven hundred men which each Tuaili in ancient times was bound to bring into the field, inasmuch as Fuidirs, like the Welsh Aillts, did not form part of the military array. Judging by the analogy of the Welsh Commot, we may safely conclude that more than half the occupiers of the land held by some kind of tenure which gave them a fixed property in the soil. extcTif; of Except in the case of the dilFerent B6- Aires, whose qualifi- oiOeites; cations in land are given in the Crith Gablach, and estimated in " cows' grass", we have no means of determining the general extent of the holdings of the free Ceiles. The denomination of Lnd used in several counties of Ireland of J/ar^land, or in its English form of " cow-lands", may represent some of those freeholds for which the Bes- Tigi was a cow, the amount for in- stance paid by the Bruighfer, one of the higher ranks of Bo- Aires. In like manner the Cope/Mands may have been free- holds, which paid a rent of a horse. They may, however, have been also the mensal land of the Aire Fchtai or high constable of a Crioch or territory. In Tipperary, and parts of the present Queen's and King's counties, anciently forming the territories of the O'Carrolls, O'Dempseys, and O'Doynes or Dunne, the Ca^e/Mand contained about four hundred English acres. In Kilkenny a Capell-Xondi was only about one-third of a ploughland. In the mountainous parts of Wicklow the cow or J/ari-land contained thirty great acres, the precise value of which I do not know. If of the same extent as in Tipperary, namely about twenty English acres, the J/ar^-land would contain six hundred English acres. Public land Thosc parts of the lands of a Tuath which were not ancient allodium, or which had not become so by lapsing into pre- scription, or from other causes, in other words, those parts which did not form the estates of Flaths, were public land, the usufruct of part of which belonged of right to every free man in the territory, under certain laws and customs administered graiuaiiy by the Mig and his council. In process of time estates were into alio- carved out of this public land, as appanages of offices, as rewards for public services, or by lapsing into prescription. The holders
INTRODUCTION. clv
oF such estates were the Aires, and as such were in an especial manner the Ci^iles of the Rig. The king with the consent of his council might, however, grant a portion of it as allodium at once. It is probable that iMagh Aie, now the plain of Boyle in Ros- common, was public land. If so, one of the earliest authorities we have for such grants of allodium out of the public domain is the offer of Medh to the champion Ferdiad of '* the extent of his own territory of the level plain o? Ai free of tribute, without purchase, and without courts or legions, without peril to his son and to his grandson and to their descendants, to the end of time and life", etc.
The lands granted for life in the first instance generally re- "fe^estates mained in the possession of the family of the grantees and e^^ta^es in lapsed into perpetuity land. Thus the family of a wealthy B6- Aire might pass in process of time into the grade of Fiath. The holders of the limited estates carved out of the public land, resided on their holdings, which were scattered over a certain part of the country like the middle sized farms in certain dis- tricts of Ireland at present. The undivided public land con- Tribe land, stituted the common land properly so called, the Fearan Fine or tribe land. Every free man had a right to the usufruct J,' of a portion of this land, but was bound to pay a certain tribute '*' according to his share. Thus the Oc-Aire was entitled to feed seven cows throughout the year on it, and left one of them as tribute. All Aires had similar rights according to their rank. The part of the common land set apart for the common grazing ^en^^o^^'j was the Fearan Bo le Fine or land of the tribe cows. AlH^""' citizens by birth or adoption who possessed no land of their own were entitled to establish a Selb corresponding to the Danish Toft upon the common land. The amount of land constituting a Selb depended upon tlie rank of the occupant. The original measure of the land occupied in severalty in tliis way appears to have been at first, that is in very early times, only the extent of the Faitche or lawn of Aires. That tliis^^^'/^'". was so is confirmed by the fact that the Maigin Digona, or field of sanctuary, was coextensive with the lawn. Naturally the right of protection of a man could extend on the common property only as far as his individual domain. The limit of
rights of eemen on
clvi INTRODUCTIOK.
ifaigin sanctuarj was in proportion to the dignity or Diguin of each rank (cf. Lat. c??^?i-itas, Irish diguin^ gen. digon-si), and was determined by throwing an instrument called the Cnairsech, which was probably a sledge hammer.^®''
^*^ The following passage describes the Cnairsech, and the manner in which it was employed to measure the extent of sanctuary.
" There was an assembly of the states of the men of Eriu, held on Sliabh Fualt [i.e. Colt or Cuih~\ in Magh Bregh, namely, their bishops, and their Ollamhs, and their Flaths, and their Filidhs, and their Suiths, and their Seanoirs, and the Maigin Set of every grade was determined in that Dal (meeting), both of the grades of the Church and of the Tuath (i.e. of the laity); and that was written by the men of Eriu in the Cas Mdr 7ia Sean, and here it is : i.e. a Bo Aire, a full man, the measure of his Diguin, i.e. the Maigin Digona is measured according to it.
" The Cnairsech, twelve fists is its length, from the iron to the place where its horn is fastened upon it, — its Fochair, i.e. its haft ; the distance which the B6 Aire could cast this from him while sitting at the door of his house, was the extent of the Bo Aire's Maigin Digona around [or for] his Seds; and twice this for the Aire Desa; and double that for each grade from that up to the Big Tuatha, i.e. four throws and three score {or a, Rig Tuatha; audit is on the Faitkche these casts are reckoned for every Maigin Digona ; and it is where they are cast from [namely], the place where it was always usual for them to sit".
" Ri Ruirechs: it is these who have kings, i.e. the Ri Cuicidh and the R Erind, — their Maigin Digona extends as far on either side as [that] of the Comarh of Patrick, and that is their Maigin Digona; and so it is also with the \_Gradh'\ Ecailsi [church grades] and Ecna, and Filidh; but the Eclais Glain owe double both of Pennait and of Eiric, although not having double Maigin'\
" Or thus:— one thousand paces is the Maigin of a saint or bishop, or of an Aibilteoir, or of a Deoraidh De(a, pilgrim), even though it should be in the middle of a field that he is; and two thousand paces for every Cathair Ataig (bishop's seat), because the Diguin of the grades of the Church is greater when they become entitled to have a Cain of seven Cumals claimed for them ; i.e. the difference of Enecland which exists between the bishop and the grades of the Church under him, in the same proportion must be the [difference] of their Maigin''. MS. Brit. Mus. Egerton, 88, 53 bb. and 54 aa.
A flesc, that is, a wand or pointless spear, was used for similar purposes, such as the trespass of cattle. The person who threw it was called the Flescach, a word which is glossed in the law MS. H. 3. 18, as the son of a slave of a Flatli, that is the person who threw the flesc in case of trespass, was selected from among the strongest of the retainers of the lord. The measure of sanctuary should, however, be made by the Aire himself.
In a note to the Crith Gablach (vol. ii. Appendix, p. 488, note 537), I have described the Cnairsech as a kind of crooked staff shod with iron, but the description given above shows that it was probably a sledge. Perhaps the tustom of throwing the sledge in Scotland may have been connected with this
INTRODUCTION. clvii
I have not been able to determine what amount of land a extent or freeman below the rank of an Aire was entitled to the usufruct usufruct of
. . freemcu nut
of. The Oc-Aire being entitled to the grazing of two cumals ^«>««- or six cows, exclusive of the grass of the seventh cow left as tribute, the simple freeman was perhaps entitled to the grazing of one Cumal of three cows. In Wales it was five Erios or acres, which would be, in the then state of agriculture, about as much as in Ireland.^*^' A person holding this amount of land
custom. Jacob Grimm gives numerous examples of a similar custom in Ger- many. The following passage shows that a citizen could give protection to an- other citizen who had committed a homicide during a period of six weeks and three days within the town, and could even accompany him, his sanctuary extending on such occasions as far as he could throw a farrier's hammer.
" Welcher burger also verr fresneti, dass er einen andern burger oder gast liblos tete und machte derselb burger, in welchs hus er ze liechtensteig entrinnen aid kommen mochte, sollte da vor herren, friinden und vor meniglichen sicher sin und ufenthalt haben sechs wuchen und dri tag, und nach dem zil und tagen sond in die burger uf die rinkmur derselben statt, wohin er will, beleiten. und war er wtrfen mag, oder mit seiner linken hand mit einem beschlaghammer wirft, dahinnen sind sie in ouch sicher von menighchen beleiten und mit fiiro". Liechtenstein. Stat. (a.d. 1400)Tscudi, Chron. Eelv. i. 607*, quoted in Grimm's Deutsche Rechts-AUerthiimer, S. 55.
In the following example the coulter of a plough is used:
" Die ensall mit verder hebben up der weide, dan een man, so binnen de hofstad ist, die den kerkenpost (Thiirpfosten) in seinem arm lielt und werpen mag mist einem plugkolter". Luttinger Hofrecht, quoted in Grimm's Rechts- Alterthiimer^ S. 61.
The extent of jurisdiction was also marked in many places in Germany by throwing a javelin, and a similar practice prevails down to the present time in the city of Cork.
The tradition of this right of sanctuary which legally belonged to every Aire, and which was looked upon as a sacred duty, is the true cause of the harbouring of criminals by the peasantry of Ireland, and not a sympathy for crime. The injustice inflicted by the English laws as they were applied in Ireland has made the Irish peasant cling with more tenacity to traditions of the ancient laws of his own country than the peasants of any other part of Europe.
^^' The Kote- Setlan ox coiaet\Qr% mentioned in Domesday Book are gene- rally described as poor free men suffered to settle on the lord's estate, but they were more probably freemen who had settled on their share of the common land, of which the lord had legally the dominion, but under the feudal system in many cases claimed to have the fee. According to the Rectitudines Sin- ffulariim Fersonarum,"he ought to have five acres; more if it be the custom". Ancie7it Laws and Institutes of England, p. 185 ; see alio Kemble, Tlit Saxons in England, i. 323.
clviii INTRODUCTION.
i^^'tyiersiiips did iiot enjoj the full rights of citizenship ; he could not be bail or witness, and unless he had among his own Fine or family an Aire who could legally represent him, he was obliged to seek the protection of some Flath or form a gild or partnership with others in a similar position with himself. Such a gild or partnership consisted of from four to eight, or perhaps more, freemen, who, with the consent of the Rig and his council, appear to have been permitted to appropriate and fence off a portion of the common land equivalent to the sum of their individual rights. From the use of the terms Fearan Comniaitches, Fearan corn- aide critJie, and Fearan Congilta Fine, it would appear that certain parts of the common land were set apart for this pur- pose. A partnership of this kind was regarded as a solemn act, and was entered into in the presence of three Aires, one of whom was generally a functionary called the Aire Cosraing, and with solemn formalities, pledges being given for the fulfil- ment of mutual engagements.^'^^ The final establishment of the fences by which the enclosure of the common land was com- pleted, was fully effected in the tenth year. Partnerships of this kind were, as I shall show in a subsequent section, the orisfin of the medieval o^ilds : and the solemn formalities above alluded to may have been accompanied by religious ceremonies in pagan times.
their advan- The chief advantage of such a partnership was that the joint possessioxi qualified one of them to be an Aire, and conse- quently to be eligible to act as pledge, witness, and represfen- tative generally on all legal and public occasions. As Dire or " Wergild", honour price, etc., were in proportion to the rank of the family of the person killed, wounded, or otherwise in- jured in person or property, such a partnership enabled the poorer freemen to maintain their privileges. In a subsequent section I shall endeavour to show the connection between this custom and frankpledge, and the representation of the commons.
FxMir Free Fuidirs could also enter into such partnerships for the
purpose of obtaining some of the privileges of Ceiles, as we have already seen in the case of the representative Fuidir of the
'^' See note, post, p. clxxxi.
INTRODUCTION.
A'lx.
Cuig Rath CedacJi."'^ Where a co-tenancy or Commaitches was established, a small village grew up ; this also took place on the estates of Flaths where Fuidir co-tenancies exis- ted.
Analogous partnerships existed in Wales under the name of pa'/tne^f,;- Cyvar}''^ The tillage land of such a partnership usually *»! waies, consisted of twelve £Vius, and was called a Magi, or 3fa^ 5/^, that is, a bond or knot, obviously because it was the tilled land and not the pasturage or wood land that constituted the bond of union. Each copartner had his share of the land, so that the crops were not in common, but the labour was ; one ploughed, another provided the iron for the implements, a third the oxen, and so on. Weeding and repairing of fences, as in Ireland, were done by each co-partner on his own share. The partnership was entered into apparently with certain formalities, pledges were given for the fulfilment of the contract, and breaches of it were punishable by fines. As in Ireland, there seems little doubt that these copartnerships had considerable political importance. Traces of such partnerships in Scotland, similar in Scotland, to the Irish Fuidir co-tenancies, came down to our own time, in the case of land hired for grazing by three or four persons. In Friesland and the polder lands of Holland and and in Fries - Belgium, similar partnerships also existed in medieval times, as I shall mention hereafter in connection with the origin of gilds. In Lombardy also there were formerly many partner- ships of several peasant families, who cultivated land under the direction of one of the heads of the families.-^^
We may assume that wherever in Ireland the land was cul- tivated in modern times according to the rundale or runrig Rundaie or
xl . r ^ ' ■ o niiiiig the
system, the custom arose irom the previous existence 01 co- reucs of partnerships, either oi Fuidirs, of free men, or of another kind, of which I shall have much to say presently, namely, Comorbs of small estates. It is probable that where the land is culti-
^^^ Ante, p. cxxv.
^^' See Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, p. 153, c. xxiv. § 1-29; p. 388, xl. §. 24 ; p. 440, bk. vi, § 29; p. 854, xix, §. 2.
^^^ Jacini, La proprieta /ondiaria e le popolazione a</ncole in Lombardia. Milano, 1854, i. 199.
clx INTllODUCTION
vated in this way on the continent, the custom had a similar origin, and that the German '* Feldgemeinschaft" arose ori- ginally as in Ireland from the three sources just mentioned. When tillage increased among joint occupiers of either class, the arable and meadow land would be divided into strips as I have before described; the bog and mountain remaining un- divided and common to all.^" oihiTi''"^^^ The relations of co-partners on the public lands with one another, and with their neighbours, such as cases of trespass, and generally the use of the public woods, bogs, etc., were re- gulated by special laws called Brughrechta, administered by an /'er;^'^*"^^' ^^"^^> Called the Bruighfer, who in many of his functions cor- responded to the " Markvogt" of the Germans. He was also public hospitaller ; the public functionaries were entertained at his house when engaged in judicial and other eyres. The tow^^"''^ Brugh or house of the Bruighfer^ would also be naturally the centre about, or in the neighbourhood of which, a village would grow up. But there would be an important difference between the persons who would gather round such a residence and that of a Flath or lord. The inhabitants of the latter vil- lage would be Bothachs, Fuidirs, and other persons without political rights in the state ; those in the former, freemen holding common land, workers in metals, and others who owed allegiance to no lord except the Big, to whom all alike owed it. This class of persons, by forming partnerships, could elect a represen- tative Aire, and thus enjoy full rights of citizenship by depu- Tboro^ h°' *^t^o^- The Bruglr^* village consequently possessed a political importance not enjoyed by the manorial ones. It was in fact
J73 "There are three Selbs [i.e. kinds of possessions in land] that do not feed [i.e. contribute], cows under those kinds of trespasses [i.e. in which cows are not subject to those various kinds of trespass-fines], namely, the Mu (or wood), and the Roilbe (mountain), and the Foach (marshes or wastes ?) of a Tuath, because it is Forgabs that are generally upon them, for all cattle go on the Diraind (waste or mountain land) in the same way [i. e. with equal right]". MS. H. 3. 18. p. 18.
*^* Gothic Baurgs, Anglo-Saxon Burh, cf. O. Norse Burskap, right of citizen- ship, Bursprak, a place of assembly. Although the idea of a fortress is usually connected with a Burgh, it was not necessarily one, as is shown by the definition given of one in the Lombard laws of Luitprand : " domorum con- gretioque mura uon clausa" (Lib. iii. c. 3. ann. 932).
INTRODUCTION. clxi
the prototype of" a borough town ; we have not only the root of the name, but also the free population owing allegiance only to the Rig or king of the Tuath, the germs of a representative system, and a local magistrate not belonging to the Fluth class.
There were different ranks of Bruiqhfert.. The title ap-differeut
'^ '' . ^ ranks of
pears to have been given in the first place to such rich farmers ^'•"»y'/««.- as acted as local magistrates of a district in the way just men- tioned. The residence of the chief Bruiqhfer of a Tuath had t^e form
u I 01 a Bntgn
annexed to it a Fonts or " Forum", where the election of the Rig g/g'c^'o,f g"/ Tuatha, and of his Tjmdisle or successor, took place, and where gj^ •''"'''' certain public assemblies were held. The Brugh or court of the chief Brnighfer of a province, was the Forus where the election of the provincial king took place. There appear to have been six such courts. A provincial Bruighfer was a man of importance and rank. 3Ja>iach, the father of Fmer, wife of Cuchulaind, was a Bruighfer of this class. The Brugh of such a magistrate together with its neighbouring village might be considered as a royal borough, a title which is still preserved in Bruree, the name of a small town in the county of Limerick. In such towns the Bruighfe'- would be an important personage. As the Aire Cosraing, or chief J.?Ve Fine, an officer who appears to have corresponded in functions to the Anglo-Saxon " Ge- refa", was specially connected with the class of persons who dwelt in such a town or in the surrounding district, it is probable tliat he also had his residence and Forus in the neio-hbourhood. The commonalty would consequently berepresen- represented m courts and assemblies by the Aire rme, and borough; by the elected members of the freemen partncrsliips or gilds. In a Brugh, or borough town, the Bruiglifer per- the £rMisr4- formed the function of a " prepositus" or mayor; the latter mayor; term appears, however, to have come from Maer, a baillie or steward. The " Tunginus' of a Salic village performed many of the functions of a Bruiglifer; he was judge of the district, called the courts, summoned the witnesses, and controlled the whole township. A Salic village havini: a " Tunginus", re- sembled an Irish Brugh town also in not being under the im- mediate dominion of a lord. The Brugh town corresponclc 1 to INT. 11*
clxii INTRODUCTION.
the Srugh t],e uiiuiitive Saxon Bur^h, and the Bruqh court, to tlie
town repre- ' r-ii i7->j i*iii
sentedthe " Burghmoot". So long as the Bmgh township had only a
Bnrgh; small village whose inhabitants occupied themselves exclusively
with atrriculture, the business of the court would be confined
deTeiopmcnt to cascs arisinof out of trespass, boundaries, etc. But as the
of nBritgh ° 111 • 1
town into a town grew up, was surrounded by a wall, and as artizans and others not directly occupied with agriculture settled in it, the court would gradually lose its agricultural character, and with- out essentially altering its jvirisdiction, would become more important. The increased density of the population would re- quire a more effective police, and judicial eyres of the king's court would be more regularly held in it. In Ireland physical and political circumstances prevented the development of the Burgh beyond the stage of a rural village, or at most a very small town. In Gaid, where circumstances were more favour- able for such development, we accordingly find that a consi- derable number of cities having municipal organization existed befoie the conquest of Caesar. These cities I believe to have grown up in the way ju?t described.
the towns of The villages and towns which grew up on the estates of the
loiils c;o- 111" 11 f
Terned by Flatlis ov lords, wcrc govemcd by his Maer or steward, and
tUeir Maers. ,
as they were necessarily more numerous than the free Burghs, it may be that this name, which was originally that of the pro- vost of a lord, came in time to be applied also to the elected prepositus of a free Burgh.
THE FAMILY AND THE CLAN.
A word has already been several times used in the course of the preceding pages, namely, Fine, which must be fully explained before I proceed to describe the course of des- cent of property among the Irish, and the nature of the tenures by which land was held by the several classes of occupiers. Meaning of The wovdFine or Finead literally means Familv or House, and in the laws was used principally in three senses : first, in the limited sense of the word as applied to all those related by blood within certain degrees of consanguinity ; second, the lord and his Cedes, Fuidlrs, and other dependents ; and third, of all the inhabitants of
INTRODUCTION. el
ClXlll
a l^iKith wIk) miiiht be regarded as the Ce>lefi^-\ 1 1 'pcnd<>nl-s of the Rig or chief The wholr' of the recounized morn hers of a Fine, in th'i sense of a particular family, constituted the Fine DatJiaig or hereditary family, embracing all within the degree of con^an- <:uinity entitled to inherit property, or lialde to pay mulcts or fines. Fine, in this sens*^, corresponded to the Anglo-Saxon Maegth, and extended to the seventeenth degree. To this ex- tent relatives by blood were entitled, in default of heirs, to a share in the IHhad or property of a deceased person.
The whole Fine Dufhaig included several stages of consan- Brancic, ■,< guinity: — 1. the Cindjine, or chihlren, the sons having the *^'"* foreriLdit; 2. the Bruindjine, from hriiind. the womb, tlie sons and daughters of heiresses or daughters of the Gradh Finn or nobility inheriting property in their own right; 3. the Gelfine, which seems to have been sometimes used for all re- latives to the fifth degree, and sometimes for the relatives to the fifth degree exclusive of the direct heirs. These constituted the family in the strict sense of the word. From the Gel fine branched off, 4 the Dfirbfine, which included relatives from the fifth to the ninth degree; 5. the Jarfine, or relatives from the ninth to the thirteenth degree; and, H. the Indjine, or re- latives from the thirteenth to the seventeenth degree. Beyond the latter degree, the Fine merged into a Dnihaig Daine, tliat is, the nation at large, who were not entitled to a share of the Dihad, or property of deceased porsons,^"oi liable for the pay- ment of fines and amerciaments on account of crimes, etc., ex- cept those of their own special Fine witliin the reco^niz'-'d degrees of consan^juinity.''* The Geljine were the repre-
27."> Welsh Difaith. unappropriated property of any kind.
276 (( j,^ proportion to the extent of the land, it is divided equally upon the Fines; they are oiunted backwards". This is exphiined as follows: "i.e. tlie Dibad is divided between the three Fines ; i.e. tiie [Z>er6] Fine, the Jar- fine, and the Indfine".
" From the chiefs of the Fine the Gaballs [spreading branche.s] are reckoned in order to keep out strangers". The commentary on this is as follows : ''i.e. the man is a Guball [branch] v\ ho has grown off the Gelfint ; the Gaball to whom tlie patrimony is confirmed, i.e. the Derhfine ; i.e. this is in case tho five men of tlie Gcl/inc shoiild have died ; it is then the natrimony Is divided amorji the three Fines ; there is no woman Vi morb in ii".
n B
clxiv INTRODUCTION.
The Conriciigr>ntatives of the rights and liabilitierf of the family or House:
of the Fine. _ ^ _ ^ •' '
they formed a kind of family council styled Cuicer na Fine, or the five Giah or pledges of the family. As they re- presented the roots of the spreading branches of the family, tliey were also called the cuic mera na Fine, or the five fingers of the Fine. When property, in default of direct heirs, passed to the collateral heirs, the Gelfine received the inheritance in the first instance, and assumed all the responsibilities attached to it. In default of relatives within the fifth degree, the pro- perty passed to the representatives of the other Fi7ies.^''' Remotely Thosc wliose degree of consanguinity was doubtful or ured; obscure Constituted what was called the Duhjine, or obscure Fine. They were received into the Fine Dutliaig by a pro- mode of cess called a Fir Caire, or true calling, that is, the person claim- ciaim to ing to be of a Fine was called before a sworn jury of Noillechs,"^ Fine. or persons legally qualified to hold an inquisition into the claim.
If the result of the inquisition left the matter in doubt, the claim was determined by CranjJCMr, or lot. There were many ways of casting lots, but the principal one consisted in putting three stones — one red, one Avhite, one black — into a box or
" If it be divided into fifths, so shall also the crimes [i.e. the liabilities] extend even to the stripping of the hearth, but one-fourth goes to the Find- fine". This is explained in the commentary thus : " i.e. it is in the same way they are bound to pay the liabilities of their correlatives; because just as they divide the Dibad, they shall also divide the liabilities".
" From seventeen they are separated so that they are [not] a Duthaig do Fine; i.e. from the seventeen men out; and here it is they are separated so that they are not a Duthaig Fine from that out, but a Duthaig Daine". MS. E. 2. 15. T.C.D. The words "divided equally" in the text of ihe preced ng extract from the laws refer to the coequal numbers of each Fine, and not to the several Fines, as their shares were not equal. Thus the Dfrbfine appear to have been entitled to one-half of the whole inheritance ; the Jar fine, to two-thirds of the remaining half, and the Indjine to the residue.
*'^ " Gelfine co cuicer ( Gelfine as far as five), i.e. it is five that make a Gelfine. It is they who assume the liabilities and receive the properties of their near relatives, or of the branch of the family which has the nearest claim to the i>t6flc? (property), that is of every Dibad derivable from it". MS. H. 2. 15. T.C.D. p. 14. col. b.
2'* See, for the meaning of the word, vol. ii., Appendix, p. 500, note 558 In \\ ales also a claimant was bound to prove that he belonged to the family. See Ancie7}t Lawn, 2o8, 15; 397, 1.
INTRODUCTION. cl
XV
bag; the claimant was then obliged to draw untd he drew either the black or white stone ; if the former, he lost, if the latter, he won, and was admitted to the Fine. This process of drawing lots was sometimes resorted to in criminal cases also. But in trials for serious crimes the test was far more severe.
Strangers could likewise be adopted into a Fine: such persons Adoption
^ , ^ by a, Fine;
were called Mic Faesma^ or children of adoption. They constituted the Fine Tacair or Fine by affiliation. When a person was adopted into a Fine., a Trehaire, that is, a house- holder, entered into an oral contract with the head of the Fine, and paid a fine for the Faesam or adoption. Th( rights of
. ... . legally adop-
Mic Faesma, or adopted children, participated in the succession tedmem- to property only in the proportion specified in the contract of adoption entered into when the Trehaire gave bail. The Mac Faesma or adopted son of a Geljine, was entitled in general, when not forced on the Fitie, to his share of chattels and land ; the Mac Faesma of the Derbjine did not participate in land. When persons were adopted without force or violence, the fine for the Faesam or protection was in proportion to the rank of the persons adopting them. A Rig, or king, paid seven Cuwa/.s, fees paid for or twenty -one cows; the Flath paid half the amount of thu Hig; a woman Comarb or co-heiress paid two Cumals, or six cows; an Oc-Aire and a Bo- Aire also paid each two cumals. When these fines were paid, the adopted person coidd establish a Selb or occupancy on the land of the Fine. A person of this class, if unanimously adopted by a Fine, might become a member of it on payment ol one-seventh of those fines ; but in this case he did not acquire the right of establishing a Selb. When any one was kept on Faesam or under protection without the legal sanclion of the Fine having been obtained, the branch of the family so keeping him was bound to provide for his main- tenance by a Cis-nincis or special allowance, like what was provided for those having claims for support on their imme- diate kinsmen, such as aged parents, uncles, etc. This Cis or rent was usually seven Cumals, when he was not kept in opposition to the Fine, otherwise he was only entitled to the price of his labour — that is, he was considered a mere labourer of the man \vho kept him. This provision was obviously
fix VI lA TKOr; UCTIOK.
)nade to clieck tlie introauction of strangers, and appears to Lave been very necessary for preventing Flaths from getting about tliem too great a number of mercenaries.
Tlie sons of Irislnvomcn by Alhanaclis or Scotchmen were included under tlie term Glasfine — tliat is, kindred from beyond the sea.
I^xu2s Md^ The Fine Occomail consisted of exiles and of those who from
iiiiign.nts. various causes had left the country: these and their descendants v.ithin a certain degree of consanguinity were entitled, if free fioiji crime, to claim to be received back and affiliated to their respective brandies of the Fines, under the Bretha Fir Caire or judgments ol true calling. If they failed to prove their claim to be affiliated directly to any branch of the Fine, their lights were extinguished. In such case they might however establish a claim to belong to the Dutludg JJaine or nation, that is, to acquire the right of citizenship. It is not easy to de- termine with certainty when the rights of this category of kinsmen to be admitted to a Fi?ie Duthaig became extinct. In Wales it did not become so until the ninth degree, which would conespond to the Uerhfine in Ireland.^"
Kiiif'.efiof The term Derqfine, or " red-handed", or Fine Fin golach, was applied to those who killed, or attempted to kill, the senior mem- bers of the Fine, in order to get their Dihad or property. They and their descendants were excluded from the JJuthaig or right of inheritance, that is from the benefits of the F/ne; the share of JHhad to which they might otherwise have become entitled went to pay the liabilities brouglit ujion their nearest of kin by their crimes.
FineCis Fine in the second sense consisted in tb.e first place of the
children, brethren, and other relatives of the Flath, that is, his own Fine in the strict sense of the word, and in addition of all those under his protection, namely, h\s Saer and X>aer Ceiled, Botliaclis and I'uidirs, who paid him rents, and Avho Avere known under the collective name of the Five Cis F/atha, or, the Lord's tribute and rent-paying Fine The free and base Ceile,s, who fornu d part of this Fine, were speciall}' distinguished as
J79
Avricht J^ni-f, pp. 83, 84, §§ 1, 2.
INTRODUCTION. clxvii
tlic Fine fogiiunia. A Fine in the second sense thus embraced a number of families or Fines of the first-class. A Fine in the third sense embraced all the inhabitants of a Tuath, and therefore consisted in turn of a number of Fines of tlie second class. The Fine of a lord constituted a Claud in its moi< ThecUn .- limited sense ; but Claud in its territorial and general sensu comprised all tiie Flaths of a Tuath with their respective Fines. It was sometimes used in a still more f^eneral sense to desiir- nate all the Tuaths governed by chiefs of the same blood.
Each of the smaller clans comprising a great clan graduall cian namej. assumed a distinctive surname, though they often continued to be included under the chief clan name. It is thus clear that identity of clan name among the Irish, as among the Romans and the Greeks, does not necessarily imply community of origin. The clan names of O'Brien, O'Neill, O'Donnell, O'SuUi van, were MacCarthy, like the Greek Homeiids in Chios, the Codrids, the Butidi^, the Roman jEmilii, Julii, or Fabii, are not neces- sarily patronymics, — indeed could not be, except in a very limited sense, anything moie than eponyms.
This view of the organization of the lamily and of the Clan m. Ouizof* or Claud, -ds it really was in Ireland, at least in early tiuu-s, ^'«ew ot the does not conespond with the current notions on the subject. Here, for example, is M. Guizot's idea of a clan.
"Another family system presents itself, namely, the cLui, a petty society, whose type we must seek for in Scotland or Ireland. Through this system, very probably, the European family has passed. This is no longer the patriarchal family. There is here a great diflference between the situation of the chief and that ot the rest of the population. They did not lead the same life ; the greater portion tilled and served ; the chief was idle and warlike. But they had a common Oiigin; they all bore the same name; and their relations of kindred, ancient tiaditious, the same recollections, the same affections, established a moial tie, a sort of equality between all the mem- bers of the clan".
M. Guizot then contrasts this ideal clan with a feudal family in the following words: " But have we here the feudal family? obviously not. It seems, at lust, that the feudal family
cl;
xvni
INTRODUCTION.
his com- piirison of the clan witii tlie feudal family ;
they were not very different.
bears some relation to the clan ; but the difference is much greater than the resemblance. The population which surrounded the possessor of the fief were totally unconnected with him; they did not bear his name; between them and him there was no kindred, no bond, moral or historical. Neither did it resemble the patriarchal family. The possessor of the fief led not the same life, nor did he engage in the same occupations with those who surrounded him ; he was an idler and a warrior, whilst the others were labourers. The feudal family was not numerous; it was not a tribe; it reduced itself to the family, properly go called, namely, to the wife and children; it lived separated from the rest of the population, shut up in the castle. The colonists and serfs made no part of it ; the origin of the members of the society was different, the inequality of their situation immense. Five or six individuals, in a situation at once superior to and estranged from the rest of the society, that was the feudal family".-*"
If, instead of the ideal clan, we compare the real clan, such as it has been described in the foregoing pages, we might invert M. Guizot's expression, and say, that " the resemblance is much greater than the difference". The ancient clan system passed naturally into the feudal system, by the substitution of succes- sion through the eldest male heir for that of gavelkind, — this is almost the only difference between them.
THE DESCENT OF PROPERTY AMONG THE ANCIENT IRISH.
The ancient The ancient course of descent of property amonsf the Gauls,
course of , ii-
■lescent was Germans, and other nations, was that by which a person's in- heritance descended equally amongst his sons, or if he had no children, amongst his brothers. Failing such heirs, it went to the collateral heirs. It is very probable that the classification of the degrees of consanguinity of the direct and collateral heirs everywhere in ancient times was the same as that of the Irish Fhie just described. With the development of the feudal system proper, the fore-right of the eldest son put an end to
'*" The History of Civilization, translated by Wni. Hazlitt, Esq. Bogue's Ed., vol. i., pp. 70 71.
INTUODUCTIOX. clxiX
this ancient custom in most parts of Europe. It has, however, remained the custom of Kent down to the present time. It appears that the custom obtains also at Urchenfield in Here- fordshire, and in the Isle of Portland. Silas Taylor, who wrote on this custom in the seventeenth century,^®' was of opinion that there was scarce a county in England that had not this kind of descent of property more or less.
In Kent the custom is called " gavelkind", which Spelman tiie custom
. . . "f Gavel-
derives from gafel ov gafol, tribute, and cyn, kind, that is family i^ini-
or kin. Somner also derives it from gafol and kind, which he renders " genvis", and consequently looks upon gavelkind land as praedium vectigale, or a tributary kind of land, an inter- pretation accepted by Skinner. The term used in Irish for this kind of succession was Gahal Cined, which agrees with the Anglo-Saxon Gahal or " GafoV did not however mean tribute, but, as I have already explained, a branch of a Fine or Maegth, and hence the liability of the latter for the Dire or Wergild, and other fines and mulcts due for civil and criminal causes by its members. This liability, like the right to share the mulcts and fines levied on another Fine in its behalf, and the Dibad or property of deceased persons, was com- pared, as I have said, to the branching of the fingers from the hand. Gahal Cined or gavelkind originally meant, then, the liabilities and rights of the whole Fine or Maegth to the seven- teenth degree.
According to the custom of gavelkind as it exists in Kent, Position of
•1 . . . „ , . women
the daughters take the inheritance u there be no sons ; if a man «n''er gavei-
" ... . l^ind cus-
has no sons or brothers, his sisters take it. In very ancient 'o™- times we may assume that women did not inherit land at all among the Anglo-Saxons. Even about the period of the Nor- man Conquest, women could not inherit " folc land". " Boc- land", on the other hand, could be inherited by women, but only in usufruct, and then reverted to the male line. But after the fifth degree,'-*^ that is, after the extinction of the Gelfine, it could fall absolutely from the spear to the spindle side, or, in
28' History of Gavtlkind, 1663.
«^ LL. Hen. I., Ixx. §§ 20-22. LL. Hen. I., Ixx. § 21: " uon mittat eum extra cogi\adoneni suain, sicut predixinius (i.e. § 20) in quintum geniculum".
clxx INTRODUCTION.
tlie language of the French jurists, " tomber de lance en que- noullle".^^^ ^Mnh V*""^ According to the Irish custom property descended at first only tancc; ^q ^[^^, male heirs of the body, each son receiving an equal share. Afterwards, however, a Flatli or owner of real estate (Orha) might give one-third of his land to his daughters iP** he had no sons, or in case of the death of these. Ultimately, however, daughters appear to have become entitled to inherit all if theie
'*' Among the Germans also women did not originally inherit. De terra nulla in muliere hereditas (LL. Sal. lix. ; LL. Ripuar. 56). Marculfus speaks of this custom as impious : " Dulcis sinife filiae mese illi ilia. Diuturna, sud impia, inter nos consuetude tenetur ut de terra paterna sorores cum fratribus portionem non habeant", etc. (^Form. ii. 12). By a law of Chilperich of the year 574, women became entitled to inherit land ; the right of the daughter preceded that of the distant branches, perhaps after the extinction of relatives to the fifth degree. The L. Burgund., xiv. 1. 2, L. Saxon., A'iii. 1.5.8, Liut^jr., i. 1., allowed female succession to come in earlier. The L. Visig., iv. 2, placed daughters on the same footing as sons : this is probably borrowed from the Roman Law. In Denmark, women could not inherit land at all until the beginning of the eleventh century (Sax. Gramm., x. p. 1S7). St. Erich, who died in 1160, is said to have modified the law of Sweden so as to allow women to inherit one-third, or, as the law of Upland expresses the new rights con- ferred on women, " to lock and key, to half the marriage bed, and the legal third of the property" (Geijer, The History of the Swedes, translated by J. H. Turner, Esq., M.A.., p. 48). Earl Birger, who died in 1266, increased the proportion to one-half. But it is probable that Erich's law only gave them one-third when there was no son. Earl Birger's law, however, allowed them to inherit with the brother (ibid., p. 51)).
284 " It is not the son tliat takes all the land of the Fine as patrimony, if the right of his mother's Fme is nearer to it than that of his father's". Then fol- lows the commentary : " i.e. it is not the son that takes all ancestral property of the Fine of his mother; [he gets] not more than one-seventh of the Dibud land. If it be an o\^i■\ c|\t:iib ^^ j'iiAfCAj or ' inheritance of hand and thigii' which a father settles upon a daughter through atTection, the sons of strangers [j.e. sons born of daughters of tr'ibe men bj husbands of strargf families] and sealanders, are entitled to this land from Xha Fine as h;ngas they Rgrce with the Fine; and they get it in Dibad r.iid in Daer [sequestr.ition] even from the Fino:\ MS. H. 2. 15. T.C.D.
"ihe gradation of iemaie miieiiianct;, woman's right in appropnau- pro- j)ortions". Then comes the commentary : " i.e. their sons and tlieir daughters retain everything which is handed over to tiiem by their mothers; that is, in proportion to their degree of consanguinity; i.e. womv.'u retain a right to come lawfully into possession of the laud settled under lawful bonds" which had passed out of the possession of other women.
" Uj.on w Lorn bonds are louud by the ajiproprialc laws of the Fhteas, uhicli
INTKODIICTIOX, CIXXI
were no sons. This riglit of dausliters to inherit land is said v-mou of
<-> _ " , , . . women
to have been completely established by a legal decision made "•''^er it ; in the case oiBriy Amhui, daughter oiSenchad, who pleaded the cause of -woman's right."^" The land thus given to a daughter
Brig made to regulate the rights of women". Upon which we find the fol- lowing commentary : " i. e. the high noble who [binds]; i. e. the F/ath (Jeil- Jine, he it is that binds the one-third, if they should be free. The land settled under lawful bonds which passed from the possession of other women was adjudgpd to Brig". MS. H.2.\5, T.C.D.
285 Several women of the name of Brig are mentioned in the ancient laws as female judges ; some of them appear to have been connected with each other. The mother of Senchan, chief judge and poet of Ulster in the time of Conchobar Mac Nessa, was called Brig ban Brughad or Brig the female Brugad; his wife was called Brig Bni/iach or Brig of the judg- ments ; and his daughter, the Brig A77ibui alluded to in the text, was also it would appear called Brig " of the Judgments", and was wife of Cehchair Mac Uthichair, a renowned personage of the Tain Bd Chuailyne, and oilier heroic tales of that period. She is mentioned as one of the nine, or rather ten, women who accompanied Queen Mt,gan, wife of Conchobar Mac Nessa, at the Fled Bricrind or Brici tit's Feast wliich forms the subject of a curious tale x'reserved in the Leabar na h- Uidhiri (bjMj b|\ecAc ben CelccAiiA 11110 iicic<Mti, p. 103 col. 2, line 20}. Possibly these women " of the Judgments"' represent the "ZafivirCji- yvvalKeQ of Strabo (B. iv.), a class of druidesses who, accoi'ding to his account, carried on theh- mysteries in an island in the ocean, but lived on the mainland with their husbands. These druidesses were no doubt the same as the nine Barrigenue or Senae, Gal- licenae or Gallican'ie, mentioned by Pomponius Mela (iii. c. vi.) notwithstand- ing that the latter states they were consecrated to perpetual virginity. The Maires FunAliue who v ei e consulted by the Germans as to the proper time for battle, are also to be connected here (see Caesar, Be Bel. Gal., i. 50). The Proiihetess Veleda mentioned by Tacitus was no doubt one of them. This name must bo generic, as it is related to the O.N. vala, vd'co, fata- dica. The Alatres Fumiliae were called, in the Gaulish lingua rustica, Matrae, Mairae (whence French Mere). Matrue, and Mutronue, and Muirae occur frequently in old irserii)ti()ns. In medieval times they became witches or were confounded v.i h minor deities of the Gaulish pantheon— the Bona Res, Bonae Bominae, or iXocturfiae, who were good, and the Pythiue, Pythonissae (Greger. Turou.), the Sagae, Striae, Strigne or Stri/ges (Old French ^strie), Lamiae, Herbariue, and Genethliacae (Capit. of Dagobert for the year o30, Charlemagne, 798, etc.), who were evil. The latter remind us of the Geinite Glindi of Irish '.nylhology. The Dames soui^eraines dfspenf:^s of French cliivalry, and the ladies itt the Cours d' Amour are the s iccessois of the women "of the Judgments". I may also refer to the position wliich women held in the councils of the Gauls of Italy and Gaul, to show that Brie/ Bretath was not an isolated instance of a woman j)leading the cause of women, but the representative of a very ancient and important institution, which has been ihe source of manv cu-''>!iis aiid tradition-'.
clxxii INTRODUCTION,
position of was called " an inheritance of hand and tliigh". It appears that
women _ on
under Irish womcn coiild inherit such land afterwards as well as men. When,
(customs. ^ _ '
in default of male heirs, land passed to women, " that is, became an inheritance of hand and thigh", part of the estate went to the Finem payment for the military and other services attached to the lands, which could not be fulfilled by women.
It is probable that the terra " hand and thigh" was originally
applied to land given as a marriage portion to a daughter.
Marriage And here it is necessary to describe the ancient marriage
cnstoms: , ,,...„
customs so tar as they bear upon the disposition oi property. Every woman of the Aire class, and perhaps of all classes, re- ceived a Tincnr or marriage portion from her father, or, if he the marriage were dead, from \\ex Fine. This marriage gift represented the
portion ; o o i
AgweddP^ or GwaddoP^'' of the Welsh, the Norse HeinigiOf, Hymanfijlgja, etc., the German Afitgift or " Geld und Gut". At first it probably consisted exclusively of clothes, household furniture, and live chattels, as in Wales, Scandinavia, etc.; but at some very early period land might also be given. The amount of the marriage portion depended upon the rank of the contracting parties; usually it was one-third of the personal property of the bride's father. We have in this an explanation of why the estate " of hand and thigh" was one- third the estate of a Flath. The bridegroom's wealth should be equal to that of the bride, if the two were of equal rank. But if a B6-Aire'» daughter married the son of a Flath, her marriage gift should be twice that of her husband ; and, con- versely, if the daughter of a Flath married the son of a Bo- Aire, her portion was fixed at half that of her husband. ^^®
^^^ Ancient Laws, 223, 73.
287 That these words were synonymous is shown by a comparison of the passage 256, 26, in the Ancient Laws, with 365, 28 ; 43, 37 ; 365, 22 ; 698, 12. See also F. Walter's Das alte Wales, S. 412.
288 "And if it be the daughter of a Bo- Aire, i.e. the Coibche, which is to be given from the Aire, i.e. of the Bu-Aire, i.e. the Aire who possesses cattle, that goes to the son of an Aire Feibe, i.e. who possesses Feib (real estate), i.e. even though the son of the Flath grade had but two cows and a Samaisc, the daughter of a Bd-Aire brought five cows with her as her portion to the son of the man of the Flath grade. If it be the daughter of a Gradh Fine, who is of family of equal rank with him, or who is more noble than him, or if it be the daughter of a Flath grade that goes to the Gradh Fine, it is a Trian
INTRODUCTION. clxxlii
The term Coibche was sometimes used lor the marria^'e the coibche portion, but properly speaking that word meant a legal giitgut; which the bridegroom gave to the bride after her marriage. This gift was called by the Welsh Coivt/ll, which is obviously cognate with the Irisli term, by the Germans Morgangaha., and by the Norse Hindradagsgaf. The German and Norse nauics indicate that the gift, which was intended as a recognition of the bride's virginity on the part of the bridegroom, and a return gift for its bestowal on him, was given on the morning after the marriage. The ancient laws of Wales^*^ tell us that the articles intended as the Cowyll should be mentioned in the morning before the bride rose, otherwise the husband was not leg dly responsible for the gift. The wife too should declare that they were lier Cowyll, otherwise they became the joint property of the husband and wife.^^° The Welsh custom implies that witnesses should be present at these declarations. Among some German peoples the gift was actually handed over to the bride in the presence of the bridesmaids and the bridegroom's men.^®' The amount of the Coibche, which was dependent upon the rank of the contracting parties,^^^ appears to have been settled
Tineoil (one-third of property) she brings as her portion, i.e. a portion equal to half the wealth of the man to whom she goes.
If it be the daughter of a Gradh Fine man who goes to a Gradh Flatlta, it is two-thirds of property she brings as her portion, i.e. she must have wealth equal to twice the wealth of the husband, i.e. she must have two-thirds of wealth, and he is to have one-third. If it be the daughter of the Aire Fcihe who goes to the son of a Bd-Aire, i.e. if the daughter of a Flath grade goes to the son of a Gradh Fine, the son of the Bo -Aire must have twice the number of cattle, i e., two-thirds of property as his portion against the one-third of the wife, i.e. though the daughter of a Flulh grade had but one-third, lie should have two-thirds, or if she had but the half of the one-third, it counts as half against him, and he must have a full third against it. So that a third from him and one half of a third from her make an appropriate [marriage] portion from the daughter of the Aire Feibe, i.e. from the daughter of the F/a'Ii grade, because it is lawful to demand more cattle from the Aires who have cows. i.e. from the Aire Fuieas, than from those who have property, i.e. the Flath grade". MS. Brit. Mus. Rmclinson, 487, fol. 61. p. 1. col. a.
^^'^ Ancient Laws of Wales, ]). 47, § 62,
2»o Ibid., p. 47, § 63 ; p. 255, § 23 ; p. 366, § 29.
''" Kcirl Weinhold, Dii deutschen Frauen in dcm Miitelalter, s. 270.
'■'- In Wales the Comi/ll or bridal gift of a kiiij^'s daughter was one-third
d.xxiv INTRODUCTION.
beforehanrl in Ireland, and even sometimes paid over when the civil contract was being made in the presence of the heads of the family, the Aire C"sramg, and other Aires. It is even probable that in Christian times it was always so paid over. Amonw the Germans and Norsemen the amount of the bridal gift was also discussed beforehand, and in some places given to the bride at the marriajje feast.'^^^
According to Irish law, part of the Coibche or bridal gift went to the bride's father, or, if she were married after his death, to the head of her Fine. The father's share of the Coibche repre- sents the Log lana-rmais or bride-price, the equivalent of the Brautkauf o^ the Germans, and the Munder or Festingafe of the Norsemen, by which the rights and guardianship, not the person, of the bride were acquired by the husband and his family. As the brlde-prlce, which in ancient times formed a prominent and Independent feature in marriage customs, usually consisted of articles of gold, silver, and bronze, it was generally called Tiudscra, a word which is said to be formed from Tinde, a neck chain, and Escra, a drinking cup.-'* But the brlde-prlce might liavc consisted also of other things, and even of land.^^^ In these cases it was still called Tindacra or Tinscra, in the same way that Linfe, one of the Norse names for the bridal gift, which came from the linen, of which the clothes and other household articles were often made, continued to be given to the bridal gift even when it consisted of gold and rich garments. In Wales the CoicyU might also consist of land, as in the case
of the /4 grwerft/i or marriage portion; for otlier persons it was usually one- half the latter.
293 Weinhold, loc. cit.
i94 a Xindscra, i.e. Tinde, a neck chain which contains three Ungas, and Escra, a drinking cup which contains six CJnyas ; and that is what is due to the father out of the C€d Coibche, or first marriage gilt of every daughter". MS. H. -6. 18. T.C.D. 6oL-6y:i.
295 41 Qjye mg"^ g^^ij Oengus, "■Eithne as a wife, that is, thy foster child, and 1 will give thee land as her Tinscra, namely laml near to Ossory hard by us oil the south, and thou slialt be allowed to make it more extensive for your- selves". MS. Leabnrri'i h-Uidhn, p. 54, col. 2, top.
The terms Coibche, Tintlscra, etc., appear to be expressive of the nature ratiier than ot the purposes of the gift?. Thus, when well bred cattle and bridle steeds were the objects of a gift, sale, purchase, or nmict, etc., they
IN rnoDUCTioN. clxxv
of the dau'fliter of a king.^^® As the TinJscra or bride- tiiebri-o-
o , - , l>rice ;
])rice formed part of the Coibche, and as the term was some- times used to express the whole of the latter,'^" the Coibche might in Ireland also have consisted of land.
Among the Scandinavians and Germans the ''bride price" gradually became a mere form, and was replaced in Norway by what was called the Tilginf, or because it was reckoned as one-third of the marriage portion, the " Tridjungs auki", or the increasing third part. In East Gothland it was called the Vi^armundr or " counter purchase", or Motiulkop, or " mantle purchase" — the Brnt Posta or marriage cloak of the Irish. The placing of the Tindscra or portion of the Coibche or bridal gift consisting of gold, silver, and bronze, in the father's hands as a substitute for the more pagan custom of the ancient Log lanumnais or " bride price", was pro- bably the result of the introduction of Christian marriage, for there seems no reason to doubt that in pagan times in Ireland no marriage was deemed legal unless the full " bride price" proportionate to the rank of the parties was paid, as among the Scandinavian and German nations. The use of gold and silver in our modern marriage ceremony is perhaps a relic of the Tindscra, and the corresponding gifts among the other northern nations.
The riffhts of women were carefully protected under the Irish rights of
^ ^ o •^• r ^ married
law ; but there existed apparently too much lacility tor the sepa- women ; ration of husband and wife. There were seven cases in which the wife could legally separate from her husband and retain the whole or part of her Coibche, and obtain special damages for injury :
1. when falsely charged with impropriety by her husband;
2. if she were rendered the subject of ridicule by her hus- band; 3. if a blemish were inflicted on her by beating or otherwise maltreating her ; 4. when openly abandoned by her
were included under the term Slabra, while clothes and arms were properly Co!6c/(e, sheep and pigs, TocAm, and gokl, silver, and bronze, Tindscra. This explains why these terms are sumelunes used for one another, and in ditlerenc senses.
»96 Ancient Laws, 42, 32 ; 363, 1.
-'■' MS. Leibur nu h-Uidhri, p. 127, col. 1.
women.
clxxvi INTRODUCTION.
marrfed^ husband, or charged publicly with inlidelity; 5. adultery of the husband, or neglect of his wife ; 6. giving her a love potion before marriage ; 7. not giving her full rights in do- mestic and other social matters,^ ^®
298 «( There are seven women in a tribe whose rights are laid down by the Fene.chas : who though they may have been bound by tlae bonds of Nascaires and Rath Trebaires, it is still competent for them to separate [from their] mar- riage union at any time that they please to do so. They are entitled to whatso- ever is settled upon them as their Coibche, i.e. they are by law entitled to every- thing that was given them as their Coibche. 1. a woman who has been be- lied by her husband, i.e. a woman of whom her companion, i.e. her husband, tells a false story, i.e. a lie, i.e. made a Derbforgaill (a false charge of im- propriety) upon her ; she is entitled to her choice, i.e. either to separate from him, or to continue in the marriage union with him, but whichever she chooses to do, she is entitled to her Coibche, and to her Enecland, and to the Eraic of the Z)er6/or^at7^ (defamation). 2. A woman whom her husband has abused with reproachful satire, a woman against Avhom her husband has cir- culated an unlawful satire, i.e. who has been made the object of ridicule, no matter what the nature of the satire may have been, she is entitled to a Dairt for one insult upon her pillow, and one-fourth of her Coibche [if it had been] in the presence of one house [i.e. household] and one Baile, and the full amount of her Coibche, if it be outside of the Less (court-yard), and the full amount of Eraic together with it : i.e. it is a case which must be respon- ded to in the Airecht or court, i.e. a woman who has been unlawfully satir- ized, i.e. she is entitled to her choice, i.e. to separate from him, and to take her Coibche away with her, or to continue in the lawful marriage union with him, and whichever she does, she is entitled to have her Coibche and her Enecland paid to her, and an Eraic corresponding to the nature of the satire, i.e. because it is not lawful to satirize (or abuse) her at all, or to give the people any cause to laugh at her. 3. A woman who gets a blemish on her countenance [by assault] i.e. from a white wound out ; she is entitled to a restitution equal to the amount of her Coibche and the full amount of Eraic also. The woman upon whom any blemish is so inflicted on her person un- lawfully, however small the blemish, if there be a sign or mark at all, she is entitled to the full amount of her Coibche, and a Smacht (damage) for it, and to the Eraic of the injury, and she has the choice either to separate from him and to take away her Coibche from him, or to continue still in her lawful marriage union with him. 4. A woman who is abused and openly charged with infidelity ; i.e. she is entitled to her Coibche and her Enecland, to resti- tution, and appropriate fines from the moment of the accusation. 5. A wo- man whose companionship is slighted by her husband, so that he prefers to sleep with servants rather than with her, i.e. a woman to whom her husband is not duly attached, so that he prefers to go into the same bed with ser- vants rather than to sleep with her ; he must pay to her the Eraic of aban- donment, for leaving her bed, i.e. her Coibche, and she has the choice either to separate from him for ever and tojake her Coibche with her, or to
INTRODUCTION. clxxvii
In Wales also lesral separation it seems could have been effec- Sfparaifon ted with such ease that the Church endeavoured to correct this'n waie» evil. The kings of England used this circumstance as a pre- text to get the aid of the spiritual authorities against Wa'es. In the excommunication issued in 1282 by the Archbishop of Canterbury against Llewelyn, at the request of Edward the First, looseness of the marriage bond is mentioned as one of the offences requiring to be punished.-'' If the causes of separ- ation were : adultery, or a wide-spread report of it, from the guilt of which the husband was bound to clear himself by the oaths of fifty compurgators ;^"° leprosy; stinking breath; or im- potence, the woman was entitled to take away with her all
continue in the marriage union still. 6. A woman to whom her husband has given a philter or love potion in order to seduce her, so that he excites her into lustful compUcity with him, i.e. at the time that he is soliciting her favours, it is then he gives the love-charm potion, in order to make her love him the more ; i.e. she is entitled to a Coibche and an Eraic in proportion to the nature of the philter. And if it was before his union with her, and for the purpose of obtaining her in proper bridal cohabitation, the love potion was given to her, and that by it he obtained her in proper bridal cohabitation ; she is entitled to the Smacht of copulation for it, and to a Coibche, and to her Entc- land and her Corpdire, and to separate from him ; or she must get an Eruic proportionate to the nature of the love potion, and she shall have her choice either to separate from him, or to preserve the marriage union with him.
This is the second instance in the laws in which the Smacht fine of copula- tion is inflicted upon a man for the injury he has done [a woman] before he attains to a lawful bridal cohabitation [with her].
7. A woman whose wUl is restrained, or who is refused her full lawful marriage rights ; i.e. a woman who is not allowed to exercise her wUl or de- sire in due proportion to the marriage bond, wliich binds the union, i.e. to have free access to all tilings, and a right of mutual cooperation in all do- mestic concerns. Or in case a company fast with her two or three times : Because any woman who is bound [i.e. wedded] into the Fine is entitled to the free exercise of her wUl, and to get appropriate attendance legally propor- tionate to her rank. That is, every noble woman who is bound [married] in accordance with the Fenechas, is entitled to the exercise of her free will and discretion, i.e. the mutual enjoyment of, and free cooperation in all domestic concerns, and to honourable attendance legally proportionate to her Com- tincur, i.e. her marriage portion, and all other valuables or other property that she brings to her husband at and after her marriage ". — MS. Brit. Museum, Rawlinson, 487, fol. 61, pp. 1. 2.
299 <i Uxores legitimae HoweU Da patrocinio contra Evangelium dato repudio repellunter". Rymer.
'00 Ancient Laws, p. 46, § 57 ; p. 41, § 23 ; p. 257, § 30.
INT. 12*
elxxviii introduction.
Separation the property that belonged to lier.^*" If the separation took in ware°s!'^^ place without sufficient cause before seven years, the woman lost her A giveddi and Argr/vi^eu,^'^'- hut not her Coivyll, Wyneh- iverih, and Saraad.^"^ The husband could also separate without cause.^"* In case the separation took place before the third last night of seven years, he should pay back to his wife her marriage gift and other property which she brought with her as well as her Cowyll or bridal gift ;^°^ if the separation took place after that period, the property was divided.^"^ This loose- ness of marriage ties was no doubt the reason why illegitimate children inherited equally with legitimate children.^"^ Position of In North Wales women did not inherit land™* before 1284, Wales as"to wlicn the custom was changed by the statute of Rhuddlan in ' the reign of Edward I. ; they only received dress and or- naments as in very early times in Ireland, or a share equal to one-half that of a son of the personal property. In South Wales daughters inherited all when there were no sons.™' The South Wales custom may have been a relic of the Irish domination, while that of North Wales may have been a return to the old custom the result of the conquest of the country by Cunedda.
30' Ancient Laws, p. 39, § 10 ; p. 47, § 66 ; p. 255, § 21 ; p. 365, § 26 ; p. 415, § 19.
^"2 That is, any additional property -which she may have brought with her over and above her marriage portion. The term Argyvreu was not applied exclusively to part of a woman's dowry, or even to the property in general of women ; it was also used for the dress and arms of men and the tools of a privileged craft or art, and generally for jjersonal property of all kinds, both of men and women, which they held in their own right.
^"^ The Saraad, which corresponded to the Irish Sarugiid, here alluded to, was the fine or honour price which she received for all ill-treatment. Elsewhere (vol. ii. App., note 473, p. 471) I have made Gwynebwerth equiva- lent to the Irish Enedand.
^0* Ancient Laws p. 46, § 54.
3o» Ibid., p. 38, § 1 ; p. 39, § 9 ; p. 252, § 1 ; p. 256, § 26 ; p. 364, §§ 5, 6, 9.
3o« Rid., p. 38, § 1 ; p. 42, §§ 30, 31 ; p. 252, § 2; p. 256, § 26 ; p. 364,- § 12.
307 "Xria sunt enim quae gentem banc destruunt, et fructuosae propaginis gaudia percipere non permittant. Quod paternam hereditatem filii inter se tam naturales quam legitimi herili portione dividere contendunt". Girald. Cambr., De lUaudaUl. Walliae, c. 9.
'"* Ancient Laws, p. 84, § 1.
*^' Ibid., p. 267, § 7.
INTRODUCTION. cl
XXIX
Although the Salic''" and Alcmannic'" laws speak of i^ivision of
1 T • • P 1 T 1 . • • property
the division oi the houses among several sons, yet in practice among ueirs: so long as colonization of waste lands, emigration, war, etc., offered fields for the enterprise of the younger sons, the paternal estate was not divided. When those various ways gradually closed up, a great subdivision would have taken place had not the introduction of descent by the eldest son arrested it on the Continent. Kemble thinks that the subdivision had proceeded so far among the Anglo-Saxons that it facilitated the Norman Conquest. ^'^ The Swedish proverb, " It is good for brethren to dwell together",''^ indicates a desire to avoid the action of the law, in order to maintain the dignity and power of the family. With this object the father often sent the younger sons to sea, and the elder brother had the right of purchasing out the younger ones. In Wales the brothers divided the paternal in- custom in heritance equally,^'* the youngest however took the principal place, Tydden,^^^ literally a residence or house, and equiva- lent to the Irish Teti, with the buildings belonging to it, and a certain amount of land.^"^ The personal property was then divided, the lots being drawn by the younger ; the latter, how- ever, always got the boiler, the wood axe, the coulter of the plough,^" the harp and the chess-board.^'* After the death of all the brothers, their children might claim a redistribution, if any of them could show that their father had either not received any part of the property or his full share ;^'^ their children might again do the same.*-" In all redistributions the
»io LIX. 2. 5. L. Sal.
3" L. Alam., 8S.
''* The Saxons in England, I. 315, et seq.
313 Geijer's History oj the Swedes, I. 83.
»»* Ancient Laws, p. 81, § ], et seq. ^. 86, § 2.
3>s This was somewhat analogous to the custom of Borough-English, by which estates in land in certain ancient boroughs, and copyhold 'manors, descended to the youngest son, or in default of issue to the younger brother. In the Pays de Grimberghe in Brabant, the youngest son also inherited the paternal estate.
3'6 Perhaps the amount forming the field of sanctuary or Irish Maigin Digona. Ancient Laws, 87, 8; 2()b, 1 ; 370, I ; 68-1, 15 j CS6, 29.
»" Ibid., 26(3, 1 ; 370, 1. ^i* Ibid., 686, 29. "u juj^ gl, 3, 4
»»o Ibid., 82, 5.
12* B
clxXX INTRODUCTION.
principal seat or Tydden should be respected.^^' The power of redistribution ceased in the fourth generation.^-^ Many inheri- tances remained however undivided. ^^^ Oak woods, turf bogs, quarries,'^^ mills, fish weirs, and orchards remained in common.^-* theirish Xhc Irisli custom was very similar to the Welsh, but
custom. _ •' ) ^^ u
we know the former in a much more archaic form than the latter. The division took place in this way: each son was entitled to an equal share of the cattle and land, but not of the houses and offices, the pots, brewing vats, and other vessels and implements, which went to the elder brother,^^^ together with the liouse and offices. But in consideration of this special inheritance, he was bound to accept the responsibility of enter- taining the retinue of the king, a bishop, or a Sai.^'^ He was the stem of the family, and until his brothers became of age, was responsible before the law for them, and the assertor of their rights; the guardian of his sisters, and other members of the family ; and plaintiff and defendant in all suits at law. During the first year of their co-occupany, a temporary staking of the several shares of the land took place ; and in the second, an exchange of lots, in order that each should know the quality and capabilities of the land of the other. In the third year, the land was measured by poles and ropes,'"-'* to determine boun-
321 A7icie7it Laws. 53fi, 1 ; 741, 1?. =22 /^/j_^ §2, 5 ; 2C0, 2 ; 370, 28 ; 416, 34; 525, 9; 537. 1, 9; 607, 10; 741. 12. 3«3 75;^., 2G8, 14; 371, 3; 617, 67. 334 7/,jj.^ 525, 10; 684, 14; etc.
326 Ibid., 87, 7 ; 740, 9.
326 In the division of the property of a deceased proprietor, the eldest son was entitled to get " the boiler, the keeve, and tlie household vessels; and he gets the Ltses, or residences and houses, and AirUsses, or yards ; he also takes the responsibilities of these possessions, and is bound^under certain obligations to his younger brothers and sisters". MS. H. 3. 18. T.C.D. p. 10.
327 See note 667, App. vol ii. p. 510, and Int. p. ci., note 136 for an explan- ation of this term,
328 The pole, the instrument of measurement used by all northern and western nations, appears to have been originally a horse switch. The total length included not only the switch itself, but the distance tliat could be reached when it was grasped in the hand, and the arm was fully extended. The modern perch or pole of Ireland is seven yards, the English or statute, five and a-half yards. The modern chain corresponds to the Irish " rope", or Foirach. Until all the references to weights and measures scattered through Irish MSS. are collected together and critically compared with one
INTRODUCTION. clxxxi
darles. In tlie fourth year, the boundaries were confirmed soTiieinsh as to bar litigation thereafter, and each brother gave security to maintain his fences.^^^
The Ail or boundary was begun to be made around it at the end of the fifth year, and shoukl be finished within the tenth year, with the exception of a comb or capping of bhickthorn, which need not be finished before the end of that year."" One
another and with the standards of other countries, it would be premature to determine wliether the Forrach, or rope, was of the same length in every part of the country. The following gives its length in one instance at least: " three barley-corns (literally grains) one thumb, four thumbs one palm, four palms one foot, twelve feet one perch, twelve perches one rope ; a Tir Cumail is twelve ropes long and six ropes wide, but they must be of legal measure". ( J75. E. 3. 5. T. CD. p. 42). The Tir Cumail or Cumal land appears to have been the unit measure for the appanage lands and qualifying estates of Aires. Assuming the Irish to have been of about the same length as the English foot, a Tir Cumail would be a little more than twenty-one acres Irish. If we allow an Irish acre to one cow, this would represent the land of seven Cumah. It will be seen from the Critk Gablach that whenever the wealth of an Aire is measured by land, it is always a multiple of this quantity.
3'^ "Question. What constitutes, a Co?««jVc^es ? A fence of Comorbship. What is the description of it ? The Comarbs first divide then* shares and their residences ; and each man of them shall give pledges and security of sanctuary to the other. Question. What qualifies a Comaitches, that is, I ask out of Avhat does the AitJiechus Comaide grow ? Out of the Ail Comarbus, i.e. out of the noble patrimonial right, out of the land. W^hat is the manner of it ? That is, Avhat is the form of it ? First, the Comorhs divide equally be- tween them the land of their deceased ancestors. Their possessions, namely, the land of their fathers and grandfathers ; each man of them turns to the other, i.e. they aU turn their faces to each other. Each man of them gives a Diguin, i.e. a pledge of two ScrepciUs, for the fulfilment of the Comaitches, i.e. to swear that the responsibilities of the united body shall be the responsi- bility of each individual person of them". 31 S. Brit. Mus. Rawlinson, 487, fol. 64, p. 1. col. a.
330 "Question. How is a Comaitches made? The boundary division is made in the third [year]. The Ail or boundary is made upon it after the fifth [year]. The Ail or boundary is capped [or finished off] after the tenth. The fence is proclaimed legal after a month.
Question. How is a Comaitches made? i.e. I ask how a Comaitches Comaide {i.e. a co-occupancy of co-partners) is made? Answer. The land upon which the Ail is made is divided in the third [year]. The Ail is made around it in or after the fifth [year] ; that is, they commence to make the Ail or boundary around it at the termination of the fifth [year], and they then spend two days cutting down its wood \_i.e. for making the fence]. The Ail is completely finished within the termination of the tenth [year] with the
custom.
cLxXxii INTRODUCTION.
The Irish month after tlie completion of the fence the division of the land and establishment of the boundaries were legally proclaimed.^^'
The method of division just sketched out was still a kind of joint-tenancy or partnership, for the woods, bogs, and waste continued common. Such a settlement represented the German " Markgenossenschaft". Sometimes the co-heirs, or Com- orhs,^^^ did not divide the land, but continued to occupy the land in common, exactly like the gilds I have already described. Notwithstanding the extensive development of joint tenancy and gilds, or copartnerships, the ancient Irish exhibited a jealousy of their individual rights, and a spirit of litigation in their defence, which show how erroneous are the views hitherto held with regard to property in land in Ireland. The law books are full of the most minute descriptions of the various kinds of fences and the fines for damaging them, and for trespassing on the enclosed lands.
333
exception of the comb or cap of blackthorn. And the fence is made perfect, i.e. the blackthorn cap is put upon it at tlie termination of the tenth [year], and the boundary is proclaimed and established as legal in one month after". MS. Brit. Mas. Rawlinson, 487, fol. 64, p. ]. col. a.
^" " Question now : By what means is the boundary fine made binding when made on the hereditaments ? It is proclaimed as a thing to be known by Seanchaid n-inr-aic (i.e. legal Senchaids) ; whea the fence is made [it is not binding] until it is proclaimed by them three times without opposition".
" Question : What is the manner of the planting of an Ail (boundary) ? Its Noill (swearing), and its Nuaill (proclamation). Question : What is its Nuaill7 To proclaim the i?«e (fence) three times without opposition. And if it be objected to, who are the Noills [i.e. Noillechs] or Clannas (bound- ary planters) ? Lugus (oath-men), and Senchaids duly qualified to give evi- dence of testification. And if there be not Senchaids, two perfect B6 Aires to plant the stakes, and another to make oath to it, and an Aire who is to swear between two : and this then is the planting and legalizing of the boundary. And if it be the whole Crioch (territory) which is in seven Achads (fields or divisions) that is to be divided, it is regulated by the Senchaids thus,— for there are twelve kinds of Blais (fences) by which a Crioch is bounded. Which are they ? " [Here follows an enumeration of the twelve Blais or legal boundaries]. MS. II. 3, 18. p. 13, U.
*32 Orba, inherited property, C'o??j-ori=co-heir. In the Irish Orb we have almost the same word as the German Brbe, heir.
333 "Benefits of Ails [i.e. damages for fence-breaking]: its price must be paid by whosoever injures it in the land, and also a Dire (or fine) fcr the land [trespass]".
IXTRODUCTION. clxxxiii
In order to prevent the subdivision of the property of chiefs, ^-a*' of '^"n- and of those holding high rank in a Tuath, the appanages did not descend by the custom of gavel-kind, but by the law of Tanistry. During the life-time of a chief, his successor was elected under the name of Tanaiste; and on the death of the former the latter succeeded him. The Tanaiste was not neces- sarily the son of the chief: he might be his brother or nephew, but he should belong to his Fine. The succession of property by the law of Tanistry secured that there should always be an official aristocracy possessed of sufficient estate in land to main- tain their dignity; while the custom of gavel-kind, on the other hand, by the great subdivision of property which it effected, tended to deprive the majority of freemen of all political rights under a constitution where property was an essential element of political power. The joint-occupancy of Comorbs, like the gilds, counteracted this to a certain extent Yet the mention F-states of in the law tract printed in the appendix of the Og Flaithem, divided, who had three Sencleithe, the Leth-Flaithem, who had two, and the Flaithem oen oescra, who had one,^^* shows that even the estates of Flaths, the lowest of whom had ten Ceiles, were sub- divided, and a number of small poor proprietors created, like those just mentioned.
It would seem that the property even of a B6 A ire mii^ht Estates of
r r J ^ ^ ° Bd A ire.1
descend by the law of Tanistry, for we find mention in the ™'g''' 'i'^"'
•^ ./ be siibji;cta
tract iust mentioned of a Tanuise B6 Aire or Tanist of a B6\?^Vl"^ AireP^ It also appears that in the case of a Bo Aire who had not sufficient property at his death to qualify all his sons
"Question. How is it [the price of the fence] qualified? Answer: a wether lamb for breaking, pulling, or carrying off one stake out of it ; a ewe lamb for two stakes ; a Dartaid (a yearling heifer) for three stakes of the fence and their fastenings ; a Dairt for four stakes ; a Colpthach for six ; a cow for eight; five Seoids for twelve, but they are Seoid Gablas. [The trespasser is liable to pay for] two caretakers who shall be qualified as Nemcds to guard it [while broken down], and to make an AkJujln (restitution) for the fence, by putting an line nindndc (or perfect boundary) in place of it; and he is also bound in security of that portion of the fence for a full year afterwards". MS.H.3. 18. 13 b.
"* Vol. iii. App , pp. 618, 519.
»»» Ibid., p. 519.
clxxxiv INTRODUCTION.
to be Aires^ the eldest son with the consent of the Fine might retain the paternal estate, and thus maintain the dignity of the family, and be qualified as Aire Fine, to act as compurgator, witness, bail, and in fact take part with the Fine in all legal and pubhc questions. A similar custom appears to have pre- vailed among the Anglo-Saxons, for if one of the legal heirs could show that he possessed at least five hydes of land, he in- herited the dignity and the land, tomsnotre- ^^ Ireland, all Irish customs were set aside by a judgment Knglish'' '" given in the year 1605, which, more than any other measure, Ireland" ^°^ excepting the repeated confiscations, injured the country and gave rise to most of the present evils of the Irish land system. In the reign of Queen Anne, the custom of gavel- kind was, however, revived by a statute of the Irish parliament as a penal measure against Catholics. By that statute, the lands of Catholics were made subject to gavel-kind, for the pur- pose of breaking up any landed property tliat may have re- mained in their hands, and to prevent them from founding families in case they might acquire wealth, unless the heir ac- cording to civil law conformed to the Protestant religion. This law was, however, repealed by another act of the Irish parlia- ment in the reign of George the Third/^® A large number of properties were disgavelled in Kent by statute in the reign of Henry the Eighth,^^^ upon the petition of the owners. In the same reign all the lands in Wales were disgavelled.^^® But the rights of the tenants do not appear to have been injured by the new legislation. Comparison Bcforc leaving this subject of descent of property, it may be
of savelkind . . . - , o -t
in Kent and mtercstmg to noticc an analoffv between the custom ot gavel- kind as it existed in Kent and in Ireland. In the former a minor was eligible to succeed to an inheritance, and even to ahenate it by feoffment at the age of fifteen. In Ireland, a minor who formed one of the class of persons under pledge or surety termed a Fer-Midhoili,^'^^ was eligible to assume the responsibilities of
'6 17 and 18 Geo. III. c. 49.
»3' 34 and 35 Henry VIII. c. 26. ^as 31 Henry VIII. c. 3.
"9 Crith Gablach, App., vol. ii. p. 473, note 481.
in [relaiid.
INTRODUCTION. clxXXV
the property to -wlucli he had succeeded at the age of fourteen,^'" except that he could not be a Fiadnaise or witness until lie was seventeen years okL
TENURES OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.
The first question we have to determine in connection with Nature of
. the estate of
tenures, which I shall now briefly discuss, is, what was thea-f''aa nature of the ownership of land which vested in the Fiatlis ? Did he possess allodial land ? or did the ancient Irish know true allodial land at all ? If we define allodial lands to be free lands not subject to any rent, tribute, fine, or service from the owner to another, the Flath could scarcely be said to possess allodial land, for he received Taurcrecli from the Rig Tuatha, and paid him tribute. The receiving of the former and the payment of the latter constituted Ceilsinni, or submission to a lord para- mount. The Rig Tuatlia in turn owed Ceilsinni to the Rig M6r Tuatha, the latter to the provincial king, and lastly the provincial king to the high king of Eriu, or paramount king. The Tuath might, however, be regarded as in a certain sense a small state, all the citizens of which owed allegiance to the Rig or king : indeed the law expressly stated that a freeman did not owe Ceilsinni or submission to any man except to the Rig, unless he chose. The Flath, or owner of land not liable to tribute to any lord except the Rig, was in reality in some- what the same position as the owner of Alod in Germany, or of Odal land in Scandinavia, who owed allegiance to the king. The ofler by Medh to Ferdiad of part of Magh Aie, already mentioned, free of tribute and all other duties attached to land, shows clearly that the idea of allodial land was not unknown. The introduction of Tanistry, the date of which is not known, like the foreright of the eldest son under feudal law, seems to have led, at least in appearance, to the same fiction as in feudal law, that all lands were holden either me- diately or immediately of the king. The records of gifts of lands by various grades of kings arc frequent enough in Irish annals ; these grants being made, as in the case of the similar
3'" Does this suggest an explanation of the use of Catharach for puberf Stokes' /r("«A Glosses, 1051.
clxxxvi INTRODUCTION.
grants of Folc-land by the Anglo-Saxon kings, witli the sanction of the Sabaid or council, and according to law. As in the case of feuds, grants of land to Ceiles were pro- bably at first precarious or for life. But if the services con- tinued to be regularly rendered during a certain period, a pre-
Tenure of a scriptive right was acquired. The tenure of the Saer Ceile partook on the one-hand of the character of knight's-service, or ward-holding in Scotland, inasmuch as a Ceile was bound to give military service to his lord when required to do so, and on the other of free socage, or free-holding in Scotland, because a fixed tribute under the name of Bes-Tigi, was also payable.
of&Daer The tenure of the Daer Ceiles, or base Ceiles, resembled the privileged villenage, or villein-socage of feudal times, inasmuch as the service was base, but fixed or certain.^*' The tenure of
otBoihachs. the Bothachs consisted of the rights of settlement on tlie lands of the lord. In the case of the free or Saer- Bothachs, the risfht to a habitation on the land at a certain rent or service, resembled the socage tenure known as burgasfe tenure. The position of the Daer or base Bothach may be compared with the condition of villeins who held by pure villenage. In fact, as was before pointed out, the two classes of Bothachs appear to correspond to the Cotarius and Goterellus of Domesday Book, the former of whom held a free-socage tenure, while the latter
The Daer is Considered to have held in mere villenage. The base Ceiles
sents a copy- seem to represent exactly the copy -holders of English law, who, though originally holding at the will of a lord, according to the received opinion of English lawyers, acquired by custom
** ' The following passage clearly shows that the tenure of a C^'Ue was not precarious, and that as long as he fulfilled the conditions of his tenure he could not be ejected.
"Fal do tire ranne do Flaith iar nelud, i.e. a Fal or fence of land which has been divided by a Flath after an absconder.
Tir rainde, i.e. the Ime (fence) wlaich the Flath makes upon the divisions of the land, after having allowed the Cdle to abscond. Wlien he has divided the land and that the Ce'ile does not return within one month, that becomes a Fal (a boundary of possession,*) i.e. the Ce'ile has forfeited one-half of his land by having absconded. This is a case in Avhich the Ce'ile has absconded, and the Flath has divided the land into three parts after him [that is in his
* Se« note 226, on Fal, p. cxIt.
INTRODUCTION. clxxxvii
an estate transmissible to lieirs, except that while the latter The oaer
11-1 r ^ Ciile repre-
held by copy of court roll, that is by a copy of the rolls made sents a copy- by the steward of the lord's court, the former in general held by parol title, proved by witnesses, or by lay, that is by an ancient poem. At a later period written agreements came into use, chiefly, however, in respect to grants to the Church.
312
absence,] and when the Ce'ile returns to justice he is demanding his own (full portion) of land hack from the F/ath ; and the F/ath is claiming his Eric from the Ceile for absconding. If he does not give the Flath the Eric or fine for absconding, half of the Fal from the Cdle (that is of the Ce'ile's land) belongs to the Flath [_i.e. the Fla/Ii is entitled to keep one-half of the Ce'ile's land in lieu of the Eric or fine of absconding], that is, when the man has passed into another land, i.e. upon the place where the Port Fiach is [i.e. outside the limit of pursiiit], and he has gone there". MS. T. CD., E. 3, 5. p. 20, col. 1.
2*^ The following passage shows the process by which a Flath or landlord took legal possession of the land of a defaulting Ceile.
" Land divided by a Flath, i.e. it ie not lawful to take possession of it by cattle, contrary to the proliibition of the Flath [that is contrary to the will of a landlord who claims the ownership], i.e. the Flath claims his right in it when the Poll (liole), and the Lia (flag), and the Coirte Flatha (pillar stone of the Flath), are put in it, and [it is unlawful to put cattle on it] until his [appropriate] share of it is ascertained". MSS. T.C.D.,II. 3, 18, p. 385a, and E. 3, 5, p. 7a.
Traces of this mode of establishing a claim to land came down to the present century.
The following passage applies to all property in land, and is quoted merely to show the kind of evidence relied upon to prove ownership, whether absolute or qualified.
^^ Rudradh caecait (prescription of fifty) or of forty, or of thirty, ■which ever one of them is the least, by Seds and by lands ; Rudradh trichat (pre- scription of thirty) moreover belongs to kings Apdaines (proclaimed per- sons, and perhaps abbots), and to Ceiles. This land was let out for loan, and it has been contested as a legal right at the expiration of the term of the loan, on the grounds that it has been out and occupied for a term suflBcient to qualify a prescriptive right. But the proofs of the righteousness or the legality of the prescription must be confirmed by three things ; — Cluas (ear, I.e. evidence of ear)— this is given or produced by the Fine (family) ; Laid (a lay, cf. German Lied), — this is a literary proof given by the poets; Lecad [an act or deed which binds a person indissolubly. MS. E. 3. 5. pp. 13, 19.] by tlie Comorbs in accordance with the law of Manachs of Marhhdilsi (be- quests of dead chattels), for these are the three things that bind it". — MSS. T.C.D. E. 3. 5. p. 19, and H., 2, 15. p. 11.
The commentator goes on to explain these three requirements of the law : " In three ways it is proved, i.e. it is three ways that are laid down and ap-
clxxxviii INTRODUCTION.
Taurereeh When treating of the rent-paymg classes, I fully described
paicito"«i7esthe peculiarity of the tenures of the Ceiles, which consisted in
the bestowal of a gift, also called wages, by the lord, and the
payment of tribute or rent in kind proportional to the gift or
proved of to prove the claim and to qualify the legal right. For positive proof there must be Cluas, and Laid, and Leiter (a written deed). Chtas,* i.e. to have been present listening to the thing being delivered up with his own ears; Laid, that is, the lay of the poet certifying that it was given over by him ; Leiter, i.e. the noble letter which the Comarbs do have to prove that the thing was given up to them ; Manach, i.e. the thing which is lawfully bequeathed by the dead ; Manach, that is, one-third of his property ;t for these are the three solutions agreed upon and ordered to be preserved by the person who holds it [i.e. the property], namely, Cluas, Laid, and Leiter; Leiff, i.e. let him have them all [i.e. the property or chattels in question] when he has those things ; Nogh Cuir, i.e. perfect bonds, i.e. he is entitled to hold them in perpetuity". Ibid.
The following passage shows that the ancient Iris h had adTanctdnotio of equity. The passage is also noteworthy from two other points of view, namely, the reservation in favour of the property of married women, and the distinct allusion to the jury.
" There are three lands the possession of which the binding of a Mac (bond), or a Raith (surety), or a Fiadnaise (witness) cannot legalize. It is the Fine that have the lawful right. It is a false Aireship [a fraudulent deed] to bind them. It is a forfeiture of Logenech (honour price) to the Aire who pre- sumes to do it [namely]: 1. the land of a young lad [a minor] to whom it paj"S not price [i.e. rent] though the price be given to the Fine (tribe), because the sense or understanding of the young lad is not perfect [i.e. is not legal] when the land is let out, or when the Nasc (bond) is put on it, because he is void of perfect understanding at the time of giving it out ; 2. land which was given in Coibche of a woman who is not good, who per- severes not in her appropriate duties ; 3. land which is given against the will, or without the consent of the Fine (tribe), [i.e.] when the twelve tongues advocate the reversion of the land against the one man who advocates to bind it". MS. H. 2. \^. ^. l\h.
Upon this the commentator observes : " There are three lands, and it is not sufficient to bind them that they are held with the knowledge of a Railh, i.e. a Trebaire (security), and to have a Fiadnaise (witness) with them, or a Dilse (a legal assignment) by word of mouth. It is the Airecht [the court of the Fine'] that has power to bind them. Digbaid, i.e. it is a forfeiture of his Logenech (honour price) to the Aire who presumes to do it, i.e. he has to suffer Trosca (fasting), for having exceeded his legal power or authority: 1. the land of a young lad to whom no rent is paid for it, even though
• This is tlie " Fiadhnaise focail beil is chtaise", a familiar plirase among tlie Irish- spealting people of the present day.
t Forrain, i.e. the thing bequeathed \>y a Flath, i.e. the one-third of his propettj, H 3, 15. p. 2.
INTUODUCTION. clxxxix
Taurcrech. If the lord obtained more tribute or rent than he Relation o« was entitled to, he was, as I have before stated, bound to give caie. an equivalent increase of wages. If he did not do so, the Ceile could refuse all further supplies imtil he made restitution. The relations of Ceiles and their lords were regulated by Fenechas, or the general tribe and territorial law of the kinirdom, and not by arbitrary rules, so that in cases of great oppression the occupiers of land could appeal to the higher tribunals. If a lord treated his Ceiles despotically and did not make redress, they appealed against him to a Maihluath or Dal, that is, an assembly of a tribe or Tuatht according to his rank. An in- quisition into the charges was held, and if their truth were es- tablished, the proper court of equity issued a decree of forfei- ture against him.^'^
Within a Tuath a holder of land could let his land to other Land let to freemen of the territory for a year or other specific term. Any a raatn. buildings erected upon it during a tenancy for a specific term became the property of the owner of the land at the expiration of the term,^" at a valuation. But if evicted before the expi-
the rent is given to the Fine for it, or even though it were the Fine [itself] that let it out, it is not lawful to withhold it from them [i.e. their lease of the land is not valid when he comes of age]. And this is the reason . because the understanding or sense of the little boy was not perfect [according to law] ; and he was in the absence of lawful or perfect understanding when the land was let out. 2. Or the ftist bond Urnaidm of the unjust woman. 3. In spite of, i.e. in opposition to, or without the knowledge [or consent] of the Fine; that is, holding in spite of the Fine, i.e. the cintach upon an ecintacli. — Ibid.
3*3 Land conceded by a i^/a^A whose right becomes forfeit ; i.e. land con- ceded by the Flath whose rights became forfeited on account of injustice to his Ce'iles. For a turchur, i.e. [who conceded] his right to his share [or claim to it], it is another prescription, i.e. another thing which goes into prescrii)tion from the place or time of its division". MS. Brit. Mus. RawVuuon, 487, fol. 62. p. 1. col. b.
'** " The redemption of each prescription from the binding acknowledg- ments, in right of perfect wicker [houses]. It must be redeemed from him [the tenant] according to the judgment of the Brehon. The prescription effected by illegal means or by force cannot be legalized.
" The redemption, i.e. it is good, i.e. it is just in the laws of redemption of that part of a man's property which is out from him [on loan] to protect it against lapsing into prescription and perpetual possession, that the unac- knowledged or illegal possession of the land does not make a real binding bond of prescription, because he, the landlord, does not know [i.e. does not
CXC INTRODUCTION.
Compen- ration of the terra, even tliougli it were on tlie second last
sation to , , ° . . , . , . , .
tenants for dav of it, the tenant was entitled to his buildmo;s, which, as m
improve- J ' ^ ^ o ' '
inents. Germany, in medieval times, were considered as moveable chattels. If evicted without cause, he was not only entitled to the houses, but to the rent also. Houses erected on the land of a lord with his tacit consent, that is, to his knowledge, as for example in the case of squatters, not only remained the property of the builder, but the builders acquired a right to the land upon which they stood, and could not be evicted, a circum- stance which accounts for many of the evils of the old squatting system in Ireland.^" Tillage land let for the purpose of grow- ing a manured crop, reverted to the owner of the land at the end of the specified term for which it was let out, but if no particular term was specified, the hirer of the land was entitled to its possession until he had exhausted the manure.
insoirent If a member of a Comorbship or gild failed to make his
members of . ° . , .
partnerships, fenccs or meet his other engagements, Ins co-partners levied a distress upon him by the authority of an Aire until they com- pelled him to meet his engagements or give up his land. His
recognize] the right of the loan-holder [i.e. the tenant]. He, the loan-holder, [i.e. the tenant or man in possession,] is ejected from the land, even though he has built a wicker house upon it ; i.e. the wicker houses which he has built upon the land are removed [i.e. they are moveable], i.e. they are re- deemed [that is purchased] from him at the valuation of the judge [or arbitrator] of the man [himself] who is the holder of the land [i.e. the tenant]. Because it is unjust to allow him to remain upon the land, — for no false or weak or illegal possession qualifies his right, — namely, a possession by cattle, or crops, or promises of youths [i.e. minors] or technical legal, i.e. false [possession] or a possession of brother- ship, i.e. that is a thing unknown or unacknowledged, or a possession ob- tained or held by force and might". MS. T.C.D. E. 3. 5. p. 19.
2'* " If a man is aware of a wicker house being built upon his land, it goes into prescription, even though it is as loan or hire-land the land is held at the time [of building it]. If a man has built bis house or his kiln or his mill upon the land of an estated man in his presence [i.e. to his knowledge], and that he has not been forbidden to do so until he has completed his building, if it be for the purpose of a Rudra {i.e. establishing a prescriptive right), he made his buildings upon the land, he is entitled to the land upon which he built his houses".
"If it be in right of inheritance he has built his houses upon the land, he is entitled to hold the land upon which he made them until it is taken from him by law, [i.e.] unless it is wrested from him by the [evidence of the]
INTRODUCTION. , CXCl
cliattels when distrained were liable to the costs of the distress insolvent or Bleith, and the cost or grazinij while under distraint, orpar'ni^r-
. T . ships.
Fogelt. If he had not chattels or a residence, they levied a distress upon his next of kin who was solvent, and called upon his Aire Fine, or chief pledgeof his family, to assume his respon- sibilities. If the^'s^ri^^" or failing co-partner had chattels suffi- cient to qualify him to be a TrehairS or householder, his Fine paid his liabilities for him, and maintained him for a year, letting his share of the land for that period, and reserving the rent of it in payment of the liabilities incurred. While the land was let, the Fine or family who were the trustees of the Esert, were responsible for the fences, house, and other buildings. The trus- teeship thus created by the interest in the succession to the pro- perty, and the liabilities which this right carried with it, pre- vented the alienation by sale of an estate, as long as the family possessed the means of taking the land out of the hands of an Esert or insolvent. If he did not possess a residence, and offices, and chattels, the co-partners having compelled him to surrender his land for a year, fenced it and divided it between them, giving pledges to each other for the fulfilment of the liabilities '"
Fiadnaises (or witnesses) and the Senchaidhs : and when they have [decided against liim] it avails him not that he has built houses upon it". MS. Brit. Mus. RawUnson, 487, fol. G2, p. 1, col. b. ; see also 21S. //. 3. 18. T. CD., 122.
^^^ That is, put out of a bed or holding, i.e. the taking possession or appro- priation of a holding. Cf. O. Eng. law term. Ossart, appropriation.
3^^ " And where there are two resident Comarbs and an absent man, they [i.e. the residents] join unto them an Aire of his Aires [«.e. of the family of the absentee], if he undertakes it, but if he does not, they call upon his Fine (tribe) toco-occupy [to cooperate] with them in making arrangements regard- ing the land of their brother [co-tenant], in order that they [his family] may consign to them the right of grazing his laud for one year, and the right [or legal liabilities] of all their losses in respect of Imes (^'ences); and then the two Comathechs (co-tenants) hold and act from that forth as if the whole was their own property; and they bind themselves to each other in pledges for the mutual discharge of their liabilities".
" These are the pledges they give, i.e. the pledges for the line (fence) a Rama (spade) for the Clais (ditch), a Screpall is the worth of it, and to lay it down once; a Bial (billhook) for the Duirime (the quick hedge), and to lay.it down twice, and it must be worth a Screpall; a Soc (crow-bar) for the Corra (rock), a Screpall is the value of it, and to lay it down three times; a Fidba (axe or hatchet) for the Felma or for the .4i7(or stake fence), a Screpall is tho
CXCll INTRODUCTION
members of ^^ ^ member of a gild or Comorbship left the territory, his partnerships, co-pattners associated with themselves an Aire of the absentee's family, if he consented, but if he did not, they called upon his Fme to act for the absent man in making arrangements with them for assigning the right of grazing his land to them, and also his liabilities. This done, they divided the land in the manner just described, and gave mutual securities for the fulfilment of their engagements. If an occupier of land neglected to perform the duties attached to the land, namely, of killing and chasing foxes, of watch and ward, repairing roads, etc., a distress was leived upon him, and he was kept under distraint until he fulfilled his duties.^^^ In case he had no chattels of his own, notice was served upon his nearest of kin who was solvent, and a distress was subsequently levied, and he was called upon to perform the duties attached to the land, and the right of the land was transferred to the man who was willing to perform the duties. This custom is analogous to the old Norse one already men- tioned, where a Nemda or jury could deprive an owner of his land if he allowed it to become waste, or failed, after due notice, to perform the duties that appertained to it. Insolvent As no One could alienate his land without the sanction of all those who possessed an interest in it, when a man became insol- vent he handed over his land to his Fijie, who provided him with a small house and an allowance for his maintenance. Under early feudal law landed property was also inalienable, except in cases of real want, when the holder of the land was obliged to make oath that he could not support himself This was the pauvrete jure o^ \\\q French medieval law. In Sweden the owner of land could only alienate it by sale by allowing
value of it, and to lay it down twice. It is by the Sith Aile (mutual boundary- arbitration or law) or by the Beolegud (living deposits, — i.e. witnesses) that these Smachts (penalties) are bound after this". MS. H. 3. 18. p. 13 a.
^** " Question. What is the amount [of the joint liabilities] of a Comaith- chesl There is first the [trespass of the] Selh or homestead, namely, your own trespass, and the trespass of others in the time of fencing it ; the guarding of every place in it against pirates and wild dogs (wolf-dogs, foxes, etc.); and the trespass of its roads. The land trespass now is the Fuba and the Ruba {i.e. chas- ing and keeping off of Tivolf-dogs and plunderers), and to cooperate with the Tuath both in hostings and convocations and Rubas. Road trespasses, i.e. each
INTRODUCTION. CXCIU
liimself to be sold with it, which of course only took place in rnjoUeut case of distress or similar causes. The inability to ahenate, the right of preemption, and the reti^ait lignoger, or right of recovery of family estate sold, by returning the purchase money, under feudal law, are relics of the more ancient rights of the family represented by the Irish Fine.
The tenure of the Faidirs will be sufficiently understood Temuc of from the account of the different categories of Fuiairs, which I have given in a previous section. They were mere villeins holding at the will of the lord, and unlike the base Ceiles, not protected by the custom of the manor. But although the free Fuidir was a tenant-at-will, compensation for unexhausted im- provements was fully admitted in principle, so that if a Fuidir had manured a field with duiiff from his cattle sheds, he was allowed to o^et the full benefit of the manure. ^^' In the case of Fuidir co-partnerships having a full farmstead which entitled them to rank as householders, they were also entitled to remove their houses, or to sell them at a valuation, if they gave up the- land, or were evicted by the lord. Although the Faidirs in general might be considered as tenants-at-will, the members of *• Fines having full tribe right who held land for a year under the circumstances just described, or who tookiand lor specified pcriods^^" were not tenants-at-will in the modern sense.
man must put an //«« (fence) upon his own part of it, keep it even [j.e. free from ruts], keep it clear from cattle, etc., and clean away all dirt and puddle at thetimes of visitations and fairs; and every one and all in common are bound alike to do it ; and anything that any man is deficient in the Cathach (duties of his Comaitches), he must suffer a corresponding deduction in the benefits of the Comaitches". Mi). ^. 3. 18. 13 a.
2" The same principle was admitted in the old Welsh laws, as the follow- ing passage from the Venedotian Code fully proves : " 9. No one is to retain gardens in his possession on account of having manured them for more than one year; for they are to be manured every year. 10. A fallow two years, it is to be ploughed. 11. Rotten dung (that is, land where cattle are accustomed to lie without folding), truly the ?ame. 12. Ley land truly the same. 13. Yard dung, three years, it is to be ploughed. 14. Car dung, four years, it is to be ploughed. 15. Wood-land truly the same. IG. Manured fallow four years also". Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, Bk. II. c. xvi. p. 87.
''" One of those periods was thirty years, which with the crop-year in order to get the benefit of the dung put on it, made thirty-one years. It would thus appear that this comraon modern term is based upon ancient precedent. INT. 16*
CXCIV INTRODUCTION.
tenures "^^^^ Irisli tenures throw considerable liglit upon many ob-
onTh^seof* scu^s points in the tenures of the rest of Europe in medieval Europe. times ; for instance there can be no doubt that hereditary tenan- cies, the " Erbpacht" of the Germans, and the Emphyteusis of the later Roman Empire, co-existed all through the middle ages in Italy, Germany, France, and Flanders, with a system of villenage analogous to the Irish Fuidirship. Marini and Mabillon mention tenants of the former class under the name of libellarii from the sixth to the thirteenth centuries ;^^^ they were numerous also in Germany in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,''^^ and especially in the north. Eich- horn states that in all the laws regulating the estates of minis- terii that go back to the eleventh century, traces of hereditary occupation are to be found.^^* One of the most important documents showing the co-existence of free farmers of the Fiddir class with villeins having hereditary rights, is one of 1237, published by Moser,'*^* in which a free farmer gets fixity of tenure with right of succession to his heirs, becoming however at the same time a serf, that is, from being a free ' Fiddir, he became abase Ceile. The mention made in one old
document of a class of persons who had no claim to the land be- yond the will of-the lord, and in another of the same period and often relating to the same district, of a diiferent class, having full hereditary rights, has hitherto been regarded as an indication of the commencement of hereditary rights. There seems no reason, however, to doubt that both parties co-existed all through the medieval period, and that the sup- posed rise of hereditary rights is simply the result of a confusion in the minds of writers between the two classes of occupiers. After the Crusades, and during the perpetual feuds of the nobility, the Faidir class or villeins at will increased in some places consequent upon the ruin of the more settled in- habitants, to such an extent as to have led to the belief that
**' See also Cassiodorus, Epist. v, 7; and Greg Max., Epist. ii. 1; viii. 3t, 64 ; xi. 20.
'^^ Anton. GescMchte der deutscken Landivirlhsschaft, iii. 97, et seq.
^^^ Deutsche Staats u. Rcchtsgeschichte, ii. §. 363.
^^* Osnahruckische Geschichte, Sdmmtl. Werke, vii. 2, p. 130.
INTRODUCTION. CXCV
the right of inheritance had not yet grown up there, whereas ir'sh
in truth it was the villcnage-at-will that was new. That the tiTow liciit
p . . ^ on those of
greater part of the occupiers of land in France in the ninth ^wo^e. century were in the position of Ceiles, holding by limited ser- vice, is proved by documents forbidding the raising of rents. The serfs proper we know held their land in the greater part of Germany as an inheritance from the thirteenth century.^'* The various laws passed in Germany from the sixteenth cen- tury upwards, giving right of inheritance, were in reality only a return to the ancient custom by wliich Fuidirs, or tenants at will, acquired in process of time right of inheritance in the soil they cultivated. In 1542 it was forbidden to increase the rents or to change the tenants at will. In 1557 the Liineburg law for- bade the removal of any farmer who had fulfilled his contract ; and directed that in case any were removed, they should be paid the value of their buildino:s.^'^ In Wolfenbiittel the riaht of inheritance was already recognized in 1578; and here as in Kalenberg a landlord could only evict a farmer when forced to do so by necessity. In this case, and in all legal ejectments, the farmer received compensation for his buildings, implements, and other improvements, according to the valuation of three skilled neighbours.^^ Roscher well remarks"^ that nothing has contributed so much to the development of right of inheritance, that is fixity of tenure, of farms, as the erection of buildings at the expense of the tenants. In the district about Gottingen, in Hanover, where the buildings were chiefly erec- ted by the landlords, the farmers had only leases of three, six, or nine years. It Avas only in 1781 that the right of inheritance became fully established about Hildesheim, another district of Hanover.
In considering this section I cannot help alluding to the striking contrast afforded by a historical comparison of the land
^^^ Saclisenspiegel, ii. 69.
^''^ Strubeii, De jure Villicorum, pp. 141, 292, et seq.
357 Ibid., 350, et seq. ; 366, et seq.
258 National Oekonomk des Ackerbaues 5te aufl., 1867, p. 177. A work of great research, to -which I am much indebted for, among other things, bibliographical information about the literature of the continental laud systems.
13* B
CXCVl INTRODUCTION.
between sjstems of most continental countries with that of Ireland— a ronunentai ^^o^^^^st which must Strike any one who studies them. While tems!^*' *-^® legislation in the former has on the whole been directed to the conversion of tenure at the will of the lord into fixity of tenure, or absolute ownership, that is to rooting the peasant in the soil, in Ireland it has been almost exclusively directed to loosening him from the soil.
REPRESENTATION OF THE COMMONS, AND FRANKPLEDGE.
Protection The political, as distinguished from the economical, obiect
one object . . 'J
andT""^'"^ of the co-heirships and of the co-partnerships mentioned in common *^^ forcgoing sections, was not perhaps so much the pre- servation of rights as the securing of protection. Political privileges being dependent upon the possession of a certain property qualification, only one possessing it could, as I have before stated, be a compurgator, a surety, a witness, or a suitor, or exercise any of the functions of a freeman. Those who did not possess the necessary qualifications could only acquire the protection of the law, either by becoming base Ceiles, to some lord, who would answer for them in all cases of crimes, fines, or mulcts, etc. ; or by forming associations or co-partnerships of four or more, whose united property would be sufficient as a Comorbship to qualify one of the co-partners to represent the others in their civil rights, and to be responsible for their legal charges. "^l r'-?!,,, I^ *^6 constitution of the Fine and of the substitutes for it.
(xiiu vjiid Iris
represen^ta- ^^"^^ly, those co-partuerships, Ave have, as I believe, the true coramUT pi'ototype of three most important institutions, the origin of which has hitherto remained obscure, namely, the first begin- nings of the representation of the Commons, Frankpledge, and the medieval Gilds, rnmicai or- After the Norman Conquest Ensjlish society midit bo Kn-und'^'" divided into three classes. The first, consisting of archbishops, man Cm-' ^^^hops, somo abbotr., earls, and barons, representing to a certain quest. extent the early Anglo-Saxon Twelfliaendmen. In the eye of the law, persons of this class were " right trusty ", and as such were qualified to become sponsors for the knights holding by military tenure from them, and for the military retainers which
INTRODUCTION. CXCVU
they kept about them or as garrisons of their castles. By pre- Political or- scription or by grants from the crown, they held jurisdiction to ^°^^',f y^"* a certain extent over their own manupasts, and were bound to after Nor-
^ _ _ man Con-
produce them to justice, or be liable for the legal penalties ini'»*^st. such cases provided. They were also responsible, under the conditions defined in the law, for crimes committed on their domains, and for all mulcts and fines chargeable upon it This kind of security or pledge was called " Freeborgh" or " Frankpledge", and to distinguish it from another kind to be described presently, it was called " sclgnorial Frankpledge". The second class consisted of all those who were deemed to have sufiicient freehold property to be a good and permanent security for their good behaviour, and to meet the legal charges incidental to their position. A person of this condi- tion was said to be in his own pledge. The third class con- sisted of ceorls or villeins, who were considered as freemen, and the burghers of towns, who, not being deemed to have sufficient property to afford a permanent security for their good behaviour, were enrolled into bands or associations, the members of which were mutually pledge for each otlier.^^** These bands in Saxon times were called Frith Gilds, the term Collective Frankpledge being applied in Anglo-Norman times to the mutual security thus afforded.
This system of ffivin^j security is obviously parallel, and irish organ -
•' ... . . . T T 1 i7-i»tion very
indeed almost identical, with the Irish organization. It did similar, not, however, exclusively originate with the Saxous, though somewhat modified by them, and by the Normans afterwards, but belongs to all the northern nations. The Flath was as fully the representative of his Uaer Ceiles, or base clients, Bothachs, and Fuidirs, as any feudal lord In the language of the Crith Gablach, " He is a Toing, he is a Naidm, he is a Baith, he is an Aitire, he is a plaintiff, and a witness for them". There is even a term in Irish Slogh Comjieda of a Flath^^° which in-
"9 See Palgrave, loc. cit., pp. 197-98.
3S0 5/oy/i Comfleda was the Flath's husting of the feasts of the Comhad- hasa or Duthaig or people of the Fin^s of a territory. As the people were collectively bound to provide the euppUes for the feast, Slogh Comfleda in- directly represents the collective responsibility of a district for certain of the
excvin INTRODUCTION.
directly expresses the idea of '* seignorial frankpledge". On the other hand, B6 Aires who had not Ceile>-, were in their own pledge, as we are told of the Bruighfer, that " his oath is good, his Naidm, his Raith, his evidence, his Aitire, his loan", etc. In Ireland two responsibilities have, however, been confounded, and a distinction drawn between the so-called Celtic and Saxon customs which did not really exist. Within a Tuath the different Flaths, or lords, were responsible for their own CSiles, and for all their Bothachs and Fuidirs. The responsibility of the Jttig, or chief, did not differ from that of any other Flaih, except that he had a larger number of persons under his protection. But outside the Tuath, that is, as regards the external relations of the territory, Thp. Tuath the chief represented the whole people. A Tuath was in
a political ^ . , ^ ^
«n't- many respects a sovereign state, in confederation with similar
states. And, as in modern times the government of a sove- reign state is in certain cases responsible to other states for the acts of its citizens, so the Rig Tuatha, or tribe king, repre- sented all the rights and responsibilities of his people. Among all the ancient nations of Europe each tribe consti- tuted such a sovereign state. Hence the error, as has been already well pointed out by Palgrave,^" of applying the term provinces, in France, Germany, and Spain, to what had never been such, but, on the contrary, had been independent states.
I have already pointed out that the people of a Tuath were not, and could not from the organization of society have been, of one blood ; although it may have been the case with the Flaths and free CSiles. The clan responsibility was in reality
tributes, fines, etc., of a lord. The following passage bears out what is here stated.
'^Slogh Comfleda, i.e. when he goes [i.e. the FlatK] to the feasts of the Comhadhasa [i.e. the Duthaig or people of the territory] which are made for him outside the Crieh or territory; he has a host with him from its Ur [i.e. the border, consisting of] companies for him of his Ciw^/or race, of his Suiciha ; and [lie is entitled] that they be supplied everywhere, even after companies from his Cind or race" [i,e. not only while attending a court or other assembly, but also while returning home].— iiyAS. T. CD. II. 3. 18, p. 247.
These feasts may have been connected with the banquets of gilds.
^^' Op. cit., p. 517
INTRODUCTION. CXCIX
partly founded on blood or kindred, partly and chiefly tcrrl- nfononsi- torial. Among the Anglo-Saxons it was the same. The J/am</t<i>inpu-tiy
-, MIT 1- r-TTi 11T-M1 ttriitoiial.
or clan was responsible down to the tnne ol Jiiadward the Ji,lder for the discharge of any legal fines which the individual amerced was viuable to pay, or otherwise was obliged to surrender him into slavery. With the development of the strong centralized government of the Anglo-Saxon kings the genealogical character of the sub-divisions of the country disappeared, and they became purely territorial. The old responsibility of the Maegtli or clan in its territorial character has, however, survived to our own time in the amerciaments imposed upon baronies or other subdivisions for arson and other malicious injuries, and in tha quartering of police upon districts where a murder has been committed. In comparing Irish customs with Anglo-Saxon cian systems
etc better
ones, we should never forget that we know the latter, only after preserved
11 11 • • 1 1 TT 1 1 • ''"""S Irish
the clan system, and the original cantonal or Hundred orfrani- tuan among
111 1 i-i" 1 1 the Anglo
zation, had been more or less modmed, and a strong central go- saxons, etc. vernment existed which tended to obliterate the old customs ; and also that on account of the Roman occupation of Britain and the movement of population there, and in Germany and Gaul, the patriarchal system was more rapidly obliterated than in Ireland, where circumstances continued favourable to its exist- ence down to comparatively modern times. This it is that has led to much misconception as to the true organization of ancient Ireland and Britain, and which renders the investigation of Irish history so useful as a key to the origin of European institutions. Collective Frankpledge, at the period at which we have the means of studying it. was not organized on a uniform plan. In some parts of England, as in East Anglia, Middlesex, Kent, and many shires of Mercia, the free pledges were formed by telling off the villeins into bands of not less than ten. But from a very important passage quoted by Palgrave from the Holkham MS., a collection of fragments of Anglo-Saxon cus- tumals, this number might be extended to seventy or eighty,
362
362 <i Dccimatio continet decern, septuaginta vel octoginta homines, secundum loci consuetudinem qui omnesdebent essefidejussores singulorum, ita quod si quis illorum calumpnia patetur, coeteri ilium producant ad justi- tiam ; et si negat ex sua propria decimatione, purgationem legalem debit
CC INTRODUCTION.
coHeetive according to the custom of the country. Sometimes a town- piedge. siijp OP Tithing formed but one Collective Frankpledge. But originally, there can be no doubt, the number of Frankpledges in a Tithing depended upon the number of persons who could not be in their own pledge. The Tithing, as I have before shown, was a division of the Hundred originally established upon a genealogical basis, but which in time came to have the territorial signification of a township.^''^ According to the passage from the Holkham MS. quoted below, the name Tith- ing, or, in its Latin form, Decimatio, was derived from the number ten being the least number which could be in a Col- lective Frankpledge ; this, however, is a mere guess, as the Tithing was only so far connected with Collective Frank- pledge as that the persons included in a pledge should be in the same Tithing. It is probable that originally every co- heirship, or co-grazing association founded upon the same type, should belong to the same township or Baile Blathach, and that it was only wlien chvirches and monasteries became mem- bers of CO heirships by donations of portions of lands held by gavelkind, that this usage was departed from. Hves'iT"'''' ^^^^^ collective free-pledge was represented by a chief pledge, who was responsible for all the resiants in his pledge above twelve years of age,^" and who was obliged to attend
habere. Decimatio autem alicubi dicitur vulgo, Warda, id est, observatio, scilicet, sub una societate urbem vel centenam debent. Alicubi dicitur Borch, id est fidejussu, propter superius dictam causam scilicet fidejussoretn communem ; alicubi vero, decimatio, quia decern ad minus debent inesse". Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, p. cxxv.
Fleta, in describing the " View of Frankpledge" as it was organized in the reign of Edward the Second, speaks of " dozeynes" as if the villeins were tolled off by twelves and not by tens.
S83 Pajgrave states (op. cit., p. 198) that in some shires of Wessex and JIurcia, "villa" and "teothing" were used as convertible terms; but he adds: " Yet not so but that it may be perceived that the ' villa' was the designation of the district, whilst the ' teothing' was the proper denomination of the inhabitants which it contained". It would be more correct to say that "villa" or township was purely territorial, while the "teothing" included the people as well as the territory, the latter being originally the accident of the former.
•*" This responsibility and the object of Frankpledge are well shown by the fdlowing section of the Laws of Canute : " 20 And we will, that every free-
Frauk- pledge:
INTKODUCTION. CCl
as suitor at the Leet Courts, and at the "View of Frankpledge" lield thereat. This chief pledge was the representative of those under him in the courts and assemblies, where he testified, acted as compurgator, etc., for them. He evidently correspon- ded to the Irish Aire Fine,^^^ or Chief of Kindred, the Aithech ar a Tlireha, or father, or liead of a copartner- ship, or Gild, or the Aire Cosrainq or Aire Fine of aTi'c/ite Tuath when the collective Frankpledjje of a Hundred was '''«ca '"• a concerned ^^ From the singular Bye-laws enacted in the burgh of London for carrying out the provisions of the law of Athelstane respecting free " borgh" it would appear that the several Gilds formed a common fund for covering the loss of cattle stolen from the gild-brothers, and of assist-
nian be brought into a hundred, and into a tithing, who wishes to be entitled to Lad or to Wer, in ease any one shall slay him after he is xii years of age ; or let him not afterwards be entitled to any free rights, be he heorth-foest, be he follower. And that every one be brought into a hundred and in 6or/i; and let the Borh hold and lead him to every plea". Ancient Laws and In- stitutes of England, p. 166.
^^^ The Welsh Pencenedl, or chief of kindred, represented the Irish Aire Fine. He should be the oldest efficient man of the kindred to the ninth degree, have a legitimate wife and children, and not hold either of the offices of Canghellor or Maer to the prince. If no competent man could be found belonging to the kindred by right of his father, a man belonging to it by his mother, might be chief of kindred. The chief of kindred had the gift of all offices among the kindred, the right of imprisonment, of appearing as plain- tiff and defendant on the part of the kindred, of protecting the Aillts, and other dependents belonging to members of the kindred, and of summoning a session of Raith of couniry on account of a plaint of injustice and a breach of law by the king and his judges, or where full justice could not be obtained by law. The chief of kindred was one of the three classes who acted as mediators between hostile border ten itories; whether the kindred between whom he mediated were at war or at peace, no hostile weapon durst be bared against him. The Teiibantt/le was a substitute for the chief of kin- dred; he was elected from among the wise men or seniors of the hundred at an assembly of the chiefs of household to the ninth degree, by vote by ballot, or tacit vote. A chief of household corresponded to the Irish Trebaire. The family council in Wales appears to have consisted of seven wise men or seniors, and not of five as in Ireland, and from what has been said in the text, among the Anglo Saxons and other Teutonic races also. See Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, pp. 92, 240, 271, 273, 386, 642-3, 652, G59, 6C3, and C6D.
3'8 See Crith Guhlack, vol. ii., App., p. 482.
ecu INTIIODUCTION.
ingin their recovery. This fund was managed by a committee often " Decani" who represented the body in all cases of legal proceedings connected with property. There was associated with them an eleventh man chosen by the men of the " Hin- the Hin- dcna". Kcmblc thinks Hyndenwas at first the same as Hundred,
dena of Lon- ■'
tioi- but at a later period the former was used for the numerical di-
vision, the Hundred for the territorial.^*^' The name Hen- dinos given by the Burgundians to their chiefs or kings,^*^* supports this view. This eleventh man was an elected
The/^er- counterpart of the Irish Aire Cosrainq who acted as Aire Fine
t/iingman or ^ '^
Ferdingus. for the Tutttli or Hundred. Perhaps the Ferthingman, or "Fer- dingus", a term which 1 have explained in a note to the Crilh Gablacli to be Fer-Tonga or oath-man, may have been the chief pledge of a Frith Gild or an elected representative, like the man chosen by the " Hindena" of London, who acted as compurgator and witness for those who elected him — a kind of public officer in fact, who represented certain bodies in suits at law, and corresponded in many of his functions to the Irish Aithech or a Threha. This view would fully accord with the position assigned to them in the laws of Henry the First, where they are classed among the freemen of the lowest class ; nor is it incompatible with the position in which they ap- pear in the statutes of the gild of Berwick, ad. 1284, where they are put after the aldermen and before the decani. If they were the representatives of freemen, not having the full rights of burgesses, this should be indeed their true posi- tion.'««
Many writers have considered Collective Frankpledge as a political right. Palgrave, who has been so successful in divining
^'^^ The Saxons in England, vol. i. pp. 243, 245.
368 Amm. Marcell. Hist., xxviii. c. 5.
3fi9 " Statuta gildae de Berwik.— CXIV. Statuimus quod quoties cumque Aldermannus, Ferthingmanni, decanus, voluerint congregare Confratres Gildae, ad negotia Gildaa tractanda: omnes, fratres Gildas veniant audito ciassico, super foris factum duodecim denariorum". Houard, Traittssur les coutumes Anglo- Normandes, t. ii. p. 467, 487.
Skene gives the following singular explanation of the word, "Ferding- mannus ane Dutch word, ane Penny Maister or thesaurar". De Verborum Sig- nificatione, p. QQ. Even yet, every law term that cannot be explained from the Latin is " ane Dutch word''.
Was collcc- tire I'laiik-
INTRODUCTION, CCUl
tte true origin of many institutions, could not, however, see any connection between it and political rights and privileges, Jl " except so far as in very modern times the insertion ol fuicarirgilt"? an individual in the roll of the Leet hecame evidence of resi- ancy". It is true that, as the institutions were modified by the growth of the power of the king, and with it that of the lords and Thegns who gradually encroached upon the common land and converted it into B6c-land, thus reducing the freemen to the state of villeinage, the political privileges which were secured by the custom fell into desuetude, or were modified, or set aside, and Frankpledge became useful merely as an organiza- tion for the subjection of the people, for which it was un- doubtedly used, often without any corresponding advantage being derived from it. But originally it was certainly a great right, and in it we may trace one of the sources of the true origin of the representation of the commons.
In An^lo-Saxon times the township was always repre- The Four
° _ ■■■ J x jnen and the
sented, at every kind of Folkmoot, by an officer called P^'^^ye of the
' •' ^ J A.s. town-
the Gerefa or Reeve and four men. There were several ^^'p-
officers in the Anglo-Saxon common-wealth who were called
by the name Gerefa. The Gerefa of the Hundred cor- The Gerefa
" .of the Hun-
responded, as we shall see hereafter, to the Irish Aire Cos-^^'^^
raing, a functionary who had especially to do with the oc- cupiers of the common or tribe lands, the Comorbships and partnerships. The Aire Cos7'aing was the executive officer The 4i>e of the Tuath, whose duty it was to see that all were in or chief
11 1 -i ^ • o A • -n- • Aire Fine.
pledge, and to act as tiie chier Aire Jcme or representative Aire of the Fines of the Tuatha. I have already men- tioned that each Fine had a kind of family council com- posed of five men, who regulated everything connected with the rights and responsibilities of the family. One of these live acted as the Aire Fine or chief pledtje for the family The ^jVe and m this capacity possessed within the Fine considerable <^ii'e/ of rights and powers, including that of arrest, and performed many functions analogous to those of an Aire Cosraing, that is, he was the Gerefa or Reeve of the Fine. The Cuicer na Fine or council of five corresponded therefore to the "four men and the Reeve" of the Anglo-Saxon town-
CCIV INTRODUCTION.
sliips.^''" If a family had not among its own members a man possessing the qualifications of an Aire to represent them as Aire Fine, it fell back on the next branch, and elected the best qualified among the members of that branch to act as their chief pledge, or two or more poorer branches, formed a Coniaitches or Conqilda, and elected one of the members to act as Aire Fine. This was the Aithech ar TheAithech a threha ov father of his tribe. Fuidirs formed similar associa-
ar a Threha . , y~, , r- i i -in
was an eiec- tions, the Cuiq Rath cedach, or five pledges of one hundred of
ted Aire ^ .
^"'^! chattels.^^' The head of such a gild appears to have possessed
3'" Evidence of the representative character of five members of a Fine, is to be found throughout the laws. Thus if an eye witness prosecuted a charge of theft, the prosecutor should swear before the three highest Aires of his Fine that he saw with his own eyes the crime committed ; his father or his mother, or liis brother or his A7-t Fine [that is the priucipal man of his Fine'] should then make oath after him that they had not participated with him. The passage in the laws which tells this is explained by a commentator thus: "Or an Art Fine after, i.e. that he [the witness] shall not be lower than the Aire Desa, i.e. than the highest man who is in the Fine, i.e. the Flatk Gtilfine, i.e. with the four worthies of the Fin£ who succeed him, and that is a Titarustal then, i.e. that is a positive Tuarastal (proof) then, that is proof [of guilt] having been seen" — MS. Brit. Mus. Egerton, 88, p, 48, a. a.
Again: "These down here are the Tuarastals, i.e. the Urrads (sureties*) of t\iQ Cain comiihe and co/n^faiVef with four persons after him to confirm the guilt, and these lour jiersons are, namely, the best Coibdealach (corelative) [i.e. the highest iierson] of his Fine, and a I3o Aire and an Aire Tuisi, and an Aire Desa. And if they find the nine persons these are the nine persons, namely, five men of his Derbfine, and two Bd-Aires-Tuisi, i.e. for themselves, and an Aire Desa, i.e. for himself, and an Aire Echlai, i.e. on the Aire Juisi, the crime is fastened (coafirme:!), unless it be Fobrad Fiach (a charge for debts or damages) that was brought at first ; or he confirms a Fir D€ [an oath of expurgation on the gospels] with one man after him". Ibid. That is, when the prosecutor is able to find the nine persons, the accused could only free himself by expurgators sworn on the gospels.
And again : " The man who brings the four neighbours {Comaithi) to give a Teist (testimony) with an oath on the gospels that they know not a charge of a Guin (death, or a wound), or Gait (theft), or Braid (plunder), or Eithrach (pel jury); or other misdeed upon him, either against or in violation of Cain". Ibid. p. 49, b.
^^' See ante, p. cxxiv.
* The man who made a criminal charge became thereby an Urrad or surety, for, as the liw expresses it, " upon him rests the security of his crime, as he must pay it himself if ho does not succeed in establishing it [i.e, his charge."] MS. Egerion, 88. p. 48.
t Laws of CO eating and oo-steaUng, that is the laws regulating charges of theft by an ac- cessory.
INTRODUCTION. CCV
the same rights as the Aithech ar a threha, and was perhaps also included under that name.
In the case of a minor it was necessary that his ^^Vg Fine^'^^'^ chief of
family
should be ioined with him in all le^al acts; and whether "'"■">''* "cted a person were of age or not, he was not entitled to the full rights of a freeman, that is to act as pledge, hail, witness, etc., until he had first proved that he possessed the necessary property qualification, and had been legally recognized as an Aire : other- wise an Aire of his i^ine should be joined with him in all legal acts. The Aire Cosraing, as the official Aire Fine of the whole Tuath, appears to have had much to do with minors, and to to have represented them in their general political relations.
While the family still continued to constitute a political or- a f«miiy
1 A 1 o 1 1 11 council of
o-anization amonor the Anijlo-baxons, they must have had atheA.s. family council representing the Afaegfh, similar to the Irish five men of the Fi7ie. When the Maeglh merged into a mere territorial township, this council of five pledges became "the four men and the Reeve", who represented the Anglo- ■^ii'f'i^e-
^ ^ ^ came tlie
Saxon township on all public occasions, while the general re- "four men sponsibilities of the families and partnerships {Mnegth, Frith I'eeve". Gilds), merged into the frankpledge of the township. The organization of the family and the custom of descent, are there- fore, as we might naturally expect, the true sources of two in- stitutions, one of which being also incompatible with the com- plete individual liberty of modern times, has disappeared, while the other was the embryo, whence has been gradually developed the representative system of England.
Before leaving this subject, I must, however, notice the state- Paicrares
. . . . opinion tliat
ment of Palgrave, in which he difi^ers from most historical and coiucuve
, - . . . l-ranltpledge
legal writers on the subiect, namelv, that Collective Frank- "'i' "'^t
"^ . . . univeisal;
pledge was not an universal custom in England. For instance it does not appear to have existed in the ancient shires of Northumbria. The men of Salop also claimed to be exempt from the Tithing; and there were some at least of the Mer- cian burghs, for instance Bristol and Worcester, which were free from it.^''^ At first sight, this opinion, if true, and it probably is so, seems fatal to the views whicli I have put for- 37-' Palgrave, op cit., p. 'J02.
CCYl INTllODUCTION.
ward, especially the absence of the Tithing in precisely those parts in which the inhabitants were largely composed of the so-called Celtic or British people, and remained longest in con- tact with British institutions. But if I am right in deriving it witTforif-^^ from an ancient family organization analogous to the Irish sys- of Us oi-feTn ^®^^' '^^ could Only have existed originally in those districts where large quantities of common land still existed, and consequently many free men still entitled to its usufruct. In Northumbria and indeed in all the land north of the Trent, and in the western shires in which Saxon lords had supplanted the British ones, the rights of the poorer British freemen must have been set aside, and they themselves reduced to the condition of manu- Riseof pasts in the pledije of a lord. When the organization of the
collective ■■■ . ""^ .
Frankpledge Maegth OX family fell into desuetude, and the custom of gavel- kind was supplanted by greater testamentary freedom, and by the foreright of the eldest son to the inheritance of freehold estate, it was natural that the responsibilities of the Maegth should be repudiated when its advantages had ceased. It was the interest of the lord, who under the old system was directly responsible for the liabilities of all those on his estate, to shift that responsibility upon his tenants collectively ; on the other hand it was the interest of the latter to repudiate collective, and assert individual responsibility, especially where freemen wlio owed only allegiance to the British cluief, who corresponded to the Rig Tuath in Ireland, became by conquest base retainers of Saxon lords. Wherever the passage from the old family system of the Maegth, and the accompanying gild system, which I shall describe in the next section, into the collective or territorial system of Collective Frankpledge, took place gradu- ally as the result of the development of a strong central govern- ment and the growth of individual freedom, the tenants made an important advance in civil rights. W^e can therefore under- stand why in one part of England Collective Frankjoledge'should be looked upon as a burthen, and in other places as a liberty.
GILDS A!SD TRADE CORPORATIONS.
Among most early nations employments were hereditary, and each handicraft was more or less a caste. Thus in Ireland
INTRODUCTION. CCVll
the craft of the Goldsmith, the smith, and the builder, althoufdi handicrafts ranked accordinsr to the laws with the Daer Nemicl or base pro- ''""=» ^'^'^^^ fessions, because the work was done with the hands, were looked upon as noble, and always continued privileged profes- sions, because their privileges and fines Avcre determined by the rank of those for whom they worked.^'^ The curious story in the Tain Bo Chaailgne of Culand the smith, — the Irish Wayland Smith — and the boy Setanta, which recounts how the latter changed his name to Cuchulaind, or " Hound of (7tt^a?ic?", shows us that a king might feast with a smith. ^'* Even kings them- selves and their sons were often goldsmiths, as is shown by many instances recorded in ancient Irish manuscripts. Again the ge- nealogy of the Gerdraighe of Tulach Gossa, which became ex- tinct after seven generations in St. Mothemnioc,^'^ proves the nobility of descent of the artists, and the hereditary character of the employment. All other handicrafts besides those men- tioned were base, and were followed by base Geiles or clients, as among the ancient Romans. So, too, a kind of praedial servi- tude, or villeinage, the obligation of carrying on the employ- ment, was attached to the land given them by a lord.^^*'
Before the rise of cities among the northern nations. Each lord Q\ery lord had his own base craftsmen, and Avhen rii-h buse crafts- enough, he kept as his guest, or attached in some way to his court, a ])rofessor of each of the noble arts. In those nations of antiquity in which the population became dense, and cities grew up, each trade or craft had numerous artizans, who Rise of cor- formed a species of corporation or college. In Rome these col- towns. leges were of very ancient origin, their establishment being,
''s See Lect., vol. ii., p. 209. "* See vol. i. Lect. xvii. p. 362.
3" Vol. ii. Lect. xxix. p. 207.
3^" The right to possess a mill or a forge, like that of a certain class of house, appears to have been connected with the possession of a certain quantity of land, as the following passage shows :
" Even though a man has purchased the site of a forge, or a mill, or a wicker
house, and even though he has built tliem upon it It does not
avail him, unless he has the grade qualification of land". MS. H. 3. 18. T. CD. 122. The craft of smith was evidently a privileged one. The oc- currence of such names in Irish topographical nomenclature as Baile na Cerd, or the Bally of the Goldsmith, Baile an Gabhain, smith's town, etc.,
CCVlll INTRODUCTION.
by some, attributed to Numa;^" in later times they had
a legal existence, derived no doubt from prescription in the
privileges of first instance. Their privileges must in time have been abused,
tlie Roman '- P • i i • i
ones abused ; or at least liave become incompatible with the >sociai and
commercial condition of Rome, for the senate abolished them
and'^re-^es- ^'^•^' ^^S. Clodius restored and increased them, as Cicero
sevei-ar*^ complaius,'"® ffom among the slaves and dregs of the people,
times. thus implying that those previously existing were of a better
class. Julius Caesar appears to have abolished all those created
by Claudius, respecting those only of ancient foundation.'"
They revived after his death, and were again suppressed
by Augustus.^*" From a statement of Lampridius we learn
that Alexander Severus reorganized tlie whole of the colleges,
and probably gave them the form which they retained more
or less throughout the middle ages.
Collegium Xlic word Collegium was applied to two classes of corpora-
applied to ^ "^ J- J- _ i-
*7cor'"o''* tions, both hereditary. The first was wholly religious, such as the ^^^^ll>^^^-^^^'^ Collegia Pontificum, Angurum, Fratriim Arvalium, etc.; the swuiities s'^coud Were trade corporations, such as the Collegia Pistorum, who were both millers and bakers, Fahrorum, Navicularum or lightermen, and "Ambajarum Collegia, Pharmacopolae". The trade corporations appear to have been included in the associations called Sodalitates, which had more or less of a religious character. It is probable, however, that while the members of a Collegium were Sodales, there were many Sodali- tates, which were composed of persons not of the same profes- sion or occupation. In other Avords, the Collegium was originally a hereditary corporation of persons, having the same occupa- tion, such as priests, augurs, etc., or practising the same art or handicraft; the Sodalitas was, in most cases at all events, a voluntary association for religious purposes and mutual suc- cour, such as the great Roman burial societies. It was
taken in connection with the passage from the laws show that the pos- session of land was one of the qualifications of at least master craftsmen.
2^' Plutarch in Nuiua; Plin., Hist. Nat , lib. xxxvi. c. i. ; lib, xxxvi. c. 1 ;?.
^''^ Collegia non ea solum quae senatus sustulerat, restituta sunt, sed in- numorabilia quaedam nova omni foece urbis ac servitio constituta. In Pisonem.
3'' Cuncta collegia praeter antiquitusconstituta dlstraxit. Siieton vi Jul. c. 42.
"0 Collegia, practer antiqua et legitima dissolvit. Stieton. in Aver c. 32.
INTRODUCTION CCLX
the Collegium that in the first instance could be said corpus habere, or to be a Corporaiio, though all the rights of the corporation of a Collegium may have been enjoyed by the Sodales of a Sodalitas. Among these religious associations were the Sodales Augusfales, an order of priests or religious persons instituted by Tiberius to attend to the worship of Augustus and the Julia Gens ; the Sodales Flavii, Iladrianales, Aeliani, Antonini, etc. Many of these Sodalities were probably composed of priests, and differed therefore in nothing but in their antiquity from the ancient colleges of priests or augurs. There can be little doubt, however, that, though often con- founded and having their functions united in the same body, they were distinct in origin, and continued to separately co-exist during the first centuries of the empire.
The collecfes of priests and aucfurs were of course suppressed The trade
'^ , , V colleges
when the empire became Christian ; the trade colleges, on the survived the
1 • 1 1 p 11 1 • • Koman Em-
other hand, survived the fall of the empire m every country pire.
where the Roman power had subsisted sufficiently long to de- velope Roman municipalities, and with the rise of the Christian states attained a developement and a power, especially in the Cor- porations des Arts et Metiers of France, unknown in Roman times. The ConfrSries or Confraternities may be looked upon as the Christian successors of the Sodalitates, and there seems no reason to doubt that the Christian Sodalities arose directly out of the pagan ones,^" and, like them, Avere sometimes con- joined with a trade corporation — that is, the workmen of a trade corporation selected a patron saint and formed a pious association. The two were, however, distinct in origin and design, and confraternities existed wholly unconnected with trades.
Among the German nations there existed during the middle The meaie- ages a number of associations distinguished by the collective name of gilds, whose origin and objects were, however, diffe- rent. They may be conveniently classified into religious gilds,
'^^ As early as the third century a great Christian confraternity existed in Alexandria for attending to the sick. It became so powerful and pos- sessed such influence in the beginning of the fifth century that it was made the subject of an Edict of Theodosius. Similar associations appear to have been numerous among the working classes of Rome about the same period. IxNT. U*
ccx
INTRODUCTION
The Gilds of the Kalen- lers;
Confrater- nities,
GiW-MerS chants ;
Craft- Gilds;
the Gilds of Kalende's find Con ra- ternities of Chi istian orgin ;
and lay or worldly gilds. Tlie former consisted of the " Kal- andsgilden", or Gilds of tlie Kalenders, which were associ- ations of priests, who met on the Kalends of each month, whence came the name, for the transaction of business con- nected with their functions; and the pious brotherhoods, or "Frommen Bruderschaften", who represented the " Confieries" of France, and like them were the successors of the first Chris- tian sodalities formed upon the Roman pagan models. The Gilds of the Kalenders continued to exist even among the Pro- testant pastors long after the Reformation in the form of meet- ings held several times in the year.
The lay gilds consisted of the gild-merchants or town- gilds, and the craft-gilds. The former represented on the one hand the protective or true gilds, the origin of which I am about to discuss, and on the other, the trade associations or collegia. In some cases gild -merchants were protective gilds which had been modified accordincr as the orimnal free bursh developed into a city, or which had gradually arisen, in the towns of lords as a protection against the oppressions of the latter, or against that of patrician families. In other cases where a town grew up in consequence of the special development of one or more handicrafts, its government vested in the corporation or society formed by the craftsmen, and this in process of time became a mere civic body. The free handi- craftsmen were of course originally members of the town- Ofilds; but as tlie burghers grew wealthy and acquired aristocratic pretensions, or neighbouring noble families got hold of the government of the city, the wants of the handicraftsmen naturally led to the rise of associations which may be regarded as the revival of the original trade corporation which had merged in the town-gild. In this way arose many of tlie craft-gilds or associations of handicraftsmen for the regulation and protection of their crafts. These craft-gilds, as well as the original trade corporations from which they sprung, were called Zunfte.
The gilds of kalenders and the confraternities are clearly of Christian origin, but founded upon Roman pagan models, and indeed must have been introduced in many cases into
INTRODUCTION. CCXl
Germany froiTi the Romanized countries, Gaul and Italy.
Zilnfte, or trade corporations in tlic true sense of the word, fade corpo-
' \ ^ , _ rations of
could only nave arisen in countries where the population R"mHu
•■ ^ ^ origin ;
became dense enough to form towns, althougrh the gei'ms of such associations may be traced amonar all the earlier nations of Europe in the privileges enjoyed by the armourer, the goldsmith, the sculptor, the builder. There seems little doubt that the Zilnfte, like the Cot'poraf.ions des At^ts et Metiers of France are imitations of the Roman institutions of the same class.
But besides the two classes of associations, the reliirious projective or
true Gilds;
confraternities and the trade corporations, which are not of
German origin, there existed another class Avhich without being
peculiar to ancient Germany, were native institutions. These
were the true gilds, whence the name came to be extended to
all other associations, whether for religious or trade purposes.
In a Frankish capitulary of the year 779, the word G^«7f/on?a the Fran-
. ■ ... . i^'sh
or Geldonia occurs for sworn associations, which were without^''''''"'"'
doubt Gilds.^*" The word again occurs in a. capitulary of
Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, of the year 858, in which
he points out what he thinks to be their proper functions,'*'
and blames their abuses. That these gilds were essentially lay
institutions, and to be distino-uished from the associations of
priests, is fully proved by his not using the term Geldonia when
he mentions in another place meetings of priests on the Ka-
lends.^®^ The sworn association of serfs in Flanders, and along sworn soeie-
the coast, denounced m a capitulary or Louis le Debonnaire, dew, etc.,
380 " De Sacramentis per gilJonia invicem conjurantibus, ut nemo facere prae^umat Alio vero modo de ilhrum eleeniosinis, a it de incenJio, aut de naufragio, quamvis convenentias faciaut, nemo in hoc jurare praesumat". In the firsi book of the Lombard law (tit. 17. cap 7), we have " de sacramentis per gildoniam", which is glossed " i.e. illicita collectione".
3!" '• De confratriis earumque conventibus quomodo celebrari debeant. Ut de coUectis, quas geldonias vel confratrias vulgo vocant, sicut jam verbis monuimu.«, et nunc scriptis expresse praecipimus, tantum fiat, quantum ad auctoritatem, et utilitatcm, atque ratioiicra pertinet: ultra autem nemo, neque sacerdus, neque fidelis quisqtiaiii, in parucliia nostra progredi au leat ', etc. Labbei concilia, ed. Coleti, t.x. cap. 16. p. 4r.
^* " Quid cavenJum sit presbj teris, quando per kalendas inter se couve- niuut". — Ibid.y cap. 15.
eexil INTRODUCTION.
of the year 821, were no doubt gilds, though not called so in the capitulary. '^^ The CoUectae, Confratriae, or Consortiae condemned by the Council of Nantes in the year 656 were also Gilds, for, as M. Kervyn de Lettenhoven has well remarked, these Collectae are of the same kind as those denounced by Flemish Hincmar two hundred years later.^^* The Flemish gilds are
Gilds of ... "^ . °
great In- particularly interesting, not only because they existed among serfs, but because they were not held in great cities, and were not founded for religious purposes, but for mutual defence, or for agricultural or commercial objects. Thus the privileges of the Abbey of St. Pierre of Ghent of about the year 830 men- tion the existence of a partnership of fifty members for the work- Frisian Con' inec of some polder-land.^®^ Adam of Bremen speaks of a
jurati o i j.
sodaies. Frisian association of nobles under the name of Conjurati Sodales formed for the purpose of discovery in northern countries. ^^^
A.s. Gegii- In the Anglo-Saxon laws of Ine the word Gegilda occurs in connection with the legal protection of strangers. Gegildan, there seems no reason to doubt, were members of associations like
Friih Gilds, those known at a later period as Frith Gilds. As I have be- fore stated, these gilds afforded to their members that kind of mutual security which was known as Collective Frankpledge. Several of these gilds developed later on into great political institutions like those of London, which in the time of Athelstane became united into one powerful gild. Still later on, we find the term gild applied not only to true descendants
»83 7 « De conjurationibus servorum quae fiunt in Flandris et Menpisco et in caeteris maritimis locis, volumus ut per missos nostros indicetur dominis servorum illorum, ut constringant eos, ne ultra tales conjurationes facere praesumant. Et ut sciant ipsi eorundem servorum domini, quod cujuscumque servi hujuscemodi conjurationem facere praesumpserint postquam eis haec nostra jusso fuerit indicata, bannum nostrum, id est sexaginta solidos, ipse dominus persolvere debeat". Capitular e ad Theodonis villam (an. 821 oct.) Ed. Migne, p. 445.
^^* Moke, La Belgique Ancienne, p. 269.
38S Moke, loc. cit. In another place (p. 146), Prof. Moke says that accord- ing to a charter of St. Bavon, the culture in common of polder-land was an object of such gilds. Are these two cases of the working of polder-land, or do the two references relate to one document ?
"• Lib. iv. ch. 39.
INTRODUCTION. CCXiii
of tlie Fritli Gilds, but also to trade corporations, both of the The term class of gild-merchants and craft-gilds, representing the German •''^^i '" Zunfte and the French Corporations des Arts et Metiers., and "'•'"^^'"i'""*- lastly to religious associations of the clergy, or gilds of kalen- ders, and of tlie laity, or the Confriiries or confraternities. The gild of weavers of London was a craft-gild; the gild of the clergy of Canterbury mentioned in Domesday Book was a gild of kalenders, while the gild in Exeter established " for God's love and their souls' need", the gild established in the time of Richard the Second at Norwich, in honour of St Georsre the martyr, and similar associations " for example's sake", are clearly sodalities, to which the name gild was applied after it had lost its original special meaning, and acquired the general signifi- cation of an association or band of persons.
Authors who treat of the subject of gilds, even when they Supposed do not make any distinction between true gilds and the craft of Giids. and religious gilds, carry back their origin to the remotest German and Scandinavian heathen times. There is sufficient evidence of the existence of associations called by the name of gild in Denmark, and perhaps in Scandinavia in late pagan times ; but these times bring us far into the Christian period in England, and consequently this evidence does not satis- factorily settle the question as to the pagan origin of gilds. Indeed the oldest direct evidence on the subject of gilds hitherto known is English, as the laws of Ine are anterior to the capitulary of Charlemagne of the year 779, The earliest statutes of any association called a gild now known, are not older than the end of the tenth or the beginning of the eleventh century, and even these are not statutes of true gilds.
The importance to which the Gilds had attained in England Gilds sup- as early as the time of Canute, coupled with the rapid rise ofhaveorisi- great Gilds in Denmark about the period of the Danish occu- Enjjiand ; pation of England, has led Wilda, one of the principal writers on gilds, to the opinion that they first arose in England, and, ■were introduced thence into Denmark before the Danes were converted to Christianity. Circumstances, it is true, were favourable in England to the development not only of true gilds, but likewise of analogous industrial and religious asso-
CCXIV INTRODUCTION
ciations. Oil tlie otlier hand, tlie despotic governments of Charlemagne and his successors strove to crush the development of such free associations. We have seen in the capitulary of Louis le Debonnaire, of the year 821, that gildships among the serfs are not only denounced, but the lords are commanded under a threat of penalties to suppress them. If they did not succeed in entirely suppressing theui, they certainly checked their development to such an extent that the trade corpora- tions and confraternities which grew up later seem to have been formed rather on the Roman type than on that of the old Gaulish or German institutions. Although there can be no doubt that while the Carlovingian emperors were crushing out the spirit of free association under the despotic rule of an or- ganized and centralized feudalism, gildships grew up rapidly forl^^i'^is"'^ and developed into free institutions in England ; there is, opinion. nevertheless, no ground for making the latter the birth-place of institutions the germs of which existed among all Aryan peoples. It would indeed be strange if an organization which had become so interwoven with Christian practices in England, should have been introduced and taken root rapidly among pagans so very hostile to Christianity as were the Danes. That the insignifi- cant native Danish gilds should have received an impulse by contact of some of their members with those of the great English Frith Gilds, is natural enough, and accounts for the subsequent rise of the great Danish protective gilds. Alleged con- There cxists also a general belief that ffilds were somehow
nection he- . P _ p
tween Gilds coimecttd With the drinkin(!f banquets which the Germans and
and ban- ... . .
quets. Scandinavians are said to have coiiibined with certain ritualistic
solemnities on the occasion of important family events such, as the feasts given when the heir was about to enter into possession of his ancestral property. The Braga cup was handed to him, and he promised to do some noble action worthy of his forefathers, drained the cup, and ascended his father's chair. Such solemnities were observed in other assemblies also, Avhich afforded suitable occasion, but especially on high festivals on which they were accustomed to offer to the gods.^^'
3" Wilda, Das Gildenicei,(.n im IJillelallcr, p. 2-3. See ante, note 358, p. cxcvii., as to ibe Irish FUda Comhadhasa.
INTRODUCTION. CCXV
Giiinm tlioiight the name gild to be connoctcrl with the pagan sacrificial fea?ts. The religious worship of the Anglo- Saxons and other Germanic and Scandinavian nations was not, however, so highly organized as to have, in addition to a priest- hood, brotherhoods for the special practice of rites, like the Roman sodalities. The feasts were not the objects, but the consequences, of the association of men in gilds When men associated together for some definite purpose, it was natural to commemorate the event by a banquet, and it may have frequently happened that the original object of a gild was lost sight of owinsr to chancres in the circumstances of the times or places, and that the banquets of the gild-brothers became the chief purpose of the gild. There is, however, one gild the name of which possibly suggests a banquet as the original object, the Hezlagli o'' Sleswig, if we may connect this word with the Norse Veitsla or Veizla, a feast. But the use of this term, — supposing the connection here suggested to exist, — as a distinctive name in one case only, would tend rather to mark the exceptional character of the connection between gilds and banquets, than to show that the former had for principal object the latter.
The etymology of the word Gild is obscure, but I think ItEtymoiocy
. °'' . . . ... of the word
can help us in tracing the true origin of the Institution. InGiid- the Gothic Bible, ^opov, tribute is rendered by gild; in the oldest Norse the corresponding word gildi has the same meaning.^®* In some of the Saga, but apparently not in the Edda, it means a drinking feast,^^^ which Is cer- tainly a secondary meaning. Anglo-Saxon affords us the oldest example of the word Gild witli the meaning of an association of persons; it has also Gilda, a companion, and Gildscipe, a gulldship, which show that the application of the word to a brotherhood was fully established. These words do not, occur in Beowulf, altliough the verb gyldan is used
^^ As in etSr skyldu gotSin oil gildi eiga, an diis omnia tributa cederent, Vohispa, 21. asy ser til gildis ijjijf, a gift alwa3's looks for a regard, Hdvamdl 148. Skaltgildi, payment of tribute in Olafs Saya hin's hehja, c 136, gives ui the idea of money as in the New High German Gdd.
3*' Ganta Gildi, potus Odinis, Kormak's Saga, 21-2,
CCXVl INTRODUCTION
in it in the same sense as the Gothic verb gilden, namely, to pay. So far as these comparisons go, they appear to me to prove that the origin of the Gild is not to be sought for in the practice of religious rites, or in companionship in war, but in something connected with tribute, its mode of payment, or with the medium of payment generally.
It is not easy to see at first the connection of tribute, money, etc., with an association of persons. There are, however, a number of words in Irish which supply the links, and fully explain, as I believe, the true origin of gilds. I have already mentioned that the term Fearan Congilta Fine was applied to Etymoiopy that part of the tribe land occupied by freemen who formed
of the word ■*■ . , .
Gild. the associations or partnerships called a Comaitches, which I
have described in a former section. The head of such an as- sociation or of a " comorbship" was called the Aithech comaide, that is, the father or chief of the Comaithches established by the association. This partnership was also called a Congilda. The word fogelt which has been already explained as the cost of grazing cattle under distraint, the word gilt or gelt to gi'aze, and congilt, to co-graze, clearly shows that a Con- gilda^'^ was an association or partnership for co-grazing. In all these words, however, the idea of grazing is secondary, the original meaning is connected with gial, a pledge or se- curity, gialda, to be pledge or security. As has been already explained,*^' each member of a " Comorbship" and of a co- tenancy gave a pledge for the fidfilment of his share of the duties of the co-partnership, and all were collectively respon- sible for all fines, tributes, etc , and were represented for legal purposes by their chief pledge Congilda or Aithech ar a tht'eha, who acted for them as bail, witness, compurgator, etc. It is in this twofold sense of individual and collec- tive responsibility that the Teutonic words came to mean tribute, to pay, etc. The Irish preserves not merely the origmal idea, of collective pledge or security, but the
'^^ Gegildan, the members of a Gild, is translated Congildones, in the laws of Henry I. (Lxxv, § 10).
25' See Ante, note 320, p. clxxvil.
INTRODUCTION. CCXVll
mode in which this collective pledge was effected, namely, co-grazing. ^^'■^
Kemble has suo-crested that the Gegildan, brothers or fellows Fremi>io-8 of the ffild, mentioned in Anglo-Saxon laws, were the asso- tiiat fi-^s/i/-
to ' ^ dan em-
ciates in the Tithing and the Hundred, who were mutually v.ijaceji tii-^^^ bail or pledge for one another ; and argues that the manner i-^t'on, in which they are mentioned in the laws of Alfred,'^'*^ shows that they were not members of voluntary associations formed for religious, social, or funeral objects, but of political bodies of which every man should necessarily be a member.''" Kemble not correct, here confounds the natural family {Fine, Maegth,) with the arti- ficial family or partnership. In the natural family the responsi- bilities and privileges were aUke inherent; in the artificial family these depended upon the formation of a partnership, which in very ancient times was only to a certain extent a voluntary act ; it was always however accompanied by legal formalities. While the gild then afforded the same kind of mutual security as the family in ancient times, and the collective Frankpledge of later, times it should not be con- founded with either. It was an artificial family, intended to
^'2 The English yield transmits to some extent the double meaning of pay- ment or tribute and grazing.
333 LL. MM. § 27. Ancient Laivs and Institutes of England, p. 35.
391 II Now it is perfectly clear that a law expressed in such general terms as these, cannot be directed to a particular and exceptional condition ; that it does not refer to the accidental existence of gegylden, but on the contrary assumes every man to have such. We cannot, therefore, construe it of voluntary as- sociations formed for religious, social, or funeral objects, and for the purposes of this law we must look upon gegylda as a general name borne by every individual in respect of some gyld or association of which he was taken to be a member. The only meanings which the root gi/ld enables us to attach to the word gegylda, are these: either, one who shares luiih others in paying ; or, one who shares with others in loorshipping. If wo adopt the former ren- dering, we must suppose that certain contributions were made by a number of persons to a common purse, partly for festive purposes, partly as a mutual guarantee and club fund for legal costs, for the expenses of reciprocal aid and defence, perhaps even for mortuary celebrations and charitable distributions. Another though a perhaps less probable suggestion is, that such gegylden may have been jointly responsible for taxts or the outfit of armed men who attended in the fyrd or military expedition on behalf of them all. But this we cannot further illustrate in the absence of all record of the financial system of the
Ancient
oruauization
CCXVm INTRODUCTION.
supply to the poorer members of the community the Important advantages of the true family.
The people of DItmarsch, as I have already mentioned, of Frie.h.nd;were divided into Schladiten (Irish Slioche'') that Is, Families or Houses. The whole political organization of the country was based upon those Houses, as much as the old Irish organization was upon the clan. No person not a member of a Family could be a citizen of the state. The Families were subdivided into Kluffte, just as the Irish Cla)id was made up of a number of Fines. Neocorus, in his Chronicle of DItmarsch, =^^^ tells us that these Families had among themselves great confederacies.
early Teutonic monarchs, even those of Charlemagne himself, which would have been invaluable guides to us through the intricacies of this dark subject of inquiry. The second meaning given to gegylda would rest upon the as- sumption of some private and as it were hero-worship, common to the gyld-brothers, a fact familiar enough to us in the Athenian <pv\ai and Roman gentes; but the existence of any such foundation for the gyld among the Anglo-Saxons is extremely improbable, when we consider the small numbers that appear to have constituted the association, and that no trace of any such worship remains in our heathen mythology. I therefore prefer the first ren- dering of the word, and look upon gegyldan as representing those who mu- tually pay for one another, that is under a system of pecuniary mulcts, those who are mutually responsible before the la\v,_the associates in the tithing aud the hundred". Kemble, The Saxons in England, vol. i. pp. 238, 240.
•'3^ The Irish SUocht, race, was a subdivision of the Cinel, and being etrictly genealogical, it did not include, like the clan, all the dependi-nts, etc.
39S " It sin in idem Carspelen herliche olde Geschlechte, so van undenklic- hen Jahren hero, umme ehrer Uprichticheit unndehrlichenDaden willen, mic herlic.hen schonen Ilerteken unnd wapen geziret, de under sich in sonderliche Erodertembte edder Kluffte gedelet unde under sick grote Verbundnisse ge- liatt, de eine den anderen, ock den allergeringsten unde aermesten nicht tho vorlaten, so ehn jemant vorunrechten und belastigen wolde. Ira Falle nun eine uth frombden linden sich in einem Carspel nedergelaten unnd in ein geschlechte sich begeven unde tho befrunden begeret, wen desulve ehrllche undadelhafte Tuchnisse seiner ehrlichen gebort, herkomendes, Handel und Wandelss gebracht, schriftlich, edder ock bestendig unde muntlich intiigen laten, hebben se densulven vor einen veddern dess Geschlechtes angenhamen, ock nicht geringer geachtet also ehren negasten augebornen Frundt, ja Hud unnd Har bi demsulven, wen he sick ehnen unnd se wedderumme ehme mit truwen unde Eiden, wo die Veddern sembtlich under sich verbunden, upge- settet, unnd alle wehrhaffte manschop des gauzen geschlechtes wol hedden seinethalven sich in Gefahren Livess unnd leveudes gestocken unnd tho velde getagen". Johau Adolfi's genannt Neocorus, Chronik des Landes Ditma/schen, heraut^gegeben von Dahlmann, Kiel, 1829. Bd. i. is. 206.
INTRODUCTION, CCXIX
WilJa*^' thinks the associations were sworn gilds, the latter being, indeed, frequently mentioned in the Frisian law3. He also appears to look upon these gilds as identical with the Kliiffte, or rather that the Klnffte were organized like gildas. The statute of the family of Raverte in Fehmarn {der Ravert- schen Veiterscliiift) which was originally from Ditmarsch, although only drawn up in the form we possess it in the seventeenth century, when compared with the statutes of gilds, strengthens, Wilda thinks, this view. The Klufft of Dit- marsch is the Irish Fine in its limited sense ; the confederacies are partnerships, which being as 1 have said artificial Fines intended to supply by association the place of the true family succour and responsibility, must necessarily resemble the Klufft or Fine to such an extent as to have led to their being con- founded.
The relationship between the Ditmarsch and Irish organiza- relation be-
tweeTi it
tions, and the mention of sworn gilds in the Frisian laws, and that
• 1 1 -vT 1 TT 1 1 • of Ireland.
which were no other than Neocorus' " grote V erbundnisse", strongly support the view that gilds were originally grazing CO partnerships, not only under the sanction of the law, but forminof an essential feature of the social orofanization, and exerting a considerable influence upon the state. It is further strengthened by the existence of such associations in the great grazing polder-lands of Flanders, in the Menpiscus, and along the coast of the North Sea, as already mentioned. I may also add that the old Flemish laws include regulations for the culture in common of the polders. A comparison between the Frisian and Flemish laws and custumals, especially of those relating to gilds and co-partnership grazing, with the old Irish laws, would, I am convinced, throw a flood of light not only on the origin of the gilds, but on the early social organization of north-west Europe.
It may be objected that we find the gilds as civic institu- Later dric
1 • • T 1 • T 1 11 cliaracter of
tions, while the rural origin 1 nave assigned to them would giuis com consign them to villages. in. Denmark several gilds, andamrai
^ . . . origin.
among them some that attained celebrity, were not located in »" Op. cii., 58-Gl.
CCXX INTRODUCnON.
cities, as for example, in Sioberg, in Sonderherred, in Laaland, and many other places^^^ Those which were located in cities in Denmark did not exclude persons living in the country from membership. But as long as gilds were merely rural partnerships for mutual pledge and assistance, they could not attract attention or find a place in history; it was onlv when a burgh grew up, as I have before described, and the gilds acquired more importance, and that the artizans formed associations, bringing with them the traditions of the corpora- tions of Romanized towns, or forming gilds in imitation of the old rural ones, when the sole occupation of the people was agriculture, that their name first appears. Thenceforward they lose all trace of their primitive type, and become essentially civic institutions.
ORIGIN OF THE TERM " FEUD", AND RELATION OF THE IRISH LAND-SYSTEM TO FEUDALISM.
ceitlfian- ^^^ disadvantages to historical inquiry of the neglect of the fSuHn ^^^'^^y °^ *^^® institutions and customs of the so-called Celtic of feudalism. P^oples, are no where more seen than in the investigation of Feudalism, the origin and very name of which are still ob- scure. It is always assumed that feudalism was altogether foreign to the laws and customs of the peoples just alluded to. fheTyof' "^^^^ sources of this opinion were chiefly the baseless assump- ImShe *^°^^' *^^* ^^^ Germans were freemen and equal, and knew no m^nT ^""-aristocracy, and that the so-called Celtic peoples had no fixed property in land — indeed in any thing according to some.''^* One of the oldest, if not the oldest, monument of Germanic tradi- tions, the elder or poetic Edda of Saemund, shows the erroneous character of the theory of equality among the Germans. In the curious poem of the Rigsmal, already referred to, ancient society is shown to have been composed of three classes whose mythical origin is unfolded in the account of the birth and education of Jarl, Karl, and Thrael. It is indeed diflacult to conceive how
398 Scblegel, Om gamle danske Retsadvaner, p. 222; Wilda, op. cit.,m. 56, 58.
3" The words Germans and Germanic are used here as a collective desig- nation for the Germans proper, the Scandinavians, and all outlying branches of the tAvo great stems.
INTRODUCTION. CCXXl
the error, that the Germans had no aristocracy, could have arisen. As to the special communistic habits of the Celts, what- ever they may have been in prehistoric times, the foregoing pages contain enough to show that within the reach of written or traditional history such a state of things did not exist.
The attempts to determine the etymology of " feud" or the Hypotheses hypothetical "feudum", show the vague ideas which prevailed etymology and still prevail as to the origin of feudalism. Some derived it from fides, or focdus, or fidelltas ; others prefer the Alemannisch faide, German vehd, a feud or dissension. Others again tell us that it is made up of od, possession or estate, and feo, wages. This etymology has been improved upon by taking feo in what is considered its original sense of cattle, that is, as property in cattle. Dletz's explanation may be summarized thus: O French fieti (whence modern French and English fief) verb fiever, 'Exewch fieffer, to feoff, from the Old High German ^i/m, fehu^ new high German vieJi, cattle, from Gothic faihii^ pos- session, Ang.-Sax. /go/i, O. Norse /^, English /eg, ¥vom fieu, or the Provencal feu, came the medieval Latin feudum,^^^ feodum in the ninth century, the d being euphonic, as in ladico for laico, etc. Munch^"' gives a very plausible explanation of both alod and feod, thus : al-auSr = al-6d, whole lordship ; andfe-au'S =. feod or usufruct of the land, — that is, the owner of the al-od had the whole lordship, the owner of the fe-ud, the usufruct only.
Palo-rave very iustly observes that the theories of the Teu- Paicrave's
" . . '' . objections
tonic derivation of feud are contradicted by the practice of thetoti^em; Teutonic tongues, for in no Teutonic or Gothic language what- ever is a feud or fief called by any such name, or even by any name at all approaching thereto. In all these languages the terms used are cognate forms of the Anglo-Saxon loen, Middle High German lehen, that is, loan land. It would certainly bo strange if people coined a word out of foreign elements, while the idea they wished to express was already represented by an appropriate word which they might have easily borrowed in the language from which they borrowed the materials
^5° Palgrave doubts whether such a word ever existed, op, cit. ccvii. *J^ Op. cit., p. 176.
CCXXll
INTRODUCTION.
not more fortunate in his own attempt.
Essential principle of a feud.
of the newly-coined word. I think an instance of sucli an anomalous linguistic process could not be pointed out in any European language, and could only be possible in the case of savages having to express perfectly new ideas in a language having a limited vocabulary, and who had, without knowing much of the strange language, caught up a few characteristic terms from it. Palgrave was not, however, more fortunate in his proposed etymology of feud than any of his predecessors, and I may add, of his successors. He suggests that fettdum, the oldest form of which was, he thinks, fevodium, arose out of a colloquial abbreviation of the Greek Einjyhi/tensis (pronounced emjyhyfefsis). It was first contracted into pJiitef or Jitef, and then mto Jief, afterwards Latinized into fevodiian, which some con- tracted into fevodum, and others by omitting the v into feo- du
m.
402
The essential and fundamental principle of a territorial feud was, that it was land held by a limited, or conditional estate^"' — the property being in the lord, the usufruct in the tenant. Palgrave considers that the origin of feudal teniire may be traced to the grants made by the Romans to the barbarian Laeti*"*
"02 Op. cit., p. cvii. '•"3 Ibid., p ccviii.
*°* Laeti, the Leudes of many medieval documents, Angl. Sax. Leode, O. H.G. Leudi, or Leodi, N.H.G. Leute, people. In Anglo-8axon the singular icbc? signifies a lord. The Lid, Lassi, etc., are evidently to be distinguished from the Leudes, notwithstanding the apparent similarity of the names. The Litus probably corresponed to the Iiish Daer C€ile, the former was however ascribed to the glebe, and could not leave without purchasing his freedom, and might be sold as well as his children with the land ; " Si Litus semetipsum propria pecunia adomino suo redimerit". Leg. Frisior, tit. 11. "Donamus etiam ad hsec prjB- fato archiepiscopo interventu Bernhardi ducis quasdam nostri juris mancipia IJtam, viz., Thietsniden dictam, cum filiis ejus et filiabus omnique progenie, quas ex his per successura tempora fuerit procreata". Privileges granted by Otho, in 977 to Adalgagus, Archbishop of Bremen, apud Schilt., de Caucis^ Libr. I. c. 13. By the Saxon laws he is distinguished from the slaves (tit. 10, §1), the lord being responsible for the crimes, etc., of both classes.
The Irish SIuai(/hte=Shluaite=Luaite, Imluada, and Tochomlad, are cer- tainly related to the Ljeudi, L€ode, etc, The Toc//o?«/ac? was an emigration of a band of military chiefs and tribes from one country or territory into another where they settled down. The emigration of the Deise from Tara into Munster, and of Fergus from Ulster into Connaught, are examples of
INTROEUCTIOX. CCXXIU
occiipying the Timitanean or Ripuarian territories, upon the condition of performing military service. These do- tations or feuds descended only to the male heir of the donce^ and coidd not be alienated to a non-military tenant. Eadi new tenant undertook the duty of learning the use of arms and was boimd to take an oath of fidelity. But these Essential
. - ^ . , " - piiiiciple of
duties, though inseparably connected with property, and a pro- a PeuJ. minent feature, of feudalism did not constitute its principle which I have above stated, but were merely adjuncts, which, however important they may have become in the later history of the system, never constituted its true basis, or imparted the essential character of the tenure.
The term "beneficium", in the republican times of Rome Original
^ ^ _ meiininaof
appears to have meant chiefly, if not exclusively, pro- a benefice, motion, exemption from service, or honour conferred upon soldiers. It is uncertain whether it originally included a gift of land, but under the empire it was extended to such gifts. A benefice of this kind was registered in a book called Libfr Beredciorum. Tlie Roman law employed another term in Nature of a
J ^ _ i ;> _ " Pi ,.cd-
connection with land, "Precarium", Avhich might be definedrium". as the usufruct of land upon request from the owner, or by his tacit permission, at the same time that the grantor retained the property. A Precarium was thus a limited estate in land, the permission to enjoy the usufruct of which might under the Roman law be recalled at any time. According to Savigny, tlie origin of the Precarium was the use of a portion of the " Ager Pubhcus*', given by a patron to his client. The estates created in this way came to be called Prestariae, or Pracstitae, rrestanae because the occupation only of tlie land passed from the grantor tae. to the grantee. This class of estates corresponded, with the limitation to be presently mentioned, to the Anglo-Saxon Loena or loan- hinds. In principle, therefore, the Beneficia, Precariae, Prestitae, and F'cuds, were the same, except tliat while the possession of the Precariae might bo rcumed at any time, the feud or benefice was a life estate. The lands held by The lands the Fuidirs in Ireland corresponded exactly with the Roman /^!«'rf"^'«ero
^ Precariae.
such Toihoiulada. Tliere ai'C several ancient talcs included under this term. See O'Corry's MS. Materials of Irish History, p. .592.
CCXXIV INTRODUCTION.
Precariae, Inasmuch as the Fuidirs were absokitely tenants-at- Lands of vvlll. The lands held by the free Ceiles, on the other hand,
Ceiles were -^ ...
Lo«»-iands. corresponded to the Anglo-Saxon Zo^n-lands, m being life estates. The existence of the two types, the " Beneficium" and the " Precarium" in the Irish land system, suggests the co-existence of the two types in Gaul and Germany before the full development of the mediaeval feudal system. Clients, The Roman " Clientes" having Beneficiae, the German
ana dues Laeti or Leudi, the Irish free CSiles, were essentially the same :
essentially
thesami. they wcro vassals of the lord, and rendered homage, and received Beneficiae, which might have been armour, ornaments, cattle, or other moveable property, or grants of lands, the terms of the grant sometimes including a certain tribute or
The German rent, and somctimcs merely military service. The conquest of
conoiiGsts
modified the Gaul and other provinces of the Roman empire by the Ger-
Benefice. i j
mans introduced some modifications of the benefice. Under the Roman law, when legionaries were billeted in a district, one -third of the house was allotted to them, and while so occu- pying it they were called " hospites". When the barbarians began to settle in the Roman provinces, it is probable, as Pal- grave has suggested, that it was at first under a kind of Roman The bar- hospitation. They received " Sortes" or allotments of the land
birian
"sortes"; Avliich tlic lords usually granted as Praecariae. And that the arrangement was looked upon as a temporary one is shown by the name " guests", that is " hospites", by which they called themselves. Palgrave considers that the germ of feudality is not to be found in this system, that "there is no evidence, nor, indeed, any presumption, that any compact was made with the senior, that any military service was reserved to the state, or, lastly, that the possessor of the "sors", or "lot", was specially bound in respect thereof to render any homage to his supe-
paigrave's rior",^*^^ and that the " sortes" were, in reality, allodial. It Sortes-' is quitc true that the germ of feudality did not develope itself
were
allodial. in this Way, because that germ had always existed among the European Aryans, and had already been more or less developed among Romans, Gauls, and Germans alike. But it is not
"5 Op. cit., pp. 499-500.
INTRODUCTION. CCXXV
correct to call these allotments allodium. When a Gaulish lord J''e ^ar-
D.irian llos-
was oblisred to receive a " fjuest", he gave him part of the land P'tes were which heretofore he had given to tenants-at-will, what in Ire- land was called " Fearan fuidri\ or Fuidir-\d.ndi. We may be sure he looked upon his "guest" as a Fuiclir, and certainly treated him as such whenever he was able; and that many guests were so treated there can be no doubt. In most cases, how- ever, the "guests"' ejected the former owners, and became inde- pendent lords, and so continued until reduced to the condition of vassals by some more powerful neighbours, or as a measure of security voluntarily became so themselves.
The svstem of Laetic grants appears to have differed from Tiie Laetic
" . . grants.
that of the "sors" or "lot", in the same way that the allocations of the Flaths to their free Ceiles did from those to their Fuidlrs. But from the special conditions under which the former were given, a new element was introduced into the tenure by which they were held. The Ripuarian and Limitanean lands were necessarily exposed to all the accidents of war, and must have been more or less wasted, and consequently must have fallen in great part into the hands of the State. The new proprietors to whom the State regranted these lands came into possession without being bound by custom to respect the prescriptive rights of previous occupiers — if indeed any of them could have withstood the ruin produced by the barbaric invasions ; all the inhabitants were therefore treated as Fuidirs, which, to a great extent, they must have been. The tenure of the Laetic grant was necessarily only a life one, as it was made in order to obtain the military service of the grantee for the frontier. This was the new element introduced ; and it was one which modified to some extent the Gaulish and German customs. The gradual break-up of the Roman empire naturally extended this modified tenure very widely, and by substituting new lords who were desirous of evading the prescriptive rights of the occupiers, reduced all Evasion of the latter to the condition o^ Ftddirs.^"^ The latter process was rights 'in Vie- successfully followed in Ireland in comparatively modern times,
^"5 In all the ancient Rosea Catha, or war songs and battle-eve speeches of the kings and chiefs of Erin, the soldiers are admonished to fight for freedom and independence, to escape allegiance to foreign or strange lords INT. 15*
CCXXVl INTRODUCTION.
where it may be traced througli all its stages. There was one essential difference, however, between the ancient and modern processes— under the ancient regime, in order to prevent the Faidirs from going away, they were ascribed to the glebe; under the latter they have, it is true, been made free, but at the expense of all hold upon tlie land. Origin of the I do not kuow what was the Gaulish form of i^wzcZiV, but dum and ' it must havo been very nearly the same as the Irish word. I have no doubt it was the true origin of the word Feodum. Here wo have no need of introducing an euphonic c?, or of resorting to foreign languages for the elements of the term, as we have a word used to describe almost the very same kind of tenure already existing among the people where the word " feodum" and all the other forms of that term came first into use.
There are several other important terms of feudal nomen- clature which can be more satisfactorily explained by means of the Irish customs than they have hitherto been. These ex- planations strengthen the conclusion that the term feud was Etymology of first employed on Celtic ground. Among the more important vasor. and of those words are Vasseiir, Vavasseur, and Vassal, A y assal
Vassal.
or Vasseur was the holder or grantee of a feud under a prmce or sovereign lord ; a Vavasor, French Vavasseicr, was the vassal of a vassal, that is, tlie vassal of a man who himself owed fealty to a prince. A Welsh proprietor who extended to another his protection, and allowed him to build a house, and till a portion of his land, was called a Gioaesav. The man under protection was a Gwaesavior, from gioaesav and gwr, man. The French Vasseur is certainly a Breton form of the word Gwaesavwr, and Vavasseur, whence English Vavasor, the vassal of a vassal, is simply Gioaes-Gwesavwr. The Spanish Vasvessor and the Proven9al Vasvassor preserve almost the full
and base rent. Trom this it would seem that many of the predatory incur- sions, as well as the great invasions properly so called, had for object the possession of the land, and the reduction of the owners, either to the posi- tion of hereditary rent paying occupiers or of mere Fiddirs. The speech of Eogan Mor on the eve of the battle of Magh Leana, is a good example of the class of speeches here alluded to. See Batih of Magh Leana, edited for the Cehic Society by Prof. O'Curry, pp. 115-116.
INTRODUCTION. CCXXVU
compound. The words just discussed, as well as the word vassal, are derived by some persons from Gwas, a page. Gwas may be the base of vassal, but it certainly is not that of Vasseicr, or
Vavasseur. Givaesav, and the words derived from or cognate "with it, appear to be related to Gives, Irish Bes, Latin vesc- in vescor. The Welsh and Irish words signify food given as tribute, hence Givaesavivr, or man of the Gwaesav would correspond to an Irish Saer Ceile, who paid Bes Tigi, corres- ponding to the Welsh Gwes-Tva, and Gwaesav, one who affords his guarantee or protection, and gives land in return for Bes or Gives. The ending -al in vassal may be an adjectival suffix, and the word itself, consequently, an adjective which has acquired a nominal meaning. Possibly Givas, a page, is itself related to Gives, food tribute. Loccenius derives Vassal from the Norse representative of Bes or Gives, namely
Veisla,*°^ meat and drink. That is, a vassal would be
Veislu-ma^r, plural Veislumenn, Swedish Waislwnen, Vaisla being qualified by mathr, man, plural menn, men, in the same way that Welsh giv7% man, has been supposed to be qualified by gwaes-aivl. But when we consider where and when the word vassal first came into use, as well as the form of the word itself, and its relation to Vasseur and Vavasseur, which cannot be satisfactorily explained from the Norse, it is almost certain that the word Vassal has come through the Celtic forms, and not through the Norse. It is evident from the foregoing and from what has been said in a Tribute of previous section^"® of the Irish Bes- Tigi and the Welsh Gives- by vassal to
Tva, that the Bes, Gives, and Veisla were given by the vassal to by loid to
VB<SS3,l
the lord, and not, as has heretofore been always assumed, by the lord to his retainers. Although these words originally implied meat and drink, they came to signify in time any
407 "Vasallus ita dictus a vaisla, i.e., redditibus et fructibus pra^dii aut feudi, ut est in Hirdskra, et inde Waislumen vassal! dicti sunt. Le.xic. Juris Sueio-Gotk. Holmb. 1674. The Hirdskra is a collection of ancient Norwegian court laws. VeizJa is from veita, to give, and as the Latin victus meat and drink, gave rise to vecligal tribute, or originally the part of the viclus due to the lord, so Vcizla also signified the food for a banquet, and the dues or tribute in kind owed to the lord.
*^^ Ante, p. cxxxiy, et seq.
15* B
COXXVm INTRODUCTION.
rent or tribute paid by the Vasseur or the Vavasor to his lord, whether food, cattle, clothes, or arms. The greater vassals and Vavasors under the feudal system did not pay food tribute, di- rectly, as that would have been rather embarrassing than bene- ficial. They did so indirectly, however, for they undertook to bring into the field a certain number of armed men, who required Military ser- meat and drink, clothes and arms. Military service was not essential then the essential characteristic feature of vassalage, as every
cliaracteiis- . i • /-> l
ticof vassal- free man was bound to appear in arms among the ancient (jrauls, Germans, Britons, Irish, and other European peoples, but an incident of the growth of large states.
THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT OF ANCIENT IRELAND.
The Kings or Chiefs.
There is no certain evidence, as far as I know, that any of
the states or Tuatha of the ancient Irish commonwealth were
governed by a senate alone without a permanent head or chief,
as it would appear from Caesar was the case in Gaul. In any
case such exceptions must have been very rare, and belonged
Tiie Rig or to remote times. The chief was called a Riq, sometimes writ- chief. .
ten shortly Ri, which corresponds with the Gaulish Rig-s or
Rix, the Latin Reg-s or Rex. The corresponding personage among the German nations had different names — eg. in Anglo- Saxon he was Cyning, English, King, in Old High German, ouier names Chuninc, ctc.*"* The term Cinq also occurs in Irish as the
for the . r rt n i •/-»••
chief; equivalent of Rig, or, as an old gloss expresses it : " Cing, i.e. a man who has excelled every 3Ial [prince or king] ; a man who has progressed above every File; it is a name for a man who is ennobled by having been placed above what is ennobled.^'"
correspond- Botli titles are also found in Old Norse — the first being re-
ing titles o
among the
Norsemen 409 -yy-g g|jould not be led astray as to the importance and dignity of the personages anciently called by the titles of Rex, Rix, Rig, Cyiang, Konungr, etc., by thinking of them as we do of modern kings. Ireland was not the only country in which the title was extensively used; the Herad kings of Sweden, and the liings of Fylks in Norway, not to speak of war-kings and sea-kings, were quite as numerous as the kings of Tuaths in Ireland. King Alfred, in his version of Orosiue, uses the title for the chiefs of Burhs or districts which probably corresponded to our Brugh Bhailes. "» Vel. MS. H. 3. 18. T.C.D. p. 213.
INTRODUCTION. CCXXIX
presented by Rik-ir, and the second by Konungr. The latter lias been derived from hour or hon, man, or in the sense of" hjn =■ English kin, gen-us, that is some one of family or of illustrious origin, like the Latin " gencrosus".*" Rig was a generic term, and included three ranks or classes of Different kings. ^'- The lowest of these was the Rig Tuatha, also called aking'*. Rig ben, or king of horns; he was chief of one Tuath or Tricha Ced.*^^ The second rank of king was the Rig M6r Tuailia, called in the Crith Gahlacli, a Rig Bidden, or king of com- panies/'^ The third, or highest class of kings, was the Rig Cuicidh, Rig Bunad, Rig Rurech, or provincial king, and the high king of Eriu. The first of those names implied that
*" Munch, op. cit. p. 166. Palgrave has suggested that it was connected with tiie Celtic Cenn, chief or head; but tlie old form would be cend, not cenn. The Irish Cing suggests the true origin of the word — to progress, to rise above. Tliis title was given among the Irish only to those who excelled in noble deeds. So among the Norsemen and Saxons, the title king was given only to those who had made great foreign expeditions.
*'^ According to Ammianus Marcellinus, the Burgundians called their king by the general name of Hendinos (28. 5). This is exactly the old German Cen- tenus (Jiend.=cent). Ulphilas translates r/ye/xwu, a ruler, by Ktndins. This word is usually connected like the Norse Konungr or O.H.G. Chuninc with the root kin, gen; but it may be that kind and chun are &\so=hund in hundred. Indeed the curious rhunna occurs in the Salic Law for hundred (Tit. 80), and Ottfried has translated tlie centurion of the seventh chapter of St. Luke (v. 23), by Kuning (Libr. III., c. 2, v. 5), the same centurion being called by Ulphilas Hundafaths, and translated Hundredes Ealdor in Anglo-Saxon, and Hunno by Notker in the tenth century — a name which reminds us of the Ilunones or Hunnones, or judges of Hundreds (Halthaus, Gloss, v. Heune).
*'3 " The king of one Tuath, i.e. the king of one Tricha Ced", Vellum MS. H. 3. 18. T.C.D. p. 101, b. Tuath, i.e. a territory. The kings of the three Tuatha, i.e. Corcortri, Cland Flathiusa, and Laigne [i.e. the O'Hara's country] Book of Ballymote, fol. 128, b. a,
Tuath, ue. Tricha Ced. The Ollamh of poetry has the same Enecland &s the king who has one whole Tuath, i.e. Tricha Ced. Vel. MS. H. 2. 15. T.C.D. 79 a. mid.
*'* The Rig Buiden, or Rig Mdr Tuatha, was, according to the Crith Gablach (vol. ii., App., p. 502), a king of three or four Tuaths. The following passage from the laws shows that the usual number was at least four, his own and three others, the kings of which owed him Ceilsinne.
" And he is not a Rig [Mo'r^ Tuatha who has not three Ri Tuatha, i.e. he is not entitled to be called a Rig Tuatha unless he gives the reward of volun- tary Ceilsitine to three Ri Tuatha". MS. Brit. Mus., Egerlon, 88, 15, b. a.
CCXXX INTRODUCTIOX.
he had five i¥Jr Tiiath kings under him/'^ and is doubtless connected with the ancient tradition referred to Ogdn Jllor, — who is supposed to have reigned about three centuries before Christ — of the country having been divided into twenty-five districts or dynasties, forming a pentarchy. That some such division was made is probable, but the boundaries and extent of the original divisions must have been, in pro- cess of time, considerably changed, for not only did the single province of Munster contain as many Tuaths as any two of the other provinces together, but the number of Tuaths in the whole of Ireland, 184, would represent 46 M6r Tuaths, in- stead of 25, the number required to form the pentarchy. Even assuming that the original pentarchy consisted of East and West Munster, Connaught, Leinster, and Ulster — Meath con- sisting in the time of Ogdn of only one Tuath — we cannot get over the difficulty just stated, that the number of Tuaths in Ireland exceeds the number required to form tlie pentarchy, unless we admit that tlie M6r Tuath originally consisted of seven Tuaths. In any case the number of Tuaths in a Mdr Tuath, whatever it may have been originally, must have varied in time, and consequently the number of the second class of kings under a provincial king must have been diffe- rtathl^th ^^^^^ ^* different periods. The Big Tuafha was represented cn'heHnn ^y ^^^^ Ealdorman of the Hundred among the Anglo-Saxons, died. Bede*'* mentions that the continental Saxons were governed
by lords, whom he calls satraps, each Pagus having one ; king Alfred, in his translation into Anglo-Saxon of Bede's History, renders " satraps"*'' by Ealdorman, so that we may assume that that was the name by which the ruler of the Centena or Hundred was known also in Germany. When war broke
4)5 « pjye Jii Tiiatha [i.e. Mor Tuatha] hath the king of a province five provincial kings hath the King of Eriu, from wliom he receives rent and allegiance, and sufficient supplies [of] that which is contributed equally in allegiance to him, with a full supply of Breacans (mottled garments) and Cuilce (royal garments)". MS. Brit, Mus., Egerton, 88, 15, b. a.
*^^ Hist. Eccl.,\. c. 10.
"^ Is this term borrowed from the name of the Persian governors, or may it be connected with the Irish Sai Treab, which is glossed Rig Treaba, or tribe king, in MS. H. 3. 18. p. 14?
INTRODUCTION. CCXXXl
out, these magistrates cast lots as to who should be leader. This leader was the Dux of Tacitus, the Anglo-Saxon Here- Tho Dux. toga the Fylkir of the Scandinavians, and the Er Toga elec- ted-chief, or Er Coga, battle chief, Rig Bidden or Mur Tuath king of the Irish.'"^ Tacitus' statement"'-' that the kings were selected for their nobility, and the Duces or leaders for their virtue, implies that the latter were elective, and not exclusively taken from among the kings. In later times the office appears to have been confined to kings or ealdor- men of Hundreds, and in Ireland to whoever became king of the Mor Tuath. The Gerefa or Reeve of an English The EaWoi- Trithing, — which, as I have said before, appears to have cor-Tnthing, responded to the 3I6r Tuath, — before whom were brought all causes that could not be determined in the court of the Hundred or Wapentake, was the executive officer of an Eal- dorman who corresponded in rank and jurisdiction to the J/oV correspon-
'• -, . , ded to the
Tuath king. But we have no means or determining whether mg Mdr the former was the general of the levy of the whole Trithing, as the Irish king was, because, as the paramount king absorbed all the regal power of the sub-reguli, the latter sank into the condition of mere noblemen too early to leave after them suffi- cient traditional evidence of their character.
Besides these three classes of kings, there was the paramount The ^rrf ^i> king, Ard Rig Erind, or high king of Eriu, who resided at Tara until the middle of the seventh century. The kingdom of Meath, which originally consisted of only one Tuath, but which, as I have already mentioned, was increased to eighteen, was the appanage of the king of Tara. After the desertion of Tara, one of the provincial kings was usually paramount king. The Ard Rig corresponded to the British Gweledig, and the Anglo-Saxon Breiwalda.*^^
^'® The Ilerlugi, Ilertogi of the Alemanni, the Herizogo, Her'tzoho of the Franks, the Hertug of the Belgians, and the Hertoge of the Old Saxons. When the small Scandinavian kings united* for military purposes they also chose a leader.
^'^ Gennania, c. vii.
^^^ The King of Upsala, in Sweden, under the title of Hofding, i.e. Hofud-ing, head, was in very ancient times paramount king over the kings of Ilerada or Hundreds.
CCXXXU INTROmiCTIOK.
The office of Tlie office of Riq or Icinsr, of whatever rank, was elective:
Icing elec- c .-, ' ^ ' »
t'^'^r but, as among the German*''^' nations, he was not se-
lected from the people at large, but from the Damna Rig or eligible members of the Flath or lord class. The hereditary principle, however, so far existed, that the election
but confined was practicallj confined to the members of the same family.
families; The descendants and relatives of a king thus formed an exclu- sively royal class, analogous to the Anglo-Saxon Athelings or Clitones, the descendants of Woden, and the Bavarian Agilo- fings. The story told by Tacitus^^^ of the Cherusci sending to Italy for a Romanized Cheruscan after the extinction of all the members of the royal family at home, may be paralleled by similar instances of a strict adhesion to the royal line in Ire-
lence the land. Tliis it was which made the preservation of the genea-
Tiilne of ge. . . '■ i /> i .
neaiogies. logics 01 the royul houses so important; and lor this purpose they appear to have been critically examined and discussed at the general conventions of the states and provinces of Erin ; when revised and approved of, they were recited at the fairs, so that they should be preserved in the memory of all, and be subject to the control of public opinion.*^^
The Rig The Rig was not elected by the people at large, but by the
the Aires. Aives, the Bo-Aires being apparently electors as well as the Flaths or land owners. If this were so, we may assume that the elective Aires or representatives of co-heirships had also a voice in the selection. In order to avoid the evils of disputed succession, and prevent family feuds, an heir or successor was nominated during the life-time of the king, and was called
TheT-a- the Tmiaiste. In the very early times the royal authoritv
naiste. j j ./ j
appears to have been generally transmitted in a direct line from father to son, the brother, however, sometimes succeed- ing. This would seem to show that the crown was bequeathed, or in other words, that each king chose his successor, and that the strict law of tanistry is a development of later times. When the latter was in force, it is not clear whether the rulinsr chief nominated his successor or Tanaiste., and then submitted
*^' Tacitus, Germania, c. vii.
*^* Annah, xi. c. 16.
*2^ See Fair of Carman, vol. ii. App. p. 545, at. 65.
IXTIIODUCTION CCXXXIU
his name for confirmation to the electors, or that the Tanaiste was elected without any lefral participation of the chief. The The election election of oflicials of the Flath class took place at the resi- took ,.iac-.- at dence of the Bruighfer, which appears to have been the otticial Forus*^* or office for all elections. The candidates, accom- panied by their respective adherents, entitled to take part in the election, assembled at the Brngh or house of the Bimighfer, and during three days discussed the merits of the candidates. Theoretically, the one elected should be the best entitled by right of blood, be the son and grandson of a Flath, possess sufficient property, and be without maim or defect, and of an unblemished character. The qualifications of a candidate king were similar ; he should be of the JJamna Rig class, that is, of a family equal to that of a king. I do not know whether his election took place also at the house of the Bindghfer, but it is very probable that it did. When elected he was publicly proclaimed and inaugurated at a general public assembly, at a place set apart for that purpose.
The Irish Eig was, in the strictest sense of the word, a The power limited monarch. His rights, privileges, and duties were all umiteu . " carefully laid down in the laws, and, except in degree, they do not appear to have differed from those of any other Aire. The value of his oath as a compurgator was fixed like that of any other free man. He could act as bail, or surety, or witness, within limits apparently equally fixed. He was also entitled to the special damages called Enedand or honour-price, and to Dire, the Wergild of the Anglo-Saxons. It is worthy of notice that among all the kings of the Germanic nations, those of the Anglo-Saxons were the only ones who had a distinct Wergild. Whether they formed a real exception in this respect, or that the evidence of the existence of a Wergild is extant only in their Case, remains for future investigation. One half of the Anglo-Saxon king's Wergild belonged, under
*'^* Cf. Foradh, the place of assembly at Tara, and Latin, Forum. The Euglish Fair, French Foire, are almost certainly cognate with the Irish Forus and Foradh. Skinner wa?, therefore, right in connecting them with Forum. The Irish Forus agrees fully with the first part of Varro's definition of a Forum : Quo conferrent suas controversias, et quae vendere vellent, et quaeque ferrent, Forum appellarunt". De. Lingua Latina, Libr. IV.
CCXXXIV INTRODUCTION.
the name of Cijiie-bot, to the nation. In Ireland part of every -Dire, and consequently of that of a Big, perhaps one-third, be- longed to the state as a fine for violation of the Cain or national
Extent of law ; tliis part constituted the Dire Meha-Canaf''' The right of
a khii.', sanctuary of a king, like all his other rights, was one of degree and not of kind, as it differed from that of any other Aire only in the extent of the domain of sanctuary or Maigin Digona. This domain appears to have been coextensive with the Faitche or lawn that surrounded each Dun. The mode in which the limits of this domain were determined by throwing the Cnair- sech, I have already described.*^** The Cnairsech was, I believe,
of the free- something like a sledge hammer, and was thrown by a Bo- Aire when sittinsf at his door ; the distance to which he cast it was the measure of his lawn and the extent of his domain of sanctuary.
of the nobles The lawn of the Aire Desa or lowest grade oi Flath was equal to two throws ; and each grade of Aire above the latter had double the extent of the grade next below him, up to the Rig, whose sanctuary extended to the distance of sixty-four
of provincial throws. The .Rig JRurechs, or provincial kings, the Ard Rig or high king of Ireland, and the Comarh of St. Patrick, or archbishop of Armagh, were entitled to the same extent of
The FoZac/i lawn. The Rig Tuatha, if wounded, was entitled, like all
etc., of a ijic? other free- men of the territory, to Folacli or maintenance from the tribe or Fine of the person that wounded him, and to be maintained, together with a retinue of ten persons, until he was cured. This maintenance, which corresponded to the Anglo-Saxon " Leech-fee", also included Fochraic and Log Leaga or the fee of the Liag or Leech, that is, the surgeon, and
and at a. Rig tlic cost of liis mcdicines, etc.*" The Rig Mor Tuatha was not carried to the house of the person who injured him, but was entitled to be paid at home ; and pending the treatment of the wound, he could demand security for his sick-bed expenses to the extent of twenty-four cows.
■•2^ Cyne in Cyne-But, and the Welsh Cwyn, a plaint, represent the Irish Cain ; the latter word is sometimes used to denote a plaint or suit under Caiw-law ; this fact suggests an explanation of the use of the word in Welsh in the sense of a plaint.
«6 Ante, p. cliv. ♦" Critk Gablach, vol. ii. App. p. 475, n.n. 498, 491).
INTRODUCTION CCXXXV
The li'ish Rla, of whatever rank, was always surrounded a ff'? imt
1/ ' . pcrnnittcil to
by state ; lie was precluded from doing any servile work under ^'^j';^""" penalty of being refused his supplies and of being placed on a level with plebeians, or of going about unattended, except in sowing time, when he might travel with two attendants and a iudge. On all other oecasions he jour- ''is Mm or neyed accompanied by his Dam or retmue, that of the tribe king or Rig Tuatha consisting of twelve persons, of the Rig Mur Tuatha of eighty, and of the Rig Rurech, or provincial king, of thirty. The Irish Dam corresponded to the Anglo-Saxon Geferscipe or Folgoth, in the latter of which we recognize the German Gefolge. The retinue of the Rig Mor Tnatha or Rig Buide7i, that is, king of companies, was much larger than even that of a provincial king, and was evidently a military escort* for he commanded in time of war two or three battalions of seven hundred men each. The Dam was composed, among others, composition of the children of princes kept m fosterage, of the more adven- turous of the noble youths of the tribe, and often of foreigners living as guests with the prince. It thus resembled the " comites" of the German princes, as described by Tacitus.''^' In Ireland the number was fixed by law, and we may presume that it was so likewise in Gaul and Germany. But rich princes prided themselves on being surrounded by a brilliant and richly armed retinue ; thus the Alamannish king Chrodomar is said to have had a retinue of two hundred. ^^^ A retinue of fifty or three times fifty was considered splendid in Ireland, as we find these numbers frequently given in the ancient tales.
All Flaths, and JBd Aires, of and above, the rank of a persons en-
• T> 1 • titled to a
Bruiglifer, were entitled to a Dam or retinue. But kings, z>«m. their Tanaists, and certain of the higher Flaths, who were ofiicers of state, as I shall describe in the next section, were also entitled to a second kind of retinue called a Foleil h. The Fokm. This word, as I have pointed out in a note to the Crith Gah- lach,'^ is connected with Leet or " Leta", and the retinue so designated consisted of the suitors of the courts, whom those entitled to have a Foleith, that is, the sokemen, or Sic Oc, who
*28 Germania, c 13. *^^ Atnmianus Marcellinus, Rerum Gest., 1. xvi. c. 12. «3o Note 553, vol. ii. App. p. 498.
CCXXXVl INTRODUCTION.
possessed rights of jurisdiction, had with them when holding those courts. The Foleith of a Rig Tuatha consisted of nine suitors, that of his Tanaist of eight, that of a Kig M6r Tuatha of twelve, while that of the Rig Rurech, or provincial king, extended to seven hundred. I shall have something further to say on this subject when describing the judicial system. Thu Amus A king also had a special body-guard consisting of four men, called in the Criili GahlacJi, Ainus. That tract affords us a curious insight into the class of persons who formed this body-guard, namely, those condemned to death and pardoned, persons liberated from the gallows or whose life had become for- feit for debt, that is, who had become " addictus", in the sense of that term in Roman law, and whose life the king had perhaps pur- chased at the legal price fixed in such cases ; or lastly, such as he freed from the servitvide of base Bothach-ship, or base Fuidir- ship. On the other hand we are told that he should not have a man whom he saved on the battle-field, who had been forced to retreat, or had been wounded in combat, one condemned to the duties of the office as a punishment, or selected as a favourite. We find this term Amus or Ambus, elsewhere applied to mercenaries in the pay of a chief; and we may therefore assume that, as in the case of the Dam, wealthy and ambitious chiefs endeavoured to keep as many of this class represented of retainers as they could about them. The Atnus or Ambus Ambacti,'^ are the Ambacti of the Gauls, and Csesar's remark"' that the Gaulish nobles surrounded themselves with A mbacti and clients, which they considered a mark of favour and of power, is equally applicable to Irish chiefs. The Gaulish Ambactus is generally considered to have been a servant or attendant;"^ and the function given to the Irish Amus in the Crith Gablach corresponds with this view. But whether of low or high birth, both were undoubtedly military
*^^ DeBell. Gall., \i.c. 15.
"♦^^ Ambactus apud Ennium lingua Gallica servus adpellatur. Pompeius Festus. — De verborum slgnificatione. Jacob Grimm considered Ambactus to hare been borrowed from the Gothic Andbahts. Diefenbach {Oriqines Euro- paeae, 226) seems to tliink the converse was the more probable. The evidence of borrowing on either side is however very weak, at the same time that there are many reasons for supposing tliat the Gaulish and Gothic words are
INTRODUCTION. CCXXXVll
retainers. Caesar mentions a superior class of Gaulish mili-TheSoidurii. tary retainers the Soldurii. Judging from his description of this class of retainers, they must have been the sons of the better classes, wlio, not having much property, attached them- selves to some wealthy and warlike chief, at whose expense they lived in free companionship.^'*^ The JDani of an Irish
cognate. The later forms in the Germanic languages are more hke the Gaulish than the Gothic word. These words sometimes denote persons of low position, and sometimes officers of high rank, but in neither case ex- clusively military. Tlie Gothic Andhaht was not a mere servant, as is shown by the contrast of the word with Skalks in Ulphilas: " Sto<5un skalkos jah Andbahtos", the servants and the Andbuhtos stood (John, c. xviii. 18). The Anhyht Scealcas, or servants over other servants, of the fragment of the Anglo- Saxon poem of Judith, agrees with the Gothic meaning. The form Ombekt, or Ombiht, is used in Beowulf for officers of very high rank. Thus the Warder of the Sea is dialled a fearless Ombekt (579), and Wulfgar, a Wendish chief, describes himself as the Ar and Ombiht, that is messenger and Ombiht of KingHrothgar (G77). Again, the Ombiht Thegm, to whom Beowulf gives his armour and bids hold the war gear (1351), performed the function of an esquire. In the Ehythmic Chronicle Ambacht is used to qualify Lude, people, that is to designate persons holding office (c. 58). The form Aombeisman is given in an edict of Magnus Ericson, king of Sweden, of the year 1344, to his viceroy in Norway. The Norse forms are almost always applied to per- sons of low birth. Thus, in the Rigsmdl, one of the daughters of Thrael and Thye is Ambdtt {sir. 13), that is, "servant maid", a meaning which it also has in another of the poems of the poetic Edda, Oddninargratr (str. 28). In the Hervarar Saga {Add. MSS. Brit. Mns. 11,108, c. 18, f. 14, b.). King Humli, we are told, was excited because Hlothr was called the son of an A mbatt, which proves that that term implied a woman of low condition. On the other hand, in the Saga of Harald the fair haired, a woman of high birth is called the King's Ambdtt (Horald's Saga hins hdrfagra, c. 40). The persons com- posing the Amus of a king, according to the Crith Gablach (vol. ii., App., p. 509), are clearly slaves, and are limited to four. In other documents, however, the number mentioned is often considerable, and the persons composing it are sometimes of a superior class, but have generally the character of mercenaries. Thus, in the poem quoted in the Lectures (Lects. xvi. and xviii., vol. i., pp. 313 and 389), the retinue of liughuUach, king ot Connaught, w ho died a.d. (J-IS, was composed on one occasion of ten hundred Amuis, the sons "of warriors and of noble farmers". Again, in Cined O'Hartagan's poem on Tara, attributed to the middle of the tenth century, he speaks of a great house or barrack of thou- sands of Amuis (Lect., vol. i., p. 378). And again, in tlie account of the battle of Almhain, fought a.d. 718, we are told that Fergal MacMaoileduin, monarch of Eriu, nnd six thousand of his Amhuis, were killed (Led., vol. i., p. 389).
-tas Jje Bell. Gall., 1. iii. c. 24. The champions of the royal branch of Ulster under Conchobar Mac Nessa, the Gamanrians of Connaught under Fer- diad, and the Clanna Deagadh of Munster, under Curoi Mac JJaire, appear to have belonged to this category.
CCXXXVUl INTRODUCTION.
prince consisted of persons of this class, who were very nume- rous, and were the source of much evil in Ireland as well as in Gaul. For all these different retainers the liig and other Flatlis, held free table, and regaled them in lieu of pay. In the Crith Gahlach we are told that "a king who knows a king's lawful rights will regale his hosts bountifully after meals" ;"* and that he was not a lawful Flath who did not distribute ale on a Sunday. The king's The law also prescribed the number, size, and character of
residence or ,..,. ..
Dun. the kmgs houses, — that is, their minimum dimensions ; but it is
to be presumed that any one rich enough could build himself larger and more splendid residences. Each king should possess at least three chief residences, and each of these should be sur- rounded by walls and a ditch, that is, should be a Diin^^^ The right to have a Dun, that is, walls or mounds of earth and a ditch filled with water — which fulfils the conditions of the old s'loss, two walls with water — was a privilege apparently of kings only. The house and Dun of a king were built at the expense The Dun of of the territory. The Dun of a Rig Rurech appears to have Hitrech. bccn surrouudcd by a second rampart called Drecht Gial- nai or ditch of the Gialls or hostages. ''^'^ This second ram- part seems to have been intended for the greater security of the Gialls or hostages which every king received as pledges of allegiance, and without which he was not considered to be a true king.*^' The Rig Tuatha did not require such security, for all those from whom he claimed Ceilsine or homage lived ; within his territory; but the provincial king required special pledges, from all the sub-reguli under them, and the means of securing their safe keeping.
"34 Vol. ii., App. p. 510.
*35 Every king is a pauper who hath not three chief residences ; that is, it is tlaree chief residences each king is entitled to have, i.e. three houses, or three Duns". MS. H. 3. 18. T.C.D. p. 550.
«6 Crith GablacJi, vol. ii. App. p. 508.
437 "Pie is not a king who has not hostages in locks, and who does not receive Cis Flatha (tribute) from Flalhs. That is, he is not entitled to be called a king unless he has hostages for tlie fulfilment of his kingship, or liis Ceilsine, i.e. his Daer Aicillne (base tenants), to give liim Braich (malt)".
"To whom the Cain tributes are not paid {i.e. his Smachts). Wlien a king
INTRODUCTION. CCXXXIX
The Interior arrangements of a house such as was suitable for the reception of a king are given in some detail in the Crith Gablach in the account of the Brudin, or residence of the royal Bridglifer Vaderga, and in that of the feast of Bricriu and other tales, but at present I am only concerned with the va- rious officials who surrounded the Ard Rig Ennd Conaire ^o^sehM
^ . of the High
M6t^ for they give us an idea not only of the various atten- King of Eriu. dants and household servants, but of the elements of the Bdm^ which of course comprised many persons in addition to his mili- tary escort. Besides a suite of nobles, visitors, and hostages, numbering sixty, among whom were his three sons, twenty- seven British nobles in exile, nine Saxons, and three Picts, there were three royal druids and jugglers, three poets, three judges, nine harpers, nine pipe players, three ordinary jugglers, three jesters, three head charioteers, nine apprentice charioteers, three equerries, three swine herds, three janitors, two wardens, nine guardsmen, that is, his military escort properly speaking, eight swordsmen in charge of hostages, three cooks, two table attendants, three drinkbearers, six cup-bearers, and lastly the house steward or Rectaire, who superintended all, and corresponded probably with the Pincerna or butler of the Anglo Saxon and other mediaeval courts. The prevalence the number three, and of the multiples of it, six, nine, and twenty-seven, in this list is remarkable, — even the eight guardsmen who guard the hostages make with the latter nine. This circumstance shows, however, that the numbers are ima- ginary,— it is in fact only a poetical description, bvit one showing, nevertheless the general character of a king's retinue on ordinary occasions.
gets these tributes of acknowledgment it is then his Dire must be appro- priate , without falsehood in his deeds or injustice to his people — i.e. when he receives the allegiance, or the hold, we have before mentioned, i.e. it is then he is entitled to the full Enccland of a king, i.e. when he holds these ac- knowledgments of allegiance, namely, hostages and Cii (tribute) and Smacht (fines), i.e. for his giving judgment, or Fiadnaise (witnessing), or for settling any unlawful charge, i.e. not to betray [oppress] the nobles. It is not lawful for him to betray the ignoble, i.e. by making a gu fergaile (false tes- tification) in law, or in a case of death or wounding, or in a case of theft upon his people; for if lie bo guilty of any of these improprieties he is not entitled to honour or kingship in fulness". MS. 2. 15. T. C. D.
CCxl INTRODUCTION.
Revenue of a The reveiiue of a kinff consisted of the C(s Flatha or rents and subsidies of his Flaths if a Rig Tuatha, and of the sub- reguli if a high king ; of the Taurcrech or stipend which he received from the paramount king as laid down in Leahhar na g-Ceart, or Book of Rights ; of waifs and property for which there was no legal heir; a share of Dire and Sdnigud, and apparently of certain legal fees for judgment in the high courts; a share of the booty in war;'^^ and Rachts, or special levies, etc. Each king had likewise his own estate from which he received: 1. the produce of his own demesne, 2. the rents of his Fuidirs, 3. the Biatad of his Daer Ceiles, 4. the
The maid- J^^s Tioi of his Scier Ceiles, and 5. the Faine Maiahdena or
en s mar- . .
riagering. maiden's marriage ring."' The latter was the equivalent of the Welsh Gohyr merch or Amohyr, or king's share of the
*^* An illustration of the right of a king to a share of the war-booty is to be found in the Tocmorc Bee Fola, edited by B. O'Looney, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Irish M6S. Series, vol. i., pp. 182-183.
*^ The Faine Maigdene, or maiden's ring, is not to be confounded with the marriage ring put on the bride's finger at the marriage ceremony. It was a tribute due to the king on the marriage of every maiden within his territory There is no reason to suppose that the payment of this tribute was confined to the daughters of Aires, but was paid as in other countries by all women When the maiden was the daughter of an Aire, the tribute was paid apparently by herself; in the case of Bothachs and Fuidirs, it was ho doubt paid by the lord on whose estate they were, except in the case of Fuidirs who possessed a com- plete homestead, or the Cuig Rath Cedach. Instead of a ring, the bride could give her bridal garments. The amount of this tribute appears to have varied from three Screpalls to an ounce of gold. The following passage from the third chapter of an ancient Irish life of Saint Maighnean not oidy proves the existence of this tribute, but also the important fact that the right to it could bo granted to the Church.
" Bishop Maighnean and Lomman oiLoch Uair [Lough Owel in Westmeath] tiien took leave, embraced, and blessed each other. Maighnean on this occa- sion preached sermons to Diarviait, son of Fergus Cerrb](eoil, i.e. to the king of Eriu [a.d. 538 to 558]. When Lomman of Loch Uair heard the terrors of the Day of Judgment, and the severe judgments of the Holy Trinity, he shouted in loud lamentation in presence of the king and his people. When the king's people heard the admonitions, severe judgments, and hard sayings of the holy cleric, nine-and-tvventy of them departed this false world in presence of the king; and Liarmait, son of Fergus, also made his own peace with God from that forth; and he gave his Coibsena (confessions) and great Almsona (alms) to Maighnean, i.e. a Screapall from every nose, and an Uinge (an ounce) of gold from every virgin daughter ou her lirst espousal to a man,
INTRODUCTION. CCXli
"bride price". The king was also eiitiuled to his maintenance, and that of his legal suite, when travelling through his territory, cither for collecting his tribute, making a judicial eyre, or holding an assembly, or, in fact, when engaged in any affair of state. The other Flatlis of the Tuath might be considered as the vassals of the Rig, and the Bo- Aires, who received Taurcrech from one of those Fiaths, as vavasors. The Rig Tuatha was in turn a vassal of the hiafher kinff, and so on.
THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT OF ANCIENT IRELAND.
The Nobility and Oncers of State.
The ancient Irish, or at least some of the medieval scribes, Preference attached considerable importance to the numbers three and cient u^xi seven. In the foregoing section we have had an illustration ""'"''^■'■'>i of the occurrence of three, and its multiples, the square and cube. The Crith Gahlach and other law tracts aiford us many examples of the number seven : thus we have seven grades of Bo-Aires,*^° seven grades of Flatlis, seven grades of poets or Files, etc. ; again, all the qualifications of the Oc-Aire are either seven or a multiple of it, seven cows, seven sheep, seven pigs, land sufficient for three times seven cows ; and again, the seven prime possessions of every Bo- Aire, namely, a house, a miller a share in it, and in the multure or dues in meal paid for its use,"' a kiln, a barn, a sheep-pen, a calf-house, a pig-stye. The same phenomenon appears in Wales, where the well- known Triads afford us striking examples of the preference for the number three. The council of Elders of the Cantref, or
Or if she should prefer it rather than [to pay] the king's stewards, slie may give the garments and clothes wliich she wore [at her marriage]. The king also gave to him the materials of a Trosdan and a Bachall (a pastoral staff) of the gold which he got in ransom of the foreigners. ]\[aig linearis sermon at Loch Uair at that time was noble, and his covenant with the king of Eriu. He gave his blessing to Diarmait and to his descendants after him, and he said unto him: Misericordia Domini super nos, super filios vestros". —MS. Brit. Mus. Egerton, 91, f. 108.
'^^ Made eight in the Crilh Gahlach by counting the two classes of Fer- midboihs, i.e. minors, traversers, or defendants, etc.
"•^i It is not quite clear that Bo-Aires of every class were entitled to multure, when they had only a share in the mill. It is expressly stated that the Bndghfer was entitled to it.
INT. 16*
CCxlii INTRODUCTION.
Hynaviaid Cantrev^ consisted of seven."- As this council
corresponded to the Irish Sahaid, or council of the Ale House,
those seven members doubtless represented likewise as many
this had per- distinct ranks or officers. The preference for seven in the num-
haps no poll- r> -i ^ a > i tit
ticai import- ber of ranks of Aires, poets, etc., seems, however, to have had no political importance, for, in order to make up seven ranks of B6-Aires, various classes of persons not in full possession of their rank, such as minors, traversers in cases of homicide, debtors under bail, etc., included under the designation Fer- midba, are included. Besides, we find in another law tract published in the Appendix,"* that there were twenty-six classes of society, a number which is not a multiple of seven. In this last we find the king, the juggler, the spendthrift, the constable, and the judge mingled together. We may, there- fore, pass over this question of number, and describe, as far as there are materials available, the nature and functions of such of the grades of the nobility or Flaths, and of the -BJ- Aires, as held special offices.
The socmen Besidcs the Mig and his Tanaiste, there were three other socmen in each Tuaih, the Aire Forgaill, the Aire Tuisi, and the Aire Ard, — their relative ranks being in the descending order in which I have named them.
The three In somc law tracts mention is made of three ranks of Aires
Aires For- Forgaill,**^ and as it is not likely that there was more than one officer of this rank in each Tuath, it is probable that the three alluded to corresponded to the three ranks of kings. In any
♦42 Triodd Dyvnwel Moelmwd, 88, 162, 225 — Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, p. 383, etc.
«3 Vol. ii. p. 513.
*^ "The three Aires Forgaill, — their three Eneclands : fifteen cows, eighteen cows, and twenty-seven cows. Their three properties in Chiles — thirty-two Ceiles, thirty-seven Chiles, and an equal number with the king hath the highest Aire. Their three Faesams — twenty days is the Faesavi of the two lower Aires, twenty-four hath the highest Aire. Thirty are the company of the two lower Aires when making Cain [i.e. adjudicating on cases coming under Cain or statute-law, or assisting in the enactment of new statutes], and Cairda (inter-territorial contracts)". MS. H. 4. 22, T.C.D. p. 64, a.
It is evident from a comparison of this passage with the part of the Crith Gablach which describes the Aire Forgaill, that the privileges and qualifica- tions of that officer varied according to place and time.
yaiil.
INTRODUCTION. CCxliii
case, every king, of whatever rank, had his Aire Furgaill, who acted as his chancellor, held his court, had jurisdiction over the common land of the Ticath, determined the rights of each Fine, authorized the taking possession of escheated lands by the king's Maer, exercised supervision over Chiefs of Kindred as regards the rights of minors, testified as to the character, status, and property qualification of the suitors at courts and of candidates for office, and many other duties. The Welsh The ^(>e Canghellor was the representative of the Aire Forgaill, and weisii can?- like the latter, held the king's court both when the king was ciianceiior. present and when he was absent. He had power to order or forbid the arrest of persons, to issue mandates and ordinances, and was free and unfettered in the exercise of his functions. His executive officers were called Rhingyl: they appear to have corresponded in some respects to the Aire Cosraing or official Aire Fine.
The Aire Tuisi, accordinc^ to the Criih Gahlach. came next The Atre
, Tuisi;
in rank to the Aire Forgaill.^^^ We are told that he was in
the free pay of the king, had twelve riding steeds, a golden
bridle and a silver bridle. The word Tuisi means leading, and
is cognate with the Latin Dues or Dux, A.S. Here-^o<7, so thaf^ognate
the Aire Tuisi was probably the commander of the levy of the '-^^'^ '*'=''«-
Tuath. The word 2'aoisech, a leader or captain, was probably the Taotsech
at first applied only to the Big Tuatha, but was afterwards ex- times;
**^ According to the following passage from another MS. tlie Aire Aid was of higher rank than the Aire, Tuisi :
" 'the Aire Ard: twelve cows are his Euedand; ten persons are his full re- tinue on Fecht Fele, and on Foluch OtJirusa ; fifteen days are his full Faesam and Fonadm; sixteen Cedes are his wealth in C tilts; he has twenty -four persons when making Cain and Cairde ; twenty-seven cows are his wealth in cows ; thirty sheep make his property iu sheep ; he has thirty couples upon coshering from the Kalends to Shrovetide. He has the land of three times seven Cumals, a plough with its legal accompaniments, a kiln, a mill, and a barn".
" The Aire Tuise: nine cows are his Enecland; eight persons are his full re- tinue ou Fecht Fele, and on Foluch Othrusa ; ten days are his full Faesam of food and Fonadm. He has fourteen Ce'iles ; he has twenty persons when making a Cain, and a Cairde ; he lias twenty couples on coshering from the Kalends to Shrovetide; twenty-two cows make his property in cows; thirty sheep are his property in shaep He has land sufficient for thrte times seven Cumals. He has a plough with its legal accompaniments, a kiln, u mill, and a barn". 31 S. H. 4. 22. T.C.D. p. G4, a,
IG* B
ccxliv
INTRODUCTION.
the Wel.sh Twysawg.
The Aire Ard;
he acted probably as king's Maer or High Steward :
tended to commanders of all ranks, from the Taoisech nonhair^ or leader of nine men, to tlie commander of a battalion, or Aire Tuisi, and ultimately even to civil officers. According to tlic Annals of the Four Masters, Ollamh Fodhla, one of the most celebrated of the ancient pagan law-givers of Eriu, " appointed a Taoisech over every cantred, and nBrvgad over every Baile, who were all to serve the king". Here Taoisech is used in the sense of prince or chief, like the corresponding Welsh Tywysawg, which is the title used for the chief princes in the Welsh chronicles after the death, in 1137, of GrufFyth ap Cynan who was the last prince called Brennin or king. Accordinir to Keatin^f, the leader of a battalion of the militia or Fianna of Find UacCvmhaill was called Cath Mhiledh, tlie leader of a hundred Cendfedhna Ced, while the word Taoisech was only applied to the commanders of fifty, twenty- seven, and nine men respectively.'"'^ Among the highest officers of the king of Ua Maine, on the other hand we find the commander of the cavalry called Taoisech Scuir, the master of his banquets, Taoisech com oil, and his treasurer the Taoisech Eallaigh.
Next in rank to the Aire Tuisi came the Aire Ard or high Aire. His title of high comes perhaps from the circumstance that he was the first of the Aires in an ascending scale who had *' sac and soke", that is, the right to hold a manorial court. According to a law tract published in the Appendix,^^^ the Aire Forgaill and the Aire Ard are considered to be one and the same person, and his retinue when holding a court is stated to be thirty — the number assigned to the Aii^es Forgaill of the second and third grades, in the passage quoted in a preceding note from the MS. H. 4. 22, in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.. It is probable that the Aire Ard may have been the 3faer or high steward of the king. In Wales the Maer was the next in rank to the Canghellor : indeed the two offices were often held by the same person. They were both entrusted with the management of the crown estate, they kept order among the occupiers of the royal mensal lands and terra regis or crown lands, took possession of heirless property, etc., constituting the king's waste, and determined all disputes and feuds between the <*« Lect. Vol. i. p. 381. *" Vol. ii. p. 575.
INTRODUCTION. CCxlv
tenants of the royal domains. Each had of course special duties : for instance, the Maer accompanied the king during his annual eyre or circuit and assigned him quarters. I have already men- tioned some of the special duties of the Canghellor, who had the right to the first place on the left of the king at the three great festivals, and to certain gifts when entering on ofBce. The Lord High Stewardship, or office of Maer M6r of Scotland, like the correspondinor Welsh office, was one of high rank; as was also the j/oer the Maeraigecht or il/aer-ship among the Irish, as is shown by the officer under Maer to the king of Hymany in the thirteenth century being kings; a Rig Tuatha, the king of Caladli}^^ The functions of the officers called Maers^ — a term preserved in the German Meijer — appointed by Charlemagne over the great agricultural and va.- ifaen oi dustrial establishments which he set up in various parts of his™agne; empire where agriculture was most backward, are so like many of those of the Welsh and Irish Maer, that there can be little doubt either that the office and its name were common to the Franks and the so-called Celtic peoples, or that there was bor- rowing on one side or the other. The very high rank of the Scottish Maer Mor— in ancient times he appears to have been the highest officer under the crown — suggests a connection be- tween the Celtic 3Jaer and the Maire of the Palace of the Me- rovingian kings of France. All Aryan peoples seem to have had an officer of high rank of this kind. The title Mayor, or, tiie English
1 • Tir • ^ ^ • r • ^^aj/or and
as it was anciently written, Mayer, given to the chief magis- French trate of many of our towns, and that of the corresponding officer in France, the Maire, which are usually assumed to be of Latin origin, are more probably Celtic.
Informations and plaints involving Cain or statute-law could only be made before Aires Ard, while the lowest class o£Flaths, the Aires Desa, could take cognisance of cases coming under Urrudas or common law."*
The Aire Echiai, who came next in rank to the Aire Ard,"^^^ ^ire
Echtai.
was not entitled to a Foleith, that is, had not the right of hold-
**^ A district nearly coextensive with the present barouy of Kilconnell, county of Galway.
149 ^ Toraic, \_i.e. a private information] which is made in the presence of lunraks [MS. defective here]. This is a man wlio has made an Aisneis Cleitfi,
CCxlvi INTRODUCTION,
mg a manorial court. As his name Implies, he was the com- mander of the permanent military force of the Tuatliy consisting of five mounted men-at-arms, intended for the defence of the territory from sudden attacks, the preservation of the peace, the enforcement of the law, and the arrest of malefactors. In the second law tract published in the Appendix, he is called the Ansruth,*^ a term which shows that the last mentioned duty was an important one. When a murder was committed in a Crick or district, the Aire Echtai and his troop were quartered upon it, and maintained at its expense until the murderer was given up. In case of resistance or attempted escape, the cri- minal might be killed with impixnity. In a note to the Criih Gahlach,*^^ I have considered the Aire Echtai to be the king's master of the horse, and, in the case of a provincial king, the representative of the Constable of the Host, or Constabularius Regis of the Anglo-Saxons. The office of Taoisigeckt Scuir of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries appears to have been the same as the earlier one of the Aire Echtai. The Dae. Each Fine had an officer called a Dae, whose functions
within the Fine were somewhat analogous to those of the Ai7'e Echtai. He commanded the armed levy of the Fine, arrested malefactors, brought them to justice, and had the sentence of the court carried out.*^^ He corresponded both in name and func- tions to the Welsh Diahvr (= dial, to avenge, and Gwr, man). One of the functions of the Welsh officer was to proclaim mur- derers, thieves, and other criminals outlaws by sound of horn.''^' We may assume that the Irish Dae did the same. He was pro- bably a kind of subordinate officer to the Aire Echtai, though
(private information against a nobleman), [aline of MS. lost], or it is against a friend or a corelative, and he is ashamed to make it in public, so this then is the manner of making his Toraic, namely, to make it in presence of the three Aires Ard in accordance to the Cain [t.e. if the case comes under tlie Cain law], or in presence of the three Aires Desas according to the Urrudas law, or in the presence of an Jnnraic priest, whether it belongs to the Cain or to the Urrudas". MS. Brit. Mus., Egerton, 88, p. 48.
"0 Vol. ii. p. 517. ■**' Ibid., p. 468.
"•^2 The term Oilc occurs for the persons who pursued or executed a crimi- nal. They were perhaps the armed retinue of the Dae.
453 « The Avenger of a Kindred (^Dia/wr), leads it to battle and war as there may be occasion ,• and he pursues evil doers, brings them before the court, and
INTRODUCTION. CCxlvii
I have not met witii any direct evidence which would connect them.
The Aire Echtai of a Tiiath corresponded perhaps to the Anglo-Saxon constable of a hundred, an officer represented by the almost extinct baronial liigh constable of the present day. The Dae, on the other hand, represented the Anglo- Saxon Ward- Reeve, whose jurisdiction extended over a ward or tithing. As the latter officer was appointed by the township, which was the successor of the old Maegth or kindred, the relationship of these offices is still more satisfactory.
The lowest rank of Flath or owner of freehold estate was The Aira called an Aire Desa. The property qualification of this rank given in the Critlt Gahlach^^^ is doubtless a minimum, as there is reason to believe that many much richer men who held no office were included under this title. The Aires Desa consti- tuted a kind of magistracy like the modern unpaid justices of the peace, whose jurisdiction extended only to cases coming under Urrudas or custumary law — plaints in all causes invol- ving Cain or statute-law, requiring, as I have already stated, to be lodged at the Forus or residence of an Aire Ard,
Of the grades o£B(S Aire, it is only necessary to speak at any length here of two — the Aire Cosraing and the Bruighfer.
I have already mentioned that each family ox Fine had aThe^tV Chief of Kindred, or Aire Fine, who acted as its representative in all legal encrajrements : hence he was also called a Nascaire or binding Aire, from Nasc, a ring or bond. As many questions of an interterritorial character arose from time to time, the Fines elected an Aire Fine who had the power of acting for them collectively. This was the Aire Cosraing, though that term does not seem to have been exclusively used to designate this elective officer, but to have been also applied, like Nasc-
punishes them, according to sentence of the court and the judgment of the country". Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, p. 652, §. 88.
" Three objects of detestation to a Icindred : one who shall kill a person of his own kindred : a thief, and a swindler; they are so called, because it be- comes right for the Avenger of the Kindred (^Dialwr) to proclaim them with the horn of the country in court, and in resort, and in every regular assembly and upon the idiot jiosts of the king". Ibid., p. C61, §. 149.
"« Vol. ii., App., p. 4U1,
CCxlviii INTRODUCTION.
The /lire aire, to tlie Aire Fine of eacli kindred. Indeed when the
Cosraing ;
whole of the freeholders of a territory formed but one kindred, the Aire Fine of that kindred was also the official Aire Co- sraing of the Tuatli.
The Aire Cosraing was the executive officer of the Rig and of the courts, who levied or took security or bond — hence the name Nascaire — for the tribute, fines, etc., legally leviable on the territory, and distributed the Dire, Enecland, etc., to which each Fine became entitled. He was in fact the exe- cutive officer who carried out the judgments of the courts, and was, as regards fiscal matters, the proper officer of the Aire Forgaill. In virtue of those functions he represented the ter- ritory at the judicial assemblies of the Tuaih, as we shall see hereafter. It is probable that he also acted as the officer of the Maer, or in other words that he was the fiscal officer who levied the tolls and dues of the Rig from the freemen of the hercpre- territory. In all these functions it is evident that the Aire
sented tlie ''
A s-Qereta; Cosraing represented in most particulars an Anglo-Saxon Gerefa, such as the Leidgreve or Gerefa of a Leet, the Gerefa of a Hundred, the Trehingreve or Gerefa of a Trithing or Riding, and the Scire Gerefa or Gerefa of a shire, whence the modern Sheriff. The Anglo-Saxon Gerefa of a Hundred was also the fiscal officer of the lord of the Hundred, and received the tolls and dues, and had general superintendence over, that is, acted as provost of, the ceorls and other tenants. He was undoubtedly an elected officer, being chosen by presentment of the Leet Jury, as the Scire Gerefa or Sheriff was elected by the magnates of the shire or county. As the Aire Cos7^aing levied the Dire, Enecland, Sarugud, Fsain, and other fines, so the Anglo-Saxon Gerefa levied the Orith-hrech, Blood- Wite, Leirioite, Wergild, and other fines for breach of the peace, bloodshed, and other breaches of the law.
iloidacourt- "^^^^ '^^^^ Cosraing did not hold a court in his own right, but, like the Chiefs of Kindred, he attended the Courts Leet and the King's Court. It is probable that in England also the Gerefa originally had no right of holding a court ; but when the central power of the paramount king absorbed that of the sub-reguli and other minor chieftains, the Sheriffs became in
INTRODUCTION. CCxlix
vested with many of the functions of the officers whom they once represented, according as the offices themselves fell into desuetude or were abolished. The Tourn or Turn of the Sheriff was in fact the successor of the court of the Ealdorman, which corresponded to the Irish Airecht Fodeisin, or Court of King's Bench of a Rig Titaiha. In the Anglo-Saxon system tlie Sheriff was a judge; in the Irish system the Aire Cosraing was not. The Scotch Sheriff has many of the attributes of the Ah^e Forgaill, and is properly speaking a judge, but the office has undergone many changes in process of time.
The Bruighfer, or man of the Brugh, was, as I have already Tiie Brutgh- stated, a special kind of local magistrate, having jurisdiction in all cases of trespass and other disputes about land between neighbours. He was also public hospitaller, and his house con- iiis func- stituted the Forus or place of assembly where the election of the officers of the Tuatli took place. The Bruighfer had ap- panage lands to provide for the entertainment of those legally entitled to receive his hospitality. He appears also to have had the temporary usufruct of escheated lands, and of such lands as fell into the public domain through failure of heirs, or pending the decision of the courts as to the rightful succession to them. In return for these immunities and lands he was duties, bound to maintain his establishment in a proper condition. The extent of his house and premises, the character of the fur- niture, and the amount of supplies of provisions he was bound to have always in store, are minutely given in the C'rith Gah- lachf'''-' He was specially protected by law from trespass and and privi- wanton or malicious damage to his furniture or premises. In the tract just referred to, the fines for such trespasses and damages are set down with great minuteness. These fines were heavy, and were evidently intended to restrain those who were entitled to hospitality within the limits of order and decorum.
The jurisdiction of the court of the Bruighfer extended to u court; all disputes concerning pasturage, tillage, forestry, and all other agricultural matters in dispute between neighbours, which did not involve complex questions of law or right, or a large amount of property. It was a court of arbitration ratlicr than of law,
"■■^ Vol. ii., App.,p. 485.
Ccl INTRODUCTION.
like the Conseil des Prud'hommes of France. The customs and
rules of the Brugh-court were known as Brughrechta or Brugh
corres- Laws.*^^ The Birlaw courts of Scotland for the settlement of
pondud to
uie Scotch disputes between neio-hbours about land, trespass, etc., corres-
court; ponded to the ancient Brugh-Courts of Ireland.*"
of great Thcsc courts are of very ancient origin, as is shown by the
antiquity. r ^ t-i nr
passage quoted above from the Four 3fasters, where the ap- pointment of Bruighfers by Ollamh Fodlila is mentioned.*^*
When an Aithech ar a Threha, father of a Trebh or homestead, that is, head of a Congilda, possessed all tlie property and other qualifications enumerated in the Crith Gablach, he was, we are The Aithech told, an AUhecli Baitsidhe}^^ This latter word is of srreat in- connected torcst, for it almost certainly contains the root of the word lor, bachelor. It signifies one who aspires or is candidate for some-
thing. This is a much better and more satisfactory explana-
**" The following passage will serve to show the class of cases which came within the jurisdiction of the Brugh-court. "No man shall trespass on the land of his neighbour, nor cut down the timber on the land, nor tear down his boundaries or fences, or plunder him [i.e. wilfully trespass on his lands], nor build his Trebaire [such buildings etc., as constituted a man a householder] upon it of houses, or of kilns, or of mills. Neighbours shall not trespass upon each other, i.e. each man shall give a pledge for the damages of his cattle, i.e. a pledge of two Screpalls for every Ail, i.e. for every damage they com- mit by going beyond their own Ail (fence) ; for every Tairsce, i.e. for every crossing over, i.e. for every fence they pass, i.e. passing over one defined limit {Aircend'), or two defined boundaries ; for every Ruriud, i.e. for every first running, i.e. for passing over three Aircends (legal boundaries or limits), or over four Aircends". MS. Brit. Mus., Rawlinson, 487, fol. 66, p. 1. a.
467 u 2^iirlaw, Byrlaw. Laws of Burlaw ar maid and determined be consent of ueichtbours, elected and chosen by common consent in the Courts called the Byrlaw Courts. In the quhilk cognition is taken of complaints betwixt nichtbor and nichtbor, lib. 4. c. The quhilk men sa chosen, as judges and arbitrators to the effect foresaid, are commonly called Byrlaw men. It is ane Dutch word, for baur or baursman in Dutch is rusiicus, ane husbandman. And sa byrlaw, burlaw, or baurlaw, Leges rusticorum : Lawes maid be husband- men, concerning nichtbour-heid to be keiped amangis themselves". De Ver- borum significatione. The exposition of the termes and difficill wordes contained in the fourebuiks of Regiam maiestatem and uthers in the acts of parliaintnt, in- fetfments, and used in practique of this realnie, and with divers rules, and com- monplaces, or principals of the lawes. Collected and exponed be master John Skene, clerke of our soveraine lordis register, councell and roUes. London, 1641, p. 33.
*^» Ante, p. cclxiv. '♦^^ Vol. ii., App., p. 483.
INTRODUCTION. Ccli
tlon of this title, tlian any of those hitherto suggested, most of which arc very absurd. Perhaps the middle Latin and Ro- mance terms baccalaria and hacele, which are supposed to be 11"^^°^*^^^' derived from baca for vacca, a cow, and therefore to signify an ox-o-anff or cow land, were applied to the amount of land which constituted the qualification for an Aithech Baitsidlie, or candi- date Aire, that is a candidate knight. It is worth remarking, that the hacele, according to most authorities, was the amount of land that could be ploughed by an ox, and that the Aithech ar a Threha was bound to have the four essentials for ploughing. And again, that about the thirteenth century, we find bache- lors begin to be mentioned as tenants of lands liable to furnish one Chevalier dOst, or contribute to the extent of a half, a third, or a fourth of the expense of one,**^" as if each Congilda or Comaitches, consisting of three or four comorbs or co-partners, was liable to furnish one cavalier, the expense of which was borne proportionably by each member. This subject is worthy of careful investigation, now that we possess in the Irish laws the key of most of the early institutions of Europe.
Before concluding this section, I should mention, that besides Relieving
o ' ' _ officer tor
the Aire Fine and Dae, each Fine appears to have had a special "'9 poor, officer for the relief of the poor. This officer had the power to levy a rate for the maintenance of the wretched and wander- ino- poor. He is characteristically described in the second law tract, published in the Appendix,*^' as " a pillar of endurance and attendance"; and a curious provision of law was made in his regard, that he could suffer "the reddening of his face without insult to his tribe" ; that is, he was not disgraced by being abused by the sturdy beggar, who, having nothing himself, could not be expected to pay Sarugitd, or any other form of compensa- tion for his abuse. As the old and infirm were legally charge- able on their kindred, and had a right to a house of a certain class, and a certain supply of provisions and attendance,*®^ they also no doubt came under the relieving officer. Each Flath was chargeable with the relief of his own Sencleithe, Boihachs, and Fuidirs.
*^° Hampson, Origines Patricioe,'p. 341.
*8' Vol. ii. p. 519. ^"2 Vol. ii., p. 30, App. p. 479, n. 515, p. 480.
cclii
INTRODUCTION.
Information on legisla- tive and ju- dicial sys- tems of Irish very frag- mentary.
Terms applied to assemblies of tlie people.
Ttie Sahaid CuirrrUigi
POPULAR ASSEMBLIES, AND LEGISLATION.
The information which has come down to us about the legis- lative and judicial systems of the ancient Irish is very frag- mentary, and so obscure that it will be impossible to give a satisfactory account of them until the whole of the law frag- ments in Irish manuscripts are published, or at least made available to scholars. Owing to the anarchy which prevailed during the period of the Viking expeditions and Anglo-Norman wars, the organization of the courts was more or less broken up, the procedure became irregular, and the record of court was carelessly kept. Many forms and offices became obsolete ; so much so that several legal terms, even the names of the officers and of the courts themselves, became unintelligible to the law scribes of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as the ciu'ious entry in the MS. H. 3. 18, in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, which I quoted in a former section, shows. I have endeavoured to construct, from such obscure and scanty ma- terials as were available to me, an outline of the legislative and judicial organizations which I believe to have existed before the commencement of the Viking expeditions, sufficient to enable the reader to form an idea of their general character, and to compare them with the similar systems of north-western Europe.
We meet with five terms in Irish manuscripts applied to councils and assemblies of persons connected in some way with the discussion, enactment, or promulgation of laws, namely, the Sahaid Cuirmtigi or Council of the Ale House, the Math- luagh, the Dal, the Tocomrach, and the Aenech or fair.
The Sahaid Cuirmtigi^^^ or council, which met in the Ale House after the manner of the ancient Germans,''" was com- posed, as the name implies, of the props of the state, that is, of
163 The council at which a Nos-Tiiatha or territorial law was made, should consist of at least nine persons, namely, a Rif/, a File or poet, a Brugh, a bishop, a Ferlegend, lector, or law man, an OUamh or judge, an Aic/ne or counsellor, an Aire Forgaill, and an Airchennech or lay vicar. MS. H. 3. 18 T. CD. f. 427-436.
^°* The Cuirmtig was also known as the Tigh oil. Tribes and customs of Hyfiachrach, Ed. by J. O'Donovan, p. 141.
INTRODUCTION. Ccliii
tlie chief men of the Tnath, M6r Tuath, or province, according to the rank of the Big whose council it was.^" Its functions, which are so minutely described in the Ctith Gablach, were ministerial, judicial, and legislative. In the latter capacity it probably prepared the measures to be brought before the To- comrach or convention. Whenever a new law was required, or that it was found necessary to have the old ones codified, the task was entrusted to some distinguished lawyer or to a com- mission of Sabs. The well-known Feis or Feast of Tara was the feast of the assembly of the Sahaid Cuirmtifji of the para- mount king of Ireland, and as such was naturally composed of the provincial kings and other subreguli.
llithal was a general name in Irish for an assembly. In Muhai a the laws this word is applied to at least three kinds of as- name for sembly, the Mitlial Flatlia, the Mithal Tuatha, and the Math- luaqh. The Mithal Flatlia was a meeting of the tenants or liesje- tiie uuhai
■^ „ .,. P Flatha;
men of a Flatli called together tor military purposes, doing some special work of the lord's, or for the purpose of providing for some extraordinary levy. Any tenant guilty of Meath Mithli Flatlia, or non-attendance at the lord's assembly, was severely punished. The Mitlial Tuatha was an assembly of tiic MUhai the free householders of a Tuath called tofjether to make a Dan, a house, a Fert or grave, etc , for the king, and no doubt for many purposes similar to those mentioned in connection with the Mitlial Flatlia. The Matliluagh*^'^ appears to have the Ji/a//i. been the assembly of the Raitlis or householders of a Fine or Slnagli, summoned by the Aire Fine for the consideration of civil and military matters of importance in which the Fine or allied Fines of a Tuath or M6r Tuath might be concerned, such as protesting against arbitrary acts of the Rig, or a denial of justice by a court, the distribution of the L>ihad or property of deceased members of the Fine, the holding of a weapon- show, the measures of defence to be taken in case of invasion,
**^ Tacitus, De Situ et Moribus Germ., §. xxii.
*^^ Cf. Gotli. mapljan, Anglo-Sax. mu])eUan, to harangue, to speak; O.H.G. and 0. Sax. maJdkm; Goth. mn]pel; A. Sax. me)iel, O.H.G. and O.S. mahal, a harangue, a discourse, a place of public assembly ; me'chel-stede, a battle place. Beowulf, 2160.
Ccliv INTRODUCTION.
the hearing of battle speeches, etc. When the 31ilhal was con- fined to one Fine, it corresponded apparently to the Welsh Rhaith LilySy or Rhaith of Court, composed of from seven to fifty persons. When it included the Sluagh or tribe, it cor- responded to the Welsh Rhaith Gwlad, or Rhaith of Country, which was also called the Rhaith of three hundred.
ThQ Ddi. The assembly of all the Aires of a Tuath, or of a 3Ior
Tuath, or of a number of Tuaths forming a Cland, such as the Dalcas and the Dalriada, was, perhaps, properly speak- ing, a Ddl. The term is, however, also used for an assembly of the notables of a province. A Ddl seems to have chiefly differed from a Mithal in being composed exclusively of the A ires or notables, and in the business being of a more formal and regular character than that transacted at the latter. The assessment of Dire and other fines, the levying of taxes, the maintenance of highways, watch and ward, and in fact ail the fiscal business of the territory or province, as well as the questions of war or peace, were settled at such an assembly.
The Tocom- The true lef^islative assembly was the Toeomrach or conven- tion specially convened for the consideration of important questions, such as the election of a king, the adoption of laws and ordinances. The Toeomrach of a Tuath or of a Mor Tuath could only enact or adopt ordinances in conformity with the Nosa Tuatha, territorial or bye laws ; that of a province or of all Ireland had proportionate jurisdiction, and could enact Caiia or general laws. There is no clear line of demarcation between the Ddl and the Toeomrach, the former term being frequently applied to an assembly where laws were enacted. The same assembly very probably performed several functions ; it was a Toeomrach for the enaction or adoption of laws, a Ddl, or it might have been even several Ddls, for fiscal and other busi- ness; while the several Fines represented there may have held their respective Mathluaghs at the general place of assembly. Thus the general measures, whether legislative, fiscal, or judi- cial, as well as questions of war or peace, were discussed by each Fine in its Mathluagh, and its decision expressed by the chief of kindred, or Aire Fine, in the Ddl of the Cland, or in the general Toeomrach. In like manner the enactments and deci-
INTRODUCTION. Cclv
sions of the hiofher assemblies were communicated at a Math- luagh to the members of each Fine, by its A ire Fine or Chief of Kindred.
The Aenech or fair was a general assembly of all the people, The Aenech
or fuir i
or, as the old tales say, the " Men of Ireland", the " Men of Leinster", etc., according as the fair represented the whole country, a province, or a smaller subdivision. Fairs appear to have originated in funeral games celebrated in honour of origin in some distinguished chief or warrior, and in pagan, and even games, in early Christian times, were always celebrated in cemeteries. The chieftains, judges, and notables sat upon or beside the mounds raised over the graves of the renowned dead. The Scandinavians also deliberated upon all business of importance upon an artificial hillock or mound raised over tombs, called a Haugr. They were accustomed to conceal their treasures in these tombs J which respect for the dead and severe laws pre- served from desecration.""^' The piratical expeditions of the Norsemen, and the dissolution of the old ties of clan among the Germans and Anglo-Saxons, gradually weakened the re- spect for the dead, and the plunder of graves became a com- mon practice of the Vikings. In the saga of Frithiof, Inge- borg directly incites her lover to become a pirate and ransack graves, by arguing with him that it were better that the living should possess wealth than the dead.
In addition to the promulgation of new laws, and the pro- its func- clamation of peace, the old laws were rehearsed at the Aenech, as we learn from the poem on the Fair of Carman."* An ancient fair performed three functions : in the first place, it was the great school where the people learned to know their rights and duties, the special laws under which they lived, the his- tory of the country, the warlike deeds performed by the illus- trious dead, and the genealogies of the families entitled to rule them. In the second place, a fair was the occasion of en- joyment to the people, — dancing, music, recitation of poetry,
*^' The Salic Law " De Corporibus expoliatis" refers to a still more ancient law on the same subject, as follows : — " Et antiqua lege si [quia] corpus jam sepultum exfodierit, et expoliaverit, wargus sit", etc.
^''s Vol. ii., App., p. 543.
cclvi
INTRODUCTION.
feats of arms, athletic sports, horse racing, and jugglery formed part of the essential business of it. And lastly, it was a great market for all kinds of ware and produce. The king who held the fair awarded prizes to the most successful poets, musicians, and professors and masters of every art. The Irish Aenecli therefore closely resembled the games of the an- cient Greeks. Whether or not the Aenechs were used for the three objects just stated from their first institution, it is certain that at the earliest period to which tradition of them reaches, the laws drafted by the Sahaid or Council of the Ale House, and adopted at a Tocomrach, were promulgated at a fair. The function which the Aenech performed as a market, the only one which has survived to our day, was only accidental, and belonged to all gatherings of people. Even now, when per- manent and periodical markets and stores and shops of towns offer abundant facilities for the sale and purchase of all kinds of commodities, peddlers and petty dealers take advantage of every popular assembly to sell their wares. Fairs were The aucieut fairs were organized assemblies regulated by assemblies; strict byc-laws, a breach of which was punishable by death. Thus no one could be arrested on account of any previous trans- actions, nor could the property of any one be distrained going to, at, or returning from a fair. Women were especially pro- tiie Cot or tected, a certain place being set apart for their exclusive use, cN.sure'foT' called a Cot or Cotha, whence has no doubt come the French Coterie. Into this enclosure no men were allowed to enter, nor were the women allowed to mix with the men during their deliberations. It was a special breach of the laws of a fair to elope with a woman or to abduct one against her will. The enclosure for women reminds us of the place set apart on one side of the lists at medieval tournaments for the Queen of Beauty and the other ladies. The Cotha was probably en- closed in the same way as the Lagrett or place reserved for the judges at the Heraththing or assembly of the Hundred among the Scandinavians. This place was surrounded by a fence which was formed often of hazel twigs merely. Who- ever dared to break through this fence, however weak it may have been, was considered to have committed sacrilege, and
INTRODUCTION. Ccl
VU
was outlawed. So too it was held to be a very heinous ofFoncc to break the peace of the Thing, or assembly of" the people, at the opening of which there was always a solemn proclama- tion of peace.
The Mathluaqh was summoned, as has been already stated, """-each
•' kind or »s-
by a Chief of Kindred or Aire Fine, In South Wales the «'='"^'>' ^^*'*
•' _ _ coHveneiL
Breijr^ who was the representative of the Irish Bruighfer, was called a mote man or convener of the Commot, which corres- ponded to the Tocomrach. From the analogy of functions, we may perhaj^s assume that it was the Bruighfer who convened the Dal and Tocomrach of a Tuath, and that they were held at his residence or Bnigh. All who were bound to attend were entitled to the hospitality of the Bruighfer, the extent of which was strictly fixed by law. The Dal of the province was pro- bably convened by the royal Bruighfer. The right of holding an Aenech was a privilege of the Big. The Mathluagh and Dal vrere probably summoned by sending round a javelin in the same way that a Norse Thing was summoned by sending round the BoS from house to house. This was usually a stick, but when an extraordinary Thing was summoned on account of a homicide, an arrow was substituted. The ordinary Aeneck was a periodical assembly, as is shown by the great provincial fairs of Tailtiu, Cruachan, and Carman., which may be looked upon as national assemblies, being held at regular intervals and at fixed periods of the year, — those of Taittiu and Carman, for example, upon the kalends of August — the former every year, and the latter every third year. The king, might, how- ever, convene an extraordinary Aenech whenever the state of affairs justified it. Each ordinary fair was consequently u The great chronological unit like one of the Olympic games. The num-zairschrone- ber of fairs held at some one place, and the names of the chiefs or provincial kings under whom they were held, did we possess them, would afford precious materials of chronology. The poem on the Fair of Carman, published in the Appendix, gives an example of this kind of material. Although it does not give us all that we could wish, and requires moreover to be carefully analysed, it is yet sufficient to more than suggest grave doubts of the usually received chronologv. Thus, in-
INT. ' 17*
Cclviii INTRODUCTION.
stead of the fabulous ages of the Annals of the Four Masters, it places the rule of the Tuatha De Danand at furthest in the sixth or fifth century B.C., a period, as is well known, of great movement among the European races. Persons who E vcrv chief of a household belonging to a Fine was a Raith ,
liad a right , ., , -nr i i 71 •• iii
of vote at and had a nsfht to vote at the Matliiuaqli; but it is probable
each kind of ® <y ' 1
assembly, that it was Only the Chiefs of Kindred, higher Aires and Flaihs, or perhaps the Chiefs of Kindred and Flaths alone, -who had deliberative voice in the Tocomrach and Dal. When these assemblies represented a Mor Taatli or a province, this was cer- tainly the case, as we shall see when describing the courts of law. The freemen below the rank of Aire were represented . in the lower assembly by their Aitliech ar a llireha, or elec- tive Aire; and in the higher assemblies each Fine was repre- sented by its chief The Saxon ceorls, though freemen, did not participate in the judicial folkmote, though they attended the court. The functions of legislation and judgment belonged altogether to the lords and Thegns. The corresponding class in Gaul, called by Caesar the Plehs, were, in his opinion, in a state of servitude. There is no reason, however, for sup- posing that their position was any worse or at all different from that of the poorer Germans. In Gaul, Germany, and Britain, — indeed, we may say in all northern and western Europe, — the right of a deliberative voice in the popular assem- blies belonged only to a limited number — the nobles and equites, gesiths, or whatever other name may have been given to the class equivalent to the Bd A ires of Ireland. This is the sense in which we must understand " omnes" in the passage of Tacitus: "De minoribus rebus principes consultant, de majori- bus omnes : ita tamen, ut ea quoque, quorum penes plebem ar- bitrium est, apud principes pertractentur"-^'^' — that is, all the privileged classes. We say of a member of parliament, that he is elected by the county, although only those who possess ' the elective franchise take part in the election. In ancient, as in modern times, no account was taken of those who had no property or blood.
The Hundred and Sclre-Gcmot of the Anglo-Saxons may *"* Germania, c. xi.
INTRODUCTION. Cclix
be looked upon as tlie equivalent of the Ddl or Tocomrac/t. The oduna When the family orccanization of the Jlaer/th was still intherepre-
, , . , , -, sentatives of
Vigour, the Folc-Gemot of the Handred, and of the subdivi- the as.
. ° . . . Hundred
sion of it, the Township, were the true representatives of the ""^ ■^'-"''"e- difFerent ^fithals. But when tlic Maegth or family lost its political significance, the assemblies of the people lost their distinctive character, and henceforward only dificred in tlieii jurisdiction, aixl the rank of those entitled to a deliberative voice in them
As the German Gcmding, — which was the representative of 'i"d of the the Scandinavian Hera^fing and of the Hundred Gemot, and ^'^"'^^"e, consequently of the Ddl and Tocomrucli of an Irish Tuath^ — is now considered by German antiquaries^"" as the equivalent of the "Concilium" of Tacitus, the description of the German the Con-
IV 1 1 • T • ^ ^ Cilium of
assemblies ought to apply to the ancient Irish ones also. Ixaciius. have not been able, however, to find aay reference which would show that the latter were held at every full and new moon like the German ones. In all else, however, they are alike. Consent was expressed, as in the German and Gaulish assem- blies, by shock of arms,^'"' — the Crann Dord^ described by Prof. O'Curry in Lect. xxxvii. In the poem on the Fair of Carman we are told that the fair ended with " the clash of spear handles from the entire host".^" The same poem also illus- trates another passage in Tacitus' description of the concilium, in which he says order was kept by the priests ^"^ In the ac- count of the Irish fair we are told that a Christian priest wrote the law of the assembly, and *' masses, adorations, and psalm singing" took the place of the ancient pagan rites."'^
In the capitularies of Charlemagne a conventus, colloquium, TiieMaiium or parliament is called a Mallum. The particular assembly so magne;
'^0 Eicliliorn, Deutsche Staats itnd Eecldsr/eschichte, I. 40, 229.
^^' Tacitus, Germ., c. xi. ; Caesar, v. 56, vii. c. 21 ; and Livy, Bk. xxi. c. 20, speak di,-tinctly of the armed council of the Gauls.
"'^ Vol. ii., App., p. 545, Fair of Carman, Stanza 70.
*^^ " Silentium per sacerdotes, quibus tuni et coercendi jus est, imperatur". — Germ., c. xi.
*'* Fair of Carman, Stanzas 56 and 67, vol. ii, pp, 543, 545. The person here alluded to as the author or rather amender of the laws of public as- semblies, was Denen, better known as St. Benign us.
17* B
Cclx INTRODUCTION.
designated is considered to have been a Folc-Mot as it was modified under the sovereign above named. It was not held in the open air like all the ancient assemblies of the Germans and Celts, and those who attended were obliged to lay down their arms before entering/" and it was not lawful to hold it without the mandate of the Missus of the Emperor. This was the officer who governed, in the name of the latter, a pro- vince, or properly speaking a state, as the provinces of the empire, like the shires and counties of England and Ireland, were orignally so many confederate states. The Missus in his turn could not convene a Mallum without the special command of the sovereign. Mallum is clearly connected with O. Saxon Mahal, a place of public assembly : it is indeed the same word connate with with the Latin termination -um, and is cognate with the Irish luayh; Afatkluagh, or assembly of the chief men of a tribe. The changes effected in the German popular assemblies by the Carlo- «^''f™°*f° ^ vine^ians entirely destroyed their character. The old assemblies
old Mallum ; c^ .
were summoned at the will of the aristocracy for the holding of the courts, the assertion of rights, or to denounce injustice inflicted by the prince, and were to a great extent periodic. Their judicial functions having been abolished, an excuse was thus afforded for not summoning them except when the sove- reign thought fit.^'*^ The old assemblies being held at the graves of the pagan chieftains, the new ones were ordered to be held in buildings, so as to discourage burial in pagan cemeteries.^" functions of One cliicf functioii of the original popular assembly remained
Mallum; 1^1.. ,T 11 A • 1 T
to the Uaiiovmgian Mallum. A capitulum or ordinance en- acted at a general placitum or diet of the empire, only became a
*''^ " Ut nuUus ad Mallum vel ad placitum infra patriam arma, — id est scu- um et lautiam, — non portet". — Capit. iii. a.d. 806, § 1. This appears to have been the custom at the Feis or Feast of Tara also ; the Dal g- Cas alone having a right to enter armed.
*^^ " Interdiximus ut omnes Saxones generaliter conventus publicos nee faciant, nisi forte Missus uoster de verbo nostro eos congregare fecerit. Sed unusquisque comes in suo ministerio placita et justitias faciat. Et hoc a sacerdotibus consideretur, nealiter faciat". — Capit. Paderbr., an. 785, §. 34.
*'' Great efforts were male for this purpose. Thus the capitulary referred to in the foregoing note says : " Jubemus ut corpora christianorum Saxanorum ad cimiteria ecclesiae deferantur, et non ad tumulus paganorum". — Capit. Pa- derbrunneiise (an. 785), § 22.
INTRODUCTION. Cclxi
" lex" for cacli state or so-called ])rovince when accepted by its Mallum. Just as the enactments made by the paramount Ancflo-Saxon kinsr became law at once in his own state, but did not in the other ones until they had been first accepted by the respective Folc-Gem6ts. The Irish Mathluaqh performed tiiose of the
-1171 rri Malhlungh
similar functions in the Irish commonwealth. When a Tocom- auaiogouf. rack or Dal was held, the minor Flaihs and Chiefs of Kin- dred received information of any new laws enacted, fines to be levied, and of all other matters afFectingr their respective Fines. On their return home they summoned a 31athluagh, and com- municated to the heads of houses the enactments and assess- ments, which only became valid for each Fine or tribe when accepted at its assembly.
The general placitum of the Carlovingians referred to above, The general corresponded to the Irish Aenech of a province or of all Ire- corres-
... IT -nil 11 P "II Jed to
land. In Christian times, both comprised the clergy as well the ^enec/i. as the laity, and performed many functions. The clergy, for instance, appear to have sometimes held a synod on the occa- sion of an Aenech, and to have used the occasion for the pur- pose of a mission; laws were promulgated, and accepted by the people ; there was also a weapon-show or military review, and regulations were passed for improving the military force ; and lastly, a court was held for the trial of appeals. An Aenech was thus a convocation of the clergy, a parliament, a military review, and a court of justice, these different func- tions not being, however, mixed up, and each, though inde- pendent of the others, forming an essential pait of it. Such was also the general Placitum, — religious discipline and other ecclesiastical matters occupied the clergy, the Champ de Mars or military review, the council, and the presentation of gifts to the sovereign, as a token of antrustionship or homage, occupied the vassals and military retainers, and all sat together for legis- lative or judicial purposes.
It is probable that every Mathluagh, Ddl, or Tocomrach, served similar purposes, and that ecclesiastical, military, and judicial business was transacted at them as well as le- gislative.
cclxii INTRODUCTIOIf.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
In all countries and at all times judicial functions have been performed by legislative bodies. The power of making a la-w- and of putting it in force, were among all ancient nations inse- parable. To secure the freedom of the one and the impartiality of the other, as well as from necessity, the two functions have always been more or less separated according as a nation ad- LegisiatiTe vanced in political organization. Although it is probable that
and judicial ■■■ ° _ or
n'l-at'd"^ '*«■ courts worc generally, if not always, held at assemblies of the Ireland at an people, at wliicli Other busiuess was also transacted, the legis-
eaily period. .... . °
lative and judicial functions appear to have been fully separa- ted in Ireland at the earliest period of Avhich we have any defi- nite information. Irish terra The Irisli term for a iudiclal court is Airecht, which implies-
tor a court. i , . .
that the judges and suitors were Aires. Exclusive of the
Brugh Court, which was, as I have said, more an arbitration
Five distinct than a law court, we find mention made of five distinct courts,
courts in ^^^•^-m^•^■,
Ireland. namely: the Ai7^eclit I'okxth, the Aireclit Urnaidi, the Airecht
Fodeisin, the Taeb Airecht, and the Cul Airecht. The Aireeh The Airccht Foleith, or court of the Foleith, is of special eourt-Leet interest, because, judging not only by its functions but by its name, it was the exact representative of the Court-Leet and Sheriffs Tourn of Anglo-Saxon and early Norman times. In every Tuath, as I have already pointed out, three Aires in addition to the Rig were entitled to a Foleith or attendance of suitors, and to hold a court, — these were the three highest Aires of the class of Flaths. Such Aires were called Sic Oc ox Sice Occ, or in English legal phraseology they had "sac and soc". This court appears to have been formed of the Aires Cosraing or Ah^es Fine, that is, of the Chiefs of Kindred, who, as we have seen, represented the Anglo-Saxon Reeves of town- ships, and of the other chief m.en of a Fine, who were entitled to act as Naidms or knotmen. Faiths or jurors, and Fiadnasa or witnesses, — terms which I shall describe more fully subse- quently.''^^
178 ^^ Airecht Foleith. It is in it tliat Nadmann, and Ratha, and Fiadnasa lemain. Mic Cor mbel [i.e. the binding men, the Chiefs of Kindred] do not
INTRODUCTION. cclxiii
Although the Court Leet existed amongst the Anglo-Saxons, the name appears iirst in Domesday Book. The Irish term Foleitli corresponded to the Leode of the Anglo-Saxons, and may he translated by the modern German Geleute, that is, a suite of persons accompanying a lord or high personage. Tacitus' account of the mode of dispensing justice among the ancient Germans, is a description in general terms of the Airecht Foleith of the Irish.'" The ancient German court was lield in the open air at some place indicated by a tree or a stake stuck in the ground. In Ireland the court was also held in an open field, a pole being stuck in the ground as a symbol of authority. This pole was called a Dos Airechta, or court pole, and was carried by a special oificer called a Dosaire.
The Airecht Urnaidi*'^^ or Court of Pleas, appears to have The 4irec;i<
' . , Urnaidi or
been a court for the hearincr of cases concerning property and com t of
o ^ '-■I i- i. ^ Pleas.
other matters involving technical law. The judges of those courts were Bretheman or Brehons, and the lower grades of advocates and attorneys pleaded in them.
We find mention made of a district magistrate called a Net- The Netmia mid, who either held a separate court for hearing minor cases, somewhat like a modern Civil Bill Court, or sat as one of the ami Bretha judges of the Airecht Urnaidi, or acted perhaps m both capaci- ties. The Neiinid also acted as a kind of propositus, and had mensal land assigned to him. He is also mentioned as the re- ceiver of chief rents. The rules and precedents of these courts were called Bretha Neimidh.
This word Neimid is of great interest. In the first place it cnmioction
T „ , •,. . -, ot ihis word
reminds us of the Nemedians, one oi the earliest races said towithper-
sonal. ethnl-
have colonized Ireland, and from whom our legendary history cai, ami to- pographical
come among any other class, the other classes do not go amongst them ; they n'i'"'^^ ; deliberate upon what is just so as to come with a clear remembrance [deci- sion] before the court".— MaS. T.C.D. H. 3. 18 p.i7, b.
479 " Eliguntur in iisdeni conciliis et priticlpes, qui jura per pages vicosque reddunt. Centeni singulis ex plebe comites, consilium simul et auctoritas, adsunt".— X'e Situ et Mor. Ger., c. xii
*^^ Airecht Urnaidi. In it are the parties to the suits, and the advocates purifying the judgments [(".e. each advocate pleading his client's cause, and tlius assisting to purify the judgment, that is to arrive at a just decision], wliila the judges are reviewing and expounding [the law of] the case". — MS. H. 3. 18. p. 5. b.
Cclxiv INTRODUCTION.
derives the two great races which afterwards successively held the sovereignty of Ireland — the Firholgs and Tuatha DS Danand, and of the leader of that race Neimid.*^^^ Again, seve- ral ancient peoples and places are mentioned, in the names of which we have probably the same root: for example, the Gaulish tribe name of Nf^ijrat or Nemetes, who appear to have worshipped a goddess, called Nemetona ; the Belgic town of the Atrebati, Nemetocenna; AvyovcTTovijufTov in Gaul; Tasinemetum in Noricum; Medionemeton in Britain, and ^sjueTolipiya in Spain. And again the word Nemeton occurs in the inscription of Vaison in the sense of sacred, while the word Nimidas in a rubric of the Indiculus Superstitionum et Paganiarum of the Council of Liptinse of the year 743, sig- nifies sacred groves/®^ In an Armoric charter of 1()31 a similar grove is called a Nemet. The term was applied not so . much to a grove as to a retired place used for religious rites ; and as the administration of justice was always connected with religious rites among primitive peoples, the priest being often judge also, a Nemet was also a place, — generally a wood, — where a court was held. This, according to some, is the mean- ing of the Drunaimetos of the Gauls of Asia Minor, the prefix dru indicating that it was situated in an oak wood, while others think that the word might be explained as Dru-nem-at, the sacred place of the Druids.^*^ ana with There is an obvious connection between Nemet, a place
the Scandi- . . , ■*■
aavian where a court was held, and the Scandinavian tribunal of twelve men, a Nemda. The Heraththing, or assembly of the
^*' Neimid also occurs as a proper name at a later period. In the Amials of the Four Masters we are informed under the year a.d. 165, that Conaire, son of Mogh Lamha, was slain by Neimid, son of Sruibhyheann ; and at a.i>. 186, that Neimid, son of Sroibhcinn, king of the Ernai, of Munster, was slain in the battle of Ceannfeabhiat, fought by the three sons of Oilioll Oluim. These two entries ap]Dear to refer to the same person, Guomemet occurs as a proper name in liees' Lives of the Cambro- British Saints.
482 " j)e sacris silvarum quae nimidas vocant". — Acta Conciliorum Labbei et Cos.tartii, Ed. i^. J, Hardouin, vol iii. p. 1022. Paris, 1714. Lobbes, a vil- lage in the former Pays de Liege, and now in the Belgian province of Ilainault, not far from the French frontier, is believed to be the site of Lip- tinse. or Liptinas. This dislrict was in the country of the Nervii.
**' See Diefenbach, Origines Europaeae, p. 322.
INTRODUCTION. CclxV
The Scandi- avian
Herath of the Scandinavians, was composed of all who pos-T sessed political riglits within the territory, the Almoghen or^*"*""- commonalty. This assembly elected a Nemda consisting of six Hoflmen or barons enfeoiFed by the king, corresponding to the Irish Aires Desa, and six Bondes, corresponding to the the Irish Bd Aires. These twelve, representing the nobility and people, together with the bishop and two priests, elected the Laghman or chief judge of the district, or rather sent the names of three persons to the king, who appointed one of them. The Laghman and a Nemda of twelve elected the executive magistrate or Heraths-Hoffding. It is not quite clear whether this Nemda was composed of the same persons who formed the one which elected the Laghman himself, or was a special one chosen for the purpose. The latter view seems probable, for the term Nemda was also given to twelve men selected to try a case in civil law, and also because the Nemda which elected the Laghman or president appears to have been a permanent body Avhich administered the affairs of the territory, provided for the administration of justice, watch and ward, and the main- tenance of the highways and bridges.
It is uncertain how the members of the high Nemda were elected, and in what manner they exercised their functions in very early times, or how long the members continued in office. It would seem, however, that the Nemda corresponded to an an- cient duodenary division of the Herad, or rather that the Swedish division referred to under the latter name was in reality the re- presentative of the Norse Fylk, and that each member of the Nemda was magistrate of a division, though in certain cases they may have formed a single court like the mythical pi-oto- type of the Nemda — the twelve headmen appointed by Odin "to doom the lands' law in Sigtun". Whether or not each member of a Nemda had separate jurisdiction within an assigned district, like what the Irish Neimid seems to have had, or not, there can be no doubt that there existed a close re- lationship between the Irish and Norse systems. It is worth mentioning here, that the king of Sweden was elected by a Nemda, and sometimes the king of Norway also. Perhaps in ancient times the Anglo-Saxon Ealdorman, the Gaulish
Bench
CClxvi INTRODUCTION.
Rigs or Rix^ and the Irish Eig^ were elected by a limited num- ber of electors, and not by the whole of the freemen. The assemblies which enacted, or rather codified the Welsh laws xuider Howel Dlia, seem to have been formed after the same type as the Scandinavian Nemda. The laws were first drawn up with the assistance of an assembly composed of six men from each Commot, or twelve from each cantred, and afterwards con- firmed by a second assembly of twelve delegates and one clerk. V^deisin'^m '^^^° Aircclit Fodeishi was the chief court of a Rig, pre- court of sided over by his Ollamh Brethemnais or chief iudo-e. We
Jiing ^ J Jo
are told that the judges sat in it Avith the sixteen classes or grades of the court around them. Only twelve grades are, however, mentioned in the laws, among whom we do not find the king or his Tanist, a bisliop or cleric, or the Aire Forgaill, who acted as the king's chancellor. If we add these we have sixteen. We have no authority for making up the number in this way, although it is probable that one or more ecclesias- tics sat in this court, as they did in the higher courts. Or perhaps we should not include the king at all, who may have sat there with a bishop or some other cleric, his Tanaist, Aire Forgaill, and Aire Ard, representing the Gurda, who sat at at each side of the Welsh prince — these with the twelve classes enumerated in the laws making in all sixteen, exclusive of the king and his judges. This was also the number of persons composing the chief iV^mtZa of Sweden, if we add the bishop, two priests, and the elected Laghman. The celebrated Frey- feld Gericht or Freefield Court of the Abbey of Corbey, which can be traced back into pagan times when it was under the su- premacy of the priests of the Irminseule/^* also consisted of six- teen members. These were the Graphio, or Graif, who was the senior member, the Frohner or suramoner, who was the junior member, and fourteen Schoppen or declarers of judg- ment, who were chosen from among the twenty-two families or septs who inhabited the Gau. This coincidence in the num- ber forming the Irish and German courts is curious ; it may, however, be only accidental.
The analysis of the twelve names of the grades or classes of "•8* Meiboniius, De Irminsula Saxonica, c. iv.
INTRODUCTION. Cclxvii
persons who owed service to the King's Bench or Airecht i^^o- Analysis of deisin, mentioned above, presented unusual difficulty. Thetwei^ve words are obscure, and only very few of them are to be found ^°'™j"/g/'"' in existing glossaries. This list of names forms part of the frag- ^I'fflcuu ; ment describing the Irish courts, which the law scribe, who com- piled the vellum MS. H. 3. 18, in the Library of Trinity Col- lege, Dublin, between the years 1509 and 1511, so naively con- fessed his inability to explain, as I have already mentioned/^^ I believe that, although I may not have determined in every instance the true functions of the various classes named, the following brief explanation will be found sufficiently correct to convey an accurate idea of the organization and character of the ancient Irish Court of King's Bench.
The first class named are Nascaires, or persons qualified to the twelve
■*■ . classes.
make Naidms or knots, that is, to enter into bonds and give security for costs, etc. These were the Aires Cosraing, or Gerefas of territories The second name, the Sruithem, is ex- plained in the commentary on the text in the MS., as the Aire Forgaill; but he was more likely the Dae, or as he is called in the second law tract in the Appendix, Ansruth, who brought up thieves and other malefactors whom he had arrested. The Fihtha do da crecha, which means literally axemen of two cuttings, were the apparitors who took charge of the prisoners at the bar, and to whom traversers surrendered. As the respon- sibilities of the prisoners' bails or sureties were thereby cut, the officers into whose custody the prisoners went were called axes or axmen of two cuttings, because they relieved, pending the trial, the sureties of the plaintiffs and defendants from the bonds into which they had entered before the trial. The Cai- chen do da Aaill, testifiers of two oaths, were the Toings or oathmen of the plaintiff, who supported his testimony by their oaths, and the compurgators of the defendant, who cleared him by their oaths of the guilt. The Diabalcorach no do Fille were qualified lawyers, who performed the same functions as the attorneys of our courts. They appear to have corresponded to the Welsh Kannlau or guider. The word literally means a folder up or a doubler up of justice, that is, persons who drew •»«* P. xiv.
cclxviii
INTRODUCTION.
The twelve classes of tlie Airecht Fodeisin.
The Taeh Airecht.
up or prepared cases for the pleader. The Slimred no do Nuihen were advocates or pleaders. The words literally mean cleaners or burnishers, their business being to make the case of their clients as pure and as bright as possible. Ard arcon imod Toisi, high nobles of great state, were in the first place those Flatlis who had the right of holding a manorial court or Airecht Foleith, and who were therefore magistrates before whom in- formations were taken, and through whom summons and plaints were served. The term perhaps included all Flatlis, because, as I have before mentioned, private informations coming under Urrvdas or common law, could be made before three Aires Desa. Conn Conda Secha were the Chiefs of Kindred, Aires Fine, or heads of Fines, who attended to give testimony for the members of their Fine, and to accept the verdict of the court and give bail for any of them against whom a judgment was registered. The Airlighe ar da Cleth, chief or highest advisers, were the members of the council of each Fine, — the four who, with the Aire Fine, or Chief of Kindred, formed the Cuicer na Fine. An Tengtaid ar da Feth Airecht no Danaig, the tongue men or eloquent men, who had a recognized position derived from land or profession; they were the elected re- presentatives of Fines, corresponding to the Welsh Teisban- tyle. The Brethem no Dobeir, judges or givers, were those who gave the Berra Airechta, or decisions of the court. And lastly the Suitengaidh no do Fethaigther, were the Suith or Sahaid, who spoke or waited upon the court for the purpose of bearinor witness as to the judgments given and acts done in their presence. In ancient times the memorials of courts were not written down, but were entrusted to the recollection of the judges and suitors. This record was given " ore tonus", or as the Irish expressed it, o hel acas o tengaig, " from mouth and tongue". Thus in England in former times record of a suit in the county court was made by four knights ; the record of a fine was made by the judges and four knights who were present when the parties entered into the agreement.^^^
The Taeb Airecht, side court, was a high court for the trial of all causes arising between different territories forming a Mdr 48C Palgrave, op. cU., p. 146.
INTRODUCTION. Cclxix
Tuath. It was properly the court of the Rig M6r Tuatha or kinor-khig. It was composed of three classes of persons, — the professional classes entrusted with the genealogies of families and the records of the county, hostages, and guarantors/'*' In the passage of the laws, descriptive of this court, we are told that the hostages were there on their own account. In a pre- ceding section I have mentioned that the kings of M6r Tuatlis had hostages for the fulfilment of Ceilsinne or homage, and that for the safe keeping of such hostages they were entitled to have erected for them a special fosse around their Dun. As these hostages were pledges among other things for submis- sion to the jurisdiction of the high court, the expression that they were there on their own account, is intelligible. The guarantors are the representatives of the territories interested in the causes brought before the court, and, as such, responsible for costs and judgments.
These guarantors are also called Sic Oc in the passage "eaj'jj'g^l.^ quoted from the laws below. In a note to the Critli Gablach*^^ ^"^J I have connected one of these words. Sic, with Anglo-Saxon Secga, Secg, an ambassador, and with Old Frisian Asega, a judge. In another note in the same tract on the Oc Aire, I have suggested that oc may be connected with Gothic ogjan, to terrify. Old High German aJci, discipline. The functions ot the persons called Sic Oc in the passage alluded to corres- pond fully to those of an ambassador and judge. It is, how- ever, evident that the words Sic Oc are applied to the gua- rantors as if to explain the grounds upon which they had seats in the court, as opposed to the king-kings, who sat there in
*" " Taeb Airec/tt. In it are seated historians and king-kings, and hos- tages, and guarantors. The reason it is called 2ae6 Airec/tt is because it is for explaining and proving the records, i.e. that this court is established at the fides". The commentator explains this passage as follows: " Taeb Airecht, i.e. the court for the giving of both sides [of a case], ie. because that is the business for which the historians are kept there; and king-kings, i.e. the rojal kings, and hostages for themselves alone [i.e. on their own account], and sureties, i.e. Sic Oc, and guarantors, i.e. Sic Oc. The reason why it is called Taeb Airecht is because it is for giving history, i.e. for explaining the knowledge of history, and it is for proving it, i.e. by showing a precedent for each particular case". MS. T.C D II 3. 18, p. 57. b.
"^s Vol. ii., App., 510.
cclxx
INTRODUCTION.
w"th''s'al" ^^^^^ °^" "c^"^* This suggests a connection between Sic Oc
and "soke", or Sicc Occ and the English law term "sak and soke". Sac or
"Sak" meant a cause arising in a Socn or " Soke", that is in the
manor or jurisdiction of a lord. The tenants'*^ of the lord were
hence called Socmen, and as freemen owing suit to the manor
court, they formed the Leode, or Irish Foleith — hence the term
Court Leet given to such a court. A Sic Oc was, therefore, an
Aire entitled to a Foleith, that is, to liold a court within his Socn
or manor. The guarantors of the Taeb Airecht were therefore
kings of Tuaths, their Tanists, Aires Forgaill, Aires Ard, and
Aires Tuisi, in other words, the magnates of the Mdr Tuath.
Virechi or ^^'^^ Cul- Airecht, rear court, was the high court of appeal,
Spth' composed of kings, bishops. Sic Oo, and Ollamhs, the latter
term being applied to the highest rank of judges, pleaders,
Files, and other professional classes. The description of this
court given in the laws, shows clearly that it was the hin-h.
court of appeal, in which the judgments of the lower courts
were reviewed, and set aside or confirmed, according as they
seemed good or bad.''^" Each province appears to have had
its Cul- Airecht ; when the authority of the paramount kino- was
fully recognised, as it generally was while Tara was the seat
of government, the judgments of these provincial courts were
not final, in causes of general national importance Avhich came
■*8» Sooi has been connected with ploughing, but this is a mere gues?. It was originally the society or allied families which carried on constant and direct intercourse with each other, and submitted their disputes to the head of the society and the principal men of the community. Hampson is, there, fore, perhaps right iii connecting it with the Latin stem soci-us, soci-etas, and the cognate stems in other Aryan languages, from the root sak.
Socn first became Soken and then Soke. Solen is obviously the same as the Sacken or jurisdiction of the Sub-Fowds or deputy governors of the Zetland Islands. Fowd, or more anciently Faod, represents fadhs in the term Hunda fadhs, given in the Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospels to the cen- turion. The Swedish Fogde and German Vogt are cognate forms of the same word.
Soc or Soke was also used in other connections to express a right of some kind within a certain district,— e.y. Faldsoc, the liberty of liaving a fold, cor- responding to the Irish Ful-Soc.
"0 Cul-Airecht, it is in it that kings and bishops and Sic Oc and Ollamhs are seated. The reason it is called the Cul Airecht, Rear Court, is because they are the learned nobles who sit behind the other courts for drawing up judgments and proving them by precedents. The commentator observes
INTRODUCTION. Cclxxi
under the Cain Righ Erind^ or Cain of the high king; the court of appeal for such causes was the Cid-Airecht of Tara.
The creneral term for law in Irish appears to have been Recht, General
" , 1 i-» term tor law
which was also used in compound words, such as Brughrecht orinirisii. Birlaw. In addition to the term just named, we meet with three other words which are used in law books to distinguish the differ- ent kinds oiRechts or laws, namely, Urrudas, Cairde, and Cditu
Urrudas was the common or traditional law of the country, Common varied by custom in different places. The word means pri- mitive or original counsel, ^^' and like the common law of Eng- land, was superior to all other laws. In a Brehon's advice to his son, after naming the three kinds of law, he says: "Of them the Urrudas is the noblest"/'^
A Cairde appears to have been a contract, especially one I'ltcrtenito- entered mto between adjoinmg territories respecting nigliways, boundaries, and levying of Dire and other legal fines for forays, bloodshed, theft, etc. When used in the sense of law, we are to understand it as the bye-laws and regulations made for the execution and fulfilment of such contracts or treaties, and the fees, etc., connected therewith. The court which had most to do with Cairde was the Taeh-Airecht, and accordingly the only professional class mentioned in connection with that court are historians, whose business it was to know everything connected with the boundaries of territories, the genealogies of families, contracts formerly entered into, etc. No disputed cases involving technical law were decided in courts held for making a Cairde.
on this : " Cul Airecht, i.e. a court which is behind the re?t. It is in it they are wont to be, i.e. kings and bishops, and Sic Oc, and chief poets. This is why it is called Cul Airecht: because they are the nobles who are to the rear, i.e. because their court is the court wliich is behind the rest for judg- ment, i.e. for giving their judgments and precedents, i.e. the true interpreta- tion of every judgment".— J/.S'. T.C.D. H. 3. 18, p. 57. b.
*3' Besides the primary meaning,— original, old, — the Irish tir has the se- condary meaning, noble, high ; hence Urrad^ a counsellor, a bail, was a person of position, e.g. Urrainain na Cliche, the chiefs or chief councillors of the Cric/te or territory. Tlie words Urrad and Urrudas are obviously connected with the Anglo-Saxon or, primitive, old (N.II.G, ur) and raed, counsel, that is orrded, ancient counsel.
^'^ MS. T.C.D., II. 4. 22. p. 85.
Cclxxii INTRODUCTION.
Cain or sta.- C cUn Isiw Corresponded to our statute law. The laws and ordinances enacted in assemblies of the people were Cana^ and hence almost every Cain was connected with the name of the person who drew^ it up, such as Cain Adamnain, Cain Cormaic, etc., or with the place where it was enacted or pro- mulgated, as Cain Fuithrime, etc. I have already pointed out the connection between the term Cain and the Anglo- Saxon Cyn in Cynbote, or the king's share of legal fines. The recovery of such fines would not come under the provisions of common law, but of statute law, for the king could only have become entitled to them in virtue of some specific enactment. It is therefore probable that there was in early Anglo-Saxon a word cognate with the Irish Cain, and which has been pre- served in Cynbote. The word Cdia is sometimes used also in the general sense of codified law, whether common law or ancient statute law. Thus the whole of the laws, common and statute, by which ancient Irish society was regulated, was called the Cain FenecJias or laws of the Fines. Again, the Munstcr laws, codified in twelve books, by Amergin, son of Amalgad, in the time of Finghin, king of that province, who died A.D. 694, are called the Cain Fuithrime.
The judges The cxistence of different courts of law, possessing different
of the differ- .... ... •, ■, t n'' i r • i
ent courts, jurisdictions, implies that theie were dineient ranks or judges. It is not probable that any professional judges were connected with the Airechts Foleith or Courts Leet, at least in their ear- liest form. There can be no doubt, however, that the Court of Pleas, or Airecht Urnaidi, was presided over by a professional judge, who was, as I have said before, probably one of the high magistrates called a Neimid. In the king's court or Airecht Fodeisin there were, besides the chief judge or Ollamh, the persons called Brethem no Dobeir, who were clearly judges of inferior rank to the presiding judge. Their number is no- where given, nor are we informed whether they were of co- ordinate rank. Again, we do not know whether they were the special judges of the Court of King's Bench, or only judges of lower courts, or Courts of Pleas, who sat in the former in the same way that the Ollanihs, or chief justices of the king's court, sat together in the Cul- Airecht or high court of appeal. A
INTRODUCTION. Cclxxlii
Rig Tuatha had a,FoleitJ', and consequently held a Court Lcct, over which he must liave himself presided. The Crith Gab- lach tells us that a king was himself a judge, though it was lawful for him to keep a judge. This judge was the Ollamh BrpAhammds or chief justice of the Airecht Fodeisin, who aided the king in everything connected with the administra- tion of justice; though it is not probable that he had much direct connection with the king's manor court.
The profession of law appears to have been in a singularly advanced stage of organization for so early a period. The two branches of the profession appear to have been quite distinct, as they were in Wales also, at an early period. The represen- The
- TT 1 1 • 1 1) f» 1 1 attorney.
tative of the attorney m Wales was " the guider , ot the bar- rister, "the pleader". In Ireland the former was called an Ebe, and the latter an Aighne, or arguer. The fully qualified attor- ney entitled to practise in the higher courts was called a Fir Ebe or Fairbe}'^^ The highest rank of advocate was the Ollamh Aighne. It was only barristers of this rank who were entitled to plead in the Cul-Airecht, or high court of appeal. The fully qualified attorney of the king's court was also called a Diabaicorach, or winder or folder up of justice, because he prepared or wound up the case of his client for the pleader or barrister. The barristers of the king's court are called, in the description of that court, Slimrid 7io do Nuiben, that is, as I have already explained, cleansers or polishers.
There were four grades or ranks of advocates, whose relative Four grades ranks as measured by their Firic, were as follows: the first, tew; called ''the dispenser of justice", was entitled to an eiric of nine cows; the pleading counsellor, to six cows; the junior barrister of the first rank, to four cows ; and of the lowest or second rank,
«9'? Tiie usual derivation given for attorney from tornare, seems to me to be very unsatisfactory — indeed a mere guess. Like barrister, it probably giew up exclusively on Celtic ground. In a note to tlie CrUh Gahlack (vol. ii. p. 474), I have suggested tliat the true origin may have been cognate forms of Irish aitte, Gothic aite, a father or nurturer, and uinaide, to plead, which would give the compound Athumaide. ('ertainly the nurturer or getter up of a plea is a much more rational origin for attorney than the one above ment'oncd.
INT. 18*
Cclxxiv INTRODUCTION.
Four grades to three cows.*^* The title " dispenser of justice", given to
ters ; the first rank, seems to imply that they were rather judges
than professional advocates. The Brethem no Dobeir of the
king's court were perhaps the king's counsellors, and identical
with the dispensers of justice.*'^
I have already mentioned that advocates were not entitled to
«* MS. T.C.D. H. 3. 18. p. 518.
*3^ The second of the names of the counsellors of the King's Court, the Brethem no Dobeir, is of some interest in connection with the origin of the words " bar" and " barrister", which have never yet been satisfactorily ex- plained. Diez derives English bar, French barreau, and the cognate forms in the other Romance languages, from a Celtic form, e.g. Welsh bar, a bough or branch of a tree. There is also an Old Norse bai-r, which signifies buds or young leaves, as in the Havamal: hlyrat kenni borJcr ne bar?-, it put forth neither bark nor leaves (str. 50). In modern Danish and Swedish this word means the spines or leaves of coniferous trees. In addition to the names given in the text to lawyers, we also meet with the word Berrach, which is generally considered to mean a junior barrister. This word is a noun- adjective, formed by adding the suffix -ach to barr, and when ufed to cha- racterize a function, meant a man of the barr. Hickes (Gr, Angl.-Sax., i. 231) quotes a passage from an Old English poem, in which the word " baret" occurs in the sense of contention. This word, which he considers to be Dano-Norman, may be connected with the O.N. verb bera, to bear, which among many other meanings has those of pleading, reciting, alternating, etc., when joined witli a preposition. Thus it occurs with milH, between, in the AtlamTil (str. 95) beraz rbg milli, which is translated by Egilsson, as mutuas contentiones alternare. This accurately expresses the fundamental idea of the functions of barristers. The Irish word beir, to bear, to give, as in Dobeir, has all tiie secondary meanings of the Norse — they are indeed almost the same word. The subjective origin is cerfeinly to be preferred to the objective. Like the Lagrett of the Scandinavian Laghman, which, as I have already mentioned, was surrounded by hazel twigs, so as to leave an open space, in front of which prisoners were placed, and lawyers pleaded. The chair or seat of the Irish Breithenm, or judge, was surrounded by an empty space or sanctuary, formed by an Imi, or fence, made of the boughs of trees or roughly hewn bars of wood. The use of the word •'bar" for a plea or peremptory exception made by a defendant sufficient to stop for a time or entirely overthrow a plaintiflf's action, admits of either the subjective or the objective derivation. If we admit the latter, a barrister, or according to the old spelling, barrastar, would be one who stood at bar, bar-astare, to stand at bar. There is an objection to this word as being a hybrid made up of a Celtic and Latin word. As the term grew up on Celtic ground, we may legitimately conclude that if any part be Celtic, the whole is Celtic. Dr. O'Donovan first drew attention to a verbal ending of the third person singular, past tense, indicative mood, found in the old MSS., and variously written -astair, -esiar, -uslar, etc. Of these he prefers the first, and quotes from MS.
INTRODUCTION. CclxXV
Loq Enech, that is to the special damaws awarded as the price advocates
r 1 rY> T 1 ^• • r' ^ • ■ ^ r^T not entitled
or a man s ouended dignity, for any mj ury or insult. They *<? ^"9 were legally classed in this respect with the Cainte or satirist, or, in other words, a man employed to abuse others was not en- titled to claim damages when abused himself.^""
None hwt Aires could be suitors of a court; even in prosecu- ^»>«« only
could be
tion for theft, murder, or other crime, if the accused was not suitors. himself an Aire, and therefore in his own pledge, the nominal defendant was an Aire of his immediate family, or his Chief of Kindred, or if a member of a Congilda, his Aithech ar a Threha. In the case of Bothachs and Fuidirs, the Flaths upon whose estate they lived were the nominal defendants. Such Fuidirs as possessed sufficient wealth to entitle them to be classed among those having the Cuig Rath Cedech, or five hundreds of chattels, appear to have sued and pleaded in their own name. The various legal capacities in which the Aire was various ca- called upon to act as indicated in the Crit/t Gahlach, were winch a
, p A7 • 7 -n • 7 T-' rrt ^ suitor acted.
those ot JS'aidm, Jiaiili, Fiadnaise, Toing, and Aitive.
A contract or bargain was called a Naidm or knot, a word cognate with the Latin Nexum. Every legal contract appears to have been executed in the presence of three Aires, one of whom acted as a magistrate on the occasion, and was called a Fer Nadma, Nadmann, that is knot-man, or a Nascaire, from The Nad-
7tiii7i'ii or
nasc, a ring. The second Aire acted as a Eaith, and the third Nascaue; as a Fiadnaise. I have already mentioned that a criminal infor- mation, made privately, should also be made before three Aires. Any one who made a charge against another, rendered himself liable for damages if he failed to prove his indictment. When any one charged another with a crime, or svied him for a debt, or instituted legal proceedings of any kind, or filed a defence to a charge or to a civil action, the complainant or plaintiff",
E. 2. 15, in the library of Trinity College, Dublin,* the interesting form breitheamnastair "judicavit". If we substitute the cognate stem heir for breith, we shall have beirastair, or barraatar, he pleaded. The verbal form ex- pressive of the act of pleading, and which indicated the function of the man, being sometimes used to designate the man himself who pleaded, the Avord barrastar came in time to be used as a noun.
"« J/5'. r.C.Z)..ff. 3. 18.518.
* A Grammar of the Irish Language, pp. 175, 176.
18* B
Cclxxvi INTKODIJCTION.
and the accused or defendant, if possessing tlie necessary quali- fications, and the witnesses for the prosecution or defence in a criminal case, or for the plaintiff or defendant in civil actions, respectively entered into a Naidm or bond for the law costs, compensation, and other damages, before three Aires, one of whom acted as Fer-Nadma, or binder, corresponding in many respects to the Roman Libripens, the second as Raitli, and the third as Fiadnaise or witness, who made "record of court". In law tracts, as in the Critli Gablach, the act being put for the actor, a man is described as a Naidm, a Raith, etc., instead of as the Welsh a Nadmann, Raitlimann, etc. The Nadmann corresponded to
Nodman ; ^ .
the Welsh Gwr Nod, or Nodman. In the Welsh Laws his functions are very obscure, because he is spoken of merely as a standard of rank for forming a Rhaiili or jury of compur- gators, in the same way that juries in certain important cases are now taken from the grand jury panel. The editor of the Welsh Laws was accordingly unable to determine the true character of the Nodman, whose name he derives from the Latin notus, that is a person of distinction. ^Raiv!ma n^- Rcbii^i' signifies couuscl, dccision, or verdict, and like Naidm, is put for the man who gave it. The functions of a Raitlimann were twofold: he had a deliberative voice in a Mathluagli, Dal, or Tocomracli, upon fiscal and other questions; and he acted as a compurgator or juryman. A jury of Raiths deliberating about the applotment o^ Dire, or damages for murder, arson, or other malicious injuries, or making presentments for highways on the one hand, and deliberating whether there were sufficient grounds for a criminal prosecution on the other, performed similar functions to a modern grand jury. The analogy is so complete m many ways that there seems little doubt that the origin of the grand jury system is to be traced back to an or- ganization analogous to the Irish one.
In order to understand rightly the functions of the Raith as a compurgator, I must briefly state here the general procedure in criminal and civil trials. This is not an easy task, not so much from lack of materials, as from the fragmentary character of the contents of the existing legal manuscripts, and the difficult and technical language in which they are written. One of the
INTUODUCTION. Cclxxvii
strongest proofs of the antiquity and originality, and consc- pii.occiiure m quent value, of the Irish laws, is that the technical language tnais: is native and not borrowed. 1 shall take as my example of legal procedure in criminal trials that followed in a case of larceny of cattle, which may be considered to fairly repre- sent what may be called the general procedure in criminal cases. The following account of this procedure is summarized from the Cana Com-ithe acas Com-gaite, or laws of co-eating and co-stealing, contained in a law manuscript in the British Museum. ^^''
Persons who possessed the necessary property qualification "worthy" were promoted to be Aires when proclaimed at a i>a^ or as- worthy "wit sembly of the notables of the Ttiath, not to have committed murder or manslaughter, unless in self defence, robbery or theft, perjury, violence, arson, or other serious crimes. Such per- sons were deemed " worthy" men (Jnnraic or ludruic, perfect or worthy). Those who did not possess the necessary property qualification, or who, though having it, had not been duly pro- moted to the rank oi Aire, or who had committed any of the crimes above mentioned, or who had in any way befouled their honour, such as by making a base or unlawful use of their pri- vileges, were deemed " unworthy" (Esinnraic).
Criminal informations were of three kinds ; first, there was Different the Amrus or information based on suspicion (Doicli); second, minai infor- there was the Faisneis or ordinary information based on positive knowledge of an eye-witness or eye-witnesses; and lastly, pri- vate informations (Toraic). The first step in a criminal prosecu- tion was to lodge an information of either of the foregoing kinds. The accused was summoned to appear before the court to answer the charge, and in serious cases, or if he refused or disregarded the summons, he was arrested by the Dae. The second step consisted in the complainant giving evidence in support of his
*9' Egerton, 88, f. 48, a. a. el seg. The compiler of the MS. has put a note in Irish at the end of these laws, which very naively expresses the great difficulty of digesting them, or even understanding them : " The end of the disqualifi- cations of Fiadnaisa, and it is not from [lack] of books, for I do not think what I have of them insufficient. And if you find fault with what I have done down to this, let the blame of the errors not be charged on me, but upon the cuimre briathar, i.e., the intricate or crooked words".
ccb
xxvin
INTRODUCTION.
charge, either in liis own house or in that of the accused, ac- cording to the relative rank of the parties. Thus, if the com- plainant and defendant were of the same rank, or if the latter were of higher rank than the former, the complainant went into the house of the defendant, and there confirmed the charge at his own hearth. If the accuser were higher than the accused, the latter was obliged to go into the house of the former.*^^ confirma- In Order to confirm a charge, the same number of persons were minai required to make oath as in making the informations. This
number was regulated first by the circumstance whether the complainant made the charge in his own behalf or in that of a third party; next as to whether the complainant and defendant were both " worthy" or both " unworthy", or one of them "worthy" and the other " unworthy", and if so, which; next, whether the evidence was circumstantial or direct ; and lastly, whether the complainant sued on a criminal charge, or merely for damages. The influence of these several causes on the procedure being the same at each stage of the suit, it will only be necessary to take them into account at one stage, namely, at the hearing or confirmation of a charge.
If a " worthy" man made an Amrus in his own behalf against an " unworthy" man, for instance, that he suspected him to have been an accomplice or accessory in the stealing of cattle or other chattels, the accused party was bound to a Dligi hes BritJiir, that is, to make a solemn oath at an altar that he had no knowledge of the crime. If the oath of the worthy complainant was corrobo- rated by that of another "worthy" person, the accused was bound to a Dligi cloitli dithach, that is, he made a solemn oath of denial at an altar, and his denial was corroborated by the oath of another " worthy" person.
simple ex- purgation ;
*^^ This old law was doubtless the origin of the Briseadh Grisaig, or break- ing of cinders, of the present Irish speaking people. The " Breaking of Cin- ders" means to charge and confirm guilt on a man at his own hearth, so that hia fire, which represents his honour, is broken up into cinders. The trampling of a man's cinders was one of the greatest insults which could be offered to him, as it conveyed the idea of guilt, and not only on the individual himself, but also on his family and household. The terms yrisach and grisach dearg inso in the sense of "shame", and "burning shame", are still commonly used as denunciatory epithets by the Irish speaking people.
INTRODUCTION. Cclxxix
Direct or positive evidence in support of a charge was called tiie Tuara$ a TuarastaL This term is explained by an old gloss as a door, that is, a means of admitting light to the blind."' No one conld be convicted of a crime or made liable for the costs and damages, unless the indictment was supported by a TuarastaL If a " worthy" man made a Faisneis or information in his own behalf, founded on direct evidence, against an " unworthy" man, his unsupported evidence did not make a Tuarastal, it made only an Arracur or filing of the charge. But if the complainant's oath were supported by that of another person who was a disinterested witness {Coitcend Fiadnaise)., a Tuarastal was estabhshed. The unsupported evidence of a " worthy" man against an " unworthy" man in behalf of a third party, made however a Tuai'astal. In the first case the accused was bound the Fir m
or expurga-
to expurgate hnnself by a Fir De^ or to submit to the ordeal "on; of a Crannclmr or casting of lots. A Fir De consisted in the accused going with a certain number of oath-men before the Arcinnech of the district, and in the presence of the complainant and his witnesses, swearing, both himself and his oath-men, solemn oaths at the altar.^"** The ordeal of Crannchur con- the Crann-
1 • • • 1 Till- TT111 *^^"'' °'' ^"*
sistedm puttmg mto a box or pot black, white, and red pebbles, casting; from which the accused was to draw until he drew either a black or white one. If he drew the former, he was in the same position as if a Tuarastal had been established against him. If the ac- cused party were in a position to prove a satisfactory alibi, that is, if he could bring forward satisfactory positive evidence to upset the Tuarastal, he was acquitted. Positive evidence of this kind for the defence was called a Beo Caindel or living candle.
It appears to have been optional with a complainant to compuin- proceed either by criminal indictment or by civil process for proceed
either by
damages and compensation, in the case of many, if not of all criminal in.
. •' dictment or
crimes, except a lew lor which the punishment of death was c'vii process; inflicted. If a complainant chose to sue for damages, his oath
499 MS^ Brit. Mils., Egerton, 88, p. 48. a. a. This is obviously the origin of the name of " The Light to the Blind", given to the manuscript relating to the Williamite wars, in the possession of the Earl of FiugaL
^•^ See last paragraph of lote 370, p. cciv.
cclxxx
INTRODUCTION.
costs and damages ;
should be supported by the oaths of three disinterested wit- nesses instead of one, as in criminal actions. It appears that no action of the kind was taken without the consent of the Cuicer na Fine, or family council, consisting of the Aire Fine and the four worthies of the Fine, who constituted the Geil- Jine or pledges of the Fine, so that nine persons in all were concerned in the action for damages. When the oath of a " worthy" plaintiff in a civil action was supported by the oaths of three qualified witnesses before the council of the Fine, an unworthy defendant became a Fiachach, that is, he was ren- dered liable for the Enecland, Dire, and other Fiacha Rechtge or law costs, as well as for Aiihgin or restitution of the stolen leech fee; chattels in a case of larceny, or for Log Leaga, or leech-fee, Folacli, or cost of maintenance, etc., in case of unlawful wound- ing, unless he succeeded in clearing himself by compurga- tion.'"' If the plaintiff was unable to find the three sustaining
"" The following extract gives an idea of the amount of the leech-fee or Log-Leaga, and of the Foluch Othrusa, or cost of maintaining a wounded man who had been maimed for life, while recovering from his wound.
" There are twice seven Cumals (forty-two cows) to be paid for the [ex- penses of healing] of a Rig, a bishop, a professor, a Sai, an Ollamh, a Here- nech, and an Aire Forgaill of the first class, and all who rank with him. Seven and a half Cumals are p lid for the Aire Ard, and for the highest of the two lower classes of Aire Forgaill. Seven Cumals for the maim of the Aire Tuisi and the Aire Desa. Four Cumals for the maim of a Bo Aire and of an Og Aire. Two Cumals for the maim of a houseless, homeless man ; a Cumal for the maim of a horse-boy and of a slave.
"Erom these twice seven Cumals above, deduct six cows for the facility of apportioning, and for the doctor's concealment [i.e. as a bribe for the doctor concealing the real state of the wound], or the doctor may be restrained by the illegality of such an act. You have still twice eighteen cows remaining. Give eighteen of these to the substitute of the disabled man [i.e. the man who performs his duties while he is ill] alone. You have still eighteen cows remaining. Give nine of these for diet, you have still nine cows. Give four cows and a heifer to the doctor, and four cows and a heifer to the man who raises the patient up and lays him down and moves him about during his illness. The six cows that you deducted above for the doctor's concealment or the facility of division, divide them into seven parts. Give four of those parts to the substitute, and two parts to diet, and one part to the atten- dant.
"Four score Screpalls and three Pingins and the four-sevenths of a Pingin is the value of the substitute's share of the cows. Two score Screpalls and three
INTRODUCTION. Cclxxxi
oathmen, or that his Geil/ine, or family council, did not sup- port him, the defendant was only rendered liable to a Crann- chur or casting of lots.
If a "worthy" man made a Faisneis against another " worthy" man, and that his oath was supported by the oath of another " worthy" and disinterested witness, the person accused of the Lith or offence was bound to clear himself by a Fir Teist, that Com purga- is, by compurgation.
If an •' unworthy" man charged a " worthy" man with larceny or other crime, the accused was only bound to a Dligi hes Brithir, or oath on the Gospels at his own house. In some cases the accused was not obliged to make oath at all. An *' unworthy" man only bound a full Arra or charge in behalf of a third party after he had made his oath on the Gospels. And except in special cases his evidence did not bind a " worthy" defendant in damages and costs. If an " unworthy" man made a charge in his own behalf against another '^unworthy" man, he only proved a half -^rra; but if his evidence was supported by the oath of another person, a full Arra was established. If an " unworthy" person made a Taraic or private information on behalf of a third party, as, for instance, if an accomplice or ac- information cessory before or after the fact, who admitted his participation piice or ac- in the crime, swore an information, his evidence had the same value as that of a " worthy" man in his own behalf, that is, he established a full Arra; and if his oath was corroborated by that of an independent witness, it was a Tuarastal, and if supported by the oaths of three persons, it was a Tuarastal fastaide Fiach, that is, the accused was condemned to pay the costs and damages unless he could clear himself by expurgation. The evidence of a principal, accomplice, or accessory, could only be received, however, provided that he confessed his guilt be-
Pingins and two-sevenths of a Pingin for diet. Twenty Screpalls and a Pingin
and a half is the share of the attendant
" Four cows and a heifer to the doctor for the cure of a maim from a king and from those who are of equal value with him. Three cows for a maim for which the fine of infliction would be three cows. A cow and a heifer for a wound for which six calves is the fine of infliction. A cow and eighteen Screpalls for a wound for which seven calves was the fine of infliction". — MS. R.I.A., 35. 5. p. 22.
Cclxxxii INTRODUCTION.
fore he was himself accused of the crime, and paid his share of the Aithgin or restitution, and gave security for all costs and damages to which his crime may have rendered him liable. Having done this, he was Slan or whole, otherwise his evidence was contemptuously called an A isneis 3Ieirle, or thief's infor- mation, and did not establish a charge even against his ac- Private in- complicc. A Toraic of this kind should be made, as I have
formation of*- .
anaccom- already pointed xDut, before three Aires, who, in cases in-
plice or ac- •' -L
cessory volvmg Urrhudas or customary law, need be only Aires Desa, mads to |)ut in cases involving Cain or statute law, should be Aires
three magis- '-' '
trates; Ard. One of the Aires acted as Nadmann, or binder, and bound over the prosecutor and his witnesses not only to pay such law costs as the former may become liable to if he failed to establish his charge, but also the costs and damages to which both would become liable if it were proved that the charge was false. The second acted as Raith, and the third as Fiad-
or to a." WOT- naiae, who made "record of court". Priests could also re- ceive private information, their privileges in this respect being much greater than those of laymen. Thus a Toraic could be made before a " worthy" priest whether it came under Urrha- dus or Cain law.
Procedure in The procedure in civil actions under Irish law was identical with that under English Common Law, namely, by summons, attachment, and distress. Thus, in an action for the recovery
the Fasc or of a debt, a Fasc, or summons setting forth the nature of the
summons; ,. ,. -, iti
piamt or ciami, was served upon the debtor. If, after a cer- tain number of days, which varied according to the character of the action, the debt was not paid, the plaintiff levied a dis- the Gahhaii ticss or Gabhail,^°'^ which exactly corresponded to the JVam of
or distress ; . -, o< i t-i .•• it
Angio-baxon faw. Ji<xcept m certain cases, the distress was not, in the first instance, carried away by the plaintiff. The Gahhaii was, strictly speaking, only a Fastad or attachment
^''2 This word has been translated in the Crith Gablach (vol. ii., pp. 608-509) as jail, and in a note (No. 566) I have endeavoured to show that the word jail is really derived from Gabhail. Properly s^jeaking, Gabhail means, in the passage in question, a distress by the body. It seems very probable that the place where persons taken in distress were secured came in time to be itself • called a Gabhail or jail.
INTRODUCTION. CCXXXlll
like the attachlamcnta bonorum of Anglo-Norman law. The old forest laws of England afford us complete parallel examples of the Irish procedure. Thus the attachment taken by the officers of the forests either by goods or chattels, by the body, pledges, and mainprize, or by the body only of offenders affainst vert and venison, and brought before the attachment courts, held by the verderors every forty days, were exactly like the similar offences, cases of trespass, etc., tried in the Brugh- courts of Ireland. Land might also be taken in distress as well as dead and live chattels, and if the defendant was a pauper, he could be arrested himself.
In certain cases, as for instance where the defendant was a tiie Trosca Rig, the plaintiff was obliged to " fast" upon him, after he had given him his summons or Fasc, and before he made his dis- tress. A Trosca or fasting was made by the plaintiff going to the defendant's house, and remaining there for a certain time fixed by the law according to the nature of the suit, before making his distress. It is usually assumed that during this stay he remained without food, that is, he literally fasted. But this view may be questioned.
The time which the Gahhail, or distress, was to remain in the Anad or the hands of the owner under attachment was carefully prescribed by the law for almost every kind of chattel. In some cases the stay, or Anad, was only one day, in others as much as nine. Several examples of this stay are given in the course of the Lectures, especially in those on dress and ornament. If the claim of the plaintiff was not satisfied before the end of the stay or Anad, he carried off the distrained chattels, and gave them into the possession of a Fer Foruis, that is, one of the Aires whose residence consti- the pound or tuted one of the jFbrMs^s^"^ of the Tuath. The Aii'lis, ov en- Forus. closed paddock of each Forus, served as pound for distrained cattle. An Apad,^"*^ or notice, was then served upon the
*"' Cf. Irish Forus, the residence of a magistrate with O. N. Fori5i, the means or place for supporting life, which is equivalent to the Sanskrit b'rli b'r to nourish.
*"* The first notice, or summons and plaint, was properly the Fasc ; the second notice, which was a summons to the defendant to pay or replevy and plead, was the Apad. The two words are often used synonymously.
cclxj
XXIV
INTRODUCTION.
Replevin ;
Immediate distress ;
the Re Uithma or detttntion in pound ;
the lohad or sale of the distress;
defendant, informing him that the distress had been carried away, and of the Foriis where it was impounded.
If the defendant disputed the claim of the plaintiff and de- termined to try the right of the latter, and to answer him at law, he gave a Gelt or pledge, consisting of some article of value, such as a brooch, a Mind or diadem, or even his own son. Or he might find an Aitire or bail, who would enter into a Naidm or bond for the amount of the debt or damages, as the case may be, as well as for all attendant costs, pending the trial of the question of right. In either case the attachment was taken off. This process is exactly the same as the re- plevin of English common law, though practised in Ireland long antecedent to the earliest recorded traces of it in England. In some cases, and under certain special circumstances, there was no attachment, the distress being at once carried off to the Forus. This was the Gahhail cotoxal, or distress with aspor- tation. In this case the defendant might replevy before the end of the Anad or stay, by giving pledges to the Fer Foruis, and serving notice of the replevin upon the plaintiff.
When the Anad, or stay, before impounding chattels which had been attached, or during which they might be replevied, whether merely attached or taken in immediate distress, expired, the He Dithma or period of detention ar- rived. During this period the defendant might recover the distrained property by paying the debt and costs, but he could not replevy after the expiration of the Anad. When the Re Dithma, or time of stay in pound expired, the Lohad, or '' wasting", commenced, that is, the auction or forfeiture of the distressed property. The period of this " wasting" was fixed by law according to the value of the property, the special circumstances of the case, and of the parties in the suit. At the Lohad the defendant might purchase the whole of the forfeited property or any portion of it. If a distress covered the amount of the plaintiff's claim, together with the costs, the debt was extinguished ; if it did not cover the amount of the debt and costs, a second distress was taken ; if it exceeded them, the surplus was paid over to the defendant
If the person distrained replevied, and recovered his property
INTRODUCTION. CclxXXV
by a Xaidm-Aitire or bond of an J.^7^>g or bail, tlie Fer Foru^s,^^^^^^.^^J'*■ who fulfilled in this matter some of tlie functions of a modern sheriff, served the plaintiff with an Apad Nadma Aitire or notice of bail-bond, that is, that bail had been given, or in other words, that the defendant had replevied. This was equi- valent to a notice of trial. After the issue of the Apad a cer- tain time was allowed to enable both parties to prepare for trial. On the last day of this stay or interval, the parties to the suit and their witnesses were supposed to be all in atten- dance at the place of trial. At the trial the plaintiff sought to secure a Fastad Nadma or fastening of the bond, and the defendant a Ciimhach Nadma, or discharge of the bond, by a method of procedure similar to that described above in the case of larceny or similar crimes. If a defendant who had re- forfeiting a plevied and given a Gell or pledge that he would defend an pledge; action of law, failed to do so, the pledge became forfeit, even in the case of the debtor's son being the pledge, who, under such circumstances, became a Cimhid, or victim, in the power of the plaintiff. The same fate befel an Aitire who, having entered into a bond, was unable to meet the liabilities to which he had rendered himself liable in case of an adverse verdict.
If the chattels seized by a Gabhail co toxal, or immediate tj'e AUhgah distress, were put out of the way, or esloincd by being driven withernam, into another Tiiath, so that on being replevied deliverance of them could not be made to the party distrained, or in case they were otherwise unlawfully withholden, the distrained party, by way of reprisal, could levy on the plaintiff a distress of equal value to that taken from him. This second distress was called an Athgahhail, the exact equivalent of the Withernam of the Anglo-Saxons. The plaintiflf could also take an Athgahhail or Withernam in case the defendant had made away with the Gabhail or Nain, which had remained in his possession under attachment, or had allowed it to escape or stray.
505
50* Since the above was put in type I have seen an essay by Samuel Ferguson, Q.C., LL.D., " On the Rudiments of the Common Law discover- able in the published portion of the Senchus Mor", read to the Royal Irish Academy on the 11th February, 1807. I cannot express the satisfaction I felt when I found tliis able lawyer and acute scholar had clearly detected in
Cclxxxvi INTRODUCTION.
Fe^nn °I '^^^® person who gave testimony for a plaintiff or defendant was a Tohig, or more correctly Fer Tonga^ the act being here also put for the agent. He was also called a Fer Lw'gi. The term Fer Tonga is very interesting, as it is probably the same as the Ferdingus or " Ferthing" man of English law. A sum- mons and plaint in Anglo Saxon courts should in most cases be supported by an oath which was called the " fore-oath" or praejuramentum. A lord or Thegn had the privilege of ap- pearing by his " tTue man" or Gerefa, who made the *' fore- oath" for him. The term Ferthing man or Ferdingus seems to have belonged to the north of England, and may liave been a remnant of the old British laws, as I have already suggested, or of the occupation of north England by Gaedhil, of which there are many other traces. In English times the " Ferthing- men" were probably the representatives of the gilds and trade corporations, or, as we should now say, their public officers, who made the fore- oath in their behalf.
The Railh, as we have seen, acted as a kind of counsellor or assessor for the Fine when law proceedings were instituted LiicMFira against a member of it. The Luclii Fira, or compurgators, s^*g'™'^j.^*ns. appear to have been exclusively composed of Railhs. The cused. Toings, or Fira Luigi, who supported an indictment or plaint,
were generally Imhleogains or kinsmen of the plaintiff, as were those for the defence. Compurgators were also relatives of the defendant. Aires could, however, also act in both capacities outside their own Fines. In early Anglo-Saxon times com- purgators are said to have been exclusively taken from the relatives of the accused; this continued to be the custom in certain cases in London, even subsequent to the Norman Con- quest. It is more likely that, although they were generally taken from the family, members of a Maegth could, as in Ire- land, act outside it in certain cases. ?(fmpir"'a°/ Compurgators performed functions somewhat analogous to those discharged by modern juries, but they were not true
tors to juries.
the fragments of Irish Laws and Commentaries, pubhshed under the name Senchus Mor, a close affinity between the Irish procedure and the English Common Law,— an affinity which, as I have shown, runs through the whole of the manners and customs of the ancient Irish and the Anglo-Saxons,
INTRODDDTION. CclxXXvii
juries. The jury in the sense we now understand it in cri- minal cases, was unknown to the Anglo-Saxons ; it developed itself gradually during Anglo-Norman times out of the system of compurgation, which was still practised in England as late as the reign of Henry the Sixth.'"'"'^ The concentration of power in the hands of a strong central government, the development of commerce, and subsequent growth of large towns, obliterated the Maegthship or family in England, at a comparatively early period. Neighbours of the same tithing, city, and ultimately of the same county, gradually took the place of kinsmen as compurgators. In Ireland, on the other hand, although neigh- bours might at all times liave acted as compurgators outside their own families, the old system of compurgation continued down to the sixteenth century, as well as the system of clan- ship, the maintenance of which was favoured by the circum- stances of the country. Compurgators, though members of the Fine of the defendant, did not swear in favour of their kinsman as mere partizans: as they made themselves responsible for all the consequences of their act, they investigated the charge against the defendant very carefully before they took up his cause. When they came forward to swear that they believed him innocent of the crime of murder, manslaughter, theft, plundering, perjury, or other misdeeds, they were assumed to have given their verdict without fear or favour, and after a full inquiry into the conduct and antecedents of the accused, as well as into the special circumstances of the charge for which he was being tried. If the defendant failed to satisfy his Fine that he was innocent, and consequently failed to find a sufficient number of compurgators to acquit him, and that his appeal to the ordeal of a Fir DS, or solemn expurgation, failed, he forfeited his liberty or his life, according to the cha- racter of the crime, or became an outlaw.
The Irish Eaith corresponded to the Welsh Rhaith, which The irisu the editor of the Welsh Laws glosses "a verdict". The Rad- ^^^vo^^^^} to men, or Radmans, a class of tenants or inferior Thcgns who '^«<^'»<'»-
^""^ The last instance of compurgation in a criminal case which can be traced with certainty was in the Hundred Court of Winchelsea, in the reign of Henry the Sixth.
CclxXXviii INTRODUCTION.
are mentioned as living on the borders of Wales and in Tyn- dale in Nortliumberland,^" were, no doubt, relics of the British institutions which had previously existed in those dis- tricts, and which must have been almost identical with the cHLu'tffs'ot Anglo-Saxon ones. The barbarous term Radechenistres is ^or^sday applied in Domesday Book to freemen who ploughed a manor and owed service to the lord's courts. ^°^ As^ain, Bracton men- tions a class of knights which he calls Rade knights, a word which, after him, has been explained as riding knights^ and was "given to such tenants as held their land by the service of riding with their lords from manor to manor, which, says Selden, was adjudged in the reign of Henry the Third to be such a knight's service as to draw wardship and marriage".^"^ Selden identifies those knights with the Radechenistres of Domesday Book. There can, however, be little doubt that the 7'ade in both words is related to the Anglo-Saxon r(xd., Old Norse rath, counsel, consequently, that Rade knight and its barbarous Anglo-Norman form correspond to the Irish Raith. The use of the same term for freemen who performed the functions of grand jurors among the Irish, Welsh, and Anglo- Saxons, affords strong evidence of the parallelism, if not iden- tity, of the early institutions of the Irish, Britons, and Saxons. ^nair"'^wt '^^^ Irish word Fiadnaise represents the English JVitness, ness. indeed Dr. Ebel is of opinion that the latter word came from
the Celtic rather than from the Anglo-Saxon form. The Irish, like the Anglo-Saxon word, did not mean, however, precisely the same as the modern English word. The chief functions of the Fiadnaise appears to have been to recollect the laws and the judgments of a court, contracts entered into, bail given for persons charged with crime, warranty given for property sold,^'" and all similar legal transactions. In very
5"^ Ppelman, Gloss., Ellis' Introduction, i. p. 56.
boa u j)g terra hiijus manerii tenebant radechenistres, i.e., liberi homines". " Hie Radechenistres arabant, etc.". Fo. 18, tit. Glouc. Berthelay, quoted by Hampson, Origines Patricice, p. 331.
»"» lltles of Honour, p. 777.
*"* According to the Anglo-Saxon laws of Edward and Athelstane, all dealings above the value of twenty pence, without the walls of a city or in the Folkmoot, should be witnessed by the Port-Gerefa, or other cre- dible witnesses. According to the laws of Canute, no chattel, living or
iXTiioDUcrioN. cclxxxix
early times the records of courts were entrusted, as I have before mentioned, to the recollection of the judges and suitors. Every one entitled to give testimony as to laws, customs, judgments, verdicts, and contracts, was called a Fladnaise or witness. A Fladnaise also acted as Teist, that is, gave testi- mony as to the facts that came under his cognisance; but although the Fladnaise was in this respect like the modern witness, his principal functions were those above stated.
The Irish Fladnaise, like the old English witness, appears The Irish
. , ^ . witness
to have testified as to "record of court" by simple affirmation, affirmed. The Toing, or rather Fertonga, gave, as the name implies, his tes- timony on oath, as did also the compurgator. The oaths were ^.'^i'^^ <>! considered to possess different degrees of sanctity, according to ''''"is. the object upon which, and the place where, the oath was sworn. Thus, in Christian times, an oath was sworn upon the Bachall or crozier of a bishop, upon a reliquary, and, the most solemn of all, upon the Gospels The swearing took place at an altar, a church, or a grave, when it was desirable to add solemnity to the act.^" Compurgators were sworn before the people at the Mathluagh or Dal, which were often specially summoned for the purpose. The custom of swearing at graves is, doubtless, a relic of the pagan times. As to the manner of making oath, we are told in a law manuscript in the British Museum that the prosecutor in a charge of theft swore three oaths upon the gospel, or the reliquary containing it, " namely, standing, sit- ting, and lying, as he spent his life".^'^ This was the manner of swearing on the Gospels. In the old life of Saint Mac Creiche^^^ we are told how an oath was sworn upon his Ceolaa
lying, above the value of four pence, shall be bought or sold, whether within the burgh or in the upland country, unless in the presence of four good men and true.
*" The sacred object upon which the oath was sworn was called a Neiine. This may possibly throw some light on the pagan Nemet or sacred place, wliich was doubtless the place wliere oaths were solemnly sworn. See p. cclxiv.
*'2 MS. Bit. Mus., Egerton, 88, p. 48, a.a.
*'* O'Curry's copy, in the possession of tlie Catholic University, from a MS. in the Burgundian Library at Brussels. This curious life, with much additional matter, illustrative of the manners and customs of the Irish ia early Christian times, is about to be published by Mr. Bryan O'Loonev. INT. IS*
CCXC INTRODUCTION.
or bell. The person about to swear took tlie bell in his right hand, lifted it above his knees, turned his face to the altar, and made his oath. T he modes of making oath varied, no doubt, with the object and place where it was taken.
It is probable that, in certain cases, if not in all, witnesses who attested contracts entered into under a Naidm, like the jurats under the laws of Edgar, made oath when giving testi- mony. The special and selected witnesses required by the Anglo-Saxon laws to attest contracts, gave in like manner their NoiUecTit or testimony on oath.*'^ The class of witnesses called Noillechs^ from JSfoill, an oath, belong to the same category. They were men of position, whose chief functions were to hold sworn inquisitions in disputes of all kinds, especially concerning boundaries and other matters connected with the occupation of land, murders, and other crimes which remained unpunished. They also witnessed the fixing of boundaries upon lands divi- ded between co-heirs, etc. Finally, they fulfilled many of the functions of arbitrators. The analogy between the "recogni- tions" of the Prohi- Homines of Norman law and the inquisi- tions of the Irish Noillechs, points to the conclusion that the Prud'hommes of France are the representatives of ancient Gaulish Noilleclis. An inquisition of JVoillechs appears to have been made by impannelling a regular jury of Flaths sum- A jurv of moned by the A ire Forqaill. According to an obscure passage formed ap- m a mauuscript m the British Museum, the number iormmff
parently of . . . . *="
twelve. such juiics or commissioiis was twelve.^'* The "twelve tongues" who are referred to in a passage from a law manu- script quoted above,^"^ as giving a verdict on a case connected with land, are probably a jury of twelve Noillechs. Fees of oath- As Toiiigs Or Feviovga, Haiths, and Fiadjiaise, incurred great nesses, etc. liability for their legal acts, they were entitled to certain fees, the amount of which depended on their rank, which also of course governed the extent of their pecuniary responsibilities. The latter could not in any case, however, exceed the honour price of the Teist, Fiadnaise, or Maith, respectively. I have in
*^* Canute, ii. § 24 ; see also Palgrave, op. cit., p. 261.
"6 MS. Egerton, 88, f. 48.
*^* Ante, p. clxxxviii., note 342.
INTRODUCTION. CCXCl
a previous note*" suggested that the Tir Cuniail of an Aire was the extent of the appanage of his rank, but it was rather the extent of that appanage which could be distrained for the fines, damages, and law costs of his relatives, or for the liabili- ties he might himself incur by the exercise of his public func- tions.*'* As this responsibility of a man having property affected not alone the individual, but also all who had a right to share in his Dibad or inheritance, we can under- stand why the Geilfine, or council of the family, took so prominent a part in civil actions, and why it was easier to con- vict a man under a Lu or criminal charge than under a suit for damages. Acfain, as a man who gave false testimony ren- revalues for
_ ° " \ .... , . . false witness.
dered himself responsible for the liabilities of the plaintiff or defendant, such as Enecland, Dire, Smacht, or damages, Aithginox restitution, etc., according to the side of the case for which he was, he carefully investigated, as far as he could, all the circumstances of the case before he committed himself to it. A man might, however, under certain circumstances, plead igno- rance in mitigation of damages. Thus, a man who gave his testimony through friendship, and did not know of the guilt of the party for whom he testified, had to pay only half the Dire and half the Smacht or damages, together with Enecland of the Neime or relic, or other sacred object upon which he had made his Tov)g. If at any time afterwards the crime, say a theft, came to be fully ascertained, the liabilities which the law would have imposed upon the thief if he had been convicted in the first instance, should be borne by the witness, unless he could recover them from the thief. If a man gave testi-
*'^ Introduction, p. clxxxi., note 328.
oiR "This is the extent of Ctanal-land which each rank of the grades pos- sesses in the extent of the Faitche (demesne lands) liable to Alhgabhail Jmbleogain in excess of the other", e.g., "The land of one Cumal the Oc Aire has ; the land of two Cumals the Bo Aire has ; the land of three Cumals the Aire between two Aires [the highest of the Bd Aires possessing property equal to a Flai/t] has ; the land of four Cumals the Aire Desa has ; the land of five Cumals the .4 ire Tuisi has; the land of six Cumals the Aire Ard\\a,s; and the land of seven Cumals the Aire Forgaill has". MS., H. 3. 18, T. C. D., p. 332. Alhgabhail Imbleogain, was a counter-distress, or "withernam", levied on an Imbleogan, or representative kinsman, for the fines, damages, and laAV costs due to a Ftne for the crimes, debts, etc., of its members.
19* B
CCXCll INTRODUCTION.
mony through friendship, and while under the impression that the accused was innocent, he was bound to pay half the liabilities which attached to the charge, even though it should afterwards turn out that the accused had not actually commit- ted the crime. If the thief denied the charge of theft, and told his witness that he had not committed it, the latter was, never- theless, liable for the A ithgin or restitution of the stolen chattels. Tiie Aitire An A itire, as previous references to him show, was a bail
or bail ; . . .
or surety for a plaintiff or defendant pending a trial or suit at law, for the amount of fines, damages, and costs to which either might become liable. An Aitire was also required as security in cases of sales of cattle for the warranty given that the cattle were the property of the sellers, and were sound. When an Aitire bound himself in a bond or Naidm, he was an Aitire-nadma, which was equivalent to the Nexus of Roman law. If the obligation entered into by an Aitire before a i?a</mo*or Nadman, and in the presence of a Raith and a Fiadnaise, were "'nexus"- ^^^ discharged at the proper time, he became a Cimhid, or victim ; this also happened if he were unable at once to pay the amount of the bond, or, in criminal cases, to deliver up the criminal for whom he was bail, or to pay the full amount of the Fiacha Rechta, that is, costs, damages, and compen- sations, to which the defendant in a criminal prosecution or Nexus'be- ^°"^^ ^^ liable in case he was convicted. An Irish Cimhid dicius'"*^' corresponded to the Roman Nexus when he became "addic- tus". According to the Irish law a Cimhid's life might be purchased at a fixed price, which was equal to his Eiric if he were slain, namely his Corp Dire or body-price, and his Enecland or honour-price. The Eiric payable for a homicide where no attempt was made to conceal the body, was seven Cumals or twenty- one cows, together with the full Enec- land or honour-price. The possessor of a Cimhid, or forfeited pledge, had, strictly speaking, no right to put him to death, but if he did kill him, he was bound to pay his Eiric to his Fine, in case the latter chose to pay the debt and costs of the Cimhid. If the Fine did not choose to give anything, the slayer was not bound to pay the Eiric.^^^ In this way the *'9 MS. R.I.A., 35. 5. p. 22.
INTRODUCTION. CCXCUl
Cimhid was absolutely in the power of the creditor in the same way as the Roman Nexus when he became " addlctus". The Irish law was, however, more humane than the Roman, in as much as it afforded a Fine an opportunity of rescuing their kinsman for the amount of his Eiric, that is, twenty-one cows, and of his Enecland.
Any one who desired to adopt a stranger or a distant rela- the ^tVire tive into his family, or wished to keep strangers in his house- hold, was obliged, after a certain number of days, to give bail for their conduct until the legal fee payable for the naturaliza- tion of the stranger was paid, such a bail was called an Aitire Foesma.
Defendants and their bails summoned to appear at court, and Esain or Aires owmg service to it, were bound to appear on the urst day, but if they could give a valid excuse, that is, show that there were insurmountable obstacles to their arrival in time, a certain time of grace was given them. The delay or hindrance was called Esain ^ a word which is almost identical in form as well as meaning with the French Essoine, English Essoign or Essoin, Scotch Essoinzie. The English and Scotch terms are Anglo-Norman, and, like the French, are evidently of Celtic origin. The valid excuses were — sickness, being beyond the sea, bad roads, the overholding of pledged articles of dress or ornament required by a person in order to appear suitably without loss of dignity at court, etc. If the cause of delay or hindrance was due to some one else, the person delayed or prevented altogether from appearing was entitled to damages, which were fixed by law according to his rank.
Several other legal rights and privileges have been men- tioned in the course of the Lectures and of this Introduction, such as Faesam, 2urrt/wgadh,Fonaidm, and Snadlia. Although most of these terms have been more or less explained in the foot notes to the Crith Gahlaclt,^'-'^ and incidentally in the course of this Introduction, some further observations on them may not be out of place here.
Faesam was the right which every Trehaire, or chief o^Faeiam.
*'" Vol. ii., Appendix, p. 4G5.
CCXCIV INTRODUCTION.
household, possessed of entertaining and protecting strangers, or of giving sanctuary to those charged with offences or debt, during a certain number of days according to his rank, without having to enter into recognizances to the Fine, or being held
Turrihu. specially responsible for their acts. Turrtliugadh appears to
^"''''' have been the right which a chief of household possessed of
his house being sacred, so that it could not be entered, or his premises searched or trespassed upon, even in search of cri-
Fonaidm. miuals, without special legal authorization. Fonaidm was the right of bail which a chief of household possessed in favour of all the persons for whom he was legally responsible, according
snadha. to his rank. Snadha, which literally means to traverse, was the rio-ht which one of the privileged classes or Aires had of crossing the lands of other Aires with their legal retinue, and of being supplied with such necessaries and protection as they might require. In order that this right of hospitality should not be oppressive on the poor, no one had the right of claiming the hospitality of a person of lower rank than himself. The Irish Snadha represents the Welsh Nawd, and having pre- served the initial sibilant, helps us to understand the true meaning of the word, which is obscure in Welsh.
I have explained at some length in the notes to the Crith Gah- lach^^^ most of the terms for fines, damages, etc., in civil and criminal actions. As some of those explanations require, how- ever, to be modified and corrected, I shall take the opportunity of again noticing a few of them here in their proper place.
ThH Afaigin As the cxtcut of the Maighi Digona, or field of sanctuary — igona, tl^atis, the space around each residence which was considered to enjoy the same legal immunity as the house itself — depended upon the rank of the chief of household,''-^ 1 was naturally led to connect digona with the Latin dign-us. I further as- sumed that digona was the genitive of Diguin, and conse- Diguin. qucntly that the latter implied rank or dignity.^^* Diguin is, however, connected with guin, a wound, and was the fine or composition in lieu of the ancient right of retaliation upon the defendant or upon his kinsmen. If Digona be connected with Diguin^ Maigin Digona must have been the space within '2' Vol. ii., Appendix, p. 465. *22 j^nte, p. dvi. ^-^ Ante, pp. ci., clvi.
INTRODUCTION. CCXCV
whicli It was unlawful to wound any person in retaliation for wounds in a blood feud. These words may, however, contain in their first part the same root as dignus. The Galanas of Welsh law and the Gaines of old Scotch law appear to have represented the Irish Diguin. Sarugh, or Sarugiid, was the sirugh or fine or compensation for a Sar or insult, or an assault unac- companied by bloodshed, the violation of a church, contempt of court, etc., and corresponds to the Welsh Sarhaet or Saraad. In the note on this word in the Crit/i Gablach, I have made Sarugh to signify the insult as well as the compensation for it. I have also stated in a previous part of this Introduction that Sarugud was another name for EneclandJ''^*' Strictly speak- Enedand. ing, however, tlie Sarugud, though often included under the term Enecland, was a different thing. The fine paid for a homicide, and in Anglo-Irish times known by the name Eiric, consisted of the Dire, the equivalent of the Welsh Dirwy and the Anglo-Saxon Wer, and of the Enecland, or special compensation added to the Dire in proportion to the rank of the slain. The corresponduig damai^es for libel, \vo\xn<\m.g Log Eiiech. where no maim was inflicted, insult and essoign, etc., was called Log Enech, or honour-price, from Log, price, and Enech, usually translated face. The Welsh Gwynebwerth is the equi- valent of the Irish Log Enech, rather than of Enechlajid, as I have suggested in the note on the subject in the Grith Gablach. The term Enech also occurs in old Scotch law, apparently in the sense of the Irish Enechland.
The "word Enech occurs in two other very expressive legal terms, Enechruice and Enechgris. The former was used to EnechrtUce express a blush or reddening of the face, caused by some act which brought disgrace on a Fine or family, such as a son marrying below his station, the misconduct of a daughter, in- ability to provide suitable entertainment for a guest. Enech- Enechgris. gris, on the other hand, meant the face becoming pale oj white, on account of theft or other scandalous crimes.
*^* Ante, p. cxxviii.
CCXCVl INTRODUCTION.
BUILDINGS OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.
Altliougli the early Aryans, before tlie separation of the
European branches, had advanced so far as to have houses
with doors, and provided with beds and other simple furniture,
Houses of there can be no doubt that the habitations of the Slaves,
maiis.'an.i Germans, and Western Aryans, usually called Celts, were of
felts built . ' J 1 J '
or wood; tlic simplcst cliaractcr, and constructed of wood, or, where
wood was scarce, of mud. The wooden houses were either
made of wicker-work, or of unhewn, or at best roughly hewn,
trees, the interstices between the logs being filled with clay.
the use of The use of stone as a buildins; material amonaf the northern and
rowed from western nations, was borrowed from the Romans, and m those
the Romans; . • t t -\ n r^^ • •
countries not actually occupied by them, dates from Christian
times. In Germany, Scandinavia, England, and Ireland, the
eaiiiest first churclies were built of wood. The earliest stone-built
stDne-built
churches of churclics in Ireland are not older than the sixth century, or
tlie sixth _ .
century; perhaps the seventh, which was also the time when the Anglo-Saxons, with the assistance of Gaulish architects, began to replace their wooden churches by stone-built ones.^-^
Tuna of the The Germans, accordiuir to Tacitus,''^'^ sheltered themselves
old Ger- ... ^ .
mans; in winter in funnel-shaped holes, covered with dung. Judging from the remains of some of them which have been discovered, they had two stories, the upper for living in, and the lower to serve as a store-room for corn and other food. This custom seems to have been common to the inhabitants of Switzerland, Gaul, and Britain, as well as to the Germans. The women especially lived in such earth holes, where they wove the fabrics used for clothing ; for this purpose they continued in use long after the knowledge of the use of lime would have enabled them to build better houses. The German name for such holes appears to have been Tunc or "dung"; among
scremiacf the Frisians and Franks the name was -Screwna, whence the
the Flanks ;
*^* According to the Fornmanna Soffvr, Olaf tlie Peaceful built the first stone church at Bergen. According to I^iahsaga (c. 3), Gunnhild, the mother of Haraid Graftld, had built stone halls or sitting rooms as early as a.d. 961. Weinhold (Altnordische Leben, 223), thinks nghtly that this is doubtful.
*^^ Germuiiia, c. xvi.
INTRODUCTION. CCXCVU
name used in Champagne and Burgundy, ^screMn(9, or Ecraigne. In otlier parts of France tliey were called MardeLles or Ilargelles/'-^ In England such underground dwellings are called " Pennpits". I do not know of any underground habi- Engi .su tations, in the proper sense of the word, in Ireland. But every Dun and Bath had small chambers excavated under the Airlis or ground within the enclosing mound or rampart. These chambers vary in size, but are usually nine or ten feet long, three or four broad, and three or four feet high. The entrance is a very narrow passage barely sufficient to allow a man to creep in on his belly ; and similar narrow passages con- nect the several chambers with each other. Sometimes there are two or more divereinof chains of these chambers. Accord- ing to the nature of the ground, they are either simply exca- vated in the earth, or they are lined with uncemented stone and flagged over, or they are, though rarely, formed of upright jambs of rough stone like the passages to tumuli. These Dun and ii'ttf/i- chambers coriespond to the Jar^lius or earih-house of the Norse, and, like it, were intended as places to hide valuables, and perhaps as places of refuge, or of escape.
The ancient Irish houses were of two forms — one a long Ancient quadrilateral building, built of felled trees, and covered with of two forms thatch, or made of mud and straw, like the existing mud cabins; and the other a cylindrical house, made of wicker- work, and having a cup-shaped or hemispherical roof. The houses built in Duns, and in Stojie Caiseals, and those sur- rounded by mounds of earth, were, probably, in all cases, round houses. We may infer that the houses of Bo Aires
*27 In the Seine Inf erieure, they are called Clos Blancs and Fosses aux precheux. Several of them have heen examined in the great enclosure called the Cite de Limes, at Braqueniont, near Dieppe. Such great eutreuched enclosures are usualh-, but erroneously, called " Camps of Csesar". The Cimbri appear to have made entrenched cities ol this kind, which were the wonder of the time of Tacitus: " Veteri.-que famae lat^ vestigia manent (Cimbrorum) utraque ripa castra, ac spatia, quorum ambitu nunc quoque metiaris molem manusque gentis, ettam magni exercitiis fidem". — Germania, xxxvii. These Mardelles found in the Cite de Limes have been recognised by antiquaries as remains of the ancient Tvffttrid. The Icelanders, in tlie time cf Adam of Bremen (iv. 35), lived in underground holes with their cattle.
CCXCVlll.
INTRODUCTION.
The round wicker liuuses :
weather boarils on wicker houses.
were also circular, from tlie circumstance that only one dimen- sion of the houses of the several ranks of this class is given in the Crith Gablach. Wicker houses might also be made on hired land, which is an additional proof that they were not characteristic exclusively of the Flailis.
The Irish round wicker houses de- scribed in the Lec- tures were identi- cal in every re- spect with those of Gaul. Fig. 1 re- presents a group of four such houses, from a bas-relief in the Louvre.^^^
Figure 1, Group of circular wicker houses from the Column of Antoninus, Museum of the Louvre.529
Figure 2, repre- senting a combat between a Gaul and a Roman, from the same monument, has a very characteristic round house, formed of interwoven wattles, as a back-ground. In a description of a Tech-incis, or house provided by a FinS for a superannuated member,*'*" and which was equal in size to the house of the Oc-Aire, we are told that there was a weather-board between every two weav- ings from the lintel to the roof-ridge. The parallel bands on
528 j^Qyy known as the Colonne Antonine, and which serves as a pedestal for a statue of Melpomene. The Column of Antoninus appears to be the same bas-relief in Parian marble described in the Description des Antiques, du Mus^e National du Louvre, by M, de Clarac (Paris, 1848), under No. 349, Salle de la Melpomene as a " Dace conibattant". It was then supposed to have formed part of a triumphal Arch of Trnjan. The figure, sup- posed to have been a Dacim, because the costume agrees with that of the Dacians on the Column of Trajan, is now, however, recognised as that of a Gaul. The two wood-cuts here given are copied from M. I'Abbe Cochet's La Seine-Inferieure, Historique et Arch€ologique, Paris, 1864. They originally appeared in L' Uistoire de France d' apres les Monuments.
52» Figures 1 and 2 are referred to in Lecture xix., vol. ii., p. 22, as figures 54 and 55. See Corrigenda.
*'" Crith Gablach, vol. ii., Appendix, pp. 479-480.
INTRODUCTION.
CCXCIX
Figure 2, Gaulish warrior, witli wicker house in the back ground, from the Column of Antoninus.
the round houses on the Column of Antoninus, represent apparently swellings or thickenings in the wicker-work, which acted as wecther-boards, or to which might be fastened weather- boards to throw off the rain. The Gaulish wicker houses, ci-p roofs of
Irish wieltKl
shown in figure 1, correspond accurately to the Tech daracli,^'^^^^^^^ or oak-house, with a Cuach-cleithe, or "wicker cup-roof", de- G""''**^
. . ones.
scribed in a tale called the " Intoxication of Ulster".^^'
ike
531 « xhey [i.e. Ciichulaind and his companions] were then brought into a Tech darach, or oak-house, which had a Cuach cleithe (a wicker cup-roof) upon it, and a door of Jiibar (yew-wood) to it, the thickness of which was three full feet for a man. There were two iron hooks upon it, and a bar of iron upon each of those hooks. The house was furnished with Culcais and with Brothrachs. Cromdereoil brought their valour arms into the house after them, and he arranged them, and placed Cucfudaind's valour arms above those of the others. Prepare the Lath for them, said Ailili, and he gave them Cuirm (ale) and food until they became intoxicated ; and Crom- dereoil continued to wait upon them, to see if there was anything else they desired to have. * * * And when they were intoxicated and separated from
ccc
INTRODUCTION.
The resi- dence of an Aii-e con- .■-isted of several Louses,
Custom of having each room an isolated house ;
existed iu Gaul;
in Wales;
Norway ;
Sweden;
In addition to the principal, or living house, the house of every Aire had also a back house, and other out-houses under separate roofs. The establishments of the higher classes of B6-Aires^ such as the Bu-Aire Febsa and the Brughfe7\ and of all persons of the i^/a^/i-grade, had several such houses. That of the Bruglifer^ we are distinctly told, consisted of seven houses. The custom of havinar a number of houses under separate roofs, instead of having all connected together under one common roof, was very general in olden times. The posses- sion of five such detached houses gave, as I have already stated, certain rights of a freeman or Aire to a Fitidir. The group of four houses in figure 1, from the Column of Antoninus, shows that the custom of separate houses existed in Gaul. In Wales the palace of the king consisted of a number of separate buildings, nine of which the tenants of his domains were bound to assist to build ; among these were the Neuad, or principal house, the Ystavell or Estavelle, or chamber, and the kitchen. The system of separate buildings appears to have been also universal among the old Norwegians, and continues even still in many parts of North Europe. Thus as many as from thirty to forty small huts sometimes belong to a single Icelandic farm steading.^^^ In Sweden the system of separate buildings appears to have existed in some parts, and in others combined buildings. In Upland, a complete farm steading of a peasant consisted of seven iiouses — the Steva, or living house, the kitchen, the sleeping house, the store house, the barn, the granary, and the cattle stails.*^^ In Upland, Sudermannland, and Westmann- land, the legal buildings — Laghaehus — of a priest's establish- ment were fixed by ecclesiastical law to be : a living house, a kitchen, an eating house, a sleeping house, a barn, a straw liouse, and a cow-house. ^^^ In Gothland, the living house,
their people, they were put to the sword. * * * Cuchulaind jumped up and made his cw niach n-erred (champion's salmon-leap) on high, and he carried away the roof off the house, and came on the roof of another house, and he saw the host beneath him". — Mesca Uladh, in MS. Lebor na h- Uidhri, p. 19, col. 1, 2.
*^2 olavius' Rdse, 331 ; Weinhold, A. n. Leben, 223. *»'' Uplandslage, i., 2.
^^* Uplandsl. Kirkjub., 2 ; Su^rmannaJ. Kirhjub., 2; Westmannal, II., Kristnub., 2 ; and Weinliold's Altnordische Leben, 229. In the olden West-
INTRODUCTION. CCCl
sleeping, and eating houses, and the granary, appear to have
been combined in one building, the Invistahus; and the barn
and cattle stalls in the f/</uls or oathouse.^^* The upper and Theoerman
middle Germans, and the Frisians generally combined the ii'msgei'e-"
•,.. I -11 1 n* • ^ ^• rally under
living house with the cattle stalls, m a straight line, or at an onerouf. angle, but always under one roof. The Irish quadrilateral houses appear to have belonged to this type. The divisions Divisions or or rooms in a German medieval Curtis, or Hof, corresponded irisii, Angio- generally to those in the Irish, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian farmstead!' better classes of farm steadings. They consisted, besides the living house, of a back house, or kitchen, a women's house or weaving house, a barn, a granary, cattle sheds, and a cellar.
The women's house, in the residences of the higher classes riie of the ancient Irish, was a separate building, which there is iiouse a reason to believe was sometimes cut off from the rest of the buii'iing; nouses in the Airlis, or yard, for the greater safety of the from the inmates, by a stake-fence or mound, and to have been cut offiiouses. at night from intercourse with the houses occupied by the men.^^® In the German residences, the women's house was also generally a separate building, and was frequently protected by a special fence : this was also the case among the Norse.^^'^ The medieval German romances of Hugdietrich, of Dorn- roschcn, and of Flore and Blanscheflur afford examples of women's houses protected in this way.
The usual Norse name for the women's house was Shemma., xorso and the Kemanate of the old Germans. The term Dyngja, from n'am!" "f
mannalaff, the Eaesthus, or stable, is mentioned separately from the cow- house. A Saudahus, or sheep- house, a Lamhahus, or lamb-house, and a Svinasteuer, or pig-stye, are mentioned as within the enclosure.
^-'-^ Ves/ffutaL, I., thluvab., 5.
'■"s What is your name? said Eochaid [^AiremK], It is not illustrious, — Midir oi Bri Leith [answered he]. What brought you here? snA Eochaid. To play chess with you, said he. I am very good at chess- playinj:, said Eochaid. I will test that, said Midir. The queen is asleep, s.iid Eochaid, and the house in which the chess [board] is belongs to her. I have a chess [board] here myself, which is not worse than it, said Midir. That was true indeed, he had a silver chess-board and golden men, and ornaments of precious stones on all parts of it, and Ferholgs (pawns) of plated wire of Cre- dutnd". — Courtship of Etain, MS. Leber na h-Uidhri, p. 130, col. 2.
*'' Fornaldenaga, 3., 408.
women s house.
CCCn INTRODUCTION.
the name of the funnel-shaped earth-holes covered with dung, already mentioned, was also applied to women's houses. It is probable that the former was the name given to the houses of the higher clasges, while the latter was the weaving room of the servants. In some large residences tliere was a special women's house, the Kvennalms, which served as a nursery, etc. A sleeping apartment, or sleeping hall, was sometimes also called a Skemma, or Svefnskemma ; it usually consisted of a special building erected in the courtyard, and under which was placed the Jar'Shm, or earth-house, by which the inmates might escape in case of a sudden attack. The Irish In Duns and large Raths there was also a special chamber
Qrianan. ^ ^ . ^ ^
placed in a sunny aspect, and called from this circumstance a Grianan. This chamber appears to have been erected on the wall of the Dun, or in some elevated position, so as to com- mand a view of the surrounding country, and escape the shadow of the encirclino' mound. ^^* Windows In the ancient tale of Bricrut's Feast, windows, with
and Shutters . l i r- 1 •
mentioned shuttcrs and bars of bronze, are mentioned ; windows are also
in Irish ...
tales. mentioned m many other tales.^^^ The Irish names for window
appear, however, to be all borrowed. Fenester, from the Latin Fenestra; and Feneog, from the old Norse Vindauga, literally " windeye", whence English " window". The Gothic name Augadora ; Old High German Avgatora ; Anglo-Saxon Edgdure, or •' eye-door", seems to show the existence of such openings at an early period among the Teutonic nations. In the representations of round houses on the Column of Antoninus, figures 1 and 2, no windows are shown: this, it is true, is only negative evidence, and does not, certainly, prove that windows were not used in such buildings. Notwithstanding the native Gothic name for window, it is probable that all the
538 i' Findabair, daughter of AiliUauA Medb, went until she came into the Grianan over the door of the Dun, and she said, I see a charioteer on the plain, O mother. Describe him, said Medb,— his figure, his appearance, his equip- ment, his real character, the colour of his horses, and the motion of his chariot".— Progress of the Ultonians to Cruachan Ai, MS. Lebor na h- Uidhri, p. 105,'col. 2.
^39 "His house and his Grianan with lightsome windows to come out of". —Fragment of the story oi\E(ain, in MS. Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 129, col. 1.
INTRODUCTION. CCClll
iiortlicrn nations learned the use of windows from tlie Mediter- ranean peoples.
The earliest stone structures in Ireland, even those of early Mortar not
• • 1 •! • 1 rpM T • 1 used ill the
Christian orio-m, are built without mortar, ihe Irish, never- earliest
, p^- n ^ • i- stone struc-
tlieless, appear to have known the use or lime tor whitewashmfrtures;
^ -"^ ... use of lime
their walls, if not before the use of mortar m buildinof, at least f"' ^iiite-
' ° washing
SO long ago as to carry us back almost to the verge of pagan known, times.^*" The fine shining kind of earth with which, Tacitus tells us, the Germans in some places daubed their houses, and made rude designs, like those still to be seen on houses in re- mote German villages, was, perhaps, lime variously coloured with ochre and other pigments. If this opinion be correct, the Germans, like the Irish, knew lime as a pigment before they used it as a cement."'
The smaller homesteads were surrounded, as in Gaul and
s^ " The woman who was wife of Nuadat was Almu, the daughter of Becain. The druid (i.e. Nuadat) built a Dun then in Almhain, and she rubbed her hands to its walls until it was all lime- white, and hence the name Almu [from alamu her hands] adhered to it, and of which was said :
Pure white was the lofty firm Dun,
As if it had received the lime of Eriu
From the two hands which she rubbed on the house.
It is from it Almhain was called .4/wim". — See, Cause of the Bat- tle of Cnuca, in MS. Lehor na h- Uidhri, p. 42, col. 1.
Another passage in the same manuscript says : " When afterwards they chewed these apples, and their hunger and thirst was great, and their mouths and nostrils were full of the stench of the sea, they beheld an island which was not large, and a Dun in it, and a high white Mur or wall around it, like as if it was made of full boiled lime, or as if it was aU one stone of chalk. Great was the view from the Mur, if clouds were not over it. The mouth of the Dun was open. There were large white snow-coloured houses all around the Dun outside". — Navigation of Maelduins Boat, MS. Lchor na h- Uidhii, p. 23, col. 1.
541 .* ]sie caementorum quidem apud illos aut tegularum usus; materia ad omnia utuntur informi, et citra speciem aut delectationem. Qna^dam loca diligentius illinunt terra ita pura ac splendente, ut picturam ac lineanienta colorum imitetur". — Germ. xvi. In a poem by a bard named Cailte on Temar, or Tara, we are told that: "The Tete of the women had a many- coloured roof, and its name was iMiod/icuaird, mead circling". (MS. T. C. D., H, 1. 15, p. 178). The house here referred to as that of the women, appears to be the banqueting hall of other authorities. We are only concerned here, however, with the fact of the exterior of buildings being decorated with various colours.
CCCIV INTRODUCTION.
Fences and Germany, by a fence formed of stakes, or of a bank of earth,
trees about J ^ J ^ ' '
Irish iiome- upon wHich was planted a quick hedge. I have already men- tioned the different kinds of fences used in Ireland to mark the divisions of land, and the limits of the FaWiclie, or en- closed ground about the homestead. The trees planted on the bank of earth to form the quick- hedge, were, besides the blackthorn, the hawthorn, the crab-apple and the elder; the rowan tree and the ash were also generally planted about the house. Ancient tradition assiarns to the time of the sons o^ Aedh Slane, monarch of Ireland at the middle of the seventh cen- tury, the first introduction of the walls and fences, called Clads, Airbis, and Caisels. We are not to understand from this tradi- tion that fences and earthen mounds were wholly unknown in Ireland previously, and consequently individual property in the soil, but that owing to the increase of population consequent on the cessation of foreign wars and the more settled habits of the people due to Christianity and contact with Romanized coun- tries, large portions of common land were enclosed. ^^'^ There may have been some differences also in the kind of fences erected. It is expressly stated that Caisels, that is, stone en- closures, were not used before the period in question, a state- ment which fully confirms the opinion I have expressed above, that stone buildings belong to Christian times. The erection of large stone enclosures and extensive stone mearings would naturally have originated such a tradition as that above re- ferred to.
The Us or The homcstcad of a Flath was called a Lis or Les, corres- ponding to the Welsh Llys. The Welsh term appears, \\OYi- ever, to have been used chiefly to denote the royal residence. When a Lis or residence was surrounded by an earthen mound, or other sufficient fence, enclosing a court-yard or Airlis, in which cattle could be impounded, or driven into for security, and having a gate or door which could be closed at
542 «The birds fled before them [i.e. the chamiiions of Ulster] until they T[}S,ssed over Sliabh Ficait, o\ev Edmuind, o\er Brega. Walls, Airbis (fences), Airlisses, or Caisels used not to be around lands in Eriu at that time, up to the reign of the sons of Aed Slane, only level plains. It was on account of the great number of the Trebs (households) in their reign that they ordained boundaries in Eriu". — Conception of Cuchulaind, from the Book of Drom- snechia, in Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 128, col. 1.
Les.
INTRODUCTION. CCCV
night,^" it was called a Rath. It is probable that every resi TheTfaa dence which was a Forus^** was so protected, and that the name Bath was given to it from the legal function of the owner, who was always a Rath. Sometimes the protecting or en- closing wall was built of dry masonry, and was often of con- siderable thickness. This kind of rampart was called a Caisel, The Caisei. and is to be found in many parts of the country, especially where stone is abundant. Several of these Caisels belonged, however, rather to the higher class of fortified residences called Duns.
A Dun, Welsh Din,^*^ was the residence of a Rig, or king, TUe Dun. as I have already shown. It consisted of two or more earthen walls, or of an earthen wall and a stone wall, between which was a deep ditch, filled with water where the ground admitted of it. The moat or ditch, and the outer earthen wall, formed by the earth excavated from it, constituted the Drecht Giallna or ditch of the Gialls, and was specially intended for the safe keeping of the Gialls or pledges which every king was obliged to hold ; for, as the law states, " he is not a king who has not hostages in locks", that is, in fetters. When an army marched on a great expedition in ancient times, the women and chil- dren and old people accompanied it, and the encampments were often fortified. In such fortified encampments the Rig, or king's camp, seems to have been surrounded by a regular fosse and mound, and was accordingly called a Dun. Thus, in the Tain Bo Chuailgne^*^ we are told that "The four pro- vinces of Eriu then made a Dun and an encampment in the Brislech M6r in the plain of Muirtliemne, and they sent their
543 « ^n(j tjig i^igg ^vjjs closed and locked up". — Courtship of Etain, Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 132, col. 1.
^*^ The door of the outer circumvallation of a Dun seems to have been called a Fordorus, and the inclined ground outside, corresponding to the glacis of a modern fort, the Aurluind. Thus, in the tale called the Progress of the Ultoniiins to Cruachan Ai, in Lehor na h-Uidhri (p. 107, col. 1), we are told that " Thereupon Medb went out upon the Fordorus of the Liss into the Aurlaind\
545 Cf. Saxon, Frisian, and Old Norse, Tun; High German. Zun; New High German, Zaun; Engli-h, -ton, whence Town. The German ZaM« is the enclosing fence of a homestead, and had not the limited application of the Irish Dun. The Welsh form Din, occurs in some old Leinster names, as in Dinric/h. s46 L^lor na h-Uidhri, p. 77, col. '1.
INT. 2U*
CCCVl
INTRODUCTION.
shares of cattle and plunder southwards, away from them into Clitliar B6 Ulacl. Ciichulaind set up at the Fert in Lercaih close by them". These Dims, huilt on a march, remind us of the fortified camps of the Cinihri and the so-called " camps of Caesar" in France. The Cathair. When the inner wall of a Dim was built of stone, it was a Cathair, though O'Curry thinks that every Cathair had not necessarily a ditch about it. When the king's residence Avas situated on a precipitous headland, the Du7i was formed by making the ramparts and ditch across the narrow neck of land connecting the headland and mainland. Some of the stone- built ramparts, both those having a ditch and outer earthen ramparts, and the simple rampart, or Cathairs, without'any existing ditch, are terraced in the interior, and provided with flights of stone steps leading up to the terraces. One of the most remarkable monuments of this class is the one represented in the annexed wood-cut, called " Staigue Fort", in the County of Kerry.
HANLON
'5'i^?t5c?t"^v«.'r?
Figure 3, staigue Fort.
Sir William Wilde, from whose catalogue the figure is borrowed, states that this name is very modern, and that the original Irish name is not known. An ascending path to a burgh was called in Gothic a Staiga; Anglo-Saxon Stig, from the verb Steigan, to ascend, whence the English stair. A portable ladder for obtaining access to a loft or out-house is still called a Stee, or Steigh, in Lancashire. If the name of the Kerry fort be really modern,- and of this there seems to be little doubt, it may have been first given by some of the fol- lowers of Sir Valentine Browne, the founder of the Kenmaie family, who came originally from Lancashire, and brought with him a number of followers from that part of England.
rs
found nd eland.
INTRODUCTION. CCCVU
The stone- built Dims and Cathairs a-re principally, indeed stone buiit
^ r ^ ' Dn,^, and
almost exclusively, to be found in the south-west and west oi'^"'-''"'
•' _ _ _ chiefly
Ireland; some of the more important remains beinj^ found in ',!'/• i^," the south-west of Ireland, where the greatest number of Ogham inscriptions have also been found O'Curry thinks the distribution of the earthen and stone-built Duns is altogether dependent upon that of the materials of which they are formed, and has nothing to do with the races which occupied the country. It is nevertheless curious, that while the words Dun, Lis, and Rath occur in townland names in every part of Ire- land, the word Cathair is almost exclusively confined to Munster and Connaught. O'Curry states that there is not a single townland-tiame in Ulster compounded of Cathair, and only two in Leinster; while the Counties of Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Clare, and Galway, have 209 out of 244 such names. It can scarcely be pretended that in the counties just named stones are more abundant than in many parts of Ulster.
In the narrow and gently slopincr plateau which extends Ancient
° -i ^ =' ^ . Stone Build-
along the southern base of Mount Eagle m the promontory of ipgs in
Dingle, in the County of Kerry, are found about eight stone- built ramparts, or circumvallations, enclosing bee hive shaped stone-built houses. Of such houses there are in the district about seventy to eighty, including those within the circumvallations. Two of the latter had ditches and outer earthen ramparts, and were therefore true Duns.^*^ These monuments are almost all found in two townlands called Fahan and Glenfahan. If these names are ancient, and there is every reason to believe so, they are of considerable interest. Fahan, or fathan, means shelter, enclosure, and Faitche, the enclosed land around a homestead, and are ob' viously cognate with the Gothic hifahan, to enclose, whence
^^ These curious and interesting remains were visited by the late Mr. R. Hitchcock, as has been shown in the Lectures. The Earl of Dunraven visited them some years ago, and lie photograplied them for his great illustrated work on the ancient architecture of Ireland, whijh, it is to be hoped, will soon be published. The first person, however, who published a description of the Dingle remains was the late G. V. Du Noyer. His paper appeared in the Journal of the Archveological Institute for March, 1858. As monuments they are much more important than the celebrated Cathair of Aileach ncRr Derry.
20* B
CCCVlll INTRODUCTION.
came the term " bifange", given to estates appropriated out of the common land.^^® It is probable, then, that the townland names were originally given in consequence of the number of circumvallations. The word Fahan occurs as a townland name in other parts of Ireland, but I do not know whether there are also enclosures in them. they are Thcsc buildings are certainly of considerable antiquity. Pro-
probabiy fessor O'Currv seems to think that the Clochans^ or bee-hive
ecclesiasti" '' ,
cai; shaped stone-built houses, were cells of Christian monks, like
all the structures of the same kind found along the western coast of Ireland. The existence of regular Duns consisting of ramparts and a ditch, built in accordance with the usual mili- tary rules of the time, seems at first sight irreconcilable with
ancient their being ecclesiastical buildings. Yet, when we inquire
civil organi- . ° .? it-i/-(1i
zation of into the true history and organization oi the early Irish Church,
Irish Church j c ■/ '
not incoui- from the middle of the fifth to the middle of the eiijhth century,
patible with .... . "^
this view, this objection is removed. When a Rig Tuatha became a convert to Christianity, and placed himself, his family, Sabaid, or council, and Ceiles under the protection of the missionary, or, as it was expressed, under his bell, the Tuath became, in a certain sense, a religious community, though still retaining the character and organization of the original political body. Even when the Rig and Flaihs of a Tuath devoted themselves wholly to a religious life, no change occurred in the constitution of the state or in the law of succession. As the true character of the social and political institutions of the ancient Irish has hitherto been wholly misunderstood by writers on Irish history, the real position of the infant Christian Church could not be rightly determined. We need not be surprised, therefore, that this curious phase of religious society should have entirely The Ancient escaped the notice of writers on the early Irish Church. The an important facts wliich I liavc gathered together in the preceding pages historical givc US sufiicient glimpses of ancient Irish society to prove that the ancient Irish Church offers one of the most curious and interesting, as well as important, fields of historical inquiiy.'''*'
*** See ante, p cxlv.
^^^ The Duns, Cathairs, and Clochans of the west of Kerry acquire singular interest, not only in connection with the history of the early Irish Church, hut also with the last immigration into Ireland, that of the Milesians. It
inquiry.
IN TRODUCTION . CCCIX
Whether the bee-hive houses and circumvallations of Fahan Ancient
1 /^T n 1 1 1, 1 !• • /-^^ • • • buildiiiKS of
and uienlahan were built by a rehi^ious Christian communitv, Kerry are
, , . ^ ° . , •''l.ke those
or were the work ot a previous pagan tune, they correspond 'I'^^c'bea in accurately to the descriptions of Cathairs and similar construc- tions given in ancient Irish tales. For this reason, as well as the importance attached to them by O'Curry in his Lectures, I think it desirable to describe and illustrate them in some de- tail. The wood engravings, in part copied from the late Mr. Du Noyer's paper, " On the Remains of Ancient Stone-Built For- tresses and Habitations occurring to the West of Dingle, Co. of Kerry", and in part from drawings which he kindly made for me himself, are intended to illustrate the three types of niree enclosed residences — the Caisel, or stone-built circumvallation, catsei, tue without any apparent moat or ditch ; the fort, formed by making the Dun. a stone wall, ditch, and outer earthen rampart across the neck Of isthmus of a precipitous headland ; and the Cathair, and
should be remembeied that Saint Ciaran of Saighir was horn in this 'dis- trict, and that Christianity was liere tirst introduced into Ireland some time before St. Patrick. The tradition of this pre Patrician Christian Church is very old, and the authorities through which it has come down to our time are of great weight. The following passage from the Felere of Oengns Cde D6 gives this tradition of a pre-Patriciau Church in Muuster in unmistakable terms.
" Liadan, daughter of Maine Chirr, son of Oengus of the race of Lugdach, son of Ith, was the mother of Ciaran Saighir ; and he was born at the bright Fintracht [White Strand, now Ventry, in the county of Kerry] ; and angels attended him after he was born. Moreover, it was the grades of heaven that baptized him. And it was in Corco Luigde the cross was first believed in in Eriu : and it was thirty years before Patrick Ciaran occupied Saighir, ut dixit Patrick.
Saig-uar,* build a city on its bank,
At the end of thirty full years.
We shall meet there [I] and you,
A son, who shall be born at Tulach Thind.
Pure shall be his union with us.
Many monks and modest nuns.
After Conail shall occupy. It was after that Ciaran foretold Conail and Fachtna of Ro.'s Ailithir; and it was Ciaran that obtained for the King of Corco Luigde that the Enecland of a Rig Cuicid should be allowed to him, and sovereignty and inheritance to his race for ever, because it was by them the cross was first believed in in Eriu, and because the church of Ciaran was supported by them. — Vellum M.S. L^hor Brecc, li.I.A., p. 38.
* Saig-iiar, ?'.e. Nomeii fontis; h^nc^ Saighir. .
cccx
INTRODUCTION.
Dun combined, that is a fort having a more or less circular
stone-built wall, a ditch or moat, and an outer earthen rampart.''"
The " Fort The annexed figures represent the fort which Mr. Du Noyer
wowes'-at called by the modern name of CaOiair na Mac Tit'ech,-ov
^'''""'" the " Fort of the Wolves", and belonging to the group of
buildings which he called the " Ancient City of Fahan". It
consists of a massive and almost circular stone wall, varying in
thickness from 11 to 18 feet, and enclosing a piece of ground
about 95 to 105 feet in diameter. The entrance passage
Figure 4, View of the " Fort of the Wolves".
through the wall, marked in the plan c (fig. 5), " which is here 11 feet thick, faces the east, and is most singular in its construction ; externally, it measures 5 feet in width, nari'owing mid-way to less than 4 feet internally. Here several stones project ver- tically from the walls of the passage at each side, forming a
ssoThtse, like ruost of our other monuments, have suffered much within the last fifteen or twenty years. They are certainly much more dilapidated now than when I first saw them ard wl:en Mr. Du Noyer drew them. Even then, it was not an easy matter to trace out the exact positions and forms of some of the buildings within the Cathairs. The drawings, however, repre- sent in my opinion with sufficient accuracy the general character of the whole of those monuments as they were at the time they were made.
INTRODUCTION.
• CCCXl
Fig. 5.
Fig.
^^^. £g^^^ .sS^
Plan and cross-section of tbe " Fort of tlie Wolves". 5^1 Scale 40 feet to 1 inch.
rest, against which a moveable door could be placed, so as to resist any force applied from without". The entrance passage leads into a small court-yard, about 19 feet from east to west, and 20 feet from north to south ; opposite is a narrow passage, formed and protected at each side by what may have been a small guard-house ; both of these are still perfect, measuring The "Fort 6 feet 6 inches square internally, and rising into a lofty dome- Woives"at shaped roof On the left-hand, and close to the southern guard-house, but detached from it, is a Clochan (g) measur- ing 12 feet square internally. Having passed this building, the central area of the fort is reached. On the left, attached to the wall of the Cathair, or CaJier, is the principal house or Clvchan (h), constructed with unusual care, its door-way
^=■1 (c) entrance doorway; (c?) court-yard; (e) narrow passage leading to interior of the fort ; (//) guard-houses ; {(j) Clochan; (A) principal Cloch- an; (t) passage leading to it; {k) Clochan; (J I) entrances to covered pas- sages la, la ; (m) covered passage; (ji) watch-house; {q) entrance to watcli- hoase.
CCCXll INTRODUCTION
being formed internally of large upright flag-stones, support- ing a flat lintel, and the passage leading to it flagged above. In the interior of this Clochati, to the right of the door, is a small square recess, which, being about 4 feet above the present level of the floor, does not appear on the plan. The Se^wofves"^ Clochan marked k on the plan lies directly north of the one atFahan. j^^gj, described, and is much ruder in its construction. Its door- way is unique in construction, one side projecting from, while the other is level with, the external surface of the building. Several other conical or bee-hive shaped buildings were also within the Airlis, or enclosed area of the Les, but are now reduced to heaps of stones.
Where the wall is thickest, as on the north and west, it is 18 feet thick. Narrow passages, covered in at top by large flags, have been formed in the thickness of the wall : these are shown in the plan fig. 5, and are marked /«, Z«, and m, and l<^ in a cross- section of one of them in the section through the Cathah% fig. 6. This section is supposed to go from north to south, through the guard-houses//, and the small outer chamber n, to which I shall refer presently. Two of the passages — those marked Z«, !"■ — have entrances on the inner side of the wall, marked Z, I: the entrance of the one in the southern part of the wall, marked m, is not now distin- guishable. The passage la, having its entrance close to the north of the Clochan marked k, and running towards the south, is about 40 feet long ; the second one marked Z«, having its entrance close to the first, can be traced in an easterly direc- tion, for a distance of about 30 feet, before it becomes lost by the falling in of the roof. These passages may have led to some subterranean modes of exit, which are now obliterated, and which represented the Jai^hus of the Norse. The Guard- The most interesting feature of this fort is the small circular
house of the . '^
'■Koit of the chamber n, which Mr. Du Noyer calls a s^uard-house, con-
Wolves". . ' . "^ ^ '
structed in the thickness of the wall, south of the door-way, in the enclosing wall, and access to which was had only from the outside, through the low angular passage, q. A command- ing view of Dingle Bay, Valentia Island, and the range of the Iveragh Mountains, can be obtained from it.
INTRODUCTION CCCXlll
In tlie ancient tale in Lebor na h-Uidhri, about tlie Curath- mir, or " champion's share at Emain Macha\ and of which an account is given in Lecture xxii,''^^ mention is made of a warder's seat outside the Cathair of Curoi MacJDaire, a king of West Munster, celebrated in Irish heroic story, corresponds Like the chamber n in the wall of the "Fort of the " Wauiei's Wolves", the warder's seat had no communication with the insu tales, interior of the fort. Although there is no specific description of Cathair Chonrai, or Curois Cathair, in the tale alluded to, there is enough to show that the fort represented in the pre- ceding figure corresponded in a very remarkable manner with the Cathair of Curoi stated to have been built on Slieve Mis, not many miles to the east oi Fahan.
The second type of ancient Irish fortresses, or that formed second type on projecting headlands, is well illustrated by the annexed r'epresent^ed woodcuts of Dunbeg. Ihis fort has been formed, as will be '^ "" ^^' seen in the plan, " by separating the extreme point of an angular headland from the mainshore by a massive stone wall, constructed without cement, from 12 to 25 feet in thickness, and extending 200 feet in length from cliiF to cliiF. This wall is pierced near its middle by a passage (b) which is flagged overhead, the door-way to which is at present 3 feet 6 inches high, 2 feet wide at top, and 3 feet at its present base, having a lintel of seven feet in length ; as the passage recedes from the doorway, it widens to 8 feetj and becomes arched over- head ; to the right hand, and constructed in the thickness of the wall, is a rectangular room (d) — perhaps a guard-room — measuring about 10 feet by 6 feet, and communicating with the passage by means of a low square opening, opposite to which, in the passage, is a bench-like seat (c) ; a second guard- room (e), similar to the one just described, has been con- structed in the thickness of the wall on the left hand of the main entrance, but unconnected with it, the access to this being from the area of the fort, through a low square opening".
The wall has been strengthened exteriorly at each side of the entrance, by an additional layer of masonry about 4 feet
652
Vol. ii., p. 75.
INTRODUCTION. I
izo recT.
Fi . y.
Fig, 10.
"mmm^^ii^^^^^^^M
Fig 9— Plan and (flg. 10) cross- section if wall of Diinleg Fort. *^' The Iptters in the plan aud sections correspond, (a) main door- way; (b) passage through wall ; (c) raised bench or champion's seat; (J) guard- room ; (e) interior guard-room ; (f f) covered passages in thickness of wall ; (G g) steps on interior wall ; (u) sea wall of Lis; (i) ruins of Clochans; (k and m) remains of stone gate- way or passage througli exterior earthen ramparts ; (l) underground chamber in one of the fosses, over whicii the entrance passage or roadway went. The cross-section of the whole Dun, fig. 7, and the enlarged plan, fig. 9, and cross-section of tlie wall, figure 10, are taken along the line s N.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXV
in depth and 30 feet in length. This appears to have been ounbog done after the erection of the wall, as the line of junction may be clearly distinguished behind the outer work (see section of wall, fig. 10). In the thickness of the wall, at each side of the entrance, are long narrow passages (f f), formerly covered in, similar to those in the " Fort of the Wolves" and in other stone forts and Caisels. The interior face of the wall recedes by a suc- cession of stone steps, which doubtless afforded access to a ter- race on the top.
A series of three earthen mounds, with intervening fosses^ were thrown up outside the stone wall, as will be seen by reference to the plan of the fort. A pathway, leading in a direct line to the entrance of the fort, passed through them ; this pathway appears to have passed through a stone gateway or passage, flagged overhead, in each earthen mound. The remains of two of these are indicated at m and k. In the pas- sage across the second fosse from the fort, an underground chamber (l) was constructed. The section at the top of the plan, taken along the line s N, shows the relative proportions of the mounds and fosses. In the interior of the fort are the remains of several Clochans (i), the plans of which cannot now be traced with any certainty; and on the west side are portions of a wall (h) along the edge of the cliff, which is about 90 feet above the level of the sea.
Two walls, nearly parallel to each other, start one from each end of the external mound, and run up the flank of Mount Eagle, enclosing a piece of grovmd now called Parka- doona, or the field of the Dim. This was, no doubt, the Faitche of the Dun.
Similar headland fortresses, but defended in general by earthen mounds only, are common along most parts of the rocky coast of Ireland.
The third type of fortress, or true stone-built Dun, may be Third type illustrated by the annexed wood-cut, which represents a remark- by the Dun able Ccdhair svirrounded by a Dun, in the townland of Bally- of liaiiyhea- heabought, two miles north of Dingle, and close to the main road leading to the vilhige of Bally brack. This monument " consists of an inner circulai earthen rampart, from 12 to 14 feet thick.
CCCXVl
INTRODUCTION.
Fig. 11— Plan of a Dun and Cathair,aX Ballyheabought, County of Kerry .as*
Fig. 12 — Section of preceding Dun and Cathair along the line a, 6.554
^^ (c c c) entrance passage to fort ; (c?) entrance to principal Clochan ; (e) outer chamber; (/) middle chamber; {g) passage to inner chamber; (h, i) wall ; (k) oblong Clochan ; (l) ruins of a Clochan ; (m) inner circular rampart, platformed and faced on the interior with stone; (n) deep fosse; Co) outer earthen rampart, faced on the interior with stone ; (p) shallow fosse ; (q) row of upright flag-stones.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXVll
and 100 feet in internal diameter, carefully faced on the interior ^'« "r
. ^ n ' r Cathair of
with stone, and havmof a narrow platform, averairinff 3 feet above Ka'iy'iea-
^ . ^ , ^ . . bought.
the present level of the inner area, constructed around its entire circumference. This rampart is surrounded by a fosse, 25 feet in width at the top, and on the south side fully 20 feet in depths measured from the summit of the rampart. Outside this fosse is a second wall of defence, 10 feet thick, also of earth, but faced on the exterior with large flag-stones ; in removing the earth to construct this mound, a second, but small fosse was made external to all ; the ground was then gently escarped in every direction from the fort".
" The entrance passage to this magnificent fortification (c) faces the west, and, crossing both mounds and fosses in a direct line, cuts through the inner mound ; large flag-stones lie scattered about, and are, doubtless, the remains of a massive stone doorway, which was constructed in the ramparts. In the inner circular area are the remains of some massive Cloghauns. The principal one is well preserved, and measures 18 feet in internal diameter, having its doorway facing the north-east ; a portion of it towards the south has been carefully separated, to form a sleeping chamber (/), at the extreme end of which, and leading due south, is a low narrow passage [g) giving access to a lunette shaped apartment (A), constructed on the exterior of the main wall of the Cloghaun, and on its southern periphery. The interior of the fort is partly divided off by a wall (i) which connects the group of Cloghauns with the rampart".
A row of upright flagstones (q) forms a kind of enclosed pas- sage from the Clochan (k) to the door (d) of the principal Clochan, a distance of about 25 feet. If the row of stones (q) were continued to the rampart, access to the principal Clochan could have been gained only by passing through the narrow passage, about 5 feet broad, between the flagstones and the Clochan. If this were so, and it is very probable it was, the principal Clochan and the ground cut off by the wall (i) may have been intended for the use of the women. The Clochan (k) in that case may have been the sleeping chamber of the king. This Dun was doubtless the winter residence and prin- cipal stronghold of some powerful B/gh.
CCCXVlll
INTRODUCTION.
Lawn-lights and signals at a Forus.
Spi'ing of water in llOUSH of
Uruyhfer.
Running stream in Lios or Airless of Fer Furais, and in the liouse of a Leech or doctor.
I have already mentioned that a Bnighfer should have " an ever living lire, and a candle upon a candlestick" ; but, Inde- pendent of tills fire and this light in the interior of the house, he and every other Fer Forais, or owner of a Forus, that is, %very one who had a homestead surrounded by a rampart, and whose Airlis, or enclosed yard, could serve as a pound, was bound to have signals for the guidance of travellers. These signals consisted of a mode of giving notice at fords of rivers and bars of estuaries, that a party of travellers had arrived at the water's edge, and of sounding an alarm, and a signal fire on dark nights on a conspicuous part of the Faitche or lawn. Alarms were apparently sounded by striking a shield; but men- tion is also made of a sounding flag at the brinks of rivers.'^''^
In connection with the buildings of the ancient Irish, I may mention the right of a Brughfer to have a spring of water in his house if he chose, that is, he was entitled to have his house built over a spring, and thus obtain the exclusive use of it. It is probable that he was the only man under the rank of a Flath who was entitled to this privilege, a circumstance easily ex- plained by his functions of public hospitaller. This custom of having a spring of water in the living room, or in the dairy of farm-houses, covered over with a moveable flag, has come down to the present time in some remote districts of the country. A Fer Fo7'ais was also bound to have a running stream in his Lios, or within his Airless, for impounded cattle to drink and cool themselves, and a pond in his Forus-ysivd for geese
"5 The following interesting passage from the laws indicates very clearly the duty of a Fer Forais : " Everything of these he sliall have, namely, the Toran no beim tar Sgiatli, that is, the thunder or shield rattle, or the clock
indab [the il/«S. is defective here, hvA clock ind ah \amd'\,
or the stone or sounding flag, near the water's edge at the ford, is meant], and the Lessan Faitche, or the lawn or field light [i.e. a signal light on a dark night], or the Tene-geallain, or blazing fire ; and that the place all round must be well guarded {i.e. fortified), so that nothing can escape out of it". MS. Brit. Mus., Egerton, 88, p. 59, b.a. Mr. B. O'Looney informs aie that the use of a sounding flag is still common on the fords of the rivers and dan- gerous passes in the County of Clare, and especially on the river Inagh. The topographical names Ard Solus, hill light, and Atk Solus, ford light, not far from Quin Abbey, in the County of Clare, indicate, the one tlie site of an ancient " lawn light", and the other that of an ancient "ford light".
INTRODUCTION. CCCXIX
to swim in. A physician had also certain rights over -water; he had not only the right, but was in fact obliged, to build his house over a running stream, not over a spring. Among the early Irish the TAag, or Leech, sometimes treated his patient in his own house ; he supplied not only medical advice, but medi- cine and hospital accommodation also. When a man was ma- liciously or accidentally wounded, he was taken to the house of the Leech, who examined his wounds, and gave a certificate as to their character, upon which depended the legal liabilities of the person who inflicted them. If the leech considered the cure probable, he gave security for the proper treatment of the patient, and received in return security for his fees.^^'^
The craft of the Irish Lian, or Leech, appears to have been Number of
"^ ^ '11 ^ doors 111 a
respectable and eminently practical. The value of cleanliness, ^'^^'^i^'s of water and fresh air, as curative agents, appears to have been thoroughly appreciated, for we are told that the Leech's house, in addition to having a stream of water flowing through it, should have four doors, in order, as the law says, that it may be perceived from all sides. Another object of the four doors was that it might have at least one of them always open, no matter from what point the wind blew, and thus insure the proper ventilation of the sIcL. chamber. Tlie hot air bath was used for the cure of rheumatism, Avhich must have been very common, and it is probable that the remains of such baths which are found here and there through the country, indicate the localities where Leeches' houses formerly existed.
BURIAL OF THE DEAD IN ERIU.
It is very much to be regretted that Professor O'Curry did not live to gather together all the scattered allusions to the modes of burial among the ancient Irish which are to be found in Irish manuscripts. This important question was to have formed the subject of the course of lectures which was to fullow that on Music. Although, in writing this Introduction, I set out with Reason for
-. . , ,. . ,. ,., writmg on
the intention of not discussing any subject winch was not morethe uuriaiof or less within the scope of the Lectures now published ; yet, the monuments erected over the dead being examples of the
'^^ See as to their amount, p. cc!.xxx.
CCCXX INTRODUCTION.
architectural skill and ideas of the period in which they are erected, as much as the houses and other structures raised for the use of the living, I cannot avoid saying a few words on the graves, tumuli, and other monuments of the dead in Eriu. And as these cannot be well understood without some knowledge of the funeral rites, I shall have to preface my re- marks on the tombs by a few words on the funeral rites also. Cremation The numerous urns containing burnt bones found in Irish practised in tumuli, provc that at some period cremation of the dead was practised in Ireland. It is even probable that this custom came down to the first or second century of the Christian era, but only very few vestiges ofitcanbe detected in the existing tales. The Gaulish There cau be little doubt that the custom which Caesar tells burning US the Gauls had of burning some of the clients, slaves, and commnn to favouritc auimals of their dead chiefs and warriors, when tions. celebrating their funeral rites,^'*' was universal in early times
among all Aryan peoples. In no way could respect for the rank and qualities of the deceased chief be better shown than by providing him, on his entrance into the next world, with a retinue of his favourite servants befitting his rank and war- one case of like exploits, and with horses and dogS for the chase. In the hostages re- story of the death of Crimiliann, son of Fidad, and the three iri^h MS. sons of Eochcich Mnidhmeadhan — Brian, Ailill, and Fiachra — there is a passage which seems to prove, not only the tradi- tion in historic times of the practice of cremation of the dead in Ireland, but also that of putting persons to death at fune- rals. This important passage is as follows: ^'•Fiachra then brought fifty hostages with him from Munster, and he brought a great Cain \i. e. booty levied as legal fine], and he went forth then on his way to Temar. When, however, he reached Forud in Ui Mac Uais, in Meath, Fiachra died of his wounds there. His Leaclit was made, and his Fert was raised, and his Cluiche Caintech was ignited, and his Ogam name was written, and the [fifty] hostages which he brought from the
557 « Funera sunt pro cultu Gallorum magnifica et sumptuosa ; omniaque, quae vivis cordi fuisse arbitrantur, in igneni iuferunt, etiam animalia; ac paulo supra lianc memoriani servi et clientes, quos ab iis dilectos esse constabat, justis funeribus confectis, una cremabantur". Bdlo Galileo, vi. 19.
INTRODUCTrON. CCCXxl
soutli were buried alive around the Fert of Fiachra, that it might be a reproach to the Moraonians for ever, and that it might be a trophy over them".^^* The reproach which this act was intended to cast on the men of Munster consisted, no doubt, in treating the Munster hostages, who were all of the highest birth, as if they were the dependants and slaves of Fiachra. It may be also, that putting them to death in the way here described, and burying thera around him, as they would have sat in fetters along the wall of his banqueting hall, consecrated them, as it were, to perpetual hostageship even among the dead.
No mention is made of the burial of animals in the passage Animals of from the Book of Ballymote above quoted ; but in the story of sia'o- Etain/va. Lehor na li-Uidhri, we have a distinct reference to the custom of slaying the animals of a deceased person. In this tale we are told that Eocaid *' left Ailill at Fremain of Teffia to die, and he went on his visitation of Eriu ; and he left Etai7i Avith Ailill in order that she might have his Tiug- maine made — that is, to dig his Fert, to make his Guba, and to slay his quadrupeds".*'''
The occurrence of cinerary urns containing burnt bones. The mere in the chambers of great tumuli, may be looked upon as true of burnt evidence of the practice of cremation of the dead: but the sufficient
Gvidcricc of
occurrence of such urns and bones in less distinguished tombs cremation, do not of themselves prove that cremation of the dead was practised at the period at which the grave was made, because burning alive was one of the modes of punishing persons for because
• . -r-rj f T • • ^ 1 •! some criir=
certain crimes. We have distinct evidence that persons ffuiltv nais were of the abduction or seduction of a maiden were so punished ; and. if the maiden became pregnant, which was considered to have been sufficient proof that she was a consenting party to
"8 -oobefv lAjMTi ■pAc]\A X. 51 Alt A ITluniAn ieif ocuf -oo he^\\. AlAn cAin ocuj' tuTo |\eime lApcAin •00 pAfcnAtn co CenipAc. aii cAn lApum -oo ^occ tTo-pAi-o in tub mic CuAif mToi AcbAc V^iAcpA ■oa 511111 An-opn. Ho ctAitjeAg AbeAccocuf'po'LAigeA'o a f-eApc ocu]-|Ao1iA'onAT) A cUiicecAeticecocu]'^o-p- c]\ibA'D A Aiiini ogAini ocuf i\o li A'oii AiceAX) n A jeitb cuca'6 a neAff ocuf pA-o beo im f'CAixc pAC|\A combA IiaiL tro]\ inumAin •do ^y^ey ocuf combA coin- |\AmA jTOfiAu.— Vellum MS., Book of Ballymote, K. I. A, fol. 145, b.b. (middle).
"9 Vellum MS., R. I. A., Ltbor na h-Uidhri, p. 130, col. 1.
INT. 21*
some crimi- nals were bui'ied alive.
CCCXXU INTRODUCTION.
Bones from the cilme, she was burnt alonof with her seducer.*^" It
the two ' ...
sources not would, of course, be impossible to determine, from an exami-
aistingutsh- .
^'^'e; nation of burnt bones, whether the person to whom they had
belonged had died before the body was burned, or had been
^8" The following passages establish what has been said in the text.
"After this the race of the ancestors of this holy youth, i.e. Barra, came from the territory of Connaught into the territory of Muscraighe ; and he, namely, Amergin, son of Dubh, obtained family possessions and land in it, i.e. in AcJiad Dorhchon, in Muscraighe. It is there the father of Barra had his residence ; and this Amergin was a very good smith, and he was chief 0/^om/i-smith to the king of the territory, i.e. to the king of the territory of
Rathlend ; and Tighernach was his name There was a noble
lady staying with the wife of the king of Rathlend; and the king and his wife held her in high esteem. The king commanded his household that none of them should form a secret alliance, or commit a crime with this lady visitor. Amergin did not, however, hear of this warning, and he bestowed great love and affection on the lady, and her love for him was not less. It so happened that the smith and the lady had familiar intercourse with each other, and she became pregnant. Before long the news became known to the king. The king thereupon sent for the lady, and she came into his presence, and when she stood before hira, he asked her how she came to be pregnant, and by Avhom. The lady blushed on the face, and replied: It is by Amergin I am so. If it be, said the king, it is right to tie and fetter you both, and after that to scorch and to burn you without respite.
" The king commanded his people to tie and to fetter the two, and to build a fire and to light a kiln, and to put them both into it. They did as the king commanded them ; but God did not allow them to put them to death, for a great thunder and a heavy fall of rain and fiery flashes of lightning, and such an unusual storm of rain came at the time, that they M'ere not able to light the fires, because the child who Avas then an infant in the womb of the noble lady was beloved of the Lord, i.e. the blessed Barra". — Life of St. Finnharr, O'Curry MS. C.U.I., p. 1-2, and MS. Book of Lismore.
Again, the cause assigned in Lebor na h-Uidhri (p. 42, col. 1, bottom) for the battle of Cnuca was the abduction of Muirni Muncaem by CinnaJl, who refused to send her back, or to pay any restitution for the offence to her father, or to the king for the violation of the law. Cumall was killed in the battle which took place in consequence of the refusal. Muirni came to seek shelter from her father after the death of Cumall, but he refused to admit her because she was pregnant, and he told his people to burn her. This was not, however, done, as they were afraid to kill her, lest they might incur the vengeance of the monarch Conn. And again in the curious legend of the Courtship of Becuma, to which I shall presently refer, we are told that Manannan Mac Llr, a mythological personage of the Tuatha Be Danann^ recommended that Becuma, the unfaithful wife of another personage of that race, Labrad of the " swift-hand-at-sword", should be banished or burned. The more lenient course was however adopted.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXXUl
burned alive. There is reason for believino; that no scpul- No funeral
,f, ■,■,■,/;. monuments
chral monuments were erected for those burned for crimes, to criminals, and we may thence infer that when cremation of the dead was practised, the ashes of criminals were not collected into urns.^^' In the single instance of cremation of the dead above mentioned, nothing is said of putting the ashes into an urn. There was, however, a special name for a cinerary urn, as vvc learn from the Irish version of the travels of Marco Polo, and one, too, apparently not borrowed. ^"-
The Cluiche Caentech of Fiachra, which, we are told in the The ciutche
, -, . . - . , Caentech not
passaije above quoted, was iffnited, was not a funeral pyre, a pyre,
1 "; -1 1 T 1 -1 ^, ■ J ^ /thouphused
though evidently used here m that sense. Cluiche Cae^itech to enpress it. was the whole funeral rite, and included, when cremation was practised, the burning of the body, the enclosing of the ashes in the urn, but especially the recitation of dirges, and the performance of jrames. The dircjes constituted the Guha, and The CuJa the games the Cidtech Fuait. As the ignition of the funeral ^«a'< or
° • 1 1 • dirges and
pyre would be the signal for the commencement of the dirges games ; and other rites, the term used for the whole of the operations was applied, as we have seen, to the first. One reason sug- gests itself for this being done. Many of the funeral rites necessarily survived the substitution of the burial of the body for cremation, and among them, no doubt, the lighting of torches with which the pyre was kindled, and which in after times were replaced by the candles put around the dead body. Hence the kindling of the torches, or the lighting of the candles, took the place of the lighting of the funeral pyre as
"^' A judgment attributed to a certain Cae Cain Brethach is preserved in the laws, Avliich shows that a dishonoured grave was one of the modes of punishing an unfaithful wife in ancient Ireland. The judge says to the accused : " Your crime is proved, and you are found guilty. I will not put you to death, but I adjudge you a dishonoured grave with the three shovel, fuls of disgrace upon your body". MS. H.3. 18. The three shovelfuls of disgrace were : a shovelful of dog's dung, a shovelful of man's dung, and a shovelful of horse's dung.
5G2 "Whenever a person who goes into that kingdom [the province of C'jJigign, on the borders of Tbibei] dies, they make aslies of his body, and they put them into a Cronoc cumdaighyOr prei«erving urn, in the promontories of mountains, and in the bosoms of cliffs, so that it will not be setn by man c-r beast ever after". Book oj Lismore, O'Curry'e copy, R.I. A., fol. 63, b.b.
21* B
CCCXXIV INTRODUCTION.
tlie commencement of the Clmche Caente or singing of the dirges and other rites, and thus preserved a tradition of the connection between the funeral pyre and the name by which the whole of the funeral rites were called.
Whether the body were burnt or buried, the operation was
accompanied by certain rites, which, as we have just stated,
the Ceprfjr or consisted in the recitation of dirges. One of those dirges,
panegjric. . . ^ .
which specially recounted the descent and exploits of the deceased, was called, at least in medieval times, a Cepdg. Manner of This dir^e was chaunted by the mournins; bard, assisted by
chantirg the , . ° , •' . .
diiges; }i{g pupils and the family mourners, while the professional mourners engaged for the occasion sang the accompaniment in melancholy strains and in measured notes, to correspond with the metre of the dirge. The friends and admirers of the deceased sometimes joined in the accompaniment or chorus.
the3fiid Xhe 31nd Caointe, or professional mourninof women, who used
Caointe or ^ .
professional to attend the wakes and funerals in the Irish-speaking districts
mourning ■■- ~
women; of Ireland up to the period of the famine of 1848, and perhaps still do so in some of the remoter districts of the west and south, preserve, I have no doubt, a true tradition of the ancient Cepdg or Guba. The usual number was at least four ; one stood near the head of the bed or table on which the corpse was laid, one at the feet, who was charged with the care of the candles, and one or more at each side ; the family and immediate friends of the deceased sat around near the table. The mourner at the head opened the dirge with the first note or part of the cry ; she was followed by the one at the foot with a note or part of equal length, then the long or double part was sung by the two side mourners, after which the members of the family and friends of the deceased joined in the common chorus at the end of each stanza of the funeral ode or dirge, following as closely as they could the air or tune adopted by the professional mourners. Sometimes one or more, or even all the principal singers, were
c^T'^^^ men. I once heard in West Muskerry, in the county of Cork, a dirge of this kind, excellent in point of both music and words, improvised over the body of a man who had been killed by a fall from a horse, by a young man, the brother of the deceased. He first recounted his genealogy, eulogised
INTRODUCTION. CCCXXV
the spotless honour of his family, described in the tones of a sweet lullaby his childhood and boyhood, then changing the air suddenly, he spoke of his wrestling and hurling, his skill at ploughing, his horsemanship, his prowess at a fight in a fair, his wooing and marriage, and ended by sud- denly bursting into a loud piercing, but exquisitely beautiful wail, which Avas again and again taken up by the bystanders.
Sometimes the panegyric on the deceased was begun by one and continued by another, and so on, as many as three or four taking part in the improvisation. In the case oi' Flaths, Rigs, vanegyricot and other distinffuished personages, the historian or bard of the ^'laths
1 Tf -, 1 f 1 made by
family, or some other qualified person selected for the purpose, bardof delivered, in ancient times, the panegyric or funeral oration, recounting the genealogy, deeds, and virtues of the dead, and the loss his friends sustained.
During the ancient Guha, the friends and comrades who Prostration
" and plucking
lamented the loss of the deceased prostrated themselves on the "fiiair and
. . beard a
ground with dishevelled hair, and even, in cases of excessive ^'"*««
grief, tore their hair and beard. The following stanzas from
the lament of Oisin for his son Oscur, and usually attributed to
the former, whose last poem it is said to have been, give an
example of this part of the Cluiche Caolnte, or funeral rites : —
" Then the son of Ronan screams, And he falls upon the ground; He casts his beautiful body down, He plucks his hair and his beard".
" I was examining his wounds And recounting his great deeds : It was a great affliction to us then That he died under our hands".^"^^
When the cremation or interment of the corpse and the Funeral
Cluiche Caointe or mourning part of the ritual of the dead
were completed, the CuitechFuait, or funeral games, commenced.
From the use of this word to describe the games instituted by
Achilles in honour of Patrocles,^" it is probable that the
*" Quoted by Dr. Keating in his Tn Bir Gaithe an B/tais, or the "Three Shafts of Death". Lib. iii., art. viii., Mr. O'Looncy's MS., p. 110.
^^* Aicil [Achilles] buried Petrocul [Patrocles] and he made his Fert, and he planted his Lie, and he wrote his name, and he proclaimed him at his burial place, and he made his Cluiche Cahite, and after this the Cuitech Fuait.
CCCXXVl INTRODUCTION.
wrestling, foot races, etc., practised at the Aenach constituted the Cuitech Fuait.
The Nosad. The Cluiche Coomfe, or mourning, the Druidic or other sacred ceremonies, and the Cuitech F^iait, or games, appear to have been included under the collective name of Nosad, of which the Nosad Lugnusa, or games celebrated at TailtS on Lamas-day, are an example. ■'^^^
Aenachs or J havc already mentioned that the Aenach, or fair, which was,
fairs always •' > j " "■">
cemeteries ^^ ^® havc Seen, an assembly of the whole people of a Tuath or province, was always held at the place of burial of the kings and nobles. The institution of a fair at any place seems to have always arisen from the burial there of some great or renowned personage. An assembly was culled together to celebrate the funeral rites, and as the principal function of those who attended was to join in the Guba, or mourning chorus, the assembly was called an Aenach Guba, or mourning assembly. The Cuitech Fuait, or funeral games in honour of the dead, which were per- formed after the funeral, were repeated on the anniversary of the funeral, or on every third anniversary, or some other stated period, if the person buried was of great distinction, or if it be- came the burial place of other kings and nobles The history of the fair of Carman in the Appendix shows how the first Aenach Guba developed into a great triennial assembly held for
The Mr of many centuries. The great fair of TailtS had a similar origin, as we learn from the ancient tract on the origin of the names of places, called the Dindsenchas. From it we learn that the fair was instituted to commemorate the name of Tailtiu. the daueh- ter of J/a^Amor, king of Spain, and the wife of Eochad Garbh, son of Duach Teimin, by whom Duma na n- Gall, the mound or tomb of the foreigners, at Tara was built. She requested her husband to have a fair instituted in her name, and held at her grave. When she died her Guba was sung, and the Nosad, or the rites and games, of which I have spoken above.
The reason they used to make the Cuitech Ftiait was for the good of the souls of their friends, for it was a tradition among the Gentiles that the soul for which the Cuitech Fuait was not made should spend one hundred years in heW.—Book of Ballymote, R.I.A., fol. 241, a.a.
565 Poem oil Fair of Tadi€.— Book of Lecan, f. 258.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXXVll
were celebrated by her foster son, Liigad, son of Seal Balb. This fair, though instituted in pagan times, beyond the reach of real chronology, was celebrated on the first Monday of August each year, down to the middle of the tenth century, ac- cording to one account, and to the end of the twelfth according to another.*^® Durinsr pao^an times Tailte, like the sites of T-aiV^ daring
111 1 11 1 ^ • 1 r 1 • P'*8*° "™'^»
all the other celebrated rairs, was the cemetery ot kmgs, queens, a royai ce- and nobles. It is not quite certain whether a new mound was always erected for each king, or whetlier the urns of several kings were placed in the same tomb. Be this as it may, we are told in all descriptions of celebrated cemeteries, that the fair ground was covered with numerous mounds, the graves of kings. ^"^^ The periodic celebration of great fairs on the sites of
^^'' According to the Dindsenchas, the fair of Tailte was instituted 3500 years B.C. According to the Annals of the Four Masters, a.m. 3370. Ac- cording to the Dindstnchas, the last fair was the black fair of Donchadh, the son of Fland [/S'»»ia] son of Maelsec/dann, who died a d. 942. According to the Annals of the Four Masters, it was celebrated down to the time of Eoderick O'Connor, the last king of Eriu. Of course these dates are only of value as indicating the great antiquity of the fair.
5ii7 a 'f ijg chiefs ot Ulster, before Conchobar, were buried at Tailte, namely, Ollamh Fotla, and seven of his sons and graudsons, with others of the chiefs of Ulster. The nobles of the Tuat/ia D^ Danand, with the exception of seven (who were buried at Tui/te), were buried at Brugh, namely, Lug, Oc, the son of Olloman, Ogma, Cairpre, the son oi IHtaiu (the poetess), Elain liers>'lf, and U\e Dagda and ius three sons (namely, Aedli, Oengus,a,iid Cermait), and many more bt sides of the Tuatha De Datiand, Firbolgs, and others. The kings of the province of Galian [Leinster, were buried] in Aenack Ailbi. The kings of Munster at Aenach Cuile, at Aenach Colman, and Fecld. The Cland Dedad at Teiiiair Erind, The kings of Connaught in Cruachan, ut diximus".
" Fifty Cnocs at each Aenach of those ; Fifty Cnocs at Aenach Cruaihan; Fifty Chocs at Ae7iach Tailte ; And fifty Cnocs in the Aenach of the Brugh".
" Those are the three cemeteries of the Idols, The cemetery of Taill<f to be chosen, 'J he cemetery of Cruachan, ever pure, And the cemetery of the Brugh.
" The Cnocs which are in the Aenach [of Ciuachanl There are under them heroes and queens. And poets, and banquet distributors, And pure, elegant women.
CCCXXVlll INTRODUCTION.
many of the most celebrated pagan cemeteries, during several centuries after the introduction of Christianity, as well as the vivid traditions, preserved even to our own day in topographical names and popular legends, of the founders of each Aenech Guba, and of the successive kings and warriors buried in the cemeteries in times beyond the reach of real chronology, is to my mind strong evidence that the great tvunuli on the Boyne, and in other places, belong to the cycle of the heroic poems and tales preserved in our manuscripts, and are not pre-historic Irish ti-adi- in the sense of being outside the traditions of the country. If
tioiis con- ° , , , "^
nected with wc comparc thosc traditions, confuscd as they necessarily must be,
topography '^ ^ , , •' •'
of the coun- both from their great antiquity and the fragmentary character of the literature in which they are preserved, with those of the Greek or Roman heroic times, I have no hesitation in saying that while, on the whole, they are as full and as consistent as the latter, they are perhaps in a topographical sense more de- finite. The marked characteristic indeed of Irish legendary history is the way in which it is inseparably interwoven with the ancient topography of Ireland. In this respect Irish legends offer a marked contrast to the British, Norse, or Germanic ones, which may be described as nomadic and without any fixed habitat in the soil. This objection may, no doubt, be raised to the historic character of the Irish tumuli, that while those of the Boyne and some others in Meath are of great size, and the stones forming the Dumai or chambers, and the passages to them, often incised with peculiar ornaments and figures, the monuments of Relig na High at Cruachan, and of many other cemeteries, are comparatively insignificant, and yet according to tradition there was not much difference in point of time be- tween the use of those cemeteries as burial places: indeed Aenech an Bruga on the Boyne and Aenech Cruachain in Connaught must have been used contemporaneously. Perhaps the greater size and splendour of the graves of the Boyne, and other monuments of a like character in Meath, are character-
"The true Ultonians before Conchohar Were always buried in Tailte Until the death of that triumphant man, With whom their glory passed away for ever" Death ol' Athi or Dathi and his burial. Lebor na h- L'idhri, p. 38, col. 1.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXXIX
istic of the Tuatha De Danann race, by whom, according to tradition, they were principally erected.
From the ancient laws and other sources we have direct evi- The rituai
of tlie dead
dence that the ritual of the dead varied with the rank, sex, and ^'""'^d with
the rank,
occupation of the deceased, and that it was more splendid and^e^, etc. elaborate in the case of great men, as is shown by the monuments erected over the graves. The following passage from the tale of the battle of Magh Tuired establishes beyond question this fact :
" Each man of them then buried his own comrade and friend, his companion, and his mate, and his fellow pupil ; and they made Jhimai upon their Daiglidaine, or nobles, and Leaca upon their Laeclira, or heroes, and Fearta upon their Feneda, or warriors, and Cnocs upon their Curada, or champions". ^^^
In this passage we get the names of some of the monuments Names of of the dead of the ancient Irish. Adding the others not men- of tue dead : tioned, it will be convenient to discuss each kind of monument in the following order: — the Derc, the Fert^ the Liao or Lie, and the Leacht, the Dum^ the Cnoc, and the Cam.
The Derc was a hollow, a pit, or hole, dug in the ground, in the Oe;c; fact, a simple grave. ^"^^ The word is cognate with Dergiid, frequently used in Irish manuscripts in the sense of a bed. When the Derc was shallow, it was frequently faced inside with dry masonry, and covered with small flags like a sewer, upon which the earth was then laid. When the body was buried, and not burned, the corpse was laid in the Derc, with the feet towards the east and the head to the west.
There is some doubt about the true meaning of the second term in the above list — the Fert. A rectanfj^ular chamber, com- posed of a number of upright stones, on the top of which were laid horizontally other flags erected over a Derc, is usually called a Fert.^''° Such a naked stone chamber was, however,
568 First Battleof 2Iagh Tuired, MS. T, C. D., H. 2. 17. p. 91. See Addenda for a list of monuments mentioned in this tract.
*" Second Battle of AJagh Tuired, Harkian MSS., Brit. Mus. 5280, OCurry's copy. See Addenda for tlie passage.
^'^ " St. Senan died at the age of one hundred and eighteen years, and was buried in Jnis CartJiaigh, at the north-west side of Teampall iliioVe, where the Feart is, which is called Derc Senain". Vita Senani, Mr. O'Looney's MS.; p. b8, top.
CCCXXX INTRODUCTION.
the few ; more correctly called an 7nc^ei76 Cloich, the term Fert being applied to a ridge or embankment, a mound or artificial eminence at a fair or other place of assembly,"' and a wall or earthen rampart around a camp, a house, or a church. The term Fert might therefore be applied to the kind of monu- ment referred to in the following passage from a work of Dr. Keating: " The second mode [of bvu-ial] was to bury the dead under ground, and to raise small Baths of the Claide^^^ around them, and not to have a Liag (flag-stone) or a Leaclit {i.e. a stone monument) over them ; and there are three other classes who are usually buried in those small Baths, namely Aos Ealadna [men of science], women, and children". He goes on to say: " There are two other modes in which such persons were buried in Eiru in addition to that just mentioned, as may be inferred from the following stanza:
" A Fert of one door for a man of science, A Fert of two doors upon a woman, A Fert with doors also Upon boys, upon maidens. Cnocs (mounds) upon distinguished foreigners, And Murs upon [those who died of J great plagues".*''*
The Ferts here spoken of could scarcely be mere mounds of earth; they must have been rather small chambers of stones or Hags, such as the structures sometimes called Ferts, which are met with in different parts of Ireland. Dr. Keating describes the first mode of burial in Ireland as follows : " They used to make a Fert in the earth corresponding in length and breadth with the corpse; they then deposited the corpse therein, with the soles of his feet turned to the east, and the
*'' E.g. Ferta na n-ingen, or the mound of the maidens at Tara; and Fert Maigin no Aonaig, the mound of the sanctuary or fair of the Laws. MSS. II. 3.18, p. 318, b. ; Buok of Lecan, 182, a. The Fert mentioned in the fol- lowing passage is clearly a mound of earth piled over the Derc or grave.
" I shall die of that, said she, and I shall go with you to-morrow upon the Mayh (plain), in order that you may plant my Lia and dig my Fert. And it was so done, and hence Lia n-Othairi\ — Book oj Lecan, fol. 251 b.b.
*'^ That IS, the earth and other stuff which was dug out of the graves. It is evident that the Raths here spoken of were small mounds formed of the earth dug out of the grave, just as is done in making graves at tiie present day.
'''^ Tri bir gaithe an Bhais, MS. cit. These lines as given by Keating are manifestly incomplete ; there should be two lines more to make a couplet of
INTRODUCTION. CCCXXXl
crown of the head to the west; and put a Cam of stones over it, which was called a Leacht, such as the Fert of Alao- thagan in Ui Failiacli\
AmonfT the superstitious practices prohibited in the Anglo- tiie Fyhn of
Anglo-Saxou
Saxon laws of Canute is one called Fylirt^''\ which Mr. law; Thorpe, the editor, regrets his inability to explain. Could this word be the same as the Irish Fert^ and mean a grave ? The prohibition in the Saxon laws may have referred, there- fore, to the use of some part of the pagan ritual of the dead connected with this particular kind of grave, or to visits paid to it at night to conjure the spirits of the dead. I am strength- ened in this explanation of the word by finding a similar pro- hibition in the Laws of the Northumbrian Piiests,^'^ which applied to the same district, where the officer called a Ferdin- gus or " Ferthingman" existed. The latter word I have already shown to be almost pure Irish, and, did space admit of it, I might give many examples of names from early Norman char^ ters and other documents relating to the same ground, which, if not Irish, are those of a people who spoke the same, or a very closely related tongue.
The word Leacht seems to have been a general term applied the Leacht, to stone sepulchral monuments consisting either of unfashioned stones of every size piled up over a simple grave, or over an Indeilh cloich or stone chamber, or of a number of large
eight lines They occur in a complete form in the Book of Lecan (f. 258, a. b.), but they differ somewhat from Keating's text. Thus, according to the latter, the Fert of boys and maidens has doors, but according to the Book of Lecan,
" A Fert without doors, without Trennai For boys and for raaidL-ns". The missing lines, which are the fifth and sixth, are interesting: " A token of pillar stones {Cairti) upon widowers To keep their burial place of the dead". "^ (Secular Laws). "5. And we earnestly forbid any heathenism ; hea- thenism is, that men worship idols; that is, that they worsliip heathen gods, and the sun or the moon, fire or rivers, water wells cr stones, or forest trees of any kind; or love witchcraft, or promote ?«o///<-work in anywise; or by blot or by Fyhrt; or perform anything pertaining to such illusions".
^'^ (Laws of Northumbrian Priests). " 48. If any one be found that shall henceforth practise any heathtusliip, either by sacrifice or by Fyhrt, ox la any way love witchcraft or worship idols, if he be a king's Thane let him pay X half marks; half to Christ, half to the king".
CCCXXXll
IKTRODUCXION.
Cairti ;
tlie Tam- leacht ;
the i/ttr.
upright flags upon which was placed a great block of stone, and Leac The latter kmd of Leacht is the monument popularly known as a " Cromlech' . A simple flag markmg a grave was called a Leac or Liacc (plural Leaca). When a number of persons were buried beside each other, their Le.aca were placed in a circle around the graves.^'® Similar circles of L'aca or upright flags were put around the Leachts formed of piles of stones. Pillar stones or Cai7'ti were also used to mark graves, and sometimes the name of the dead person was cut in Ogam upon them. The word Leacht occurs frequently in topo- graphical names, as for instance in Tamleacht, modernized in one case to Tallaght, a place near Dublin, but unchanged in Tamlacht O'Crilly in the county of Londonderry. Tamleacht may be translated as the Ijcacht of plague, and, so far as I know, consisted of several graves marked by a head and a foot stone, or covered over by a Mur cloiche or stone Mur, and, where there were a number of them in the same place, sur- rounded by a circle of Leaca. The sepulchral monument called a Miir^ consisted of a block of dry masonry of not less than two feet in height which covered the whole grave. When stones could not be readdy obtained in the neighbour- hood to make a J/wr cloiche or stone Mur^ a similar block or wall was built of square sods called Dartaire. According to the stanza quoted above, Mm^s marked the graves of those who died of pestilential diseases. It is interesting to find that in the years lb^47 and 1848 the graves of some of those who died of the famine fever were covered by Milrs, as an indica-
516 <■' Ftrcu, an exile who was in exile with Ailill, heard this: he went to fight Cuchulaind ; thirteen men besides were his company. CuchulaindkiWedi them, and also Fercu, at Cwgil, Their thirteen Leaca are there". — Tain Bo Chuailgne in Book of Leinster, fol. 55, b. col. 1. Dr. Keating seems to have recognized a distinction between the Lia or Liac and the Leacht, for he says : " Another mode in which they used to be buried, i.e. with a Lia and a Leacht, and numerous are those graves in Eriu". Op. cit. They are also dis- tinguished in the following passage from the Tain Bo Chuailgne: "An illus- trious champion went next day, Ualad was his name, he took a great stone with him to try to cross the water ; the flood drove him back. Witn Jiis flag upon his belly, his Leacht and his Lia is [are] upon the road at Conglais, i.e. Lia Ualand is its name". — Vellum MS. Leb. na h- Uidhri, p. 05, col. 1. See also poem of Oisin, post, p. cecxli.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXXXUl
tion that such graves should not be opened before the expira- tion of a certain time,— understood to be three years at the period in question. The term iMur occurs in some of the oldest tales, sometimes applied to a sepulchral monument, as in the case of the grave of TaiUiu, wife of Eochad MacErc, a Firbolg king or deity, and in whose honour the Aenach or Fair of Tailte was instituted,^" and sometimes to a simple mound or platform like the lliir, which was erected for Tea, wife of Eremon, son of ]\Iilesius, to view the surrounding country, and from which Teamiir or Teamair, now Tara, the ancient residence of the A rd Righ Ermd, or paramount king of Ireland, is said to have been derived.
As the Gauls, Germans, and Slavonians practised Imman Human sa-
_ *- ciitice ;
sacrifice, it is very improbable that the Irish had not a custom which seems to have been universal among all the other Euro- pean branches of the Aryans.
We have seen from the passages quoted above, that some traces of the slaying of hostages and animals have survived. Of direct sacrifice, unconnected with funeral rites, O'Curry tells us he found no trace in Irish records, but that he found one case of the kind amonw the Britons. The case to which ^«Pf."^of he refers in his Lectures,"* is to be found in Nennius. Gor- tigern having failed to erect a Diin^ the materials which he had collected for the piarpose having been carried away by su- pernatural agency, has recourse to his druids, who advise him to seek a boy who had no father, and having found him, to slay him and sprinkle his blood on the site of the proposed Dun. A similar druidical rite is, however, to be found in the Irish tale of the "Courtship of Becuma''\ in the visit of Conn CW similar
T -1 T 1 o ^ legend of
Cathach to Tir Tairnqire"^ Indeed the analooy of the ccm and British and Irish legends is so complete that there can be little doubt that they are connected with religious sacrifices, prac- tised in early times by all Aryan peoples, like that of Iphi- genia by the Greeks when proceeding to the Trojan war. Becuma Cues gel, or Becitma of the " fair body", wife of a
«" Poem on Fair of Tailte', MS. Book of Lecan, E.I.A,, f . 258.
s'8 Vol. I. p. 222.
^'9 Vellum MS. Book of Fermoi/, RI.A., f. 89, a. a.
CCCXXXIV INTRODUCTION.
Co«n"an°d celebrated Tuafha Be Danann personage, Labrad of the Becuma. « quick-liand-at-sword", having committed adultery with Gaiar, one of the sons of Manannan Mac TAr, is condemned by the latter to be burnt or banished. His council havingf recom- mended the more lenient alternative, Becuma is placed in a boat and sent adrift alone on the sea. She succeeds, how- ever, in reaching the Hill of HoAvth, where she finds the monarch of Eriu, Conn of the " Hundred Battles ", in great grief for the loss of his wife Eithne, who had recently died. Assuming the name of Beilhh Caemh, or " the comely form", and representing herself as the daughter of a certain Morgan, a British prince, she induces Conn to marry her.^*" During her first year's residence at Tara a bliglit comes on the country, and there is dearth of corn and milk. The druids, on being consulted, assign as the cause of the blight the crime of Coiins wife, and that it could only be removed by slaying the son of an undefiled couple, or in other words the son of a virgin wife, and sprinkling his blood on the doorposts and land of Tara. Conn accordingly goes in search of such a youth, and after wandering over the sea, he comes to an island where he finds one. By false representations he induces him to accompany him to Ireland, and his parents to sanction his journey. As the youth is about to be slain, a cow with two belhes, followed by the mother of the boy wailing, appears on the scene. The woman recommends that the cow should be killed instead of the boy, and its blood sprinkled on the doorposts of Tara, which was accordingly done.
The similarity between the British and Irish legends is very singular. In the British legend the boy Ambrose, whose blood was to consecrate Gortigern's Bun, asks the druids what was beneath the floor upon which it was proposed to build the Bun. They confess their ignorance. Whereupon tiie boy tells them that a lake was there. On digging up tlie ground the lake is found. The questioning proceeds, and two chests are brought up, and a sailcloth which was between them. This *8» A somewhat similar story is told of Cenethryth, wife of Oj^a, Kintf of Mercia. This lady, who is said to have been a Frank, having committed some atrocious crime, was, according to tradition, sent to sea in an open boat, and having been found by the youthful Offa he was induced to make her his wife.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXXXV
on being opened out is found to contain two maggots asleep, a white and a red one. The maygots, on awaking, attack each other, the white one being defeated and driven into the lake. Ambrose tells the druids that the lake is the kingdom of the whole world, and the sailcloth the kingdom of Gortigem, the red maofgot the power of the Saxons, and the white that of the Britons, who were to be eventually defeated.
In the Irish legend the woman asks the druids to explain the two bellies of the cow, which they are unable to do. Sbe accordingly tells them to cut open the bellies when they should have killed the cow, and that in one of them they would find a one-legged bird, and in the other a twelve-legged one. When the birds are taken out, they fight until the one-legged bird conquers the tw^elve-legged one. The woman then tells that the former represented her son, and the latter the druids. To complete the parallel between the two legends, the misfor- tunes of Gortigern are supposed to be mainly due to his having married his own daughter.^^'
A Cnoc or hill was, as the name implies, a rounded hill or^^^^ ^"'"^; suo^ar loaf mound; -while the Duma, or true tumulus, seems to have been a similar kind of mound or hill having a chamber or Dum (cf Lat. domus) containing the ashes or bodies of the dead in or under it.
The Cciivi was a mere pile or heap of stones, generally made ^^^ '^""'' over a grave, but sometimes having no immediate connection with one. The following passage from the ancient tale of the Brudin Da Derga contains so much curious information about the manner of making a Cam, and about one at least of the objects of it, that I shall give it here in full.
" The Dihergaih (or plunderers) started from the coast of Fuihtlmbe, and each man took with him a stone to make a Cam, for such was the custom of the Fians when going to make a plunder or a general battle. It was a pillar stone they planted when going to give a general battle, and it was a Cam they made when going to make a plunder. It was a Cam they made this time, because it was [to be] a plunder; [and it was made] at a distance fiom the house, so that they would not be
"*' See Addenda for another reference to human sacrifice.
CCCXXXVl INTRODUCTION.
heard or seen from tlie house. The two purposes, then, for which they made the Cam [were], namely, because Dihergs were accustomed to make Cams, and in order that they may use of Cam kuow their losses at the Brudin. Every man who survived nmnber T uscd to take away his stone out of the Cam; and the stones of those who were slain there remained — this is how they used to ascertain their losses. And it is what is stated by the learned in history that it was a man for every stone in Cam Leca that fell of the Diberg at the Brudin, and this is the Ca^m called Leca in Ui Cella\
" Every one of them who escaped from the Brund went to the Cam which they had made the preceding night, and they brouffht a stone for every living wounded man out of it, so that the number of those who were slain at the Brudin was a man to each stone that is in Cam Leca'\^^'^
In this passage we have distinct evidence that the Cam,
though erected to commemorate the slain in a battle, was not
instances of ncccssarily erected over their graves. In the following instances
oveTcorpse'^ from the ancient tale of the battle of Magh Tuired, the Cam
ot a wamor, ^^^ ercctcd either over a grave in which the whole body or
the head of the warrior was buried. At the end of the first
day's fight, during which one warrior distinguished himself
particularly by bearing the brunt of the fight until he was
slain, when Eochad, king of the Firbolgs, told his people of
the achievements of the single warrior, " they then brought a
stone, each man of them, to the well, and they raised a great
592 Vellum MS. Libor na h-Uidhri, Koyal Irish Academy, p. 86, col. 2. The following are additional examples of the manner of making a Cam.
" Cam Mail in Magh Uladh, why so [called ? Answer, or [it is called] Cam Lvgdach, i.e. Liigadh Mai, who was banished out of Ireland, [and who came] with the companies of seven ships from Alba into Ireland again [together] with the great military adventurers of Alba; and they gave battle to the Ultonians and routed them before them. A-^tone was brought by every man who came into the battle with Lugadh; and it was of them the Carnd was made ; and it was upon this Camd Lugadh was while the battle was being fought. Hence it was called Camd Liigaidh, and Cam Maii" — Dindsenchas of Cam Mail, Book ofLecan, fol. 25, a.b. bottom.
" Cam Furbaide acus Eithm Lugadh went to be re- venged of Furbaide, and killed him on the summit of Sliahh Uillen, and he, made his Cam there, i.e. a stone by every man who was with Lugadh'\ etc. Book ofLecan, fol. 252, a.a.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXXXVll
Cam over him, and that is called Cam an aen fir, or the 'One Man's Cam\ to this day".*®^ At the end of the second day's an<J over the fight, we are told that, '* when night approached, the Firbolgs those i\&m. were routed beyond their lines of battle: each man of them carried with him, however, a stone and the head of a man, in the presence of their king, EocliacV\ At the end of the third day's fight, " after the fall of the battle champion, Cirh, the Firbolgs retreated to their encampments, but the Tuaiha De Danand did not pursue them beyond their lines of battle. Each man of them carried with him a head and a pillar stone, and the head of Cirh among the rest, and they buried it in Cam Cinn Cirb, or the ' Cam of Cirh's head' ".°®*
These two last passages seem to show that one use of a Cam was probably to protect the heads of fallen warriors. It was Custom of the custom of the pagan Irish to cut off the head of those slain I'e'ids "of
•111 '/v ^ r> • those slain ;
by them m battle, and carry it off as a trophy of victory.^" The brain Avas sometimes taken out and mixed with earth, to form a Taihhim or missive ball, of which a good deal is told in the Lectures. No doubt in early times the skull was used as a drinking cup, as was the custom among the other northern nations of Europe. When the retreating friends of a fallen Cam used to warrior succeeded in cutting off his head before his enemies heads of could secure it, and in piling a Cam of stones over it, it was being car- saved from being a trophy, for, independent of the difficulty of trophies. removing the stones in the face of the enemy, the Cam was regarded as a sanctuary for the remains of the fallen warriors, which should not be violated without dishonour, and besides,
*82 MS. T. C. D., H. 2. 17. p. 91.
«83 Ibid.
*®* One of the three royal houses at Emain Macha, the seat of the Ultonian kings, was called the Crueb derg, or " Rfd Branch", or " Cro-derg", blood red, because the tropliies of the heroes of Emania, i.e. tlie heads and tongues of the slain, were kept there. See Book of Leinsier, H. 2. 18. T.C.D.,f. GO, b.b., and Lectiirts, vol. I. p. 332. The Scandinavians, like the Huns and Sclavonians, cut off the heads of their slain enemies and fastened them to their stirrup leathers, even so late as the eleventh century. Ilaralds Saga hdrfafjra, c. 22; Iliiinskringla Ola fa Saga Triigvass., c. 95; Bianiur Saga Eitdoelak, n. G7 ; Fostbrce^ra Saga, A. c. 18. See also Weinhold, Alt. nord. Leben., 310.
INT. 22*
CCCXXXVni INTRODUCTION.
The Cam. there was no doubt a religions prejudice against disturbing a grave, a Carn^ or otlier sepulcliral mounment, once made.***
685 u There is a passage in the fragment of the Tain Bo Chuailgne in the Lehor na h-Uidhri, which illustrates, among several other customs of the ancient Irish, the practice of cutting off the heads of the slain warriors as trophies of victory. When Cttchidaind went out to boast before Medb and her women, we are told that " he then put on his Dlallait Oenaig, or assembly cloak". He wore two coverings on that day, namely, a beautiful, well-fitting, bright crimson, bordered, five folding Fimn. A white brooch of briyht silver, inlaid with burnisheij gold, was on his fair white bosom ; [it was] bright, like a flashing luminous lamp, so that the people could not look upon it, owing to its splendour and brilliancy. A Cliabh Inar, or jerkin of silken cloth, [fitting close] to liiti tkin, covered him down to the top of his Berbrocc, or apron, of champion's brown red kingly silk. A brownish red shield, with a Coicroth of gold and a rim of Findruinne upon him. A gold- hilted long sword, wUli trappings of red gold in full array of combat upon his girdle. A long green edged Gai, and also a woundful Facja of battle, with rivets of gold, and inlaid with gold, [were] in his chariot. He carried nine heads in one of his hands, and ten heads in the other hand, and he used to shake them out defiantly towards the hosts. These were Cuchidaind's night trophies. It was then the [young] women of Connaught were raised above the companies [i.e. on the shields and shoulders of the men] ; and the wives of the men repaired thither to behold the form of Cuchdaind. Medb, how- ever, covered her face, and did not attempt to look at his features, but con- cealed herself under the Dam Dabach, or concavity of a great shield, through fear of Cuchulaind. It was on that occasion Dubthach Duel Vladh said :
" If he be the Riastariha, Corpses of men shall be of him. There shall be niouining around Lisses: There shall be imbecility in houses.
There shall be pillar stones in Lechts: There shall be a carnage of royal beeves. Not well shall they fight the battle In the field with the Noenenach
I behold the form of valour —
Eight [nine] heads in his outstretched hand.
I behold, cut off in their cloth-shrouds,
Ten heads [held out in the other hand] in rapid succession.
I see that to him our women show forth
Their countenances over the heroes of valour :
I see our maidens in admiration of him.
They do not come to vindicate the fallen bravesV^s
586 T&in 1)6 Chuailgne, Lehor na h- Uidhri, p. 81, col. 1. rdastartha was a name given to Cuchulaind by the people of Connaught; It signifies the gigantic distoiteU, and refers to the curious distortion and outswelling of Cuchulaind by which he became a great gigantic form,
IXTRODUCTIO:!f CCCXXXIX
Althoiii^li, when first made, the size of a Cam indicated the stones snb- number of those slain in the battle or flight which was the occa- »;i'ie'i to
• Cams.
sion of its being raised, it is questionable whether it always continued to do so, as it was the custom for the relatives, ad- mirers, and followers of the slain to add a stone to such piles whenever they passed by it. I remember, when a boy, the practice of "putting a stone upon the dead man's grave" was still a living custom, and of having been rebuked once for not adding a stone to a considerable heap which covered a grave on the wayside, said to. have been that of one of the United Irishmen executed there in 1798. In this case the heap of stones was more properly a Leacht than a Cam. Such graves are usually called in Irish Leacht an fhir mhairhh, or the dead man's jLec/i^. Perhaps this custom did not apply to the true Cam.
The Cam is generally mentioned in Irish tales in connection The cam
c 'I always cim-
with the Firholqs and other Hiberno-British races. In all thenect«'i Yitu
•^ _ _ the Ftroolyt
extracts which I have quoted on this subject, the Cam was invariably erected by iho Fcrholgs. In the following passage, taken also from the account of the Battle of Magh Tuired, the Cam of the Firbolgs is directly contrasted with the Liac, or headstone of the Fomorians. At the end of the fourth day, the tale tells us that king Eocliad, accompanied by one hundred warriors, having left the field in search of water, was pursued by the sons of Nemid, and killed on the strand of Eochail. The sons of Nemid also fell in the fight. The tale proceeds to tell us that " his men raised a Carn over Eocliad, which is called Carn Eochach, or Eochad's Carn, to this day".^*'' And further on we are told that " Leaca mic Neimhid, or the grave- stones of the sons of Nemid'", are " on the western end of the strand".'^«»
The custom of buryinof a dead warrior standinsr upritrht, waniors
•/ '- o r o ' buriod witll
*^' Carn Eochach was looked upon as one of the wonders of the world, hc- etc. '
cording to the Book of Balli/mote. See also O'Fhiherty's Oyygia (llely's edition, vol. ii., p. 17G), and Transactions of Ossianic Society, vol. v., p. 250, =88 Vellum MS., II. 2. 17, p. 91.
as described in the " Fight of Ferdiad" in the Tdin Bd Chnailgne (See vol. ii. App. p. 449). Of- Middle High German Rise, New High German iliese, Old Norse Am, a giant. Noenenack was one of the names of the goddess of war, and is probably connected with Nanna, the wife Of Baldr, Gotliic Nanho Old High German Nandd, Anglo-Snxon Nogc.
22* B
CCCxl INTRODUCTION.
Warriors with all liis omaments, armour, and arms, was also practised
buried ...
with their amonff tlio ancient Irish, according to a statement of Dr.
arms, etc. j^ ...
Keating. The only authority which he gives for this cus- tom is a stanza in which no reference is, however, made to the upright position of the corpse.'*^ No example of such a grave has, so far as I know, been discovered in Ireland. What he refers to was not, perhaps, a mode of burial, but the crema- tion of the corpse ; that is, the corpse, instead of being laid on the pyre, was supported in an erect position, or on horseback, and the pyre built up about it. This method of cremation was practised in the Baltic provinces down to the beginning of the thirteenth century.
589 "Another mode of burial which they had in Eriu in the time of the pagans was to bury the dead standing, and to make up Cams of earth and stone over them in a circular form all round ; and to bury their arms with them. It was in this way many of the nobles of Eriu were buried in ancient times, and moreover, Moghad Neid, as may be read in the battle of Magh Tuolaing, by Dearg Damhsa, the druid who made this Ranri".
Before giving the stanza here referred to, I shall give, by way of a pre- face to it, a short passage from the Battle of Magh Leana :
[After the death of Mogh Neid] Eogan sent Dearg Damhsa the druid back to Magh biuil, to request time for counsel from Conn. When the druid reached ConrCs camp, he begged of the latter to allow him to raise a Fert for Mogh Neid. Conn granted that permission. He [the druid] stood over the body of Mogh Neid, and began to bewail the irresistible force that had been exerted against him. He said that Corm's battalions were tuaJaing, or mighty over the nobles of Mumha (Mnnster) upon that plain ; and it is from that word the name Magh Tualaing, or the Plain of Might, has been given to it. And Dearg Damhsa, the druid, made a capacious yellow-sodded Fertior Mogh Neid on the plain, and he buried him in it with his arms and with his clothes, and with his armour ; and he made the following lay. Battle of Magh Lena, Mr. O'Looney's MS. :
" The Fert of Mogha is on Magh Tualaing, AVith his lances at his shoulders, With his coat of mail, renowned for valour, With his helmet, with his sword". Op cit., p. 745. The following passage also aUudes to the custom of burying the arms of a warrior with himself :
" Cam Feradach. He killed Feradach after that. The good son of Rocuirp ; according to rule, until his death, he brandished his arms, which are under the Duma of the beautiful Cam. Feradach was killed in the battle of Cam Feradaig, and this here is Feradadis Ftrt'\ — Book of Lecan, fol. 240, a.b.
INTRODUCTION. CCCxli
When the burial of the dead succeeded cremation, the The iZor/mK corpse seems to have been wrapt in a ^'ravo cloth, as we find cioth, the special name Rochull for it.^'-*" This name does not seem to have been borrowed from the Latin, and consequently the custom may, perhaps, have been pre-Christian.
Although it is not my intention to discuss the subject of Ogamic inscriptions in this Introduction, that subject not hav- ing been at all treated of by Professor O'Curry in his Lectures, 1 cannot help saying a few words on the use of such inscriptions in connection with monuments of the dead. We find in several writing the,
. . name of a
of our oldest tales, that the writing of the name of the deceased deceased
° _ _ person in
in Oqam formed an essential part of the burial rite. Thus when ogamy&vtof
" ^ ■*• _ _ burial rite.
Fergus brings back the body of Etercomol, slain in combat by Cuchulaind, we are told that they dug his grave or Fert, tliey planted his Lia, or head-stone, they wrote his name in Ogam, and they made his Guha:^^ It does not appear from this passage, whether the Ogamic inscription was cut upon the Liiacc or headstone, or on a twig, which was twisted round the Ogamsgme-
1 • /-T-/. r, , /^ rally cut in
stone, as is stated m another place in the Tain Bo Cliuailqne. "Ofi '"
. ■*• '^ pagan times,
In the vellum manuscript known as the Book of Leinster,^^^
there is, however, mention of an Oqam in connection with a i>ut some-
--- ...,., . . times cut on
Lia placed over a Leacht — a position in which many inscribed s'<"ie. stones are found — which looks to me as an example of a lapidary Ogamic inscription. Tliis poem is ascribed to Oisin, and consequently possesses much additional interest, as it affords us unquestionable evidence that there was in the twelfth century, not merely a tradition of the existence of such a bard, which is sometimes denied, but of poems ascribed to liim."''^'
^^° Lebor Brecc, fol. 17, a.a.
^^' Tain Bd Chuailgiie ia Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 69, col. 1.
^"2 Class H. 2. 18 ia the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.
*^* An Ogam in a Lia, a Lia over a Lecht, In a place whitlier men went to fight. The son of the King of Eriu died there, Killed on a white steed by a sharp spear.
Cairpri hurled a fierce cast
From off the back of his horse, good in battle; Anguish keen it quickly brought
To Oscur — it kdled his right hand.
CCCxlii INTRODUCTION.
Ogamic writing seems, from the ancient tales, to have belonge d
as much to Ulster and Leinster as to Munster, and yet very few
Ogam-inscribed stones have been found in Leinster, and so far as
I know, not one has yet been discovered in Ulster. I have
already pointed out the connection which seems to exist between
Ggams cnt stono buildinscs and (9oam-inscribed stones. If all the stone- on stone, if '-' .. >, ^1
pagan, pro- 'built forts and houses m Ireland belong either to christian
bahly not . _ . .
older than timcs, or the period of the Roman occupation ol Britain,
Ihe Roman ^ • r> /-i • •
occupation there can be little doubt that the cutting ol Ogam mscnp-
of Britain. , . .
tions on stones is not older. But such a conclusion is not in- consistent with a very high antiquity of the practice of incising Old Germans Ogamic inscriptions on wood. We have the distinct testimony
cut their ~ ^ , . .^.-I
runesonrodsof Venantius t ortuuatus, that the barbaric peoples, that is, the
ortaWetsof ' ^ ^
ash.
Oscur hurled a mighty cast
With fierce anger at him, And he killed Cairpri Ua Cuind
Before they gave way iri the conflict of battle.
Great the ardour of the youth
Who received their death in that battle.
Soon after they had [first] taken their arms, More numerous were their dead than their living.
I too was in the battle
On the right side of a gray steed. I killed twice fifty heroes ;
It was 1 that killed them with my hand.
I used to handle the Corbach with skill
When my courage was high ; I was wont to kill the bear in the wild wood,
And to catch birds, the roe and the stag.
That Oyam which is in the stone,
Around which the heavy hosts have fallen, If the battle-fighting Find had lived, Long would the Ogu7n be remembered.
From the fragment of the Battle of Gabra, in MS. H. 2. 18, fol. 109, b. a.
According to the poem on the Fair of Carman contained in the same MS. the '' recitation of Fenian tales of Find" formed an *' untiring entertainment of that assembly". Vol. ii., App, p. 543.
INTRODUCTION. CCCxllii
Germanic nations, cut their Runes on tablets of ash.^'* It is indeed, probable tliat the Germans and Scandinavians did not cut runes on stone until they had become acquainted with Roman lapidary monuments. But whether Ogams and Runes were first cut on stone or wood, the constant reference to Ogaraic writing in our oldest tales is certainly favourable to the opinion that it was known in pagan times.
Some persons are of opinion that the Ogam was a kind of cryptic writing used by a people acquainted with the Latin tongue, and perhaps with the Scandinavian Runes. There seems someogamic
„,,..., . p ,, inscriptions,
to be some reason for believmcj in the existence of a method of maybecryp-
. . tic,
cryptic writing in Ireland in early times ; but the use of an alphabet for such a purpose implies a knowledge of ordinary writing. Without more evidence than has yet been adduced, I am not, however, yet prepared to admit that all the Ogam inscriptions incised on stones which have been found, are cryptic, or that the names inscribed on pillar stones, or on some of the upright stones forming the chambers sometimes called Ferts, are other than the ordinary names of the indivi- tut aii are duals commemorated. On the other hand, one can understand the use of cryptic writing in religious rites or in incantations,
595
694 "Barbara fraxineis pingatur runa tabellis Quodque papyrus agit, vixgula plana facit".
Carm. viii,18 et seq.
The DiiUe feda mentioned in the poem on tlie Fair of Carman were pro- bably tablets like those referred to by Venautius Fortunatus.
^^^ The following passages show the practice of cutting Ogams on sticks, and their use for giving notice to an advancing enemy :
Said Ailill: "Let us leave off this for the present; tliey reached J/((^/t Mucceda after that. Cuchulaind cut an oak before him there, and he wrote an Ogam on its side, and this is what it contained when it was seen : 'he who pti^ses this shall meet with his fate from a hero of one chariot' ". Tdm Bo Chuailgne in Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 63, col. 2.
"They [i.e. Medb and the Connacians] then marched until they rested in Granairud [the present Granard] of northern Taffia. Afier having made a muster-march of the host over Grellacli, and over Shruthru, Fergus made a friendly excursion into Ulster. They were all in their debility, except Cuchu- laind and liis father, i.e. Sualtan. Cuchulaind and his father went, on the ar- rival of the scouts from Fergus, until they settled in Irard Cui/land, waiting on the watch for the [advancinji] host. 1 have the cour^ige of hosts to-night, said Cuchulaind to his father, let us pounce upon them, and chase them off Ulad. 1 must go to meet Fedelm Nuacruthach (i.e. to meet her handmaid,
CCCxliv INTEODUCTJON.
Why ogamie As the onlv Ogam inscriptions we possess are those inscribed
inscriptiiins jo i. j.^
may show on stoncs, and as all monuments of this class are probably pos- Latin. terior to the occupation of Britain by the Romans, we can un-
derstand how it may be probable that the writers were ac- The Irish did quainted Avith Latin. The close connection which I have the Ogam sliowu througliOut tliis Introduction to exist between the an-
fiom the , , ^ _, .. . , T 1 /^
Norse TjMjies.cient Irish and the Scandinavians and the North Germans, points to a common origin of the Irish Ogam and the Scan- dinavian Runes, without any necessity of assuming direct bor- rowing in mediaeval times on either side.
who was awaiting Cuchuiaind in concealment to entrap him into danger) ; she \_i.e. the handmaid] had gone for lier. He then made an Id Ercomal be- fore coming, and he wrote an Ogam on its side, and he twisted it around the head of the pillar stone" — p. 57, col. 1.
Having marched over several places, " They came into the place where Cu- clndamd was ; they saw the ground bare where Sualtmi's horses had eaten off the grass, so that the ground was white. Cuchidaind's two horses had licked [« e. stripped] the ground down to the earth, after the grass [had been eaten off]. They then sat down until the hosts came up, and the strings of their musical performers were strung. The Id was put into the hand of Fergus Mac Roich, and he read the Ogam which was in the Id. Said Medb, when she arrived, wherefore stay ye here? Said Fergus, because of that^W; there is an Ogam in its side, and this is what is in it : come not beyond until you ascertain who the man is who cut this with one hand, and in one rod it is ; and let my friend Fergus be questioned [as to who he is.] Said Fergus, true it is Cuchuiaind that did it, and it was his steeds that grazed this {)lain. He gave it into the hand of the Druid. And Fergus spoke this lay which follows :
" An Id here, what does it reveal to us ?
The Id, though long its secret,
What number has come here?
Is it one, or is it many ? ■Will it do evil to the host
If they shall pass it by ?
Inquire, O Druid ! as to the cause of that,
Wherefore was the Id left ? A consummate warlike champion,
Who is full of enmity to heroes.
It is a royal hero, fierce in conflict.
It is one man with iiis one hand that wrought it. Though the hosts of the king are not under his sway,
I wonder if they will withstand the test
INTRODUCTION. CCCxlv
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS AND FURNITURE OF ANCIENT IRISH
HOUSES.
The internal arrangements of Irish houses, whether round or oblong, were very simple, and in most respects very similar to those of Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and German houses. The principal house, even of kings, had but one room, in Principal which the family and household lived and slept, and to which h"i but one
n If 1 room ;
when the house was of an oblong form, there were generally two doors, which faced east and west.^^® In some of the large
Until rou send from yourselves alone One man like the man who wrote it. I know not more than that The Id does not belong to the stone".
"Said Fergus to them : If you face the Id, or if you pass it over, whether it be in the hand of a person, or locked up in a house, the man who wrote the Ognm in it will meet you, and he will slay numbers of you before morning unless one of you send an Id like it" — p. 57, col. 2.
" Cuclmlaind then went around the host, and continued to view them ; he cut a forked pole there with one blow of his sword, and he stuck it down in the middle of the stream so that no chariot could pass it to the right or to the left. He killed Err and Inell, Foich and Fochluinn, the two [j-ecte four] charioteers. He cut the heads off the four of them, and he placed them on the four points of the pronged pole. And hence the name Ath n-Gabla (i.e. at BbJoch Caelli), more by Cnogha on the north.
" The steeds of those four men came forward to the hosts with their cover- ings blood-red upon them, so that you would think there was a battle await- ing them in the ford. A party went from them to see the ford ; they saw nothing there but the track of the one chariot, and the pronged pole with the four heads upon it, and a name in Ogam written in its side. The whole host came there instantly. Are those heads belonging to our people ? said Medb. They are of our people and of our followers, said A Hill. A man of them read the Ogam which was in the side of the pronged pole, i.e. one man that cut the Gabal with his one hand ; and you shall not pass it until a man of your people (exclusive of Fergus) draws it with his one hand " — Tain Bo Chuailgne, Lebor na h-Uidliri, p. 58, col. 1.
The Ogam cut on the oak twig, mentioned in the first of the foregoing ex- tracts, nmst have been written in the ordinary language, or at least in one generally understood, as otherwise it Avould have been an unmeaning puzzle to the enemy. The whole proceeding about the Id has the air of necromancy or druidical incantation about it ; the Ogam in the Id was therefore naturally cryptic, as we may gather from tlie account of it, and could or.ly be read by Fergus, the master of Cuchulaiud, and therefore, we may presume, possessed of the key.
596 gpg fyp example the " Sick Bed of Cuchulainn", Atlantis, vol. ii. p. 104.
cccxlvi
INTRODUCTION.
number and position of doors ;
position of file ;
position of Imiiulai or couclies ;
banqueting halls, or " ale-houses", as well as in many, if not all, tlie round houses, there seems to have been but one door which faced south, west, or east, and sometimes, though rarely, north. Thus according to the Crith Gablach, the door of the royal house there described seems to have faced west ; while in the Tech 31idchuarda, or banqueting hall, of Tara, it probably faced south. German houses had, as a rule, but one door, while the Norse ones had two, which opened either east and west or north and south. The former must have been the most frequent, as the doors of Walhalla were supposed to be in that position.
The famous Brudin of Da Derg was of a peculiar construc- tion as regards doorways, for it had seven of them ; but only one door, which was put in the doorway at the side from which the wind blew. It is probable that in very large houses, and especially in the houses of Brugh Fers, where guests were generally to be found, openings were left in the wicker work or boarding at intervals, all round the house, which, though usually closed up, could, according as the wind shifted, be made the doorway, or several of them could be opened in fine weather. I suspect that the one door for the seven door- ways in Da D erg's Brudin, is only a poetical way of saying that his house was always open to the traveller, who could see the fire blazing through the open portals.
When the house was oblong, whicii was perhaps the excep- tion rather than the rule, the house was divided roughly, in the direction of its length, into three parts by two rows of pillars, which supported the roof The fire was placed in the central division, which was the largest — about two-thirds of its whole length ; the candelabrum being placed between the fire and the door, and generally towards the middle of the house. In round houses the fire was placed near the centre. The narrow divisions at each side of the central hall were occupied by the Immdai, or couches, which formed recesses between the pillars. In the circular houses they went all round the room, from one side of the door to the other. The Crith Gablach distinctly fixes the number which should be in the house of each grade of Flath. Thus in the kingly house there
INTRODUCTION. CCCxlvii
should be twelve;^'' that of the Aire Tnisi should have eight, number of
mi 1 1-1 11 c -n • ^ Iinmdai or
XAvelve was the number m the royal house or Jbmama, ex-coucues; elusive, apparently, of the Immdai of King Conchohar Mac Nessa. The celebrated house of Bricriu had nine, and the royal house oi Ailill and Medb, at Cruachan, seven. The royal house described in the Crith Gahlach may perhaps have been oblong, but the others appear to have been circular, notwith- standing that the royal house of E^nania, and the house of Bricriu, are said to have been like the Tech Midcliuarda, or " Mead circling house", of Tara.^^® There is, however, some room for doubt as to whether the ancient house so called by this name is the same as the oblong one referred to by poets of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, and so fully described in the valuable essay of Dr. Petrie, " On the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill", which marked an era in Irish archaeology.
The account of the ancient Brudin of Da Derg, contained in the tale of that name, explains, I think, why only seven Immdai are mentioned in the description of the Royal House of Cruachau quoted above. The Brudin, as I have stated, had seven doorways, and between every two doorways were seven
'^9=' Vol. ii. App. p. 508, et seq.
598 u rpijp Koyal House of Emania was like the Tech Midchuarda, i.e. nine couches from the fire to the wall in it ; thkty feet was the height of every Airineck or frontage of Creduma (bronze) that was in the house. Carved fronts of red yew in it. It was panelled at the base, and covered over- head with shingles. The couch of Conckoba?- was in the front of the house. It had pillars of Creduma, with capitals of gold on their heads, and gems of Carrmocall in them, so that the day and the night were equally hghtsome in it [the house]. It had a Sieill or canopy of silver over the king, ex- tending to the Ardliss, or top of the kingly house. When Conrhobar used to strike the Sfei/I with a kingly silver rod, the Ultonians all became silent. The twelve couches of the twelve champions encircled that couch all round. All the warrior chiefs of the men of Ullad used to find room in that house
drinking ; and no man of them used to be taking counsel with the others"
Tochmorc Emere, in Vellum MS. Brit. Mus., Egerion, 5280, and Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 121, col. i.
Bricriu s house was also built on the plan of the Tech Midchuarda. " It is how this house Avas made now on the plan of the Terh Midchuarda. Nine couches in it from the fire to the limit («.e the wall) ; thirty feet was the height of every frontage of Creduma of them, with an ornamentation of gold upon them aW'—Fkd Bricrind, in Lebor na h-Uidhii, p. 99, col. 1.
couches.
CCCxlviii INTRODUCTION.
Position and Immdai, or couches, or in all forty-nine. From the account immdr.i, or of tho Toval housc of Cruachan in the Tain B6 Fraich^^^ it appears that seven compartments constituted only one-fourth of the house, which may consequently have had four door- ways, each quadrant constituting to a certain extent a separate house. The Immda of Ailill and Medb was in the centre of the whole house supported between four bronze pillars, that is, no doubt, between the four beams upon Avhich rested the centre of the great roof, and which being ornamented with bronze work, is particularly described as being composed altogether of bronze. Ailill and AledUs throne or seat con- stituted consequently the principal Foclilu for each quads ant of the house, each of which had its own special one looking towards the central one. There are some discrepancies between the accovints of the Royal House of Cruachan given in Lehor na h-Uidhri, and in the Booh of Leinster, which show us that they refer to ideal houses based upon traditioES of the real one. Thus, according to the first named manuscript, the house was of oak, and had twelve windows, while according to the second named manuscript, it was made of Giuis, or pine, and had sixteen windows. As both descriptions are of con- siderable antiquity, it does not much matter, so far as my pre- sent purpose is concerned, whether the descriptions related to
The Royal Houses of Cruachan. — " The Ultonians came into the Dim, and the royal house was appropriated to tliem, as we shall mention, namely, seven circular divisions in it ; and seven couches from the fire to the exterior limit (wall) ; a frontage of Crtduma and carvings of red yew upon them ; three Sleilh of Creduma in the body of the house, a Tech darach or oak house with a roof of shingles ; twelve windows with doors of glass to them. The couch of Ailill and Medb [was] in the middle of the house ; a facing of silver all around it, and a Steill of Creduma ; a wand of silver in front of the couch hQlore Ailill ; it would reach the middle of the Liss of the house to p.acify the household at all times. The valour arms of the men of Ulster occupied the circle of the house from one [side of the] door to the other of the royal house. Their professors of music played for them while they were being feasted. Such was the extent of the house that all the chief nobles of the valour heroes of the whole province found room in it together with Conchobar. Conchobar, moreover, and Fergus Mac Roich occupied AililVs couch, and nine of the valour heroes of the men of Ulster with them " — Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 107, col. 1.
*^^ See Addenda for this passage.
INTRODUCTION. CCCxlix
ideal or real houses, as the writers were no doubt acquainted with similar houses.
The fronts of the Imrnclai^exe ornamented with carved yew, decorations
•' of Immdai ;
and even silver and bronze pillars are mentioned. They had also canopies. The heads of the couches were towards the wall ; and so far as one can gather from the vague descrip- tions which have come down to us, the ends of them towards the fire served as a bank to sit upon, and below wliich was a foot bank with matting. There appears to have been also a foot-bank, with skins for enveloping the feet in cold weather. Among the fines payable for damaging the furniture of a Brnghfer, we are told " that if the feet of his couch are stripped, good shoes are to be paid", that is, a covering for the feet is to be given as compensation.^"" The foot-bank was also used by the Norse, and was called the FotpaUr, and was covered with some kind of rug or mat called a Dyna, a word which is almost identical with the Irish word Didhna, coverings. Banks or divans like the Irish and Norse were also known in France, where they continued for a long time in use in the south, but in the north they went rapidly out of use.'''"
The Fochlu, or seat of the Riq in a kindly house, and in the Foca/k front of it was the Fochlu Fenid, or champion's seat. This chief of
' . houseliold;
seat, as well as that of the chief of household in the houses of Aires, appears to have been generally placed at the north side, about two-thirds of the way from the door, that is, near the hearth. In the round houses it seems to have been placed behind the fire and fronting the door. In the royal house described in the Crith Gablach the Fochlu was in the north side; and that this was the usual position is shown by a passage in the laws, which says: " The good man of the house sat at the north side, with his face to the south''.""^ From the position assigned in the note below to the couch of Mongan, the chief seat was in some cases on
fioo Vol. ii., App. p. 489. In a letter of St. Bonifacius to St. Egbert (^Epist. lii.), allusion is made to a covering for the feet, as if ic were usual to sit with the feet wrapt up,
®"' Le Grand d' Aussy, Hisioiie de la Vie Prive'e, iii. 148.
•'"^ An elevated bank of this kind is alluded to in the Niebelungen Lay
CCcl INTRODUCTION.
the eastern slde^"'. The Fochlu, or master's seat, was elevated above the others, and those near him were also somewhat more elevated than the ones at the opposite side. The Fochlu, and the elevated seats near it, correspond to the Oendvegi of the Norse houses ; while those on the opposite side corresponded to the lower Oendvegi. birth or rank Biitli or rank determined the position in the house of the
determined r
P^'^j^"°^^°^*^j occupants, whether they belonged to the household or were r^ai^ed'^the g^^e^ts.*^"* One of the highest honours which the master of a Fochtu; bouse could confer upon a guest was to give him a place against the wall, or at least a place ^where no one sat between him and the wall/"^ In the kingly house described in the Crith Gablach, the occupants of the six Immdai on the northern or Fochlu side of the house, beginning at the western end near the door, were: The janitors, or armed apparitors; next, the Saer Ceiles of the king, who formed the officers of his household and his companions ; then the hostages, which every king held for the fealty of the Fines under him and observance by them of the laws, and in the case of a Rig M6r Tuatha, or a provincial king, for the fealty of the sub-kings ; next to these came judges; then the Rigdn or queen, or the king's chief judge ; then came the king himself; and at the other or left side
(Lachman's ed.) 616; see Schmeller, L, 5772; and Du Cange, in v. Sup- pedaneum.
^"^ " As they were there in this way, the arrival of a man was announced to them, coming to the Rath from the south. His cloak was folded around him, and in his hands [he held"] two broken spear shafts. He jumped by means of these shafts over the three Baths, until he came upon the floor of the Liss ; from that until he came upon the floor of the royal house ; and from that until he came between Mongan and the wall upon the pillow of his couch. The poet was in the west of the house with his face eastward to the king" — Lebor na h- Uidhri, p. 133, col. 2.
604 " They afterwards reached the house, and each person occupied [a place according to] his birth in the kingly house, both kings, and liiy/tdamaa (princes; and Aires, and Octhigernd (young lords), and youths" — Fled Bricrind, in Lebor na h- Uidhri, p. 100, col. 2.
605 .1 rpj^g youth returned again and recited the lay for Conaire. Follow them, said Conaire, and offer them seven Dam (oxen) and seven r»!i (bacon-pigs), and my leavings and gifts to-morrow, and that as long as they are in my Teylech
(household) no person shall come between them from the fire to the wall "
Brudin Da Derga, in Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 83, col. 2.
INTRODUCTION. CCcli
of liim sat Icings, if any were present, and Bigdamnai^, or royal princes; and at the extreme end, near the eastern side of the wall, forfeited hostages or pledges in fetters. The occupants of the six couches on the south side, following the same order, were — The special body guard of the king ; then one of the hostages, specially pledged for the good conduct of the other hostages ; next to him sat two wardens in charge of the pledged hostages ; next to the wardens was the hnmdai of the poets ; after which came in succession those of harpers, pipers, horn- players, and fools and jugglers. No mention is made of the T^ecAtaiVg, or house steward, in the Crith Gablach, but, judging by other sources, his seat was in the back or eastern part of the house, where he could oversee everything done in the house.
Besides the Imindai, which served the double purpose of position of
„ , the seats of
beds and couches, there were also a number of benches on atiiememburs
of tlie liuuse-
lower level than the Immdai. Thus, in the house of the Aire immof a Rtg
Tualha;
Tuisi, there were six such banks. Their position is not indi- cated in the Crith Gablach, but some were no doubt near the fire for the use of the king and his Aires, and others for the lower officers of the household. One of these was probably the long bank near the fire, coircsponding to the Norse Brugge, upon which the king and his household quaffed their ale, and to which 1 shall return hereafter. Some of those banks seem to have been constructed in the form of long boxes, with backs, which were either used as chests for holding clothes and other objects, or were capable of opening out at night, and forming beds, like the settle-beds of modern times, which no doubt orifjinated from the earlier bank.
The drink distributors, table attendants, and all the meaner household, appear to have occupied places in the neighbour- hood of the house steward, or in the JErlarchai'ih, or tore-hall, corresponding in some respects to the Golf of the Norse houses. According to the plans of the banqueting hall of Tara, con- tained in two vellum manuscripts, the Book of Leinster and the Yellow Book of Lecan, and of which Dr. Petrie has given fac- similes in the essay above referred to, there were two rows of seats at each side of tlie central passage in which the can- delabrum, fire, and ale vat were placed. One of these corres-
CCclli INTRODUCTION,
ponded evidently to the Immdai against the wall, and the other to a lower range of benches, on the level of the fire, upon which sat the Cerds or goldsmiths, the blacksmith, shield maker, and other artificers of the king, physicians, jugglers, drink bearers, and other persons belonging to the household. These artificers are not mentioned in the description of the kingly house in the CnVA Gahlach^ nor are indeed the banks and benches, as distinguislied from the elevated Immdai. We may assume, however, that such benches were there, espe- cially as they are enumerated as part of the furniture of the Aire Tuisi and other Fla.hs, as we have seen above, seats of The queen occupied a place near the kincr. No mention is,
Jiifldn or ^ '■ '^ "
queen and howcvcr, made of the king's daufjhters, or of the wives and
other ' ^ !-: o 1
women; daughters of the officers of the household. There may have been a special place for women in the eastern part of the house, near the Reclitaire or house steward, corresponding to the Quinnahenhr, or woman's bank, or, as it was also called, \)oerpaller^ or cross bank of Norse houses. In the tale called the Fled Bricrind, or ^'■Bricrius Feast ", we are told that the men were at one side and the women at the other.^"^ In this case, however, the women were all of queenly rank. In some accounts of the royal house of Cruachan we are told that Ailill sat in his royal seat with Medh at his left, their daughter Findahar at the left of the queen, another daughter, Lendabar, at the left o^ Findahar, and the rest of the illustrious women in the order of rank after them. It is plain from this that the
, women at Cruachan were at one side exactly as in Bricriiis house.
The almost invariable absence of any reference to a place for wo- men in the Cuirmtech or ale house, or general hall of Irish kings and Flaths, seems to show that the women of the upper classes had always a separate house, and did not share in the revels of the men. Even the Rigdn or queen does not seem to have been always present, for the place to the right of the king is mentioned as being for her or the chief judge.
606 i< And they were happy after that, consuming the feast, namely, the kings and the chieftains on one side with Conchobar, the illustrious, the great, the noble high king of Ulster. The queens, moreover, were on the other side, namely", etc. — Fled Bricrind, in Leborna k-Uidhri, p. 103, col. 2.
INTRODUCTION-. CCclili
The finmdai were provided with feather beds and with pil- Feather vds lows stuffed with feathers. The poorer classes and the follow- in immdai. ers of Aires used straw or the chaff of oats instead of feathers. Tlie coverlets in early times were skins, and Brothachs or woollen blankets. Linen sheets and ornamental coverlets ap- Bianketsand
covfirlfttis
pear to have been in use at a comparatively early period, as we find them mentioned in a manuscript actually written before 1106/'"' In England and Germany during the middle ages, skins, blankets, or simply a mantle, were also the usual cover- ings of beds.^"^ The walls at the back of the /????« c?a?'Coverins of
. - . , T walls at back
were sometimes lully wamscotted. in general, however, they o^-^'"'"'^"*- appear to have been only covered with matting, which also hung behind the benches placed against the wall. This matting was no doubt replaced in later times by woollen hangings in the houses of the wealthy. I have not met with any reference to tapestry.
In all the houses, with the exception, perhaps, of the kingly ^'J|^jj^''J',|f i. ones, the entire family — master, mistress, children, and servants''' °°®''°°'" = of both sexes — lived and slept in one room. When night came, straw, dried rushes, heath, or dried ferns, were spread upon the floor ; and those unprovided with beds or couches laid them- selves down, each under the bench or table upon, or at which, he or she sat. The men and women lay separated, but a light always burned through the night in the houses of Aires. One of the essential articles of furniture in the house of a Bo- Aire being " a candle upon a candlestick".'^"^ This picture of the *^'s c«sto"»
■"■ _ ••■ commou to
custom of all the members of a family sleeping together in the ,^"''''°-
■' 1 o o Saxons,
same apartment applies also, without the change of a word, to fj^^j'^fher the Anglo-Saxons, Germans, and Scandinavians. Traces of thislJ^^/Q^j^^'? practice even among the highest classes in Germany, may be found here and there, through the courtly medieval German poeras.*"" Persons even of the highest rank slept on the floor, or on a bank near the fire, in the manner above described, as is proved by a picture in the Pfalz MS. of Chunrat's " Song
607 « The couches fully furnished with white sheets and beautiful coverings". — The. Navigation of Maelduris Boat, in Lebnr na h-Uidhri, p. 23, col. 1.
•^"^ See for instance the Emit of Heinrich von Vcldeck, 1264.
^"* Crith Gablach, Append., vol. ii., p. 486.
^"* For instance, in the Tristan of Gottfried von Strasburg.
INT. 23*
CCcliv INTRODUCTION.
of Kaiser Karl", or Ruolandes Lief, representing the Emperor Charlemagne sleeping on the floor."' In the north of Europe the custom came down, at least partially, to modern times.
The universal prevalence of the custom of sleeping together in the same room amongst the nations of north Europe, effec- tually disposes of the late Mr. Du Noyer's hasty parallel between the habits of the builders of the ancient stone edifices near Dingle, in Kerry, and the Esquimaux, a view which O'Curry has somewhat warmly discussed in his twenty-second lecture."^ This custom is quite compatible, as indeed we know it was, marriage with tlic simplest and purest morals. Many of the early
customs con- ...
nectedwith marriage customs of the northern nations are intimately con-
this custom. ° . . , . •'
nected with this system of livmg together, and can only be properly understood by the light which the internal arrange- ments of the ancient homesteads are calcvilated to throw upon them. As towns grew i;p, and the civilization of the south of Europe advanced northwards, separate sleeping places for the sexes were provided in the houses of the higher classes in France and Germany. At first the master slept in the midst of the male servants, the mistress among the women and maidens. Gradually, but slowly, the separation of the master and his wife and children from the retainers and servants took place. A similar change may be traced in the households of the ancient Irish. The Aire Desa, or lowest grade of Flatli, was bound to have separate beds not only for the different sexes, but also for different ages and classes ; and from the account of the Oc Aires house we learn that the beds were separated from each other by a partition of oak*^'^.
In the earliest huts of all the northern nations, the smoke
made its exit through cracks in the roof; it must have cer-
Eariy houses tainly done so in the smaller circular wicker houses. So long
had no •' . r^ n i i
chimneys, as the fire was made m the centre of the house the smoke must have escaped through cracks in the roof, and consequently no second story could have been made in the house. There is indeed no evidence that houses of two stories were built in Ireland before the introduction of mortar buildings in Chris-
«" Weinhold, Op Cit. ^'^ Vol. ii., p. 67 et seq.
8'' Crith Gablach, vol. ii. Appendix, pp. 496 and 480.
INTRODUCTION. CCcl
V
tlan times. The expression in the Alemannian law, that a and were
1111 o 1 ""'y °"®
child had lived if it had seen the four walls and the roof, shows storied
buildings.
that the same remark applied to ancient Germany. When the
fire was put at one end of the house, and a separate exit or infroiuction
flue provided for the smoke, lofts (Old Norse, Lopts) were put
up as store-rooms. The elevated bedsteads placed along or
around the walls, formed as it were so many lofts, under
which were recesses in which many things could be stored-up ;
but the true lofts must have been accompanied by a chimney.
The introduction of the loft naturally led to the part of the
room under it being cut off by a partition, a separate room
being thus formed, which was probably reserved us the special
sleeping apartment of the family.
The majority of the Irish homesteads, even of the hio;her The common
, living room
Aires, had no sleeping house, and consequently the general «o"t'iiiied livincT room contained not only the beds, couches, and benches, *,^'''"''"''«''
O ./ ' ' ' tools, etc.
but all the other household furniture in use at the time, suitable for each class of house, except the culinary furniture, which were kept in the kitchen. On the walls were hunsr the arms The arms of
*■ _ _ " , the men
of the master, and of his armed retainers when of sufficient were hungon
the walls;
rank to have them.®'* With the arms were also hung up the bridles and other trappings of ridinsf and war steeds. The and also
rr b & ^ bridles and
quality of the bridle was, as we learn from the Crith Gahlach.o^^^^^'^^"'^'^^
, , furniture.
a special token of a man's rank. Thus the Bruiglifer had one of Cruan, the Aire Desa had a silver one together with four green ones, that is, four of Cruan, and the Aire Tuisi a golden bridle and a silver one. In a convenient place were shelves on Drinking which were placed the wooden platters upon which the cooked meat was placed on the tables in front of the couches and settles, and the Lestra or drinking vessels of yew, some of which were also suspended from hooks. These Lestra were of different sizes, such as the Ardans, or pigins,®'^ the Cuads, or
^'* Hostages, however, had no arms in the house, as the following passage clearly shows: — "And it is only with the knuckles, or the fist, or the foot they [the Fomorian hostages] shall kill each man ; for they are not alloAved to bring arms w^th them into the house, for they are in hostagesliip at the wall, lest they should do any misdeeds in the house" — Brudin Da Derga in Lebor na h- Uidhri, p. 90, col. 1.
®'^ Cf. Gothic; Puff, a pocket or Bag. Pigin was the common name in the south and west of Ireland for the wooden vessels used by the peasantry at the
23* B
ccclv:
INTRODUCTION.
mugs, tlie 3Iedars, or larger mead and beer vessels.^'® In the houses of the higher classes, Cuachs, or cups of bronze, silver, and even of gold, were to be found displayed on the shelves on festive occasions. Among the larger vessels of yew which rich per- sons had in their houses, may be mentioned Milans, or large cups on a foot, Cilorns, or pitchers with handles. Ctirns, or horns made of ox-horns, were also much used for drinking ale, instead of yew- wood vessels ; such drinking horns were fre- quently mounted in silver and set with gems, cut en cahocJion. A few of these ornamented horns are still preserved. uTiuT'^of''^ ^°°^® of the Lestra, or drinking vessels of yew-wood, were and'Zrfn Certainly turned in a lathe, and the hammered and cast bronze the vessels, -^^ork exhibits evidence of the use of the compass ; but I have found no reference to either by name.'''' The art of the cooper was also practised with great skill at a very early period. The vSmade^"'*^ °^ ^^*^' ^^^ ^^^^ DobacJis Or tubs, and the BrotJia or boifnd'by liarrels, were made of staves held together by hoops. In hoops. ti^e tale of the "Navigation of Ifaelduins Boat", already referred to, the neck Tores, which were hung upon the walls of the house of a Dun in one of the islands visited by the voyagers, are compared to the hoops of large Dahhachs or tubs.^'«
beginning of this century for drinking milk, etc. The Pigin was a wooden vessel formed out of small staves or laths and bound with a broad hand or hoop of ash ; one of the laths projecting above the others formed the handle. The wooden mugs smaller than the Pigin, and generally turned out of one piece of wood, were called Sebins.
«'•' In the Arnlira Chonrai (See Vol. ii p. 152) a drinking vessel called a BoUan is mentioned. This is evidently a loan-word, probably from the Old Korse Bo/li, a bowl, which occurs in the Rigsmdl (cf Anglo-Saxon Bolla, English Bowl, German Bolle). The Irish Medar corresponds to the 0. Norse Aljb^karm or mead-Karm, a mead-bowl. Ker is another name for a bowl, and connected with Karm. Medar may be a loan-word.
^'^ MS. Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 23, col, 1. The invention of hooped vessels is sometimes attributed to the Gauls. Be this as it may, they were ac- quainted with them at a very early period. Caylus {Recueil d'Andquit^s, t. v._) gives a figure of a kind of wagon or Plaustrum Majus Jrom a bas-relief on a tomb near Langres. Upon the wagon is a barrel made of staves and hoops exactly like a modern wine barrel. The driver wears a kind of tunic with a Cucullus or CucuUio and long hair. Langres was in the ancient Belgia, which was sometimes called Gallia Comata or long haired Gaul.
•^'^ The story of CucJmlaind's Shield given in the Lectures (vol. i. p. 329),
INIKODUCTION. CCclvii
For the purposes of the toilet there were Scadeircs, or mir- Articles for
111, rn- 11 r i the toilet.
rors, leathern wallets, or 1 lags, which were otten ornamented with emhossed patterns, in which ladies kept their veils, diadems, earrings, and other personal ornaments. The Irish ladies ap- pear to have been acquainted at an early period with the use of cosmetics and scented oil, for we find mention of a Pait Foilcthi, or leather bottle, with its Crand Bolg, out of which apparently a small quantity of oil could be pressed. A Long FoUcthe, or bathing basin, is also mentioned in the Crith Gahlach as one of the necessary articles of furniture of the house of a Bruighfer ; and in several of the oldest tales large tubs of water are brought for the ablution of travellers at a Dun. In the account of the visit paid by the three Ultonian heroes, Loeghaire Budd- hach, Conal Cernach, and Cuchulaind, to Cathair Chonrai, in order to submit to the decision of Curoi Mac Daire the question as to which of the three was entitled to get the " Curathmir\ or " champion's share" at the feasts at the Palace of Emania, we are told that BlatJinat, the wife of Curoi Max Daire, supplied them with baths and bathings, and with intoxicating liquors, and with noble beds until they were thankful".'^'^ When the same personages went on the same errand to Ailill and Medb at Cruachan, we are told that when Medb saw them approach- ing the Dun, she ordered among other things Babcha or tubs of cold water to be prepared for them, and on their arrival she asiied them to choose whether each warrior would have a separate house, or the three occupy one house. Cuchulaind accordingly decided that each should have a house for hiraself.*^^"
Leather bottles were used for other purposes besides that Leather just mentioned. It is probable that wine was imported in them. But that they must have been very generally used in the country, and made there, is shown by the reference to the Faitire, or leather bottle maker, in the Lectures. '^■^ In the curious tale of the " Navigation of Maelduins Boat", men-
iurlicates, as O'Curry has shown, that the compass was not unknown even in very early times.
«'« MS. K. 1. A., Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. ill, col 1.
6^" Lebor na h- Uidliri, p. 107, col. I.
«2' Vul.ii., p. 117.
CCclviii INTRODUCTION.
tion is made of Fails in such a way as to show that they were in common use for carrying supplies of water and other liquids in voyages. When Maelduin and his companions arrived at a certain island on the second day of their voyage, we are told that " they dined, and drank, and slept. They then put the remainder of the Lmii (gen. Leanna, ale or other fermented drink) into the Paits, and they collected the leavings of the food".^^^ The following passage (I. Kings, xxv. 18) from the fragment of the translation, or rather paraphrase, of the Old Testament in a vellum MS. in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, confirms this use of the Pait: " The women gave him five sheep and two hundred loaves, and two Paits of wine".*^^ The Irish Pait represents the Anglo-Saxon Bytta or Butta, a Boot and a wine Btctt. The middle Latin Buiicula, a little But or bag, gave rise to the French Bcuteille, English, Bottle. The cellarer in charge of the wine was called a Biiticvlarius, liter- ally a leather bag-man, then Butellariiis, whence French Buteiller, or bottle-man, and English Butler. The German Beutel, a purse, and the Bohemian Pytel^ a sack, on the one hand, and the French Boite, English Boot, on the other, give us examples of derivatives having two distinct secondary mean- other leatiierings.®^* Besides the Pait, or leather bottle, and the Tiaq,
bags and ^ _ ' i"
book. or leathern wallet, there were other kinds of leather bags used
wallets ^ _ _ o
for holding articles, such as the Criol, or bags made of pieces of leather stitched together with thongs, spoken of in the Lectures,^"^^ and which were used for covering shrines, books, etc. The book- wallet was also called a Tiag, bvit the more usual name for that article was Polaire, which was sometimes also given to the books carried in them. Thus the psalm-book of St. Ciaran was called a Polaire, because it was generally kept and carried in one.^"^^ The Pes Boig, or foot-bag, also
®^^ Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 23, col 2.
^^* Lebor Brecc i. 55, a.a.
^^* If these words are connected, as is generally supposed, with the San- skrit root Pa, to drink, the Irish Fait comes closer to the Sans'krit than any of the cognate forms. There are many words in Irish derived froai Pait, or which may be referred to the root pd, such as poiteach, thirsty, /?oiV, a great drinking ; poiteoir, a drunkard ; poitire is still a con nionnanie for a tippler.
"^* Vol. ii., p. 117. <*'6 Book oj Lismort, 11 1. A., fol. 78 a. b. bottom.
INTRODUCTION- CCclix
called a Cir Bolg, or combing bag, that is a bag in which the wool to be combed or carded was put, and which the carding woman placed under her feet, and drew from according as she wanted the wool.
Small boxes, or Gusals, made of yew — sometimes of a single Boxes.
1 1 T f 1 chests, etc.
piece — with a loose handle, were also employed lor the same purpose as the leather wallet. Larger chests and bins were placed in convenient parts of the room, for holding the spare bed clothes and the clothes of the family, especially the dresses for appearing at public assemblies, and for holding meal, bread, and other provisions. Some of these formed, as I have already stated, settles or benches ; others were fixed in recesses in the walls.
Except in the houses of kings and of the higher nobility, spinning
r <-> ^ o J ^ wheel, etc.
who had a special Ale House or Cuirm Tecli^ the distaff, the spinning wheel, the reels for winding the warp and weft, and probably the loom also, formed part of the household furniture of every free man's house.
In the kitchen of the higher classes there was the Caire, cuiinary
. vessels, etc.
Umae, or bronze boiler or preserver, in which cooked meats were kept in readiness at all times. There was also a Scabal CocuiSf or cooking pot, and the Caire^ hung over the fire by the Ema, or irons — and a proper supply of l)ihinr or spits, and Lorgga or skewers, flesh forks, Heisedars or ladles for broth, lans or vats for brewing ale, Brotha or small casks for holding it, provided with Cuisles or tubes for tapping them ; Bohcha, or tubs for distributing porridge or broth; Escrai, or water vessels, and Loiste or kneading troughs, and griddles for baking the Bairgins or cakes. In the smaller homesteads the furni- ture of the kitchen was confined to kneading troughs, griddles, tubs, and other wooden vessels, and a Scabal Cocuis, or great cooking pot. Even the latter was not necessarily to be found in every house, for the Crith Gahlach tells us that the Oc Aire had only a share in one.
In the laws mention is made of the different parts ofjiiiis. the mill, from which we can see that the old mills differed little from the small country mills which were to be found all over Europe a few years ago, and still exist in many places. There was the Tobar Tuinde or mill pond, the
CCclx INTRODUCTION.
Oircel^'" or sluice, the Lia Mol or shaft stone, which formed the bearings of the shaft, the wheel and shaft, the MilairS or the pivot in the lower stone, and upon which the Clochuachtair or upper stone turned, the Ciib or cup in the cross bar in which the Milaire or pivot worked the Comla or door, a hole in the upper stone through which the corn was admitted from the hopper. Different kinds of sieves were also used in cleaning the corn and separating the husks The common sieve, the hoop of which was made of ash was called a Criathur, a fine kind of which was called a Criathur cumang or narrow sieve. A hair sieve, Criathur cairceach^ was used for preparing flour to dust over buns, cakes, etc., to prevent them cracking or
Bread maae burning on the griddle. The ancient Irish, like the Anglo-
of meal Saxons, Norsemen, and other northern nations, made their bread exclusively of meal. The latter was also largely used for stirabout, and Metiedach or " meal and milk", a kind of food which has come down to the present time.
The quern or The old tales aflord abundant evidence, however, that the Bro, Quern, or hand mill, was exclusively used to pi-epare meal during the period to which those tales relate, and that mills belong either to Christian times or to the period of the Roman occupation of Britain. Indeed Irish tradition attributes their first introduction to Cormac Mac Airt, who is said to have lived
was worked in the sccond century. In the households of the richer clans
by women Tin i i i i • i
whoweie the naucl querns were worked, by slaves, as m other countries.
slaves ■^. . _ .•'
among the Like Weaving, dyeing, and similar labours, the work of grind- ing meal appears to have been done exclusively by women.®^® In the fragment of the Tain B6 Chnailgne, contained in the vellum manuscript in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, known as Lehor iia h-Uidhri, we are told that when Mac Roth, the herald of king Ailill and queen Medb, was sent to Cuchulaind to induce the latter to forsake the
^^^ This word is also applied in the Lebor Brecc to a small hut described as a Tech caoel Cumang, a slender narrow houte, and to the shed m which Christ M as born. Oircel anjiona was a wine cellar. Aracol, a room or com- partment of a house {Leb. na h-Uidhri, p. 107), is perhaps connected. Cf. also Gothic Aurkeis, Angl. Sax. Ore; a bowl, Lat. Urceolus, and the Gallo-Eoman Orca, a kind of vessel, applied by Varro (i?e Rustica, 1. 13) to wine vats or jars.
^'* Instances of the continued empbyment of bondwomen in grinding
INTRODUCTION CCclxi
Ultonians and become the vassal of Ailill and Medh, Cuchu- laind during the discussion says: " I would not do it, for if our bondwomen were taken away from us, our free women would be obliged to work the querns; and we should be without milk if our milch cows were taken away from us. Again he came to him, and said; You shall get the bondwomen and the milch cows. I will not, said Cuchulaind, the Ultonians may bring bondwomen into their Leirgs or beds to them, and base children may be born to them after that, and they may satisfy the want of milk by means of meat as they do in winter".*^' This passage shows that the child followed the lot of the slave mother, and not of the free father. Among the minor A ires and poorer branches of a Fine who could not keep bond- women, the daughters ground the meal in querns even after the introduction of mills. The laws expressly ordained that the davighters of the Fiiie should be trained to the use of the quern, the sieve, the kneading trough, and other appliances for baking. It is probable, therefore, that the quern formed an article of household furniture of all such persons as had not a mill or a share in one ; and that its use in this way came down to com- paratively modern times, and probably even to our own day in some parts of the country.
The Crith Gablach''^'' gives a list of the tools which every xoois. Brughfer was bound to have : these were Scena or knives, a Tdl or adze, a Tarathar or auger, a Tuiresc or saw, a Dias or shears, a Fidba or bill-hook, a Bial, a billet axe or hatchet, a Lia Forcaid or grinding stone. These tools were necessary for cutting firewood, repairing the house, injured chariots, etc. Although it is not stated that the Aires were obliged to have
meal, may be found down to the tenth century. In tlie Life of St. Bridget in the Lebor Brecc (p. 63, col. 1) the following cui"ious passage in the early life of that saint is mentioned: — '■^ Dubthach became so displeased with Bridget his daughter, because she distributed so much of his property in charity. He and his wife [Bridget's step-mother] decided to sell Bridget as a slave, and so he went into his chariot, and took Bridget with him ; and he said to her — It is not through honour or regard for thee, tliat 1 am bringing tliee into a chariot, but to take thee and sell thee tu ^rind at the ijuern, for Dunlany, ton of Enda, the king of Laigen".
629 M8. Lcbor nu l-Uihhri.i'. G8, eol. 1. 6'» N'A. W., App. IS'.i.
CCclxii INTRODUCTION.
all the tools above mentioned, there can be no doubt that they formed part of the necessary furniture of all large homesteads. The forge. In the BaUe of each Brugh was a smithy, and the Brughfer was bound to have a sack of GiiaiP^^ or charcoal, for forging '* the irons", for being public hospitaller he was bound to have the necessary charcoal always ready in case of accidents to the horses and vehicles of travellers. Every Tuatha had its chief smith, and each Fine had also its own forge and smith, whose rights and dues are given in the laws.
FOOD AND DRINK OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.
The food of a people is so intimately connected with their
agriculture, that in order to give a satisfactory account of the
former, it would be necessary to enter into some detail as to
the state of the latter. This, however, I cannot do here, and I
must content myself Avith referring to the subject as occasion
may arise in the following brief account of the food of the
ancient Irish.
The ancient The Bncicnt Irish were more a pastoral than an agricultural
toiai people people ; every occupier of a homestead, however, ploughed
anagricui- aunuallv a certain amount of land, and sowed corn, the
tuia! one. "^ .
general name for which was Arha, plural Orhainn. Under
Eight kinds this term mention is made of eight kinds of corn or seed.
grown: CruitnecJit, Eorna, Corca, Seoul, Riiadan, Seruan. Ifaelan, and
wheat; Fidhach. CruUneckt, one of the names of wheat, Triticum
Sativum, appears to contain the same root as the Greek Kpidij,
barley. Tarai, sometimes written Tuirnd or Tuirmi, was
another name for wheat, ^^^ which M. A. Pictet compares with
Sanskrit Trna, herb in its general sense ; he also mentions the
bnviey and curious fact that the Mongolian name of wheat is Taran. Eorna
and Corca are still the names of barley and oats respectively.
It is very difficult to determine now to what plants the remain-
secuiana j^g names were applied. Secul is probably a loan-word from
the Latin Secale, rye ; but was it applied to the same plant in
Ireland as in Italy ? If so, what was Ricadan ? This is certainly
an older word than Secul, and if we could venture to compare
it with the Lettish Rudzi, rye, may have been the true ancient
«•>' Cf. German Kohle. s^a ig^^,. Biecc, t. 110, a.a.
iMTHODUCTioN. ccclxiii
name for that kind of corn, wliich in Ireland as elsewhere seems to have been gradually displaced by wheat. If the spelt wheat (Triticum spelta was) cultivated in Ireland, it may have been known by either of the names in question, perhaps by that of Seen!. Seriian may not have been a variety of corn'Se'-«a7»; at all, Pliny has tlie term Saurion for mustard, which is very close to the Sanskrit Suri, Sinapis nigra, and may be Celtic rather than Greek. It is, no doubt, very dangerous to make comparisons between words merely because of similarity of form, yet it is hardly possible to avoid doing so in this case, especially as the only other Aryan name of corn like it with which I am acquainted, belongs to a species which we have no evidence for supposing was ever ctdtivated in Ireland, namely, Sora (plural Soros), the Lithuanian name of millet. Maelan Maetan, a
-r , T 1 . 1 T 1 leguminous
was, 1 believe, a legummous plant, and not a cereal one, as plant; is shown by the name Maelan milce^ being applied to the tuberous bitter vetch, Orobus tuberosus, the tuberous roots of which were formerly much prized for making a kind of drink by the Highlanders, and used in times of scarcity as food. The Orobus niger, or black bitter vetch, which is said by some to have supported the Britons when driven into the forests and fastnesses by the Empeior Severus, was also called Maelan. Fidhadi is literally wood-gland, hack being cojjnate with /wsacft.
° ° ° . probably
Sanskrit hliag, Greek ^ayw, and may have been applied tofii'^'t-aud the hazel nut or the acorn, both of which were used as food.
From the frequent reference to oatmeal and porridge, there Com most
. _ '- generally
can be little doubt that the kind of corn most generally grown grown, was oats. Barley was also cultivated, not only lor making Barley used bread, but also lor making malt. Frequent mention is also bread, made of wheat, but wheaten bread must have been u^ed almost exclusively by the higher classes. I have not met with Yeast or
•'•''--' baiin pro-
any direct evidence of the use of leaven or of yeast in early f'a**'J"''^^<i
•^ •' •' lu making
times in Ireland, but I infer from incidental circumstances that ^'^''='"^-
the yeast of Ciiirm, or beer, was used in the making of wheaten
bread. Oatmeal and barleymeal cakes*^^^ appear to have Unieavened
•' -^ *■ oat and
barley-cakes.
^*' Some persons have doubted that barley was at all grown ia ancient
times in Ireland. There is, however, abundant evidence that it was. In the
account of the Progress of the Ulionians in dm Cihai/mti Ai we are told that
CCclxiv IMTRODUCTION
been unleavened, and to Lave been prepared as now by mixii'ig the meal with sweet milk or buttermilk, so as to make a stiiF dough, which was fashioned into flat cakes. The wheat- meal and barley-meal cakes were baked upon a griddle, but The BocaiVe the oatmcal cakes, called Bocaire and Blethach, were always
or natmeal . . . ^ „ ,
cake. baked by being supported m an upright position beiore the
lire by means of a three-pronged forked stick, still called Maide an Bhocaire or the Bocaire stick, or the Cranaclian, which, however, included also the three-legged stool upon which the cake was supported by the stick. From the latter name the Bocaire is sometimes called Ciste cranachain, or the cake of the Cranachan. The cakes of bread were called
The Bairgin Bairqins, a name still preserved in the " bairn breac", or cake spotted with currants, of confectioners in Ireland. There were diiferent sizes of these cakes, but three are mentioned in the laws: the Bairgin Ferfuine and the Bairgin Banfuine, the former double the size of the latter — the larger repre- senting the ration of a man, and the smaller that of a woman; the third was called the Bairgin iiidriuc or whole cake. This was a large cake which the mistress of a house kept whole for guests, before whom no cut-loaf should be placed. Any whole cake was, properly speaking, a Bairgin Indriuc, but the term was usually restricted to such large cakes as those which Bricriu had had made, each of which required a quarter of a Miach. Honey was sometimes mixed
tliej were allowed to choose which food their horses should get; Conal and Laeyhaire said to give tlieir liorses two year old Airthind; Ciichulaind, how- ever, chose barley {Eorna) for his horses". Lebor na h- Udhri, p. 108, col. 2. 1 he following passage from a law manuscript of considerable authority, out of many which could be cited, shows that barley was used in making bread:
" Three Batrgins of Ferfuine with their kitchen accompaniments of Brechtans every quarter, for six Bairgins of BenFuine; three Bairgins of oai[mealJ in it, and the same of barley, — for it is thus the Miach Comaithches is paid. One half of oats in it, and the other half of barley, and their price is not the same, for the eighty-eighth part of a Pingin is the price of the Bairgin of oat [meal], and the sixty-seventh part of a Piyigin was the price of the Bairgin of barley. Give these six Bairgins for three Bairgins of Fer Fuine. A Ftorling, and a half, and three parts of a Feor/ing, and the tenth of a tenth of a Feorling is the price of [MS. defective here] in it, or of the three Bairgins for the trespass which the hens commit in the house this is paid". MS. Brit. Mui., Rawhnson, 487, fol. 65, p. 2, col. b.
INTRODUCTION. CCclxV
with the doun-h of bread, as appears from a curious account rrnnr-y
in • !/-)•• mixed with
of the "champion's share at the feast given by Bricriu, onedougii. of the heroic personages contemporary with Cnchulaind.^^*
Meal prepared from highly kiln-dried oats, mixed with new " Meai and milk or sweet thick milk, or boiled with water into stirabout, was also much used. Coarsely ground meal of this kind was called Grus and Gridh, and the food prepared from it Grniten ; the second form of the words is almost identical with the Anglo-Saxon Grid. In discussing the names o^Maothaior the different kinds of corn grown in Ireland in former times, I mentioned that filberts and acorns were used as food. These were crushed, so as to form a kind of meal to which the name Maothal was given. In early Christian times those who devoted themselves to a religious life, built their cells in remote woody districts or waste lands, which seem to have been generally covered with a scrub of hazel, judging from the quantity of hazel twigs found in turf bogs. Nutmeal naturally formed a valuable resource to these early monks, so important indeed that the word Maothal coxnQ in process of time to mean the meal taken on fast days, and which consisted at first of nutmeal and milk, and afterwards of oatmeal, milk, cheese, etc. Thus a Lenten dinner mentioned in the life of St. Moling consisted of Maothla acus Loim.^^^ The
^3< « It is right to contest for the Curathnir (Champiou's Share) of my house, said he [^Bricriu'], for it is not the Curaih of a TecJimerage. There is a keeve in it in wliich would fit three of the battle champions of the men of Ulster, and it [is] filled with good wine ; there is a hog seven years old in it, * * * and a young little pig into whose mouth no fond ever went but stirabout of meal and new milk in spring, pure curds and pure new milk in summer, the kernels of nuts and wheat iu harvest, and meat and broth in winter. There is a Bo-thaur [cf. German Thier'} or fat ox, whose age is fully seven years since it was a little calf; neither heath nor coarse grass went into its mouth, but pure new milk, herb grass, green grass, and ^7-4a (corn). There are five score wheaten loaves kneaded with honey ; twenty-five Miachs (sacks) also is what was consumed with those five score loaves ; and four loaves that were made out of every 2Jiach. That now is the Curalhmir of my house, said Bricriu'. Tale of Fled Biicrind, MS. R.I.A., Lehor na h-Vidhri, p. 100, col. 1. Either the Miack spoken of here is very different from that referred to in the passage from the MS. H. 3. 18, given in a note to the Crith Gablach (vol. ii., App. p. 512, note 575), or the loaves were very niucli larger.
«»!* MS. H. 3. 17, col. 422. See Vila St. Coemgin, MS. H. 4. 4. T.C.D.
CCclxvi INTRODUCTION.
use of Maothal was not, however, confined to monks and nuns, but formed part of the food of even the higher classes as is proved by the finding of the nutshells in the neighbourhood of forts, and by the occurrence of the word in combination with Cathair and Lis in topographical names, such as Cathair Moathal, now Cathermoyle, in the county of Limerick, where full evidence was obtained of the use of nutmeal, and Lis- maothal now Moyhill, near Maurice's Mills, in the county of Clare.
broth "' Oatmeal formed also an important constituent of the porridge
which was one of the chief articles of food in Ireland. When this porridge was made with water in which meat was boiled, it was the Bruth or broth which was distributed or served out in Dabaclis or tubs to the retainers and servants at feasts and the eyres or circuits of kings and Flaths. The simple porridge as well as the broth were seasoned with leeks. Large quantities of leeks and onions were grown around the hovises, and served as a substi- tute for pepper and other spices, introduced at a later period
gai^den'*'^^^" into Europe. Some other culinary vegetables were also culti- vated in the Murathaig or enclosed Gort or garden, for we find Lus Lubgort, or garden vegetables, mentioned as part of the
Water cress. Imglaice OX opsonia of the Oc Airc.^^^ The Birur, or water cress,
•^^^ Crith Gablach, vol. ii., p. 478, note 507.
The following passage from the Felire of Otngus Cde Dg, is curious in many ways, but especially as showing the cultivation at a very early period of culinary vegetables in a distinct piece of ground enclosed for the purpose.
" Saint Ciaran of Saigldr was an illustrious man, indeed, for his chattels were many, for there were ten doors to his Lias Bo, or cattle-yard, and ten Ctoi, or sheds at each door, and ten calves in each Croi, and ten cows with each calf.
" Ciaran consumed but very little of the abundant i^roduce of these cows as long as he lived, but he distributed it to the poor and to the wretched of the Lord. Ciaran had also fifty tamed horses for ploughing and cultivating the land : and his Proind (meal or supper) every evening was a small piece of a Bairgin, or cake of barley, and two Mecuns (parsnips), of the Murathaig (lawn or kitchen-garden), and water of the spring-well. The skins of wild calves constituted his clothes, and a wet Cuilche ( sackcloth) over them outside. It was upon a pillow of stone he usually slept". — Lebor Brecc, p. 83.
It is interesting to find that the parsnip, Pastinaca sativa, the onion and leek, were the earliest culinary v( geliblts cultivated in Ireland. In the time of Pliny the former was cultivated in liaul, and is mentioned by that writer
INTRODUCTION. CCcl
XVll
was also used at feasts as a salad with meat.''*' Dulesc {i.e., Duiesc. water leaf), the Rhodymenia palmataofbotanists, was gathered on the sea shore, dried, and sold throughout the country. It is mentioned in the Crith Gablach as an accompaniment of the seasoned fowl to which the Aithech ar a Threha was entitled. Sluiean, sloke, or laver prepared from Porphyra laciniata and P. vulgaris, as well as other marine vegetables, were also used along the sea coast.
As the principal wealth of the Irish was in cattle, flesh-meat and milk formed the most important part of the food of the Aire class, milk, besides being taken in its natural fresh *^»"'- state, and as skimmed milk, furnished butter, curds, and cheese. Butter, while abundant in summer, was preserved i^""er ; in small firkins or barrels for winter use, and for expeditions and feasts. Many of these vessels filled with bu+ter are found in peat bogs, the butter being altered into a hard crystalline fat, free from salt. If salt was used in the curing of the original butter, it must have been gradually removed along with the products of the alteration of the glycerine. As butter is still made withoitt salt in some parts of Ireland, it is probable that it was sometimes similarlv prepared in ancient times. The terms t-Salcmd, applied to salted meat and butter, show that the method of curing provisions with salt was prac- tised at a comparatively early period in Ireland.
The privileges of the lower grades of B6 A ire, as regards persons en- maintenance when wounded, absence from home attendinn-iJutteraud
i^ meal.
their Flath, etc., as given in the Crith Gablach, show that the use of meat and butter was not universal. Thus the Oc Aire, when on visitation to persons of his own rank, was not entitled to butter; and only on stated days when on Folach. An Aire Desa or Flath was, however, entitled to butter at every meal in his own territory, while an Aire Ard was not only entitled to butter at every meal for him-
as one of the three culinary plants cultivated by the Germans, the others beirg asparagus and some kind of bulbous root, either the radish or the carrot. "*' Lectures, xxv., vol. ii., p. 150. Among the tributes to which the para- mount king of Eriu was entitled were the veiiisi n of Naas, the fish of the Boyne, and the cresses of the Brosua. Leuhhar na g-Ceart, p. 9.
CCclxviii INTRODUCTION.
self, but also for his Foleithe, tliat is, the suitors of his Court Leet. A wounded person on Folach, of whatever rank, appears to have been entitled to butter only on stated days. This legal provision was, no doubt, adopted to prevent a defendant from being ruined by the expense of the maintenance of a com-
Curds. plainant who was wounded. Curds was a favourite article of food of the ancient Irish. It was made both from skimmed milk, and Binnit, or rennet was used in its preparatiou.'''"' The curds of fresh new milk was not unlike our modern cream
Cheese. cheese. True cheese was also made, and seems to have formed an important element in the food of the wealthier armers, spe- cimens of it from early Christian times have been found in bogs impressed with a cross. From a passage in the tale of the " Navigation of Maelduhcs CuracJi\ it would seem that even different kinds of cheese were prepared, and especially a rich kind from beestings milk.*^^'
Judging by the description of the " Champion's Share" of Bricriiis house, and other passages in Irish manuscripts, the rearing and fattening of oxen and pigs for food was well under-
Fiesh meats stood bv the ancient Irish. Beef naturally took the first place
used by the ^ n ^ 1 ) n 1
ancient amouff the liesh meats : veal, iamb, mutton, and goat s liesh were
Irish. 7 ' ' D
also eaten. Mutton was boiled, and the water in which it was cooked constituted the basis of the Brutk or broth already mentioned, which was so freely served out to strangers off the road, that the word became almost synonymous with hospi- tality. Part of the beef was eaten fresh, but a larger part was cured with salt. The cattle intended for curing were fattened in autumn, and then driven in from the Boulayhs on the ap-
8"^ In the account of the Bladh Prointige, or refectory commons according to the rule of the Cele Z)e' in the Ltbor Brecc, we are told that : — "A curds is then made for them, but Binnit is not put into it, and it [the curds] is not consequently forbidden after that" — p 9, col. 2.
^39 On the seventeenth of the many islands to which Maeldun and his com- panions came during their voyage, they saw a young woman who " gave them food in one Ceiss [some kind of vessel] like unto beestings cheese. She gave each three persons their share. Evtry taste they desired for it, was the taste ihey found it had". She attended Maeldun apart. She then filled a Cilurn on the same board and distributed it to them three by three for a while.
She then departed with her one Ceiss, and with her CilurrC — MS.
Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 25, col. 1.
INTRODUCTION. CCclxix
proach of winter and slaughtered. The carcass was cut up, salted, and hung up to dry on hooks^'" in the smoky air of the kitchen. Flesh-meat of all kinds was called Saill^ or when Salt meat, salted, Saillti, or Saill t-salnd, the Sialfaeti of the Norse. Fresh pork was considered a great delicacy, as is evident from the curious poem in which Midii' promises Befind a banquet of fresh pork, new milk, and ale.®" Young sucking pigs were roasted and were especially esteemed. Like the beef, the pork was first salted in a Calre, or meat vessel, which was usually kept in the Cuil Tech, or store-house, or in some recess used for the purpose, or when there was no special store-hovise in any convenient place. It was left to season for some weeks, and then hung up in the smoke. The meat of a Bacon and Muc Forais, or house-fed pig, appears, however, to have been specially smoke-dried in the smoke of green wood, such as beech, ash, and white thorn. The general name for bacon was Tiiii, but smoke-cured hams and flitches were called Tineiccas. This is almost identical in form with the Gallo-Roman word Taniaccae or Tanacae, used by Varro for hams imported from Transalpine Gaul into Rome and other parts of Italy.
Puddings prepared from the blood of pigs also formed an Puddings article of export from Gaul to Italy, as we learn from Varro. .saussages.
uddlngs of the same kind were also made by the Irish. The Mucriucht, or Caelana, Tona, bottom, or belly pudding, ap- pears to have been a black pudding of this kind, into which a little tansy (Tanuceium vulgare) and onions, salt, etc., were in- troduced as seasoning. Moroga was another term for puddings, and, perhaps, included those prepared with liver. Saussages were also made of different kinds of flesh. The word Tarsun appears to have included regular saussages and seasoned mince- meats of all kinds, and melted lard, and in this way was some- times applied to seasoned fowl and other birds. The name Drisechan caorach, or as it is called in Cork, Drisheen, given to a kind of pudding made of sheep's blood, seems to be a cor- ruption of the Irish Tarsun; the pudding itself probably affords an example of one of the ancient Irish puddings. The Cisal-
*''° Crutch, cf. Englisli crook.
**' Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 131, and Lectures, vol. ii. p.
INT 24.*
CCclxx INTRODUCTION.
pine Gallo-Roman Tuceta mentioned by Persius^'- and other Latin writers is perhaps a Latinized form of the Gaulish repre- sentative of the Irish Tarsun. Game. The Irish Aire class were expert hunters, and trained several
kinds of hunting dogs, among which the wolf dog attained to even a foreign reputation, and was much sought after. The wild boar, the red deer, and other game must have also con- Birds, tributed to the supply of animal food- I do not know whether in early times the Irish, like the Britons, avoided eating the hare, the goose, and the common domestic fowl."^" The curious legend of Einglan, king of the birds, and Meshuachala, the mother of ConaireMor, king of Eriu,«" shows that although birds were killed as game, there must have been a tradition that at some earlier period they were considered sacred. In many of the transformations recorded in Irish legends, birds appear to have been the favourite forms into which the personages of Fish. the story were changed. Fish seems to have formed an im-
portant article of the food of the ancient Irish. Tales and poems are full of references to rivers abounding in fish ; and we have distinct mention of the use of the commoner kinds of fresh-water fish in the life of St. Brigit, and the ancient life of St, Patrick, known as the Tripartite Life. The salmon was considered food for kings and nobles ; king Cormac Mac Airt is said to have been choked by a bone of one which he swal- lowed.*^" The ancient Britons are also said to have had a pre- judice against eating fish, but I do not know whether in very ancient times this was shared by the Irish,*^'*^ But whatever
'^2 Poscis opem nervis corpusque fidele senectae. Esto age : scd grandes patinae lucetaque crassa Annuere his superos vetuere Jovemque luoraiitur. — Sat. II. 41. 613 Caesar, De Bel Gal, v. 12,
644 <i When it was night then she saw the bird upon the Foi less approachirg her, and he left his seed on the floor of the house ; and he went unto her and said to her : The king's people are coming to you to demolish your house and to carry you away by force to him ; you shall be pregnant by me, and y ou shall bring forth a sou of it, and that son shall not kill birds, and Conaire shall be his name". MS. T. C. D. H. 2. 16. col. 717 and 739-740, in the prelude to the tale of the Brtidin Da Derga, which is defective in the vellum MS. called Lebor na h- Uidhri, in the Library of the l\. I. A. ^*^ Lebor na h-Uiahri, page 50, col. 2, line 36. 6*6 Dio Cass., Ixxvi. 12.
ixTRODUCTioy. ccclxxi
use the Irish may have made of game, fish, etc., the chief part Eiiu r.cii in of their animal food was obtained from their cattle; and there can he little doubt that Cassar's observations recjard- ing the Britons, that they possessed " pocoris magnus nu- merusV" might be equally well applied to the Irish.
The chief intoxicatinoj drink of the ancient Irish, as of all cuirmor northern European peoines, was beer, which was called in old ctnef drink
-, ' I /-y . . . I . , of tlie Irish.
Irish Cuirm, genitive Chorma, as in the Crith Gablach, where we are told that the Brughfer has always two vats in his house — laii Ais ocus Ian Chorma, — a vat of new milk and a vat of beer. The Irish s^enitive is almost identical with icopjur//''*Thoname
Cuirui
the form of the word in Athonaaus, as amended by Casaubon. kno>/n to
. •' the Greeks.
As Athenseus quotes Posidonios, we may look upon the Greek Korma as a pre-Christian, and, no doubt, genitive form of the Celtic name of beer, corresponding to the Irish Chorma. Dioscorides lias the form Koup/it."^ The banqueting hall of the Rig Tuatha, in which the Sahaid or councillors sat, was called the Cuirmtech or Ale house, which corresponded to a certain extent to the Tech Midchuarda of the Ard Righ Krind. In the fragment of the ancient tale of Tocmarc Emere, or Courtship of Emer by Cuchidaind, preserved in the vellum manuscript Lehor na h-Uidhri, beer is called dl n-griaLa. The bin-GuaU-, passage is as follows: "One time as the Ultonians were with Conchohar in Emain Macha drinking in the lei'ngiiali,^^^ one hundred Brotha of ale used to be put into it for each evening. This was the 61 n-guala, which used to test the Ultonians, all sitting on the one bank".**^^
The " one bank" here spoken of is evidently the long bank near the fire, which was called by the Norse the Brugge. In
«•' Bello GaUico, v. 12.
^*^ aKparoQ 5' ovtoq tviore Si oKiyov tJ^wp irapajxiyvvTai. Trapc'i Sk toic vTrStearspoig (KeXroJv) ^vOoc, iripivov (itra fieXiroq iaKevnafikvov irnQo. St Toig ttoWoIq KuffavTo KaXelrai Se (cot/^a. Lib. iv. c. xiii.
^" To KciXov/xevov Se Korpixi, aKtva'Cofiivov Se tiCT^g KpiOTfc, <ii Kai dvri o'ivov
■jTOfjiari iroXKcLKig xpwj/rai aKtvu!^irai Se Kal tK Trvpoii' roiavra vofiara, wt,
iv Ty Trpbg emrfpav 'I/3»;p(^ Kcii Bptran'^i". B. II. C. 79 (yrepi KovpjstQoq,').
''^'* Cl'. Angl. Sax. uern, a house, a room, e.(j. in Beowulf (1J8) we have medo-aern micel, a great mead house. It-ruc/ua/i n cans i)robably the coal- house or house where the wort was boiled.
**' Note, — p. cccixii.
24* B
CCclxxii INTRODUCTION.
the words <Sl n-guaJa tlie 61 is evidently the same as the Old Norse 61, Anglo-Saxon Ealu, modern English A le. 01 and Cuirm were probably synonymous, the former being perhaps a borrowed name. Possibly o7 was a simple fermented, slightly sour decoction of malt, as it is said to have been in England before the introduction of hops, and that the wort of the Cuirm was boiled with some bitter aromatic herbs. meaning of The sccond part of the name has been explained in diffe-
the teim; '■ ^ *■ _
rent ways. According to one gloss, the word Gtiala is the ge- nitive case of Glial, that is, coal, — 6ln-Guala, or "ale of the coal ", and was so called because the wort was boiled over a charcoal fire '.^^'^ and Conchohar Mac Nessa and his warriors sat around the fire and quaffed their ale.''''^ Another gloss derived the name from the pot itself; and a third from the son of the first owner of the boiler. It must have been a difficult task in those early times to procure a boiler sufficieiitly large to make the ale necessary to regale the household of a king. Even the Norse gods were on one occasion in the unhappy plight of not having enough of ale, and to prevent so great a misfortune in future, it is mentioned that Thor carried off the aerg's wort giant Hymir's biff boiler. Conclwhar llac Nessa also went on an
boiler; ^ _ / , *= . „ , . . . ,
expedition the secret motive of which may have been a great
bronze boiler which a petty chieftain named Gerg possessed.
He succeeded in carrying off the pot and killing Gerg himself.®^*
The cakvat ConcJwbar had a celebrated brewincj vat, the proportions of
or Dabach *= ' r r
Cttirm Tigi
har "called *'^ " ^^ "' G^ola it was called, because it was a fire of Gual or coal that
Daradach. tised to be in Emain Macha in the house in which it was drank. It is from it
that Loch n-Guala, in Damh Inis, in the territory of Vladh, has been so called,
because it [the boiler] in which the wort was boiled over the fire of coal is
under it to-day in concealment". H, 3. 18. 583.
^^* The following passage from the Fled Bricrend, or Feast of Bricriu, shows that the Ultonian warriors drank their beer around the fire : " After this food and L('?iJ (drink) were distributed to them, and they came in a circle around the fire ; and they became intoxicated and they wei-e cheerful". — Lehor na h-Uidhri, p. 101, col. 2.
^^* The following gloss in the MS. just quoted shows that the name appears to have been also given to the pot or vesselin which the wort Avas boiled : " 01 n-Guala, i.e. It was a Dabach (a tub or vat) of uma (bronze). It was it that Conchobar Mac Nessa brought from Dun Geirg Faebhur Geal after having de- molished the Dun, and killed Gery". In the Book of Lecan we are told that
INTRODUCTION. CCclxxiii
which befitted his wort-boiler. This brewing-vat was called Daradach because it was made of oak, that is, of oak staves bound by great hoops. The vat, or Dabach, appears to have been always placed in the principal hall, which was hence called the ale house or Cuirni Tech. The ale was doubtless drunk fresh from the vat as in the old breweries of Germany.
The word iiV" is sometimes used fur ale, but it is rather azm, ageno- general term for liquor than a special name for beer. Barley beer. appears to have been the grain chiefly used for preparing the malt for beer in Ireland, though there is reason to believe that spelt wheat was also cultivated in Ireland, and also used for the same purpose. As oats was the corn crop most usually grown, it also must have been frequently used for malting, at least in the more mountainous districts not adapted for barley. The Mait. Irish name of malt was Brack, genitive Braich, or Bracha, cor- responding to the Welsh and Cornish Brag, whence Welsh Bragaud, Old English Bragot, modern English Bracket, a kind of sweetened ale. These words contain the same root as the Anglo-Saxon Breovan, Gothic Briggvan, Old Norse Brugga,^^^ Old High German Bracvan, whence modern German Brauen, English Brew. As in other northern countries, Plants beer at first consisted of a simple fermented infusion of the IJl^r^befOTe malt. Before the introduction of hops, attempts were made used. "^^"^^ to flavour the beer with aromatic and bitter astrincrent plants — oak bark, it is said, among other things, havino- been employed for this purpose. The Cimbri used the Tamarix Gerraanica, the old Scandinavians the fruit of the sweet gale, Myrica gale, the Cauchi the fi-uit and twigs of the chaste tree, Vitex agnus castus. In Iceland, where hops do not grow, the yarrow, Achillea millefolium, was used for this purpose, and was even called Vallaimall, or field hops.
it was called from Guala the son of this Gerg, who was killed at the battle of Airthech. {B. of Lecan, 170, a. a.) This is improbable.
The wort of porter aud ale is called Gi/le in English breweries. Could there be any relationship between this modern Englisli word, the origin of which is so far as I know obscure, and the ancient Guula or 01 n- Guala?
^^^ Cf. Angl. Sax. li«, a beverage, wine, etc., and Old Norse /H, beer.
**6 Whence is derived Brugge, the name of the seat or "ale bank" near the fire above mentioned.
CCclxxiv INTRODUCTiOX.
Even as late as the last century, the yarrow was still used forgiving a bitter flavour to beer in a district of Sweden ''" From the large quantities of the pressed and exhausted leaves and stems of the marsh plant, the buck-bean, Menyanthes trifoliata, which have been found in the neighbourhood of some Raths, that plant was probably used in Ireland at an early period to flavour beer. That some plant was used by the Poem of ancient Irish to flavour beer, there can be no doubt. In a
t ano on the '
^e'ere'of'^ curious legendary life of prince Cano, son of Gartnan, and I] eland. grand-ncphcw of the celebrated Oedan Mac Gabhrain, king of the Gaedhelic kingdom of Scotland, to escape whose hostility Cano fled into Ireland, thei e is a poem in praise of the various celebrated ales of Ireland.'^'"'^ We have no means of fixin» the 657 oiafsen u. Povelsen, Reise 2, lOG, and Weinhold, Allnordisckes Leben, p. 88. In some parts of Norway tbe yellow bed straw, or Galium verum, is said to be used instead of hops, and is consequently called Valhumall, or Voldhumle. The Icelandic name is, however, Madra, or madder. ^^ Though he were to drink of the beveiages of Flaths, Though a Flath may drink of strong liquors, He shall not be a king over Eriu
Unless he drink the ale of Cualand.^ The ale f Cumur na tri n-uisce^
Is jovially drank about Liber Fermt,^ I have not tasted a j uice to be preferred To the ale of Cerna.*
Th^nle of the land of Ele,^
It belongs to the merry Momonians, The ale of /oVZoc/^ra ^rflfrta,"
The red ale of DorindJ
The ale of CaiU Gartan Coilh^
Is served to the king of Ciarraige ,-' This is the liquor of noble Eriu,
Which the Gaedhil pour out in friendship. In Ciiil Tola^° of shining goblets —
Druim Letlian^^ of good cheer. An ale-feast is given to the Lagenians
When the sumuier foliage withers.
1 The parts of the counties of Wicklow and Dublin adjoining Bray. 2 The meeting of the tliree waters, the Harrow, tlie Nore, and the Suir, near Waterford. 3 The mouth of the Barrow. 4 Probably the river Muilchearn in the N. E. of the county of Limerick. 5 Ely O'Carroll, i.e. the baronies of Clonlisk and Ballybrit, in the Queen's County, and Eliogarty and other adjoining parts of Tipjierary. 6 The country about Ardagh, in the county of Limerick 7 The di.^trict of O'i'orry in Kerry. I have not been able to identify this place, which must, however, have been in the territory mentioned under the next number. 9 'Ihe territmies of Ciurrauihe Aei near tlie present town of Castleiea in the west of the sounty of Roseommon, and CiarrhaUht Loclia na n-Aintmclh m the barony of CoslcUo in the
INTRODUCTION. CCclxXV
exact date at which the poem was composed. Accordiiifr to Poem of
1 .,, , 11 . . C'anoon the
Tiqhernach, Cano was killed a.d. 687, and the manuscript in ceubrated
. , . beers of
which the poem is found was compiled about the year 1390. Ireland. That the compiler of the manuscript was not the author of the poem is certain ; and judging by the language, and by the gene- ral character of the contents of the book, the poem in its present form belongs to a period anterior to the twelfth century, and the original materials out of which the tale was worked up, to a period three or four centuries earlier. We may safely assume that in the twelfth century at least, there were many places in Ire- land which enjoyed the reputation of making good ales, some, if not all, of which were red, or " red like wine". Most of those places have long since ceased to brew beer, but Castlebelling- ham still maintains the reputation of the ales of Muirtkemne, and until within the last few years beer of some local reputa-
Ale is drunk in Feara Cuih,'^
The households are not counted.''^ To Findia is served up sumptuously
The ale of Muirihemne.^*
Ale is drank around Loch Cuain,^''
It is drank out of deep horns In Magh Inis'^ by the Ultonians,
Whence laughter rises to loud exultation.
Br the gentle Dalriad^^ it is drank —
In half measures by [the light] of bright candles'* [While] with easy handled battle spears,
Chosen good warriors practise feats. The Saxon ale of bitterness
Is drank with pleasure about Inher in Rig,'^ About the land of the Cruhhni,^" about Gergin^^
Ked ales like wine are freely drank.
MS., H. 2. 16., T.C.D , col. 786.
county of Mayo. 10 In the county of Longford boidering Cavan. 11 Drumlane, in tlie county of Longford, on the borders of tlie two Brefnies There was another Druim Le/kin near Ardee, in the county of Louth, but the one here referred to seems to be the Longford one. 12 A ter- ritory in ancient Bregia, now tlie barony of ICells in Meath. 1;! That is, tlie hospitality is so great that the number in a retinue is never counted. 14. The county of louth bordering the sea between the Boyne and Dundalk. 15 Strangford Lough. 16 Lecale In tlie county of Down. 17 North-eastern part of county of Antrim. 18 That is, while looking on at the feats of arms in the Liss by torch light, smaller and more convenient vessels of beer were handed round. 19 Not identified. 20 The territory of the Irish Picts, which appears to have been co-extensive with Dal-Araidhe, corresponding to the county of Down and the southern part of Antrim. 21 This was the district of the Qerg Fatbhar Oael already alluded to, whose beautiful daughter F^rb was courted by Maine, son of Ailill and Medb. The exact site of Dun Geiry has not been determined.
CCclxXvi INTRODUCTION.
tion was brewed in Bray, wliich may have been the seat of the
original breweries of Cualatat, or of one of them. Among the
"Saxon ale alcs mentioned in the poem is "the Saxon ale of bitterness",
ol bitter- . .
ness" which deserves some attention, because it proves that England
mentioned . -,. . .
in this poem, had begun to make bitter beer at a much earlier period than is usually supposed. Was the "ale of bitterness" flavoured with hops? and if not, what was the flavouring plant? These are questions which the poem of Cano Mac Gartnain does not help us to solve, but it certainly suggests a doubt as to the correct- ness of the date, 1524, assigned by Beckmann,''^' Houghton,^^" Anderson,'^''' and indeed most writers on the subject, as that of the introduction of hops into England. Honey The anclont Gauls and Germans, as Weinhold tells us,'''^^
wort of i)eer. mixed lioncy with the wort from which they brewed their beer. The ancient Irish also mixed honey with their Cuirm, or ale, and with other drinks included under the term Lin ; but I cannot say whether it was before or after the fermentation. If added before, it would make the beer stronger and more in- toxicating. Brewing of The brewing' of beer appears to have been the priviletje of Tiiegeofthe Flaths. The Fer Fotlilai, or wealthy middleman who had
Flaths; . , - .
Ceiies to whom he gave cattle, received his rent m corn, " for he is not entitled to malt until he is a Flath".^^^ The Brughfer must have had the privilege of brewing, in virtue of his functions as public hospitaller, as he was bound to have a vat of ale always ready for the refreshment of a Hig, a bishop, a poet, a judge, or other person, and their respective suites entitled and in to public entertainment. In Germany also the brewing of beer the noijiiity. appears to have been in the middle ages a privilege of the
^^^ History of Inventions, iv., 325.
*^" Collections Jor the Improvement of Trade and Husbandry, by Bradley, vol. ii., p. 440.
^^' History of Commerce, ii., 45.
^" Die devtschen Frauen, p. 317. He adds that in the ninth century it •was also added to wine. As this was a vile adulteration, we need not be sur- prised that it was prohibited by the council of Aachi-n in 817, and by that of Worms in 868. The Welsh Biagaud and English Biacktl was probably an ale of this kind.
^'^3 Critit Uablach, vol. ii., p. 490.
INTRODUCTION CCulxXvii
nobility, and in some parts this privilege came down to comparatively modern times.*'^* ^
Another drink of the ancient Irish, which was only second Mede or
• • 1 1 1 -11 111-1 »leiheghn;
in importance to, though perhaps considered a nobler dnnk than, Cuirm or beer, was Mede, or mctheglin,"^^ the Metu of the Germans, the Medu or Meodu of the Anglo-Saxons, and the Mjo^r of the Norwegians. The great banqueting hall of Tara was called the Tech Mid chuarda, or " mead circling house". The great attention paid to the culture of bees, as is proved by the numerous laws and legal decisions concerning ;
them which have come down to us, and the large quantities of honey supplied as rents and tributes to the Kings and other F laths, show that mead was a general and favourite drink of the ancient Irish; for althouirh, as we have seen from the account of the " champion's share " of Bricrius house, honey was sometimes used in the making of sweet cakes, there can be little doubt that the greater part of the honey produced in ancient times was fermented into mead. This drink is perhaps older than beer ; but, so far as I know, not exciu- there is no evidence that at any time in Ireland it was the huoxicaung exclusive intoxicating drink of the Irish, or that it was as irUh. generally used as beer. As in the older songs of the Edda from the Niebelungen Saga, so in all the older Irish poems and tales, the heroes drink beer. Metheglin was probably made by the ancient Irish by simply dissolving honey in water, as the Romans did,"' but in medieval times aromatic plants seem to have been added, as in France,®^' and perhaps in Germany also. /
The brewing of metheglin in the south of Ireland came down to within my own memory, but is, I believe, now extinct there."' It was as much esteemed in Ireland as wine, and was considered as the especial drink of women.
^^* See F. V. Raumer's Gesckichte der Hohenstaufen und ihrer Zeit. Drittj Aufl. lb*" Halfb. s. 306, where numerous authorities are quoted.
•** The name Metheglin came into English probably through the Welsh Meddyglijn, tliough the word approaches closer to an Irish lorm. It is a compound of Med with an adjectival suffix -ech, and Un, a beverage.
'■^"^VWny, Hist. Nat., 14,20.
**' Le Grand d' Aussy et de Roquefort, Histoire de la vie priv^e des Francais, 2, 339; Weinhold, Die deutschen Frauen, 319.
''^^ Morewood in his History of Inebriatimj Liquors, published in IbSy, says,
ccclxxviii
INTRODUCTION.
Nenadmim or cider of apples and whorts.
">forse beer".
" Heather beer" of Danes a myth.
The ancient Irlsli also made a kind of cider called Nenad- mim, from the wild or crab apple — numbers of apple-trees being planted in hedge-rows and greatly prized. A drink bearing the same name is mentioned as being made fiom the " woodberry", probably the Vaccinum myrtillus, and uliginosura, called in Irish Fraochdin, or Fraochdga, and com- monly called " Frochans",®*' popularly known in Cork and in the west of England as Whorts. This liquor seems to have been the same as that known in later times as " bogberry wine." The name Beor ]^ochlanacli, or " Norse beer", or more popu- larly " Danish beer", given to it, shows that the Norsemen, like the modern Icelanders, made a similar drink. According to Herr Weinhold, a berry wine or acid drink is also still made in the German Alps in Carinthia.'^'^'' The " heather beer" which the Danes are supposed to have made from the com- mon heath, is a myth. The only way in which heath could be used for making beer would be as a substitute for hops, but even for this use of it there is no evidence whatever.
DRESS AND ORNAMENT.
The subject of the dress and personal ornaments of the ancient Irish has been so fully discussed by O'Curry, that I have little to add except in the way of comparison between the former and the dress of other ancient European nations. The Lena; Two words are used in Irish manuscripts for the garments which were worn close to the skin, namely, Lena and Caimsi. O'Curry concluded that the Lena was a kilt. From such brief descriptions of it as are available, it appears to have been a tight- fitting garment apparently without sleeves, which covered the upper part of the body and extended to the knees. In one case at least, that of the Ulster chieftain Connud Mao Morna, it
" At the present day great quantities of mead are manufactured in various parts of Ireland, particularly in the counties of Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Tipperary" (p. 593). This was the case about the year 1824, when the first edition of his work appeared, but not in 1838.
*^^ Dr. O'Donovan suggests that the " heath-fruit", Fraechmheas of Bri Leith, which formed part of the tribute of the Ard Righ of Ireland, were "Fr.chans". — Book of Bights, p. 9, note p.
®^* Altnordisches Leben, p. 152.
INIRODUCXION. CCclxxix
descended to the calves. It seems to have l)een open at the side, and to have been put on like a vest or jacket. The usual material was woollen cloth, but in many cases it was linen oritsmaterKti; even silk. When of linen it was white, and judging by the persons who wore white linen Lenas, they must have been considered the most noble. Thus Conchobar Mac Nessa, kingf of Ulster, Conaire 31(jr, king of Eriu, Cuchdaind, Sencha the orator, Da Derga, a king-Z»rM^/t, and several other celebrated personages, had white Lenas of linen. Woollen Lenas were its colour ; of the most various colours. In the Tain Bo OhuaiUfne, the Brudin Da Derga, and other ancient tales, we find Lenas of the following colours mentioned; red, white with red stripes, red-spotted, brown-red, yellow, green, blue, blackish blue, variegated, striped, streaked. Lenas of cloth interwoven with thread of gold are also frequently mentioned. The collar was sometimes ornamented with thread of gold, and the lower end with a hem of gold thread, or a fringe. The Lena of Conaire Mor had silken borders embroidered with gold. Each Tuath or M6r Tuatli appears to have had a special colour, the Lena of the chief only diifering from those of his Aires in being richer and more beautiful in texture and ornamentation.
The Romans also wore a garment called a Laena, but whether it was a native article of dress, or borrowed from some other The Hnman people, is a question which has been much debated. According to Festus, some believed it to be of Tuscan origin; others of Greek.'^*'' Strabo mentions the Laena in speaking of the dress of the Gauls as if it was characteristic of them.®®^ St. Isidore, in an important passage in which he refers to several names of articles of dress, quotes a passage from a play of Plautus, now lost, which distinctly makes the Laena Gaulish."^^ Whether originally borrowed or not, the Laena was in use in Rome at
" Laena vestimenti genus habitus duplicis ; quidani appellatam existi- mant Tusce, quidam Gracce, quam K\aivi}v [al. KXaviSa, K\afiv3a] dicuut". De verhoriua siynijicuiione, Lib. x.
"*' Libr. iv. Gallia, Edition of J. W. Woltens, Amsterdam, 1707, p. 300.
6(52 « Quibusdam autem nationibus sua cuiquo propria vestis est, ut Parthis sarabara, Gallis lenua, Gernianis rlienones, Hispanis Uringca, Sardis maS' trucae". Etyniolog. Lib. xix. cap. 23, s. L
fi^^ " Laena saga quadra et mollia sunt de qnibus Plautus : " Ix?na [al. Ltn»'i] cooperta est textrina Gallia". Ibid., xix. c. 23, s. 3.
CCCIXXX INTftODUCTION.
an early date. The Flamens wore one wliicli, so far as I can make out, did not materially differ from the Irish Lena. It also formed part of the dress of kings. In many passages of Latin authors, the Laena is spoken of as a kind of cloak, differ- ing from the Pallium only in being made of thicker cloth, and in being even worn over that garment. Such a Laena of a scarlet colour is spoken of by Juvenal.'^'^* Mr. James Yates, in his arti(;le on the Laena, in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, seems to regard the Laena in which Virgil {Aen., iv. 262) clothes -iJEneas as synonymous with the Pallium. Prof. Connington makes it a scarf:
" A scarf was o'er his shoulders thrown Of Tyrian purple".
dTfferwit'*^* If these interpretations be correct, the Roman Ijaena was fiomthe different from the Irish. The latter was in fact a simple
Irish one. i:
woollen shirt reaching to the knees, and without sleeves, like The Irish the Dorlc Cliiton, but, as we have seen, like the latter some-
Lena like ' ' '
^Chitm^-^^ times made of linen. Connud Mac Mornas Lena corresponded to the Ionic Chiton, which reached to the calves of the legs. The Chiton, like the Lena, was only joined at one side, and opened out sometimes in certain positions of the body {a)(^i(TT6g
and the Ro- v-tVwv.) As tlic Roman Tuiiica corresponded to the Greek
man Tunica. . . '■
Chiton, it was also like the Irish Lena. When first introduced — for it was not, it is said, an original dress of the Romans — it had no sleeves, but afterwards long sleeves were sometimes added ; on works of art, however, the sleeves, though wide, are gene-
Judief" °'" ^'^^^y short. The Timiea was girt with a Zona, the Irish Lena with a Cris or girdle.*^^^ A girdle worn as a scarf or sash was called a Girsat. This was usually a present from a lady, and was most prized when of purple. Thus Medb presented Ferdiad with, among other gifts, a Girsat corcra, or purple waist scarf,
Ornamented to luducc him to fight Cuckiilaind. The Doric Chiton was fastened over both shoulders by clasps or buckles, which were often of considerable size. We have the exact parallel of this
««' iii. 283.
•«* This is obviously the Welsh Crij&, though that word is translated shirt in tiie Welsh Laws.
INTRODUCTION. CCclxXXl
in the Lena of Amergin, son of Ecalsalach''''''^' and of tlie lady
Etain.^'''^ From the passage referring to the latter quoted at
foot, it appears that the Lma worn by Irish women, like the
Tunica worn by the Roman women, was long.
A bronze fiorure found in 1801 at a depth of ten feet in the^^ress ot
Rue Rouchaud, at Besan^on, the Vesontio of Caesar, and the ^^"^^^
principal town of ancient Sequania, is dressed in a kind of
tunic, which corresponds exactly with the Irish Lena. The
tunic wliich fits tightly to the body and adapts itself to its
form, is crossed from right to left on the breast ; it is ornamented
by what appears a border of furs, and descends almost to the
knees. It is held above the hips by a girdle, the extremities
of which are not knotted, but simply turned on the girdle with
a sort of grace and symmetry. The thighs and legs are covered
with a tightly fitting trousers which descends to the ankles.
The two hands are wanting, but other similar figures found
elsewhere always hold a cup in the right hand and a spear in
the left. Grivaud de la Vincelle considered this statuette to
represent Jupiter Taranis, but the figures of that god were
usually armed with a hammer like the German Thor.'^'^^ A
great many similar figures have been found in France, and
described by Montfluicon, Caylus, Milin, and other antiquaries.
Whatever may have been the true character of the Roman
Laena, the interweaving of gold thread appears to have been as
common in it as we have seen it to have been in the Irish
Lena. Virgil alludes to this where, describing -lEneas' Laena,
he says:
. . . . " dives quffi munera Dido
Fecerat, et tenui tela s discreverat auro". — Aen^'xY. 263.
That there was some difference between the Lena and me CaimH Caimsi is shown by the three Saxon princes — Osalf, OsinV, from the
Le7ia ;
•®^ Lectures, vol iJ„ p. 95.
^^' " She had a lustrous crimson cloak of dazzling sheen ; Dualdal of fiilver, inlaid Avith burnished gold, in the cloak. She wore a long collared Lena, over which was an Inor of green silk ornamented with gold. Won- derful clasps of gold and of silver upon her breast, upon her back, and upon her shoulders in that Lena all round". MS. H. 2, 16, T.C.D.
^"^ Recueil des Monuments, vol. ii., p. 22. The statuette is represented in PI., 2, fig. X.
CCclxXxil IXTRODUCTTON.
and Lindas — wlio were at tlie court of Conaire M6r, wear- ing a Caimsi under tlieir Le.nas. The Romans, botli men and women, usually wore two tunics, the inner one corresponding Caimsi of to our sliirt. The Caimsi of tlie Saxons evidently corresponded
the Saxons ; , . . , . , .
to the inner tunic, ihe two are mentioned m such a way m the tale of the Brudin Da Derga as to be liable to be con- persons by founded. Thus Causcraid Mend Macha, son of Conchohar Mac Caimsi was JVessa, wcars a Caimsi, and not a Lena; this is also the case with his three jugglers, his three clowns, and his three poets. That the lower class of retainers should not wear Lenas is as it should be, for there seems little doubt that that garment was only worn by Aires; but it is curious to find a royal prince without one. The Caimsi, when worn under a L^ena, was a true shirt, and appears to have been the same as the Cnes- Lena, or skin-Xena, or L^ena fri geal cnes, or " Lena to the white skin". When worn as an outside dress, the Caimsi was like a loose blouse, or long English smock-frock, reaching to the knees, and sometimes to the middle of the calves of the legs, and might be girt with a Cris or girdle. The Caimsi seems to have been worn by kings and Aires as a kind of loose undress; while the Lena, which was always tight, was more a pageant or state dress. The Lena in some cases did not reach the knee ; in others it extended as much as three fingers below the knee. derivation The word Caimsi is undoubtedly a borrowed word obtained from the medieval Latin Camisia, whence have come the Spanish Camisa, Italian Camicia, French Chemise.^'^^ As the garment was not at all known in ancient times to the Medi- terranean nations, Weinhold thinks it is of German origin, and consequently that the Romance forms are derived from Heniidi, or simpler Hamo (old Norse Hamr), which is any covering (indutus).*^'" Lichamo was the covering of a corpse, Ornamented and lias by a singular inversion of meaning come, in the form Leuas. of the modcm German Leic/rnam, to mean the corpse itself. Like the Irish Lenas, the shirts or smocks of the wealthy Germans were often made of silk, and the seams and hems
fieD ^Tq have the same root in another name for a liner shirt — Camsilis. A woollen shirt was a Sartilis. Gerard, Poli/pi. Irmin., 2, 717. ^^o Die Deutschen Framn in dem Miitelalter, p. 430.
INTRODUCTION. CCclxXxiii
ornamented with gold thread ; a piece of gold embroidered stuff was inserted along tlie breast between the plates The neckband was also carefully worked. The latter corresponded to the Irish Lena gel colptach co n-derg intlad 6ir, or the collared Liena, with red ornamentations of gold. There was an arrangement at the side for fastening the shirt, which was there worked with 6r Snath or gold thread. The Lena or Caimsi, for we are not told which it was, o£ Amergin, son of Ecalsalacli the smith, had gold buttons in its openings and breast, and carved and interlaced clasps of Findndne. The shirt of the Scandinavians was called a Shjrta or Serkr (whence The scanai- the English skirt and shh't) and was worn by men and women — skyi-ia or
.... Strkr.
the breast cut oi opening in the shirt of the men being smaller than in that of the women, who therefore covered the neck with a neckerchief Like the Irish Lena and the German IJemidi, the Norse SJcyrta, especially that of the women, was frequently ornamented with gold embroidery at the breast.*'' The Norse Shyrta appears to have been adopted to some ex- tent by the Irish, for we find in times subsequent to the Danish wars, and during Anglo-Norman times, mention made of a Scuaird Lena and of a Sgiorta.
The meaner classes of people, as in other countries of north Europe, wore neither Lena nor Caiinsi; they covered the upper part of their bodies with their Brat or cloak, and the middle portion with the Berrhrocc, which O'Curry translates The /;«rr-
liT'QCC
" apron", but which more nearly corresponded to the modern petticoat called a kilt In the Tale of the Brudin L)a Derga, the persons described as wearing Berrhrocc are : the • three cooks, the nine guardsmen, the two table attendants, the three door keepers, and the head charioteers. None of the chieftains have them. In the Tain Bo Chnailgne, Cuchulaind is, how- ever, described as putting on his Berrhrocc of" striped satin", and his Berrhrocc of brown leather, cut from the backs of four full-grown, well-tanned ox-hides, over his battle girdle of ox-hideSj and his Berrhrocc of " striped satin"."^ Ferdiad
*^' Fornmatma isogiv, 9, 477; Ragnar Saga Lodbrok, c, 5. "2 Lectures, vol. i., p. 301.
cccl
XXXIV
INTRODUCTION.
Geiraan liriboch.
also put on a Berrhrooc of leather, and anotlier of Iron.*" With the exception of the Berrhrocc of " striped satin", which was either an invention of the tale-writer, or part of a pageant dress, these were simply the parts of the armour which covered the abdomen, the loins, and the upper part of the thighs, and which, in the suits of armour of the fifteenth cen- tury, would be represented by the great Brayette or waist-piece, the Tassets, and the Ga7'de-reins or loin-guard. These pieces taken together would form a kind of skirt, which in the skirted armour developed into a full skirt, not unlike a kilt.
There is another important article of dress, tlie name of Imrae^and'' ^'^^*^^^ is evidently connected with Berrhrocc, namely, the ^ Gaulish Braccae, Bracae, or breeches. This word is generally
connected with brecc, speckled or checkered. The ancient Irish trousers in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, are che- quered of a large diamond pattern like Scotch plaids, and so far support the supposed connection of Braccae and brecc These trousers reached to the ankles, and, except in being tight about the legs, are exactly like the modern dress of the same name. The breeches seem to have been worn by all the nations of northern Europe, and to have been called by names which are closely related to the Gaulish Braccae. Thus, in Old High German they were called Brnoch, Saxon, Frisian, and Old Norse, Brok, Russian, Brjuki. They were also worn by the Indians, Persians, and Scythians. The first breeched people with whom the Romans came into contact were the Gauls, and hence the Bracae came to be so identified with that people, that the part of Gaul which was not included in the Provincia was called Gallia Braccata. The usual name for the Braccae in Irish was Truibas, which would now be pronoimced "trews", from whence, or from the cognate Welsh form, the English Trousers has come ; the word Breeches being derived from one of the Teutonic forms, Bruocli, Brok, etc.
Among the articles that formed Mac Conglindes wardrobe, as described in the Lectures,^^' was the Ochratk. O'Curry
The Truib- as or trou- sers.
The Ocrath or greaves.
•5" Vol. ii., p. 307. <*'" Ibid., p. 103-105.
INTRODUCTION. CCclxXXV
considered it to have been pantaloons or trousers. I do not think this opinion correct. The word is evidently borrowed from the Latin Ocrea, a greave, and the article itself must have corresponded in some respects to the German Hose, Old Norse Hosa or stockinsf. The latter, however, covered the knee,Thehosoor
° , stocking.
overlapping the end of the Bruoch, and at hrst reached the ankle, and afterwards covered tlie whole foot. The Irish Breeste gairid, that is, the short or knee breeches, and the Siocuidhe ruileire, or thick roll stockings, generally worn during the last century and in some places to the present day, corresponded exactly to the Bruoch or Hose. The Scan- dinavian Brok or breeches and the stockings sometimes formed ~ one garment, which was called an Oekul, or Hokulhroekr, and extended to the ankle. This combined garment must have been almost identical with the old Triiihhas in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy. Sometimes the breeches and hose had legs, as in the Leisfabroekiir, which were much valued for travelling.*^" The hose was frequently made of leather, so as to form a regular gaiter. When the breech became long the hose became short, that is, became a Sockr or sock, also called a Leistr. The Ocrath, on the contrary, did not reach Tme nature the knee, and did not go below the ankle ; it was like the oaack. leggin of the modern Highlander, except that it was bound round with thongs or bands. The passage from the laws quoted by O'Curry*^"^ shows clearly that the ankle was bare between the Ocrath and the Assai or shoes. In the Hei- delberg and Woltenbiittel manuscripts of the Sachsenspiegel, which belong to the fourteenth century, are many pictures which show the dress of the Germans. The Wends, for in- stance, are represented with long hose without feet, but with different coloured socks; the hose are bound around with bands like the Irish Ocrath.'^" In the old Welsh Laws, we find the words, HosevKius, a hose ; Hosaneu, a trunk-hose. The words, as well as the articles of dress, are probably borrowed. It would appear from the account of Afac Congliude's wardrobe,
^'* Nials Saga, c. 135. "® Lect., xxiii., vol. ii., p. 107.
^" Kopp, Bilder und Schriften der Vorzeii. Bd. I., Eildcr zu 55, 64, 98, 105, 125, 126. See also Weinhold, Die deutsche Frauen in dim MUtelalter, 433. INT. 25*
CCclxxXvi INTRODUCTION.
that the Ocrath were worn, in his case at all events, without a Truibhas or Trews. He was in fact dressed to a great extent like a modern Highlander.
The/naror The Irish, both men and women,*'* wore over their shirt a kind of jacket called an Inar, which was bound round the waist by the Cris or girdle, and below which hung the end of the Lena, forming the kilt. Tliere was a tight fitting variety of it called a Cliahh Inar, or body jacket, which is always spoken of as fancy coloured and as forming part of a splendid dress.
correspond- The Inar corresponded to the Norse Kyrtil, which was also
Koise bound round the waist by the Lindi, Beltis, or belt. The Inar was made of cloth of various colours, especially green and scarlet,
materials or crimson.®''^ The latter seems to have been selected by im-
ancl colours ^ *^
oiinart. portant pcrsonagcs as the colour for the Inars worn at assem- blies, or which were bestowed as Taurcrech or free gifts.*^*" The Inars of distinguished heroes are usually spoken of in the Tales as being made of silk or satin. Among the Taurcrechs and Tributes of Irish kings Inars with hems of gold are also mentioned.**' Among the Norse also a scarlet Kp-til, or one of silk, was considered suitable for public occasions.**^ The buff-jerkin worn under armour appears to have been called an Inar:^^^ from this we may form some idea of what it was like. The Gaul defending his house on the Column of Antoninus appears to have been dressed in an Inar with tight sleeves.
The German It is uncertain whether the Germans had at first any article
Rock and n -x • •
l-r^'ft th dress strictly corresponding to the Inar. The Teutonic
Irish iJuc/i<. names for a tight fitting coat or jacket, O. H. German and Anglo-Saxon Roc, modern German Rock, Old Norse Rochr, English Froch and Rochet, are evidently related to the Irish Rucht, an ancient name for the Inar}^^ Is the Middle Latin Roccus of Germanic or Celtic origin, or, in other words, is the
"8 See note 667, ante p. ccclxxxi. ^^s Lect, vol. ii , p. 160.
e**" Ibid., p. 1 53. 681 £eabhar na g- Ceart, p. 151.
682 Weinhold, Alt. nord. Leben., 165.
683 <i Cuchulaind's charioteer put on his charioteer's dress, consisting of his beautiful Inar of the skins of roebucks, light and airy, spotted and striped, and sewed with deer-leather [thongs], so as not to impede the use of his hands outside", etc. Sickled Chariot of CuchuJaind, Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 78, col. 2.
6" Lect., vol. ii., p. 153.
INTRODUCTION. CCclxxXVli
Irish Rncht an original or borrowed word? The Old Norse verb hrucka,^^'' to fold, and English, ruck, a fold, sustain the opinion that Ruclit is a loan-word.
Both men and women wore over the Inar an outer gar- ment called a Brat,^^^ which appears to have been a general The Brat -, name for the different varieties of the cloak. In its simplest form it consisted apparently of an unfashioned piece of cloth thrown around the shoulders, and fastened on the left shoulder by a brooch, or in the case of the meaner sort of people, by a Delg or thorn, the name applied to a plain pin. One of the varieties of the Brat was called a Fuan; it does not seem to the Brat have differed materially from the ordinary Brat except in Fuan; being more ample and splendid. The Diallait Oenaig, or assembly cloak, mentioned in a previous note, was a five- folding Fuan. When Cuchulaind went to make love to Emer, his future wife, he wore a purple Fuan.^^'' The same hero is represented in another place as wearing a crimson Fuan, with a fringe of silver ^^* Brats were also ornamented with fringes and tassels and trinkets of gold and of silver.*^*'
The colours of the Brat were various, more so even than colours of those of the Lena. The following colours are mentioned in the Tain Bo Chuailgne, Brudin Da Derga, and other ancient tales : Crimson, red, green, dark green, greenish gray, blue, yellow,
•'* Cf. Old Slavonic Rucho. Perhaps Rochul, a shroud, is to be con- nected here.
''8* The Welsh name of cloth was Brethyn ; the plaid or cloak of the Welsh was called Vryccan, from which we may conclude that it was originally checkered like the corresponding Brtccan.
687 <i ^ beautiful five-folding purple Fuan around him ; a bright brooch of gold in the second opening, for loosening it off when he required to use his full force [in dealing] his blows; a white collared Lena, with red inter- weavings of burnished gold ; seven red dragon like gems on the middle of his two Tincaiien" — Tochmorc Emire, MS. Leborna h-Uidhri, p. 122, col- 2.
f.»8 " \ Fuan of blue crimson around him, with borders of pure white silver upon it ; a pin of red gold upon his breast, which extended over each of his two shoulders; a white collared Lena upon him, with red ornamentations along the borders. Gold hilted bright swords hung upon his thighs. A broad- gray Manais, or trowel-shaped spear, upon a mid-slendtr haft, in his hand- A sharp-pronged aggressive Foga near it ; a crimson shield, with a boss of silver, and trappings of gold over his shouldeis" — Phantom Chariot of Cuchu- laind, MS. Leborna h-Udhri, p. 113, col. 2.
'^^^ Lectures, vol. ii., p. 157, n. 234 ; and p. 190, n. 275.
25*3
ccclxxxviii introduction.
buff, wliite, gray, variegated, — red and wliite, red and blue, gray and green, white and yellow, green brown, and crimson. Several are also mentioned as being striped, checkered, gray streaked, and green spot-speckled. An Ulster chief is described as having a black cloak of the Brat type. Among the Taurcrechs and tributes enumerated in the Book of Rights, are purple and blue Brats, and others with borders of gold.*^^" Of all the preceding colours, red and green are most frequently mentioned, red being looked upon as the regal and most noble colour, the Brat The cloak of the northern nations, called by the Romans a
was the . ^ , ^ i t • i r) i
sagum. Sagum, was evidently the same as the Irish Brat, or at least differed very little from it. Tacitus tells us that the cloak of the Germans was fastened with a fibula, or in its absence with a thorn,'^' and that it was variegated.*^^^ From a passage in Isidore, who makes the word Sagum itself Gaulish, it would appear that it was an unfashioned square piece of cloth.^^^ As among the Irish, the regal colour was purple, and was bestowed as a mark of honour.^^^ The Sagum of the Romans them- selves was more like a true cloak than the Brat, but like the latter it was open in front, and in some cases fastened across the shoulders by a clasp or brooch, in others not.®'* This seems to indicate that there were two hinds of Roman Sagum,
*'" Leabhar na g-Ceart, edited by Dr. O'Donovan, pp. 149, 155, 167.
«9i If Tegumen omnibus sagum, fibula, aut si desit, spina, consertum", Ger- mania, 17.
*^^ Hist., ii.,20 (Caecinae) ornatum municipia etcoloniae in superbiam tra- hebant, quod versicolori sagulo, braccas, tegmeu barbarum, indutus, togatos alloqueretur. See also v., 23.
695 " Est autem vestis militaris, cujus usus Gallicis primum expeditionibua coepit e praeda hostili. De qua vox est ilia senatus ; ' Togis depositis Quirites ad saga conversi fuerunt'. Sagum autem Gallicum nomen est ; dictum autem sagum quadrum eo, quod apud eos primum quadratum, vel quadruplex essef. Etymolog., xix. 24. See also Veg. Milit. iv., 6, and ^'eg. Veter. i., 42.
694 "Munera, quae legati ferrent regi, decreverunt: sagula purpurea duo cum fibulis aureis singulis et lato clavo tunicis, etc". Livi/,xxx, 17. "San- guine! patrium saguli decus (so. Gracchi consulis)". Silius Ital., Ix., v. 518, and xvii., T. 527.
" Te cadmea Tyros, me pinguis Gallia vestit, Vis te purpureum, Marce, sagatus amem?'' — Martial, Ep. vi. 11.
695 u p^Q gaga ad me velim mittas, sed fibulatoria". Trebellius Pollio in Claudii Imp, epst. in xxx. Tyi ranis, x.
INTRODUCTION. Ccclxxxix
but we do not know in what they differed, possibly one was like the true Gaulish men's cloak.
After the commencement of the intercourse, at one time ihaMaiai; hostile, at another friendly, between the Norsemen and the Irish in the beginning of the eighth century, we find frequent mention of a kind of mantle or cloak, called a Matal. This is the name used all through the Book of Rights for the rich mantles given by the higher kings to the minor kings, as part of their Taurcrech. No mention is made in the Book of Rights of the colour of the Matal ; but Donncha Cairbreach O^Brien, son of Domhnall M6r O'Brien, is described as wearing a dark brown-red one at his inauguration in 1194.'^^* Like the Brat and Lena, it was sometimes embroidered. Thus, the Taur- crech of the Flath of Cualand included eight gold embroidered Matals.^^'' The Matal is evidently the Norse Muttull or Mantle, ^^^^^ also called the Skickjd. The Norse Mottull was worn by the m'ouuk higher classes, and was made of the finest materials, such as scarlet cloth or silk, and was often trimmed with furs and bordered with lace, especially about the neck. Such a laced Mottull was called a Tiglar Mcittull.^^^ Mottidls were given by the Norse kings to their trusty vassals as gifts ; they were also, on account of their costliness, sometimes bestowed on poets. '''^ Mutual
, .. TTT n ^ T • ^ 10 i influence
The Norse m turn imitated the dress of the Irish and bcotch. of irish and
. Norse on
King Magnus, surnamed the Barefooted, who reigned m Nor- each other's
n 1 -1 1 n dress, etc.
way from a.d. 1093 to 1103, adopted the kilt and Brat, and went about barekneed, hence the nickname of Berfaeta given to himself and his followers. His kilt was simply a Kyrtil, made like an Irish Lena, reaching to his knees. The Irish names of many Norsemen who are mentioned in the Norse Saga, afford strong evidence of the frequent intermarriage of Norsemen with Irish women.'"" These intermarriages must have contributed to bring Irish costume into fashion among the Norse nobility.
In the descriptions of dress in the Tales of the Tain B6 Chu~
«9« Lectures, vol. ii., p. 153-4:. «" Qp. Cit.
"* Formnanna Siigur, 5, 292.
*^' Olafs Saga Tryggvas., c. 160; Haralds Saga harthratha, c. 20 ; Gunri' laugs Saga, c. 7 ; see also Weinhold, Altuordischea Leben, p. 167. '"^ Laxdotla Saga, c. 28, 31., etc.
CCCXC INTRODUCTION.
The cocfiai ailque and the Brndin Da Derga, certain classes of persons are
or Cueul- "7 ' i
Ins. described as wearing a kind of coat called a Cochal (or in
the more ancient form Cocul), thus charioteers are always described as wearing one. We also meet the word Cochline, which appears to be merely a diminutive of the former. The Cochal was a short cloak or cape, with or without a second skirted cape over the first, and having arm holes, or sleeves, sometimes reaching only to the elbow,'"' and at others co- vering the whole arm. The Cochal^ like other articles of ancient dress, appears to have been made of various colours. According to the Tale of Brudin Da Derga, the Picts who were with Conaire Mor, had black ones reaching to the elbows; Conaire s charioteers had crimson ones.'"^ Belonging to, but not always attached to the Cochal, was a Cenuid or conical hood, sometimes of the same colour as the cape, and sometimes of a different one, and having a tassel at its apex.'"^ This hood has generally been confounded with the cape, so that the word Cochal gave rise to the English Cowl, and is almost universally used for a hooded cloak or cape.'"* I should, however,- mention that a small conical bag net for landing fish is called along the southern and western coasts of Ireland a Cochal. 1 am unable to say whether this is an ori- ginal term given to a net so formed, or whether it is merely a name borrowed from the cape or cloak having a similarly formed hood. The latter supposition is the more probable.
The Cochal was the Gallo-Roman Cucullus, sometimes oc- curring also in combination, as Bar do- Cucullus, which was used by Romans of loose morals, but who, nevertheless, wished to keep their vices secret.'"^ The figures of Priapus found in
^0' Laeffh, the charioteer of Cuchulaind, is described in the Phantom Chariot of Cuchulaind as having " a winged little Cochal on him, with its openings upon his two sleeves". Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 133, col. 2. '"' Lectures, vol. ii., p. 1 13
^°' See the account of the Britons at the Brurfm of Z)aZ)e?-^. /ii'c?., ii. p. 150. ^"* The use of the word Cochal to designate a vestment of a priest, most probably the cope or Pluviale {Cochal Oi/rind or Cochal of the mass) shows cltarlj that the Cochal was originally the cape and not the hood.
705 41 qm,^ gj nocturnus adulter
Tempera Santonico velas adoperta cucullo?"
Juvenal, isat, viii. v. 144.
INTRODUCTION, CCCXci
Gaul are always clothed in tlie Cucullus. Grivaud de laGaaiish Vincelle gives'"^* a figure of this kind, in which the Cucullus ^^^o Cuadiut. appears as a short mantle reaching only to the hips with a hood. Underneath this mantle is a short tunic, which appears to correspond to the Irish Inar. In another place'**^ he gives a figure of the same personage — the " Dieu des Jardins" — which is of great interest, as the cape and hood appear as in the Irish Cochal to have been separate. The cape has a kind of band or collar ending in long lappets,^"' which are tied across the breast. In the same work^"^ there is a representation of a monument found at Carcassonne, made of local stone. On this piece of sculpture there is a figure, the sex of which it is difficult to make out ; it is dressed in a short tunic bound with a girdle round the hips ; over this is a mantle or cape with a collar which covers the shoulders ; the head is covered with a hood, which, in front, looks like a turban. A scarf falls from right to left, and passing beneath the girdle, hides the right hand. The hair is short and thin ; the feet are covered with shoes, exactly like the Irish Cuarans, and the legs with the Bracae or tartan-like trousers."^
The Irish Cochlin or small hooded capes appear to repre- The Coc/izin
or Gucul-
sent the Roman or Gallo-Roman Cucullio, gen. Cucullionis. ^'o-
" Sumere nocturnos meretrix Augusta cucullos".
Ibid., Sat. vi, v. 118. A scholiast on Juvenal describes the cucullus as " galeruni fuscuni et horridum ardeliunculum, quales sunt latrunculorum". This shows that it must have been made of a heavy coarse brown cloth, and also that it was the hood and not the cape which was understood to be the Cucullus.
"*» Recubil des Monuments, PI. x. fig. 1 and 2. "« Ibid., PI. xi. fig, 5.
^"^ These lappets probably represent the J£o, or h-Eo, attached to Irish cloaks. '"8 Jiexutil des Monuments, PI. xiv. fig 3.
^"^ The Cucullus sometimes reached to the calves of the legs. In a cellar discovered in the fourteenth century on Mont Brigitte, which overhangs the eastern side of Besarj9on, figures of two druids or priests were found carved in a cement which covered the walls. One of them had a tunic or Cucullus which reached the calves, and the extremity of which was fringed ; the hood covered the head. The hood was, however, sometimes used with other kinds of cloaks, such as the Lacerna and the Birrhus, so that it is not always easy to determine in the case ot figures and bas-reliefs whether the outside gar- ment is the true Cucullus, or one of the many hooded cloaks like it. Antiquite's S^quanoiscs, Beaumenii MS. Griv. de la VinctHe, op. c'U. vol. i. p. 1 G4.
CCCXCll IJSTKODUCTION.
The latter, like the fuller mantle, was much used at night and
in travelling, especially in rainy weather/'" The Cucullus
seems to have been adopted at a very early period by the clergy,
Use of as we see by a letter of Sidonius ApoUinaris/" In the eighth
fined to century its use was practically confined by synodal decree to
monks. -^ .^ •' • ^^
monks bound to it by a vow, and occasionally to priests in very cold weather/'* Thenceforward the Cucullus became the special garb of monks, though still used in some parts of the Mediterranean, for instance in Corsica, by sailors, boatmen, and shepherds. In the eighth century the Cochal, in the La- tinized form of Coccula, was considered in Wales and other countries as a characteristic Irish dress,''^ and the coarse long- napped woollen cloth of which it was made continued to be an important export of Ireland up to at least the middle of the fourteenth century. As an article of men's dress the Cochal has long ceased to be used in Ireland The hooded cloak, until lately so common there, and still much worn by women in the south and west of Ireland, may be regarded as a modified de- scendant of the ancient Cochal. The Irish frieze still corre- sponds to the description given of the ancient material in the note quoted below.
The Cucullus became in Italian the Cocolla; in Spanish the Cugulla; and in German the Ougel, Kegel, or Kugel. From the passage quoted in connection with funeral dirges it appears that the Gugel was used by the mourners at funerals in many parts oi Germany. The Norwegians used several articles of
^'0 " Qui nocte vagabantur obtecto capite cucullione vulgari viatorio". — Jul. Cap. in Vf.ro, c. iv.
^" De caetero, libertoB tuos, causis quas iujunxeras expeditis, reverti puto; quos ita strenue constat rem peregisse, ut nee eguerint adjuvari; per quos nccturnalem cucuUum, quo membra confecta jejuniis, inter orandum cuban- dumquedignanter tegare, transmi:si: quanquam non opportune species villosa mittaturliieme finita, jamque temporibus aestatis appropmquautibus" — Epist. vii. 16.
^" " Ut nemo utatur cuculla, nisi qui se monachi vote constrinxerit, aut si necessitas proposcerit propter frigorem religiosus sacerdos utatur". — titatuta Rhispacensia et Frisingensia, ann. 799.
'" ■ iubae in tua coccula, quod vulgariter vocatur quoddam genus
indumenti quo Hibernenses utuntur, de foris plenum prominentibus ibis seu villis quae in modum crinium sunt contextae". — V^ita S. Cadoci Cambrensis apud bpelman.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXCIU
dress of the Cochal class. There was first the Kdpa, Kapi, or Hooded cape with sleeves, and reaching sometimes to the feet, and Norse. having a cover for tlie head, namely, a special kind of the Hottr, or hat ; and sometimes a cover for the face, the Giima The Ilottr could be thrown back like the hood of a Cochal. The German Kappa was a wide overcoat or cloak with sleeves, which enveloped the whole person, and was sometimes made of scarlet cloth, and was worn by men and women. The Scan- dinavian Kdpa must have been somewhat different, as the Norseman Glum, we are told, had a black and white Vesl, another kind of cloak, over a green Kdpa J ^* so that it mnst have been a comparatively tight fitting dress. The Ku/l was wide and long like the Kdpa, and had a hood sometimes of a different colour from the cape : thus, in one case, a black Kii/l had a reddish-brown hood.'" The monk's habit with a cowl was called a Kufl, a fact which enables us to form a clear idea of what its general character in other cases was. In the ship of Thorjinn Karlsefnisson, the Icelander who dis- covered America, were two Irishmen who wore what were called Kiafals. These coats had no sleeves, but only arm holes, and could be buttoned down between the legs."® Weinhold thinks there Avas some difference between the KuH and the Kiafal, the latter being similar, he thinks, to the Styrian Loden- tappertP^ There seems to have been very little difference between the Kdpi and the Kujl, except as regards the material. The lord wore the former, the servant the latter."® The Nor- wegian Hetta, Danish Hdtta, was another hooded garment. From Weinhold's account, it must have been either identical with the Kiafal, or merely a shorter variety of it."''
''■' Viga Glums Saga,c. 16. "* Gonguhrolfs Saga, c. 6.
"^ Antiqiiitates American(X,'p. liO.
7'^ The Tappei-t, also called Trapharte and Trapperta, M. H. G. Tapfart, was the middle Latin Tahardum, whence Spanish Tabardo, Italian Tabarro, French and English Tabard. It seems to have been a round-cut, long coat, without sleeves, but Fometimes with half sleeves, and even with full long sleeves which could be buttoned. A long piece usually trailed behind. Women gathered up theirs with a kind of girdle called a Dupjings.
"* Saga Gisia Surssonar ved K. Gislason, Nordiske Ohiskri/ttr, viii. p. 37.
^'9 Weinhold derives A";/^ from A Sax. Cw//e, English Cowl; and Kiafal from Welsh Coif. Lie also adopts Ditz's derivation of A. S. Cvfie from
CCCXCIV INTRODUCTION.
Dress of The dress of the Irish women differed, as we have seen,
Irish women, t i
very httle from that of the men, except that they wore their Lene longer, and did not wear either Triubhas or trousers, or, so far as I can make out, Ocratli or greaves. They were, however, distinguished from the men by wearing a veil which The Cat7/e or covered the head. This veil was the Gaille, which formed an
veil.
essential part of the legal contents of a lady's work bag. In a passage from the Laws quoted in the Lectures,^'"' it is called " a veil of one colour", as if variegated ones were sometimes used; the colour is not mentioned, but, like the old Ger- man HuUa,^'^^ a word with which the Irish Caille is almost identical, it was probably in most cases white ; though veils of other colours, especially black, are also mentioned/^* It was more properly ahead cloth than a veil, as another German name expresses — Houbittuoch. Priscian, indeed, speaks of the long fine white veil, or rather head cloth, worn by the Gothic women. The white linen cloth still worn by nuns represents exactly both the Irish Caille and the German Hulla. The practice which Irish countrywomen have of covering the head loosely with a white muslin kerchief, is a tradition of the old custom of covering the head with the Caille.
A picture painted for the Longobardic Queen Theudlind in her Pfaltz or Dun at Modicia, or Monza, in North Italy,"' shows the manner of wearing the Hulla or veil with a
O. H. G. Kuppa, KupJia, Kuphja, a cup, and figuratively a cap, through the L. Latin Cofea, Cup/iia, whence Italian Cuf/ia, Scuffia, tSpanish Cofia, Escofia, Portuguese Coifa, Old Proven9al Escoifia, French Coiiffe, Welsh and English Coif. The Kveif, a kind of Norse hood which was not a cowl, as appears from passages in Konungs Skuygsia (c. 30, 40), a conclusion to which Weinhold has also come {Alt. nord. Leben, p. 179), and not the Kiafal, represented the Welsh Coif. The latter corresponded uo doubt to the Irish Coipe or Coife, which consisted of a simple cap with a Caille or veil, or a kerchief worn by women. The Kiafal had no resemblance to the CoiJ. There is no reason too why the name of a garment worn by Irishmen should be derived from Welsh rather than from Irish, the language of the wearers.
^*" Lectures, vol. ii. p. 113.
''*' The more modern German name for a veil, Schleier, is cognate with the Old Norse Sveigr. Rockul, funeral clothes, may be connected with Caille and Hulla ; i.e. Rochul, corpse-veil, from Rocht the body, and Caille a veil,
"» Caille, i.e. Breid duhh, a black veil. MS. H. 3. 18. T. 0. D. p. 524.
''' A figure of it is given in Muratori, Rerum Ilal. Scripiores, I. 460.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXCV
crown, and may help us to explain the story of the Mind or diadem of 3f air end Mael, recounted in the Lectures,"* without supposing it, as O'Curry does, to have covered the whole head. Theudlind is clothed in a mantle which hangs free on her shoulders, and is drawn up under both arms towards the bosom ; it is ornamented at its lower side with a border. Her undergarment reaches to the feet, and is girt around the waist by a cord, the tasselled ends of which hang down to the knee. A broad border ornaments the inner gar- ment about the neck and down along the bosom, upon which there is also a row of buttons. On her head she has a crown, and over this the Hulla or veil.
The principal coverings for the head beside the Cenuid or coverings hood of the Cochal, and the Caille or veil, were the Culpait, the A t, and the BarrP^ The Culpait was some kind of hood the cuipait; for covering the head, but I do not know in what it differed, if at all, from the Cenuid or hood of the Cochal. The At is clearly cognate with the German Hut, English Hat, Old the ^<,- Norse Hottr. The latter was worn with the Kcipa or cape, while the Hufa, German Haube or hood, was worn by women.^^® The old Irish gloss which explains Cleitme to have been a Bighharr or At, seems to show that the latter was not a mere woollen cap, like that preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, and the common Scotch cap, but rather a large hat of felt or other materials, perhaps even of gold, somewhat like the round hats of the peasantry in some parts of Europe, or the Spanish hats.
The Barr was evidently the most stately kind of head-dress, as the Barr; we may judge from the combinations lUghharr, or Royal Barr, Cathharr, or battle Barr. On the west face of the principal cross at Clonmacnoise are several figures armed with spears and having conical caps, apparently without brims, on their heads. These caps are evidently war casques, similar to the iron conical casques of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh cen-
"« Vol. ii. p. 193.
'** See Fis Adamnan, Leb. na h-Uidhri, p. 27, col. 1. ^" Hood appears to be radically couuected wiili Hut rather than with Haube.
CCCXCVl INTRODUCTION.
turies, except tliat the latter had nose-pieces and sometimes neck-guards. The groups of horse soldiers on the south base of the market cross of Kells, and the soldiers armed with lance and buckler, who are represented in combat on the west face of the base of the same ancient cross, so far as one can make out from the rude sculpture, which time has not improved, have helmets very like a burgonet, with Cleitmes, or crests. The horsemen's helmets look as if they were provided with the shade which characterized the burgonet ; that of the foot men is without it; but the Gleitme or crest seems more marked on the helmet. It is impossible to say what these casques and helmets were made of, but it is probable they were of iron. Whatever material they consisted of, it is important to know that anterior to the Anglo-Norman invasion casques and helmets were in use in Ireland.
The French Barrette, O. Spanish Barrete, modern Spanish Birreta, Provencal Berreta, Barreta, Italian Barretta, French Birret or Barrette, German Piretej'" are obviously cognate forms of the Irish Barr, and approach still more closely the the Barred. Irish BarrSd, which is still applied to a warm covering for the head worn in cold and wet weather by women. In the lowest compartment on the east face of the principal cross at Clon- macnoise, are carved two figures, one of a man and the other of a woman. The man has a bordered Bene and apparently an Inar fastened at the waist by a Oris or girdle, and a short sword having a handle exactly like those usually called Danish swords, suspended at his lelt side by a swordbelt apparently hanging from his right shoulder. The feet appear to be naked ; at least no evidence of shoes can be detected. The head is uncovered, but the hair is twisted into a *' glib" which appears to end in a ball. The woman has also a bordered Lena, reaching however to near the ankle. Over this she wears a kind of cloak, which has a cape or hood hang- ing on her back. On her head she has a covering not
'" The state dress of the Town Councillors or Raths of Augsburg in 1368, consisted of wide black overcoats or cloaks trimmed with fur, and black Pireten on their heads. Paul von Jjtetteu, Kutist u. Handwerksgeschichta der Reichsatadt Augsburg, ii. 83.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXCVU
unlike a mocleni round hat, which probably represents the BarrSd. Diez derives all these forms from the Latin Birriis, The Bar- a coarse kind of cloth, or a coarse mantle according to Vopis- cus. The Irish word suggests, however, a much more rational meaning, namely, Baar, top or head. The simple Barr was, probably, a square cap like the old French Birret and Spanish Barrete. Another kind of quadrangular cap called a Tenne is mentioned in the Lectures."'* The nine pipe players of Conaire M6r are described as wearing them. In several old miniatures we meet with figures of musicians having a square kind of crown. These figures are always supposed to repre- sent King David playing the harp or other .instrument ; they may, however, be simply ordinary musicians wearing the Barr, called a Tenne.
The term Barr seems also to have been applied to a head- gear made altogether of metal, and which was not a Cath-barr, or war hat, as the curious story of the Barr of Brunn, the son of Smetra, told in the Lectures,'-^ shows. The hiding of this Barr in the well reminds us of the custom of the Gauls Concealment
^ • iniii • nil 1 of treasure
of throwmg gold and golden ornaments into wells, lakes, and underwater. rivers. The Tectosages threw in this way an incredible amount of gold into a lake near Toulouse."" The burial of gold in lakes, fountains, and marshes was part of the ancient Druidic cultus of water.
The most ancient form of coverinai' for the feet was the Different
111 T-»/ '^ /^ T • kinds of
kmd of rude shoe called a Brocc or Cuaran. In its most shoes: the
•in ■ r I'l'ii Ctiaran or
primitive form it consisted oi a piece oi raw hide with ihQBrdcc; hair outward fastened about the foot with thongs. This was the Brocc eile or thong stitched shoe."' They were cut out of the "green" hide, and fastened on while fresh, so as to assume the form of the foot as they dried. This description agrees perfectly with that given by Sidonius Apollinaris of the shoes
"8 Vol. ii p. 139.
'" Lect. xxix. Tol. ii. p. 199.
730 Strabo,\Y.\ Cicero, De Natura Deorum, iii. 9 : P. Oros. 5, 15, etc.
'*> In the Battle of the Second 3Jagh Titired the Daigdai is described as wearing Di Broke di croicne capoif, two shoes of horees skin with the hairy side out.
734
CCCXCVm INTRODUCTION.
of the Burgundians, or some western Gothic people of the fifth century.'^^ The shoes found on a corpse exhumed in 1817 in aFriesland bog were of the same kinJ."^ Examples of a like kind have been found in Swabian graves at Lupfen. Sometimes the Cuarans or skin-shoes were tanned after they had assumed the shape of the foot. Such tanned shoes were often ornamented with designs cut into the leather. Simi- lar ornamented shoes have been found in Danish turf bogs. The older shoes had no soles ; but in the eighth cen- tury they must have been already in use, as the doubles of brown leather" in Mao Conglinde's C^iarans show The shoes of the Lombards in the seventh century, or about a century before the time of Mac Conglinde, were still made of one piece, and consequently open nearly to the toes, but they had thick soles. "^ The pagan Franks, although not ignorant of shoes, did not generally wear them ; their stockings reached to the joints of the toes.^^^
the Ass. Shoes made like modern ones appear to have been called
Assai (sing Ass), if we may conclude from the use of that term to describe the shoes made of sheet bronze, of which examples are to be found in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy."' One pair at least of those in the Academy's museum belonged to a Bis^hop ; but shoes of Fi?idruine, worn by women as well as by men, are frequently mentioned in the tales, and lives of the saints. According to the ancient preface to the Tdiyi B6 Chiiailgne, the shoes worn by the Tuatha De Danann were
The laiach- called lalttchrand. This was probably only another name for the Cuaran or Brdcc.
The dress of the Anglo-Saxons, Franks and other Teutonic nations changed so rapidly during the middle ages — that of the
'*' See note post, p. cccxcix. for the original passage.
'^' Spangenberg, Neues vaterldndish. Archiv, 1822. 2. 59 ; and Weinhold, Deutsche Frauen, 433.
'^* Lectures, xxili. vol. ii. p. 105. ^^^ Weinhold, Deutsche Frauen, 433.
''^ Ibid. The Ripuarian Franks appear, however, from the laws to have worn boots.
'^^ Mael Ass Findruine. The Beirn Brdcc, or boat shaped shoes worn by the herald Mac Both in the Tain Bo Chuailgne (Vellum M.S., H. 2. 18, T.C.D. f. 50, b. col. 2) did not differ apparently from the Ass in the shape; and vras the prototype of the modern Brdg.
INTRODUCTION. CCCXCIX
ancient Gauls had wliolly disappeared even before tlie Frankisli invasion — that the costumes which are represented in iUuminated manuscripts seem wholly unlike the dresses of the Irish above described. There exist, however, a few descriptions of early Germanic costume, before it became modified to any great de- gree by the influence of the Roman and Byzantine dress, and the general development of civilization, which it is worth while comparing with those of early Irish costume.
One of the earliest of these descriptions is a brief picture of oui German
Til costume,
the bridal procession of a son of some German kmg, probably a Burgundlan, given by Sidonius Apollinaris in one of his letters. The bridegroom has a scarlet cloak embroidered with gold and white silk, red hair and fair skin. The warriors that formed his suite wore tight fitting parti-coloured tunics scarcely reaching to the knee, and having short sleeves, the fore arm being un- covered; the legs, knees, and calves were naked; over the tunic they had a green mantle which was bordered below with purple ; their feet were enclosed to the ankle in pieces of skin with the hair still on ; their swords were suspended from their shoulders by a sword belt of stamped rein-deer hide ; in their right hand they carried hooked lances and hurling axes ; and suspended on their left shoulders they had white-orbed and yellow bossed shields.'^* In one of his poems, Sidonius Apollinaris pictures the dress of the freemen of the Western Goths as they went to the armed assembly. They wore a mean linen shirt or tunic, over which was a skin which only reached to about the knees ; the legs were bare ; their feet were
73» 4< Ilium equus quideni phaleris comptus, imo equi radiantibus gemmis onusti antecedebant, vel etiam subsequebantur : cum tamen hoc magis ibi decorum conspiciebatur, quod precursoribus suis, sive pedissequis, pedes et ipse medius incessit, flammeus cocco, rutilus auro, lacteus serico, tum cultui tanto, coma rubore, cute concolor. Regulorum autera, sociorumque comitan- tum forma et in pace terribilis: quorum pedes primo perone setose talos adusque vinciebantur ; genua, crura, suraeque sine tegmine. Praeter hoc ve- tis alta, stricta, versicolor, vix appropinquans poplitibus ex sertis, manicae sola brachiorum principia velantes, viridantia saga limbis marginata puniceis: penduli ex humore gladii balteis supercurrentibus striuxerant clausa bullatia latera rhenonibus. Eo quo comebantur ornatu, muniebantur ; lanceis uncatis, securibusque missibilibus dextrae refertae, clypeis laevam partem adumbran- tiblis, quorum lax in orbibus nivea, fulva in umbombus, ita censum prodebat, ut studium". Epist., Libr. iv. 20.
CCCC INTRODUCTION.
covered witli a high shoe made of raw horse-hide {pero equi- nus), fastened over their legs by a miserable thong."'
The dress of the bridegroom's companioas agrees very
closely witli that of the Irish Aires of the same period. The
tight fitting vest or tunic represents the Lena, combining shirt
compared and kilt; the green purple-bordered cloak is the Irish Brat:
•with that of , , , , , '
the Irish, the legs and knees are bare, as were those of the early Irish nobles ; their shoes, as I have already pointed out, were exactly like the Irish Broccs or Cuarans. The term versicolor, applied to the vest or Lena, does not mean parti-coloured in the sense in which the term is used in the times of chivalry ; that is, a coat made up of pieces of different coloured cloths, but a stuff woven with different coloured threads, like the Scotch tartans.
I shall end what I have to say on the subject of dress by a Art of dye- few observations on the dyeing of the ancient Irish. That the v
irig among . •' ° J
tjie^ancient were acquamtcd at a very early period with cloths dyed of various colours is unquestionable, and there is abundant evi- dence, both direct and indirect, that tliey themselves dyed most, if not all, the colours used by them. In the earlier tales, purple girdles, Lenas, and other garments, seem, from the high estimation in which they were held, to have been either of foreign workmanship, or, if dyed in Ireland, that the mate- rials were scarce and the process of dyeing difficult. This is certainly true of the richer crimsons and scarlet shades of red, but not of the blueish red or violet tints, which appear to be the shades usually meant by the term Corcar. This word is still used in Ireland and in the Highlands of Scotland, as the name of the purple dyeing plants Lecanora tartarea, and Lecanora parella, or the cudbear and crabseye lichens. These plants were undoubtedly used, even down to quite recent times, to dye a purple, somewhat like the shade
''SB « Luce nova veterum coetus de more Getarum
Contrahitur ; stat prisca annis, viridisque senectus Consiliis ; squalent vestes, ac sordida macro Lintea pinguescunt tergo, nee taugere possunt Altatae suram pelles, ac poplite nudo Peronem pauper nodus suspendit equinum.
Carmen vii. {Faneyyricus avito Augusto socero dictus).
INTRODUCTION CCCCl
which archil fijlvcs. But I believe the process is now altogether L'ciiens
, . used as (Jyo-
extinct. The Swedes used to prepare from this plant a kind ""^ifii's- of archil of considerable repute called Byttelet or Borasfdrg^ and may do so still in the remote districts of Sweden. Although in the absence of positive evidence it is hazardous to assert that the use of this dye-stufF was known to the pagan Irish, yet there is much indirect evidence to show that it was. The preparation of blue, violet, and blueish red colouring matters from lichens by the action of the ammonia of stale urine seems to have been known at a very early period to the Mediter- ranean peoples, and the existence down almost to the present day of such a knowledge in the more remote parts of Ire- land, Scotland, and Scandinavia, renders it not improbable that the art of making such dyes was not unknown to the northern nations of Europe also. Several other species of lichens, besides those above mentioned, were used for dye- ing, such as the two species called Crotal, the Parmelia saxatilis and Parmelia omphalodes, which give a kind of yel- lowish brown.
Moss, called in Irish Canach and Jiowi?mc/i, was also em- use of moss ployed for dyeing wool, and one species of it, the Hypnumwooi. cupiessiforme, is still used for this purpose in the county of Mayo, where by a very simple but ingenious process stockings are dyed by means of it of a rich reddish brown mottled with wliite. The white woollen yarn to be dyed is made into skeins ; these are tied at short intervals by very tight ligatures of linen thread, and then put into the dye liquor. The liga- tures prevent the colour of the dye-stuflp from penetrating the part of the yarn squeezed by the linen thread, so that when the ligatures are removed, after the skeins have been washed from the adhering dye-stuff, those parts are white, while the other parts are of a rich orange brown colour. When this thread is knitted into stockings it produces a pretty mottled pattern. This process represents no doubt one of the ways in which the speckled and spotted garments mentioned in Irish tales were produced.
One of the principal dye-stuffs used for producino^ red was i^ed and
yellow dve-
undoubtedly the root of the yellow bcdstraw, or Galium stuffs : INT. 26*
CCCcil INTRODUCTION.
Galium verum/*° whicli contain apparently the same colouring matter as the madder to which it is allied, both being of the family of the Rubiaceae. Indeed it is said that it equals or even exceeds madder in the quality of the colour it yields The Highlanders are said to still use it for dyeing wool and woollen stuffs red. The Icelandic name of the bedstraw is Madra or madder, a fact which seems to show that the plant originally called Madder was the Galium verum, and that consequently the use of it as a red dye-stuff by the Norse and Ano-lo-Saxons was anterior to the introduction of the Rubia tinctorum into North Europe. The flowers and stem dye a brilliant yellow. In both cases alum mixst be employed as a mordant, and consequently the use of mordants, and of alum, or of some substitute for it, must have been known to the ancient
Madder; Irisli at Icast as early as the sixth century. There is reason to believe that true madder, Rubia tinctorum, was also used in dyeing, and was cultivated in ancient times in Ireland. I have already quoted from the Laws a passage wh^ch shows that a cer- tain quantity of Rvu or Rud should be cultivated in the gardens of a homestead. Although the bed-straw is still called by the Irish and Scotch Ru^ it is hardly probable that the ancient Irish would have taken the trouble, or the law enjoin the task, of cultivating a native plant which grows in most parts of Ireland so abundantly. The Ruu which is mentioned in connection with purple and red in the Book of Rights, as part of the tribute due to the king of Leinster, by a certain class of Daer Ceiles or villeins, called Cocarts, may be either the cultivated madder or a supply of the roots of the native plants sufficient for the king's dye-house, but taken in connection with the fact of the special cultivation of a dye stuff called Ruu or Rud, it is more probable that the tribute of the Cocarts was
''"This plant is also known as the " cheese-rening", from the property which it possesses of curdling milk, a property from which its generic name Galium is derived ; it appears to have been sometimes called in Irish also Binnet, or Binidean, that is, rennet. Perhaps the latter form of the name may be the explanation of the colour name Bindean in the laws and Leabhar na g-Ceart. If this be so, it would be the special kind of yellow produced by the flowers and stalks of the be.-straw.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCUl
true madder.''*' In the " Reasons and Motives" presented by king James the First to the " Incomparable city of London", to induce it to undertake the Plantation of Ulster, we find the following passage, which shows tliat madder and another dye-stufF, woad, of which I shall speak presently, must have been cultivated in the north of Ireland previous to the Planta- tion: "It is held to be good in many places for madder, hops, and woad". This is scarcely the statement of a mere speculative opinion, but the result of inquiries made as to the natural productions of the country, and of the crops which were known to have been cultivated there.
Garments dyed yellow with saffron are constantly spoken ofsaffmnnot
. , . . used by the
by modern writers as characteristic of the Irish. There is no irisii. evidence, however, that saffron was at all known by the ancient Irish, and Lenas or Inars of a yellow colour are only mentioned two or three times in the principal ancient tales. From what has been shown in the Lectures and in this Intro- duction, about the colours of the ancient Irish dress, it will be evident that there was no national, as distinguished from clan-colour, for the Lena; a saffron dyed one, if at all used in ancient times, would be peculiar to a single clan.
Blue was dyed with the plant called woad (Isatis tinctoria). The blue dye-
■^ n 1 • 1 • /- • T • T-. 1-1 stuff, G/am»
lietore the mtroduction of mdigo into Jliurope this plant or woad, was cultivated very largely in various parts of it, and in Ire- land also. The Isatis tinctoria yields true indigo, but it con- tains only about one-thirtieth of the quantity found in the Indi- gofera tinctoria and the other species of the same genus culti- vated for indigo in India. The leaves of the woad are ground in a mill into a paste, which is allowed to ferment during from eight to twelve days; after which it is formed into balls or loaves, and then dried. In ancient times, before the growth of large towns, and the consequent division of labour, the pasty mass was directly used for dyeing. During the pu- trefactive fermentation of the woad, ammonia is formed and hydrogen evolved. The latter, while in the nascent state, re- duces the blue indigo to the state of white indigo, which, being
'*' Lectures, yo\. \\., pp. 119-120; and O'Donovan's Leabhar na g-Ceart published by the Celtic Society, p. 219.
26*B
CCCCIV
INTRODUCTION.
was the eiasium of the Gauls.
soluble, can penetrate the wool or cloth to be dyed where it is deposited in the insoluble state, as blue indigo, on being ex- posed to the oxygen of the air.
The Irish name of woad was Glasin, the Gallo-Roman Glastum, which Pliny^*^ tells us was used by several nations for tattooing their bodies, and by the Britons for painting their whole body blue. This custom of painting and tattooing appears to have continued down to the seventh century ,'''=' indeed it is not yet extinct, as the anchors, ships, and other objects which sailors are in the habit of inscribing by means of indigo or gun- powder on their arms and breasts, may be regarded as a direct tradition of the ancient custom. Caesar and Pomponius Mela also mention this custom of tattooing, but they call the colour- ing matter VitrumJ** If the latter word signifies glass as well as a colour, it reminds us in a curious way, as Diefenbach has also observed, of the similar relationship of Glaesum, amber, and Glastum, the blue dye stuff. If Glasin or Glasiuni were really the substance used for staining the body blue, the Britons must have either l»een able to prepare the indigo as a substantive pigment, or they must have dyed the skin and not painted it.
The curious legend concerning St. Ciaran and dyeing with "ciaran and Glasiii, related in Lecture xxiv.,'^^ is of great interest, as show-
the Glasin. ... ° .
ing the origin of myths from natural phenomena, and as affording glimpses of an ancient custom which has otherwise faded from tradition. The mother of St. Ciaran was one day preparing Glasin. Ciaran, then a child, was present, and it being deemed unlucky that a male per-on should be present, she bade him to go out, whereupon he uttered what looks like a malediction, " may there be a dark gray stripe in it". And the cloth in dying ac-
^*^ Illinunt certe aliis aliae faciem in populis barbarorum fceminae, maresque etiam apud Dacos et Sarmatas corpora sua inscribunt. Simile plantagini Glasium in Gallia vocatur, quo Britannorum conjuges nurusque toto corpora oblitae, quibusdam in sacris et nudae incedunt Aethiopum colorem imitantes" — Hist. Nat., xxii. c. 2.
'" Labbei, Concil., t. vi. p. 1782.
^** " Omnes vero se Britanni vitro inflciunt, quod caeruleum eflPecit colorem ; atque hoc horribiliore sunt in pugna adspeetu", etc. Bell. Gal., v. c. 14.
(Britanni) incertum ob decorem, an quid aliud, vitro corpora infecti". De Situ Orbis iii. c. vi.
^*' Vol. ii. p. 120.
Legend about St.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCV
cordingly exhibited a dark gray stripe in it. The Glasin was again prepared, and again he was requested to leave the house, his mother adding at the same time a wish that this time there may not be a gray stripe. Ciaran, however, wishes that it may be whiter than bone or curds, and it was so. The Glasin was prepared a third time, and Ciarans mother asked him not to spoil it, but on the contrary to bless it. This he did with such effect, as we are told, " that there was not made before or after a Glasin as good as it, for what remained in the vat would not only colour all the cloth of the Cinel Fiachrach^ but made the hounds and the cats and the trees which it touched blue. The two failures attributed to the curse of St. Ciaran are simply the failures which result from imperfect fermentation and ovei-fer- mentation of the woad-vat, accidents to which it was always very liable, especially when prepared as it was in ancient times from the fresh leaves in different stages of growth, and at one period of the year, when the weather was warm and changeable The dyeing of the hounds and cats reminds us of the custom of^"*^'™*^"*-
-, . . . . torn of dye-
dyemg pet animals, practised in India, where a blue dog is an '"s animals, especial favourite. Does this allusion to the powers of the woad- vat of St. Ciarans mother point to a tradition of an ancient custom once common to all the branches of the Ayran race ?
The ancient Irish greens were no doubt produced by dyeing ^^^^^ ^y^^- the cloth yellow with bed-straw, or some other yellow dye- stuff and alum, and then passing it through a vat of woad. The process of dyeing black has been fully described in ^^^^^„*J"^g3^ Lecture xxiv,'^^ The yarn or cloth, we are told, was boiled with twigs of the Alnus glutinosa or alder, which is called in Irish Ruaim,^" by which it acquired a red- dish brown colour. When the rimed yarn or cloth was boiled with a black peaty mud found in certain holes in bogs and the peaty brinks of lakes, it was dyed of a black colour. The Bugherane, bog- bean or buckbean (]\Ienyanthes trifoliata), and the roots of the common bramble or blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), give brown colours like the twigs of the alder; the bramble roots are still occasionally used in the west of Ireland
^*'^ Vol. ii. p. 119.
"' In the south of Ireland the riming operation was performer!, in prepara-
Irish,
CCCCVl INTRODUCTION.
for dyeing stockings and other home-made woollen fabrics black. Mordants The description of the process of dyeinor black shows how
used by the . ^ '^ J )=>
ancient the uon mordant was procured. In some bog-holes a large quantity of iron is found in the mud, partly in combination with peat acids, and owing to the gradual decay of the or- ganic matter chiefly in the ferrous condition requ,ired to produce a black. It is not so easy to explain whence the alum was obtained. According to the usually received accounts, the process of making that salt was not known to the Europeans before the fourteenth century, if even so early ; what was used by European dyers previous to that time having been imported from the Levant. Some of this Oriental alum may have been brought into Ireland from Gaul in the sixth and subsequent centuries. The great price which we know was charged even in Italy in the beginning of the fourteenth century for Turkish alum would explain the high value set upon red cloaks in Ireland, where alum, if brought from the Levant, must have been very costly indeed. Crystallized alum is not however absolutely necessary for dye- ing reds and yellows: other aluminous compounds may be employed as mordants. Thus, for example, the saline in- crustations which form on decomposing carboniferous shales, such as those of the coast of Kerry and of Clare, would serve for this purpose, were it not for the iron with which they abound; but this may be precipitated by long-continued boiling in an open vessel. There is every reason to be- lieve that these aluminous compounds were used as mordants in comparatively early times. I have not space to pursue this line of inquiry further, nor have I as yet sufficient ma- terials to entitle me to enter into the discussion of the question at all.
There are many points connected with the subject of the
tion for dyeing black by means of logwood and copperas, by boiling the yarn or woollen fabric with the Eumex acetosa or common sorrel. Is there any connection between rumuad, which expresses the process, and the Latin A'h- 7)iex ? As the original name of alder was Feainocj, the secondary name Ruaim may have been derivtd from the use to which it is put.
INTRODUCTION.
ccccvn
personal ornaments of the Irisli which I could find raate- ri Js to make some observation upon ; but the length to which this Introduction has already run reminds me that I must stop somewhere. Fortunately it is the part of O'Curry's Lectures which re- ^^^ quires least elucida- tion. I shall tliere- fore content myself with crivincf the ac-
O CD
companying figure (figure 13 > of the Buidne for the hair from the Petrie collection, now in the Royal Irish Academy, described by The hair
r\in • T mi • • ^ r 1 Buidne.
U Ourry m Lecture xx. The engraving is taken from a photo- graph given to me by Miss Stokes before the Buidne itself was exhibited to the public.
THE SOURCES AND COMPOSITION OF THE ANCIENT
OF EUROPE.
BRONZES
When the Lectures " on Weapons of Warfare", comprised in these volumes, were delivered, thirteen years ago. Prehistoric Archaeology was just becoming one of the special scientific questions of the day. Human time began to be divided, after the '^" *'""«f
^ J o ' epochs of
manner of geological time, into epochs characterized by fossils. ^'^"^ These fossils are the tools, weapons, and other objects fashioned by man. The tools and weapons of stone marked in the new science, what we may call the palseo-anthropic epoch; those of bronze the meso-anthropic, and th.ose of iron the kalno- anthropic epoch. Crude hypotheses and hasty generalizations are almost inseparable from the first beginnings of every new science, and Prehistoric Archaeology was not an exception to this rule. A change in the human fossils was supposed to indicate not merely an advance in the culture, but a change in the race itself. The stone man disappeared before the bronze man, and the latter before the iron man. Notwithstanding that the succession of stone, bronze, and iron weapons was regarded as evidence of the successive developments of mankind, the
CCCCVlll IMRODUCTION.
bronze man was made to spring ready-armed into existence, like Athene from the head of Zeus: and in like manner - appeared the iron man. The Ethnologists forgot to inform the world where the bronze and iron men lived — the first, while passing through the stone incarnation, and the second, while passing through the stone and bronze ones. The bronze man was a Celt, the iron man was necessarily a Teuton. Wherever a bronze spear or other implement of the same ma- terial was found, a Celt had passed there; an iron weapon was a sure mark of the footsteps of an Anglo-Saxon or some other branch of the great Teutonic stem. Distrust of The io^norance of even the most elementary archaeological
the ovude _ ^ _ JO
views of and historical facts, and the want of critical iud^rment dis-
wnteis on v o
archaeoio^ played by many ethnologists and geologists who had first entered the domain of the archaeologist, led sober investigators like O'Curry to look with suspicion upon their classification of prelnstoric antiquities according to the three " ages". Those whose pursuits and experience render them best qualified to judge of historical evidence, are not, however, necessarily those best able to decide a geological question ; and Prehlstoiic Archaeology had now advanced to a stage in which it was necessary to combine both historical and geological investiga-
TiiesnT-ject tions. When, therefore,! first thought of writing an Introduc-
oftlif'-tliree . .... ^ ° .
ages- my tion to this work, the inducing cause was the necessity which
Object; I felt that the subject of the three ages of human culture
should be discussed in connection with Irish archasology from
This subject this doublc point of view. In the interval which has elapsed
need not be . ^ i i .
discussed siiicc then, SO great an advance has, however, taken place in
now. . . .
this new branch of inquiry, that there exists no longer any special necessity for discussing the question. Discovery of While, on the one hand, no one can deny that the discovery
metals a" ^ , f> i •
era in hu- of the usc of mctals marked an era in human culture, and that
man cul- . _
ture. previous to that discovery the tools and weapons were made
everywhere of stone, bone, and horn; on the other, there is
No evidence no real evidence that the art of making bronze or even copper
tliat bronze . , ^ ^ ■'••'•
was known preccdcd that of making iron. According to the results of
before iron. ... ° . ^
linguistic palaeontology ascertained by M. Adolphe Pictet, the Aryans, at the period of their dispersion, were not only
INTRODUCTION. CCCCIX
acquainted wltli the four metals, arold, silver, copper, and Pictet-s re-
r 1 ' 1 r searches on
iron, but knew now to make bronze, a fact which M. Pictet f'e metaia
... p . f. , of the
thinks implies a knowledge of tin. With respect to the latter Aryans, metal, he admits that language cannot aid us, the rarity of the metal and its restricted use having, as he suggests, caused the more ancient names to be forgotten.'** Lead, he thinks, was also, no doubt, known, the greater divergence of the names for it in the different Aryan languages being, perhaps, due to the little use made of that metal in very early times. If we admit M. Pictet's conclusions — and whatever diiference may exist as to certain steps in the analysis, there is no doubt that they are in the main correct — all the branches of the Aryan race carried with them, as they migrated Irom the original home of the race, a knowledge of the principal metals. The Greeks, Romans, Celts, Germans, and Slaves, all alike knew i'"*'",^" own
' ' ' ' ' to all
iron; and consequently the use of the terras "stone age", ^'^""°p®^'i " bronze age", or " iron age", are, except in a very limited sense, incorrect as regards those branches, though they might be strictly true, if applied to the parent Aryans.
But although the discovery of iron may have preceded that Bronze
" . . , . , sworils easily
of copper and bronze, it did not necessarily come into gene-™a(ie. ral use for weapons of warfare until mining and metallurgy had considerably advanced, and population had become concen- trated in towns and cities. It would require considerable time, skill, and good anvils and other tools, to make steel from iron ores, to forge it into serviceable swords and spears, and to re- pair them when bent and broken. A single spear or sword
'^*^ The Irish Sdan, tin, is a loan-word from tlie Latin Stanimm, but Ume, copper, is a native term. The name for bronze in our oldest tales is Cred- uma, or Cred-ume, that is, Cred-copper : but what is Cred ? This word occurs isolated. Thus in the Tochmore Emere we are told that the Cret or body of Cuchuluind's chariot is of Cred, and in the Bruighen da Choga tiie Timpan of Cormac Condlonges is thus spoken of, "Thy Timpan of Cted of riches worth" (^MS. H. 3, 18, p. 711^. In both these cases Cred undoubtedly means some specific substance, yet nearly all the glosses uj)on it make it, as they do Crvan, some kind of mixed colour. There is one gloss, however, which distinctly makes it a metal : Aii\5ec'LAc .1. niein u\i]\oin, no h-uiiitiK\i, no ciAe-OA, no ai]\51-o, no o\\>, no folAij-pAnn. " Airgel/ach, i.e. an ore of iron, or of Ume, or of Cred, or of silver, or of gold, or of I-'olac/i-Jiann" (MS. H. 3. 18. 146-370). The position of Cred in the gloss, and its combination with Ume iu the U'lme of bronze, clearly point to tin.
CCCCX INTRODUCTION.
may be, and is, indeed, made in Central Asia, in the most primitive smithies, but no large numbers could be thus made. Bronze spears and swords, though requiring a really advanced metallurgic skill, can be made by much simpler and more portable apparatus, and when broken or damaged, can be re- cast or mended in a few hours close to a battle field ; and we know that it was the custom in Ireland, at least in ancient times, to have ambulatory smithies close to the field of battle for the repair of the damaged weapons. This facility of rapidly making weapons ready for immediate use, and superior to those which could be made under similar circumstances from iron, led to the general use of bronze weapons during a cer- Trneuseof tain period. If we use the term " bronze age" to distinguish
the term , ^ . . ^ „ . , -,
"Bronze the period in Europe when, for the reasons just stated, and not from ignorance of iron, bronze weapons were almost exclusively used, the term is vmobjectionable. But if by "bronze age" we imply a period in the history of any of the Aryan peoples in Europe when iron was unknown, the use of the term is wrong. This view of the question is illus- trated by the uses to which iron was put by the Greeks, as de- scribed by Homer, at a time when weapons of warfare and defensive armour were made, perhaps, exclusively of bronze. As soon as a skilled civic population grew up in the Mediter- ranean countries, iron began to be made on a large scale, and to be used for arms which were superior to the bronze ones. In the time of Polybius, the friend and tutor of the second Scipio Africanus, born B.C. 202, all the Roman arms were made of iron and steel, bronze being used only for defensive armour.
sianufac- If the primitive Aryans knew how to manufacture bronze,
ture of . . ■"■ ■'
bronze this knowledge must have been common to all the European
known to all " _ . *■
European branches of the race — Greek, Roman, Celtic, Germanic, Sla-
Aryans. _ .
vonic. In every part of Europe occupied by those peoples,
bronze weapons, tools, and ornaments have been more or less
Error of abundantly fouud. These articles, though occasionally oflfer-
makmg all . ,...„„ , . i
bronze mg peculiarities of form and ornamentation, are yet, on the
weapons, etc '' ^ . ., , i i • i 11
Celtic. whole, SO similar, that many archaeologists have made them all Celtic, whether found on the so-called Celtic ground — Gaul, Britain, or Ireland, — or in parts of Germany, Denmark,
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXl
Scandinavia, and Russia, never occupied by the so-called Celts. There can, however, be no doubt now that the peoples who occupied north Europe, from the Ural Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, about two centuries B.C., whether we call them Slaves, Germans, Scandinavians, or Celts, used bronze exclusively for making weapons. Did each of these peoples make their own arms? Although, as I have said, there is a general similarity between the weapons of each type found in different countries, there is, nevertheless, within certain limits, a great diversity of form and ornamentation, which seems to show that they are not the products of one place or of one people. A spear or sword may, however, be made of imported bronze, so that the fabri- cation of" weapons and ornaments in a country does not neces- sarily imply the preparation of the bronze itself, much less that of its constituent metals from their ores. Copper ores occur in almost every part of Europe where bronze weapons have been found ; tin is rare. In those countries where tin does not occur, bronze must have been imported, or one at least of its constituent metals.
According to a very prevalent view, the greater part, if not Hypothesis all the bronze of antiquity, was made by the Phoenicians, who cian origia obtained the necessary tin for the purpose from the Sciliy Islands and Cornwall. The bronze thus made found its way, by exchange, into the interior of Europe from the sea-board frequented by Phoenician traders. Even the bronze found in Britain itself is supposed not to have been made there, but to have been given by the Phoenicians to the Britons in exchange for tin. It is probable that Tyrian and Carthaginian sliips did reach the south-west of England by the Straits of Gibrahar: it is even possible that a regular trade in tin may have been carried on by sea between the Mediterranean and England in very early times. The existence of such a trade rests, PhmnicUn liowever, on mere assumption. Of positive evidence there comwaii a
. mere as-
IS none. It is much more probable that the early Phoeni- sumption.
cians obtained their tin from the Kast rather than from
the West. The Egyptians must have obtained the mate- Piicenicians
• 1 n 1 ' 1 f, , . . 1 Obtained
rials or their bronzes from Asia, and we know that the t'"^'"" ""
rrt ■ • 1 111 from Asia.
iyrians earned on a considerable trade with Southern Asia
CCCCXU INTRODUCTION.
by the Red Sea, and, there is good reason to believe, with
Tinabun- Central Asia by caravans. Large quantities of tin exist in
Caucasus, the Caucasus, and some may have been found in the rivers
which flow into the Black and Caspian seas. Some tin is also
found in the north of Spain, which, there seems no reason
to doubt, was visited by vessels from the Mediterranean
before Roman times; and, as all the tin of antiquity was
probably obtained as stream-tin, the quantity found in old
Galician and Asturian stream washings was much larger than
the present state of those districts would lead us to suppose.
Use of The analysis of the bronzes found in different countries
analyses •'
of bronzes ; ouglit to throw Considerable light on the origin of European
bronzes, as well as on the mining and metallurgic skill of the
early anaiy- peoples of Europo in prcliistoric times. The early analysts
ses defectlye; ri ii _ ./ j
of bronze articles only sought to determine the relative pro- portions of tin and copper, and paid no attention to the other substances present in small quantity, unless in the case of lead and zinc, and then only if they happened to be present in newer ones notable quantities. A considerable number of analyses have,
more com- ■■■ ^ _ •' _ ,
piete; howcvcr, bccn made within the last few years, in which every constituent has been determined. Among those may be mentioned the analyses of Mallet, Berlin, Phillips, but especially those of von Fellenberg and von Bibra. The latter has also done good service by collecting together and tabulat- ing the results of nearly all the analyses hitherto published.'**
present Notwithstanding the labours of these and other chemists, our
intormation °
unsatisfac- information on the whole subiect is scant and unsatisfactory. In most cases no archaeological information is given about the object analysed; even that given by von Fellenberg and von Bibra, especially in the case of prehistoric bronzes, is not always sufficient to make the chemical information of as much value as it might otherwise be for archaeological investigation.
new analyses Wq want a serics of analyscs of all the different types of spears, swords, and axes found in each country and preserved in pub- lic museums, especially of authentic specimens, whose whole
''*^ Die Bronzen und Kupferhgirungen der alien und altesten Volker mit RUcksichtnahme auf jene der Neuzeit, von Dr. Ernst Freilierm vou Bibra, Erlangen, 1869.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXlll
history is known, accompanied by photographs of the objects analj^sed, or at least references to the catalogues of the museums where the object has been figured. But what we especially want are many more analyses of Egyptian, Phoe- nician, Carthaginian, Persian, Indian, Greek, and Spanish bronzes. Until these are made, we must look upon the con- clusions drawn from the comparative composition of ancient bronzes as provisional.
It is unfortunate that among the pv;blished analyses there is, no analysis BO far as I am aware, not one Spanish example, either pre- bronzes. historic, Carthaginian, or Roman. Even early Italic bronzes have scarcely been at all examined. Incomplete as is our know- ledge of the chemical composition of ancient bronzes, it is nevertheless sufficient to indicate, if not to definitely establish, several conclusions of great archaeological value. Before stating those conclusions, it is necessary to say something on the probable sources of the materials of bronze in ancient times, the classification according to chemical composition of those analyzed, and the geographical distribution of the several types of composition established by chemical analysis.
The copper ores which exist in sufficient abundance, and Copper ores ; widely diffused enough to be employed as sources of metallic copper maybe classed into two groups : 1. sulphuretted ores ; and 2. non-sulphuretted ores. The principal ores of the former class are (Jopper Glance or Vitreous Copper, Erubescite or Variegated Copper, Chalcopyrite or Copper Pyrites, and Tetrahedrite or Gray Copper. The principal ores of the second group are : Native Copper, Red Copper or Cuprous Oxide, Malachite or Green Carbonate of Copper, and Azurite or Blue Malachite. Native Copper may have, indeed probably did, suggest the first use of the metal. In North America all the ancient weJapons are made from Lake Superior Native Copper, appa- rently by simple hammering, and without having subjected it even to the operation of fusion. Where Red Copper and Malachite were found in abundance, they may have been em- ployed by ancient peoples in their first rude metallurgical operations. Leaving out of consideration the American tools and weapons of unfused Native Copper just mentioned, the
CCCCXIV INTRODUCTION.
majority of ancient implements of bronze and copper afford unmistakeable evidence, however, of having been made from metallic sulphides. Of the sulphuretted ores of copper above named, the two first, if unmixed with other ores — and large masses of them are frequently found comparatively free from other minerals — would yield a more or less pure copper; the second or Copper Pyrites would give, when treated according to the necessarily rude processes of early metallurgists, a metal containing a large quantity of iron. Gray Copper is a very complex ore ; it contains antimony or arsenic, iron, zinc, silver, etc. ; the copper made from it should contain more or less of those metals. foreign Where the purer ores occurred abundantly, the early metal-
minerals ^ •*■ . . .
mixed with hirffists appear to have picked them ; but in those locali-
copper ores. . .
ties where the ordinary ores contained many other associated minerals, such as Tin Pyrites — a sulphuret of tin which some- times contains zinc to the extent often per cent. — Bournonite, a combination of sulphur, antimony, lead, and copper ; Ullman- nite, a mineral containing sulphur, arsenic, antimony, and nickel; Gersdorffite or Nickel Glance, a combination of arsenic, sulphur, nickel, iron, and cobalt; and Copper Nickel, or Arseniuret of Nickel, the manufactured metal should contain small quantities of the metals contained in those minerals. Composition The extent to which the character of the ores aiFects the com-
of crude .,/%-, ^ n i
copper. position of crude coppers may be seen from the analyses of crude copper, known by the German name of ScJnvartz-Kupfer, and by the English name of "blister" copper given on the next page. Only two of these specimens contained tin. It appears, how- ever, to be a constant constituent of crude copper, prepared from ores from stanniferous districts. Thus Napier found it in three specimens of Swansea blister copper, and Le Play not only in the copper but in the " roaster" and " refinery" slags. Even in districts where tin ores are not found, at least in any quan- tity, some tin may occur in copper ores, such as Gray Copper. According to analyses made by Herr G. vom Rath, the Fahlerz of Kotterbach contains from 0.64 to 0.75 per cent, of tin ; and, as I shall show presently, tin has been found in Nor- wegian refined copper.
INTRODUCTION.
CCCCXV
|
Wales |
^ |
||||||
|
(LePlay) |
Mausfeld |
Corsbaanvi |
I Hungary |
P'reibetg |
Atvidaberg |
||
|
750 |
fBaumann.) |
t |
(I. |
lO |
(Laniprtdius.) |
Sweden, |
|
|
Copper, |
8fi.r> |
87.61 |
92.68 |
81.31 |
81.43 |
67.14 751 |
94.39 |
|
Tin, |
0.7 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
0.07 |
|
Lead, |
|
6.63 |
1.87 |
8.48 |
7.51 |
20.75 |
0.19 |
|
Zinc, |
|
) |
1.72 |
0.86 |
0.80 |
0.91 |
1.55 |
|
Nickel |
^ |
y 3.94 |
0.(52 |
0.44 |
0.44 |
j- 3.40 |
j- 0.63 |
|
Cobalt, |
i 3.2 |
\ |
0.(12 |
0.44 |
0.44 |
||
|
Iron, |
) |
0.47 |
1.93 |
4.76 |
6.50 |
331 |
2.04 |
|
Antimony, |
— |
— |
— |
0.70 |
0.84 |
l..o3 |
— |
|
Arsenic, |
1.8 |
— |
— |
1 13 |
0.85 |
2.00 |
trace. |
|
Silver, |
— |
0.06 |
0.11 |
0.32 |
0.32 |
0.41 |
0.11 |
|
Bismuth, |
|
— |
— |
trace. |
trace. |
0.30 |
|
|
Gold. |
— |
|
— |
trnce |
trace. |
|
|
|
Sulphur, |
G.9 |
0.73 |
0.99 |
0.88 |
0.80 |
0.25 |
0.80 |
|
Total, |
99.1 |
99.44 |
100.54 |
99.32 |
99.93 |
100.00 |
99.78 |
From the preceding table it is evident that a considerable Bronzesmay
„, , ... 1 • T n T contain lead
quantity oilead may exist in a bronze derived from the copper as an acci- of which it was made, and not advisedly added to it. As much ingredient, as 42.66 per cent, has been found by Herr Leschner in a speci- men of black or crude copper from one of the Freiberg furnaces. In most cases the copper produced by the imperfect methods Arcscnt
n • coiipers.
or the old smelters was about the degree of purity represented by the German Schivartz-kupfer and English " blister" cop- per, the analyses of some of which are given in the preceding table. It is from crude copper of this kind that bronze was made. So little use was made of unalloyed copper that it is not likely they were acquainted with our delicate process of refining copper. The mere melting of "black copper" dimi- nishes notably the foreign substances which it contains. In fact, re-melting copper two or three times is equivalent to refining it, as the more volatile and oxidizable metals, anti- mony, zinc, iron, etc., evaporate or burn out. The nearly pure metal of the copper weapons occasionally found, was, no doubt, th^ result of several re-meltings. The following table shows the great similarity in composition between modern refined copper and the copper anciently used for coinage, tools, and weapons.
^^" Black copperfrom reverbatcry furnace in working " blue metal" and " roaster slag".
^*' The actual amount of copper is not given byLampadius, who states that it varies from 64 to 70 per cent, in the black coppers of the copper works of Mulden. That here given is estimated by difference.
CCCCXVl
INTRODUCTION.
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a
INTRODUCTION CCCCXVU
The tin in the stanniferous specimens in the foreoroin']' table origin of
7 . , small quan-
mi<{ht be derived either from the copper ores, as in the case of »"«» of ua
. p , , . . in coppers.
the " black" coppers above mentioned, or from the addition of a httle bronze in re-melting the crude copper, or it might be the copper of a bronze from which the greater part of the tin had been burned out by repeated fusion. The effect of repeated fusion, especially upon small quantities of bronze, in throwing off the tin, is well shown by some experiments of M. Dussaussoy. He found that an alloy containing 90.4 per cent, of copper and 9.6 per cent, of tin was reduced by six fusions to 95 per cent, of copper and 5 per cent, of tin.
Herr Wibel"^ and others think that not only the copper of the articles containing some tin, but even of those not contain- ing tin, as well as the ancient ingots of copper, may be regarded as secondary products in the preparation of bronze. According to him, bronze was formed not by melting together the consti- wibei-s
., -1-11 ^ • 1 ■ opinion that
tuent metals, copper and tm, but by smelting copper and tiiibionzewas ores together. He thinks that almost pure copper sometimes smelting resulted from not adding sufficient tin ore, or from unequal mixture of the ores. Von Bibra also believes that at an early period of the "bronze age", bronze was not made by melting the reguline metals, but in the manner suggested by Herr Wibel, by mixing copper and tin ores. There can be no doubt that bronze can be produced in the way suggested, as is shown by the presence of tin in even refined copper. Wibel's hypo- thesis is, however, wholly untenable. Apart from the impos- sibility of producing by any empiric mixtures of different ores, bronzes of the definite types which I will show were made, the hypothesis almost necessarily implies that bronze was only made in the districts where copper and tin ores are both found. There seems no doubt, however, that copper was Imade in countries where no tin is found, and this copper could only be made into bronze by the addition of imported metallic tin or tin ore.
It seems to me probable that the greater part of the bronze of antiquity was produced by treating crude copper like German
'^2 Die Cultur dtr Bronze Zeii Nord unci Mitiel-EuTopas,\vnDt. F. Wibel, Kiel, 1865.
INT. 27*
CCCCXVm INTRODUCTION.
Bronze pro- ScJiwartzkupfer 01 English "blister copper" with tin stone in
bablymade ^ '' ., . i • i o • i • ^
from the same way that it was treated with bmithsonite or carbonate
" crude" •' i i t)
copper and of zinc, OT bv zincifcrous flue subhmate to produce brass. Jiy
tin stone. i J i ^ -> n '
this process it would be possible to produce more or less dehnite
alloys economically. The oxygen of the tin-stone would help
during the reduction of the ore to burn out the sulphur, iron,
arsenic, zinc, and other volatile metals in the crude copper.
In this way the greater part of the foreign metals would be
thrown off and very little tin lost.
The impuri The mctals found in bronze as impurities, and all of which
bronze are apparently derived from the copper, serve to indicate in
cate the ores somc cascs at Icast the character of the ores of copper used.
it was made. Thus it sccms reasonable to suppose that the bronze of the
axe from Kirch -Jessar in Mecklenburg (marked No. 8 in
the last table) was made from gray copper associated with tin
pyrites or other stanniferous mineral, as happens in the Erzge-
birge, while the lance head (No. 16 in the same table) was
made from copper glance or from copper pyrites. Both those
ores occur in Ireland, where they are very rarely found
associated with minerals containing antimony, nickel, etc.,
so that the character of the copper of the implement under
consideration affords presumptive evidence that it was made
in Ireland.
G-dbeVs Professor GobeV classifies the alloys of copper used in an-
Classifica- "^ ■'■ '■
t'onofaiioysj.jgnt timcs iuto : 1. copper and tin or true bronzes; 2. copper, tin, and lead ; 3. copper and zinc or common brass ; 4. copper, zinc, and tin; 5. copper, zinc, tin, and lead. For strictly anti- quarian purposes it is, however, only necessary to distinguish three classes of copper alloys, namely: 1. true bronzes, com- posed of copper and tin ; 2 lead bronzes, or alloys of copper and tin containing so much lead as to afford presumptive evidence either that it had been probably directly added, or at least of the general use of certain plumbiferous ores; and o. zinc alloys, including those consisting of copper and zinc only, .copper, tin, and zinc, and copper, zinc, tin, and lead.
tiie okuT^ The most ancient copper alloys, in Europe at least, are the
alloy. ^
^^•» Ueber den Einfluss der Chemie auf die Ermitllung der Volker der J or-
zeit, Erlangen, 1843.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXIX
true bronzes ; and as the materials from which they were made occur in several parts of the north and west of Europe much more abundantly than in the Mediterranean countries, there can be little doubt that bronze was a native product with which the Phoenicians had nothincr whatever to do. Tin is found in European
11 • /^ n ^ ■ 1 T 1 • localities .]f
greatest abundance m Cornwall, and m workable quantity tin-ore. in the Saxon Erzgebirge (Altenberg, Zinnwald, Geyer, etc.), in the Bohemian Erzgebirge (Schlaggenwald, Joachimsthal, Eybenstock, etc.). It also occurs in small quantity near Giehren in Silesia, at Findbo in Sweden, at Vaulry and Puy- les-Vignes near Limoges, at Pyriac near Croisic in the neigh- bourhood of Nantes, at Villeder in Morbihan, and in Western Asturias and Galicia, especially in the neighbourhood of Monte-Rey. Of tliese the most important mines are those of Cornwall ; a good deal of tin is, however, annually obtained from the Saxon and Bohemian mines. The Spanish mines are now scarcely if at all worked ; in ancient times I have no doubt they yielded quantities of tin which for those times were very large. In France the amount of tin ore discovered is not sufficient to make it profitable to work it. This was not the case formerly, however, for M. Allou, who carried out the searches for tin ore in France under the French administration of mines, discovered at Vaulry near Limoges, ancient tin workings, slags still con- taining tin, and an ancient vase made of that metal.'''^* It is certain, therefore, that tin was anciently worked in France and Spain as well as in Cornwall ; and it is very probable that the tin mines of the Erzgebirge furnished some of the tin of the " bronze age". I do not know whether Scandinavia furnished any tin during that period. But as the tin ore of Findbo in Sweden contains as much as twenty- four per cent, of Tantalic acid, the detection of the presence of some of the very rare metal 'tantalum in an ancient Swedish bronze, may help to solve the problem.
Von Fcllcnberg, Wibel, and others think that the ancient Composition bronzes are of such variable composition that the old bronze bronzes
1 IT • n 1 r' • ■ • 1 • 1- definite.
workers had no notion oi dennite composition, and m smelting the ores mixed them in an arbitrary manner. A comparative
^^* Mineralogi^ Appliqntfe aux Arts, par C. P. Brard, t. i. p. 508.
27* B
CCCCXX INTRODUCTION.
study of all known analyses, including some of my own, has led me to precisely the opposite conclusion. cinssiflca- The antique real bronzes may be classilicd into four groups:
tiun of aiiti o 1
que bronzes. I, Goldcn yellow, hard, somewhat malleable and tenacious alloys, containing from four to six per cent, of tin: the typical bronze of this period might be represented by the formula CugjSn, which should contain about five per cent of tin. II. Gun- metals consisting of from eleven to eight parts of copper to one of tin. Eight parts of copper and one of tin form a hard, slightly malleable bronze, represented by the formula Cuj^Sn, and consisting of 89 per cent, of copper and 11 per cent, of tin III. Bell-metals, the typical one being Cu,oSn, a yellow, very hard, and more or less malleable alloy, having the compo- sition 84.33 per cent, of copper, and 15.67 per cent, of tin. IV. Speculum metals, consisting of brittle very hard alloys, containing above eighteen per cent, of tin. The bronzes of each of these types are subject to variation, especially those of the second. The variation is due, chiefly, to two causes: first, the separation of the constituent metals in the fused mass, and the accumulation of the tin in the lower portion of the casting; and second, the throwing off of the tin by oxidation when the alloys are re-melted. I have already pointed out the serious effect of repeated fusions on the relative propor- tions of copper and tin. There can be little doubt that the apparent absence of definite composition in ancient bronzes is largely due to this cause. Number and In estimating the relative numbers of objects made of of analyses allovs of cacli of tlic forcfroinff tvpcs, I will confine myself to
of bronze •' „ . " 1 t i -i • i
weapons, wcapous ot war, because: i. 1 am only concerned with such objects at present; 2. because weapons are perhaps the most ancient bronze objects; and, 3. we can best judge from them whether the old bronze workers aimed at makinar definite alloys. The total number of analyses of swords, spears, and javelins, axes, and so-called " celts" and " palstaves", known to me, is one hundred and eight. The following table shows the distribution of these objects according to the three-fold classification of : kind of weapon, character of alloy, and, if true bronze, the type to which it belonged.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXXl
Classification of Ancient Bronze Weapons.
|
Copper. |
TKUE BE0SZE8. |
Lead Bronzes |
Zinc Bronzes and Brass |
Grand |
||||
|
Kind of weapon. |
Type I. |
Type II. |
Type 111. |
Type IV. 2 1 3 |
Total. |
Total |
||
|
"Celts" and "Pal-) staves" f Axes Spears and Javelins Swords |
1 1 |
10 5 1 4 |
19 7 9 17 |
2 1 3 9 |
31 15 13 31 |
1 1 9 2 |
1 2 |
83 17 23 35 |
|
Total |
2 |
20 |
52 |
15 |
90 |
13 |
3 |
108 |
In classifying the true bronzes, I have included in Type I. all weapons containing less than eight per cent, of tin ; in Type II. all bronzes containing between eight and twelve per cent, of tin; and in Type III. all containing between thirteen and seventeen per cent, of tin. The single axe placed under the head " copper " was, perhaps, originally a true bronze, but has had its tin thrown off by repeated fusions, until the per-centage was reduced to 0.94. Al- though, therefore, containing nearly one per cent, of tin, I have regarded it as copper, because, as we have already seen, nearly as much as that may exist in raw copper, even at present, when so much care is bestowed upon the picking of ores, and the processes are so much more perfect than in ancient times. Under the head lead bronzes, I include only such objects as seem to contain lead as a normal, and not as an accidental consti- tuent. The table of the results of analyses of crude coppers given above, shows that as much as twenty per cent, of lead may occur as an accidental ingredient in crude copper : it is con- sequently very difficult to decide whether the lead found in an ajncient bronze has been intentionally added, or is an acci- dental ingredient derived from plumbiferous minerals mixed with the copper ores. True lead bronzes, that is, those in which the lead was introduced advisedly, generally contain very little iron or other accidental metals. One of the two lead-bronze swords in the preceding table was found in Ireland; it con- tained as much as 8.35 per cent, of lead, yet, as it also con-
Per-centages of tin in each type of bronze.
Pifflculty of determining whether lead be acci- dentally or inten- tionally present.
CCCCXXll INTRODUCTION.
tained 3 per cent, of iron, the lead may be an accidental and
not a normal constituent.
the*' acf^ of The whole of the lead-bronze spears analysed are from
anarsed Scythian graves at Nikopol and Alexandropol, on the Dniepr
(about the fourth century B.C.), and from pre-Christian graves
on the same river. Lead bronzes belong to the Mediterranean,
and are especially characteristic of Egypt, of republican Rome,
The use of and of Etruria. The use of lead indicates a knowledge
™<''catesa of the Separation of silver by cupellation. Herr von Fellen-
of silver. berg states that in the Swiss lake dwellings, at Hallstadt, in
Mecklenburg, and other places, silver is not found with the
true bronzes, while gold frequently occurs; and he argues
from this circumstance that those Avho did not know silver did
not know lead as a separate metal, inasmuch as in ancient
times all the silver in use was obtained from argentiferous lead.
As the researches of Pictet on the linguistic palaeontology of
the Aryans have rendered it almost a matter of certainty that
they knew silver before tlieir dispersion, the rarity of that
metal in Germany and Switzerland is not to be taken as a
Silver orna- proof that it was not known. Silver ornaments were comna-
inents men- ... ^
tioned along rativcly abundant in Ireland, and appear to belong to the rnes'llT'' ^^"^® period as the gold ones. They are continually referred Mss. to along with gold and bronze ornaments, weapons, and other
objects, in the most ancient and pagan of the Irish historic tales and poems. The Irish airgat or argat is believed by Ebel to be borrowed from the Latm argentum, but this is doubtful. Nevertheless, as there is no positive evidence that any of the silver articles found in Ireland are older than the Roman occu- pation of Britain, I do not like to hazard an opinion as to whetlier the Irish knew silver before that period. Zinc bronzes Zinc bronzes are later than lead bronzcs, and appear to be
of Roman ij.i p rt • • t\ -,
wigin. altogetlier ot Roman origm. Jirass was made as early as the third century B.C., by adding Smithsonite'", or flue sublimate from furnaces in which ores containing zinc were smelted, to melted copper, with the view of giving the latter a yellow
'** The carbonate and silicate of zinc w ere formerly called Calamine, but that name is now confined to the silicate, the carbonate being called Smith-
sonile.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXXIU
colour. It was, however, about the time of Csesar that the use of brass became general.
Notwithstandlnof that the number of analyses of ancient alloys constitution
o of tie
made up to the present time is small, as I have above stated, bmnzes of
J- ^ .11 1 dittV-rent
and that there are many countries not at all represented, we countries: may venture in the following summary to indicate some general conclusions which may already be drawn from the published analyses as to the geographical distribution of the different kinds of alloys included in the last table.
Egyptian. Egyptian bronzes are, with few exceptions, lead Egypt; bronzes : as regards the proportiou of tin in them, they belong chiefly to Types I. and II., and a very small number to Type III.
Niniveh. I know of only four analyses of Niniveh bronzes, all Assyria; made by von Fellenberg. Two of these are good examples of Type II., another belonged to Type IV. The fourth was a peculiar alloy, containing 88.03 of copper, O.ll of tin, 3.28 of lead, 4.06 of iron, 3.92 of antimony, and O.GO of arsenic, which represents the composition of a crude copper made from Gray Copper ore.
Carthage. With the exception of a few coins, we know nothing Carthage; as yet of the constitution of the Carthaginian bronzes. These coins are bronzes, having a low per-centage of tin, and containing some lead, and in one case antimony also.
Greece. The early coins of Greek cities are true bronzes of Greece; Types I. and II. ; those of a later period, from about b.c. 300 to B.C. 150, are chiefly true bronzes of Type II., and also some lead bronzes, some of which contained above fourteen per cent, of lead. The Greek coins of the early Koman times appear to be nearly all true bronzes ; those of the Roman Emperors, coined in Greek provinces, are either lead or zinc bronzes. The coins of Philip of Macedon, and of Alexander and his successors, are true bronzes, chiefly of Type II., but in many cases passing into bell-metal, or Type III. The Sicilian coins from the fifth to the third cen- turv B.C. were true bronzes, chiefly of Type I, ; some are also lead bronze*. Greek statues, vases, and other objects of art of a similar kind, are chiefly true bronzes of Type II. ; there are, however, some lead bronzes rich in lead. Fragments of armour, spears, etc., from pre-Christian Greek graves in the Crimea, the peninsula of Taman, etc., are, with the exception of a few examples of zinc bronzes, chiefly true bronzes of Type II.
Scythia. Buckles, wire, and coins of pre-Christian times from
CCCCXXIV
INTRODUCTION.
Scytlila ;
Rome;
Kussla ;
Scandinavia and Denmark ;
Bohemia and Eastern Germany.
ancient Olbia on the Borystlienes (Dniepr), were true bronzes of Type I., and lead bronzes containing very little tin, ornaments, vases, weapons, harness, etc., from Scythian graves at Nikopol and Alexandropol on the Dniepr, from Old Tanais at the mouth of the Don, were in part true bronzes, chiefly of Type IL, and others of Types I. and III., and in part lead bronzes containing from three to seven per cent, of lead.
Rome. With the exception of one copper coin and one true bronze one of Type II., all the coins of the Roman Republic which have been analyzed are lead bronzes. Even so far back as b.c. 500, lead bronzes were used for the coinage. With very few ex- ceptions the Roman coins of the Empire from Julius Ctesar to Gallienus and the Thirty Tyrants (a.d. 265-268) contained so little lead that it may be considered as an accidental constituent. The per-centage of tin was also very low during this period, while the zinc was often very considerable, many are simply brass. Some seem to have been made of a bronze so often melted that the greater part of the tin had been thrown off. After the period of the Thirty Tyrants the per-centage of tin is in general low, and zinc almost disappears as a normal constituent ; the lead too is generally low, the alloy being in many cases so poor in white metals as to justify us in ranking them as crude coppers. Roman ornaments and other objects were either lead or zinc bronzes, true bronzes being very rare.
Russia. Russian bronzes may be classified into four groups : group 1, south Russian bronzes of about the second or third cen- tury of the Christian era, such as those found at Nowo-Tscher- kask, near Old Tanais, on the Don, are all true bronzes ; 2, those found in graves of the eleventh century in the government of Wla- dimir are all zinc bronzes containing a low per-centage of zinc ; 3, those found in the Baltic Provinces: these are brasses contain- ing a very small per-centage of tin, and sometimes a good deal of lead ; and 4, Siberian articles of undetermined age, chiefly true bronzes : a few are also zinc bronzes.
Scandinavia and Denmarlc. Scandmavian bronzes are true bronzes, chiefly of Type IL In a Swedish ingot as much as 4.31 per cent, of zinc was found. This is the only case where the zinc might have beeii intentionally added.
Bohemia, Saxony, Silesia, and Eastern Germany. The bronzes of these districts are true bronzes of Types II. and I. A few ead bronzes, some of them being very rich in lead, also occur.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXXV
Northern Germany : Baltic Region (Scbleswig Holstein, Pome- Northern
. . Germany —
rania, and Mecklenburg). The bronzes found m tbis region are Baltic true bronzes belonging to Types I., II., and III., about two-thirds belonging to Type II. Among the specimens -which have been analysed are two of zinc bronze found associated with iron, and having, therefore, probal)ly an Imperial-Roman or medieval origin
Northern Germany : North Sea Region (Hanover, Oldenburg, Northern
,„ , /. 1 • ,1 • • A 1 Germany —
Anhalt, etc.). The bronzes found m this region are true bronzes North Sea belonging to Types I., II., and III., but the majority are of Type ''^2'°'*' II. Zinc, varying from 0.62 to 3.99 per cent., was found in nearly all the Anhalt bronzes. It is probable that the zinc in these bronzes, and in others of the same kind found in other parts of this region, was an accidental constituent, derived from zinciferous copper ores.
Bavaria and Central Germany. The bronzes of this region Bavaria and
Centra. I
are true bronzes, chiefly belonging to Type II., the others belong Germany ; to Types I. and III., and one to Type IV. Small quantities of zinc occur in some, but evidently as an accidental ingredient. In a few cases it however exceeded 4 per cent., and in one it reached G.81 per cent.
Rhine Land. In this region weapons, tools, ornaments, etc., Rhine land; of true bronze, zinc bronze, and brass are found — the latter being especially characteristic of Roman settlements.
Austria. The Austrian bronzes are true bronzes of Types I., Austria; II., and III., the majority being, however, of Type 11. Most of the specimens analyzed were from Hallstadt, where bronze and iron weapons are found together.
Switzerland and Savoy. The bronzes of this region are chiefly Switzerland true bronzes, those of Type II. predominating ; a few lead bronzes, and two specimens of zinc bronze have also been examined. Zinc also/occurs in three other bronzes, but evidently as an accidental ingredient.
France. Very little is known about the composition of bronzes France; foujnd in France. Of the rich collections of Gaulish coins not one, so far as I know, has been analyzed. As regards the few French articles examined, they were all, with one exception, true bronzes ; that exception was a zinc bronze axe, containing no less than 29.58 per cent, of zinc. An old bronze article (the kind of article not stated) from the Longerie bone cave in Dordogne, was found to contain 12.64 of tin. The Abbeville turf bronzes are all
CCCCXXVl
INTRODUCTION.
true bronzes of Types I., II., and III. ; owing to tlie"small num- ber analyzed, it is not possible to say wMcli type predominates. The other French bronzes examined are distinguished by their richness in tin. Type III. seems to predominate among the Gallo- Roman bronzes. England; England. Very few of the bronzes found in England have
been analyzed. Those that have been, belonged to two cate- gories : first, those which, from the circumstances under which they were found, may be considered British ; and second, Roman bronzes. The former were true bronzes of Type II. The Roman bronzes were zinc bronzes, with the exception of one lead bronze which contained 1.44 per cent, of zinc. Scotland ; Scotland. The number of Scotch bronzes which have been analyzed is also very small. All those examined contained lead ; in two cases (both being vessels) the lead exceeded 5 per cent. (5.88 and 8.53) ; they appear to have been true lead bronzes. As regards the proportion of tin, the bronzes belonged to Types I., II., and one to Type III. Although too few have been analyzed to entitle us to say definitely which type predominated, there seems little doubt that it was Type I. Ireland; Ireland. When we consider the great abundance of bronze
articles found in Ireland, and the importance of the archaeological and historical questions upon which a numerous series of syste- matic analyses would be likely to throw much light, the number of analyses made is very insignificant. The majority of the specimens examined were true bronzes of Types I. and II., and several of an intermediate quality containing about eight per cent, of tin, appar- ently originally belonging to Type II., but from which part of the tin had oxidized out in re-melting. The majority of the specimens contained some lead, one, a so-called " celt", and another a sword handle, contained somewhat more than three per cent, of lead. This lead was probably an accidental ingredient. There was, however, one specimen which contained 9.11 per cent, of lead, and may be considered as a true lead-bronze. This specimen is described as a horn, and was doxibtless one of those numerous horn and trumpet instruments found in Ireland. Are all such instruments lead- bronzes ? If so, they may probably be of Roman origin. Here is a very interesting question, which it is very desirable should be solved, A lump of bronze was found to contain 30.62 per cpnt. of tin, 0.13 of silver, 1.91 of antimony, 0.11 of arsenic, and O.ll
e-
INTRODUCTION, CCCCXXVU
of sulphur. This specimen was undoubtedly made from Gray Copper, and may have been produced by smelting that ore directly with tin stone, and so far would support the view that bronze was always made from the mixed ores of copper and tin. Such an alloy might equally well result, however, from the addition of a large quantity of tin stone to a very impure crude copper prepared from Gray Copper. This, as I have said before, was probably the general process followed by ancient bronze makers. Among the Irish specimens analyzed, was a spearhead of almost perfectly pure copper, containing 99.71 per cent, of copper, and 0.28 of sulphur. This metal was unquestionably made from a pure ore, either sul- phuret of copper or copper pyrites, such as many of the copper ores found in Ireland.
Heviewing the whole question, and taking into account the General
r. n , ,, (, , .*" . . „ conclusions
composition oi all the alloys oi copper used in ancient times for deducibia every purpose, I think the following conclusions may be legi- ciiemicui
,-,.,„ facts at pre
timateiy drawn irora the facts. sent known
-.mi ^ .... - . , concerning
1. ine northern nations in ancient times used only true bronzes ancient of greater or lesser purity, according to the kind of ores used.
2. Many of those bronzes contain small quantities of lead, zinc, nickel, cobalt, iron, and silver, derived from the copper from which the bronze was made.
3. Though some bronzes may have been produced directly by melting a mixture of copper and tin ores, the usual mode of making them was by treating fused crude copper with tin stone. In later times bronze was made by mixing the two metals together.
4. Bronzes were not formed of variable proportions of copper. The makers aimed at the production of definite alloys by mixing the ingredients according to empiric formulae. There were four types of true bronzes, according to the relative proportions of tin and copper. The predominant alloy used by all the northern na- tions of Europe was a gun metal containing from nine to twelve per cent, of tin, the typical alloy being composed of eleven per cent, of tin and eighty-nine of copper.
5. The great variation in composition of many bronzes which has led to the belief that the ancient bronze smiths did not aim at the production of alloys of definite composition, that is, mixed the ingredients in an arbitrary manner, arises from the re-melting of the original bronze by which a portion of tin was oxidized out each time the metal was melted.
CCCCXXVm INTEODUCTION.
General' 6. Copper appears to have been always made from sulphurets,
conclusions ". . . /-h
deducibie including such complex minerals as Gray Copper. This implies a chemical Considerable amount of progress in mining and in metallurgy. sent kno\vn 7. The tin Ore used was chiefly stream-tin, and was obtained in at an°fent'°^ least four districts of Europe : Cornwall, the Erzgebirge of Saxony bronzes. ^^^ Bohemia, the present Vaulry in France, and Western Asturias and Galicia in Spain.
8. The copper of the ancient bronzes seems to have been smelted in many different localities.
9. There is no evidence of the existence in Europe of what is called a " copper age". There is every reason to believe that the Aryans knew how to make bronze before their advent in Europe.
10. The bronzes of the early Greeks were true bronzes; those of the Egyptians and early Romans were lead bronzes, that is, contained lead as a normal constituent. The Romans appear to have learned the use of lead from the Etruscans, probably a Semitic people.
11. We have no analyses of Phoenician bronzes to enable us to positively assert that they were lead bronzes. But as the Phoe- nicians received all their civilization, letters, and arts from Egypt, and had continual intercourse with that country, it is scarcely probable that the cheaper and more fusible lead bronzes should be unknown to them, especially as a kindred people, the Etruscans, knew the use of lead.
12. The general use of lead bronzes in the Mediterranean countries, from at least 500 years B.C., except in Greece, which ap- pears to have got its tin from Central Asia, renders it highly im- probable that the nations of northern Europe received, at least to any great extent, their bronze arms, tools, etc., from the south of Europe. The presence of lead in some bronze musical instruments and ornaments, points to a southern origin of those articles, or at least southern influence in their manufacture, and consequently in their use. The view that the Phoenicians came to Britain, bringing with them bronze and taking away tin, appears to me to be wholly untenable; for, besides that there is no certain evidence of any kind that the Phoenicians ever directly traded with Britain, it is very unlikely that so shrewd a people, as von Bibra remarks, would export pure bronzes to Britain, while a cheaper lead bronze was in general use in the Mediterranean.
13. To -wards the end of the Roman Republic zinc bronzes came
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXXIX
into general use in Rome, and are to be found in all the places General
o ' '■ conclusions
occupied bv tliem in Gaul, Britain, and Germany. The pure bronzes deduciWe of northern Europe are not, therefore, of Roman origm. feo far ciiemicai
^ . . facts at pre-
as the analyses hitherto made entitle us to express an opinion, no sent known zinc bronzes have been found in Ireland, and consequently, though ancient British bronze imjilements, arms, etc., may have, and certainly did, come into Ireland during the Roman occupation of Britain, no true Roman zinc bronze ones found their way thither.
14. The bronze weapons and tools found in the Baltic Provinces are very rich in zinc, a fact which, Professor Gobel thinks, proves that the material at least is of Roman origin. Professor Kruse,"® however, thinks, for many reasons, among which may be cited the occurrence with them of Arabian, Anglo-Saxon, Byzantine, and German coins, that these bronzes belong to the period from the ninth to the eleventh century. This opinion is in harmony with all we know of the state of those provinces as late as the twelfth century, in which a large part of the population were still armed with stone weapons.'"
15. Judging from the character of the silver ornaments them- selves found in Ireland, and the style of ornamentation, there can be no reasonable doubt that gold, silver, and bronze were contem- poraneously in use in Ireland. This view is fully borne out by the mention of the three metals in old Irish tales, as may be seen from many of the passages quoted throughout the Lectures. Silver was certainly obtained from Irish ores at a very early period, as is proved by traces of mining operations in localities where argenti- ferous ores occur, and by the existence in our topographical nomen- clature of words indicative of the occurrence of silver. Although some native silver is occasionally found in Ireland, it is so small in quantity that it is not likely to have been a source, at all events the principal source, of Irish silver. It is probable that von Fellenberg's opinion, that all silver made in Europe in ancient times was obtained from argentiferous load, is correct as applied to Ire- land also. It may be objected, that if the ancient Irish knew how to extract silver from lead ores, we ought to find many specimens
'*« UrqescMchte des esinischen VolLsstammes, 1846 ; see^also GiJlel's Ueber den Einjiuss der Chemie auf die Ermitllung der Volker der Vorzeit. Erlangen, 1843, and Von Bibra, op. cit.
^'' See Das Steinaller der Ostseeprovinzen, von C. Grevfingk, Dorppt, 18G5 (Schriftcn der gelehrten estnischen Gescllscliaft, No. 4), s. 105-108.
CCCCXXX INTRODUCTION.
of lead in Ireland. This need not be so, however, as the process of extracting silver from argentiferous galena might be well known and extensively practised without any use being made of the lead, all of which would be burnt away into litharge in separating the silver, and rejected. If silver were largely extracted from galena in Ireland, it may have happened that some of the argentiferous lead was used as a substitute for tin iu making bronzes, and that the lead in certain Irish bronzes may be due to this, and that such bronzes were native products, and not derived from some Mediter- ranean people. To this, however, it may be fairly objected, that we have no certain evidence that the process of separating silver from lead was known to the Irish before the Roman occupation of Britain.
16. And lastly, that all the Aryan peoples of Europe used bronze, and that attributing all bronze weapons and implements, wherever found, to the so-called Celts, is an error. On the con- trary, Germans and Scandinavians, as well as Gauls and Britons, made use of bronze weapons of warfare before they learned from the Romans the manufacture of better arms of steel.
WEAPONS OF WAR OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.
Professor O'Curry illustrated liis Lectures on tlie " Weapons of Warfare of the Ancient Irish" by a series of large drawings of the more remarkable specimens of bronze weapons in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, which the Council of that body had lent him for the purpose. He endeavoured by means of these drawings to identify the various types of swords, spears, etc., in the museum with the different kinds of weapons described in Irish manuscripts. It is evident from this that he believed that if a certain weapon was at one time made of bronze, it always continued to be so. U here can be little doubt, however, that in many cases the names of tools, weapons, and other objects, did not change, though the ma- Pifficuity of terial of which they were made did. It is very difficult to
determining .
nature or determine when the different weapons of war were made of
material o£ . ■•• ,
weapons brouzc, aiid when iron beo^an to be substituted for the latter. It is also difficult to say when any particular type of weapon first came into use. Those who first committed the traditional forms of the ancient legends and accounts of battles to writing,
called by cei tain names.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXXXl
8ometimes substituted one or more of the weapons of tlicir own day for some of the old ones which had become obsolete, and sometimes increased a warrior's outfit by the addition of new weapons, imknown Avhen the hero lived. In this way the most incongruously armed warriors sometimes appear together on the stage in an Irish tale, some in the fashion of Brennus, and others in that of mediaeval knights. There is a good in- stance of this kind in the tale of the Brudin Da Derga, where Srubdaire and two other warriors appear armed with iron flails of the true mediaeval pattern.
Whether the use of iron weapons was contemporaneous or Frcqaent
'■ . mention of
not with that of bronze ones, frequent mention or weapons of bronze and
■"■ . iron wea-
both materials is made throughout the most ancient and au- pons in mss. thentic of the Irish historic tales. The use of bronze for vessels, personal ornaments, the rims of shields, horse furniture, the ornamentation of scabbards, and similar purposes, came down certainly to very recent times. Bronze weapons also were in actual use immediately before Christian times, as I shall show presently, and there is good reason for believing that they con- tinued in use even into Christian times. On the other hand, the use of imn
weajions of
use of iron weapons is of much greater antiquity in Ireland than considerable is generally supposed. There is a curious legend in the tale of the Brudin Da Derga about the spear of an Ulster chieftain, Duhthach Dael Ulad, which proves this. According to the legend, this spear had_^ been in the battle of 3Iagh Tuired, and had come down from warrior to warrior until Duhthach got it. When the spear got excited to slaughter, it had to be plunged into a black liquid to keep it cool."* The origin of
^*^ The following is the passage referred to in the text, which I think worth giving in full. " 1 saw the c< uch which is nearf st to Comiire ; three prime champions in it; three daik gray Zc?ios on them; each limb of theirs was rounder than the body of a man. They had three great large swords; each of them was larger thnn the lath of a weaver's loom ; they would split a hair on water. 'J lie middle man had a large Laicj'm or lance in his hand, which had fifty rivets through it ; its haft is larger than the yoke of a plough. The middle man so shakes that spear that it is a wonder tliat its uirc ecgi (rivets) do not fly out of it ; and he strikes its haft three times upon his palm. A large vessel is placed in front of them — large as a Caire colbthaige [that is the meat boiler of a Brugli] ; in it is a hideous black liquid. The spear is plunged into that black liquid to cool it whenever it is excited to slaughter. A blaze
weapons.
CCCCXXXU INTRODUCTION.
this legend is obviously the tempering of steel. It shows how phenomena, although common, when strange or not under- stood, may become the sources of myths. This legend must have been already old when the manuscript which contains it, the Lebor na h-Uidhri, was written, for the tempering of steel was at that time too common and well known a process to originate a myth.
Eyidence of Nor is Other cvidenco of the use of iron weapons wanting.
use of iron Thus in the tale of the battle of Magh Tuired, Sreng, the Fir- holg chief, is described as armed with an iron club or mace ; and that warrior, after his return to his own people from his interview with Breas, the Tuatha De Danand chief, describes the spears of the latter people as "sharp, thin, and hard";"' a description which seems to imply that they were of iron. In the tale of the Tain B6 Chuailgne the Ulster chief Cethern has an iron shield and an iron Bir.'"^^ This word literally means a spit, but appears to have been applied to a kind of slender
issues from its haft so that you would think that there is a fiery pit in the top of the house. Identify these, O Ferrogan. I know them. They are the three best valour-holding heroes of Eriu, namely, Sencha the beautiful, son of Ailill, Duhthach Dad Ulad, and Goibniu, son of Lurgnech ; and it is the Luin CeltcJiair mic Uilhklir or spear of Celtckar, son of Uthidir, which was in the battle of Magh Tuired, that is, in the hand of Dubthach Dael Ulad. It prac- tises that feat when it foresees the shedding of the blood of an enemy by it ; it requires a boiler with poison to allay it when intent on a deed of man- slaughter. Unless that be ready, its haft will blaze, and it [the spear] will pass through the man who holds it, or through the high chief of the royal house"— iliS. Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 95, col. 1.
This spear is much celebrated in Irish legendary history, and still further proves the antiquity of steel swords in Eriu. It was carried off from the court of the king of Persia by the sons of Tuirend Bicrend, whose exploits in winning the different objects that formed the Eric imposed upon them by Lugad Mac Ethlaid, king of the Tuatha D€ Danand, for the murder of a personage named Cian, represent the labours of Hercules in Irish mythology. 'J'he sons of Tuirend were Brian, luchar, and lucharba, and were gods of tlie Tuatha D€ Danand. The spear appears again in story as the Gae Buaifnech or poisoned spear, and came into the possession, among others, of the cele- brated king of Eriu, Cormac son of Art. — Lectures, vol. i., p. 324. Prof. O'Curry has published the Tale of the Children of Tuirend with a transla- tion in the AilafHis, vol. iv., p. 157.
"9 Vol. i., p. 235.
?«» Vol. i. p. 3U.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXXxiii
iron lance, like the Roman Pilum, or perhaps the lance of Evidence of the Swiss foot soldiers in the fifteenth century. Bir is also use of iron the word used to designate the lance of the Dalcassians ut the battle of Clontarf."*^' In the same tale another warrior has "a sword of seven layers of remelted iron", and "a great gray spear", which is another way of saying an iron spear/*^- The welding of seven layers of iron implies a knowledge of the process of damascening in Ireland, if not in the time of Conchohar Mac Nessa and Queen Medb, at least at the date of the manuscript containing the tale. CticJmlaind is also recorded to have used iron balls in his sling.'^" Again, among the weapons which his cuirass was intended to repel were laern, which, from the context appear to mean iron javelin heads. In the tale of the Bruclin Da Derga the swords of the Britons at the court of Conaire appear to have been of iron.''*^^ In the same tale " one hun- dred blue-coloured death-giving spears" are mentioned as part of the Taurcrech of Conaire to Da DergP'" The spear of Mac Ceclit, the champion of Conaire, who accompanied the latter to the house of Da Derg, must have been of iron, and
»' Vol. i., p. 348. 752 Vol. i., p. 317. "^ Vol. i., p. 292.
^^* "I saw a couch there, and three times nine men in it ; they had flowing fair yellow hair, and were equally beautiful ; a black Cochlin or cape on each, a white hood on each cloak, and a red tuft on each hood ; each man of them had under his cloak a huge black sword which would split a hair on water; and shields with scolloped edges. Identify these, O Ferrogan. I know them. They are exiles; they are three times nine Mic Baitsi of the Britons". — Lehor na h- Uidhri, p. 9G, col. 2. See for an explanation of the term Baitsi, ante, p. ccl.
''^^ The passage in which these spears are mentioned contains so good an example of the nature of a Taurcrech that it may be worth giving the whole. " There was a friend of mine in this country, said Conaire, could we but find the way to his house. What is his name? said Mac Cecht. Da Derga o? Leinster, said Conaire. lie came to me indeed to ask gifts, nor was it a coming for a refusal : I gave him a gift of one hundred cows of Bd Tana; and a gift of one hundred pigs of Muccglassa; and a gift of one hundred cloaks with their corresponding suits of clothes ; and a gift of one hundred blue coloured death-giving spears ; and a gift of ten red brooches of gold ; and a gift of ten keeves, of superior noble vessels ; and a gift of ten slaves ; and a gift of ten ewes ; and a gift of three times nine pure white hounds in their silver chains ; and a gift of one hundred coursing steeds— in horse- racing fleeter than roe- bucks. It was not as a perpetual gift I gave them, though he has them still. INT. 28*-
CCCCXXXIV INTRODUCTION.
fhSent no* of bronze, for we are told that " he bends that spear until TLlliT its two ends meet". The spear of Cailie Mac Ronain, one of the favourite warriors of Find Mac Cumhail, appears to have been also of iron, according to a story relating the manner of death o{ Fothaid AirgdechJ^ The famous sword said to have belonged to Cuchulaind, which formed the subject of a well known cause pleaded before Cormac, son o^ Art, by a certain Socht, son of Fithaly Cor mac's judge, must have been of iron, from the account given of its qualities, one of which was that " if its point were bent back to its hilt, it would become straight again like a dart"."' I shall only notice one other weapon, in order to bring down the tradition of iron weapons to historic times, namely, the spear of Baedan, son o'l NinnS,
He will depart from the common usage if he shall act niggardly to me this night".— J/5. Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 83, col. 1.
"^ Vol. ii., p. 174, and Lebor na k-Vidhri, p. 133-134.
'^^ Vol. ii., p. 322. There is a curious description of an armourer's forge in a legendary account of the battle of Magh Mucruimhe, in which Art, the father of Cormac, was killed. This battle is said, according to the computa- tion of Irish annalists, to have been fought in a.d. 195, between Art, who was then Ard Rig Erind, or paramount king, and a certain Mac Con, head of the Ithian race of Munster, and who while in exile had collected an army of foreigners, among whom are mentioned Saxons, Franks, and Aibanachs, that is, Scotchmen, Scotland being in ancient times called Alba. Both armies having met, a truce was agreed to in order to enable the combatants to arm themselves. On the last day of the truce, King Art " rose early and went forth to the chase on the western Duma (slopes") of the plain. He chanced to stray and wander from his path, but had not gone far when he saw the branchy, thick-foliaged wood, and heard what surprised him much, the great thunder, the heavy tramp, great loud rattle, and reverberating sounds and commotion of simultaneous marching close by. He looked around him on all sides, and lie saw the boarded spear factory {Gahrach ccluirioch), with its clean bordered smoke chimney (Smolcaomhnay^^ upon it. It was extensive, broad-yarded, and had seven noble wide doorways to it. This great abode was not, however, a place of entire ease and rest, owing to the active rubbing of the blades on the Liomhbron (grinding stones), the expert working'of the tongs (iLuth), the noise of the working of the .bellows, the sledge's, and the anvils, the roar of the fires on the hearths, the hissing screech of the edged weapons when being tempered [getting tlie foghairt^, the shrill noise or clashing of the hard-tempered, tough-bending swords when being rubbed with tlie irons [tiles], and the simultaneous exertion of the Felmacs (pupil- armourers), the Foghmantai (apprentices), and the brave men working with
76S Caomhncrr:L. Caminus. '
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXXXV
of Tory Island, on the north-west coast of Ireland. This spear is described iij the account of the battle of Magh Rath, fought in the year a.d. 634, as " a black darting spear".™'
Three words are employed in Irish poems and historic talcs, in the description of swords and spears, which require to be noticed in connection with the question of bronze and iron, namely, dubh, gorm, and glas. I think there can be no The words doubt that duhh or black always implies iron. Gorm always and gias signifies blue, and is the term applied to the swords given by weiipuns. Gonaire to Da Derg, and Avhich I have assumed to have been iron. " Blue shining spears", " blue heavy spears", are spoken of in the Tain Bo Chuailgne. Does blue always imply iron, and if so, what is the difFcrence between those whicli are de- scribed as black and those which are called blue ? This is an interesting question, but one which I am unable to answer. If Glas be related to Glaisin, it must have originally meant some shade of blue. It is, however, very frequently vmdcr- stood to mean gray, and sometimes even green. Glas with the latter meaning would be correct enough as applied to bronze weapons covered with green patena. But it is very unlikely that weapons were allowed to rust in order to acquire a green colour. It is more probable that bronze articles of all kinds were kept clean and bright. I have already pointed out that the blue dye-stulF Glasium, a name which bears considerable resemblance to Glaesiim or Glessiwi, the name given by the Mshi, a people who inhabited the present Baltic coast of Prussia, to amber,"" was also called Vitrum. The Teutonic forms of Glass are all derived from Glaesiim, a fact which appears to establish an important but obscure con-
those tools, £0 that endless black smoky opaque clouds, enveloping and con- cealing everything, and showers of red fiery sparks, were tmitted from the broad sides and great flanks of that Ceardcha (forge)". From Andrew Mac Curtin's copy from the Book oj Munsler, now in the possession of Mr. B. O'Looney.
There can be little doubt that the weapons supposed to be made in this forge were of iron, and this passage would consequently establish the use of iron weapons in the second century, if the account from which the foregoing passage has been taken were written soon after the battle.
■^» Vol. i., p. 342. "0 Tacitus, Germania, c. xlv.
28* B
CCCCXXXVl INTRODUCTION.
nection between the blue dye-stufF, amber and glass. The relationship of the two latter with each other is plain enough, but that between them and the dye-stufF is so obscure that I believe there are two words glas in Irish, one related to Glaisin (Glastum) meaning blue, and the other from Glaesum, amber, and signifying yellow. The following gloss bears out this view : " Glas i.e. Crdn or yellow"."' Cron, which seems to be the same as CruaJi, is the name of amber, so that it is almost certain that in this instance glas is from Glaesum. The glas in Cune- glassiis, a Latinized form of an old British proper name, is also derived from Glaesum, as Gildas explains it by lanio fulvus. Cune is more probably related to the Irish cu, genitive coin, or Conn, a hound, which is often found in Irish men's names, as in Conglas, which is identical with the British name ; so that on this view Cuneglasus\fO\Adi be yellow or tawny hound. The epithet Glas does not help us therefore to decide whether a weapon was steel or bronze. Evidence of In Order to enable the evidence as to the use of bronze bronze in within, if uot historical, at least traditional times, to be compared times.' with that of the use of iron, I shall mention here a few exam- ples from ancient tales in which bronze is either directly named or indirectly referred to. In the narrative of the fate of Redg the satirist, who, in virtue of his privilege as a poet, demanded from Cuchulaind his Cletin or spear, and was slain by the latter being hurled at him, wc are told, "there is also a ford near on the east of it, called Ath Tolomset, where Bedg fell, there the Umai or bronze was taken off the Cletin ; Uiumair- rith, or bronze stream, is the name of that ford'?" In the tale of the Feast of Bricriu the spear of Laeghaire Buadacli is described with its " full glow of red flames","' and the arms of the troops of Ailill and Medh as "bright golden"."' These words may, it is true, have been used to express the
'^' SlA-p .1. cfvon no bui-oe.
"^ Lect., vol. i., 229 ; Lebor na h- Uidhri, p. 70, col. 2. '" j[,ij.^ p. 106, col. 1.
"■* " Cuchulaind set up at the Fert in Lercaib, convenient to them, and his charioteer kindled a fire for him on the evening of that day, namely, Laeg son of Eiangahra. He (^Cuchulaind) saw from afar the gleaming splendour of the bright golden arms over the heads of the four provinces of Eriu at the closing of the clouds of the evening". Ibid., p. 77, col. 2 ; and MS. H. 2. 18. f. 63, col. 2.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXXXvii
sheen of the arms in the setting sun, as may be seen from the passage quoted below, and would be equally applicable under the circumstances to arms of steel. In other parts of the same tale, however, we meet with similar expressions which cannot be so explained. Thus a warrior has a Sleg or light spear "flaming red in his hand" ;"* another, a "gold-shaded Sleg''\
Although the comparative study of the various ancient tools o'Curr/s and weapons of Europe is as yet too little advanced to admit icfer ditre of the oriofin of each tvpe of weapon beincc determined with of arms to certamty or even probability, the attempt ot U Curry to refer races, certain forms of them to particular races is deserving of atten- tion, and suggests an inquiry into the circumstances under which these types are found. On this account 1 came to the con- clusion thatit would be worth giving figures of the weapons which he thought he could say belonged to each given race, and which he connected with the names of weapons used in Irish manu- scripts. He left no reference in his Lectures, however, to the figures of the weapons which he believed he had identified, which would have enabled me to recognise them. My friend Mr, John Edward Pigot, who had lent his kindly aid to O'Curry in every publication of his, and who was thoroughly acquainted with his ideas, selected a number of spears, swords, and other weapons in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, of which illustrations are to be found in the Catalogue of that collection by Sir William Wilde, and which he believed to represent the chief types of form that O'Curry endeavoured to connect with the descriptions in the ancient tales. Through the liberality of the Royal Irish Academy I am enabled to give figures of most of the types thus selected, and to which O'Curry refers in his Lectures.
The weapons mentioned in Irish manuscripts, as far as can weapons be gathered from the passages quoted in the Lectures, or in the in insh notes of this Introduction, are the following.
Spears and Javelins. The Craisecli or thick handled spear of the Firholgs; the Fiarlan or curved blade of the same race; the Goth Manais or broad spear ; and the Sleg or light spear of the Tuatha Ue Danand. The Fogad, Fogae, and Gae of the
"* Lect. vol. i. p. 317.
CCCCXXXVlll
INTRODUCTION.
The Craisech.
The tiarlann.
Milesians; tlie Laigen or Gaulish lance of Leinster; the Cletin, a name used for the spear of Cuchulaind ; the Bir or spit ; the Faga Fogahlach or military fork ; the Slegin and Gothnad, or small javelins or darts, and the Goth n-Det or bone daits of the warrior just mentioned.
Swords and Daggers. The Claidem, gladius, or glaive, which was common to all the races who colonized ancient Ire- land; Claidbin or little sword, and Colg-det or tooth-hilted dagger of Cuchulaind.
Stone Weapoxs. The Lia Lamha Laich, or champion's hand-stone ; and the Liic Tailme, or sling-stone,
Slikgs. The Tailm, the Crann Tahhaill^ and Tahcd Lurg, the Deil Clis.
Miscellaneous Weapons. The Fersad, Lorg-Fersad- iarain, or sharp pointed iron club of the Firholgs; the Suist larain, or iron flail.
Figure 14 represents what O'Curry believed to be the great, pointless, thick, sharp-edged Craisech of the Firholgs. He was of opinion that the shaft was probably flattened thin, and mounted with a thick plate or ferrule, on which the rivets were flattened at both sides, else the wood would have been in danger of splitting."^ He was further of opinion that the handle was fastened by rivets in the same way as that of the Colg or dagger, represented in the an- nexed figure 14, from a drawing by the late G. V. Du IS'oyer, of one in the Rouen Museum. Two such daggers, having the handles riveted in the same way are now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, one of which has been figured by Sir William Wilde."' Lindenschmidt has also figured several examples of riveted dag- gers from Rhenish Hesse."*
Figures 16 and 17 are supposed to represent tha Fiarlann. No specimen of a Craisech, or of Hg. 1^.
"6 LicL, Vol. i., p. 240. "7 Cat. fig. p. 458.
"^ JDie Alttitldimcr imserer hcidnischen Vorzeil, Bd. I. Heft. ii. Taf. 4
INTRODUCTION.
CCCCXXXIX
Fig. 15.
Fig, 16.
Fig. 17.
a Fiarlann attached to a handle in the manner supposed by O'Curry, or having the plate or ferrule attached to the rivets, has, so far as I know, been found. On the other hand, many blades similar in size and shape to figures 15 and 16, have been found mounted as Colgs or daggers, or as small swords. The description given in Lecture xi.'" of one kind of Craz- The ?harp- sech, certainly corresponds with fig. 17, which represents ^cratsech. weapon mounted like a Firholg one, and pointed like a Tuatlia JDS Danand one. This weapon was, perhaps, a sword, though O'Curry seems to think it was a spear. Lindenschmidt has figured two undoubted daggers, which bear a striking likeness to the Irish weapons represented in figures 15 and 16.'®° These weapons may, however, have been also mounted on long shafts, as was the case frequently with swords. A blade like fig. 16, mounted as a spear, may have been the prototype of the Glaive Guisarme — a weapon which probably goes back
"9 Vol. i., p. 241.
'80 Op. cit., 1'"- Bd. Heft, xi., Taf. 2, figures 1 and 2. No. 1, corresponding to fig. 2 ia the text, is from a tumulus in the forest of Carnoiil, department of Finisterre, and now in the Hotel Cluny, Paris. No. 2, resembling No. G of the text, is from a Lake Dwelling near Lattringen, ou the lake of Biel.
ccccxl
INTRODUCTION.
The Sleg.
to the bronze times, and about which I shall have some thin o- more to say presently.
The Sleg, or light, narrow, shar2>pointecl spear, represented
Fig. 18.
Fig. 19.
Fig. 20.
Fig. 21.
Fig. 22.
i'ig- 23. Fig 24. Fig. 25.
by figures 18 to 22, possesses the qualities attributed to the Tuatlia De Danand weapons.
INTKODITCTION.
ccccxli
Lindcnsclimidt lias given figures of a number of bronze spears found in different parts of Germany (Hanover, Bavaria, etc.), which arc clearly of the same general type as fig. 18, which appears to have been one of the most widely diffused bronze lances of Central Europe. Figures 23 to 27 represent a mixed The ooth-
to X fnannia.
type between the Sleg and trowel-shaped spear called the Goth-manais, of which figures 28 and 29 may be considered to represent, in O'Curry's opinion, examples.
The word Goth
manais.
or
Gath which occurs in the name of the last-men- tioned spear, and in other compound names, as well as separately as the name of a spear, a javelin, or dart, suggests a closer relationship with Anglo- Saxon gii^, war, Old Norse Guthr, Bellona, war, than even with the Irish Cath, war, bat- tle. Such a relationship, if it be real, would be of much interest, from the fact of the spear of which it formed part of the name, being a weapon of a people of undoubted Germanic origin.
The Foqa or Foqad'^heOae, Fig. 26. Fig. 27. was rather a javenn ioifogad.
hurling than a thrusting lance. The second part of the latter word represents the older Gaisatias, the s of which has been lost between the vowels,'®' while the ga or gai of Foga was the older Gaisas, the s being lost in the same way. Ga, Gai, or Gae, with or without the particle fo, was the general name for all light spears of the Sleg and javelin kind in
"' Stokes, /;ts/( Glosses, 216.
ccccxlii
INTRODUCTION.
Milesian times. There can be no doubt that in all these words we have the representatives of the Latin or Gallo-Roman Gesum, which we know was a light spear or javelin used for hurling as well as thrusting.^®^ The word was Latinised at a very early- period, if indeed the stem was not originally Latin as well as Gaulish. The Gaulish spear is, however, al- most invariably termed a Gaesum Virgil arms ^y Roman writcrs. Thus Virffil,
his Gauls -^ r^ i r r,
describing the Gauls of Brennus,
The Gallo
Roman
Oaesum.
with two Oaesa.
gives each two Gaesa.
Fig. 28.
Fig. 20.
" Golden their hair on head and chin: Gold collars deck their milk white skin,
Short cloaks with colours checked Shine on their backs : two spears each wields Of Alpine make: and oblong shields
Their brawny limbs protect".'*'
^*2 " Lapides gaesaque in vallum conjicere". — Caesar, Bel. Gal., lii. c. 4. 78J Mveid, viii. 657 et seq. Connington's translation. The original is as follows : —
" Aurea caesaries illis atque aurea vestis ; Virgatis lucent sagulis ; turn lactea colla Auro innectuntur ; duo quisque Alpina corruscant Gaesa manu, scutis protecti corpora longis".
Claudian, apparently imitating Virgil, thus describes the transalpine Gauls
of the fourth century :
" Turn flava repexo
Gallia crine ferox, evinctaqae torque decoro,
Binaque gaesa tenens, animoso pectore fatur".
In primum consulatum Fl, Stilichonis, Lib. ii. v. 240 et seq.
The weapons of the Belgians are also described as Gaesa. " Claudius Eridanum trajectos arcuit hostes Belgica cui vasti palma relato duels Virdumari; genus hie Rheno jactabat ab ipso Nobilis e tectis fundere gaesa rotis.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCxUIi
The Irish warrior is also represented as being armed with Irish war-
_, —.. , . p ■, • i> • riors also
two Gae. inus a poet, speaking oi the pursuit oi a certain carried two Car7\ tells us that:
The track of his two spears through every marsh Was like the ruts of a car over " weak grassy stubbles".'*^ The Gesum gave rise to the Gaisatoi of the Greeks, and the Gessatorii of Latin writers, who were mercenary soldiers from the Alps and the district about the Rhone, armed with the Gaesum, whence they derived their name.'*^ Many proper names are probably connected with this weapon, such as Ge- soriacum, the present Boulogne-sur-Mer, and Gisacus, a God- appellative found at Vieil-Evreux.^®^
Two medieval Latin names for weapons of war of the same Medieval
Gesa and
kind are derived from the Latin or Gallo-Roman Gaesum, o. Frencu
Gise.
namely Gesa, whence old French Gese, a pike, and Gisarma or Guisarrna, whence Old French Guisarma, a weapon made like The
Guisarina,
a long pointed lance or partisan.'*'' The Guisarina must not be confounded, as is usually done, with the Glaive-Gisarme, which was a combination of the Guisarma, proper and the Glaive or knife.'** Glaive is properly a sword, being de- rived from the Gaulish form of the L'ish Claidem, by the aspi-
lUi virgatis jaculantis ab agmine bracis Torquis ab incisa decidit unca gula".
Propcrtius, Eleg. iv. 10 v. 39, ei seq.
"♦ MS. H. 3. 18, p. 636. The car here alluded to was no doubt one like the Car slkmain, or low sliding car, which was used on soft meadow lands, bogs, etc., and which left a track or rut. The sliding car is not yet obsolete in remote districts. The " weak grassy stubbles" of the passage above quoted mean the rich aftergrass of soft meadows.
785 Polj bins, ii. 22. " Consternatus senatus defectione Cisalpinae Galliae, cum etiani ex ulteriore Gallia iiigens adventare exercitus nuntiaretur, maxime Gessatorum, quod nomen non gentis, sed mercenariorum Gallorum est" — Orosius, iv. c. 13. See also Zeuss, Die Deutschen vnd die Nachbarstdmme, p. 246, and Diefenbach, Origines Europaeae, p. 351.
'Sfi See other examples in Dieftnbach, op, cit. p. 354.
'^ Old French Fertuisane, probably from pertuiser, to pierce. Demmin's explanation, that the name Guisarma comes from Guisards, followers of the house of Guise, is untenable ( Weapons of War, Black's translation, p. 430).
'88 Olivier de la Marche, a chronicler of the fiftttnth century, thinks that the Guisarme (that is no doubt the later form, or Glaive- Gisarme) otiguiated in the habit cf fixing a dagger on the blade of a battle-axe. {Ibid., p. 430).
CCCCxliv INTRODUCTION.
ration of the d and in as in modern Irish, and is cognate with Latin Gladius. The origin of the use of the word Glaive in the sense of a curved knife with one or more spikes, as in Glaive- Guisarme, may be traced perhaps by the assistance of the Hie German Wclsh GeUf. which was a large curved knife. This is mani-
Gleefe. 11 i
festly the German Gleefe, the name of the Glaive- Guisar ma or Ross-Schinder, with which German foot soldiers were at one time armed. The Scotch call a similar curved knife a " gully": is this a corruption of a British form of the Welsh word, or of the Irish Scian gailia, or war-knife? The Fiarlann, fig. 16, represents the glaive part of a German Gleefe, and if a Bir or spike were attached to it, would be the complete weapon, and may, as I have already suggested, be the prototype of the medieval weapon. Demmin^®^ states that the Welsh called the Glaive- Guisarme a Llawniawr; the latter being itself de- rived from " cleddyr" or " gleddyr"."" The Welsh Llawmawr is almost the same word as the Irish Claidhem mor, which should be pronounced as it is by the Scotch, "Claymore", which means simply a large sword, which I have no doubt was the meaning of the Welsh word also, and not a Glaive- Guisarme. The Welsh Cledyf, a sword, is the exact equivalent of the Irish Claideamh.
Zeuss"' mentions a Gothic Gdis, but I do not know where he found it. In the Germano-Latin glossaries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, we have Ges-\xs, Ges-a, Ges-iim, and Geza, etc., explained by the German Kule, Streite-Keivl, that is the Sireitkeile, a name by which the weapons called " Celts" and " Palstaves" are known in Germany. An old writer, Gil- laume Le Breton, however, clearly distinguishes it from the true KeileJ^^ The shaft of the Irish Gae was of considerable length, at least in the time of the Danish wars, as we learn from the Norse saga."*
Tradition assigns to Labrad Loingsech, a high-king of Ire-
^^' Loc. cit.
^^^ The Welsh GJeddyr had nothing to do with the Llawmmor, but was pro- bably the same as the Irish Gled, a cane sword used by a class of bullies at fairs and other places of public assembly called Gleidires. A hard or obstinate fight is also called in Irish a Gletten, which is no doubt connected with Gled.
"' Op. cit., p. 2iG, note. "2 Diefenbach, op. cit.
'■^^ " \}0 at Irar hef^i haskept spjot sem a skog osei". Fdslbroe^ra Saga, i, c. 8.
INTRODUCTION. CCCCxlv
land, who reigned, according to Irish annalists, at the end The zatVen, of the fourth century before the Christian era, the introduc- tion into Ireland of a body of Gaulish mercenaries armed with a weapon called Laigen lethan-glas, which has been translated " broad-green spear". We have no information as to the metal of which the Laigen or Gaulish spear was made, unless, as I have already mentioned, wc are to understand glas as yellow, that is, amber or bronze coloured. O'Curry translated the term glas, as applied to spears, green, while Keating used it in the sense of gray,^^'' and regarded the term when applied to a spear as an indication that it was made of iron. Glas in the sense of green is equally inapplicable to bronze and iron ; in the sense of blue it might certainly be correctly applied to polished iron or steel. Iron spears were not, however, large, so that the t^rm " broad" would not be applicable to a small iron lance-head. So that on the whole, I am disposed to think that Glas is yellow here, and to agree with O'Curry that the Laigen was made of bronze. The term itself is of great interest, inasmuch as it has given a name to one of the provinces of Ireland, Laighen or Leinster. The Laigen was a kind of Sleg, perhaps like that represented by figure 29, and which has been referred to as a Goth-manais, and was probably hurled with the Amentum, though it must have been sometimes used also for thrusting."^ In the " Fight of Ferdiad''' we are told that the Slegs were provided with hard strings of flax, that is with Amenta. Laigen seems to be cognate with the Roman Lancca, and the Greek Ao'y;^rj and \6yxa. The Roman weapon, according to Isidore, was also used with the amentum.'*^
The Cletin was a javelin: the term seems, however, to i\\tchun,
1 1 Ti T rf i-ir-i t""" feathered
have been applied to very dmerent knids oi that weapon. Injaveiiu. the story of Redg the satirist, already referred to, Cucliidaind's
^^^ Glas, when applied to a field or a plain, undoubtedly meant green, but in other cases it must have meant gray, i. e., cil caol glas, a slender gray- hound ; capal mdr glas, a large gray horse.
^^^ The spear which Longinus thrust into the side of Christ on the cross is called ?. Laigen in the Leabhar Brear, f. 70 a. a. ll.I.A. edition, p. 159, col. 2.
'3^ " Lancea est hasta, amentum habens in medio ; dicta autem lancca, quia aequa lance, i.e., aequali amento ponderata vibratur". — Eiymolog., xviii. c. 7.
CCCCxlvi INTRODUCTION.
spear is called a Cletin. In the " Figlit of Ferdiad" we are told that Cuclmlaind took his eight Cleitini or short spears, as O'Curry translates the word. The number as well as the di- minutive form of the word, and also the circumstance of these weapons being mentioned in connection with other small javelins, show that a Cletin was a small javelin, differing from the Sleigini or small Slegs in being feathered, as, I think, the name implies."' It corresponded, perhaps, with the feathered Wurfpfeil of the German so much used in boar-hunting.
The Bir, or The B'lr was, perhaps, the true sharp pointed iron lance, called by the Norse a Spjot or spit, which is also the mean-
The Military ing of Bir. The terms Gablach, Gahalca^ and Foga Fogaih-
Fork
laige are derived from Gabal, a fork or instrument armed with prongs, and were military forks, like the Sturmgahel of the Germans. This instrument is usually supposed to have begun to appear towards the end of the fifteenth century, whereas the Irish evidence carries us back to a much earlier period, for forked weapons are mentioned in the earliest of our existing Gaedhelic manuscripts. The occurrence of different names compounded of Gabal, a fork (cf. German Gabel), suggests that there were different kinds of military weapons of this type. Thus, Lug, son of Fthlend, a Tuatlia US Danand warrior, or rather god, was armed with a Foga Fogablaigi, in addition to a Sleg/^^ llland, son of Fergus, is
'''■''' From cleti, a quill or large feather. Perhaps the name of the burdock, in Old High German Chlalto, ace. Chletton or Chletiun, as well as the old French Gleton, for the same plant, are connected with the Irish Cletin.
798 While at the Fert in Lercaib, Laeg the charioteer tells Cuclmlaind that a man was approaching from the north-west by the Dun of the men of Eriu, erected in the Brislech Mor. " What sort of man is he ?" said Cuchulaind. " He is a large handsome man : he has a wide beard and flowing yellow hair; a green cloak wrapped around him ; a bright silver brooch in his cloak over his breast ; a Lened of kingly silk with red ornamentations of red gold em- bracing his fair skin, and extending down to his knees; a black shield with bosses of hard Findruini upon him ; a flesh mangling Sleg in his hand ; a Foga Fogablaigi near it". — MS. Lehor na h-UidJiri, p. 77, col. 2 ; 78, col. 1. Lug, son of Ethltnd, is made in this episode of the Tain Bo Chuailgne relating to the sicklcd chariot of Cuchulaind, to come from the Sidh. or fairy mansions of the Tuatha D€ Danand, whither that people are reputed to have retired
INTRODUCTION.
ccccxlvii
The Military Fork.
Fig. 30.
Fig. 31,
described in the tale of the Tain B6 Chuailgne as armed with the same instrument."' On the other hand, the forks with which the swine-herds of Conaire Mor are armed in the tale of the Brudin Da Derga, are called Gabalgici.^"'^ The military fork is always referred to as a native weapon;
in former times when defeated by the Milesians. Lug is probably related to the Norse LoH, German Logi, son of Ndl, a goddess who appears to have personified the Earth, as the form Nalgund=Tellus occurs. Elsewhere we find the Foga •without the addition of Fogablaigi spoken of as a double spear, that is, a fork : " Ailill diabalgai, that is, Ailill of the double tpear, because it was by him the Foga was first carried along with the large Gai (spear)". M.S. Book of Lecan, E. I. A., f. 221, a. a. ; MS. 11. 3. 18, T. C. D., etc. The word Foga, when not qualified by diahal or fogablaigi, always meant, however, a javelin, as I have described.
''' Vol. ii., p. 98, note.
800 Vol. ii., p. 145.
CCCCxlviii INTRODUCTION.
that is to say, tlie persons -who are armed wltli it in the ancient tales are always Irishmen. I do not remember a single case of its use by a foreigner. There can be little doubt that its use is of considerable antiquity, and though all those which have come down to us are of iron, they may have been contemporary with bronze spears. It is indeed probable that the fork was always an iron weapon. Figures 30 and 31 represent the two most distinct types of the military fork which are to be found in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. Fig. 30 is one-third of the actual size, and fig. 31 is also drawn on a scale of about one-third.
There is not an example of the Diabalgae, or simple two- pronged fork, in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, but the following passage descriptive of the Faga Fogahlacli, is, except in the number of prongs, singularly applicable to the fork represented by fig. 31 :
" The reason why this has been called Faga Fogahlach was because it was five prongs or barbs that were on each side of it, and each sickle or barb of them would cut a hair against a stream''.^"'
These forks have hitherto been considered as harpoons, eel- spears, etc., but the evidence which I have brought forward, and which, if it were needed, I could multiply, proves beyond doubt that they were Military Forks. Light The lighter missile weapons of the iavelin class are not so
javelins. . . .
described as to enable us to determine the special character of each with certainty. The word Slegin being merely the diminutive of Sleg, we may assume that the weapons so called were only small Slegs. O'Curry translates Goihnada by " little darts", and Gotli-n-det by "ivory darts". That they were mis- siles of the same kind as the Sleigini or little Slegs, is pro- bable; the names of both contain the word Goth or Gath, a dart or javelin, which I have already connected with Irish Cath, Anglo-Saxon GuS, and Old Norse Guthr, battle ; det means tooth, or bone, and was used specially to designate the tooth of the walrus or sea cow (Trichachus Rosmarus), and
801
MS. Book o/Lismore, O'Curry's copy, R. I. A., 237, a. a.
INTRODUCTION,
ccccxlix
the narwhale (Monodon monoceros). The Goth n def''^ apipcars therefore to mean a bone or walrus-ivory pointed javelin. Goth- nada I can only conjecture to have been a generic name for darts of various types and materials, and included especially flint-headed ones.
In the list of weapons which I have given above no mention Battle axes, is made of battle axes, though numerous axe-like instruments, which may have been weapons as well as tools, are to be found in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy. Among those are the so-called " Celts" and " Palstaves", many of which might
Fig. 32. ^"^ Teeth of one or more cetaceous animals, most probably the walrus and the narwhale, are very frequently mentioned in Irish MSS., and must have been a regular article of commerce. They were probably among the articles imported by the Norsemen. They may, however, have been a product of the native fishery, which was much more considerable than is generally supposed. The voyages of Irisli mariners extended even to Iceland before it was dis- covered by the Norsemen,
INT. 29*
ccccl
INTRODUCTION.
Battle axes, have been mounted as spear heads. Indeed there seems little doubt that this was sometimes the case. Figures 32 to 39 re- present axes of what O'Curry would call the Firholg type ; and figures 40, 41, and 42, those qH\\q Tuatha 1)S Danand type.
Fig. 33.
It is singular, O'Curry remarks, that no heavy axes of what he considers the Tuatha DS Danand type are to be found in our collections. The explanation of this fact may perhaps be found in the use of stone for all axes above a certain size, not only during the period when weapons were made of bronze, but even after iron had utiiversally replaced the latter metal.
Figures 37 and 39 represent the kind of weapon called a " Palstave" by many British antiquaries, and a raalstah by German writers. This application of the word is obviously wrong, as the name implies a pointed instrument, and not an axe. Indeed the Old Norse PdUtajir Avas a harpoon consisting
INTRODUCTION.
c cccli
of a simple staff sliod with iron and liaving a strong thorn or Battle axes, point.^" German antiquaries include the so-called " celts' (figures 40, 4 1 , and 42) and the " palstaves" under the term
Fig. 35.
Pig. 36.
Tig. 37
Fig. 38.
Tin:. 30.
Streitkeile or battle axe, to w hich reference has been made above.
Among the various forms of axe used by the Scandinavians The
there was an IrisJi one called by the Korthmcn a Spar^a.^'**
This word is evidently from the same root as Irish Spara,
English Spear, O. N. Spior. There is also an Irish word
803 ■\Veinhold has also pointed this out ; see his AUnordhches Leben, p, 195. *<" Weinhold, iOkl., 204.
29* B
cccclii
INTRODUCTION.
Spardha, wliicli looks like a loan-word, kind of axe the Sparda was.
I do not know what
Bows and arrows.
rig. 40. Fig. 41. Fig. 42.
O'Curry believed that the Firholgs or Tuailia DS Danands did not use arrows, and that the flint- barbed arrow heads found in Ireland belonged to comparatively late historic times, and were made by people well acquainted with the best types of metallic weapons. The Saget-holo was, however, I think, a bow. The word Saget, if not a loan-word from the Latin, is certainly closely connected with Sagitta. The word hole in- dicates the belly or are produced by the drawn bow. In the de- scription of the second battle of Magh-Tuired, the twang of the bows seems to me to be alluded to in the following pas- sage: "The music and harmony of the Saget-holc; and the sighing and winging of the Fogaid and the Gabluch". When there exists room to doubt even the existence of any form of bow at all, it would be waste of time to speculate whether the Saget-holc was an ordinary bow or a cross-bow.
In the Tain B6 Chuailgne and other similar ancient tales, the description of the combatants in a battle is confined to the chiefs, and of the events of the battle to the single combats of chiefs and nobles ; there is no detailed account of a general en- gagement, where alone we should expect to And mention of the arms of the common soldiers, as well as of the leaders ; hence no mention is made of the arrows, or they are so vaguely re- ferred to that it is difficult to say whether arrows or light jave- lins are meant."^^ It is important too that the Saget-holc, and in-
*°^ The three times nine skewers of holly which NaLhchraniail, oiie of Queen Medh's -warriors, shot at Cuchulaind (Leboi- na h-Uidhri, p. 60, cols. 1 ami 2, and MS. H. 2, 18, T.C.D.), may have been arrows. On the other hand the spike of holly with which Cuchulaind killed Ferbaeth must have been a j ivelin.
INTRODUCTION.
ccccl
111
deed darts of all kinds, are mentioned only in accounts of gene- bows and ral engagements, such as the second battle of Magh Tuired^ or *"° that of the Fomorians,*'^'^ the battle of Aenach Tuaiglie^'^'' a battle fought by Callaghan Cashel.®"* The absence of arrows from graves has been relied upon as a proof that they were not used in warfare. It should be remembered, however, that tumuli were raised over chiefs, and should therefore contain
Fig. 43.
Fig. 44.
Fig. 45.
Fig. 46.
Fig. 47. Fig. 48. Fig. 49.
only their arms, among which we should not be likely to find bows and arrows ; and further that the northern nations used those weapons more in the chase than in war.
The word Diuharcu, which we meet with in some of the oldest talcs, and in'the best manuscripts, seems to be the gene- ral name for darts of all kinds, but especially for true arrows shot with a bow. A curious form of verb has also been formed from it, Dluharcan,'j\\\\\Q\\ is used to express the operation of
Lect., vol. i., p. 253. 807 /^j^.^ p. 275. ""^ Ibid., p. 276.
806
CCCcllv INTRODUCTION.
shooting. Examples of the use of both words will be found in the Fight of Ferdiad in the Appendix. In the story of the Progress of the Ultonians to Cricachan Ai in Lehor na h-Uidhri, we are told^"^ that Cuchulaind went up to the women of the household of Medb, and took their three times fifty needles, which he shot one after another, putting the point of one into the eye of the preceding one. The verb used to ex- press this operation is that just mentioned, and the whole feat indicates the use of the bow and arrows. One of the clearest examples of the use of arrows under the name of Diubarcu is, however, to be found in the Dindsenchas of Brigh Leith, quoted in the Lectures.®'"
As chalk-flints occur only in a limited district of the north- east of Ireland, all the flint arrow-heads found in Ireland must either have been made there or imported from the south-east of England. Figures 43 to 49 represent the chief types of arrow heads found in Ireland. The ciaidem. The sword was in Irish generally called Claidem, which comes
or sword. - t t • /^ i t t-ii •• ^i i-
very close to the Latm (jrladius. By the aspiration of the m this became Claidemh, which would be pronounced almost like Cledijf, the Welsh form of the word in the twelfth and thir- teenth centuries. By the aspiration of the d the word became Claidhemh, or, as the Irish e is generally represented by the English m, Claidheamli, the form it has usually in O'Curry's Lectures. This would be pronounced almost as if written Cleeve or Glaive. In speaking of the Glaive- Guisarme, I have assumed that the word " Glaive" came from the Celtic form, and not from the Latin Gladius, as Diez thinks, through Provencal Glazi (z=:d). The sword of distinguished warriors was called a Cland. It was a badge of their championship or knighthood; if they travelled without it, they were deemed cowards, and were only entitled to the Enecland or honour price of a churl, and they likewise forfeited their position among their com- panions in arms.*"
None of the swords preserved in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy possess the character of rounded or blunted tops ascribed to the Fcrholg weapons, whence O'Curry con- »<>9 Page 108, col. 2, sio Vol. u. p. 456. »" Leb. na h-Uidhri, p. 72, col. 2,
INTRODUCTION.
cccclv
eluded, either that that character did not extend to the swords, The ciaidem
' or sword.
or else that no specimen has come down to us. Figures 50 to 53, represent the usual form of the swords corresponding to the descriptions given of the Tuatha DS Danand weapons.
rig. 60.
rig. 51.
Fig. 62.
fig. 53.
These were riveted to the hilts, as is shown by examples of complete swords found at Maintz on the Rhine, in Mecklen- burg, Lower Bavaria, and other parts of Germany, as well as
CCCclvi INTRODUCTION.
in France. Indeed the swords described by O'Curry as " flag- ger" shaped, are practically identical with the common form of the ancient British, Gaulish, and German swords.
The coig. Several types of daggers were used by the ancient Irish,
such as those having blades answering to the description of the blades or heads of the Firholg Craisech, and not unlike in general form the Anelace or Verona daggers of the fifteenth century; those having a more sword-like blade, but riveted like the preceding to a metal handle, and of which fig. 14 is an example ; and the Colg-det^ or small sword, having a tang like the sword blade, of which figures are given on p. cccclv, fitting into handles of deerhorn or walrus and narwhale tooth. The latter type seems to have been in every respect like the Claidem or sword, except that it was much smaller. The name Colg is sometimes, but incorrectly, restricted to daggers; it was a generic name for all kinds of edged weapons, especially swords. But a true stabbing poinard is not a Colg.
weTpmis : Stoucs wcrc employed as weapons of war by the ancient Irish in five ways. First as unfashioned missiles which were thrown from the hand, as was done by the Gauls, Germans, and other imperfectly armed ancient peoples, and of which we have an example in the " Flag fight of Amargin in the Tain Bo Chuailgnef^^ secondly, as specially fashioned stones, one of which was kept in the hollow of the shield, and hurled from the hand on certain occasions ; this was the Lia lamha laich, or "champion's hand-stone"; thirdly, as javelins and arrows; fourthly, as axes and hammers ; and fifthly, as sling stones.
Son's ^mra' ^ig^^^GS 54 and 55 represent typical examples of what O'Curry
ttoiie ; considered to be the Lia lamha laich or "champion's hand- stone", so fully described in the Lectures. There is however no doubt that similar stones were used as axes when inserted into handles of horn or wood, or held merely in a withe. Some stones of this shape have indeed been found having a groove about their middle by which they could be better secured by the withe. Besides these sharp stones, which might be described as hammers as well as axes, there are others which were blunt and constituted the true war-hammer.
s'" MS. H. 2, 18. f. 61, b. col. 2.
INTRODUCTION.
cccclvii
The stone war-hammer seems to have been one of the earliest The war- hammer ;
weapons of all Aryan peoples. Thor^ the war- god of the Scandinavians, and the corresponding Gaulish god Taran, are
always represented armed Avith a hammer. Although true war-ham- mers are not so frequently found in Ireland as the " champion's hand- stone" or axe, they were never- theless much used. In the account of the first battle of Magh Tuired, already referred to, and so fully described in the Lec- tures,*'^ we are told that certain Tuath Dc Danand warriors were armed with rouafh-head- ed stones held in iron swathes.®'* This is im- portant evidence that stone weapons were used by a people who knew the use of iron. The old Bohemians also used V -.jMMw a stone hammer called a Mlat, which they after- "^'^S-oi- Fig. 55. ^^^^^ replaced by one
of iron. I do not know when the Mlat was first made of iron, but there seems no doubt that the stone ones were used
8 '3 Vol. i., p. 235, etseq.
"'* The passage in which reference is made to the rough-headed stones is so important in otlier respects, that I am tempted to give the whole of it.
" Forth came the magnanimous Tuatha D^ Danand in close arrayed veteran bands, with their vengeful arms. They arranged themselves into one great red gleaming battalion, under their red-bordered, speckle-coloured, firm- clasped, well-bound shields. The order of battle was made by the leaders : they placed quick-wounding veterans on the flanks and in the front [ranks of] battle ; after them Avere placed aged warriors to aid and succour the veterans ; armed youths were drawn up near those fierce, stalwart heroes ; the Galgada and the Gdlaunra were placed in the rear of the youths ; their wise men and their seers were upon their pillar stones and upon their benches of magic.
CCCclvIii INTRODUCTION.
ham^'^'^"- ^^ Germany as late at all events as the eightli century. For we have undoubted evidence that in that century, and consequently long after iron weapons had replaced bronze ones, stone ham- mers were used by German warriors of distinction. In the oldest poem in the German language, " the Song of Hilde- brand and Hadubrand", these two warriors, armed with spear, sword, and hauberk, are described in single combat as spring- ing at each other, their stone axes clanging and hewing heavily their white shields.^'^ The term Staimbort, used in the origi- nal, shows that it was rather an axe than a hammer.®'®
If we can rely on a passage of Guillaume de Poitiers, quoted by M. de Caumont and others, the use of stone weapons — either hammers like those of the Tuailia De Danand at the battle of MagJi Tuired, or axes like those of Hildebrand and Hadubrand, came down even to the eleventh century in England, where some of the soldiers of Harold appear to have been armed with
Their poets were also there in order to recount their great deeds and write their story. Nuada likewise was in the very centre of the battle array, his warriors and chiefs gathered around him, and the twelve sons of Gabran from Scythia [together with] the sons of Nuada [himself], namely, Tvlc, Trenfer, Trenmiled, Garb, Glacedh,Gruasalt,Duirb,Fonnam,Foirst7n,Teidm, Finnargam, and Teascach. Whomsoever they wounded never again tasted of life. These are the heroes who slew the sons of Finntan ; and it was the sons of Finntan who in return slew them. Thus arranged they made a warlike crash of battle on their body-protection with rough-headed stones with iron swathes, and they rushed forward until they reached the appointed place of battle". MS. T.C.D. H. 2. 17, p. 91, et seq.
The presence of druids with an army, and the practice of necromancy by them before and during the battle, is often mentioned in ancient tales ; but this is the only instance I have met of pillar stones or benches being fixed near the field of battle for their special use. Perhaps the pillar stone alluded to in the passage quoted from the tale of the Brudin Da Derga, p. cccxxxv, was for the chief druid ; this may have also been the purpose of Carnd Lugaidh, mentioned in note 682, p. cccxxxvi, and upon which Lugad stood during the battle.
^'^ Do stoptun tosamane, staimbort chludun, Hewunharmlicco huitte scilti.
Die beiden dltesten deutschen Gedichte aus dem achten Jahrhunderf- Das Lied von Hildebrand und Hadubrand, etc., herausgegeben durch die Briider Grimm, Cassel, 1812.
^'* German Barte, as in Hallebarte, a halbert, M.H.G. Helmbaite, or in the Rhenish dialect Halumbard.
INTRODUCTION.
ccccllx
them at the battle of Hastings.^'' In the fourteenth century tiie war- the war hammer was in general use, and was often of con- siderable weight. The foot soldiers had it fixed on a long pole, whence the name "Pole-hammer", given to it in Eng- land. The horseman's hammer, or Reiterhaminer, was sliort- handled and carried at the saddle-bow, like a mace. The Bohemian iron Jllat or hammer was in use even as late as the Thirty Years' war.
Fig. 56.
Fig. 57.
Size IS almost the only characteristic for distmo-uishino- between stone javeiin
11 1 • T mi n. ■, . heads;
stone arrow heads and stone javelins. Ihe rlmt objects repre-
^'^ " Jactant Angli cuspidcs et diversorum generum tela, ssBvissimas quoque secures et lignis imiiosita saxa". Coins dantiq. mon. III. partie, p. 221. See also M. I'Abbe Cochet's La Seine- Inf^rieure Uistoriqm et Arche'olot/ique, p. 15.
cccclx
INTRODUCTION.
sented by figures 43 to 49 are certainly arrow heads; but the objects represented by figures 56, 57, aud 58, are probably the heads of light javelms included under the term Goth nada. The sling is a weapon of great an- siings : tiquity, and was formerly used by most nations. It continued in use in Europe down to the sixteenth century, when grenades were thrown with it. There were two principal forms of the sling: the simple sling, consisting of a socket or piece of leather to hold the pro- jectile, attached to two thongs or cords, the ends of which the slinger held in his hand, while he whirled the sllnar round until he had given it the highest swinging speed, when he let go one of the thongs or cords, so as to let fly the projectile; the second kind of sling was the staff- sling, called by the Germans Stock- Schleuder, and by the French Fustihale, consisting of a rod or staff about a yard long, to one end of which was attached by one of the thongs an ordinary sling. Some- times a socket or strap was attached by two strings to two points towards one end of the staff. A kind of staff sling was used in local fights in the city of Cork, down to about thirty years pig. 53.
ago, which differed somewhat from the ordinary one just des- cribed. It consisted of a flexible rod, usually an osier twig about a yard long, to one end of which was attached a string with a loop made of a thong, or sometimes simply a strip of leather. This loop or strip of leather came close up to the point of attachment of the string; the latter was shorter than the staff, and was terminated by another loop of leather. When used, a flat, and more or less round, stone was inserted between the upper loop or flat piece of leather and the rod at the point at
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxl
wliicli tliG String was fastened to the rod; tlie staff was tliensiings: caught in the right hand and bent like a bow, until the right thumb could be inserted into the lower loop. The stone was projected when the right arm was moved rapidly, as in making a sword cut, and letting slip the loop off" the thumb. The range of this instrument when used by a strong and skilful slinger was considerable.
The Deil Cits was, perhaps, the common sling; the Craim the Deti cHs; Tahail was the French Fustibale, middle Latin Fustibalus, and the German Stock- Scldeuder. All these words are equiva- lent. Crann, Fustis, and Stock mean a stick or rod, and the "bal in Tahail is cognate with the Greek (iaXXu) whence the bal in Fustibalus is derived. The Crann Tahail was, perhaps, the Crann not properly a sling, but a kind of cross-bow for shooting stones or metal balls, like the German Ballestre, and French ArhaUte d galet of the sixteenth century. The story of Fur- haid's mode of practising with his Crann Tahail, in order to make sure of not missing queen Medh, whom he intended to kill, as given in the Lectures,^'* as well as other examples of the use of the Crann Tahail, support this view. It is difficult to say what kind of sling the Tailm was ; there seems little doubt, the Taiim. however, that it was a kind of staft'-sling, perhaps like the Cork one, and for which stones of every form were not appa- rently suitable, as Liic Tailme ox " stones of the Tailm' are specially mentioned. Balls of brass and iron,^'^ and the com- position balls, or Tatlilum, made of the brains of enemies, mixed with clay, were also thrown with the Crann Tahail. These corresponded to the Glandes of the Roman slinger, and the juoXujSSiStc of the Greeks. These, which were only about the size of acorns, were, however, thrown by the common sling.
" Non ocior illo Hastn, nee excussae contorto verbere glandes".*^"
Slingers constituted an important element of the Roman,
Carthaginian, and Greek armies. Nearly the whole of the
armies of the Gauls and Germans were made up of spearsmen
and slingers. As the descriptions of the equipments of soldiers
in Irish tales are almost exclusively confined to those of the
8'8 Vol. i., p. 290. «'3 Vol. i., pp. 291, 292. «-» Ovid, Met, vii. 777.
3ccclx:
11
INTRODUCTION.
The JAirg Fersad, or " morning star".
The Suisl, or Iron Flail
cliiefs, we can only infer what that of the troops was from allusions here and there. We may, however, assume that, like the Gauls, who, according to Csesar, filled a valley with javelins and stones, the Irish armies were made up chiefly of spears- men and slingers. Even distinguished warriors were trained to the use of the Tailm, the Deil Clis, and Crann Tahail.
The Firholgs are said to have used a kind of weapon called a Lorg Fersad larain or mace, armed with iron spikes like the medieval German Morgenstem or " morning star". This is very probable, although no weapon of this description is to be found in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy. Frag- ments of such weapons have, however, been found in other countries. Figure 59 represents a curious weapon of the mace class, which, although made of bronze, O'Curry believed to be later than the Firholg iron Fersad, because the han- dle was inserted into a socket. There are several other examples of bronze maces, in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, more or less like the one represented in the figure. Linden- schmidt has also figured several of them. Bronze weapons of this kind appear to have been used in early times by all the northern peoples.
The Suist, Flail, or " Holy Water Sprinkler", though not used by the Irish, at least to any extent, was known to them at a very early period, as we find it described in the tale of the Brudin Da Derga, which is contained in a manuscript of the early part of the twelfth century. The earliest references to this weapon hitherto known do not go beyond the eleventh century. The " knout" or flail described in the Irish manu- script, is, moreover, a very perfect one, belonging to the " Armed Whip" or " Scorpion" type. Among the groups of warriors in the house of Da Derga with Conaire M6r, are three persons described as giants — Srubdaire, Concend, and Scene, who were captured by Cuchulaind in the siege of Fer
Fis. 69.
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxiii
Falqa. wlilch is supposed to have been tlie Isle of Man. So The s«Mt,
n ^ r 11 ^ • • r ^ or lion Flail.
far as one can make out Irom the obscure description ot the poisons of those giants or warriors, they were clothed in skins. The flails had seven chains, with a heavy iron ball at the end of each; there is no evidence as to whether these balls were spiked. The number seven may be a fiction due to the par- tiality of the Irish for that number; on the other hand, as many as six chains have been used on " Scorpions". The *' Scorpion" used in the Hussite wars in Bohemia usually had four chains terminated by rings.*"
The generic name of the shield in Irish was Scialh. It was made of wicker work, like the shields of the Homeric heroes
^2' The foUowiDg is the entire passage in which the flail is described; *' I saw a couch there, and three men on it, — three great large manly brave men. No one could look at them, so hideous were they — [they had] three ugly ill-shaped faces. Those who look on them are terror-stricken on see- ing them. [They have] a thick covering coat of coarse hair over their whole bodies ; their beards are curled ; their eyes are most terrific. They have three fierce Finnu Ferh, and are without clothes : they are covered all the Wiiy down to their heels. They have three great wonderful flowing heads of hair reaching down to their hips. They are furious warriors ; they ply hard-smiting swords against enemies ; they strike furiously with three iron flails, having seven chains on them, with cross pins through their eyes, and head-balls of iron — . [one] on the end of each chain ; each [ball] of them heavier than a good house- fed hog. They are three great brown men, having great black flowing poles of hair on them reaching to their two heels: two thongs, [each] one-third of an ox-hide, on the middle of each, and each quadrangular clasp that closes them is thicker than a man's thigh. The clothes they have on them is the fur which grows through them. Each man holds a tress of the long hair of his pole, and a club of iron, long and stout as the yoke of a plough, in his hand, and an iron chain at the head of each club, and an iron pin, long and stout as the middle of a yoke, in the head of each chain. They are Brucs^-^ in the house, and it is disgusting to behold them ; there is not in the house one who is not in dread of them. Identify these, 0 Ferrogan. Ferrogan paused. I can identify them. I know not of living men who they are, unless they are the three giants whom Cuchulaind saved in the Furhas Fer Folga; they killed fifty heroes when being captured ; and Cuchulaind did not allow them to be killed on ac- count of their greatness. The names of these three men are: Sruhduire son of Dordhraigli, Concend Cind Maige, and Scene, son of Scipe. Three hun- dred men shall fall by them in their first combat, and they shall accomplish equal deeds with any three men in the Brun; and if they come forth on ye, the powdered fragments of your bodies will be fit to pass through the sieve of a corn kiln, from the manner in which they will pound you with those iron flails". MS. Lehor na h- Uid/ui, p. 95, col. 2. 822 Of. Angl. Sax. brOga, O.H.G bruor/o, terror; Angl, Sax. bregdan, subigere, nectere, etc.
CCCclxiv INTRODUCTION.
Defensive and of tlie old Germanic and Scandinavian warriors, and covered
Armour:
the shield, "with scvcral kjers of skin or tanned hide, and those at least of the chiefs strengthened by a rim of metal. The Irish, like the Scandinavians, used two forins of shields, — oblong or oval and round. One form of the oblong shield was ellipsoidal, somewhat truncated at one end and pointed at the other and lower end, and sometimes slightly truncated at both ends of the longer axis. A Gallic shield sculptured on the sarcophagus found in the Vigna Ammendola, is a doubly truncated ellipsis ; that on a bas-relief on the Arch of Orange is a simple ellipsis. The originals of these sculptured shields seem to have been of metal, probably of bronze. In the British Museum there is a beautiful oblong bronze shield ornamented with the trumpet- pattern so characteristic of many ancient Irish objects; the ends are rounded and the sides curved inwards. This unique shield, which was found in the river Thames, has been described by Mr. Franks in Horae Ferales.^^^ The Meyrick collection of arms contains an oblong bronze shield found in the river Witham, the sides of which are straight.®" Osier shields were convex or bulged out in the centre. When wood replaced wicker work, they were made flat or semi-cylindrical. Hence the name ^vpeog, from ^vpa a door, given by the Greeks to such shields. This is the word used by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians (vi. 16), and which Ulphilas translates by the Gothic Skildas,^^^ so that in the fourth century there must have
«" PI. XV.
»2* Ibid. PI. xiv., Gg. 1.
®^^ Old Armoric Scoit-, or Scoet- ; Welsh (Dimetian Code), Ysgwyl; Latiu, Scut-um. The Teutonic names are: Gothic, Skildas ; Anglo-Saxon, .SceW, Scyld; Old High German, Scilt ; Middle High German, Schilt ; New High Ger- man, Schild; Old Norse Skioldr. In the account of the battle of Magh Tuired, one shield is described as a Skilda oir, or golden shield. Shllda is obviously a loan-word from some of the Teutonic forms. If Grimm's suggestion, that the Gothic Skildus may have arisen by metathesis from an older Skidlus or Skidilus, be admitted, we should have a common root for shield in the Latin, Celtic, and Teutonic languages. The Alemannian Scudilo, scutariorum, tribunus, men- tioned in Ammianus Marcellinus (14, ii.), gives considerable weight to Grimm's view. In the Venedotian Code, which rei^reseuts the Welsh of North Wales, the shield is called a Taryan; this word is very important in connection with the derivation of Target. If the latter word, as is sometimes assumed, be derived from the Arabic, we could scarcely avoid attributing a similar origin to the
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxV
been some general resemblance between the Germanic shield Forms of and the Roman Scziiiim longum, for that no doubt was the**'"' shield implied by the term ^vptog. The oblong Roman shields, with which Virgil arms his Gauls,®^* were either more or less oval or quadrangular and curved, and generally without an umbo or boss. The ordinary Scutum is said to have been Sabine rather than Roman.
The round shields which corresponded to the Greek acnrig, and the Roman Clipeus, were either bulged or flat. The bulged or convex ones, which were doubtless the oldest and largest, were made of osiers, the flat ones sometimes of osiers, but in later times more generally of wood. The general form of the bulged or convex round shields may be gathered from the term Ciiar Sgiath, a hollow humpy shield formed like the Cnacleithe or humpy cup roof, the name given to the roof of round wicker houses, such as those represented by fiff. 1, p. ccxcviii. Wood wooden
, , ^ .•^,^.'^- shields.
does not appear to nave ever replaced osier to the same extent
in Ireland as in Gaul and Germany. It is probable that
the only shields made of wood in Ireland were the small
round or slightly elliptical shields called Sciaiha Clis, or missive
shields, of which I shall speak hereafter. The wood used in
these shields appears to have been chiefly yew.^-*^ The Germans
used lime- wood for the same purpose, hence one of the nauics
of the . shield was Linde.
The round shield had usually a boss of metal, and was bound Rims of
with a rim of metal. In Norse shields the rim was of iron,
but in the descriptions of shields to be found in Irish poems
and prose tales, the material of the rim is almost always Find-
Welsh word. It is difficult, however, to admit that an Arabic name for a piece of defensive armour so well known in some shape as the shield, should have found its way into the Welsh at so early a period as to have already supplanted in the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth century the native name. Is the Old Norse Targa borrowed from the Irish Targu, or the converse ? Is the middle Latin, Targa, borrowed from the Norse or the Celtic, or these from the Latin, and if from the Latin, is Targa derived from the Latin tergoref The word Sdarga, applied to the light shields of Hughullach's horsemen (Lect. xiv., vol. i., p. 344), shows the early use of the Targu in Ireland. If the word be originally Norse, it is quite possible that it came into West Europe through the Norse commerce with the East. ®^* Mneid, viii. G62.
^-^ See for an instance of the use of this wood to make a shield, Lectures, vol. i., p. 330.
INT. 30 *
CCCclxvi INTRODUCTION
ruini.^'^'' Bronze, and even silver*^^ and gold*^® rims are, however, mentioned. Findruini was probably bronze coated with tin or some white alloy, like that of tin and lead, which, according to Pliny ,®^° the Gauls applied to articles to pi'event them from becoming coated with verdigris. Sometimes a shield had several small bosses or pinnacles, besides the large central boss. Thus Lug, son of Ethlend, is described in a passage already quoted, as having a black shield with bosses of Find- mini; and Ferdiad's great shield had no less than fifty, be- sides the central one of gold.®^^ Sometimes the coating of skins or leather was fastened to the shield — which in this case was, no doubt, always of wood — by rivets, the heads of which formed prominences on the face of the shield, like the blood- red shield of Conal Cer7iach.^^^ When the shield was made of a disc of bronze, imitations of these nail-heads were produced on the face of the shield by hammering. Sharp and The rims of some shields appear to have been scolloped or
wave- edged ^ '■ '^ *■
shields. wavc-edgod. Thus in the account of the Progress of the Ultonians to Cruachan Ai, Conal CernacJis shield is described as having a scolloped rim of Credunia or bronze.*^^ The great shield of Cuclmlaind in the Fight of Ferdiad, was also
■^'^^ Thus one of the great Ulster heroes, Laeghaire Buadach, is described in the Feast of Bricriu as having a mottled shield with a white rim of Find- ruini.— Lebur na h- Uidhri, p. lOG, col. 1. See also Lectures, i., 316.. Find- ruini is sometimes written Finnbruithne or Finnbruinni, this suggests another possible derivation, find, Jinn, white, and hruinni, boiled, tliat is a wliite tinned or plated surface. The Gaulish process of tinning the surface of metals was not unknown in Ireland.
«28 Vol. i., 316. «29 iii^^^ 317,
"^o Hist. Nat., hb. xxx,, c. 19*; lib. xxxiv., c. 48, ^^i Lectures, vol. i., p. 307.
832 « ^ blood-rt'd shield thickly speckled with rivets of Findndne between devices of gold". * » * " That blood-red sliield which is upon his hand, it is speckled with rivets of Findridni, so that Brec [i.e. speckled] is the name given to it by tlie Ultonians, i.e.Brecriu Conaill Cernacli' — Lebor na h-Vidhri, p. 90, col. 2. It is probable tliat all the shields described as " speckled", were riveted shields of tliis kind.
*** MS. Lebor na h- Uidhri, p. 100, col. 1. The only shield or target which I have met with, or seen noticed, having a scolloped or serrated rim, is a Ger- man target, of the fifteentli century, with a gauntlet and lantern attached. This target whicli belongs to the type called Rondaches, has a rim like a cog-wheel. It is now in the Musee d'Artillerie at Paris, and is figured in Demmin's Weapons of War, p. 297.
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxvIi
scolloped-cdgccl, and so sharp as " to cut a hair against a stream".*^' Shields with sharp edges are frequently men- tioned in Irish manuscripts ; the object of making the rims sharp being, no doubt, to prevent a warrior from grasping the shield of his opponent, and tearing it from his arm O' Curry thought that the Sciatha Clis, or the small shields which he calls "missive shields", were used to hurl at an enemy. It is not likely that shields were ever used for such a purpose ; the epltliet " missive" could only have been justified by their being used as bucklers against arrows and light javelins. These small shields or bucklers seem to have been flat, and to have been used by a warrior when fighting from his chariot — his large Soiath or shield being only put on when he fought on foot with his great thrusting spear and sword. The bucklers were sometimes made entirely of bronze instead of wicker work or wood covered with leather, and several examples of such round bronze shields have been found in Denmark and in Great Britain, and are to be seen in collections of arms. Shields of iron were also not unknown.®^^
A very beautiful bronze shield of this class has recently been Bronze found in a bog forming a peninsula or island in Lough Gurr**^" Museum of
O R. 1. A.
in the county of Limerick. The Eoyal Irish Academy having purchased this beavitiful shield from M. Lenihan, Esq., of Limerick, it is now in the national museum. It is a flat disc two feet three and three-quarter inches in diameter. It has six concentric rings formed by about two hundred small hollow bosses about an inch in diameter; and in the centre a large somewhat flattened boss, six inches internal diameter, called by the French Omhilic d^Umho, and by the Germans the Schildnahel. The rim is an inch and three-quarters in width. The handle is fastened across the back of the central boss. On the back of the shield in the third circle from the rim are two bits of bronze so riveted that the heads of the rivets
8" LecU, vol. i., p. 301.
8^* Iliad), son of Cas, is described as having an iron shield.
8^8 Anciently Loch Gair. A Dun on the hill of Doon over tlie lake was erected, or strengthened by Brian Borumlia in the tenth ceniury. U'he island spoken of in the text, and which is now connected to the mainland by the peat bog in which the shield was found, was also Ibrtitied by liitn.
30* B
cccclxvili
INTRODUCTION.
Bronze fhield in Museum of R. I. A.
Fig. 60. form two of the small obverse bosses. These bits of bronze served to sling the shield over the shoulders. Figures 60 and 61
Fig. 61.
^
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxix
represent the face and back of this shield. The central boss or umbilicus of some Irish shields must have been formed by a spike Avhich could be thrust into the face of an enemy. This was perhaps the Gilech citach coicrindi or flesh mangling cup- Gilech or cup-spear, which was on the speckled blow-dealing shield of Laeghaire Buadach.^^^
Very large shields are mentioned in Irish manuscripts. Large shield Thus, the Dam Dahach^ or " ox-tub" shield, under which Irish. queen Medh concealed herself while looking on Cuchulaind while boasting before her army, must have been of ample size ; the name indeed implies that the cavity of the shield was as large as a tub that would contain an ox.*^® The great black red shield of Cuchidaind himself, in the hollow of which we are told a full-grown hog would fit f"^^ and the great shield of Ferdiad, which had fifty bosses on it besides the central one.®*" The North Germans also used very large shields, German and
•^ , *= ' Danish
which, while they continued to be made of osiers, were most sweids. probably of the same shape as the Irish SciatJi. Those Ger- man shields were covered with metal plates, and had no bosses, which seems to have been the rule everywhere with the ancient long Sciaths, while round shields were usually bossed. If this view be well founded, Cuchulaind's shield must have been oblong, and Ferdiad^s round and comparatively flat. The Danish shields seem to have been round, and of the citach- cleithe or humpy shape, with a spike in the centre. The Frankish and Anglo-Saxon shields probably belonged to the same type. In one of the miniatures of the Codex Aureus, a manuscript of the eighth or ninth century, now in the library of St. Gall, there is a representation of a round shield, having a boss and ribs apparently of metal, answering com- pletely to the description of the ribbed-shields of the Irish. The figures are dressed in what may be called the Irish fashion.
8" Leb. na h- Uidhri, p. 106, col. 1 2. ]
8'^ According to a passage in the Tain Bo Clmailgne in the Book of Lein- ster (MS. H. 2, 18, T.C.D., f. G7 a. (n etc 68 a.), col. 2), the soldiers of Queen Medb protected her in her retreat after the last battle of the Tain by mak- ing a Dam Dahach with their shields. That is the Testudo of the Eoman soldiers. The Dam Dahach of the text was probably the same thing. »39 Vol. i., 301. «" Ibid., p. 307.
CCCclxX INTRODUCTIOy.
Colours of Tlie custom of painting or colouring shields, wliicli Tacitus ascribes to the Germans,®"* was common to all the nations of northern Europe. In Ireland this custom came down to at least the eleventh century, as we find that the Dalcassians, or North -Munster clans, at the battle of Clontarf, had " bright, many coloured shields, with bosses of red bronze".®"^ The most usual colours were white, crimson-red, brown-red, yellow, and black. The ancient Germans and Scandinavians had chiefly white and red shields. The Cimbrian horsemen had white shields/'*^ White shields are frequently mentioned in the Norse Saga,*"" and were looked upon as a symbol of peace. The white FiUliskjOldr, when held vip, was a sign of truce. On the other hand, red was a symbol of war, and therefore the favourite colour of distinguished warriors. White appears to have been a common colour of Irish shields, at least in time of peace, as a curious passage in the tale of BricrkCs Feast seems to show.*"* One of the shields, painted white in the passage here referred to, was that of Cnchidaind. When- ever that warrior appears in battle, however, his shield is crim- son or brown-red. Sencha, the poet and judge of the Ultonians, is described in the Tdi7i B6 Chiiailgne with a white shield, as if that colour was emblematic of the functions of a judge.
Ornamented The shields of the ancient Irish appear to have been
shields. ^
ornamented with devices which seem to have been peculiar, if not to each Tuath, at least to each chief, as is indicated by the legend of the shield-smith Mac Enge, narrated in lecture xv.*"" According to this legend, the Ultonian knights of Conchobar Mac JVessa determined that each of them should have a silver shield with differently designed devices. When Cuchu-
*" " Scuta tantum lectissimis, coloribus distinguunt" — Germ., vi.
8i« Vol. i. p. 3-t8. 843 piut, in j^^j, 25.
8" Atlaq., 7 ■ Svenis saga , c. 117 ; Haralds saga Itarf., c. 19; Olafs Saga Mns helga, c. 55.
**'^" And they [i.e. Lceghaire Buadacit, Conall Cernach, and Cuchulaind'] took up their shields then, and they drew their swords to encounter each other, so that one side of the kingly hou^e became a burning mass of fire from the nfulgence of the swords and the edges of the Gais ; and the other side as one white sheet from the cailc (chalk) of the shields". MS. Lebor na h-Uic/kiri, p. 101, col. 2.
*" Vol. i. p. 329.
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxxi
laind, who happened to be at the time in Scotland, returned and saw what was being done, he ordered Mac Eiige to make a shield for himself. This shield was cast in a mould formed of forge ashes, the designs being made by means of an instru- ment described as a fork, but which was manifestly a compass. These shields were, no doubt, pageant shields, the device upon Avhich corresponded to the later coats of arms. The devices were, probably, at that time personal, as among the old Norse, and not hereditary, as they subsequently became, The gloss quoted by O'Curry**'' on Liimman, one of the names for a shield in Irish, which explains that word to be Leoman, a lion, may likewise be referred to here. I, however, attach very little value to this gloss written in the year 1390, when the use of armorial devices on shields was universal.
Rims, bosses, ribs, and devices of bronze, silver, and even shields
TiT'ii 1 1 ornamented
gold, are liberally bestowed by Irish legendary story on the with shields of princes and heroes, gold being especially combined metais, etc. with red, as was the case among the Norse also. These legends were, however, unquestionably based on truth. We know that the shields of the Norse were sometimes ornamented with enamel.*^** The dark blue richly gilt shield of Thorleif Kim- hrif^'^ and the shield divided into compartments by ribs of gold and precious stones, and having each of the compartments of the shield so formed, painted with pictures from the old saga, bestowed by Hakon Jarl of Norway, on Einar Skallaglam, in reward for his poem of the Vellekld, show that the use of gold and gems for adorning shields was not confined to Irish story. Irish princes also sometimes bestowed shields on poets, shields pre-
1 /. T n /^ 11 • n c 1*11 1 sented to
as we learn from the story of Corbs gilt ot a shieia to the poet poets. Ferberna, son of Eegaman, related in the Lectures,^'" It would appear from the legend referred to, that when a warrior was buried, his body was sometimes covered with his shield
Shields, like swords and spears, were heirlooms, and were shields were handed down as such through several generations, or passed from one warrior to another as valuable trophies. The shields
8" Lect. XV., vol. i., p. 327.
8*8 The Smdlir S/aldir of Greltis Su^a (c. 59), and others. 8*9 Eyrbijfjcjja Saga, c. 13. ^so Vol. i. 327.
ccccl
XXll
INTRODUCTION.
Defensive Armour :
of great warriors were also personified, and received often ex- pressive and poetical names. Thus, Concliohar Mac Nessds shield was the Ochone Chonchobair, or " Conchobar's groaner", Celtcarsy the Comla CatJia, or "gate of battle".^^'
The Romans at a comparatively early period were ac- quainted Avith metallic defensive armour. Coats of mail were already in such general use in the time of Augustus, that Virgil could, without committing too glaring an anachronism, make Helenus present ^neas with a
" Loricam consertam hamis auroque trilicem".*^*
the Lorica, The Hastati, or legionary soldiers, at the commencement of thei{omans;the Christian era wore a bronze or brass cuirass, composed of a corslet and shoulder pieces, greaves, and an iron or leather helmet. The horsemen wore a flexible cuirass, which was made of iron or bronze scales sewed on linen or leather — the Lorica squamata, or of metal chains — the Lorica hamata, at least this was so in the time of Trajan and Septimus Severus. The Gauls must have acquired at an early period a know- ledge of the defensive armour of the different Mediterranean civilized nations, and when they came under the dominion of not used at Romc, must have adopted the Roman armour. It is not prob- able that the Germans had any defensive armour, except the shield, before their contests with the Romans. Although Plu- tarch states that the Cimbrian cavalry wore bronze armour,®*' yet, in the time of Tacitus, scarcely any of the western Ger- mans wore cuirasses or helmets.*** It is probable, however, as Weinhold*** suggests, that the Cimbrian armour was Gaulish booty. A tribe of eastern Germans, the Quadi, wore cuirasses of plates or scales of horn, the knowledge of which came not subse-- from the Mediterranean countries, but from their Sarmatian adopted by neighbours.^"'' Other eastern Germans are spoken of by Taci- tus himself as wearing hauberks of leather or iron.**^ The
*^' Several names of shields are given in the Lectures, vol. i. p. 333. »52 Mneid, iii. 467. »"' Marius, 25.
851 "Paucis loricae: vix uni alterive cassis, aut galea" — Germ.,y\.\ Annal., ii. U.
*^^ AUnordisches Leben, p. 209.
^"^ Amm. Marcel., 17, 12. **' Tacitus, Hist., i. 80; Strabo, vii. 3, 17.
used by the Gauls ;
first by ancient Uermans;
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxxiii
manufacture of a suit of armour for a chief merely implies the existence of one or more skilled smiths, but not necessarily a high condition of the metallurgic arts. On the other hand, the general use of armour by considerable bodies of troops affords a certain proof of a highly developed metallurgy. This explains the slowness with which the use of metallic defen- sive armour penetrated into northern Europe. In the ninth Anglo saxon
•*■ • 1 1 1 T cuirass;
century the Anglo-Saxons wore only a tunic or hauberk made of hides, which fitted close to the body, and the lower end of which was indented or cut into the form of leaves. Hence, the name Cuirass (German Kiirass, Italian Corazza), from the Latin Corium through the French Cuire, leather. The chiefs and distinsfuished warriors had their cuirasses covered with rings of iron sewed flatly side by side. This ringed hauberk was borrowed from the Gauls. The French called it Mael, from the verb mailler, to hammer, which is itself derived from the Latin malleare. From the French 31ael has come the Enijlish word mail, as in coat of mail. The hauberk or shirt the Broigne,
orhaulieik;
of mail was called in Old French Broigne^ Brunie, Provencal, Bronha, and in medieval Latin of the year 813, Brugna. The Gothic name was Brunjo^ Old High German Brunjd, Modern High German Brimne, Anglo-Saxon Byrne, Old Saxon Briinjo, Old Norse Brynja, Old Slavonic Brnja, Bronja. All these words are evidently but modifications of one primitive supposed
", . (-,1 • ^ t-i ■ derivations;
form: was this Celtic, Teutonic, or Slavonic? Grimm pro- nounced in favour of the Teutonic, the Gothic form, according to him, being derived from Brinnan, to glitter, to burn. Dobrowsky,**'* and before him Frisch,^'^ looked upon the Sla- vonic forms as the j arents of all, and pointed out the existence of several cognate words in the Old Slavonic, e.g. braniti, to fight, Polish hromc\ Iron', a weapon. That Grimm's deriva- tion cannot be the true one is evident from the following consi- derations. The earliest cuirasses were not made of shining metal plates, but of dull leather, and consequently could not derive their name from their metallic lustre ;^^" even after bronze and iron armour came into use, the greater part of the defensive
^** Institudones linguan slavicce, 115. ^^^ Deutsch- lutein. Worterhuch i. 146. *^" See Weinhold, Altnordisches Lehen, 209.
/
CCCclxxiv INTRODUCTION.
armour continued to be made of leather ; the hauberks called by the Saxon, Anglo-Saxon, and several other cognate forms of the name Brunjo, were undoubtedly made of leather ; and lastly, as metallic armour first reached the western and northern Germans through Gaul, it is very likely they borrowed the name as well as the thing itself from the Gauls.
The Gothic Bnmjo was a hauberk, a jacket, or rather shirt, which protected the back and breast, as the German form of true derira- the word clearlv indicates — Halshera, " neck protector". Now
tion— Bntme , "^ cr ' i.
the breast, the Irish name for the part of the neck and breast protected by the Brunjo or hauberk, is called Bruine, which comes very close to the old French form of the name of the hauberk, Broigne, and Brunie. I believe that the name of the armour came from that of the part protected, like the Greek 0wpas, and that the Gaulish form of the Irish Bruine, was the true parent of Brunjo and all the sister forms in European languages.
Defensive The foregoing brief sketch of the gradual spread of defen-
armour for , .
the body of sivc armour into north Europe enables us to understand the
the Irish. _ , ....
position of the ancient Irish in this respect. With the exception of the reference to the " crash of battle on their body-protec- tion with rough-headed stones", quoted in a note, p. cccclviii. I have not met with any reference to defensive armour, except the shield, in the account of the first battle oi'lfagh Tuired.^^ In the fragment of the 7am Bd Chuailgne in the vellum manuscript, Lehor na h-Uidhri, we are told that Loch, a warrior who fought on the side of queen Medh, and who was slain in single combat by Cuchulaind, had defensive armour.®*^^ In the account of the fight of Cuchulaind and Ferdiad, which is found in the more complete copy of the Tain, in the Book of Leinster, both the combatants are described as using defensive armour of leather. Cuchulaind'' s, for instance, consisted of a cuirass made from seven well-tanned ox hides, and a waist- piece*®^ made of the backs of four full-grown well-tanned ox
*^' See vol. i., p. 253, as to defensive armour of the Fomorians at the second battle of Magh Tuired.
863 u j2g g^gj ^.jjg Gae-Bolg at Loch, and it pierced the protection of his body, for Loch had a Conganchnes when fighting with men", p. 71, col. 1.
883 Berrbrocc, the Vorderschurz of the Germans, and the large Brayette of the French.
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxXV
hides.®" Ferdiad, in addition to a waist-piece of leather, had one also of iron. No mention is made of his cuirass in the description, which is very imperfect in other respects also.*" After the Roman occupation of Britain, the Irish must have obtained metallic defensive armour as booty during their fre- quent expeditions. But notwithstanding this source, and the great abundance of bronze in Ireland, there seems very little doubt that until about the tenth century very little defensive armour was used even by the chiefs.
I could not well end this section " On the Weapons of War of the Ancient Irish", without saying something about their chariots, notwithstanding that the materials for such a purpose are not only scanty, but also obscure. We need not discuss whether the ancient Irish used wheeled carriages, as The ancient the frequent reference to chariots in the oldest tales, and in wheeled car- the Irish lives of the saints, and their sculptured representa- tions on the most ancient of our monumental crosses, place the matter beyond dispute. That these wheeled vehicles were used for war as well as for peace is also undeniable ; but from they were •
■•• _ _ , , used in peace
the brief and imperfect descriptions of the vehicle wdiich the and war. great warlike champions used — descriptions of the common vehicles of the country are, of course, not to be expected — the use of war chariots belongs, perhaps, altogether to Irish heroic times, and certainly not to a later period than the second or third century of the Christian era.
There are only four Irish names for vehicles having any ii-ish names pretension to antiquity : Cap, Carr, Fen, or Fedhen and Carpat. The first of these. Cap, is mentioned in a gloss in Cormac on Ca- pall, one of the names for horse : " Capall, that is, Capp a Carr, the Cap; and Pell, a horse". It also occurs in the following passage in the second part of the Introduction to the Amra CoLuim Cille: *' j\lay thy Leacht be in a shroud after thy fight — A silken motion.
®^* Lectures, vol. i., p. 301.
*fi^ In the " Fight of Ferdiad" (vol. ii. App. p. 450-451) I have translated Conyanchnes " Skin protecting armour" ; but Congna (plural of Congan) certainly means horns {Lebor na h-Uidhri, p. 63, col. 1). Did Ferdiad and Loch (see note 862, p. cccclxxiv.) wear cuirasses of plates of horn like the German Quadi ? This suggests a very interestmg line of inqidry which I cannot enter upon here.
CCCclxXvl INTRODUCTION.
Tlij wife, O man, shall be borne in a Cap (bier) after aPeW — To her native church".*'®® M. Pictet compares the word to the Greek Kawavri, a Thessalian vehicle, and refers it to the Sanskrit root, cap, camp, to go, etc.
the Ccrr; The second word is, so far as I know, always applied in Irish manuscripts to a kind of sledge or cart without wheels, for farm produce, the first kind of vehicle among all primitive nations, such as the Helice of the Greeks, and the Traha, Trahea, or Traga of the Komans. The Carr Sliunain (cf. German Schleife) or sliding car, used in moun- tainous districts, and the variety of it consisting of a low nar- row frame work, provided with two low wooden tympana, or solid wheels, which I believe is still used on soft meadow lands and bogs in remote districts, brings down the tradition of this primitive vehicle to the present time.^®' The stem Car is pro- bably common to the Latin, the Germanic, and the Celtic lan- guages ; at all events, there is no reason to suppose that the Irish Carr is a loan-word from the Latin Carrus. We have no means
the Fedhen of determining what kind of vehicle the Fm was. Zeuss gives
or F'^n ' ^
the word glossed by Plaustrum, but whether in a special or ge- neral sense, it is, of course, impossible to say ; if in the former, it would mean a framework with tympana or disc wheels, and upon which could be loaded hay or other articles, that is, a simple cart. When a body of wicker work was placed on the frame work called a Plaustrum, it was a Benna. It is more pro- bable, however, that the gloss was general, and meant that Fen was used as was somc kind of waffon or cart. Whatever may have been
a bier or " •/
hearse. the exact shape of the Fen, it seems to have been the special vehicle used as the bier or hearse of kings and warriors, and
^56 fiob e •oo tecc i fA)\ce lAp "oo neic — Seol -pnxAicce.
TlUCCAp 1 CApp in'OIA'O'O -jbill, 'Oo[f]lAACC & fCAlL, —
"OiA CAenicill. — Leb. na h-Uidhri, p. 6, col. 2.
Farthe, a shroud, is glossed " soon", and is sometimes understood to mean before the shroud of night passes oflF the sun, that is, at early dawn. Seol siraichthe, a silken motion, means that the dying person may glide softly from life. Fracc, wife, cf . O.H.G. frouwa, frowd, etc., a woman, the goddess Fruu, N.H.G., Foran, wife. Swedish, Danish, and New Lower German Froken, a young girl, the Gothic proper name in Smaragdus, Froia, Froga.
^'^ See Ante, p. ccccxliii.
lNTRODUCTIO^f. cccclxxvli
was drawn by two, four, or six horses, or oxen. It some- times appears to have been also borne on the shoulders of men ; but in such cases it was a temporary bier made like the body of a Fen Fen is related to the old Norse Vaqn Ano-lo- Fin related
to A Siix
Saxon Waegn, whence English Wagon, Old High German ^vaegn; Wagan, New High German Wagen (cf. Lat. vehere), a re- lationship which is confirmed by the existence of the Irish form, Fedhen. Fen is not related to Bemia, derivative forms of which are to be found in most Romance and Germanic languages, although there may, at first sight, appear to be some affinity between them. Another word, which has been connected not related with Fen, is Covinus, or Covinnus; hut I agree in opinion with
86 »
Diefenbach, that such a relationship is not certain.^
The name given in all the old tales to the vehicle used fortheCarpa/,- the conveyance of persons and for war is Carpat, which I believe to be a loan-word from the Latin Carpentum. It is true, much may be said against this view. The ending of Carpentum has a Gaulish asj)ect, and there is the town name Carpentoracte.^^^ Florus alludes frequently to the Carpentum in connection with Celtic, and perhaps also Germanic, peoples.*'"'' I think too much importance is often given to passages of this kind. Roman writers, describing the vehicles of other nations, did, no doubt, what a modern English writer does in nine cases out of ten : he used the common names of vehicles, with which he was familiar at home, that he thought would best convey an idea of the objects he was describing. The mere fact of Propertius calling the British chariots Esseda, and of Cicero and Caesar speaking of British Fssedarii, is not enough to prove that the word Essediim is British. It may merely prove that the Britons had a kind of war-chariot like one which was known to the Romans by the name of Essedum, — a name which may have originally belonged to the Romans them- selves, or have been borrowed from some other people. Pomponius Mela, who lived some time after Caesar, calls perhaps the same kind of vehicle a Covinus, that Caesar calls an
*^^ Origines Europceae, p. 302.
8B9 Pliny, Hist, Nat., iii. c. 5. The British Kap/SavTopiyov does not seem to have anything to do with Carpentum. 8^" I. c. 18,27 ; III., c. 3, 10, IC, and 17.
cccclxxviii introduction.
Essedum, and says not one word of the latter. Virgil, tlie contemporary of Propertius, makes the Essedum Belgic, while Lucan, who lived about the same time as Pomponius Mela, makes the Covinus also Belgic. The Carpentum was known in ancient times in Rome, and was employed in the religions ceremonies of the Romans, a strong proof that the name at least was Latin. If Carpat was a native Irish word, we should expect to find the equivalent of it among the Welsh in the form Carhmit; but the Welsh have only Cerhyd, name and whicli is obviouslv a loan-word from Irish. The word Carpat,
vehicle "^ _ r i
Roman. and perhaps also the vehicle so called, were borrowed by the Irish after the Roman occupation of Britain. The Welsh form of the word was borrowed from the Irish when Wales was conquered in the fifth century by the northern Britons, and the language and traditions of the north were imposed upon the ancient inhabitants of Wales. Names of The namcs of only few parts of the Carpat are to be
Carpat; fouud in tlic dcscriptious in the tales. The frame of the chariot, and no doubt of all wheeled carriages, was called the i\iQ Fonnad; Fonnad.^''^ The capsus, or body was called the Cret, and the Cret or somctimes the Cull or the Cloin, and was generally, if not always, made of seasoned wicker work, a circumstance which suggests a connection between Cret and the Latin crates, the wheels; wliencc the English crate.^'^'^ There were two names for the wheel, Droch and Eoth ; the former is practically the same as the Greek Troch-os (rpoxog), and the latter as the Latin Hota. Chariot wheels were made of bronze or of iron ; the former was the older material, and seems to have been only traditionally remembered when the principal tales took the^r
8?i '< ^ Fonnad without a Cull, i.e., a chariot without a Cloini'\ Bruighean Da Choga, MS. H. 3, 18, p. 708.
^'^^ The following is tlie description of Cuchulaind's chariot, given in the tale called Tocmorc Emere, Courtship of Emer : " A chariot, withe-wickered, two bright bronze wheels ; a white pole of briglit silver, with a veining oi Fiiulrvini ; a very high creaking Cret, or body, having its firm sloping sides ornamented with Cred (literally it of Cred, firm curved) ; a back-arched (dritmnech) rich golden yoke ; two rich-yellow peaked Alls; hardened sword- straight axle- spindles". Leb. na h- Uidhri, p. 122, col. 2. See for the probable meaning of Cred, ante note, p. ccccix.
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxxix
present form, the material then in general use being iron.®" The chariot wheel, whether called a Drocli or a Roth, was not a mere disc, but had spokes. I know of only one passage from whence the number of spokes can be inferred : in this instance the number is five."* The names of the nave, spokes, felloes, and tire are not mentioned so far as I know, and there is con- sequently no evidence as to whether wheels, made of a num- ber of felloes and bound with a single iron tire, were known in pagan times. Even if wheels made of wooden felloes were kno-\\Ti, it is very imlikely that they were bound with a single rinsf or tiro of iron ; at least, better evidence than is now available would be necessary before we could admit such a conclusion. It is better to assume, in the absence of positive evidence, that the surface of the wheel was protected, as among most ancient peoples, by a number of iron straps riveted on.
The axle-tree is not mentioned, but the axle-spindles aretheaxie-tree. always described as hardened sword-straight Fertsi (sing. Fertas). Although this word in descriptions of the chariot
'^' The wheels of Cuchulaind's chariot are sometimes macle of iron ; thus, in describing his onslaught on the forces of Medb, with his scythed chariot, we are told in the Tain Do Chuailgne : " As the iron wheels of the chariot, sank into the ground, for they passed in the same way through mud, pillar stones, rocks, and loose flags, so that its track would be sufficient to make a Cladh criche or territorial boundary". Leb. na h-Uidhri, p. 8, col. 2.
*^* The passage in question is the description of Cuchulaind's chariot in the Siabur Charpat Conchulaind: The Phantom Chariot of Cuchulaind. "A stately Brog after that pair ; two firm black wheels ; two symmetrical five-spoked wheels ; hardened sword-straight axle-spindles ; two pliant beautiful reins ; a pole of bright silver, with veinings of F'mdruini ; a strong back-arched rich golden yoke ; a purple awning or roof, and green hangings". Lab. na h- Uidhri, p. 113, col. 1.
The word Brog is perhaps only used figuratively for a chariot in tlie pre- ceding passage ; it seems to mean generally a high or commanding seat, and sometimes a citadel (cf. A. Sax. brdga, terror). In the following passage from the tale of the " Flight of Elain and the discovery of Sidh Mac Occ by Midir of Bri Ltith", Brog may mean either a house or a chariot, inas- much as it was customary to fix the heads of slain enemies on the front of the war chariot as well as over the porch of a house. Bni in either case would mean the front or brow, cf. A. Sax. hruwa, brow: "The Mac Occ went forth on the track of Fuaman, and overtook her on Oenach Badhgnai at the house of Bresal, between the arms of the druid. The Mac Ccc struck her and beheaded her, and he brought away her head and placed it on the Brii of the Brog". Leb. na h-Uidhri, p. 12i), col. 2.
cccclxxx
INTRODUCTION.
almost always means an axle-spindle, it had also the general
signification of a bar or pole of wood or metal, and in one
place, at least, means the pole of the chariot ;*" the true
the s ihhe or name of the latter was, however, Sitbhe. The pole must have
pole; ' ' . ,. .
been always made of wood, notwithstandmg that, in the de- scriptions of the pageant chariots of the Ulster heroes, it is sometimes said to be of briirht silver, and in other instances to have been mounted in silver and ornamented with veinings of Findruini. The mountings consisted, we may presume, of the bolt rings and carved end, with which ancient poles were the simple ornamented. There were two names in Irish for the yoke — Mam
yoke or ,,.,.,
■4^<'«'«; and Cuing; the former seems to have been applied to the simple
straight yoke, known to all primitive peoples, and used by the
Romans even in the time of Ovid.^''^ The Cuing was the curved
yoke, and was introduced, according to the traditions preserved
in Irish manuscripts, by the monarch Eochaid Airem,^^^ whose
reign is placed by Irish annalists about the end of the second
century B.C. Its traditional introduction is thus brought
the curved almost within the period when the Irish came into direct con- yoke or ■"■ „.,,..
cuiug; tact witli tlic Romaus. The yoke of a warrior s chariot is always called a Cuijig, never a Mam. The curved, as well as the simple yoke, was, no doubt, made of wood. In the pageant chariots, the curved yoke is sometimes described as dron-orda, or strong or rich-golden, dron-argda, strong or rich- silvery. These terms are merely intended to give an idea of what the writer conceived would be a splendid chariot. The epithet drwnnech, applied to the yoke of the pageant chariots of Cuchidaind and the other Ulster heroes, would seem to show that a very perfect curved, arched yoke, adapted to the shape of the horse's back, was known at a comparatively early period.
the Pupau In one account, at least, of pageant chariots, mention is "'made of a Fupall, or awning,"^ which, in the case of Cuchu-
*^^ LeboT na h-Uidhri, p. 122, col. 1.
*^^ " Tempore ruricolae patiens fit taurus aratri
Praebet et incurvo colla premenda jugo". Trist.,iv. El. 6.
®'' Courtship of Etain, MS. Leb. na h- Uidhri.
®'* In the Tain Bo Chuailgne, PupaJl generally means a tent, a meaning which is quite in harmony with its specific use, as the name of the cover or awning of a chariot.
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxXXl
laind'a chariot, was purple ; this chariot is also stated to have had Fortche iianide, green hangings, so that it was not unlike ih^ Forirhi a fashionable Eoman lady's Carpentum. The word Pupall """'' is a loan-word from the Latin papilio, and proves the Eoman origin of this part at least of the Irish chariot. The chariots of Laeghaire Buadach and Conal Cernach have no Pupall, but instead, a Blath neii nete gnaith, a bird plume of the usual feather."' Awnino-s or coverings, made of the winofs of birds, the bird were also put on ladies' Grianaiis, or sunny chambers, as we learn from the account of Credes Grianan, given in the Lectures. ^^'' The Saxon ladies used to protect their straw hats with a green branch, but soon learned to substitute for it a fan-like umbrella of peacocks' feathers,*" evidently borrow- ing the fashion from their western neighbours, among whom it must have been a sufficiently ancient custom to have found its way among the Irish, perhajDS even in pagan times.
One of the most obscure terms applied to parts of the the dii, chariot is the All. We find it used in two different senses, in the account of Laeqhaire Buadaclis chariot. We are first '^i two told that it had dan alln debda imndissi, two pliable beautiful Alls; here the latter word certainly means reins. But fur- it was a
i"cins
ther on we are told that the chariot had dan alln dualcha dron
7idi, two rich yellow All dualach. Here the yi^Z, coupled oi- an eye for
• Till! • • the reins to
With dualach, means, there is very little doubt, the projecting p^ss
^^^ Findahair (fair browed), daughter of Medb, seeing from her Grianan the Ultonian heroes advancing towards the royal Dun of Cruachan, describes Conal Cernach's chariot : " A chariot wythe-wiclcered ; two bright bronze wheels ; a white pole, richly mounted in silver ; a very high creaking body ;
a back-arched, strong proud yoke ; two rich- yellow peaked All A
bird plume of the usual feather over the Creit Cro of the chariot" — Progress of Ultonians to Cruachan Ai. Leb. na h-Uidhri, p. 105, col. 2. The Creit Cro was the highest part of the chariot, where the champion stood when he wished to show himself, and where his arms were hung conspicuously.
Findahair, on the same occasion, thus describes Laeghaire JBuadack's chariot : " A chariot wythe-wickered ; two firm black wheels ; two phant beautiful reins ; hardened sword-straight axle-spindles ; a new fresh-pohshed body ; [a. back-arched, richly silver-mounted yoke ; two rich-yellow peaked Alls A bird plume of the usual feather over the body of the chariot".
880 Vol. i.
8'' Schmeller, Baier. Wiirterhuch, i. oil ; and Weinhold, Die deutschen Frauen, 45.
INT. 31*
CCCclxXxii INTRODUCTJON.
pins or eyes tlirough which the reins passed, and which were sometimes so made as to form conspicuous ornaments on the yoke. When there were separate yoke-saddles fastened to the yoke, the eyes or rings were on them, and the whole then formed the All. In this sense the A II dualach was almost iden- tical with the Cuirpi dualach^ peaked straddle, used in modern times, with the Carr sluinain, or sliding car, and not unlike the basket straddle, which may still be seen in remote districts. An occurrence is narrated in the story called the " Progress of the Ultonians to Cruachan Ai\ which clearly proves that the All, in one case at least, must have been what I have just case where dcscribcd. A mythological person called Buan, daughter of leins. Samer, persecutes Cuchulaiiid on his way to Emania with
the other Ulster heroes, and at length jumps upon the Faris of the chariot, "so that the small of her back came upon the All, and she died of it, and hence Uaig Buana, Buan's grave, is so called". As Buan was in advance of Cuchidamd, cut- ting ravines across his path, and doing other mischief, she must have sj)rung from the front upon the advancing chariot, with the object of reaching the Furis or seat of the chariot, and not fully succeeding, she fell back on the projections on the yoke. This is the only place that I know of where the Furis is mentioned. Whether it is the champion's seat, or the low seat of the charioteer, which might have served as a kind of step for mounting into the vehicle, I have no means of determining.**^
The Carpats, of which I have been speaking in the fore- going account, appear to have been the ordinary war chariots, as well as the vehicles which were used for travelling, and for appearing at fairs and other places of public assembly. Cu- The scythed ckulaind had, however, a special war chariot, the Cath Carpat
**^ The following important gloss upon the word Cruan, which I have else- where (vol. ii. app. n. 534, p. 486) concluded to be either enamelled metal or some alloy, and which I have since found to have generally meant amber, or amber set as a gem with coloured enamels, jiroves in the clearest way that All. was sometimes, as I have suggested in the text, a projection of some kind :
C]\UAn .1. jeAt ; ACAf niAicne .i. "oeApg, uc efc c]\i cacca n-Abb cjmi- AiiiiiAiciiec \\w. C\\\.\M^, i.e. white; and niAicne, i.e. red, ut est three times tifty Abb of CiMKMi niAiciiec ujjon them.— i>/,S'. II. 3. 18. p. 624.
INTRODUCTION, CCCclxXxiil
serda, or scythed battle-chariot. The only description of this chariot ■with which I am acqviaintcd is that given in the Tain B6 Chuailgne,^^^ and it is almost unintelligible. If the description is to be depended on, it was armed with tiic scythed spikes and scythes, and covered over with moveable plates, somewhat of the nature of mail, which could be opened so as to afford air and light to those within, while it pro- tected them flora the projectiles of the enemy. The horses of the chariot were also provided with some sort of protec- tive armour. We are told in the tale that Laegh, Cuchu- laincCs charioteer, threw over his horses their long iron loricas, which covered them from the points of their noses to the curves of their tails, and which were studded all over with spikes and lances and skewers, so that the horses and chariot itself slew the enemy as well as the battle champion himself. The epithet serda indicates the general character of the wea- pons with which this war chariot was armed, as it is very closely related to the Anglo-Saxon sceran, to shear or cut, whence old English sheres, modern English shears,
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.
Like other departments of ancient Irish histoiy and archae- ology, the study of music has sufl'ered from the views of those who attributed every vestige of civilization to the Phenicians, or of those who believed Ireland to have been in ancient and medieval times an isolated corner of the world, unaffected by neighbouring nations, and in return exerting no influence on them. Imperfect as may be the picture of the social and poli- tical organization of the Irish, which I have endeavoured to give in the foregoing pages, it is sufficient to show that, in- stead of seeking baseless Phenician or remote and doubtful Mediterranean affinities, oui nearest neighbours are likewise our nearest relatives. This view is likewise borne out by the study of Irish music, which, as I hope to show in the following pages, throws light on the history and archaeology of music in Europe, and receives in return elucidation from the latter. My subject naturally divides itself under two heads: 1, musi-
««3 Lebor mi h-Uidhri, p. 80, col. 1 ; and MS. II. 2, 18, T.C.D.
31*B
CCCclxXxIv INTRODUCTION,
cal instruments ; and 2, nature of the music played upon them. I shall begin with the musical instruments.
Irish musi The instruments described or mentioned in the Lectures are
ments^ the following: 1, stringed instruments played with the fingers — the Cruit, the Psalterium, the JVabla, the Organum, the Ochttedach ; 2, stringed instruments played with a bow — the Timpan, the fiddle; 3, wind instruments — Bermbuabhal, Corn, Cuisle Feadan, Buine, Guthbuiiie, Stoc, Sturgan, Pipai; 4, percussive instruments — Crotals, Clocca; 5, undetermined in- struments— Craebh ciuil and Crann ciuil.
1. Stringed instruments played with the fingers.
The Crut The first name in this list of instruments, Crut, though sometimes applied to other stringed instruments, appears to be always the special name of the harp in Irish manuscripts. For reasons which will be evident to the reader as he proceeds, a brief history of the harp and other polychord instruments of antiquity, forms a necessary preface to any inquiry into the history of the Irish harp.
TheKgyp Thc harp is one of the most ancient of musical instruments;
it is represented in the sculptures in a tomb near the pyramid of Gizeh belonging to the fourth dynasty of Egyptian kings, which must be at least three or four thousand years old. Those early sculptured harps are ruder than those of the later monuments, and had, as well as can be made out, about six to eight strings, which were also somewhat differently fastened from those in the later harps. The other harps repre- sented on the Egyptian monuments vary much in size, form, and number of strings. They were frequently of a large size, sometimes even more than the height of a man, and were ornamented with flowers, especially of the lotos, or with fancy devices. The harps of the royal minstrels were splendidly fitted up and adorned with the head of the monarch himself. Some harps of Osirtasen I., who reigned B.C. 1700, and who is believed by some to be the Pharaoh who governed Egypt on tne arrival of Joseph, had only seven chords. But in the reign of Amosis, the first king of the eighteenth dynasty, who lived about 1570 b.c , harps having fourteen chords, and lyres having
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxXXV
seventeen, were in common use.*"' The strings of tlie Egyptian harps were of catgut. A harp, somewliat of the form of the Trigonon, was found at Thebes in 1823. The wooden frame was covered with red leather; it had twenty catgut strings, so well preserved that they still emitted a sound after having been buried in the tomb for upwards of three thousand years.'**^ There is anotlier harp in the Louvre, which appears to have had twenty-two strings. This harp approaches nearer in form to our modern harp than any of the others of which I have seen representations. Like all Egyptian harps, it differs from modern harps, in having no fore-pillar or support for the har- monic curve.
The Assyrians possessed the harp also, but they appear toTheAssyrinn have used a plectrum when playing it. Like the Egyptian harp, and indeed all Asiatic ones, the Assyrian harp had no fore-pillar. The Assyrian harps were generally about four feet high, the upper part of the frame containing the sound- box ; they had in general more strings than Egyptian harps. Engel mentions harps having twenty-five or twenty-six, though some having only ten or eleven strings are also to be found on the Assyrian monuments. The Egyptian harps were, however, more powerful and sonorous, as well as more elegant in form and decoration.
***< Manners and Customs of the ancient Egyptians, by Sir G. Wilkinson. vol. ii., p. 273. The early harp of the fourth dynasty, referred to in the text, is that from the grave No. 90, at Giseh, and has apparently six strings {De- script, dej: Egypte, Div. Giseh A. fig. 17; Lcpsius, II. Abth. Taf. 36.). Rosellini found in a grave near Thebes a harp with four strings, and made of tlie Senegal Swietenia wood (Khaya Senegalensis) (Monumenti delV Egiilo,— Monumenti civili, LXVI. 9). This harp is now in the museum at Florence, A harp from a Theban hypogffium (the grave No. 18. near Kurnah) has twenty- one strings (Descript. de V Egypte, A. II. 44, fig. 6 ; Lepsius, II. Abth. Taf. 236.).
884 These small triangular harps came into use under the eighteenth dynasty. The earliest figures of this class of harps are to be seen in the southern grave, No. 1, near El-Amara. King Amenhotep IV. and his wife and children are represented in the paintings, so that the grave may be considered to belong to his period. The pictures of this grave are especially interesting for the history of music, as they give us a representation of an entire music school in the palace of the king. The pictures are given in Lepsius, Abth. III., Blatt 103-106, and Bl. iii. The music school will be found on pi. 106.
CCCclxXXvi INTRODUCTION.
Asiatic poly. ^H the polychord instruments of western Asia, which, ac-
chord '"-.,.
stiuments cordinff to many ancient writers, included Effypt also, were
known to the is J » &J r '
Greeks ; knowu and probablj used by the Greeks. Among these may be mentioned the Pektis, the Magadis, the Epigoneion, the Sam- bukS, and the Trigonon, or triangular harp, which was the original type of the whole class of harp-like instruments. Those instruments, with the exception of the Trigonon, were only varieties of the same instrument, differing only in name and in the number of strings,*®* and similar, perhaps, to the Assyro-Hebrew Psalterium. Boeckh**' calls the Epigoneion a " psalterium erectum" of forty chords. It is probable that, like the Arabic Canon, several strings were tuned in unison, so as to increase the force of the sound, or else in octaves. The Ifagadis, with twenty strings, was tuned in octaves, and thus produced the effect of men and women. ^** From this came the verb fiayadiZ^iv, which meant to play in octaves.**^ The Sambitke was so like the Magadis that Eviphorion believed it originated from the latter ; it was probably only the Chal- daic variety of it.*^" The Epigoneion, with its forty strings, was, as M. Fetis first suggested,*^' only the Magadis doubled, and consequently sounded twice as strong.
None of the polychord instruments ever attained in Greece
the position of the lyre. Their history is not interwoven with
the Greek mythology, like that of the lyre, the cithara, or the
flute ; nor is their invention attributed to a god, like the in-
thcy were strumcnts just named. They were barbaric or foreign instru-
asVreignT mcuts, tK^uXo, as Aristoxcuos calls them ;*^^ hence, except
very rarely, we do not find them in the hands of Apollo or of
the harp the Muscs. One of those rare instances is where three muses
ha""ds'of one are paiutcd on a beautiful vase as representatives of three types
on an an- of Stringed instruments — the lyre, the cithara, and the harp.
The middle group on this vase consists of three figures — two
^*® Athenaeus, xiv. 9. 8*7 De Metr. Find., 260.
*"* 5(d TO Svo yivCjv (i/xa Kai Sid TraaSiv Ix^i-V rijv (rovifiSiav, avSgwv re Kal iraiS(Dv. Athen. Ddpnosoph., xiv. c. 9.
**^ Aristotle, Problem xix. 18.
*^° Ambros. GescliidUe der Musik, i. 474.
*^' Memoires de l' Acad, ray ale des sciences de Belgigue, t. 31, 1859.
'"^ Atheneeus, libr. iv. c. 25.
tique vase;
INTRODUCTION. CCCclxXXvii
sitting and one standing; the two sitting figures represent Erato playing upon a lyre, and Polyhymnia playing on a harp ;^" between them stands Calliope, playing on a cithara. The harp, which has thirteen strings, by its size, its form, and especially the absence of a fore-pillar, reminds us of the Egyptian and Assyrian harps. This harp differs, however, from all those of the countries just named, of which I have seen drawings, by the sound-box being larger above than below.®'* Polyhymnia is represented as playing with both hands, the right being used for the treble or small strings, and the left for the bass or large strings.
The absence of ficrures of polychord instruments from a^fnce of ancient monuments is no proof that they were not in general ["„'^\^°5''' use. If modern conventionalism in art could put a lyre into J,"'f''^^',,'j.'^o'f the hands of a statue of Handel, there is surely some excuse "ere n'o^n for a Greek artist putting into the hands of Apollo and the usf;"^"^^ Muses the old national instruments, even after they had be- come obsolete. That some artists emancipated themselves from this conventionalism is proved by the vase above men- tioned, and by a statement of Euphorion, recorded bymftit'ov/* Athena^us,"^^ that a certain Lesbothemis, a sculptor of Mity-tiie hands of
' ' 1 .^ one of the
lene, had put a Samhuke into the hands of one of the muses. m"«es
Of all these polychord instruments, the one which concerns The Trigo- us most here is the Trigonon, or triangular harp. From a passage in the lost Mysians of Sophocles, preserved by AtheucBus,*'® we learn that the Greeks believed this instrument to be of Phrygian origin. The tragic poet Diogenes,®"'^ in his tragedy of Semele, makes the Bactrian and Lydian women go to the woods to sound the praises of Artemis on Triyona and Pektides, and to play the Magadis. These statements enable
89* This is the usual interpretation ; but the lyre player appears to me to be Polyhymnia and the harp player Erato.
s^"* This beautiful vase is in tlic old Pinalvothek of Munich (No. 805), and is figured in Lenormant et de Witte's Monuments Ce'iamoffraphiques, vol. u. PU Ixxxvi. 895 Libr. iv. c. 25.
*'® TToXif Si fpi'K rpiyojvog, avT'tmraara, re
AvSfjg t(pvfivel TrrjKTiSog (Tvi'xopSia. — Lib. xiv. c. 9. **' kXvu) Se AvSug BciKTpiag re TrafjQivovg, Ttorajii^ Trapo'iKovc "AXv'i, TfiwXlav Seov
cccclxxxviii introduction.
us to trace the course of the migration of the harp from Assyria through the provinces of Asia Minor to the Greek Asiatic settlements. There is ample evidence to prove that the Assyrians got their polychord instruments from Egypt, and some of the Greeks themselves believed the parent country of the Trigonon to have been Egypt.*^^ If, as some believe, the Phoenician Kiimor, of which I shall speak presently, was the prototype of the Trigonon^ that instrument might have found its way into Greece, not through Phrygia, but through Cyprus. Be this as it may, the Trigovoii must have been known at a comparatively early period to the Asiatic Greeks, from the fact that the Hetaireia used a small variety of it at the Iletairedeia, or feast of good fellowship, said to have been established by Jason in his native country in honour of Zeus Hetaireios. The early Greek Trigonon, like its progenitor the Egyptian harp, appears to have had no fore-pillar ; small Trigona were, however, made at some sub- sequent but unascertained time, with a fore-pillar and a very small sound box. They were usually strung with from eleven to thirteen strings, and their form was often ennobled by Greek artistic taste. *^^ Roman mii.- ^^ q kuow vcry little of the musical instruments of the
slcal iiistru- •'
ineius. Romans before their conquests made them acquainted with those of the other Mediterranean countries and of the West- Asiatic nations. The musical instruments of Greece naturally found their way with Greek music into Italy, and among them no doubt the Trigonon, as it was modified by the Greeks. Figures of Trigona and other polychord instruments are however, as rare in Roman sculptures and mosaics as in Greek
Trignonon oucs. A sarcophagus, fouud at Volterra, has a bas-relief of
sarcophagus ^ i i i i -d
of Volterra, late and debased Roman workmanship, representing the ad- ventures of the Sirens in the Odyssey. One of the Sirens is
Sa<pv6aKiov kut oKaoQ "Aprsfuv okjiiiv
ipaXfiolg Tpiywvojv TrtjKriSwv dj/rt^vyoif
oXKolg KptKOvaag fidyaSiv, tvQa irepaiKi^
vofiiji KtvwOeic; avXbg bjxovoti, xopoig, — Lib. xiv. C. 9. *^* Ptolemaeus, Harm., iii. 7. **' Ambros. op. cii., Bd. i., p. 473.
INTRODUCE ION. CCCclxXxix
represented playing a triangular harp.^"" A still more im- and on Apa- portant example of an old Italian figure of the Trigonon is that ^ ^" '^""^ ' ' on an Apuleian vase, and represented in fig. 62.'-"" This harp is very similar to our modern harps, except that it was played in an inverted position the yoke, or harmonic curve in which the pins were inserted, is below, instead of being above, as in our harps. The strings are not represented ; but there seems to have been a double row of them, as some beheve to Fig. 62. have been the case with the Epigoneion,
each hand playing a different set of strings, tuned an octave apart. The larger part of the sound-box is above, as in the harp on the vase in the Munich Pinakothek, while in the modern harp it is below. The most importan c feature of this the latter harp is, however, the fore-pillar, which is elegantly formed ofpina'-; a carved figure of a heron or crane. This form of Trigonon is so manifestly the origin of the modem harp, that it only re- and is the mains to discover when and by whom it was first used in the modem
harps.
modern or inverted position.
Whether the Germanic peoples were acquainted with the harp before their direct contact with the Romans, or not, we have now no means of ascertaining. But very soon after, we The iiarpa
,. , , . . p ° . , . -^ -of Teutonic
rmd them m possession oi a stringed instrument, known peoples, by the name of Iiarpa, a name which occurs in the earliest literary monuments of the Teutonic races, the poem of Beowulf, and the Edduic soncr, the Voluspa. The Britons, The lyre of
... • 1 1 1 • *^® Britons.
and, we may consequently infer, the Irish also, used a stringed instrument which Greek and Roman writers describe as a jyj.Q_902 "\yas this the modern harp, or as some suppose, a kind
•joo Overbeck, Die Bildwerke zum thebischen und troischen Heldenkreis. Taf. xxxii.
^'" E. Gerhard, Apul. VasenhUder. Taf. E. 8. Not having Herr Gerhard's work at hand, 1 have had the figure in the text copied from Das Leben der Criechtn und Jiijmer by E. Guhl and W. Koner.
" Eiffl £e Trap' aij-oTi; Kai TronjTai jxeXwv, ovg BdpSovg oi'Oficii^ovffiv. Ovroi H ixst' opydvoji' tuTq yvpaig bfioiwi' ^ooi'Ttg, out; jiiv v/jivovaiv, ovg Si- (SXaff- (pt]fiovai"—Diodorus Sicuhis, lib. v. 31.
^"^ '• Et Bardi quidem fortia viroriim illustriiun facta hcroi'cis coniposita vcrsibu.«, cum dulcibus lyrae modulis cantitarunt". Amm. Maic.,lih. xv. 9.
CCCCXC INTRODUCTION
of psalterium, or a kind of Cithara? How was tlie instrument called? These are the questions we have now to discuss, and if possible, to solve. Musical in- Giraldus Cambrensis mentions the instruments of music in use
Btrumeats of
scm"ar'd ^^ Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in the twelfth century.^"* Ac- and\\aie3, cordinff to this account, the Irish had two— the Cithara and
according to o '
camlfrensis Timpau; Scotland three — the Cithara, the Timpan, and the Chorus; and Wales three — the Cithara, flute, and Chorus. In the twelfth century, the three countries possessed an instrument which could be described as a cithara. This instrument was called in Ireland, and no doubt in Scotland also, a Crttt, in Wales, a Telyn. Of the Irish and Scotch instruments enume- rated by Giraldus, two are stringed, as there can now be no doubt that the Timpan was a stringed instrument.™* Of the Welsh instruments only one is a stringed instrument, the Chorus of Giraldus being, as was first suggested by Mr. Dauney, the bagpipe. In the " Epistle to Dardanus", which is to be found among the spurious works of St. Jerome, the word Chorus is used to designate a kuid of bagpipe consisting of a bag or skin, with two brass tubes, one of wliich formed the mouth- piece, and the otlier the chanter.®"^ Gerbert has given a drawing of one from a MS. of St. Blaise of the ninth century, in
903 « Ilibernia quidem tantum duobus utitur et delectatur instrumentis, cythara scilicet et tympano Scotia tribus, cythara, tympano et clicro Gwallia vero cythara, tibiis et choro". Topoyraphia Hibernia iii. ii. And elsewhere he also mentions those of Wales : " Tribus utuntur instrumentis cythara, tibiis et choro". Cambria Descr., c. 12.
^"* Roman writers use the word Tympanum to designate an instrument of percussion, a tambourine (Lucretius, lib. ii. G19 ; Ovid, Metamorph. iii. 28, 537; Fasti, iv. 183, 213, 457; C. Suet., Oct. c. G8). So late as the time of Venantius Fortunatus, it was still so used {Ad clerum Parisiacum, ii., C. 13). Dr. O'Connor first showed (^Catalogue of Stowe MSS., i. 147), that the Irish Timpan was a stringed instrument.
90S " IX. Tympanum paucis verbis explicari potest quae minima res est, eo quod in manu mulieris portari possit : sicut scriptum est in Exodo: sumpsit autera Maria prophetes soror Aaron tympanum in manu sua {Exod, xv., 20) : et est minima sapientia legis veteris in manu Judaeorum. Synagogae antiquis temporibus fuit chorus quoque simplex pellis cum duabus cicutis aereis : et per primam inspiratur, per secundam vocem emittit". (Epistola ad Dardanum de divt-rsis generibus musicorum, S. Eusebii Hleronijmi Siridonensis Presbyteri opera omnia, Abbe Jligae's ed., t. xi. p. 213).
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXCl
which the chanter has holes. Figures of such an instrument exist in several MSS., in, among other libraries, those of the British Museum, Boulogne, and Angers.'"'' A stringed instrument having four coarse strings, which, according to Gerson, were struck with sticks, was also called a Chorus, M. de Coussemaker gives a figure of an instrument which he calls by this name, from a manuscript of Boulogne of the ninth cen- tury, and observes that the form of the instrument is nearly the same in all manuscripts from the ninth to the eleventh cen- tury.'"
Was tlie instrument called in Ireland and Scotland a Crut, the same as the Welsh Telyn, and, if so, were they of the same kind as the instrument now known as the harp, and, if not, was either of them a harp, and if so, which ? It is usually assumed that the Welsh and Irish instruments were the same, and that they were true harps. I do not know whether any one has ever doubted this assumption; and yet not only has it not been proved, but it would be very difficult to do so.
Before I discuss the issues iust raised, I must endeavour The weish
• 1 TTT 11 n ^ ^ name of the
to settle a point connected with the Welsh name ot the harp, harp, rei^n,
■*■ -Til- • ^""^ ""^
to which Prof. O'Curry attached considerable importance, as is chronicle of shown by the length at which he has discussed the word lel}/n in Lecture xxxvi. He there quotes a passage from a History of Wales, supposed to have been written by Caradoc of Lhan- carvan, who lived in the twelfth century, about the reformation of Welsh music effected in the beginning of the same century by the Welsh Prince Gruff jdd ah Cynan. In this passage we are told that the third kind of Welsh minstrels " were such as played upon musical instruments, chiefly the harp and crowd, which music Gruffytli ap Conan first brought into Wales ; who, having been born in Ireland, and descended by his mother's side of Irish parents, brought with him thence several skilful musicians, who invented all the instruments as were plaid upon in Wales".'"® It was quite natural that O'Curry should
906 See M. de Coussemaker's Essai sur les Instruments de Musique au Moyen Age, Annales Archcologigues, t. iv., p. iiS. ^i*' Annul. Archeologiques, t. iii. p. 147. "''s Vol. ii. p. 333.
CCCCXCn INTRODUCTION.
The Welsh attach ffrcat importance to this statement coming from Welsh
name of the ." J^ .
harp, Teiyn, authorities, and that he should desire to know how the harp
and the ... .
chronicle of was Called in the original Welsh of Caradoc. He applied,
Varadoc ° . .
as he tells us, to several Welsh scholars for information on the point, but without success. This can be easily accounted for, there is no original. The " History of Wales, written originally in British by Caradoc of Lhancarvon, Englished by Dr. Powel, and augmented by W.Wynne, Fellow of Jesus College, Oxon.", from the first edition of which, published in 1097,^'"* O'Curry quotes, is simply an enlarged edition of a previous work called " The Historic of Cambria, now called Wales: a part of the most famous yland of Brytaine, written in the British language about two hundred yeares past. Translated into English by H. Lhoyd, gentleman, corrected, augmented, and continued out of records and best approved authors, by David Powel, Doctor of Divinitie, cum privilegio", published in 1584.^'° The basis of this work is a chronicle of Caradoc reaching to the year 1156, which was extended to 1270 apparently in the abbeys of Conway and Stratfleur, by borrowing largely from the ex- tended annals made at those places. This combined chronicle was further enlarged, chiefly out of Matthew of Paris and Nicholas Trivet. Lhoyd died before he was able to put his work to press. The manuscript passed into the hands of Sir Henry Sidney, then Lord Deputy of Wales, who got Dr. Powel to edit it.
This work has been considered to be an original work of Ca- radoc by Wynne, its second editor, and by many eminent scho- lars such as Richard Lhwyd, Lappenberg, Pauli, and Schmid. It is not surprising, therefore, that O'Curry should have fallen into a similar mistake. Powel's work is a compilation contain- ing much valuable information, compiled from genuine Welsh documents, and chiefly from a chronicle of Caradoc^^^ The
5f'5 A second edition appeared in 1702, a third in 1774, and a fourth or>e- vised and corrected edition, with topographical notes, was pubhshed in 1832.
^'o A new edition of the unaltered work of Powel appeared, I believe in London, in the year 1811.
^" The Brut y Tywysogion, or Chronicle of the Princes, may be considered as the continuation of the Brut y Breninodd, or Chronicle of the Kings, which is a Welsh translation of Gruffudd ab Aurtfmr, or Godfrey of Mon-
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXCUl
various sources from which the book was compiled are indicated The weuii
m^ f 1 1 p T name of the
in the margin. The part of the work referred to by O'Currv ^aip, Teiyn,
* ^ . . "^ and the
seems to be a note of Dr. Powel's own, describing the provisions chromcieof of the laws on the musical canon enacted at a great bardic meeting held at Caerxoys by direction of Gruff ydd ah Cynan?^"'
But, although there is no Welsh original of Lhoyd and Powel's book, in the strict sense of the word, there can be no doubt that in all the Welsh documents of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, from which the book was compiled, the word which has been translated harp was Tdyn. This is the word always used in the Welsh Laws for the instrument inva- riably translated harp. The manuscript which is made the basis of the text of the Venedotian or North Wales Code, is pei'haps the oldest codex now extant, written in the Welsh Ian- mouth, who ends with the death of CadwaUadyr, who is considered to have died in the year 689, and who is looked upon by Welsh authorities as the last Kintj of Britain. Godfrey, or Galfrid, says at the end of his chronicle, that he leaves the continuation of it to Caradoe of Llancarvan. The Brut y 7]yivysogion has, on this account, been looked upon as the chronicle of Cara- doe. In the form in whicli we possess the chronicle it has, however, undergone many reworkings, and has been continued down to 1280. There is another Brut y Tijivysogion extending from the year 660 to 1196, which is very diffe- rent from the one just mentioned. It was a Brut y Tijioysogion extending to 1270, which formed the basis of II. Lhoyd's work. The first Brut is to be found in the Mijvyrian Archaiology, ii. pp. 391 to 467, and a notice of it in the preface to vol. ii., pp. v.-x. It is also published with a translation, but only as far as the year 1066, or the end of page 397 of the Myvyrian ArcJutiology copy, in the Monumenta Illstorica Britannica, vol. i., p. 841- 855, and is noticed in the preface at pp. 94 and 95. See also an excellent ac- count of the various sources of Welsh history in Ferdinand Walters" Das Alte Wales. Bonn. 1859.
'•"- An accoimt of the contents of those laws was first given by Dr. John David Rhys, or Rhaesus, in the appendix to his Cambro-hrytanmaie Cymrae- caeve linguae Institutiones et Rvdimenta accurate et (quantum fieri potuit) suc- cincteet compendiose conscripta : London, 1592, fol. A translation of Rhys' ac- count was published by Rees in the Transactions of the Cymrodorion, vol. i., p. 283-293 ; he appears, however, to have added some things from other sources. Edward Jones has given an extract of the laws made out of Rhys, and two manuscripts in his Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards, second edition, 1794, p. 8G. Two years after, a translation of the musical canons was given in the Cambrian Register (1796, vol. i., p. 293-395). There is a life of Gruffydd ah Cynan in the Myvyrian ArchaioL, in wliich mention is made of these laws (ii. 610, note 10). The Jolo MSS. contain various proofs of the bardic meeting.
CCCCXCIV INTROUl-'CTION.
guDge, and was certainly written before the year 1200, in the opinion of Mr. Owen, the editor of tlie Welsh Laws; one of the manuscripts used for collation, and in which the clauses about the harp are very fully given, was written at the end of the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth century."* oTnrD'3 But, althouixh Telun, as the name of the harp, was in use as
etvmology of , ^ . , ^ , /-\i/^ , • i
Tt/j^.i. early at least as the tweltth century, U Gurry s suggestion that
the word is derived from the buzzing sound of the ancient Welsh harp, is deserving of much attention. It appears from a passage in the Welsh Laws, that a harp strung with horse- hair was used in Wales in the twelfth century by inferior harpers, and that the chief harper was entitled to a fine of twenty-four pence from each minstrel who exchanged this hair- strung harp for, I presume, a better one on becoming a fully qualified harper.' * A hair-strung harp would produce a very buzzing sound, not at all unlike that of humble bees. Before the introduction of catgut and metal strings, horse-hair strings were probably used in all the imperfect instruments of early nations. In Finland the Joii/ii Kantele, an instrument in shape somewhat like a guitar, is mounted with three horse- hair strincrs.'"* In the curious Finnish legend of the invention
» ' MS. Titus, D. II. Ilarleian, British Museum. The Breton name of the harp is TtUn. This maj be either a proof that the Welsh name is very oM, or that the word Tdifn came into Wales originally in the ninth or tenth centxiry from Britanny.
•'* " Every chief harper is to have twenty-four pence from the minstrels who have left off [al. who will to leave] the hair-string harp, and who will become recognised minstrels and suitors ; iind he is to have the share of two men from every gratuity they receive, either as a boon or as a nuptial gift, whether he be present or not, if demanded by him : a nuptial gift is twenty-four pence at the first marriage of a female, and that to the bards, and he is entitled to the service of the minstrels as a man in authority over them". Anrient Laws and liulUutes of Walts. Anomalous Laws, c.ii, 8. 29, p. 396 (fol. ed.).
»'* The Fins have another KanuU, larger than the one allude<l to in the text, and of the same form. It resembles the BalnhtikuiA the Russians. This appean to betheiir<in/«/eof Finnish mythology. They have also an instrument called a Harppu, a name obviously borrowed from the Swedes ; it is a kind of Dul- cimer, having only five strings. Ilerr Engel {Music of the moH ancient Na- tions,) appears to con'ound the KupuU and Unrppu together, but they are distmct inatnunenta.
INTRODICTIOX. CCCCXCV
of the Kantele, the strings are made of the hair of the wild horse of IJisii, a Finnish god.""
Tlie term Cithara, by which the Irish Crut and Welsh Telyn ([.''i' a,"'' have been translated, does not help us to determine whether ^i^ed ^°tiie they were true harps, or even similar to each other. The word ''""■« >• orio-inally meant a different instrument, and ultimately was loosely applied to stringed instruments of all kinds. The chief source of difficulty in investigating the history of musical in- struments, is the arbitrary and loose way in which the same ■ name is frequently applied to the most widely different instru- ments. I shall have occasion to give examples of this fruitful source of confusion in musical nomenclature. Some of the some instm-
. ments so
instruments called by the name of Cithara are certainly very caiien, very unlike harps. M. de Coussemaker has given the figure of^^T- what is called a Cithara, from a manuscript of Boulogne,"' and Gerbert"® gives one of a triangular form, from a manu- script of St, Blaise. These, although havmg the strings free at both sides like the harp, are very unlike that instrument ; the St. Blaise one is rather a kind of triangular Psalterium. In the Jhe British sixth century the Britons had an instrument, known to the Ro-tiiesfthcen- mans by the name of Chrotta, which was not the instrument then called a harp, as is proved by a passage in a poem of the celebrated Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers at that period, in which he mentions several instruments as if they were especially cha- racteristic of certain peoples. Among these he specifies the harp as a barbarian, that is, a German instrument, and the
5'6 Kahvala, Neljakymmenes Runo, 239-240, Toinen painos, p. 281. The bizarre Arabic Kemangeh a guz, a kind of fiddle not unlike in appearance a Kegro Banjo, has two horse-hair strings. In Congo the strings of a kind of lute are made of elephants' hair or of palm fibres. The round lute-like in- strument, composed of a wooden body and horse-hair strings, of which the old traveller Lemaire speaks (^Les Voyage-i de Le. Maire aitx Jles Canaries, Ca/j Vert, ken' gal, el Gamble, Paris, IG'Jo), was probably an imitation of the Arabic Kemangeh. Captain Laing speaks of a kind of violin among the negroes of Seniira, near Kuranko. The body of the instrument was a Gourd, with two quadrangular sound-iioles and a single horse-hair string (Travels through the Timanee, etc., 1825). This instrument is like the Arabic Marraba, except that the body of the latter is a flat drum.
"" Op. cit., t. in., p. 88.
^'^ De Cantu et }Jusica Sacra, t. ii., I'l. xxv,, No. 10. M. de Coussemaker also gives the figures, loc. cit.
CCCCXCVl
INTRODUCTiOX.
the Irish Crul and the Welsh Crud;
the English Crowd ;
the Welsh Crwth ;
Chroita as a Brltisb one.^'^ There can be no doubt whatever that the word Chrotta is the Irish Grut or Crot, and the Welsh Criid.^^" The instrument known in England in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, under the name of Croude or Crowd^'^^ was, no doubt, borrowed from the Welsh, and, at least in name, represented the ancient British instrument. The Crowd was a l)owed instrument, and is believed to be the violin-like in- strument figured among the outside orna- ments of Melrose Abbey, the erection of which was commenced in the year 1326."^* A bowed instrument, called a Crwth, was still in use in Wales in the eighteenth century. Mr. Daines Harrington, in a letter to the Society of Antiquaries in 1770, gave a description of it, illustrated by an engraving. Fig. 63 represents this instrument,'"' Ac- cording to Mr. Barrington's account, the Crwth had six-strings, two of which projec- ted beyond the finger-board, one of these being touched by the thumb ; the bridge was perfectly flat, so that all the strings were necessarily struck at the same time, and afforded a perpetual succession of chords, llg. 63. The bow resembled that of a tenor fiddle.
SI9 (1 gp(] p^Q nie reliqui laudes tibi reddere certent E t qua quisque valet, te prece, voce sonet ; Romanusque Ijra, plaudat tibi barbarus harpa, Graecus achilliaca, chrotta Britanna canat''.
Ad Lupem ducem, miscellanea lib. vii. c. viii. 320 Xhe following forms occur in the Amra Colui/n in Lebor na h-Uklhri (pp. 8 aad 9) : nom. sing, crut, crot, crtiil, gen. „ crote, dat. „ chruith, ace. „ cliruit, abl. „ chruite. The nom. pi. forms cruti, cruiui, occur ia the Tain Bo Chuailgne in the same MS., p. 56, col. 2, line 21.
'■^' Wic\\f {Luke, c. 15) spells it Croude; Ben Jonsou {Cynthia's Revels, act i., s. 1) has Croiude; Massinger {The Old Law, act v„ s. 1) and Butler {Hudihras, Part ii., cant. 2) makt' it Crowd.
'^- Life of Anthony Wood, bi/ Himself, in Ilearne's Caii Vindiciae, 501.
^-^ This letter will be found in the Archae'logia, vol. iii p. 30. The figure
INTRODUCTION.
CCCCXCVll
The instrument was then ahnost extinct, there being but one person in the principality of Wales, John Morgan of New- burgh m Anglesea, who could play upon it. The Crwth de- scribed by Sir John Hawkins in his History of Music,^-^ differs in many respects from the one just mentioned, as will be seen from fig. 64, which is copied from the work just referred to.
According to Sir John Hawkins' account, this instrument sir j. riaw- was twenty-two inches in length, and an inch and a half in s'c?i^>tim of thickness ; it had the same number of strings as the one de- *'** ^' "'"" scribed by Daines Barrington ; the bridge is also placed in an obhque direction ; but one of its feet goes through one of the
sound holes, d d^ which are circular, and rests on the inside of the back of the body of the instrument ; the other foot, "which is proportionably shorter, resting on the belly before the other sound hole. Four of the strings pass down the finger- board, and under the end-board ; but the fifth and sixth, which are about an inch longer than the others, do not pass over the finger-board, but are carried outside it about an inch, so that they could be freely struck through the apertures for the hand. A, A, by the thumb or finger armed vvdth a quill. All the strings pass under the end- board, as shown at B, B, and are wound up by wooden T pegs, c, c, or by iron pins, turned by a wrest like those of a harp.
In the Welsh laws I have been able to find but one re-TheCmd ference to the Crnd, and that in what are called the Anomalous only on" e in Laws. The passage, which is as follows, occurs, however, in a uws; MS. of the twelfth century: " Every chief of song whom the Lord shall invest with office, is to be provided by the king with an instrument, to wit, a harp (Telyn) to one, a Crud to
in the text is taken from the copy in the Encyclopaedia Metiopoliiana, vol. xxix. (Plates iii.), miscellanies, pi. xxi., fig. 7. M. de Coussemaker has copied Dainus Barriiigton's figure of the Cnvlh {Aniial. Arch€ol. t. iii., p. 150), but unaccountably marks it "xi^ siecle. — .MS. Anglais". 92* Vol. ii. p. 237.
INT.
32'
CCCCXCVlll
INTRODUCTION.
not men- tioned by Giraldus Cfimbrensis,
Supposed Clirvtta of a 3I:S. of the 11th cen- tury
another, and pipes (Pyheu) to a tliird, to each according to his usage ; and when they die they are to leave them to the king".^^* It is singular that Giraldus makes no mention of the Crud being used in his own country, though he mentions that a very similar instrument was in use in Ireland, under the name of Tvin- pan, for the evidence given in the Lectures fully proves that one kind of Timpan was a bowed instrument. It may be objected, that he has not mentioned the bagpipe in Ireland, although we know from the poem on the Fair of Carman, that it was in use in the eighth century, in what may be called the British or Welsh part of Ireland, or at all events at the beginning of the twelfth century, when the manuscript in which the poem is found was written. The bagpipe at that period was, how- ever, a vulgar instrument, while the Cried, like tlie Timpan, belonged to the higher classes. We can easily understand how he may have omitted to notice an instrument to be heard only among the lower classes ; but it is difficult to explain his omission of an instrument so ancient as the Crud, and which in the following centuries became one of the best known and most widely diffused musical instruments of England.
M. de Coussemaker, v/ho has done so much for the medieval history of music, taking it for granted that the bowed instru- ment described by Daines Bar- rington was the same as the me- dieval Chrotta, applies the name to a three-stringed instrument copied from a MS. of the eleventh cen- tury, an Antiphonarium^^® which contains several other very rude drawings of musical instruments. The supposed Chrotta is to be found at f. 104 a, and is repre-
*^* Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales. Anomalous Laws, c. ii., s. xxvii., p. 397.
^'^^ MS. Fonds Lat. 1,118, Bibliotheque Nationalc, Paris. Besides the Crwth described in the text, the Welsl), as I have above stated, had a kind of llebec or viol with three strings, called a Crivtli irilliant, which n.ay have been the
INTRODUCTION. CCCCXCIX
sented in fig. 05, the seat of the player being omitted, as un- necessary for my purpose. There is no eviden.ce in the MS., so far as I could see, for calling the instrument represented a Cltrotta. M. de Coussemaker may be right in his surmise ; but a comparison of the figures given above shows that the medieval instrument called by M. de Coussemaker a Crwth differed essentially from the modern instrument of that name.
Jacob Grimm describes the Chrotta as a stringed instrument The Chmtfa of the ancient Franks,"" considering, no doubt, that Chrotta ^'^ont of t\ia had become Old High German Rota or Rotta by the loss of'^o'"'J'n!? to the guttural. Indeed, a codex of Venantius Fortunatus in the Vatican Library has Rotta for Chrotta^ in the lines above quoted. M. de Coussemaker is also of opinion that C/iroi^a M.deCons- IS a German woid; he says: " Althousfh principallv in use auo makes it
IT.- ^ i^ n T^ \ . German;
among the Britons, the trout was of Barbarian origin, and
it took the name of Rote amoncr the poets and romancists of «"''*'"** ■'
° •*■ became the
the middle ages. Several authors have thought that the name ^"'« : Rote was given to the Vielle; it is an error. Rota or Rotta does not come from rotare, but from Cltrotta, a German word, of which the sign of aspiration, ch, was suppressed, as has been done in the case of many names which have had the same origin".^-^ Diefenbach, on the other hand, looks upon the T)iefc-nbach
/■1 J • • • n Tt • ^ 1 believes rii8
Lettic origui 01 Rota as certain,"'' and consequently that all ""'';"" i^e the German forms are borrowed ; but he seems to think the French borrowed their Froven9al Rota, Old French Rote, not directly from the Celtic, but from the High German, and not from the Franks. li' Rotfa be derived from Chrotta, how doe^i""'' ^""^
. . , anil Crowd
it happen that we have the aspirated and unaspirated forms p"-""'" in Old English and in Low Scotch? We find Rotta in Sir \ Tristam and other poems, while in contemporary pieces we have Crowd, borrowed directly from the Celtic. The word Rote was carried from France to Ensfland alonir Avith the in- strument to which it was applied ; and that that instrument
three-stringed instrument alluded to in the text. M. de Coussemaker says that the Cnvth is still in use in some parts of the British Islands ; but in this he is misinformed, as the iastrumeat is extinct for nearly a century.
'^' Deuisc/ie Grananatik, iii. 408.
^^^ Anna I. Arch'ologii/nes, t. iii. p. 151-152. »" Origines Europnrap. .",04.
32* B
d INTRODUCTION.
was different from tlie Crowd., or Welsli Criid, is proved by the co-existence of the two names. The Rote not That the i?oi!^, whatever may have been its origin, was neither or''nfo"cfem the ViUe OX Vielk of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, nor the haip.' Vi^le of the present day, formerly called a Symplionie or Chifonie,
in which the cords were struck by the rotation of a wheel, nor yet a harp, is shown by many passages from Provenc;al poets.**^" The passages quoted below only tell us that tlie Rote was not the Vielle nor the Symplionie or Ciphonie ; but they do not give us any information as to whether the Rote was played with the fingers, or with a bow, or with a wheel. The Viele and Gigue were both stringed instruments, played, as we shall here- after see, with a bow, and must have closely resembled each other, as the first was the prototype of the French Violin, and the other of the German Geige, words now practically applied to the same instrument. So far as these passages go, the Rote may have been as much like the Ciphonie as the Viele was like the Gigue, that is, may have been played with a wheel. There is no certainty that Rote always means the same instrument; indeed, we know, as I will show presently, that it was applied to the most various instruments, and that all through the middle ages, as I have said above, there was a great looseness in the use of the names of musical instruments.'^' Thecithara M. de Cousscmakcr, speaking of the lyre, says: " The Ger- manic peoples also used the lyre, bvit supposing that they did not know it before their ariival in Gaul, they made some modifications in it. The Abbe Gerbert has taken from a MS.
"30 The following passages are quoted by M. de Coussemaker : — " De viele sot et de rote De gighe sot, de symplionie" — Roman de Brut. " Et ciphones et vielles
Kotes et harpes et rauselles". — Roman d' Athis. " Rote, harpe, vielle et gigue et ciphonie''. Roman de Vaces. Annal. Arckcologuies, t. vii., pp. 241-242. The Rote Viele and Chifonie are also separately mentioned in the Prize
d'AIexandrie by Guillaunie de Machaut. ^^' The Symphonia, or as it was called by the French, Ciphonie, affords an excellent example of this looseness. According to the Schilte Haggiborim, it wi)s a kind of bag-pipe like the modern Egyptian Zukkarah. St. Isidore makes it a drum. De Muris {Summa Musicae, IV.), makes it an organistrum or modern viol. Praetorius {Organographia, c. xi. 63) makes it a keyed instru- ment of the Clavic^mbel cLiss.
INTRODUCTION.
di
of the ninth century, from St. Emeran, and from another of the same period from St. l>laise, two instruments whicli have the greatest analogy with the antique lyre; they are called "Cithara Teutonica".'^^ One of those instruments is shown in fig. 66, and is not unlike the supposed Chrotta, the figure of which has been given above, from the MS. 1118 in the Blbliotheque Nationale, Paris, There is, however, a most important dis- tinction between them: the latter was played with a bow, while the " Cithara Teutonica", as is clearly *v^ shown in fig. 6G, was played with the fins^ers. Ficrure 67 is also a bowed instrument, and approaches nearer in construction to the modern Fig. 66.
Welsh Crwth than the Chrotta of the MS. 1118. It is also very like the " Cithara Teutonica", fig. QQ, and shows that there were two sets of instruments in the middle ages very similar to each other, the one played with the fingers, the other with a bow The term Rote may perhaps have been applied to both classes. The instru- ment represented in fig. 67 is copied from M. de Coussemaker,'^^ who calls it a liote. It is taken from the' carvings in stone of the great doorway of the cathedral of Amiens. It rests in a horizontal position on the left hand of one of the apocalyptic figures with which the doorway is adorned. This is not the position in which it should be held to play it, but none of the nineteen figures of the doorway who have musical instruments are re- presented playing them.
There is far more definite evidence that the term Rote was
"2 Ibid., t. iii., pp. 82-83.
^'^ Annales Archeologiques, t. vii., p. 242.
|
Twn dlf- |
|
|
feient kinds |
|
|
of |
listru- |
|
nunt culled |
|
|
//' |
Ip ill tlie |
|
m |
.Idle ages ; |
Fig. G7.
Ill
INTRODUCTION.
evirience
that one kind Avas
applied to instruments played with tlie fingers, than there is of its I having been applied to bowed ones. Giraud de Colen^on, a Pro-
the fingers ; yeiK^'al poet wlio flouiished in the twelfth century, in a sirvente addressed to a jongleur to invite hira to make himself skilful in playing instruments of music, and in everything that concerned his art, speaks of furnishing a Mote with seventeen strings.^^* Here, as M. de Coussemaker observes, there can be no doubt that the poet had in view an instrument played upon with the
differenee fino^ers, and not with a bow. Some writers, amon^ others
lietween ihe => _ .
two kinds Armstrong, who admit that the term Rote was applied to two
of Kotes. O' -TJ:
distinct classes of instruments, suppose that the only difference between the one played with the fingers and the common harp was simply that the Rote was smaller, and that the strings were of metal, while those of the harp were of gut, M. de Coussemaker thinks there was another and more important difference, namely, that the strings, instead of being open at both sides, as in the harp, were closed on one side by a sonorous box, pierced with sounding holes. Some- times this sonorous box occupied the whole of the space at the back of the strings, as is seen in fig. 68, and some- times only a part.®^^
It appears from a passage in a work ^%- 6&.
^^* " Souetz nota e Mtz la rota A xvii cordas garnir".
MS. Bibl. Nat, Paris, Fonds LavalUere, No. 14 (ancient number 2701), fol. 135a (new paging in black ink), col. 2 top, line 21. This very interesting poem, commencing " Fadet Joglar", consists of 156 lines. Raynouard has quoted some lines from the commencement of it, but has, curiously enough, omitted the second line. M. de Coussemaker has quoted (^?»ia^. Arch€olog.^ t. vii., p. 248) the portion relating to the musical instruments, but his copy is so incomplete tl.at it must have been taken from a different MS. For instance, lie does not give the words " Sonetz nota", in the first of the lines abovp ; indeed, the greater part of his lines are only half lines, the remainder being strangely omitted.
^'* From a MS. of the fourteenth century, numbered 9025 in the Kojal Library of Brussels, and first published by M. de Coussemaker, Revue Anchc'o- logique, t. vii. 249.
INTRODUCTION. Jlii
attributed to Notker Labeo, that the instrument called a Rotta'^^^ ocmmn
.. . R'tl'i in the
by the monks of" St. Gall, in the ninth and tenth centuries, 'Jth una lom
centuries
was a seven-Stringed Psalterium, played with the finorers, Avhich dtstnbeuas had the sounding box at the top, while the cithara had it at t^-rium. the bottoin.'^*^ In another place, however, the Psalterium, we are told, had originally ten strings and the form of a delta. But when musicians and players had used it for their pur- poses, tliey gave it a more convenient form, added more strings, and gave it the barbaric name of Rotta, and changed its shape from that of the mystic symbol of the Trinity.^'' This passage is important, because it shows, first, that there was an instrument of the harp kind in the ninth and tenth centuries, played with the lingers, having a considerable
936 <i j-^ne (]fQ jjQt 6.niQT0 Lirun, unde andero Rotun iosiben sieten, unde sibene gelicho gevverbet. De ocio Tonis, in Gerbert, Scriptores de musica, t. i. p. 96". Psalterium Rotta est genus orgaui, ist ein Slat orgin sangis, so also Seitspil ist, das ruoret man mit Handen. Psalterium Rotta liabet oben an buh, Cythara habet niden an buh". Codex Sancti Galli 261, p. 131, quoted, by P. Anselm Schu- blger in his Sanger Schule St. Gallens von achtenbU zwolften Jahrhundert, p. 60. Father Schubiger says that in the St. Gall MSS. the word Rota is applied to the triangle, the guitar, and bells, and gives in a foot note, as his authority, the passage : ' Rottun factitium est sicut tintiuabulum et clocca". He does n'jt give any reference as to where he found the passage. Can it ba that the following passage, from the MS. of Notker 's translation of the Bible, was in his mind : " Daz saltirsanch heizet nu in dutiscum Rotta a sono vocis, quod gratnmatici factitium vocant, ut tiutinabulum et clocca"? There must surely be some mistake in Father Schubiger's quotation, as, notwithstanding the looseness of medieval musical nomenclature, it is scarcely possible that tlie term Rotta could, at the same time, be applied to instruments so widely diffe- rent. The account of the Nahla in the Irish MS. in tlie British Museum, from which a passage is quoted in Lecture xxxi. (vol. ii., p. 23S), agrees with the German accounts of the Psalterium. In this passage we are told that the Nabla was the Hebrew name of the Psalterium, and that the Nab/a is a ten- stringed Criit ; that is, whicli is furnished with ten strings, which are played with ten lingers, in which the ten commandments are concentrated. It is down upon it the belly is placed, and it is downward it is played".
^^^ " Sciendum est quod antiquum Psalterium instrumentum decacordum utique erat, in hac videlicet deltae literae fignra multiplicitcr mystica. Sed postquam illud symphoniaci quidam et ludicratores, ut quidam ait, ad suum opus traxerant, formam utique et figuram commoditati suae habilem fecerant et plures cordas annectenles et nomine barbaric© Rottam appellantes, mysticam illam Trinitatis formam transmutando". Notkerus, In symbolum Athnnasii.
cliv INTRODUCTION.
number of strings; secondly, that the parent instrument was triangular ; thirdly, that the name RoUa was believed to be Germanic, barbaric being always synonymous with German with the writers of that period ; and lastly, that nothing is said of its connection with Crut or Cruel, which, considering the traditions of the monastery of St. Gall and the intercourse still kept up with Ireland, even in the time of Notker Labeo, is worthy of notice. The Pmi. The Psalterium, so frequently mentioned in the foregoing pages, is an instrument of great importance in connection with the discussion about the Irish harp in the Lectures, and espe- cially in connection with the passage quoted from Dr. Fergu- son's Essay. Like most other medieval musical instruments, there is considerable difficulty in determining what the Psal- two f.irms terium was at any given time. Previous to the end of the lith cen- eleventh century there appear to have been two forms of in- struments to which this name was given, one square or rect- angular/^* and having the belly or sounding box above, as we have seen from the passage above quoted from a St. Gall fhp. rect- codex ; and the second triangular. The former was mounted is..]teviura with ten vertical strings, and w^as hence called the Psalterium ehordon; dccachordou, or the Decachordon simply. According to the writer of the Epistle to Dardanus, and to St. Isidore, the belly or sounding box was made of wood; according to St. Basil and Eusebius, of brass. It was played upon with the fingers, and the strings were free on both sides; there is no reason to doubt that both hands were used, as with the harp. Some, however, think that the right only was used for playing, the instrument being held in the left hand. This may have been the case when it was used to play simple chords
®^'* " Psalterium qucque Hebraice Nablion, Graete autem Psaltfriuni, I.atiri'" autem Laudatoiium dicitur, De quo in quinquagesimo quarto \_rccle, 5G] psalmo dicitur: Exburge, psallei iiim, cum cithara. Est autem cum ciiordis decern, sicut scriptum est: J71 Psallerio decern chordarum psallam n'ii (Psalm cxliii., 9 [recte, 10]): forma quadrata. Psalterium itaque cum decern chordis, id est, cum decern verbis legis coutritis contra omnem haeresim,quadrataper quatuor Evangeiia potest intelligi". Epistola ad Dardanum, loc cit. This account of tlie Psalterium agrees very closely with that given in Lecture xxxi. (vol. ii., p. 238), from an Irish manuscript in the British Museum {Harleiau, 5280, p. 11).
INTRODUCTION.
dv
rig. 69.
as an accompaniment to the voice. Figure 69 represents a quadrila- teral Psalterium which king David is represented playing upon, in a beautiful miniature in a MS. said to belong to the ninth century, in the library of Boulogne.""
The quadrilateral Psalterium was sometimes made with inwardly curved sides which terminated above, at tlie narrow end, in vo- lutes tuining inward?, and giving the instrument a lyre-like appearance. This seems to have the " Psai- been the *^ Psalteriiirn in modum Clypei". One of this kind,m dum having apparently twenty strings, is re- '^ ""^
presented in fig. 70, after M. de Cousse- maker, from a MS. of the ninth cen- tury, in the library of Boulogne.^*" This instrument has some resemblance to one form of the ancient bronze shields of the Britons and Gauls. In the latter, however, both ends were curved, though not as much as in the psaltery. In ano- ther MS. an instrument of the same kind is called " Nabuluni filii Jessi", a circum- stance to which I shall advert hereafter. ^j&- ^O*
From ancient times down to the twelfth century, square, qnadriiat-
•' '■ eral instru-
rectansfular, or deltoidal instruments of the harp kind appear men's of the
o ' . . liarp-Uintl in
to have been very common, as may be seen from the paintings, common sculptures, and painted vases of Pompeii,"*' and medieval illu- century;
use 2tli
333 See Anna!. Arch^oloc/iques, t. iii. p. 76.
3'" Annul. Arche'olog. t. iii. p. 85. A codex of St Blaise of the twelfth century contaius several figures of Psalteriunis ; an explanation is appended to a quadrilateral one, — "psalterium decacliordum in modum clypei quadrati". It is probable that all quadrilateral Psalteriums were considered to be in "modum clypei". See Gerbert, op. cit. II. pi. 29 and 30.
3^' In the Museo Borbonico four-sided instruments are very common ; thus in vol. i., Tav. xxx, xxxi., vol. vii., Tav. Ixi., vol. x., Tav. vi., vii. In vol v.,
dvi
INTRODUCTION.
these wfire minations. This four-sided Psalterium seems to have been
ecclesias-
m-nVs"^*"^"' especially the instrument of ecclesiastics, while the harp, pre- vious to the tweftli century, was reserved for lay purposes. This explains why King David is always represented in manu- scripts from the ninth to the eleventh century playing upon the four-sided Psalterium, and generally upon that known as " in modum clypei", which was, perhaps, the most ancient form. re^lacTcTthe ^^^^^ ^^^'^ twelfth century the harp replaces the Psalterium. iif church™ This change was, perhaps, brought about by the development "Jjg^jguf*^'^ of the religious drama, which introduced into the church century. service the musical instruments, which until then were only used for lay purposes. Connected with this change it may be right to mention that in the manuscript 1118 in the Nationtil Library at Paris, already referred to, there is a figure of a re- markable triangular harp-like Psalterium. The resemblance between this triangular instrument and the harp led, M. de Coussemaker thinks, to the former instrument falling into desuetude, that is, to the substitution of the harp for the Psal- teriwn, though the name of the latter continued to be given to another instrument, having, no doubt, some relationship to the true Psalterium, but much more to the Nahlum. The harp on The squarc liarp-like instrument, upon the Theca of the thestowe gtowc manuscriot, referred to by Dr. Ferguson in his " Disser-
MS a Psal- _ J^ ' JO
terium; tation on the Antiquity of the Harp and the Bagpipe' V^ repre- sents, there can be little doubt, a Psalterium. The existence of four-sided Lyres among the Romans, and of the four-sided Psalterium in the middle ages, deprives the four-sided Lyre of the monument of Petace, erected in the time of Aurelius, of
Tav. xix. there is a drawing of an ancient painting found at Pompeii, repre- senting a genius witli wings, holding in her hand a square Cithara, or rather Psalterium, with ten strings. Tlie semi-colossal statue of Apollo Citerado Assisso in the Farnese palace has a rectangular Cithara of ten strings. Ten is also the number of strings in the rectangular instrument referred to in vol. i., Tav. xxxi. The figure of the citaristra in Tav. vi., vol. x., and one seated upon a dolphin in Tav. vii. of the same volume, are representeil with four- stringed lyres, while there are only three strings in the four-sided lyre, M'hich a Cupid holds in the mosaic at Pompeii, nella casa cost delta del cenlauro, representing love conquering force, and which is figured in the Museo Borbo- nico, vol. vii., Tav. Ixi.
'" See Lectures, xxx,, vol, ii., p. 226.
INTIIODUCT.ON. UVU
the significance attached to it by Dr. Ferguson and Professor O'Currv.*"* That the Irish were acquainted with the Psalte- 'nt^Msh
'' . , . . , ^ . . , must have
rium is shown by the passag-e m the manuscript in the British known the
•' re -iir • 1 1 1 rsalterium.
Museum, several times referred to. We might have expected this from the intercourse which existed between Ireland and England, Gaul and Germany, where the instrument was used. In the seventh and eighth centuries, and perhaps earlier, Glastonbury was much frequented by Irish, who were most likely the founders not only of Glastonbury Abbey, but of most of the other religious foundations of that part of England. Cormac in his Glossary calls it " Glastonbury of the Gaedhil". An Irishman known as i\laidulph, founded a monastery at Malmesbury, of which the celebrated St. Aldhelm, who died in the year 709, was afterwards abbot. It was probably during his abbotship that he wrote his panegyric of the church built for nuns, either at Glastonbury or in its immediate neighbour- hood, by Bugge, daughter of Centwine, king of Wesscx. . In this valuable poem we have distinct evidence that the anti- phonies, psalms, responses, and hymns of the Church were sung with accompaniments on ten-stringed psalteiiums in the latter half of the seventh century.^" There can be little doubt that if the ecclesiastical chant, and the musical instruments
9" 2bid., p. 230.
9<< This poem was erroneously ascribed to Alcuin and to Ehabanus Mau- rus. The following are the lines referring to music and the Tsalterium : " Dulcibus antiphonae pulsent accentibus aures, Classibus et geminis psalmorum concrepet oda, Hymnistae crebro vox articulata resultet, Et celsum quatiat clamoso carmine culmen, Fratres concordi laudemus voce Tonantem Cantibus et crebris conclamet turba sororum. Hymnos ac psalmos et rcsponsoria festis Congrua promamus subter testudine templi, Psalterii melos fantes modulamine crebro, Atque decern fidibus nitamur tendcre lyram". De Basilica aedi/icu/a a Bugge, apiid Card. Mui classicorttm auctorum e vaticanis cod., t. v. In the middle ages there was chanting in convents on canonical days under the direction of the Cantrlx or L anlorissa ; and where there were choristers attached to the church they chanted alternately with the sisters. The preceding passage shows that the custom existed already in the seventh century.
dviii INTRODUCTION.
used in tlie Church service, were not ah'eady known in Ireland,
which is unHkely, they would have found their way in at this
time through the connection with Glastonbury.
Thetri- Gorbcrt has given a figure of the second kind of Psalterium,
Psfit'enum; that in the form of a triangle,"** which differs in form very
little from another instrument in the shape of an equilateral
triangle, which he calls a Cithara, and a figure of which he
g[ygg946 fj^^om a manuscript of St. Blaise, of the ninth century.
represented Tliis instrument, which has twelve strings, M^as perhaps the
the Kiimor ; . . . f^
representative ox the '^"s-^? Kmnor of the Hebrews, the Kiwpa of the Greeks, and the Cinyra or Ciihara of the Romans. The Kinnor was the instrument regarded by the translators of the Bible as the harp, which David played before Saul,®*' and which the sorrowing Jews hung on the willows of Babylon. It was light and portable, like the corresponding Assyrian instru- ment of the time of Abraham. The name Kinnor is apparently the Kinnor Phcnician, and the instrument itself was one of the principal tantinstru. musical instruments of the Phenicians. The priests of the Phenicians; tcmplc of the Paphiaii Aphrodite belonged to a tribe or family called the Kinyrades, the mythical ancestor of whom was a wonderful harper named Kinyras, from ictvupa ; he was a nurseling and priest of Aphrodite, king of Cyprus, and the was perhaps supposcd founder of its ancient civilization.®^^ The Kinnor the Tri- must havc resembled the Greek Trigonon, if, indeed, it was
gonon.
not the prototype of that instrument. If this were so, the Trigonon must have found its way directly into Greece through the Phenician Cyprians of Kition and Hamath. Jose- phus says that the Kinyra had twelve strings, and was played The iTinnor with a plcctium.®'® This agrecs with the figures of the small Syrian harps Assyrian harps without a fore-pillar, represented in bas-reliefs in the ruins of the palace of Sennacherib, near the present
^^^ De cantu et viusica sacra, t. ii., pi. 24 ^'^ Ibid., pi. 25, No. 10.
SI? I. Kings, xvi. 23. The Greek translation of the Old Testament affords several examples of the looseness of musical nomenclature even in ancient times, the word 'ni'^i Kinnor being translated in different passages by KiQapa (e. g. Ps. xxxii. 2, Sept.; Job, xxi. 12, xxx. 31); ^paXrljpiov (e. g. Gen., iv. 21) ; and Kivvpa (e. g. I. Chron., xv. 28 ; II. Chron., v. 12 ; I. Kings, x. 5).
9*9 Preller, Griech. Mythologie, I. 274. 'J»9 Aniiq. Jud., vii. 10.
INTRODUCTION.
dix
village of KujunJschik. These liarps, which are very difFerent from the Egyptian ones, are triangular, and have an inclined quadrangular sound-box, a slight, horizontal harmonic curve, and sixteen or more strings.^^" No tuning pins can be seen, but there is a small row of buttons, or pegs, on the sound- box, probably to fasten the strings. The Epistle to Dardanus ^^^^^f^'^^1°^ calls the Kinnor incorrectly a Cithara, and says that it resembles '^^^^^^^.^^ in form the letter A, and has twenty-four strings.^'^' The true Cithara is supposed to be the "''■■^'^ Ilhasor, an instrument which must have had ten strings, if we may judge from the root word of its name ^'^^ dechnavit?^^ THe Bhasor is mentioned alonff with the ^5?. Nehel, and the Kinnor in Psalm xcii. v. 3; and the three instruments may perhaps be looked upon as re- presentatives of the three classes of ancient stringed instru- ments of which the lyre, the cithara, and the harp may be considered as the tvpes. The difference between the Difference
■'_: 7 11 o •^ between tlie
ancient lyre and the Cithara has been a fertile source lyre and tiie
. • 1 1 1 J Cithara,
of discussion and speculation. The typical lyre had a tortoise-shaped sound-box and wooden arms, consisting of strong wooden bars. The sound-box of the Cithara was made of thin plates of wood, metal, or ivory, and was generally quadrangular, though occasionally it was also semi-ovoid ; the arms were hollow, and consequently strengthened the reso- nance. M. Fetis thinks the ancient Cithara was held against the breast, and hence had a quadrangular base, w^hile the lyre, with its tortoise-shaped body, should be held in the arms or between the knees. The ancient Cithara did not in any case correspond to the description of the instrument of that name in the Epistle to Dardanus, as is evident from a commentary of
9*" Herr Engel, who has made a special study of tlie musical instruments on the Assyrian sculpture, thinks that they had usually 25 or 2G, 20 or 21, 15 or 16 strings, llie music of the most ancient nations.
9^' Cithara de qua in quadragesimo secundo psalmo scriptum est : ' Con- fitebor tibi in cithara, Deus, Deus meus,' (Psal. xlii. 5.), propriae consuetu- dinis est apud Hebraeos, quae cum chordis xxiv, quae in raodum Delta litterae, sicut peritissimi tradunt, utique componitur.
9** St. Augustine says however : " Non dixit in cithara decem chordaruni, neque in hoc psalmo, neque, si non fallor, alicubi. Legant, ct considerent melius et otiosius filii nostri Lectores : tarn, n quantum mihi vidcor meminisse, iimltis locis invenimus psalterium decem chordarum, citharam decem chor- darura nusquam mihi lectura occurrit." Enar. in Psulmum xxxii. ver. 2.
dx INTRODUCTION
Difference St. Auffustine On the thirty-second Psalm. St. Augustine makes
betweea ^ ° •' ~
cithara and the difference between the Cithara and the Psalterium consist
Psaltenu:ij.
in this — that the former has the sound-box below and the latter above.^^^ NeheUNas- Blanchiui'^^ spcaks of an oblong four-sided instrument having
for. . ^ . ^ . ^ "=>
ten strings, and twanged with a quill, to which the name Asor or Nehel-Nassor, is said to have been given. But, pro- bably, he had just as little ground for giving this name to such an instrument as Herr Engel had for applying the term Asor to an Assyrian instrument consisting of a horizontal sounding board, in which was fixed a harmonic pillar, from which the strings were stretched so as to form a series of hypotenuses to the right angle, formed by the pillar and the board. The Nahia, The Nahla, which our Irish authority says is the Hebrew
or Nabluin ; , .
name of the ten-stringed Crut, which the Greeks called a Psalterium,^"'' is an instrument about which there is great un- certainty. Like the Kinnor it was a favourite instrument of the Phenicians: indeed Sopater says it was a Phenician in- vention, and calls it the Sidonian Nabla.^^^
In name at least the Hebrew Nehel is the same as the Greek NajSAa (also written Na/3Aac), and the Latin Nahlia^ Nahla, Nablium,ov Nahlum. In the Psalms it is certainly spoken of as a ten-stringed instrument,®" and according to many of the
'^^ Cithara lignum Ulud concavum tanquam tympanum pendente testudine cui ligno chordae innituntur, ut tactae resonent : non plectrum dico quo tan- guntur sed lignum illud dLxi concavum cui superjacent, cui quodammodo incumbunt, ut ex illo cum tanguntur tremefactae et ex ilia conca\dtate sonum concipientes, magis canorae reddantur : hoc ergo lignum cithara in inferiore parte habet, psalterium in superiore". In Psalm., xxxii, Enar. ii., ver. 2 ; see also In Psalm., xlii., ver. 4 ; Ivi., ver. 9 ; Ixx. Sermo 2, ver. 22 ; cl. ver. 3.
The position of the sounding-box in the Psaltery, and the mode of playing it, according to this passage, agree completely with Notker Labeo's ac- count of the Psalterium, and with the Irish account of the Nabla or Psal- terium several times referred to.
^^* De tribus generibus instruinentorum musicne veteris organ'icae, dissertado, Itomae, 1742, p. 35.
"" St. Hilary also says that the Psalterium and Nablium were the same. From the place and period of St. Hilary, this opinion is, no doubt, of great value, but, as Herr Ambros has suggested (op. cit., i. p. 206), many of the descriptions and figures of musical instruments in medieval MSS. are ima- ginary.
*^^ xxxiii. 2; cxliv.'9. ^ ' Athenaeus, iv. 72.
INTRODUCTION. dxi
Fathers of the Church, it was a quadrilateral instrument like the Psalterium and modem Quanon. Josephus also makes it a stringed instrument, but having twelve strings, and played with the fingers."® Villoteau"'' concluded that it was a kind of bag- pipe, and that the modem Egypto-Arabic Ziikkarah, figured in his atlas,®^" is the representative of the ancient instrument. In support of this view, he mentions that Nebel is several times translated in the Septuagint by ao-Koc/'^' a skin bottle or bag, and refers to a passage of AthenD3us, which shows that in one case at least it was a wind instrument — not a bagpipe, however, but a lotospipe. Ambros suggests that the Nabla was a kind of lute, with a bottle-like body, which would account for the translation of the word by cktkoq. It has been suggested that the Nahla was the ancient Egyptian Nofre, one of the oldest musical instruments known, being used as a hieroglyphic sym- bol in graves of the fourth dynasty, near Gizeh. The Nofre was a kind of guitar, generally mounted with two chords, hence the name of Dichord, given to it by Clement of Alexandria ; it some- times had only one chord, and sometimes also as many as three. These guitar-like instruments were played upon with the 6ngers, and sometimes were twanged with a peculiar spatula-like plec- trum. It is difficult to identify the Hebrew and Egyptian in- struments; Herr Engel justly remarks that such a number as ten strings could not be placed on a Nofre, or on any instru- ment resembling the modern Tamhoura, which is, probably, a considered
o ••■ "'a superior
true descendant of the ancient Nofre,^^' instrumenj
■' by tlie
The Greeks must have considered the Nahla a superior Greeks; instrument, if we may jiidge by a passage in the Moixoq of the comic writer Philemon, preserved by Athenajus, in which one of the dramatis personcB says :
Do you know Parmenon if a flute player be here
Or even a Nabla. But what is a Nahla ?
Dost thou not know, blockhead ? By Jove, I know not what thou sayest.
^** »; ftev Kivvvpa £eKa xoR^oJq iS'/A'j"''"? iTVTrrirai Tr\t']KTp(i), r) de vdjiXa SwStKU (pOoyyovg tKovaa roli; caKTuXoiQ xpow""' Antiq. Jud., vii.
959 Description tfc V Egypte, xiii. 477 ='8" PI cc, fig. 2o. 9ei Qp. cit. 201.
*fi- Nehel certainly does frequently occur in the Bible in the sense of a bottle or skin bag. In Job xxxviii. 37, we have a-^r:; ■'V33 the bottles of l>eaven, i.e., the clouds. See also Jeremiah, xiii. 12, xlviii, 12, etc.
dxii INTRODUCTION.
Thou knowest not a Nabla ! Then thou knowest not what is good And doubtless thou canst not play the Sambuke also.^^^
It was also The Nahla or Nahlum wa.s also an instrument of the elegant ment of the KoiTian world, According to Ovid, it was played with the two man world; hands, and was therefore an instrument of the Psalterium class, and not of the lute kind.'" The Nahlum was a strange instru- ment to medieval writers. St. Isidore does not mention it in his list of musical instruments ; indeed, the name very rarely oc- may have curs in medieval works. It may have been one of the stringed
been used . o /^ n »65 r- i •
byTuotiio; instruments which iuotilo taught at bt. (aall, as we nnd it mentioned in a poem written to greet Charles the Bald on the occasion of his visit to Reichenau in the year 829. The monks must have gone out to meet him with instrumental music, othervdse the poem would have been a meaningless compliment. The musicians may, it is true, not have had every instrument named in the poem ; but there seems no rea- son why the Arabia, alone of all the instruments mentioned in one of the verses, should not have been one of those in actual instruments usc Oil the occasion.^^^ Several fio-ures of instruments called in the raid- Arabia, Ncibtuim, or Nahlum are found m manuscripts pre- cisely of this period. Thus M. de Coussemaker gives the figure of one from a MS. of Angers, said to be of the ninth century, and mentions another similar one in a IMS. of the library of Boulogne. The Angers instrument was like a large D turned downwards on its straight side. The strings, twelve in number, were stretched between this side and a parallel bar, forminsr a kind of ornamental work, fillino- a small secrmcnt
^^'' 'ESei TrapHvai, Uapjih'Oiv, av\}]T()id, '»; Nd/3Xav r(V; o dt vdjiXag ri eirriv] OiiK oiSa£, in(i()uvTi}T(. (jv ; jxa Ai', ov, ri (p?j£ ; OvK olaOa vajiXav ; ovStv ovv o2(t9' djaOov Si' y', ovSe <Taj.ij3vKi(Trpiav. — Lib. iv., c. 24-. ^'^* Disce etiam duplici geniiilia nablia palma
Verrere convenivint dulcibus ilia jocis. — A. Am., iii. 327-8. 965 it Musicus sicut et socii ejus, sed in omui genere fidium et fistularum prae omnibus, nam et filios nobilium in loco ab abbate destinato fidibus edocuit". — Ekebard, In Casibus.
*^^ Ferte nabla tibiasque Organum cum cj'mbalis Flatu quidquid, ore, pulsu, Arte constat musica.
INTKODUCTION. dxui
of the arc, and making, as it were, a smaller inscribed D. The instruments usually called by the name of Nahlum con- sisted generally of a sonorous triangular box, one of the angles of which was sometimes slightly truncated. The strings were fastened to the upper face, and perpendicular to the base, or side opposite to the truncated angle. It thus corresponded to the instrument called in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Psalterium, except that in the latter the strings were parallel to the base. It is very probable that the terms Nahlum and Psalte- rium were everywhere else as well as in Ireland practically synonymous during the middle ages. I have already mentioned a fact which strongly corroborates this view, namely, the circum- stance recorded by M. de Coussemaker, that the instrument called in one manuscript a " Psalterium in modum clypei", of which fig. 70 is a representation, is called in another manuscript " Nahulum filii Jesse apud HebrjBos". In some places, and at certain periods, the one or the other of these terms may, no doubt, have been applied to some special instrument, but I do not be- lieve that there was any permanent distinctive use of them.
Several instruments are mentioned in Irish manuscripts, some- instruments
„ _, 1 • 1 1 mentioned
times under the name of Criit, which seem to have belono;ed 'n ii'^'i
'=' MSS., in-nb-
to the Psalterium or Nahlum class. In the manuscript called ^''y "^ ^''^ the Book of Lismore, a nine-stringed instrument, played in the «[ ^"'''"''i Cathair of Manannan, a mythological personage connected with the Isle of Man, and called a Cruf,^^^ as well as the eight- stringed instrument with which the abbot of a church of the Ui Cormac accompanied his lay before king Feidlimid,^^^ was perhaps a Nahlum or Psalterium. The abbot's instrument is not called a Crut^ but simply an Ocht-tedach or " eight- stringed", and was probably the kind of Psalterium used by Irish ecclesiastics for accompanying themselves in chanting. The number of strings seems to indicate tlie use of the diatonic scale for church music. ^^*
^" O'Curry's copy in the Library of the R. I. A. The nuQiber of strings in this Manx liarp is of interest in connection with Pennant's idea that tlie Welsh harp had originally only nine strings in one row. It is needless to add that his statement, that two other rows of strings were added early in the fifth century, is a baseless assumption.
^^* Lectures, xxxii. vol. ii. p. 262.
9" The expression " Super Octavam" in the sixth Psalm has been the sub- INT. 33*
dxiv INTRODUCTION.
The triangular Psalterium, as we have seen, began to be called Disappear- the Rotc, even as early as the ninth century ; in the twelfth the sid^dp/ar four-sided one appears to have fallen into desuetude, as we do iTthTen- not find it represented in manuscripts or monuments after that *'"^' period. From the twelfth to the sixteenth century the Trou-
The saveire vcrc form of the word Psalterium, namely, Salteire or Saltere, of fte'i'rou- was givcu to a wholly different instrument from any of those ferenun'^" prcviously described. The Salteire is said to have been the from"ti^ same as the Arab instrument called the Santur or Santir; and Psalterium, ^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ thinks diat Fi-Santir or httle Santir, is a cognate form of the originalword from whence the Greek \Pa\Ti]piov is derived. Villoteau describes the Santir still used in Egypt^'" as a flat wooden box having the form of a triangle truncated at its summit. The strings are of wire fastened to pins fixed on the left side of the instrument, and are struck with a small stick having a knob made of ivory or horn, the convex part of the latter only coming into contact with the strings, method of The Salteire was however generally twanged with the fingers playing it ; ^^^ pg^j-iapg ^ith a quill plectrum attached to the finger. Ac- cording to Gerson, the strings were of silver or clectrum (a kind of brass), gave a high note, and required to be touched figures of liffhtly."'' M. de Coussemaker mentions several figures of the Salteire among the stone carvings of French churches. One ot the most valuable of these is a remarkable capital of a column of the church of St. George of Bocherville near Rouen, orna-
ject of much learned speculation. The learned Spanish Jew, Rabbi Abra- ham ben Mieir Aben Esra, born at Toledo about the year 1120, but who lived and wrote a good deal in Italy, and was consequently acquainted with the diatonic scale and the plain chant of the Church, considered that the expression in question implied a knowledge of the diatonic system. The Eabbi Salomon ben Isaac Jarchi, better known as Rashi, born about the year 1040 at Troyes, where he died in the year 1104, after having been head of the Jewish school for a long period, considered that it referred simply to an accompaniment on an eight-stringed instrument. When we consider the objective character of Rashi's writings, as compared to the more subjective stamp of mind of Aben Esra, and the place where he lived, I am disposed to think that such an eight-stringed instrument was in use in western Europe.
''"' Description de VEgijple, t. xiii.
»^' "Habet insuper chordulas vel argenteas, ve ex electro, quasi tinnientes leviiisque tangendas". — Opera omnia, t. iii. p. C27.
the Salteire.
rNTRODUCTION. (Jxv
mented with figures in relief, which show not only the instru- ments in use in the eleventh and twelftli centuries, but also their combination as a regular orchestra.^"^ The seventh fiiTure in the group has a six-stringed Salteire of the kind above described, A Salteire on a slab of the cathedral of St. Omer, of the twelfth century, has twelve strings ; another but somewhat different one on the great doorway of the cathedral of Amiens, which is of the twelfth century, has pins for from twelve to fifteen strings, the latter not being represented. In this instrument the triangle has sliglitly curved sides, the angles of the base are slightly truncated, and it has four sounding holes, three small circular ones, and a central trefoil-shaped one. Fig. 71 represents a Salteire of this class and havincr a con- siderable number of strings. It is taken from M. de Coussemaker's copy from a MS. of the fourteenth century in the library of Boulogne. In other examples of the same century the number of strings seems to have been fifteen. In the fourteenth cen- tury some of the Salteires represented in Fig. 71. monuments deviated considerably from the
original truncated form ; the latter also continued in use.
The /Sa??^iV is closely connected with another important in- The Q«auo»; strument, the Qnanon, the original of the troubadour Canon, the English Dulcimer, and the German Ilackhrett, which in turn gave rise to the Clavicimbalo or Clavecin, and ultimately to the Pianoforte. The Canon, which appears to have been intro- duced into Europe together with the Salteire at the time of the Crusades, is represented in the celebrated frescoes of Andrea Orcagna, the " Trionfo della Morte", in the Campo Santo, at Pisa, and in his Coronation of the Blessed Virgin, in the Na- tional Gallery, London. The oriental Quanon consists of a low four-sided sounding-box having two sounding holes, a large round one and a small rhombic one, and mounted with twenty-five sets of three strings, or in all seventy-five ; each
^'^ A plate representing this capital is given in Didron's Annales Arch€olo- giques, t. vi. p. 314; it is also admirably illustrated in Lacroix and Seret's Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance,
33*B
dxvi INTRODUCTION.
number of get of three strings being tuned to the same note. This tri-
strines in . .
the Qvano7i. chord arrangement is well shown in Orcagna's picture.
The number of strings in the European varieties of the Canon seems to have varied considerably. In the one in the lady's hand in Orcagna's fresco, there are twenty four ; in his Coronation of the Blessed Virgin, the instrument is deltoidal, and has seventeen treble strings, only two of which are shown in the last set. The Canon suspended to the neck of St. Ranieri, as he is represented while still findinghappiness in a gay worldly life in the upper pictures representing his life, erroneously at- tributed to Simone Memmi, and which are also in the Campo Santo of Pisa, has thirty-three strings. The saint plays, as in Orcagna's figures, with both hands. In the picture represent- ing the death of St. Ranieri, painted by Antonio Vencziano, a sitting monk plays a small variety of Canon, having twenty- four sets of four strings.
Transforma- The introduction of the Canon and the transformation of it
tion o( Qua- t r t n i t~«i • i • f ■ l
non and ia/- and of tlic Salteire, or Psaltery, into the series of successively
teire iutii _ . ...
the Fiauo- modified instruments which were in use in Italv, France, etc.,
forte. , , " . -,
in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, under
the name of Clavicimbalo, Clavicordo, Harpicordo, or Harj)si-
chord, Spinetta, Buonaccordo, Virginal, etc., and which ulti-
The Salteire matcly led to the Pianoforte, did not render the old Psaltery,
or Sauirie •' . „ . • i i i t
siiiiinuse or, as Cliauccr calls it, the Sautrie, entirely obsolete. It must
in tlie 17th ' . .
century. * havc been in use in the middle of the seventeenth century, as Father Kircher gives a figure of it in his Musmgia, published in 1650, and says that, if played by a skilled person, it is not inferior to any instrument. In Kircher's time it had three rows of strings, and a compass of between three and four octaves. The strings were double, treble, and in large instru- ments even quadruple. The musician Giovanni Maria Canari in Rome had a psaltery with one hundred and forty-eight strings. The mode of notation was similar to the tablature of the lute ; the strings to be struck were indicated by letters placed on three lines, which represented the three rows of strings of the instrument, the rhythmical movement being in- dicated by special signs placed over them.
The old English Dulcimer was triangular, and had about fifty
INTRODUCTION. (Ixvii
wire strinfrs, wliicli passed over two bridsjes at each end ; the The duIcu longest strings, wliich were doubled, were about a yard long, Uackbreu. the shorter about half that length. When played it was placed on a table or stand before the performer, who struck the strings with a little iron rod held in each hand. A Dulcimer of this kind, having iron or steel strings, was to be seen in Ireland down to within the last few years. The Ilackbrett or Chnbal, or as it was called by the Italians, the Salterio tedesco, did not differ very much from the Dulcimer. According to Herr Engel, it is a trapeziform or square box, about four feet long and eighteen inches broad, forming the sound-body ; at the right and left are fixed iron screws for tuning ; the strings are of wire, two or three of which are tuned in unison for each note, the entire compass being about three octaves. It is played with little sticks having small oval knc)bs at each end, one side of which is covered with soft leather or felt for the piano passages.''" The strings of the Santir are of wire, like those of the Dulcimer and Hackbrett; but those of the Quanon are of lambs' gut, and are twanged with two small plectra, one beinfT attached to the fore finfj-er of each hand."^*
Mr. G. Farquhar Graham^'^ states that the Quanon or Canon Mr. f. Gra-
, liain's state-
was brouci^ht into Europe from the east by the Crusaders under ment tiiat
" •■■ "^ . . the Quanon
the name of Tympanon or Tympanum. It consisted, according to came mto
, ^ ■'■ d J. ^ o Europe as
him, of a triangular sound-box mounted with a great number ofti'« '''y^- wires, some of which were tu^ned in unison for each note. The strings were struck by two light flexible rods having a knob at one end. I do not know upon what authority Mr. Graham must be a
. , mistake,
makes this statement; but whatever his authority may be, 1 think there must be some mistake, as the Irish applied the term Thupan to a bowed instrument at least as early as the first Cru- sade, and before the influence of the latter could have possibly penetrated into Ireland. Neither the Salteire, the Canon, Demi-Canon, or Mi-Canon, or other stringed instrument in- cluded under the general term Moraches in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, could be played with a bow.
"•> Engel, Op. cit. 974 jii.j_
"7^ Introduction to the Songs of Ireland tcithout Words : for the Pinaoforte. Bj' J. T. Turenne, edited by Francis Robinson, Mus. Doc Dublin, BusseU.
dxviii
INTRODUCTION.
known.
Fig. 72.
The oldest The oldest figure of a tme harp which I have seen is that true harp represented in fig. 72 after Gerbert, from a MS. of St. Blaise,
considered to be of the ninth cen- tury. It is called in the manu- script a " Cithara Anglica". I have already given a figure of an instrument from a manuscript of the same period from St. Emeran, which is called a " Cithara Teu- tonica". The latter, as we have seen, was a kind o^Rote, and very difierent from the true harp, and yet these two instruments, so dif- ferent in many respects, are called by the same name Cithara. In so obscure and important a question, it is very hazardous to draw conclusions from isolated facts ; nevertheless it is worthy of notice that in the ninth century the true harp was so much used in England and so little used in Germany and the rest of the north and west of Europe, that it could be described in opposition to the Rote as a British in- strument. Here the question naturally suggests itself, by what name was the instrument called in the manuscript " Cithara Teutonica", known in Germany; and was the " Cithara An- glica" called by the Saxons Harpa, and if so, how was it The modern called by the Welsh, Scotch, and Irish ? So far as I can make
harp origi- "^ . . i i • n
nnted iu the out, thcrc IS no evidcnco that the instrument we now caii a
British . n • /-I • 1 • 1
isiai.ds, harp was m use at all m Germany m the ninth century, in- deed, so far as there is any certain evidence at all on the sub- ject, the precise form of instrument now called a harp seems to have originated in the British Islands. That this form was only a modification of the ancient Trigonon, must be evident to an unbiassed mind who compares figure 72 with figure Q2. It is not, however, equally manifest how the Trigonon, with a fore-pillar, became so common in these countries as to be trans- formed into a new musical instrument, which became the fa- vourite one of most northern nations, and the special national instrument of Ireland. M. de Coussemaker tells us that the
and was a moditiciitiun ot the lYi- gonon.
INTRODUCTION. dxiX
English harps of the twelfth century are distinguished by a character of simplicity and elegance which is not found in the contemporaneous French harps. This superiority he attributes to the favour and vogue which harps enjoyed among the higher classes of society. It should be observed, however, that he makes no distinction between England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and that his evidence seems to apply chiefly to the latter. Judging by the figure of the harp in the St. Blaise manuscript, the observation of M. de Cousseraaker as to the elegance of the harps of the British Islands in the twelfth century seems equally applicable to those of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries.
Althovigh we possess no illustrations of the Irish harps of The Crui the ninth century, except the unsatisiactory and very rude one harp, sculptured on the monumental cross ofUUard, and figured by Dr. Ferguson in his Essaij, yet one can scarcely resist the conclusion which forces itself on the mind in reading over the references to the Crut scattered through Irish manuscripts, that that instrument was a true harp, played upon with the Irish fingers, and without a plectrum. From the eighth to the four- visited other
1 11 -11 T • T T • 1 /-» countries
teenth century, and perhaps at a still earlier period, Irish (jvut-iyom^thto players appear to have wandered about the north of Europe, t>iry; and to have extended their steps even as far south as Italy .®^®
Perhaps it was to this intercourse that the notable improve- improve-
. 1 . . ment of
ment in the French harps which took place m the thirteenth trench
_ ^ ^ _ harps, ana
century was due. This, at all events, was the period of Dante, introduction who says, according to Vincenzio Gallilei'" that the harp was'n'o '^"'^
J ^ o ir due to those
visits.
976 Tegner, in his beautiful Frithiof Saga, has taken advantage of the inter- course of the Irish and Scotch with the Norsemen to introduce a Gaedhelic bard (many of Avhom, as is well known, were Irishmen) along with a Norse one at the court of tlie Orkney King Angant^T.
A chief of Morven's bards of old
Then 'gan his harp essay ; In Gaelic numbers darkly trolled
The wild heroic lay. He ceased, when straight the chords along
A Norrhjene finger flies, Tliorsten's exploits its customed song, And this obtained the prize. °^' Discorso della musica antica et modeina. Fiorenze, 1581.
dxx INTRODUCTION.
introduced into Italy from Ireland. Doni, a learned Florentine writer on music of the seventeenth century, is of opinion that the harp is a modified Trigonon or Sambucus^QXiA, consequently, that it was well known in Italy at some previous period, but having fallen into desuetude there, while it became the fa- vourite instrument of the Irish, it was introduced through Irish harpers.^'^ The harp on the Apuleian vase represented in fig. 62 proves that Doni was right. The evidence of the introduc- tion into Italy of the harp in its modern form, which seems to be generally admitted, is, I think, conclusive, that this mo- dern form originated in the British Islands, and was especially used by the Irish. Kumberof The early European harps had not many strings. It is true, early harps. Jiarps represented on monuments or in illummations are gene- rally mere conventional instruments. Thus, while the harp on a map of Ireland of the year 1567, published in the se- cond volume of the State Papers, has only eight strings, one on the reliquary called the Fiacail Phadraicc, or "Patrick's Tooth", more than two centuries older (about the year 1370), has about thirty. Gulllaume de Machaut, a poet of the four- teenth century, assigns twenty-five strings to the harp he de- scribes in his Dictionnaire de la Harpe. Glareanus, in his JJodecachordon, published in 1547, gives the number of strings in the common harp of his time as twenty-four; while, a few years later, harps with no less than fifty eight strings were in use. These seem to have been the harps introduced from Ireland. 2. Stringed Instruments played with a hoio. Bowed instruments are generally believed to be of eastern origin, and those writers who take for granted that Europe, during the metamorphism which took place in the ideas and habits of mankind under the joint action of Christianity and the conquest of the Roman Empire by the barbarians, dozed in Opinion that an intellectual night, and only awoke at the first crusade, place Buun.ents the first introduction into Europe of such instruments in the hiirope at eleventh century. The Abbe Gerbert has given from a MS.
the trnsiides shown not to
9?8 f^yya barberina AM'tlXOFO'2, accedunt ejusdem opet a, etc. Florentiae,
1763, vol. i. p. 20.
INTRODUCTIOX. dxxi
supposed to be of the eighth century, a figure of a bowed in- strument somewhat like a mandoline in form, and mounted with one string passing over a bridge placed between two sounding holes, which proves that European music is not indebted to the crusades for the introduction of the prototype of the best of our orchestral instruments, the fiddle. An instrument under s^ch instm-
' _ TTients exis-
the latter name is also mentioned in the poem on the Fair of 1^^^"?^^^'^^-^ Carman, as having been in use at that place. The last re- ^^^g'°^^^8 °*' corded fair of Carman was in A.D. 718 ; so that if the statement '=®°*''^''y ' were correct, it would carry back the use of the fiddle in Ireland to even a more remote period than the monochord bowed instrument of the Abb6 Gerbert's manuscript. But even if we assign no higher antiquity to the facts contained in a manuscript than that of the year in which the MS. was written, the poem on the Fair of Carman would still carry us back to the first half of the twelfth century. It is barely possible that two stringed instruments, the Timpan and the fiddle, should have found their way in the course of forty or fifty years from the East into the farthest corner of Western Europe, and to a country which took no part in the first crusade. But no one will think it probable ; especially when it is remembered that these two instruments were not known by oriental names. The balance of evidence, not- are of Arabic withstanding what has just been said, is however in favour of an Arabic origin of the earliest European bowed instruments. From the Arabs they could have come into Europe either through the Byzantine empire by means of the Italians, or directly from the Arabs of Spain. There is no evidence, so not in use far as I know, that bowed instruments were in use in Western eighth cen- Europe before the beginning of the eighth century, certainly not before the seventh. The Moslem power was fully estab- spain in lished in Spain in 713, and an independent western caliphate nintii, 'ana was set up under Abdalrahman II. in 75(i. For nearly three tudes ""en- centuries, while the Ommiadan dynasty thus established ndkn'ow- governed the Moslems of the west, Spain became a centre of all the arts and knowledge of the time. During the reign of intercourse Abdalrahman III., and of his son, Abul Abbas al Hakem II.,spanL^h considerable intercourse and friendship existed between the christl
Moslems and ians.
dxxil INTRODUCTION.
caliphate of Cordova and the Spanish Christian kingdoms of Leon and Navarre, as well as with Provence, where the poetry and music of the Troubadours were just beginning to flourish. In fact Abdalrahman combined his arms with those of Garcia, king of Navarre, to put the nephew of the latter, Sancho I., on the throne of Leon. Learned men from various countries crowded to Cordova, and the Jews, who found a real home under the Spanish Ommiadan princes, were especially active in spreading the arts and knowledge of the Spanish schools throughout Evirope. Abul Abbas maintained agents in the East and in different parts of Europe, chiefly Jcavs, to pur- chase books for his library, the catalogue of which he made himself; and so extensive was this library, that the catalogue in its unfinished state is reported by a contemporary writer, Ebn Hayan, to have filled forty-four volumes of fifty pages each. This prince, like his father, was a poet, and a book of his poems, called Kiteb al Agani, is said to have had the airs, wdiich he also composed, written out in some kind of musical Musical in- uotatiou. The musical instruments of the East, as well as tiie^East in thosc of Egypt, wcrc uo doubt known to so musically en- pai -^Q^g^ g^ people as the Spanish Arabs, and among them bowed instruments, which the Eastern Arabs appear to have The Jogiars been the first to make use of. From the Spanish Arabs there of bow from cau bc little doubt the Jofflars or Jono-leurs, who sang the
Spanish O & > O
Arabs. sougs of the Troubadours, learned the u.se of the bow. iheRebaioT The mouochord bowed instrument above mentioned was
Rebec '
probably the same as the instrument afterwards known as the Rebec, Rebebe, Rubebe, etc. This instrument, which was mounted with two chords and afterwards with three, was one of the special instruments with which the minstrels accom- panied the songs and tales of the Trouveres, and is said to still used in Bri- survivc in Britamiy, where, according to M. de la Villemarque, it is still used by the itinerant Barz or bard to accompany his songs.^" The Rebec is obviously the Arabic Rebab used by the Moorish poets, singers, and improvisatores, from whom the Jogiars or Jongleurs of Provence must have learned its use, and then spread it through the rest of Western Europe.
9^' Barzas, Breiz, I., p. xxxix.
tanny,
INTRODUCTION. dxxiii
The name Rehec does not occur in Irish mamiscripts, but the in Ireland, three-stringed Timpan, which Ferji, son of Eogahhal^ plajed upon, according to the ancient legend of luhar Mic Aingis, or the Yew Tree of 3fac A{ngis,^^° may have been one. The Crioth trithant or three-stringed Crwth, spoken of by some ana in Welsh writers, was also, perhaps, a Rehec, or one of the modified forms of it made in imitation of the old popular instruments played with the fingers, the Crwth or Rote. It is interesting to find in Ireland, Wales, and Britanny a three- stringed bowed instrument, and that in one of them it still bears a modified Arabic name. The Spanish rustic instru- ment called a Rebel is probably a descendant of the original Moorish instrument.
As soon as musicians became acquainted with the bow, Existing in-
■*■ , , ' strum ents
they naturally endeavoured to ajjply it to such stringed adapted to instruments as could be played with it, or wdiich could be readily adapted to this purpose. This explains why the same name is indifferently applied to an instrument played with the fino;ers or with a bow. Indeed, the same instru- The same ment, or at least slightly modified forms of the same instru- strument
° -^ _ ^ played with
ment,^ ' appear to have been sometimes played with the tiie fingers,
,^ ^ . . . plectrum,
fingers, with a plectrum or quill, or with a bow. A Spanish poet, »"<! ^ow.
who wrote about the year ] 350, the arch-priest of Hita, Juan
Ruiz, in enumerating the instruments which the Joglars used,
speaks of a Vihuela de PeJiola and a Vihiiela cle arco, that is,
of a violin touched with a quill or plectrum, and of another
played with a bow.^^^ He also speaks of two kinds of Robes
or Rebecs, one of which he calls gritador or screeching, and
the other Moorish. Perhaps these were played like the two
Vilmelas, one with a quill, giving a sharp hissing sou.nd, and
the other or Moorish one with a bow like a fiddle. I have
already shown that there were also two kinds of Rotes, one
of which was a bowed instrument.
^^° Lectures, xxxii. vol. ii., i). 259.
®^' . . . Chascun de aus selons I'accort De son instrument sans descort Viole, guiterne, cytole De dois, de penne, et de Varchet. '•'*2 El Rale gritadoi* con la su alta nota ; Cab' 61 e/^(oaui' tat"iiendo la sua nota.
clXxiv INTRODUCTION.
The viduia. The Spanish Vihuela above mentioned was the Provenral
Vinla. or '^ _ 5
Viiie; Viula, Viola, and French Viele or Vielle, which was called
in Latin documents Viduia, Vitula, Fifola, and Fldala. The latter is evidently derived from Viele ; the others are prob- ably forms of the original name from which all the Romance and Teutonic names are derived. In Northern France the instrument we are discussing appears to have been indif- ferently called Vielle or Viele and Viole. The latter is almost
the modern the Troubadour or Provencal name. Afterwards the latter
Viol; _ ^ ^
name was exclusively used, and ultimately passed into the modern form Violin, while the name Viele was given to a totally different instrument, the Organittrum or Symj)homa, whence the French Chifonie. This is the modern Viol, in which the music is produced by the rotation of a wheel. Teutonic The Tcutonic names for the Viele were : Ano-lo-Saxon,
names for o '
the Yiue; FitkeU ; Old English, Fidel;^^^ Old High German, Fidula, as
in Ottfried's Krist; Middle High German, Videle, and also
origin of according to Diez, Viqele. The Irish Fidil is related to the
Irish Fidil. rT^ • n ^
Teutonic forms and not to the Eomance ones, from which we may conclude that the original instrument was introduced into Ireland through the Anglo-Saxons, and not through the Normans, and consequently before the first crusade. Form of Up to the eleventh century the Viele, and indeed all
yi&!e up to . . ■'
eleventh bowed instruments, consisted of a more or less conical body,
century ; _ ' J ^
resembling somewhat a modern mandoline in shape. It had usually five strings. Drawings of instruments perfectly similar
El Sallerio con ellos mas alta que la mota La Vihuela de penola con aquellos aqui sota ; Medio cario et Harpa, con el Rahe morisco Entre ellos alegranza al Galope Francisco La Bota dis con ellos mas alta que un risco, Con ella el Tarbote sin esta no vale un prisco. La Vihuela de arco fase dulzes bayladas, Adormiendo a las veses, muy alto a las vegadas, Voces dulces, sabrosas, claras et bien puntadas A las gentes alegra todas tiene pagadas. Hisloria de la musica espanola desde la venida de los Ftnicios kasta al ano de 1850, por Mariano Soriano Fuentes. 5«=5 Chaucer, The Prologue. The English Bible of 1551 has Fyddell (2 Kyngen, c. vi.)
INTRODUCTION. dxXV
to the Viele arc, however, found with three and even with six «"'«- ^'*'«>
' ' Jt'^oec, and
strino-s. But at this period one kind of the Rote, the Viele, oigneh^ie
or ' ' each other ;
the Iiehec, and Gigue were so like one another, that perhaps the only distinction between them was in the number of strings, which were generally two in the Gigue, three in the Rebec, five in the Viele, and six in the Rote.^^^ Even at a later period, when the Viele began to assume more or less the shape of the modern Violin, the names Rote, Viele, and Rebec seem to have been regarded as synonymous by several writers.^^* After the eleventh century the Viele became oval, the neck chanee of
•J ' fiirm of
was made separate from the body, and the whole instrument "'os" instru-
1 J ' ments after
began gradually to assume the appearance of the modern ^|_l^''^'^'J.''> violin. The Rote seems to have remained unchanged, until it began to become obsolete in the fourteenth century. The Rebec also underwent a change somewhat like the Vi^le, its form in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries being not unlike a rustic fiddle. The body was usually tra- pezoidal and truncated, and not oval as in the violin.
Besides the Rote, the Viele, and the Rebec, there was a xiiejctViw ,- fourth bowed instrument in great repute in the middle ages, the Giga or Gigue mentioned above. Like all other bowed instruments, the Giga had a more or less ellipsoidal form, the neck being formed by an elongation of the body, which was also bulged at the sides. The table or face was pierced with two sound holes, between which came the bridge. The number of strings in the older instruments was two, but afterwards generally three, which were attached to a cordier as in the Viele. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the neck
^* I need scarcely remark that the number of strings in any of these in- struments varied very considerably, though it was generally as given in the text. Ilieronymus de Moravia gives the number in the Rthec in his time (thirteenth century) as two : " Est autem ruboba musieum instrumentum, habens solum duas chordas, sono a se distante per diapente, quod quidem et sicut viellaarcu tangitur".— il/5. Bibl. Nat. Par., Fonds Soibonne, Ko. 1817, quoted by Ambros, op. cit. p. 2)9.
985 M. de Coussemaker {TraiM stir Rucbald) cites the following note to the rianctus Naturae of Alain of Lille in a MS, of the thirteenth century: " Lira est quoddam genus citharac vel fitoln, alioquin de Roet. Hoc instru- menttma est multum vulgare". In a vocabulary of the year 1419 occurs: Rott. Rubcba est parva Figella (Ambros, op. cit., ii. 29).
dxxvi INTRODUCTION.
of the Vi^le was distinct from the body, as has been pointed out above, while the neck of the Gigue continued to be formed by a prolongation of the body. Sometimes the outline of the instrument approached very close to that of the Viele, as in fig. 73, which represents a Gigue of the thirteenth century sculptured on the doorway of the cathedral of Amiens.^^® The German name of this instrument is Geige, and is still in use as the generic name of fiddle-like instru- origin of mcuts. M. dc Coussemakcr thinks the Romance Giqa
word Oigue. t • ^ r i /^
and the French Gigue are derived from the German name ; and in support of this view he cites a passage of the Romance of Cleomades by the Trouvere Adenes, in which the poet s|)eaks of Gigueours cV Allemagne. Some German lexicographers derive Geige from the Old Norse geiga, to tremble, or from qiqel, to ffigrrrle. No trace of the word can, however, be found in JMiddle Hio-h German before about the year 1200, that is long after the instrument called a Giga was known in the Romance countries. Diez not only assumes the German origin of the word, but he derives the French Gigot, a leg of mutton, from the name of the instrument, which it resembled, and also the Spanish Gigote, mince-meat (hashed mutton !). The converse of all this is much more rational and in accordance with facts. The Gigue found its way into Germany towards the end of the twelfth century, and there continuing in use and remaining unchanged in form to the end of the sixteenth century,^" while after the thirteenth century it gradually became obsolete in the Romance countries,it was carried back to France by German musicians, who in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries wandered in considerable numbers into France, and thus it became known as a German instrument.
The Viele was the favourite instrument in the twelfth and
5«s First given by M. de Coussemaker ; Annal Arch6ol., volume 7, p. 328.
^*^ Tlie instruments called Geigen in the sixteenth century by Agricola in his Musica Instrumentalis, are of the same form as the true Gigues, except that they have the voluted heads to the necks which are sometimes to be found on the boAved instruments of the fourteenth century.
INTRODUCTION. dxxvii
thirteenth centuries with which the Joglars and minstrels ac-The vwea
'-' favourite in-
companied the lays of the Troubadours and Trouveres.'^" Itsuument;
is also frequently mentioned alonpj with the harp for this
purpose.^*^ Dance tunes were also played upon the Viele.^^°
It must have occupied a similar rank in Germany, as we have
even a knightly fiddler accompanying his song on the fiddle
in the Niebelungen Lay.^'' Women played the fiddle as well it was played
, .-, -, 1 •!• f»^y women
as men: indeed it was considered as the special instrument ofa^weiiasby
'- men.
women. In the Reimchronicle of Ottokar, we are told that the beautiful Agnes, the mistress of Wenzel II., of Bohemia, could "fiddle and sins;".
Of the four bowed instruments used in the middle ages, Bowed in- which w^e have been considering m the foregoing pages, the mentioned in Mote, Viele, Rebec, and Gigue, the only one mentioned by name in Irish manuscripts, so far as I know, is the Vi^le, which, as I have said, is mentioned in the poem on the Fair of Carman in the form Fidil. The instrument called by this the Fidu or
fiddle;
name was evidently a rustic instrument used by the peasants probably for dancing only, and is nowhere mentioned in con-
^8^ Guillaume de St. Pair, speaking in his Chronique de VAbbaye du Mont St. Michel, of a procession visiting that place, says : " Cil jougleor la ou il A'unt Tout lor Viiles traites unt Lais et sonnez runt viellant". 989 <•• Quand les tables ostees furent Cil jougleour en pies s'esturent S'ont Vieles et Harpes prises Cantjons et sons, vers et reprises Et de gestes cante nous ont".
Hugues de Mery, Tovrnoiement de V Antichrist. 990 " E'ls joglar, que son el palais Violons descortz e sons e lais E dansas et cansonz de geste" — Roman de Jaufre. 991 As Volk^r is about to depart from Bechelare, he fiddles and sings for Gotehnde :
" Volker der snelle mit siner videlen dan Kom gezogenliche fiir Gotelinde stan Er videlt siieze doene ir siniu liet : Damite nam er urloup, dO er von Becheirircn sciet.
xxvii. Avcnt. In another place (xxix. AveiU.') Volker's Videlbogen or fiddle bow is spoken of.
dxxviii INTRODUCTION.
nection with the music of the nobility. On the contrary, we are expressly told that kings had three kinds of music, namely, that of the Cruit, that of the Timpan, and the Dord.^^' The latter was a kind of martial hymn or paean. Although the Gigue is not mentioned in Irish manuscripts, it has left behind it indisputable evidence of its former existence in Ireland in the name of a dance, the jig, which, though formerly known in other countries, and the peculiar times or rhythms of the tunes for which have been extensively vised by composers of instru- mental music in the way of " scherzi capricciosi", is now almost characteristic of the Irish peasantry.
tha Timpan; Timpaii, the name of the second, and by far more impor- tant of the bowed instruments mentioned in Irish manuscripts, does not suggest the slightest relationship with any of the continental medieval bowed instruments. It is a puzzle how a stringed instrument could have received a name which I have above shown ^'^^ to have always meant a drum or tambou- rine. Nowhere do we find a description of it ; our only means for determining what manner of instrument it was, is by induc- tion from the vague and scattered notices which occur in poems, prose tales, and in the laws. O'Curry has brought together all those fragments in the Lectures, and almost everything I could say in addition, I have been obliged to say incidentally in discussing the history of the harp in Ireland, with which that of the Timpan is almost insej)arably interwoven. In this place it only remains to draw conclusions as to what the Timpan was. The passage quoted by O'Curry from the Laws in Lecture xxxvi.'®* establishes beyond doubt that the name Timpan was certainly given to a bowed instrument. This does not preclude the name being also applied to an instru- ment played with the fingers, as was the case with the Rote
two kinds of and the Viele. Now this is the conclusion to which a careful consideration of all the evidence on the matter has led me. Were the two instruments called by the name Timpan, like the two kinds of Rote or like the two kinds of Viele ^ One or more of the strings of the Timpan
932 MS. Book o/Ballymote, R.I. A, 99' Ante, p. ccccxc.
93* Volii.jp. 363.
INTROBUCTION. dxXlX
played with a bow were touched by the finfjcr-nall, or one played
, , J O 1 \vjt], a bow-
by a quill plectrum ; the instrument must therefore have aufi ■'om';
*' ^ •■ ' _ strings
somewhat resembled the Welsh Crwth, which belono-cd to the '"."ftie'i
' C3 witli the
type of the Rote rather than to that of the ViHe. The presence finge"" "«'•■ of a string or strings fastened outside the finger-board as in the Welsh Crivth, was not peculiar to the Rote, but existed in some, if not in all the older forms of the Viele. This outside string was the Bourdon of Hieronymus de jNIoravia, who ffives the different modes of tunino; those instruments. These modes of tuning seem to indicate different kinds of instru- ments; indeed M. de Coussemaker thinks that under the term Vielles,^^^ Hieronymus de Moravia included the Rote — that the term was in fact a generic name for all bowed instruments, a view which coincides with what I have said above, that up to the eleventh century the bowed instruments in use in Europe did not essentially differ from each other. It is therefore im- not possible
possible to say whether the Timpaii was a Rote or a Vicle, whciiev tiie 1 1 1 T 1 1 1 1 1 • -111 I'^'^P"'^ ^^as
but there can be little doubt that the instruments included a^^n^e m- a
under this name in Irish documents were practically the same as the instruments of the same class in use in the West of Europe in the eleventh century, and that in the absence o^Timpan and positive proot to the contrary, we may sately assume that the borrowed Irish Timpan and the Welsh Crwth or Crud of the time of Continent. Giraldus Cambrensis were borrowed from the neighbouring continental nations.
Wind Instruments. — There can be no doubt that pneumatic or wind organs were known at a much earlier period than is usually supposed. St. Augustine, who lived in the fourth cen- tury, distinctly alludes to organs supplied with air by bel- lows.'°^ The sculjDtured representation of two such instru- ments forming part of the bas-relief on the base of the obelisk erected under Theodosius in the place now called Almeidan at Constantinople, fully confirms the words of St. Augustine. The discovery at Aries, in the south of France, of two antique sarcophagi of the sixth or seventh century having sculptured
995 (i Quoniam autem secundiini philosophuin in paucioribus via magna, ideo primo de Rubeba, postea de Viellis dicemus"'. — MS. cit., c. 18. *"' In Psalmum Ivi. ver. 9 ; and cl. ver. 4.
INT. 34*
at)lv' the Fame as Grganum ;
dxXX INTRODUCTION.
upon them pneumatic organs, proves tlie introduction of
wind organs into western Europe long before the period of
Pneumatic- Pepin. We may now consequently admit, without being
Organ may ^ •' i-iiii ^ \ c ^
have been oocn to the obicction which could be made betore the
known In r " iTijii
Ireland. antiquity of the pneumatic organ was established, that the organs referred to in an entry in the Annals of Ulster at the year 814 as having been burnt at Cluaincrema, may have been pneumatic ones. In the absence of any other reference to such a wind instrument, and taking into account that the Psalterium or Nablum is also called an organ in a passage from an Irish ]\IS. frequently referred to,'-*" it would be useless to speculate further on the matter. It oircin prob is probable that Oircin, which O'Curry found mentioned once as the name of a musical instrument in the Irish Triads,®^® is a loan-word from Organum. If this be so, the the latter Organum above spoken of would refer to the Psalterium, as eve"rf in this it Certainly could not be said of the pneumatic organs of the pluerium. middle ages, that "the sweetest of all music is the music of the Oircin\ This view is also borne out by the existence of an Oilamh Oircrte, or chief professor of the Oircin, among the bards who accompanied Senclicm Torpeist on his memorable visit to Gnaire, king of Connaught. O'Curry was puzzled by this word, and hesitatingly translates it the " repeater". If Oircin be a loan-word, as I believe, it would be of great importance as showing the early use by lay musicians of the Psalterium or Nablum, which was essentially an ecclesiastical instrument. The The Latin Buccina became, at least in name, the Bnisine
^Se the of the Trouveres, and the Fosaune of the Germans. The BlZina ; name of the modern wind instrument, the Bassoon, notwith- standing the guesses of lexicographers, is also, I have no doubt, derived from the Latin, but through the Romance form Buisine. Among the Irish wind instruments mentioned by O'Curry is one called a Buine. That this instrument was some kind of trumpet, is evident from the name of one of its varieties, the Gufhhuvie, the prefixed word in which signifies the voice. I think it very probable that the Irish Buine is the Romance Buisine, the s being lost between vowels as in »" Vol. ii., p. 238. ^^^ Lecture xxxv., vol. ii p. 334.
INTRODUCTION. dxxxi
many Other words. Two objections maybe urged against "le'rish this view; namely, first, that the Irish form of the word is f<>' m<"' from
ij 1 1 . ^ 1 • /■ the IJomaiice
as old at least as the ninth century, being found in the *'"''^;
Milan codex used by Zcuss for his Grammatica Celtica ; and
secondly, that the Anglo-Saxon for a trumpet in Beowulf is Antjio-
Byine^ Avhich has a certain outward resemblance to Buine.
There is, it is true, no evidence so far as I know that tlie
word Bnisine existed in the eighth century, but there is no
reasonable doubt that the Eomance lano-uaires were suffi-
ciently advanced to justify the assumption that such a word
might have existed at that period. The opinion that it is a
loan-word is further supported by the fact that, in the form
Buine, it only occurs in the Milan codex, and in the compound
form Gufhhuhie only in translations from the Latin, although
the BuinirS, or player on the Buine, had a place in the Tech
Midchuarda or Banqueting Hall of Tara.*"^ The Irish and
Anglo-Saxon look certainly somewhat like each other, but it is
very hazardous to found relationships upon resemblances in
external form. In this case, no doubt, there is identity of
meaning as well as similarity of form. Is Byrne the true
Anglo-Saxon form ? May it not be itself a loan-word?
Stoc and Sturgan, unlike Buine, seem to be true Irish phe su,c names for some kinds of trumpets. They may both, perhaps, I'alf'"'" be referred to the Sanskrit Stu, to praise, to glorify, and if so, afford another example of the close relationship pointed out relation to by M. Pictet between Irish musical terms and Sanskrit. What ^^"''""■ the variety of the Stoc called the Stoc fogra may have been, it is difficult to say. Gri certainly impHes that it was a melodious instrument; but what is the value of /o.? It is probably intensitive, and if so Siuc fogri would mean a shrill sounding trumpet."""'
Although Giraldus Cambrensis does not mention the baf pipe as an instrument in use in Ireland in his time, there can ^'''^' be no doubt that it was known, as it is enumerated amonc: the musical instruments at the Fair of Carman. The bagpipe is never mentioned in connection with the kings or nobles, and
'^' Lecture xxxiv., vol. ii. p. 30(>.
""'"' Cf. 5|\ie in ceoil, the melody of tlic music ; Cf. also Sanskrit ^.% to sing.
34 "8
Ig- The Bug-
dxxxil INTRODUCTION.
must have been an instrument entirely confined to the rot tiFed in peasants even long after the Anglo-Norman invasion. It ap- siicitnt T)ears to have besun to be used in war in the fourteenth cen-
tury, but there is no evidence that it was ever so used by
the Irish before the advent of the Normans. Celtic, Ro- The Welsh name of the bagpipe, as it is written in the Teutonic Wclsh Laws, is Pvleu, which is very close to the Irish form
names of "^ ^ • c • o
bagpipe; Pipai. In the Fornvmnna Sogur, and m i^verris ^aga, we
have the old Norse Pipa. The Eomance forms are Pipa in
ocenrrence the southcm dialect, and Pipe in old French. The latter occurs
oi name Pipe . i • • i ii Ti
inaTiou- {jj ^hc cui'ious list of musical instruments given by the irou- vere poet of the fourteenth century, Guillaume de Machaut, in his "Ze Temps Pastour\">'' Celtic forms The Celtic forms are found in the oldest manuscripts. The oldest Mss. ; jBooX- of Leiuster, which contains the poem on the Fair of
1001 After enumerating various kinds of trumpets, flutes, and other instru- ments, he goes on :
Viole, guiterne, citole, Harpe, trompe, corne, flajoleT Pipe, souffle, muse, naquaire, Taboure et quanque on pent faire De dois, de penne, et de I'archet, OTs et vis en ce porchet.
This is the only place where I have met the name Pipe. The usual name for the bagpipe is Muse, which is also mentioned in the foregoing passage. This shows that the two instruments were different : the Muse was probably somewhat like the instrimient which still exists in Italy and other parts of the south of Europe. In " Li gieus de Robin et de Marion", one of the operas of Adam de la Hale, written about the year 1270, Eobin, the hero of the piece, says he will provide the music for the marriage feast : g'irai pour ie tabour et pour la Muse au grant bourdon ; and Peronelle or Perette, a peasant girl, one of the dramatis personae, proposes a dance :
, . . par amours faisons la tresque e Robins la menra s'il veut et Huars musera, et chil doi autre corneront.
John Cotton considered the il/?/se to be the best of all instruments. " Musa, ut diximus, instrumentum quoddam est, omnia ut diximus excellens instru- menta, quippe quae omnium vim atque modum in se continet, humano siquidem inflatur spiritu ut tibia, manu temperatur ut phiala ( Viele), folle excitatur ut organa, unde et a Graeco, quod est fis^a id est media, musae dicitur", etc. Musica, iii.
INTRODUCTION. dxxxlu
Carman, was written in the first half of the twelfth century. The Welsh form occurs in a codex of the end of the same century or the beginning of the thirteenth century. The oldest manuscript containing the Norse form is not older, I believe, than the thirteenth century. So far this is presump- tive evidence of the Celtic use of the word to designate a bagpipe being the earlier. This, however, may be only an acci- idsh name
^^ T bo r 10 wed,
dent, and in any case is not conclusive. Wherever the word from uo-
T 1 n • 1 • 1 1 mance:
was first used as the name of a musical mstrument, there can be no doubt that it is derived from the Latin pipare. The Irish form^ came through the Komance : perhaps the instrument itself came with the name.
It may not be out of place to remind the reader that t^i® ^i*^ \''e'\iie Irish bagpipe was inflated by the mouth, and was in every ^^^^^^^ respect the same as the instrument now known as the Scotch scotch one. or Highland bagpipe. The existing form of the Irish bag- pipe is modern.
Instruments of Percussion, and MisceUaneoris Instruments. — The only instruments of percussion used by the Irish were bells. These instruments are frequently mentioned in tales which refer to pagan times, nor is there anything improbable in assuming that they were really known to the pagan Irish. It is now ascertained beyond doubt that bells were known to Antifiuity of
■J ... bells;
the ancient nations of Asia — the Chinese, Indians, Assyrians, and Jews ; and what is of more importance for inquiries touching the history of Ireland and of Western Europe, they were used for a variety of purposes by the Greeks and Romans. Without occupying space with quotations or refer- ^^^^^"I'^f * "^ ences to ancient writers, which every classical scholar will g'efks and readily remember, I will state a few of the occasions on which bells were used. The Greeks attached bells to their doors ; their night watchmen employed them to sound alarms ; officers visiting military posts used them for challenging sentinels ; in the houses of the rich the slaves were awakened in the morning by the ringing of a bell, and in large families the household ; at Athens the arrival of fresh fish in the market was announced by the ringing of a bell. In Rome the open- ing of the baths was annovmced in the same manner ; bells
dx>
XXIV
INTRODUCTION
probably- known be- fore Chris- tian era iu western Europe;
two kinds of bells used — oi^en and closed ;
were hung as ornaments on public buildings, on cattle to pre- vent them straying, on the harness of horses and on elephants to keep up their spirits, and to the necks of criminals going to execution. An instrument put to so many and such various uses must have followed the footsteps of the colonizmg Greek and of the conquering Roman, and must consequently have been known, at least in Gaul and Spain, before the Christian era.
Two kinds of bells were used : open bells, four-sided or round, and sounded by a tongue or clapper ; and small closed bells, spherical or peai--shaped in form, and sounded by a loose ball or pea of metal enclosed in them, the vibration of the enclosed air being allowed to pass out through a small hole or slit. The former kind were those which were adopted for the service of the Church, and were called by the Irish name Clocc, which is obviously a loan-word from the lower Latin word Clocca. Derivatives of this word are found in all the Teutonic and Eomance languages, as well as in the Celtic dialects ; but the origin of the word itself is obscure. It was in general use in the eighth and ninth centuries for the hand- bells used by ecclesiastics, of which so many are to be found in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, '""^ and also for the bells used in kitchens for summoning the monks to the refectory, and no doubt in all large houses for calling the family and servants to their meals. '""^ Clocca gradually be- came the exclusive name of large bells placed in the steeples ia7ge bells in of churchcs, whilc the original Latin Tintinnahulum continued
belfries. _ o
to be the name of the smaller bells, to which it properly
belonged. In writers from the eighth to the tenth century,
campana we find two Other names for bells, Campana and Nola. The
and Nola , _ ' -^
other names former, whicli gave rise to campanile, a belfry, is derived from Campania in Southern Italy, and the latter from Nola, a city of Campania. Large bells were called Campanae, and
Clocc, the Jnsii lisme of the for- mer, bor- rowed from L. Latin Ctucca ;
origin of latter ob- scure ;
used in eighth and ninth cen- turies for hand bells, etc.:
after-wards applied to
1002 • (jioccam' qualem ad manum habui tua paternitati mittere curavi- mus". St. Bonifacius, Epist. 9.
1003 « Semper in Eeternum faciat hsec clocula tantum
Carmina ; sed resonct nobis bona clocca cocorum".
Alcuin, Ad Campanam, cviii.
INTRODUCTION. (Ixxxv
small ones Nolae.^"°'' The orio;ln of these names is to beor'g'nof
" _ _ these names;
attributed either to Campania, and especially the city of Nola, being celebrated for their manufacture of bells, or to bells of a particular kind being made there. Popular tradition attri- buted the invention of bells to St. Paulus, Bishop of Nola in the sixth century; but for this there was, as wo'have seen, no ground whatever. The early bells of western and northern Europe appear to have been generally forged. Cast bells, especially those of a large size, may have been made in Cam- pania, which also distinguished itself very much in the fic- tile arts,'""^ and by their superiority in tone and appearance have led to the names Campance and Nolce being given to such bells, and ultimately to cast bells wherever made, the forged ones fallincr into desuetude. A diminutive of the Irish he insu Clocc occurs in the plural form Cluicine in the tale of the Tain Bo Fraich?'""^ Fraech, the hero of this tale, and the other personages who are the subjects of the incidents of the story, belong to the heroic period of Queen 3Iedb, and the general character of the piece is pagan ; nevertheless I think there can be little doubt that the word is a loan-word, borrowed in Christian times.
Open bells appear to have been in use in the Irish Church early use of
^ . . . bshs In Irish
from the very first, and in early times to have afi^orded in cer- churciies ; tain cases a measure of the legal rights of a church. Thus -^ere mea-
O O suies of
for instance, a church was entitled to share the property of ch<|^rd| strangers dying within sound of its bell, and if situated on the shore of a lake or of the sea, to all " flotsam and jetsam", that is, to some such rights as are now claimed as " admiralty droits".'"" It was only the original bell, under the protection of which a Tuath had placed itself, that could be used for mea-
10J4 "Unde et a Campania, quae est Italiae provincia, eadem vasa majora quidem Campance dicuntur : minora vero, quae et a sono tintinnabula vocan- tur, Nolas appellant, a Nola ejusdem civitate Campaniae ubi eadem vasa primo sunt commentata". — Walafrid Strabo, De Rebus ecclesiasticis, lib. v.
"•"^ Campanum quoque inter genera ajris vocatur a Campania provincia, qujc est in Italiae partibus utensilibus et vasis omnibus probatissimum. S. Isid, Etymolog., lib. xvi. c. 20, § 9.
'""s Lectures, xxx., vol. ii., p. 218.
'""^ See Mr. B. O'Looney's translation of the Tochmorc Bee Fola, in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Irish manuscript series, vol. i. p. lyi).
dxxxvi INTRODUCTION.
suring the rights or jurisdiction of a church ; hence, no doubt, one ofthe chief objects in building the Cloictigi(smg. CloictecK) or bell houses, known as "round towers", was to extend the area over which the sound could be heard. A great deal might be said on this subject; but, as ecclesiastical architec- ture and the history of the early Irish Church form too large a subject to take up incidentally, and that besides they do not come properly within the scope of this Introduction, I cannot dwell further on it here. examples of The Small closed bells of a spherical shape were like the
use (if sinall ■•■ ■■-
spiieiic.vi Qrelots on the harness of horses on the continent. The
closed bolls ;
Cluicini on Fraeclis horses when he went w4th a cortege of fifty horsemen to ask for the hand of Findabair, daughter of A Hill and Medb, were probably hollow balls of this kind, and such were also doubtless the apples of red gold on the Craebh pear-shaped CiuU Or Musical Branch of Cormac Mac Airt.^^^^ The elon-
closed bells,
ctoians; gated or pear-shaped closed bells are those specially called
Ceolans, and seem to have been used for ecclesiastical pur-
caiied cro- poscs, as wcll as the open bells. These are the kind of bells
ials by Led- ^ , . ^ . . . ^
wichaud which Dr. Ledwich called Crotals, an opinion which O'Curry
others; _ '- _ •'
objection of discusscs at somc length.'""^ O'Curry is very severe on
O Curry; _ o ...
Ledwich, Beauford, and Vallancey, a severity which in general
they have justly earned. In this case they are not, however,
werereany altogether wrouff. Thcsc closed bells were called in the
called Cro ^ (^ O
tahin the middle ages Croials.^°^° I have already dwelt upon the loose-
middle ages ; ~ J r
ness of the medieval nomenclature of musical instruments, nature of and given some striking examples of it. Dr. Ledwich's mis-
Ledwicli's , , . . .
and take, and it is a grave one, was m ascribing to these me-
OCurry's . '^ . ° .
mistakes, dicval Crotals the uses to which a totally different instru- ment was put in pagan times. O'Curry, not being aware of the frequent changes which the names of musical instruments underwent in the middle ages, concluded that Dr. Ledwich
'008 Lectures, vol. ii. p. 317. '"o^ Ibid.,Tp. 319, et seq.
1010 The following passage is clear on this point: " Croton. Grsice pulsus dicitur, et inde cymbala sic dicuntiu- ; vel musicum notat instrumentuiu, quod in sono vocem ciconite iniitatur : nam ipsa apud ^gyptios crotalus appellatur. Crotala quoque dicuntur sonorce spherulae, quas, quibusdam gra- nis interpositis, pro quantitate sui et specie metalli, varios sonos edunt" Joannis Saresberiensis Polycraticus, lib. viii. c. 12.
INTRODUCTION. dxxxvli
had no authority whatever for calling the Ceolans in question Crolals.
The Craehh Ciuil, Crann Ciuil, or IMusical Branch, so The craehh frequently mentioned m Irish tales, and concerning which Musical a good deal of information has been gathered together in Lecture xxxiv., appears to have been used in other parts of'"e<iin
, , ... "ther coun-
Europe as well as in Ireland. The Circulus tintinnabulis^^''(^^''^^'^o;
•t tilt; Circuliis
instructus, or ringf upon which were hung a number of small untinnabuus
open or closed bells, seems to have been common enough
in the middle ages. Gerbert gives a figure of a peculiar
arrangement of " Tintinnabuli " from a codex of St. Blaise,
or St. Blasien, said to be of the ninth century, but probably
of a later period. It consists of a ring, from which are
suspended nine strings, to which are attached small bells,
which appear to be open ; nine smaller ones are fastened,
one in the middle of each string. The ring is attached
to another, which serves as a handle, and over which is writ- the Ci^mJ.*-
ten " Cymbal um". This instrument was evidently intended
to be shaken by the hand. Sometimes the bells were hung
in a row upon a bar of wood or metal, and struck with a
hammer. Gerbert gives a drawing -of one from a codex of
St. Blaise, of the twelfth century. The bar is placed across
a circular arch resting upon a column, of what appears part
of a church, for a small belfry surmounted by a cross is shown
in the background. A female plays on the bells with a smaU
hammer, which she holds in her hand. She appears to be a
nun, but though her dress is certainly religious, it is not
like the monastic dress of the twelfth and subsequent centuries.
The Crann or Craehh Ciuil or Musical Branch was an exclu- The irish
sively lay instrument, it is no where alluded to in connection Branch a lay
1 r'ini 1 -ii'T instrument;
with a church, but the row of bells above described indicates
that perhaps the correspondiiis; instruments on the Continent similar in-
••• -i _ ■•■ " ... strunients
w^ere sometimes used in churches. This view is borne out by ™ay ^i^^e,
'' been used
a curious old church hymn, composed of a mixture of Latin and ^jj^^^j'S^g'^y^^ '" German lines, in which we are told that the bells ring in the halls of the king, that is in heaven.""' The bells mentioned are called Schellen, that is to say, tintinnabula or Ceolans.
'" " Ubi sunt gaudia
Nergen mehr denn dar
dxxxviii
INTRODUCTION.
The " Born- bulum" a Musical Branch :
Of all the medieval instruments of the class we are now considering, the one which best realizes the idea of the Irish Musical Branch is" the curious one, of which figures are to be found in manuscripts of the ninth and tenth centuries, sometimes under the name of "Bombulum", and soinetimes under that of " Bunibulum", and of which a de- scription is given in the Epistle to Dardanus. Fig. 74, taken
from Gerbert, represents one from a MS. of St. Emeran, of the ninth century. The drawing is so rude that one cannot say whether it is to be regarded as being all in sec- tion ; the central part certainly is so. On this supposition, it appears to consist of a rectan- gular tube or hollow prism, enclosing another smaller tube of the same form ; the mode of supporting the latter within the former not being shown in the figure. The space be- tween the two tubes appears to be filled with balls. Into each side of this tubular fcox were inserted six tubes in two rows, curved at their ends, and terminating in square trumpet mouths. This apparatus of tubes and bells, forming a sort of corona, appears to have been suspended by a chain from an arm, projecting from an upright bar. If such an instrument were struck on the bottom, the air in the in- terior, if empty, would be set in motion, and the sound would pass out through the trumpet tubes, and produce a curious effect. If full of hollow balls containing a pea of metal, a blow would give a still greater clang. Some think there are
Dar die Engel singen Novi cantica Und de Schellen klingen In regis curia, f orkel, GescMckte der Musik, Bd. ii. 745 ; quoted also by Ambros, op. cit. ii. 238.
Fig. 74.
INTRODUCTION. {Ixxxix
only three tubes on each side, and consequently that the artist, being desirous of showing them all, but not being able to represent them in their true position, put them in as in the figure. There is, however, nothing that I can see to warrant this hypothesis, which is merely an attempt to bring the num- ber of tubes into conformity with that given in the descrip- tion of the Bombulum in the " Epistle to Dardanus". One of the principal points of . difference between the instrument above figured and those in other manuscripts is precisely the number of those side tubes. In a manuscript of the library of Boulogne the number is five, and in one in a manuscript of the library of Angers it is six.'"'^
Accordincr to the account of the Bombulum in the Epistle description
o of the
to Dardanus, the principal tube was made of iron and brass, "Bombu-
■"^ lum" in tlie
not melted tosether, as some suppose, but, as 1 believe, of Epistie to
o ' , rr ' ' Dardanus.
a core of iron covered with bronze, such as may be seen in many old bells ; the lateral tubes being wholly of bronze or brass. No mention is made of grelots in the interior, although from the manner in which the sound is stated to have been produced, there must have been something in the interior of the large tube.'"'^
I cannot pass awav from this novel subiect of the " Musi- " Musical
^ " . '' . Branch" of
cal Branch", without alludino- to a very early and curious rorsenna,
' " J J ^ king of
form of it which, according to Varro, as recorded by Pliny, r-truria. existed in the tomb which Porsenna, king of Etruria, built for himself. According to this account, the monument consisted of five pyramids, four at the angles and one in the centre,
""2 M. de Cousseniaker, Annal. Archeolog., iv. 100.
1013 -piig following is the passage of the Epistle to Dardanus, containing the description of this curious " Musical Branch".
" Fistula praeterea artis esse niysticae, sieut fusores earum rerum aflBrmant : reperitur ita. Bombulum aercum ductile quadratum latissimumque, quasi in modum coronas cum fisoculo aereo ferreoque commixto, atque in medio concusso, quod in ligno alto spatiosoque forniatum superiore capite constrin- gitur : alterum altero capite demisso : sed terram non tangi a plerisque pu- tatur, et per singula latera duodecim bombula aerea, duodecim fistulis in medio positis, in catena fixis dependent. Ita tria bombula in uno latere per circumitum utique flguntur, ct concitato primo bombulo, et concitatis duo- decim bombulorum fistulis in medio positis, clamorem magnum fr.agoremque nimium supra modum simul proferunt". — Lvc. cit.
dxl
INTRODUCTION.
The Fer- Cengail,
rot a musi- cian, but a' dancer;
name cog- nate with old French singuer;
represented tiy modern Fer-Gigao- ila.
each of which was seventy-five feet at the base and one hundred and fifty feet high ; the summit of the pyramids was crowned with a brazen globe, and the whole covered with a cupola, from which hung " tintinnabula", or small bells, by means of chains, which, on being agitated by the wind, gave out a sound like that said to have been given out by the celebrated brazen pot of the oracle of Dodona.""*
Among the musical performers enumerated in Lecture xxxvii., there is one very obscure one, about whom O'Curry was unable to make a conjecture, namely, the Fer-Cengail. The word, which has only been found as yet in the poem on the fair of Carman, means literally, according to O'Curry, the " man of ties or bonds". I do not think this explanation satisfactory. The Fer-Cengail was in my opinion not a musician at all, but one who danced the peculiar kind of hopping or springing dance known in the twelfth century as the Espringale, corresponding to the German " Springende tentz". This kind of dance, or rather dance song, is mentioned in the Roman de la Violette along with the Carol;^"^^ in both cases one person sang the dance song, and the dancer or dancers joined with the refrain in chorus. The Carols were always danced by several persons, who caught each other's hand, and danced round in a circle ; hence the name Rondeau, given by the Flemish composers to these tunes."*"' The Irish Cengal seems to be cognate with the old French verb, ginguer, to move the feet. Perhaps the mode in which the dancer took up the refrain of the dance song, was like the performance of the Fer Gigaoila of our own day,
1014 « Sepultus est, inqiiit [i.e. Varro], sub urbe Clusio : in quo loco monu- mentum reliquit lapide quadrato quadratum : singula latera pedum trecenum, alta quinquagenum : inque basi quadrata intus labyrinthum inextricabilem : quo si quis improperet sine glomere lini, exitum invenire nequeat. Supra id quadratum pyramides stant quinque, quatuor in angulis, in medio una : in imo latae pedum quinum septuagenum, altse centum quinquagenum : ita fastigatae, ut in summo orbis aeneus et petasus unus omnibus sit impositus, ex quo pendeant exapta catenis tintinnabula quae, vento agitata, longe sonitus referant, ut Dodonae olim factum". — Hist. Nat., Ub. xxxvi. c. 19,
1015 jji furent pas mis en defois, les Caroles, les Espringales (v. 6587).
""* Carols, from the Latin ChoreoJa. This dance song was afterwards called Rondet de Carols ; by the Belgians, Rondeau; and by the Germans, " Umme gende tenU'\
INTRODUCTION. dxli
which consists of a humorous kind of giggling, in short catches of the breath, accompanied by sudden starts of the body.
IRISH MUSIC IN CONNECTION AVITH THE HISTOllY OF MUSICAL
DEVELOPMENT.
The discussion of the meaning of Ceis in the Lectures, and the conchision to which O'Curry came, that the ancient Gaedhil were acquainted with Harmony, render it necessary that Ixecessity
,,, -i. 1 !!• r ..of discussing
should say somethmg on the general subject ot our music, the Irish music more so as owing to the prevailing ignorance of the history of music, the most erroneous views are commonly entertained concerning the characteristics of Irish, Scotch, Welsh, and English national music, and the relative antiquity of the popular melodies which are still current in these countries.
The subject is so very wide and intricate, that I am justified justification in including it at all in this Introduction, only on account of course; its real importance, the prominent position it occupies in the Lectures, and the almost wholly untrodden state of this in- teresting field of inquiry. I will confine myself almost entirely discn-sinn
1 TPT-i • 1- ^ ■ confined to
to the scale and tonality of Irish music, and its relation on the'^e scale
•' , and timality
one hand to the old church music, and on the other, to the ^'f i''sh
niusic;
secular music of neighbouring countries. I will not enter into the question of the measure or rhythm, not only because reasons for an acquaintance with it is not so necessary lor determinmsf the time or point of development to which Irish music has attained, and for deciding the question whether harmony was known to and practised by the Irish in the middle ages, but chiefly because no profitable investigation of the rhythm of Irish music can be undertaken until Irish prosody is first thoroughly examined.
The special questions which I propose to inquire into at suijpct wiii present mainly regard the history of musical development from from atcien- a scientific rather than from an artistic or esthetic point of view, of view; As I cannot assume that many of my readers are acquainted must be pre-
faced b\' a
with the history of scientific music, I am obliefed to preface my sketcii of the
history of
inquiry into the scale and tonality of Irish music by such a brief music sketch of those parts of the history of European music as will enable them to compare Irish music with tlie artistic music of Continental Europe at different periods, and to determine how
dxlii INTRODUCTION.
far it was influenced by tlie latter, and especially to place the
several kinds of national music of these countries in their true
position.
Three The history of musical development comprises three epochs,
musical namely, 1. the epoch of Homophonous Music; 2. the epoch
ment." of Polyphonous Music; and 3. the epoch of Harmonic
Music. The primitive music of all peoples is homophonous, and,
except among European nations, has never passed beyond that
Homopho- stage. The term homophonous, strictly speaking, means a
nous music. ,, .... , , , -..
melody sung by voices m unison, and was thus understood by the Greeks. When a melody was sung by two sets of voices differ- ing by an octave, such as those of men and women, it was called antiphony. Harmony, in the modern sense of the term, is the union and concordance of several simultaneous sounds. Accord- ing to this definition, antiphony is harmony, but of so simple and elementary a kind, that a piece of music may fairly be considered as homophonous, though including antiphony. Among all nations who possess homophonous music, we find certain fixed musical scales within which the melody moves. Manymusi- Thcsc scales are manifold, and often apparently quite arbitrary,
cal scales. ••! -ii •
so that the principles upon which they proceed are sometimes incomprehensible to us. Gifted nations, like the Greeks, Arabs, and Indians, have exhibited great subtlety in the formation of such scales, although their music never passed beyond the homophonous stage. Origin of the Thls is not the place to discuss the question of how the notes
notes of a ^ ■*■ ■■■
scafe'^*' '^^ ^ musical scale were first discovered ; suffice it to say that the laws of acoustics enable us to understand how the octave must have occurred to all peoples, and also that the relation to the fundamental tone in melodic progression of the octave and of the fifth, and indeed of the fourth, must have been recog- nized by all peoples at all musically endowed. In these three tones and the fundamental one, which for convenience we will call C, we have the four limiting tones of the two tetrachords, which, like the octave, occurred to all ancient peoples: C-F ; G-C The filling up of these tetrachords was diflferent among different peoples, and even at different times by the same people, notably among the Greeks. Although the rela-
INTRODI'CTION. dxlili
tions of the third and sixth are more remote and less easily- recognizable than those of the fifth and fourth, we can under- stand how they might he discovered starting from the four notes above mentioned. It is probable, however, that the dia-Modein
• n 1 1 T-( • wlilch the
tonic scale, now universally used by Ituropean nations, wasquinque-
-^ • r ^ r r ^ /~i grade scale
completed in a different way. Starting from the liith, G, awasobtained new fifth, Z>, could be obtained, and from the fourth, F, anew fourth, bB. We could in this way obtain a quinqucgrade scale having five intervals : —
(J toM Jj toue «nd hidf jP^ tone', (j- tone and half [? _0 '°°" {7'*"'
1.9 . 4.3 . t-S • 2
Of these intervals three would each be a whole tone %, namelv C-D, F-G, and bB-C; and two each 1^ tones, in the propor- tion If, namely, B-F and G \> B.
The tunes of some savage nations are said not to extend Extent of
n -I • -I t •[ n 1 1 ^''® tunes
beyond the compass of a third, and those or manv do not extend ef savage to an octave. Such skeleton tetrachords as C-F, G-C, might, consequently, be used to construct rvide plaintive melody, but would certainly be insufficient to give melodic expression to the varied feelings and passions of an intellectually endowed people. They would, however, be sufficient for simple poetical recitation ; indeed the music of the curious old alliterative songs of the Finns which form the epic called the Kalevala, ex- tends only from the tonic to the fifth. The five-toned quinquc- grade scale was, however, the first real musical scale, that is, the first one with which varied melody could be constructed. It seems almost certain that this five-ton.ed scale was the earliest musical scale of all ancient Asiatic and Euiopean peoples. It is still in use in China ; the Barabra of the Nile cataracts and the Nubians have a five-stringed lyre, the tuning
""^ That is, the lengths of the waves which produce the several notes, and the times of their vibrations, are proportional to the numbers given in the text. In other words, a string producing the octave of a note makes (wo vibrations while that which produces the ground tone, or original note itself, makes one, the fourth, F, four while the ground tone makes three, and so on. The lengths of the chords which would produce the notes f, |, ^, etc., would be in the proportion of |, |, J. etc, which are the reciprocals of the numbers expressing the proportions of wave-lengths and the times of vibra- tion.
dxllv
INTRODUCTION.
Relations of the tones of quinque- grade se<ale to each other;
no natural tonic among them.
Probable way in which dia- tonic scale was com- pleted.
of which, like the Egyptian one, is said to be according to a five-toned scale ; and lastly, nearly all the genuine old Irish and Scotch airs are, as we shall see, composed in the above scale.
The tones F and G in the quinquegrade scale are directly related to C; but D is only related to G, and b^ to i^. The whole scale forms a chain of fifths :
bB-F-C-G-D, in which each link is connected with the preceding and following one. No one of these tones possesses so predomi- nant a relationship to all the others that it must be considered as a natural tonic, or centre of the musical system. The one which goes nearest to fulfil this condition is C, that is, the first note of the scale.""* For if we assume it to be the tonic, even the most remote tones, b B and D^ bear to it a relationship of the second degree ; whereas, if F or G be taken as the tonic, the relationship of D with F^ and of b S with G in the circle of fifths, is only of the third de- gree; while if bjB or D be made the tonic, each of these tones would be related to the others only by means of four steps of fifdis, that is, in the fourth degree. The relations of the third and sixth in the completed diatonic scale with the ground tone, or tonic, are less evident than those of the sounds forming the quinquegrade scale, but they could, nevertheless, be dis- covered through a series of fifths on tuned instruments, when once the ear, in the progress of musical development, became trained to a finer perception of the differences of tones. The interval A-E is said to have been added by the Greek Tcrpan- der; and the interval E-B by Pythagoras. This completed the diatonic scale in the form of a series of fifths as follows:'"'®
""" For obvious reasonsof convenience, the nomenclature C, D, i<^ etc., is here employed to designate the notes of the five-toned quinquegrade scale. But in doing so I have no intention of suggesting that the sounds corresponding to those letters on any musical instrument, as usually tuned, mark the necessary pro- gression of the natural quinquegrade scale. In the same way, when I say that C best fulfils the condition of a tonic, I do not mean that the sound C is the natural tonic, or fundamental sound of music in the quinquegrade scale, or in any other system. I only desire to mark that this function of tonic falls naturally to the first note of a series of sounds numerically related to each other in the ratios set out in the progression given above.
1019 ^s regards this and the preceding scale, and indeed all those which are to follow, where the contrary is not specially stated, the reader should
INTRODUCTION. dxlv
F - C - G - 1) - A - E - b, Or in the scale of C.
C- D- E-F- G-A- B - C
1 9 81 4 a 2724 5 O
The sixth and third obtained in this way are not, however, The scale those of the natural or ordinary modern diatonic scale. The ''''""^li »"t Sixth would be hicrher than the sixth of the natural diatonic ""''"i modern scale in the proportion fi, and the third about the same amount higher than the natural third. The sensibility of our ear is, however, limited, so that in a melody we might replace one interval by another without the ear being able to perceive it, provided that the ratio of the two intervals differs very little from unity. If the value of the ratio does not exceed the fraction §i, which is called a comma, "'^° the substitu- tion is scarcely perceptible even to a trained ear when the original and substituted notes are sounded successively ; but as pieces written according to the old scale derived from a series of fifths could not be correctly played on an instrument tuned according to our modern diatonic scale, or the reverse, as I propose to show later on, any attempt to mingle them would produce disagreeable effects in harmonic combinations.
In homoplionous music there is not the same necessity for a ^very tone
T •■■ ,.. Ota scale
tonic as in modern music, and we accordmmy find that amonir n^ed as n
f '' '- tunic in
all peoples whose musical development did not pass beyond i">"i"p!'o this stage, the sentiment of tonality is very weak, and that they used every tone of their scale as a tonic. We know that this
remember that we are in no way concerned in this essay with the pitch of the notes, but solely with the relative distances at wiiich the notes proceed, whatever be the pitch. The use of scales is to show the relative distances of notes and the order of their progression ; the determination of the pitch at which tlie scale is to be sounded must be ascertained from otiier sources. This is an almost exclusively physical and historical problem ; tlie Ibrmer is one almost purely mathematical. The advantage of the scale given in the text is, that it secures an identical starting point and several identical notes with the ordinary diatonic scale, and thus facilitates comparison.
1020 'jiie word comma has two significations in musical science. One, as here, when employed to denoto the smallest appreciable difference between two sounds, which has been ascertained to be represented by the ratio Ai. In this sense the term comma is almost excla-ively employed in those depart- ments of iiiufeic whicli deal with counterpoint and tliorough bass, or the
INT. 35*
uous luusic.
dxlvi INTRODUCTION.
was the case where the five-toned quinquegrade scale was used ; and without entering into the discussion whether the Greeks considered the hypate, or deepest tone, or the mese, or medial tone, to be the tonic, or whether we consider the seven scales or keys, which may be derived from the diatonic scale as essential or plagal, there seems to be little room for doubt that the Greeks used diflerent, perhaps all, the notes of the quinque- erade diatonic scale as tonics. Poiyphonous The sccond epoch of musical development is that of the
music. ,
Poiyphonous music of the middle ages, which originated in, introdue- and grcw up within, the Christian Church. We do not know
tion (if music , ., . .,,.,,. „
into the at wliat cxact period music was introduced into the liturgy oi the Church, the Churcli, but it must have been at a very early period, for already in the time of Pope St. Sylvester, a.d. 314 to 335, singing schools for teaching ecclesiastical chanting are said to have existed in Rome. The musical system taught in these schools was, no doubt, that of the Greeks, as practised at the same time in the Eastern Churches, and there can bo little
theory of musical composition. In its second signification, comma means the one- ninth of a tone, every tone being assumed for convenience to be divisible into nine equal parts or commas. Those nine parts are not separable by the voice, but they may be distinguished on a vibrating chord or string. This distinction enables musicians in practice to mark oflF with great precision the major and minor semi-tones — the former including five commas, while the latter have only four. Thus the interval between E and F, in the natural scale of C major, is a major semi-tone; so also is the interval from A to \)B, But from F to Iff F is only a minor semi-tone. Thus, in
wz^-^ r^-^f — ^-
major semi-tone minor semi-tone major semi-tone
we have three semi-tones, the first and third being major, each composed of five commas, while the second is minor, having only four. The pianoforte, organ, and similar instruments are unable to mark the distinction. Hence persons accustomed to those instruments only fail to notice it, or to mark it themselves, e.g., when singing ; a semi-tone is a semi-tone alwaj's for them, unsusceptible of shades of difference which are to them inappreciable. But persons who are familiar with stringed instruments, especially of the larger kind, as the violoncello, and with the better class of wind instruments, are well acquainted with the distinction. Every young tyro at the violin soon learns how to distinguish when playing between Iff F and b G. The difference between the two notes is exactly a comma of the second kind.
INTRODUCTION. dxlvli
doubt that the alteration in Church music effected by St. Ambrose about the year 380, consisted in merely returning to the true Greek music of the Eastern Church, — the music of the Western Church having begun already to develop the germs of polyphonous mubic. St. Gregory the Great, who governed the Church from 590 to G04, reformed the Roman schools, and not only established the system of Church music on a firm foun- dation, but exerted himself to introduce his system into all the churches of Western Christendom.
Homophonous music is incapable of giving rise to inde - Homopiio-
,, Till T ^ r ""'^'' music
pendent creations oi art, and could only produce works oi any »'"'=^vscom- extent m combmation with poetry. The Greeks used it m this poetry ; way, not only in the form of an accompaniment on the lyre to Greek trage-
-, ..... , -.. 1 . dies and
odes and religious hymns, but even tragedies and extensive epic poems
■,.■, • 11 • 1 mi • musically
epic poems were in like manner musicaily recited, i his recited; musical accompaniment possessed a rhythm, or accentuation, tiie ihythm
^ 1 of this music
different from, though subordinate to, the prosody or metre, different owing to the Greek language being itself a kind of music. This is contrary to Boeckh's opinion,'"^' who seems to have confounded musical rhythm with metre. Rhythm, as M. de Coussemaker has defined it, was a catenation of metrical feet which presented an affinity with each other, without taking into account in certain circumstances either long or short, or their absolute value.'""' The chanting of the liturgy was an echo of this old Greek re- ti.e chanting citative, but with different degrees of rhythm, according to theiikethe
, . ,^, , .... - Greek reci-
suDject matter, ilius tlie prose parts whicli liad. no metre were tative;
chanted without rhythm, that is, in notes of equal length, or
pure plain chant. But the Christian hymns, some of which, p'^' '**'»"
Jr r ./ ' ' hymns were
at all events, were composed on popular melodies, and were at''^^'^™^^- first intended to be chanted by the congregation, or as substi- tutes for profane poetry in private, were rhythmed. Dom Jumilhac has perfectly demonstrated that they were not in
'021 J)q Metris Plndari, lib. i. c. xviii.
'022 Histoire de V Harmonie, p. 74. See also M. Vincent (de 1' Institut), Notices sur trois manuscriis Grecs relatifs a la musique, in "Notices et Extraits des manuscrits de la Iiihlioihe<jue du Roi et autres Uibliotheqties", publi6es par rinstitut, t. xvi., p. 158, etseq., and p. 197 et seq.,an6 his Analyse du Trait€ de la metrique et de la rlii/thmique de St. Augiisli?), Journal Gent'ral de V Instruc- tion Publique, 28 Fevrier et 3 Mars, ISili.
35 *B
dxlviii INTRODUCTION.
pure plain chant, but should be sung with the ancient
rhythm.'"^' state of Before Gregory the Great strove to bring uniformity into
fore St. Ore- the Church music, the hymns seem to have been sung to
gory • ... ..
different airs in different countries. In this, as in other re- spects, the influence of the Barbarian conquerors made itself felt, and led to results which the descendants of the fallen empire would naturally regard as equivalent to utter disinte- ii.fliienceof cri-ation. Prosodv had not the same importance in the lan-
Celtic and ° , ■' • i i • i i
German guacfes of northcm Europe as in the classical languajres ; but
poetry on *= ° \ . . .
Latin verse the rhythm of the melodies to which the Celtic and Germanic
aii'l Church •'
music. poems were recited or sung, and which were borrowed by the Church musicians, was freer and more marked. A. potent element of chansre was thus introduced alike into Latin verse and into Church music. The latter was the only recognized artistic music; but, side by side with it, there existed all through the middle ages an unrecorded popular music, which influenced the artistic music in the same way that the vulgar lancruao^e did the classical lanfjuage.
Greeks used, The Grccks, though theoretically acquainted with harmony,
and still use, , , . . . , „ p • i " i
lamony oulv uscd it ui its most elementary lorm or antiphony ; and
only in the _ "^ , r> ^ -n i • i i i
form of the modern Greeks still employ a strictly homophonous
music, and have no liking for European harmony. The
Greek .sys- Greek system of choruses, sinoflng in unison or in anti-
tein of -^ _ . .
tiioiusesiii phony, was ill adapted for Christian congregations composed fwr Christian of varlous and unsymmetrical elements and devoid of artistic
congrcga- ^ _ -J
tions. training ; hence arose the music of simultaneous sounds, or true
harmony, which was favoured by a stronger character of tonality in the popular music of middle and northern Europe
Concords than existed in classical music. In the second century, as may
used by the _ . j ' j
Romans in \)q geen from Plutarc h's treatise on music, the Roman world
the secund
century; made a limited use of the concords of the fourth and fifth, those men- In the Seventh century St. Isidore of Seville speaks of the oc-
tioned by '' •■•
St. Isidore; tave, the fourth, the fifth, the octave and fifth, and the double octave, as concords or symphonies, perhaps more in a theoreti- cal than practical sense. While this fist does not show a very great advance over that of Plutarch in the second century,
'»=•» Manud de Plain Chant.
INTRODUCTION. (IxU
IX
St. Isidoi'o's dellnition of liaviuony, on tlie other hand, proves his (leflnition
'' . . '■ ol hai mony
that the idea at least of the music of simultaneous sounds existed, in the modern sense, in the seventh century.'"'* We are, I think, entitled to draw from St. Isidore's dednition of ahows that harmony the conclusion that the first kind of multivocal uke tin- or-
, ^ gaiiHiit was
music, called at a later period Orgamcm,'^''' was to some ex- known in tent in use in the Church in his time, and consequently that its origin is to be ascribed to a still earlier period.
It must not be, however, supposed that the practice of the Orqaniim was as common as the theoretical knowledefe of it ''"' ""!^,
J O genenilly
might at first lead us to suppose. In the monastic schools the P'"''«'''»'='ii
young boys were trained to sing in the choir, as boys are
still trained in churches and seminaries. Any one hearing
the responses of the Gregorian chant as they are now sung in a-* *''"^'" J>y
choirs where there are such choir boys, accordinsr to a kind s'- f;"" '"
J ' O ninth cen-
of " falso bordone" or "faux bourdon", might be led to con-**^''>' elude that, from the very first, there existed a tendency in the Cantiis firmus itself to develop harmony. Some persons have even gone so far as to put forward the opinion that at tlie period we are now considering, the choir boys sang in the higher fifth or fourth with the men, or in other words that the
102 4 >i liarmonica (Musica) est modulatio vocis, et concordantia plurimorum sonorum et coaptatio". Gerbert, Script, t. i. p. 21.
1025 -pj^g appropriation for several centuries of the word Organ to signify tlie well-known musical instrument, has quite obliterated the wider niUv-ical meaning of which this is but an analogical restriction. Oryanum originally signified, in musical phraseology, any instrument employed to accompany the vocal melody. In this general sense it is frequently used in the Septuagint, Irom which the word passed into the Latin Vulgate, and is actually used by St. Augustine to designate a pipe instrument blown by bellows. It has thus, no doubt, given rise to much idle speculation. Later still its meaning was extended, as is indicated in the text, to include an accompaniment to the lead- ing melody whether made by voices or by instruments. This meaning fol- lowed closely the etymology of the word, because such accompaniment, even when made by voices, was wholly subordinate to the chief melody, so that the voices were no more than human instruments. In process of time, when the use of the great pipe instrument became general in churches, and tlie ac- companiment to the chanted melody or to the vocal harmony, which had mean- time been created, came to be chiefly discharged by it, the common name of the genus was monopolized by it so thoroughly, as to insure an utter oblivious- ness among all, save musical archaeologists, that the word ever meant anything but the great assemblage of pipes with which we are from infancy familiar.
dl INTRODUCTION.
Organum was practised wherever there were choir boys. This view has not, however, been proved ; on the contrary, in the second half of the ninth century sequences were sung alter- nately and in antiphony by the monks and choir boys of the monastery of St. Gall.'"^® There is a passage in Notker Bal- bulus' Sequence for the eve of Septuagesima, commencing " Cantemus cuncti", which seems to clearly establish this point. This sequence concludes : "Now, brothers, joyfully sing, Alle- luja, and you, O boys, answer ever, Alleluja. Now, all sing together, Alleluja", etc.*'"' The absence of any traces of the practice of Organum at St. Gall's at this period is the more although remarkable when we find that in the beginning of the ninth
tllGrS WGl'G
rules for ccuturv there were already rules for the Organum, as appears
Orr/anum in '' iii c ^ • t\ i \' • ' at
ninth ceil- from a remarkable passage of the treatise De JJivi&ione JSIaturae
tury. f °
of John Scotus Erigena, to which M. de Coussemaker was the first to direct attention.'"^* The clearness with which this great thinker speaks of the Organum is of considerable im- portance for my present purpose ; for, even though it were true that John Scotus Erigena became acquainted with mvdtivocal music after his arrival in Gaul, it is hardly possible that some knowledge of the Church music of Gaul and Italv did not
1026 « Sequentias si cantamus sive alternatim, sive una simul, concentu parili voce consona finiatur". Instituta pairum St. Gallensium. 1027 Nunc vos 0 Socii cantate lastantes Alleluja !
Et vos pueruli respondete semper Alleluja !
Nunc omnes canite simul Alleluja !
Domino Alleluja, Christo, Pneumatique Alleluja !
Laus Trinitati aeternas Alleluja, Alleluja, etc.
P. Schubiger, op. cit., Exemplum No. 9, p. 11 . 1028 " Proinde pulcliritudo totius universitatis conditae, similium et dissimi- lium, mirabili quadam harmonia constituta est, ex diversis generibus variisque formis, differentibus quoque substantiarum et accidentium ordinibus, in unitatem quandam ineffabilem compacta. Ut enini organicum melos ex diversis vocum qualitatibus et quantitatibus conficitur, dum viritim separa- timque sentiuntur, longe a se discrepantibus intentionis et reraissionis pro- portionibus segregatae, dum vero sibi invicem coaptantur secundum certas rationabilesque artis musicae regulas per singulos tropes, naturalem quamdam dulcediuem reddentibus: ita universitatis concordia, ex diversis naturae unius subdivisionibus, a se invicem, dum singulariter inspiciuntur, dissonantibus, juxta conditoris uniformem voluntatem coadunata est". Joannis Scoti Erigenae de Divisione JSaturce, Lib, iii. sect. C, p. 637, Edit, de Floss, reprinted by the Abbe Migne, 1853.
INTRODUCTION. Jll
reach Ireland at the period of the greatest bloom of its schools, and of their most frequent intercourse with Britain, Gaul, Spain, and Italy.
Towards the end of the same century in which John Scotus HucbaWs Erigena lived, appeared one of the greatest writers on music of haTmony; " the middle ages, — Hucbald, a monk of St. Amand in Belgium. In his Musica Enchiriadis and his ScJwlia de Arte Musica, Hucbald treats of harmony with sufficiently practical detail to enable us to form a clear and exact idea of it. The Organum he caiis it he calls the Diaphony^ a word which was already used in a very different sense by St. Isidore.
In the original Organum., the Church melodies were accom- i'''''st kind of
^ "^ _ , Organum;
panied by one, two, or three voices, who followed by direct movement, not alone to the octave, as among the Greeks, but also in other consonant intervals, namely, the fi'lh, the fourth, the double octave, the octave united to the fifth, or the octave united to the fourth, with doubling of these intervals in the higher and lower parts. But out of this primitive harmony, which was in fact but a development of the Greek antiphony, there grew a second kind of Orqaniim or diaphony, of which second lund we first find mention in Hucbald. In this second kmd oi or Diaphony, multivocal music there were only two parts, — the melody and the Organum; but the latter no longer followed the melody by direct movement : it accompanied it by a movement at one time direct, then oblique, and at another time contrary, and in which other intervals besides those called symphonies were employed. The introduction of this new kind of harmony, which is only exceptionally used by Hucbald, marks a real epoch in musical development. The primitive Organum, consisting of an ac- companiment of continuous octaves, fifths, and fourths, would be nearly as disagreeable to our ears as a Chinese concert,'"^' whilst
1029 J have followed in the text the usual opinion of musical archaeulogisis, that the Organum consisted in two voices singing <o(/e<Aer in fifths and fourths, with an occasional passage of one or of both voices to the octave. But Herr O. Paul is of opinion {Geschichle des Claviers, Leipzig, I8G8, p. 49) that it was not intended the melody should be sung in this way by botli voices simul- taneously, but that the melody should be repeated ia a transposed pitch. If this were so, it would carry back to at least the tenth century the origin of a principle wliich, until M. de Coussemaker S'howed that it was known in tlie
dlii INTRODUCTION.
the new kind of diapliony possessed one of the principal charac- teristics of modern music — the mixture of direct, oblique, and contrary movements. first kind Durinc]f the one hundred and thirty years from Hucbald to
disused be- . t i- i r • •!
fore eleventh Guido d Arczzo, the diaphonv of similar intervals and move-
ccnturv-
ments was gradually falling into desuetude, while that of mixed intervals became more and more developed ; indeed, the exam- ples of Guido are almost all of this latter kind. Towards the middle of the eleventh century, the first kind of diaphony appears to have ceased to be used, for John Cotton, who lived about that time, does not even mention it, while, on the other hand, he is the first who lays down definitely the principle of the Tie orgn- coiitraiy movcmeut of the melody and Organum. But whether
nnm liad no . . , . , , 1 1 j.1
indeiendent Similar Or mixcd intervals and movements were employed, the accompaniment had no independent meaning ; it simply sought to enrich and beautify the musical action by allowing the agreeable sounds of certain concords to be heard at the same time with the tones of the melody. orgamim Diaphouy, OT Ovganum, i.e. accompaniment, was, M. de secular mu- Coussomakcr thluks, exclusively used in the Church service,
sic. accord- . .. .. . -, .i.'i.
iiig to some as there is, according to him, no evidence that it was ever em-
writers * ■•
ployed for secular song. In the twelfth century the Joglars or Jonoleurs, and the INIenetriers or Menestrels of France, the Minstrels or Gleemen of England, and perhaps as late as the thirteenth century the Minnesingers of Germany, seem to musicians of havo accompauied their songs, romances, and improvisations
twelfth cen- .■'^ , . j i •
tuiy iiccom- jjy simplv givinsT, on whatever instrument they used, the prin-
pan.eri their /^^-^^.f . . T.1--D C^'.
songs in cipal iiotcs 01 the song m unison, in the Komance oi iristan by the Trouvere Thomas, we are told that " the voice accorded with the instrument".'"^" And in the similar romance of Gottfried of Strasburg, Tristan's performance is described as being so excellent that no one could ever know whether his
twelfth century, was believed no older than the fifteenth century, and which in modern music became of so much importance in fugue and in the sonata. 1030 « La reine chante dulcement La voiz accorde al estrument Les mainz sunt bels, li lais buens, DulcG la voiz, bas li tons".
Ambros, op. cit. ii , p. 238.
unibon :
INTRODUCTION. dliii
harpino; or Ins sino-ino; was best.'"^' There is, however, anproof"»ftt important passao;e in the romance of Le Roi Horn about a^''is«o™e-
c r n times used
certain Gomm's harp playing, which clearly establishes that '^^''^-.^^*'" skilled performers did attempt to introduce some kind of Organum into lay music. '"^' M. de Coussemaker, and those who think with him on this point, may perhaps say that the kind of accompaniment which Gomm is supposed to have played belonged to a later kind of harmony, and not to the Organum properly so called. But even if this were so, it would still carry back the use of some kind of instrumental harmony in lay music, at least a century further than M. de Coussemaker seems disposed to admit. The Jongleurs, or by whatever other name the musicians of the twelfth century may be designated, and who, as we have seen from a passage quoted from Guillaume de St. Pair's Chronique de CAhhaye de St. Michel,^°^^ took part in religious processions, and other public semi-religious ceremonies, such as the religious dramas, could scarcely have resisted the temptation to try in secular song what was looked upon with such favour in Church music. But whether Organum was used in secular music or not, the latter could not long remain unaffected by the endless resources and splendour of the noblest and sublimest art of the middle ages, the Cantus firmus. The combination R>se of a
o ' '' new kind of
of these two elements, the Church music and the secular, gave Polyphony. rise to a new kind of polyphony — we can scarcely call it har- mony ; the most prominent feature of which was, that the ac- companiment was independent of the principal melody, and had a meaning of its own. This kind of harmony, which, like the ^iscant or diaphony of mixed intervals and movements, grew up in France and Flanders, is called Discantus or Dechant, that is to say,
1031 a j)az nie man wizzen kunde Wederez siiezer waere Oder baz lobebaere Sin harpfcn oder sin singen". 1032 « Deu ! ki dune I'esgardast cum 11 la sot manier, Cum ses cordes tuchot, cum les feseit tramler A quante faire les chanz, a kantes organer Del armonie del cicl li pureit rcmembrer". '"•'* Ante, p. dxxvii.
dliv INTRODUCTION,
double chant. It is a Latin translation of Diaphonia, but true Discant is never called Diaphony, though the latter is some- originai timos Called Discant. The primitive mode of making a Discant making it; is dcscribcd bj Egidius de Murino, a writer of the twelfth cen- tury.*°** When it was desired to add a second part, or ac- companiment, to a melody which was to be the principal one in the combination, the chant of a response was taken, gene- rally at random, or even sometimes another song, which was adjusted underneath the principal melody by modifying and altering the primitive value of the notes, lengthening one, shortening another. Originally, discant was made with two voices, but later a third, or a fourth, or even a fifth voice was added, each voice singing a distinct melody, which was ad- different justed to the others in the manner just described. According to it; to the number of parts thus added, the Discant was called a
its supposed motct, a triplum, a quadruplum, etc. The first attempts at this kind of harmony were probably made as a means of amusement in private society by two persons chanting together — one singing some popular song of the time, and the other accompanying him with a Church hymn. The object in such a case was the avoidance of discord ratlier than the production of concord. The whole interest necessarily concentrated itself on the movement of the voices, and in order to keep them together a strict maintenance of the time was necessary. In this way wasamca- musical rlivthm bccamc of great importance. There was no
sured har- -,. . . ^ . • ^ n
mony; divisiou of time m the Cantus /irmus, but Discant was a the rules of measured harmony. The rules relative to the classification,
discant • n iiti
given by the employment, and the catenation of concords and discords
Fran con of . JL n r^ i
Cologne, given by Francon of Cologne, one of the earliest writers who refer only to treated of tliis kind of music, appear to refer only to a discant in
simple coun- , ' j. i ./
terpoiut; which notc corresponded to note, that is to say, a counterpoint in which notes of equal duration were given to each part. M. de Coussemaker has, however, shown from the musical monu- ments of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that the discant of note against note was rather an exceptional kind, even in the
'o^* M. Danjou first discovered the Tractatus Canlus Mensurabids of Egidius. Chapter iv., De modo componendi ienores motetorum, Avill be found as a note in M. de Coussemaker's Histoir€ de V Harmonie, p. 29.
INTRODUCTION. dlv
time of Francon, and that the various counterpoints, known later as " equal counterpoint", in Avhich all the parts had notes of equal value, "figured or unequal counterpoint", when the but figured
^ ' ^ ■■• -^ , and flowered
different parts had one, two, three, or four notes against one, counterpoint
■T 7 7/ tj were knowu
" mixed or flowered counterpoint", when the equal and unequal in uis time, counterpoints were mixed, may be traced back to at least his time.
At first there was no artistic connection whatever between voices not
connected in
the different voices ; but, according as the richness and interest eariy uis-
of the melodic movement increased with the number of voices,
some bond of connection became indispensable. This was effected by
T rv • T • TIT Canon and
effected by the repetition by a different voice and m a dmerent imitation, manner of a musical phrase which another had previously sung. This " repetition of different voices", as Johannes Gir- landia calls this " coloured Discant", is the first appearance of Canon and Imitation in music, unless, as Herr O. Paul seems to think, the first traces of them are to be sought in the Orga. num. Until M. de Coussemaker showed the existence of this which were
formerly
isolated canonical imitation m the twelfth centviry, the earliest supposed to
. •' . , have first
traces of it known were to be found m the compositions of appeared in
•*■ the fifteenth
Dufav, Effidius Binchois, and the other masters of the first and six-
J ^ O ' _ _ _ teenth
Flemish school of music, while double counterpoint was hitherto centmies. supposed to belong to the middle of the sixteenth century.
Discant was made either with words, or partly with and partly without words. The discant with words was made in mscant yfith two ways: — 1, with the same words in all the parts, as in the Cantilenes, in the Rondos, and in a certain ecclesiastical chant not specified; — 2, with different words, as in the Motets, one part, or voice, of which received the name of " Tenor", because to it were always assigned the words of the principal text or melody. *°^* In the discant with different words, while one person sang the office of the Church, another is supposed to have sung a lay melody, generally some well-known popular tune. It was discants of this kind, especially Triplums gave rise to with different words, which gave rise, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to the composition of entire jNIasses, in
'"^•^ Hence the fanciful derivation of the name Tenor from ieneo, because in the part composition lie holds (Jenei) the Church nicloily.
dlvi INTRODUCTION.
which some well-known popular song formed the theme. As the Mass generally came to be known by the first words of the song, the names look, no doubt, very strange and bizarre. Thus at least a dozen Masses were founded on the song "L' Omme Arme", from that of the great master of the first Flemish school of Music, Dufay, to that of Palestrina. A still more singular title is that of another Mass of Dufay 's " Tant je me deduis". In reality, however, there was nothing objectionable in these Masses, except the names. The melody of the tenor's song was lost amidst the wonderful structure of counterpoint which the composer built up around it in the other voices. In addition to this, the melody itself was altered, being lengthened by marks of augmentation and broken by pauses, so that the hearers could not possibly separate the wonderful mass of tones into its component elements. "^
Discant with Discant with words and without words was one in which a
words, and
partly with- part had a text and the other part had not a text. This sort
out words; ■*• . ^ ^ ^
of discant was practised in Conduits, and in a certain ecclesias- tical chant improperly called Organum, according to Francon of Cologne. M. de Cousseraaker suggests that the part with- out text was, perhaps, an accompaniment executed by some instrument of music, and in support of this opinion quotes the following lines from the Roman de la Violette:
Cil jugleor viellent lais Et sons et notes et conduis.
He further suggests that the part without words may possibly be an accompaniment of the voice formed by inarticulate sounds produced in the interior of the half closed mouth, as is prac- tised in some singing societies in Belgium and Germany — this kind something in fact like the Irish Cronan. The curious but ob-
probably "
Ireland''"" scurc passagc relating to the Psalteriura and Nablum, quoted from an Irish MS. in the British Museum in Lecture xxxi.,'°^* and already mentioned in this Introduction, probably refers to a Discant of the kind we are now considei'ing, since it points to a trlpluin consisting of two parts with words, and an accom- paniment on the Cruit. In the passage in question, we are toll that David selected four thousand of the sons of Israel
'"" Vol. ii. p. 238.
INTRODUCTION. dlvii
" to sln<if the psalms perpetually without any interruption what- ever; a third of them at the choir, a third at Croit, and a third between choir and Croit. That which is entitled to tlic name of Psalmus is that which is arranged and practised upon the Croit. That which has a right to the name of Canticum is that which is practised by the choir and is chanted from the Croit. That which has a right to the name of Canticum Psalmus is what is carried from the Croit to the choir. That which has a right to be called Canticum Psalmi is what is carried from the choir to the Croit".
The vulgar music was undoubtedly rhythmed, and that of Rhythm and the Celtic and Germanic peoples exhibited a stronger feeling, popular as I have said before, for tonality in the modern sense. For although the modern tonality did not develop itself in artistic and harmonic music until towards the end of the sixteenth century, we find that the most ancient melodies which have come down to us, even from a period as early as the ninth century, are, to a certain extent, conceived in our modern tonality, so that there can be little doubt that in France and Flanders and Germany, at all events, the popular or vulgar music was distinguished from plain chant by the two essen- tial characteristics of measured rhythm and tonality. In unit- inn- secular melodies to ecclesiastical chants to produce the harmonic combination called Discant, the measure of the secular music imposed itself on the ecclesiastical melody, and the new multivocal music was measured harmony. It is this circumstance which has led some writers to imagine that Dis- cant was first employed in secular music. There is, however, ^^'g^''"* "' *' no evidence whatever to support this opinion ; on the contrary, l^^^^" the most ancient secular Discants — as, for example, those of the Trouv^re poet, musician, and actor, Adam de la Hale, do not go back beyond the second half of the thirteenth century. Discant was well adapted for ecclesiastical chant, notwithstanding its highly artificial character, but it was too ponderous for secular lyric poetry; and yet we find many songs — madrigals, composed in strict canons or in canonical repetition.
M. de Coussemaker, whose labours have thrown a flood of
iastica
dl
VIU
INTRODUCTION.
Conclusions of M. de Cousse- maker as to harmony in use in twelfth, thirteenth, and four- teenth cen- turies.
Action of secular music on Diicnnt.
Rise of Flemish schools of rausic;
light on the history of music in the middle ages, draws the following general conclusions from his investigations into the history of harmony in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries.
I. The unison, octave, fifth, and fourth, were not the only intervals employed: the third and sixth were also admitted.
II. Discords were also employed as harmonic intervals, hut only on the condition of resolving themselves on the concords by contrary movement.
III. The successions of fifths were not totally banished, but there were rules to avoid them. In practice only feeble traces of them were observed.
IV. Notes of passage and ornamentation were employed.
V. In a counterpoint of two notes to one, one of the two could be a discord.
VI. Finally, tlie most remarkable and the most curious fact is, the existence of the use of Double Counterpoint and Imita-
tion.
103?
So long as Discant was exclusively used for ecclesiastical chant, it was obliged to respect more or less the traditions of the Cantus firmus. But when it was at liberty to modify such ecclesiastical themes as it borrowed for the purposes of secular songs, or to use only current popular melodies, a boundless field was opened for the development of jDolyphonous music. In the first half of the fourteenth century, considerable progress was made in France and Italy in artistic secular music, as com- pared with the crude discant of Adam de la Hale. But in the second half of the same century Belgium became the centre of the artistic music of Europe, a position which it main- tained during nearly two hundred years. From Guillaumc Dufay, the glory of the first Flemish school, to Palestrina, who may be said to have closed the school of polyphonous music, fl.ourished a succession of composers, whose works are, in their way, even yet unrivalled, such as Anton de Busne, or Busnois, Firmin Caron, Hendrik van Ghizeghem, Jean du Roy or Regis, Johannes Okeghem, the founder of the second Flemish school, Josquin de Pres, Pierre de la Rue, Loysct
1037
Oj>. cit.
INTRODUCTION. dilX
Compere, and others, among whom were many who, though Germans, Frenchmen, or Itahans by birth, belonged by method and style to the Flemish school, as Heinrich Isaak, Heinrich Fink, Arnold von Bruck, Gombert, Claude Gou- dimel, and even Palestrina himself. It is especially from the masses, to which allusion has already been made, that wc can form an idea of the skill and genius of those little-known artists. Starting equally from the Gregorian chant and multi- character of
, I'l' • • r 1 r ^'^"^ masses
vocal secular song, these masses exhibit an artistic torm so loity, of Flemish a construction of the musical phrase so developed, and a direc- tion of the vocalisation so certain, that music may be said to have in these compositions for the first time fully emancipated itself from poetry, and entered upon an independent career as a creative art.
Judging by the works of Jehannot Lescurel'"^* and others, of French which fragments have come down to us, there can be no doubt Poiyphonous that a great school of poiyphonous music would have deve- loped itself in France in the fourteenth century, had not the Anglo-Norman wars, the Jacquerie, and political disorganiza- tion, brought France to the brink of ruin, and hindered the growth of all art. About the same period a somewhat similar school of music, — the early Florentine school, — was emerging Eariy Fior- into existence in Italy. This school received a great impetus, school. not only from the works, but the presence in Italy, of many Flemish composers. We are told that Josquin de Pres, Jacob Hobrecht, Alexander Agricola, and Heinrich Isaak were at one time together in Florence. Flemish composers were, in fact, influence of to be found in the fifteenth century at the courts of many of sdioois on the Italian princes, and indeed at most of the courts of Europe, itaiy. But it was at the Papal court that the Flemish art seems to have found most favour, if we may judge by the number of masses of different composers existing in the archives of the Papal chapel ; and we know that Josquin de Pres, one of the greatest composers of the second Flemish school, was at the head of the Papal choir itself under Sixtus the Fourth. The
1038 ^ rondeau of this musician, " A vous douce debonnaire ai mon cueur donne", has been published by M. Fetis in the Revue 3fusicale, vol. xii. n" 34, It is a triplum, the melody of which is in the middle voice.
school.
dlx INTRODUCTION.
Italian composers of the middle of the sixteenth century were, Paiestrina's to a great extent, formed in the Flemish school. Palestrina Flemish himsclf was a pupil of Claude Goudimel, and, according to Herr Arabros,'"'^ the scholar bears to the master the same relation that the Raphael of the Sposalizio and the Disputa does to his teacher Perugino. The predecessors of Palestrina have suiFered the same fate as the Pre-Raphaelites. Not only have their glorious works been forgotten, but some of the very things which con- stituted the supposed new style introduced by Palestrina, are to be found in the works of his French and Flemish predeces- sors.
It must be admitted, however, that the voices are better ar- ranged in the compositions of Palestrina than in those of his pre- decessors ; they appear mostly separated into several choirs, and occur more or less frequently acting choral-like alongside one
'"3' It is worth while giving the whole of the passage in which Hcrr Ambros, a competent judge, gives his opinion as to the true position of Palestrina: " I saw the Missa Papae MarcelU, and compared it with the masses of the pre- decessors of Palestrina; and I will be very thankful to anyone who definitely and cleiirly shows me where the 'reform', wliere the 'new style', the 'dawn of a new time', is to be found in it. I held the Masses, Noe Noe de b. Virglne, Ave Regina of Avcvi&e\t, the Masses ^kc/j _/?/('«, de mes ennm/s and le bien que j'ai of Goudimel, as comparative tests, alongside the Marcellus Mass, and could not recognize either in the score, or otherwise, any dif- ference worth mentioning. I found in the predecessors the same style in a scarcely perceptibly more antique colouring; I found that Palestrina has neither avoided the Canonical Imitations ("just in the Kyrie, the bases are canonically conducted all ' unisono), nor has he, for the sake of the intelligibility of the text, in any way given up the artistic interweaving of the voices. The faux-bourdon-like episodes, which might seem new, occur in the same way in Goudimel. What do I say? They occur already in the Gloria of the Mass dung aullre amer of Josquin. Compared with the intricate voice-tissue of older Masses, like Isaak's 0 praeclara, P. de la Rue's missa de S. Cruet, with Josquin's Mass Gaudeainus, with the playing with motives, which, for example, in many passages of the Hercules Mass of Lupus, give the score the appearance of a patchwork carpet, there is here to be sure simplicity, clearness ; but this calmer, more majestic style is no new oppositional direc- tion (as for example, Giuck's dramatic opera as opposed to the Italian ' Luxus- Oper'); it had formed itself in the course of time according to a perfectly natural process of development, and Palestrina has exactly the same relation to his teacher Goudimel, as the Raphael of the first period, the Raph.iel of the Sposalizio and the Disputa, to his teacher Perugino" — Geichkhie der Musik, Bd. ii. Vorrede, xv.
INTRODUCTION. cllxi
another and then principally in consonant chords. The same tendency is also observable in the contemporaries of Palestrina, especially in Giovanni Gabrieli.'""
About the middle of the fifteenth century, when multivocal secular music had risen to nearly as much importance as a branch of musical art as ecclesiastical music, we notice for the first time attempts to substitute for the accompanyinsf voices an instruments
^ . . . CJC ^ substituted
instrumental accompaniment, in which the most important in- for voices in
*■ , ^^ accorapani-
tervals and movements of the voices should be given. The ^ent; instrument for which this accompaniment appears to have been arrancred, at least in Italy, was the lute, which, in the thirteenth , the lute the
f. J > ^ ' > ^j.^^ mstru-
fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, seems to have been the favo-mcntsoused rite instrument in the south of Europe, whence it spread into tbe north especially in the last-named century. The Frottole of a distinguished CantoreaLiuto, Bartolomeo Tromboncino, as we find them arranged by Franciscus Bossinensis,'"*' give us a good idea of this mode of singing a melody in solo, and repre- senting the other voices of a polyphonous song on a musical in- strument. Herr Ambros thinks that this mode of transform- ing multivocal music into an instrumental accompaniment had not come into use in the thirteenth century. On the other hand, instrumen-
111 1 '^■*' «ccom-
lie thinks that we must not suppose the lute player at thatpaniment period merely played the melody note for note with the voice. "'''teenth
^ •''■•' '' century;
He probably struck the lower octave and the lower fourth to the melody, and also, no doubt, between them the lower sixth, that is, full concords. He, perhaps, allowed these chords to be heard at suitable parts of the melody, then played some tones of the song simply doubled, and then again touched a chord
1042
1010 Winterfeld, Johannes Gahrieli imd stin Zeitnlter, Bd. ii., S. 494.
'"*' Ambros gives an example of one of those Frottole (o;9. cit., p. 491 et seq.) from the work of Franciscus Bossinensis: Ttnori e conlrabassi intahulati col sopran in canto figurato per cantor e sonar col lauto. Libro primo, 1509.
"*** The Conduits and other kinds of Discant without words, to which I have already referred;|as consisting probably of a melody sung solo and an accom- paniment on an instrument, may perhaps have been the first beginnings of polyphonous instrumental accompaniments. The accompaniments of the Jongleors, Trouveres, and other early poet-musicians of Europe, whenever they attempted anything more than merely playing the notes of the air in unison, consisted in all likelihood of a simple instrumental harmony like that euggosted in llie te.xt.
INT. 36*
■*oo^
dlxii INTRODUCTIOJT.
that of the Even as late as the end of the sixteenth century, the Italian
danoe tunes , ^ ^ , . .
of the six- dancing masters still accompanied their dance tunes in this
teenth cen- ^ ^ l
tury of the naturalistic, artless manner. Herr Ambros ffives an excellent
same kind; ' ^ o
example of this kind in a Pavaniglia, that is a small Pavana, or dance of Padua, from the book called il Ballarino, of the cele- brated dancing master, Fabritio Caroso da Sermoneta, published at Venice in 1581, that is, fifty-two years later than the date of the oldest known examples of orchestral music, — dance pieces of about the year 1529."'"' This orchestral music is composed in the style of madrigals and motets, which at this period were composed as strict canons or in canonical repetition. There was, in fact, no other kind of harmonic music artisti- cally developed except that founded on canonical repetition, simple ac J^q ouc had as yct discovered the way to set a simple accord
cord acccm- •' •' ^ '■
riot'^ird^is accompaniment to a melody ; and hence, in the attempts at musi-
corered; gg^j drama in the first half of the sixteenth century, the dramatis
personce are made to express their feelings musically by means
of a chorus behind or upon the stage singing madrigals in
diffHrence fucrue Style. It must not be understood from what has been
between o -'
and"ecciesi"^j"^* Said, that the composers of the fourteenth and fifteenth recognized'^* ^^'^^"^^^^ ^^^ ^°* rccognizc the diiference between a secular song and an ecclesiastical chant. This would be a great, though common, mistake. The songs of Josquin de Pres, Loyset Compere, Isaaks, and others, show how well the differ- ence was understood. To name only one example, I may mention a Spanish air called merely Una musque de Buscai/a,^°** which Josquin de Pres has made the theme of a mass, and likewise arranged as a secular song. Kevoiution Althou»h, as I havc observed, Palestrina's music is not es-
in music .
^°^^^ ^ . sentially different from that of his predecessors of the Flemish school, and especially from that of his master Goudimel, the impending revolution in music is foreshadowed in his works
ghadowed in works of Palestrina ;
104? Winterfeld, Johannes GabrieK und sein Zekalter, Bd. ii. S. 41.
io«4 Qj gg jj jg galled in the Canti cento cinquanta (published in 1503), fol. 130, "Una musque de Buscgnya". This Spanish air like "1" Omme arme ", appears to have been a favourite theme of musicians. In the Opus decern missarum, published at Wittenberg in 1641, we find as the title of a ma<s of Heinrich Isaak, " Und musiqie de Biscay". Fetis, Biogr. Univ., t. ii., p. 479.
INTRODUCTION. dlxili
and in those of Gabrieli. The most potent cause of that revo- cause of timt
*• . . ruvolution;
lution was Protestantism. Music occupied too prominent a position in the service of tlie Church, and the esthetic feeling for harmony had become too developed in the sixteenth cen- tury, to allow of either the exclusion of music from the Protes- tant Church service, or the return to simple homophonous music. But as it lay in the essence of Protestantism — at least, as it developed its notions of ritual in Germany and France — that the congregation itself should undertake the singing, and as it would have been simply impossible for an uneducated con- gregation to execute the artistic polyphonous music of the time, the problem was presented to the composers of the Protestant hymnology of producing simple harmonized chorals in which all the voices could proceed simultaneously. To do this it was necessary to eliminate the canonical repetition of similar melodic phrases in different voices ; but this, as I have already pointed out, was the only bond by which the different voices were connected together, the only link by which the unity of the whole was maintained. It was necessary to discover a new link in the notes themselves, and this was found in a stricter relation to a governing tonic. In this way, a system of har- mony growing naturally out of the Ionic Church tone, or our natural major scale, came to be gradually developed in the Protestant church hymns of the sixteenth century, which were for the most part founded upon popular airs ; so that even at the present day we do not find these old chorals strange, although many of the means which we now possess of marking the mode were not then known. '"^^ This is even the case with the French Protestant psalms which were harmonically treated by Goudimel, especially when they are in the major key. The manner in which Palestrina makes the voices in his masses ^^'^'r^ °^ frequently act choral-like, as I have already mentioned, proves ^iusks on
^ "^ . . •' ' ^ music of
that he was not insensible to the grandeur of the effects which P-tieitnua. under very opposite circumstances, had been the outcome of the ideas that influenced Goudimel's hymnology. Palestrina's task was, however, very different from that of the composers
1015 Helmholtz, Die Lehre von den Tonpmpfindungen aJs physiologhche Gnmdhige fur die Thforie der Miisik. Stc Aufl. 1870, p. 389.
aG*B
dlxiv INTRODUCTIOX.
of Protestant lij^mnology ; he had to do with themes from the Cantus Jirimis, which are confined within the strict limits, both as to form and expression, of the fixed Church tones; and his true merit consisted in boldly taking advantage of the new tendency of artistic music, without, however, losing sitjht of the traditions of the ecclesiastical chant.
The transformation of polyphonous music into true harmonic Influence of music in the modern sense of the term, the first beginnings of change of which WO Can trace back to the early part of the sixteenth music into ccnturv, and which received so ii^reat an impetus from Protes-
harmonic •' " ^ ,
'Oiaiic. tant hymnology, was finally efifected under the influence of the opera. In homophonous music the words of a song are as important as the music ; in polyphonous music, the intelligibility of the words was of so little importance that the most bizarre mixture of words could occur in discant, as we have seen, without shocking the ears of the hearers, simply because they were not intelligible. The revival of classic learning naturally led to attempts being made to resuscitate the antique tragedy ; but, as this was known to have been musically recited, the question arose, how this could be done. Polyphonous music was clearly unsuitable for the purpose, and to go back to homophonous music was not to be thought of The problem to be solved was, to allow one or more of the voices to stand out prominently from the rest, which should be held entirely subordinate to the principals. This was effected by the Invention of recitative by Jacopo Peii and Caccini, about the year 1600, and harmonized solo airs by Claudio Monteverde and Ludovico Viadana, the choir-master of the cathedral of Mantua. To the latter is also generally attri-
invention ofbutcd the invention (a.d. 1605) of figured or fundamental
figured or ^ i i • i
fundamental bass.'"*^ He proposcd to make the instrumental bass, to which
bass.
1046 There are, however, instances of a figured bass which precede by a few years 1605, the date assigned to Viadana's invention. Thus Peri's Euridice, published in Florence in the year 1600, has the bass figured throughout. So also the Nuove Musiche of Caccini, the first edition of which was published at Florence in 1606, has the bass regularly figured. There is no accounting for the name of this contrivance usually current among English musicians — " Thorough Bass", — which is a purely arbitrary term, having no connection wilh what it signifies.
INTRODUCTION dlxv
he assigned a movement different from that of the vocal bass, the groundwork of the piece, and to represent the chord it was to sustain in every part by means of figures, that is, each such figured bass note was to represent a chord, the management of the voice in these chords being left to the performer. As First use of
, r • 1 chord of the
operatic music required stronger means oi expression than was seventh, allowed in ecclesiastical music, Monteverde ventured to intro- duce for the first time the chord of the seventh on the domi- nant without preparation, for which he was much abused by his contemporary Artusi. Previous to this bold innovation, only consonant chords, interspersed occasionally with a discord of suspension, were used, but thenceforward a bolder use was made of discords as independent means of producing sharper shadings of expression.
Under the influence of all these innovations the old Church Fusion of
, . . , . , - , . old church
tones passed into our minor and major modes, and as the variety tones into of expression, which depended upon the variety of keys, was minor notes; diminished by the fusion, other means had to be found for pro- ducing it, such as the transposition of the keys to different fundamental notes varying in pitch and modulatory passages from one key to another. The fusion of the old Church tones into our major and minor modes appears to have begun as early as the thirteenth century, owing to the prominence given to the major seventh. Although the major seventh has, of all the notes in the major scale, the weakest fundamental relation to the tonic, it has acquired a special importance in modern music from its position with regard to the octave of the tonic. Being separated from this octave by only the smallest interval of the ordinary scale, a semi- tone, it serves as the passage, or as it is called, the "leading note" to it, and thus comes to have a special position and function in the scale. The minor seventh has not change of the same importance ; hence in modern music, in which there is a seventh into tendency to mark and bring out in the clearest possible manner seventh, the relation to the tonic, the minor seventh is always raised to the major in the ascending movement to the tonic or its octave. This transformation is the first indication of the change in the Church tones to which I have just alluded. It originated in polyphonous music, but it also invaded the uni-
iXVl
INTRODrCTION.
Develope- ment of modern tonality.
Artistic music of Continent known in Ireland.
vocal Cantus Jirmtis, so that Pope John the Twenty-second censured it by his bull, Docta Sanctorum, in 1322.'"*' In consequence of this censure, musicians no longer indicated in the notation when the minor seventh was to be made major, an omission which, Winterfeld"**^ says, continued to be prac- tised down to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, even among Protestant composers.
We have seen from the manner in which the diatonic scale was completed, that the chainwise-relationship of the notes of a scale amoncf each other was in accordance with tlie esthetic feelings of the time. But, according as the diatonic system was developed among European peoples, this relationship was step by step sacrificed to a totally different kind of esthetic feeling, namely, that based upon a relationship of all the notes to a single central, or rather fundamental, one. In propoition as this took place, so did the modern idea of tonality develope itself more clearly in the minds of musicians. This consists not only in giving to one note — the tonic — a certain prominent and combining power among the notes of the scale, but also a similar power to the chord of the tonic among the chords.
With the help of the preceding sketch of the historical deve- lopement of music, meagre as it necessarily is, I will now en- deavour to ascertain whether, as is often maintained, the Irish, in the middle ages, were acquainted with harmony, and to fix the general relationship of Irish music to the artistic music of Europe and to the national music of Scotland and of Wales, and also of England.
Whether the Irish were practically acquainted with the ar- tistic music of the Continent during the middle ages or not, there can be no doubt that the existence of such a music was not unknown to them. It is true, the evidence is small, even as regards the latter point, but I think it is sufficient. The
'o^'' This bull lias been incorporated into the body of the Canon Law, and is prefixed to the Third Book of the " Extravjigantes Communes". Corpus Juris Canonici; Lugduni 1671, vol. iii. (Extravagantes sen conslilutiones Vi- ginti a lohanne Papa XXII. ediiae. Lib. III., de vita et honestate Clerico- rum, c. i. p. 233).
'*•** Der Evangelische Kirchevgesang. quoted by Helmholtz, op. a'f., p. 440.
Leipzig, 1843, Bd. L Einleitung,
INTRODUCTION. dlxvii
missionaries Austin and Mellitus, sent hy Pupe Gregory the (ireat, in 601, to convert the Ancrlo- Saxons, were probably provided witli a copy of his antiphonary, gradual, etc. Under Pope Vitalian, Roman singers, among them John and Theodore, Roman
1 nr>r\ ^^ ^ 1 T^ - • singi.Ts sent
were sent about the year boO to (jraui and iJritain to restore to England the Church music to its original purity. The passage from the century; poem of St. Aldhelm, who died in 709, which I have quoted in reference to the Psalterium,'"" shows that already in the second half of the seventh century, the Gregorian chant was in use chanting in the west of Eno;land in a district much Irequented by Irish the west of
, rr^i T • 1 1 1 England in
priests and monks. There, and m the northern and eastern the same
.... . century.
parts of England where Irish missionaries had established Christianity before the advent of St. Austin and his com- panions, or were engaged in preaching it contemporaneously with the Anglo-Saxon and Roman clergy, Irish priests and monks must have become acquainted with the Roman chant, and introduced it into Ireland, supposing it not to have been introduced directly from Gaul, between which country and Ire- irishmen
,,, .. .-..,.,, , living oil the
land the most active intercourse existed m the sixth and seventh continent centuries. Again, in the ninth and tenth centuries we find Irish- century
,.. ^ /~i • T ^ • • -\ T ^ ^ acquainted
men hvinof on the Continent, dispiayinp: considerable know- with artistic ledge of artistic music. It is true that these men may have acquired this knowledge after they had left Ireland ; but it is scarcely credible that of the many Irishmen who were to be found in those times in France, Germany, and Italy, none found their way back to Ireland. What we know of AJoengal or Marcellus, as he was called at the monastery of St. Gall,'"''" under whose teaching the music-school of that monastery reached its highest fame, indicates that music must have been cultivated in Irish schools, and that many educated Irishmen, after havinsr visited the Continent and studied in the schools there, returned to give their countrymen the benefit of their acquired knowledge, and especially to teach the priests and monks to chant the " hymns, psalms, antiphonies, and re-
'0*' Ante, p. dvii.
1050 <« Moengal, postea a nostris Marcellus diminutive a Marco avunculo sc. nominatud, hie erat in divinis et humanii eruditissimus", etc. Ekkehard, De cas. monastirii S. GoUi, c. i.
dlxviii INTRODUCTION.
sponses" in the solemn tones of tlie Gregorian Cantus Jirmus. Moengai Accidont alone prevented Moenqal from teachinof in a monas-
teacher of _ ^ •■■ •^ o
inn.r school terv in Ireland instead of at St. Gall. We are told that, being
of St. Gall; -^ . _ ' O
on his way from Rome to Ireland with his uncle, Bishop Mar- cus, they called at St. Gall, which so pleased Moengai, that he determined to remain there. Full of all the ecclesiastical and secular knowledge of the time, and especially skilled in music, he became the teacher of what was called the inner TuntuoXus school. Among his scholars, Notker Balbulus, Ratpert, and
scholar; ^ ' l '
Tuotilo occupy a foremost place among the men of the tenth century '°^' The latter was a learned man and also an orator, a sculptor, a painter, an architect, a goldsmith ; he played upon all kinds of instruments ; and lastly, he is the first known com- poser of the peculiar compositions known as Tropes, which, under various modifications, came down to the end of the seventeenth century. Tuotilo died on the 27th April, 915. nothing Nothing is known of the origin of this singularly gifted man.
known as to o- ~i •
his origin. If he wcrc a Swiss or German, something would be known of his parentage or birthplace, as in the case of his friends Rat- pert and St. Notkerus. But if he were a foreigner, as he may have been, there is nothing singular in the silence of the monastic chroniclers concerning the events of his early life, about which they could know nothing except incidentally.
Very little Of the crowd of Irishmen who poured out of Ireland from the
known about -\ n ^ • -x
*uhhed"'" ^ sixth to the beginning of the tenth century, and
who^'iTv^Jd ^■'^° *°°^ ^" active part in the intellectual movement of the tmentinTho^"^^' ^^^ ^"^^ havc left sufiicicnt cvidcnce to enable us even to middle ages, connect them with the land of their birth. Their lot was cast in the darkest period of the middle ages, and they have conse- quently suffered the fate which too often befalls those who are the precursors or originators of great intellectual or moral movements, or founders of new branches of science or art. In the second half of the ninth century, there appear to have been many Irishmen at St. Gall besides Moevgal, and every-
'05' "Isonis praecipui apul S. Galium discipuli fuere Notkerus, Ratpertus tt Tutilo, quorum cor unum et aiiima una erat, et ipsi septem liberales artes, ))rMesertim musicani, edocte a Marcello". Ekkehard, De casibus monasterii S-
UoUi.
INTRODUCTION. dlxix
thinff that we know of Tuotilo favours the view that he also tuouio
o • 1 1 probably
was one. In the first place, the name is, to say the least, asaniiishman, much like a Latinized form of the Irish luatal, Tnotal, or Tuathai, as of the Gothic Totilo. Again, the wandering dis- position, the warm, impulsive spirit which made him equally ready to use his tongue or his arm against an enemy, remind us forcibly of St. Columbanus ; and lastly, his great skill in instrumental music, and especially the decidedly Irish character of the melodies of the two tropes " Hodie cantandus" and " Omnipotens Genitor", which have been published by Father Schubiger, seem conclusive as to his nationality. This Irish strain in his melodies may be the reason why these were con- sidered in the middle ages to be peculiar and easily distin- guishable from those of the other St. Gall composers. '"^^ It The
/^ 1 1 1 • 1 Einsiedeln
is worth remarkmg, that one or the oldest musical monuments ms. Liter of this period, the Liber imnorum A'otkeri,"^^ noted mNotkeri Neumes, was illuminated, if not entirely written, by an Irish irishman, hand. The initial letter of Notker Balbulus's Easter sequence to the air " Frigdola", commencing, " Laudes Salvatori voce modulemur supphci", of which Father Schubiger has given a fac-simile, is an excellent example of the interlaced Irish style of ornament, with the interesting peculiarity that the trefoil or shamrock is used as a prominent feature of it.
Irish manuscripts, although frequently mentioning music wsh mss.
^ . , . . 1 /• • 1 contain no
and musical instruments, contain no examples ot music noted example of
. . , . 1 p . , musical no-
m Jyeumes, or indeed m any other system oi notation, andtation. scarcely any reference to the artistic music of the Church. Indeed I know of only two passages where any such re- ference occurs. One of them — a very obscure one too — has been already several times referred to,'°^* and need not be further discussed here. The second passage is in a vellum manuscript, compiled at the end of the fifteenth and begin- ning of the sixteenth century from other manuscripts of
1052 Ekkehard IV. says of them : " Istos proposuimus, ut quam dispar ejus melodia sit coeteris, si musicus es, noris". De casibus S. Galli.
" Quae autem Tulilo dictaverat, singularis ac agnoscibilis melodiae sunt". Ibid.
><•". Codex 121. Einsiedeln.
'o^< Ante, p. <l!ii., dlvi., and Lectures, vol. ii., p. 238.
dlxx
INTRODUCTION.
various ages. Ilie passage relating to music belongs perhaps to the end of the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth century, and shows that the musical system of Guido d'Arezzo yvas then sufficiently well known in Ireland to become the subject of etymological speculation, of whicli several other curious ex- amples are to be found in Irish manuscripts.'""
From manuscripts let us turn to the music itself, and see whether it can give us any information as to the stage of deve- lopement which Irish music had attained in the middle ages. Peculiarities Every one who has heard Irish music will readily admit that music. it has peculiarities which distinguish it from that of every other European country, with the exception of Scotland. Those peculiarities depend on the scale employed, on the tonics or keys, and on the measure and accent.
""* As a curious exf,n:plG of n-.cdieTal IiitL ctvmclogicalspecuiation,! shall give a translation of the whole passage here:
" It is a question here, according to Augustine, what chanting is, or why it is so called? Answer: From this word which is called Can- telena, and that is the same as to say lenis cantus, ie. gentle, sooth- ing chanting to God, and to the Virgin Mary, and to all the saints, and they are called puing, i.e. points, because the devil is hurt and bruised by them, ut, re, mi, la, tol, la ; and how it is best to understand those points is as follows: When Moses, the son of Amram, with his multitude, was coming across the Red Sea, and Pharaoh with his followers pursued him, this is the chaunting which Maeic Moses used to protect him against Pharaoh and his people. Those six points [he employed] to praise the Lord : the first point of them, namely, ut, is the same in Greek as Liberal in the Latin, and that is the same as Saer [i.e. save] in the Irish, i.e. ' O God', said Moses, ' save us from the malice of the devil'; the second point of them, i.e. re, is the same as protect, i.e. protect us, O God, from everything hurtful and malicious; the third point, 7ni, is the same in the Greek as Militum in the Latin, and that is the same as Ridere [a horseman] in the Irish, i.e. O God, said Moses, save us frcm those horsemen who are pursuing us ; the fourth point, i.e. fa, is the same in Greek as famulus in the Latin, jind that is the same as mug [slave] in the Irish, i.e. O God, said Moses, save us from those slaves in pursuit of us ; the fifth point, i.e. sol, is the same as grian [i.e. the sun], and that is the same as faithfulness, because faithfulness is the same as Christ, i.e. 0 Christ, said Moses, protect us ; the sixth point, i.e. Id, is the same as to say lau, and that is the same as indail [i.e. wash], i.e. O God, said Moses, wash our sins off us ; and by that glorification Pharaoh and his people were drowned. Be it known to you, 0 men, that in whatever place this laudation is sung, i.e. the chanting, the devil is fettered by it, and his power destroyed tiierein, and the power of God called in". Vellum it/5. H. 3, 18, T.C'.D., p. 39.
INTRODUCTION dlxxi
All modern music, and indeed all poWphonous and har- insh music
. , . constiucted
monic music, is constructed upon what is called the dia- '"« gapped
1 Txn 1 quinque-
tonic scale. When, however, we analyse genuine Irish airs, e'ade scale
, ' or in scale of
even comparatively modern ones, where they have not been ^''""^"^'^ modified under the influence of Church music, or distorted to suit the exigencies of modern harmony, we find that many of them are constructed according to a gapped quinquegrade scale obtained from the circle of fifths, as I have shown above ; while a still larger number are constructed in the old Church tones. But so strongly impressed is the character of the gapped scale in genuine Irish music that in those airs moving in Church tones one or both the semi-tones are omitted.
We have seen that the sentiment of tonality is of gradual sentiment of
•^ "--' toniility of
growth, and that previous to the fusion of the Church tones ™o<iem into the modern major and minor modes, most, if not all, the notes of the diatonic scale were used as tonics, the same dis- tances, however, between the notes being continued to be preserved which originally existed between them as notes of the old diatonic scale, thus furnishing, at least, as many kinds of keys as there were distinct notes. This was also the case with the music constructed on the gapped quinquegrade scale, aii the notes
,.,.,,,. ^ ^'■, ^ ^ .^ , of the Irish
which will, tor our present purpose, be conveniently repre- scale served
1 - US tonics \
sented thus:
C'D-E- G-A- C
If each note of this scale be taken as the tonic of a distinct ^^ys of the
1 . , . gapped
key, we might represent the order of succession of the notes quii,que-
•^ ' o r grade scale ;
in such several keys by the following series i'"^^
|
1. |
C - D - |
E ■ |
. * . G - A - * - C |
|
2. |
D- E - |
* |
■ G- A - * - C -D' |
|
3. |
E- * - |
G- |
■ A- * - C -D' -E' |
|
4. |
G' A . |
* |
. C -D' - E - * - G' |
|
5. |
A- * - |
C ■ |
D'- E • * - G' -A' |
Or in ordinary musical notation :
'"'^ It is to be remembered, asT have similarly remarked already (p. dxliv.), that the notation employed in the two following paradigms is not intended to indicate the pitch of the sounds, but only the relative distances and arrange- ment of the several notes.
dlxxi
xu
INTRODUCTION.
1. c.
^
2. D.
-^ »
-^
3-
~w
3. E,
4 G.
-©-
0 I*
5. A
_©_
•-
Ancient keys of diatonic scale omit- ting semi- tones;
The peculiar progression of the notes in these five keys may be made, perhaps, more intelligible to those accustomed only to the ordinary diatonic scale, by exhibiting a series of keys which shall have for tonics the successive notes of the diatonic scale (omitting, however, those for the semi-tones), marking with an asterisk the semi- tones to be omitted in each key, if we desire it to represent a corresponding key of the gapped qulnquegrade system.
I. C - V - E - F - G - A - B - C
11. D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D'
III. E - F - G - A - B - C - D - E'
IV. G - A -B - C - D
* B
* E - F
* F
G'
V. A - B - C - D - E - F - G- A'
These keys expressed in ordinary musical notation would be as follows :'°"
""' It may be well to warn the musical sturlent acquainted only with ordinary modern music, that in performing those scales, and any others which may be subsequently given, except where they are distinctly stated to be ordinary scales, no sharps or flats are admissible ; they must be performed exactly as set down in the text.
INTRODUCTION.
dlxxiii
I. c
^
^
J ^ r r
II. D.
-4 *
^^
* ?•
I
III. E.
|
f\ |
|||||||||
|
]/ |
1 |
A 1* |
1 |
||||||
|
J«l |
1 |
a • |
1 |
||||||
|
r^ |
^ |
* |
■ |
1 |
1 |
||||
|
Vii |
« |
1 |
|||||||
|
«>' |
IV. G.
-^
^
V. ^.
^m
If we omit the semi-tones, these series will represent the fi^^gg^^f^eTTe keys of the gapped scale; if we do not omit them, we liave melodic ^^ the five melodic families of tones, which, like the gapped scale, tones, were developed from a circle of fifths, namely :
Greek Names.
Modern scientific names.
c
Lydi
lan
D - d ... Phrygian E - e ... Doric
G-g ... I
onic
A - a
^olic
Names according to Glareanus.
Ionic ... Major
Doric ... Genus of sevenths Phrygian ,, of sixths
, Mixo-Lydian ,, offom-ths . jEolic ... „ of thirds
By melodic families are meant such of the Church tones as are adapted for polyphonous and harmonic music. As this term, " Church tone", is, probably, very vague to some of our readers, it is necessary to define the sense in which it is used in these pages.
In the early Church music, four scales or keys were re-Anihentic
. touts of tit.
cocfnized, which were known as the four authentic tones ol bt. Ambrose. Ambrose.
dlxxlv
INTRODUCTION.
extension below the tonic ;
1. DEFGABCD
2. EFGABCDE
3. FGABCDEF
4. GABCDEFG
Extent and The pieces composed in any of those tones or scales were
tonality of ^ r i i i c ^
pieces in old normallv supposed not to rano;e beyond the compass oi the
Church J i. y o J i
tones ; eight notcs, and they invariably ended on the first or lowest note of the scale, which was characterized as the funda- mental note or tonic of the mode. But even the Cantus Jirmus could not be confined within these narrow conven- tional limits ; and pieces were written which either went below the tonic or above its octave, thus including a range of nine, ten, or even, although very rarely, eleven notes. While however the tendency to exceed upwards seldom displayed itself, and took rather the form of what in modern language we would call grace notes, it was otherwise with notes below the tonic or first note of the scale. The latter were not only of frequent occurrence, but were almost always integral parts of the piece, which could not be omitted without altering its character and diminishing its effectiveness. This admission of notes below the tonic wrought a revolution in the sys- tem of modes, if indeed it were not a settled portion of the system from the beginning. Many pieces were written in which the notes below the tonic extended to the fourth under it. But in those pieces the extent above the tonic suffered a proportionate curtailment, so that they seldom
compensated reached bcvond its fifth. The normal range of an octave or
by curtail- -^ _ ° _
ment above thcreabouts, from the lowest to the hie-hest note of the piece,
the tonic ; ' _ o _ .
was thus preserved ; more than this was evidently considered to be beyond the fair compass of the ordinary human voice. of the to'*^ This class of pieces, while they possessed a very close family likeness to the original authentic tones out of which they had developed, yet evidently possessed a peculiar expression of their own which forbade their being confounded with them.'"^*
'"^^ One of the best procfs which could be given of tliis is the actual com- parison of a piece written in the "first" (authentic) mode of D, with one ■written in the " eightli" (plagal) mode of G. The scales in which the two P'eces are written are identical, note for note ; yet no one could possibly con- found them as if they belonged to the same key.
til us de- veloped ;
INTRODUCTION.
dlxxv
Hence they received the name of plagal (TrXayloc, oblique), °^;f^"^°^^„j a name obviously suggested by the position of their notes Ri;«^.t« with reference to their tonic. Each authentic tone or mode had therefore a corresponding plagal mode, which had grown out of it. Both were known by the same name or letter, ''^^^^^^^^^ 2>, E, F, G, which designated the tonic; but while the c.;^"^r<:h authentic mode extended normally through the octave above its tonic, the plagal extended usually from the fourth below the tonic to the fifth above it. In later times the authentic mode in D came to be designated the first tone, the plagal in D the second tone, the authentic in E the third tone, the plagal in E the fourth, and so on. When this ordinal desig- nation was fixed, has not been ascertained with certainty, but it was fully recognized in the later middle ages.
The following table exhibits the eight Church modes.'""''
D.
1st Mode — Authentic.
2nd Mode— Plagal.
m
3t
-^
s
s-p
I
Tonic.
iourLli.
ionic.
i'iith.
3rd Mode— Authentic.
4th Mode— Plagal.
E
F.
G.
"^Ti
33^
^-^
Tonic.
5th Mode— Authentic.
Fourth. Tonic. 6th Mode— Plagal.
^
is:
»-
3
i^
i©-
~«SL
Fifth.
:£
i
Tonic.
7th Mode — Authentic.
Fourth. Tonic. 8th Mode— Plagal.
Fifth.
i^tjt:^
^^^IJ^E^g
^CJ
4^
i
Tonic.
Fourth. Tonic.
Fifth.
'0*9 In this table the scales of each mode are given, that is, the orderly- list of notes which may appear in a normal piece of each mode. But con- tingent alterations to which some of those scales arc liable in actual practice,
dlxx
VI
INTRODUCTION.
no Church tone having C or 4 for tonic ;
Dominants of Church modes not in conformity with rules of modern music ;
It is to be remarked that there is no church mode havinof either C or A for tonic ; although the second and the sixth modes (both plagal) might have suggested the supplying the omission. The former, indeed, furnishes the nearest type of the modern major scale, and the latter of the modern minor scale to be found in ancient music.
It is further worth observing with regard to these church modes, that they do not conform to the law of modern music, by having the fifth of the tonic for dominant. The etymology of this term suggests that it should be used to designate the note which dominates, that is, most frequently occurs in the course of the piece. The church modes present great variety in their dominants, as will be seen in the following table.
First Tone, Autlientic.
Relation of Tonic. Dominant. Dominant to Tonic
(Z>
-r^
Fifth.
Second Tone, Plagal.
i
-TZf-j
Third (minor).
Third Tone. Authentic.
-e3>
t
_iCi..
Sixth.
Fourth Tone, Tlagal.
B=^
Fourth.
Fifth Tone, Authentic.
^
F=
Fifth.
Sixth Tone, Plagal.
CJ
Jt-i-
Third.
Seventh Tone, Authentic.
-e^i
le^
Fifth.
Eighth Tone, Plagal.
m — ^
7ZJ
Fourth.
could not, obviously, be noted in such a table. Thus one of the primary laws of the Caniusjirmus is its abhorrence of a tntonus, or a simple succession of
INTRODUCTION. dlxj
XXVll
It IS quite enouo-h to look at this and the preceding: Table, j/'nusof tiie to see that the genus or the music constructed on such a plan different. must be very different from modern music. Every scale is different ; the semi-tones are in different positions with re- gard to the tonic and the dominant ; this latter holds a dif- ferent place and function from its modern counterpart ; the several intervals are different. It is not difficult to recognize that, had the Cantits Jlrmiis been permitted to develope into harmony according to the bent of its own genius, the re- sult would have been something differing considerably from our present music, presenting much greater variety both in form and expression, and probably more perfectly adapted to interpret the endless multifariousness of human passion and sentiment.
But music, like all the arts, has been developed not ac- Deveiope-
T T • • r- 1 1 • mentof
cording to purely scientific laws, but m a great measure ™i's'c not
Jr . . . ° according to
according to the bias given to it by the wayward ca|)rice scientific and the ignorance of men. What has been said above has, caprice, of course, reference solely to the modes of the regular Can- tiis firmus. As soon as it was brought into contact with the popular music of the northern nations, and especially as soon as it began to be treated in the ways already mentioned, and to be made to form part of a discant or of other poly- phonous arrangements, it was inevitable that changes would
three whole tones. This " horror", however, like the corresponding natura abhorret a vacuo, has to be qualified ; so that any modification which varied the naked succession of three whole tones was admissible. Thus the ordinary movement of the diatonic scale from F to. C, of three tones succeeded by a semi-tone, was regular : but were the singer to stop short on the third tone, the harshness would be felt at once. Hence in pieces of the first authentic tone in D, whenever the movement stopped short on B without proceeding upwards, the B was modified, and became i>B. Now a little reflection will show that such a piece of music would very much resemble one composed in the modern minor key of D.
Similarly in the other modes, whenever a succession of tliree tones would otherwise be unavoidable, the B became \?B. This however was a rule of prac- tice, the putting which into actual exercise was dependent upon the occur- rence of a contingency. It was not an essential feature of the mode or key, no more than a casual " accident " in a modern piece could, be reckoned as one of the constituents of the key. Hence it is that in genuine Plain Chant, the <^B — the only modified note which it admits — is never marked in the key. INT. O t
dlxxviii INTRODUCTION.
be introduced, sometimes indeed as a matter of necessity, in order to render the plain chant more amenable to its new uses, but frequently from the mere arbitrary whim of the singers. It was soon granted that a piece need not always be made to end in the tonic, but might be ended on the dominant or the notes immediately above or below the tonic. This was, in fact, a step in the direction of modern har- mony. But the spirit of change did not stop here ; it in- fected every branch of the execution of the plain chant. At last the confusion became so great that the very character of the mode itself became obscured, and various artifices had to be adopted to mark the mode for the singers, such as the beginning and ending phrases called Tropes, which have been already alluded to when referring to Tuotilo. ? The series of the eight church modes, authentic and plagal , as above summaidly described, continued, despite those dis- figurements and ignorant malpractices, to furnish the ground- work of all musical composition, and to determine in the main its principles and forms, down to the end of the middle ages. Little use, comparatively, was made of the authentic (fifth) mode of F, because the harmonic difficulties presented by the false fovirth or iritonus, F to B, embracing three whole tones, were almost insurmountable for the medieval com- posers. On the other hand, as has been already observed, the church series did not include modes in C and A, in each of which secular melodies were composed. The existing modes, as has also been observed, suggested how the defi- ciency should be remedied ; and it was clear that those addi- tional modes could not be excluded the moment music ven- tured to look beyond the limits of the strict Cantus firmus. Causes Various causes combined to take musical developement
which led to . . ...
the eraanci- out of thc sfroovcs provided for it by the ecclesiastical plain
pation of o l j ±
music from chant. There was first the influence of the contemporary
theclominat- _ •■- •'
ing influence nivisic of the northcm nations, an influence which became
of plain '
chant. especially powerful when attempts were made to combine and co-ordinate the two together. There were next the altera- tions in the church music necessitated by this contact with the secular music, and even still more the spirit of capricious
INTRODUCTION. dlxxix
change which seems to have allowed itself most irreverent scope in the execution of music of every kind in the middle ages. There were obvious deficiencies in the series of modes, which the natural progress of knowledge and improvement of taste would have sought to supply independently of the external pressure working in the same direction. And, I may add, there was the prompting and guidance of the series of church modes itself, which furnished a set of scales proceed- ing from every note of the diatonic scale, all dilFering in almost everything from one another. One of the greatest — Principal probably the greatest — drawbacks under which modern music modem labours, and which will, probably, never now be removed, is mode of de-
^ "^ . velopement.
the fact that the great composers of the fifteenth and six- teenth centuries, who determined the character of musical developement, failed to read the last lesson aright, and, in- stead of taking from the Plain chant this precious gift of a series of wholly differing scales which would have afforded an endless variety of harmonic creation, forced all musical progression into the twin moulds of the major and minor scales. Thenceforward the pitch of melodies might change, but the forms of musical combination became unalterable. The error was of the same kind, only more incorrigible, as that which for the varied beauty of natural scenery would siibstitute the artificial regularity of Dutch or Italian gar- dening.
From the causes, and in the ways I have mentioned, confusion of the old Church modes were gradually modified under thenomencia- influence of polyphonous music. But, as there was no cor- responding change in nomenclature, there arose the greatest confusion with respect to the names of these modes. ""^'' At length Glareanus, one of the most distinguished theoretical musicians of the sixteenth century, endeavoured to bring order into musical tonality. He recognized twelve tones — hence the name of his treatise, the Dodecachordon — six authentic and six plagal. To these he gave the old Greek names of the different tones, and notwithstanding that he misapplied them in nearly every instance, his nomenclature was adopted. The table of 'WO Helmholtz, op. cit., p. 375.
37*B
dlxxx
INTRODUCTION.
Ratio of i intervals in typical scales.
musical genera set out above, '"'^' gives most of Glareanus' names, and the true Greek ones, tlie unmelodic Lydian of Glareanus, or Genus of Fifths, Ftof being omitted, not only for the reason already stated, but because it does not occur in the gapped quinquegrade scale. Of these scales, the Greek Lydian, or Ionic of Glareanus, and the ^olic, became respectively the types of our major and minor mode.
It will probably save much trouble of reference, and fa- cilitate the understanding of what I have yet to say on the subject of Irish music, if I set down here, together, the typical scales with the numerical ratios which express the proportions that the number of vibrations corresponding to each of the several notes bears to the number of vibrations of the tonic, or initial note. For the simple reason of secur- ing a homogeneous standard, I make C the starting note of the several scales.
I. Quinquegrade Diatonic Scale derived from a chain of ascending Fifths.
a
~^~
tiJ •
£
I
6?
16
2 it 3
12 8
II. Gapped Quinquegrade Scale.
a
^^
I
9 S.I
27. T6
III. Ordinary Diatonic Major Scale of Modern Music.
a
///
^^^
-» ^
7 3
3 5 1_5 2
A glance at these three scales tells us that, while the first
1061 Page dlxxiii.
INTRODUCTION. dlxxxi
and second dilFer so far as that the latter leaves out, or .okip,", Comparison the fourth and the seventh of the former, but are identical in scales, every other respect ; the third differs from the first as much as it corresponds with it. The second, fourth, and fifth, only, are the same in both scales ; the third, sixth, and seventh in the ordinary diatonic scale being lower than the corresponding sounds in the scale derived from the chain of fifths in the ratio of f J, or a comma.
Further, a glance at the ratios appended to the ordinary diatonic scale (a'") shows us that the intervals of sound, of which it is composed, are far from uniform. Thus, of the greater intervals, or tones, as they are called, those between C and D, F and G, A and B, are all equal ; those between D and £", G and A, are also equal to each other, but are less than the former series by the same ratio of |J^. Hence the former are known to musicians as the major tones, and the latter as the minor tones. This difference of what we may call size in the tone-intervals involves a difference in the rela- tion to them of the serai-tone intervals E - F, and B - C. These "are themselves equal to each other, and nearly equal to five-ninths'"*^^ of a major tone ; being thus proportionately nearer to the value of the minor tones by one-ninth of a tone.
On the other hand, in the quinquegrade diatonic scale (a') derived from the chain of fifths, the five tone-intervals are mathematically equal. The two semi-tones, also, are equal to each other, and have the same relative value with reference to all the tones alike ;'"" but they are perceptibly less than the corresponding intervals in the ordinary diatonic scale (a'") by a comma, or |^.
1062 They are really equal to almost f f |f of a major tone. The inaccuracy does not exceed '000003, a quantity absolutely inaj)preciable by the car. and practically undistinguishable by any instrument.
With a view to temperament, or the tuning of instruments, mathematical musicians frequently consider the scale as composed of twelve equal semi- tones. Taking the mean semi-tone as = 1, the major tone would in this case be equal to about 2-04, the minor tone to 1-82, and the natural diatonic semi- tone (£:-F) to 1-12.
1063 They are each almost equal to ^^|f of a tone, being actually less than this by -000007, a quantity alike inappreciable by the ear and unproducible by any instrument.
dlxxxii INTRODUCTION.
Existence of Thus, there are two diatonic scales, not merely distinct
two different ' . . , "^
diatonic but different. One (a'"^ is the ordinary maior scale of
scales. . \ ' JO
modern music, to which we Europeans have been, by the usage of centuries, so much accustomed, that we never think of any other as possible. It has three classes of intervals : — the major tones, the minor tones, the semi-tones, which are differently related to the two kinds of tones. These inter- vals are so arranged, that two major tones never succeed each other, proceeding thus : —
maj. ton. min. ton. semi-tone maj. ton. min. ton. maj. ton. semi-tone.
C. ^ D. ^ E. -^ F. ^ G. ^ A. ^ B. ^ C.
The other diatonic scale (a') developed out of a chain of ascending fifths, has but two kinds of intervals : — the tones and the semi-tones.
The mere statement of these peculiarities demonstrates that these two scales differ essentially in character, and that the music composed in one of them is not capable of being ren- dered in the other. The scale which we are used to call '"'' Naturar, is far more elaborate and more ingeniously con- structed than its fellow; it carries internal evidence of its being the fruit of long experience and most careful observa- These scales tion. Thus, the two scales lead to two different systems of
lead to diffe- ^ ' _ . , -^
rent systems n^ygic, whicli are uot, in truth, intercommunicable, because
of music ; ' ' ...
the intervals of the one scale are not identical with those of the other : — D - E vol one is not the same as D - E in the other ; F- A in one is not what 7^- A is in the other. I shall give one practical specimen of this discrepancy, taking for our example the scale of C as it will be rendered by a two- foot open pipe of an ordinary organ, or by an ordinary violin.'"**
1064 rpjjig being a concrete example, it is necessary to give the actual values of the notes as produced by the organ or violin. For this purpose, I have taken the pitch which is assigned to A (in the natural diatonic scale) = 435 ; this being the number now adopted in France {Moniteur Universe!, 25 Fevrier, 1859) and in a large number of German orchestras. But at the same time, it is to be borne in mind that the relative values, or ratios of the notes, are wholly independent of their pitch or actual value. And since every expres- sion of interval in nmsic is an expression of proportion only, the intervals in the scales given above apply equally well to any scale presenting the
INTRODUCTION. dlxxxili
Ordinary, or Natural Diatonic Major Scale.
■:3: — ^
is:
ber of semi- ^ irations in a C- ■o-id of tiuiej
Number of semi- ' Tibiv seco;i
Could the corresponding diatonic scale, Avhicli is derived from a sequence of ascending fifths, be rendered by a similar pipe of equal dimensions, it would be as follows : —
Quinquegrade Diatonic Scale derived from Fifths.
a'
W
-«■
'W
:^
Number of semi- ^ g m o ^ v^
vibrations in a > ^"§"5a^S ?J
second of time) ^ ^ m n n ^ -x ■»
Any one can recognize that the corresponding notes are not equivalent;'"" and, hence, that, with respect to many kinds of instruments— and notably the organ — the same instrument cannot perform exactly both scales. They might, indeed, be rendered on the viohn, by a player sufficiently instructed and careful to mark the differences of sound. But even this dual capacity of the viohn is restricted within narrow hmits. For all the four strings cannot be similarly adjusted for the two shown by
^ ^, . T 1 ^ the tuning
scales alike. Thus, if the G strmg be tuned to render cor- of two
violins *
rectly the ninth below A in the ordinary diatonic scale, it will be perceptibly high, or " sharp", for the corresponding ninth of the other diatonic system. So that, even the fiddle, the simplest and most accommodating instrument conceivable,
same order of interval, no matter what may be the pitch of the fundamental note.
'06^ Should any one be surprised to find that even the standard note. A, does not correspond in both scales, let him remember that in the ordinary or " na- tural" scale the numerical value of A (or the sixth note of the scale), with respect to the initial note C, is f. whereas in the quinquegrade, or that derived from a chain of fifths, the value of the sixth note is a comma higher, or ^|- The sounds which would represent those respective values, could not possibly be identical.
dl.>
XXXIV
INTRODUCTION.
down from caiinot be made to render with acmracii a piece according to
the second, _ ^ i D
or 4 string; both scales, if the range exceed an octave. For the correct performance of such a piece— and how many melodies, es- pecially Irish, exceed the octave ! — according to both scales, two fiddles are necessary, as the following illustration will make plain. '"^^
Violin tuned from A String, for Natural Scale.
joqpf
"cr
:ti
5?1
1
TIT
O
Nnmlier of semi- vibrations in a secoud of time
Violin tuned from A String for Scale derived from Fifths.
c^
^i
^nrg
Number of semiO ^, -cor-S -i-Soco
vibrations in ay ■>< o ■icbtoo h--*«^«)
second of time J « t(< towmoi nc^ini-i
Xor will the case be much improved, if we have the vio-
J06G Jq i^ijjg illustration the fiddles are assumed to be tuned in the ordinary way, the second, or A string, being taken as the standard. I have ex- plained above why I assume the pitch of A at 435 ; but I desire to reiterate that the ratios expressed by the figures aflaxed in the text to each note are wholly independent of pitch.
We have, however, to consider the numerical value of the sounds produced by the notes of the scale, with respect to a point of departure which is diffe- rent from C, that assumed in the examples given on the preceding page (dlxxxiii), and in the note at foot. Here the sound produced by the open second string of a violin, which is called A, is taken as the standard to which all the other notes capable of being produced by the instrument must be referred. But this does not affect the relative values of any of those notes. Hence, C in the natural scale must continue to bear to the sound produced by the open second string the proportion of 3:5. In the scale, however, formed from a chain of fifths, C must continue to have to this same sound. A, the proportion of 16:27. Hence the explanation of what might at first sight seem to be an inconsistency : — viz., the different values assigned to apparently the same notes even in the same species of scales, according as the notes are referred to A or to C, as the standard of numerical value.
IXTRODUCIION.
dlxxxv
lins tuned upwards from the G strincr.""^' The followino; will 05 "^ f';on» be the result : —
Violin tuned from G String for Natural Scale.
— nr~^^
ng-
<->
:ibE
"crr
of semi- T 12 o ons in a v ..-? h- of time 3 2 S
Numberof sem'- 5 [2 vibrations : second i
CC «5 00 *-t
o (>* ■*!* ca
c^ CO CO CO
Violin tuned from G String for Scale derived from Fifths.
'^Ti
1
"cr
I
tzr
331
|
slumber of serai- ^ |
CD |
a |
|||||
|
vibrations in a y second of time J |
1— < |
o |
^ c^ |
CD |
CO |
o CO CO |
00 CO |
Here the ordinary notes of the natural diatonic scale are perceptibly "fiat", or lower than the corresponding notes of the scale derived from fifths ; just as in the former case they were proportionately "sharp", or higher.
It is unnecessary to say one word more to show that the two scales are in most of their notes incommensurable ;''"^* and consequently that music composed on the basis of the one cannot possibly be faithfully rendered by a j^erformance ac- cording to the other.
'"^^ It is unnecessary to say that no fiddler would consent to tune his instru- ment thus ; so our illustrations are almost purely theoretical. The pitch of the open G string is set down at 195'75, that being its value in the natural scale tuned from A at 435. The G string of each violin must, of course, be supposed to have the same pitch, otherwise their respective progressions could not be referred to the same standard of comparison.
1068 -pjje obvious explanation is that the Jifths in the ordinary natural scale, are not all equal to each other. C - G is not equal to D - A : the former contains two major tones, one minor tone, one semi-tone ; the latter, one major tone, two minor tones, one semi-tone. On the other hand, in the scale derived from the sequence of fifths, the fifths are mathematically equal to each other. How could such scales be equivalent ?
dlxXXvi INTRODUCTION.
Eaviy To which of these two scales did the Church music belong?
music con- Wcrs its hymus and anthems constructed according to the thequinque intervals of the modern "natural" scale, or on the basis of the scale which I have called the quinquegrade, derived from a chain of fifths? I have already said that the earliest Church music must have been formed on the diatonic system of the Greeks, and this we know was founded on a quinque- grade scale. The conclusion is plain, that at least the early developements of the Church music will have followed the same path. The great expansion and elaboration which vocal music acqu.ired in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies, and its union, thenceforward inseparable, with instru- mental music, made it necessary that the same scale should regulate the sounds performed by the human voice and by instruments. Now, a series of causes which it would be impossible to enumerate, and still more to discuss here, have combined to develope and recommend what is known as the natural diatonic scale. I shall only repeat what I have already observed above, that this " natural" scale is a most elaborate and carefully calculated compromise between contending diffi- culties of complicated construction and accuracy of execution. Natural For the last two centuries, or perhaps more, we may take
used in Plain it for granted that the intervals employed in the Plain chant are identical with those which are used in the concerted pieces or harmonized Church music ; and these again are identical with the intervals of our ordinary secular music, whether vocal or instrumental. Thus, to cite an authentic example, one might have heard the Papal choir in the Six- tine Chapel chant the opening of an Introit in Canto fermo, continuing and finishing it in the peculiar style of Faux Bour- don^ which is heard nowhere else, and which tradition says was brought by their predecessors from Avignon. The Kyrie, etc., would be from a Mass of Palestrina or some composer of polyphonous or early harmonic music of similar style, performed without any instrumental accompaniment, as is the usage in the Papal chapels. Later on in the day, some of the members of the same choir might be heard in any of the churches of the city of Rome singing an elabo-
INTRODUCTION. dlxXXvii
rately concerted arrangement of the vesper psalms to the accompaniment of a complete orchestra of stringed instru- ments and organ. But in these four distinct styles of music the most acute ear would fail to trace any difference in the intervals employed. The mould and the material out of which the song was wrought, were the same for all ; it was in the grouping and arrangement that the characteristic distinc- tion of each was to be found.
But the story would be different could the critic compare those same performances with specimens of the Cantus Jirmus of eight hundred years ago. They had then a simpler music, even if less pleasing ; their scale was homo- geneous, because there was no necessity for the complica- tions enforced by an equilibrium of difficidties. They had not the pianoforte, the many reed instruments which we now possess, and they were unacquainted with that amazing range of distinct sounds which a modern operatic orchestra includes. But even before the necessity of disciplining the modern army of musical forces existed, the quinquegrade scale was found unsuitable for the construction of the complicated masses of tones combined by the great masters of polypho- nous song, and hence the gradual developement of the more complicated "natural" scale.
In comparing Irish music with Chl^rch music, and studying Irish music
^ ^ , , ^ is to be com-
the nature of the influence which the latter exerted on the pared witu
the old
former during the middle ages, we must bear in mind, church
o to ' ' music
therefore, that it is the old Cantus fir mus constructed accord- ing to the quinquegrade scale that we have to deal with, and not the modern plain chant, in which the intervals are those of the natural scale, and that the only difference as regards scale between Irish and Church music, consisted in the omis- sion of the semi-tones from the former.
The preceding observations on the character of the two Tempered scales — the quinquegrade and the natural — are wholly irre- spective of temperament, or that adjustment of the parts of (especially fixed) musical instruments, which is necessary in order to diminish the inaccuracy of their rendering of certain intervals. Every one acquainted with the piano-forte and
dlxXXVlii INTRODUCTION.
" Tempered" ordinary organ, knows that, although ^D and bE are really different musical notes, they have only a single key in their key-boards to represent them. Hence, both in the original manufacture, and in the tuning of those instruments, it becomes necessary to so adjust the strings, etc., that the single black key, situate between the white keys of D and E, shall give a medium sound between those notes. But this medium or " tempered" sound is a little too high to represent precisely ^Z> and a little too low to represent precisely bE. Similarly, it would be wholly impossible to manufacture or tune pianofortes or organs which should maintain between their corresponding notes that distinction of major and minor tones, which we have above seen is one of the essential features of the natural scale. The condition that every note can in turn become the tonic for a new key or scale, which is to be a reproduction on a different pitch of the original natural scale, puts such a task outside the pale of feasibility, at least for all practical purposes. Accord- ingly, on those instruments, all distinctions of " size" between the tones disappear. Every tone is composed of two mean serai-tones. The semi-tones themselves are less than they ought to be, according to the theoretical natural scale. Thus all the variety, which would seem to have been secured as a necessary outcome from the differences of numerical value of those primitive intervals, is obliterated ; all are reduced to the dead level of the mean semi-tone = 1. How great is the change, may be seen by referring to the comparative values given al- ready. ""^^
In this way we perceive that the ordinary major scale of C, as rendered by the pianoforte, is not the theoretical natural scale at all, but quite a different series of notes, differing from each other by identical intervals. The music, as rendered by such an instrument, is not the music which is written, but a somewhat inaccurate approximation to it. It is plain that the written interval G — b E, cannot be precisely expressed by sounds, which are equally employed to express the different written interval, C — ^D.
Since the tone-intervals in the quinquegrade scale are all '0^^ Ante, p. dlxxxi, note.
INTRODUCTION. dlxxxix
equal,'"" it might be tliought that the tempered scale of the pianoforte, w hich has all thetones equal, is adapted for ren- dering correctly music written according to the quinquegrade scale. But we must remember that the tones of the tempered scale are all less than those of the quinquegrade scale, while the semi-tones of the former are greater than those of the latter. The music of the one evidently cannot be expressed by the other.
I shall now proceed to study each of the five ancient Irish '[^^^^l\^..^l^- keys that correspond to the five keys which are obtained by i^^ys : making each note of the quinquegrade scale the tonic, and to the five melodic families of tones, and contrast them with the keys used in modern music.
The first of the gapped quinquegrade series, C to C , cor- Key of C; responds to the first of the diatonic series, G to C\ from which the fourth and seventh have been omitted. The third and sixth of these quinquegrade scales have not, however, the same va- lue as those of the natural scale, as will be seen by contrasting the intervals of the three scales :
Gapped Quinquegrade > C-D'E-*-G-A-*-C' scale ]■ 1 I ij I ^7 2
Quinquegrade diatonic ) C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C scale 11 9 fix 4 i 3.Z %aSl 2
Natural diatonic major ) C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
scale inc. i 1 f i I f * V 2
The third and sixth of the gapped and diatonic quinqiie- character of
^ i^ ^ ^ ■^ _ the several
grade scales, and which may be called the Pythagorean major scales in the third and major sixth, are respectively a comma higher than the corresponding notes of the natural scale (|^ = ^. §1, and ^^=.^. §1). On stringed instruments played with the fingers or with a bow the third and sixth of the two former scales may be distinguished from those of the natural scale, but not on keyed instruments. But, althoiigh capable of being dis- tinctly produced on stringed instruments, our ears, accus- tomed to the large intervals of the diatonic scale, can scarcely discriminate in homophonous music two notes differing by a comma only. A very disagreeable eifect is, however, occa-
'""" Ante, p. dlxxxi.
dxc
INTRODUCTION.
sioned when an accompaniment proceeding according to the natural scale is put to a melody constructed with the intervals of the scales derived from a chain of fifths. On the other hand, there is no way, according to the present system of musical notation, of writing down distinctly, and in a separate form, the notes and chords of these two different classes of scales. Hence all airs composed either in the gapped quinque- grade scale or in the diatonic quinquegrade scale derived from a chain of fifths, would have necessarily to be noted down according to the natural diatonic scale.
Gapped Qiiinquegrade Scale.
^
^^
Full Diatonic Scale.
m
3
:^
m
coifposed m ^ ^^'^^^ ^^^^^ ^"^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ originally composed in this andSnic g^PP^^ quiuquegradc scale, and the omission of the semi-tones gradeTcaie stamps all such airs with a peculiar colour which we at once of a recognize as characteristic of Irish melodies. Musicians, how-
ever, who were unacquainted with the nature of the old scale would tune their instruments according to the modern natural scale. Hence, when the semi-tones are introduced, even as passage notes merely, the melody seems to belong to the ordinary major key. Melodies of this kind are for this reason more susceptible of being harmonized for the piano, upon which the third and sixth would be played in the ordi- nary diatonic scale, than those in any other key, and have consequently found more favour with modern musicians. One of the best examples of an air in this gapped scale is the well-known melody Eihhlin a ruin. "When played on a fiddle by one who understands the true peculiarities of old Irish music, not only are the fourth and seventh omitted, or only introduced as passage notes in the higher parts, but the third
INTRODUCTION. dxci
and sixth are Pythagorean, that is, each is played a comma sharper than the corresponding notes of the natural scale. Even a stranger to our national music Avill at once detect the special expression wrought by thus bringing back the execu- tion of the tune to its original standard. This very air is an abiding instance of the havoc caused in Irish music by igno- rant or careless adapters. If Sir John Stevenson's setting to Moore's words, "Erin, the tear and the smile in thine eyes", be compared with the version in Bunting's collection, the su- perior accuracy of the latter may be at once recognized on in- trinsic evidence. Yet Bunting committed the blunder of setting this simple air in bA, — a key entirely beyond the com- prehension of an Irish harper.
The second scale, or that in D, of the quinquegrade series Key of z): would correspond to the first authentic Churcli tone in D, in which- the third and sixth would be omitted.
Gapped Quinquegrade lD-E-*-G-A-*- C - D scale in i). > 1 f * f V 2
Quinquegrade diatonic^ D - E -F- G • A - B - C - D
scale or nrst authentic >• , « 33. 4 3 3.7. is •> Church mode in i;. ) ^ » ^t 3^ 2 le ^
Modern scale oi D j jj j^ F- G - A \^ ^» f D minor ascending and } ' 3 ' 33,' ^ ' ^q, {b hi . hC C 2 descending. \ ' « "^■' ^ ^^ / 7 '^is \
The three first notes of the complete Church tone in D character of
n • • 1 T -n • T-i 1 *^'^® scales.in
form a minor third, D - F = 27 : 32 ; it has also a Py tha- tms key. gorean major sixth which is a comma higher than the natural major sixth and not so well adapted for harmony as the latter.'"'' Hence, when the omitted third and sixth are in- troduced into airs, constructed originally in the gapped scale, (which has neither a third nor sixth) but now played upon instruments tuned according to the ordinary diatonic scale, the key seems to correspond to our modern minor key, as may be seen if we give these scales in ordinary musical notation.
1071 The Church mode in D has frequently a flat or minor sixth (81 : 128) in order to avoid the tritonus which would otherwise occur whenever the piece touched B Avithout ascending further. See also note to p. dlxxvii, and, for an example of what is here mentioned, the Introit Statuit of the common mass for feasts of martyrs. It opens with the fifth, passing instantly to the flat sixth.
dxcii
INTRODUCTION.
Gapped Quinquegrade Scale in D.
:^
-«J-
I
First Authentic Church Tone in D.
^
i
Modern Minor Scale of D. Ascending. Descending.
?
■-' 1 1 — il~^ 1^ r'
:^=t-
M
grade scale oiD.
The seventh of the gapped and Church qumquegrade scales is what is called a " flat seventh". I shall return to this " flat seventh" when speaking of the fourth key. The sixth and seventh are major in the modern minor scale when ascending, and flat when descending, Irish airs A great many Irish melodies have been composed in this
th™gapped° key, and are so very peculiar and different from our modern quinque- music, that they have not yet found their way among modern musicians. In Moore's Irish Melodies there is not a single specimen ; at least, there is not a single unaltered one. Bunting, when describing the way in which the Irish harpers, who at- tended the meeting of harpers at Belfast in 1792, tuned their harps, says that they had only two keys perfect, G and C major. By perfect he means keys corresponding exactly to those of modern harmonic music ; everything that did not ex- actly correspond to this standard was regarded by him as im- perfect. He also goes on to say that the harpers had two other keys, E and A minor, neither of them " perfect", and that they sometimes made use of the key of D natural minor, which was still more " imperfect", though some of their airs were performed in that key, and were thought extremely agreeable by many per- sons.'"^^ These airs he has not transmitted to us, his views of musi- cal "perfection" leading him to despise melodies constructed on so " imperfect" a key. One of the airs in his collection, '"'^^ Yougall
'"'* Bunting, Ancient Music of Ireland, Edit, of 1840, p. 23, note. >»" Ibid., p. 39.
INTRODUCTION. dxcill
duishi, " Get up early", was orij^iaully ia iliis key of I) wliich we i''sh «iri
.'■.•' . . compo-ed In
are now considerini;, but, havinfy chansred several notes in order ti'e gapi ed
m ^ p o ^ and diatcnic
to make it " perfect", he has entirely destroyed the peculiar Irish s'-'^ie oi o. and antique character of the air.'"^ There are, however, popular melodies known through the country, which are constructed in this key, among which may be specially mentioned the airs Cailin astdr, Drhnin dun oge, and Slainte Righ Pldlib, or " a health to King Philip". Some of the airs in this key were pro- bably originally composed in the diatonic Church tone ; but so strongly impressed with the characteristics of the quinquegrade scale is Irish melody, that even where the melodies were con- structed in old Church tones, the semi-tones are either wholly omitted, or only used in the higher parts of the air. On the other hand, under the influence of Church music or of modern harmonic music, the semi-tones are often introduced as passage notes in melodies constructed on the old quinquegrade scale.'"" An excellent example is the Pearla an Chuil chraohhaigh, " the Pearl of the flowing tresses"."*'® The sixth occurs indeed in it
"•'* Bunting truly remarks in his Preface (op. cit., p. lO), that " he had an opportunity, never perhnps ei joyecl by any otlier musical compiler, of ren- dering himself thoroughly acquainted with" Irish music ; and he boasts that he has been able " to preserve with a fidelity unattainable by any stranger, the pure, racy old style and ,«entimentof every bar and note in his collection". Now, at p. 23, he gives the Tablature of the harp, and the " method of tuning used by the old harpers", as he had learned them from the last eminent harpers V ho flourislied nearly three quarters of a century ago. According to this Tablature. the only affecttd note for which provision was made in the instru- ment was j(^F; and according to the method of tuning, "!jf C was sometimes, but very rarely, employed". But the existence of any other altered notes seems never to liave betn known to those Irisli harpers. Nevertheless Bunting has not hesitated to give us airs, which he calls Irish, arranged in the modern major and minor keys, with all their apparatus of sharps and flats. May we not reasonably fear that he may have been equally frte in his treatment of those airs in other respects, and that the very severe, but just, stricturts wlii<h he makes (p. 2) upon Sir John Stevenson's "supposed emendations of the Irish Melodies", may be fairly, although in a lesser degree, extended to himself?
1073 'pjig introduction of semi- tones into the higher parts of a melody of ex- tensive range, or the u^e of them as notes of passage, cannot affect the ffenus of the music, any more than the occasional introduction of chromatic notes and passages into a piece of modern music can be said to destroy its general diatonic character.
"*'* Ancient Music of Inland — Petrie Collection, p. 184.
INT. ob
dxciv INTRODUCTION.
Irish airs only oiice, and then as a note of passage, and it is major. Now,
composed in-' . n • ^ • • ^ ^ ^ • •
the sapped from a modern pomt of view, this is a marked characteristic : —
and diatonic '■ r \ rt ii-ii
scale of z). an air in D minor without the occurrence or PjO would indeed be a phenomenon. On the other hand, the emphatic recur- rence of the third attests the influence of the Church music. Another example of the same hind is the beautiful melody, " I once loved a boy",'"" which is especially remarkable for the absence of both sixth and seventh.
Another illustration, although valuable from a different point of view, is the first of Carolan's " Planxties" given by Dr. Petrie.'""^ It is in this key; but it shows the influence of the Italian School of Geminiani, which had already begun to tell on the structure of Irish tunes. Thus the seventh of the key, C, is always sharpened when employed as preparation for the tonic. The well-known air, An Filleadh 6 Fhine Ghall, " The Return from Fingal", popularly known as " Brian Borumha's March", is even a more instructive example, having become sadly corrupted under the influence of modern music, by efforts to reduce it to the proprieties of the recognized minor key.'"^^
'"'' Dr. Petrie (Ancient Music of Ireland, p. 79) has set this beautiful melody in F minor, a fabulous key, whore native Irish music iscoucerned.
1078 j^ncient Music of Ireland, p. 12.
1079 J)]. Petrie says of it (p. 31) : " The pipers now usually play the air with- out strictly attending to the minor mode to which it obviously belongs, and so give it a barbarous character, destructive to the air, and with wliich it would be impossible to combine any harmony of a correct nature. By playing the first part, however, in the major mode, the similarity of the first section to that of Auber's March in La Muette de Portici will be more immediately re- cognized". This notion that airs, in order to be genuine music, must be capable of being combined with " harmony of a correct nature" — that is, with the concords and discords of modern musical science — is the ignis fatuus of most Irish collectors. Jn their anxiety to conform to this im^iginary canon, they sacrifice the substance of the treasures they may have gathered, and in too many cases, instead of a " casket of Irish pearls", they hand down to pos- terity a parcel of imitations in patent paste. The business of a collector of Irish music is to give the air precisely- as '' the pipers ?ioiv usually play" it, and not to present us with a set of theoretical emendations of his own devising. He will not be responsible for the "barbarous character" of the pipers' tra- ditional version, which cannot (without a contradiction) be described as " de- structive to the air"; and it is not in any sense his duty to see that the air is such as can be combined with " harmony of a correct nature". It is a special cause of regret that this and many another re-setting of old Irish airs
INTRODUCTION. UXCV
Even in its modern garb, however, it still omits tlie sixth ex- cept as a note of passage.
The key of ^in the gapped quinquegrade series corresponds Key of e-. to the second Church tone in E, from which the second and fifth are omitted, as the following comparison of the intervals in the two scales will show : — ■
Gapped quinquegrade \ E - * - G - A • * - C - D' - E scale in £. j 1 ff | W V 2
Diatonic quinquegrade ) r _ F - C - A - B - C'- D' - E
scale in E of authentic third Church tone.
V •■■ f <P3^ iT f 2 8 1 9
Modern scale of ' £ 4f F - G - ^ - Z5 t ¥
F-minor ascending \ ' v" ",1
and descending. |1 If f i \ -^ C - h D'
J
E'
2
The third and sixth in the scales from the chain of fifths are Character of the Pythafforean minor third and minor sixth, which are re- grade scales
/ ^ . . in the key
spectively a syntonic comma less than the natural minor of ■£• third and the natural minor sixth of the ordinary or natural diatonic scale. In the gapped and Church quinquegrade scales there are three flat or minor intervals — the third, sixth, and seventh.
The three scales are here set down for the purpose of com- Coinparis-n parison. A glance is sufficient to show how hopeless would «caies in the
f 1 IT • T ., keyof^.
be an attempt to translate melodies written according to the first or second scale into the third. The fact that the second in the modern minor scale is a whole tone, while in the quin- quegrade scale it is only a semi-tone, is sufficient proof of the impossibility of doing so.
Gapped Quinquegrade Scale in E.
m
to suit the exigencies of modern harmony, have proceeded from a mistaken notion of patriotic duty, and a desire to maintain the national musical credit. As if national music could be anything else but the collection of the genuine melodies of a nation undefiled by admixture with what were the discoveries of other peoples and a later age.
38*B
dxcvi
INTRODUCTION.
Diatonic Quinqaegrade Scale, or Authentic third Church mode in E.
£
Modern Minor Scale of E. Ascending Descending
iprnr^r^pp'^^
The effect of melodies in the gapped scale, especially where the Pythagorean minor third and sixth are used, is very strange to ears accustomed only to modern music. This is the imperfect key in £' minor, referred to by Bunting ; but, owing to the difficulty of putting an accompaniment to airs in it, and to their strange effect, they have been neglected by modern musicians, even when constructed according to the complete Church tone. Hence the difficulty of finding in any published collection of Irish airs an example, even in the altered form, and the certainty that those still preserved among the people Airs in key are morc or less modified and impure. I do not recollect to have heard any Irish airs constructed in the strict gapped scale ; but many old airs may be found, in which the fifth, or even the fifth and second, are introduced as passing notes, chiefly in the higher parts of the air. The only ones which I can at the moment refer to are: " Cold and rough the north wind blows", just published by Dr. Joyce,'"®" and " Molly Hewson", published by Dr. Petrie."*' The former is not a pure example, but deserves careful consideration. It is divided into two parts. In the first part the second does not occur at all ; in the second part it occurs only once, and then as a note of passage. The fifth is not omitted, which shows that it was composed under the influence of the Church mode ; on the other hand, neither the seventh nor sixth occurs in the upper part of the air, and the seventh, where it does occur in the lower parts of the air, is flat.'"^^ " Molly Hewson" as given by Dr.
1080 Ancient Irish Music, p. 53. '081 Op. cit., p. 40.
1082 rpj^g g^jj, gg gjygji ijy j)p Joyce has the sixth sharpened. This is clearly a modernism to suit a " harmony of a correct nature". On this principle
iNTRODucTiox. dxcvii
rctrie, is in D minor, but I am inclined to regard it as orifrin-
ally belonging to tlie key of E. It has the same peculiarity as
the preceding air of not having the second, which is one o'the
characteristics of airs in the gapped quinquegrade scale of E.
The gapped key of G in the quinquegrade series corresponds Key of c-
to the authentic seventh Church tone in G, from which the
third and seventh are omitted, as will be seen by comparinfif
the intervals in each scale.
Gapped quinquegrade ^ G - A - • - C - D' - E' • * - G'
scale m G. j 1 | a | az 2
Diatonic quinquegrade scale of Authentic se- venth Church tone in G.
]'
|
% |
i |
f |
U |
|
|
A i |
- B - 6^ |
C |
■D' |
-E'- F' |
|
A 9 T |
- B - |
- D' |
- E' - jtF' |
Ordinary scale in C; ) G - A - B - C - D' - E' -^F' - G'
major. ( 1 | 5 i a | *.^ 2
The quinquegrade scale differs from the modern major character of scale of G in the sixth and seventh. The sixth of the quin- grade scale quegrade scale is a Jrythagorean major sixth, which is a<s'.- comma higher than that of the modern major scale. The seventh of the quinquegrade scale is flat, being what is called the narrow minor seventh, while that of the modern major scale is major, differing from the flat seventh by the ratio \?2s- '^^^ third of the quinquegrade scale is a Pythago- rean major third, which is a comma higher than the natural major third.
Although the melodic effect of the gapped qwinquegrade comparison
of the scv6r&I
scale is perceptible in every Irish air composed in this key, it scales in tne would be difiicult to find a single air in which the semi-tones are wholly absent. As a rule, the third and seventh, or sometimes the seventh only, are used either as integral parts of the scale or as passage notes introduced occasionally. Of these, the third is major, |, and the seventh is minor, ^^, so that we have almost the true Church tone.
Gapped Quinquegrade Scale in G.
r r '11
surely the seventh also ought to have been sharpened, at least when leading to the tonic.
dxcviii INTRODUCTION.
Diatonic Quinquegrade scale, or Authentic seventh Church mode in O.
|
^ |
— \ |
— s ft— |
» |
— ^— |
-f-n |
|
|
— ® — |
^ » |
\ 1 |
J |
Modern Scale of G.
^
^
=&
Irish airs in A'vcs in this key, in winch ancient traces of the capped
tlie key of C. . -^ . . n ^
scale are manifest, but in which the minor or flat seventh is introduced, are very numerous. One of the most charac- teristic is the old air, " I am asleep, and do'nt waken me". With respect to this air Dr. Petrie observes '"'^ that Bunting has given two settings of it, being evidently ignorant that the tune called " Soft mild morning",'""^ is only a " modified ver- sion" of " I 'm asleep". '"^^ It is well worth while to compare the original with the modified version. The keys as given by Bunting are different. But this is nothing ; although he must himself have known that the key of b^B major did not exist in Irish music. The movements are different. The original air has two parts, each part having two sub-divisions of eight and sixteen bars respectively. The " modified version" has two parts of sixteen bars each, in the modern manner. The former has that peculiar style of transition and occasionally straggling rhythm, which is to be found in many well-known Irish airs; it has the fl^at seventh well marked, even in the imperfect set- ting given by Bunting. The latter moves regularly, and has the major seventh throughout. The charming melody " Sleep on, sleep on, my Kathleen dear", and the well known " Nora criona" are also in the key we are considering. But in both these airs, as they are usually played, the major third is also introduced, and the sixth is played natural, so that they move in the diatonic scale, and not in the gapped scale. As this key thus played would be an ordinary major key
'"^3 The Ancient Music of Ireland, Introduction, p. xvi. 1084 Bunting, Ancient Music of Ireland, p. 57. '""s Ibid., p. 74.
INTRODUCTION. dxcix
except when the flat seventh appears, the airs constructed Irish airs in in it are more in favour with modern musicians than those in the second and third keys, given above, which are more foreign to our present system of tonahty. In some Irish airs the seventh is heard both sharp and flat, as for example in Savoicr- neen deelish as the air is generally played. As the Irish cha- racter of the air is given by the flat seventh, the ^harp or major seventh may have been a modern introduction, especially as the major or sharp seventh, whenever it is used in the air, ap- pears only as a passing note leading to the octave of the tonic, which has no influence on the general character of the melody. It may also be added, that the major and minor seventh could not be played in the same piece on the Irish harp; eo that if the air was composed by an Irish harper, he must have cer- tainly used the minor seventh, for the character of the air is greatly influenced by that note. The two airs given in the Petrie Collection'"^*^ — An bean 6g uasal, or " The young Lady", and A chul dlainn cleas, or " O thou of the beautiful hair" — are illustrations of this principle In both the flat seventh occurs frequently, giving a character to the piece; the major seventh occurs merely as a note of passage. Another air which, undoubtedly, belongs to this class, is the fine one, "The Curragh of Kildare"."'^'
""^^ llie Ancient Muiic of Ireland, pp. 153-155.
'"^^ Ihid., p. 168. Dr. Petrie seems by his setting to consider this air as written in the key of bi?-major. But independently of this being a key which did not exist in genuine Irish music, he appears to have forgotten his own very correct observation made a few pages before (p. IGl), that Irish airs frequently end in what, according to the principles of modern music, we should call the dominant instead of the tonic. It is scarcely necessary to say that I am not writing a treatise on Irish music, and that I do not propose to discuss, or even to enumerate, still less to explain, all the points upon which it differs from modern music. But I have already said sufficient re- specting the influence of the Church chant upon the forms of Irish music to suggest an explanation of the class of cases, an example of which we have before us. The plagal modes of the Plain chant (see page dlxxv.) are com- posed on scales ranging from a fourth below the tonic to a fifth above ; sometimes this range is exceeded by a note in either or both directions. In those modes the pieces do not end on the first or lowest note of the scale on which they are composed, as, according to modern theory, they should do, but on a fourth, or sometimes a fifth, above it. On referring to page dlxxv., it will be seen that, although there are but four tonics, there are really stvtn
dc INTRODUCTION.
Use of the The use of the minor, or flat seventh, is certainly very
venth i Irish mij
'" . common in Irish music. How deeply it is impressed in the
music; _ _ 1. J I
national musical ideas is shown by its occurrence even in the ploughman's whistle. It occurs in four of the five old Irish keys ; but, as the majority of the Irish airs with which the public are familiar are either in the key of C, or in G major, and as the other keys are now almost disused, the use of the flat seventh is associated in the minds of musicians almost exclu- nnt.hnwevir, sively with this key. The use of the flat or minor seventh is
peculiar to "^ ...
•t- not, however, peculiar to Irish music. For, not to speak of the
kindred Scotch music, where we should naturally expect to find it, the minor seventh occurs in Wallachian, Servian, modern Egyptian, and Arab airs, and a great many Indian melodies exist in the key of G, with a major third and a flat seventh.'"^® The scale in the tonic A of the quinquegrade series corre-
scales. It may be now impossible to determine whether the existence of " plagal" tunes, that is, tunes formed on a scale which extended a fourth or fifth on either side of its true tonic, was an original characteristic of Irish music. But if they were not, it is certain that they were borrowed from the example of the Plain chant. If we further assume, as we are justified in assuming, that, under the influence of the Church music, the Irish system was so far modified as to include all the seven scales, even that commencing on F, sometimes omitting, and sometimes inserting the notes which are the seats of the semi-tones, we shall have all the questions connected with the keys of the Irish airs settled. But this is a long way off from assuming that Irish tunes moved in modern keys, major or minor, which differ in pitch, but are all of the same kind. The old Irish keys or scales, even when modified, were precisely those of the Plain chant, differing not only in pitch, but also in in- ternal structure and the order and mutual relations of the sounds.
1088 u jj generally asserted that the minor key is predominant in the national music of all nations. By some this supposed phenomenon is explained by the assumption that the minor tone is best suited to express grief and sorrow ; and that people are more disposed to make music when sad than when merry. Both these assumptions are gratuitous. The major key, as HerrEngel rightly observes, is well adapted to express earnest and manly grief. On the other hand, all kinds of emotions, gay as well as sad, may be expressed in music constructed in a minor key, as may be seen in the works of great composers. Herr Engel {Introduction to the Study of l^ational Music, p. ItlO) mentions several instances of this kind, e.y., the wild dance of the Scythians in Gluck's "Iphigenia in Tauris", the vigorous " English Suites" of J. Sebastian Bach, the yassionate first movement of Beethoven's Symphony in C minor, the almost ludicrously melancholy love-song of the drowsy Osmin in Mozart's " Eiitfiihrung aus d^m Serail", the humorous and hilarious Scherzo in Beeth-
INTRODUCTION.
dci
spends to Glareanus' iEolic Church tone in A , and to the scale Key of A: in A in which the regular second (plagal) Church mode moves, when the second and sixth are omitted, as the fol- lowing table of the intervals in the two scales will show : —
Gapped quinqucgrade ) A - * • C - B' - E' - * - G' - A' scale in J. i 1 U i i ¥ 2
Quinquegrade diatonic ) j{ . jj . C' - D' - E' - F' - G' - A' scale in /I, of second S , 9 is. ♦ 3 lv '^ 2
plagal Church mode.
Modern scale of A
A- B - C -D'
IT' I 16 8
minor, ascendmg r 1 9 e 2.3. 3 S '
and descending. \ ^ * * ^" " I b -'^' - hi <?' I
J ri IJ
The quinquegrade scale differs from the modern scale of A "^f^^^^^^l^ minor in the third, sixth, and seventh ; the third and sixth of the grade scale quinquegrade scale are the Pythagorean minor third and minor sixth, which are respectively a comma lower than the natural mi- nor third and minor sixth ; the "flat" seventh of the same scale, on the other hand, is the narrow minor seventh, while the se- venth of the scale, of -4 is major in ascending, and in descending is the broad minor seventh, which is a comma greater than the minor seventh of the quinquegrade scale. On stringed instru- ments, played with the fingers or with the bow, good players
oven's Ninth Symphonj% the unearthly choruses and dances of the witches in Spohr's " Faust", the diabolical drinking song of Caspar in Weber's "Freis- chijtz". The whole mistake arises from looking at music from the stand- point of the major and minor modes of modern music. Nowhere could a more striking instance of the way in which the minds of musicians seem to be im- bued with the ideas of modern music to the exclusion of the notion of even the possible existence of any other kind of music, than in a statistical table given in the book just quoted (p. 174). In this table Ilerr Engel gives the relative proportions of tunes in the major and minor keys which he found in one hundred tunes of each of the principal countries of Europe. Eighty-two of the Irish airs were major, sixteen minor, and two major, but ending in minor ; while in the same number of English ar.d Scotch airs there were 22, and 25 minor respectively, exclusive of 3 Scotch airs, which, though major, ended in a minor key. The country which according to this table has the largest proportion of minor airs is Sweden ; it has 80 tunes in a minor key, besides 4 which though constructed in a major key ended in a minor one. The reader will see tliat the position assigned to Ireland is wholly incorrect, and that statistics of this kind based on the published airs of a country are not only worthless but misleading.
dcii
INTRODUCTION.
of Irish music formeriy used the intervals of the quinquegrade scale, but all perception of the difference of the scales seems now lost, and could not, of course, be at all expressed on the piano. " The mug of brown ale", a Meath air given by Mr. Levey, is an examj)le of this key.'"^^
«.e^sc*aTe 0? ^^ *^^® ^"^^ ^^^^ ^^^"^^^ ^°^® ^^ ^^^^ key, at least in their ^.- modern form, one or both the semi-tones are touched as passing
notes. Thus, in the well-known air " Lough Sheeling", which is constructed in accordance with the rules of the modern minor mode, a strongly marked Irish character is imparted to the air by the occasional omission of the semi-tones. In notino- down airs, originally constructed either in the gapped quin- quegrade, or in the Church scale of A, modern musicians use almost always the modern minor scale, in which, when ascend- ing to the octave, the sixth is major, while in the Church tone it is minor. In this way a great many old airs, composed, ori- ginally, in the gapped quinquegrade scale, into which the second and sixth came to be introduced under the influence of the Plain chant, have been transformed into airs in the modern minor ofSve^ai^^y- ^^^^ following are the scales for this key, the notes occa- key oVl*"' sionally omitted in Irish airs being marked by asterisks as in preceding examples of the other scales.
Gapped Quinquegrade Scale in A.
1089 j)(ince Music of Ireland, p. 25. Mr. Levey remarks concerning it : — " This is the only tune I have at all interfered Avith : I had it played by three different fiddlers, and they all persisted in ending in the major key, viz., C in the last bar sharp— they were unanimous in upholding the version, and when I played it as it is now set, ending minor, they were very much shocked, and I confess I made the change unwillingly". I thoroughly approve of this exercise of judgment by Mr. Levey ; it is only to be re- gretted that he was not moved to carry it a little further, and excise the |l before the F, which savours too much of modernism. With this alteration the air is a good specimen of Irish music under the traditions which come down from the period of the Church music. It is worth noting that the i^C was the second altered note which was occasionally admitted by Irish harpers of the last century in their performance.
INTRODUCTION.
dciii
Diatonic Quinqucgrade Scale in A of second Plagal Church Mode.
IE
I—l-L^
H
Modern Minor Scale of A . Ascending. Descending.
w
JSZZ&l
t
■f=^
If I have attained the end which I proposed to myself in Historici
. , , , position of
writins: the foreo-oino- sketch of the rise and developement of ancient ihsIi
o o o 1 music;
harmony, and the analysis of the scale and keys according to which the Irish constructed their melodies, the historical posi- tion of Irish music will be plain. The ancient Irish evidently possessed a music constructed upon the old gapped quinquc- grade scale,'"'"' obtained from a circle of fifths, and possessing,
1090 I ,3o not know who first pointed out that old Irish music was constructed on a gapped scale. But that this fact seems to have been recognized at least in the beginning of this century, is shown by the following observation of Moore in his " Prefatory Letter" to the Marchioness of Donegal prefixed to the third number of the Irish Melodies, published in January, 1810. After alluding to the opinion held by some archaeologists that the Irish knew counterpoint, he says: " Indeed t!ie irregular scale cf the early Irish (in which, as in the music of Scotland, the interval of the fourth was wanting) must have furnished but wild and refractory subjects to the harmonist. It was only when the invention of Guido began to be known, and the powers of the harp were enlarged by additional strings, that our melodies took the sweet character which interests us at present; and while the Scotch perse- vered in the old mutilation of the scale, our music became gradually more amenable to the laws of harmony and counterpt/int". Bunting, in the Awient Music of Ireland, published in 1840 (p. 14), justly denies that the omission of the fourth and seventh are the true tokens of Irish national music, and that this omission does not occur in all tunes. In giving, however, an account of the method of tuning the Irish harp, and of the ancient keys of the Irish harpers, he unconsciously proves not only the existence of the gapped scale, but also the pe- culiar tonality of Irish music which has been pointed out in the text. The late William Ford, of Cork, who, besides being an excellent practical and theo- retical musician, devoted a good deal of time to collect the melodies still ex- isting among the people thirty years ago, not only fully recognized that the true Irish music was constructed like the Chinese and Scotch music on a gapped, or, as be called it, a broken scale, but he gave lectures with illus-tra- tions in several towns of the South of Ireland in the year 1844 on the subject. It is to be regretted that the valuable collection of airs made by one eo tho-
dclv
INTRODUCTION.
no doubt, the peculiar rliytlim which is still characteristic of fcciSicli-^^'^^^ melody. The introduction of the Cantus firmus by the music. Church made the Irish musicians acquainted with the diatonic scale. As this scale also originated from a circle of fifths, it only differed from the gapped scale by the addition of two notes. The secular and the Church music being thus con- structed in similar keys, it follows that, with the exception of the rhythm, there was nothing in old Irish secular music foreign to the system of the Church music. Hence the latter influenced the former to such an extent, that, in the case of many of our best airs, it is difficult to say whether they were composed according to the old gapped quinquegrade scale, or in one of the Church modes. The poHsh and artistic style which distinguish genuine Irish harp airs are unquestionably due to the influence of the ecclesiastical chant. Indeed it is tradi- tionally remembered that religious hymns were sung to many of our finest old airs. Ancient In the middle ages the music of the Irish was strictly homo-
W loll lU Liolw V
phonou"°" P^o^ous, and remained essentially of the same character down to the extinction of the Irish harp at the commencement of this century, as is proved by the use of the old keys of the gapped quinquegrade scale, more or less modified by the diatonic system of the old Church chant, and by the maintenance, even to the present time, of one of the most marked and antique characteristics of Irish music — the omission of the semi-tones.
bfmodera ^'^ requires no discussion to show, that the principles of the
harmony; harmouy which grew up during the fourteenth, fifteenth, six- teenth, and seventeenth centuries, and which have created a gulf, as it were, between modern and ancient music, could not have been applied to Irish music without obliterating all traces of the antique characteristics above mentioned, and
the Irish otherwise profoundly modifyino^ its whole character. But if
practised a - . "^ ./ c
rudimentary the Jrish Fimpau rcscmblcd the Welsh Crwth of the
harmony; . ■"
eighteenth century, as I have pointed out in a previous section to have been very probably the case, the Irish must
roughly competent to note down Irish music, and which his premature death prevented him from pubUshing, has not been printed and thus made acces- sible to musical composers.
INTRODUCTIOy. dcv
have been acquainted with the rudiments of harmony. M. Fetis has come to a similar conclusion as to the northern peoples of Europe generally, and supports his view by the assumption that the Welsh Crwth referred to above was the same as the ancient Chrotta, and that the modern Welsh harp is the same as the one which was in use in the sixth century. As regards the Crioth, he has given no evidence to prove the identity of the modern and ancient instru- ments,— indeed, the only evidence in favour of his opinion with which I am acquainted, is what can be inferred from such knowledge as we have of the Irish Timpan. Not only is there not a single particle of evidence to show that the modern Welsh harp was the same as the Welsh harp of the sixth century, but, with all due deference for the opinion of so high an authority as M. Fetis, it is absolutely certain that it is not. We have no means of knowinof to what extent ''"'■ *" ^'^a*
'^ _ extent we
this rude harmony was used, or when it was first introduced. <='"i"otteii; It was probably the primitive Organnm introduced into Ireland from the Continent, and not a species invented in *'"»'«^asthe
' ^ _ Organum of
Ireland itself. I think it may be assumed that the practice "^^ Church, of harmony was of ecclesiastical origin, and could only have grownup where the artistic music of the Church was not only performed, but noted. Meaa-re as are the references to poly- 1?^ succes-
r ' D r J sive deve
phonous music in Irish manuscripts, we may be sure that each}^°P.'j^_'^^"'°f successive advance in harmony became known, though the |^n™,*;iand" ° music itself was not perhaps much practised, in Ireland. Norman minstrels brought the music, the instruments, and the dances of France into Ireland in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. During the same period, no doubt, Anglo-Norman ecclesiastics introduced the polyphonous Church music, then beginning to assume great importance in the churches of France and Flanders. I have already given some reason for^"'"'""
•^ " _ piobab'y
believing that Discant was not iinknown even among Irish ^"o^"; ecclesiastics as distinguished from Anglo-Norman ones. Per- haps the kind of singing called Burdoon, which existed down to very recent times in the more remote districts of Ireland, such as the western part of the county of Cork and the counties of Kerry and Clare, transmits to us, although in a
licvi INTRODUCTION.
rude way, a relic of the artistic poljphonous secular music of the thirteenth century.
R^frafn^of"' "^^^^ ^°^'^ BurdooH Corresponds to the English " burden'' songs; or refrain. The peculiar kind of repetition of a verse or even of a whole strophe called a burden or refrain, occurs in the songs of many nations, even very barbarous ones. The Anapher or refrain was characteristic of the old Norse ballads, especially of the heroic ones called Drdpur. The lines constituting the refrain, or as the northmen called it, Nm'sew; *^^^*^' ^"^^^^ °^ different lengths and numbers, according as the poem admitted of being broken naturally into regular strophes. Sometimes it consisted of one or two lines with which each strophe began or ended, like the kind called a partfcuHr* ^^^^^"^^^^ ' somctimcs of a short stanza like the refrain sung kind of it; in chorus of many modern songs. When the poem con- sisted of several parts, or was sung alternately, each person had a refrain which corresponded to his special part. Usually, however, the same refrain, which was a sort of general expres- sion of the main idea of the song or ballad, was repeated by the same persons in chorus after, or at the beginning, of each strophe. The refrain occurs in ancient Irish poems also. In the "Fight of Ferdiacr'"'' there is a poem, each strophe of which consists of six lines, the first of which is the following refrain : —
Cluchi each, gdine each,
Each was a game, each was a sport,
which represents the Vidkvcedi or refrain with which each ten lined strophe of the Kmkumdl or death song of Ragnar Lod- brok, commences : —
Hjuggu ver med hjtjrvi! ""- We satiated with the sword !
a similar In the " Fight of Ferdiad'' the Anapher or refrain forms an
kinii of re . ^ ^ n
"Fi"ht"of'^ inseparable part of the strophe, but in the Krdkumdl it is so
Ferdiad". loosely connected with the other lines of each stanza, that it
may be omitted without affecting the sense in any way. The
'"3' Vol. ii., p. 460.
"•^2 Krdkumdl, sive epicedium Ragnaris Lodbrok, regis Danice, ed, C. C. Eafn Kjobenh. 1826.
INTRODUCTION. dcvil
refrain of the Krdhumdl was probably sung in chorus with the clash of swords, the principal singer taking up the remainder of the strophe in solo. In singing the Irish poems having a similar refrain, it is probable that the first line of the strophe forming the Anapher or refrain was also sung in chorus by the principal bard and his attendant bards, the former then sing- ing the other lines in solo.
The Burdoon was not, however, a simple " burden" or refrain T''e Irish
, Burdoon
sung in unison or alternately, of the kind we have been con- "°^ V*^"
o J ' frain but a
sidering, but rather a species of Organiim, or harmonic accom- f^^]^^jjgl^ paniment. The word Burdoon is evidently derived from the ''""• French, but I am unable to say when it was borrowed. Before the full developement of artistic polyphonous music a kind of Organum was used, called by the French Faux Bour- don, and by the Italians Falso Bordone. In this kind of har- Natare of mony the accompanying voices sang above the tenor^"^^ the Bourdon. imperfect accords of the third and sixth (instead of the per- fect accords of the fifth and octave, as in the old Organum, whereby the tenor and the higher accompanying voice ended in the octave), the unpleasant hardness of the fourth formed by the two accompanying voices being softened by the tenor singing in the sixth below the higher accompanying voice. Natare of When a song was sung in Ireland with the Burduon, three uwdoon. or more voices took part in the singing, one of whom repre- sented the tenor, the others the accompanying voices, who successively repeated the words of the song in a higher pitch, so as to form accords. The songs sung in this kind of canonical repetition were those which are accounted among the oldest known Irish airs, such as Seaglian O'Duihhir an Ghleanna, "John O'Dwyer of the Glen", Ar Eire ni inneos- fainn ce lit, " For Ireland I would not tell who she is", etc., and which were, I believe, composed by persons acquainted with Church music. '"^^
1093 ii lias been explained above (p. dlv) that the tenor was the name given to the voice which lenehat, or preserved the reguhir Church chant. Clearly in this instance of the Faux Bourdon, the voice which discharged this func- tion corresponded rather with our modern bass than with our tenor.
1094 -pbg part singing of the Welsh and Northumbrians mentioned by
dcviii INTRODUCTION.
Conditions Even where social and political conditions were favourable
necessary if. i ■ n ^ t ^ • •
for the to thc OTOwth 01 art, the practice oi the compiicated artistic
growth of ° ' r i ^ ^
poiyphonous polyphony of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries required
music ; ^ -^ ^ '' , iir-i'i r-
resources which could only be found m the courts of princes, in large cathedrals, or in rich abbeys. Notwithstanding the great intercourse between Ireland and France and the Low Countries at the period when Flemish polyphony was at its they did not zcnitli, the Unhappy political and social state of Ireland was land. wholly incompatible with the artistic cultivation of music.
The introduction of Protestantism arrested the fusion of the native Irish and the English colonists, and the growth of those political institutions which would have been the neces- Effect on sary outcome of such a fusion ; it also completely isolated of the Intro- Irish music. Irish harpers no longer wandered over Europe ; Protestant- Frciich jonglcurs and minstrels had indeed already ceased to visit Ireland, according as English supplanted French as the language of the Norman nobility. The Catholics, deprived of their cathedrals and abbeys, and ultimately forbidden all public worship, could no longer use even the simple chants of the Church. The new harmonic music, which received in one direction so powerful an impulse from Protestantism, was introduced into the Protestant churches of the cities ; but it exerted no influence whatever on the popular music, owing to the impassable gulf which existed between the Irish people and the whole English system, political and reli- gious. Social and At the beginning of the eighteenth century the native Irish state of Ire- wcrc for the moment effectually crushed. The majority of eigiueenth the Catholic gentry were either pauperized or in exile ; while the few who still held any land, were barbarized by being de- prived of the means of culture. They were held in such a state of abject terror, that all the youth of promise, who ought to have been the agents of intellectual and physical developement in their native country, were driven abroad into the only field open to them, and became the mercenaries of the Catholic continental sovereigns, especially of France, in
Giraldus Cambrensis was perhaps a kind of Faux Bourdon of the same kind. See post, p. dcxxiv, note.
century.
INTRODUCTION. flcix
whose wars they perished by thousands. Or they dragged on a miserable existence when worn out by the hardships en- dured in campaigning — their services forgotten by their masters, and necessarily ignored by the historians of the countries for which they had valiantly fought. In this fashion, at the cost of the intellectual death of the majority of the Ii'ish people, the minority purchased a certain kind of tran- quillity, and this in turn led to the partial revival of art and learning among the Protestant Irish gentry. Protestant state of hymnology, and especially the fine choral service of the Eng- in the same lish Church, created a taste for artistic music, and the works of foreign composers accordingly found their way into the circles of the wealthy. This tranquillity and the consequent spread of civilization also softened the antipathy of the colonial gentry to the native population, and even symptoms of that common national feeling which is sure to arise among all peo- ples, no matter how diverse may have been the origin of the several elements of the population, when not blighted by in- fluences external to themselves, began to appear. Irish harpers, although proscribed by the law, were again welcomed to the homes of many of the gentry, where they had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the rew artistic music, so different from their own. The influence of this foreign music is per- inHiT'ics of ceptible m the Irish music which was composed or modi- music; fied about this time. Carolan, the best knovm composer of Irish airs in the eighteenth century, is a good example in point, as the influence exercised personally by the distin- guished violinist Geminiani, and by Corelli, Vivaldi, and other contemporary Italian musicians, through their composi- tions, is distinctly traceable in his style. This foreign influence is especially perceptible in his " Planxties", or dance tunes, which, although possessing a marked Irish character, are deeply tinctured with inspirations of a different kind.
It is difficult, indeed, to reconcile the facts which we knowasinthe concernmg Carolan s compositions. Dr. Petrie gives a tions of Planxty of his in £'-major, "Lady Wrixon", from a collection published in Dublin in 1720, eighteen years before his death, and another in ^ -major, " Lady Athenry",' published in the
INT. 3i)*
JCX INTRODUCTION.
same year. Now a key of four or three sharps was an im- possibility in Irish harp music,"'' so that whoever took these tunes down from Carolan's phaying must have altered them to adapt them to the modern style of music. We must presume that the publication took place with the composer's knowledge ; but did he know of the alterations which were made in the written settings from his playing ? The character of Carolan does not permit us to think that he was indifferent to the way in which his compositions should be pubhshed ; nor could we, without evidence of the fact, believe that any friend of his would in noting down his compositions alter any of them in key and structure, or any publisher during his life- time materially alter the setting of his airs, without the com- poser's concurrence. We must, then, believe that, being well acquainted with the attraction which the Italian style of music possessed for the classes who were his patrons, he con- sidered it wiser to let his melodies circulate among them in a similar dress, even at the cost of deviating from the original type. It is worthy of notice, however, that in the air " Lady Wrixon", the seventh, wherever it occurs, is flat. Commence- It would appear that the transformation of the Irish "ransfurma- homophouous music iuto liarmouic music really began about
tion of Irish tt^ii j.j"C1*1
homepi.o- this period. But the change was soon arrested, t or wmie
nous music; ^ •,. . i t • i i /-ii • 'i.
on the one hand the political and social slavery otthe majority
of the nation — of that part who possessed and cherished the
rise of a traditions of the Irish past— rendered the rise of a school of
Irish music genuine Irish music impossible, on the other hand the increas-
impossihie, .^^ ^g^i^l^ and facilities of travelling brought the Irish gentry
more and more under English and foreign influences, and
diminished day by day that taste for Irish music which they
had begun to imbibe during the brief period of their previous
seclusion. The Irish harper, no longer meeting with the same
welcome at the festive board, gradually became extinct, and
artistic de- Irish music found a last refuge in the homes of the peasantry.
of rns™*^" But this isolation, while preserving it for some time longer
entirely ar- from beiuff transformed like the popular music of other coun-
rested. .
tries, also shut it out from all true artistic developement, '"*' Ante, p. dlxxii ; and p. dlxxxix.
INTRODUCTION. dcxi
and left it entirely in the hands of itinerant pipers and fiddlers.
Harmonic music has now penetrated the last retreat of Irish inevitable music. The piper, like the harper, is gradually becoming insii homo- exdnct, and in a few years more every sound of the old music music; of Ireland will be extinct, and will be thenceforward re- producible only through the labours and studies of the musical archaeologist. The irresistible influence of the causes which opera and of harmonized sacred music, which have now event, penetrated directly or indirectly into every part of the country, would have been sufficient of themselves to rapidly eject old Irish music; — the more so, as a modification in the esthetic feeling of the peoj)le has been slowly taking place during nearly a century. But a still more potent agent of change, and one which more directly acts on the mass of the people, has been in operation for the last thirty years, namely, the temperance and other popular bands. Since the music of a modern band must necessarily be harmonized, the pojDular ear is being gradually trained by these bands to harmony ; and when to this is added the fact, that the tunes played by them are, for the most part, of the most modern and lightest construction, we cannot be surprised if the melo- dies occasionally played in the old keys seem strange. A radical change in the esthetic feeling for music would soon follow, were not the sentiment for a peculiar rhythm more deeply interwoven with the character of a people, than that for either a particular scale or system of tonality. Again, the Irish airs, which from patriotic motives form a large part of the music of those bands, must be arranged for the several instruments ; but as this is done, as a rule, by persons wholly ignorant of the peculiarities of Irish music, and but very mode- rately provided with a knowledge of even the general princi- ples of harmony, scarcely a trace of the special character- even rhythmical — of true Irish music is preserved in this popular band music. And if perchance any traces of it do escape the arranger, they are sure to disappear in the execu- tion of the performers.
1U96
1096 'j']jg drum, which was not at all used by the ancient Irish, has unfor-
O'J'B
dcxii INTRODUCTION.
Pisappnar- Thls disappearance of Irish music before harmonic music
ftiice of old _ ^ ^ '■ '■
Irish music ig as inevitable as the disappearance of the red man before
inevitable. _ '- '^ '
the ever encroaching white. But though it would be a hopeless task to attempt to prevent it, yet it is a matter for legitimate complaint that educated Irishmen and Irishwomen possessing musical tastes, professing patriotic sentiments, and endowed with ample wealth, have allowed, and are still allowing, one Uses of old of the richest treasures of melody which ever flowed from the
riHtional ...
meioaies: soul of man to die away into oblivion. Just as the myths and legends of an early age are the mine whence the poet, the painter, and the sculptor derive materials and inspira- tion for the works of a more artistic age; so the melodies which spring as it w^ere spontaneously from the soul of a people and foreshadow the special esthetic qualities which ouo-ht to characterize their higher artistic creations, if allowed to develope their intellect freely according to their own natural bent, are the woof with which a great musician weaves the tissue of his compositions. Almost all modern composers have helped themselves freely from the stores of the popular melodies that abound in nearly every country, and this not merely in the occasional introduction of subjects into orchestral or pianoforte compositions, as Haydn has done, but more largely and more successfully in the selection of arias for operas. Weber not only worked up Tyrolese melodies in his operas, but has used even Arab airs happily, as for instance in his Oberon. Rossini's finest works sparkle with the melodic gems of his native country : witness his " Di tanti palpiti". A few Irish melodies likewise figure in modern operas; as for eji.amp\e Eibhlin a ruin, which under the name of " Un air Ecossais", constitutes the principal theme in the
tunately become the principal instrument of our poxmlar bands. If the worthy Sebastian Virdung were to liear a temperance or trade band of our day, he would be justified in his opinion, that if beating and thumping make music, then coopers are musicians when they make barrels, and confirmed in his belief that the drum was invented and first made by the devil : " . . Ich glaub und halt es f iir war, der Teufel hab die erdacht und gemacht, dann kain Holtsaligkeit noch guts daran ist, sunder ein vertempfung und ein nie- dertruckung, aller siissen melodeyen un der ganzn musica". — lUusica yeiulscht, 1511.
INTRODUCTION'. dcxili
overture of Bolcldieu's La Dame Blanche, and " The last rose of summer", in Flotow's Martha.
These two airs teach a lesson on the fortunes of Irish music The air which ought not to be forgotten. How Eibhlin a ruin came •^«"a/j« a to be transformed into Robin Adair, may be gathered from wliat is told by Dr. Petrie in the Lectures.'"" From what is there stated it is plain that the air with words adapted to it, in praise of Robin Adair, became very popular, and passed into vogue among the Protestant and English society of Dublin and its neighbourhood early in the seventeenth century. Thence it soon found its way into England, where, when in the last century the attention of musical critics like Dr. Burney was directed to the peculiar construction and rhythm of Scot- tish music, it was naturally assigned to Scotland, in the ab- sence of any acquaintance with the music of Ireland, and this Scottish nationality seemed to be borne out by its name. Long, however, before the hero of Robin Adair was ever commemo- rated in song, the air Eibhlin a ruin was popular in parts of the country least in contact with Scotland. If its name and words were sufficient to transfer its nationality north of the Tweed, similarly the words of Banim, Saggart a ruin, ought to be able to coax it back again.
As to "The last rose of summer". Dr. Petrie has already " The Last
■^ Rose of
observed''^* that " The young man's dream" and " The groves Summer", of Blarney""*^' are really the same air, the latter being only a modern version of the former, better adapted for rendering by ordinary (especially male) voices. Now we know that '* The groves of Blarney" was written in the last century to celebrate the beauties of the pleasure grounds at Blarney, the residence of a lady of local celebrity. This song naturally circulated widely amona: her friends and acquaintances and the Protes- tant society of the time in Cork and Dublin. It was this latter version that Moore had before him when he wrote " The last rose of summer". Neither he nor his musical assistant
'0" Vol. ii.. p. 29G. '"38 Op. cit., Iiitruduction, p. xv.
1099 The corresponding songs in Moore's Melodies are "As a beam o'er tlie face of the waters" and " The last rose of suinaier"'.
dcxiv INTRODUCTION.
Sir John Stevenson was able to trace its identity with the original, *' The young man's dream". We can easily un- derstand that the altered air coming from an Anglo-Irish source into England in the last century, came gradually to be looked upon as an English air ; its parentage not being known, and its smoothness facilitating the mistake. Although, however, " The last rose of summer" is thus sliown to be of Irish parent- age, no one could claim it as a specimen of old Irish music. It is at best a variation upon an old air, written under the full influence of modern musical ideas. Caprice of I have already referred frequently to the caprice with which
collectors in j- •/ i.
dealing with the collcctors of Irish airs deal with the keys and the text it-
Irish airs.
self of the tunes. They all profess to have *' noted " down the strain themselves, or received it from some one who has noted it. Sometimes they have obtained several versions of the same melody, and have exercised their judgment and discretion in preparing from those materials the edition of the tune to be Sources of get before the public. Now it is evident that in the execution
error in not ■ . . .
ing down of tliis proccss there is occasion for a double error, each being
national ^ _ _ .
music. equally destructive of the genuine character of the air. In the first place, if the collector adheres to the pitch in which he may have heard the air sung or played, he may easily put the air into a hey which was alike unknown and impossible for Irish musicians. We know from experience that the greater number of unskilled persons singing spontaneously an air, at least without an instrumental accompaniment, will pitch it at that tone which is personally most convenient to them. How then can we rely on a pitch so obtained ? and in case of con ■ fiicting pitches, how are we to decide their relative or absolute accuracy ? Secondly, guided by an acquaintance not usually very complete or thorough with the principles and practice of modern music and composition, he is sure to look on certain sequences of notes as mistakes and deviations from the (imagi- nary) standard of original purity of text ; some phrases oi notes he would naturally regard as utter abominations. When Bunt- ing tells us that the Irish harpers at Belfast in 1792 had three- minor modes in E, A, and Z>, each of progressive imperfection, he applies a prejudice which is received as an axiom by the
INTRODUCTION. dcXV
usual scliool of musical collectors. Dr. Petrie has given it sources of more precision and emphasis when he declares that an air'nRdovvn
'■ ... national
■wnicli does not readily combine with "harmony of a correct ™"sic. nature" must be of a "barbarous character". Mr. Bunting has given expression to honest indignation at the supposed ruthless way in which the ancient Irish airs were dealt w^ith to suit the rhythmical convenience of Moore in the Melodies. He instances the airs " The fox's sleep", " The brown thorn", " The twisting of the rope", as examples of this unworthy treatment ; the corresponding Melodies — " When he who adores thee", " Oh ! haste and leave this sacred isle", and " How dear to me the hour" — being great and essential depar- tures from the original text. On the other hand, Petrie points out several " oversights" on the part of Bunting, amounting in many cases to " falsifying the accents and marring the true expression of the melody throughout its entirety, and rendering it incapable of being correctly sung". He cites Bunting's set- ting of "The brown thorn", as an example: his neglect of noting correctly the musical rhythm having constrained " the poet Moore in his words to this melody" to make his stanzas metrically defective. Petrie, in his Introduction, admits that " the peculiarities of structure and tonalities Avhich so often distinflfuish our melodies from those of modern times" are un- suited for arrangements in the conventional style of modern music. Yet he has not scrupled to employ all the apparatus of the modern key system, which ceitainly is wholly at va- riance wuth the " peculiarities of construction and tonalities" of old Irish music.
The system followed by Mr. Levey in his collection of " The Dance Music of Ireland" is an exception to the practice. All the tunes are given down precisely as he heard them from the pipers and fiddlers, except in a single instance, where he re- cords his departure from his text. But the departure, as I have already had occasion to observe, will commend itself to all good judges as a return to the genuine Irish character of the air. Certainly he was not led to it by any desire of approximating the tune to modern principles ; for throughout the collection, in arranging the harmonies he has been careful
dcxvi IMllODLCTION.
to maintain tlie peculiar characteristics of the original. This has led him in many cases to set a " bagpipe" bass, recognizing the impossibility of bringing the harmonies within the con- ventional rules. Yet the tunes he has thus dealt with belong precisely to that class of melodies which has been most subject to foreign influence. Distinction I think a distinction ouiijht to be drawn between those who
between the , . *". , . , . . ,
o' ject of the profcss to coUcct oid au'S with a view to their preservation, and gi-tandthe thosc who proDosc to uso old music as material to be trans-
1 l■ti^t in •■■'•_
dealing with foj-med aiid woi'ked up into compositions constructed m ac-
nutional ^ _ ••
""■^5 cordance with the principles of modern harmonic music, and
adapted to the altered esthetic feelings of the people. The labours of the former are to be judged according to the rules that apply to all other branches of scientific archaeology ; those
dut'es of the of the latter by the rules of art. The musical archaeologist
musical ar- . , . i /^ i • i i i
chaeoiogist; should givc the air exactly as he finds it, scrupulously render- ing every peculiarity of scale, tonality, and rhythm, not making them " perfect" according to the major or minor modes, or polishing them to remove their " barbarism" in order to fit them for modern harmony, and especially not adding anything to them under the name of " harmonies". As regards the latter point, they should never lose sight of the truth that it is as reasonable to look for Italian as the language of daily con- versation among Irishmen of the seventeenth century, as to ex- pect to find the forms of modern Italian music in the Irish melo- dies of that age. Irish music as such made no advance, as we have seen, subsequent to the middle of the sixteenth century. Surely it savours of ignorance to imagine that it ought to have elements that were not called into existence even on the Con- tinent until after that time. Irish music indeed and the Plain chant of the Catholic Church, which exercised so large an in- fluence on its developement, stand on a footing of almost equal difficulty for musicians only acquainted with modern music. Formed on the same scale, using the same keys — quite diffe- rent from the modern scale and keys — they are alike all but unintelligible to men who will regard everything as barbarous that is not moulded in the Ibrms to which they have been ac- customed to look up as the type of artistic excellence.
J
INTRODUCTION. dcx
VII
The musician, as distlnojuislieu from the musical archaeolo- rights ana
1 IP Till -11 • tlut'^-'sof the
gist, ouoht to ue free to deal as he pleases with tlie material musical
... . * . , artist ;
which he proposes to use m the construction of his composi- tions. The true artist need not, however, be reminded that if he hopes to produce works which shall at the same time possess the qualities of form and treatment necessary to render them intelligible to the cultivated taste of Europe, and that originality and local colouring without which they would be unacceptable to even the most cosmopolitan society, he should not do violence to the national music which he pur- poses using, but, having entered into its spirit, endeavour to gradually transform it as it would have been naturally trans- iormed by the people themselves if they had possessed a true national school of artistic music. ^'"" It is by these canons that we Moore and should judge the work of Moore and Stevenson on the one judged by
. . these ca-
hand, and of Bunting, Petrle and others on the other. Judged ions; by them the work of Moore and Stevenson was good work, and without entering into a criticism i'vom an artistic point of view of the manner in which they modified and arranged the music of the Irish melodies, which I am not qualified to do, I have no hesitation in asserting the justice of their abstract right to depart from their originals. But iudged by the same canons Bunting,
. . x> c^ J I'etrie etc.
Bunting or Petrie had no sucli riirht, and every, the least, de- judged by'' parture which they made from the scale, lonaliUj, or rhythm of Irish music in the direction of modern music was a mistake.
Irish musicians are at present doing nothing for Irish music Wshmu
. , 11- • M 1 ^ sicians do
either as archaeologists or as artists. i here is some excuse nothing for
,-|. ,T . „ ,.. Irish music.
lor their apathy as collectors, since unfortunately this is not a paying pursuit ; but it is unintelligible how Irish musicians should neglect such a pure Ibunt of original melody as exists in the unpublished airs of Ireland, and seek inspiration else-
1100 jf ^e want to know what a really great musical artist can do with the national music even of a foreign country when he has caught its spirit, although he may not have mastered its details, let us turn to an opera of Hossini, which certainly deserved in Great Britain at least a greater popularity than it lias enjoyed— Za Donna del Lago, which, from the opening note to the close, is steeped in Scottish melody. No individual air can be traced anywliere, and yet we could imagine the whole opera to have been composed under the shadow of Ben Lomond rather than beneath the sunny sky of Italy.
dcXVlii INTRODUCTION.
where. Has the current of fashion set too strongly in the oppo- site quarter, or is their ambition no higher than to compete with the composers for music saloons, gin-palaces, and similar institu- tions ? If artists cannot afford to collect or publish the still un- known national airs, surely there ought to be patriotism enough among wealthy amateurs to do so. Why should not the " Society for the Publication of the Ancient Music of Ireland", of which Dr. Petrie was president, and under whose auspices the first and only volume of the airs in his collection was published, be re- fhX\L ^'^"^^^ ? Surely it is the duty of the Royal Irish Academy of Mulir^ °^ Music, if it really aims at fulfilling the functions of a national institution, to educate the rising generation of Irish musicians to appreciate the music of their own country, and fit them so to transform it as to adapt it to the artistic style of our day, and by developing it, create a new school of Irish music, in which the melody which distinguished us in the past shall be wedded to the harmony of the present. Ifs'cottish Everything I have said regarding the scale and tonality of music. Irish music applies almost equally well to Scottish music. There are, however, two kinds of music in Scotland : the Gaehc or Highland, and the Lowland. The former is practically the same as the Irish, the only difference between the true melodies of the western part of Scotland and those of Ireland being what Highland we might call a dialectic one. They are both constructed either "ame^as"'^ accordiug to the gapped quinquegrade scale or to the old diatonic Irish music ; quinqucgradc scale of the Church modes, move in the same five ancient keys, and differ very little in measure or accent.""'
1 101 The earliest reference to the existence of a gapped scale in Scottish music that I have met with is in Burney's History of Music (vol. i. 31). But he only speaks of the omission of the fourth and seventh, but does not seem to recognize that there was any difference in tonality between the Scottish and ordinary artistic music. Professor L. A. Necker de Saussure, who travelled in Scotland in the years 1806 and 1808, with the view of studying its geology and mineralogy, appears to have himself noticed this peculiarity of Scottish music ; he refers to it in the fifth chapter of the third volume of the account of his travels, which were not, I believe, published until 1821 ( Voyages en Ecosse etaiix lies Hebrides). In the Introduction prefixed to George Thom- son's great work {Tlwmsori's cvlleciion of the songs of Burns, Sir Walter Scott, etc.), the author assumes not only that the Scottish melodies were constructed with a gapped scale, but that the Scotch musicians were unacquainted with the
the cl Irish
INTRODUCTION. dcxix
Hence a great many airs are claimed by the Scotch which are undoubtedly Irish, and on the other hand many true Scottish tunes are claimed by the Irish. When the same airs are claimed by two peoples, we may rightly infer that the national musics of both are closely related. The Lowland Scottish music is also Lwiami
•> _ _ bCDttish mn-
constructed according to the gapped quinquegrade or old dia- ^jfJ^^^J'^' tonic Church scale, and possesses the same five keys as the Irish J^^^'^j °^ and ancient Gaelic music. It is unnecessary to give examples of Airs in the airs in the first of the gapped quinquegrade series in C. If the fourth and seventh be introduced into this scale, we have, as I pointed out, what seems to be the modern major key in C, and is so in reality when the notes are played as in the natural scale. Most of the Scottish melodies in this key, which are very nume-
semitones, and consequently no matter what key they used, the semitones were wanting. Here we have a plain intimation that the tonality must have been different from that of modern music. In the year 1831 Dr. Fink, formerly editor of the Leipzig Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, published a little work called Er-aie Wanderung der aeltesten Tonkunst ah Vorgeschichte der Musik (Essen 1831) on the special subject of the existence of a five-toned scale in the Scotch and Chinese music. While the author added nothing new on the subject, he seems to have totally misconceived the tonality of ancient Scottish music. The distinguished physicist. Professor Helmholtz, in the work already referred to, not only admits that the Scottish music was constructed with a five-toned scale, but assumes that it Avas a quinquegrade one, and that each note of it was used as the tonic of a distinct key. Herr Carl Engel has published a special Avork, several times referred to. The Music of the, most ancient Nations, the object of which is to prove that all the early nations of Asia and Europe used the same five-toned scale ; but beyond a valuable ac- count of the Assyrian musical instruments, as revealed by the monuments in the British Museum, he has not added many definite facts to our knowledge of the general subject, and gives no analysis of the Scottish or other ancient music to support his hypothesis. It seems strange that Herr Engcl in his more recent work, The Study of National Music, should have made no use of the inferences Avhich are legitimately deducible from the existence of an an- cient five-toned scale to explain some of the anomalies in the music of the northern nations of Europe. I may mention that although it is generally assumed that the five-toned scale of the Chinese is the same as the gapped scale of the Scotch, the assumption has never been proved. Tliat the Chinese have a five-toned scale is certain, but so far as I know no one has proved that it is a quinquegrade one. Indeed the quinquegrade character of the Scottish scale has also been assumed rather than proved. The establish- ment of the true quinquegrade character of the Irish scale and of its relation to the old Church scale has now, however, placed the matter beyond doubt.
dcXX INTRODUCTION.
reus, may consequently be taken as examples of our first key, and wlien correctly played, tke fourth or seventh, or both of them, are either omitted altogether, or used only as passage notes, and do not form an essential element of the key. The occasional omission of one or either of the notes in question is, indeed, one of the causes which impart what we call a Scottish charac- ter to an air.
Airs in the I need only mention the airs "Good-morrow, fair mis- key of Z>. "'
tress", the old form of " Charlie is ray darling", " Blythe, blythe and merry are we", and " Johnny Cope", to show how thoroughly Lowland Scottish as well as Irish the gapped quin- quegrade key of Z>, or its representative among the old Church
Airs in liey modes, that of Z), is. The well known airs " Auld Robin Gray" and the " Braes of Balquhidder" give us examples of the third scale, E, in which the second and fifth are wanting. In the former, which is not a true Scottish air, but one composed in the con- ventional Scottish style, the minor second comes in as in several Irish airs so as to give the third authentic Church tone in E; in the latter, the second is wholly omitted, and the fifth only
Airs in key once or twicc introduced. The airs which may be referred to the fourth key, G, are rather examples of the seventh (authentic) Church tone than of the gapped quinquegrade scale, for, like the Irish melodies in this key, they are all characterized by the flat or minor seventh. In some Scottish airs the action of this
Use of the notc is SO strongly marked as to produce a somewhat disagreeable
seventii ; effect upon cars unaccustomed to it, as for example in the old air " John Hay's bonnie lassie". The " Widow's wail", or " Alake ! 't is hard to bide, O Willie", and the dance tune " Tulloch gorm", are also characteristic examples of this key,
originated Mr. Carl Engel thinks that the frequent occurrence of the
with the . ° , , ^ . , ^ ,
bagpipe ac- ilat or miuor seventh m bcottish tunes, or, as he expresses it,
cording to . , ,
Engel; the preference given by the Scotch to the minor seventh, instead of the major seventh, originated with the bagpipe, the favourite national instrument of Scotland. This, he says, appears the more certain, as it is especially the rural dance tunes. Strathspeys and Heels — tunes in which these peculiari- ties most frequently occur — which are usually played upon the bagpipe. The intervals of the common Highland bag-
INTRODUCTION. dc
•XXI
pipe, as Mr. Engel gives them, may be described as a scale of (r, with a major third and a Hat seventh. But, as the bass of the drone omits A, he thinks A minor must be reo-arded as the principal key of the bagpipe. He adds, it is true, that several of the bagpipe dance times are written in major instead of minor ; but that the introduction of the major third appears to be an innovation, perhaps of the fiddlers, who also often play at rural festivities.""^ It is evident from what I have this opinion
to - . not correct;
said about the frequent occurrence of the flat seventh in Irish airs, a great many of which are known to have been composed for the harp, that Mr. Engel's explanation is not correct. The Scottish tunes in which the flat seventh appears are in the se-tmc origin; venth (authentic) Church tone (that is, in the key of (?, with a major third and a flat seventh), which, as we have seen, repre- sents, when the third and seventh are omitted, one of the keys of the old gapped quinquegrade series. The major third, intro- duced by the Highland bagpiper, is consequently not an inno- vation, but belongs to the key. I may also add that the rule which Macdonaid's Macdonald jrives in his Complete Tutor for the qreat Hiqhland fl its imd
-r, . T ^ • • . ^ sliarpB in
Bagpipe, that " the piper is to pay no attention to the flats and pipe-music sharps marked on the clef, as they are not used in pipe music", is not, as j\Ir. Engel thinks, odd, but on the contrary, correct and in accordance with the structure of old Gaelic music.
Examples of the fifth key, A, in the gapped quinquegrade Airs in key series of ancient modes, or that representing our modern minor mode, are common enough in collections of Scottish melodies. I may mention the old air " Cockle shells" as one in which the melodic movement of the gapped quinquegrade scale maybe at once perceived, although in the modern settings of this and other similar melodies the semi-tones are occasionally intro- duced.""^
""2 ^n Introduction to the Study of National Music : London, 186G, p. 55.
1)03 The Scottish airs which I have given as examples of the old keys have not been selected, but were taken at random. I have no doubt that much better examples are to be found in collections of old Scottish melodies, wliich were unfortunately inaccessible to me. But even in the case of Irish music, I took my examples also at random from the most accessible published col- lections, although I might have had access to large collections of un- publislied airs. My object being the illustration of a principle, and not the
Icxxii
INTRODUCTION
The con- ventional style of Scottish music.
Difference between Highland and Low- land Scottish music ;
hypotheses to explain this differ- ence.
The special melodic character of the gapped quinquegrade scale is so impressed on the Lowland Scottish music, that when a composer wishes to compose a song in the Scottish style, he is obliged to use the gapped scale, and if he uses the semi-tones at all, he merely introduces them occasionally as passing notes. The air known as " Within a mile of Edinbm-gh town" is a case in point. It was composed by Hook, an English composer, who lived about the end of the last century. This air follows strictly the succession of the notes of a gapped scale, except where the omitted notes are introduced five or six times as passing notes. The fine air " Auld Robin Gray", already quoted as an example of a scale in which the second and fifth are omitted, is a tune thorouglily Scottish in cliaracter, though not composed in Scotland: it was composed, it is said, by an English clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Leete. The air " O Nanny, wilt thou gang with me?" was composed by a Mr. Carter, who was, I believe, an Irishman.
If the Lowland Scottish music agrees with the ancient Gaelic music in the scale on which it is constructed, and in the keys in which its melodies move, in what do they differ? In a greater conformity with the modern style, especially in tonality, and in a peculiarity of measure and accent. It is not easy to account for the origin of the Lowland Scottish music. Two hypotheses suggest themselves: one is, that it is essentially the old Gaelic music modified first under the influence of the Saxon element in the population of the Lowlands, assisted by contact with the artistic music of the fifteenth century, which was introduced into Scotland either directly by James the First of Scotland, or under his patronage, and by that of the sixteenth century through the influence of David Rizzio. The second is, that the old Saxon music, like the old Irish, was con- structed on a gapped quinquegrade scale, and consequently had five keys ; but that the rhythm, or measure and accent, which depended so nauch in homophonous music upon the phonology of the language, and (especially in the Teutonic and Celtic Ian-
analysis of a number of airs, any examples which I found immediately at hand suited ray purpose. This will also explain why I have given so few ex- amples of each key, either Irish or Scottish.
INTRODUCTION. dCXXlU
guages) upon the structure of tlie verse, was developed gradually under the influence of artistic music. The latter hypothesis is one which recommends itself as the simplest and most natural explanation of the phenomenon. There are, however, very grave objections, rot so much to the proposition that the ancient Teutonic scale was a gapped quinquegrade one, as to the view that the Anglo-Saxon scale was such at the period when the Lowland Scottish style grew up. In the first place, no traces of a gapped quinquegrade scale are to be found anj- where in England, under circumstances which exclude the in- fluence of Scottish or Irish music, and the oldest airs of Scandi- navia, as they have been preserved in Iceland — as for example the melody of the Krahumdl, or death song of Ragnar Lod- brok, appear to be all in the diatonic scale. And in the second place, the older the Lowland melodies are, the closer they ap- proach to the type of Gaelic music ; and the gradual influence of artistic music, and especially of the music of England, can be traced in the successive stages of developement through which the Lowland music has passed.
The artistic polyphonous music of the fourteenth, fifteenth, Highland and sixteenth centuries did not penetrate into the Hio;hlands music not
•' _ "^ _ affected by
of Scotland, because there also there was no suitable soil for iwiypiionous
.... music ;
its developement, so that the native music, modified as it had been under the influence of the ecclesiastical chant, preserved its original character, like the Irish music from which it had influence of
" foreign
originally sprung. In the prosperous Lowland country where 'ousic on the Scottish court lived, which had many rich abbeys and"'co"'sii
, music ;
large churches, and between which and France and the Low Countries there was much intercourse, the influence of foreign polyphonous music had begun to be felt as early as the times of James the First of Scotland, as I have above mentioned. But this influence was arrested by the action of Protestantism. The Scottish Presbyterians eschewed music altogether in their ritual, and were in a fair way to make their country a song- less nation, had not political opposition to England acted as a preserration
. (-, •TIT of ScdtlisU
stimulus for the preservation of the Scottish melodies among music ; the Scottish episcopalian families and the more patriotic and less rigid adherents of the Kirk. Fortunately for Scotland,
dcxxiv INTRODUCTION.
there did not exist there, at least to an equal extent, the same antagonism of race and religion which wrought such a chasm between the English owners of the Irish soil and the people of Ireland, so that the intellectual society of Edinburgh be- came as much interested in the preservation and cultivation of Scottish music as the peasantry, and consequently good musicians found it profitable to adapt her old airs to the forms growth of a of modern music. Indeed, so fashionable had Scottish music
conventional
scouish loecome at the beginning of this century, that composers like music. Beethoven undertook to harmonize the national melodies of Scotland. And Dr. Arne, the composer, of Vauxhall Gardens, Dr. Greene, and many other English musicians, finding music in the beautiful and elegant style of the Lowlands popular in England, composed numerous aivs which now ornament col- lections of Scottish music. The Welsh It would bc a waste of timo to seriously discuss the state-
did not de- . •'
rivetheir mcnt attributed to Caradoc of Llancarvon, that the Welsh
music from , , k, ^ , i v.,i^n.
the Irish, were indebted to the Irish for most of their musical instru- ments and much of their music, the authenticity of which I have considered at some length in the previous section. The geographical position of Wales, and the intercourse which subsisted between it and England and the Continent durIn<T the middle ages, must have afforded tlie Welsh abundant op- portunity of becoming acquainted with the instruments and artistic music of all Western Europe. It is, therefore, highly probable that owing to the influence of the Norman minstrels, the native music was neglected, and that Griiffydd ab Cynan
Old Welsh merely attempted to restore the decayed Welsh music, and In-
musio J . r. "^ .
merely re- troducc the Irish harp, the vV elsh one havmg been perhaps
aruffyd ab supplanted by the Viele and other instruments of the Norman
mmstrels.""* But whatever may have been the nature of the
'"" Giraldus Carabrensis tells us a curious story about the musical know- ledge of bis countrymen the Welsh. He says tlie Britons did not sing in unison like the inhabitants of other countries, but in many different modes and modulations, so that in a crowd of sin«jers, as is the custom of those people, as many different songs of various voices may be heard as there are heads to be seen, but nevertheless all uniting at last in the consonance of organic melody and in the soft sweetness of B-inollis. (" In musico moduhi- mine, non uniformiter, ut alibi, sed multipliciter, multisque modis et modulis
INTRODUCTION. dcXXV
reformation effected by Gruffydd ah Ci/nan, tlic fact that the bardic meeting at which the musical canon of the Welsh was settled in the twelfth century, consisted of Irishmen and Welshmen, incontestably proves that the national music of both countries was then similar, or in other words, that the Welsh music in the twelfth century was constructed according to a quinquegrade scale, either a gapped one, or the old dia- tonic Church scale, and that five keys were used.
Assuming, therefore, that the A\"elsh music of the twelfth it was con-
_ . . , - structed on
century was, as 1 have said, constructed accordmof to a » popped
~ scale*
gapped quinquegrade scale, modified, however, like the Irish music by the ecclesiastical chant, it is probable that it was ^»t was affected more deeply than the Irish music by the influence affected by 01 the polvphonous music of Enoiand and the Continent; be- s'c than the
_* " . . Iiish music;
cause Welsh minstrelsy was in favour at the Tudor court, and was fostered by the Welsh nobility, even by those of Norman extraction. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that even so late as the beginning of the sixteenth century many Welsh national melodies still bore evidence of having been con- cantilenas emittunt. Adeo ut in turba canentium, sicut huic genti mos est, quot videas capita, tot audias carmina discriminaque vocum varia, in unara denique sub B mollis dulcedine blanda consonantiam, et organicam convenientia nielo- diam". Descriptio Kambrice, c. xiii.) He goes on to tell us that in the north of England, beyond the Humber and the borders of York, a similar kind of symphonious harmony was practised, except that they only sung in two parts. ("In Borealibus quoque majoris Britannise partibus trans Huoibriam scilicet, Eboraci finibus, Angloruni populi, qui partes iilas inhabitant simili caiiendo symphoniaca utuntur harmonia: binis tamen solummodo tonorura diffe»"entiis et vocum modulando varietatibus ; una inferius submurmurante, altera vero superne demulcente pariter et delectante". Ibid.) Notwith^tanding the " glaring improbabilities" of this statement, " with the manifest ignorance of the subject in question" which the author displays, as Dr. Burney says, and the general character for untruth and exaggeration which Giraldus justly enjoys, it seems probable that the kind of harmonic music called Faux Bour- don (not true Discant, as suggested by Dr. Burney) was used in secular music in the eleventh and twelfth centuries in Wales and Northunibria. The use of such harmony in s:cul;ir music wuuld naturally facilitate the iniroduc- tion of each such succeeding improvement in multivocal song, and the con.«e- quent transformation of the whole national music. It is worthy of remark too, that this kind of Orgnnu)n, which, as I have already mentioned, existed until lately in Ireland, was only practised in that part of England with which the Irish had so much connection in the middle ages. See Addenda, p. dcxlL INT. 40*
dcxxvi INTRODUCTION.
structed on a gapped quinquegrade scale, more or less
and by poly- modified hj the Cantus Jirmus, and perhaps to some extent
music also, also b_y poljphonous music. The use of old keys may be
The old traced down even to the beginning of the last century. Pro- music was . o <D extinguished testaut hymnoloffv in the Welsh lano-uaffe, in which the whole
by Protest- J ^ bJ ^ ^ & O '
anthymno- congregation was able to join, gave a death-blow to the old music. Most of the music to which the Welsh hymns were set being of English origin, the special characteristics of the old Welsh music began to be gradually but steadily obliter- ated, and replaced by the English style of music. Thus it
jiodern happens that the Welsh music of the present day exhibits no
Welsh music ^ ■, • i t • • r t- -it
does not tracc of the qumquegrade scale, and is in fact not distinguished
difftrfrom ., ^ J? . . „ .°
English |)y any special peculiar characteristics from the melodies heard
music ; . ■*■
the air of in otlicr paits of England. Take, for instance, the air to which Marsh" an the old ballad of the battle of Ruddlan Marsh is sung. This ballad commemorates the victory of Offa, king of Mercia, over the Welsh king Caradoc, in the year 795. The Welsh appear to think that the air belongs to the period of the battle ; but it has no mark of antiquity about it. It is an ordinary plain- tive air, which might have been composed in England as Welsh and likely as in Wales. As the Scotch and Irish dispute concerning pute con- the birthplace of many airs, because the musics of both coun-
C6rninc th6
pnternity of tiics beloii"' to the samc type, so the Welsh and English dispute
certain airs. ^ .. tit
as to whether certain melodies are Welsh or English. The English, for example, claim the air " The hunting of the hare", which is generally considered to be a typical Welsh melody. Even the old rhythm, of which we find traces here and there in very old airs, has almost disappeared from the present music of Wales. The Welsh It IS singular how completely this substitution of modern scions of the music foi the ancient music of Wales has escaped the notice of
great change .. . .
in their the Welsli musiciaus themselves. Indeed if we wanted evi-
muslc;
dence to establish the essentially modern character of the pre- sent Welsh music, we could find it nowhere so abundantly and ready to our hand as in the works of those Welsh bards who are most extravagant in their claims on behalf of its antiquity. One of them, Mr. John Parry, after discussing""^ the state-
""=' The Welsh Harper. London and Chester, 1839, p.
INTRODUCTION. clcx.>
XVll
ment of Dr. Powel, already referred to, that most of tlie ti.e best evi-
British music was had from the Irish in the time of GrufFydd change is
ab Cynan, says: "The Welsh bases are always very superior in the wor «
to either that [sic] of the Irish or Scotch music, and are whatmeu.
are termed a ground bass, and are always moving ; they are
not merely chords struck to harmonize with the melody, but
are working and prominent, and generally consisting of note
for note with the treble, or melody, but in contrary motion.'
The admixture too of the major and minor keys, the change
of the time, and the frequency of only six bars in a strain,
as in the ' Rising of the lark', ' Cream of yellow ale', ' The
inspired bard', etc., are peculiar features in Welsh music".
It would surely be difficult to give so much evidence in so
few words against the antiquity of the present Welsh music
as this passage affi^rds. A Welsh bard, ignorant of the history
of music, may perhaps be excused for believing that the Welsh
music has not changed, and that it is to-day what it was a
thousand years ago. But when we find the following passage
in Dr. Crotch's Specimens of various Styles of Music, we can
only conclude that the history of music did not form one of
the qualifications for the chair of music at Oxford in his time.
" British and Welsh national music may be considered as one, since the original British music was, with the inhabitants, driven into Wales. It must be owned that the regular mea- sure and diatonic scale of the Welsh music is more congenial to the English taste in general, and appears at first more natural to experienced musicians, than those of the Irish and Scotch. Welsh music not only solicits an accompaniment, but, being chiefly composed for the harp, is usually found with one ; and, indeed, in harp tunes, there are often solo passages for the bass as well as for the treble. It often resembles the scientific music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ; and there is, I believe, no probability that this degree of re- finement was an introduction of later times".
Some old airs are, however, to be found in collections of Traces of tue old Welsh music, which, notwithstandinfj the efforts of musi- music to ue
n 11 T^i 1P1 found still in
cians to make them " perfect according to the rules of modern oid airs, music, still exhibit traces of the true Welsh music of the
dcxxviii introduction.
middle ages. This is specially the case with several of the airs which have been published by Miss Jane Williams.'""^ Among these may be specially mentioned the beautiful air Pan o' wn y giuainoyn, which must have been originally com- posed in the key of the first Church tone in D, if not in tlie corresponding gapped scale. Supposed Welsh writers, in their desire to give an undue antiquity to
tation of the-evcry tiling belonginff to their country, have laid claim to the
Britons; "^^^^ ^ ? t o • i
possession of an ancient and peculiar system of musical nota- tion, which, however flattering to the national vanity of the Welsh people, is not very creditable to their own scholarship the Welsh and Critical iudcjment. This claim is based upon a manuscript
musieal Mb. ; _ ...
discovered in the beginning of the last century, some part of which, according to a memorandum found in it by Dr. Burney, was transcribed in the time of Charles the First by Robert ab Huw of Bodwigen, in the island of Anglesey, from a manu- script of one William Penllyn, a distinguished minstrel of the preceding century. The manuscript was first discovered, I believe, among the collection of the Welsh school, founded in London in 1714, and is now in the British Museum. A note in English informs us, according to Dr. Burney, that this manuscript contains " the music of the Britons, as settled by a congress, or meeting of masters of music, by order of Gruflydd ab Cynan, prince of Wale?, about the year 1100, with some of the most ancient pieces of the Britons, supposed to have been handed down to us from the ancient bards". ""^ Although it does not appear that the note says one word as to the antiquity of the system of notation in which the ancient music is recorded in the MS., it was at once assumed, without further proof or investigation, to be as old at least as the eleventh century. The music of this manuscript was published in the Myvirian Archaiology of Wales,^^^^ and attracted a good deal of atten- Dr Buraey-stion. Dr. Buincy considered that this supposed medieval notation was somewhat like the tablature of the Spanish lute,
""^ Ancient National Airs of Gu-eni and Morganwg. '"*' A General History of Music, vol. ii., p. 110.
'"^^ Vol. iii. pp. 440- (J24; pp. 10fcl9-1204 of the reprint in one volume pub- lished in 1870.
INTRODUCIION. (Icxxix
but without line?, except a sinsjle line to separate the treble lie deci-
' ^ ... . pher»;il a
from the bass; and on this principle he deciphered a small ''"'e of it; portion of the music which was in the key of C. He evidently was sceptical as to the antiquity of this supposed ancient coun- terpoint, for he says : " This counterpoint, however artless it may seem, is too modern for such remote antiquity as is given to it. The false fifth from B to F, in the first example [deci- phered by him], has not been long allowed in harmony; and the unprepared seventh from B to A, in the second example, is a crudity that has been very lately tolerated".""' The cele- the greater brated violinist Barthelemon is said to have succeeded by the sphered by
•^ Barthele-
aid of the tablatui e of the old Spanish lute in deciphering the ™"'»- greater part of the music ; but only one of the pieces so deci- phered, and which happens like those of Burney to be in the key of C, was ever published. It is given in the first volume of Welsh Melodies, printed in 1809.
The success of Burney and Barthelemon ought to have induced the Welsh musicians to follow up the clue thus offered to them, or at least led them to doubt the antiquity of the musical notation. So far from this being the case, Mr. John Mr. Parry's
T, 1 T r- • 1 • • • pretended
Parry, already referred to, m order to place its antiquity /a<:-">'"7« of beyond all dispute, asserted that the letters used in the nota- ^^s. ; tion were those of the ancient bardic alphabet, and, to sup- port his view, published as a fac-simile a clumsy forgery of a portion of the MS., in which the characters, except the letter F, which is unmistakably Roman, have as little resemblance the letters^^ to the oghamic alphabet as they have to those in the manu- ^^^^jf^f^' script of which the example purports to be a, fac-simile. Dr. Burney has also given facsimiles of two (Nos. xi. and xvii.) of "The Twenty Four Measures of Instrumental Music". Ifor. Bumeys these be accurate, and they certainly look like the notation used in lute books of the period, then the transcript published in the Myvirian Arcliaiology is not 2i facsimile at all, and can- not be depended on. For instance, the Greek 3", which occurs in Burney's facsimile, is always made d in the Myvirian edition. Now, this substitution happens to be of great impor- tance ; because this letter was used in the tablature of the lute,
"09 Op. cit, p. 113.
dcXXX INTRODUCTION.
as may be seen in the lute-book of Hans Judenkunig, to which I shall refer hereafter.
To the new edition of the Myvirian Archaiologi/, published in 1870, there is appended a dissertation " On the musical no- tation of the ancient Britons", by Mr. John Thomas, who sub- scribes himself Pencerdd Gtoalia, and may consequently be considered as an authority on the subject of Welsh music. The five Mr. Thomas tells us that there are five keys in Welsh music.
T^filsU keys • , • •
as given by From the way in which he introduces this statement, he seems 'to imply that these five keys are mentioned in the musical manuscript. He says: "To return to the Welsh manuscript. There are five keys in Welsh music : — the low key of C {is- gywaif), the sharp key of G (cras-gywair), the flat key of F (Jtleddv-gywair)^ the mixed or minor key (hragod-gywair), and the key with a minor third {go-gyivair)". These keys are not however given, so far as I could find, in the transcript of the
they are all manuscript in the Myvirian Archaiology. They are all modern
keys. keys; "the low key of C" is simply the ordinary scale of C-
major; "the sharp key of (x" is only the ordinary scale of G- major; the "flat key of F'\ the ordinary scale of i^-major; " the mixed or minor key" is the ordinary modern ascending scale of ^-minor; and "the key with a minor third" is the ordi- nary modern ascending scale of C-minor. Mr. Thomas evidently believes that these keys are the same as those of ancient Welsh music, for he says: " Guido's three major keys are the same as those of the Welsh, and distinguished by similar terms : — the sharp key of G (durum), the flat key of F (molle), and the key of C {tiaturaiy\ It is evident from this that his acquaint-
The keys in anco witli medieval music is very slight. Several other keys
the Welsh j g j
MS.; are, however, given in the transcript of the manuscript printed
in the Myviriari Archaiology. Mr. Thomas has attempted
as given by to translate these scales into ordinary musical notation, but
Jlr. Thomas _ ...
'i"'j"tfiii- as they are printed they are unintelligible ; most of them look more like exercises than scales of keys. Two of these keys are called Irish : Y Cywair Gwyddelig dyeithr, the strange Irish key, and Y Lledv-Gyivair Givyddyl, the flat Irish key. The latter, but for one note, which may have been misplaced by the printer, would be the Irish key of G,
IKTRODUCTION. dcXXxi
if the sharp in the clef, which could not belong to any Irish key, were omitted.
Mr. Thomas thinks that the music of the Welsh manuscript ^ir. Tiiomas
„ , _ -i-^ T-. tliinks the
was written tor the Crivth, and not, as Dr. Burney thouo^ht, for '""sic of ms. the harp; and on this supposition he has deciphered the part '^'■"'"''' relating to the twenty-four measures of instrumental music iie has deci- with their chords of accompaniment, and two of the tunes, of U; Gosteg Davydd Athraw, and Gosteg yr Halen, " the prelude to the salt". The latter piece, which consists of a theme with a number of variations in the key of i^ major, is certainly not older than the seventeenth century. Nevertheless, the follow- ing note in the manuscript at the end of the piece informs us: " Here ends Gosteg yr Haleii, which used to be performed before the knights of King Arthur when the Salter was placed upon the Table". Mr. Thomas remarks on this, " Now as one part of the manuscript must be considered as authentic as another, the above composition takes us as far back as the middle of the sixth century — the time when King Arthur flourished" ! Hehethinkstiie compares the notation of the Welsh MS. with that by the let- tiiat of st.
Gregory ■
ters of the alphabet employed by St. Gregory, as described in Sir John Hawkins' History of Mime, and concludes that " it is more than probable, therefore, that the system of notation in the Welsh manuscript was brought over here by the sins^ers whom St. Gregory sent to Britain with Augustine", naively adding: " Further evidence in favour of the above supposition is afforded by the frequent recurrence in the manuscript of a purely Italian word, his, which signifies in that language to repeat; and whenever a phrase is to be repeated, this word is used ; therefore it is highly probable that it was adopted by the Welsh at the same time as the notation itself" ! Mr. Thomas does not explain how the Anglo-Saxons, to whom, and not to the Britons, St. Gregory sent Austin and ]\Iellitus, and Pope Vitalian the singers John and Theodore, have left us no account of such a notation, nor is a trace of it to be found in any documents of Anglo-Saxon times. He tells us that in the winter of 1868 he met with a little book in Florence, the Musurgia sen praxis miisiccs of Ottomarus Luscinius,'""
'"" His true name waa Othmar Nachtigall ; but in accordance with the
dcxxxli INTRODUCTION.
which contained a musical notation more closely resem- bling the Welsh one than even the supposed notation of St. Gregory ; yet, notwithstanding this suggestive fact, and the connection which is thus established with the attempts of Burney and Barthelemon to decipher the music of the Welsh manuscript, it never occurs to Mr. Thomas that the supposed ancient British notation may be only a modification of one in general use for certain instruments in the fifteenth and six- it is the tab- teenth centuries. Not a shadow of doubt can remain on the sirinr;ed in- mind of any one who compares the notation of the Welsh
stniment, -^ n i ^ ii 1T1J"T<
and is not mauuscript With any of the lute books publishca m ±< ranee
older tlian ^ •' . , . -.
the six- ^^(^^ Germany in the sixteenth century, that this supposed *"^'"J'! ancient notation is simply the tablature ol a stringed mstru-
ment. I would especially direct attention to the lute book of Hans Judenkunig,"" published at Vienna in 1523, or only thirty-five years before the accession of Elizabeth, in whose reio-n lived William Penllyn, the writer of the book from which the Welsh manuscript purports to have been copied. The mode of writing music on parallel lines, each of which represented a string of the lute, and placing on these certain letters of the alphabet and other marks indicating what note is to be struck and how, was not confined to the lute, but was used for most polychord instruments. I have already mentioned that the tablature of the Psaltery was of this kind.'"^ Sometimes the lines were altogether omitted, as in the lute-book of Hans Judenkunig ; hence I have specially referred to the latter as one in which the notation approaches very closely to that of the Welsh ]\IS., which has, as I have already said, but one line dividing the treble and bass.
habit of the time he translated Nachtigall into the Latin Lusctnius. He published his first book, Musicce In'titutiones, in 1515 under his true name : the Musurgia was printed at Strasburg in 1536.
11" This curious book has no less than four title-pages, and is written partly in German and partly in Latin. The first title is : Utilis et compen- diaria introductio, qua ut fundamento jactoque faciUime rausicum exerci- tium, instrumentum et lutinae, et quod vulgo geygen nominant, addiscitur labore, studio et impensis Johannis Judenkunig de Schbebischen Gmundt in communem omnium usum et utilitatem typis excudendum primum exhi- bitum Viennae Austrlas.
"'2 Ante, p. dxvi.
INTRODUCTION. dcxxxiii
Mr. Thomas's idea, that the music was written for the Welsh thi^ instru-
_, 1 merit may
Crwtn, and not for the harp, may be correct, but the subiect havebcei needs more thorough investigation than it has yet received. If some competent Welsh musician, having first made him- self master of the history of music from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, and having studied especially the tablatures of the lute, psaltery, and other stringed instruments in use in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, would give ns a fac- simile of the whole of the Welsh musical manuscript, accom- panied by a translation of it into modern notation, he would do much service to the history of music, and confer more honour on Wales, than by claiming for the Welsh musical notation an antiquity which the most superficial investigation shows to be without the least foundation.
During the period of the growth of polyphonous music and HngUsh mu- the rise of true harmonic music, England occupied one of the foremost positions, politically and intellectually, in Europe. She possessed great religious foundations, in which artistic music could be cultivated. Although England's position in the history of polyphonous music is very secondary, she had made considerable progress in artistic music, and was not, so far as I can make out, indebted for this progress to the immediate influence of Flemish composers. Without, how- ever, entering into this question, which is outside my present purpose, I may state that the old popular homophonous music was com- of Eno'landhad been completely transformed under the inllu- t'^nsformed ence of polyphonous music, as the popular music of France, *f®"^^„''IJ'^ Belgium, and Germany had been, long before the rise of ««it'^'''«s. Protestantism.
The developement of artistic music in England, which im- ''■seof ''ar- doubtedly took place in the fifteenth century, so far from being checked by the establishment of Protestantism, was rather promoted, the passage from polyphonous to harmonic music being rapidly effected, and a school of artistic music formed, which, in the reign of Elizabeth, held a high position. Any echoes of the old music which may have survived the absorbing action of polyphonous music, were wholly suppressed by the spread of Protestant hymnology through every nook and corner of the land.
INT. * 41*
dcxxxiv
INTRODUCriOX.
Opinion
lliat tlie
Kiiglish
liave no
national
music
erroneous.
It is sometimes said that tlie English have no national music. This is an error. They have a species of melody of their own, possessing quite as much character as any modern Welsh music, and having, as I have above stated, very much in com- mon with the latter. The really old popular airs of England are not borrowed from artistic music, any more than those of other countries. It is true they are not distinguished for the antique structure, peculiar sweetness, and beauty of melody, Avhich are so characteristic of Irish and Scotch airs ; but yet they possess a certain quaintness and simplicity which would immediately prevent us from attributing them to any other soil than that of England. Within the last century England has produced many composers whose melodies are decidedly marked by an English tone, among whom may be mentioned Dibdin and Shield. The airs of the sea songs of Dibdin are assuredly unlike those of any other country.
J.Iusical feats of the Dag- da,
represented
different
keys;
similar keys amongst tlie early Greeks.
Ksthetic ef- fects of an- cient Greek modes ;
There remains only one point upon which I shall offer a few observations before concluding: this long Introduction. Professor O'Curry has dwelt a good deal upon the musical feats of the Tuaiha De Danann king or deity, the Dagda, namely, the Suantraighe, or sleeping mode, the Gentraighe, or merry mode, and the Goltraighe, or weeping mode, because they are continually referred to in tales and in the laws, whenever the qualifications of a harper are spoken of Those feats repre- sent, as O'Curry has pointed out, three modes or keys. From the earliest times, and among every people, certain esthetic effects are attributed to the different modes or keys. The Linos, Jalemos, SkeiDhros, Threnos, and other ancient mournful airs of the Greeks, the joyous Paean, the pleasant Hymenasos, and the merry Komos, are, like the Dagdas feats, airs in dif- ferent keys of the old Greek quinquegrade scale. The different esthetic effects of the several ancient keys are curiously illus- trated by a letter of the Gothic king Theoderich, or rather of his secretary, Cassiodorus, to Boethius. The Prankish king Chlodowig, or Clovis, having become a Christian throitgh the influence of his wife Chlotilde, and being anxious to have a singer who wovild rejoice the heart with music in the Italian
IXXRODUCTION. dCXXXV
taste, with sonf^ and sound of cithara, addressed a letter to Theoderich at llavenna, asking his aid in obtaining what he wanted. Theoderich referred the matter to Boethius, the greatest avithority of the time on all branches of knowledge, in the letter above mentioned. In this letter, Cassiodorus dwells npon the advantages of music in enlivening injurious mourning, suppressing foaming rage, softening bloody savage- ness, and inciting the indolent and weary. All this, he tells us, is produced by five tones, which are called after the pro- vinces where they were discovered ; for the goodness of God, whose works are worthy of all praise, has distributed His gifts differently in different places. The Doric tone leads to modesty and chastity ; the Phrygian excites quarrels and inflames to rage ; whereas the ^olian quells the tumult of the soul, and rocks the consoled one to sleep ; the Tastic or Ionic sharpens the blunted perceptive power, and leads the earthly sense to a longing after the heavenly ; while the Lydian, on the other hand, calms the too heavy cares of the soul, and drives away vexation, and strengthens while it delights.
1113
Pious authors of the middle ag-es are fond of attributinof and of the
^^^ „.w . — .. ^. ......^..^.^.^
CImich
certain esthetic effects of a relio^ious character to the eiwht "loues. Church tones. Thus the first tone was considered to be grave and serious, and to express the spirit of prayer ; the second, to be mournful, and to express the spirit of penitence ; the third, mysterious, and to express the spirit of mystic joy; the fourth, melodious, and to express the spirit of concord and brotherly love ; the fifth, to be joyful and gladdening, and to express the spirit of triumph ; the sixth, to be partly joyful and partly sad, and to express the spirit of devotion ; the seventh, to be sublime, and to express the spirit of angelic devotion ; and the eighth, to be majestic, and to express the spirit of perfection.'"*
Legends similar to that of the musical feats of the Dagda similar lo- are to be found in many countries, such as the one related bv """"•' the
•' -^ Dng,la's
feacs in i"3 Cassiodori, Varia, Lib. II., Epist. 40. ot'u r coun
1"* The Little Gradual, by Ambrose Lisle Phillips of Grace Dieu Manor,
p. xviii. Figulus gives the following as the characteristics of the Church
modes : " primus hilaris, secundus moestus, tertius austerus, quartus blandus,
quintus jucundus, sextus mollis, septimus gravis, octavus modestus".
dcXXXvi INTRODUCTION.
the Ressai Akhuan el Safa, of the celebrated Arabian, called from his birthplace Alfarabi,'"* who lived in the first half of the tenth century. Going to the house of the vizier Ismail Sahib as a ragged beggar, Alfarabi performed the three feats of the Dagda on the instrument called the Kashbad. His hearers, we are told, were first excited to unrestrained joyousness, then sunk into deep melancholy, and finally plunged into a deep sleep. An analogous legend to that of the Cruit obeying the call of the Dagda^^^^ is also to be found among the Arabs. According to this legend, the lute inclined itself to the celebrated musician Abdul Kadir in token of his great skill. Musical feats The musical feats of the great Norse harper named Bose, harper ySose. whosc cxploits form the subjcct of the Saga of Herraud and Bose, belong to the same category of legends. We are told that Bose could give on his harp the Gijarslagr, or stroke of the sea-gods, which produced mermaids' music, requiring a soft, tender execution, like the Irish Suaniraiglie ; lh.Q Di'amhu- slagr, or proud or haughtj'- stroke, producing a sort of very expressive Andante, in a key jDrobably corresponding to the modern major mode; the JRammrslagr, or strong stroke, corresponding to the Irish Gentraighe, or a very lively A llegro. There was also a special slow, solemn mode, the Hjeranda hliod, or battle music, corresponding to the Irish Dord Fiansa.
"IS Or according to his full name : Ebu Nassr Mohammed Ben Tarchan cl-Farabi. "IS Lecture xxx., vol. i., p 214.
ADDENDA.
Scpulcliial and other Monnmeuts referred to in the note 568,
p. cccxxix.
The following monuments are mentioned in the " Tale of the First Battle of Macjh Tuired'', as existing on the plain of Magh Tuired when tlie account of the battle was written.
Kaths. Ralh Cro Phorta, the royal Rath of the Firbolgs.
Rath Fearainn, the royal Rath of the Tuatha De Danann. Ferts. Fert Cairbre, the Fert of Cairbre son of Dian, who was buried near
his comrades the sons of Buan. Dumas. Duma mic Gainn, the tumulus or mound of the four sons of Gann. Duma na n-Druadh, the tumulus or mound of the Druids, where the
three Druids sons of Orrdan were buried. Duma Slainge, the tumulus or mound of Slainge son of Eochad Mac- Erc, king of the Firbolgs. TuLACHS. Tulach an Triuir, the hillock of the three men, where the three men who attacked the Flrbolg king, Eochad MacErc, and who were killed by the one man, were buried. Cairte. Cairte Faithaig, i.e. the pillar stone of Fathach, the poet of the Firbolgs. Cairte Aidlo, the pillar stone of Aidleo.
Cairtedhe Catha Thuatha D4 Danann, the pillar stones of battle of the Tuatha De Danann: these were the pillar stones fixed upright in the ground by the Tuatha D^ Danann to mark the line of battle, and to prevent their people from taking to flight. Seacht Cairte dec mic Caelchir, the seventeen pillar stones of the two sons of Caelchir and other warriors. LiA. Lia Neimid, the stone of Nemid.
Lia Lugaid, the stone of Lugad son of Nuadad. Leaca. Leaca Mic Slainge, the flags (or pillar stones) of the four sons of Slainge. Leaca Mic Buain, the stones of the four sons of Buan. Lechts or Leachts. Leacht (no Cam) Lamh Nuadad, the monument
(or Cam) of Nuada's hand. Carns. Carn an chluiche, i.e. the Cam of the game, from the game of hurling contested between the Firbolgs and Tuatha D( Dananns. This Cam
dcxxxviii addenda.
was raised to commemorate the hurlers who were slain on the spot. The place itself where they were buried was called Ghann Moaillem. The three Cams, one of which was raised by the Firbolgs over the heads
of their fallen companions after each day's battle. Cam an aonfhir, the Cam of the one man, i.e. the Cam raised over the
one man who saved the Firbolg king. Cai-n cin Cirb, the Cairn of the head of Cirb. The mention of the Royal Raths of the Firbolgs and Tuatha De Danann gives us another example of entrenched or pallisaded encampments such as those referred to at p. cccv.
Sepulchral and other Monuments mentioned in the Dindsenchas of
the Fair of Tailtd.
Raths. Rath Airthir, the eastern Rath. Rath Jarthar, the western Rath. Rath Lidng, the Rath of Loig. Rath Lort, the Rath of Lort. Rath Luirc, the Rath of Litre. Rath Chon, the Rath of Con. Rath Genand, the Rath of Genand. Rath Sitkaig, the Rath of Sithach.
Ferts. Fert oen dorais, a Fert of one door for men of science. A Fert with two doors for women. Ferts without doors, without Trena {i.e. with- out days of celebration) for boys and for maidens. (Passage quoted, p. cccxxxi, note 573).
Caihti. Cairti mark the graves of widows (widowers), to maintain their appropriate part of the cemetery. Such a monument is called an Aisneis di Cairtib, a testimony by pillar stones. (See p. cccxxxi, n. 673). Cairte Colmain, the pillar stone of Colman.
Cnocs. Cnocs, hills on distinguished foreigners.
Imscing. Righ Imscing, the kingly diadem-shaped mound of the noble Mo- monians on the north of the king of Teamar.
FOKUDS* or FoRADS. Forud Fer Olnegmacht, the Forud of the men of Olnegmacht or Connaught.
MuRS. These monuments are described as " ramparts upon such as die of great plagues" (quoted, p. cccxxxii). Mur Tailten, the Mm of Taiitiu.
Mur Eochaidh Gairbh, the Mur of Eochad Garbh, in which vast numbers of other dead persons were buried. " Upon the Mur of Eochad of chiselled stones, were the twenty Farads of the kings of Teamar". Upon the Mur of his wife were the twenty Forads of their queens.
Cloohur. Clochur (stone-beds) around the sleeping place of Fland.
LiA. Lia Loip, the stone of Lop. Lia Gair, the stone of Gar. Lia Lobur, the stone of Lobar or the Leper. Lia Clamh, the stone of the emaciated leper behind the Forud.
Carns. Cam ConaiU, the Cam of Conall. The poem from which this list is taken begins on folio 258, a.b. of the
Book of Lecan.
• Forud or Forad was the place where a king assembled with his Sabaid or council and his Sam or retinue, at the Aenaehs (fairs), Tocomrachs, Feis, or Feasts and other i)lace8 of public assembly. The seat of the king was on the top of the mound, which, as is evident from this poem, was a mound erected over the dead, and surrounded by a rampart Cf. Fonts the residence of a magistrate, and the Latin Forum.
ADDENDA. (IcXXxlx
Sepulchral and other Monuments naentioned in the Dindsenchas
of Brugh na Boine.
Caisels. Caisel Aengusa, the Caisel of Aengus son of Crundmael.
Dumas. Duma na Cna, the mound of the bones. Duma Tresca, the mound
of Tresc. Ferts. Fert m-Boine, the Fert of Boincl Fert Esclam, the Fert of Esclam
the Dagdds judge, called Fert Patraig, Patrick's Fert to-day, Fert
Fedelmid Rei hlmer, the Fert of Fedelmid, the law-giver. Fert Aedha
Lturgnig, the Fert of Aedh Lurgnech. Deros. Dercc m-Buailcc m-Bic, the Fert of Biiailcc Bee (the small). Longs. Long Inghine Forann, a ship-house or abode of the daughter of
Foraim. FoLUCHS. Foluck Fiacha Sraipthine, the pit of Fiacka Sraipthine. Imjidai. Immdai in Dagdai, the bed of the Dagda. Carcars. Carcair Leiih Madia, the prison of the Lialh Macha, or celebrated
gray horse of Cuchulaind. CuMOTS. Cuniot Cairpri Lifechair, the Cuniotoi Cairpie Lifechair. , Barcs. Bare Crimthain, the barque-shaped grave of Crimihan. Lechts or Leachts. Leackt in Dagdai, the Leacht of the Dagda. Leaclit
an Matae, the Leaclit of the Mata or monster ; there was also a glen called
Glenn on Matae. Leacht Cellaig mie Mailchoba, the Leacht of Cellach, son
of Maelchoba. Leacht Gabru Cinaoda mic Lrgalaig, theLeachtoi the steed
of Cinaed son of Irgalach. MuRS. Mur na Mor Rigna, the Miir of the Mdr Rigu. Lecca. Lecc B>^nn, the flag of Benn, that is, the L?acht upon which the
monster was killed. This monster is said to have had one hundred and
forty legs, and four heads. LiA. Liug Bnide mic Muireda, the flag of Muired, where his head is. Carks. Cam ail Cuind Get Cathaig, the rock Carn of Conn of the Hundr>?d
Battles. Accidental Names. Da Chick na Mdr Rigna, the two paps of the Mdr
Rigu. Cirr (comb) and Cirril (casket), the names of two wives of the Dagda, were
also given to the two mounds upon their graves.
MS. R LA. Book of Ballymote, fol. 190, a.b. See also Petrie's Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, pp. 100-lOL
Passage from the account of the Second Battle of Magh Tuired^ referred to in note 569, p. eccxxix.
" The Dagda went then to the camp of the Fomorians, and he demanded a truce of battle from them ; what he asked was granted. The Fomorians made stirabout for him : it was in order to mock him they did so, for he had a great liking for stirabout. They filled the king's Caire cuic dorn (five- fist cauldron) for him, which was capable of holding four score Seisrtchs of new milk and an equal quantity of meal and of Deoil (lard) ; and they put goats and sheep and pigs into it, and boiled them with it. They then spilled it all into a Derc
dcxl ADDKNDA.
talman (a hole or'pit in the ground) ; they told him they would kill him un- less he eat the whole of it, because they desired that he should not describe the Fomorians as being stingy, and sojhey wished that he should eat enough. He then took hts Leige (ladle), and it was so large that a couple would fit lying down in the middle of that ladle. And here is what was in it : thick stirabout, having one-fourth of Blonoc (lard) in it. Then the Dagda said : ' I have plenty here indeed if it be sufficiently boiled. Does it taste well?' As he put his ladle full into his mouth he used Jsay ' Its sweetness does not exceed the sweetness of the river'. However he rubbed his five fingers on the bottom of the Derc, [on] both earth and gravel. He then fell asleep after having eaten the stirabout. His belly was bigger upon him than a Seabed Tige (a household pot), and the Fomorians laughed at him. He then went away from them with difficulty [to Tracht Ebe'\. It was not easy for him to go on account of the bigness of his belly. His condition was distressing. He had Cochlini gobach (bill pointed little Cochalls) on his two elbows ; an Inar aodhar (a dun coloured Inar^ on him, which extended to fop a thona (the lower jjart of his rump). A Gabul gicca rothach feidhni ochtair (a wheeled eight-pronged military fork) after him, so that his track behind him would suffice for a Cladh coicric/ie (a territorial boundary). He had two Broga croicne capuil (horse- skin shoes), with the hairy side out. As he was going in this manner, he saw the beautiful maiden coming towards him ; she was comely, ringlet-haired, and buoyant*'. — MS., British Museum, Harhian, 5280. This passage is valuable in many ways, besides that of showing what the general meaning of Derc is. For instance, it establishes the length of the Inar. It also makes us acquainted with a novel kind of Military Fork. From the description it would appear that tlie fork had a wheel supporting one end of it on the ground, so that it could be drawn along by the warrior, without his having to support the whole weight. This implies that it was large and heavy, rather an engine than a weapon of war. The term /e/c?//; ocA^air; literally means eight-power, that is, having the power of eight spears, or being eight-pronged.
Passage from the Poem in the Dinnsenchas on the Fair of Tailte, mentioning what appears to be human sacrifice, referred to in note 581, p. cccxxxv.
Ha ceo]Ad ^oLa -pLbci, —
Ho p^\1t)CA1]' PaTI^AAIC ItTOd —
■OAm cumj, ociif 50m bo m-bbicc, ■Loifci'o''Lei]- -pof ni [n^] p]\iniicc.
PA'DjAAl^ pi\1'OCA1f cotiit) b|\eAch llAc jebA-o -pc nee •00 nech, Cen be]' UAiLbcm cAn cpAcliA, 5e mAHM-Q A pjMi-n]A«icA.
AcpenAib UAiblcin, Am cei]Ac Uo p]\uf A 'oo niAc eipc
ADDENDA. (Icxli
1lA reo]\A pL..\5A "oo l)i\oic1i A li-Open, cej\ bAnAichniT).
-A m-JiAlt cep-oA bepuAi AtiiAcli, "bATJUg riA bAjvcA b]\e3nu\c — tnAi\c'LA niAC AexiA sIaiig •Oo IIIAC eipc — nii\ b' imiiAiiM.*
Tlie three forbidden bloods, —
Patrick preached therein (i.e. tlie fair) —
Yoke oxen, and slaying milch cows,
Also by him [against the] burning of the first born.
Patrick preached that it was the law That he should not get peace who should do [thenij, As long as Tailie shall be without time of prayer, Though her primitire raths may survive.
During the Trtna] of Tailt^, at sunrise I twice invoked Mac Ere The three plagues to remove From Eriu, though it be a woman's command.
Their Giall CerdasX were brought out ;
The drowning of the bonds of the violated treaties —
Iir.molating the eon of Atdh Slane
To Mac Ere — it was not a cause of shame.
Description of the Eoyal House of CruacJian, referred to at
p. cccxlviii.
When Fraech and his companions appeared before the Dun of Cruachan, they Avere welcomed by the herald of Ailill&ndi Medb. " They went into the Less. One-fourth of the house was assigned to them. This was the arrange- ment of the house, i.e. seven compartments in it : seven couches from the fire to the wall in the house all round. A front of Creduma on every couch ; facings of red yew with moulded ornamentations upon them all. Three SteiUs of Creduma in the front of every couch. Seven strips of Creduma from the concave [roof of the couch] to the roof of the house. The house was made of Giuis, and was covered with shingles on the outside. There were sixteen •windows to the house, and doors [shutters] of bronze upon each of them. A yoke of bronze across the Forks. Four pillars of bronze on the couch of .4t7i7Zand Medb, and ornamentations of bronze upon them all ; and it [«,*>. the couch] was in the real centre of the house. Two facings [railings] of silver embellished with gold around it, A silver wand in front capable of reaching to the centre of the Less of the house. They went round the house from one door to the other. They arranged their valour arms in that house, and they eat down and they were bidden welcome". Further on we are told that
•Vellum MS. E.I.A., Booioflecan, t. 238, a.b., and Book of BaUymote, i. 225, b.a. t The Trena of TaiUe were the tlirec days devoted to the celebration or Ouba of Tailie. t Oiall Cerda were tlic hostages given for the fulfilment of treaties and other inter- itorial contracts and laws.
INT. 42*
Cxlil ADDENDA.
Fraech was called out into the Tech n- imacalme " or conversation house." This appears to have been either a distinct house or one of the other quadrants perhaps set apart for the special use of the royal family, or a place correspond- ing to tlie Quinnahenhr or woman's bank of Norse houses. Vellum MS. T.C.D., class H. 2.18 {Book of Leinster), f. 183 etseg,
Passage from the lomram Coraigh TJa Corra. The wandering of the Curach or Boat of the Sons of Ua Corra, showing that the Briighfer had the -privilege of malting and brewing. See p. ccclxxvi.
"A prosperous Flath Brugh cetach lived one time in the beautiful fair kingdom of Connaught, i.e. Conall Dearg Ua Carra Finn. This was the condition of that Brugad, i.e. he was a prosperous rich man of great wealth, and his house was never found without the three cheers being in it, namely, the cheer of the strainers straining Linn (ale) ; the cheer of the Athachs (properly tenants, but put here for such of them as performed household service) over the Caires (caldrons) cooking for the hosts ; and the cheer of the young men (warriors) over the chess board winning games on each other. Nor was his house found witliout the three Miachs (sacks), namely, a Miach of Brath (malt) to supply the wayfarers ; a Miach of Cndtnecht (wheat) for the Biatad (food-ration) of guests ; and a Miach of salt to improve the taste of all kinds of food".— Vellum MS. E.I. A., Book ofFermoy, f. 105.
The Brugh is here designated a Flath, but it is only by courtesy that tho story-teller gives him this title, which the laws never give. The higher class of Briighs, Eoyal Brvghs, may have been Flalhs by birth, but M^ere not so in virtue of their office, though sometimes complimented with tlietitle of Flath Brugh or lordly Brugh.
Passage from the lomram Coraigh Ua Corra. The "Wandering of the Curach or Boat of the Sons of Da Corra, illustrative of the mode of wearing the Lena, the /?mr, and the Brat.
'•They saw after that another beautiful bright island, and a Sonnach Umaide (p.aling of bronze) around it, and a bronze net spread on its teeth outside, 'ihey left their Curach on the strand of the sea, and went to visit a Bun which was in the island. When they heard the music and the sound of the wind against the net, a heavy sleep and a deep slumber fell upon them during three days and three nights. They awoke then from their sleep, and saw a woman coming towards tbera out of the Lis, and she bade them welcome. She. wore Ba mael Assai (two pointless) shoes of Findruine upon her ; a Lena of yellow silk upon her smooth white skin ; * a beautiful golden Inar over that beautiful Lena; a beautiful coloured five-folding Brat over that [i.e. the Jnar'] ; and a gold chased Delg (pin) in that Brat over her bosom. A Cilurti Umaide (bronze pitcher) in one of her hands ; a pure white silver Fscra (a drinking vessel) ; in the other hand. She gave them food which seemed to them to be like Maothal. She gave them the water of the well which was in the strand with the Escra ; and there was no good taste that they did not find
»Thepassage leine 'oon c-poT)& Ijui-oe l\c j;|MAn A 51L cnif means literally « a Lena of yellow silk upon the sun of her white skin," that is, her skin was so beautiful that it slione like a sun.
ADDENDA. dcxliii
on it. Then the woman said 'Go ye now, for it is not here your resurrection is to be, though vre are both of the same race' ",— Vellum MS. R.LA., Book if Fermoy, f. 107, a.b.
Additional references to Corciir., purple, and Rial ox liod/i, madder.
In a Turin manuscript of the beginning of the ninth century, consisting of a commentary on the Gospel of St. Mark with a number of interlinear Irish glosses, which has been edited with great ability by tlie Cavalicre Con- stantino Nigra tliere is a gloss to which my attention Avas drawn by Mr. W. M. Ilennessy, which not only proves the use of purple in Ireland in the eiglith and ninth centuries, but establishes the statemeni I have made at p. cceci, that a red or purple dyestuff was made from lichens long anterior to the date assigned to the discovery of Archil and Cudbear.
The words of the Latin text are : " porpora induitur id est gentili ecclesia quae de scopolis collecta est maris", which is tiiuc clossed : .1. donaib cair- cib .1. ar is di ius bis forsnaib caircib dognither tnchorci,r buicle. (Glossa Hibernicce Veteres Codicis Taurinensis, edit. Constantinus Nigra,~pp. 14-1,t ) This gloss would be in English, " i.e. from the rocks, i.e. because it is from a plant which is found on rockg the Corcur buicle [lustrous (?) purple] is made".
Corcur, and Rud or Rodh, are mentioned in the following passage from the Brelion Laws as dues of kings : —
" What is it that you are entitled to, and that you do not pay in lieu of crimes? Answer. You are entitled to a Cumal for your Beanchara (female friend), i.e. the worth of a Scrapaloi Corcur or of Rodh every year for a king ; it is a Rigk Tuatha and his co-grades who are entitled to this Cum/ial. A seventh part of his Enecland to [a member of] every grade, however higher or lower than the septegrades they may be, and it is in their own territories injuries are done to them. And if it be in another territory it is one-half their Enecland they are entitled to. If it be a violation while they are under the Faesavi of a person, he [i'.e. the latter] is entitled to full Enecland for them." MS. Brit. Mus. Egerton 88, f. 54, b. ; BreJwn Law Transcripts, 0' Curry, 26-37.
In the following stanza from a poem on Duhhh Ghilla, the shield of Aedh, king of Olrghiall, the colour of the berries of the yew tree is called Corcur.
This seems to show that the colour was crimson. '< The weakened wood— the butt of the tree, The shield that hath the colour of the wood in the tree's breast, Though Corcur the berries of the tree, More beautiful still is the wood on which they grew."
—MS. n. 3. 18. T.C.D. p. 6G0.
Corcwr- coloured flowers are often mentioned in Irish MSS., as in tha fol- lowing passage from the " lomram Coraigh Ua Corra," or "Wandering of the C uracil or boat of the sons of Ua Corra : —
" They rowed forward after that, and they saw another island and one clerical youth in it. That island was beautiful, and noble was its appear- ance. There were beautiful crimson-headed (^ceann-corcra) flowers in it, and they were shedding honey in abundance from them." — Vellum MS., R.I.A., BookofFermoy,t. lOS. See also Corcair maige, "crimson of the plain," vol. ii. p. 191, n. 276.
dcxliv
ADDENDA.
Note on the Autiphonary of Bangor, referred to at end of note 11C4, p. dcxxv, and proving the early knowledge of the Church chants in Ireland.
In speaking of the knowledge possessed by the early Christian Irish of the artistic music of the Church, I inadvertently forgot to mention the practice of chanting the psalms in antiphony in the monastery of Bangor in the county of Down. An antiphonary, said to have belonged to this monastery, was preserved at Bobbio, having been probably carried thither by St. Coluni- banus. Gerbert, speaking of the conversion of the Germans, says, as quoted by Dr. Ferguson (Essay on the Antiquity of the Harp and]B:igpipe, in Bunting's Ancient Music of Ireland, Ed. 1840, p. 52) : " To this epoch wo may refer the antiphonary of the monastery of Bangor, Avhence St. Coluni- banus coming forth with St. Abbo, his companion, not only imbued our Germany Avith the light of Liie Christian faith, but also Avith the principles of ascetic living." .... " Doubtless, the first rule for arranging eccle- sia-'-tioa! s'. >'ices among us, as made up of psalms, canticles, hymns, collects, and antiphonies, was hence derived." — De Cantu et Musica Sacra, vol. i. p. 16i-lG5.
The chanting of the Irish is also said to be spoken of in a work entitled De Ciirsman Ecclesiasiicoriimoriff inelDeEcclesiasticorum OfHciorumorigine], which is mentioned by Usher (Primord. 342) and by Mabillon {De Lilurq. Gal., 384), and which was first noticed, I believe, by Spelman. In this work we are told that, " St. Jerome affirms that the same service (cursum) which is performed at the present time [supposed to be the ninth or tenth century] by the Scots was chaunted likewise by St. Mark. Patrick, when placed by Lupus and Germanus as Archbishop over the Scots and Britons, chaunted the same service ; and after liim, St. Wandilochus Senex, and St. Comogill, who had about three thousand in their monastery (chaunted it also). St. "Wandilochus being thence sent forth as a preacher by St. Comogill as also St. Columbanus, they arrived at Louvaine in Gaul, and there they chaunted the same service, and thence the fame of their sanctity was spread over the earth etc. ; and thus that (service) which St. Mark the Evangelist had once chaunted, was revived again under the blessed Columbanus."
Dr. Ferguson, from whose essay the foregoing passage is quoted, thinks that it was from Bangor that the Northumbrians drew the knowledge of part singing described by Giraldus Cambrensis. This opinion derives some support from the fact that St. Colman, the apostle of that district, was a monk of Bangor.
Possibly the chanting of psalms, antiphonies, etc, which St. Aldhclm speaks of, in the church built by the Princess Bugge at Glastonbury, was introduced by the Irish monks, and that the Church nmsic was introduced into Ireland from Gaul as early as the fifth century, or at all events in the sixth century.
END OF VOLUME I.
^<i-i
'I
John F. Fowler, 3 Crow Street, Dame Street, Dublin.
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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
DA 930
038 v.l
0' Curry, Eugene
On the manners and customs of the ancient Irish
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