page_title: Gaelic Ireland
section_title: Social and political structure
hierarchical_section_title: Gaelic Ireland / Culture and society / Social and political structure
caption_attribution_description: A plate originally from The Image of Irelande, by John Derrick, published in 1581. This image was taken from this Edinburgh University Library website - [1], with the description - "The most famous plate of the set shows the chief of the Mac Sweynes seated at dinner and being entertained by a bard and a harper".
context_page_description: Gaelic Ireland was the Gaelic political and social order, and associated culture, that existed in Ireland from the prehistoric era until the early 17th century. Before the Norman invasion of 1169, Gaelic Ireland comprised the whole island. Thereafter, it comprised that part of the country not under foreign dominion at a given time. For most of its history, Gaelic Ireland was a "patchwork" hierarchy of territories ruled by a hierarchy of kings or chiefs, who were elected through tanistry. Warfare between these territories was common. Occasionally, a powerful ruler was acknowledged as High King of Ireland. Society was made up of clans and, like the rest of Europe, was structured hierarchically according to class. Throughout this period, the economy was mainly pastoral and money was generally not used. A Gaelic Irish style of dress, music, dance, sport, architecture, and art can be identified, with Irish art later merging with Anglo-Saxon styles to create Insular art.
  Gaelic Ireland was initially pagan and had an oral culture. Inscription in the ogham alphabet began in the protohistoric period, perhaps as early as the 1st century.
context_section_description: In Gaelic Ireland each person belonged to an agnatic kin-group known as a fine (plural: finte). This was a large group of related people supposedly descended from one progenitor through male forebears. It was headed by a man whose office was known in Old Irish as a cenn fine or toísech (plural: toísig). Nicholls suggests that they would be better thought of as akin to the modern-day corporation. Within each fine, the family descended from a common great grandparent was called a derbfine (modern form dearbhfhine), lit. "close clan". The cland (modern form clann) referred to the children of the nuclear family.
  Succession to the kingship was through tanistry. When a man became king, a relative was elected to be his deputy or 'tanist' (Irish: tánaiste, plural tanaistí). When the king died, his tanist would automatically succeed him. The tanist had to share the same derbfine and he was elected by other members of the derbfine. Tanistry meant that the kingship usually went to whichever relative was deemed to be the most fitting. Sometimes there would be more than one tanist at a time and they would succeed each other in order of seniority. Some Anglo-Norman lordships later adopted tanistry from the Irish.
  Gaelic Ireland was divided into a hierarchy of territories ruled by a hierarchy of kings of chiefs. The smallest territory was the túath (plural: túatha), which was typically the territory of a single kin-group. It was ruled by a rí túaithe (king of a túath) or toísech túaithe (leader of a túath). Several túatha formed a mór túath (overkingdom), which was ruled by a rí mór túath or ruirí (overking). Several mór túatha formed a cóiced (province), which was ruled by a rí cóicid or rí ruirech (provincial king). In the early Middle Ages the túatha was the main political unit, but over time they were subsumed into bigger conglomerate territories and became much less important politically.
  Gaelic society was structured hierarchically, with those further up the hierarchy generally having more privileges, wealth and power than those further down.
  The top social layer was the sóernemed, which included kings, tanists, ceann finte, fili, clerics, and their immediate families. The roles of a fili included reciting traditional lore, eulogizing the king and satirizing injustices within the kingdom. Before the Christianization of Ireland, this group also included the druids (druí) and vates (fáith).
  Below that were the dóernemed, which included professionals such as jurists (brithem), physicians, skilled craftsmen, skilled musicians, scholars, and so on. A master in a particular profession was known as an ollam (modern spelling: ollamh). The various professions—including law, poetry, medicine, history and genealogy—were associated with particular families and the positions became hereditary. Since the poets, jurists and doctors depended on the patronage of the ruling families, the end of the Gaelic order brought their demise.
  Below that were freemen who owned land and cattle (for example the bóaire).
  Below that were freemen who did not own land or cattle, or who owned very little.
  Below that were the unfree, which included serfs and slaves. Slaves were typically criminals (debt slaves) or prisoners of war. Slavery and serfdom was inherited, though slavery in Ireland had died out by 1200.
  The warrior bands known as fianna generally lived apart from society. A fian was typically composed of young men who had not yet come into their inheritance of land. A member of a fian was called a fénnid and the leader of a fian was a rígfénnid. Geoffrey Keating, in his 17th-century History of Ireland, says that during the winter the fianna were quartered and fed by the nobility, during which time they would keep order on their behalf. But during the summer, from Bealtaine to Samhain, they were beholden to live by hunting for food and for hides to sell.
  Although distinct, these ranks were not utterly exclusive castes like those of India. It was possible to rise or sink from one rank to another. Rising upward could be achieved a number of ways, such as by g
caption: A scene from The Image of Irelande (1581) showing a chieftain at a feast being entertained by a fili and a harper
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