HISTORY OF LAND TENURE IN IRELAND
Celtic Ireland
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Waves of warrior Celts apparently descended on the island between 1,000
and 100 BC. The bronze weapons and superior magic of the existing
population proved no match to the Celt's iron weapons and warrior skills.
The Celts conquered the land and imposed Celtic language and culture. The last band of
Celts to conquer the country were known in folk memory as the Milesians.
The many defensive structures of this period, (homesteads being encircled
by defensive walls or mounds), bear evidence of the violence of the times.
The Brehon Laws that resulted from this
conquest,and extended uniformly over the whole island, were probably a
fusion between ideas brought in by the Celts and the traditions of
the indigenous people.
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According to the oral tradition, as captured
in medieval texts, the Celtic invasions resulted in a two-tier
society, consisting of the the subjugated people, on the one hand, and
the Milesians, the governing class, on the other. Only the Milesians could
be kings. Cormac Mac Airt, who was High King of Ireland around 300
A.D., induced the Brehons, (judges and law-makers), to abolish
the distinction between the races, and thenceforth the ancient
racial distinctions were replaced by a single Irish nationality.
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Celtic Ireland was divided into some 150 divisions, called
Tuatha, (pronounce Too-ah, singular, and Too-aha, plural) each governed by
a king. The population of ancient, Celtic Ireland is speculated as being about half a million, or an average of 3,000 persons per Tuath. Some of these kings governed several Tuatha. The local kings paid tribute to a regional king or provincial king, who, in turn, often paid tribute to the High King.
The High King did not actually rule the country, except in the sense of exacting tributes from the provincial and/or regional kings and presiding over national gatherings called feis (pronounce fesh) or oenach (pronounce Ay-nock). Instead of centralised government, power was dispersed between the provincial kings, the regional kings and the local kings, and the game of politics was constantly played between them.
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Society was hierarchically structured with the privileged ranks of King, Poet and Druid, (later Cleric), at the top, dependent-privileged professionals of brehon (judge), physician, blacksmith, coppersmith, harpist, carpenter, and other craftsmen next, and below them strong farmer, small farmer, base-client farmer, (one who is advanced land and cattle by his lord), tenants at will (semi-free), hereditary serf, and slave or bond-servant. It was, however, possible to rise through the ranks by exercise of competence, good business dealing or politicking, or to fall from rank through incompetence.
Assemblies of free men, that is all ranks above base-client, were often held to advise the king and discuss affairs of the Tuath.
As time passed, power shifted from the local kingdoms to the regional or provincial kingdoms, which became powerful dynastic families. There was no standing army, (except, according to legend, for a brief period around the time of Cormac Mac Airt), or police force, although strife between competing kingdoms was quite common. The unifying features of the nation were the common culture and the Brehon Laws.
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