#Brehon Laws

[stairnaheireann]

How Young Cormac Mac Airt was Recognised as King

In ancient times, the people of Ireland were internationally renowned for their love of law and their intricate justice system. Law was the articulation of fairness and the embodiment of justice, the application of the law to real scenarios was seen as a manifestation of justice in action, an affirmation of the natural harmonising order of the cosmos. It was Sir John Davies, an Englishman who was…

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#Brehon Laws #Co Meath #Cormac Mac Airt #High King #Lugaid mac Con #P. W. Joyce #The Hill of Tara #The Judgement of Cormac

[maevefinnartist]

"Needless to say, they [na Féineachas, the Brehon Laws] were not written in a foreign tongue. No foreign mind conceived them. No foreign hand enforced them. They were made by those who, one would think, ought to make them: the Irish. They were made for the benefit of those for whose benefit they ought to have been made: the Irish. Hence they were good; if not perfect in the abstract, yet good in the sense that they were obeyed and regarded as priceless treasures, not submitted to as an irksome yoke."

Laurence Ginnell, "The Brehon Laws: A Legal Handbook", 1894

#brehon laws

[irelandseyeonmythology]

So I’ve been getting more into broader brehon law, not just marriage law, and is it true they had laws about how many different colors you could wear? I can’t find any sources about it but maybe I’m just not looking hard enough

That comes from one kind of famous (ish?) passage from the Annals, that reads as follows (from the O'Donovan translation):

Do I think it was something people followed? ...probably not, honestly. We don't see much reference to it elsewhere. Not to say there were NO restrictions, but it's to say that I think it's often taken 100% uncritically and you'd think we'd see more reference to it elsewhere, in the actual lawbooks, if that was the case. (Though, naturally, some of it's practical, in the sense that...would a slave be able to have more than one color? Being a slave? Very likely not.) It's the issue with all sumptuary laws, which is "to what extent were these things widely being used?"

To quote from Sparky Booker's "Moustaches, Mantles, and Saffron Shirts: What Motivated Sumptuary Law in Medieval English Ireland?": "In terms of implementation, the success of enforcement of sumptuary laws varied.11 Indeed, historians disagree about whether these laws were intended to be enforced fully, or whether they were 'primarily symbolic,' a method of 'affirm[ing] values' and even actively shaping the social world by enshrining socio-economic divisions in law."

We know that medieval Ireland had a number of colors associated with the aristocracy: purple (like with the rest of Europe) seems to be common, white, red, like in this description from the Táin (Recension 1, O'Rahilly's translation): "He held a light sharp spear which shimmered. He was wrapped in a purple, fringed mantle, with a silver brooch in the mantle over his breast. He wore a white hooded tunic with red insertion and carried outside his garments a golden-hilted sword."

Likewise, the famous description of Etáin in Togail Bruidne Da Derga (Stokes' translation):

"A mantle she had, curly and purple, a beautiful cloak, and in the mantle silvery fringes arranged, and a brooch of fairest gold. A kirtle she wore, long, hooded, hard-smooth, of green silk, with red embroidery of gold. Marvellous clasps of gold and silver in the kirtle on her breasts and her shoulders and spaulds on every side. The sun kept shining upon her, so that the glistening of the gold against the sun from the green silk was manifest to men."

For more on this, see Niamh Whitfield, "Aristocratic Display in Early Medieval Ireland in Fiction and in Fact: The Dazzling White Tunic and Purple Cloak", which she's generously put on Academia.

After the English colonization of Ireland, you have new sumptuary laws being put into place -- Booker discusses the earliest case we have, from 1297, when a hairstyle known as the "cúlán" was banned for Englishmen, with the enactment complaining that the Englishmen were taking it up to such an extent that they were getting killed after being mistaken for Irishmen. (I feel like there is a solution to this that does not involve banning the hairstyle, let me think...)

You had similar fines being imposed on saffron sleeves or kerchiefs for women, or wearing a mantle in general for men, as of 1466 in Dublin -- these aren't as a matter of maintaining social class so much as preserving a distinction between the English and the Irish (what's interesting, of course, is that the English had to have been adopting these fashions to some extent for the law to be needed.) And we see them routinely going back to this aversion towards saffron colors, since it was associated extensively with Ireland and Irishness, and a particularly high value one at that.

So: Eochaidh Eadghaghach -- that section in the annals provides the quote that says that this is a thing that happened -- I leave it to you to decide whether it was ever practiced or even in place in the first place. I think it might have, if only as a societal ideal, but I'm incredibly doubtful. We know that colors often ARE used as a way of marking social standing in the literature, but I don't think it was as regimented as that quote suggests. Sumptuary laws ARE better recorded in a post-Norman invasion context, usually (though not ALWAYS) as a means of marking out the Irish from the English populations (even though we know, both from this and other evidence, that these lines weren't always as firm as the authorities might have liked.)

I know that Kelly also goes into a lot of details re: colors and dyes in his "Early Irish Farming" -- if you're looking to get into the world of day to day life in Ireland, there isn't a better source.

#brehon law #sumptuary law

[gohard-or-gohomo]

Why has my planning for a fun lesbian detective story turned into researching brehon law. WHAT IS HAPPENING!!!!

#oh. but why would a small detective agency be solving a murder instead of the police. i dont want to write about a cop #oh! the police were an english invention! what if i just did ireland where the english never invaded! #obviously i know WHY #so. #its going to be set in modern day ireland #and i was going #and then i was like #but this now means i have to figure out the possible structure of an ireland that was never colonised by the english #that is also similar enough to real modern ireland #but the base of our law is the british law system and if we were never conquered it makes no sense #so instead i have to go back to the most recent non-colonised law system we had #which was brehon law! #currently the plan is england and ireland were close trade partners or something #which is why its in english mostly and not entirely irish 😅😅 #sadly my irish isnt good enough to write a whole screenplay as gaielge. maybe one day though!

[cincinnatusvirtue]

Isabel de Clare 4th Countess of Pembroke (1172-1220 AD).  Anglo-Irish women of the nobility in profile...

Isabel de Clare’s life is largely known in detail for her proximity to people in her life during the late 12th & early 13th centuries of Medieval England.  Her parents and ancestors were of noble & royal extraction.  Her husband rose through the ranks from son of a relatively minor noble to being the man regarded as the best knight and most trustworthy nobleman in all of the Angevin Empire and a powerful statesman who ruled in England in all but name for a brief period.  In death he was lionized as the “greatest knight who had lived” and their children would either become nobles & warriors in 13th century England themselves or marry into other noble families of note.

All of this overlooks just how important, strong and capable Isabel was of her own merit.  Something her husband and indeed Anglo-Norman law at the time recognized.  Despite its male dominance, there were women capable of being major power players in the ranks of nobility & royalty and Isabel played a contribution to that.  Her life offers us a unique glimpse into a noble woman’s life during the High Middle Ages in Western Europe.

Royal Roots, Birth & Early Life: 

-Isabel de Clare was born circa 1172 AD, somewhere in Leinster (southeastern), Ireland.  From the start she was a symbolic & physical bridge between two cultures.  She was the result of a political but dutiful marriage, and her physical being would be of crucial importance in later years.

-Her father was Richard FitzGilbert, also known as Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (1130-1176).  Richard would be best known to history by his nickname Strongbow.  He was an Anglo-Norman nobleman of the De Clare family.  The De Clare or Clare family originated in Normandy and came to England where they accompanied William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy who would become the first Norman King of England.

-The first Richard FitzGilbert (1035-1090) was a companion of Duke William and distant kinsman.  They both shared a common ancestor in Richard I of Normandy (932-996), Count of Rouen & Duke of Normandy.  The name De Clare was from the Norman French for a place name, to be from or “of” said location.  As a reward for being companion to Duke William in the Norman Conquest of England. Richard FitzGilbert like other Norman nobles was granted landholdings in England, becoming the new English nobility which replaced the Anglo-Saxons of old.  Richard’s particular land holding was in centered in the town of Clare in Suffolk England which made him the first Lord of Clare.  He also gained territory in Tonbridge in Kent, England.

-Over the generations the family expanded its holdings in England and in the Welsh Marches, Anglo-Norman controlled portions of southern Wales.  Strongbow’s father Gilbert de Clare (1100-1148) became 1st Earl of Pembroke under King Stephen of England, gaining control of important parts of the Welsh Marches, including the Pembroke peninsula in southwest Wales.  He also held Striguil in southeastern Wales on the River Wye, forming the strategic border between England & Wales.  

-Gilbert de Clare was married to Isabel Beaumont, a former mistress of King Henry I of England & daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester & his wife Elizabeth de Vermandois.  Elizabeth was a French noblewoman was the paternal granddaughter of French King Henry I (1008-1060) of the House of Capet.  While her maternal grandfather Herbert IV, Count of Vermandois (1028-1080) was a descendant of Charlemagne and the Carolingian dynasty of Franks.  Also, by virtue of Henry I’ of France’s marriage to Princess Anne of Kiev, Strongbow and subsequently Isabel de Clare were direct descendants of the Kievan Rus’s royal ruling House of Rurik which ruled Medieval Ukraine & Russia.  Also confirmed among their ancestors from this line were Swedish royalty, Polish tribal royalty & possibly Byzantine Greek royalty, if the debated connections regarding Anne of Kiev’s purported paternal grandmother (Anna Porphyrogenita) are indeed true.

-Isabel de Clare’s mother and the wife of Strongbow was Aoife MacMurrough of Eva of Leinster (1145-1188) an Irish princess who was daughter of Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster.  Ireland at the time was not ruled by one king but was instead made up of several feudal petty kingdoms, Leinster being one of them located in the southeast of the country, a land of rivers, hills and the famed Wicklow Mountains.  Aoife’s and subsequently Isabel’s ancestry in Ireland went back to various Irish petty kings & even the vaunted High Kings of Ireland, who ruled as a somewhat symbolic overlord of the other petty kings.  This included her paternal ancestor through Brian Boru, High King of Ireland & King of Munster and founder of the O’Brien dynasty who defeated the Vikings at their settlement in Dublin in 1014, taking the area back for the Gaelic natives of Ireland after years of Viking rule.  Though Brian Boru died in the process.

-Isabel de Clare’s parents came together in the 1170′s following a power struggle in Ireland between her maternal grandfather Dermot MacMurrough & then High King of Ireland, Rory O’Connor who worried that Dermot would become too powerful as King of Leinster, so he launched an invasion of Leinster, this forced Dermot off his throne and into exile in 1166.

-Dermot’s exile took him to the court of Henry II, King of England & Duke of Normandy who was in France at the time, trying to hold together his many French possessions (Normandy, Brittany, Aquitaine, Anjou etc.) which made up his Angevin Empire.  Henry would not personally partake in restoring Dermot to the throne in Ireland, but he did authorize Dermot to negotiate and make mercenary use of some of his Anglo-Norman nobility and their knightly retinues.  Strongbow would be one of these Norman nobles Dermot would negotiate with.

-Strongbow promised to assist Dermot in the recapture of his throne, in exchange for Aoife’s hand in marriage and kingship of Leinster upon Dermot’s death, co-ruling with Aoife to give it air of legitimacy among the native Irish.  The Norman invasion of Ireland commenced in small waves as early as 1169 with Strongbow himself arriving in 1170 where his Anglo-Norman forces, some 200 mounted knights and 1,000-foot soldiers teamed with earlier Norman war parties from the prior year, they took the port city of Waterford, once a Viking a stronghold.  Here Aoife & Strongbow were married, uniting the Irish royalty with Anglo-Norman nobility in a political manner.  

-Children would of course cement this marriage with the birth of Isabel probably in 1172 and her brother Gilbert.

-Dermot’s gamble paid off, his Norman mercenaries overwhelmed the forces loyal to High King Rory O’Connor.  The Gaelic Irish military in terms of arms & armor were no match for the Anglo-Normans who sported the most high-quality weapons and armor of their day in Western Europe.  Dermot was once again agreed to be King of Leinster in agreement with O’Connor.  However, his deals with his new son-in-law Strongbow & the other Anglo-Normans unintentionally and unbeknown to them opened the door to the start of England’s several centuries of involvement in Ireland...  

-Dermot would die in 1171 shortly after the retaking of the kingdom, leaving his son and son-in-law (Strongbow) to claim kingship of Leinster.  His son and Aoife’s brother claimed it under traditional Brehon law while his deal with Strongbow left it as part of the dowry for marriage.  

-Meanwhile. Henry II of England was concerned about his Anglo-Norman nobles over in Ireland. Strongbow in particular had through marriage and acquisition of lands, begun a private colonization of Ireland.  Other nobles who took part in Dermot’s operation did so too.   This resulted in Henry and Strongbow making a deal, in exchange for keeping Leinster and the restoration of Strongbow’s English, Welsh & French landholdings, he would surrender the ports of Wexford, Waterford & Dublin to royal authority directly.  He’d also be required to assist Henry on campaign in France against rebels.  He was made in title by Henry II, Lord of Leinster & Justiciar of Ireland (chief justice).  Henry II arrived in Ireland in late 1172 for a six month stay where royal troops directly loyal to him took over the key cities of Wexford, Waterford & Dublin from the earlier Anglo-Norman mercenaries.  All the Anglo-Norman nobles who gained land in Ireland during the initial invasion were forced to pledge fealty to Henry II as Lord of Ireland in exchange for their right to keep their newly colonized lands.  Likewise, the native Gaelic kings were to pledge fealty to Henry II as their feudal overlord, essentially ending the now meaningless institution of High King of Ireland.  Waves of Anglo-Norman, Welsh, & Flemish colonists began to settle and establish new English towns in Ireland.  Some established relations with the Gaelic Irish, intermarrying, becoming a new cultural group which would expand, ebb and flow over the centuries, the Anglo-Irish.  Thus began a fusion of Anglo-Norman architecture, warfare, language and with a gradual cultural assimilation of Gaelic customs that began to blur the differences overtime until the early Anglo-Normans became just accepted as Irish.  Nevertheless, politically the longer lasting implications of England’s occupation of Ireland had begun.

-Isabel de Clare was born into this new political realty, her maternal ancestral homeland permanently transformed within a few years due to her maternal grandfather’s personal struggle to regain power in his homebase.  None of the the participants, including her parents & grandfather had the slightest notion of the longer-term implications of their decisions.  Isabel & her brother were, nevertheless, the flesh and blood realty of this new political & cultural fusion.  Meant in part as political bridges between two worlds.

-Strongbow intended for his son Gilbert to inherit Leinster and the various holdings in Wales, England and Normandy.  His own death came about in 1176 following an infection of the leg.  He was buried in Dublin, with his tomb & effigy still found Christ Church Dublin.  Aoife took charge of her children’s upbringing hoping to ensure their inheritance.  She was by many accounts fierce in this regard, she was also seemingly well-educated for anybody in that time period but especially a woman, a trait she passed on to Isabel.  She is also said to have led Anglo-Norman & Irish loyalist troops into battle against those who tried to take Leinster from her, she earned the nickname Red Eva.

-Gilbert de Clare, died as a teenager around 1185.  Thus, all the inheritance remained with his mother Aoife and would by right of Anglo-Norman law pass on to his nearest relative, his sister Isabel and any man she would marry.  

-Aoife died in 1188 by some accounts, this left the teenage Isabel orphaned without and without her brother.  She was, nevertheless, rightful heir to Leinster, the castles in Wales & England that had belonged to her father and paternal grandfather (Gilbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke).  She was the 4th Countess of Pembroke in this line after her brother’s brief tenure.  Isabel, became a royal ward of Henry II personally.  Meaning he would ensure the safekeeping of her legal inheritance and person.  He entrusted this to Ranulf of Glanville, Justiciar of England.  She was therefore kept in London for her safekeeping.

-In practical terms this royal wardship was essentially a foster home for orphaned nobility until the king could marry them off to some other noble.  Sometimes, other nobles would be entrusted as their personal guardian and be tasked with arranging the marriage of the ward to another noble, sometimes to their guardian’s child or even the guardian themself for personal gain.  This would of course require the king’s blessing.  

-Isabel was described as beautiful, kind & intelligent “the good, the wise and courteous lady of high degree.”  She was among the wealthiest heiresses in the Angevin Empire (Henry II’s personal empire which through conquest, inheritance and diplomacy included all of England, parts of Wales, Ireland and most of Northern & Western France).  She was well educated like her mother and could speak her father’s language of French, the courtly language of the English royalty and the Anglo-Norman nobility at the time.  She could also speak her mother’s native Irish (Gaelic) & Latin, the language of clergy, diplomacy and government bureaucracy.  This coupled with her bloodlines would be of tremendous political import, meaning she could navigate the Irish and Anglo-Norman cultures she was born of.  Rather than her education in language, courtly manners, warfare, diplomacy and politics being perceived as a threat to any husband, it would have likely been seen as a great asset.

-Her hand in marriage was promised by Henry II, to one William Marshal in 1189.  Marshal was himself an Anglo-Norman noble born and raised in England around 1147.  He was the son of a relatively minor noble in England’s West Country with his mother coming from a more distinct Norman family.  He came of age through training as a knight with his mother’s relative in Normandy, enduring a six-year apprenticeship in knightly warfare, court etiquette & the arts.  He saw some combat but was assigned to the personal service of England’s Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and then the service of her and Henry II’s son, Henry the Younger.  They bonded especially in the late 1170′s by becoming famous knights on the European knightly tournament circuit that was just blossoming at the time.  Marshal became perhaps the most renowned tournament knight of all, capturing or unhorsing some 500 knights.  Henry the Younger would eventually die after Marshal served him for over a decade loyally.

-Marshal then found himself in Henry II’s personal service and during a war against the King of France who was briefly joined by Henry II’s son and heir Richard where he personally unhorsed Richard with a lance, killing the horse but sparing the prince.  Supposedly, the only man to do so.  After Henry II’s death, Richard rose to the throne of England & Normandy.  He was preparing to go on Crusade to the Middle East and liberate Jerusalem from Muslim rule.  He would in time be known as Richard the Lionheart.

-Despite Marshal’s recent opposition with King Richard, the new monarch kept Marshal in his service.  He also fulfilled his father’s promise to wed Isabel de Clare to William Marshal.  This would make Marshal not only a wealthy and increasingly influential knight but by right of marriage make him now one of the wealthiest landowners & nobles in the Angevin Empire.       

Marriage, until death do you part;

-William Marshal & Isabel de Clare were married in August 1189 in London.  There was an age difference, she was not quite 18 and he was in is early 40′s.  Despite the political nature of the marriage, it appears to have been a genuinely happy one by all accounts.  Neither party appears to have been unfaithful to one another.  The written records show a great mutual appreciation for one another and produced 10 children, 5 sons and 5 daughters over the next several decades.  

-Marshal was technically by right of marriage, Earl of Pembroke but he would not officially acquire the title in his own name until 1199, a decade after his marriage.  Nevertheless, he was overlord of Leinster and Striguil and set about making improvements to the castles both he had acquired in England & France for loyal service to the monarchs but his marital gains in Wales & Ireland.

-For the first decade of marriage, William was in service to Richard the Lionheart, particularly when he was gone on Crusade, he stayed behind as a member of the ruling council.  This kept him in England, Wales & France mostly, with little attention to affairs in Ireland.  Isabel for her part focused on raising a family and supporting her husband as he navigated politics.  Though his wartime commitments to defending England from rebels & the French throne often kept them separated.  Isabel, appears to have been like her mother before devoted to ensuring the cultured learning of her children.

-Affairs in her native Ireland wouldn’t be pressing for the Marshal family until around the year 1200, during the reign of Henry II’s youngest son with Eleanor of Aquitaine, John.  John became king after the death of his eldest brother Richard who had returned from years in the Crusades and then a captive in Germany from a rival monarch, found himself campaigning against Philip II of France (his father’s rival) to regain territory that had been lost under John’s regency of throne.  John was eventually back in Richard’s good graces when the Lionheart died of infection from a crossbow wound fired by a rebel soldier in southern France where Richard was campaigning to suppress a revolt.

-John was now King of England and had a reputation for being paranoid, highly emotional and making rash decisions, making him more unpredictable than his older brothers and father.

-Marshal found himself both in John’s good graces and bad graces at various times over the years.  He and Isabel were turning to press their rightful rule in Leinster in the early 1200′s despite John’s warnings he not to do so.  John like his father Henry II had been concerned about Strongbow now worried Marshal and Isabel would be too powerful and independent in Ireland. Indeed, in the two decades since the Norman invasion of Ireland, the Anglo-Norman nobility who settled there had become accustomed to their own relative autonomy.  Loyalty to the king was in name but in practice, so long as they didn’t rebel against the king, they were basically free to do as they please.  John’s predecessors did little to enforce this and initially John was more concerned about England & France.

-Marshal & Isabel helped develop the town of New Ross in Leinster, an English town separate from the Gaelic towns nearby, it was peopled with English & Welsh colonists, many of whom were part of the Marshal family retinue and to whom they owed their feudal allegiance.  The castles of Kilkenny, Trim & others were developed and expanded by Marshal & Isabel.  

-Meanwhile, Marshal earned John’s ire for having paid homage to Philip II of France in exchange for retention of Norman lands after the French kicked John’s English armies out of Normandy, forever losing his ancestral duchy of Normandy to France.

-Concerned of Marshal’s power in Ireland and anger over his dueling homages to John in England and Philip in France.  John organized for Marshal to come pay homage in England where he was duly placed under house arrest at the royal court.  Meanwhile his own Justiciar in Ireland, Meiler Fitzhenry who had his own ambitions on Leinster invaded using his own Irish & Anglo-Norman forces with John’s blessing.  John sought to teach Marshal a lesson and increase personal control over Ireland by having a Norman noble with more loyalty.  It also worked in Fitzhenry���s favor.  

-Marshal himself was considered fair if not especially popular among the Anglo-Normans already settled in Leinster under his rule.  While the native Gaels were less than enthused by him or any other Anglo-Norman lord.  Isabel, however, appears to have been the critical element & saving grace for Marshal.  Given her ancestry including the native Irish rulers of Leinster and the Anglo-Norman new elite, her command of language & diplomacy appears to have held things together while this Anglo-Norman civil war with the king’s blessing raged in Ireland.  

-in 1208 Fitzhenry’s men besieged Isabel (who was pregnant) and the Anglo-Normans who were loyal to Marshal all while Marshal himself and his sons remained personal hostages of King John.  Only thanks to an alliance between Marshal’s & Isabel Anglo-Norman loyalists with another rival of Fitzhenry, Hugh de Lacy (1176-1242) Anglo-Norman noble who was first Earl of Ulster did the war come to an end in Marshal & Isabel’s favor.  Isabel is said to have helped direct the defense of her castles under siege while de Lacy’s men came to their relief, defeating and capturing the men John had sent to assist Fitzhenry.

-Fitzhenry remained a noble in Ireland but he was removed as Justiciar.  Marshal was released by John, and he was allowed to reunite with Isabel.

-Isabel’s day to day to involvement in the civil war is hard to gauge but almost certainly if not the military matters, the diplomatic ones she learned from her Irish princess mother, along with her symbolic blood ties to the Irish & Anglo-Norman nobility of Leinster still held important sway.  As Marshal had said prior to his departure to his custody in England, all he had emanates from her.  This was mostly true in a political and legal sense, but he appears to have meant it in a romantic sense since she was his faithful wife & mother of his children, the vessel to his dynastic future.

-In the coming years, Isabel & Marshal looked to marrying off their children to important Anglo-Norman nobility.  Though successful in this regard and Marshal & Isabel have thousands if not millions of descendants today, none of their sons would bring about descendants meaning, their holdings in Ireland, Wales and England would transfer to other families since their daughters were married off into other noble families and hence the Marshal dynasty was short lived-in terms of male direct descendants.  All five daughters Maud, Isabel, Joan, Eva & Sibyl all had children that lived and went onto have descendants that live into the modern era, including members of the British royal family today as well as numerous people in America and elsewhere due to colonial descendants from English nobility.

-Marshal found himself back in John’s good favor and counselled him during the rough times of the First Baron’s Rebellion (1215-1217).  He also helped guide John to signing the famed Magna Carta, meant as a peace treaty to ensure certain royal guarantees for the rebellious nobility.  Making Marshal one of the Magna Carta “signers”, though the peace was broken shortly thereafter, and John died of illness during rebellion.  To make matters worse England’s civil war between nobles revolting against John’s excesses and those loyal to him, including Marshal now attracted the attention of the French king Philip II and his son Louis.   The rebel barons now swore fealty to Louis and asked he take over as King of England.  Marshal had been made guardian of John’s son 9-year son who was crowned Henry III, making him the 4th crowned King of England that Marshal would serve.  Marshal was styled as “Guardian of the Realm” and swore to defending England and its rightful king from the predations of the rebel barons and the French pretender.

-As regent he was now the head of the country in practical matters, yet he was also 70 years old.  Marshal would help Henry III and England’s royalist forces when the war when at age 70 and donning knight’s armor one last time he would lead a royalist force to defeat a combined Anglo (rebel)-French force in the Battle of Lincoln in May 1217.  This along with the English naval victory over France at Sandwich ended the war in the royalist favor.  Henry III was recognized by France at the rightful King of England and the rebels would be forgiven in exchange.  

-Marshal won the war for England but his old age was catching up with him.  He now set about as Regent of England on behalf of Henry III to try and restore the treasury which was drained under John.  He also reissued updated versions of Magna Carta, later cited by historians as a cornerstone moment in the gradual expanding of human rights and democracy, though the original document was narrow in scope and intended for the nobility and the preservation of their rights against royal abuse.  It would influence English common law and American Constitutional law in centuries to come.

-From 1217-1219 Marshal was the de-facto the ruler of England, he wasn’t always successful, but he did ensure some measure of peace and lay a foundation that Henry III’s other regents and the king himself could later build upon.

-Isabel remained faithful to the very when Marshal died at home near Reading England in May 1219.  She was said to have wept uncontrollably at his passing and could not walk during his funeral procession to London where he was buried in Temple Church.

-Nevertheless, evidence shows that despite her husband’s passing she immediately set about ensuring inheritance was due.  Writing the other regents that her lands in Ireland, Wales (minus Pembroke which went to their eldest son) and England were duly granted in her name.  She also negotiated with the French king to ensure inheritance of her Norman lands.  She even got William Marshal II, their eldest son the hand in marriage to Henry III’s younger sister Princess Eleanor, though this marriage would produce no heirs. 

-Isabel’s son William Marshal II was effective as agent managing her various estates, but illness caught up with her in March 1220 and she died in Wales ten months after her husband’s death.  She was buried Tintern Abbey near Striguil Castle, now Chepstow Castle which had belonged her father Strongbow and his father before him.  Her grave is there to this day alongside her mother Aoife of Leinster.  Though the abbey which the De Clare & Marshal families patroned is now in ruin, the grave markers are located on the ground.

-So passed a woman of high birth within the High Middle Ages of Western Europe. She was born of two different cultures and served as a living bridge immersed in the customs of both.  As a result, she was given a unique and rich in-depth education unusual for anybody for the times but especially someone of her sex.  Her life is mostly known for a seemingly peripheral role in relation to her family and acquaintances of great political importance but the evidence we have suggests she was regarded by especially her family and husband in particular as an absolutely vital and strong character in the events of the time.  She played a part in shaping the history of nations, by dint of her birth and by her cultured and determined character.   

#middle ages #england #france #anglo-norman #medieval #William Marshal #knighthood #chivalry #ireland #leinster #castles #normans #nomandy #de clare #strongbow #wales #chepstow castle #princesses #countess #brehon law #eva of leinster #high middle ages #henry ii #richard the lionheart

[dougielombax]

What?

No.

No you CANNOT use Brehon Law as the basis for a new Irish legal system or constitution!

Away with that shite!

Medieval drivel!

For fuck’s sake.

#dougie rambles #personal stuff #ireland #medieval #medieval history #law #brehon law #celtic studies #sort of #kind of #vent post #fuck’s sake #fucking hell #fuck

[dduane]

I've been enjoying the recent Middle Kingdoms works, and was especially taken by the ritual hospitality in "The Landlady". It seemed reminiscent of traditional Irish phrases I've encountered translated into English. If there any influence? To what degree has Ireland leaked into your understanding of the Middle Kingdoms and their cultures?

Re: the Irish influence: there's occasionally some effect on casual idiomatic usages in characters' general conversation, yes. In fact, while doing some editing work on TOTF3: The Librarian just a day or three ago, I caught Freelorn's edgy friend-who-killed-him-that-one-time, Sem, using phrases that unquestionably were not just Irish-originated, but Ulster-originated. :) (And plainly this is @petermorwood's fault. But since the character seems comfortable with the usage, and from where I'm sitting it sounds right for him, I'm not going to mess with it.)

As regards Irish influence on the Kingdoms' formal hospitality-language and culture, though, I'm not seeing much evidence of that. Not that I haven't done a fair amount of reading about Brehon law and other adjacent matters over time as a matter of casual research. But none of that seems to be reflected in any of the notes I made on the Kingdoms' cultures while developing them.

The connection I am pretty sure of is to translations of stock epithets and phrases (and the presence of various general concepts and actions) associated with the practice of formal xenia in ancient Greece, particularly as described in the Odyssey.

In particular, the Kingdoms' worldview seems to share a core concept with the ancient Greek one as regards xenia. This is the idea that personified Deity is walking around in the world, making itself responsible for the protection of people who call on others' hospitality. Both cultures have the idea that people's behavior may be tested by the gods—or God(dess)—to see how well they're obeying the rules set out regarding the welcome properly due to strangers and those in need.*

In the Kingdoms, the concept has had what seemed to me like a more or less logical expansion into the relationship between the heads of organized Houses—what we could equate with local familial lordships, though the actuality in the Realms is a lot less patriarchially hierarchical and more complex—and the people who come to hold land of/from the Houses' heads.

So it made sense to me that there would be basic gestures and phrases that express agreement to various aspects of the contract between a House's head and their holders. Since both writing and literacy died off during that alternate Earth's domination by the Dark, and had to be revived and relearned after its destruction, this contract was for a long time always verbal. Over the centuries, ritualized concrete practices—the exchange of bread and water between Holders and head of House, for example—grew up alongside the spoken content to make it plain that everybody understood the nature and intention of the contract. These, too, I derived from material in the Odyssey and other works of that period: situations, for example, where simply eating something that someone else has given you is itself confirmation that the contract between host and guest is in place and working.

Anyway: thanks for the question. Hope this helps!

*But then readers of the MK books will of course recognize this as the kind of thing the Goddess already does in Her world—not being one of those lurking-and-skulking sorts of deity who leaves you wondering all your life about whether they're real or not. Her basic contract with Her creation already contains the concept that everybody gets to meet Her personally at least once; and—either in Her proper person, or in the form of other people—sometimes more than once. Because yeah, She's busy... but what's the point of being a deity if you don't have the time to sit down with your creation for drinks every now and then...?

#Middle Kingdoms #Middle Kingdoms meta #cultural issues #linguistic issues

[athingofvikings]

A Thing Of Vikings Chapter 67: Kill With A Borrowed Knife

Chapter 67: Kill With A Borrowed Knife

Prior to the Imperial Assembly Of Law, the North Sea Empire's legal system was a patchwork of numerous local codes, ordinances, and jurisdictions, in multiple languages, and with numerous cultural and religious outlooks.  The purpose of the Assembly was to create a pan-imperial legal code that was acceptable to all peoples of the Empire, and, as with all compromises, it generally succeeded at making everyone equally unhappy, even as they recognized the validity of the compromises.  Religious law was left in the hands of the specific faiths, making the code officially secular, which pleased no one and yet satisfied everyone.  Other elements were picked from the component legal codes, including Eirish Brehon, Jewish Talmudic, Eastern Norse, Berkian Norse, Islamic Fiqh, Anglo-Saxon Common, and others, into a reasonably cohesive whole…

… the complex methods of Hooligan title inheritance, after some refinement, became the method by which titular inheritance was managed in the early and middle eras of the Empire, as the Hooligans already had influences from the Brehon, Alban, and Norse legal codes.  Pre-Assembly Hooligan title inheritance was a complex mix of elements from all of these sources, an intricate system that can be described as Absolute Primogeniture mixed with Gaelic Tanistry and Norse Elective Monarchy. 

Before the later refinements were introduced, the system worked as follows: Upon the death or incapacitation of the previous title-holder, the designated heir simply assumed the title (absent legal objections from their new subjects or suspicious circumstances), allowing for a smooth transition of power in most circumstances.  The main conflict came with selecting the next designated heir.  Heirdom was an elected position in Hooligan law, in line with Gaelic Tanistry, based on suitability and worthiness.  Heirs, at the time of selection, had to be adults without physical or mental blemish, descended either from the current or a prior title-holder, and currently a member of the clan that they would be inheriting (Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III's selection at the age of seven years was an anomaly, initiated by his father Stoick to reinforce his statement that he would not remarry as a result of his wife's legal death). 

Beyond those qualifications, the prospective clan-heir needed to be voted into the position by a majority of the individuals over whom they would rule (typically the members of the clan), with the precise degree of the majority needed depending on the heir's relationship with the current title-holder; a child of the title-holder's spouse needed a simple majority, while the child of a concubine needed six-tenths, and more distant relations needed greater pluralities.  Furthermore, the elections were handled in rounds; first the spouse's children would be voted on, one at a time in order of birth, and only if none of them were selected as the clan-heir in two rounds of voting would the elections move to include the concubine's children, and even then, only with the explicit acceptance of the title-holder.  From there, if the voting still did not find a suitable candidate, the pool would be expanded to more distant relations, with each voted on in turn until an acceptable candidate was found. 

While this system functioned well enough for the Hooligan tribe when it was a thousand people or less, it quickly ran into scaling problems as the clans grew, causing fractures to grow, necessitating the various refinements …

—Origins Of The Grand Thing, Edinburgh Press, 1631

AO3 Chapter Link

~~~

My Original Fiction | Original Fiction Patreon

#a thing of vikings #httyd #how to train your dragon #alternate history #historical fiction

[jinxedwood]

Also, weird things I discovered while researching for my nanowrimo book.

Medieval Ireland was obsessed with bees and honey. So much so, there was an entire section added to the Brehon Laws, called Bechbretha (trans: bee judgements) So far, so good - interesting but not exactly astounding info. The Brehon Laws were extremely comprehensive, and covered everything from how and when to cut down a tree to the proper way to enter a mill. (Go and have a read - there are quite a few extracts to be found online - three different kinds of marriages, peoples, and ten different kinds of 'unions')

But the bit that took me by surprise was that Ireland didn't have bees before the 3rd century! They were an import! WTF? Apparently, sometime between the 3rd and 6th century someone (probably monks) imported them into the country but before then we were beeless.

No honey in ireland.

No mead.

How could I have not known this?

#listen it was important to my story to have a vampire beekeeper #these are just the facts #writing

[stairnaheireann]

Ruins of the O’Davoren Law School | Cahermacnaghten, Co Clare

The Ó Duibhdábhoireann (O’Davoren) family were scholarly clan of Corcomroe, Thomond (modern-day Co Clare), active since medieval times. Famed for their sponsorship of schools and knowledge of history and Early Irish law, the Uí Dhuibh dá Bhoireann were known throughout Ireland as a literary family and held estates in the Burren down to the mid seventeenth century at the time of the Cromwellian…

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#BrehonLaw #irishhistory #Ancient Irish Law #Brehon Law #Burren #Cahermacnaghten #Co. Clare #Gaelic Law #Ireland #Irish #Law School #The Ó Duibhdábhoireann (O&039;Davoren) family

[maevefinnartist]

another interesting bit from "The Brehon Laws: A Legal Handbook" by Laurence Ginnell, 1894

"Bees and honey are so frequently mentioned in the laws that the editors remark that from the Brehon Laws alone a code on the subject of bees might easily be gathered. A curious code it would be too. An owner of bees was obliged to distribute every third year a portion of his honey off among his neighbors, because the bees had gathered the honey off the neighbors' lands."

#brehon law #irish history #book recs

[irish-dress-history]

Figures from John Speed's map 'The Kingdome of Irland' [sic], created circa 1610. The various color versions published of these images were probably colorized by someone who had never been to Ireland and are not necessarily accurate.

Note: ‘Civil’ and ‘Wilde’ ARE NOT descriptions of socioeconomic status or social class. This is a modern misunderstanding I have seen repeated a lot. In the 16th and 17th centuries, they were indicators of acculturation level. The ‘Civil’ Irish were Anglicized. They spoke English; they wore English clothing styles; they followed British laws. The ‘Wilde’ Irish still kept Gaelic Irish customs. They spoke Irish; they wore Gaelic Irish clothing; they followed Brehon law. Of course, as these prints show, the ‘Civil’ Irish and even the Anglo-Irish gentry wore some Gaelic Irish clothing in the early 17th century.

The gentleman, the gentlewoman, and the ‘civill’ man are all wearing elements of early 17th c English fashion including their doublets, their standing collars (the men) or ruff (the woman), and their felt hats (the men). The men have English-style beards and haircuts. The gentlewoman has her hair done up and decorated in English style. The men are probably wearing English-style breeches, but these are hidden by their mantles.

The gentleman, the ‘civill’ man, and the ‘civill’ woman are all probably wearing a kind of bróg or Irish shoe now know as a Lucas type 5. These bróga differed from similar English styles in that they had flat soles and were held together with a leather thong rather than thread or nails. This kind of bróg was worn in Ireland into the 19th century.

The ‘civill’ woman wears a linen wimple on her head. During the 16th century, coifs and hoods replaced wimples in English fashion, but Irish women continued to wear them.

The ‘wilde’ man and woman are both bareheaded with free-flowing hair. A 17th century English woman would never leave her house this way, but it was common in parts of Ireland. The man has long bangs known as gilbs. This hairstyle was popular in 16th century Ireland and banned under British colonial rule. The ‘wilde’ man’s lack of beard is also Irish fashion.

The ‘wilde’ man is wearing tight-fitting trúis on his legs. The groin piece being made of a different fabric is something seen on extant trúis of the Killery bog outfit. He is possibly wearing knee-high leather boots. Similar boots are shown in some 16th century costume book illustrations. The shagginess at the top might indicate that they are made of rawhide with the hair still on.

Finally, all 6 of them wear an Irish brat. These illustrations show that the brat came in a variety of lengths and materials. The thick shaggy border on the bratanna of the gentry, the ‘wilde’ woman and the ‘civill’ man is probably pile-woven wool. The ‘civill’ woman and the ‘wilde’ man have fringed edges on their bratanna.

Bibliography:

Arnold, Janet, Tiramani, J., & Levey, S. (2008). Patterns of Fashion 4. Macmillan, London.  

Arnold, Janet (1985). Patterns of Fashion 3. Macmillan, London.

Dunlevy, Mairead (1989). Dress in Ireland. B. T. Batsford LTD, London.

Lucas, A. T. (1956). Footwear in Ireland. Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society, 13(4), 309-394. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27728900

McClintock, H. F. (1943). Old Irish and Highland Dress. Dundalgan Press, Dundalk.

#art #17th century #irish mantle #irish history #irish dress #gaelic ireland #bratanna #brogues #brog #anglo irish #historical men's fashion #historical women's fashion #dress history #wilde irish #triús #I will probably write a more detailed post on the 'civil' and 'wilde' thing in the future #i spent way too long on this

[margridarnauds]

top five characters/moments/things from irish mythology you wish had more pop culture traction?

Thank you! 

One thing I’m going to say, off the bat, is that I know that my idea of what has pop culture traction is going to be very different than what the general public sees -- When you spend a solid chunk of your life looking....and looking...and looking at pop culture retellings, that’s pretty much all you see, but I’m aware that what might be relatively common in depictions of this stuff might still be relatively obscure to the general public. (Especially if it’s not, say, banshees, selkies, or, God help us all, leprechauns. Even though those are all folklore, I know I’m never going to win that fight.)

1. The Tuatha Dé being dicks in general. Like, with all respect to the Professor, he did possibly the worst possible thing to Irish material (and that’s including when he dissed “Celtic materials” as being like shattered stained glass) that he could have done by sheer accident when he created Lord of the Rings. Because, since that series was published, every single low quality fantasy writer has been trying to shove the Tuatha Dé into Tolkien’s elves (and a specifically bowdlerized version of them.) And the TD are...they’re fascinating to me. I love them very dearly, I’ve been going back to them for years because they’re this group of superhumans who are also petty and spiteful and sometimes rigid in upholding distinctions. They haven’t always forgiven the Milesians for taking Ireland from them, they will do everything they possibly can to screw people over, they are sometimes only loosely tolerant of the mortals (and, on Samhain, for example, they sometimes lose even that loose tolerance.) 

Like, I want the Tuatha Dé to be complicated and hypocritical and petty and spiteful while also being capable of being the best of humanity as well while ALSO being distinctly Off. I want Lovecraftian Tuatha Dé who are always just beneath the surface, I want comic relief Tuatha Dé who are still in denial over having lost Ireland and refuse to adapt to the modern world at any cost to truly ridiculous standards, I want the Tuatha Dé to be a big, high stakes family drama/reality show/soap opera with the entirety of Ireland having to deal with the fallout, I want tragic Tuatha Dé who are these kind of living artifacts in a world that’s more or less outgrown them. (I am obviously aware that they have modern worshippers -- I am saying that the TDD are drama queens and will still be mopey after having lost the entire island. Unless you have Brehon law actively being around still, they are still going to be mopey.)

2. Related to that, bruighean tales. This is not a term you hear very often outside of Celticist circles, and part of the reason for that is that these tales often haven’t been translated yet into English (though some of them have been translated from modern Irish), even though they had a wide currency in the folk tradition. What these are is, essentially...a story in which the Fianna are tricked by the Tuatha Dé to go into a magical fort, where the Tuatha Dé proceed to attack them throughout the night with a series of spells, illusions, and the odd monster or two. (The most famous of these is probably Laoi na Con Duibhe -- The Lay of the Black Dog.) Like, I feel like there’s a lot that a modern audience could appreciate about this, from the perspective of horror and the gothic. I think you could do a lot with the claustrophobia and the tension of it, with this group of legendary heroes possibly, for the very first time, being in over their head. 

3. The Fir Bolg! It is so ridiculously easy for these guys to get adapted out of depictions of the battle between the Fomoire and the Tuatha Dé, but they’re so important! (Also, more Fir Bolg who are accurate to how they’re presented in Lebor Gabála Érenn -- so many pop culture references, when we do get them, have so much....uncomfortable baggage. Like, I don’t want to say too much because there are some papers coming out on this, and it’s like...I don’t know how much I can say, but it’s just...please can we toss away the idea of them somehow being these primal “primitive” people who are associated with the earth? Can’t we let them be competent and clever and strong settlers of Ireland who established the kingship?) Especially my boy Sreng who is quietly one of the single most fascinating and complex characters in the entirety of the medieval and early modern Irish literary tradition. 

4. I firmly believe that we have never gotten enough Bres as a character, which is a little shocking when you consider how important he is to the Tuatha Dé -- so many central figures are related to him (the Morrígan is his aunt), he has a fairly interesting arc in Cath Maige Tuired (which is just a text that...I can never have enough adaptations of), and he gets a relatively large number of appearances across medieval and early modern Ireland. And, like with the TD, I’d really like to see him be done....well. Like, don’t settle for “he’s evil because he’s evil”; I want to see him get a large amount of interiority, I want to see him be complex, I want the audience to sympathize with him even as they realize that if he succeeds...it all goes down. Authors almost seem...intimidated by him, and I think part of it’s that heroes like Lugh are easy, especially when you remove the inconvenient little bits about them that might make them unpalatable. Villains like Bres, though...it’s like they’re having to hold up a mirror. We want to be like Lugh, we want to be that kind of superhuman, hypercompetent master of all crafts who is beloved and is able to conquer all the enemy. In reality, though, I feel like Bres is more...realistic. More human. And that’s why people struggle with him in adaptations, whether they excise him entirely or make him a caricature of himself. People don’t want the reminder of their own flaws.  (Also I believe that he should kiss men.) 

(On the mouth.)

(With both parties consenting to it.) 

5. Relating to #2, I feel like there’s a thick pseudo-Gothic (pre-Gothic?) vein in a lot of the Irish material that could be a lot of fun to work with. @effervescentdragon once compared Crimson Peak to Togail Briudne Dá Derga, I personally love the incident with the dead men and the Morrígan from the Boyhood Deeds of Cú Chulainn, I was recently rereading the plot summary of the short story “Don’t Wake the Dead” and was reminded of the story of Sín in Aided Muirchertaig meic Erca, the Dead Man in Echtra Nerai, this one description of a bruighean tale...I think it was Eochaid Bhig Dearg, where every single one of the Tuatha Dé is described as having a smile on their faces as they surround the fort....waiting....while the Fianna can only look on in horror and dread whatever nightmares they summon next...Medieval Irish material is often likened to fantasy and, for what it’s worth, I do understand it, especially since all the great fantasy writers were very well in-tune with world mythology and Irish is an Indo European literary tradition (albeit one that, as of the time of it being written down, had intertwined itself tightly with Christianity.) Still, I would really like to see more of that Gothic element being teased out, because a lot of my roots are in the gothic tradition and I would love to combine my two favorite things.  

In general, I suppose my tl;dr is that I would like, in general, for more nuance, more complexity, I’d like more writers to have fun with the material and to think outside the box that this stuff gets put into, I’d like to see less bowdlerization, less need to apply a Nationalistic brush to these things that hasn’t really been necessary since the 1930s. (Also, give me more Cath Maige Tuired adaptations.)

 It’s funny a lot of the time, when I see, say, arguments about Arthuriana or Greek Mythological adaptations where people will be saying “I HATE when adaptations--” and I’m just kind of in this perpetual state of “What do you mean ‘adaptations?’ Y’all get your favorite works adapted more than one time?” Don’t get me wrong, I can sympathize with seeing your favorite material butchered, but I’ve had to read a LOT of really bad self published novels, Wattpad fiction, and MySpace RPGs from back in the day in order to get *anything* for my favorite characters. And if I was ever really, deeply personally offended by seeing my favorite characters done badly....I think I’d have gone insane at this point. I think people often expect me to be very strict but the truth is that I’ve never had the luxury of being very strict. Our most accurate representation of the material thus far’s been an animated film where the day is partially saved by a spirit cat attacking a Viking warlord. Our second most accurate representation’s been Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, where there’s an evil cult of human-sacrificing druids in 9th century Ireland that ends up spurring an Irish Inquisition and the 50 foot tall Lia Fáil, which is an alien artifact, exploding into smithereens. And I think that it’s fascinating to see what the public is really interested in and what authors and creatives are putting into their stuff VS the material as we understand it. So, a part of me’s a little sad all the time, but a part of me’s also always interested in seeing how these trends play out. 

But, anyway, I hope this answers the question! Thank you again for the ask! 

#long post

[paganimagevault]

Tailteann Games 1924 & 32 programme covers

"The Tailteann Games, Tailtin Fair, Áenach Tailteann, Aonach Tailteann, Assembly of Talti, Fair of Taltiu or Festival of Taltii were funeral games associated with the semi-legendary history of Pre-Christian Ireland.

There is a complex of ancient earthworks dating to the Iron Age in the area of Teltown where the festival was historically known to be celebrated off and on from medieval times into the modern era.

The games were founded, according to the Book of Invasions, by Lugh Lámhfhada, the Ollamh Érenn (master craftsman or doctor of the sciences), as a mourning ceremony for the death of his foster-mother Tailtiu. Lugh buried Tailtiu underneath a mound in an area that took her name and was later called Tailteann in County Meath.

The event was held during the last fortnight of July and culminated with the celebration of Lughnasadh, or Lammas Eve (1 August). Modern folklore claims that the Tailteann Games started around 1600 BC, with some sources claiming as far back as 829 BC. Promotional literature for the Gaelic Athletic Association revival of the games in 1924 claimed a later date of their foundation in 632 BC. The games were known to have been held between the 6th and 9th centuries AD. The games were held until 1169-1171 AD when they died out after the Norman invasion.

The ancient Aonach had three functions: honoring the dead, proclaiming laws, and funeral games and festivities to entertain. The first function took between one and three days depending on the importance of the deceased. Guests would sing mourning chants called the Guba, after which druids would improvise Cepógs, songs in memory of the dead. The dead would then be burnt on a funeral pyre. The second function would then be carried out during a universal truce by the Ollamh Érenn, giving out laws to the people via bards and druids and culminating in the igniting of another massive fire. The custom of rejoicing after a funeral was then enshrined in the Cuiteach Fuait, games of mental and physical ability.

Games included the long jump, high jump, running, hurling, spear throwing, boxing, contests in swordfighting, archery, wrestling, swimming, and chariot and horse racing. They also included competitions in strategy, singing, dancing and story-telling, along with crafts competitions for goldsmiths, jewellers, weavers and armourers. Along with ensuring a meritocracy, the games would also feature a mass arranged marriage, where couples met for the first time and were given up to a year and a day to divorce on the hills of separation.

In later medieval times, the games were revived and called the Tailten Fair, consisting of contests of strength and skill, horse races, religious celebrations, and a traditional time for couples to contract "Handfasting" trial marriages. "Taillten marriages" were legal up until the 13th century. This trial marriage practice is documented in the fourth and fifth volumes of the Brehon law texts, which are compilations of the opinions and judgements of the Brehon class of Druids (in this case, Irish). The texts as a whole deal with copious detail for the Insular Celts.

From the late nineteenth century, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and others in the Gaelic revival contemplated reviving the Tailteann Games. The GAA's 1888 championships of football and of hurling were unfinished owing to the American Invasion Tour, an unsuccessful attempt to raise funds for a revival.

The Second Dáil approved a scheme in 1922, and after a delay caused by the Irish Civil War the first was held in 1924. Open to foreigners of Irish heritage, the first games of 1924 and 1928 attracted some competitors fresh from the Olympics in Paris and Amsterdam. The Games' main backer, minister J. J. Walsh, lost office when Fianna Fáil took power after the 1932 election, and public funding was cut. The 1932 games were on a smaller scale against a background of the Great Depression and the Anglo-Irish Trade War, and no further games were held.

Jack Fitzsimons suggested reviving the Tailteann Games in a 1985 Seanad Éireann debate on tourism in Ireland.

The Rás Tailteann ("Tailteann race") cycling race was founded in 1953 by the National Cycling Association (NCA), in opposition to the Tour of Ireland organised by the rival Cumann Rothaíochta na hÉireann (CRÉ). Cycling Ireland, the merged successor to both the NCA and CRÉ, still organises the Rás Tailteann annually, but it is usually known as "the [sponsor] Rás", or simply "the Rás".

The Irish Secondary Schools Athletic Association organised annual national championships from 1963 under the name "Junior Tailteann Games". Athletics Ireland continues to use the name "Tailteann Games" for its annual schools inter-provincial championships. also independently the tailteann games are an inter-gaeltacht event that includes other activities."

-taken from wikipedia

#ireland #irish history #sports #sports history #pagan #paganism #lughnasadh #celtic #celts #ancient celts #tailtiu #tailteann #1920s #1930s #book art

[verecunda]

Kinslayings and stuff

I’ve seen a few posts now arguing that Dior should have been able to anticipate that the Fëanorians would attack Doriath after he rebuffed their demand for the Silmaril. Other people have argued against the this idea on practical grounds elsewhere, and more cogently than I could, so I’m not going to get into that. But one thing I've not seen talked about so far is what an aberration the First Kinslaying was, and how no one could reasonably have expected the Fëanorians to go on to commit a second (let alone a third!).

It’s one of those things that harks back to the mythological traditions that Tolkien drew on, where kinslaying is one of the great transgressions. It turns up in Scandinavian mythology, Celtic mythology, pretty much any mythological tradition, as well as Christianity, as a particularly abhorrent act. And that carries over into the Silmarillion. The Valar don’t seem to bother with Fëanor’s seditious talk, but his threat to kill his brother earns him a banishment. And the Doom of Mandos is a response to the slaughter at Alqualondë specifically. Where the Valar bring no judgement against the Noldor for their rebellion, it’s the slaying of their own kin that earns them divine retribution, and lasting banishment from the Blessed Realm.

Working within that framework, then, the First Kinslaying is something way, way beyond an “ordinary” war crime. (An unfortunate way of putting it, I agree, but you know what I’m getting at.) It’s an affront against the natural order. It’s an atrocity and then some. So, apart from anything else, I don’t think Dior could really have expected the Fëanorians to go all-out and attack Doriath. One kinslaying was enough to bring the direst and most unforgiving level of divine punishment down on their heads - who could really have expected them to go and do it all over again?

(Tangential, but possibly interesting: according to the old Irish Brehon Laws, someone guilty of kinslaying was to be banished by setting them adrift in a boat with no oars and leaving them to the mercy of the sea. I’d say there was a definite echo of that in the Silmarillion, especially considering how unmerciful Ulmo and Uinen are to the Noldor as they sail north.)

#The Silmarillion #half-baked meta #tbqh most of what I know about kinslaying is from Irish sources #I don't know very much about the Scandinavian sources on it #but it'd be very interesting to know more and see how they might've influenced Tolkien's story

[speed-metal-punk]

Finished reading Armed Joy a bit ago and it was an amazing read. Infused a lot of much needed hope back into me. Not sure what to read next, probably gonna have another go at The Brehon Laws

#just me shit #it feels nice getting back to reading