|
The political structure of Gaelic Ireland was composed of layer upon layer of minor chiefs, intermediate chiefs and paramount chiefs - the greatest of them was The Great O’Neill of Tyrone and, under him, he would have had both local chiefs inside Tyrone who - towards the end of the period - would have featured as heads of the creaghts to a certain extent: and then you would have had sub-kings, that is the overlords of the various counties that surrounded Tyrone. So, O’Hanlon in south-Armagh, McMahon in Monaghan, Maguire in Fermanagh, and in O’Donnell he had a chief who was his neighbour and very, very seldom actually his vassal; and to the other side of him in Antrim he had a kinsman, the O’Neill of Clandeboye, who was also only occasionally subject to his control, and was more often a rival.
Q: - Would you describe it as a sophisticated social and political system?
No, I wouldn’t. I think I would probably describe it as originally having quite an old and archaic tradition behind it which saw the king as the husband of his country - giving him the duty of cherishing the country and defending it and pleasing it. And among ‘pleasing’ in the old days was involved the idea that as a good bridegroom the king should be physically perfect: should not be too old or too young, should be a brave warrior in battle and, above all, in relation to his own people, should be generous: there’s a lot of emphasis laid on the king’s feasts that he provided for his subjects, and alms that he gave to the poor and, in effect, conspicuous consumption of feasts. They had a saying in fact which was considered very typical by the English of Irish attitude and that was "Spend me and defend me": the people were prepared to pay quite heavy tributes to their chiefs as long as the chief was militarily capable of defending them from outside raiders and robbers, controlling law inside the country and then giving these feasts and these alms, and protecting both the poor and the weak and the powerful and strong.
Ìý
|
