A SMALLER SOCIAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT IRELAND

Treating of the Government, Military System, and Law; Religion, Learning and Art; Trades, Industries, and Commerce; Manners, Customs, and Domestic Life, of the Ancient Irish People

P. W. Joyce

1906

Frontispiece to the Epistle of St. Jerome in the Book of Durrow. Specimen of ancient Irish penwork (From Miss Stoke's Early Christian Art in Ireland).

CONTENTS

Sculpture on a Column, Church of the Monastery, Glendalough (From Petrie's Round Towers)

PREFACE

ILLUSTRATIONS

PART I.

GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW

CHAPTER I.

A PRELIMINARY BIRD'S-EYE VIEW

CHAPTER II.

GOVERNMENT BY KINGS

Section

1. Territorial Subdivision
2. Classes of Kings
3. Election and Inauguration
4. Revenue and Authority
5. Privileges
6. Limitations and Restrictions
7. Household, Retinue, and Court Officers
8. The Over-Kings

CHAPTER III.

WARFARE

Section

1. Foreign Conquests and Colonisations
2. Military Ranks, Orders, and Services
3. Arms, Offensive and Defensive
4. Strategy, Tactics, and Modes of Fighting

CHAPTER IV.

THE BREHON LAWS

Section

1. The Brehons
2. The Senchus Mor and Other Books of Law
3. Suitability of the Brehon Laws
4. Structure of Society
5. The Laws relating to Land
6. The Administration of Justice

PART II.

RELIGION, LEARNING, AND ART

CHAPTER V.

PAGANISM

Section

1. Druids: Their Functions and Powers
2. Points of Agreement and Differences between Irish and Gaulish Druids
3. Sorcerers and Sorcery
4. Mythology: Gods, Goblins, and Phantoms
5. Worship of Idols
6. Worship of the Elements
7. The Pagan Heaven and a Future State
8. Turning Deisiol or Sunwise
9. The Ordeal
10. The Evil Eye
11. Geasa, or Prohibitions

CHAPTER VI.

CHRISTIANITY

Section

1. Christianity before St. Patrick's Arrival
2. The Three Orders of Irish Saints
3. The First Order: Patrician Secular Clergy
4. The Second Order: Monastic Clergy
5. The Third Order: Anchorites or Hermits, and Hermit Communities
6. Buildings, and other Material Requisites

CHAPTER VII.

LEARNING AND EDUCATION

Section

1. Learning in Pagan Times: Ogham
2. Monastic Schools
3. Lay Schools
4. Some General Features of both Classes of Schools
5. The Men of Learning
6. Honours and Rewards for Learning
7. The Knowledge of Science

CHAPTER VIII.

IRISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Section

1. Divisions and Dialects of Celtic
2. Writing, and Writing Materials
3. Ancient Libraries
4. Existing Books
5. Irish Poetry and Prosody

CHAPTER IX.

ECCLESIASTICAL AND RELIGIOUS WRITINGS

CHAPTER X.

ANNALS, HISTORIES, AND GENEALOGIES

Section

1. How the Annals were compiled
2. Tests of Accuracy
3. Principal Books of the Annals
4. Histories: Genealogies: Dinnsenchus

CHAPTER XI.

HISTORICAL AND ROMANTIC TALES

Section

1. Classes, Lists, and Numbers
2. Chronological Cycles of the Tales
3. General Character of the Tales
4. Story-Telling and Recitation

CHAPTER XII.

ART

Section

1. Penwork and Illumination
2. Gold, Silver, and Enamel, as Working Materials
3. Artistic Metal Work
4. Stone Carving

CHAPTER XIII.

MUSIC

Section

1. History
2. Musical Instruments
3. Characteristics, Classes, Styles
4. Modern Collections of Ancient Irish Music

CHAPTER XIV.

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL DOCTORS

Section

1. Medical Doctors
2. Medical Manuscripts
3. Diseases
4. Treatment

PART III.

SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE.

CHAPTER XV.

THE FAMILY

Section

1. Marriage
2. Position of Women and Children
3. Fosterage
4. Family Names

CHAPTER XVI.

THE HOUSE

Section

1. Construction, Shape, and Size
2. Interior Arrangements and Sleeping Accommodation
3. Outer Premises and Defence
4. Domestic Vessels
5. Royal Residences

CHAPTER XVII.

FOOD, FUEL, AND LIGHT: PUBLIC HOSTELS

Section

1. Meals in General
2. Drink
3. Cooking
4. Flesh Meat and Its Accompaniments
5. Milk and Its Products
6. Corn and Its Preparation
7. Honey
8. Vegetables and Fruit
9. Fuel and Light
10. Free Public Hostels

CHAPTER XVIII.

DRESS AND PERSONAL ADORNMENT

Section

1. The Person and the Toilet
2. Dress
3. Personal Ornaments
4. Rough Classified List of the Gold Objects in the National Museum, Dublin

CHAPTER XIX.

AGRICULTURE AND PASTURAGE

Section

1. Fences
2. Land, Crops, and Tillage
3. Some Farm Animals
4. Herding, Grazing, Milking

CHAPTER XX.

WORKERS IN WOOD, METAL, AND STONE

Section

1. Chief Materials
2. Builders
3. Brasiers and Founders
4. The Blacksmith and His Forge
5. Carpenters, Masons, and Other Craftsmen
6. Protection of Crafts and Social Position of Craftsmen

CHAPTER XXI.

CORN MILLS AND QUERNS

Section

1. Mills
2. Querns and Grain Rubbers

CHAPTER XXII.

TRADES AND INDUSTRIES CONNECTED WITH CLOTHING

Section

1. Wool and Woollen Fabrics
2. Flax and Its Preparation
3. Dyeing
4. Sewing and Embroidery
5. Tanning and Tanned Leather

CHAPTER XXIII.

MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND MEDIUMS OF EXCHANGE

Section

1. Length and Area
2. Capacity
3. Weight
4. Standards of Value and Mediums of Exchange
5. Time

CHAPTER XXIV.

LOCOMOTION AND COMMERCE

Section

1. Roads, Bridges, and Causeways
2. Chariots and Cars
3. Horse-Riding
4. Communication by Water
5. Foreign Commerce

CHAPTER XXV.

PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES, SPORTS, AND PASTIMES

Section

1. The Great Conventions and Fairs
2. The Fair of Carman
3. General Regulations for Meetings
4. Some Animals connected with Hunting and Sport
5. Races
6. Chase and Capture of Wild Animals
7. Caman or Hurling, and Other Athletic Games
8. Chess
9. Jesters, Jugglers, and Gleemen

CHAPTER XXVI.

VARIOUS SOCIAL CUSTOMS AND OBSERVANCES

Section

1. Salutation
2. Pledging, Lending, and Borrowing
3. Provision for Old Age and Destitution
4. Love of Nature and of Natural Beauty
5. Something further about Animals
6. Animals as Pets
7. The Cardinal Points
8. The Wind
9. The Sea
10. Bishop Ultan and the Orphans

CHAPTER XXVII.

DEATH AND BURIAL

Section

1. Wills
2. Funeral Obsequies
3. Modes of Burial
4. Cemeteries
5. Sepulchral Monuments

INDEX

Fig. 2: Cormac’s Chapel, Cashel