It’s thought that there were approximately and at minimum 150 nations in old Ireland and at least that amount across England, Wales and Scotland in addition to those in Western Europe. Gildas Sapiens ‘the wise’, a native Briton, wrote a scathing and religiously biased telling of various kingdoms in his De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae in the 6th century giving an impression that Britain as well as Ireland and Scotland were still ruled and controlled by various heathen groups even after the introduction of Christianity. He makes mention that even Columba did not escape this culture of heathenry and was convinced to make a sacrifice when building his abbey on Iona. Specific nations or clans had histories that were generations long and a rich recorded history and living memory that was kept alive and heralded through an immersive oral tradition. Order and peace among nations in general was expected and encouraged. Strabo was quoted in the 1st century as saying there was strict discipline expected of tribal members at Gaulish assemblies. If you even spoke out of turn, an official would cut off a piece of your clothing as an annoyance.¹

In the Irish Brehon Laws, there were five main requirements to be a king. You had to be the son and grandson of a king or subject king, be free of criminal charges and to remain truthful, not be guilty of theft, be physically fit and handsome and possess three estates each with at least twenty cows and twenty sheep. There was also a strong military aspect of kingship and needing to be an effective warlord when challenges arose. A current king could also be overthrown if he broke one of these rules. Interestingly again, in the Críth Gablach, a weekly schedule was given for kings in regards to their duties. It was said that… “A king’s duties are specific to the day of the week: Sunday for drinking ale, for he is not a rightful ruler unless he provides ale every Sunday; Monday for judgment [between tuatha] and the reconciliations of the tuatha; Tuesday for playing board-games; Wednesday for watching deer-hounds hunting; Thursday for keeping company with his wife; Friday for horse-racing; Saturday for judging cases [within his tuath].” 

The election and subsequent inauguration likely would have been a large gathering and very ritualistic. There were a few things that recurred in literature concerning the inauguration of kings. A bard, druid or member of the clergy would have pronounced the leader’s ancestry and put a blessing upon him and his reign and the entire event would likely be near a sacred site, burial mound of their ancestors or possibly under a sacred tree. Horses were included in the ceremony which may have involved the leader’s personal horse and a unique chariot. There was a footprint in stone or a special shoe that the leader ceremoniously stepped into. The leader would have drank alcohol, been anointed and presented with a rod of sovereignty, the ‘slat tighearnais’ likely cut from a sacred tree or possibly a rod that was passed on through the generations.

“Seven priests were sometimes present, but a bishop was always present, with the chieftains of all the principal families and a ruler of the Isles. There was a square stone seven or eight feet long, and the tract of a man’s foot cut therein, upon which he stood, denoting that he should walk in the footsteps and uprightness of his predecessors and that he was installed by right in his possessions. He was clothed in a white habit too how his innocence and integrity of heart, that he would be a light to his people and maintain the true religion. The white apparel did afterwards belong to the poet by right. Then he had power to rule, not with tyranny and partiality, but with discretion and sincerity. Then, he received his forefather’s sword or some other sword, signifying that his duty was to protect and defend them from their enemies in peace or war, as the obligations and customs of his predecessors were. The ceremony being over, mass was said after the blessing of the Bishop and seven priests, the people pouring their prayers for the success and prosperity of their new-created lord. When they were dismissed, the Lord of the Isles feasted them for a week. Immediately after, the proclamation the chief druid or bard performed a rhetorical panegyric setting forth the ancient pedigree, velour, and liberality of the family as incentives to the young chieftain and fit for his imitation.” 

 The list and histories of famous Irish High Kings is a mixture of legend, propaganda and combination of both fact and fiction. One of the most famous and well loved kings is Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig or Brian Boru who ended the longstanding kings of Uí Néill domination as well as kept Norse invaders from gaining more of a foothold in the country than they already had. Brian was founder of the O’Brien dynasty and surely one of the most unifying monarchs to pass through Ireland’s kingship. He was the only Irish king to receive the honor of being called not only the High King of Ireland, but “High King of the Gaels of Ireland and the Norse foreigners and the Britons, Augustus of all north-western Europe”.⁴ The height of his fame culminated in the great Cath Chluain Tarbh or Battle of Clontarf fought near Dublin on April 23, 1014 where it’s thought nearly 10,000 men were killed in the battle. Brian Boru’s forces were pitted against a Norse-Irish alliance between Sigtrygg Silkbeard (King of Dublin) and Máel Mórda mac Murchada (King of Leinster) as well as a rogue Viking army led by Sigurd the Stout of Orkney, Brodir of the Isle of Mann and Plait, a mysterious warrior described as “the bravest knight of all the foreigners”. 

Interestingly, Brodir’s brother Óspak, described by his own people in folk legend as “the wisest of all men”⁵ fought on Boru’s side, was injured and lost his two sons in the battle. To further complicate matters, Brian was married to Gormlaith, Máel Mórda’s sister and Sigtrygg’s mother who callously betrayed Brian and was thought to have helped engineer the Norse alliance to some extent. Furthermore, Sigtrygg was also married to Boru’s daughter Sláine from his first wife. This was clearly a very complicated, layered and nuanced collective disagreement. It was said the battle opened with Domnall mac Eimín, a Scottish ally of Brian and Plait taunting one another as was speculated to be remnant of the old method of sending one warrior out to fight another to see if the battle couldn’t be decided in this manner first and to avoid larger losses. It was said they both died at the same time, “…with the sword of each through the heart of the other, and the hair of each in the clenched hand of the other.”⁶ 

However, Brodir was famously killed shortly thereafter by Brian’s brother Ulf the Quarrelsome. In the Njal’s Saga, it was said he brutally and vengefully “Cut open his belly, and led him round and round the trunk of a tree, and so wound all his entrails out of him, and he did not die before they were all drawn out.” Although the losses were incredibly heavy,  Brian’s forces were victorious in the end. The power of the Norse Vikings had been broken and the event was largely seen as Ireland being freed from foreign domination. Sigtrygg, the only leader of the Norse alliance that survived, emerged with his role and kingdom somewhat intact and continued raiding and trying to maintain control of Dublin. However, he was ultimately defeated again by the new King of Leinster, Augaire mac Dúnlainge and later exiled due to ongoing rivalries, dying from unknown causes in 1042. 

One of the last High Kings of Ireland was Edward Bruce, a Scotsman who died in 1318. He was famously the brother of the King of Scotland at the time, Robert the Bruce and led a three year military campaign against the Anglo-Norman lordship and invasion of Ireland. The famous Battle of Bannockburn had recently made huge reverberations in the Gaelic world when Scottish forces rallied behind Robert and defeated England’s and King Edward’s forces in 1314. Scotland was forging headfirst towards their independence and Ireland wished to assert the same for themselves. Edward was consequently respected in both countries by association to his brother and in the Irish Annals it was declared that “All the Gaels of Ireland agreed to grant him lordship and they called him King of Ireland.” Edward’s main plan was to attack and unseat the English at their site of royal administration, being Dublin and was unfortunately defeated and killed in the Battle of Faughart. 

This may have been his own doing as he was aware of fighting a larger army than his own and didn’t wait for reinforcements to arrive from Scotland before engaging. Not only that but there was a large famine just before this, known as the Great Famine of 1315 through 1317 and everyone was already stretched to their limits physically, mentally and emotionally. Edward’s body was dismembered and portions of him were hung on the gates of various Irish towns. Even with tragic losses, this was still a momentous moment for Ireland as it turned back the tide ever so slightly on Anglo-Norman expansion of the time period. Gaelic culture and the expansion of literary knowledge flowered in the years that followed as some of the pressure from England was put off for the time being. Unfortunately, what this event did do was effectively end the attempt to revive the High Kingship of Ireland. It’s worth noting the last Native Ard Rí was Ruaidhrí Ua Conchobair or Roderick O’ Connor from 1166 to 1198. He was a member of the Ua Conchobair dynasty who, as already mentioned, were the beloved famous rulers of Connacht. 

The middle class were known as the ‘nemeth’ which means ‘sacred; the noble class of society’ which were the artisans, Druids, Ovates and Bards or in Christianized old Irish society, the Filí. Interestingly, the Críth Gablach makes mention of an additional people that were considered sacred which were known as the Féni, who were said to be the original Goídels, allegedly the third invaders of early Ireland. The name implied ‘true’ Irish and they were described as ‘old and aboriginal’ as well as having migrated from mainland Europe verses from Britain. Regardless of their origins, or possible mythical connections, people in this sacred class were highly skilled in their craft or in legal awareness and therefore prized and valued. For this reason they were excused from having to pay taxes or join the military as other community members may have been required to do. This was as true in Ireland as it was in Western Europe. Caesar also mentions that this facet of the profession encouraged many people to seek it or parents to send their children to Druid schools in the hopes of being chosen.⁷ There were two kinds of nemeth, the dependent and independent. The dependent would have worked under and for a specific king whereas an independent would have been just as the word explains, independent of a specific family. The independent would have been of a higher upper echelon in society and generally regarded as ‘churchmen, rulers, Filí and again the Féni’. 

The dependents would have generally been the artisans and people of ‘arts and crafts’. It was said that “The independent in the seat of the dependent and the dependent in the seat of the independent.” meaning anyone could become independent through his wealth and anyone could become dependent through his skill. Written just a few lines after this description is a famous Irish proverb that said “A man is better than his birth.” meaning that you were generally free to try and make something of yourself to better your lot in life.⁸ Regardless, all in this class were generally accepted and welcomed without threat anywhere across the landscape and this was deeply embedded within the ancient law system of the land, and particularly in the Brehon Laws of old Ireland. Although the Kings and Chieftains were considered to ultimately be at the top of the social tier, the Druids were much like priests today. They easily swayed the actions of their followers and were in many ways the divining puppeteers behind their leaders. It’s likely that each leader would have had their own Druid or Druidess, Bard, Seer or Filí fulfilling the roles of judges, musicians, healers, diviners and these various niches within their individual túath. 

Naturally, at the bottom of the social ladder were the common people and peasants. We know very little about them other than they were considered mostly free although subject to their kindred or kin-group, their túath and taxes as well as all of the responsibility that entailed. In Gaul, Caesar compared this class to slaves or claimed that they might as well have been.⁹ The peasants would generally have been less skilled craftsmen, farmed the land or raised animals. They likely would have had some sort of productive job to do around the homestead or community. These various Celtic kingdoms and people across the landscape may have had servants or slaves that were somehow indentured to them of which even less is known about. Nations were often peaceful amongst themselves but naturally may have been rivals depending on how their relationship evolved. Bad blood often lasted for generations, sometimes based on only one bad offense or betrayal of a single person. We see this echoed in the well known and recorded transgressions of the clan system in Scotland and the likes of rivals such as the Campbells and MacDonalds. 

The smallest group in old Irish society was the kindred or kin-group. The kindred was perhaps the most fundamental of all social institutions in early Irish society as well as for the Gauls. It was a tight unit whose interests and prosperity was dependent on the responsible and dutiful behavior of each of its members. Importance was placed on the representation of the kin-group as a whole rather than the individual. The kin’s wealth was predominantly derived from the land it possessed. Each legally competent male kin member was generally entitled to his share in the land, which he was subsequently responsible for maintaining.  Nevertheless the land was still regarded as belonging to the kin group as a whole; therefore no individual could make a contract to sell his share without the consent of other kin members. In fact, no one could make any contract, which could potentially affect the assets of his kin without the authorization of the kin. Any kin member who successfully fulfilled his obligations towards his kin was in principle entitled to annul any contract, which he believed detrimental to the kin’s assets. However if an individual kin member did make a contract without authorization of the kin, and his kin failed to object to the contract in sufficient time the contract became authentic.¹⁰  

According to the Críth Gablach yet again, a contract could not be made where the value of the contract was higher than the honour-price of the participating party. Consequently an individual could not enter into a contract of base-clientship without the consent of his kin because the yearly payments he would be obliged to pay would certainly be higher than his honour-price. This type of contract wasn’t typically objected to as it was considered beneficial to both the lord and the client. Even so if a kin member entered into a contract which did not directly affect the assets of the kin, kin members who felt they could potentially at some point be liable to forfeit charges on the part of the contracting member could protect themselves by formally objecting to the contract. The kin group was also accountable for any offenses committed by its members. If an individual committed a crime, which his kin members were forced to compensate for, he could face expulsion from the group as punishment for the debt he incurred on them. As a result he would lose his legal rights, and in effect his identity. The latter point demonstrates the social significance of the kindred, as without kin you were without social recognition, thus socially excluded. 

Similarly if a kin member was murdered, the kin were entitled to the eraic or ‘body fine’ which the culprit paid in compensation for the killing, if the latter failed to do so the kin were entitled to initiate a blood-feud against him. Another example would be if a woman was raped, her offender (if proven guilty) would give the family her worth in payment. Smaller offenses may have been a partial payment. The higher you were in status, the more value you had and your testimony was also of higher value in disputed cases which were undoubtedly overseen by the Druids or in Christianized times, the Catholic bishops and priests. Dependents, children, disabled family members and sometimes wives did not have an independent honor price, but rather were considered a fraction of the head of the household they were attached to. Whatever you did, those actions were said to come back to you or your kindred in one way or another, possibly in this life or the next. The Gauls in particular believed in this so wholeheartedly that even debts could still be owed or paid in the next life.¹¹ Something as final as death wasn’t an escape from what was seen as your duty and responsibility. 

Many medieval Irish scholars such as Mac Neill, Binchy (1936) Charles-Edwards (1993), and McLeod (2000) have proposed kinship systems based on old Irish law texts in particular D’fodlaib cineoil tuaithi. The most convincing of all kinship systems promoted by these scholars is McLeod’s, as it corresponds most fluently to the description of kinship structures as described by the old Irish law texts. In accordance with the latter article, we can identify four specific categories within the kin group as a whole. The first, the gelfine, which can be translated as “bright-kin” included five persons; a man or ego (McLeod, 2000) and his brothers, their father, their grandfather, their uncles, and their cousins. According to McLeod ego could expect to be a member of three different gelfines in his lifetime. However membership to a gelfine only transpired when ego became legally competent, as when ego was born he ‘belonged to’ his father’s gelfine rather than being a ‘member’ of it. This was because ego’s social position would have been that of a mac béo-athar, ‘son of a living father’: an absolute dependent on his father. It was not until ego came of legal age, which usually followed fosterage; around the age of fourteen that he joined his ‘initial gelfine’.  This comprised three generations of which ego’s grandfather was head, and thus referred to as flaith gelfine ‘lord of the gelfine’, or cenn fine ‘kin head, or ágae fine ‘pillar of the kin’. (McLeod, 2000)

Once ego bore sons of his own, and they became legally competent he advanced to the position originally held by his father in the gelfine. Accordingly his brothers progressed to the position formerly held by their uncles, his father to his grandfather’s position, and his children acquired the bottom line of this kin structure, the position previously held by ego and his brothers. When ego’s grandchildren came of age, ego himself became head of his own gelfine. As a result his father, uncle and nephews were dislodged from the gelfine and accommodated in ego’s derbfine. Consequently to make room for these additions to the derbfine, a further group was transferred from ego’s derbfine and accommodated in his íarfine, and accordingly relatives were removed from the íarfine and relocated to the widest of kin groups the indfine, the “end-kin”, which consisted of seventeen persons, all three of ego’s derbfines. McLeod asserts that the structure of this final kin category resembles the structure of the hand, each grouping of persons representing a knuckle, or finger, and the additional ones, ingen ar méraib.

As one may have deduced of these kinship structures, early Irish society was mostly patriarchal. Women of the time did assume a subordinate role and belonged to a group of persons labelled as báeth, meaning ‘foolish’, ‘senseless’ or ‘incapable’.¹² The individuals in this category were considered legally incompetent, hence were reliant on their male superior to administer and authorize any legal affairs, which involved them. Caesar said that husbands in Gaul held the “power of life and death” over their wives and children but also mentions in the same text that whatever sum of money the husband had, the wife came into the union with the same amount, alluding to a more fair union.¹³ This framework of a marriage union as well as having the power of life and death over their family was described the same for old Irish society in the Irish Brehon Laws. Despite this, women had a seemingly markedly better life than in some of the surrounding cultures of the time period. One of the most famous stories of empowerment regarding Gaulish women was described as a Galatian woman named Onomaris thought to have lived in the 4th century BCE. She was described in the short Greek work Tractatus De Mulieribus which was written by an anonymous author. In the text, fourteen famous ancient women are discussed. According to this text, her people, suffering from scarcity, offered to obey anyone willing to lead them. When no man accepted the offer, Onomaris pooled her resources and led the emigration. 

Another famous Galatian woman was Chiomara. She was said to be a woman of exceptional beauty, good sense and intelligence by Greek historian Polybius. Chiomara was a noblewoman and wife of Orgiagon, Chieftain of the Tectosagi nation in modern day France. Her people were one of the three Galatian groups fighting during the Galatian War with Rome in 189 BCE. A Roman centurion was put in charge of a group of captives, one of which was Chiomara. When she declined his sexual advances, he raped her and then offered to make up for his mistake, to return her to her people for a ransom. He sent a slave with his message which was accepted. Her countrymen came to the appointed place to make the exchange and the centurion bid her well. Before he could leave however, she indicated one of her men with a particular nod and he quickly chopped off the centurion’s head without a word having to be said. She then wrapped the head in her apron carrying it home to her husband and when she arrived, threw it at his feet in pride exclaiming that only one man was still alive that had ever slept with her.¹⁴

Pre-Christianization, Romans and Greeks were particularly curious and sometimes critical of the role women played in various Celtic societies. Women could own real property and enter into any profession, including politics, military and as Druids. They frequently served as political ambassadors to their husbands and could conduct business endeavors at their own discretion. Plutarch in the 1st century said that women in Gaul were important judges in disputes and that… “There arose a very grievous and irreconcilable contention among the Celts before they passed over the Alps to inhabit that tract of Italy which now they inhabit, which proceeded to a civil war. The women placing themselves between the armies, took up the controversies, argued them so accurately, and determined them so impartially, [p. 348] that an admirable friendly correspondence and general amity ensued, both civil and domestic. Hence the Celts made it their practice to take women into consultation about peace or war, and to use them as mediators in any controversies that arose between them and their allies. In the league therefore made with Hannibal, the writing runs thus: If the Celts take occasion of quarreling with the Carthaginians, the governors and generals of the Carthaginians in Spain shall decide the controversy; but if the Carthaginians accuse the Celts, the Celtic women shall be judges.”¹⁵

Tacitus stated on one hand that the Britons made no distinction of gender in their leaders but then also mentioned that amongst themselves, they were still shamed at the prospect of being defeated by a woman.^16,17 None of this is to say that these various social roles of significance and leadership were common for all women, only that it was possible or at least possible for the upper class and those of noble birth. However, this is not without large significance. Mostly all women were commonly trained for war and fought alongside their men in battles which we will explore further. There was also the Irish ‘Ban Gaisgedaig’, a young female warrior and the ‘Ban Feinnidh’, a band of female warriors. Girls were speculated to have trained along with the boys and likely inspired one another, not only in battle but in love. There is huge energy that occurs and lends to immense inspiration when we interact in this way together on more equal ground. As we discover the true nature of this very different looking past, you’d often want to shake people awake, both women and men alike to the powers that true equality brings to our collective communities. This is not necessarily to say that women should be forced to fight in the wars of men today, but that it could be beneficial for girls and young women to at least be trained in self defense and indeed to fight when necessary. It is still and may always be a somewhat dangerous world and this is relevant just as much for women as for men to know how to defend themselves.

The Scottish Picts were rumored to pass their kingship in a matrilineal fashion.¹⁸ That is not to say that women were the rulers, but simply that kingship followed the woman’s ancestral birth line. Similarly, in Gaul, Livy in the 1st century makes mention of two war leaders elected to lead their people to new lands that were the sons of the sister of the King, Ambigatus, rather than his own sons.¹⁹ In Iberia, matrilineal succession was common among their nations as well.²⁰ Many famous Irish heroes in mythology were also named after their mothers instead of their fathers. For example, Conchobar Mac Nessa is named after his mother Nessa, who is described as a Druid. There are in actuality nearly an equal number of references to female Druids as males at least in Irish mythical tales but also embedded within certain quotes of Classical Greek and Roman writers. We have further proof in archeology of the significance of women whereby rich and elaborate grave sites have been discovered, solidifying their role in high status positions. Women’s sacred nature was also revered at least equally if not more prevalent in the various animistic and polytheistic pantheons of their respective locales.

There is also something to be said for the sacred relationship that was encouraged for a King and his túath to have with the ‘female’ aspect of the land in that it was to be cherished but more importantly, respected and often sometimes feared. A huge aspect of the Celtic cultural archetype deals with women and the fact that women in general were interpreted in mythical but also historical references as capable of higher positions of leadership, sexual liberation and greater financial freedoms at minimum. While collectively still subject to their male counterparts, we are at least reminded through old Celtic societies that women were forces to be reckoned with in their own right, leading their people and shaping their societies through powerful and multifaceted roles.

“A very witty remark is reported to have been made by the wife of Argentocoxus, a Caledonian, to Julia Augusta. When the empress was jesting with her, after the treaty, about the free intercourse of her sex with men in Britain, she replied: “We fulfill the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women; for we consort openly with the best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest.” Such was the retort of the British woman. ”

Dio Cassiuss, Roman, Roman History, 1st century

Women and men could both enter freely into relationships and marriages and leave them generally, as they saw fit. Trial marriages of a year and a day were common in old Ireland and typically began on the festival of Lughnasadh. Even up into recent times there was a practice known as a Teltown marriage in Ireland, and again, still related to Lughnasadh. Divorce and marriage were seen as social matters, rather than morally weighted religious ones. It was somewhat common based on mythical tales but also historical references for people to have multiple marriages and you were likely not looked down upon as any less of a catch if you had been married before or had kids in a previous marriage. Women that had children were in some historical references considered more valuable. We can assume the reasoning may have been that children were put to work in some capacity around the homestead or the woman had proven her fertility. While many and most people may have been in monogamous relationships, sexual fidelity was not exactly a priority, particularly when sex was not happening in the marriage for one reason or another. In the Irish tales of Conchobar mac Nessa, he was said to have the right to sleep with any marriageable woman first in addition to the right to sleep with the wife of anyone who hosted him. This was known as the Geas of the King although it’s unclear whether this actually existed and was exercised outside of mythical tales. 

Classical writers often used words like promiscuous to describe the Gauls or Iberians such as in Strabo’s description of Iberians when he said… “In Bastetania the women dance promiscuously with the men, each holding the other’s hand. They all dress in black, the majority of them in cloaks called saga, in which they sleep on beds of straw. They make use of wooden vessels like the Kelts.” He also mentioned of the Gauls that “The labours of the two sexes are distributed in a manner the reverse of what they are with us, but this is a common thing with numerous other barbarians… All this is a proof both of the amount of the population [of Gaul], and, as before remarked, of the fecundity of their women, and the ease with which they rear their children.” According to Suetonius in the 1st century, Caesar slept with many Gaulish women.²¹ It’s again just worth a reminder here that classical sources were known to be biased and politically motivated.²² With all this said, in later references and for example by the medieval period in Europe and the isles, adultery was often harshly punished and women could often be legally tortured and mamed in retaliation for adultery. The most a woman could do was simply to divorce her husband for it. In fact, by the 14th century, it was said in the Trencheng Breth Féne, The Triad of Irish Verdicts that the three female virtues were “…virginity before marriage, willingness to suffer and industriousness in caring for her husband and children.”²³

Before marriage under the Brehon Laws a woman was under the authority of her father, once married she was under the authority of her husband, if widowed she was under the authority of her sons, if she possessed no sons or was a spinster she was under the authority of her next of kin, usually her brother. The key legal tract which deals with laws concerning early Irish marriage and sexual relationships, is Cáin Lánamna (‘Law of Full Pairs’), which asserts that the relationship between a husband and his wife was similar to the relationship between a lord and his client, or a pupil and his teacher in that the latter was subordinate to the former, yet each of the pair exerted certain rights and were required to fulfil specific obligations to the other. The text also distinguishes three principal types of marriage or union; firstly on airnaidm (‘betrothal’), secondly by acceptance or aititiu (‘recognition’), and thirdly by foxal (‘abduction’). 

The first type of marriage that by betrothal was subsequently divided into: lánamnas comthinchuir (‘union of mutual contribution’), lánamnas mná for ferthinchur (‘union of woman on man property’) and lánamnas fir for bantinchur (‘union of man on woman property’).  The distinction between each was again, based on the property contributed by each partner to the marriage, which in turn determined his or her rights within the marriage. If they divorced, they took with them the equal amount they brought into the marriage. If and when one of them died while they were married, the other would get the inheritance as long as there was no suspicion of foul play. This was again referenced similarly in Caesar’s remarks of Gaulish society.

Through these types of pairings we get a sense at least of the recognition that women held their own in regards to property and rights to maintain what was seen as theirs or their kins. Even after a woman was married, she still belonged to her kin. However the sons she bore as a result of the union belonged to her husband’s kin. The maternal kin did still exercise certain rights for example they could intervene if they felt a father had neglected the education of his son. Nevertheless under certain circumstances the offspring of a union belonged entirely to the maternal kin, for example marriages to foreigners: those from a different túath or from abroad. Although inheritance was divided among male descendents, it was possible for women to inherit. If her father and brothers died, a woman became what is referred to in the law tracts as a banchomarba (‘female heir’). Like a male heir she was required to take responsibility for maintaining the land.

However, like the sons of women of alternative statuses, the sons of a banchomarba could not inherit the maternal kin’s land, that is to say they lay no claim to the land their mother had succeeded, instead when she died it reverted back to her father’s next of kin.²³ As opposed to consummation, it was the consent of each partner’s kin that made a marriage or sexual relationship between two individuals legitimate in early Irish society, this demonstrates the social significance of the kindred, as does the reality that kin groups were structured in such a way that the prosperity of each member was dependent on the dutiful behaviour of the other. One of the main uniting functions of kinship was supplemented by arranged marriages which was as true for the isles as it was for Western Europe.^24,25,26 Arranged marriages were mostly common in the upper echelon of society although in some circumstances, could likely be declined if it was truly thought to be a bad match. The function of this was naturally to strategically gain wealth, territory as well as military alliances. Luckily, for the commoners, they were likely allowed much more freedom in this regard.

Polygamy and polyandry were both documented at minimum in the mythical tales. The powerful Irish mythical figure, Queen Méibh was particularly famous for having a healthy sexual appetite and taking many lovers at her discretion while also having multiple husbands. Famous Briton ruler Cartimandua left her husband for another man but retained her status and crown through her birthright which was quite significant for the time period.²⁷ Of course, there are countless references in both the mythical tales as well as historical references to Celtic men taking multiple wives. It was said that even Cú Chulainn slept with his trainer, Scáthach as well as her sister and her daughter.

There are also references that men and women had relationships with members of the same sex. Particularly in Gaul, again Strabo in the 1st century BCE remarked… “It is well known that all the Celts are fond of disputes and that homosexuality is not considered shameful amongst them.” Diodorus in the same time frame added that “Though they have handsome women, they associate very little with them; rather, they are drawn to a wild passion for hugs with men. They are used to lying on the floor on animal skins and tossing around with a sleeper on either side. But the most unbelievable thing is: they are not concerned about their own decency, but willingly surrender the blossom of their bodies to others; and they do not consider it shameful, but rather consider it dishonorable if one of them is courted and does not accept the favor offered.” 

Of course from an Irish lens, the lack of mention of homosexuality being an issue until a much more complete Christianization of the country was complete, generally lends to an acceptance of it. Not always, but likely. For example, homosexuality is mentioned as reason for a woman to divorce her husband in the Brehon Laws, but it wasn’t mentioned that it was immoral. Rather, this would have created a situation where the wife may have been unable to have children or otherwise have a successful relationship, so the better route was likely seen as to set him free to his own desires. In the Book of Leinster, two women are referenced as lovers and one amazingly becomes pregnant after lying with the other who had just had sex with a male lover.²⁸

The most famous reference alluding to homosexuality in old Ireland is of course in the Táin Bó Cúailnge where Cú Chulainn and his foster brother Ferdiad exchange many admirable thoughts towards one another. Queen Méibh ruthlessly convinced Ferdiad to fight against Cú Chulainn in order to gain her daughter’s hand in marriage. This was of course to Cú Chulainn’s chagrin and when they met on the battlefield, he exclaimed,“We were heart-companions once; We were comrades in the woods; We were men that shared a bed. When we slept the heavy sleep. After hard and weary fights. Into many lands, so strange, And side by side we sailed forth, And we ranged the woodlands through, When with Scathach we learned arms!” Ultimately, Cú Chulainn was forced to kill him and lamented deeply… “Dear to me thy noble blush, Dear thy comely, perfect form; Dear thine eye, blue-grey and clear, Dear they wisdom and thy speech.”²⁹ Naturally, as referenced, there may have been quite a bit of bisexuality going on. The cultural underpinnings here are that sex may have been viewed as more of a pasttime and a source of physical enjoyment without as much moral or societal baggage tied to it. This idea being seen as empowering or harmful would of course depend on the individual and their own nuanced preferences and beliefs, probably just as much back then as today. Additionally, there may have been different social norms depending on your social class. 

“So that the inevitable result is that in a state thus constituted wealth is held in honor, especially if it is the case that the people are under the sway of their women, as most of the military and warlike races are, except the Celts and such other races as have openly held in honor passionate friendship between males. For it appears that the original teller of the legend had good reason for uniting Ares with Aphrodite, for all men of martial spirit appear to be attracted to the companionship either of male associates or of women. Hence this characteristic existed among the Spartans, and in the time of their empire many things were controlled by the women; yet what difference does it make whether the women rule or the rulers are ruled by the women? The result is the same.”

Aristotle, Greek, Politics, 4th century BCE

Another uniting function of the kin-group in the isles and Gaul, was the practice of fosterage. Children were often raised by other local ally kin-groups or kingdoms called a fosterage either in their own territory or possibly in another subject king or king’s territory entirely. They would live with another family for a number of years as a token of loyalty and trust. They would typically go to a particular foster parent that could offer them an alliance, training or safety. They may have gone during three different phases, birth to age seven, age seven to twelve, and age twelve to seventeen. It’s speculated this was a similar practice as keeping hostages but a more subtle and arguably, healthy way of keeping alliances and peace. Often the ties between children and their foster parents was stronger than their blood kindred. There is a famous quote regarding fosterage in the Scottish highlands regarding the depth of the love between foster parents and children when 8 foster brothers of the chief of the MacLeans supposedly died one after the other trying to protect their foster father during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms or English Civil Wars. As they died one after the other, they were said to have cried out “fear eile airson Eachainn”, “another one for Hector”. The structure and rules of fosterage were also carefully laid out in the Brehon Laws.

Ultimately, from all that we know, these were highly organized and efficient cultural societies based around familial support and governance. People were generally considered free but also bound by honor to their family, subject king and High King to do and be good lest the consequences were harsh and you would have been cut off from all whom nourished you. This is why to be excommunicated was of the highest punishment, considered even more greater than death. The fact that Ireland didn’t use or need coinage is an immense testament to the levels of trust and interdependence of the people of Ireland in particular.

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References

1. The Geography of Strabo, ed. and trans. H. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer. London: George Bell & Sons, 1903. 

“They have a peculiar custom in their assemblies. If any one makes an uproar or interrupts the person speaking, an attendant advances with a drawn sword, and commands him with menace to be silent; if he persists, the attendant does the same thing a second and third time; and finally, [if he will not obey,] cuts off from his sagum so large a piece as to render the remainder useless. The labours of the two sexes are distributed in a manner the reverse of what they are with us, but this is a common thing with numerous other barbarians.”

2. Caesar’s Gallic War, trans. W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869.

“When he saw that he was put off too long, and that the day was close at hand on which he ought to serve out the corn to his soldiers; – having called together their chiefs, of whom he had a great number in his camp, among them Divitiacus and Liscus who was invested with the chief magistracy (whom the Aedui style the Vergobretus, and who is elected annually and has power of life or death over his countrymen), he severely reprimands them, because he is not assisted by them on so urgent an occasion, when the enemy were so close at hand, and when [corn] could neither be bought nor taken from the fields, particularly as, in a great measure urged by their prayers, he had undertaken the war; much more bitterly, therefore does he complain of his being forsaken.”

3. The Geography of Strabo, ed. and trans. H. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer. London: George Bell & Sons, 1903. 

“Their governments were for the most part aristocratic; formerly they chose a governor every year, and a military leader was likewise elected by the multitude. At the present day they are mostly under subjection to the Romans.”

4. Evans, Nicholas (2010). The Present and the Past in Medieval Irish Chronicles. Boydell & Brewer. P. 228.

5. The Story of Burnt Njal. translation into English by George W. DaSent from the original Icelandic ‘Brennu-Njáls saga’. 1861.

6. Todd, J. H., ed. Cogadh Gaedhel Re Gallaibh: The War of the Gaedhil with The Gaill. Rolls Series. London: Longmans. 1867.

7. Caesar’s Gallic War, trans. W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869.

“The druids do not go to war, nor pay tribute together with the rest; they have an exemption from military service and a dispensation in all matters. Induced by such great advantages, many embrace this profession of their own accord, and [many] are sent to it by their parents and relations.”

8. Críth Gablach, MacNeill, “Ancient Irish Law.”

9. Caesar’s Gallic War, trans. W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869.

“Throughout all Gaul there are two orders of those men who are of any rank and dignity: for most of the population is almost in the condition of slaves, and dares to undertake nothing of itself, and is has no legal redress. The majority, when they are pressed either by debt, or by the vast size of their taxes, or the oppression of the more powerful, give themselves up in vassalage to the nobles, who possess over them the same rights without exception as masters over their slaves. But of these two orders, one is that of the druids, the other that of the Knights [horse-mounted warriors].”

10. Cathcart, Alison. Kinship and Clientage, The Northern World, Vol.20. 2006. McLeod, N. Early Irish Contract Law. Sydney. 1992. 

11. Pomponius Mela, Chorographia Bk II, from Pomponius Mela’s Description of the World, translated by Frank E. Romer, University of Michigan Press, 1998.

“These men claim to know the size and shape of the earth and of the universe, the movements of the sky and of the stars, and what the gods intend. In secret, and for a long time (twenty years), they teach many things to the noblest males among their people, and they do it in a cave or in a hidden mountain defile. One of the precepts they teach — obviously to make them better for war — has leaked into common knowledge, namely, that their souls are eternal and that there is a second life for the dead. Therefore they cremate and bury with the dead things that are suitable for the living. Long ago, traders’ accounts and debt collection were deferred until they died, and some individuals happily threw themselves onto the pyres of their loved ones as if they were going to live with

them!”

12. Jaski, B., ‘Marriage Laws in Ireland and on the Continent in the Early Middle Ages’ in (eds.) Meek, C, and Simms, K,  ‘The fragility of her sex?’  Medieval Irishwomen in their European context. Four Courts Press, 1996. pg. 16-42.  

13. Caesar’s Gallic War, trans. W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869.

14. Histories. Polybius. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh. translator. London, New York. Macmillan. 1889. Reprint Bloomington 1962.

15. Plutarch. Plutarch’s Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874.

16. Complete Works of Tacitus. Tacitus. Alfred John Church. William Jackson Brodribb. Sara Bryant. edited for Perseus. New York. : Random House, Inc. Random House, Inc. reprinted 1942. Tac. Ann. 12.40

“After the capture of Caractacus, Venutius of the Brigantes, as I have already mentioned, was preeminent in military skill; he had long been loyal to Rome and had been defended by our arms while he was united in marriage to the queen Cartismandua. Subsequently a quarrel broke out between them, followed instantly by war, and he then assumed a hostile attitude also towards us. At first, however, they simply fought against each other, and Cartismandua by cunning stratagems captured the brothers and kinsfolk of Venutius. This enraged the enemy, who were stung with shame at the prospect of falling under the dominion of a woman.”

17. Opera Minora. Cornelius Tacitus. Henry Furneaux. Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1900. Tac. Ag. 16.

“Rousing each other by this and like language, under the leadership of Boudicea, a woman of kingly descent (for they admit no distinction of sex in their royal successions), they all rose in arms.”

18. Rankin, David. Celts and the Classic World. Pg. 248.

19. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. Liv. 5 34.

“Ambigatus was king at that time, a man eminent for his own personal courage and prosperity as much as for those of his dominions. During his sway the harvests were so abundant and the population increased so rapidly in Gaul that the government of such vast numbers seemed almost impossible. [3] He was now an old man, and anxious to relieve his realm from the burden of over-population. With this view he signified his intention of sending his sister’s sons Bellovesus and Segovesus, both enterprising young men, to settle in whatever locality the gods should by augury assign to them. [4] They were to invite as many as wished to accompany them, sufficient to prevent any nation from repelling their approach.”

20. Sievers/Urban/Ramsl: Lexikon zur Keltischen Archäologie. A–K und L–Z. Pg. 588.

21. C. Suetonius Tranquillus, Divus Julius. Maximilian Ihm, Ed.

22. The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.

23. Binchy, D.A. Family Membership of Women in Thurneyssen, Studies in Early Irish Law. 1936.

24. Caesar’s Gallic War, trans. W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869.

“Dumnorix, an Aeduan, the brother of Divitiacus, who at that time possessed the chief authority in the state, and was exceedingly beloved by the people, to attempt the same, and gives him his daughter in marriage.”

25. Diodorus Siculus. Library of History (Books III – VIII), trans. C. H. Oldfather. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1935.

“But she, because of her strength of body and marvelous comeliness, was so haughty that she kept refusing every man who wooed her in marriage, since she believed that no one of her wooers was worthy of her. Now in the course of his campaign against the Geryones, Heracles visited Celtica and founded there the city of Alesia, and the maiden, on seeing Heracles, wondered at his prowess and his bodily superiority and accepted his embraces with all eagerness, her parents having given their consent.”

26. The Deipnosophists / Athenaeus, trans. Charles Burton Gulick. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1937.

“Euxenus of Phocaea was a friend of the king [of the Celtic Segobrigi], Nannus (for that was his name). This Nannus was celebrating his daughter’s wedding when, by chance, Euxenus arrived and was invited in to attend the festival banquet. Now the marriage was to be conducted in the following manner: after the dinner the girl was to come in and mix a drink and give it to any one of the suitors present that she desired; and he to whom she gave it was to be bridegroom. When the girl entered she gave the cup, whether by accident or for some other reason, to Euxenus; the girl’s name was Petta. When this befell, the father, believing that her giving the cup had been done by divine will, thought it only right that Euxenus should have her, so he took her to wife and lived with her, after changing her name to Aristoxene.”

27. The Histories By Tacitus Written 109 A.C.E. Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb.

28. Bitel, Lisa M. Land of Women. Tales of Sex and Gender from Early Ireland, Ithaca-Londres, Cornell University Press, 1996.

29. Kinsella, Thomas. The Táin. Le Brocuy, Louis, 1970.

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