Clare Island Survey — Agriculture and its History. 5 21 



divided into two, the nobles and the commons. From the nobles were drawn 

 the kings, princes, chiefs and leaders generally; while the commons were 

 the farmers. There were tribes and families, just as in Wales, and each 

 tribe, so long as it was not subject to another, controlled the land in its own 

 country. The land was of two kinds, tribal and non-tribal. Of the tribal 

 land a part was set aside for the chief, 1 another for his successor (the tanist) 

 and the rest was divided among the tribesmen. These were grouped 

 together in families, whose binding and controlling functionary was the 

 oldest member, theoretically the great-grandfather of the youngest generation 

 of tribesmen. When a young tribesman became entitled to a farm, this had 

 to be found for him alongside his father's and his brothers'. If all the land 

 beside his father's and his brothers' farms were already occupied by uncles 

 and cousins, then either the uncles and cousins or the fathers and brothers 

 had to move along a little so as to let the young tribesman into his proper 

 position. The same kind of movement took place when tribesmen died. So, 

 the family land was constantly expanding and contracting, the tribesmen 

 were frequently moving from one place to another, and no man was sure to 

 hold the same land for more than two or three years. Outside the farm 

 land, there was a common grazing in which all had their share. 



The non-tribal land was all in the possession of the nobility. At what 

 stage or time private ownership in land arose it would be difficult to say ; 

 but it was a natural development of the tribal system in Celtic Ireland and 

 Britain, just as feudalism was a natural development of the village or ' mark' 

 system in northern Europe. Congestion and the desire to possess other land 

 produced warfare ; warfare produced military leaders and their "companions "; 

 and the military leaders made themselves private landowners. In time 

 ownership was not confined to the military, but was extended to others 

 who had done signal service of one kind or another. Joyce thus describes 

 the private landowners in Ireland : " Most of these were flaiths, or nobles, of 

 the several ranks ; and some were professional men, such as physicians 

 judges, poets, historians, artificers, &c, who had got their lands as stipends 

 for their professional services to the chief, and in whose families it often 

 remained for generations." 2 



The non-tribal land was worked in two ways. Either the owner retained 

 it in his own hands and worked it by the non-free men who had come under 

 his power, or he let it to another kind of man, the bo-aire (cattle chief) who 



1 The Irish chiefs did not succeed each other in strict heredity, but were chosen by the clan 

 from their nobility. When a chief died, the tanist stepped into his shoes, and a new tanist was 

 chosen. 



2 Social History of Ancient Ireland, vol. i, p. 187. 



