94 Proceedings of the Boi/al Irish Academy. 



free tenure, thus themselves rising to free status. In the very ancient and 

 as yet unprinted story of how Conaire Mor Isecame king of Ireland (BB 139 b), a 

 great army comes unexpectedly to Conaire, who leads them to Tara and is chosen 

 king. Thereupon (140 a 1) gaht{li)air gabail lais dia slogaih "he makes a 

 settlement of lands for his forces." So Eithne, the woman leader of the D^si, 

 gathers a force of every landless people known to her in Ireland {nacli loinges 

 rqfitir Eithne h Uathach la Seirind) for the war of conquest against Ossory, 

 and twenty-five of these peoples obtain a land settlement {a cuic fichet dib 

 tarthatar raind) in the conquered territory (Eriu iii., p. 1.38, 140). The right 

 of migration was denied to vassal peoples by their lords, as is indicated in the 

 story of the migration of the Sons of Umor. 



105. The following passage (Lecan, 450) indicates a people adscrijJti glebae : 

 Catraidi ata fogal fiiirii{=fodal forrv) .i. atafogail araroile dib [is]in SecJdmad 

 (iroile dib isna Deisib aroile dib i Cnaviros ni hear asuidi\ii\ sin ac rig Caisil 

 do gres ised bid. " The Cattraige are subdivided, i.e. some of them are 

 distributed in the Sechtmad, others of them in the Desi, others of them in 

 Cnamros. They are not allowed [to depart] thence. With the king of Cashel 

 always they remain." 



106. The Sechtmad, " the Seventh," was a tributary state of east Munster, 

 possibly better known by some other name. Its precise location has not 

 been determined by O'Donovan in his edition of the Book of Eights or by 

 Dr. Hogan in Onom. Goed. In LL .382, col. 6, Arbura is said to be the ancestor 

 of the Sechtmad, and as he is also ancestor of the chief sept of Dal Coirpri, whose 

 chiefs in later times bore the surname Ua Duibidir, " O'Dwyer," we may fairly 

 identify the Sechtmad with O'Dwyer's country, the two baronies of KJl- 

 namanagh, especially since this territory is not otherwise accounted for in the 

 Book of Eights. See Hogan's State of Ireland, Anno 1598, p. 208, footnote, 

 where a quotation erroneously speaks of " O'Duire, descended from the 

 O'Briens." Dal Coirpri was one of the " four chief stocks of the Lagin," and 

 its location, like the traditions of the Desi settlement, bears e^'idence of the 

 early predominance of the Lagin and Osseirge in the part of Munster now 

 called Co. Tipperary. Cnamros is perhaps identical here with Cnamchoill 

 near Tipperary town. The Cattraige are included among the allies of the 

 Desi in the war against Ossory. 



107. Atait da chenel deg soc\K\enelac\K] la Gaedealo a se dib a Leith Cuind .i. 

 Dal Cuind Dal Cein Dail nAraide qui et Cruithnig Dal Fiatach qui et 

 ZJlaid Dal Riata Dal JSfat Corp q^d et Laigin A se aile a Leith Moga .i. 

 Dal n[E]ogain Dal Fiachach Dal Fiatach Dal Ceide Dal mBardine Dal Cais., 

 Ate sin saerthuatha Erend. H. .3. 17, p. 790). " The Irish have twelve kindreds 

 of noble race. Six of them in Conn's Half, viz. Dal Cuinn, Dal Cein, 



