268 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



scale : one rate for the son of a king ; another for the son of a ruling noble, 

 horn, aire forgill ("noble of superior testimony") down to aire etir dd airig 

 (•' noble between two nobles," i.e. between the grade of ruling noble and the 

 grade of boaire) ; the third for a son of a non-ruling noble, from hdaire to 

 fer midhoth. At V 286, the ancient text divides the nobles into two classes, 

 airefehe and hdaire, and the gloss at V 290 defines airig febe by na. grdid fiatlm, 

 " the grades of rule " (or ■' of rulers "). At V 382 seqq., the ancient text has 

 three grades, ri, aire fcie, bdairc and dcaire together. At V 396, the ancient 

 text has three grades : king and aire forgill together, every aire from boaire 

 to aire forgill, bdaire and dcaire together. 'J"he gloss, V 398, has Airechaib 

 febe A. na graid flatha v.ile ; is aire feibe gach aire o boaire gu rig — " nobles 

 of worth, i.e. all the grades of rulers ; every noble from bdaire to king is a 

 noble of worth." At V 398-400, the ancient text has three grades : ri, aire 

 febe, dcaire and bdaire together. At V 402, the ancient text has three grades : 

 aire forgill, aire febe " from aire etir da airig to ard-airig," bdaire and dcaire 

 together. At Y 412, the ancient text has: king, aire febe = " ever j noble 

 from king to aire etir da airig," bdairc and dcaire together. The same 

 classification is repeated at V 414, 416 (twice), 418, each time in the ancient 

 text. Certain discrepancies can be noted in it, such as the inclusion of aire 

 forgill in one class with the king and elsewhere with the aire febe. These 

 may be ascribed to variant attempts to adjust an earlier to a later 

 classification. 



With the establisliment of Christianity, the men of native learning 

 abandoned the designation of Druid, closely associated with heathen belief 

 and practice, and became afterwards known as f lid. In UB, the Druid, then 

 probably a mere sorcerer, takes rank with craftsmen. The flid rank equal 

 in status to the nobles. To this higher status, the clergy also were admitted. 

 Crith Gablach' may well be historically correct in saying that the existence 

 of seven orders in the clergy gave rise to a sevenfold classification of civil 

 grades. In confirmation, we may note that the early law tracts have already 

 adopted grdd as a technical name for a grade of civil status. Gh'dd, from 

 Latin gradus, in ordinary usage, even to the present day, means " holy orders " 

 or any grade of holy orders. 



There is evidence that, in the first expansion of the civil grades from three 

 to seven, the seven civil grades comprised all persons entitled to exercise 

 franchise by voice in court or assembly. This is the classification which CG 

 recognizes as existing in the tradition of the Feni — a dligiud Fdnechuis, " by 

 right of Feni-law." The seven grades wevefcr midboth, hdaire, aire desso, aire 

 ardd, aire tuise, aire forgill, and king. The bishop and the master fili {ollom 



' This tract (vol. v) is cited uj/ia as CGr, 



