298 Proeeedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



cauldron be not paid for it, but vessels to the value of a cow. He brings them 



out then to be till the expiration of treaty-law, (taking them) on 



the number of his protection and (that) of his fi'iends. His retinue and his 

 sick-maintenance are due as (^ those) of an aire desso} 



110. The aire ardd, " high noble/' why is he so called ? Because he is 

 higher than the aire desso, and it is he who precedes him. He has twenty 

 clients, ten clients of vassalage and ten free clients. His ten clients of 

 vassalage, two cows with theu: accompaniment he is entitled to from them, 

 and three two-year-old steers, and five yearling heifers, eveiy winter, with 

 their summer-food. He represents (?) his clients in contract and treaty-law. 

 Each grade that is lower than he, they (can) be in clientship to him. Fifteen 

 chattels are his honourprice ; he makes oath, is bond, surety, hostage, suitor, 

 and witness to that amount. 



111. What gives fifteen chattels of lionourprice for this man ? Five 

 chattels for him first, for the wealth of his own house ; one chattel for each 

 house from which he is entitled to a definite food-pro^dsion. Seven persons 

 are his retinue in his tiiath, five men in private. Protection of seven. He is 

 entitled to salt meat and butter on the second, third, fifth [ninth and] tenth 

 day, and on Sunday. Seven cunuds are his capital from a lord. Three cows 

 with their accompaniment are his house-custom. Twenty married couples 

 are his proper company on visitation from Xew Tear's Day till Shrovetide. 



r^ 326. — 112. The aire tuise, "leading noble," why is he so called ? Because 

 he is leader of his kindred and precedes an aire ardd. He has twenty-seven 

 clients, fifteen clients of vassalage and twelve free clients. His clients of 

 vassalage, he is entitled to foiu* cows with their accompaniment from them, 

 and five two-year-old steers, and six yearlings, every winter, with their 

 summer food. Eight cumals are his capital from a king. Four cows with 

 their accompaniment are his house-custom. Eight persons are his retinue 

 in the tuatTi, six in private. He is entitled to butter with condiment at all 

 times. Eight persons on sick-maintenance, protection over eight. He is 

 entitled to butter with condiment (during sick-maintenance), and ale or milk 

 as his substitute for sick-maintenance on the second, third, fifth [ninth], 

 and tenth day, and on Sunday.^ 



1 Ifc is evident th.it the person above described differs from an aire desso only in function, 

 not in status. No distinctive qualifications for status are ascribed to him. Apparently 

 he was a sort of sheriff entrusted with the duty of punishing homicide committed on a 

 member of his tuath by a person or persons in a neighbouring tuath under treaty-law 

 (fiairdde), but the exact nature of his operations is not easily understood, notwithstanding 

 the simple diction in which they are stated. 



^ It may be observed that the number of animals in the return for capital in this case, 

 as in the case of the uiie desso and ui're aydd, is the same as the number of vassal clients, 

 though the animals are of different ages and values. If an aire tuise becomes a vassal 



