MacNeill — Ancient Irish Law : Lmo of Status or Franchise. 30S 



121. Question— How many things is it proper for a king to bind by pledge 

 on his tuatha ? Three. What are they ? Pledge for hostings, pledge for 

 government, pledge for treaty, for all these are benefits to a tuafh. 



122. Question — How many hostings are proper for a king to bind by 

 pledge on his tuatha ? Three. What are they ? A hosting within the 

 border inwardly to keep guard on (or against) an (external) hosting across it ; 

 a hosting to the bounds of the border to watch over proof and right, that he 

 may have battle or treaty ; a hosting over the border against a tuatli that 

 evades him.' 



IV 334. — 123. There are, then, four kinds of government to which a king 

 binds his tuatha by pledge. What are they ? The government of the common 

 Irish law (Fenechais) in the first place. It is the tuatha that adopt it, it is 

 the king who compacts it. The three other kinds of government, it is the 

 king who enforces them : government after their defeat in battle, that he 

 may unite his tuatha thereafter so that they may not destroy each other; and 

 government after a pestilence ; and a king's government [over other kings], 

 such as the government of the king of Cashel in Munster. For there are 

 three governments [of a king] to which it is proper for a king to bind his 

 tuatha by pledge : government for the expulsion of a stranger-kindred 

 [i.e. against the Saxons], and government for the raising of produce (?), and a 

 law of religion that kindles, such as the Law of Adamnan.- 



124. These are the sustaining means of a true ruler over his tuatha, and he 

 cannot violate them by falsity or violence or overmight. Let him be sound, 

 distinguishing [fairly], and upright, between weak and strong. 



125. There are also three other things that they require of a king : let him 

 be a man of all sides, full of right; let him be a man inquiring after knowledge ; 

 let him be steady and patient. 



126. There are four stoopings (?) that give the dire (i.e. honourprice) of a 

 vassal to a king. AVhat are they ? His stoopings over the three hafts of a 

 vassal, the haft of a mallet, the haft of an axe, the haft of a spade, for while 

 he is upon them, he is a vassal ; his stooping (to be) alone, for it is not proper 

 for a king to go alone. That is the day when a woman by herself can 

 prevail in oath fathering her son on a king, the day when there is none to 

 attest for him but (himself) alone. 



' "Evades him," i.e. refuses to come to terms with the king about a claim or 

 matter in dispute. 



- Government belonged to the king specially, when the people were disorganized by 

 defeat or pestilence, and in the case of a superior king over subordinate kings. 

 "A stranger-kindred," echtarchenel. I think usurping intruders on the kingship are 

 intended, but if the gloss ' ' against Saxons " is ancient, it is a reminiscence of the invasion 

 by the Angles in 685. 



