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Early Irish Population-Groups: Their Nomenclature, Classification, and Chronology (Author: [unknown])

section 5

The Tricha Cét = Thirty Hundreds

¶137] The term tricha cét in late usage denotes a certain measure of territory. Keating ( Forus Feasa, ed. Comyn, p. 112) gives the extent of the provinces of Ireland in this measure as follows: Meath proper (an Mhidhe féin), 13; Breagha, 5; Cúigeadh Connacht, including Clare, 30; Cúigeadh Uladh extending southward to the Boyne, (35 or) 36; Cúigeadh Laighean, 31; Cúigeadh Eochaidh (sic), i.e. eastern Minister, 35; Cúigeadh Con Raoi, i.e western Munster, 35. Total 185.

¶138] Keating adds (p. 128) that Ulster at one time contained only 33, the other three having been ceded by Leinster in the time of the Pentarchy (aimsear na gCúigeadhach), i.e. in the Ulidian heroic period. There is evidently a cross-division somewhere; and the total of 185 must be excessive. The Ulster and Leinster fifths meet at the Boyne, so that these provinces must include the five tricha-céts of Brega. Mide, too, i.e. central Ireland exclusive of Brega, is traditionally a province of late origin, and there must be an overlap in its case also.

¶139] The whole account suggests an ancient (perhaps theoretical) division of Ireland into five provincial kingdoms, each fifth (cóiced, cúigeadh) containing thirty-five tricha-céts.

¶140] The thirtieth part of a tricha-cét, says Keating, is a baile or


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baile biataigh. Since tricha cét means ‘thirty hundreds’, the baile must represent the hundred. This at once suggests the Germanic hundred and the Latin centuria, as divisions of the people. The original Roman populus contained thirty curiae. The principle of organization appears to have been at once genealogical and religious, each curia having its own rites presided over by a priest called curio. The thirty curiones formed a priestly college of the whole state. Traces of a similar unity of the genealogical and religious principles are also indicated in ancient Ireland (see section 56). The female eponyms in Ireland have their analogue too in the Roman curiae, some of which were said to have derived their names from the Sabine women who were the mothers of the Roman people.

¶141] The Roman centuries, forming the comitia centuriata, were a civil organization on a military basis. This, we shall see, was also the original character of the Irish tricha cét. It denoted not only the civil organization of the people, and the corresponding division of the territory, but also the armed levy of each state.

¶142] There are many ancient statements bearing on this point which still require to be collected. For the present, one passage in Táin Bo Cuailngi will serve as a locus classicus. It occurs at the episode in which Medb takes note of the smart discipline and warlike efficiency of one section of her allies, the Galians of Leinster. Their superiority to her own troops evokes in her mind only a jealous dismay, and she decides to order a treacherous massacre of the Galians. Her Ulster comrade, Fergus, resolutely opposes this design, and threatens to lead the allies against Medb if she persists in it. This argument prevails, and Medb contents herself with separating the Galians into small troops and distributing them throughout the army.

¶143] ‘By the truth of my conscience,’ said Fergus, ‘no man shall do death to them but the man who will do death to me.’ ‘Thou, Fergus, must not say that to me,’ said Medb, ‘for I am strong enough in numbers to slay and overwhelm thee with the thirty-hundred of the Galians around thee. For I have the seven Maines with their seven thirty-hundreds, and the Sons of Magu with their thirty hundred, and Ailill with his thirty-hundred, and I too have a like force. There we are, strong enough to slay and overwhelm thee with the thirty-hundred of the Galians around thee.’

‘It is not fitting to tell me so,’ said Fergus. ‘For I have here the seven petty kings of the Munstermen with their seven thirty-hundreds. There are here the thirty hundred of the best fighting men of Ulster. There are here the best of the fighting men of Ireland, the thirty-hundred of the Galians. I am their security, their guarantee, and their safeguard from the day they left


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their own native territory, and by me they will stand on the day thou challengest.’

¶144] The allied forces under Medb thus consisted of nineteen separately organized bodies, each under a local king and each consisting of thirty hundred men. Thirty hundred, in fact, was the traditional complement of the army of a petty state.

¶145] The technical name of the whole levy of 3,000 men was cath. Where the Annals of Ulster (1222) have the entry: ‘ro thinolsat Gaill Erenn cethri catha fichet co Delgain, co táinic Aedh O Neill ocus Mac in Uga cethri catha na n-aghaidh’, the D text says: ‘numerati 24 completa bella, qui faciunt Hibernica numeratione 72 millia armatorum
[...]
12 millibus armatorum, numeratione suprascripta.’

¶146] The Irish cath or tricha cét has its exact counterpart in the legio, originally the whole army or normal military levy of the Roman state. The Roman tradition was that under Romulus, i.e. in the earliest times, Rome had but one legion, and this legion numbered 3,000 men, i.e. 100 men from each of the thirty tribes.

¶147] The Romans divided their fighting population into two classes, juniores and seniores. It seems clear that they originally regarded the young men as forming the normal fighting strength of the population, and the older men as forming a reserve which might be called out to meet an emergency. Juventus is an habitual term for the folk of age to serve in arms. Precisely the same usage is found in Irish. In the passage cited above from Táin Bó Cuailngi, the word which I have twice translated ‘fighting men’ is óic = (juvenci) juvenes, juniores, juventus, and numerous examples of this usage could easily be collected.

¶148] As the Romans grew into a great military power, they did not abandon the ancient constitution of their army, but retained and developed it. Instead of expanding their army indefinitely with the growth of their state, they could only think of forming additional bodies on the model of their primitive army of 3,000, and this they continued to do even under the Caesars.

¶149] In the Spartan army, we can trace the same tradition. The army consisted of six mórai, and the móra at one period numbered 500 men, giving a total of 3,000 men. Each of the three Dorian tribes of Sparta before Cleomenes contained ten wbaí, making thirty wbaí in all. In Athens, in the age of Theseus, each fratría contained thirty g[eacgr ]nh.

¶150] ‘The phalanx soldiers in the army of Alexander amounted to 18,000 and were divided
[...]
into six divisions, each named after a Macedonian province from which it was to derive its recruits.’99 Each province would thus


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correspond to the Irish tricha cét and the army of each province to the Irish cath of 3,000 men.

¶151] The century remained the theoretical basis of the Irish military organization until the final overthrow of the Celtic system at the battle of Kinsale, Christmas Eve, 1601. In the proclamation issued in that year by O'Neill, it is ordered that ‘the constable of the hundred shall have eighty-four men on the strength, allowing an abatement of sixteen men, and this abatement shall be expended as follows: the constable of the hundred shall have the wage of ten men thereof, and the marshal of the territory shall have the pay of five men, and the lord's galloglach shall have the pay of one man.’100

¶152] The facts here brought together appear to establish that the Irish tricha cét, its thirtieth part the baile, and the Irish military organization embodied a tradition common to many peoples of ancient Europe, and going back to a time when these peoples formed one community or a group of neighbouring communities. I trust that this superficial examination may lead to a more thorough investigation at competent hands into the earliest traditional form of the civil and military organization among the various branches of the Indo-European race.

¶153] Keating says that, ‘ according to the ancient record (do réir an tseanchusa), the baile contained 12 seisreacha, and the seisreach 120 acres.’ The word for ‘acre’, acra, is not of Irish origin, and must have replaced some older term. Later on, Keating says that ‘the acre of Irish measure is twice or thrice greater than the acre of the present foreign measure.’ ‘The acre of the present foreign measure’ probably means the Irish ‘Plantation acre’, which is greater than the statute acre in the ratio 196:121. Ireland is said to contain 20,819,928 statute acres, equivalent to 12,853,114 Plantation acres. According to Keating's statement, the 185 tricha-céts should be equal to 7,992,000 acres of (the older) Irish measure. But since his total of 185 is too much by at least 5, probably by more than 5, his total of acres must also be reduced. Moreover, by the statement ‘twice or thrice greater’ we are to suppose, not that Keating was unable or neglected to give a more exact ratio, but that in fact the Irish measure varied according to the nature of the land. The Irish tradition of land-measurement, still by no means obsolete, was based on the quantity of live stock that a given area could support.


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Hence no doubt the extent of the tricha cét was variable according to the fertility and population of the district.

¶154] The rise of the great septs, about the commencement of the Christian period in Ireland, must have greatly changed the older political subdivision of the country, sometimes dividing and sometimes combining the more ancient petty states. In some instances the tricha cét appears to have survived as a petty state. In others, it is divided between two distinct political organisations. In others as many as ten tricha céts form the kingdom of a single sept. There may well have been instances in which the early territorial state was split into fragments, though there is a visible tendency down to the seventeenth century, when the baronies of the English regime were marked out, to adhere to remotely ancient territorial delimitations. The following passage (Lecan, 460), describing the territories possessed by Dál Cuinn, is instructive:

¶155] ‘Cland Chuind andso fo Erind .i. Fir Breg ocus Fir Midi ocus Fir Thulach ocus Corco Rocada a n-ingnais a buil do deoradaib acu. Is iadso iadside .i. Luigne ocus Gailenga ocus na Saidne ocus Hui Aeda Odba ocus na scacht nDealbna ocus leth-tricha cét Cuircne ocus leth-tricha chet Teallaig Modaran ocus tricha chet Fear mBile. Cland Chuind .i. fiche baili na Colaman ocus tricha chid101 Fini Gall ocus Airgialla102 imorro seacht tricha chet dec indti103 ocus deich tricha Ceniuil Eogain ocus deich tricha Ceniuil Conaill ocus leith-tricha Ceniuil nEnda ocus leith-tricha Ceniuil nAengusa ocus leith-tricha Fer Tulach ocus deich trichaid cét Breifni ocus deich tricha Hua Maine acht tri tuatha nama .i. Sodain ocus Dal nDruithne ocus Muinter Mail Findain. Sil Muireadaig Muilleathain ocus Sil Briain meic Eachach Muigmedoin in cach du itait ocus in da Chairpri .i. Cairpri Mor Droma Cliab la cloind Fhiachrach meic Echach Muidmedoin ocus Cairpri O Ciarda la Firu Midi. Sil Dathi o clad Chonachla co Codnaich Cloindi Puint. Muinter Murchada cona coibnesaib ocus Cland Coscraig. Fir Umaill cona ngablanaib.’

¶156] ‘Sil Fiachach Suigdi meic Feidlimid Rechtmair .i. Corcortri la Corand i Condachtaib dia mbai Diarmaid Hua Duibne ocus Hui Chuind cona fineadaib .i. uirrig Corcorthri cor dichuirsed cland Taidc meic Cein meic Aililla Ulaim a Mumin ocus is do Corcortri Hui Dobailean scus Hui Duindchaichig ocus Hui Ailella dia roibi Mac Liag .i. in fili. Na Deisi imorro do cloind Fiachach Suigdi .i. deich tricha-cet intib cona fochenelaib i n-egmais Semaine .i. leith-tricha cet ita ar slicht Semuine meic Cechaing meic Celtair Semaine meic Cealtchair meic Uitheochair dia ndeachaid ar cend Cealtchair diaid marbtha


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Blai Brugad do Cealtchair tre et na dun ocus na Deisi Breg cen airem andsin. Fir Bili ocus Fir Asail is do cloind Fiachach Suigdi atat.’

¶157] ‘Fotharta dochodur co Laigniu do chloind Echach Find Fuath nAirt meic Feidlimid Rechtmair .i. na .uii. Fotharta in cach baili itait.’

¶158] ‘The following are Conn's race throughout Ireland: Fir Breg and Fir Midi (the men of Brega and Meath), and Fir Thulach and Corcu Roide, apart from what they have of immigrants. The latter are these: Luigni and Gailing and the Saithni and Ui Aeda of Odba and the seven Delbnai and the half tricha cét of Cuircne and the half tricha cét of Tellach Modaran and the tricha cét of Fir Bili.104 The race of Conn, [to resume]: the twenty townlands (hundreds) of the Colamain, and the tricha cét of Fine Gall, and the Airgialla moreover, containing seventeen tricha céts, and the ten tricha céts of Cenél nEogain, and the ten tricha céts of Cenél Conaill, and the half tricha cét of Cenél nÉndai, and the half tricha cét of Cenél nAengusa, and the half tricha cét of Fir Tulach105 and the ten tricha céts of Breifne, and the ten tricha céts of Ui Maini, except three tuatha, namely Sogain and Dál Druithne and Muinter Mail Findáin. The race of Muiredach Muillethan and the race of Brian son of Eochu Muigmedóin wheresoever they are, and the Cairbres, namely Cairbre Mór of Druim Cliab belonging to the Ui Fiachrach maic Echach Muigmedóin and Cairbre Ua Ciarda belonging to the Men of Meath. The race of Dathi from Clad Conachla to Codnach of Cland Puint. Muinter Murchada with their kinsfolk, and Cland Choscraig. The Men of Umall with their branches.’

¶159] ‘The race of Fiachu Suigde son of Feidlimid Rechtmar, namely: Corcu Fir Tri at Corann in Connacht, of whom was Diarmaid Ua Duibne, and the Ui Chuinn with their families, formerly petty kings of Corcu Fir Tri until the race of Tadg son of Cian son of Ailill Aulom from Munster dispossessed them: and of Corcu Fir Tri are the Ui Dobailén and Ui Duinnchaichig and Ui Ailella, of whom was Mac Liag the poet. The Dési, moreover, are of the race of Fiachu Suigde; they, with their under-septs, contain ten tricha céts, not reckoning the Semaine, i.e., a half tricha cét who are descended from Semuine son of Cechang son of Celtar or from Semaine son of Celtchar son of Uithechar106 when the consequence of slaying Blai Brugaid through jealousy in his fort went against Celtchar; and the Dési of Brega are not reckoned therein i.e. in the ten tricha céts). Fir Bili and Fir Asail are of the race of Fiachu Suigde.’


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¶160] ‘The Fothairt who went to Leinster are of the race of Eochu Find Fuath nAirt, i.e. the seven Fothairt in every place where they are.’107

¶161] Compared with the account in Keating, the foregoing contemplates a much smaller extent of the tricha cét. Cenél Conaill, Cenél nEogain, and Airgialla comprise 37 tricha céts. These occupy much less than the modern Ulster, as they do not comprise the counties of Antrim, Down, and Cavan. The ancient Ulster of Keating's account, somewhat larger than the modern province, contains only thirty-six tricha céts.

¶162] We can assign a period to the Lecan statement. It is earlier than the Norman occupation of Meath at the close of the twelfth century, and later than the death of Mac Liag in 1016. It is likely that the tricha cét varied according to the population at different periods, and that Keating's account is referable to a time when the country was less populous than in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

¶163] Two modern baronies retain the name tricha, Trough (an Triúcha, Trícha Cét Cladaig), 37,377 statute acres, in co. Monaghan, and Trughanacmy (T. an Aicme), 195,282 statute acres, in Kerry.

¶164] Other instances from Onomasticon Goedelicum are:—

  1. Trícha Baguine = baronies Boylagh and Banagh, co. Donegal.
  2. Cairbri = barony Carbury, co. Sligo.
  3. Trícha cét Cera, apparently somewhat larger than barony Carra, co. Mayo.
  4. Trícha cét Cianachta = ancient kingdom of Cianacht Breg.
  5. Trícha cét Cualnge, perhaps = kingdom of Conaille.
  6. Trícha cét Énna mic Neill = trícha Énna = two baronies of Raphoe, co. Donegal.
  7. Trícha cét Fer nArda = baronies of Corcomroe and Burren, co. Clare = ancient kingdom of Corcu Mu Druad.
  8. Trícha cét Mugdorn, perhaps = barony Cremorne (Crích M.), co. Monaghan.
  9. Trícha cét na nOilén = barony Islands, co. Clare.
  10. Trícha cét na Soillse = barony Lecale, co. Down.
  11. Tricha Eogain = two baronies Inishowen, co. Donegal.
  12. Trícha Luigdech = barony Kilmacrenan, co. Donegal.
  13. Trícha Medónach = barony Barryroe, or part thereof, co. Cork.

¶165] O'Donovan's Supplement to O'Reilly's Dictionary, has: ‘Rig: 'rí rig', rex regulorum, a chief whose authority was recognized by seven petty chieftains.


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H. 3. 18, p. 14.’ Rií rig here seems to be an etymological gloss on ruiri = ro + rí. For ‘ chief’ and ‘chieftains’, read ‘king’ and ‘kings’.

¶166] The tradition that suzerainty over seven petty kings conferred a special grade is elsewhere exemplified. Cp. section 143, above, where, besides the sons of Magu who were chiefs of the vassal Fir Domnann, the seven Máines of Connacht are subject to Medb, and in Munster also there are seven uirrig. The earlier and lesser Munster of the Érainn is here implied. In the defeat of the Irish Picts by Ui Néill at Móin Daire Lothair (an. 562 AU), when the Picts lost their territory west of the Bann, their king Aed Brecc is spoken of as leading seven other Pictish kings. In the Book of Rights, Ireland is divided into seven chief kingdoms, whose kings have no suzerain except the king of Ireland. This division seems to represent an ideal rather than an actuality, for as far as one can judge from other evidences, the kings of Osraige, Tuadmuma, Breifne, and Cenél Conaill, perhaps also the kings of Iarmuma (Eoganacht Locha Léin) and Brega, were quite as independent as the seven chief kings in the Book of Rights. In O'Maelconaire's Munster Annals (R. I. A. copy), the kings of Cashel are usually called kings of Cashel and Desmond, indicating that they were not suzerains of west and north Munster. From an early period in the ninth century the Airgialla seem to have admitted the suzerainty of Cenél nEogain: ‘Airgialla .i. daergialla Cenél nEogain rocuirsead fo dairchis iad o cath Leithe Caim amach’ (BB 249 b 15, H. 3. 18, page 580, and see AU 826). Hence perhaps the absence of any statement of tributes due to the king of Airgialla in the Book of Rights. Flann Mainistrech, in his poem quoted by me ( R. I. A. Proceedings, xxvii, C. 6, p. 138), names seven chief kings in his time. Six of these accord with the Book of Rights. For the seventh he omits Airgialla and substitutes Brega. (Cuán Ó Lothcháin, referring to the alleged contents of the Psalter of Tara, says that it tells of ‘seven chief kings of Ireland,’ who are ‘the five kings of the Fifths, the king of Ireland and her high king (subking)’ BB 351 b 3 (orrig is a marginal amendment of airdri). Perhaps the peculiar designation, in Sechtmad, ‘the Seventh,’ applied to one of the petty kingdoms of Munster, had its origin in this way (see section 106)