Medieval Ireland. An Encyclopedia

received their office; the inauguration place of the Meig
Uidhir at Sciath Ghabra (Cornashee, Co. Fermanagh);
Carn Amalgaid (Killala, Co. Mayo) and Carn Ingine
Bhriain (possibly Aughris, Co. Sligo) used as the respec-
tive pre- and post-Norman election sites of the Uí
Dubda (O’Dowds); and Cnoc Buadha (Rathugh, Co.
Westmeath) where the Southern Uí Néill king Máel-
Sechnaill I held a rígdál (royal meeting) in 859 C.E. and
where the Meig Eochagáin chiefs of Cenél Fiachach
were inaugurated.
The use of the word lec in the place-names of
some inauguration sites such as Mullach Leac (Leck,
Co. Monaghan) and Leac Mhíchil (Ballydoogan, Co.
Westmeath) hints at the presence of inauguration
“furniture,” whether in the form of an unadorned
flagstone or, more ambiguously, a footprint stone or
stone “chair.” The pillar stone at Tara called the Lia
Fáil is the only alleged inauguration stone men-
tioned prior to the fifteenth century. Being upright,
its interpretation as an inauguration stone in the
medieval sense is untenable. It features as a potent
literary device and symbol of kingship in late medi-
eval bardic poetry and prose texts, where it is vari-
ously called Leac Luigdech, Lec na nGíall, and Lec
na Ríogh. In the Irish sagas and saints’ Lives, addi-
tional leaca are linked with Irish kingship ritual.
Among those mentioned, but never described, are
Lec na nGíall, at Emain Macha, and Lec Phátraic,
ordained by Patrick for the making of future kings
at Grianán of Ailech. The act of standing upon a
lec evidently formed part of the procedure of legit-
imizing the authority of a king or chief-elect. The
stone itself played an integral role in the candidate’s
empowerment, and was at times attributed a partic-
ular potency, something of which may lie in the
taboo of the king not being permitted to touch the
mortal earth in his royal condition. Open-air stone
inauguration chairs were used by both the Uí Néill
of Tír Eógain at Tulach Óg and the Uí Néill of Clann
Áeda Buide at Castlereagh (Co. Down), and possibly
also by the Meic Matgamna of Airgialla and the
Clann Uilliam Uachtair branch of the gaelicized
Burkes. The Tulach Óg chair was illustrated by
Richard Bartlett prior to its destruction by Lord
Deputy Mountjoy in 1602. The cartographer shows
a crude stone object composed of four individual
pieces. It consists of a cumbersome base that may
have been Lec na Ríogh (“Flagstone of the Kings”)
mentioned in the chronicles in 1432, to which the
back and sides were later added. This was possibly
done in the fourteenth century when Uí Néill dynasts
invented the title Rex Ultonie (King of Ulster) for
themselves. The only known surviving inauguration
chair is that of the Clann Áeda Buide, which is a
chair-shaped monolith housed in the Ulster Museum,

Belfast. It may have been modeled on the Tulach

Óg chair in the fifteenth century, when Clann Áeda

Buide extended their dominion into south Antrim

and north Down.

ELIZABETH FITZPATRICK

References and Further Reading

FitzPatrick, Elizabeth. “An Tulach Tinóil: Gathering-sites and

Meeting-Culture in Gaelic Lordships.” History Ireland 9,

no. 1 (2001): 22–26.

———. “Assembly and Inauguration Places of the Burkes in Late

Medieval Connacht.” In Gaelic Ireland, c. 1250–c. 1650 :

Land, Lordship and Settlement, edited by Patrick J. Duffy,

David Edwards and Elizabeth FitzPatrick, 357–374. Dublin:

Four Courts Press, 2001.

———. “Leaca and Gaelic inauguration ritual in medieval

Ireland.” In The Stone of Destiny, edited by Richard

Welander et al., 108–121. Edinburgh: Historic Scotland, 2003.

See also Archaeology; Dál Cais; Emain Macha;

Kings and Kingship; Máel Sechnaill I; Society,

Functioning of (Gaelic); Tara

INHERITANCE

See Marriage; Society, Functioning of

INSCRIPTIONS

Most inscriptions from medieval Ireland are found on

stones, many of which are also carved, but there are

also a few inscriptions on metalwork and other porta-

ble objects. Although there is some inscribed material

of Roman provenance from Ireland (notably the coin

hoard from Ballinrees, Co. Derry), the vast majority

of the inscriptions date from early Christian times. In

many cases these inscriptions are the earliest evidence

for the history and culture of early Christian Ireland,

but, unfortunately, not all the inscribed texts are com-

plete and many are weathered. The inscriptions can be

divided into two groups, depending on the script used:

ogham and Roman alphabet. Inscriptions using ogham

script are in the Irish language; Roman alphabet

inscriptions can occur in Latin but are more commonly

in Irish.

Ogham Inscriptions

In its standard form, the ogham alphabet consists of

twenty characters, set in four groups of five. Each

character is formed by the use of a varying number

of strokes or notches oriented in different ways with

reference to a stem line. The ogham alphabet was a

deliberate creation, based on the alphabetic principle

INSCRIPTIONS