opinion, such as sacrilege, could involve the death
penalty. In the latest period, the same fate could befall
a thief whose clan could not or would not pay the
compensation.
By the fifteenth century, the characteristic forms of
Gaelic social and political organization—lineage
expansion, collective landownership by the
sliocht
,
irregular forms of succession to power, and Gaelic
criminal law—had become established in many of the
former colonial areas, most especially in Connacht and
Westmeath, while in Munster and Kilkenny mixed sys-
tems had come into existence, with criminal law being
entirely Gaelic.
K
ENNETH
N
ICHOLLS
References and Further Reading
Fergus Kelly.
A Guide to Early Irish Law.
Dublin, 1988.
Nicholls, Kenneth. “Gaelic Society and Economy in the High
Middle Ages.” in
A New History of Ireland, II,
edited by Art
Cosgrove. Oxford, 1987.
Nicholls, Kenneth.
Gaelic and Gaelicized Ireland in the Middle
Ages.
2nd edition, Dublin, 2003.
Simms, Katherine.
From Kings to Warlords: The Changing
Political Structure of Gaelic Ireland in the Later Middle
Ages.
Woodbridge, 1987; reprinted, Dublin, 2000.
See also
Common Law; Gaelic Revival;
Gaelicization; Law Texts; Lordship of Ireland;
Society, Grades of Gaelic
SOCIETY, GRADES
OF ANGLO-NORMAN
Anglo-Norman Ireland was a colony of Anglo-Norman
England, and its social hierarchy closely imitated pre-
vailing English fashions. England, of all the kingdoms
in Western Europe, corresponded most closely to the
historian’s ideal of a “feudal pyramid.” At the apex
was the king, of whom all land was technically held.
In Ireland, the supreme landholder was the “lord of
Ireland.” This was, in practice, the king of England. In
1177, shortly after the initial conquest, King Henry II
(1154–89) granted the lordship of Ireland to his son
John (d. 1216) in a plan to make Ireland a kingdom
that would descend in the cadet line of the royal house.
This was the only occasion on which Ireland seemed
as if it might be separated from the English crown.
The putative kingdom of Ireland did not materialize.
When John became king of England in 1199, he
brought the lordship of Ireland back to the English
crown. This situation was confirmed forever by King
Henry III (1216–72) in 1254: by a charter granting
Ireland to his eldest son, the future Edward I, he stip-
ulated that the king of England must also henceforth
be lord of Ireland.
The Titled Nobility
Beneath the lord of Ireland came the landholding
class—the nobility. The nobility was essentially a mil-
itary caste that also exercised very important adminis-
trative functions. In Ireland, because the king was
almost permanently absent, these roles were particu-
larly significant. The king frequently chose the chief
governor—his representative and head of the Irish
administration—from the ranks of the Irish nobility;
and given the almost permanent state of war on the
marches of Ireland, the military function of the nobility
was constantly being tested.
In the early phases of the Anglo-Norman colony in
Ireland, hereditary noble titles were extremely rare. In
fact, the only such title was earl (Latin:
comes
), and,
from 1205 until 1316, Ulster was the only earldom in
Ireland. This reflected the situation in England, where
the earls were a tiny elite within the nobility. It was
not until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that
titles proliferated and the nobility became more strictly
stratified. The earldom of Ulster was created in 1205
by King John for Hugh de Lacy II. It lapsed at de
Lacy’s death in 1242. In 1263, the earldom was revived
for Walter de Burgh (d. 1271), whose descendant,
Richard de Burgh, the “Red Earl” (d. 1326) was the
premier noble in Ireland—both in terms of dignity and
wealth—in the early fourteenth century. After his grand-
son, William, was murdered in 1333, the earldom came
into the hands of absentees and ultimately became an
appanage of the English crown.
Meanwhile, in reward for service during the Bruce
invasion of Ireland (1315–18), several new creations
added to the ranks of the comital elite. In 1316, John
fitz Thomas (d. 1316), baron of Offaly, was created
earl of Kildare, and for defeating and killing Edward
Bruce at the battle of Faughart in 1318, John de
Bermingham was made earl of Louth. This latter earl-
dom expired along with de Bermingham when he was
murdered in the Braganstown massacre of 1329. Two
further earldoms were created during the disturbed
minority of King Edward III (1327–77). In 1328,
James Butler (d. 1338) was created earl of Ormond,
and the following year Maurice fitz Thomas (d. 1356)
of the Munster Geraldines was created earl of Desmond
(see
Factionalism
). The new earl of Ormond’s father,
Edmund Butler (d. 1321), had been granted lands to
hold under the name “earl of Carrick” in 1315, but
he is rarely described as such in official documents
and does not appear to have been officially “belted”
as earl. His son’s earldom of Ormond was, by contrast,
highly successful. These elevations were of the great-
est importance. The three comital houses of Kildare,
Ormond, and Desmond became central to the history
of the lordship of Ireland for the rest of the MiddleAges.SOCIETY, FUNCTIONING OF GAELIC