TÚATH
standing army. Thus the túathnever evolved beyond a
very simple state, and under ever-increasing pressure
from the provincial kingships, the túatheventually lost
its independent status. By the eleventh and twelfth
centuriestúathhad come to mean a small, semiauto-
nomous territory ruled by a taoiseach(leader).
MICHAEL BYRNES
References and Further Reading
Binchy, D, A., ed. Corpus Iuris Hibernici(6 vols.) Dublin:
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1978, pp.1111–1138,
esp.1123–1132.
Binchy, D. A. Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Kinship. Oxford: Clar-
endon Press, 1970.
Byrne, F. J. Irish Kings and High-Kings. London: Batsford,
1973.
Charles-Edwards, Thomas. Early Christian Ireland. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Gwynn, E. J., ed. “An Old-Irish Tract on the Privileges and
Responsibilities of Poets.” Ériu13 (1942): 1–60, 220–236.
Kelly, Fergus. A Guide to Early Irish Law. Dublin: Dublin
Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988.
O’Keefe, J. G., ed. “The Ancient Territory of Fermoy.” Ériu 10
(1926–1928): 170–189.
Power, P., ed. Crichad an Chailli: Being the Topography of
Ancient Fermoy. Cork: Cork University Press, 1932.See alsoEcclesiastical Settlements; Feis,
Inauguration Sites; Kings and Kingship;
Óenach; Tribes