Page 105 - Demo

Chapter Four 105
ed the boundaries of their kingdom by annexing the territory which subsequently became known as Dal gCais, the inhabitants were known as Dalcasians. The territory was mostly in present day county Clare, and in the ifth century, they made a further addition to the east of their territory, at the expense of southern Leinster. It is told that as a result of these consider- able territorial additions, Munster then became the richest and most extensive of the then Seven Kingdoms of Ireland. Centuries of peace and prosperity added to its advantages and the rulers of Munster did not attempt any further conquests, except that is in 783, when a Munster King [Cathal], made an unsuccessful bid for the High-Kinship.
As we now know, ancient Ireland was divided into provinces each with its own king who paid tribute to the High-King. The provinces were sub-divided into territories or divisions, each one occupied by a tribe or clan with its own chief. Each clan was like one large family, and the members were practically all descended from the same ancestors.
The clan was in essence a democratic unit, owning the lands in common, having com- mon privileges, and the people having equality, one with another, and as we have already referenced, the king was always chosen from the same family. Although the king or the chief, and a few important nobles, along with the scholars and professional men had the privilege of private use of portions of the tribal lands during their lives, all the lands of the territory belonged equally to all members of the tribe.
All the families got equal portions of the tribal lands. When the father of a family died his possessions were divided equally among his sons-except that is for the residence and the household efects which went to the eldest son, who in turn then had to provide for the female members of the family. This equal division of a father’s possessions amongst his sons is known as gavelkind. It difered from the inheritance law in England and other countries, known as primogeniture, where the eldest son inherited all of his father’s property.
I should mention here that the residences of the people of whom we speak were mostly made of wood, either logs or of wickerwork and clay, or on occasion, just simple bothies fashioned from the branches of trees- they were all usually circular in shape. Very often the dwellings or groups of dwellings were enclosed within a high circular rampart of earth called a lios. The lios was constructed for the protection of the inhabitants and of their cat- tle and goods against the attacks of wild animals and the raids of marauding enemies. The remains of these liosanna are still to be seen all over the country.
Linen cloths, spinning-wheels, knives, cups, drinking horns, goblets, spits, dishes, cook-