Déisi
The Déisi were a
During the early Middle Ages, some Déisi groups and subgroups exerted great political influence in various parts of Ireland. For instance, in
Etymology
Déisi is an Old Irish term that is derived from the word déis, which meant in its original sense a "vassal" or "subject", a designated group of people who were rent-payers to a landowner.[1] Later, it became a proper noun for certain septs and their own subjects throughout Ireland.[2]
History and contexts
The early histories of the Déisi groups are obscure. As a class that evolved from peoples tied by social status rather than kinship, groups had largely independent histories in different parts of Ireland. While some medieval texts attempt to give the Déisi an aristocratic origin, these are later fabrications dating to the period after the Déisi had gained political power.[3] Despite their tributary origins, representatives of at least one Déisi population would eventually achieve spectacular success, founding a powerful medieval dynasty which is still in existence.
Déisi groups included the Déisi Muman (the Déisi of
Today, 'Déisi' is an informal term for County Waterford and its people.[4]
Déisi Muman
The Déisi Muman were a prominent enough power to form their own regional kingdom in Munster from a fairly early date. In a recent title, Paul MacCotter states "The regional kingdom of Déisi Muman must have existed in roughly its present location from a very early period. Oghams dating perhaps from the fifth century record unique first names associated with its kings."[5] According to Francis John Byrne, there are certain inscriptional hints that both the Eóganachta and their Waterford Déisi vassals may have been of fairly recent Gaulish origins.[6] The ancestors of the Eóganachta are known as the Deirgtine and they are also believed to have been active in Roman Britain, one piece of evidence being the name of their capital Cashel, thought to be inspired by the Roman castella they observed on raids.[7] The Déisi Muman enjoyed a position in the later Eóganachta overkingdom suggesting of a special relationship. Byrne mentions it was noticed by Eoin MacNeill that a number of the early names in the Eóganachta pedigrees are found in oghams in the Déisi country of Waterford, among them Nia Segamain (NETASEGAMONAS), after the Gaulish war god Segomo.[8] According to MacNeill, the Waterford Déisi and the Eóganachta at Cashel "cannot well be disconnected".[9]
The Uí Liatháin dynasty were western neighbours of the proto-Déisi Muman along the southern Irish coast and raided and colonized parts of Wales and Cornwall. They are the best characterized of the South Irish colonists because of clear references to them by name in both early Irish and early British sources, while the presence of the Déisi Muman cannot actually be confirmed.[10] Also noted are the Laigin, particularly in North Wales.[11]
Possible presence in Britain
The Déisi Muman are the subjects of one of the most famous medieval Irish epic tales,
At some point during this migration from Tara to Munster, one branch of the sept, led by Eochaid Allmuir mac Art Corb, sails across the sea to Britain where, it is said, his descendants later ruled in Demed, the former territory of the
The term déisi is also virtually interchangeable with another Old Irish term, aithechthúatha (meaning "rent-paying tribes", "vassal communities" or "tributary peoples"). From the 18th century, it had been suggested that this term might be the origin of the Attacotti who are reported attacking Roman Britain in the 360s, although the argument has been doubted on etymological grounds. This argument has recently been reopened, however, by a proposed equation of déisi – aithechthúatha – Attacotti in a late fourth-century context.[18]
Finally, MacNeill discusses the movements of the Uí Liatháin mentioned above at considerable length, arguing their leadership in the South Irish conquests and founding of the later dynasty of Brycheiniog, figures in the Welsh genealogies matching Uí Liatháin dynasts in the Irish genealogies. He argues any possible settlement of the Déisi would have been subordinate until the ousting of the Uí Liatháin by the sons of Cunedda.[19]
Déisi Tuisceart
Byrne later discusses how the rise of the Dál gCais sept of Déisi Tuisceart in North Munster at the expense of the Eóganachta was not unlike the rise of that dynasty at the expense of the
The movement of the Déisi Tuisceart into the modern County Clare is not documented, but it is commonly associated with the "annex" of the region to Munster after the decline of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne power in south Connacht. Byrne suggests this dates from the victory of the king of Cashel, Faílbe Flann mac Áedo Duib, over the celebrated king of Connacht Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin at the Battle of Carn Feradaig in 627.[22]
A famous early 12th-century propaganda text detailing the rise of the Dál gCais is the Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib.[23]
Recent studies suggest the Dál gCais have a genetic signature unique to themselves, referred to as Irish Type III.
Annalistic references
- AI966.1 Bissextile. Kl. Death of Cellach son of Faelán, king of Laigin, and of Faelán son of Cormac, king of the Déisi.
- AI982.3 Cathal son of Gébennach, a royal heir of In Déis Bec, and Uainide son of Donnubán, king of Uí Chairpri, and Donnchadh son of Mael Sechnaill, king of Gabair, and many others died this year.
- AI985.2 The Déisi raided Brian's mercenaries and took three hundred cows. And Brian harried the Déisi to avenge that, and chased Domnall, son of Faelán, as far as Port Láirge, and the whole of the Déisi was devastated.
- AI1009.2 Death of Aed, king of the Déisi.
- AI1031.5 A battle between the Déisi, and great slaughter was inflicted on both sides.
See also
- Bruff
- Declán of Ardmore
- Gaeltacht na nDéise
- Vita tripartita Sancti Patricii
- Pre-Norman invasion Irish Celtic kinship groups, from whom many of the modern Irish surnames came from
Notes
- ^ a b Ó Cathasaigh, pp. 1-33.
- ^ MacNeill, pp. 1-41.
- ^ a b Ó Cathasaigh, pp. 3-5, 22-24
- ^ Foley, Catherine (5 April 2008). "Devoted to the Déise". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
- ^ MacCotter 2008, p. 245.
- ^ Byrne 2001, p. 72.
- ^ Byrne 2001, pp. 72, 184.
- ^ Byrne 2001, p. 182
- ^ MacNeill 1911, p. 73
- Cormac's Glossary and the British Historia Brittonum (ch. 14); neither source mentions the Déisi. See Charles-Edwards, p. 163.
- ^ Ó Corráin 2001, p. 6
- ^ Meyer, pp. 101–135.
- ^ Harleian genealogy 2.
- ^ Bartrum, pp. 45, 106; Dumville, pp. 172-93; Miller, pp. 37-40; Coplestone-Crow, p. 17-18; Ó Cathasaigh, pp. 19-22; Rance, pp. 252-3, 263-6.
- ^ Coplestone-Crow, pp. 1-24; Ó Cathasaigh pp. 1-33.
- ^ Pender (1947), pp. 206-17; Bartrum, p. 124; Coplestone-Crow, pp. 1-24; Ó Cathasaigh, pp. 11-12; Rance, pp. 255-6.
- ^ Miller, pp. 33-61
- ^ Rance, pp. 243–270.
- ^ MacNeill 1926, pp. 128-32
- ^ Byrne, pp. 180-1.
- ^ Kelleher, pp. 230-41.
- ^ Byrne, p. 239
- ^ Ed. & tr. Todd 1867
- ^ Irish Type III Website
References
- Bartrum, Peter Clement (1966). Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts. Cardiff.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ISBN 9781851821969.
- Charles-Edwards, Thomas (2000). Early Christian Ireland. Cambridge.
- Coplestone-Crow, Bruce (1981–1982). "The Dual Nature of Irish Colonization of Dyfed in the Dark Ages". Studia Celtica. 16/17: 1–24.
- .
- Jackson, Kenneth H. (1953). Language and History in Early Britain. Edinburgh University Press.
- Kelleher, John V. "The Rise of the Dál Cais", in Étienne Rynne (ed.), North Munster Studies: Essays in Commemoration of Monsignor Michael Moloney. Limerick: Thomond Archaeological Society. 1967. pp. 230–41.
- MacCotter, Paul (2008). Medieval Ireland: Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions. Four Courts Press.
- Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C. 29: 59–114.
- MacNeill, Eoin (20 September 2023). "The Native Place of St. Patrick". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 1926: 118–40.
- JSTOR 30008085.
- Meyer, Kuno (Ed.) (1901). "The Expulsion of the Dessi". Y Cymmrodor. 14: 101–135.
- Miller, Molly (1977–1978). "Date-Guessing and Dyfed". Studia Celtica. 12/13: 33–61.
- Ó Cathasaigh, Tomás (1984). "The Déisi and Dyfed". Éigse. 20: 1–33.
- JSTOR 30007349.
- Ó Corráin, Donnchadh (2010). Ireland before the Normans. Four Courts Press.
- Ó Corráin, Donnchadh, "Prehistoric and Early Christian Ireland", in Foster, Roy (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland. Oxford University Press. 2001. pp. 1–52.
- O'Rahilly, T. F. (1946). Early Irish History and Mythology. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
- Pender, Séamus, ed. (1937). Déssi genealogies. Dublin.
- Pender, Séamus (1947). "Two unpublished versions of the Expulsion of the Déssi". Essays and Studies Presented to Professor Tadhg Ua Donnchadha (Cork 1947): 209–17.
- Power, Patrick Canon. The Place-Names of Decies. 2nd edition. Cork University Press / Oxford: Blackwell. 1952. 1st edition. London: David Nutt. 1907 w/ darker scan
- Rance, Philip (2001). "Attacotti, Déisi and Magnus Maximus: the Case for Irish Federates in Late Roman Britain". Britannia. 32: 243–270. S2CID 162836712.
- Stokes, Whitley (Ed. & tr.) (1887). The Tripartite Life of Patrick. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode for Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
- Todd, James Henthorn (Ed. & tr.) (1867). Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh: The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill. Longmans.
- Wiley, Dan M. "Dál Cais", in Seán Duffy (ed.), Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. 2005. p. 121.
- Wiley, Dan M. "Déisi", in Seán Duffy (ed.), Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. 2005. p. 122.