This book tracks the development of social complexity in Ireland from the late prehistoric period on into the Middle Ages. Using a range of methods and techniques, particularly data from settlement patterns, Blair Gibson demonstrates how Ireland evolved from constellations of chiefdoms into a political entity bearing the characteristics of a rudimentary state. This book argues that early medieval Ireland's highly complex political systems should be viewed as amalgams of chiefdoms with democratic procedures for choosing leaders rather than kingdoms. Gibson explores how these chiefdom confederacies eventually transformed into recognizable states over a period of 1,400 years.
Author(s): D. Blair Gibson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: xxvi+324
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xix
Notes on Irish Names and Spellings xxiii
List of Abbreviations xxv
1. Theoretical Considerations 1
2. The Climate and Geology of Clare 22
3. Clare's Chiefdoms at the Dawn of History 26
4. An Early Medieval Chiefdom of Northern Clare: Archaeological Investigations 70
5. Reconstructing the Social Order of Irish Chiefdoms through Settlement 88
6. Of Settlements and Boundaries: Reconstructing the Chiefdom of Tulach Commáin 139
7. The Rulers of Tulach Commáin 166
8. The World of Brian Bóroimhe 177
9. The World of 'Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh' 201
10. The Political Topography of Late Medieval Clare 221
11. An Overview of the Social and Political Systems of Thomond 265
Appendix: Genealogies and Chieftain Lists 289
Notes 301
Glossary 307
References 309
Index 319
