Rory Convery
Ireland in the Dark Ages
Professor Amber Handy
November 29th 2010
Comparing Two Warrior Cultures: How tribal, rural, hierarchical and familiar
standards shaped early medieval Irish an Anglo-Saxon societies
When comparing the Irish and Anglo-Saxon cultures of the early medieval period, it
becomes evident that the two societies bore many striking similarities. By analysing
the literature of the respective cultures as well as the law codes and archaeological
records, one can see parallels in many of the values held by the two warrior
cultures. Daniel Binchy describes early medieval Ireland as “tribal, rural,
hierarchical and familiar” – traits that also reflect the Anglo-Saxon society of the
time.1 However, what divided the two cultures was the fact that these four
adjectives were far more apparent, and much deeper entrenched in Irish society
than in that of the Anglo-Saxons. This had a profound affect on the culture of the
time from its law codes to the structure of communities and even the manner in
which skirmishes and battles were carried out. Whilst it is arguable that in terms of
military capability the Anglo-Saxons were more advanced than their Irish
counterparts, the Irish law codes reveal a society that was structured to an
incredible degree of detail. This can be directly linked to the fact that Irish society
was simply much more tribal, rural, hierarchical and familiar. Thus can be argued
that it these traits were crucial to defining the differences between early medieval
Irish and Anglo-Saxon culture.
Thomas Bartlett “Ireland After St. Patrick” in Ireland: A History Cambridge University Press 2010
p.13
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One of the most obvious parallels between the two warrior cultures is the
representation of the heroic acts of brave warriors within the literature. The
presentation of these values gives insight as to what traits these cultures
appreciated within their warriors and what typified the perfect soldier. Examples of
this can be found in the Irish epic The Táin that presents the history of a war
between Queen Medb of Connacht and the men of Ulster. As a curse afflicts the
Ulstermen, they are defended by the young warrior Cú Chulainn who takes on
Medb’s entire army alone until the curse is lifted. Cú Chulainn’s bravery and
strength is frequently highlighted throughout the text as he provides challenges to
Medb’s army as it crosses the land. For example, as Medb’s army advances to Mag
Mucceda, Cú Chulainn fells an oak tree in their path and cuts into it an ogam
message reading “No one passes unless a warrior can jump this in a chariot”.2 Of
course, Cú Chulainn being the great warrior he is, is capable of these challenges he
sets forth and furthermore, whenever a warrior rises to these challenges, he strikes
them down.
Similar praise of bravery and strength amongst warriors is found in the
Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf as another young warrior (Beowulf) comes to the
aid of a people threatened by a sizeable external force. In this case, the force is the
demon Grendel, and, once he is killed, his more powerful mother. As with Cú
Chulainn, Beowulf completes challenges of strength and bravery. Beowulf as is
shown to consider himself much more dangerous than the demon Grendel stating
“Grendel is no braver, no stronger than I am! I could kill him with my sword, I shall
2
Ciaran Carson The Táin Viking Penguin 2008 p.53
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not.”3 Thus he refuses to arm himself when fighting and ultimately defeating the
monster exhibiting his bravery, strength and success as a warrior. Hence, as one
would expect from the two warrior cultures, examples from the literature illustrate
similar traits of strength and courage that are expected from successful soldiers.
However, the extent to which the tribal, rural, hierarchical and familiar
values had impacted the respective societies can be found in the differences in the
expectations of their warriors. In The Táin Cú Chulainn comes to the aid of his own
tribe or peoples, the Ulstermen, and exhibits great loyalty as he defends them from
invasion by Medb’s forces until the curse is lifted. This example, highlights the fact
that one’s people was of great importance in what was a very tribal early medieval
Irish culture. It was rare and in fact frowned upon in the society of the time for
people to venture outside of their túath (tribal territory) and this was reflected in
the law codes of the time, particularly those regarding marriage. The Cáin Lánamna
presents the marriage laws of early medieval Ireland and states that “A man who
follows his wife’s arse over the border” as well as a foreigner would assume the
honor price of his wife.4 Given that honour price was an indication of one’s rank and
status, to accept that of a woman, which would in many cases be lower, would be
humiliating. It is clear given these examples in both the literature and the law codes
that Irish society of the time was extremely tribal and this served to shape the
manner in which warriors were viewed.
Burton Raffel Beowulf First Signet Classics Printing September 1999 p.31
Anonymous “Cáin Lánamna” in The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing Cork University Press 2002
p.23
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On the other hand Anglo-Saxon society appeared to place much less
emphasis on tribal divisions within society. Beowulf for example travels to a
different Kingdom to defend a foreign tribe and furthermore, his presence on
foreign soil has no impact on his status. As a Danish warrior and herald to King
Hrothgar confronts Beowulf and his companions upon their arrival he is quick to
accept them stating “Strangers have come here before, but never so freely, so bold.”5
King Hrothgar is shown to be full of praise for Beowulf and his companions upon
their arrival as “Danes and visiting Geats celbrated as one, drank and rejoiced”6 This
is contrasted with Medb in The Táin who is suspicious of the Gaileoin soldiers that
have come to join her army and demands that they be separated throughout the
entire force rather than fight together.7 This stresses once more the fact that
medieval Irish society showed much deeper tribal divides than those of Anglo-Saxon
society during the same period. This can arguably be linked to the fact that AngloSaxon society at the time interacted with far more external forces than did the Irish
particularly in war. The Anglo-Saxons first came to England as Roman mercenaries
and later as mercenaries of the Britons to fight the Picts.8 To gain a foothold in
England the Anglo-Saxons waged war with the British and even when they had
achieved military supremacy, the Britons remained a force to be reckoned with.9
Certainly when they were not fighting a foreign enemy, Anglo-Saxon kings occupied
themselves in fighting each other, however, this continuous foreign threat can
Raffel p.17
Raffel p.23
7 Carson p.22
8 G.A Lester “How They Fought” in The Anglo-Saxons: How They Lived and Worked Douglas Davis &
Charles Limited 1976 p.128
9 Lester “How They Fought” p.128
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explain why tribal divisions were much less distinct than in the Irish society of the
time.10
The fact that there was no distinct foreign threat or presence in Ireland until
late in the medieval period is arguably a leading factor of the formation of a
distinctly tribal society. This was also key to establishing the differences between
Anglo-Saxon and Irish society in terms of military history. Up until late in the
medieval period with the settlement of the Norse and the Norman invasion, much of
Irish warfare centred on territorial squabbles, throne rights and, most often, raids. A
great example of this is the war that The Táin centres on that revolves around a
cattle raid. After an argument with her husband Aillil over who was the greater
contributor to the marriage Medb decides to raid Ulster and take Donn Cúailnge, a
brown bull famed for its size, as her prize.11 Thus we see the great extent to which
raids in-between tribal territories were a part of Irish culture at the time. In fact,
before the Norse invasion, the only real military interactions with external forces
were raids in Wales and England and the movement of the Dalriada into the coastal
areas of Western Scotland.12
The Anglo-Saxons, as mentioned earlier, were much more engaged with
external forces and as a result developed military technology that surpassed that of
the Irish. Findings of chainmail at the Sutton Hoo ship-burial in Suffolk and the
illustrations of the Bayeux Tapestry confirm frequent examples in Anglo-Saxon
Lester “How They Fought” p.128
Carson p.5
12 Amber Handy “Viking Settlements and the Struggle for the Irish Kingship” (Lecture, University of
Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN) 30th November 2010
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literature of its use.13 The Irish, on the other hand, had not developed advanced
armour that was widely used by the time Norman invasions began later in the
medieval period.14 However, this focus on tribal divisions allowed for an element of
Irish warrior culture to develop that was not present in that of the Anglo-Saxons:
the fían. The fíanna were bands of warriors that lived separate from the túath,
protected the borderlands and engaged in raids upon other túatha. Members of
these bands were usually young men in the gap between the end of their fosterage
period and the age at which they could formally join society.15 This was a method by
which young warriors in Ireland could learn their trade and was a product of the
distinctly tribal society of the time. Thus it is evident that this intense focus of
medieval Irish society on tribal divides, and a lack of external threats, contributed
greatly to its divisions from the warrior culture of the Anglo-Saxons.
Early medieval Irish and Anglo-Saxon societies were also both very
hierarchical in their structure. This is typified by the use of a value attached to
someone’s name that was determined by rank and status in both societies. In
Ireland this was referred to as lóg n-enech, or “honour price” and was a penalty that
was to be paid to a person for penalty or wrongdoing against him.16 Anglo-Saxon
society used wergild or “man-price” as a compensation that was to be paid in
atonement for a man’s killing. Both valuations were used as an approximate
indication of a man’s status and wealth in society, however, whilst the Irish used
Lester “How They Fought” p.126
Handy “Viking Settlements…”
15 McCone, Kim R. "Werewolves, Cyclops, Díberga, and Fíanna: Juvenile Delinquency in Early Ireland."
in Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies University of Cambridge 1986 p.8-9
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14
Amber Handy “Early Irish Society: Rank, Status and Clientship” (Lecture,
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN) 2nd September 2010
16
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séts (a unit of value equal to ½ a milk cow) to determine the price, Anglo-Saxons
used a valuation in shillings.17 Anglo-Saxon society distinguished the four main
classes within this honour price system as being kings, noblemen, free peasants, and
slaves and prices were set at twelve-hundred, six-hundred and two-hundred
shillings respectively (slaves did not have a man-price).18 However, Irish law codes
appear to suggest a much more structured hierarchy within society with honour
codes set for kings, heirs, five levels of nobleman as well as two classes of peasant
farmers.19 Furthermore, the Irish law codes outline honour prices that were set for
various professions including physicians, smiths, jurists and poets.20 Thus we can
see that while both societies were hierarchical and shared a sense of value that was
attributed to rank and status, early medieval Irish society applied a much greater
extent of structure honour price and as a result contributed to an extremely
hierarchical constitution of their society.
In terms of the hierarchical nature of their respective societies both the early
medieval Irish and Anglo-Saxon societies made clear what the expectations of their
classes were. With Anglo-Saxon society this was found particularly with the
presentations of nobles and kings as seen in Beowulf. There is a distinct focus on the
requirements of a good king that are displayed by Hrothgar, king of the Danes.
Hrothgar is shown to be hospitable to Beowulf and his companions upon their
arrival throwing a great feast, and upon Beowulf’s success he rewards him with
G.A Lester “How They Organised Their Society” in The Anglo-Saxons: How They
Lived and Worked p.71
18 Lester “How They Organised…” p.71
19 Handy “Early Irish Society...”
20 Handy “Early Irish Society…”
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great treasures.21 Furthermore Hrothgar is shown to be wise and just; qualities that
Beowulf’s character echoes as he takes his own throne.22 The relationship between a
lord and his subjects was also a fundamental part of early medieval Anglo-Saxon
society at the time and is also stressed in the text. It was expected for subjects to
pass on the spoils of war to their lords, which would be then distributed evenly
amongst the retainers.23 In return a retainer was expected to show unrelenting
bravery at his lord’s side in battle as “it [was] was a disgrace…for the retainers not
to equal the bravyer of their chief”24 We see these values highlighted in the text
Beowulf as upon his return to his father’s kingdom, Beowulf passes on the fortunes
he earned for his deeds in Denmark to his father, who also happens to be his king.25
Furthermore, as Beowulf struggles to fight the dragon at the end of the epic, his loyal
retainer Wiglaf “remembering everything his lord had given him” comes to his aid
and helps him defeat the beast in a show of unwavering loyalty.26
However, when looking at the law codes and texts of early medieval Ireland it
becomes clear the great extent to which the expectations of not just kings and
nobles were documented and engrained into the hierarchical structure of this
society. There are countless examples in Irish sagas of what the requirements of a
good King were – echoing the sentiments of bravery, hospitality, wisdom and justice
that are seen in Anglo-Saxon society. Just one of these examples is found in the story
of Cormac Mac Airt who travels to the kingdom of Mac Con upon hearing that he
Raffel p.23, p.78
Burton Raffel “Introduction” in Beowulf p.x
23 Lester “How They Organised…” p.72
24 Lester “How They Organised…” p.66
25 Raffel p.81
26 Raffel p.107
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confiscated a woman’s sheep after they had eaten expensive plants in the Queen’s
garden. Cormac approaches the king and tells him that “more fitting would have
been one shearing for another” and upon realizing his injustice and lack of wisdom,
Mac Con hands the throne over to Cormac.27 However, it was not just in Irish
literature that we find examples of the requirements of a good King. In fact, the
Audacht Morainn outlined the social and political expectations of a good king in
great detail from the resolving of disputes to the daily tasks he was expected to
undertake.28 Furthermore the details of honour price penalties in the Irish law
codes gave insight into what the expectations of various social and professional
classes were in Irish society.29 It is evident that the expectations of social classes
were very much a part of the fabric of Irish culture at the time and contributed to
the extremely hierarchical structure of the society. It was this great degree of
structure that created some of these divisions between early medieval Irish and
Anglo-Saxon society.
The combination of this stress on rank and status along with a strong
appreciation of familial ties within society was also responsible for the early
medieval Irish process of fosterage. This practice involved fostering out children to
other families in an attempt to give them the best opportunity to succeed and thus,
much strategy was applied to the practice. For the poorer classes, it was seen as an
opportunity to better oneself in a certain skill set that would make them more
Tomás Ó Cathasaigh The Heroic Biography of Cormac Mac Airt Dublin Institue for
Advanced Studies 1977
28 Fergus Kelly Audacht Morainn Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies; First Irish
Edition edition December 1976
29 Handy “Early Irish Society…”
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valuable on a farm and prepare them for the tasks that daily life would entail. For
the upper classes, sending ones’ children to live with another family helped to
establish vital relationships with royalty and other political figures.30 The payment
and quality of fosterage was entirely dependant on rank and class as indicated by
the Cain Iarraith that outlined the laws surrounding the practice, in fact, everything
from the food that was to be served to the clothes that were to be worn by foster
children was determined by the rank and status of their families.31 This practice
serves as an example of how medieval Irish society was shaped by the intensity of
its hierarchical and familial qualities, thus separating it to an extent from the AngloSaxon culture, despite their striking similarity.
Finally, in terms of the rural nature of both medieval societies, there is
definitely distinct similarity between the Anglo-Saxon and Irish cultures of the early
middle ages. Irish society at the time was very much based around agriculture and
farming. This was highlighted by the important role that cattle played in Irish
society of the time both as currency to set value for payments and as an incentive to
raid other settlements. Similarly there was a distinct rural appearance to many
Anglo-Saxon settlements with farmland and agricultural buildings attached to and
surrounding most towns.32 However, the most significant difference between the
two societies was precisely this, the presence of towns and relatively urban societies
in early medieval England. This can be directly linked to a much more highly
Amber Handy “Fosterage” (Lecture, Univesity of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN)
23rd September 2010
31 Anonymous “Cain Iarraith” in Ancient Laws of Ireland William S Hein & Co
February 2000 pg.147-155
32 G.A Lester “How They Lived” in The Anglo-Saxons: How They Lived and Worked
p.26
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developed trading system than that which can be found in early medieval Irish
society of the time. The Anglo-Saxons used their own forms of coinage with the main
denominations being the sceat, the penig and the styca, and the earliest coins
appearing about 695 A.D.33 The advanced state of trade in Anglo-Saxon England at
the time can be perhaps linked to the frequent interactions with external cultures as
mentioned earlier. Although, Ireland was by no means cut off from the world, it was
not until the external threat of the Norse invasions, and the eventual mixing of the
cultures, that trade began to develop.34 In fact, many scholars believe that before the
Norse arrived and began to establish towns, there were no urban centers in Ireland,
as we understand them today. This contributed greatly to the lack of advanced trade
or trade development in Ireland before this period. It is believed that rather than
towns, monasteries provided the structural centers for Irish settlements, and
archaeological evidence suggests that trade shops providing services may have
surrounded these monastic settlements.35 However, this was indeed the limited
extent to which urban centers developed in the early medieval Irish period. As a
result, one can see that even the extent to which Anglo-Saxon and Irish society were
rural shaped elements of their culture and created a distinction between the two. As
a greater exposure to external threats allowed for Anglo-Saxon society to develop
more extensive urban centers as trade increased allowing them to move forward to
a degree from this rural structure.
G.A. Lester “How They Organised…” p.77
Handy “Viking Settlements…”
35 Amber Handy “Celtic Christianity: Monasticism” (Lecture, University of Notre
Dame, Notre Dame IN) 2nd November 2010
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It is evident that the early medieval Irish and Anglo-Saxon cultures share
many traits and similarities. They were, after all, both warrior cultures that shared a
tribal, rural, hierarchical and familiar societal structure. However, where the
differences lie between the two is the fact that in the Irish case, one can see greater
extremes of these traits that served to drastically shape the society. This allowed for
elements of Anglo-Saxon society such as trade, urban centers and military capability
to surpass the equivalents we see in Ireland. In Ireland, the fact that these traits
were so ingrained in society contributed greatly to the formation of their extensive
law codes surrounding rank and status as well as their social expectations and
customs. Thus while Daniel Binchy’s summary of early medieval Irish culture does
provide a fitting overview of both the Irish and Anglo-Saxon societies of the time,
what led to the divisions that separated the two was the fact that that these traits
were much more pronounced in the Irish case.
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