Túath facts for kids

A Túath (say "TOO-ath") was a very important part of how ancient Ireland was organized. It was like a small country or a local area with its own people and rules. The word túath could mean both the land itself and the group of people living there. It was the main way people divided up the land and managed their communities in old Gaelic Ireland.

How People Lived in a Túath

In ancient Ireland, a household was thought to have about 30 people living together. A larger group, called a trícha cét (say "TREE-kha CHAYT"), was an area with about 100 homes. This meant roughly 3,000 people lived there.

A túath was made up of several trícha céta that worked together. This means a túath had at least 6,000 people, but often closer to 9,000.

How a Túath Worked

Each túath was like its own small, independent state. It had its own leaders, a meeting place for decisions, a court system to settle arguments, and even its own defense force.

Different túatha would often join together to form bigger groups called confederations. This helped them protect each other. Some túatha were more important than others, depending on where they were located and how connected they were to the main ruling families of the area.

The rules for how túatha were organized are written down in the Brehon laws. These were old Irish laws from the 7th century, also known as the Fénechas.

Changes to the Túath System

The old Irish way of organizing land and people changed a lot during and after the time of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Her government slowly replaced the túath system with a new one based on areas called baronies and counties.

Because of these changes, it became a bit confusing to understand the old land units. Sometimes, trícha céta and túatha seemed to be the same thing, and other times they were different. Trícha céta were mostly used to count how many soldiers an area could provide.

Some historians think a túath was like a modern parish, while others believe it was more like a barony. It often depended on how the land was taken over and made into a county. In some cases, the old túath boundaries matched the new barony lines quite well. But in other places, like Ulster, where a lot of land was taken and new people moved in, the original divisions are harder to see.

Interestingly, many ancient bog bodies and offerings (like bog butter) have been found along the lines of today's baronies. This suggests that the borders of these small kingdoms in Ireland have stayed pretty much the same since at least the Iron Age.

What the Word Túath Means

The word Túath in Old Irish has a few meanings. It can mean "the people," "country," "territory," or "a small kingdom." It was the name for the main political and legal unit in ancient Ireland.

The word likely comes from an even older language called Proto-Celtic, where toutā meant "tribe" or "tribal homeland." You can see similar words in other old languages, like the name of the Gaulish god Toutatis.

In Modern Irish, the word is spelled tuath, without the long accent mark. Today, it usually means "rural areas" or "the countryside," but people still understand its historical meaning.

Examples of Túatha

Here are some historical examples of túatha or places that were once túatha:

• Tuatha Dé Danann (a mythological people, but the name uses "túath")
• Cairbre Drom Cliabh
• Tir Fhiacrach Muaidhe
• Tir Olliol
• Corann
• Dartraighe
• Osraige - a túath that later grew into a kingdom
• Dál Riata - a túath that became a group of túatha and eventually settled in Alba (Scotland), helping to create the modern nation of Scotland
• Clandonnell, Glenconkeyne, Killetra, Melanagh, Tarraghter, and Tomlagh - these all once formed the ancient territory of Loughinsholin

See also

• Trícha cét
• List of Irish kingdoms
• Gaelic Ireland
• History of Ireland