Irish Lady and young girl, c. 1570 Pic: Irish Tribes

Thanks to the Irish Tribes website, specialists in Irish Genealogy, for this article exploring the significance of the ‘Seanchas’. For the Ancient Celts, Law, History and Genealogy were all very much an integral part of their society and background. They begin with:- Seanchas   Until the 17th century, Seanchas was the indivisible combination of Gaelic law, history, and genealogy, carefully conserved by each clan’s hereditary scholars.  It was the underpinning of your ancestors’ lives, the very foundation of Gaelic society since the first Celts came to Ireland about 800 B.C.

Gaelic Society

This is how Professor Daniel Binchy described ancient Irish society:

“tribal, rural, hierarchical, and familiar (using the word in its oldest sense, to mean a society in which the family, not the individual, is the unit) — a complete contrast to the unitary, urbanised, egalitarian and individualist society of our time.”

Daniel Binchy was the Senior Professor of the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Celtic Tribes & Ancient Irish History

With this mindset, Ireland’s ancient Celtic tribes created pre-Christian and early Christian Ireland.  We know of the Cruithin, Bolg, Laighin, Connachta, Eoghanachta, Uladh, Féini, and more.  We know the impact they had on Ireland’s early history before the Fall of Rome, rarely (although without much detail) even before the Sack of Delphi.  And we can trace their direct descendants to the modern day.

Kingship & Leadership

As a further demonstration of this mindset, men and women like Eochu Mugmheadhon, Niall Naoighiallach, and Gráinne Ní Mháille acted within and in cooperation with their kinships rather than as their dictators.  Irish kings were elected and leaders were chosen.  They were not arbitrarily imposed by concepts like divine right and primogeniture.

Rights & Privileges

Your ancestors’ rights and privileges depended upon belonging to their particular kinship group.  The rights and privileges of the Dál gCais were different from the rights and privileges of the Connachta.  Those of the Connachta were different from those of the Eoghanachta, and so forth.  Hence the importance of genealogy to the Irish for millennia.  Without it, your ancestors could not claim their rights.

The Intertwining of Genealogy, Law, and History in Gaelic Society

Genealogy identified kinship.  Kinship determined rights and privileges.  Competition for rights and
privileges helped make history.  Seanchas tracked it all.

Summary

Seanchas is a river of information about our ancestors, created by our ancestors, for our ancestors.  And for you.

Find out more about your own Irish Genealogy on the Irish tribes website.

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