Charachteristics of The Bo-Aires
Above: MIlk, bo-aire who dispense judgement has two vats of milk
These, then, are the characteristics of the bo-aire who dispenses judgment. He has two vats—of new milk and ale—in his house constantly. He has three snouts, including a snout of bacon upon the hooks, the snout of the coulter turning up the earth to sustain the visits of king, bishop, bard, judge or any company that might arrive. Three sacks —of malt, bulrushes, and coals—he has in his house each quarter.
He has a house of twenty-seven feet, a back house of seventeen ; a sheep house, calf house, pig house ; kiln, barn, and a share in a mill and in all that it grinds. Twenty cows he has, six bullocks, two bulls ; twenty hogs, four house-fed hogs, two sows ; twenty sheep and a suitable lawn in which they are always kept ; a riding steed, a bridle of cruan, i.e., enamelled ; a brass pot to hold a hog ; and sixteen sacks of seed in the ground. With his wife, of his owl* grade, he has four friends. His oath is good, his pledge, friS evidence, his surety, his loan. He must be guiltless of theft robbery, or wounding anyone.
Two cumhals are his tatfq crech, a cow his beas tighe. Three are his company in territory ; three for him on folach. He is entitled to butter with salt meat at all times, to bacon on third, on fifth, on ninth, on tenth, on Sundays. He is a surety, intermediary, suitor, witness for his people, and much more—his household was a model for the countryside, and interference with him was punished sharply.
In his house all precious things, such as gold, silver and bronze, are lawful; all things not precious, unlawful. All troughs and seats disarranged on the floor are unlawful. He may or may not have a water-well in the floor of his house, he may or may not have a water-well in his dairy. The direct cast of the cnairseach in all directions from the door
of his house is the proper extent of his yard. The father of Emer wife of Cuchulainn was a typical bruighfhear.
The Og-aire, advanced apparently from the ceile class as the aire desa was promoted from the bo-aire class, had seven cows and a bull, seven pigs and a mucforais or house-fed pig, seven sheep, a draught-horse and a riding-horse. He had land sufficient to maintain three times seven cumhals, and the right to maintain on the pasture land of the tribe seven cows, one of which he left at the end of the year to compensate for the grazing. He had the four ploughing essentials: x an ox, a sock, a yoke, a halter, as well as a share in a kiln, mill, barn and cauldron. Nineteen fee{ the length of his house ; thirteen, of his back house.
Ceilidhe or tenants were the most numerous class in the country. They defended and maintained the district; had the choice of the land, and in many ways resembled the farmers of our day. Unlike some of the present farmers however, they were almost to a man native Irishmen. Sometimes four of them owned a plough in partnership. Partolan had seven ploughmen among his followers, and the names of his four ploughing oxen still survive.
There were two grades of ceile, the free and the unfree, better known as the saercheile and the daercheile. The saercheile was sometimes called a ceile simply, and the daercheiles, i.e. bond-ceiles, giallna or hostages.
The Saercheile was somewhat independent, inheriting his share of the tribe-land and renting some more from the flatha or nobles. When he rented stock or cattle from the fear fotla, he needed no surety beyond his own promise. The rent paid by the ceile to the flaith was called beas tighe.
It consisted of pigs and bacon, corn, malt and the like, afl cording to station. He was obliged to go to war, if necessary,, and do other work for the tribe, such as killing foxes afl repairing highways. If he had cattle on hire from the flaith he had to give one-third their value every year for seven years. Then they became his own. This will be regarded’ as exorbitant. But it has to be remembered that if the fear fotla amassed a large fortune in his time it was divided.
So was it prefer-\,le to the system which followed of paying exorbitant rents to alien landlords to be squandered recklessly abroad. The free acceptance of saor-rath from the flaith placed the saer-cheile under the flaith’s dominion. But it was the privilege 0f the saercheile, if he so desired, to accept saor-rath from no one but the king.
