Feudal Irish

 Above : Clan O’Donnel Logo

One fact which shows that these constant faction fights were carried on, to a great extent, apart from the ordinary life of the country, is the evidence of the active trade and commerce that prevailed through the island. In all the Irish territories great fairs were periodically held, and were attended by Irish and foreign traders. So well attended were those fairs that the townspeople of the Pale complained of the injury they suffered because English and other traders deserted their own markets in favour of them. The records of European ports also show that Ireland carried on a great foreign trade at this time with towns from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. And this foreign trade was carried on independently of the Crown. The northern ports were controlled by O’Neill and O’Donnell; the western by O’Connor, Burke, and O’Brien; the southern by Desmond, Mac Carthy, O’Driscoll and O’Sullivan; the south-eastern by Ormonde. Under the protection of those chiefs the foreign trade was carried on, and to them, and not to the Crown, were paid the dues and profits arising out of it.

The period may, therefore, be roughly described as one of ” unchecked feudalism.” Ireland was a country with no central Government, each territory ruled by its own petty lord or chief. All were Irish, but they were also feudal. In most cases there was not even the control of a superior great lord. Desmond, Ormonde and Kildare might, to some extent, act as petty Kings ; O’Neill and O’Donnell, O’Brien and Mac Carthy might control their own immediate sub-chiefs ; but the general tendency was in favour of purely local independence. As the lords had thrown off the dominion of the King, so the clans had lost much of the old tradition of acknowledged supremacy. The Kings of Aileach, of Tara, of Laighin, and of Caiseal still succeed one another, but their power is only nominal.