ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2455 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2455 ************************************ 26 Mar 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate title for a 7th century Irish noblewoman and whether it is a good equivalent for the Society title . You also mentioned your interest in using as a title equivalent to the Society rank of Mistress of the Laurel. Here is what we have found. As we explained in an earlier letter, choosing period equivalents for Society titles is a complicated process requiring an examination not only of the titles actually used in the culture but also the social roles that underlie them [1]. Choosing an equivalent for is particularly difficult, since that Society rank doesn't correspond to any rank even in the late-medieval English culture that was the starting point for the Society's selection of standard titles: It is a Society invention. So the only approach that might lead to a reasonable equivalent is to study the structure of the culture and look for a position similar to the Society's court barony. Another important distinction that must be considered is the difference between personal titles that are connected to the name, like , and names of ranks or offices that are used as an additional description separate from the name, like . In English, as this example shows, many titles are used both ways; but that is not true of all languages. The Society's standard ranks are based on late-medieval English culture; and the standard Irish titles offered by the SCA are, by and large, the titles used in late-period Irish texts to translate English titles. is translated by the SCA as , which is inappropriate for any period before the arrival of the Normans in Ireland: is a Norman title, adopted into Gaelic as , and simply means [2, 3]. The Society also offers the title as an equivalent to [2]; you wondered whether a feminine form of that title existed and whether it is a good equivalent to for your period. We haven't found a feminine form of this title in period sources, but we think it is plausible, though not in this late-period spelling. We also think it is one of several titles that match your rank reasonably well. To explain our reasoning, we need to discuss some aspects of early Irish social structure. The complex early Irish system of rank was described in detail in law tracts compiled in the 8th century. There was a three-fold distinction between rank based on the church, on skilled occupations, and on property and clientship (vassalage). Within each of three, there was a distinction between "free" and "unfree" -- not simply "free" versus "slave", but involving the types and heritability of obligations. Within each of the categories defined by these two factors, there are as many as half a dozen grades, distinguished by differences in ability, resources, obligations, etc. [6, 7] Within the category of ranks defined by land and clientship, there were three broad classes: "lords", "commoners", and "unfree persons". The "lords" were further divided into two groups: "kings" and "nobles". Both of these groups were defined largely in terms of the number and status of their direct clients (vassals). The laws mention three grades of "kings" (with titles based on the word ) which we list from lowest to highest [6, 7]. The slash in represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. or "king of peaks" or "king of a people/tribe". The head of a , originally a unified tribe but eventually evolving into something equivalent to a geographic district. or "king of hosts" or "king of peoples/tribes". The head of more than one tribe or district. "king of great kings", i.e. "high king". Although the Society has not chosen to do so, one could very reasonably equate these three grades with our three grades of landed nobility: barons, princes, and kings. The non-kingly nobility consists of six or seven grades, including the heir of a king and other specialized offices that don't concern us here. The grades of interest to us are [6, 7]: "noble of superior testimony". A member of the royal kindred other than the chosen heir of a king. "noble of leadership" . The head of a noble kindred who acts as a representative for his kinsman in external affairs. "high noble" "noble of vassalry". Someone whose rank is based on having vassals. or "noble of obligation" or "noble of a kindred". Head of a non-noble kindred who represents them in external affairs. One might see a good correspondence between this category and the Society's peerage ranks; but one could also reasonably use it to choose equivalents for all of the Society's non-landed ranks. How we map court barony into this system depends on which aspects of that rank we want to stress. If we view it as a form of barony, then it should share the same title -- just as it does in the Society, after all -- and thus we might choose or as a good equivalent. If we focus on its non-landed status, then we would choose one of the grades of . Of these, seems to be the best match for the Society's court barony. We haven't found examples of feminine forms of any of these titles, but there is a fairly strong pattern of Irish feminine titles being forms by prefixing "woman" to a masculine title. Therefore, we think that , , , and are all plausible constructions. These are pronounced roughly \bahn-ree THOO-ey-th@\, \bahn-ree bhen\, \bahn-ey-r@ ard\, and \bahn-ey-r@ DyAY-s@\. In these pronunciations, \@\ stands for the sound of the in or , \ey\ represents the sound of the word , \Dy\ represents a \D\ sound combined with a little of the \y\ in , and \bh\ stands for a sound similar to \v\ that's made by vibrating the lips together. Note that all of these titles are descriptions of ranks, not personal titles. That is to say, they correspond to the English construction rather than . Any of the Irish titles should be placed after your name. One of the titles you asked about specifically was , which is a late period spelling corresponding to the early medieval . We have found examples of the masculine form in 10th century Irish records, illustrating how it was used at least in formal records. These examples all show the title in the form "king of the people of" a particular place, e.g. "Lorcan king of the people of Munster" [4, 5]. We would not expect to see this title used without the place name, so we feel it is a better match for a landed baron than a court baron. You also asked about . A more accurate spelling of that word is ; the 'h' indicates a softening of the preceding consonant, which is required in some circumstances by Gaelic grammar. In this case, the 'f' becomes silent. This word means "poetess". We found no evidence that this term was used in your period. You might want to consider another term, . This was the highest rank of bard in early Irish culture, and we have found an example of it used -- with the prefix -- to refer to a female poet [8]. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Julie Stampnitzky, Tangwystyl verch Morgan Glasfryn, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Mari neyn Bryan, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Ursula Georges. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 26 Mar 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Most period languages didn't have titles that are exact translations of the ones we've chosen to use in the Society. The fundamental problem is that the social structure in a given medieval culture isn't the same as the late-period English one on which the Society's system of rank is very loosely based. If the culture had a different set of ranks, then even if we can identify the titles they used we still need to decide how to map between the Society's ranks and the historical ranks. The upshot is that if we are interested in good re-creation, we often have to settle for an inexact mapping between Society titles and historical ones, which may result in more than one Society title being translated by the same historical one; and some historical titles going unused. [2] The SCA College of Arms has published lists of officially-recognized equivalent titles in many languages; you can find them on the web at http://www.sca.org/heraldry/titles.html Many (and probably most) of these lists have little or no historical value. Many were created by translating titles with a modern dictionary, sometimes producing titles that didn't exist in the period language. Only a few of the tables were constructed with any understanding of social rank in the historical cultures, or with any consideration of the changing use of titles over the thousand years of our period. The best of the tables is the Welsh title list; you'll notice that it offers multiple translations for most titles and that it gives the same Welsh title for several SCA ranks. [3] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983) s.v. baru/n. For a discussion of the formation of feminine compounds like , see s.v. ben. [4] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh, ed., "Annals of Tigernach" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1996) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100002/ Entry T993.5: Ei/cneach h-u/a Leochan, ri/ Tuath Luighne. [5] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997). http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/ Entry U951.4: Cenneitig m. Lorcain ri Tuathmuman [6] Nerys Patterson, _Cattle Lords & Clansmen: The Social Structure of Early Ireland_ (University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, 1994). [7] Thomas Charles-Edwards "_Cri/th Gablach_ and the law of status" in _Peritia_ (vol. 5:53-73, 1986). [8] Dictionary of the Irish Language, s.vv. ben, fili, ollam.