The Moses Coin

Many Viking coin hoards included coins from far afield, especially Islamic dirhams, such as in the Spillings Hoard. The Spillings Hoard also contained, among about 14,000 dirhams, a coin that is practically unique in the history of numismatics: a Moses coin (pictured here).

As of 2006, only five Moses coins have been found, and they are all unusual in more ways than one. They are called "Moses" coins because, although similar to Islamic dirhams which have the phrase "Muhammad is the messenger of God" (or a similar phrase), they are inscribed with "Moses is the messenger of God" in Arabic. Who made these? It turns out that they were made by the Khazars.

The Khazars were a nomadic people who ranged in the area between and north of the Black and Caspian Seas starting in the late 6th century. Geographically, they were a buffer between the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad Caliphate. In the second half of the 10th century, they were conquered by the Kievan Rus ruler Sviatoslav I. The Khazars were not a homogeneous culture: among their tribes one could find three languages and several religions. Judaism is considered one of the Khazar religions, and the Moses coin is the only evidence found to support that claim.

According to The Jews of Khazaria, by Kevin Alan Brook, the Khazar government minted four series of dirhams in 837-838, all from the same mint. One series included the phrase (in Arabic) Ard al-Khazar ("Land of the Khazars"), with the date 3 December 837 to 22 November 838.

This Khazar mint was also the source of the Moses coins, but the five found so far all have fake mint dates and locations. The one from the Spillings Hoard is inscribed with Madinat as-Salaam (Baghdad) and the date 766-767. The other four Moses coins (found in hoards from Russia, Estonia, and Finland) include Madinat as-Salaam with the dates 803-804. Why the Moses coins exist and why they have inauthentic dates and mint marks is a mystery.

Above I said the coins were similar to Islamic dirhams. Brook's book says the Khazars minted "additional varieties of imitation dirhams after the year 838." The actual name of the Khazar silver coin was the sheleg, a name we get from the Russian Primary Chronicle, in which the sheleg is mentioned as tribute. What was the Russian Primary Chronicle, you may ask? It was briefly mentioned here, but maybe it deserves a closer look...next time.

The Islamic dirham

We have previously mentioned the dinar here and here. Usually of gold, it was used alongside the dirham, usually of silver and of a lesser value.

Also spelled dirhem or drahm, the name comes from the Greek drachma, because it was originally a silver coin circulated in the pre-Islamic Mid-East out of Byzantium. Persia adopted the word drahm to refer to it, and near the end of the 7th century the Islamic world started minting its own version. Originally the dirham bore the head of the caliph, but that was considered idolatry, so the caliph's image was replaced with verses from the Koran. They were also commonly imprinted with the phrase "Muhammad is the messenger of God" and a statement of the year and location of their minting.

Used widely around the Mediterranean coasts (North Africa, Egypt, the Eastern coast, Moorish Spain), through trade and plunder it wound up in places as far-off as Britain and Sweden. It was so ubiquitous that Jewish Orthodox law even used the dirham as a unit of weight to indicate requirements in religious functions, such as the "dough portion" the proportion of your bread dough that should be offered to the kohen, the Jewish priest. Maimonides (1138 - 1204), an extremely influential philosopher and scholar of the Torah, calculated the dough portion at "520 dirhams of wheat flour." He was referring specifically to dirhams minted in Egypt, which were 3.333 grams each (3.8 pounds is a lot of bread dough!). Other locations minted dirhams that may have been consistently different by fractions of a gram.

The dirham is still used as a unit of currency in several countries as a division of the dinar.

There is an interesting variation of the dirham called the "Moses coin" from the Khazar region. A handful exist (one was found in the Spillings Hoard), and the inscription on them—specifically the mint location and date—raises more questions than answers. I'll tell you about them tomorrow, and why what appeared to be an Islamic coin is called a "Moses coin."

The Spillings Hoard

And now for the absolute largest Viking hoard of silver treasure ever found (I should add: "so far"). In 1999, a Swedish television crew was filming a story on the looting of archaeological sites. They chose the location of Spillings farm, where 150 silver coins and bronze objects had been found not long before. They filmed a segment speaking to two men who happened to be working there with metal detectors: an archaeologist and a coin expert. They finished filming, the TV crew left, and the two experts continued exploring the site.

Twenty minutes after the TV crew left, the metal detector let out a very strong signal that there was metal underground. The men uncovered a small cache of silver. Two hours later and 10 feet away, the detector let out such a strong signal that it shut down. They cordoned off the area and notified the Gotland Museum; guards were posted and a request was made with authorities to begin an archaeological excavation. Over the next year, those two spots and a third found within a few feet from the original yielded the Spillings Hoard.

Excavation determined that the caches were buried under the floorboards of a building, probably in the 800s. The final yield was 14,295 silver coins, almost entirely Islamic dirhams. In all, 192 pounds of treasure was recovered, including 44 pounds of bronze scrap (intended for smelting later). There were also almost 500 bangles, mostly of Swedish design, but some with British and Western Scandinavian designs.

The area yielded evidence of habitation over several centuries, and digging turned up pieces of glass, tile, chains, needles, glass beads, iron nails, clothes pins, and polished semi-precious stones.

Bits of wood and iron embedded in the mass of coins suggest that they were originally contained in a wooden chest. Carbon-dating the wood led to a date of about 650CE, making it much older than the treasure it contained.

One startling piece is called the "Moses coin," a handful of which have been found. This is from the Khazar kingdom. The Khazars, mentioned here, were believed to follow Judaism, but evidence for this was lacking. This coin is inscribed with "Moses is the messenger of God" instead of the usual Muslim text "Muhammad is the messenger of God."

The presence of Islamic coins in several Viking hoards is explained when you remember that many Mediterranean people employed Vikings as mercenaries and guards. The Islamic dirham was widely used then in the Eastern and Southern coasts of the Mediterranean, and the name "dirham" for a coin is still in use today. I'd like to go into a little more detail about it tomorrow, and take a closer look at that Moses coin.

Until then, Happy New Year.

The Cuerdale Hoard

The Vale of York Hoard was the largest hoard since the Cuerdale Hoard. So what was special about Cuerdale? Well, the York Hoard had over 600 items; the Staffordshire Hoard about 4600; Cuerdale, found in 1840, contained more than 8600, the largest Viking hoard ever in the United Kingdom, and surpassed by only one other in the world.

Cuerdale is a parish in the Duchy of Lancaster with very few buildings nowadays. Some workmen repairing an embankment of the nearby River Ribble found a lead box protruding from a bend. It was claimed by the local bailiffs who kept it intact and gave it to Queen Victoria, owner of the Duchy, who in turn gave it to the British Museum. After examining the contents, they were distributed to museums and others, with the greater part kept by the British Museum in the Coins and Medals Department.

The majority of the hoard was silver coins (over 7000) from different areas: the Viking kingdoms of eastern England, Alfred the Great's Wessex, and coins from overseas (one Byzantine coin, early Scandinavian coins, Islamic dirhams, Papal and North Italian coins, and 1,000 Frankish Carolingian coins). Many of the coins probably came from raids on other kingdoms. Besides coins the hoard contained jewelry and hacksilver.

The dates on the coins suggest that it was buried by 910CE but not much before 905. The Ribble flows into the Irish Sea and was a frequent landing spot for those coming from Ireland. The Vikings had been expelled from Dublin in 902, and this hoard might have been buried by Vikings on their way from Ireland for temporary safekeeping because transporting such a large collection made the traveler a target. It may have been intended to finance a re-conquest of Ireland. Why they never returned we will never know.

There is a curious legend in the area, that "Anyone who stood on the south bank of the River Ribble at Walton le Dale, and looked up river towards Ribchester, would be within sight of the richest treasure in England." When and how this legend began no one could say, but it suggests vague knowledge of the treasure, as if it were a more recent stashing in memory. One theory is that, during the reign of Richard II, a Sir Thomas de Molyneux who lived nearby and intended to use it to support Richard, possessed it and hid it there. It is possible that comments made in the late 14th century led to the legend.

After three posts on "largest" hoards, we now will turn to the absolute, unconditionally largest Viking hoard ever uncovered. For this we turn from England to Sweden, and the Spillings Hoard...next time.

The Staffordshire Hoard

With almost 4600 items, the Staffordshire Hoard is the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver jewelry found in England. Another distinction it holds is the 3500 pieces of fine garnet cloisonné jewelry it includes.

Found by a metal detectorist in 2009, the hoard was buried between 650 and 675 when the area was part of the Kingdom of Mercia. Individual artifacts have been dated (based on art style) to the 6th century. Originally fewer than 4000 items, in the years following its discovery, careful digging in the spot has unearthed more. A ten-year recovery and conservation project has recently ended, intended to clean up, identify, and re-assemble the pieces, many of which weigh less than a gram. You can read a little more at the Stoke Museums website.

The Staffordshire Hoard casts new light on 7th century Anglo-Saxon life, but not daily life. None of the pieces are linked to domestic occupations, nor are any likely to have been used by women.

Although the term "jewelry" used above is accurate, none of the pieces was intended for peace-time: they are all parts of military equipment, such as parts of swords (hilts, pommels, a scabbard loop), and decorative pieces that had come off of shields, etc. Stripping the decorative pieces off the weapons of your defeated enemies was a common practice, even mentioned in Beowulf (ll.2985-90) when a defeated enemy is stripped of valuables that are then presented to the king, to be distributed fairly by him. This hoard may be the result of a distribution, or a king's pre-distribution cache.

There is a strip of gold inscribed with what seems to be a quotation from the Bible: Surge Domine et dissipentur inimici tui et fugiant qui oderunt te a facie tua ("Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee." Numbers 10:35)

There are a couple crosses in the hoard, but folded up. It is suggested that the folding indicates that the hoard was stashed by pagans with no reverence for the cross symbol. Alternately, it could have been folded simply to fit it into a smaller space, or because the hoarder wished to "deconsecrate" it before stashing it away.

Now, for the absolute largest hoard of all in terms of individual items (not just jewelry), we turn to the aforementioned Cuerdale Hoard, found in 1840 in England. That's for the next post.

Vale of York Hoard

The Vale of York Hoard was the largest hoard of Viking coins since the Cuerdale Hoard (you will see the words "largest" and "Cuerdale" again in the very near future). The illustration shows the silver bowl in which someone decided to stash and bury over 600 silver coins and other artifacts in 927CE.

It was discovered in 2007 by a father-son team using metal detectors in an unplowed field. They brought the find intact to the British Museum. An archaeological dig in the spot shortly after revealed no sign of a settlement, suggesting that the person who hid it went far afield to keep it away from others.

The silver bowl had been lined with gold, and filled with 617 silver coins and 65 other artifacts, including hacksilver and a gold arm ring. The whole had been enclosed in sheets of lead to preserve it. The coins were not all of the same minting: there were coins with Christian, Islamic, and Norse pagan symbols. Dating the coins to the late 9th and early 10th century gave a date after which the hoard could not have been assembled.

The variety of sources for the coins was not the only surprise. The owner was widely traveled, or was the recipient of widely traveled goods. The silver vessel seems to have come from a Carolingian artist, and one coin is a dirham, from Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan).

How did research lead to such a specific date for burial as 927? In that year, Æthelstan captured York from the Vikings, the final stage of his campaign to recapture Britain from the Vikings. In July of that year he met with the kings of Scotland and Wales to receive their acknowledgement of his authority. He struck silver coins commemorating himself as EDELSTAN REX TO BRIE ("Æthelstan, King of all Britons"). One of these coins in mint condition exists in the hoard, suggesting that it was one of the last additions to the collection and the hoard would have been hidden shortly after.

The Vale of York Hoard (also called the Harrogate Hoard and the Vale of York Viking Hoard) gives a glimpse into the economic breadth of early 10th century Britain. Labeled officially as a "treasure," it had to be offered to museums (instead of kept by the finder or given to descendants of the original owners). Valued at a little over 1.4 million dollars, it was purchased jointly by the British Museum and the York Museums Trust. It is displayed now in the Yorkshire Museum.

Now, let's look at another "largest" hoard, the Staffordshire Hoard.

What Is Hacksilver?

Silver has always been valuable as a unit of exchange, but it would be wrong to assume silver was always in the form of coins or small (or large) bars. It might be shaped into bracelets or chains or other items, such as a decorative pin or brooch, etc.

Those who wanted silver—for themselves or to trade—did not always need a pin or a bracelet, however. Sometimes it was only necessary to have enough silver of sufficient value to exchange for what you wanted. If the item you wished to purchase was worth less silver than the weight of the silver item in your hand, what would you do? Simple: you would hack off the amount you need.

Hacksilver (from German "hacksilber," meaning exactly what it looks like) refers to pieces of silver that are incomplete, hacked from a larger chunk or finished item, or simply from a time prior to coin-making becoming the norm. The picture above comes from the British Museum, and if you care to click this link, you can see close-ups of many pieces of hacksilver and their sizes.

Picts and Vikings collected—through pillaging, but also through trade—hacksilver—it was easier than finding and mining and smelting ore on their own, and some of the largest hoards of hacksilver are connected to those groups. The Traprain Law Treasure (Traprain holds an ancient hill fort in Scotland), found in 1919, contains 53 pounds of Late Roman silver tableware, all of high quality silver and all sliced up into smaller pieces. It was either given by Romans to Picts, or taken by Picts and stashed underground.

Hacksilver was not just a Pictish and Viking trend; silver was considered valuable long before it was turned into coins. What was Southern Phoenicia has produced several hoards of hacksilver dating as far back as 1200BCE. The collection of these sites is known as the Cisjordan Corpus. The silver came from Sardinia and Spain, showing that there was trade across the length of the Mediterranean a very long time ago.

Here's some interesting trivia: the Russian unit of currency, the ruble, is derived from the verb "rubit" (рубить), meaning "to chop." Hacksilver is a well-known concept in a popular computer game series.

Speaking of huge collections of valuable metals tucked away long ago and found in modern times, let's go treasure hunting and look at some hoards, starting with the Vale of York Hoard.

Pictish Metalwork

Besides an impressive array of carved stone slabs, the Picts also did some sophisticated metalwork. One important piece is the Whitecleuch Chain, found in Scotland in 1869.

Dated to between 400 and 800 CE, the Chain is made from 22 pies of linked silver rings with a totals length of almost 20 inches. The piece that encloses the chain, making it a necklace, is inscribed with Pictish symbols, notably a double-disk and a zigzag pattern (looking like a plant stalk) from Class I and Class II patterns. The patterns on this are similar to those found on a silver plaque in the Norrie's Law Hoard.

Norrie's Law Hoard is one of the largest Pictish hoards ever found. Found in 1819 on the Largo Estate in Fife, Scotland, it originally was 170 pieces of silver coins, jewelry, and artifacts totaling 28 pounds—alas, much of it was given away or melted down. The hoard includes a silver plaque with a near-identical depiction of the same design found on the Whitecleuch Chain, suggesting a serious importance to this particular pattern. A similar design is found on a carved stone at Falkland.

There are 11 chains (or fragments of chains) found in Britain (four in Scotland) that are considered Pictish. They are assumed to have belonged to people of high status, as supposedly would the Norrie's law plaque.

As with Pictish stone carving, Pictish metalwork also can be divided into classes or phases. The earlier phase is mostly silver objects with some enamel decoration. The Norrie's Law Hoard falls into this category Later, there evolved a variety of styles (likely influenced by their neighbors) of spirals, interlace, filigree with glass insets (note that glass requires a higher furnace heat than silver).

A question you would not think to ask is "where did they get the silver?" The Picts did not have a significant mining operation, so they had to find silver that someone else had mined and purified. Tomorrow, let's talk about hacksilver.

Pictish Art

Much of existing Pictish art is carved on standing stones and falls into three "classes."

The oldest art falls into Class I (dated to the 6th through 9th centuries) and consists of primitive stone slabs (irregular shapes, un-smoothed surface) with simple geometric figures and some naturalistic figures (animals). Some shown here (see illustration) have no clear interpretation, and may have been used as boundary markers or to identify certain clans.

The designs were incised first with a simple rough punch and hammer, and then the line was widened and deepened with a chisel. The incised lines are smooth, so were likely rubbed with stone to eliminate roughness.

Second row, far-right in the illustration is what's called the "Pictish beast," but its identification is the source of much debate. Whatever it was, it had some significance since it accounts for 40% of all animal figures in Pictish stone carving. It has been described as a kelpie, a seahorse, a dolphin, or some monster; some have even suggested it represents the Loch Ness monster.

Class II stones are roughly rectangular and have symbols that are visibly linked with Christianity. They are often referred to as cross slabs because they depict crosses on one or both sides. They include Celtic geometric knot work as well. They date to the 8th and 9th centuries, so they started to appear prior to the disappearance of Class I carvings. Carving in Class II went beyond simple incising and brought the images out in relief.

Class III graduated to sculpture, in that the rectangular slab was not a canvas on which to carve a design: it was stone from which an actual shape was to be freed. Class III also abandons the pre-Christian symbols and lines, becoming similar to what was being produced by their Gaelic neighbors

The Picts also did some impressive metalwork, which I'll talk about next time.

Burghead Fort

On the Moray Firth in Scotland is the remains of a Pictish fort, called Burghead Fort because of its proximity to the small town of Burghead. Pictured here is a 3D rendering made by the University of Aberdeen after extensive archaeological work.

What we know of the Pictish presence in what is now Scotland does not suggest that they tended toward collecting in large population centers; settlements—if any—around royal forts were the norm. If there were a capital city for the Picts, however, this was it.

Carbon dating shows the main walls constructed perhaps as early as the 3rd century, but additional layers of walls were added over time. A Late Bronze Age spearhead and a coin from Nero's time suggest that the place may have been used earlier and taken over by Picts: its location on a promontory made it easily defensible. It fell out of use after the time of the Viking raids.

It would have taken a lot of effort to conquer: the walls were eight meters thick and six meters high. Oak logs were nailed together with 8" iron spikes to make a framework which was then filled with stone and rubble. The construction makes clear that whomever wanted it built had access to a very large workforce.

It was geographically at the center of the Pictish Kingdom of Fortriu. It seems that Fortriu was the most powerful of the Pictish kingdoms, and Burghead was likely the seat of its kings. Early records sometimes refer to Fotriu as if it encompassed all of Pictland, suggesting its prominence. Adomnán's Life of Columba describes the fort of a Pictish king as being situated where Burghead is. Bede describes the same king as rex potentissimus or "very powerful king," further suggesting that whomever ruled Burghead was more powerful than other Pictish kings.

In the 19th century, its remains were dismantled for their materials. About 30 stone panels carved with images of bulls were noted before being incorporated into the quay walls of the harbor. The handful remaining above water are in museums and the Burghead Visitor Center.*

...which I guess is as good a segue as any to Pictish art and artifacts, for which you'll have to check this space tomorrow.

*Their website has an outline of one of the carved bulls on its main page.

Pictish Culture

As mentioned previously, the Picts were not necessarily a homogeneous culture, but the archaeological record can help us determine a few things about what was important to them. Materially, they are very similar to their British, Gaelic, and even (invading) Anglo-Saxon neighbors.

Large herds of sheep and pigs were maintained, and probably moved from highlands all summer to lowlands in the winter months in a practice common to pastoral societies called transhumance. Having horses and cattle signified wealth. Later stone carvings depict Picts hunting with falcons as well as dogs. (Their neighbors did not use falcons—or at least did not commit that practice to image or writing.)

Regarding the Pictish diet: meat and milk were a part of their diet, based on the evidence of livestock. Archaeology reveals the crops associated with their territory: barley, oats, rye, and wheat were common grains. They also grew kale and cabbages, onions and leeks, peas and beans, and turnips. Fish and shellfish were available on their coastlines.

The earliest Pictish carvings—an example is shown here from Skye, dated between 200 and 400 CE—have geometric figures that have defied interpretation. We don't know about their spiritual beliefs prior to their Christianization, but the assumption is that they were engaged in polytheism similar to their Celtic neighbors. Palladius is given credit of their conversion.

A large Pictish fort has been excavated at Burghead in Scotland, but evidence of Pictish urban settings has not been found. Settlements around royal forts have been noted, but there is no evidence of villages or towns on their own. They took advantage of the existence of Iron Age brochs—round, tall, hollow-walled structures built of stone—and of crannogs—Neolithic Age artificial islands built over water on wooden piles. 

If the Picts had a capital, it would be the fort at Burghead, which has been excavated and studied and had a 3D model made by the University of Aberdeen. Let's take a look at that tomorrow.

Who Were the Picts, Really?

It is likely that the name for the Picts really is related to the modern word "picture." The first occurrence of the word was in a Latin speech that mentioned the "picti"; it is interpreted as "painted," referring to the custom of tattooing. A further account from 404CE refers to designs on the bodies of Picts defeated in battle. Isidore of Seville mentions the Picts painting themselves.

To be frank, the evidence for this practice is scarce. Monument stones that portray Picts do not include any markings that look like body paint or tattoos, and the folk that lived closer to them (rather than tried to invade and conquer them, like the Romans), such as Irish poets, do not mention tattoos.

There are other difficulties in identifying what the Picts were like. The various groups identified as "Picts" by outsiders over time have little resemblance to each other, suggesting that what we in the Modern Era have been told from old writings—mostly starting with the 7th century—was "Pictish" either referred to several different groups or Pictish culture was far from uniform.

Bede (672 - 735) said they came from Scythia (on the northern coast of the Black Sea) and wound up accidentally on the northern coast of Ireland, where local leaders convinced them to go settle in northern Britain. This unlikely story was repeated in the 10th century Pictish Chronicle, which attempted to explain the Picts and started the story thousands of years earlier. It names their leader as Cruithne (Gaelic for Pict). It makes up seven sons for Cruithne, whose names correspond to seven areas of Pictland. This fiction was used later to argue the existence of seven separate Pictish kingdoms. There were probably more smaller kingdoms with their own leaders who formed alliances with neighbors or gave allegiance to a more powerful ruler adjacent to them.

What is true is that the Picts lived in the area north of Glasgow and Edinburgh, the area described by Roman writers as Caledonia. They were probably dominated by the area to their south, Northumbria, because Northumbria for that time was the most powerful kingdom in Great Britain. That all changed in the 800s with the arrival of the Vikings, who destroyed the kingdom of Northumbria and created panic in all parts of Great Britain. In the early 900s, the area started to be called the Kingdom of Alba and was becoming "Gaelic-ized." In a hundred years or so, northern Alba was all Gaelic Scots, and references to Picts faded from the records.

Tomorrow we'll delve into what can be determined about Pictish culture.

The Law of Innocents

Besides Brehon Laws, Ireland had Cáin laws (Cáin="law"; redundant, I know) that were made with the help of church figures. Adomnán of Iona (c.625 - 704) is responsible for a set of rules that has been called the first human rights treaty. The Cáin Adomnáin, the "Law of Adomnán," is also called the "Law of Innocents" because it was designed to protect women, children, and noncombatants during times of warfare.

It was produced in 697 from the Synod of Birr, a gathering of clerics and secular figures, Irish, Pictish, and Dal Riatan. It was likely called by Adomnán himself, based on his authority as the abbot of Iona.

Although designed to protect the innocent, it was unforgiving of the guilty. Section 33 of one of the two remaining manuscripts (both of a later date than the 7th century) is particularly harsh, and relates how an angel demanded rules to protect women:

Go forth into Ireland, and make a law in it that women be not in any manner killed by men, through slaughter or any other death, either by poison, or in water, or in fire, or by any other beast, or in a pit, or by dogs, but that they shall die in their lawful bed... 

For whoever slays a woman shall be condemned to a twofold punishment, that is, his right hand and his left foot shall be cut off before death, and then he shall die, and his kindred shall pay seven full cumals*, and one-seventh part of the penance. If, instead of life and amputation, a fine has been imposed, the penance is fourteen years, and fourteen cumals shall be paid. But if a host has done it, every fifth man up to three hundred shall be condemned to that punishment; if few, they shall be divided into three parts. The first part of them shall be put to death by lot, hand and foot having been first cut off; the second part shall pay fourteen full cumals; the third shall be cast into exile beyond the sea, under the rule of a hard regimen;

Women were not assumed to be angels, either. A woman who murdered, stole from a church, or tried arson, would be condemned to be pushed from shore in a boat with one oar and some gruel. This was considered a way to avoid killing a woman, and left her fate up to God (shades of Antigone!).

Section 50 deals with non-death offenses:

If it be rape of a maiden, seven half-cumals (is the fine) for it. If a hand (is put) upon her or in her girdle, ten ounces** for it. If a hand (is put) under her dress to defile her, three ounces and seven cumals for it. If there be a blemish on her head or her eyes or in the face or in the ear or nose or tooth or tongue or foot or hand, seven cumals are (to be paid) for it. If it be a blemish on any other part of her body, seven half-cumals are (to be paid) for it. If it be tearing of her dress, seven ounces and one cumal for it.

The Synod of Birr brought together different ethnic groups that we therefore assume were Christian. One group mentioned was the Picts, a name with which everyone may be familiar, but who were they? What was their relation Scottish and British and Irish people? Are they still around, and did they leave us any lasting monuments? Let's try to figure out what we really know about the Picts, and why were they called that? See you tomorrow.

*A cumal represented the value of three milch cows.
**The "ounces" are of silver.

Tanistry and Authority

Congal Cáech was a king of the Irish province of Ulaid (on the north east coast) in the early 7th century. Cáech means  "squinting" or "half blind." He was so-called because he was stung in the eye by a bee, and according to the Bechbretha this made him ineligible for the position of High King of Tara. His clan demanded that the eye of the beekeeper's son (he was the son of the High King Domnall mac Áedo) be put out to even the score.

This is one of the few hints we get about early Irish kingship eligibility: that the High King must be without blemish.How one could be eligible for kingship seems to follow the system of tanistry. The Tanist is the second-in-command or second-in-line after a ruler, and not necessarily a descendant. Historically, the males of the clan would choose their next leader from among all the righdamhna ("kingly material"), which could include sons of the departed ruler.

This method persisted in Ireland until the early 17th century when English common law replaced it. In Ireland today, the echo of tanistry can be heard in the title of the deputy prime minister, Tánaiste.

The illustration shows the numerous kingdoms of Ireland, with each having its own king, although often neighboring kingdoms banded together for protection from larger alliances. Political marriages between kingdoms also contributed to descendants with legitimate claims to multiple kingdoms, which could help them unite under one ruler.

Irish kings had a different set of responsibilities than other European kings. For one, they did not have the authority to create laws. The laws were worked out by the Brehons, the judges/arbitrators who wrote tracts on what was right and proper for a working society. The kings' job was to support the law, not make it up. During times of emergency a king could create a law, but this was seen as only temporary.

The king was never above the law. He was not always directly subjected to restitution, however: a designated underling would have to suffer the consequences, and would then be compensated monetarily by the king. The king could lose his status, however, if he engaged in "non-kingly" activities such as being seen doing the work of a commoner, acting cowardly in battle, or traveling without a proper retinue.

Although limited in power when it came to the law, kings could collaborate with the church in developing laws. Adomnán of Iona produced a set of laws, the Cáin Adomnáin ("Law of Innocents"), which has the names of several kings attached to it showing heir involvement and support.

The Cáin Adomnáin has been called Europe's first human rights treaty, and is worth taking a closer look...next time.

Early Irish Marriage Law

Early Irish Brehon Law, so-called because it was administered by Brehons (from Old Irish breithem ("judge"), was more interested in proper conduct for social concord rather than punishment for wrongdoing. It was a progressive system that recognized equality in many ways for women not found in other parts of Europe until centuries later.

The approach to marriage was very flexible—something that alarmed the Roman Church very much, which is why they encouraged the Anglo-Norman Invasion in the late 12th century. Several forms of union were recognized as legitimate between a man and a woman.

There were three types of marriage based on property: whether the husband, or the wife, or both equally brought assets to the marriage. Wives could keep control of their property; it did not become their husband's property. A woman could also help to keep property in the family by marrying a cousin, a level of consanguinity that the Roman Church really didn't like to see.

Polygamy (but not polyandry) was also a legitimate form of marriage. The first/principal wife had some interesting advantage in a polygamous family: not only could she simply divorce the husband if she did not like his choice of an additional wife, but she had a three-day period on the arrival of a new wife when she was allowed to beat the new woman (so long as she did not leave a mark, of course!), and the new wife was allowed to scratch back and pull hair.

A man could also have concubines, whose status in the household was much lower than any wives—but it was still a legal status. Marriages in Brehon Law did not require church involvement (although no doubt when Richard de Clare married Diarmait's daughter Aoife he used a Roman ceremony, as in the illustration above, a detail of "The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife" by Daniel Maclise, c.1854).

Women could even initiate divorce for several reasons:

• Husband too fat for sex.
• Husband hit her hard enough to leave a mark.
• Husband boasted about their sex life in public.

The Gaelic approach to male-female unions was clearly quite different. Rulers' authority and their succession was also quite different, but that's for tomorrow.