Traditional Economies of Ireland

Early Irish Economics

The early Irish economy relied on a specialized class system and regular trade with the outside world. Five main kingdoms were divided into 150 or so smaller kingdoms, or tuatha. Within every túath, a wealthy ruling clan employed families of artists, poets, historians, craftsmen, and physicians. Tenant farmers supported their lavish lifestyles through annual food-rents in exchange for loans of land and cattle.

Despite its remote position at the edge of Europe, Ireland saw frequent foreign trade. Researchers have discovered a number of pre-Roman imports on the island, including Egyptian beads, Etruscan sculptures, and the skull of an African macaque.[2] Roman historian Tacitus noted in the first century that "the harbors of Ireland were better known to commercial nations than those of Britain."[3][4]

Trade in Medieval Ireland

During the Middle Ages, a person's position was determined by wealth and family. Social mobility could be achieved by raising enough cattle to loan to another farmer. This was the first step to nobility, but cattle raids and famine meant most farmers never rose above their station. The brehon laws defined class and justice in terms of cattle as well. Besides organizing Irish society, they detailed the wages and rights of men and women from every class.[5]

This stratified system continued in Gaelic Ireland throughout the Middle Ages. But while the rural economy persisted for centuries, the coasts attracted outsiders. Norse settlers founded the island's first port towns, which remain some of the largest cities in Ireland today. They were replaced by the Anglo-Normans, and later the Anglo-Irish. Under the influence of invaders, Ireland's harbors became major exporters to Britain and Europe.[6][7]

Modern Irish Economics

Under the British Empire, the Irish Catholic population was in many cases left to slide into poverty. This was achieved through a series of English laws targeting Catholic families. The Anglo-Irish nobility settled Irish lands both before and after evicting their residents. Landless farmers then found work as laborers serving the "big houses." Many chose to emigrate in search of new opportunities. The increasing poverty of those who remained became a source of growing resentment among the public. In this way, religion, politics, and economics all played a role in the revolution that led to modern Ireland.[8][9]

Bibliography

1. John T. Koch, ed., Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2006), 1692.

2. Philip Freeman, Ireland and the Classical World (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001) 2-12.

3. Patrick W. Joyce, A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland (London, NY, and Bombay: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1906), 494-499.

4. Cornelius Tacitus, Dialogus, Agricola, Germania, ed. T. E. Page and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, 1914), 211.

5. Ancient Laws of Ireland: Uraicect Becc and Certain Other Selected Brehon Law Tracts (Dublin: H.M. Stationery Office, 1901).

6. Edel Bhreathnach and Raghnall Ó Floinn, "Ireland: Culture and Society," in A Companion to Britain in the Later Middle Ages, S. H. Rigby, ed. (Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 561-572.

7. Marie-Therese Flanagan, "Anglo-Norman Invasion" in Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia. eds. *Seán Duffy, Ailbhe MacShamhráin, and James Moynes (New York: Routledge, 2005), 29-32.

8. Henry Duff Traill, Social England: From the Accession of Henry VIII to the Death of Elizabeth (New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1897), 298-302.

9. Peter Cottrell, The Anglo-Irish War: The Troubles of 1913-1922 (Oxford: Osprey, 2006).

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