Labels:text | screenshot | font OCR: The Clans OF IRELAND InCROpucCion The social structure of early Ireland was probably less rigid than much of Europe at that time, but a person's life path was pretty much laid out at birth. If you were descended from the king you were part of the derbfhine ("certain family") and eligible to be considered for the position of tanist or named successor to the king. The availability of divorce under Brehon law and the successive marriages of the kings meant that each tuath was well populated with possible claimants to succession. The use of surnames probably arose in an attempt to formally define such relationships, with the surname usually being an adaptation of the personal name of an ancestor. Thus, descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages were known as the Uli Neill or O'Neills, the ruling dynasty of Ulster. « BACK next »
