[30] Some such a character still exists in Japan, which is under the divided rule of two emperors; one a sacred puppet, nominally the head of the empire, but practically kept aloof from all mundane matters; the other known as the Ziogoon, or general, and the real ruler of the empire. This example of a double head to an empire certainly bears some resemblance to the divided authority of the old Celtic system, or rather to what that divided authority might have become under certain circumstances.
[31] δημοκρατοῦνταί τε ὡς πλήθει is the expression of Dio (in Severo). Strabo (l. 4, p. 197) describes the Gallic states as Aristocracies, annually choosing “in ancient times”—i.e., before the Roman Conquest—a ruler ἡγημόνα, and a general στρατηγὸν; in other words, a Vergobreith and a Toshach.
[32] Leg. Gwyn., l. 2, c. 18. The words of Bruce’s charter (Thanes of Cawdor) are “Ita tamen quod terra quam Fergusius dictus Demster tenet ibidem respondeat eidem Willelmo (Thano de Calder) de firma quam reddere consuevit.” It is doubtful whether Vercingetorix was a name or a title, like Brennus. Cynghed in Welsh means a convention; gorsez cynghed cynnal, a convention held upon urgency. Ver-cinget-o-rix might thus mean “the man chosen king in the convention.” The authority of the Anglo-Saxon princes, sometimes known as Bretwaldas, probably resembled that of the earlier Celtic Toshach—they were supreme Heretogas rather than supreme kings. Cæsar calls Vercingetorix Imperator; commander-in-chief.
[33] The verses ascribed to Columba will be found in the various “Chronicles of the Picts,” of Innes, Pinkerton, and the “Irish Version of Nennius,” J. A. S. The rev in Murev, Fortrev is probably to be derived from reim or “realm,” the names meaning “the realms along the sea (Murray, Muireim or Armorica), and along the Forth.” Ath-Fodla is equivalent to “Fodla on this side of the Mounth,” exactly answering to the situation of Atholl, immediately to the southward of the Grampian range. Northwards of Atholl the country is still known as Badenoch, “the district of the groves,” a name singularly inapplicable to its present state, answering probably to Fidach. Fodh, a word evidently derived from the same source as the Scandinavian Odh, and meaning “earth, land,” is probably at the foot of Fodhla (Fodh-lad), or Fo’la, which seems to have answered amongst the Gael very much to Gwlad. Fodh also means “learning in Gaelic.” The close connection between “mystic lore,” or “divination,” and the possession of land, was not confined to the Gael; it thoroughly pervaded the early Scandinavians.
[34] Camb. Descr. l. 1, c. 4. Col. de Reb. Alb., p. 19, 20. Innes, “Sketches, etc.,” p. 365 et seq. In the middle of the seventeenth century, the second son of the Earl of Argyle was fostered by Campbell of Glenurchy, ancestor of the Breadalbane family. “In the Lowlands,” says Mr. Innes, “the practice was evidently common under the civil law.” In fact, fosterage was not peculiar to the Highlanders and Celtic people in particular, though, like many other old customs, it remained in force amongst them long after it had disappeared elsewhere. By Ini’s Law (63), the fosterer was one of the three dependants whom the Gesithcundman might take with him under any circumstances. The system was admirably adapted for implanting the members of a dominant amongst a subordinate race, who, in the course of a few generations, must have thus become united in the ties of interest and affection with the ruling “caste.” No such ties bound the villein to his feudal lord; and the evils and advantages arising out of each system were totally different. It was this custom which above all others tended to render the Anglo-Norman lords “beyond the pale,” Hibernis Hiberniores. As much devotion was shewn to a Geraldine as to a MacArthy.
[35] Adam. Vit. St. Col., l. 3, c. 5. It was the Vergobreith, not the Toshach, who was “consecrated” by the Druids, v. p. 28, n.†. Giraldus Cambrenses has left an extraordinary description of the barbarous rites with which the inauguration of the princes of Cinel Conal was celebrated. He wrote from hearsay, and very probably heightened the colouring of a picture that was exaggerated in the first instance; for he fully participated in that rooted antipathy which seems to have long existed between the Welsh and the Irish. Still the words of Ailred shew that certain barbarous ceremonies on such occasions lingered amongst the Scottish Gael in the twelfth century, shocking the more fastidious ideas of David after he had “rubbed off his Scottish rust.” “Unde et obsequia illa quæ a gente Scottorum in novella regum promotione more patrio, exhibentur ita exhorruit ut ea vix ab episcopis suscipere cogeretur” (Twysden, p. 348). The conspicuous part still assigned at coronations to the Scottish “Stone of Destiny” is as well known as are the numerous tales and fables connected with it. In his “Essay on Tara” Mr. Petrie impugns the identity of the stone in St. Edward’s chair with the genuine Lia Fail, upon which the Ardrighs of Ireland were inaugurated at Tara; where, in his opinion, the mystic stone of the “Tuath de Danan” still remains in spite of the claims of the Dalriads and the fables of the Connaughtmen. It indeed seems extraordinary that a small and migratory tribe from the north of Antrim should have been permitted to carry off with them the “sacred stone” of the Irish kings, and I am inclined to look upon the Scottish Lia Fail as the stone upon which the Pictish kings and their successors were consecrated, its only migration, unless it was removed from Dunfothir to Scone, having been undertaken at the order of Edward the First; though after the Gaelic people of Scotland had identified their own ancestry with that of the MacAlpin line of princes the Lia Fail necessarily became mixed up with the supposed wanderings of the latter.
[36] The early Frank kings used to migrate in this way from manor to manor, and the custom long prevailed amongst the Scandinavians. It was the origin of the “sorning,” a word derived from the same source as the French sejourner, and “Waldgastnung,” so often prohibited in the old laws of Scotland and the north. The Anglo-Saxons were perfectly well acquainted with the same custom, and lands were held for a certain number of “night’s feorm”—so many nights’ free quarters originally,—the name of the tenure being at length permanently transferred to the tenant and tenement. Hence our words Farmer and Farm.
[37] Most of the materials for this sketch have been taken from “Martin’s Western Isles,” the “Irish Annals,” and the “Works of the Irish Archæological Society,” particularly the “Hy Fiachrach,” where the subject is ably illustrated by Mr. O’Donovan in Appendix L. The “Circuit of Murketagh” contains an interesting account of the manner in which hostages and tribute were exacted, and the different methods of proceeding with kinsmen, allies, and rivals. The theory of Tanistry extended to ecclesiastical offices, and we meet with Tanist bishops and Adbhar abbots; the former signifying, apparently, the successor actually chosen, the latter one eligible to be chosen. Thus, and in many other ways, the old Celtic principle of division appears to have gradually pervaded their branch of the church. Even the careful separation of sacerdotal authority from practical power seems to have clung to the Gaelic people for some time after their conversion; for while the Hy Nial for centuries monopolized the supreme power, the Primacy was the exclusive appanage of the Clan Colla, a race excluded from the throne.
[38] A king of Atholl was amongst the rivals who succumbed to Angus (Tigh. 739), and from the foundation of Dunkeld and St. Andrews by Constantine and the second Angus, it may be gathered that the provinces connected with those monasteries were “in the crown.” In the Irish annals Fortreim is latterly almost synonymous with the kingdom of the Picts. Its capital, Dun-Fothir, was evidently the Scottish Tara, and Dundurn in the north perhaps the Scottish Cashel. Moray and Mærne seem to have long been the leading subdivisions of the north, but it would be difficult to name the corresponding divisions of the south. Abernethy appears to have been connected with Strathearn, Dunkeld with Atholl, and St. Andrews with Fife.
[39] Lodbroka Quida. Str., 12. The epithet of “the Hardy” is applied to Kenneth in the Duan. The old chronicle continues to apply the name of Pictavia to Scotland proper, or Alban, and Saxonia to the Lothians; whilst the Ulster annals call the MacAlpin dynasty “Kings of the Picts” to the close of the century.