Tanistry is a
Gaelic system for
passing on titles and lands. In this system the Tanist ( ga,
Tánaiste
The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Ta ...
; gd, Tànaiste; gv, Tanishtey) is the office of heir-apparent, or second-in-command, among the (royal)
Gaelic patrilineal
Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...
dynasties of
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
and
Mann
Mann may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Mann (chess), a variant chess piece which moves as a king
* ''Mann'' (film), a 1999 Bollywood motion picture
* ''Mann'' (magazine), a Norwegian magazine
* Mann Theatres, a theatre chain corp ...
, to succeed to the
chieftainship
A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom.
Tribe
The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia.
Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...
or to the
kingship.
The word is preserved in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
's government, where the prime minister is the ''
Taoiseach'' while the deputy prime minister is the ''
Tánaiste
The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Ta ...
''.
Origins
Historically the tanist was chosen from among the heads of the ''roydammna'' or "righdamhna" (literally, those of ''kingly material'') or, alternatively, among all males of the ''
sept'', and elected by them in full assembly. The eligibility was based on patrilineal relationship, which meant the electing body and the eligibles were
agnates with each other. The composition and the governance of the clan were built upon male-line descent from a similar ancestor. The office was noted from the beginning of recorded history in Ireland, and probably pre-dates it. A story about
Cormac mac Airt refers to his eldest son as his tanist. Following his murder by a member of the
Deisi, another ''roydammna'',
Eochaid Gonnat, succeeded as king.
In Ireland, the tanistry continued among the dominant dynasties, as well as lesser lords and chieftains, until the mid-16th/early 17th century when it was replaced by English common law.
[ When in 1943 Ireland appointed its first new Chief Herald, it did not reintroduce tanistry. The state granted courtesy recognition to Irish chiefs based on primogeniture from the last known chief.][
The royal succession in Celtic Scotland was limited to the elective agnatic or male line of the ''Siol Alpein'' ( House of Alpin) until the accession of King Malcolm II in 1005. This monarch was the first to introduce the concept of hereditary monarchy in Scotland. He did so to try to eliminate the strife caused by the elective law, which encouraged rival claimants to fight for the throne. Since Malcolm had only daughters, he also introduced the right of female-line succession in Scotland. This gave rise to conflict by competitors for generations thereafter. The Irish monarchies, for their part, never at any stage allowed for female line succession.][
]
Candidates and functions
The king or chief held office for life and was required by custom to be of full age, in possession of all his faculties, and without any remarkable blemish of mind or body. At the same time, and subject to the same conditions, a tanist or next heir to the Monarchy was elected, who if the king died or became disqualified, at once became king.[ Typically a former king's son became tanist (sometimes the son of the king simultaneously elected, however perhaps more often a son of a rival branch of the dynasty), but not because the system of primogeniture was in any way recognised; indeed, the only principle adopted was that the dignity of chieftainship should descend to the eldest and most worthy agnate of the last ruler.][ (Note this still disqualified many in the clan, since most clansmen were clients, not related to the ruling line, patrilineally or otherwise.)][
One of the most common rules for qualification as a ''roydammna'' was that a candidate had to be a member of the previous chief's "'' derbfhine''", a kindred including all descended in the male line from a common great-grandfather. However it was often restricted to the chief's ''gelfhine'', a ''fine'' descended from one common (patrilineal) grandfather. This meant that the group became highly exclusive, keeping the kingship within the dynasty. Many in the wider clan might be reduced to gentry or peasant status (though they might share the surname). These features make tanistry an agnatic succession mode, and a succession by appointment, as it was an ]elective monarchy
An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by an elected monarch, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance. The manner of election, the nature of candidate qualifications, and t ...
. Tanistry evades the basic requirement of the hereditary monarchy, i.e. that the outcome of the succession is predictable, up to the identity of successor and next heirs, by genealogy
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
.
The downside of the large group of eligibles was that increases in ''roydammna'' in each generation might lead to internecine dynastic civil war.[ Such was the case among the descendants of King and High King Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (1088–1156). His dynasty, the Uí Briúin, had successfully ruled as Kings of Connacht since at least the mid-5th century. Their increasing consolidation via the annexation of the Kingdoms of Mide and ]Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
, plus suborning neighboring states and lordships to vassalage, led to Tairrdelbach becoming the first of his dynasty to become High King.
Competition between Tairrdelbach's many sons caused corrosive warfare among at least four competing main lines, in addition to allied lordships' and kingdoms' striving for the main chance. Coupled with the incursions of the Normans
The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. T ...
from 1169 onwards, this fragmented Ó Conchobhar rule. By the mid-13th century, they were reduced to ruling a fraction of their former patrimony.[
Another example of ''Derbfhine'' or ''Roydammna'' proliferation comes from the '' Annals of Connacht''. It states that at the Second Battle of Athenry in August 1316, in addition to King Tadc Ó Cellaig of Uí Maine, "there fell with him ... twenty-eight men who were entitled to succeed to the kingship of Uí Maine."][
]
Consequences
The tanistry system often led to rotation among the most prominent branches of the clan or the reigning house, particularly in the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
. Though not necessarily intended to be so, tanistry was perceived to create balance between branches of family. A quite usual pattern was that the chief (king, lord) was succeeded by his tanist, elected earlier and from another branch than that which the incumbent chief belonged to. Perhaps simultaneously upon that succession, a tanist was elected from another branch, to fill the position vacated by the one now risen to chieftainship. He may have come from the branch to which the deceased belonged. The next vacancy would be handled in a similar way. If a chieftain attempted to have his own son (or brother) chosen over a representative of another branch, the electors were outraged, as they feared subjugation to one branch.
In 1296, the Bruce candidate to inherit the crown of Scotland pleaded the traditional tanistry in his favor. In terms of primogeniture, he was from a cadet branch of the old royal descent, and thus would not have succeeded. The idea of rotation and balance (and his seniority in physical age and experience) made him a credible competitor. A Pictish aspect was that both the House of Balliol and Bruce descended through female lines from the royal house, and were allowed to present candidacy. Bruce also claimed tanistry through a female line. (This may be an indication that in Scotland, Pictish and Gaelic succession rules were intermingled. The judicial resolution of the succession quarrel, directed by the English king, favoured the Balliols on the basis of primogeniture. Subsequent political events reverted that result to a more "clannish-tradition" direction. Robert the Bruce
Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventuall ...
, grandson of the candidate who argued for tanistry, ascended the throne despite descending from a rather junior cadet line of the original Royal House. All future monarchs of Scotland after that succeeded by the rights of the Bruce.)
Tanistry as the system of succession left the headship open to the ambitious. It was a frequent source of strife both in families and between the clans, but it was conversely quasi-democratic. Tanistry was abolished by a legal decision during the reign of James VI of Scotland, who later was named James I of England and Ireland. The English land law
English land law is the law of real property in England and Wales. Because of its heavy historical and social significance, land is usually seen as the most important part of English property law. Ownership of land has its roots in the feudal ...
was substituted.[
The rules of succession of the House of Alpin of Scottish monarchs (a dynasty of mixed Pictish and Gaelic origin) and their successors, abided by tanistry rules until at least 1034. They also used them in certain successions in the 1090s, and tanistry was used as an argument in succession litigation as late as the 1290s. A similar system operated in ]Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, where under Welsh law any of the sons or brothers of the king could be chosen as the '' edling'' or heir to the kingdom.
Tanistry
In the broadest sense, the name 'Tanistry' describes the functional principle that "the most talented male member of the royal dynasty should inherit the throne, commonly by murder and war".[
It is specifically used to describe the practical ramifications of the Turco-Mongol, as well as other Central Asian steppe ]nomad
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...
, principles of inheritance and succession. Because all male members of the royal clan are considered to have equally legitimate claims on power, the ruler is the individual who eliminates competitors and re-subjugates the rest of the state formation. The structure may be determined by bonds of personal loyalty to the ruler, which are considered to be dissolved on the ruler's death.[
]
Uses in literature and popular culture
* Sir James Frazer incorporated the concept of the tanist as a substitute for the sacred king as a central element in his analysis of European mythologies, '' The Golden Bough''.[
* The figure of the tanist has appeared in modernist poetry, such as ]T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
's '' The Waste Land''.
* Amateur mythographer Robert Graves (1955) assumed tanistry was the original form of kingship in archaic Greek society for his interpretation of '' The Greek Myths''.[ He used the same idea extensively in '' The White Goddess'' to interpret the ]sacred marriage
''Hieros gamos'', hieros (ἱερός) meaning "holy" or "sacred" and gamos (γάμος) meaning marriage, or Hierogamy (Greek , "holy marriage"), is a sacred marriage that plays out between a god and a goddess, especially when enacted in a symb ...
of the king to the pre-Greek supreme goddess.
* In the Deryni novel, the character Dhugal MacArdry is Tanist of Clan MacArdry.[
]
See also
* Agnatic seniority
* Chiefdom
* Chiefs of the Name
* Clan
*Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...
*Elective monarchy
An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by an elected monarch, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance. The manner of election, the nature of candidate qualifications, and t ...
* High King of Ireland
* Kingdoms of ancient Ireland
* Mandala (Southeast Asian political model)
*Order of succession
An order of succession or right of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated such as head of state or an honour such as a title of nobility.[Partible inheritance
Partible inheritance is a system of inheritance in which property is apportioned among heirs. It contrasts in particular with primogeniture, which was common in feudal society and requires that the whole or most of the inheritance passes to the ...]
*Patrilineal
Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...
* Primogeniture
Footnotes
References
Sources
*
External links
* {{cite web , website=Irish Tribes , url=http://www.irishtribes.com/articles/2012-03-election-of-gaelic-kings-and-leaders.html , title=Election of Gaelic kings and leaders under féineachas , first=Gerald A. John , last=Kelly
Constitutional law
Monarchy in medieval Ireland
Feudalism in Scotland
Inheritance
Early Gaelic law