A ''toísech'' or ''toísech clainne'' was the head of a local kin-group in medieval

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 the ...

. The word, meaning "first" or "leader" in

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

, is first attested in the property records written into the ''

Book of Deer The ''Book of Deer'' (''Leabhar Dhèir'' in Gaelic) (Cambridge University Library, MS. Ii.6.32) is a 10th-century Latin Gospel Book with early 12th-century additions in Latin, Old Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It contains the earliest survivin ...

'' some time between the 1130s and the 1150s. The ''toísech'' held and extracted tribute from specific settlements within the kindred's territory, while other settlements provided tribute to the ''

mormaer In early Middle Ages, medieval Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, a mormaer was the Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic name for a regional or provincial ruler, theoretically second only to the Kings of Scots, King of Scots, and the senior of a ''Toísech'' (chi ...

'' or king. The ''Book of Deer'' property records describe multiple lands whose tribute was granted to Deer Abbey by the ''mormaer'' and the ''toísech'', each granting their respective renders, while one land was given by a lord "who was ''mormaer'' and was ''toiseach''". showing that ''mormaers'' could themselves also be ''toiseachs''. The position of the ''toísech'' in the ''Book of Deer'' closely matches that of the

thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven talukas ...

given in the

Leges inter Brettos et Scottos The Leges inter Brettos et Scottos or Laws of the Brets and Scots was a legal codification under David I of Scotland (reigned 1124 – 1153). Only a small fragment of the original document survives, describing the penalties for several offences ...

, a law code from the reign of

David I David I may refer to: * David I, Caucasian Albanian Catholicos c. 399 * David I of Armenia, Catholicos of Armenia (728–741) * David I Kuropalates of Georgia (died 881) * David I Anhoghin, king of Lori (ruled 989–1048) * David I of Scotland (di ...

that includes descriptions of the kingdon's social hierarchy, suggesting that the two roles were equivalent.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{cite book , last=Taylor , first=Alice , year=2016 , title=The Shape of the State in Medieval Scotland, 1124–1290 , publisher=Oxford University Press , location=Oxford , isbn= 9780198749202 Scottish clans 12th century in Scotland Feudalism in Scotland Scottish titles