by Joseph Byrne
acta. (L., pl of actum, act) Decrees passed by or a record of the transactions of a council, cathedral chapter, ecclesiastical court or Catholic synod.
adminicle. (L. adminiculum, a prop) Any supporting or corroborative evidence necessary for the trial of a case.
admiralty court. A court with jurisdiction over shipping and mercantile cases including piracy and prizes at sea, shipboard deaths, sailors’ pay, collisions, wreck and salvage. It was established in Ireland in the sixteenth century under the supervision of the English admiralty. Although admirals were appointed in Ireland during the middle ages their appointments appear to have been honorific and maritime issues were usually dealt with in chancery. Provincial vice-admirals were appointed in the sixteenth century but such posts were sinecures and the functions were performed by deputies. As was the case with the English admiralty courts, the Irish court engaged in disputes with other courts, with the lord deputy and with town corporations and individuals who claimed to possess the right of jurisdiction over admiralty cases by charter. The Irish admiralty court remained subordinate to the English high court of admiralty until it became an independent court, the high court of admiralty, in 1784 (23 & 24 Geo. III, c. 14) following the passage of Yelverton’s Act. Appeals from this court lay to the court of appeal in chancery and from thence to the Irish privy council. The admiralty court became a division of the high court following the re-modelling of the Irish courts by the Judicature Act of 1877. In 1893 it was merged with queen’s bench on the death of the existing judge. (Appleby and O’Dowd, ‘The Irish admiralty’, pp. 299–320.)
adventurer. A person who advanced a sum of money under the 1642 Adventurers’ Act (17 Chas. I, c. 34) for the suppression of the 1641 rebellion, the return for which was to be a proportional grant of forfeited land in Ireland. (Bottigheimer, English money.)
advowee. One who has the right of presentation or advowson of a church benefice.
advowry, avowry. In medieval times, a small annual payment made by a native Irishman to his lord to secure his freedom and the right to pursue an action in court which would be undertaken by the lord on his behalf. An action taken by an Irishman on his own behalf would fail on the simple basis that he was an Irishman. (Hand, English law.)
advowson. The right of patronage or presentation to a church benefice, a right which normally belonged to the person who built the church but in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was granted to a religious house and with it went the tithe. In the sixteenth century when the monasteries were dissolved (see dissolution) tithe was frequently alienated to laymen and thus the right of presentation fell into lay hands. See dissolution
adze. An axe-like tool with a thin curved blade mounted at right-angles to the shaft used for shaping wood.
aetat, aetatis. Abbreviated aet., the Latin for aged, at the age of.
afer. A low-bred workhorse.
afforced council. In medieval and early modern Ireland the justiciar occasionally strengthened the privy council by requesting the attendance of leading magnates of the Pale who, as tenants-in-chief, were obliged to assist him. Afforced councils were usually associated with the imposition of a general cess or important military matters. See great council.
agistment letting. A short-term lease of land for grazing purposes, the pastoral equivalent of conacre. See tithe agistment.
agnate. A kinsman whose descent can be traced exclusively through the male or paternal line. The relationship is described as agnatic. See cognate.
Agriculture and Technical Instruction, Department of. In 1895, following his successful introduction of the co-operative movement to Ireland, Horace Plunkett began to promote the case for the establishment of a board of agriculture and technical instruction to advance the agricultural economy. His proposal was taken up by a cross-party body of Unionist and Parnellite MPs (the Recess Committee) which persuaded the government to legislate for the creation of the Board of Agriculture and Technical Instruction in 1899. The board rationalised a variety of different functions performed by a number of different bodies and brought 10 institutes, including the Royal College of Science, Albert College and the Forestry centre at Avondale under its wing. It was guided by three advisory bodies whose membership included representatives of local government. The department devised experimental schemes for improving livestock and crop yields, employed itinerant agricultural lecturers, made agricultural loans and encouraged afforestation. It was criticised for the level of bureaucracy that characterised its operation and for some less than effective appointments. Plunkett, too, was criticised. He had been appointed vice-president of the board and assigned responsibility for agriculture and technical instruction, fisheries, statistics, disease prevention in plants and animals, supervision of the National Library, the National Museum and later the Geological Survey of Ireland but his appointment was terminated in 1907. (West, Horace Plunkett.)
ague, Irish ague. Probably typhus which, along with dysentery, afflicted English armies on the march during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Typhus has been recorded as early as the thirteenth and as late as the twentieth centuries in Ireland. It is a lice-borne disease which flourished in the crowded, unhygienic living conditions of the workhouses in the 1840s and was dispersed by hordes of vagrants on the move in search of sustenance.
aid. (L., auxilium) The assistance in cash owed by a tenant to his lord in necessitous times. Such payments were made to enable the lord to be ransomed, on the occasion of the knighting of his eldest son or upon the marriage of his eldest daughter.
aistire. (Ir.) A bell ringer.
alb. A narrow-sleeved, white linen robe worn by a priest.
alderman. A member of a city corporation or town council next in rank in the order of citizens to the mayor. He was appointed for life. In the seventeenth century, Dublin was governed by a mayor, bailiffs (sheriffs), 24 jures (aldermen), 48 demi-jures (sheriff’s peers) and 96 numbers (guild representatives). The aldermen played an important role in the appointment of the mayor and the bailiffs. Bailiffs were elected from the 48 or 96 by the votes of mayor and aldermen and the incoming mayor was appointed from amongst themselves by the aldermen and bailiffs. Vacancies among the aldermen were filled by recruitment from the demi-jures. In modern times the councillor elected first in each ward is styled alderman. (Edwards, ‘The beginning’, pp. 2–10.)
Alen’s Register (Liber niger Alani). An episcopal or diocesan register compiled by John Alen, archbishop of Dublin (1528–34), which contains documents assembled and annotated by Alen in his efforts to recover rights and properties lost to Christ Church Cathedral by the negligence of earlier prelates. The records date back to the Anglo-Norman conquest and include a wide range of information on the episcopal manors of the see. See Reportorium Viride, a companion to the register, and Crede Mihi, the surviving portion of the most ancient register of the archbishops of Dublin. (McNeill, Calendar.)
ale silver (ale tol). A tribute or rent paid annually to the lord for the right to brew ale within a liberty. See tolboll.
alias, writ of. A second or further writ issued after an earlier writ had proved ineffectual. See outlawry.
alienation, right to. The right to transfer the ownership of property to another. As the crown was the supreme owner of land, tenants-in-chief (see in capite) were required to seek permission for such alienations to ensure that the crown was not defrauded of the feudal incidents. Failure to do so incurred alienation fines. See mortmain.
allocate, writ of. A writ issued out of chancery to the treasurer and barons of the exchequer requiring them to give an allowance to an individual accounting there in respect of money spent by him on the king’s behalf. (Connolly, Medieval record, p. 16.)
allodial tenure. Absolute ownership of land. Under the feudal doctrine of tenures absolute personal ownership of land did not exist. Nulle terre sans seigneur (no land without a master) expresses the point that no land was held by a subject and not held of some lord. All land was held of the crown and escheated
(reverted) to the crown in cases of attainder or felony or where no heir emerged to lay claim to it. In modern times such land reverts to the state in the Republic of Ireland. See estate.
alnager. An official examiner and attestor of the measurement and quality of woollen cloth. He attested its value by affixing a seal. The term ‘alnage’ refers to the inspection and the fee paid for it.
altarages. Originally voluntary offerings made upon the altar but the term came to embrace a whole range of ecclesiastical dues which went to make up a clergyman’s income including the small tithe, tithe of fish in coastal parishes and oblations or offerings for specific church services or feastday dues. They did not, however, include the great tithe. See dues.
alum. A compound of aluminum used anciently to bind dyes in cloth.
amanuensis. 1: A secretary 2: A person employed to take dictation or copy manuscripts.
ambry. A recess in a church wall to the side of the altar where the sacramental vessels were stored.
amercement. The equivalent of the modern fine, imposed for breaches of the law or manorial customs. A fine differed from an amercement in that fines were imposed by the courts, amercements were assessed by a jury of the offender’s peers.
amice. 1: A piece of white linen, oblong in shape and embroidered with a cross, worn around the neck and over the shoulders by a priest at mass. It was worn under the alb 2: A hood edged with fur with attached cape which was worn anciently by clergymen. Calabar, the fur of a brown squirrel, was often employed as edging.
Anabaptist. A radical sixteenth-century Protestant movement which regarded infant baptism as blasphemous. Infants, they maintained, could not discriminate between good and evil and until this faculty emerged they could not repent and accept baptism. As the first generation of Anabaptists considered their childhood baptisms invalid, they submitted to a ‘second’ adult baptism following a public confession of sin and faith. This was an offence according to contemporary legal codes and Anabaptists were persecuted and expelled from many towns across Europe. Anabaptists believed in the separation of church and state, opposed oath-taking, denounced the use of the sword, believed they were living at the end of all ages and some adopted a communistic style of living which stressed the community of goods. Most early Anabaptist leaders died in prison or were executed. In Britain and Ireland in the seventeenth century the term was used loosely (and pejoratively) to describe Baptists or dissenters and to portray them as social revolutionaries.
anchorite. A hermit.
Ancient Order of Hibernians. A Catholic, nationalist association founded in New York in 1836 with origins in the secret agrarian movements of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Hibernians’ motto ‘Faith and Fatherland’ reflected its twin goals – to defend the faith and advance the national cause. The order developed largely as a response to Orangeism in the nineteenth century, attracting members by organising parades which comprehended all the paraphernalia of Orange marches. Its masonic-like regalia and activities attracted Catholic businessmen who found in it an alternative to the almost exclusively Protestant masonic order and its role as a benevolent society appealed to workers. Dominated by Clan na Gael in the United States in the 1880s, the order was one of the largest and most powerful Irish-American organisations but the fissiparous nature of the American body infected the Irish branch. Between 1884 and 1902 the Irish branch split over the admission of members of Irish descent (as opposed to those of Irish birth) and split again in 1905 over whether the order should register as a friendly society. Nevertheless, membership grew dramatically after 1900, notably in Ulster (where the problem of sectarianism was most acute) and in Dublin, rising to 60,000 by 1909. The order played an important role in Catholic social life, embracing reading rooms, card playing, billiards, choral and religious activities. The Hibernians supported and financed the Irish parliamentary party under John Redmond and encouraged Irish voters in England to vote for the Labour Party. In 1904 Joseph Devlin was elected president of the Board of Erin, the body which represented the majority of Hibernians in Ireland, and the order became part of his nationalist political machine. Along with the northern Nationalist Party, the Ancient Order of Hibernians went into serious decline from 1970 when both were replaced by more aggressively assertive nationalist and republican bodies. No longer politically active, the order now operates principally as a benefit and social society. (Buckley and Anderson, Brotherhoods; Pollard, The Ancient, pp. 110–132.)
andirons. Fire-dogs.
angel. A new issue noble, a gold coin valued at 6s. 8d., so called because it bore the image of the archangel Michael slaying a dragon. It was in use from the late fifteenth to the mid-seventeenth centuries.
Anglican. A member of the Established church or Church of Ireland. Also known as an Episcopalian. The term was first used by Edmund Burke in 1797.
Annales. A term coined from the journal Annales d’histoires économique et sociale (1929) to describe a French historiographical movement whose leaders, Lucien Febvre, Mark Bloch and Ferdinand Braudel, rejected the traditional historiographical emphasis on the state, high politics, diplomacy, institutions, events and the culture of elites in favour of an integrated view of history which encapsulates the experiences and lives of whole populations. Bloch’s Feudal Society (1939–40), for example, approaches feudal society not in terms of formal institutions but rather from an anthropological perspective as a complex network of interpersonal relationships. From its inception interdisciplinary co-operation has been a distinctive feature of Annales histories. In addition to traditional documentary sources, Annales historians drew heavily on economics, anthropology, linguistics, science, psychology, folklore, the material world and geography. They employed quantitative methods to assess the impact of fluctuations in trade, agriculture and demography. Annales innovations were neither unprecedented nor unparalleled but they had never before been assembled so comprehensively. The effect was to broaden the scope of history to embrace social groups and aspects of human behaviour which had been neglected by traditional historians. Annales historians also introduced a new concept of historical time. They replaced the traditional idea of a single, linear historical time in favour of a parallel series of co-existing times to account for the differing rates of change not only between but within civilisations. In The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II (1949), Braudel discusses three different times: the almost static or immobile time of the geographical Mediterranean (longue durée), short or medium term social and economic change (conjoncture) and the rapid changes of political events (événements). Annales historians did not ignore entirely the role of political events and individuals – the third part of Braudel’s Mediterranean is, in fact, devoted to political events – but the early generation tended to view events as superficial in comparison with deeper long-term changes. As a result they eschewed traditional narrative history in favour of problem-oriented history involving the whole range of human activities and experience. The movement has been criticised for replacing one orthodoxy with another but Annales historians have recently begun to look again at the role of events and individuals and, indeed, the use of narrative. (Burke, The French; Iggers, Historiography, pp. 51–64.)
annals. Native Gaelic sources of Irish history which were originally records kept in monasteries but from the sixteenth century also came to be compiled by learned laymen.
annates. The first fruits of a new clergyman’s benefice which originally were remitted to the pope. After the Reformation benefice holders were required to pay the income of the first year of appointment to the crown. See Board of First Fruits, twentieth parts, valor ecclesiasticus.
annuity. 1: A sum of money paid annually to maintain the beneficiary of a will or deed. It was raised by a charge on the rental income of the land (rentcharge) or by loan or mortgage which were also repaid by rentcharges. A widow’s annuity was known as jointure 2: In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the annual re-payment by a smallholder t
o the Irish Land Commission on the sum advanced by the commission to enable him to purchase his holding.
antiquarian. A collector of antiquities or facts about the past. The term is used currently to describe pseudo-histories which contain lists of facts without interpretation or comment. Antiquarian histories, preoccupied as they have been with the genealogies and achievements of the gentry and clergy in local communities, contributed considerably towards the low status occupied by local history, a situation only recently ameliorated with the emergence of local histories characterised by sensitive reconstructions of society and economy and investigations of individual and collective mentalities. Given the destruction of Irish state records in 1922, however, it must be acknowledged that modern Irish historiography would be all the poorer without the legacy of transcripts of original records bequeathed us by nineteenth-century antiquarians as they burrowed in the Public Record Office. (Marshall, The tyranny, pp. 46–62.)
apostasy. The renunciation of one’s religious faith.
applotment. See tithe applotment.
apport. In medieval times, the surplus produced by a priory which was sent to the mother house after expenses incurred in the administration of priory lands had been deducted.
appraiser. A valuer of property such as goods distrained for non-payment of rent or treasure trove. Appraisers also valued the property of a deceased person to compile a probate inventory.
Apprentice Boys. A Protestant Unionist association founded in 1814 as the Apprentice Boys of Derry to commemorate the shutting of the gates of Derry city against the Catholic Jacobite army on 7 December 1688 by thirteen apprentices. The shutting of the gates was prompted by the circulation of a forged letter which aroused fears of a Protestant massacre. Apprentice clubs commemorate the shutting on 20 December and the lifting of the siege on 12 August. (Haddick-Flynn, Orangeism, pp. 368–374.)
