The assemblies of the Celtic peoples, treated in detail in the Celtic tribal organization cluster within the wider Celtic society, law, and governance survey, were the central institutions of Celtic public life. The Irish dál or airecht, the Gaulish comitia, the Welsh cymanfa, and the corresponding assemblies of the other Celtic regions were the occasions on which the tribe decided matters of war and peace, on which the king was elected, on which the law was recited, and on which the common people had a recognised, if limited, voice. To understand the Celtic legal tradition is, in large part, to understand the assembly within which the law was administered.
The Dál, the Airecht, and the Irish Assembly
The Irish assembly is the best documented of the Celtic assemblies. The basic assembly of the tuath was the dál or airecht, a formal meeting of the free men of the tuath that was called at fixed intervals and at fixed places. The dál met three times a year according to the Críth Gablach, and the meetings were held at traditional sites, often associated with the royal seat of the tuath and often with an ancient burial mound or a sacred tree. The dál had the power to declare war and to make peace, to elect the king, to confirm the tánaiste, to settle disputes between the great, and to hear the recitation of the law by the brithemain.
The composition of the dál was mixed. The flaith or nobles had a leading role, and the aire or “nobleman” was a grade of society whose name means, literally, “the man of the assembly.” The common people of the tuath also had a voice, and the Críth Gablach distinguishes the grades of society that were entitled to attend and to speak. The bóaire or cow-owner, the aire or noble, the flaith or lord, the rí or king — each had his place in the assembly, and the place was determined by his status and his wealth. The dál was, in effect, a hierarchy of voices.
The great assembly of the whole of Ireland, the Feis Temro, met at Tara every three years, and it was attended by the kings and nobles of the five provinces. The Feis Temro had a more ceremonial than practical role in the historical period, and it was, a ritual confirmation of the existing order rather than a real decision-making body. The provincial assemblies, of the cúige or fifth, were more substantial, and the local assemblies of the tuath were the basic units of political life.
The Comitia and the Gaulish Assembly
Caesar, drawing on the Greek accounts of Posidonius and others, gives a detailed account of the Gaulish assembly, the comitia. The comitia of the Gaulish tribes met at fixed places and at fixed times of year, and it was attended by the principes or leading men and by representatives of the plebs or common people. The comitia had the power to elect the king, to declare war and to make peace, to settle disputes between the principes, and to decide on matters of general concern. Caesar emphasises the role of the plebs in the assembly, and he describes the assembly as a check on the power of the king and the principes.
The Gaulish assembly is also described by Diodorus Siculus and by other classical writers, and the picture that emerges is consistent with Caesar’s account. The Druids had a special role in the assembly: they had the power to exclude individuals from the religious community, a sanction that was equivalent to outlawry, and they served as judges in disputes between the principes. The Celtic religion and spirituality and the political order were closely linked in the Gaulish context, and the Druids’ role in the assembly distinctive features of the Gaulish political system.
The British assembly is less well documented than the Gaulish, but the Roman writers describe similar institutions in the late Iron Age British tribes, and the evidence of the inscribed coins and the archaeological record suggests that the assembly was an important institution in the British context as well. The assembly of the civitas, the basic administrative unit of Roman Britain, was based on the older Celtic institution.
The Cymanfa and the Welsh Assembly
The Welsh assembly, the cymanfa or gorsedd, was similar in form to the Irish and Gaulish assembly. The medieval Welsh laws and the Welsh tales describe the cymanfa as a formal meeting of the uchelwyr or nobles of the cantref or the breniniaeth, called to discuss matters of war and peace, to elect the king, and to settle disputes. The Welsh cymanfa was attended by the uchelwyr and by the bards, the latter having a formal role in the recitation of the law and the proclamation of the decisions of the assembly.
The Eisteddfod of the later medieval and modern period, although primarily a cultural festival of poetry and music, has its origins in the older tradition of the assembly. The Eisteddfod was a gathering of the bards and the uchelwyr at which the laws of poetry were proclaimed, the winners of the bardic competitions were honoured, and the affairs of the Welsh princes were discussed. The Gorsedd of Bards, a ceremonial body within the modern Eisteddfod, traces its origins directly to the older gorsedd of the medieval period. The Breton assembly, although less well documented, was similar in form, and the Breton tradition, although strongly influenced by French and Norman practice, retained a strong element of local autonomy.
The Druids and the Decline of the Older Assembly
The Druids, the religious and legal specialists of the Celtic world, had a special role in the assembly. Caesar describes the Druids as exempt from military service and from taxation, and he notes that they served as judges in disputes between tribes and between individuals. The Druids presided over the religious ceremonies of the tribe, and they had the power to exclude individuals from the religious community. The Druids were, in effect, the custodians of the customary law, and their role in the assembly was to recite the law, to advise on questions of custom, and to mediate between the king and the principes.
The Druidic role in the assembly distinctive features of the Celtic political system, and it has no real parallel in the political systems of the contemporary Mediterranean world. The Druids were not merely priests; they were lawyers, judges, philosophers, and political advisers, and their authority cut across tribal boundaries. The Celtic religious tradition and the Celtic political order were closely linked, and the assembly was the institution in which the link was most visible. The continental Druids disappear from the historical record after the first century CE, but the insular Druids survived into the early medieval period, and the references to Druids in the Ulster cycle and the early Irish law texts show a class of specialists that is recognisably continuous with the older continental Druidism.
The Celtic assembly survived for a long time, but it gradually lost its political importance in the face of the centralising states that surrounded the Celtic world. The Roman conquest of Gaul and Britain brought the civitas system, in which the assembly of the civitas was a local body under the supervision of the Roman governor, and the older Celtic assembly was gradually subordinated. The English and French conquests of the Celtic-speaking regions in the high and late Middle Ages brought the English and French legal and administrative systems, and the older assembly was further reduced. The Celtic assembly survived, however, in modified form, in the medieval and early modern Celtic-speaking regions, and the survival of the older assembly striking features of the Celtic legacy today.
Related Topics
- The Celtic tribal organization cluster examines the structure of the tuatha and the cantrefi within which the assemblies operated.
- The Celtic law and the Brehon tradition cluster sets out the legal rules that the assemblies administered.
- The history of the Celtic civilization pillar provides the chronological and political context of the assembly system.
- The Celtic religion, mythology, and spirituality pillar describes the Druidic class that played a central role in the assembly.
- The women in Celtic society cluster examines the role of women in the assembly and in the political life of the tuath.