Rite of the single shoe
The rite, known in English-language literature as the rite of the single shoe (“ritual of the single shoe”, Irish deasghnáth na leathbhróige ) was part of the introductory ritual of Irish clan leaders and chiefs in the 15th and 16th centuries .
Lore
In another form - and presumably unrelated to the later ritual - a single shoe was already used in the early Middle Ages for the inauguration of the King of Leinster . In a Vita Maedog von Ferns from the 12th century, the donations of the kings of Leinster to the Ferns monastery are listed, among them a silver-filled shoe to be handed over on the day of the king's inauguration.
The use of a single shoe in the inauguration rituals of the clans of the Uí Chonchobhair of Síol Muireadaigh , the Uí Néill and the Méig Uidhir is known from the 15th and 16th centuries :
- At the introductions of Feidhlimidh Fionn Ó Conchobhair in 1461 and Feidhlimidh Ó Conchobhair Ruadh in 1488, the leader of the Mac Diarmada clan as “kingmaker” put a shoe on the new ruler.
- The annals of the four masters report that Conchobhar Ruadh Mag Uidhir ( Connor Roe Maguire , † 1625) deposited a shoe in Sgiath Gabhra , the traditional coronation site, in 1589 in the dispute with Aodh Mag Uidhir ( Hugh Maguire ) over the leadership of the clan made its claim to leadership public, but could not assert itself.
- During the ceremony of the Uí Néill in Tulach Óg , which is documented for the 15th and 16th centuries, the leader of the Uí Catháin clan as the most important vassal threw a golden sandal over Ó Néill as the new ruler of Tyrone . Then the leader of the Uí Ágáin as guardian of Tulach Óg put the other sandal on the ruler. The ritual in Tulach Óg was performed for the last time in 1593.
The Tulach Óg ceremony was recorded by John Perrot in his Chronicle of Ireland in the late 16th century . A graphic representation can be found on a map of Ulster from around 1602 by an unknown draftsman, probably a copy after Richard Bartlett . Thereupon the Ó Catháin, depicted immediately to the right of the ruler, holds the sandal over his head. A brass "coronation shoe" used for the ceremony is said to have existed in the middle of the 19th century.
interpretation
The ritual is interpreted as a sign of the close bond between the respective chief and his most important vassal . There are contemporary episcopal letters for both the position of Ó Conchobhair and that of Ó Néill, which emphasize that an inauguration was only legally binding with the participation of the respective vassal. The legitimacy of the new leader thus largely depended on the strength of his most powerful follower.
On a deeper level, the ritual linked the chiefs ruling at the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern era with the semi-divine kings of Irish mythology . In Old and Middle Irish texts, the individual shoe is a mark of identification of the rightful king. Superhuman heroes, supernatural visitors to the mortal world, sorcerers and saints are also revealed through him.
literature
- Elizabeth FitzPatrick: Royal inauguration in Gaelic Ireland, c. 1100-1600: a cultural landscape study . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2004, ISBN 1-84383-090-6 , pp. 122-129 (English).
Remarks
- ↑ a b c "Ó Néill" and "Ó Conchobhair" without the addition of a first name designate the leader of the respective clan as an honorary title.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Elizabeth FitzPatrick: Royal inauguration in Gaelic Ireland, c. 1100-1600: a cultural landscape study . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2004, ISBN 1-84383-090-6 , pp. 122 (English).
- ^ A b c Elizabeth FitzPatrick: Royal inauguration in Gaelic Ireland, c. 1100-1600: a cultural landscape study . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2004, ISBN 1-84383-090-6 , pp. 123 (English).
- ↑ Sean J. Connolly: Oxford Companion to Irish History . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-923483-7 , pp. 584-585 (English).
- ^ Herbert F. Hore: Inauguration of Irish Chiefs . In: Ulster Journal of Archeology . No. 5 , 1857, pp. 222 (English).
- ↑ Elizabeth FitzPatrick: Royal inauguration in Gaelic Ireland, c. 1100-1600: a cultural landscape study . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2004, ISBN 1-84383-090-6 , pp. 124 (English).
- ↑ Elizabeth FitzPatrick: Royal inauguration in Gaelic Ireland, c. 1100-1600: a cultural landscape study . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2004, ISBN 1-84383-090-6 , pp. 125 (English).
- ↑ Elizabeth FitzPatrick: The Gathering Place of Tír Fhiachrach? Archeological and Folkloric Investigations at Aughris, Co. Sligo. In: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 101C (2001), p. 73.