Page:Ireland and England in the past and at present.djvu/28

 tribute. Allegiance from less to greater was maintained by taking hostages: "He is not a king," says the Brehon Law, "who has not hostages in fetters."5 Whatever may be thought about the working of such a system, it is evident from the old Gaelic tales and romances that along with what was noble and splendid there was much tribal warfare and absence of settled conditions. The same story from the tribal period of English history, in Anglo-Saxon times, is better known to a great many readers.

The people were divided into various ranks and classes: kings and nobles, freemen, bondsmen with few rights, and slaves with none. It will be remembered that in Anglo-Saxon times there was a flourishing slave trade between England and Erin, something that was not brought to an end until after the Norman Conquest. Generally speaking, the lower classes were bound to those above them by payments and service. The service was work of various kinds ; the payments were in cattle or provisions or articles made by hand.

Within the tribal community the members were bound together by common customs, and to greater or less extent by feeling of kinship. Each member bore part of the obligations of the tribe, such as contributing to the support of the childless old, and no member was free to make contracts affecting the tribe. On the other hand, the whole community was responsible for each one of its members, and might be liable 5 Ibid., p. 64.