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Ireland and the Making
of Britain
the stipends presented by the monarch of Ireland to the
provincial and subsidiary kings:
The stipend of the king of Brugh-righ
From the King of Eire (Ireland) without sorrow
Ten tunics, brown red
And ten foreigners without Gaedhealga. x
Again among the stipends of the king of Cashel to the
kings of his territories we have:
Eight bondmen, eight brown-haired women
To the of the Deise, and ten ships,
Eight shields, eight swords for wounding,
And eight horses (brought) across the green sea. 2
Among the payments and stipends of the king of
Aileach to his chieftainries and tribes for refection and
escort enumerated in the Leabhar na g-Ceart are given :
Entitled is the king of Cineal Aedha
To five shields, five slender swords,
Five bondmen (brought) over the bristling surface of the sea
Five fair-haired, truly
'
fine women.
Other stipends for the king of Aileach are mentioned:
Entitled is the king of Inis Eoghain
To six bondmen no great gratuity,
Seven steeds, six women (brought) over the great sea,
Seven beautiful horns for drinking. *
In view of the evidence given by English chroniclers
there can be hardly any doubt that these foreign slaves
"without Gaelic" were all or nearly all English, and the
numerous references to them, which could be greatly
added to, give us an idea of the volume of the traffic.
Irish missionaries in England and occasional decent
Englishmen did what they could to restrain the evil, which
1 Leabar na gr-Ceart, translated by O'Donovan, p. 87.
2 Leabar na g-Ceart, p. 73.
s Page 131.
* Page 133.