HOME



picture info

Déisi
The ''Déisi'' were a socially powerful class of peoples from Ireland that settled in Wales and western England between the ancient and early medieval period. The various peoples listed under the heading ''déis'' shared the same status in Gaelic Ireland, and had little or no actual kinship, though they were often thought of as genetically related. During the Early Middle Ages some Déisi groups and subgroups exerted great political influence in various parts of Ireland, and certain written sources suggest a connection to Britain as well. During early medieval Munster, the Déisi were under the hegemony of the Eoganachta confederacy. Etymology Déisi is an Old Irish term that is derives from the word ''déis'', which meant in its original sense a "vassal" or "subject", a designated group of people who were rent-payers to a landowner.Ó Cathasaigh, pp. 1-33. Later, it became a proper noun for certain septs and their own subjects throughout Ireland.MacNeill, pp. 1-41. History and ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




The Expulsion Of The Déisi
''The Expulsion of the Déisi'' is a medieval Irish narrative of the Cycles of the Kings. It dates approximately to the 8th century, but survives only in manuscripts of a much later date. It describes the fictional history of the Déisi, a group that had gained political power in parts of Ireland during the Early Middle Ages. Part of the text's purpose is to provide the kings of the Déisi – historically the descendants of unlanded vassals to other tribes – with a mythical noble origin as the heirs to a dynasty expelled from Tara. The story survives in two different Old Irish versions, which contain essentially the same narrative supplemented by singular additions, including tangential episodes, lists of names, and poetry. After violently recovering his niece from the depredatio