Déisi

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The Déisi was a term used to describe a class of peoples in ancient Ireland. It was derived from the word "déis", which meant "vassal", or "subject". One expert on the subject states that '"... the original meaning of Déisi, as applied to population-groups would have being ''vassal or rent-paying tribes."' 1 A further description explains it as follows:

"All these septs belonged to a class for which the common designation was Déis. The original significance of this term, so used, was forgotten, and Dési was thought of merely as the proper name of certain septs and the population subject to them, and so induced a notion of consanguinity." 2

Thus the various different peoples listed under the heading "déis" shared the same status in Gaelic Ireland, and had little or no actual kinship. They included the Déisi Muman (the Déisi of Munster), Déisi Temro (of Tara), Déisi Becc (located in the Kingdom of Mide and the Déisi Tuisceart (the Northern Déisi; a sept of this group would become famous as the Dál gCais).

One of the most famous medieval Irish tales, first written sometime in the eighth century, is "The Expulsion of the Déisi". It tells the story of a sept of Tara, called the Dal Fiachrach Suighe, who are expelled from Tara by their kinsman, Cormac mac Airt. Part of the sept settle in Munster after many battles, while one section of them, led by Eochaid Allmhuir mac Art Corb, sail across the sea to Britain where he founded kingdoms among territory once held by the Ordovices and Silures but especially in Demetae. The line of kings founded by Eochaid remained rulers of Dyfed well into the 10th century, and founded a sub-kingdom in Brecon.

The term Déisi is also virtually interchangeable with another Irish term, aithechthúatha (meaning "rent-paying tribes", "vassal communities" or "tributary peoples"). A new theory proposes that this term may lie at the origin of the mysterious people known as the Attacotti, who along with the Scots, Picts and Saxons, inspired so much terror in Roman Britain in the 360's.

Sources

1 - "The Déisi and Dyfed", T. Ó Cathasigh, Eigse, vol. XX, 1984, p.1-33.
2 - "The Vita Tripartia of St. Patrick", Eoin MacNeill, Eriu 11, 1932, p.1-41.
"Attacotti, Déisi and Magnus Maximus: the Case for Irish Federates in Late Roman Britain", Philip Rance, Britannia 32 (2001) 243-270;
"Date-Guessing and Dyfed", M. Miller,
"The Dual Nature of Irish Colonization of Dyfed in the Dark Ages", Bruce Coplestone-Crow, Studia Celtica, vols. 16/17, 1981/82, pages 1-24.
"The Irish Settlements in Wales", Myles Dillon, Celtica, Vol. XII, 1977, pages 1-11.

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Déisi

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