There were many who claimed to be the king of Ireland, quite a few of them at the same time, most of them ruling an area about the size of a county. While their technological level was much higher their social culture was much like the American Natives, that is there were two kinds of people; basically us in this tribe, clan, or village and enemies.
Yes the Christian monasteries in Ireland were comparative bastions of leaning during the dark ages, but outside of those bastions things were quite different. Not that things were better elsewhere in Europe. There is less difference between an ordinary person and a chieftain in that type of society than there was between a serf and a king in the more structured feudalistic ones of the time.
However, you are entirely welcome to believe what you want.
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Kristian Walsh wrote:
Hmm... For someone who normally does his research, this is a surprise. Perhaps you meant the 15th century BC?
Irish social organisation was loose, but "tribal savages" is a disservice to a democratic, federally-governed society based on the rule of law.
-- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com
"You might as well accept people as they are, you are not going to be able to change them anyway."
