fuidir

The Oxford Companion to Irish History | 2007 | 700+ words | Copyright

fuidir, a category of semi‐free dependant frequently mentioned in the early Irish law tracts. He is maintained by a lord in return for his labour. The lord is responsible for any liabilities or fines incurred by the fuidir or his family, but he is also entitled to retain any fines for offences against the fuidir. Unlike a client of bó‐aire rank, the fuidir cannot make a legal contact without his lord's permission. He is not allowed to part from his lord unless he surrenders two thirds of the produce of his husbandry and leaves no debts behind him.

The texts provide a number of reasons why people were reduced to the status of fuidir. A fuidir may have been expelled from his kin‐group or have been sentenced to death for a serious crime and subsequently been ransomed by a lord. A person whose father and grandfather were of fuidir rank is further reduced to the status of senchléithe.

Fergus Kelly

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