The
Official Home of the Clan McLea (The ancient historical name of the Livingstones)
Kings and Abbots
The Three Grades of King
The ancient texts describe three grades of king:
Ri or Ri túathe,
- in effect the equivelant a clan chief
Ruiri - eg the Kings
of Dál nAraide, Dál Riata, or Dál Fiatach
Ri Ruirech - a king of a Province eg the
King of Ulidia
"According to the classical law tracts, there were three distinct
grades of king: ri or ri túathe, the king
of the local túath or petty tribal kingdom; ruiri or
great king who, in addition to being king of
his own túath, was the personal overlord of a number
of other tribal kings; and lastly, ri ruirech or 'king of
overkings', who is identified
with the king of a province. No higher grade of king, 'high king' or
king of Ireland is known to the classical law tracts." (O Corrain,
Donnchadh: Ireland Before the Norman's Gill and MacMillan 1972 page
28).
The Relationship between King and Abbot
Kathleen Hughes, a leading historian of early Irish Christianity,
has written,
'The bishop stood in a similar relationship to his diocese as did
the petty king to his túath; but the head of a great
monastic paruchia was like a king over kings' (Hughes Kathleen,
Early Christian Ireland, p73)
St Moluag the founder of 100 monasteries was the head of a great
monastic paruchia and will have ranked above the King of Dalriada,
a king of the second grade.