A Trícha cét or triocha cét was a a territorial unit ... (belonging) to the eleventh and twelfth centuries ^[1] in medieval Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. It was succeeded by the cantred

Cantred

Cantred can mean:* a cantref, an obsolete administrative subdivision of Wales* one of the Baronies of Ireland, an obsolete administrative subdivision of Ireland...

.

Paul MacCotter describes it as:

a spatial unit of royal tenure

Tenure

Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...

, taxation, local government, and military levy. In most cases it corresponded to the local kingdom (that is, as ruled by a petty king ..) but this correspondnece was not absolute. In a fairly small minority of tríchas evidence of leadership structure is lacking, a few other were fuled by taísaig ... while a couple were ruled by governors (airríg) appointed by superior kings. The trícha cét system was national and probably became established during the eleventh century as a refinement of a pre-existing system. ^[2]

The origin and meaning of the term is uncertain. MacCotter remarks:

Two possibilities suggest themselves. The more likely arises from the probability that cét was a synonym

Synonym

Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...

 for baile (biataig) and may thus refer to a numberical figure of tax assessment of some kind. The second possibility is that cét here has the meaning of 'troops' and the term Trícha cét thus refers to a notional

Notional

Notional is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was sired by In Excess and out of the mare Truly Blessed. His damsire, French Deputy, is a son of the 1997/98 Leading sire in North America, Deputy Minister....

 military levy of each unit or levy basis.^[3]

Further reading

The Triocha Céts, Clare County Library. Retrieved: 2010-08-13. Short article explaining that the trícha cét may have been imported into Ireland by Celts who had contact with Roman legion

Roman legion

A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...

s, which sometimes consisted of "thirty hundred" or 3,000 soldiers.

See also

• Acre
  Acre
  The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
  
  
• Baile/Biataig
• Cantred
  Cantred
  Cantred can mean:* a cantref, an obsolete administrative subdivision of Wales* one of the Baronies of Ireland, an obsolete administrative subdivision of Ireland...
  
  
• Carucate
  Carucate
  The carucate or ploughland was a unit of assessment for tax used in most Danelaw counties of England, and is found for example in Domesday Book. The carucate was based on the area a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season...
  
  
• Cóicráith Chétach

• Feudalism
  Feudalism
  Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
  
  
• Knight's fee
  Knight's fee
  In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a measure of a unit of land deemed sufficient from which a knight could derive not only sustenance for himself and his esquires, but also the means to furnish himself and his equipage with horses and armour to fight for his overlord in...
  
  
• Late-túath
• Local kingdom
• Taísech túaithe

• Theodum
• Tribalism
  Tribalism
  The social structure of a tribe can vary greatly from case to case, but, due to the small size of tribes, it is always a relatively simple role structure, with few significant social distinctions between individuals....
  
  
• Túath
  Tuath
  Túath is an Old Irish word, often translated as "people" or "nation". It is cognate with the Welsh and Breton tud , and with the Germanic þeudō ....
  
  
• Vill
  Vill
  Vill is a term used in English history to describe a land unit which might otherwise be described as a parish, manor or tithing.The term is used in the period immediately after the Norman conquest and into the late medieval. Land units in Domesday are frequently referred to as vills, although the...