Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Local History (54 page)

royal
. A gold coin valued by the 1477 parliament at 13
s
. 4
d
. Thus it was equivalent in value to a
mark
.

royal commission of inquiry
. A royal commission of inquiry was one of the means by which parliament acquired knowledge about matters on which it proposed to legislate. Unlike the
select committee
, which comprised parliamentarians, commissioners of inquiry were often outsiders nominated for their expertise in the relevant field. That is not to say that the commissioners were wholly impartial. Royal commissions were often headed by and composed of members who were considered to be ‘safe hands', men who could be relied on to present recommendations that would not offend government sensitivities. The report of the
Poor Inquiry
constitutes an instance where the procedure went awry. A commission of inquiry was not limited, as the select committee was, to the duration of a parliamentary session and the presentation of its report could take anything up to five years. Its value to the local historian lies in the voluminous detail that can be found in the minutes of evidence taken by the commissioners as they travelled through the countryside. Again some caution needs to be exercised when dealing with the minutes of evidence for the social composition of the witnesses must be carefully weighed against what they have to say about other sections of society. Important nineteenth-century royal commissions include the
Devon Commission
(occupation of land), the Poor Inquiry (condition of the poorer classes), and the
Bessborough Commission
(the working of Gladstone's
Landlord and Tenant Act
, 1870).

Royal Dublin Society
. Founded in Dublin in 1731 as the Dublin Society by Thomas Prior and Samuel Madden to improve agricultural techniques, manufacturing industry and other useful arts. The society published a weekly account of its proceedings, collected statistics, popularised innovations and encouraged agricultural improvement by offering premiums. A model farm and model factories were set up to diffuse agricultural and industrial knowledge. It was supported initially by voluntary contributions but from 1746 was grant-aided annually with the sum of £500 from the civil list. In 1750 it received a royal charter and subsequently received funding from the Irish parliament. An annual spring show was held from 1815 at the society's headquarters in Leinster House and from the 1880s on its lands at Ballsbridge. In 1924 Leinster House was acquired by the Free State to house Dáil Éireann. (Bright, ‘Reflections on the RDS', pp. 18–30.

Royal Irish Academy
. The Irish Academy of Science, Polite Literature and Antiquities was founded in April 1785 by the first earl of Charlemont. Granted a royal charter in 1786, the academy developed into one of the foremost scholarly associations in Ireland, encouraging the publication of works of scholarship in a wide range of disciplines in its journals –
Transactions
(1787–1907) and
Proceedings
(1836–). Section C of the
Proceedings
covers history and archaeology. The academy is divided into two divisions, one for the sciences and one for humane studies. From its inauguration it has been renowned for its interest in Irish antiquities and history. Its collection of antiquities formed the core of the antiquities of the national museum when it was founded in 1877. Following the acquisition of the books of
Ballymote, Lecan, Leabhar na hUidhre
(
Book of the Dun Cow
) and an autograph manuscript of the
Annals of the Four Masters
in the late eighteenth century, the academy proceeded to assemble the single largest collection of Gaelic manuscripts in the world which are catalogued in 28
fascicles
and two index volumes. It also holds the papers of a number of antiquarians, manuscripts of the
Ordnance Survey
, a pamphlet collection dating from the sixteenth century and transcripts of original archival material that was destroyed in 1922. The ambitious ten-volume series
A new history of Ireland
and the ongoing Irish historic towns atlas project were both inaugurated under the auspices of the academy.

royal service
.
See
scutage.

royal schools
. Under the scheme of plantation for Ulster a free grammar school was to be founded in each of the planted counties with additional land reserved for its maintenance. There were four operating by 1621 and five by 1625. Charles I made re-grants of the land given for educational purposes by James I and provided for additional royal schools in King's County and Co. Wicklow (Carysfort). There were 343 students (including 70 free scholars) enrolled in royal schools in 1831. Five of the original royal schools still exist at Armagh, Cavan, Dungannon, Enniskillen and Raphoe. (
First report of the commissioners of the Board of Education in Ireland,
HC 1809 (142) VII. 463: Akenson,
The Irish educational experiment
, pp. 27–29.)

Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
. Founded in 1849 as the Kilkenny Archaeological Society, the society assumed its present title in 1890 after two further name changes. It moved from Kilkenny to Dublin in 1868 where its extensive library is housed at 63 Merrion Square. It publishes an annual journal.

Rump
. The Long Parliament in England after the exclusion in December 1648 of 100 members who favoured compromise with Charles I. It was dissolved in April 1653.

rundale
. A collectively-farmed field system which comprised a ‘
clachan
' village, small gardens, permanently cultivated infield and occasionally-tilled, pastoral outfield zones, common meadow and summer transhumance (booleying) on the mountains. The infield was cultivated in individual strips which were re-allocated at intervals. Each tenant farmed strips dispersed across large tracts of arable land and shared access to the commonage for grazing. It has been claimed, on the basis of evidence from earlier field systems, that rundale was a pre-Norman survival but while continuous occupation has been proven at several sites no conclusive evidence has been advanced in support of the claim. Clachans and rundale occurred usually on reclaimed land and date from the late eighteenth century. Successive sub-division, the rapid increase in population and an over-reliance on the potato led to the virtual disappearance of rundale when famine struck in the 1840s. Known as runrig in Scotland.
See
ladder farm, striping. (Evans,
The personality
, pp. 58 ff.)

rusg
.
See
raskins.

Rye House Plot
. A plan devised by extremist Whigs to assassinate Charles II on his way from Newmarket to London.

s
.
(L.,
solidus
, pl,
solisi
) The abbreviation used to denote a shilling.

sac and soc
. (OE.,
sac
, litigation and
soc
, suit.) Jurisdiction, the right of grantees to an estate (such as a manor) to hold court, to deal with offences and disputes and to enjoy the profits thereof. This franchise was granted by the crown and exercised by the lord in the manorial
courts leet
and
baron
.
See
toll and team.

sacramental test
.
See
Test Act.

sacrist
. An officer in some Irish medieval cathedral chapters, probably equivalent to – or deputy for – the treasurer. He was responsible for the cathedral plate, sacred vessels, relics and vestments.

sacristan
. A sexton. He was a church official responsible for the upkeep of church property and for carrying out such duties as bell-ringing.

Saint Sepulchre, Liberty of
. One of the four medieval Dublin liberties (the others were the liberty of St Patrick's, the liberty of ChristChurch and the earl of Meath's liberty), the archbishop of Dublin's liberty of St Sepulchre was organised on a manorial basis. It was administered by a
seneschal
and other officers including a marshall,
coroner
, weighmaster and clerk of the market. It had its
own grand
jury and three courts including a court of record for personal pleas, a court of criminal jurisdiction, a
court leet
where constables and the grand jury were sworn and a prison. In 1856 the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Dublin over the liberty of St Sepulchre was abrogated.
See
liberty. (Mills, ‘Notices', pp. 31–41, 119–26; Wood,
Court book
.)

saker
. 1: A siege cannon weighing about 1,500 pounds which fired shot of 5.5 pounds 2: An early modern, light artillery piece used on ships.

salient
. In heraldry, a creature in the act of springing with the hind legs on the ground.

salfás money
. Imported English
groat
or half-groat coins which bore the profile or half-face of Henry VII and Henry VIII.

sally
. (L.,
salix
) A willow tree, the rods of which were used for basket-making and, when twisted into
scollops
, to secure thatch to a roof.

sallyport
. An opening in a castle wall to enable soldiers to sally forth against an enemy.

saltire
. In heraldry, an ordinary comprising the crossing of a bend and a bend sinister, a device identical to St Andrew's cross.

saltpetre
. Potassium nitrate, the chief constituent of gunpowder. Saltpetre commonly was used as a preservative.

Sandelians
. A
mesolithic
hunter-gatherer people, claimed to be the first inhabitants of Ireland, so called after Mount Sandel on the River Bann where discoveries of microliths (used for harpoon barbs) and small axes possibly up to 9,000 years old were made. Unlike
Neolithic
peoples the Sandelians did not have the implements to clear forests for agricultural purposes and were restricted to hunting and fishing along the shores of rivers, lakes and the sea and the collection of nuts. Pottery and art were apparently unknown to them. (Woodman,
Excavations
;
Idem,
‘A mesolithic', pp. 92–100.)

savings clause
. A clause appended to letters
patent
obtained under the Restoration
Act of Settlement
which reserved to named persons or their heirs certain rights such as
jointure, annuities
and even eventual restoration. The intention was to protect the entitlements of innocent relatives of landowners who forfeited their estates during the 1641 rebellion. It is not certain to what extent, if any, claimants were able to enforce savings clauses when they fell due.

say
. A light, delicate woollen or serge cloth. Also known as ‘bluesay'.

scavenger
. A person hired by a civil parish to clear the streets of filth.

scollop
. (Ir.,
scolb
, a thin or split rod) A rod twisted at the middle, bent double like a staple and used to pin thatch to a roof.

scraws
. (Ir.,
scraith
, a sod) Sods used in roof construction. They were laid, vegetation upwards, on the timber framework as an underthatch and sometimes as the sole roof covering.

scriptorium
. (L.) A building attached to a monastery where manuscripts were copied.

scutching
. A stage in the process of preparing flax for linen-making. Following a period of submersion in water (
retting
) and drying, the flax stalks are beaten or scraped to rid them of woody fibre.

scutage
. A payment, also known as royal service, exacted in lieu of
knight-service
(military service) and owed by all tenants-in-chief. In the fifteenth century scutages were levied with the consent of parliament or the
privy council
to finance a general
hosting
or raise additional troops. (Otway-Ruthven, ‘Royal service', pp. 37–46.)

seal
. Seals were used to authenticate documents and, in the case of royal seals, to signify the monarch's consent. They played a crucial role in the functioning of the administration. The principal seal was the great seal, the deputed authority of the crown, which was kept by the lord chancellor. Depicted on the great seal or seal of majesty are royal insignia and the image of the monarch seated. As the
chief governor
was constantly moving and the chancellor could not always be in attendance, the chief governor's private seal was used to activate the great seal and pass letters patent in the case of royal grants of lands or commissions. From 1560 a second royal seal, the signet or privy seal, was introduced and assigned to the keeping of the s
ecretary of state
to the
privy council
who accompanied the chief governor on his travels. All letters containing the chief governor's warrant were sealed by the secretary of state or keeper of the privy seal and then carried to
chancery
where they passed the great seal. The chancellor was forbidden to issue letters patent without having first received the governor's sealed
fiant
. (Jenkinson, ‘The great seal', pp. 293–340.)

seam, seme
. A horse-load or eight bushels.

seanchas
. (Ir.) History or lore.

seanchaí
. (Ir.) A storyteller, historian or genealogist.

searcher
. A customer or exciseman who boarded and inspected a vessel to uncover dutiable goods.
See
gauger.

Seceders
. A group of conservative Scottish Presbyterians who broke away from the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1733 when the loss of their right to choose ministers resulted in an increasingly liberal church. Seceders believed that ministers and ordinands should subscribe to the
Confession of Westminster
and when they appeared in Ireland in the 1740s they provided an alternative to the non-subscribing
Synod of Ulster
. They had their own synod, the Secession Synod, and remained a distinct group until 1840 when, with the re-imposition of compulsory subscription by the Synod of Ulster, both synods merged to form the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
. (Stewart,
The seceders
.)