Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Local History (58 page)

suffragan
. Subordinate, the relationship of a bishop to his archbishop.

sugán
. (Ir.) A versatile straw rope used for tethering animals, making harnesses, tying thatch, mat-and basket-making, seating, mattresses and hen roosts. Straw rope also served as an improvised belt.

suit of court
. The obligation to attend and participate in the manorial courts.

summonister (
summonitor
)
. An Irish
exchequer
official engaged in the collection of the royal revenue who cited defaulters and made out the first process. The office of summonister was abolished in 1835–6 by 5 & 6 Will. IV, c. 55.

super modo et causa,
writ of
. A writ requiring a statement of cause as to why an official carried out a particular action.

supersedeas
, writ of
. (L., you shall desist)A writ ordering a stay on legal proceedings.

supporters
. In heraldry, figures of living creatures placed at the side of a shield and appearing to support it.

Supremacy, Act of
. The supremacy act established the key tenet of the Reformation that the king rather than the pope was the supreme head of the church in England and Ireland. It was enacted by statute in England in 1534 and in Ireland in 1537 (28 Hen. VIII, c. 131). Queen Mary repealed the act in 1557 but it was re-enacted under Elizabeth in 1560 (2 Elizabeth I, c. 1). The Irish parliament also prescribed the taking of the oath of supremacy for all office-holders and clergymen. In the short-term the act had little effect in Ireland because it carried no major theological implications for believers and no great effort was made to enforce it. Later it became the means by which Catholics were progressively excluded from office.

surcoat
. A coat worn over a suit of armour. The term ‘coat of armour' derives from the surcoat which bore a duplicate of the design on the noble's shield.

Surnames, Index of.
An index to names recorded in the
tithe applotment
books and
Griffith's Valuation
, also known as the Householder Index. Surnames are conveniently listed in alphabetical order by barony and civil parish. Names which can be found in Griffith's Valuation are indicated by the letter ‘G' together with a number indicating the frequency of that surname. The letter ‘T' denotes an entry in the tithe applotment books. It is important to remember that Griffith's Valuation and the tithe applotment books are not censuses. Griffith's overlooked some families living in very poor houses or families sharing tenements in urban areas. The tithe applotment books are land surveys and so labourers and tradesmen and landless families are omitted. The index can be consulted at major repositories such as the National Archives, National Library and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

surplice
. A white broad-sleeved outer gown worn by priests and choristers.

surrender and regrant
. From the mid-sixteenth century, the crown policy of accepting the surrender of land by native Irish lords and re-granting it under letters
patent
to be held with titles valid under English law. This process invalidated
tanistry
and
gavelkind
(the native Irish system of succession and inheritance) by introducing the feudal principle of
primogeniture
. The difficulty was that the native lords didn't actually own the freehold on the land they were surrendering – it belonged to the sept – and succession by primogeniture added a new layer of divisiveness to a system of succession that was, in any case, often a source of division in itself.

Survey and Distribution, Books of
. The manuscript
Books of Survey and Distribution
contain, townland by townland, records of the transfer or recovery of land forfeited during the 1641 rebellion. They contain the names of the original landowners, the extent of their estates, the grantees under the Restoration land settlement and the
Commission of Grace
, purchasers under the
Trustees Sale
and the official instrument by which transfer or recovery was effected. There are two sets in the National Archives (Quit Rent and Headfort sets), a third in the Royal Irish Academy (Taylor set) and a fourth in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (the Annesley set). Some county books of survey and distribution have been printed by the Irish Manuscripts Commission. (Simington,
Books of survey,
I, II; MacGiolla Coille,
Books of survey
, III; MacGiolla Coille and Simington,
Books of survey
, IV.)

survey, manorial
. A detailed and lengthy description of all aspects of a manor undertaken to discover areas of potential revenue within the manor as well as areas where revenue might be increased. It was often initiated upon the accession of a new lord and was conducted at a meeting of the manor known as a court of survey. A manorial survey comprises three parts: an outline of the manor boundaries, a jury presentment of the customs and appurtenances of the manor and finally a
rent roll
or
rental
of all the tenants, their names, details of their holdings and the rents they paid.

surveyor-general
. Established in the sixteenth century, the office of surveyor-general was attached to the court of
exchequer
. The full title of office was ‘surveyor, appraiser, valuer or esteemer and extensor general of all and singular the king's honours, manors, lordships, messuages, lands, tenements, woods, possessions, revenues and hereditaments in Ireland'. The surveyor-general performed an important function in the issuing of royal grants of land. Such grants were issued in terms of a specific monetary value and it was the surveyor-general's function to locate a suitable piece of land in crown hands and conduct a local inquisition to determine whether it was equivalent in value to the sum stated in the king's letter of grant. This function became redundant after the seventeenth century since no land remained in the sovereign's gift. In the eighteenth century the surveyors-general were responsible for civil buildings such as Dublin Castle and military fortifications. They controlled the money granted for barrack construction and were involved in their design and erection. Scandals associated with barrack contracts and sub-standard construction led to the circumscription of the powers of the surveyor-general and in 1762 the post was suppressed. Henceforth responsibility for barracks and fortifications was transferred to the Ordnance and the surveyor's residual responsibility for civil buildings devolved to the Barrack Board and
Board of Works
, the forerunner to the Office of Public Works.
See
patent. (McParland, ‘The office', pp. 91–101;
Idem, Public architecture
, pp. 127–130, 135–8.)

survey, parliamentary
. A parliamentary survey was equivalent to a
manorial survey
writ large to embrace a wide area. It resembles a manorial survey in structure, detailing the boundaries of each holding, the owner's name, the amount of land held and the nature of tenure. It also includes an estimated annual rental value, details of the number of houses on the land together with a description of appurtenances such as mills or kilns and the disposition of the tithe. The parliamentary survey known as the
Civil Survey
was conducted in Ireland between 1654–56 to ascertain the amount of land available to the
Commonwealth
to satisfy army arrears of pay and to recompense
adventurers
for money they had contributed towards quelling the 1641 rebellion. This was an unmapped survey and all acreages were estimated. A subsequent survey, the
Down Survey
, had a narrower focus but was more accurate. Each forfeited holding was physically measured and then mapped. The Down Survey eschewed the detail of the Civil Survey in all but the owner's name in 1641 and the amount of land he held.
See
Gross Survey.

sustenation fund
. The perilous state of
Church of Ireland
finances after disestablishment led to the inauguration of the sustenation fund in 1870 which was used to support the Irish clergy. Church of Ireland parishioners were invited to contribute to the fund an average of 2% of their annual income or property values for 15 years and to subscribe a penny per week. Parishes also paid assessments into the fund. This prudent initiative and the generous response of the Anglican community ensured the financial stability of the church.
See
Representative Church Body.

sweat house
. A small corbelled chamber used to treat rheumatic pains.

synod
. 1: The governing or advisory assembly of a church 2: The annual assembly of
Presbyterian
presbyteries which meets to co-ordinate the work of the church and elect a moderator.
See
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, presbytery, session.

tabard
. A loose, sleeveless surcoat worn by peasants, monks and infantry. Emblazoned with the sovereign's arms it was the official dress of a
herald
or
pursuivant
. Knights in armour also wore short-sleeved tabards opened at the sides and emblazoned front and back and on the sleeves.

tail ploughing
. A method of ploughing by tying a wooden plough to an animal's tail. Much derided by the English as a cruel practice, tail-ploughing prevented damage to the plough because the animal stopped whenever it struck a rock. (McAuliffe, ‘Ploughing', pp. 9–11.)

tale-money, money in tale
. 1: Money of account, cash 2: Money reckoned by counting the nominal value of the coins and not by weight.

tallage
. 1: A crown tax imposed on the king's estates and on boroughs from the twelfth century. The boroughs were later exempted when they began to send representatives to parliament since they were now liable for taxes levied by parliament 2: Any payment exacted arbitrarily by the lord without the consent of his tenants.

tallow
. The solid white fat (lard) of cattle and sheep procured by boiling and skimming. It was used for candle-making, soap and lubrication.

tally
. A wooden stick which recorded details of payments into the lower
exchequer
and served as a receipt to the sheriff or official making the payment. The tally was split down the middle and one-half was retained in the
exchequer
to be matched with the payees half when his accounts were audited. Written records of the tallies were kept on the receipt rolls. (Connolly,
Medieval record
, pp. 18–19.)

tanner
. A tradesman who converted hide into leather by infusing it in a liquid containing tannic acid which was extracted from the crushed bark of oak and other trees.

tánaiste
. (Ir., second) The successor designate of a Gaelic lord, elected by the
derbfine
or kin group. In English this system of succession is known as
tanistry
.

tanistry
. The practice of replacing a dead Gaelic lord by his
tánaiste
, or deputy who was elected during the lord's lifetime by the
derbfine
and who usually acquired his position by demonstrating that he possessed the martial skills and intelligence required for the job. Tanistry was designed to secure the survival of the sept by ensuring that the fittest were advanced to the lordship but it also encouraged division and uncertainty as the various aspirants jockeyed for power. The crown policy of receiving the surrender of Gaelic lands and re-granting the surrendered lands with title valid under common law and succession by
primogeniture
was designed to eliminate tanistry and create a feudal relationship between lord and crown.

tate, tathe
. A Gaelic spatial measure equivalent to 60 acres in Fermanagh and Monaghan. It was known as a
balliboe
in Tyrone. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Monaghan and Fermanagh were subdivided into a number of
ballybetaghs
, each of which was divided into
quarters
, each quarter containing four tates of 60 Irish acres. Hence, a rough table of equivalence reads:

60a. Irish = 1 tate/balliboe

4 tates = 1 quarter (240a. Irish)

4 quarters = 1 ballybetagh (c. 1000a. Irish)

In Monaghan the tate corresponds with townland boundaries and civil parish boundaries almost always correspond with ballybetaghs.
See
acre.

team
.
See
toll and team.

teasel
. A prickly herb whose flower contained hooked bracts that were used in the woollen industry to raise a nap (a downy or hairy surface) on woollen fabric.

temperance society
. Concern over the excessive consumption of alcohol and its effects on family and society prompted the emergence of temperance and total abstinence societies in nineteenth-century Ireland. The campaign to suppress intemperance was characterised by conflicting approaches towards resolving the problem. Temperance, meaning moderation, did not imply teetotalism and throughout the century a verbal war was conducted between the advocates of moderation, which included the bulk of the Catholic hierarchy, and those (such as Fr Theobald Mathew) who saw total abstinence as the only way forward in the battle against insobriety. Initially the impetus for moderation derived from Protestants in the 1820s who opposed spirit consumption, believing that spirits – rather than wine or beer – were the primary cause of drunkenness. Increasingly, however, total abstainers, who claimed that short-term pledges of abstinence were useless, came to occupy centre stage in the campaign to suppress intemperance. Fr Mathew, a Capuchin, embarked on a total abstinence crusade which peaked in the early 1840s and resulted in over half of the population of Ireland committing themselves to teetotalism. However, the movement was heavily tied to the cult of Mathew's personality and after the Great Famine teetotalism declined. From the 1860s, with some Catholic support, Protestant-dominated temperance societies focused on securing legislative action to restrict opening hours. The most successful and enduring legacy of the struggle against intemperance was the founding in 1889 by the Jesuit, Fr James Cullen, of the Total Abstinence League of the Sacred Heart, a body which later metamorphosed into the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart or the Pioneer League. Eschewing populism, Cullen created an elite association of committed total abstainers who would act as pioneers for the slow, steady conversion of insobriety in the country. (Malcolm,
‘Ireland Sober
; Townend,
Father Mathew
.)