Cora
Harrison's Michaelmas Tribute, the second Burren mystery
Published by Pan Macmillan in 2008
Cora Harrison writes about Michaelmas Tribute
Cora Harrison writes:
This book is a sequel to MY LADY JUDGE and carries on with the
story of Mara, Brehon or law enforcer of the Burren, a stony
kingdom of about 100 square miles in the west of Ireland. The year
is still 1509, the first year in the reign of Henry VIII, king of
England.
I suppose I got the idea for MICHAELMAS TRIBUTE when I was
reading a book about medieval kingships in Ireland. I had never
realized, before reading this, that kings in Ireland were not
actually crowned – the symbol of taking office was the same as for
the taoiseach of the clan – namely they were touched by a
white rod either by their superior, or by a member of another clan
who traditionally held that right by virtue of inheritance.
The author of the book was intrigued to find that no mention of
this ‘white rod’ has been found among the belongings of any noble
family. In ‘Michaelmas Tribute’ I have put it that the rod was a
newly peeled stick – something that seems to me to accord very
well with the Celtic worship of sacred trees.
Another interesting fact was that the ‘tribute’ paid to the
taoiseach was never laid down in black and white, but, as I
say in the book: ‘The annual tribute to the taoiseach,
hallowed and shaped by custom and tradition, was normally
conducted with grace and courtesy on both sides. The clansmen gave
what they could afford from their year’s produce and the taoiseach
thanked them and promised his favour and protection in return.’
The same practice can be seen even now in the twenty-first
century here in rural Ireland where it is often quite hard to get
a man who has done a days’ work for you to tell you how much it
costs. ‘I’ll leave that to yourself’ is very often the answer to
an enquiry as to the final bill.
It occurred to me that this lack of a fixed sum could lead to
trouble and so it did.
‘The clan of MacNamara named him in a thunderous shout as
the MacNamara and Garrett swore to serve his people and to protect
them in return for a just rent and a fair tribute. Thus was
Garrett MacNamara inaugurated as taoiseach of his clan.
No one, then, could have foretold the murderous events that
happened almost eight months later, on the day of the Michaelmas
tribute.’
Reviews
Picture album of the Burren
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