White Rod

The White Rod, White Wand, Rod of Inauguration, or Wand of Sovereignty, in the Irish language variously called the slat na ríghe (rod of kingship) and slat tighearnais (rod of lordship), was the primary symbol of a Gaelic king or lord's legitimate authority and the principal prop used in his inauguration ceremony.[1] First documented in the 12th century Life of Máedóc of Ferns, but assumed to have been used long before then,[2] it is last documented in Ireland in the early 17th century. In Scotland the rod was used into the 13th century for the inauguration of its last Gaelic-speaking kings,[3] and for the Norse-Gaelic Lords of the Isles into the 15th.[4]

While the reception of the rod was in origin a Gaelic cultural feature, following the Viking and Norman invasion of Ireland some foreign families became significantly Gaelicised. A notable example were the great Hiberno-Norman De Burgh magnates styled Mac William Íochtar, who had become completely Gaelicised, ruled over their followers as Irish clan chiefs, and received the White Rod.[5]

  1. ^ O'Donovan, pp. 425 ff; FitzPatrick 2004, p. 58
  2. ^ FitzPatrick 2004, p. 58 and passim
  3. ^ Alexander III of Scotland was the last, for whom and which see Bannerman 1989.
  4. ^ Domhnall of Islay, Lord of the Isles is recorded being so inaugurated in the Book of Clanranald, ed. & tr. Cameron, pp. 160–1.[1]
  5. ^ FitzPatrick 2004, p. 214 and passim