túaths
Túath is a Gaelic Irish term used to refer to a basic political and social unit in medieval Ireland. The word, often rendered in English as tuath or tuatha (plural), literally conveys the idea of a “people” or “tribe” and the territory they occupy. In practice, a túath could denote both the community of people and the geographic land they controlled.
A túath was typically governed by a king or chieftain known as the rí tuath, whose authority
In the broader political framework of Gaelic Ireland, túatha were the building blocks of kingdoms and provinces.
The traditional túath declined with the Norman invasion from the late 12th century onward and the subsequent