Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A mode of tenure that prevailed among various Celtic tribes, according to which the tanist, or holder of honors and lands, held them only for life, and his successor was fixed by election.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun In Ireland, a tenure of family lands by which the proprietor had only a life estate, to which he was admitted by election.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun historical A form of
tenure , in ancientScotland andIreland , whereby succession was passed to anelected member of the same extendedfamily .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word tanistry.
Examples
-
Perhaps this implies a system of tanistry, with preference given to candidates drawn from the female line?
The Female Royal Line: matrilineal succession amongst the Picts? Carla 2008
-
Maybe the Pictish armour bearers often were nephews as well, and in case tanistry came into play - another thing that has been assumed for the Picts though it cannot be proven - a grown, and perhaps educated successor in the female line would have been prefered to a boy in direct line.
The Female Royal Line: matrilineal succession amongst the Picts? Carla 2008
-
The English title carried with it, according to English law, the principle of hereditary succession; but when the first earl died, the clan of O'Neil refused to adopt the English practice, and, according to the Irish principle of tanistry, chose as his successor the member of the house for whom they had the highest regard.
The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 10 John [Editor] Rudd 1885
-
It is permissible to think that this conception (related to the conception of tanistry) played an important part in the life of the period; but research has not yet been directed that way.
Mutual Aid; a factor of evolution Petr Alekseevich Kropotkin 1881
-
McMahon, the chief of Monaghan, had surrendered his lands, held previously by tanistry, and had received a new grant of them under the broad seal of England, to himself and his heirs male, and failing such heirs to his brother Hugh.
The Story of Ireland Emily Lawless 1879
-
The law of succession, called _tanaisteacht_, or tanistry, is one of the most peculiar of the Brehon laws.
An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 Mary Frances Cusack 1864
-
The customs of "gavelkinde" and "tanistry" were attended with the same absurdity in the distribution of property.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part D. From Elizabeth to James I. David Hume 1743
-
The early Norman and English settlers denounced the tanistry system as barbarous and uncivilized, and acted towards it in the same manner as the English of recent times have acted towards the Hindoo and New Zealand land systems.
-
The early Norman and English settlers denounced the tanistry system as barbarous and uncivilized, and acted towards it in the same manner as the English of recent times have acted towards the Hindoo and New Zealand land systems.
-
Perhaps the author's silence might proceed from his doubts on the sub - ject See further the case of tanistry, Dav.
The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England, Or, A Commentary Upon Littleton: Not ... 1812
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.