It has sometimes been suggested that these dynastic wars arose because the kingships, from the monarchy downwards, were elective. This is not so. The trouble was that they were neither one thing nor the other. Had they been frankly hereditary a certain kind of security would have been won for the executive. On the other hand, had they been frankly elective, basing the election on the necessary qualifications for kingship demanded in the laws, a different kind of stability would have been secured . The straightforward dependence on the people's choice would have compelled some protection for their choice when made, especially as the defeated candidates would still have preserved intact their chances for a subsequent election; and the monarchy would have been drawn into closer relation with the stateships. The system that actually prevailed, however, gave neither sort of advantage, and was plainly a compromise from some earlier dispute. The monarch was elected, it is true, but he could only be elected from the righ-damhna. That righ-damhna consisted of all within three generations from a king. That is to say, if a king's sons were not chosen in the succession after him, and the grandsons were missed, and the great-grandsons after them, then the whole line passed out from the righ-damhna. Now, if Irish history be closely
and had been willing to pay the extra prices that would have been demanded of a foreigner, and, where this was not possible, had turned passion and party strength, against passion and party strength, taking care to balance the contending forces evenly, such an enemy could have entrenched himself in the country, and in the course of time have defied ejectment. England was spared this misfortune; Ireland was not.
