Identity, exemplarity and the ideal king in early medieval Ireland

Abstract This article examines some early medieval Insular texts on the ideal king: three examples of Old Irish tecosca (wisdom) texts and the ninth section of the Latin De XII abusivis (‘On the twelve abuses’). These texts are collectively much studied, but largely from a perspective of the ideology of rulership they espouse, be it Christian, pre-Christian or secular. This contribution takes an alternative perspective, underlining the techniques the authors used to construct a common elite identity, encompassing both rulers and other lay and clerical elites.