King[]
The king, An ri.
Fonction of the king[]
The king of Tory Island is elected by islanders. The title and the function can't be hereditary. He have no crown, no castle, no throne, no gold... He don't have much power than any other islander. The function of the king on Tory Island is to be the wise man. He is elected because he proved already his qualities, his capacities to be a good man for his community.
In the past, he was consulted for the share of the land, of fields, hereditaments, for find a solution in conflicts.
History[]
This tradition of a clever guide is on Tory Island from the 6th century (till now, 47 kings). Tory Island is the only place of Ireland to keep the celtic sytem of Kings. Less known is that there's a queen too. The queen is not the wife of the king, but a woman who done very good things for her community, and for that she receive the title of Queen, but she don't have any special role, it's purely honorific.
--Saskia Levy 14:12, 5 November 2008 (UTC)