On the north-east side of the town there is a rath or encampment 70 ft.
When he was six years of age he announced his intention of going to Conchobar's court at Emain Macha (Navan Rath near Armagh) to play with the boys there.
Craft gilds were already in existence, but these had no share in the government; for, though the Lubeck rule excluding craftsmen from the Rath did not obtain, they were excluded in practice.
The counts, of course, as over-lords, had their Vogt (advocatus) in the town, but this official, as the city grew in power, became subordinate to the Rath, as at Lubeck.
The exclusion of the handicraftsmen from the Rath led, early in the 15th century, to a rising of the craft gilds against the patrician merchants, and in 1410 they forced the latter to recognize the authority of a committee of 48 burghers, which concluded with the senate the so-called First Recess; there were, however, fresh outbursts in 1458 and 1483, which were settled by further compromises.
