Ireland in the year 1014

From the year 1014 to the present day, Ireland has come a long way. Living in the United States, I have grown very accustom to having a structural government and a very unified country. The United States has no “social structure” as one would call it. The President is the “ruler” of the country and under him, the members of our Government work closely, but do not have a final say. As for religion, there is the freedom to choose what you believe in. In 1014, Ireland did not have this freedom that I am so accustomed to in the United States. In fact, Ireland did not even have a nation hood or a sense of national purpose at all. There are many different aspects of life that would have been very alien to me. However, the aspect that would have been the most alien to me was the religious aspect of Ireland, the least alien would have been the political and the one in the middle would have been the socio-cultural aspect.
Looking at Ireland from a socio-cultural point of view, everything about it was different from what I am used too. The social structure in 1014 was very complex. There was not one unified system in which Ireland fell into. There were several different tuathas, in which different kings’ ruled. The king of each tuatha distributed power out to those underneath him. This king had all of the power, the final say in everything. Although this is like the President of the United States, in many ways it is not. The President has trusted advisors underneath him in whose opinion he takes into count and trusts. The high King was a ruler by himself. Seeing as there was not one common ruler, there was no way in which Ireland could have been unified. This is very alien to me, living in the United States where every citizen is unified under the rule of one leader. From a cultural aspect, certain talents were very accepted and valuable during 1014 in Ireland are not as valuable now. For example, poetry, music and different forms of art were very highly viewed in Ireland. Although one can still make a very good living for him/herself today having these talents, it is not as valuable and prized as it was back then. The socio-cultural aspect is somewhat alien to me (the dis-unity) but there are some aspects of it that are familiar to me (having a ruler of a certain area). This is why I did not chose this to be the most/least alien to me.
The political aspect of Ireland in 1014 goes hand in hand with the social structure mentioned before. Ireland had several tuathas, ruled by different kings. Seeing as each of these tuathas had governments within, at this time they were very politically