Working with Irish Legal Materials

Organizer

Pamela O’Neill

session information

Early Irish law, or Brehon law, is the body of laws that was in use in Ireland and much of Scotland from probably 500CE or earlier down through the medieval period and in some instances into the early modern period. There is a remarkably large corpus of extant texts, which far surpasses in quantity that of any other vernacular medieval legal system. Based on linguistic dating, it is believed that the texts began to be written down in the seventh century, and the canonical parts of most texts are dated to this and the following century. Glossing and commentary continued to be added in some cases as late as the sixteenth century.

An understanding of the early Irish legal system as a whole, and of its individual provisions, is valuable to any study involving Ireland between the fifth and the fifteenth centuries. Most early Irish literature is best understood in the context of the legal provisions, which are often a significant factor in the unfolding of the tales.  Indeed, it is likely that many of the tales which we often consider to be ‘mere’ literature were, at least in part, legal teaching texts. Similarly, historical events recorded in sources such as annals can be more clearly understood against the background of the prevailing legal norms. This workshop will introduce the early Irish legal system, and work through ways in which the legal materials can be used to inform readings of other early Irish sources.

For more information, please get in touch with the organizer, Pamela O’Neill, pamela.oneill@sydney.edu.au.