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223:, in 727 the relics of Adomnán were brought to Ireland for the renewal of the Law. and these relics returned to Iona in 730. Adomnán's initiative appears to be one of the first systematic attempts to lessen the savagery of warfare among Christians, a remarkable achievement for a churchman on the remote outer edge of Europe. In it, he gave local expression, in the context of the Gaelic legal tradition, to a wider Christian movement to restrain violence.
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During almost two centuries, and more precisely the years AD 697–887, nine different ordinances were promulgated and kept in the record of the annals of
Ireland. Each ordinance was issued either by a saint or monastic group. Three texts of these legislations have come to us, the earliest being Cáin
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includes a guarantor-list featuring 91 political and ecclesiastical figures from
Ireland, Dal Riata, and Pictland, which has been shown to be near contemporaneous to the promulgation of the Law in 697. As a successor of Columba of Iona, Adomnán had sufficient prestige to assemble this group of
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The law described both the secular fines which criminals must pay and the ritual curses to which lawbreakers were subject. Bystanders who did nothing to prevent the crime were as liable as the perpetrator. "Stewards of the Law" collected the fine and paid it to the victim or next of kin.
88:. It is called the "Geneva Accords" of the ancient Irish and Europe's first human rights treaty, for its protection of women and non-combatants, extending the Law of Patrick, which protected monks, to civilians. The legal symposium at the Synod of Birr was prompted when Adomnáin had an
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This set of laws were designed, among other things, to guarantee the safety and immunity of various types of noncombatants in warfare. It required, for example, that "whoever slays a woman... his right hand and his left foot shall be cut off before death, and then he shall die."
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The laws also provided sanctions against many things like the killing of children, clerics and clerical students. Clerical lands were also protected. This covered non-combatants in times of war, who previously only received protection up to the age of seven under Irish law.
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It was an early example of international law in that it was to be enforced in Ériu and Albu, (Ireland and
Britain) although Britain refers to only what is now northern Scotland for it was the kings of that region who were guarantors of the Law.
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were committed to parchment about the 7th century, most likely by clerics. Most scholars now believe that the secular laws were not compiled independently of monasteries. Adomnan would have had access to the best legal minds of his generation.
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If a woman committed murder, arson, or theft from a church, she was to be set adrift in a boat with one paddle and a container of gruel. This left the judgment up to God and avoided violating the proscription against killing a woman.
151:. Adomnán was related to this king, and it has been suggested that an alliance with Uí Néill royal power helped ensure widespread support for the Law. As well as being the site of a significant monastery, associated with Saint
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notes that no cases relating to the Cáin Adomnáin have been preserved. Thus, it is unknown whether the harsh penalties which it mandates, which may have contradicted the general character of Irish law, were rigidly enforced.
284:
This perpetrator was taken by Nial
Glundub mac Aedha, Righ an Tuaisceirt, having replaced his brother Domnall as king of the north, and he drowned Cearnachan in the same lake Lough Cier in revenge for the violation of
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According to D.N. Dumville, it is suspected that the promulgation of this law in 697 was a centennial commemoration of
Columba, who died in 597. The
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in seventh- and eighth-century
Ireland, are supposed to have contributed to inspire Adomnán to introduce these laws, but it may also be that as
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collection consistently favour reparation by payment rather than the death penalty for murder and other serious offences (by either sex)."
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ruled. It, therefore, represented a form of neutral ground where the rival kings and clerics of both sides of
Ireland could meet.
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Adomnán's Law of the
Innocents - Cáin Adomnáin: A seventh-century law for the protection of non-combatants
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dream vision wherein his mother excoriated him for not protecting the women and children of
Ireland.
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There are annalistic examples of the justice of the Cáin Adomnáin being applied, such as here by
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and focused on the beneficiary noncombatants. Upon its renewal in 727, it referenced its author.
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Máirín Ní Dhonnchadha, The guarantor list of Cáin Adomnáin, 697; pp. 178-215, Brepols Online,
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178:'s biographer, he was prompted by the saint's example. It was originally known as the
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608:, translated by Gilbert Márkus. Kilmartin, Argyll: Kilmartin House Museum, 2008.
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Ideological
Contributions of Celtic Freedom and Individualism to Human Rights
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Adomnán at Birr, AD 697: Essays in Commemoration of the Law of the Innocents
499:"Lex Innocentium (697 AD): Adomnán of Iona – father of Western jus in bello"
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Iona, Kells and Derry: The History and Hagiography of the familia of Columba
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Adomnan at Birr, AD 697: Essays in Commemoration of the Law of the Innocents
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where Cáin Adomnáin, the Irish 'Geneva Convention', may have been written
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Adomnán, Adhamhnán, Eunan : life and afterlife of a Donegal saint
163:-dominated northern half of Ireland, and the southern half, where the
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132:- proclaimed by Adomnán, abbot of Iona, at the synod of Birr in 697.
456:
Grigg, Julianna. "Aspects of the Cain: Adomnan's Lex Innocentium",
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40:
622:, edited & translated Richard Sharpe. London: Penguin, 1995.
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661:. Edited by Thomas O'Loughlin. (Dublin: Four Courts Press. 2001)
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chieftains and clerics. The list of secular rulers is headed by
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History Ireland. Issue 1 (January/February 2015), Volume 23.
60:(Law of Innocents), was promulgated amongst a gathering of
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who took a captive from the church and drowned him in
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Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association
598:Cáin Adomnáin, 697: the Irish ‘Geneva Convention’,
238:, the law may have been of limited effectiveness.
706:
580:Kelly, pp.234–235: "the law texts of the
351:, pp. 283-284, Volume 89, Number 2, April 2003
16:697 prohibition against war crimes in Ireland
230:As with later clerical efforts, such as the
25:Overkings who guaranteed the Cáin Adomnáin.
363:""Cain Adomnain", Birr Historical Society"
338:
336:
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433:, p.560, Cambridge University Press, 2000
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343:Dumville, D.N., "Review" of O'Loughlin's
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20:
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56:, "Law of Adomnán"), also known as the
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472:""Law of the Innocents", Foghlam Alba"
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159:was close to the boundary between the
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664:
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503:International Review of the Red Cross
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701:at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook.
640:. Early Irish Law Series 3. Dublin:
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13:
591:
543:""Adomnán's Law of the Innocents",
497:Houlihan, James W. (August 2019).
76:. It is named after its initiator
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312:. Brill | Nijhoff. p. 37.
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669:. Dublin: Four Courts Press.
387:Ní Dhonnchadha, 1982, p. 180.
505:. Cambridge University Press
7:
170:Various factors, including
41:[ˈkaːnʲˈaðəṽˌnaːnʲ]
10:
761:
638:A Guide to Early Irish Law
349:Catholic Historical Review
308:Nagan, Winston P. (2017).
185:
122:
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715:Early Gaelic legal texts
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267:In 907 the sanctuary of
37:Old Irish pronunciation:
725:7th century in Scotland
532:Annals of Ulster 730.3.
523:Annals of Ulster 727.5,
431:Early Christian Ireland
429:Charles-Edwards, T.M.,
397:Herbert, Máire (1995).
234:movement in millennial
99:St Adomnán depicted on
735:7th century in Ireland
273:Cearnachan mac Duilgen
232:Peace and Truce of God
142:Loingsech mac Óengusso
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108:
26:
665:Lacey, Brian (2021).
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720:Medieval legal codes
416:, II, 24 and II, 25.
180:Law of the Innocents
745:7th century in law
620:Life of St Columba
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27:
676:978-1-84682-963-5
618:Adomnán of Iona,
614:978-0-9533674-3-6
478:on 2 October 2014
219:According to the
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153:Brendan of Birr
130:Lex Innocentium
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78:Adomnán of Iona
58:Lex Innocentium
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691:translation
582:Senchas Már
557:8 September
262:are named.
192:Brehon Laws
128:Adomnáin -
740:Law of war
709:Categories
699:Kuno Meyer
651:0901282952
277:Lough Cier
250:High King
116:Iona Abbey
84:after St.
53:-thuv-nawn
269:Ard Macha
636:(1988).
403:, p. 51.
373:2 August
287:Padraicc
161:Uí Néill
105:Dunlewey
80:, ninth
693:of the
347:in the
279:nearby.
186:Content
176:Columba
123:History
107:church.
90:Aisling
86:Columba
66:Pictish
673:
648:
626:
612:
509:6 June
482:22 May
438:
260:Ulster
236:France
215:Legacy
62:Gaelic
295:Notes
671:ISBN
646:ISBN
642:DIAS
624:ISBN
610:ISBN
559:2014
511:2024
484:2014
436:ISBN
414:Life
375:2014
157:Birr
64:and
48:KAWN
29:The
730:697
697:by
258:of
103:in
74:697
72:in
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501:.
446:^
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333:^
318:^
155:,
51:AH
44:,
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561:.
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35:(
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