By Caelfind Uí Duibfear
© 2003

In its most concentrated essence, the Brehon Law establishes a level of rights, and a scale of value to everything and everyone. Each human has a social rank, From King of Ireland (Ard Rí), Chieftains (Aire), other nobles (Flaith), non-noble Freemen with property (Bó aire), non-noble Freemen without property (Céiles) or has so little his class is not elevated enough, and the non-free class. Several subclasses exist within each of these that further detail by social and professional rank, notably the Nemed class, which shares equal rank with a King. This group included lords, clerics and poets, possibly physicians, judges, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, harpists and carpenters as well. There is one additional class that existed, but since they had no legal rights, they are not discussed a great deal; these are the slaves. Ireland was well known for keeping slaves (cumal-female slave). Everything was given a monetary value as well. Each freeman had his honour-price (log n-enech), which depended on (and indeed determined) his status in the social order. A man’s log n-enech set the scale of compensation which had to be paid for most crimes committed against him and determined the maximum size of legal contract in which he could participate. Although murder was one of the most heinous of crimes, the Irish did not employ capital punishment as a common form of retribution for the murdered member of their clan (tuath). This éiraic, or body fine, was sentenced by the Brehon Judge against the perpetrator of the crime and if it was defaulted in any way, the tuath members were obligated to carry out a blood feud against him to avenge their kinsman. Women had their own importance as well. Although not placed quite as highly as a man, they too had their éiraic. A Primary wife was called cetmuinter (I will discuss the marital habits of the Irish in coming paragraphs), and she was worth half that of her husband, the second wife and any other concubines half of the primary. Even though the paternal line determined kinship primarily, maternal kin also played some role. Upon marriage, a woman did not completely sever her connections with her own kin. The maternal kin was also required to take part in a blood-feud if a child of one of its daughters was killed and the culprit didn't pay. They also received a part of the éiraic of such slain children and had to intervene if such a child's fosterage was improperly carried out.

Women could, and did, aspire to all offices and professions as coequal with men. They could be political leaders, command their people in battle as warriors, and serve as physicians, local magistrates, poets, artisans, lawyers and judges. Women were protected by law against sexual harassment, discrimination, and rape; they had the right of divorce on equal terms from their husbands, with equitable separation laws, and could demand part of their husband's property in a divorce settlement. They had the right of inheritance of personal property and land and the right of sickness benefits when ill or hospitalized. It should also be pointed out that, demonstrating women's coequal role with men, women were priests of the Celtic Church in this period. Brighid herself was ordained a bishop by Patrick's nephew, Mel, and her case was not unique. Rome actually wrote a protest, in the sixth century, at the Celtic practice of allowing women to celebrate the divine sacrifice of Mass.
Because of their equality, or near equality, with men in other realms, women warriors frequently felt it was their duty to take up arms and march into battle with their brothers or husbands. Beginning with the warrior Queen of the Milesians, the Book of Invasions lists several women leaders. In the Ulster Cycle of tales, the noblest warrior of Ulster, Cuchulainn, was taught the art of war by a woman warrior named Scathach, and fought his greatest battles against the forces of Queen Maeve of Connacht. It was only in 697 that women were exempted from warfare. The law exempting them is known as the Cain Adanman after St. Adanman, who, at his mother's behest, fought for this exemption. It seems that St. Adanman's mother, Ronait, was appalled by the barbarity she witnessed of one woman with an iron sickle savagely tearing apart another woman in battle.

A woman's true dominance was at the hearth. It was expected that a husband defer to his wife in all things domestic. She had the legal right to exert power over her portion of the land and property, that being what she brought to the marriage as a part of her bride-price (coibche). She was to be consulted in every case involving their joint land and property, and had veto rights just as he had the same right to any contract she made on her own. This was turned completely upside down in the event that the woman married beneath her social rank; her husband had to defer to her final judgment on contracts involving their joint land.

Women, however, are not overly common in the event of a judged case. They had to have a legal guide who could plead her case if it involved her body or property, such as with an embroidery needle or other necessary domestic item. Females could give evidence
in case of female entry, or in case of a female witness who accompanied a woman on sick-maintenance, or in case of sexual problems in a marriage, where the woman was examined by a female witness.

Daughters also inherited much the same as sons did. A female heir (banchomarbae) could inherit a lifetime interest in her fathers' land assuming she had no brothers, which installed her with every legal capacity a man would have. However, upon her death, the
property was not inherited to her husband or sons, but reverted to her own kin. This practice, however, started to get complicated when the issue of multiple marriages, unusual marriages, or children of foreign fathers and children of prostitutes became involved. Children of concubines or second wives inherited equally with the primary wife's children. Illegitimate children had just as much right to inheritance as legitimate ones, as long as the union between the child's parents was approved by the tuath. Children of unapproved marriage, foreign fathers or prostitutes could not inherit, or if they did, it was a substantially smaller portion than the rest, and at the whim of the tuath. A child produced by a rape was likely fully entitled to inheritance, implied by the fact that the rapist was fully responsible for rearing the child.
Under the Brehon laws, a marriage (Lánamnas) between two equal partners was looked upon with great favor because it simplified the relationship. The wife was described as comthigeran, which means co-lord, and both she and her husband were required to jointly provide food for the great festivals and collaborate equally in the buying of breeding cattle, the collection of household effects, and the fattening of pigs. Any horse or ox that had outlived its usefulness could not be sold without consultation, and the price had to be used for the benefit of both. In fact, all the details of life were cared for meticulously by the Brehon laws so as to protect the rights of the wife against any exploitation by her husband or his family.

Marriage was a curious thing in Ireland; they found a way of defining every minute possibility that could occur between a man and a woman. Although homosexuality was not a formally recognized relationship, it was not illegal and not really frowned upon, from what I can see. The only reason this type of relationship was not defined by the Law was that unless there was divine intervention going on, it was unlikely in the extreme that a child would be produced from the relationship, and therefore did not need divorce terms. It was brought up as a reason to divorce someone, but beyond that, it seems to have been fairly unnoticed.

Before we go so far as marriage, a short amusing detour into courtship practices is worthwhile. Marriages were, just as they were in many other cultures, business arrangements; however, the difference was the proposed couple had a choice in whom they married and the details of their contract. The following is from Strange Customs of Courtship and Marriage by William J. Fielding:

A young man looking for a young lady would work through his friends and from friends to relatives with the setting for such discussions being the markets or public houses. Eventually all families became involved. Once a lady was recommended, the man would send a "speaker" to her to determine her fortune and suitability. If the speaker and the woman's family were convinced that it would be a good match, the speaker would be given a go ahead to "draw it down". He returned to the young man's house and arranged a meeting between the two fathers and the young man. At the meeting the first drink was called by the young man; the second by the young lady's father. The young lady's father asked the speaker about the dowry price. The girl's father inquired as to the nature of the home, the farm the livestock and the situation of the farm. How many cows, sheep horses? What sort of garden? What sort of water supply? Is it far from the road? Or on it? What kind of house and what sort of roof- slate or thatch? Near a chapel - a school?
If it were a nice place and eight cows near the road, the fortune of 350 pounds may be asked. The young lady's father offered 250, then the father throws off 50, then the speaker divides the 50 between them so now its 275. Then the young man insisted on 300, but maybe he will think of it....if she is a good housekeeper. They drank until intoxicated. After the fortune was arranged, they then set a place and time for the young people to see one another. The young lady took her friends, brother, mother and father. The young man took his friends and the speaker. If they liked each other, they set a date to come see the land. If things weren't right, they simply said they do not suit, not revealing details. The day before the girl's people came to see the land, preparations for a feast were made. Geese were killed, the house whitewashed, and whiskey and port were bought. The cows were fed and sometimes cows were borrowed to make things look good.
The girl's family came, and the land was walked. The young man sent his best friend to show the girl's father round, making sure the bad points were not shown. If the girl's father liked the land, he would join in the feast until night.

The next day they went to the attorney to get the writings between the parties concluded. The father agreed to sign over the land. After that the wedding, could go forward. There were nine, and depending on who did the translating, ten different forms of marriage. Most of the references to marriage occurred in Cain Lanamna where two slightly different versions of marriage forms listed nine or ten forms of marriage. The nine forms of marriage included:

In sources that list ten forms of marriage, they parallel the nine forms already discussed:

In all cases, the concerns of the law were directed toward the well being of progeny that may result from the union. The law was clear on who was responsible for what. The most welcomed unions were 1-4, with both partners having roughly equal amounts of responsibility, though authority went to those who brought the most possessions into the union. In marriage categories 5-9, the ultimate responsibility for progeny fell on one or the other of the parents, or on their kin-group. There was a diminishing in honor price for
those engaged in marriage contracts under categories 5 to 9, although with number 8 "forcible rape or stealth" only the man experienced the loss of honor-price. With number 9, the kinship groups were responsible for any resulting progeny because such persons were not allowed by law to mate.
Once it was determined that a prospective husband and wife could make
a contract, their families then addressed the business aspects of the union. The agenda generally included:

Yet another small detour is required at this point. In order to get this far in the ritual, you must qualify at the most basic of levels. Various qualifications existed, and most of them were for men. The list of disqualified men is as follows:

Women had a few qualifications, one of which is her skill at spinning. A marriageable aged woman must be able to meet a certain daily amount of spinning to qualify for marriage. A proverb from the Triads suggests what a man should look for in a wife:

The only time virginity may have been important would have been in the case of a primary wife, and that would only serve to guarantee the paternity of the anticipated child. The lack of virginity would not preclude a match if it were a suitable one. It has been suggested that a higher coibche would be paid for a bride who was virginal at the time of the union. Women were allowed to give their favour as they saw fit, and were not stigmatized for their sexual activity. It was only when the union was not sanctioned by the tuath that laws were in place to protect the man who was ensnared in the promiscuous woman's arms.

There is evidence that fathers of lower rank would occasionally steer their daughters in the direction of the King for choices in husbands. This was in the hope that a grandson would be produced, and even though illegitimate, he would have inheritance and succession rights to the throne just as his legitimate sons did. This also was a chance to have the royal surname attached to their family. Most daughters didn't mind this practice too much; since the King was determined based on his strength, leadership, appearance, and wise judgment, very few would have refused their bed to him.

At this point I could expound for several pages on various charms, customs, beliefs and traditions that surround the ritual of marriage. Prior to the ritual moving from the bride's home to the church, it was quite often a done deal when the couple met in a place of local mystical significance and performed whichever traditions were familiar to them before the Clan King. Since many of these ancient customs have evolved into modern customs it is impossible to separate which is modern, and what comes from pre-1600, so for the sake of my sanity, I will skirt the topic of the actual event. Many of the footnote sources will have further links covering this topic. Suffice it to say that most marriages occurred between Christmas and Lent and a great deal of merrymaking was involved.

The Bretha Crólige establishes three ranks of wife. The primary reason for this ranking system, as it is found in the Bretha Crólige, is for the purpose of sick- maintenance. The three are: a chief wife, who is entitled to half her husband's honor price; a second wife, who is entitled to one third; and any other wife, who is entitled to one quarter. A concubine (dormun, or adaltrach [from the Latin adultrix "adulteress"]) could determine her worth from kin, partner or son. Concubines were in a less authoritative position than even a third wife. Polygamy was entirely acceptable, but it hinged on the financial stability of the one wishing to keep more than one mate, and of course the approval of the tuath. Taking a second mate was just cause for divorce, this is documented and pragmatic reason for holding back on taking that new mate.

Divorce would separate the wife's holdings from the household, and this may be sufficient enough that the husband cannot live without it. The Christian church frowned upon the practice, but did little to prevent it until much later on when the church had greater political power. Divorce (imscarad) was common in Ireland, and very easy to acquire; getting married was hard, divorce was quite easy. There was not a social stigma to divorce. In fact women who had been married previously and had children were often sought after as their fertility had been proven. Comparing it to modern law, every marriage was created with a prenuptial contract, and wasn't considered a proper union until this document was agreed upon so that when or if the time came that the partners wished to go their own way, it was clearly defined and non-negotiable. Divorce was declared publicly, and division of property and responsibility for children began.

Divisions of property depended on the original marriage contract, the situation of the divorce, the amount of property brought into the union by each party and the amount of work done by each of the parties. The one who declared the divorce tended bear the greater weight of the penalty, the joint lands would often be divided in the favour of the one declared against – the ancient precursor to alimony. Non-penalty divorce also existed.

Many reasons existed as grounds for divorce. By our standards some of them seem positively curious, but given the culture and the time, it makes sense. The Irish were very preoccupied with honour, reputation and physical appearance. They also had legal temporary separations that were used for specific reasons. Two interesting points of legal temporary separation were the right for the husband of a barren woman to leave for a while to impregnate a woman in a more informal form of marriage and the right of a wife of a sterile husband who did not wish to divorce him to leave so that another man may impregnate her. The child was considered the husband's. (Early Celtic alternative
insemination!!)

Some of the reasons documented for divorce were:

Child-rearing was an important issue to the Irish. They had a particular preference for fosterage of children to help cement clan relations. One was fosterage for affection (altramm serce) in which no fee is paid. The other type was fosterage for which a fee was paid. Practically from birth to the age of seventeen for a boy and fourteen for a girl, someone other than their natural parents raised the children. During their fosterage, they were expected to learn all the necessary skills of their social rank. It was the obligation of the foster parents to ensure these skills were taught, thus the marriage contract had to define who was responsible for what child.

Various circumstances that left a father in the sole responsibility of the child(ren) included:

There are circumstances that detail when a mother is solely responsible:

The law tried to ensure that the resources needed to raise a child in security were kept at hand, and that the kin-group was compelled to maintain a lasting legacy for the child's future. Even such aspects of the legal code as the provision that gave the authority of an unequal union to the person with the most assets can be seen in this light. This occurred because that person had the authority to nullify contracts that were not beneficial to the union, thus securing future legacies, as well as putting the person with a better 'business sense' in charge of financial affairs.

The role of women in ancient Irish culture carried with it pride, equality and an equally heavy yoke of obligation and expectation as that of a man's. In all aspects of life, and but a few have been touched here, they worked just as hard, and were rewarded for their trouble with as much right to that reward as anyone else. Although there is little here that can be considered written in stone, absolutely-certain-it-happened documentation to support this article, this is a common problem with ancient Irish cultural history.

Although the rich tradition of oral history existed for a great many years, it must remain alive if it is to be passed to the next generation. Successive invaders to the island tried their best to culturally suppress and therefore subjugate the inhabitants, and with that, slowly drove the Irish people's history underground. This ancient crime combined with modern disasters such as the Four Courts fire of 1922 has made research into this topic a somewhat obscure one. The original document written by Saint Patrick is long since lost and only copies of copies are available today; they have been altered over time, and heavily annotated so that much has been added to the original document.

Addendum

By Breandán Uí Ciarraide

Now it is important to note a few key things here- At the same time that these laws, which are obviously not completely equal between men and women, were in use, the so-called "civilized" world considered women to be little more than chattel. Another thing to remember when dealing with the Féinechais and Brehon Law in general is that it wasn't written down in codified form until the Christian era, and was recorded by Christian monks who, of course, put their own spin on things to give the church political advantages. Thus, much of the reduction of women's rights seen during the Christian era may have started with the recording of the documents, and the lot of women might very well have been better than mentioned here prior to the arrival of Magonus Sucatus (a.k.a. "Saint Patrick") and Christianity. Considering how much the coming of the desert-god's religion degraded and weakened Gaelic culture in general by shifting political power from the chieftains and kings and putting into the hands of a foreign church, this is very likely.

Many of the structures of marriage, particularly the polygynous aspects, the equality of the married persons, the dominance of women in the household, and the simplicity of divorce, hold to this day among most tuatha and clanna of the Sinnsreachd faith. The economic-based courtships and arranged marriages are, thankfully, a thing of the past, as we marry for love and family nowadays. Admittedly, marrying for love and through that union allying one's tuath to another tuath is a beneficial side effect, but it is not the primary reason. As many Sinsearaithe keep alive a separate political and economic structure from the host societies in which they dwell, sort of a nations-within-nations paradigm, unions between families are more than social custom, but can actually have significant ramifications. These are general customs which I am glossing over in brief, so bear in mind it is a very complex issue.