Cáin Adomnáin
Encyclopedia
The Cáin Adomnáin also known as the Lex Innocentium (Law of Innocents) was promulgated amongst a gathering of Irish, Dál Riatan and Pictish notables at the Synod of Birr
in 697. It is named after its initiator Adomnán of Iona
, ninth Abbot of Iona
after St. Columba.
This set of laws were designed, among other things, to guarantee the safety and immunity of various types of non-combatant in warfare. It is required, for example, that:
), albeit with lesser penalties. Adomnán's initiative, however, 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.
As with later clerical efforts, such as the Peace and Truce of God
movement in millennial France
, the law may have been of limited effectiveness. Fergus Kelly notes that no cases relating to the Cáin Adomnáin have been preserved. Thus, we do not know whether the harsh penalties which it mandates, which may have contradicted the general character of Irish law, were actually enforced.
Various events are supposed to have inspired Adomnán to introduce these laws, but it may also be that as Columba
's biographer, he was inspired by the Saint's example.
Synod of Birr
The Synod of Birr, held at Birr in modern County Offaly, Ireland in 697 was a meeting of churchmen and secular notables. Best remembered as the occasion on which the Cáin Adomnáin—the Law of Innocents—was guaranteed, the survival of a list of the guarantors of the law sheds some light...
in 697. It is named after its initiator Adomnán of Iona
Adomnán of Iona
Saint Adomnán of Iona was abbot of Iona , hagiographer, statesman and clerical lawyer; he was the author of the most important Vita of Saint Columba and promulgator of the "Law of Innocents", lex innocentium, also called Cáin Adomnáin, "Law of Adomnán"...
, ninth Abbot of Iona
Abbot of Iona
The Abbot of Iona was the head of Iona Abbey during the Middle Ages and the leader of the monastic community of Iona, as well as the overlord of scores of monasteries in both Scotland and Ireland, including Durrow, Kells and, for a time, Lindisfarne...
after St. Columba.
This set of laws were designed, among other things, to guarantee the safety and immunity of various types of non-combatant in warfare. It is 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 ...The laws also provided sanctions against the killing of children, clerics, clerical students and peasants on clerical lands; against rape, against impugning the chastity of a noblewoman, prohibited women from having to take parts in warfare, and more besides. Many of these things were already crimes, either under the common Irish laws, or, in the case of special protections for clerics, from the Cáin Phátraic (Law of Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints....
), albeit with lesser penalties. Adomnán's initiative, however, 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.
As with later clerical efforts, such as the Peace and Truce of God
Peace and Truce of God
The Peace and Truce of God was a medieval European movement of the Catholic Church that applied spiritual sanctions in order to limit the violence of private war in feudal society. The movement constituted the first organized attempt to control civil society in medieval Europe through non-violent...
movement in millennial France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the law may have been of limited effectiveness. Fergus Kelly notes that no cases relating to the Cáin Adomnáin have been preserved. Thus, we do not know whether the harsh penalties which it mandates, which may have contradicted the general character of Irish law, were actually enforced.
Various events are supposed to have inspired Adomnán to introduce these laws, but it may also be that as Columba
Columba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
's biographer, he was inspired by the Saint's example.
Further reading
- Adomnán's Law of the Innocents - Cáin Adomnáin: A seventh-century law for the protection of non-combatants, translated by Gilbert Márkus. Kilmartin, Argyll: Kilmartin House Museum, 2008. ISBN 978-0-9533674-3-6
- Adomnán of Iona, Life of St Columba, edited & translated Richard Sharpe. London: Penguin, 1995. ISBN 0-14-044462-9
External links
- translation of the Cáin Adomnáin by Kuno MeyerKuno MeyerKuno Meyer was a German scholar, distinguished in the field of Celtic philology and literature. His pro-German stance at the start of World War I while traveling in the United States was a source of controversy.-Biography:...
at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook.