Law and Society with Prof. Liam Breatnach

The Medieval Irish History Podcast

Unlike other European countries, Ireland possesses one of the largest surviving corpus of early vernacular legal texts, which implies a long-lasting Irish interest in legal matters that was maintained due to the efforts and interests of early antiquarians. Despite this, the study of early Irish law is still ignored by many legal historians who tend to focus on Continental European tracts, something that is partially explained by a mix of limited acquaintance with Irish history, a misconception that Ireland and Continental Europe were not in any meaningful contact and the availability of Irish legal tracts' translations. While contemporary Irish scholarship has been working hard to overcome this historiographical distance between Ireland and the Continent, it was only recently with the pioneering work of D. A. Binchy, that law became a focal and accessible point of Irish historiography and laid the foundation for subsequent historiographical work.

In today's episode, Professor Liam Breatnach, one of Ireland's leading experts on medieval Irish law, discusses the connections between law and medieval Irish society, the intellectual networks and frameworks that influenced and were influenced by the large corpus of legal material, and how the highly stratified Irish society understood itself in legal terms. Join us in this deep exploration of early Irish law and society.

Suggested reading: Breatnach, Liam, ‘On Old Irish Collective and Abstract Nouns, the Meaning of cétmuinter, and Marriage in Early Mediaeval Ireland’, Ériu 66 (2016).

Breatnach, Liam, ‘On the Original Extent of the Senchas Már‘, Ériu 47 (1996).

Breatnach, Liam, Córus Bésgnai. An Old Irish Law Tract on the Church and Society, Early Irish Law Series 7 (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 2017).

Breatnach, Liam, A Companion to the Corpus Iuris Hibernici, Early Irish Law Series 5 (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 2005)

Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).

Email: [e-mail]

X (formerly Twitter): @EarlyIrishPod

Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Taighde Éireann (formerly Science Foundation Ireland/Irish Research Council).

Views expressed are the speakers' own.

Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.

Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa

Music: Lexin_Music