THE POETIC BREHON LAWYERS OF EARLY SIXTEENTH-CENTURY IRELAND

Abstract

Abstract:Many of the most eminent judges of Brehon Law in late medieval and early modern Ireland were proficient poets also, and the poetic art was studied in their law schools. It is argued here that this practice arose on a number of grounds. The poets taught the correct grammar and spelling of classical Irish, used by the lawyers in their pleadings. Irish literature supplied a fund of past mythical judgements customarily cited in the Old Irish law tracts as precedents. Poetic utterance was seen as an invocation of divine judgement, and traditionally the early poets were said to have functioned as judges. The law tracts also refer to a 'judge of poetic speech' (brithem bélrai filedachtae), though the precise meaning of the phrase is open to discussion.