Brigit Brethach was a famous Brehon judge who had followed her father, Sencha the poet, into the law and practiced with him. While her name means “Brigit of the Judgments,” to the people, she was known as “Brig Ambue.” “Brig” means power and “Ambue” means cowless, which in ancient Ireland meant a poor person. Brig Ambue had earned the reputation of using her power as a brehon to defend the rights of women and the weak and powerless by making judgments that empowered them.
Brehons acted as mediators or arbitrators do in our own legal system, and they were hired by disputing parties in a case to make judgments. They relied upon the customs and traditions to determine what was a fair and reasonable outcome of any dispute.
One of Brig Ambue’s cases involved inheritance of land by female heirs. All land in Ireland was divided up among clan members. No one owned the land. It was distributed usually through the male line each generation, but if there were no male heirs, women could hold land on their own.
In this case a mother with no sons had died, and the daughters claimed their mother’s share. Yet, there was an objection because for anyone to hold land in ancient Ireland there was an obligation to perform military service called “attack and defense” for their king. Since this was not always possible for women due to their household responsibilities and children, they were in effect prevented from holding land they were otherwise entitled to by the Brehon Law.
To correct this inequity, Brig Ambue gave the daughters a choice; they could obtain all of the land with the obligation to perform service of “attack and defense,” or they could take half of the land without the obligation to perform the service of attack and defense. The land would revert to their clan upon the death of the last daughter rather than to their own heirs[i] This was considered to be a fair judgment and became precedent followed by all brehons with similar cases throughout Ireland.
What is also amazing about this judgment is that women did fight alongside men in ancient Ireland, but I will address that in a later post.
[i] SOURCE: Ancient Laws of Ireland:Din Tectugad and Certain Other Selected Brehon Law Tracts, Volume 4, A. Thom & Co., London, 1879, page 14
Historical Novel Series Featuring a Lady Brehon
If you’re not quite up to tackling the ponderous Ancient Laws of Ireland, there is a series of historical mysteries featuring a fictional lady Brehon and nun, Sister Fidelma, written by Peter Tremayne. The stories are set in the middle to late seventh century Ireland and provide insight into the culture and the respected role of Sister Fidelma as a Lady Brehon who is referred to as a dalaigh, an advocate in the Irish justice system. She acts as an investigator of crimes, usually with her cohert, Brother Eadulf, who is a Saxon monk. He plays second fiddle to the heroine, Sister Fidelma.
.Peter Tremayne is the pen name for Peter Berresford Ellis, who is a Celtic Studies scholar. His Sister Fidelma series consists of thirty two books and are a wonderful way to explore the Celtic culture of powerful professional women while enjoying a tantalizing mystery.
Please let me know if you enjoy these books!
