The Synod of Birr, held at Birr in modern

County Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland, ancient Kingdom of Uí ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in 697 was a meeting of churchmen and secular notables. Best remembered as the occasion on which the

Cáin Adomnáin The ''Cáin Adomnáin'' (, , "Law of Adomnán"), also known as the ''Lex Innocentium'' (Law of Innocents), was promulgated amongst a gathering of Gaels, Gaelic and Picts, Pictish notables at the Synod of Birr in 697 in Ireland, 697. It is named ...

—the Law of Innocents—was guaranteed, the survival of a list of the guarantors of the law sheds some light on the synod. The meeting at Birr is thought to have been convoked by

Adomnán Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona (; , ''Adomnanus''; 624 – 704), also known as Eunan ( ; from ), was an abbot of Iona Abbey ( 679–704), hagiographer, statesman, canon jurist, and Christian saint, saint. He was the author of the ''Life ...

, Abbot of Iona, and his kinsman, the

High King of Ireland High King of Ireland ( ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and was later sometimes assigned anachronously or to leg ...

Loingsech mac Óengusso Loingsech, an Irish language male name meaning ''exile'' or ''sailor'', might refer to: * Labhraidh Loingseach, a legendary high king of Ireland and ancestor of the Laigin * Loingsech mac Colmáin (died 655), king of Leinster * Loingsech mac Flaithb ...

. As well as being the site of a significant

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

, associated with Saint

Brendan of Birr Brendan of Birr (died c. 572) was one of the early Irish monastic saints. He was a monk and later an abbot, of the 6th century. He is known as "Saint Brendan the Elder" to distinguish him from his contemporary and friend Brendan the Navigator o ...

, Birr was close to the boundary between the

Uí Néill The Uí Néill (; meaning "descendants of Niall") are Irish dynasties that claim descent from Niall Noígíallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages), a historical King of Tara who is believed to have died around c. 405. They are generally divided ...

-dominated Leth Cuinn, the northern half of Ireland, and the southern half, Leth Moga, where the

Eóganachta The Eóganachta (Modern , ) were an Irish dynasty centred on Rock of Cashel, Cashel which dominated southern Ireland (namely the Kingdom of Munster) from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of De ...

kings of Munster The kings of Munster () ruled the Kingdom of Munster in Ireland from its establishment during the Irish Iron Age until the High Middle Ages. According to Gaelic traditional history, laid out in works such as the ''Book of Invasions'', the earli ...

ruled. In 827 it served as the site of a ''rígdal'', a meeting of kings, between the Uí Néill High King

Conchobar mac Donnchada Conchobar mac Donnchada (or Conchobar mac Donnchado) was High-King of Ireland with opposition ('' rí Érenn co fressabra'') between 819 and 833. Conchobar was the son of Donnchad Midi, high-king of Ireland ( 733– 797); his mother was Fuirseach ...

and the powerful Eóganachta king Fedlimid mac Crimthainn. It therefore represented a form of neutral ground where the rival kings and clerics of north and south Ireland could meet without loss of face. Birr lay in the territory of the

Éile Éile (; , ), commonly anglicised as Ely, was a medieval petty kingdom in the southern part of the modern county of Offaly and parts of North Tipperary in Ireland. The historic barony of Eliogarty was once a significant portion of the kingdom. ...

. Among the churchmen present, or sending representatives, were Flann Febla, bishop of Armagh and spiritual heir of

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...

, the abbot of Emly, chief religious site of the Eóganachta, other bishops and abbots, learned men such as Muirchu moccu Machtheni, author of a

life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

of Saint Patrick, and, from Britain the

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

bishop

Curetán Saint Curetán ( Latin: ''Curitanus'', ''Kiritinus'', or ''Boniface'') was a Scoto-Pictish bishop and saint, (fl. between 690 and 710). He is listed as one of the witnesses in the '' Cáin Adomnáin'', where he is called "Curetan epscop". In th ...

, and Adomnán and bishop Coeddi, both from Iona.

References

* Charles-Edwards, T. M., ''Early Christian Ireland.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. * Sharpe, Richard, ''Adomnán of Iona: Life of St Columba.'' Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1995. * Smyth, Alfred P., ''Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000.'' London: E. J. Arnold, 1984. *

References

Further reading