The Synod of Birr, held at Birr in modern

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

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 Irish, Dál Riatan and Pictish notables at the Synod of Birr in 697. It is named after its initiator Ado ...

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

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, until the Synod of ...

, and his kinsman, the

High King of Ireland High King of Ireland ( ga, Ardrí na hÉireann ) 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 later sometimes assigned ana ...

Loingsech mac Óengusso Loingsech mac Óengusso (died 703) was an Irish king who was High King of Ireland. Loingsech was a member of the northern Cenél Conaill branch of the Uí Néill. Although his father Óengus (died 650) had not been High King, his grandfather Domn ...

. 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 monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

, associated with Saint

Brendan of Birr Saint 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 "St Brendan the Elder" to distinguish him from his contemporary and friend St Brendan the Navig ...

, Birr was close to the boundary between the

Uí Néill The Uí Néill (Irish pronunciation: ; meaning "descendants of Niall") are Irish dynasties who claim descent from Niall Noígíallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages), a historical King of Tara who died c. 405. They are generally divided into the ...

-dominated

Leth Cuinn Leath Cuinn (Conn's Half) and Leath Moga (Mugh's half) are legendary ancient divisions of Ireland. Leath Cuinn was the island north of the Esker Riada (east-west drumlin belt from Dublin to Galway Bay). Conn Cétchathach, for whom this division i ...

, the northern half of Ireland, and the southern half, Leth Moga, where the

Eóganachta The Eóganachta or Eoghanachta () were an Irish dynasty centred on 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 Desmond, an ...

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

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 (; sga, Éle, ), 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 kin ...

. Among the churchmen present, or sending representatives, were Flann Febla,

bishop of Armagh A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

and spiritual heir of

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints be ...

, 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 is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

of Saint Patrick, and, from Britain the

Pictish Pictish is the extinct language, extinct Brittonic 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 num ...

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 the ...

, and Adomnán and bishop Coeddi, both from

Iona Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: �iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there ...

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