- Synod of Birr
The Synod of Birr, held at
Birr in modernCounty Offaly ,Ireland in 697 was a meeting of churchmen and secular notables. Best remembered as the occasion on which theCáin Adomnáin —the law of the 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 ,Abbot of Iona , and his kinsman, theHigh King of Ireland ,Loingsech mac Óengusso . As well as being the site of a significantmonastery , associated with SaintBrendan of Birr , Birr was close to the boundary between theUí Néill -dominatedLeth Cuinn , the northern half of Ireland, and the southern half,Leth Moga , where theEóganachta kings of Munster ruled. In 827 it served as the site of a "rígdal", a meeting of kings, between the Uí Néill High KingConchobar mac Donnchada and the powerful Eóganachta kingFedlimid 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.Among the churchmen present, or sending representatives, were
Flann Febla ,bishop of Armagh and spiritual heir ofSaint Patrick , the abbot ofEmly , chief religious site of the Eóganachta, other bishops and abbots, learned men such asMuirchu moccu Machtheni , author of a life of Saint Patrick, and, from Britain the Pictish bishopCuretán , and Adomnán and bishop Coeddi, both fromIona .References
* Charles-Edwards, T. M., "Early Christian Ireland." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-521-36395-0
* Sharpe, Richard, "Adomnán of Iona: Life of St Columba." Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1995. ISBN 0-14-044462-9
* Smyth, Alfred P., "Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000." London: E. J. Arnold, 1984. ISBN 0-7486-0100-7Further reading
* Ní Dhonnchadha, M., "The guarantor list of "Cáin Adomnáin" in "Peritia", volume 1 (1982), pp. 178–215.
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