Law of the Innocents
Anonymous, Cáin Adamnáin (9^th century)

Cumalach (“slave” or “bondservant”) was a name for women till Adamnan came to free them…[A] woman had no share in bag nor in basket, nor in the company of the house-master; but she dwelt in a hut outside the enclosure, lest bane from sea or land should come to her chief.

The work which the best of women had to do, was to go to battle and the battlefield, encounter and camping, fighting and hosting, wounding and slaying. On one side of her she would carry her bag of provisions, on the other side her babe. Her wooden pole upon her back. Thirty feet long it was, and had at one end an iron hook, which she would thrust into the tress of some woman in the opposite battalion. Her husband behind her, carrying a fence-stake in his hand, and flogging her on to battle

Now after the coming of Adamnan no woman is deprived of her testimony, if it be bound in righteous deeds. For a mother is a venerable treasure, a mother is a goodly treasure, the mother of saints and bishops and righteous men, an increase of the Kingdom of Heaven, a propagation on earth.

Adamnan suffered much hardship for your sake, O women, so that ever since Adamnan’s time one half of your house is yours, and there is a place for your chair in the other half; so that your contract and your safeguard are set free; and the first law made in Heaven and on earth for women is Adamnan’s Law…

All then, both laymen and clerics, have sworn to fulfil the whole Law of Adamnan till Doom.

Translation Kuno Meyer

Adomnán (624-704) was Abbot of the monastery on Iona from 679 until his death. He appears to have been a relative of Colum Cille, the founder of Iona, and is best remembered for his hagiographical life of the great saint and scholar.

But Adomnán also promulgated, in 697, the “Law of Innocents,” a sweeping legal reform that forever changed the status of women in Ireland and elsewhere. The Cáin Adamnáin, or, Treatise on the Law of Adamnan, relates the story of how this dramatic, even revolutionary action came to pass.

It appears as though Adomnán’s mother had been pestering him to do something on behalf of women for some time. During one of his sojourns from Iona to Ireland, he was walking with his mother when they came upon a battlefield where a great struggle had been recently concluded. The field was strewn with the dead bodies of women and their children. The women had been forced to bear the brunt of the fighting, and many had paid with their lives.

Adomnán’s mother strictly adjured him to do something on behalf of women, to improve their standing in Irish society, beginning with the believing communities of the land. Amid the human wreckage of the battlefield lay a dead woman, with her child at her breast. Adomnán was able to revive her, and she imposed on him the obligation “to free the women of the western world.” She prayed that he would be deprived of food and drink until he would take up this duty, and his mother joined her in the charge.

Adomnán resisted at first, but, after several episodes of chastening, coupled with the visitation of an angel, he determined to carry out this solemn obligation. He announced his intentions to the local king, whose “over my dead body” reply signaled the beginning of a season of resistance to Adomnán’s objective by local rulers.

Adomnán did not fear in the face of their threats. Instead, he called down the judgment of God against the monarchs if they dared to stand in the way of his efforts. Terrified by Adomnán’s invocation, they yielded, and the saint proceeded to implement the instructions received from the angel throughout the parishes of Ireland.

The “Law of Innocents” established women as full sharers in the property of their husbands and the liberties of all men. Strict levies and punishments were put in place to protect women from abuse, neglect, brutality, and murder. At the same time, women were cautioned by the Law not to take advantage of, or to act inhumanely toward, their husbands or other men.

The Law was also extended to the protection of children and theology students (who, evidently, were a target of abuse from many directions in Adomnán’s day). The Cáin includes a long list of local kings and clerics who signed their names in agreement to the statute and swore to uphold it, under terror of divine retribution if they failed.

As the Cáin itself observes, the “Law of Innocents” is an indication of the Kingdom vision of Celtic saints like Adomnán. The promulgation of the Gospel was not simply a spiritual endeavor; it struck at the heart of all aspects of life in society and culture. The Law is an example of the Kingdom of heaven coming to earth through the faithful and courageous actions of diligent men and women of God. It demonstrates the power that Celtic clergy could wield during the period of the Celtic Revival (ca. 430-900). The story of its creation and adoption also shows us that part of the work of bringing the Kingdom of God to further expression on earth as it is in heaven involves keeping alive the fear of God in the hearts of all people.

Adomnán’s action overturned centuries of Celtic practice. The plight of women – their rights and freedoms – came into play during Patrick’s ministry, as he reports in his Confession. But the ancient Celtic practice of subjugating women and treating them as slaves lingered for nearly two centuries into the Revival. Some deeply-entrenched social ills take longer to redress, but unless we, like Adomnán and his mother, have the courage to envision such changes and the determination and skill to pursue them, the freedoms of Christ and His Gospel will continue to elude many of the last and least of society.

T. M. Moore

For more insight to the legacy of the Celtic Christian period, order a copy of T. M.’s book, The Legacy of Patrick, from our online store.