Conference to explore Ireland’s ‘ancient laws’

Ireland’s ancient laws will be explored at a Dublin conference running until Saturday.

Professor Thomas Charles-Edwards from the University of Oxford will deliver a free lecture tomorrow evening on “Early Irish Law and the Laws of Western Europe”.

The lecture - part of the Tionól, an annual conference organised by the School of Celtic Studies at Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) - looks at Ireland’s notably progressive ancient laws on women’s equality and property rights.

Unlike other ancient civilisations, in many cases in Ireland, women were entitled to own property; enter the same profession as men; enjoy an equal status within a marriage; and even divorce their husbands.

Professor Charles-Edwards (pictured) is a distinguished historian who has published widely on history and society in Ireland and Britain in the early medieval period (circa 300 to 1200 AD). He is the author of Early Christian Ireland, considered the outstanding work on early Ireland.

Professor Ruairí Ó hUiginn, senior professor at the DIAS School of Celtic Studies, said: “We are delighted to have the acclaimed historian and one-time scholar at the Institute Professor Thomas Charles-Edwards, joining us as part of the Tionól.

“In his public lecture on Friday, he will explore the law tracts of Early Christian Ireland – unique records of how society was arranged and governed here in medieval times.”

The extensive legal writings in Old and Middle Irish have been described by Professor Charles-Edwards as “one of the greatest achievements of the Irish in the early middle ages”. The earliest surviving texts are dated to the late seventh century, and the corpus as a whole cover a remarkably wide variety of legal issues.

The public lecture by Professor Charles-Edwards will take place at 8pm on Friday in the Thomas Davis Theatre at Trinity College Dublin.