Online Medieval Sources Bibliography

An Annotated Bibliography of Printed and Online Primary Sources for the Middle Ages

Source Details

Eska, Charlene ed. , Cáin Lánamna: An Old Irish Tract on Marriage and Divorce Law (Boston: Brill,2010). Read this source online

Cáin Lánamna; The Regulation of Couples; The Law of Couples; An Old Irish Tract on Marriage and Divorce Law.

111

900 - 1200

Dublin, TCL, 1316, olim H. 2. 15A, pp. 53a–59b. Dublin, TCL, 1336 olim H. 3. 17, columns 233–43; s. xvi. Dublin, TCL, 1337 olim H. 3. 18, p. 381a; vellum and paper; s. xvi.

  • Old/Middle Irish

  • Original language included
  • Translated into English

The text is in Middle Irish. Annotations are in English.

  • Ireland

  • Law - Legislation

  • Women / Gender
  • Peasants
  • Government
  • Historiography
  • Law - Secular
  • Law - Crime
  • Family / Children

  • Index
  • Glossary
  • Appendix
  • Bibliography
  • Introduction

Cáin Lánamna or The Law of Couples is a tract of legislation derived from early Irish Laws governing the practice of marriage and other unions and what should happen in the event of a divorce. The laws contained in Cáin Lánamna, are said to have pre-dated the Normans. The tract focuses on regulating ten types of unions, which are:

  • Lánamna comthinchuir: union of joint contribution (i.e. both parties bringing assets to the marriage)
  • Lánamna mná for ferthinchur: union of a woman on a man’s contribution
  • Lánamna fir for bantinchur: union of a man on a woman’s contribution

Then there are unions considered to be of lower status in comparison to the above three:

  • Lánamna fir thathigtheo: union of a man who visits without providing service or contribution
  • Lánamna airite for eráil: union of a woman who receives solicitation
  • Lánamna foxail: union of abduction
  • Lánamna táide: union of secrecy (e.g. elopement)
  • Lánamna éicne: union of rape (considered criminal if the woman was not drunk!)
  • Lánamna sleithe: union by violence
  • Lánamna genaide: union of mockery (refers to any union between two people who are not of sound mind – in this case the law states that the person responsible for setting up such a union is bound by law to care for any offspring which may come from said union)

The Law was written by an unknown legal scribe.

The URL listed above will direct the reader to a digital copy of “Cáin Lánamna” in D. A. Binchy, Myles Dillon, Rudolf Thurneysen (eds.), Studies in Early Irish Law. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, (1936). This text is available through CELT (The Corpus of Electronic Texts), a free, online database developed by University College Cork, Ireland, to digitize manuscript sources relating to Irish literature and culture. Sources include manuscripts preserved in Irish, Latin, Anglo-Norman French, and English. The medieval texts included in CELT are taken from previously printed sources, but sometimes add new introductory material, bibliographies, and even translations. The online texts are searchable and downloadable.

Introduction is broken in several sections which are outlined below:
Introduction (2 pages)
Legal Introduction (32 pages) – covers a wide range of topics and gives a general overview of the laws governing issues such as:

  • Pica – regulating unnatural hunger cravings and food consumption
  • Affliction and Raising Children
  • Divorce
  • Sick maintenance
  • Clientship
  • Fosterage
  • Contracts
  • Witnesses – outlines that women cannot be witnesses unless the case involves another woman who needs to be examined by someone to establish a case i.e. rape
  • Distraint – enforcing a claim against someone
  • Inheritance
  • Fasting
  • Hospitality
  • Rape
  • Marriage

Manuscript Introduction (20 pages) (looks at manuscript sources, their location and condition)
Relationship between the Sources (5 pages) (looks at the relationship between Cáin Lánamna and other MSS.)
Date of text (2 pages)
Editorial Method (3 pages)
The Structure of Cáin Lánamna (9 pages)

AMC