Pagan Ireland.

by Eleanor Hull

The Administration of Justice

Hostages.

WE must now consider how justice was administered in early times in Ireland. As there were no police and no courts of law, except the occasional assemblies of convocation, it is difficult at first to understand how crime was punished. There were no gaols either, although certain prisoners were detained at the king's fortresses in separate huts, but these prisoners were not kept on account of crime, but as hostages for the obedience and fealty of tributary princes. They were often the sons or cousins of chiefs, and they do not always seem to have been very well treated. A young prince of Ossory, named Scannlan, who was retained as hostage by the King of Tara in Columcille's time, was kept in a wattled hut without window or door save a hole through which his meals, a little salt food and a scanty supply of ale, were handed in to him. Outside were fifty warriors always guarding him and he was heavily loaded with chains. Though apparently the young prince had done nothing against the king, and was only retained as hostage for his father, the King of Tara intended to keep him in this misery till he died.

He was released by St. Columcille, but the poor lad was so reduced that all he was able to utter was " A drink!" "Hast thou news?" asked Columcille. A drink ! " said Scannlan." " Hast thou brought a gift? " said Columcille. " A drink ! " said Scannlan. Tell me how thou didst escape? " said the Saint. A drink! " cried the poor thirsty youth again, and this was all that for a long time the Saint could get from him. We are glad to hear that Columcille gave him a drink of ale sufficient for three, which the hostage took off at one draught, and after a huge dinner, he fell asleep and slept for three days without waking. But though Scannlan got free, his father, worn out with the anxiety he had suffered for him, died on the very day that he returned to his home; and Scannlan at once succeeded to the kingdom. We frequently read of hostages in historical times whose eyes were put out or who were maimed for life. There is one ghastly legend of a king who was returning from Munster with princely hostages. He died on the way, and the hostages were buried alive round his tomb as a menace to Munster. See quotation from the Edinburgh MS. of a Life of Choluimchille quoted in the notes to the " Lives of the Saints " from the Book of Lismore, edited by Dr. Whitley S okes, pp. 309-310, 313-314 (Anec. : OXOH., 1890). Keating says that he was deposed by Aedh for refusing to pay a head-reut to Tara, and the King in- tended to set up another and more obedient prince in his stead,

Fine for Injuries.

But the ordinary criminal was never kept in gaol, or even, except in the last resort, brought before a tribunal; it was the business of the injured person, or his near kinsfolk, to carry out the punishment themselves, and unless they were unable to do so, there was no appeal made to the judges or to any outside authority. Let us take the case of one man killing another. In early times there was no idea that, in a general way, there was anything wrong in taking a man's life.

When killing by war or revenge was the ordinary rule of existence, human beings were held cheap, and it was considered rather as a mark of valour to kill many enemies than as a disgrace to do so. But if a murder was committed secretly or treacherously, then it was culpable, and merited punishment. It was the duty of the near relations of the murdered man to avenge his death as soon as possible, by killing the murderer or by demanding "eric:" that is, a fine in cattle or goods to the extent to which they were entitled accord- ing to the status of the murdered man. The killing of the murderer was considered a " necessary murder," and was not punishable in any way : indeed, to have omitted to avenge the death of a relation, would have brought shame upon the family.

If the friends of the murderer gave up the culprit they had then done all that was expected of them; if for any reason he was not forthcoming, they were obliged to pay the required " eric " in his place, or to get their chief to help them pay it, if it was so heavy that they could not raise it between them. This, of course, the chief would not do without getting an equivalent in their subjection to himself, and service of various kinds. The culprit often took to flight, and then his property was forfeited, and the remainder of the " eric " demanded was made up by his relations. The amount of the " eric " was strictly fixed by law. If there was any doubt whether the accused man was really the murderer, he was often tried by ordeal. Among the forms of ordeal used in Ireland v/ere the ordeal by boil- ing water, or the ordeal by fire, in which the culprit had to rub the tongue on a red-hot adze of bronze or lead, heated in a fire of blackthorn. This is said to have been a druidical ordeal.

A favourite penance in Christian times was to send the prisoner adrift on the ocean, with his hands and feet tied, and without food or water, in a coracle, or boat of bark and skins. If he came to an inhabited land or drifted back, he was allowed to live, but was treated as a miserable slave ever after. We hear of St. Patrick employing this form of penance with a wicked man named Macuil, who, being con- verted by the saint, submitted himself to whatever punishment he should order. " I will confess to you, Holy Patrick," he said, " that I had determined to kill you : decide, therefore, what is due for so great a crime." Patrick said : " I cannot judge; but God will judge. Go forth unarmed to the sea, and pass quickly over from Ireland. Take none of your goods, but only one small and poor garment, tasting nothing, and drinking nothing, and bearing this token of your sin upon your head. When you have reached the sea, bind your feet fast with an iron fetter, and throw the key of it into the sea, and get into a boat of the thickness of one hide, without rudder or oar, and whithersoever the wind will drift you, dwell in the land to which the Divine Providence shall lead you, and keep there the Divine laws." Macuil eventually landed on the Isle of Man, and became the first teacher and bishop of that church.

Probably St. Patrick did not invent this cruel punishment; is seems to have been used in Pagan times in Ireland; but we find those early Irish Christians who were inclined to the ascetic life voluntarily adopting this perilous means of finding out the place on which they believed themselves divinely guided to settle, and adopt the lives of hermits. Many of them must have been cast away, and perished; others drifted on to almost uninhabitable islands and shores, and lived a mournful and desolate existence, supporting life by eating fish or birds' eggs. We hear of them being discovered by seafarers in these wild islands, with their beards grown to their feet, and long nails like birds' claws; sometimes as having forgotten how to speak, through their long severance from all human companionship. It was out of such a " pilgrimage," as it was called, that the strange half Pagan, half-Christian story of the ' Voyage of Maelduin ' arose.

Rights of Sanctuary.

Very often the murderer would try to escape justice by running away, and taking refuge with another tribe. His relatives were then responsible for paying his "eric," and he himself sank to the low position of a "Fuidhir," or chief's slave, in the clan to which he had fled for safety. But there was another means by which he could escape punishment, at least for a time, until his case was enquired into; this was, by taking refuge . in certain spots or with certain persons, whose protection safe guarded him from his avenger. The chief had this right of protection, and so had the " File," or poet; anywhere within the fort of the chief he was safe. It was not intended that the murderer should by this means escape his just punishment; it only protected him for a time, and gave him a chance of proving himself guiltless if there was a doubt about the matter.

But this privilege became greatly abused, especially in Christian times, for the chief saints of Ireland claimed this right, as they claimed many other privileges originally belonging to the Druids or Fili. A criminal became safe not only when he was actually under their protection, but also if he were within any " Termon-land," that is, the lands belonging to a church or monastery; and as these lands were in time thickly scattered all over Ireland, and there were also saints to be found in nearly every district, every criminal might secure safety without any trouble. Not only so, but the saint often refused to give up the criminal to meet his just punishment, and this was the cause of many serious disputes between the chiefs and the monks, for they did not hesitate to keep even public offenders under their protection, refusing to deliver them up even to the king. It was through a dispute of this kind that Tara fell, as we shall see in the History of King Dermot. One cause of the Battle of Culdremhne, which led to the withdrawal of St. Columcille to Scotland, was a dispute about a criminal who had taken refuge with the Saint. Many of the most serious difficulties with which the kings had to deal arose from this abuse of privilege, for, I am sorry to say, that the monks seem often to have thought their own power of more importance than the welfare of the kingdom.