Brithem
Brithem [ 'bʼrʼiθʼev ], also broadly , is the name for a judge or legal scholar in early medieval Irish law.
Brithem is derived from the Irish word breth ("judgment"), which has an ancient Celtic synonym * brit- , and means "judge" in the original sense. The task of the brithem , the knowledge of the law, was carried out by the Druids in Ireland before Christianization . It is believed that each tribal union ( tuath ) had a brithem who was installed by the king ( rí ). Since the 7th century, numerous legal works have been written in the training centers for legal scholars. It was only with the conquest of Ireland by the English in the 16th and early 17th centuries that these judges were removed from their function.
From the plural form brithemain created by Anglicisation the word brehon from which the English name of the traditional Irish law Brehon Laws derived.
See also
literature
- Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , pp. 896, 1001.
- Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 , pp. 51, 56.
- Wolfgang Meid : The Celts. Reclams Universal Library , Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-15-017053-3 , p. 108 f.