Cáin Adomnáin: the ancient Irish ‘Geneva Convention’

There is an interesting article from the Celtic League which points out that next month marks the 70th anniversary of the (4th) Geneva Convention which is the International Convention covering humanitarian treatment in war. A series of events are being held in regard to this anniversary by the Irish Red Cross. Interestingly they are having a talk on ‘the Irish Geneva Convention’ an ancient treaty dating from the 7th Century Cáin Adomnáin, or ‘Law of Innocents’, promulgated in Birr, Co. Offaly in 697AD.

Its initiator was Adomnán of Iona, ninth Abbot of Iona after St. Columba.  Well known for his biography of St Columba, he was Abbot of Iona between 679–704 AD.  Iona (Scottish Gaelic: Ì Chaluim Chille) is an island in the Inner Hebrides (Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan a-staigh) off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. It is the site of a monastery founded by the Irish monk Columba in 563 AD. Adomnán, in achieving to reach an agreement on the Law of the Innocents; known as the 'Cáin Adomnái, succeeded in getting one of the first laws ever enacted for the protection of non-combatants in war, Cáin Adomnáin was the Geneva Convention of its day. 

Adomnán managed to get a list of 91 names, including the King of Dál Riata (a Gaelic overkingdom that included parts of western Scotland and northeastern Ireland), the Scottish King of the Picts Bruide son of Derile and more than 50 Irish kings to agree to the Law of the Innocents. Below is the Celtic League article by Bernard Moffatt with an image of the signing of the 4th Geneva Convention in 1949 and underneath an image of Adomnán in stained glass in St John the Baptist’s Church, St John’s (Manx: Balley Keeill Eoin), Isle of Man (Mannin):

"70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE (4th) GENEVA CONVENTION & ‘THE LAW OF INNOCENTS’

I get an email from the Irish Red Cross to say they are having a series of events next month to mark their 80th anniversary and also remark that this year is also the 70th anniversary of the (4th) Geneva Convention which is the International Convention covering humanitarian treatment in war;

Interestingly they are having a talk on ‘the Irish Geneva Convention’ a treaty dating from the 7th Century Cáin Adomnáin, or ‘Law of Innocents’, promulgated in Birr, Co. Offaly in 697AD

The talk is to be given by Dr. Jim Holohan who has just completed a significant academic work on the ancient treaty which will be published next year.

I went in search if elucidation:

“The Cáin Adomnáin (Law of Adomnán), also known as the Lex Innocentium (Law of Innocents), was promulgated amongst a gathering of Irish, Dál Riatan and Pictish notables at the Synod of Birr in 697. It is named after its initiator Adomnán of Iona, ninth Abbot of Iona after St. Columba. It is called the "Geneva Accords" of the ancient Irish, for its protection of women and non-combatants, extending the Law of Patrick, which protected monks, to civilians. The legal symposium at the Synod of Birr was prompted when Adomnáin had an Aisling dream vision wherein his mother excoriated him for not protecting the women and children of Ireland.” (Source Wiki)

Link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A1in_Adomn%C3%A1in

So we have had a form of International humanitarian law for almost a millennium and a half, sad therefore that even today and with all the work such as the Geneva Convention(s) there are still so many breaches of international law. Just today reports emerge of the brutal treatment of civilians in Kashmir.

Image: Signing of the 4th Geneva Convention in 1949

Bernard Moffatt

Assistant General Secretary
Celtic League"