On the subject of the Brehon Laws

by HighKingOC

Hello and good evening /r/AskHistorians. I come to you with a couple questions about the Irish Brehon laws. I was wondering if any of you could tell me or point me in the direction for, information on how an individuals honor-price was determined and how much an eraic was? Also if possible I would very much like to know the honor price for each grade of king was. As for when, post-norman conquest to pre-flight of the Earls would be excellent.

depanneur

An individual's honour price was determined by their social class. This social class was in turn determined by status of birth and by the value of property, reckoned in cattle. It was quite possibly for a lower noble to have less property than an independent wealthy commoner, but the noble's honour price might be higher than the commoner's on account of his birth. Honour prices determined the compensation given to an injured party by the transgressor, but more importantly determined what an individual could receive from a patron in return for their clientship.

Honour price was central to the system of clientship on which Irish society functioned. There were two kinds of clientship: free clientship where a client received livestock or land to be repaid in seven years in exchange for a regular rent and military service. A base client received a similar grant as a free client, but had to pay a regular food rent, host his patron & retinue and provide labour when his patron demanded it (for the construction of fortifications, agricultural work etc). As well, the patron would pay a base client his honour price, and in return was entitled to a portion of any future honour prices paid to the client for injuries and offences. The amount of land, livestock or equipment given to a client was determined by their honour price, and base clientship was reserved for the commoners.

Interestingly, the price of an eraic remained constant regardless of social class; the price for killing a lowly peasant and an aristocrat was the same. The distinction between the eraic and honour price can probably be explained by the increasing social stratification in Ireland beginning in the 8th century, if not earlier, and increasing contact with Germanic societies and their institution of weregild in Anglo-Saxon England and the Continent. If a murderer remained at large and the eraic/honour price was not paid, the victim's family could initiate a blood feud with the murderer's and choose an aire echta (Lord of Vengeance) to lead a group of volunteers to extract revenge from the offender.

If you want exact numbers, you should consult a translation of the Críth Gablach as a primary source on status and law in early Ireland. As well, D. A. Binchy remains the authority on early Irish law and many of his articles can be found online (although JSTOR isn't working for me right now, so I don't have specific ones on hand). Dáibhí Ó Cróinín's Early Medieval Ireland: 400-1200 is a good source to provide context for Irish law and society as well.