plague in the Middle Ages would probably have been
somewhere in the region of 25 percent to 33 precent,
if contemporary European mortality models are
taken into account. That it ceased to spread after
about two years is probably as a result of the eventual
death of all the carriers, infected rats, as well as the
building-up of some kind of natural immunity over
this period by the healthiest members of the Irish
population. One should also note that although the
Black Death as such ended at that point, the recurrence
of plague was a regular phenomenon in succeeding
generations.
TERRY BARRY
References and Further Reading
Butler, Richard, ed. The Annals of Ireland by Friar John Clyn
and Thady Dowling. Dublin: Irish Archaeological Society,
1849.
Freeman, A. Martin, ed.The Annals of Connacht (1224–1544).
Dublin: Government Publication Office, 1944.
Kelly, Maria. A History of the Black Death in Ireland. Stroud,
England: Tempus, 2001.
Twigg, Graham. The Black Death: A Biological Reappraisal.
London: Batsford, 1984.
Ziegler, Philip. The Black Death. London: Collins, 1969.
See alsoAgriculture; Annals and Chronicles;
Clyn, Friar; Diet and Food; Dublin; Famine
and Hunger; Medicine; Pilgrims; Population;
FitzRalph, Richard; Villages, Walled Towns
BLATHMAC (fl.EIGHTH CENTURY)
Blathmac was the son of Cú Brettan mac Congusso
(d. 740), who was perhaps king of the Fir Roiss, a sept
of the Airgialla, located in modern counties Louth and
Monaghan. In the eighth-century saga of the battle of
Allen (718), his father is represented as a combatant
and ally of the king of Tara, Fergal mac Máele-dúin.
He was a poet and author of devotional poems on the
Passion of Christ and the Virgin Mary, which are found
uniquely in MS G 50 in the National Library of Ireland.
They apparently do not survive in their entirety: the
first,Tair cucom, a Maire bóid, now has 149 stanzas,
originally perhaps 150; the second, A Maire, grian ar
clainde,is a continuation of the first. There may have
been a third, thus comprising a triptych of 3 by 150.
The language of the poems is Old Irish, of a form
contemporary with the eighth-century glosses, and
they were therefore probably composed between 750
and 770.
Blathmac’s poetry shows familiarity with Scripture,
patristic literature, and biblical apocrypha. It is espe-
cially interesting that it draws upon the apocryphal
Acts of Thomas as a source for some incidents in the
life of Christ. His praise of Mary is framed within a
description of Christ’s life, miracles, teaching, and pas-
sion. His metaphors and motifs are drawn from con-
temporary Irish social, legal, and religious institutions,
and his poems therefore give us a valuable insight into
the Zeitgeist of the period.
AIDAN BREENReferences and Further Reading
Byrne, F. J. Irish Kings and High-Kings. London: Batsford,
1973.
Carney, J. “Old Ireland and Her Poetry.” In Old Ireland, edited
by Robert McNally, 147–152. Dublin: Gill, 1965.
———.The Poems of Blathmac Son of Cú Brettan, Together
with the Irish Gospel of Thomas and a Poem on the Virgin
Mary. Dublin: Irish Texts Society, Educational Company of
Ireland, 1966.
Good, J. “The Mariology of the Blathmac Poem.” Irish Eccle-
siastical Record104 (1964): 1–7.
Lambkin, B. “The Structure of the Blathmac Poems.” Studia
Celtica20–21 (1985–1986): 67–77.
———. “Blathmac and the Céile Dé: A Reappraisal.” Celtica
23 (2000): 132–154.
O’Dwyer, P. Devotion to Mary in Ireland,700–1100. Dublin:
Editions Tailliura, 1976.
See alsoAirgialla; Áes dána; Biblical and Church
Fathers Influence; Languages; Poetry, Irish; Poets,
Men of LearningBREHON LAW
“Brehon law” is a term used to describe the native Irish
legal system. This system operated in Gaelic Ireland
until the early seventeenth century. The phrase “Brehon
law” comes from the Irish word for a “judge,” which
was Anglicized as “brehon.” The Irish themselves gen-
erally referred to their law as fénechas (Irish jurispru-
dence). The term “Brehon law” is nevertheless an apt
one. Irish law was “judge-made” law; its texts distill
the legal rules and remedies developed over the centu-
ries by highly trained professional jurists. It was an
“organic” system that reflected the complexities of Irish
society. This explains its richness and sophistication.
Had lawmaking been the preserve of Ireland’s many
petty kings, it is likely that it would have been a more
rudimentary affair, focused primarily on coercive rules
and the accumulation of state revenues. King-made
law would also have been fragmented and transitory:
Ireland was made up of numerous petty kingdoms,
arranged in turbulent alliances. However, Brehon law
was the product of a learned class which transcended
political boundaries. As a result, Brehon law was
“national,” in the sense that it was a cultural phenom-
enon of Ireland as a whole, with few (if indeed any)
discernible regional variations.
This is not to say that the petty kings had no role
in Irish law. As heads of their respective kingdoms theyBLACK DEATH