B R E 



in Cornwall, N.W. of St. Mary, and \V. of Ticfcaw, Uvo 

 othtr iflin.is. Il is moimtaiiKUis and rocky, contains ieveral 

 larrowj and nionuincnts of the Druids and is inhabited by 

 jo families. It abounds with fca and land fowls, excell^cnt 

 f.myhirc, and a variety of medical herbs. N. lat. 50° 2'. 

 W.lonp. '.'■' 4^. 



BREIIKMONT, a town of France, ui the department 

 of the h.d.e and Loire ; 4 leagues W. of Tours. 



BRKHNA. a Imall town of Germany, in the circle and 

 cledlorate of Upper Saxony, and in the piefeauratc of Bit- 

 tcrfdJ, havi-?g both feat and voice at the provincial diets; 

 12 milts E.N.E. of Halle. 



BREHONS, in ylntiquUy, hereditary judges belonging 

 to the inferior provincial kings, and alfo to the nobles or 

 chieftains, among the ancient Iridi, by whom jiiilice was ad- 

 miniflered, and controverlies decided. 



Thefc fages were a dillinfl tribe or family, to whom com- 

 petent lands were allowed in inheritance. One of thefe 

 fcems to have belonged to each fept or tribe ; and they fat 

 to try c-aiifes in the open air, cither on the fumniit of a hill, 

 or on its acclivity, as had been the cullom of the Druids ; 

 and in fuch places the Iriih continued alfo to hold their pro- 

 vincial afTemblies, where all diflerences or complaints between 

 diftrici and dillrid, and even private caufes of extraordinary 

 importance or difficulty, were heard and determined. To theie 

 meetinnrs they came armed, fome on horfeback, and fome on 

 foot, as was iifnal among all the ancient colonies of the Celts in 

 their public confultations. Brehons' chairs, or mounts, which 

 are fuppofed to have been appropriated to this purpofe, arc 

 found in many parts of Ireland. Dr. I.edwich has given a 

 ^iew of one of them, featcd on the hill of Kyle, in the 

 Queen's county. Campion fpeaks of fuch lawyers in i j70, 

 who, after the cullom of the country, determintd and judged 

 caufes ; to which Statiihurft. adds, that they were entirely 

 unacquainted with the Englifh, the canon, and civil law ; 

 that their determinations were founded on no folid rules, 

 but on precedents fanftioned by time and ufage ; and that 

 thefe were kept profound fecrets, by which they acquired 

 admiration, and maintained their influence. An old man, 

 the principal brchon in the pait now called Monaghan, is 

 mentioned by fir John Davics, attorney-general of Ireland in 

 the rtign of James I. (fee his Trafts), as being fummoned 

 before the lord chancellor, himfelf, and fome others, when on a 

 •tour thrpugh the north, in 1606 ; and on a folemn promife 

 •f its being returned to him, he produced a roll out of his 

 bofom, written on both fides in a fair Iridt charafter, but 

 worn and defaced with time and ill-keeping. Of the rules 

 of the law by which the brehons determined caufes, Cr John 

 Davies delivers this opinion : " If we confider the nature of 

 the Irifh cvilloms, we (hall find that the people which doth 

 life them mull of necelTity be rebels to all good government, 

 deftroy the commonwealth wherein they live, and bring bar- 

 barifm and defolation upon the richell and mofl fruitful land 

 of the world. For, whereas by the juit and honourable law 

 of England, and by the laws of all other well governed 

 kingdoms and commonweals, murder, nian-flaughter, rape, 

 robbery, and theft, are punifhed with death ; by the Irilli 

 cuftom, or brehon law, the higheft of thefe offences was 

 punifhed only by fine, which they called an " ericke." He 

 thus defcribes the mode of impofing it : " For offences and 

 matters criminal, none was of fo heinous a nature, that it was 

 capital : for treafon againft the chief lord, and murder, were 

 fineable ; the fine they called an " ericke," which was af- 

 feffed by the lord and his brehons. In cafe of treafon, the 

 lord had all the fine ; in cafe of murder, the lord had one 

 moiety, and the kindred of the party (lain the other moiety ; 

 fo as they never forfeited their poiTcffions or their lands for 

 any offence. Howbcil their lands were fciztd by the lords 

 6 



B R E 



for their fines, until the fame were levied thereupon, and 

 then reilorcd. Rape was fineable in like fm t ; but theft 

 defervcd praife and reward, if the iUalth were brought into 

 the country, bccaufe the lord had a (hare, and the country 

 thereby became the richer. But the theft being committed 

 in the country and carried out, if the thief were apprehended 

 before his friend made ofl'er of his fine, he was commonly 

 punidied with death. But the lord, in that cafe, might take 

 an " ericke," if he would. The brehons, affilled by certain 

 fcholars, who had learned many rules of the civil and canon 

 law, gave judgment in all caufes, and had the eleventh 

 part of the thing adjudged for their fee ; and the cliief'slurd 

 luarlhal did executions." Having defcribcd the Irifli cuf- 

 toms of tanillry and gavel-kind, he thus coneludts : " Thefe 

 are the principal rules and grounds of the brehon law, 

 which the makers of the Itatutcs of Kilkenny did, not 

 without caufe, call a " lewd cullom ;" for it was the caufe 

 of much lew^nefs and barbarifm. It gave countenance and 

 encouragement to theft, rapine, and murder ; it made all 

 poireffions uncertain ; whereby it came to pafs, that there 

 was no building of houfes and towns, nor education of 

 children in learning or civility, no exercife of trades or 

 handicrafts, no improvement or manuring of lands, no in- 

 duftry or virtue in u!e among them ; but the people were 

 bred in loofenefs and idlenefs, which hath been the true 

 caufe of all the mifchlefs and miferics in that kingdom." 



BREHON/fltfj- denote the general maxims, or rules of 

 law, obferved by the brehons, and having the force of law- 

 throughout all the provinces of Ireland, previoully to the 

 fettlement of the Englifii. 



Several fragments of the leges brehmias are ftill extant in- 

 public and private libraries. The molt complete colleftioa 

 is that belonging to the duke of Chandos, containing twenty- 

 two fheets and an half, clofe written, full of abbreviated 

 words, and not very legible. This colleiftion, falling into 

 the hands of fir J. Sebright, was given by him to the iiniver- 

 fity of Dublin, and forms 28 volumes. Thefe laws refcmble 

 thofe of other ancient people, in the order of fucceffion 

 called taniftry, and in appointing fines for murder and other 

 heinous crimes. From the refemblance of fome of them to 

 thofe of Afiatic countries, general Valiancy has endeavoured 

 to ilrengthen his arguments in favour of the oriental origin 

 of the Irilh ; whilil Dr. Ledwich urges the fimilarity of the 

 fame laws to the laws and cuftoms of the ancient Germans 

 and the northern tribes, in favour of the truth of Spelman's. 

 airertion, that the Irifh are " Gernianorum nepotes," of 

 German origin,. Dr. Ledwich afferts, that " the Irilh erics, 

 are plain trai>fcrlpts of the Salic and other weregilds in Lin- 

 denbrog's German codes." The reader, who is defirous of 

 further fatisfaftlon in this inquiry, will find mod that has 

 been faid refptfting the origin of the brehons in Dr. Led- 

 wich's " Antiquities of Ireland," and in the " CollciSanea 

 de rebus Hibernicis," and other works of general Valiancy. 

 The latter gentleman has pubHflied a tranilation of fome 

 parts of the code, in the loth number of the " Collc£la- 

 nea." 



At the time of the conquefl of Ireland by king Henry IL 

 A.D. 1 172. the Irilh were governed by the brehon law ; but 

 the laws of England were then received and fworn to by 

 the Irifh nation, affembled at the council of Lifmoie. King 

 John, in the 12th year of his reign, carried over with \\\n\ 

 into Ireland many able fages of the law ; and there by his 

 letters patent, in right of the dominion of conqueft, is faid 

 to have ordained and cilablilhed, that Ireland fhould be go- 

 verned by the laws of England ; which letters patent fir 

 Edward Coke (i Lift. i6i.) apprehends to have been then 

 confirmed in parliament. But to this ordinance many of 

 the Irillj were avetfe from conforming, and Hill adhered to 



their 



