Early Irish law, also called Brehon law, comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norman invasion of 1169, but underwent a resurgence from the 13th until the 17th century, over the majority of the island, and survived into Early Modern Ireland in parallel with English law. Early Irish law was often mixed with Christian influence and juristic innovation. These secular laws existed in parallel, and occasionally in conflict, with canon law throughout the early Christian period.
Redwood Castle, County Tipperary, although built by the Normans, was later occupied by the MacEgan juristic family and served as a school of Irish law under them.
Ruins of the O'Davoren law school at Cahermacnaghten, County Clare, which was occupied in the later Middle Ages
Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland
The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly sanctioned by the papal bull Laudabiliter. At the time, Gaelic Ireland was made up of several kingdoms, with a High King claiming lordship over most of the other kings. The Anglo-Norman invasion was a watershed in Ireland's history, marking the beginning of more than 800 years of direct English and, later, British, conquest and colonialism in Ireland.
The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife (1854), by Daniel Maclise
"Henry authorizes Dermod to levy forces", from A Chronicle of England (1864) by James Doyle
"Henry at Waterford", from A Chronicle of England (1864) by James Doyle
A depiction of Raymond FitzGerald from Gerald de Barri's Expugnatio Hibernica