Bibliography
  1. Home
  2. Bibliography
  3. Hewer (S. G.) 2018 118Chid

Hewer, S. G., “The myth of the ‘five bloods': from fiction to legal custom in the English royal courts in fourteenth-century Ireland”, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 118 C (2018): 167–200.

  • journal article
Citation details
Contributors
Article
“The myth of the ‘five bloods': from fiction to legal custom in the English royal courts in fourteenth-century Ireland”
Periodical
Volume
118 C
Pages
167–200
BibTeX
Description
Abstract (cited)
This paper examines two issues: misconceptions concerning English law in high medieval Ireland; and the invention and mutation of an exceptio (objection) in court which was based on a fabrication. The plea, or defensive claim, was that the plaintiff in a court case was an unfranchised Gael (Hibernica/Hibernicus) and therefore could not sue a civil writ in the English king's royal courts in Ireland. This pleading has led some historians to surmise that all Gaels were unfranchised in English Ireland without a personal grant of access from the crown of England. The plea also claimed that only five Gaelic families were allowed to sue in the royal courts. Each time the plea was made, it changed, and after sixty years a defendant claimed that the ancestors of the then current king (Edward III) had granted access to English law only to five Gaelic families. There are many problems with this claim.
Subjects and topics
Headings
English law in Ireland 14th century
web page identifiers
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
October 2019, last updated: December 2021
Retrieved from ‘https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?title=Hewer_(S._G.)_2018_118Chid&oldid=249314’