medieval-atlas/administration/189

Transcription

Breitheamh, breive, dempster and deemster An important judicial officer in Celtic Scotland was the breitheamh, a Gaelic word meaning judge, Scotticised as 'breive' or'dempster'. In Latin documents between about I 100 and about 1300 these officers are designated 'judex'. The map is based first on Professor G.W.S. Barrow's list of these Scottish judices, which suggests that they had a provincial jurisdiction. Further, however, tradition and documentary evidence from after 1400 tell how each of the islands within the Lordship ofthe Isles had its own judge under achiefjudge -thejudex insularum -who may have been based in Lewis. The Scouishjudges had their counterparts in Ireland, Wales and, in particular, in thebriw or deemster of Man, as the repositories of traditional law and custom. The map indicates those provinces to which documentary evidence shows judices were attached, indicating such provinces with capital lettering. Also shown (in italic lettering) are those other provinces within which judices were operative or with which they were traditionally associated. It should be noted that there is a close parallel with the geographical distribution of the toiseachdeor. ...... BUCHAN Provinces to which CUMBRIA judices were attached FothriJ Other provinces in which judices were operative or with which traditionally associated kms 0 25 50 7,5 100 ,, , I , 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 miles La~MAN HLM Breitheamh, breive, dempster and deemster 189

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