The law of the innocents: Ireland’s medieval precursor to the Geneva conventions

Polymath: Adomnán, Abbott of Iona, was a scholar, teacher, mentor, poet, calendarist and negotiator. OrthoChristian.com The Geneva conventions, which were signed in August 1949 in the aftermath of the horrors of the second world war, are generally accepted as the gold standard of international humanitarian law. They set the rules for the treatment of both combatants and civilians during wartime. But they were preceded by more than 12 centuries by a law drawn up by a monk amid the violence of…