A book by that title published several years ago demonstrated that during the darkest years of Europe when the church burnt books, condemned science (and all knowledge not dictated by the church), forbid free thinking, and justified slavery and the brutal rule of despots, Irish monks of the Celtic church continued to collect, copy and hide the great works of science and philosophy in defiance of Rome. When the Dark Ages ended, the Irish alone held and shared all that was valuable and necessary to building civilization as we know it now.
But Irish thought contributed to civilization far beyond their collection of classic thoughts and ideas. The Irish for example, first championed equality for women. Ancient Irish laws, the Brehon Laws (8th century), provided women full equality with men. They could inherit or bequeath property: marry or divorce the man of their choosing; even the right of a woman to experience satisfaction in marriage was enshrined in its legal framework. The rest of Europe where still burning uppity women at the stake as a national pastime. The Irish attitude to equality between the sexes was nothing short of revolutionary. The English stamped out the Brehon Laws, and with them the rights of women, under Queen Elizabeth of England.
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