User:Expectation1900/sandbox

Ireland
A poem by Flann Mainistrech claims that the goddess Áine died of love for Banba, but rather than representing a lesbian lover, Banba may be a personification of Ireland in this story. St. Brigid of Kildare, who died in the 6th century, may have had a lesbian relationship with Darlughdacha, a nun with whom she shared a bed.

An early story about Irish lesbianism involves the 8th-century king Niall Frossach and is recorded in the Book of Leinster. A woman has given birth to a child without having had sex with a man, and the king must explain how this has happened: "The king was silent then. 'Have you had playful mating with another woman?', said he, 'and do not conceal it if you have'. 'I will not conceal it', said she; 'I have'. 'It is true...', said the king. 'That woman had mated with a man just before, and the semen which he left with her, she put into your womb in the tumbling, so that it was begotten in your womb. That man is the father of your child, and let it be found out who he is'."The story uses the term lánamnas rebartha 'playful mating' to refer to lesbian sex.

The Old Irish Penitential is a penitential written in Old Irish from before the end of the 8th century. It specified the same punishment for men who have intercrural or anal sex as for "women or girls who do the same thing among themselves". The punishment was two years of penance.