It remains for us to say a few words about the _fili_, the professional
literary man in Ireland. The _fili_ (from the stem _vel-_, "to see,"
Welsh, Breton, _gwelet_, "to see") appears to have been originally a
diviner and magician, and corresponds to the _vates_, [Greek: ouateis],
of the ancient Gauls mentioned by classical writers. In Ireland he is
represented as sole possessor of three methods of divination: the _imbas
forosnai_, _teinm loida_ and _dichetal di chennaib cnaime_. The first
two of these were forbidden by Patrick, but they seem to have survived
as late as the 10th century. Part of the tremendous influence exercised
by the _fili_ was due to the belief in his powers of satire. By reciting
a satirical poem or incantation he was able to raise blotches on the
face of and so disfigure any person who aroused his displeasure.
Numerous cases of this occur in Irish literature. The origin of the
science of the _fili_ is sometimes traced back to the _Dagda_, one of
the figures of the Irish pantheon, and they were held in such esteem
that the annalists give the obituaries of the head-ollams as if they
were so many princes. With the introduction of Christianity they seem to
have gradually superseded the druid, and their functions are therefore
very wide. We are told that they acted in three capacities: (i) as
story-tellers (_fer comgne_ or _scelaige_); (2) as judges (_brithem_),
including the professions of arbiters, legislators and lawyers; (3) as
poets proper (_fercerte_). We are here only concerned with the _fili_ in
his capacity of story-teller and poet. In accordance with the minute
classification of the various ranks of society in early Ireland, the
social status of the literary man was very carefully defined. The
degrees vary slightly in different documents, but the following list of
ten from the _Senchus Mor_ is very instructive: (1) The highest degree
is the _ollam_ (ollave), who knows 350 stories; (2) the _anruth_, 175
stories; (3) the _clii_, 80 stories; (4) the _cana_, 60 stories; (5) the
_doss_, 50 stories; (6) the _macfuirmid_, 40 stories; (7) the
_fochlocon_, 30 stories; (8) the _drisac_, 20 stories; (9) the _taman_,
10 stories; (10) the _oblaire_, 7 stories. In LL. we are told that the
stories (_scel_) are divided into primary and secondary, and that the
latter are only obligatory on the first four of the grades enumerated.
Again, certain styles of composition seem to have been the monopoly of
certain grades. Thus the poem which was most highly rewarded and
demanded the highest technical skill was called the _anomain_, and was
the exclusive right of the _ollam_. A notable instance of this kind of
composition is the _Amra_ of Columba, attributed to Dallan Forgaill. The
higher grades were allowed a number of attendants, whom the kings had to
support along with the poet himself. Thus the _fochlocon_ had two and
the _doss_ four attendants. In the 6th century Dallan Forgaill, the
chief _fili_ of Ireland, claimed the right to be attended by thirty
_filid_, which was the number of the train allowed to the supreme king.
The reigning monarch, Aed MacAinmirech, weary of the pretensions of the
poets, attempted to banish them, which led to the famous assembly of
Druim Ceta, where Columba intervened and reduced the number to
twenty-four (the train of a provincial king). In the plan of the hall of
Tara, preserved in LL. and YBL., the _sui littre_ or doctor in theology
has the seat of honour opposite the king. The _ollam brithem_ or supreme
judge or lawyer ranks with the highest rank of nobility, whilst the
_ollam fili_ is on a footing with the nobleman of the second degree.
We have already stated that the stories which formed the stock-in-trade
of the poets were divided into primary and secondary stories. Of the
latter there were 100, but little is known of them. However, several
more or less complete lists of the primary stories have come down to us.
The oldest catalogue (contained in LL.) gives the titles of 187 of these
tales arranged under the following heads--destructions, cow-spoils,
courtships, battles, caves, navigations, violent deaths, expeditions,
elopements and conflagrations; together with the following, which also
reckon as prime-stories--irruptions, visions, loves, hostings and
migrations. Of these stories sixty-eight have been preserved in a more
or less complete form. The tales enumerated in these catalogues, which
in their substance doubtless go back to the 8th or even to the 7th
century, fall into four main categories: (1) the mythological cycle, (2)
the Cuchulinn cycle, (3) the Finn cycle, (4) pieces relating to events
of the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries. Meyer has estimated that of the 550
titles of epic tales in D'Arbois's _Catalogue_ about 400 are known to
us, though many of them only occur in a very fragmentary state; and
about 100 others have since been discovered which were not known in
1883.
The course of training undergone by the _fili_ was a very lengthy one.
It is commonly stated to have extended over twelve years, at the end of
which time the student was thoroughly versed in all the legendary,
legal, historical and topographical lore of his native country, in the
use of the innumerable and excessively complicated Irish metres, in Ogam
writing and Irish grammar. The instruction in the schools of poetry
seems to have been entirely oral, and the course consisted largely in
learning by heart the verses in which the native lore was enshrined.
These schools of learning existed in one form or another down to the
17th century. In the early days the _fili_ is represented as employing a
mysterious archaic form of speech--doubtless full of obscure
kennings--which was only intelligible to the initiated. An instance of
this _berla feine_, as it was termed, is the piece entitled _Acallam an
Da Shuad_ (Colloquy of the Two Sages, _Rev. celt._ xxvi. 4 ff.). In this
piece two _filid_ of the 1st century A.D. are represented as contending
in this dialect for the office of chief _ollam_ of Ireland, much to the
chagrin of King Conchobar, to whom their speeches were unintelligible.
It was in consequence of this that Conchobar ruled that the office of
_fili_ should no longer carry with it of necessity the office of judge
(_brithem_). It ought to be observed that the church never showed itself
hostile to the _filid_, as it did to the druids. Dubthach, chief _fili_
of Ireland in the time of St Patrick, is represented as the saint's
constant companion, and the famous Flann Mainistrech (d. 1056), though a
layman and _fili_, was head of the monastery school at Monasterboice.
The bard.
Before leaving the subject of the literary classes, we must notice an
inferior grade of poet--the bard. Like the official _filid_, the bards
were divided into grades. There were both patrician and plebeian bards,
each subdivided into eight degrees, having their own peculiar metres.
Like the _fili_ the bard had to go through a long course of study, and
he was generally attached to the house of some chieftain whose praises
he had to sing. In course of time the office of _fili_ became extinct,
owing to a variety of causes, and from the 13th to the 16th century we
find the hitherto despised family bard stepping into the place of the
most influential literary man in Ireland. His importance was fully
realized by the English government, which did its best to suppress the
order.
Medieval romances.
The medieval romances form by far the most attractive part of Irish
literature, and it is to them that we shall first turn our attention.
Two main groups of stories have to be distinguished. The one is the
Ulster cycle, with Conchobar and Cuchulinn as central figures. The other
is the Southern or Leinster-Munster cycle, revolving round Finn and
Ossian. Further stories dealing with mythological and historical
personages will be mentioned in their turn.
Ulster cycle.