Celtic Tribe of Legend
Fianna
(
FEE
-?-n?
,
Irish:
[?f?i?n???]
; singular
Fian
;
[1]
Scottish Gaelic
:
Feinne
[?feː??]
) were small warrior-hunter bands in
Gaelic Ireland
during the
Iron Age
and
early Middle Ages
. A
fian
was made up of freeborn young males, often from the
Gaelic nobility of Ireland
, "who had left
fosterage
but had not yet inherited the property needed to settle down as full landowning members of the
tuath
". For most of the year they lived in the wild, hunting,
cattle raiding
other
Irish clans
, training, and fighting as mercenaries. Scholars believe the
fian
was a
rite of passage
into manhood, and have linked
fianna
with
similar young warrior bands
in other early European cultures.
They are featured in a body of
Irish legends
known as the
'Fianna Cycle' or 'Fenian Cycle'
, which focuses on the adventures and heroic deeds of the
fian
leader
Fionn mac Cumhaill
and his band. In later tales, the
fianna
are more often depicted as household troops of the
High Kings
.
The
Fenian Brotherhood
of the 19th-century and the
Fianna Eireann
, an
Irish nationalist
youth organisation of the 20th century, are named after them.
Historicity
[
edit
]
The historical institution of the
fian
is known from references in
early medieval Irish law tracts
. A
fian
(plural
fiana
or
fianna
) was a small band of roving hunter-warriors.
[2]
It was made up of landless young men of free birth, often young
aristocrats
,
[3]
"who had left
fosterage
but had not yet inherited the property needed to settle down as full landowning members of the
tuath
".
[4]
A member of a
fian
was called a
fennid
; the leader of a
fian
was a
rigfennid
(literally "king-
fennid
").
[5]
The
fian
way of life was called
fianaigecht
and involved living in the wild, hunting, raiding, martial and athletic training, and even training in poetry.
[2]
They also served as mercenaries.
[2]
Wild animals, particularly the wolf and the deer, seem to have been
fian
mascots.
[2]
Some sources associate
fianna
with the outdoor cooking pits known as
fulacht fiadh
.
[2]
Many of the first mentions of
fianna
are connected with
Scoti
raids in
Britain during the end of the Roman rule
.
[6]
Geoffrey Keating
, in his 17th-century
History of Ireland
, says that during the winter the
fianna
were quartered and fed by the nobility, during which time they would keep order on their behalf, but during the summer/autumn, from
Beltaine
to
Samhain
, they were obliged to live by hunting for food and for pelts to sell.
[7]
Keating's
History
is more a compilation of traditions than a reliable history, but in this case scholars point to references in early Irish literature and the existence of a closed hunting season for deer and wild boar between Samhain and Beltaine in medieval
Scotland
as corroboration.
[8]
Hubert Thomas Knox
(1908) likened the
fianna
to "bodies of
Gallowglasses
such as appeared in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but then under command of adventurers who were not inhabitants of the province, Free Companies who sold their services to any one who could raise their wages".
[9]
Joseph Nagy writes that the
fian
seemingly "served a vital function in siphoning off undesirable elements [...] providing an outlet for rambunctious behaviour", and was a
rite of passage
that prepared young men for adult life.
[2]
Katharine Simms writes that "While most members eventually inherited land, married and settled down, some passed their lives as professional champions, employed by the rest of the population to avenge their wrongs, collect debts, enforce order at feasts and so forth".
[10]
The
fian
was a tolerated institution in early Irish secular society, and secular literature continued to endorse it down to the 12th century. However, the institution was not favoured by the church, and it is likely the church was key in the demise of the
fian
.
[6]
Churchmen sometimes referred to them as
diberga
(which came to mean 'marauders') and
maicc bais
('sons of death'),
[2]
[10]
and several
hagiographies
tell of saints converting them from their "non-Christian and destructive ways".
[2]
They are described as having a
culan
hairstyle: long at the back, with the scalp partly shaved.
[10]
Some are also described as having strange or 'devilish' marks on their head; this has been taken to mean
tattoos
.
[11]
Origins
[
edit
]
Scholars have linked the
fianna
with similar young warrior bands in other early European cultures, and suggest they all derive from the *
koryos
which is thought to have existed in
Proto-Indo-European society
.
[4]
Linguist
Ranko Matasovi?
, author of the
Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic
, derives the name
fiana
from reconstructed
Proto-Celtic
*w?n?
(a
troop
), from
Proto-Indo-European
*weyh
(to chase, pursue), and says the Irish ethnic name
Feni
is probably related.
[12]
Kim McCone derives it from Proto-Celtic
*w?nn?
<
*w?d-n?
(wild ones).
[13]
Heinrich Zimmer
(1891), however, suggested that the
fianna
tales come from the heritage of the
Norse-Gaels
.
[14]
He derived the name
fianna
from an Irish rendering of Old Norse
fiandr
"enemies" > "brave enemies" > "brave warriors".
[14]
He also noted Fionn's
Thumb of Knowledge
is similar to the Norse tale of
Sigurðr
tasting
Fafnir
's heart.
[15]
[16]
Legendary depiction
[
edit
]
The
fianna
are the focus of a body of
Irish legends
known as the
Fianaigecht
, 'Fianna Cycle' or 'Fenian Cycle'
. Most are about the adventures and heroic deeds of
Finn (or Fionn) mac Cumhaill
and his
fian
members.
In earlier tales, the various
fianna
groups are depicted as roving hunter-warriors, and there are many pagan and magical elements.
[10]
Later tales focus on Fionn and his companions, and the
fianna
are more often depicted as household troops of the
High Kings
.
[10]
These later tales usually depict the
fianna
as one group with two factions: the Clann Baiscne of
Leinster
, led by Fionn, and the Clann Morna of
Connacht
, led by
Goll mac Morna
.
Some legendary depictions of
fianna
seem to conform to historical reality: for example, in the
Ulster Cycle
the druid
Cathbad
leads a
fian
of 27 men which fights against other
fianna
and kills the 12 foster-fathers of the
Ulster
princess
Ness
. In response, Ness leads her own
fian
of 27 in pursuit of Cathbad.
[17]
War cry and mottos
[
edit
]
The
Dord Fian
[18]
or
Dord Fiansa
[19]
was the
war-cry
of the
Fianna
, and they often sounded it before and amid battle, either as a mode of communication or to put fear into their enemies. In the legend
"The Death of Fionn"
,
Fionn
raises the
Dord Fian
when he sees his grandson
Oscar
fall in the
Battle of Gabhra
against the armies of
Cairbre Lifechair
, and proceeds to strike back at the enemy with great fury, killing many dozens of warriors.
[20]
The
Battle of Gabhra
also marked the demise of the Fianna.
They had three
mottoes
:
- Glaine ar gcroi
(Purity of our hearts)
- Neart ar ngeag
(Strength of our limbs)
- Beart de reir ar mbriathar
(Action to match our speech)
Notable
fennid
[
edit
]
Modern use of the term
[
edit
]
In more recent history, the name
Fianna Eireann
has been used, as
Fianna Fail
("the
Fianna
of Ireland", or
Inis Fail
i.e. "the isle of destiny", and hence sometimes rendered "the soldiers of destiny") has been used: as a sobriquet for the
Irish Volunteers
, on the cap badge of the
Irish Army
, the name in Irish of the
Army Ranger Wing
(
Sciathan Fiannoglaigh an Airm
), in the opening line of the Irish-language version of
the Irish national anthem
, and as the name of the
Fianna Fail
political party. The Army Ranger Wing's motto is also "
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
eDIL: Fian
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Nagy, Joseph (2006). "Fian". In John T. Koch (ed.).
Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia
. ABC-CLIO. pp. 743?744.
- ^
, similar to the original three motto's of the Fianna. Daibhi O Croinin,
Early Medieval Ireland
, Longman, 1995, p. 88
- ^
a
b
McCone, Kim.
Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature
. 1990. p205.
- ^
Dictionary of the Irish Language
, Compact Edition,
Royal Irish Academy
, 1990, pp. 299, 507
- ^
a
b
Harry Roe, Ann Dooley (editors).
Tales of the Elders of Ireland
. Oxford University Press, 1999. pp.xi - xiii
- ^
Geoffrey Keating
,
Foras Feasa ar Eirinn
2.45
- ^
Nerys Patterson,
Cattle Lords and Clansmen: the Social Structure of Early Ireland
, University of Notre Dame Press, 1994, p. 122-123
- ^
Hubert Thomas Knox, 'The history of the county of Mayo to the close of the sixteenth century', 1908, p. 13
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Simms, Katharine (1997). "Gaelic warfare in the middle ages". In Thomas Bartlett (ed.).
A Military History of Ireland
. Cambridge University Press. pp. 101?102.
- ^
MacQuarrie, Charles (2000). "Insular Celtic tattooing". In Jane Caplan (ed.).
Written on the Body: The Tattoo in European and American History
. Princeton University Press. pp. 42?44.
- ^
Matasovi?, Ranko
(2009). "w?n?".
Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic
. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 412.
- ^
McCone, Kim (2013). "The Celts: questions of nomenclature and identity", in
Ireland and its Contacts
.
University of Lausanne
. p.26
- ^
a
b
Zimmer, Heinrich (1891).
Keltische Beitrage III, in: Zeitschrift fur deutsches Alterthum und deutsche Litteratur
(in German). Weidmannsche Buchhandlung. pp. 15ff.
- ^
Scowcroft, Richard Mark (1995),
"Abstract Narrative in Ireland"
,
Eriu
,
46
: 121?158,
JSTOR
30007878
: 155
- ^
Scott, Robert D. (1930),
The thumb of knowledge in legends of Finn, Sigurd, and Taliesin
, New York: Institute of French Studies
- ^
Kuno Meyer
, "Anecdota from the Stowe MS. No. 992",
Revue Celtique
6, 1884, pp. 173-186
- ^
Oxford Reference: Dord Fian
- ^
eDIL
- "dord",
http://www.dil.ie/18319
- ^
Augusta, Lady Gregory
-
Gods and Fighting Men (1904) Chapter - The Death of Fionn