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< fili > (plural: filid, filidh).
..."Member of a privileged
powerful caste of poets,
diviners and seers in early Ireland.
To be distinguished from the
lower-status bard and the brehon...

— James MacKillop

The fili (or filè) (Old Irish pronunciation: [/?f?il?i/]), plural filid, filidh (or filès), was a member of an elite class of poets in Ireland, and later Scotland, up until the Renaissance. The filid were believed to have the power of divination, and therefore able to foresee, foretell, predict – important events.

In an early society where most people were illiterate – including its hierarchy of chieftains, sub-kings and kings – the oral tradition was an important means of communicating current news and historical events. As both a poet and storyteller, the fili would hope to gain a professional reputation for the authenticity and reliability of their information.

Etymology

The term fili likely derives from primitive Irish ???????]VELITAS]; from Proto-Celtic *weleti ("to see"); and Proto-Indo-European *wel- ("to see, perceive"). An etymology from PIE welo- is offered by Matasovi?. He notes: "The semantic development of Olr.fil was from 'Lo, behold' (lmpv. of *wel-o- 'see') to 'there is'. Olr.file [d m] 'poet' is a derivative from this root (cf. Ogam Gen. sg. VELITAS). The original meaning was 'seer', PCelt. *wel-et-."

The word "fili" is thought to derive from the Proto-Celtic *widluios, meaning "seer, one who sees" (attested on the Gaulish inscription from Larzac as "uidluias", which is the feminine genitive singular form), derived ultimately from the verb *widlu-, "to see". To be compared to the Latin vatis and the Ancient Greek ouateis, stemmed in Gaulish, modern vate improperly written ovate but still used by the OBOD neodruids.

Highest orders

Ollam

Main article: Ollam

There were seven orders of fili, the highest order being the ollam, which required at least 12 years of training. The ollam were required to commit to memory 250 major tales and 350 minor ones.

Ollamh érenn (Ireland)

Main article: Ollamh érenn

The Ollamh érenn was the master poet of Ireland. There was a hierarchy of master poets:

1. Each túath had its own ollam.
2. Each province had a head ollam above the túath ollams.
3. The Ollamh érenn was the head ollam above all others.

An Ollaimh Righ at the coronation of Alexander III as King of Scots, 1249.

Ollamh rig Alban (Scotland)

In medieval Scotland the Ollamh rig Alban – 'Master poet of Scotland' – was an important member of the king's court. Whenever a new king was inaugurated, it was necessary for the Ollamh rig to recite the future king's genealogy, in order to verify his legitimate right to succeed.

Phrase	English	Scottish Gaelic
Ollamh rig Alban	Master poet of Scotland	<Alba> Scotland
An Ollaimh Righ	The master poet of the king	<rìgh> king
Do gairm rig	Proclamation of the king	<gairm> proclamation

Footprint used in king-making ceremonies, Dunadd

Do gairm rig (Dal Riata)

The ancient traditions of the inauguration ceremony at Scone beside the River Tay in Scotland, including the recital of the future king's ancestry, probably originated from the Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland.

Those traditions were introduced into Scottish Dal Riata – from Irish Dal Riata – where the ceremony was known as do gairm rig ..."Proclamation of the king". The Dal Riata community later moved east to the Perthshire region of Scotland, following Viking attacks on the west coast in the 9th century.

Kenneth MacAlpin

Viking attacks on the north east coast of Pictland resulted in a power vacuum, and an opportunity for Kenneth MacAlpin to become the first leader of both Dal Riata and Pictland. A new royal power base and inauguration site was created at Scone beside the River Tay.

Seanchaí

Main article: Seanchaí

The term poet is misleading, because the filid were also seanchaí – historians – who advised chieftains and kings on political matters. The filid were believed to have the power of divination, and therefore able to foresee, foretell, predict – important events.

Fear of satire

The term poet is misleading, because the filid had extraordinary power and influence over the kings and political leaders who sponsored them. It was important for leaders to treat the filid with respect, and to reward them handsomely, in order to get good quality information on current affairs. The filid had the ability to portray their sponsors in a positive or negative way, and to influence neighbouring leaders.

At the darker and more extreme end of the scale – if leaders failed to treat the filid with due respect – they ran the risk of satire – a kind of blackmail – whereby the filid might ridicule them in front of neighbouring leaders.

The filid were believed to have the power of divination, and therefore able to foresee, foretell, predict – important events. It was also feared that they might have the power to influence future events.

Classification

Irish storytelling

The tales regaled by the filid were classified as:

Old Irish	English
togla	destructions
tana	cattle raids
tochmarca	wooings
catha	battles
uatha	terrors
immrama	voyages
aite	deaths
fessa	feasts
forbassa	sieges
echtrae	adventure journeys
aitheda	elopements
airgne	plunderings

Irish poetry

See also: Irish poetry and Early Irish literature

Bérla na filed

Bérla na filed – "language of the poets" – was possibly an esoteric mix of Latin, Hebrew, English, and Irish.

History

See also: Gaelic Ireland and Early Irish literature

Elite scholars

According to the Textbook of Irish Literature, by Eleanor Hull:

The file is to be regarded as in the earliest times as combining in his person the functions of magician, lawgiver, judge, counsellor to the chief, and poet. Later, but still at a very early time, the offices seem to have been divided, the brehons devoting themselves to the study of law, and the giving of legal decisions, the druids arrogating to themselves the supernatural functions, with the addition, possibly of some priestly offices, and the filí themselves being henceforth principally as poets and philosophers. The division seems to have already existed in Ireland at the time of St Patrick, whose preaching brought him into constant opposition with the druids, who were evidently, at that time, regarded as the religious leaders of the nation, though there does not seem to be much sign that they were, as they undoubtedly were, even at an earlier age in Britain and Gaul, sacrificing priests.

Oral tradition

The fili maintained an oral tradition that predated the Christianisation of Ireland. In this tradition, poetic and musical forms are important not only for aesthetics, but also for their mnemonic value. The tradition allowed plenty of room for improvisation and personal expression, especially in regard to creative hyperbole and clever kenning. However, the culture placed great importance on the fili's ability to pass stories and information down through the generations without making changes in those elements that were considered factual rather than embellishment.

In this manner, a significant corpus of pre-Christian myth and epic literature remained largely intact many centuries into the Christian era. Much of it was first recorded in writing by scholarly Christian monks. The synergy between the rich and ancient indigenous oral literary tradition and the classical tradition resulted in an explosion of monastic literature that included epics of war, love stories, nature poetry, saint tales and so forth which collectively resulted in the largest corpus of non-Latin literature seen in Europe since Ancient Greece.

Decline

The ultimate accommodation of Christianity within Irish Gaelic society resulted in a strain on the resources of the Chiefs and in that they were required to provide land and titles for both fili and bishop alike. Consequently, a decision was made in the 6th century to limit the number of fili to certain families who were respected and believed to be poets as a birthright. The greatest of these families included the ó Dálaigh (O'Daly), several of whom were accorded the rank of 'chief ollamh of poetry of all Ireland,' and ó hUiginn (O'Higgins) who were hereditary filí in more than one Gaelic house such as O'Conor Slighit, The MacDermotts, The McDonagh and O'Doherty. The ó Cobhthaigh (Coffey's) were known as the fili of Uisneach.

The ó Maol Chonaire were chiefly Ollamhs of the Síol Muireadhaigh, the ó Conchubhair Donn and the MacDermot of Moylurg, although this family was also associated with Ulster and spread from Connacht into the courts of Munster and Leinster. Finally the ó Cléirighs who served the O'Donnel chieftains of Tír Connell.

The hereditary poets that were a fixture of court life in medieval Ireland serving as entertainers, advisors and genealogists maintained practices of and enjoyed a similar status as the pre-Christian fili. But from the 12th century onwards, Anglo-Norman elements had increasing influence on Irish society. As Gaelic culture waned, these folk became increasingly involved with written literature and such non-native traditions as heraldry. Nonetheless in Gaelic society the chief filí of the province, or Ollamh, was seen as equal status to the Ard-rí, or High King. This high social status existed right into Elizabethan times, when English nobility were horrified to see the Gaelic chieftains not just eating at the same table as their poets, but often from the same dish. Eventually classical literature and the Romantic literature that grew from the troubadour tradition of the langue d'oc superseded the material that would have been familiar to the ancient fili.

Legacy

Many manuscripts preserving the tales once transmitted by the fili have survived. This literature contributes much to the modern understanding of druids, Celtic religion and the Celtic world in general.

Besides its value to historians, this canon has contributed a great deal to modern literature beginning with retellings by William Butler Yeats and other authors involved with the Celtic Revival. Soon after, James Joyce drew from material less explicitly. Now fantasy literature and art draws heavily from these tales and characters such as Cúchulainn, Finn McCool and the Tuatha Dé Danann are relatively familiar.

Through such traditional musicians as Turlough O'Carolan (who died in 1738 and is often lauded as "the last of the bards") and countless of his less-known or anonymous colleagues, the musical tradition of the fili has made its way to contemporary ears via artists such as Planxty, The Chieftains, and The Dubliners.

In their subject matter and techniques, the seanachie are considered the inheritors of the ancient Irish tradition of oral literature.

The modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic words for "poet" are derived from fili.

• Old Irish: fili, plural filid
• Modern Irish: file, plural filí
• Scottish Gaelic: filidh, plural filidhean
• Manx Gaelic: feelee

Finally, practitioners of Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism are working to reconstruct trance and visionary techniques that were used by the filid, such as imbas forosnai and aspects of the tarbhfeis ritual.

See also

• Bard
• Contention of the bards
• Druid
• Early Irish literature
• Gorsedd
• Rhapsode
• Seanachie
• Skald
• Vates

Sources

• Coleman, Keith (2022). áedán of the Gaels: King of the Scots. Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 978-1526794901.

• Foster, Sally M. (2014). Picts, Gaels and Scots: Early Historic Scotland. Edinburgh: Birlinn. ISBN 978-1780271910.

• MacKillop, James (2004). Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860967-1.

• Moffat, Alistair (2017). Scotland, A History from Earliest Times. Birlinn. ISBN 978-1780274386.

• Noble, Gordon; Evans, Nicholas (2022). The Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North. Birlinn. ISBN 978-1780277783.

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 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hyde, Douglas (1913). "Irish Literature". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8.

• This article incorporates text from Dwelly's [Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary (1911). (Filidh)