Sechtae
The Sechtae (Old Irish for "Heptads"[2]: xviii ) is a collection of sixty-five heptads (mnemonic lists of seven) on various subjects in early Irish law. It is among the longest and most wide-ranging sources for early Irish law.
The Sechtae is the ninth text in the Senchas Már.
Manuscripts
[edit]The Sechtae is only preserved in a complete form in one manuscript (Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson B 487),[2]: 34 though Rudolf Thurneysen refers to the quality of this manuscript as "very poor".[3]: 58 Portions of the Sechtae or quotes from it are preserved in several other manuscripts.[4]: 291
In early Irish legal commentaries, the Sechtae is referred to as na sechta ("the sevens").[5]: 291
Contents
[edit]The Sechtae is among the longest surviving texts of early Irish law.[2]: 2 It is the ninth text of the collection of legal texts called the Senchas Már, placed at the beginning of the middle third of that collection.[5]: 243 The Senchas Már is generally dated between the late 7th and early 8th century CE.[2]: 33 It is not clear whether law texts like the Sechtae were written by lay or clerical authors. D. A. Binchy argued the permissive divorce law described in Heptad III was suggestive of a lay author.[5]: 233
The Sechtae comprises sixty-five heptads. These heptads are mnemonic lists of seven corresponding to a legal subject matter (for example, a list of seven places where battles could not be fought), occasionally expanded to eight. These heptads cover an unusually broad range of legal subject matter.[2]: 34 [1]: 233 Thurneysen deemed them "especially valuable [for the study of Irish law] because they touch on much which is not dealt with in other law texts".[3]: 57
Groups of three (triads) and of seven (heptads) are common in Irish legal texts.[1]: 233 Seventeen additional heptads are known from works other than the Sechtae. These heptads are printed as a sequence in Ancient Laws of Ireland, under the name "Additional Heptads", though they never appear in such a sequence in manuscripts.[4]: 291–292 Kelly proposes a Christian origin for the heptad, given the signifance attached to the number in Jewish and Greek traditions.[6]: 33
Scholars have discussed various heptads individually in order to clarify features of early Irish law.[4]: 292 Eoin MacNeill (1923) translated Heptads XII through XV in a discussion of the law of status;[7]: 292 Rudolf Thurneysen (1925) discussed XXV in the context of the legal text Cóic Conara Fugill[8]: 47 and (1928) discussed XXX and LXV in the context of the law of surety;[9]: 47–54 Binchy (1938) discussed XXV in the context of sick-maintenace law;[10]: 86–87 Liam Breatnach (1989) discussed I and II in the context of legal disqualification;[11]: 31 and Charlene Eska (2022) discussed LXIV in the context of the law of lost property.[2]: 33
Excerpt
[edit]The following is a translation of Heptad XV, dealing with the honour-price[a] of women:
There are seven women in Irish law who are not entitled to payment or honour-price from a person: a woman who steals, a woman who satirizes every class of person, a chantress of tales whose kin pays for her lying stories, a prostitute of the bushes, a woman who wounds, a woman who betrays, a woman who refuses hospitality to every law-abiding person. These are women who are not entitled to honour-price.[5]: 349
See also
[edit]- Gúbretha Caratniad, a similarly wide-ranging early Irish legal text.
- Recholl Breth, a similarly wide-ranging early Irish legal tract, which contains one heptad.
Notes
[edit]- ^ According to Fergus Kelly, a person's honour-price is the amount "to be paid for any major, offence committed against him, e.g. murder, satire, serious, injury, refusal of hospitality, theft, violation of his protection, etc.".[5]: 8
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Kelly, Fergus (2002). "Texts and transmissions: the law-texts". In Chatháin, Próinséas Ní; Richter, Michael (eds.). Ireland and Europe in the early Middle Ages: texts and transmissions. Dublin: Four Courts Press. pp. 230–242.
- ^ a b c d e f Eska, Charlene M. (2022). Lost and Found in Early Irish Law: Aidbred, Heptad 64, and Muirbretha. Medieval Law and its Practice. Vol. 36. Leiden / Boston: Brill.
- ^ a b Thurneysen, Rudolf (1973) [1935]. "Celtic Law". In Jenkins, Dafydd (ed.). Celtic Law Papers: Introductory to Welsh Medieval Law and Government. Bruxelles: Les Editions de la Librairie Encyclopédique. pp. 51–70.
- ^ a b c Breatnach, Liam (2005). A Companion to the Corpus Iuris Hibernici. Early Irish Law Series. Vol. 5. Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies.
- ^ a b c d e Kelly, Fergus (1988). A Guide to Early Irish Law. Early Irish Law Series. Vol. 3. Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies.
- ^ Kelly, Fergus (2005). "Thinking in Threes: The Triad in Early Irish Literature" (PDF). In Marshall, P. J. (ed.). Proceedings of the British Academy Volume 125, 2003 Lectures. London. doi:10.5871/bacad/9780197263242.003.0001.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ MacNeill, Eoin (1923). "Ancient Irish Law. The Law of Status or Franchise". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature. 36: 265–316. JSTOR 25504234.
- ^ Thurneysen, Rudolf (1925). Cóic Conara Fugill: Die fünf Wege zum Urteil. Berlin: Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
- ^ Thurneysen, Rudolf (1928). Die Bürgschaft im irischen Recht. Berlin: Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
- ^ Binchy, D. A. (1938). "Sick-Maintenance in Irish Law". Ériu. 12: 78–134. JSTOR 30008072.
- ^ Breatnach, Liam (1989). "The First Third of Bretha Nemed Toísech". Ériu. 40: 1–40. JSTOR 30006333.
Further reading
[edit]- Ancient Laws of Ireland. Vol. 5. Dublin: Stationery Office. 1901. pp. 119-351 (the Sechtae in English trans.), 353-373 (additional heptads in English trans.).
- Binchy, D. A. (1978). Corpus Iuris Hibernici (6 vols.). Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies. 1.1-64.5; 1881.9-1896.22; 537.16-549.18; 1821.28-1854.36 (the Sechtae in Old Irish manuscript sources)
External links
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Media related to Sechtae at Wikimedia Commons
