Entry Tests for the Fianna

The Fianna were an elite band of warriors, with a strong ethic and a rigorous selection process.

The entry requirements for joining the Fianna are offered by Standish O’Grady in the Silva Gadelica:

The Enumeration of Finn’s People

In Silva gadelica (I-XXXI) : a collection of tales in Irish with extracts illustrating persons and places, Vol II translation and notes, Standish O’Grady, 1892, p99-100.

This is the enumeration [and description] of Finn’s people : their strength was seven score and ten officers, each man of these having thrice nine warriors, every one bound (as was the way with Cuchullin in the time when he was there) to certain conditions of service, which were: that in satisfaction of their guarantee violated they must not accept material compensation ; in the matter of valuables or of meat must not deny any ; no single individual of them to fly before nine warriors.

Of such not a man was taken into the Fianna ; nor admitted whether to the great Gathering of Usnach, to the Convention of Taillté or to Tara’s Feast; until both his paternal and his maternal correlatives, his tuatha and kindreds, had given securities for them to the effect that, though at the present instant they were slain, yet should no claim be urged in lieu of them : and this in order that to none other but to themselves alone they should look to avenge them. On the other hand: in case it were they that inflicted great mischiefs upon others, reprisals not to be made upon their several people.

Of all these again not a man was taken until he were a prime poet versed in the twelve books of poesy. No man was taken till in the ground a large hole had been made (such as to reach the fold of his belt) and he put into it with his shield and a fore-arm’s length of a hazel stick. Then must nine warriors, having nine spears, with a ten furrows’ width betwixt them and him, assail him and in concert let fly at him. If past that guard of his he were hurt then, he was not received into Fianship.

Not a man of them was taken till his hair had been interwoven into braids on him and he started at a run through Ireland’s woods ; while they, seeking to wound him, followed in his wake, there having been between him and them but one forest bough by way of interval at first. Should he be overtaken, he was wounded and not received into the Fianna after. If his weapons had quivered in his hand, he was not taken. Should a branch in the wood have disturbed anything of his hair out of its braiding, neither was he taken. If he had cracked a dry stick under his foot [as he ran] he was not accepted. Unless that [at his full speed] he had both jumped a stick level with his brow, and stooped to pass under one even with his knee, he was not taken. Also, unless without slackening his pace he could with his nail extract a thorn from his foot, he was not taken into Fianship : but if he performed all this he was of Finn’s people.

A good man verily was he that had those Fianna, for he was the seventh king ruling Ireland : that is to say there were five kings of the provinces, and the king of Ireland ; he being himself the seventh, conjointly with the king of all Ireland.

O’Grady’s translation also summarises some of the roles available with the Fianna:

Job Opportunities in the Fianna

In Silva gadelica (I-XXXI) : a collection of tales in Irish with extracts illustrating persons and places, Vol II translation and notes, Standish O’Grady, 1892, p100.

Finn’s two poll-wards were Noenalach, and Raer grandson of Garb ; the two stewards of his hounds : Crimthann and Connla Cas ; his dispenser : Cathluan son of Crimthann ; his master of the banquet : Core son of Suan ; his three cupbearers : Dermot grandson of Duibhne, and Faillin, and Colla son of Caeilte ; the two overseers of his hearth : Caeilte and Glanna ; his two makers of the bed: AdmoU and mac Neri; his twelve musicians: Fergus True-mouth, Fianu, Bran, two Reidhes, Nuada, and Aithime Aghmar, and . , , . Flann and Aedh, Cobthach o the high strains, and Cethern ; his physician : Lerthuile ; his two keepers of the vessels : Braen and Cellach Mael ; his barber : Scannal ; his comber : Daelgus ; his charioteer : Rinnchu ; his two masters of the horse : Aena and Becan ; his strong man : Urchraide grandson of Bregaide; his six door-keepers: Cuchaire and Bresal Borr, Fianchad and Mac-dd-fer^ Imchad and Aithech son of Aithech-bal ; his carpenter: Donngus; his smith: Collan; his worker in metal : Congaran ; his horn-players : Culaing and Cuchuailgne ; his two soothsayers : Dirinn and Mac-reith ; his carver : Cuinnscleo ; his candle-holder : Cudam ; his two spear* bearers : . . . and Uadgarb ; his shield-bearer : Railbhe, and so on.

A summary of the qualifications and duties of the Fianna is also provided in Kennedy’s Legendary fictions of the Irish Celts:

Qualifications and Duties of the Fianna

In Legendary fictions of the Irish Celts, Patrick Kennedy, 1866, pp. 209-212

PART IV.— OSSIANIC AND OTHER EARLY LEGENDS,

QUALIFICATIONS AND DUTIES OF THE FIANNA EIRIONN.

With the name and opinions of modern Fenians every one’s ears have been dinned. For the sake of that portion of our readers who have not devoted much attention to Gaelic archaeology, we devote a few pages to the subject of that body of ancient militia whose title they have appropriated.

As to the derivation of the word we are not so much embarrassed by the poverty as the abundance of the materials. Fine means tribe, family, kindred, nation, soldier, vineyard ; Finne, whiteness, fairness ; Fion, wine, truth, ancient ; Fionn, a head, chief, troops, sincere, true, fine, fair, pleasant. The term Fianna, giants or soldiers, was applied to the warriors of Albanach (Scotland) and Britain, as well as to those of Ireland.

This standing army, if the bardic chronicles are reliable, consisted of men of good birth, and what would in later times be called knightly rank. They were not distinguished by any name of the same signification as Knight, which in its parent language, the Teutonic, simply meant Valet. They were Laochs, heroes (the German Helden) and when associated to a military order they were Curai, companions. A postulant for admission among the Fians should be a free man in every respect, and so expert that, merely armed with a stick and shield, he could defend his otherwise unguarded body from half a dozen men darting spears at him from a distance of nine ridges. If he escaped unwounded, he was required to run through a tangled wood with his long hair hanging loose, and get out at the other side, uncaught by the same or another half dozen warriors. If an ill-conditioned bough as low as his knee crossed his path, he should run under it ; if it were no higher than his shoulder, he should bound over it. Having passed this bodily ordeal he was obliged to swear fealty to the Ard Righ (head king), to promise on his word as Curadh to be charitable to the poor and to respect women. His near relations were also engaged never to seek eric (blood-fine) for his death, but to leave that care and the defence of his honour to his brothers-in-arms.

Kennedy also describes something of the domestic arrangements of the Fianna, including a mention of their ovens (the “ovens of the Feine”).

Domestic Situation of the Fianna

In Legendary fictions of the Irish Celts, Patrick Kennedy, 1866, pp. 209-212

During the winter half year, the Fians were entertained at the expense of the kings and chiefs. In the other they spent most of their time fishing and hunting, when not watching for invaders. They took their principal meal in the evening, and this was the programme of mealtime and bedtime : — Through the forest, and on the plains, and on the hillsides, were small circular cavities, paved with stones, and surrounded with low stone walls [TH: i.e. a cooking pit ]. A party of hunters arriving here in the afternoon made a strong fire of brushwood in this pit, and disposed therein several loose stones, of which there was a large provision lying about. The fire having burned down, and the embers being cleared away, a layer of venison or wild boar’s flesh, as it might be, wrapped in grass or rushes, was laid on the hot bottom, and a layer of the red hot stones on this. Then succeeded another layer of meat similarly garnished, and crowned by hot stones No. 2, the process being again repeated if necessary.

Near these “ Ovens of the Feine,” [the final e is always heard m Celtic words.] as they are still called by the peasantry, was a bathing tank supplied by some neighbouring stream, and here, while the dinner was cooking, the warlike hunters bathed. A large bothy, built of sods, stones, scraws, and branches, served for dining-hall, and thither the savoury joints were conveyed, and consumed by the men just risen from their refreshing bath. The beds of the Fians were composed of withered grass and heath, with the flowered tops uppermost. The coverlets were the cloaks of the sleepers, or stag and wolf skins.

Remains of these primitive ovens are still extant, the soil about them being distinguished by its dark colour. They are also met with in the Scottish Highlands.

The institution was not long-lived. No records are left of it of longer extent than three generations. Portions of the troops were always in the neighbourhood of harbours ; and if the approaching foe was strong in men and barques, signals sped from hill to hill until a sufficient band of defenders was collected.

…

In Rolleston’s description of the trials faced by men wanting to join the Fianna, he begins by reviewing some of the virtues of Finn himself:

The Virtues of Finn and the Fianna

In CHAPTER XI: Finn’s Chief Men, of The High Deeds Of Finn, T. W. Rolleston, 1910, p126-7.

Such-like things also Finn taught to all his followers, and the best of them became like himself in valour and gentleness and generosity. Each of them loved the repute of his comrades more than his own, and each would say that for all noble qualities there was no man in the breadth of the world worthy to be thought of beside Finn.

It was said of him that “ he gave away gold as if it were the leaves of the woodland, and silver as if it were the foam of the sea,” and that whatever he had bestowed upon any man, if he fell out with him afterwards, he was never known to bring it against him.

Sang the poet Oisin of him once to St Patrick : —

“ These are the things that were dear to Finn —
The din of battle, the banquet’s glee,
The bay of his hounds through the rough glen ringing.
And the blackbird singing in Letter Lee,
The shingle grinding along the shore
When they dragged his war-boats down to sea. The dawn-wind whistling his spears among.
And the magic song of his minstrels three.”

In the time of Finn no one was ever admitted to be one of the Fianna of Erinn unless he could pass through many severe tests of his worthiness. He must be versed in the Twelve Books of Poetry and must himself be skilled to make verse in the rime and metre of the masters of Gaelic poesy. Then he was buried to his middle in the earth, and must, with a shield and a hazel stick, there defend himself against nine warriors casting spears at him; and if he were wounded he was not accepted. Then his hair was woven into braids and he was chased through the forest by the Fians. If he were overtaken, or if a braid of his hair were disturbed, or if a dry stick cracked under his foot, he was not accepted. He must be able to leap over a lath level with his brow and to run at full speed under one level with his knee, and he must be able while running to draw out a thorn from his foot and never slacken speed. He must take no dowry with a wife.