''Bretha Déin Chécht'' (

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

for "Judgments of Dian Cécht") is an

early Irish legal Early Irish law, also called Brehon law (from the old Irish word breithim meaning judge), comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norman invasion of 1169, but underwen ...

text on the law of illegal injury, detailing the fines due to the injured in a great multitude of cases. The title attributes it to the mythological physician

Dian Cecht In Irish mythology, Dian Cécht (; also known as ''Cainte'' or ''Canta'') was the god of healing, the healer for the Tuatha Dé Danann, and son of the Dagda according to the '' Dindsenchas''. He was the father of Cu, Cethen and Cian. His other ...

. It is the 34th text of the ''

Senchas Már ''Senchas Már'' (Old Irish for "Great Tradition") is the largest collection of early Irish legal texts, compiled into a single group sometime in the 8th century, though individual tracts vary in date. These tracts were almost certainly written ...

''. It directly follows ''

Bretha Crólige ''Bretha Crólige'' (Old Irish for "Judgements on Blood-lyings") is an early Irish legal tract on the law of illegal injury and the institution of "sick-maintenance". It is the 33rd text in the ''Senchas Már''. It directly precedes '' Bretha D� ...

'', a sister-tract on illegal injury.

Manuscripts

A single manuscript preserves the complete text of ''Bretha Déin Chécht'' (

National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ) is Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland is "To collect, preserve, promote and make accessible the ...

MS G 11), alongside three other texts from the final third of the ''Senchas Már''. D. A. Binchy edited this copy of the ''Bretha Déin Chécht'', with translation and commentary, in 1966. A number of excerpts and commentaries on it have also survived, though fewer than have survived of ''Bretha Crólige''. A purported quote from ''Bretha Déin Chécht'' in ''

Bretha Étgid ''Bretha Étgid'' or ''Éitgid'' (Old Irish for "Judgments of Inadvertence") is an early Irish legal text on liability for injury. It is only fragmentarily preserved, and written in a condensed style, but is our main source for the early Irish l ...

'' is probably a later invention.

''Bretha Déin Chécht'' is the 34th text of the collection of legal texts called the ''Senchas Már'', placed in the final third of that collection. The ''Senchas Már'' is generally dated between the late 7th and early 8th century CE. A sister-tract on illegal injury, ''

'', directly precedes it in the ''Senchas Már''. ''Bretha Déin Chécht'' deals primarily with the fines a culprit must pay after illegal injury, detailing the percentage of that fine due to the physician and the percentage due to the victim. The complicated (and sometimes contradictory) tiers of fines detailed here appear to have perplexed later commentators. One such commentator deemed the text the ("exotic law of Dian Cécht"). The tract is attributed to Dian Cécht, a figure of

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally Oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era. In the History of Ireland (795–1169), early medieval era, myths were ...

who appears as the physician to the

Tuatha Dé Danann The Tuatha Dé Danann (, meaning "the folk of the goddess Danu"), also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé ("tribe of the gods"), are a supernatural race in Irish mythology. Many of them are thought to represent deities of pre-Christian Gaelic ...

, a band of

euhemerized In the fields of philosophy and mythography, euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that histor ...

pre-Christian deities. He was presumably a pre-Christian healing or medicine god. The ''Senchas Már'' carries a late and pseudo-historical preface, which details the codification and Christianization of the compilation by

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...

and his commissioners. Dian Cécht is explicitly listed as among the pre-Christian authors whose judgements were accepted because they did not contradict Christian teaching. Beyond their value as a source for early Irish law, ''Bretha Crólige'' and ''Bretha Déin Chécht'' reveal much about the extent of medical knowledge and the kinds of treatment available in the period. For example, the six classes of tooth-injury (each with different fines) delineated in the ''Bretha Déin Chécht'' tell us something about the knowledge of dentistry in early medieval Ireland. The other available medical manuscripts reproduce medicine of a much later date (mostly borrowed from Arabic sources).

Manuscripts

Contents

References

Further reading