The historical institution of the
fían is known from references in
early medieval Irish law tracts. A
fían (plural
fíana or
fianna) was a small band of roving hunter-warriors. It was made up of landless young men of free birth, often young
aristocrats, "who had left
fosterage but had not yet inherited the property needed to settle down as full landowning members of the
túath". A member of a
fían was called a
fénnid; the leader of a
fían was a
rígfénnid (literally "king-
fénnid"). The
fían way of life was called
fíanaigecht and involved living in the wild, hunting, raiding, martial and athletic training, and even training in poetry.
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. 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.
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". Joseph Nagy writes that the
fían 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. The
fían 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
fían.
Origins Scholars have linked the
fianna with similar young warrior bands in other early European cultures, and suggest they all derive from the *
kóryos which is thought to have existed in
Proto-Indo-European society. Kim McCone derives it from Proto-Celtic
*wēnnā "brave enemies" > "brave warriors". ==Legendary depiction==