Sechtae

"Heptads" redirects here. For other uses, see Heptad.

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 highly decorated initial A begins Heptad I (Trinity College, MS 1336).^[1]: 236

The Sechtae is the ninth text in the Senchas Már.

Manuscripts

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

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 compilation of 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. The unusual breadth of the subject matter covered in the Sechtae has been commented on.^{[2]: 34 [1]: 233} Rudolf 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 by 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

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

• 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

1. 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