Aithech fortha
Aithech fortha [ 'aθʼex' forθʼa ] (from Old Irish aitire , “to stand up for it”) is the name in old Irish law for a non-noble freeman who took his place in a lawsuit against the king ( rí ).
As aithech , also grád féne , a non-noble free landowner is referred to in the Irish legal texts . He belonged to the social group of the flaith , which, in addition to the ruling nobility and the druids, included the vates ("poets / seers"), filid ("musicians / bards"), doctors, historians, blacksmiths ( * kerda- ), wagon makers and legal experts , so the áes dána ("people with skills") included. The members of the flaith were entitled to fines and Wergeld , as well as to an "honorary award" ( lóg n-enech ) in the event of a violation of their honor .
The task of the aithech fortha was to take his place in a lawsuit against the king and to ensure that the plaintiff was compensated in the event of a conviction. On the one hand this was supposed to do justice to justice, on the other hand the king could not lose his honor ( enech , old Irish "face"). The king was obliged to reimburse the aithech fortha for his expenses.
literature
- Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. 2nd, corrected and enlarged edition. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
- Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
- Wolfgang Meid : The Celts (= Reclams Universal Library 17053). Reclam, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-15-017053-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 990 f.
- ↑ Wolfgang Meid: The Celts. P. 106 f.
- ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 13.
- ^ Fergus Kelly: A Guide to Early Irish Law . Early Irish Law Series 3rd Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988, ISBN 978-0-901-28295-8 , pp. 25 f.