A fili (pronounce "filla" in the singular and "fillee" in the plural) had to learn by heart a great number of stories, poems and other texts. His functions were to pass on the learning of the society to new generations and to record new learning in forms that were amenable to memorisation, i.e., in cryptic sayings, triads (groups of three related pieces of information), heptads (groups of 7 pieces of information), and various strictly-metred verse forms.
All learning was embodied in such memorable texts, e.g., medicine, history, philosophy and, of course, law. It is easy to understand why the jurist, (Brithem, pronounce "Brehev"), was of lower rank than the Poet, when we bear in mind that, while it was the jurist's duty to memorise the law texts, understand them, and apply them in practice, it was the Poet or Fili who, when called upon, embodied new principles of law in appropriate memorable language.
A Fili was obliged to ensure that the matter recorded in his verse or cryptic saying was true. He could suffer heavy penalties under the Brehon Laws for unjustified satire. Part of his duty was the recording of current events, in which his king was to receive appropriate praises. In addition to the correct tradition of learning encapsulated in the official compositions of the Filí, there was a romantic tradition giving a more extravagant and imaginative account of events propogated by the bards and the population in general.
Archeological evidence in modern times indicates that ancient legends of oral traditions were generally true or elaborations of true historical events. The oral Irish tradition of the filí would probably stand up to scrutiny as containing a largely correct, (if sometimes biased), chronicle of events, whereas the Bardic tradition would give romantic versions and inventions. However, the clerics who introduced reading and writing to Ireland had a very low opinion of the traditional pagan learning and sought to replace the understanding of society based on this tradition with one based on the Bible. The history of Ireland, as handed down in the official oral tradition was recorded in writing in the Annals of the Four Masters, around 1600. The laws were recorded in writing in the 7th to the 8th century, subsequent copies containing the original texts plus elaborations (called glosses) and commentaries.
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