áes dána

áes dána (‘men of art’), a collective term in Early Irish for the practitioners of the professions, trades, arts, and crafts. The social rank of the áes dána is reflected in Gaelic law and literature. The most important literary treatment of the áes dána is in Cath Maige Tuired, in which the professionals practising at the court of the king of Tara are listed as carpenter, smith, fighter, harper, warrior, poet and historian, sorcerer, physician, cupbearer, and brazier.

Uraicecht Becc (Small Primer), a tract of the 8th or 9th cent., makes a broad distinction between two classes of person enjoying certain immunities in Irish law. Of the áes dána, the poets (filid) belong in the upper rank with the land-owners (lords and freemen) and the clerics. The lower rank comprises ‘the people of every art besides’, who include wrights, blacksmiths, braziers, craftsmen, physicians, judges, druids, and others. Irish law distinguishes between the principal professions (prímdánae) and the lesser professions (fodánae), which are practised by various types of entertainer and by all musicians with the sole exception of the harper, who enjoys a higher status.

The most highly developed of the professional hierarchies is that of the poets. In Uraicecht Becc, seven types of poet are ranked from the ollam downwards. In addition to the poet (fili), there is another type of versifier, the bard, who lacked the professional training of the fili. There is no mention of the bard in Uraicecht Becc, but other texts supply classifications of bards. Three grades of judge are distinguished in Uraicecht Becc, the lowest grade being competent to decide on matters relating to the áes dána. There are many indications of the close interaction between Church and laity, and it is clear that in early Ireland the áes dána served both ecclesiastical and secular patrons. The term Aos Dána was adopted by the Irish Arts Council (An Chomhairle Ealaíon) for an affiliation of artists receiving pensions from the Irish State, set up in 1983 by Charles J. Haughey, advised by Anthony Cronin.

People having the profession or trade of art, especially poets, in Old Irish literature.