Brigs of the Judgements

 

Brigs of the Judgements:

Kim McCone points out that “The names Brig and Brigit were prone to interchangeability in early Irish sources…” Some are referred to as goddesses, but others are unproven candidates – women named Brig who may or may not be divine. Lisa Bitel reminds us that the story of Saint Brigit became complicated as her popularity spread. More children were named Brigit, more Brigits entered holy orders and had churches named after them, and so on. So, we must be careful not to assume that every time the name “Brig” or “Brigit” appears we are seeing an instance either of our saint or of our goddesses. Of those who are goddesses, it is unclear how many individual deities there are, and how, if at all, they are related to the trio named in Cormac’s Glossary.

The most important of these “other” Brigs are the three connected to the famed judge, Sencha (Senchan) mac Ailella,cited in the Brehon Laws (c. 700 C.E.).

 

“The earliest evidence for the goddess is in the Irish vernacular law tracts … which contain a few little legal stories in which Bríg is the daughter, wife, or mother of the legendary judge Sencha of the distant Irish past. According to these she sat by Sencha’s side as he made pronouncements on law, and on occasion intervened to correct or contradict him. Nowhere in this material is she equated with the saint of the almost-identical name.” Women in a Celtic Church: Ireland 450-1150 (2002), Christina Harrington, pg. 63-63

 

Eugene O’Curry expands a little on these Brigs:

 

“Several women of the name of Brig are mentioned in the ancient laws as female judges; some of them appear to have been connected with each other. The mother of Senchan, chief judge and poet of Ulster in the time of Conchobar Mac Nessa, was called Brig ban Brughad or Brig the female Brugad;⁷ his wife was called Brig Brethach or Brig of the judgments; and his daughter, the Brig Ambui alluded to in the text, was also it would appear called Brig “of the Judgments,” and was wife of Celtchoir Mac Uthichair, a renowned personage of the Tain Bo Chuailgne, and other heroic tales of that period. She is mentioned as one of the nine, or rather ten, women who accompanied Queen Mugan, wife of Conchobor Mac Nessa, at the Fled Bricrind or Bricriu’s Feast.” On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish Eugene O’Curry (1873)

 

The three Brigs related to Sencha are sometimes confused with each other in the old tales. They are found in the Ulster Cycle and do not have obvious parallels with the three goddesses named by Cormac, patrons of poetry, healing, and smithcraft. They may be another example of a triple goddess, especially as the title “Brig of the Judgements” in various stories is applied to all three, they may be versions of Brigit, patron of poets, suggested by the connection between poets and judges, or they may not be goddesses.

Brig Ambue (Brig of the Cowless) appears to represent a section of society peopled mainly by “the fían or association of propertiless (literally cowless) and predominantly young, unmarried warrior-hunters on the fringes of settled society.”⁸ Yet she is listed as a jurist. Brig Brethach (Brig of the Judgments), unlike Saint Brigit, who frequently defends oppressed women and slaves, is famous for her wise judgement regarding the rights of freeborn women of property. Brig Briugu (Brig the Hospitaller) was mother of “the Ulster Cycle’s peacemaker, Sencha mac Ailella.”⁹Hospitality was a vital part of early Irish life, for the fruitfulness of the land depended on the appropriate open-handedness of its king. Hostels were common, and hostellers were expected to welcome all and provide food, shelter, and entertainment. Failure to do so could result in a loss of status.

The Brehon Laws and the part played by Sencha and the Brigs would have been known to the monks who scribed Cormac’s Glossary in the 9^th century. Yet they are not mentioned in the entry on the goddess Brig. This suggests to me that the “Brigs of the Judgements” were not considered by them to be the same as the daughters of the Dagda.

Credit: Quoted from A Brigit of Ireland Devotional - Sun Among Stars by Mael Brigde (2021) Moon Books. pp. 244 - 246.

Notes: 

7. Hospitaller.

8. McCone, Kim. Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature. An Sagart [Maynooth, Ireland] (1990). pg. 163.

9. Ibid. pg. 162.

Image: ‘La Justice’, Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin (1860-1943), via Wikimedia. Public domain.