“And his throne will be upheld by justice”: The Concept of Righteous Ruling in Early Ireland (“И престол его утвердится Правдою”: Концепция «праведного правления» в древней Ирла
Maxim Fomin
Ulster University
Abstract
The article describes the concept of righteous ruling survived in the early Irish wisdom-literature. Mainly concerned with such texts as De duodecim abusivis saeculi, Audacht Moraind, and Tecosca Cormaic, the good deal of attention is devoted to the concept of iustitia regis and fír(inne) flathemon. Being the central principle of the wisdom-texts genre, its descriptions represent an elaborate exposition of the characteristics of a righteous ruler. The author focuses on such topics as the creative consequences of the just ruling and the destructive consequences of the unjust one, both in Hiberno-Latin and in Early Irish sources. The ethical notions pertinent to the texts of the genre are also dealt with. They are not necessarily Christian, although the modern scholarship tends to connect the “righteous ruler” concept exclusively to the Christian morality. Drawing to the conclusion, the author brings some light on the problem of the concept’s origin and its genesis, its Christian editing and its synthetic (native Irish-cum-Christian) character. The final passages are devoted to the fate of the concept of the righteous ruler developed by the Irish clerical scribes in the works of the authors of the Carolingian Europe and those of the early medieval Kiev Rus. The analogies and ideas outlined were not necessarily borrowed from the common source: their provenance in the sources, such as The Life of Charles the Great by Einhardt and The Instruction by Vladimir the Monomachus, may obtain a cultural typological character.