SEANCHAS - AN IMPORTANT IRISH TRADITION RELATED TO MEMORY, HISTORY, AND HISTORIOGRAPHY 1 Dominique Santos 2 Abstract: In most works approaching Premodern historiographical phenomena a remarkable silence about Seanchas, an Irish tradition related to old tales, memory, history, historiography, genealogy and traditional law, can be noticed. The main purpose of this article is to analyze this issue, pointing out Seanchas is a conditio sine qua non to the comprehension of both Irish History and Historiography from Early Christian to Modern Ireland. Therefore, any attempt to understand Premodern and Early Modern European historiography should also consider this Irish contribution. Keywords: Seanchas; History and Historiography; Ireland. SEANCHAS - UMA IMPORTANTE TRADIÇÃO IRLANDESA RELACIONADA COM MEMÓRIA, HISTÓRIA E HISTORIOGRAFIA Resumo: Na maior parte das obras que abordam fenômenos historiográficos Pré-modernos há um notável silêncio sobre Seanchas, uma tradição irlandesa relacionada com contos antigos, memória, história, historiografia, genealogia e lei tradicional. O principal objetivo deste artigo é tratar desta problemática, sugerindo que a Seanchas é uma conditio sine qua non para a compreensão tanto da História quanto da Historiografia desde os primeiros tempos da Irlanda Cristã até a Irlanda Moderna. Desta forma, qualquer tentativa de entender a historiografia europeia Pré-moderna e do início da modernidade deve considerar esta contribuição irlandesa. Palavras-chave: Seanchas; História e Historiografia; Irlanda. 1 This text was published at Revista Opsis, an interdisciplinary Brazilian Journal in the field of humanities. To quote it use the following data: SANTOS, Dominique. Seanchas - An Important Irish Tradition Related to Memory, History, and Historiography. Revista OPSIS - UFG, Catalão, Goiás, Brazil, v. 18, n. 1, 2018. p. 44-60. 2 Lecturer in Ancient and Medieval History at FURB - University of Blumenau - Brazil, where he also coordinates the LABEAM - The Blumenauense Lab. for Ancient and Medieval Studies. Acknowledgments: This article is related to the Research Project 531/2016/Propex – FURB and it was financially supported by Brazilian CAPES FOUNDATION through the Project nº 88881.119892/2016-01 and also by the University of Blumenau/Ordinance 950/2016, which permitted me to have a full year Sabbatical Leave experience at OCLA - Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity, a unique opportunity to be devoted to research, something that would hardly be possible under normal circumstances involving the demands and responsibilities of everyday teaching. I am most grateful to Bryan Ward-Perkins, who invited me to be in Oxford. I am also indebted to Thomas Charles- Edward, for the dialogues, advice and the invitation to have unlimited access to the Jesus College Celtic Library. I wish to acknowledge the generous support and assistance provided by the Librarians Janet Foot (Celtic Collection/ Taylor Institution Library) and Owen McKnight (Jesus College Celtic Library), they gave me fundamental help in accessing all the material I needed. Last, but not least, I am thankful to ABEI – Brazilian Association for Irish Studies and its W.B. Yeats Chair of Irish Studies, a partnership between USP and Irish Embassy, in which I am pleased to be a researcher member. Any misunderstanding, imperfection and remaining errors found in this article are, of course, my sole and exclusive responsibility. E-mail: dvcsantos@hotmail.com