  We report on four large filament eruptions (FEs) from solar cycles 23 and 24
that were associated with large solar energetic particle (SEP) events and
interplanetary type II radio bursts. The post-eruption arcades corresponded to
mostly C-class soft X-ray enhancements, but an M1.0 flare was associated with
one event. However, the associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were fast
(speeds about 1000 km/s) and appeared as halo CMEs in the coronagraph field of
view. The interplanetary type II radio bursts occurred over a wide wavelength
range indicating the existence of strong shocks throughout the inner
heliosphere. No metric type II bursts were present in three events, indicating
that the shocks formed beyond 2 to 3 Rs. In one case, there was a metric type
II burst with low starting frequency indicating a shock formation height of
about 2 Rs. The FE-associated SEP events did have softer spectra (spectral
index greater than 4) in the 10 to 100 MeV range, but there were other
low-intensity SEP events with spectral indices >/=4. Some of these events are
likely FE-SEP events, but were not classified so in the literature because they
occurred close to active regions. Some were definitely associated with large
active region flares, but the shock formation height was large. We definitely
find a diminished role for flares and complex type III burst durations in these
large SEP events. Fast CMEs and shock formation at larger distances from the
Sun seem to be the primary characteristics of the FE-associated SEP events.
