Leadership and Virtue: a Character Analysis of Fionn Mac Cumhaill And
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DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Leadership and virtue A character analysis of Fionn mac Cumhaill and King Arthur in the later medieval period Try, Rebecca Award date: 2020 Awarding institution: Queen's University Belfast Link to publication Terms of use All those accessing thesis content in Queen’s University Belfast Research Portal are subject to the following terms and conditions of use • Copyright is subject to the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988, or as modified by any successor legislation • Copyright and moral rights for thesis content are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners • A copy of a thesis may be downloaded for personal non-commercial research/study without the need for permission or charge • Distribution or reproduction of thesis content in any format is not permitted without the permission of the copyright holder • When citing this work, full bibliographic details should be supplied, including the author, title, awarding institution and date of thesis Take down policy A thesis can be removed from the Research Portal if there has been a breach of copyright, or a similarly robust reason. 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Oct. 2021 LEADERSHIP AND VIRTUE: A CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF FIONN MAC CUMHAILL AND KING ARTHUR IN THE LATER MEDIEVAL PERIOD Rebecca Try BA Hons., MPhil Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Irish and Celtic Studies School of Arts, English, and Languages, Queen’s University Belfast 9th September 2019 ABSTRACT It has often been remarked that the Welsh warrior-king Arthur and the warrior-hero Fionn of the Irish tradition have similarities in character. Oliver Padel, in his Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature, discusses briefly the similarity between the Arthur of the earliest Welsh literature and Fionn, noting that the Arthur of the early Welsh is “much closer to that of Fionn in Irish literature, or Robin Hood in medieval English... as seen in these texts, Arthur and his men constitute a Welsh equivalent of an early Irish fían”.1 Similarities between the two heroes have been remarked upon by various scholars, but not explored in depth. Where it has been examined, by scholars such as Rebecca Shercliff and Kevin Murray, these examinations have been brief and have focused only on the earlier material. 2 Furthermore, very little work has been done on the characterisation of Fionn in the Early Modern Irish material (that is, material written in early modern Irish, from around the 12th century onwards) and as a result his characterisation in this period is largely assumed to be the same as in previous centuries or to be ‘different’; but the extent to which it may be different is not discussed, nor is it given much attention. This thesis aims to fill that gap in scholarship, and to examine the characterisation of Fionn in this later material, alongside that of Arthur. This has helped to illuminate the status of these characters in this period, through a typological investigation unencumbered by genetic relationships. 1 Padel, Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature, pp. 32–3. 2 Rebecca Shercliff of the University of Cambridge, completed an unpublished undergraduate dissertation on the topic, which focuses largely on the similarities between the early characters of Arthur and Fionn. I am deeply indebted to her for allowing me access to her work. Kevin Murray explores very briefly the similarities between the two, focusing on early warrior and hunter motifs, in his The Early Finn Cycle, pp. 146-9. i The first chapter focused on analysis of both characters through a discussion of their leadership and a terminological analysis of texts. This made it possible to better determine the roles that Fionn and Arthur were expected to be playing in their tales. Chapter 1 shows that Fionn was in some texts being presented as a king; of the fíanna and also over large swathes of Ireland. Additionally it shows that the role of Cormac mac Airt in the early modern texts was not as pronounced as had previously been thought. It also re-establishes Arthur as an Emperor or Chief lord as opposed to ‘king’ and examines his role as background or sedentary leader, questioning why he played so little a role in the texts which are famous for him having been in them, and what this means for his character. Chapters 2 and 3 examine Fionn and Arthur, respectively, within the context of courtly literature, and the virtues of pite, mesure, and largesce. It demonstrates that Fionn fits well within this context and frequently displays these virtues within the Early modern material. Comparatively, Chapter 3 demonstates that Arthur does not fit so well within this courtly context as Fionn, and that his courtliness must instead be determined through analysis of his representatives; the knights of his court. This research shows that the differences between Fionn and Arthur in this period perhaps outweigh the similarities, and also that a typological analysis of the character of Fionn in the Early Modern period has shown to be beneficial to understanding further his characterisation at this point in time, as well as how he fits within the milieu of similar characters from the period. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are several people to whom I am deeply indebted when it comes to this thesis. The first of these are my supervisors Professor Greg Toner and Dr Sharon Arbuthnot, who have kept me sane and on track (even when I tried to veer into the realms beyond the thesis). I truly would not have reached this point without their continued support and extraordinary knowledge, particularly when it came to linguistic material with which I was unfamiliar. I would also like to mention my honourary tertiary supervisors, my cat Ozymandias and the neighbourhood cat known to me as Oscat (although he has a plethora of other names), who were excellent sounding boards for ideas, and who often helped me through difficult sections by forcing me to explain them in ways that would make sense to a cat, and thus enabling me to untangle complex ideas. I am further indebted to Drs Rebecca Shercliff, Kit Kapphahn, and Julia Kühns who each provided me with access to their unpublished research in order to complete this dissertation. I would not have been able to complete this without those that began the investigation into these characters, and for your work I am truly grateful. I must also thank the financial support of the Department for Education and Learning in Northern Ireland, without whom I would not have been able to move to Belfast and begin this journey. For emotional support, I am greatly indebted to my family, Gwyneth, Robyn, and Tamsin Try, all of whom have been with me through thick and thin and without whom I would not have been able to complete this thesis. I would also like to acknowledge my father, Jonathan Try, who helped motivate me towards the end. iii My officemates in House 6 of University Square also deserve quite a lot of credit for this thesis; both for sounding off words and phrases and also for keeping me going when otherwise I would have given up. Thank you so much for your support and camaraderie over the last three years. I shall greatly miss working with you. The support of the Celtic Studies Facebook group must also be mentioned, for keeping me going and pointing me in the right direction when I felt like tearing my hair out. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. iii Abbreviations ...................................................................................................... viii Introduction............................................................................................................ 1 Fionn mac Cumhaill ...................................................................................................... 5 Arthur .......................................................................................................................... 20 The Arthur of the Irish and the Fionn of the Welsh .................................................. 33 Thesis Questions ......................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 1: Defining the Leader ............................................................................ 38 Ireland ....................................................................................................................... 41 Wales ....................................................................................................................... 47 The Changing nature of Kingship .......................................................................... 49 High-kingship ..........................................................................................................