\ RioCHT NA MID HE Records of Meath Archaeological and Historical Society Vol.XI 2000

.' " ...•~.,..... -; ...~..... The local context of

The local context of Oenach Tailten 1 Coirpre and the donation of Donag-hpatrick - are all taken over from earlier Patrician documents by the author of the Tripartite CATHY J, SWIFT Life with only minor additions and omissions.7 The topographical context of Conall's gift is best illustrated in yet another life of Patrick, the Vita Tertia, the date of which has yet to be fully The history of cknoch Tailtl'n or the ~Fair of Teltown~Z has discussed in print." The account of the gift of Donaghpatrick in traditionally been viewed as part orlhc story of the highkingship this text specifics the c10geconnection between the church site of . There are good reasons for this. Many of our texts and that of the royall'lite of Rath Airthi,.H; refer specifically to the link between the rulers of Tara and the Then Patrick came to ConaUson ofNiall and Conal! received assembly-site at Teltown and the reference in an early poem on him with great joy and he baptised him. And he offered him the Air~alla to coimdiu Temme S('CO Taj/len (lord of Tara and his home and the whole dwelling.place and he said to him: Tellown) is typical of this genrc:1 The argument put forward "Make for yourself a civitas from this dwelling-place and I here, however, is that the relationship between Teltown and the will make for myself another dwelling:.place in front of (or Vi Neill overlordship identified in our texts from the seventh east of?)the gates ofyour civitas". And (thus) Patrick made century A.D. can be illuminated by looking more specifically at there the CIvitas which is today called DomTJOchJlatrak the early politics of the Blackwater valley. and Patrick sketched the dwelling-place for GonaUwith his I be~n with a discussion of the evidence from the Tripartite staff; thig ig Rath Airthir. And P~trick said to him: "In this Life of Patrick, an account of the saint probably compiled at some dwelling. place, there will be many kings and in it blood will point prior to the early tenth century.4 The ccntrall'lection of this not be shed, save only the blood of one man and you will be text opens with the donation to Patrick's cult of the royal dun blessed and your rule will be powerful for eternity and the (stronghold) ofAth Truim (Trim) by the son of Ring-Lofg-uiremac seed of your bothers will serve your seed for eternity.tO Neill - king of Tara and son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. ThiR story iRthen followed by other encounters between the saint and The proximity of the two sites illuminates a series of connected the sons of Niall. For the celebration of the first Easter, Patrick episodes which are otherwise unique to the Tripartite Life. In is said to have come to the baile (place) of Teltown, where the these Patrick blesses in turn the royal fort of Rath Airthir, the 6cnach rigdae (royal Mlla('h) took place. There he met Coirprc area ofthe&'nach Tailten and the sanctuary at Domnach Jlatmic. mac Neill who wantpd to kill Patrick and who whipped members Each of these three sites iRsaid to have been blessed in turn by of his household in the river Sele or Blackwater. As a consequence, Patrick and each is promised rights of sanctuary. Coirpre was cursed by Patrick and told that hi!'!descendants The saint begins with the fort of Rdth Airthir itself. He would serve the sons of his brothers, that his family would never propheRied it would be the place of the assembly for the tuatha rule and that there would never be salmon in the Blackwater. (kingdoms) for both ordinary and extraordinary assemblies and In contrast, when Patrick met Coirprc's brother Conall - that only one wounding would ever take place there. The known as Conall Cremthainne in Rome genealogiefl to help circumgtances of this wounding arc then given: an episode distinguish him from his more famous northern brother - at involving the knifing of a warrior called Mace Bresailll by .<;osad du itd Domnach Pcitraic indiu (the dwelling where descendants ofAed Slaine through his son, Mael Odar. AB recently Donaghpatrickli is today), Conall received him with great joy and outlined by Professor Byrne, a member of this family can be was haptised. Patrick then confirmed his !Icedfor eternity. AB at identified in eighth.century documentation as Eladach mac Maile Trim, a church was sub!lequently founded but the author specifies 'Odrae tigerna Cremthinnae (lord of Cremthenn) while other that, at Donaghpatrick, Conall himself measured out the church connections can be drawn with the settlements of Slane and and that it was !lixty feet long, paralleling: the sixty.cubit length Knowth.J2 References to a Meath lordship ofCremthenn occur in ""LJ ~ of Solomon's temple.6 A.F.M. sub annl,<;867, 1~9, 1030.~1.lli!9and it seems likely that M~ Thege three episodes - the foundation of Trim, the cursing of it is this unit which gives ~onall mac Neill his sobriquet, _''''f'\.'S' Cremthainne. The eighth-century association with Slane and 24 26 Woehl na Midhe The local context of c'wnach Tailten 27 Knowth corresponds to John Col~an's seventeenth-century in 717. He himself, his father and his son were all killed in identification of Cremthenn with the area then known as the battles with the Vi Chonaing but another son, Fergal mac barony of Slane and is reneeled in the placename "Crcvin" FogartaiJ.{,died al'lrex deiscerd Breg (king of southern Brega) in witneslicd in the Inquisitions of Charles I where it is Associated 751. By the mid eighth century, therefore, Diarmait's dcscendants with the parish of Drumcondra, Co. Meath.l:J may have been concentrated towards the south, possibly in the This section in the Tripartite Life is immediately followed by area of Lagorc which is explicitly associated with this family in a connected episode in which Patrick grants sanctuary to the All. 785. area of 6enncl, Tnilten, sayinJ{ that no dead would ever be carried The topographical associations of Ailill's descendants, by from that site; again. an incident which proves Patrick's power in contra!!t, appear to be north-western in the first half of the this regard is cited. There is then a brief excursus in which two eighth century. Aed mac D1uthaig (whence the Sil nDllithaig) is other churches nrc founded, one apparently at Kells - identified identified in Ann. Tig. 689 as the king of Fir Chlil. Glosses in in other texts as a royal fort of the legendary king Cormac mac fifteenth-century manuscripts of Felire 6engusso and F"lire Airt.14 Patrick is then said to have returned to the Teltown area Gornufin indicate that this kingdom included Imblech Fia(ich) where he erected a monumental stone on a hill at Donaghpatrick and l\lng mBolee, identified by John O'Donovan as the parishes at a site where a cross stood above a mill; thil'lmill Patrick also ofMoybolWlcand Emlagh in the modern barony ofLower Kells.16 blessed - for the I{oodof the kingdoms for eternity. Patrick left a The Fir Chlil arc also closely associated with events at Tuilen number of his dil'lcipleshere, apparently in charge of both the Taken in conjunction with the other land 's settlement at Kells and the burial mound of unit entitled <5 chill sair (from the church [i.e. Donaghpatrick] Niall Noigiallach, thought to be at Faughan Hill, across the eastwardl'l), it would appear that the Vi Chonaing were based in valley from Donaghpatrick.18 This is also the area in which, the Blackwater valley, according to the Vita Tertia, the ancestral home of Conall Thefle two families of Sil nAedo Sl:line, the Uf Chonaing and Cremthainne was located. I would conclude, therefore, that this the Boyne lords ofCremthenn, are not the only prominent factions area was of particular importance in the political hierarchy of in our late seventh and eighth-century records. Also active in the Sil nAedo Slaine and that as such, it was dominated in the this period are descendants of Aed SIaine through two other first half of the eighth century by what was then their most sons, Diarmait and Ailill. Diarmait's family included Fogartach suece!'lsful branch, the Uj Chonaing. This appears to be the mac Neill who was expelled de regno (from the kingdom) in A U. implication of the reference to Tir macc Conaigg in the Tripartite 714 but regained kingship in 716 and disturbed c'wnach Tailten Life. Profe!lsor Byrne has suggested that these dynasts sub- 28 Rfocht na Midhe The local context of nenach Tailten 29 sequently ousted the descendants of Mael Odae, laking ovcr the protection of one who was within the royal precinct. In Audacht kingship of Knowth and focussing their enerb>lcSon eastern Morainfl, it is stated that a ruler could impose immunities from 22 expansion.19 Meanwhile the rulers of Fir Chul. whose homeland violence at every 6enach. lay immediately to the north are stated to have controlled Rath The author of the Tripartite uses the phrase bin{ 6enaig Airthir by A.U. 810. (A laler king of R:ith Airthir, who died in Tailten ofthe location of this area ofsanctuary. This implies that A.U. 866, is identified 8S Ccrnachnn mac Cumuscaig, names the sanctuary was a discrete area within which the 6enach which do not allow us to identify the particular to which Tailten took place, like many travelling fairs in Ireland today he helong:ed.) I would deduce from these fluctuations that conlrol which have a traditional location in each settlement which they of R

O'Donovan certainl)' S;lW this as an economic institution; he which was a recognised way of e8tablishing one's overlordship refer.'!, for example. to Nobber in Co. Meath as being in his day over other peoples. The former, Charles-Edwards suggests, may "celebrated only for its one fair of heavy cattlc",&!This fits with have been donated to the Irish kings through hospitality dues for Doherty's emphasis on the economic aspects of the 6enach. lIe "there is no evidence of a network of local royal centres to which sees what he terms earlier tribal6cnaig as being the occasion of food renders were delivered'.63 I would like to put forward the cc!remonialgift.~ving between kings, the acceptance of which possibility that the role of such "local royal centres" was, in fact, symholised acts of political submission. However, he believes fulfilled by the 6enach-as!'lemblies. that, by the eleventh century, much of the legal and political A text which is admittedly much later in date than the period significance of the 6enach hnd dissipated and its function had we are discussing here, Forbuis Damh Damhgaire or the Siege of become predominantly economic.59 Damh Damhgaire, provides an insight into the way this It is worth considering here the time of year at which 6enach di!:;tribution-system may have worked. The description is of Tailten was celebrated. Accordin~ to the Middle Irish text, Cormac mac Airt, legendary ancestral king of the Ui Neill whose l Genemain Aeda SlainI', it was held at 1.lIgnnsad. ;A] This is the fort WMI said to he at Kells: festival held at the beginning of AUg'Ust,apparently in close conjunction with the harvest. In a ~,fjddle Irish commentary Cormac received that year the tribute which was owed to him by each of the five and which recently edited by Fergus Kell:y,the valUe of Flheepand pig!!wa!! consisled of 180 cowsfrom each province. Cormac distributed Raid to increase at r,ugnasad which was used as a marker of the these renders to the seven principal tliatha of Tara for a a~e of the beast. Since the specifications for food-render in Cain plague had arisen amongst their beasts and he did not keep Aicillne make it clear that clients of a certain rank must submit a single cow which he did not distribute (OR and he had animals of a certain value, it Sf'ems plausible that such renders always an open hand for distribution), were made in conjunction with the harvest-festival. Cdin Aicillne When Cormac had finished distributing the cattle, his and its accompanying glossNi docs, in fact, specify that the age of steward came to him, i.e. Maine Mibriarach mac Miduath. certain bovines was reckoned up to the point when one gave the "0 Cormac, have you distributed all the cattle?" said he, "I animal to one's lord in winler, while the text on the value of have" said Cormac. "I do not know what to do" said the animals specifies that cattle-values changed at Samltin (the late steward, "I will not be able to furnish you with the where. winter fcstivall and again at Beltaine (early summer).fH withal to feed the household of Tarn, even for a single night, Other legal texts identify a variety of summer foods which for it was on those cattle which we were relying. And the were to be ftiven to one's lord as food-rent by n client. These reason is that all your own flocks have succumbed," This included dairy produce such as fresh milk, huller and cream, a news astonished Cormac and he said: "What were you bullock for roastin~, vegetables and a molt sambid or "wether of thinking of, steward, that you did not tell me that before my summer food'.WlAgain, where a client's renders included summer hands were empty after receiving my tribute? For now 1 food, the end of the summer seems the most plausible time for have nothing to give you and it docs not please me to brinJ:ringthem to the lord, pressurize an,yone;from the moment that the year's tributes In n non-monetary economy, such renders had to be either have been /:pven to me, I will have no other rent until the eaten by the lord and his immediate entourage or redistributed year's end."fi4 by him to his followers. Thomas Charles. Edwards has argued for a two.fold division in the type of food-render J:rivento early It is clear that this description is part of an unusual set of medieval kings: firstly, those from within his own kingdom, circumstances brought about by plague but the general idea that which would be offered on a reg'Ular basis, and which would a lord would redistribute his renders to his clients at the same reflect all the broad cate~ories into which the contemporary diet time that he received them makes perfect sense. It seems likely was divided; secondly, those submitted by outsiders which are that preservation of large quantities of food-stuffs at a single likely to he dona led as livestock on the hoof. The latter could be location over a long time would pose logi!!ticnlproblems to the acquired by Irish kings through the arch rig or royal cattle raid lord, particularly in the case of milk, vegetables and dead animals. 38 Riocht no Mid"e The local context of 6enach Tailten 39 It would seem far more sensible to move them back into circulation and Kelly, is another important aspect of the 6enach; that of an immediately, usin~ the wealth g"enerated by some to reward assembly at which people from far-flung Rettlements could meet others nnd to bind them mOTC firmly to one's cause. Cuan Ua and marriage alliances could be formed. A gloss on the le~al tract Lothchain's early eleventh-century poem on Denae" Tailten Cain Aieillne mentions the imperative for the manchuine praises Mael SechnaiJI, amongst other things, for his generosity (dependant8) of a lord to accompany him to an 6enaeh while in distributing corn, milk and malt. These are all items which another, recently edited by Kelly, draws attention to the need to occur in the lists of food-renders in Cain Aicillne, Crith Gablaeh have the roads in ~ood condition prior to such occasions. In T6.in 65 and Bretha Nemed Toisech. Furthermore, the Middle Irish 86 Cuailgne, it is stated that special clothes were worn for the poem on another Lugnasad fair, Denoch Carmuin, stresses that duration of an 6enaeh; whi1~ooing Emer, Cli Chulainn is in addition to the foreign trade discussed by Doherty. markets described as having dressednimself in his 6enach.c1othes and fi6 (margnid) in food and livestock also took place. This would travelled by chariot to the 6enaeh while Emer and her women sat seem a natural development if the proffering and redistribution at the (orad of the 6enaeh, near to her father's dun, A late Middle of food renders were a normal part of6enach-festivities. Irish story. entitled simply 6enach Tailten, tells of an incident Commentator" since Doherty have emphasised othcr, non- which took place during the 6enaeh when a woman claimed her mercantile. aspects of an 6enach. In his recent book, Early Irish man had had intercourse with another and demanded that he Farming, Fergus Kelly makes a number of passing references to swear a denial under the hand of St. Ciaran of the holding of Ocnnig in early Ireland, emphasising in particular who was al!'io present. It is easy to believe that the communal the horse-racing which took place there. Chariot-racing waR also merry-making- which obviously made up an important element of a feature and the lawyers were careful to stress that owners the 6enach-celebrations facilitated the creation of marriage couldn't claim compensation for injuries either to or by a horse or alliances althou~h, as Daniel Binchy has indicated, it is not clear chariot at Of'nach assemblies. In an annal entry for 811, it is whether the entry in Cormac's Glossary which refers to a Tulaeh stated that the community of Tallaght prevented the 6ennch no Coibehe or "hill of contract~ at 6enaeh Tailten should be seen Tail/('n from being held that year conna'Techt ('ch nn carpat (so as a formal recognition of such activity.69 that neither horse nor chariot arrived). Kelly also stresses other Instead, Tulach na Coibche may reflect the legal decisions aspects of an O<'nnchnot discussed in detail by Doherty, namely which could be made at an 6enaeh.70 The introduction to a late the sporting contests, music, story-telling and the recitation of Middle Iri!'ih tale, Genemain Aeda Slane, states that tributes royal J{enealob,;cs.J;7 were ag-reed and laws were enacted at 6enaeh Tailten every At the Tara conference in April 1998, Thomas Charles-gdwards /,ugnasad. A similar idea was also put forward in relation to pointed out that, on a number of occasions, ecclesiastical synods 6enaeh Carmuin, where the poet states that the participants may have run concurrently with Denailf. Certainly, there is more would discuss the dues and tributes of the province.71 We have than one gathering of ecclesiastics associated with Teltown, the already encountered other incidents which took place at 6enaeh most famous of which i:.;probably the synod which proposed to Tail ten and which involved seeking leg'at redress - namely that excommunicate ofIona. In another incident, in the Vita of the woman who accused her husband of absconding with Prima of8t. Brigid, Patrick is said to have convened an assembly another woman and the attempt to establish the paternity of an of many bishops at Teltown which discussed, amongst other unclaimed child. things, the paternity ofa certain baby. The mother had accused It is clear from this relatively short overview that an 6enaeh one of the senior members of Patrick' sf amilia, Bishop Br6n, but served a multitude of possible functions. It was a recognised when 81. Brigit blessed the baby's ton~e, the child announced g'atheringpoint for a population dispersed across a rnrallandscape 6Il the true father. Neither account states explicitly that these and provided a social occasion to break up the cycle of the year. It gatherings took place during6efUlch Taiit('n, but they are certainly seems to have been the occasion at which certain agricultural high-status gatherings at Teltown involving individuals from renders were proffered to one's king and might, in turn, be many areas of Ireland. gained by those in royal favour. It provided communal fun in the Implicit in this, as well as in the observations of both Doherty shape of horse-racing and competitions in which warriors could

------40 IUoc!lt na Midhe The local context of iXmach TaWen 41 show offtheir skills. It reinforced respect for the authority of the Cholmain en~endercd by this conflict appears to have tempted patrons; that of the king when his genealogy and attainments the Connachta to cross the Shannon and raid western Mide in were lauded in public by the professional filid and that of the Chron. Scot. 899. Though the Connachta raid ended in failure, it church when relics of the local saint were paraded. It involved is nol impossible that Diarmait, who hore the name of a famoll.s conspicuouscomlUmptionofthe products ofan agricultural society, sixth-century Ui Neill king of Tara, was also eager to exploit in particular food,drink and clothing and it probably encouraged 's difficulties and was facilitated by the localdynasts the development of trade in luxury goods. In addition, as a of the Sil nAedo Staine. At the very least, the possibility should gathering point for the wider community, other types ofmcetings be canvassed, given the short list of annalistic refereo.cea to could coalesce around it; a synod of visiting bishops for example 6enach Tailtf'!n and the need to weigh every scrap of eVidence or an opportunity for hearing law cases. Perhaps the simplcllt which has survived. way in which to summarize its function is simply to state that it Similarly. Binchy discussed but dismissed the A. fl. 811 refer. act.edas a safety-valve through which a community could resolve coee to the community of Tallaght, in the territory of the any internal tensions it might have. Leinsterrnen, who prevented the 6enach from taking place; this, Identifying the function of an early medieval Iwnach is the he suggested, was an anomalous incident, brought ab.outby ~he essential starting point for any attempt to rellolve what role border situation ofTallaght and the great prestige oflts leadmg Dellurh Tailten played in the overkingship ofthe Vi Neill kings of cleric Mael Ruain.73 Nor did he accept the entry in A.U. 733 Tara. The standard account of that relationship for many years which refers to the overthrow at Teltown ofCatha I mac Finguine, has heen Binchy's 1958article, ~TheFair ofTailtiu and the Feast overking of Munster, by a Clann Cholmain dynast ofWestmeath 2 of Tara".7 In this, Binchy is particularly concerned to refute the as indicating anything other than a simple ~engagement".74At statement hy Eoin Mac Neill and others that &mach 7'ailten was the 1998 Teltown conference, Teresa Bolger drew attention to a national assembly. Hinchy therefore dismissed the claim of the the fact that the A.U. annal entry docs not give Cathal's poet Cuan Uri.Lothchain that. in the eyes of an early eleventh- patronymic and suggested that th~ record. refer~, not to the century poet, provillion was normally made for attendance at overking of Munster, but to a Sil nAedo Slalne pnnce. The two Denaeh Toiltell by the kings of Lcinster. , Munster and contenders might be Cathal mac Finsnechtai, son of a sevent~- Connacht. Instead Binchy suggested that all the evidence we century Sil nAedo Slaine king of Ta:rawho is co~mem~rated In have is to the effect that Denaeh Tailten was summoned by the the genealogies, and Cathal mac Aedo of the Fir Chul whose head of the Ui Neill and disturbances ofthe 6enach were confined death at the hands of his Sil nAedo Siaine cousins is recorded in to groups from within the Vi Neill hegemony. A.U. 737.n;If Bolger's suggestion is accepted, the 733 episode This seems to over-simplify the matter. Binchy noted the two would fit the pattern of dil'lturbancesbeing confined to members twdfth-century references to the holding of 04mach Tailtcn by ofthe Vi Neill hegemony,as postulated by Binchy.It is impossible twoUa Conchohuir kings fromConnacht, Toirdelbachand Ruaidri to be certain but on the whole, it seems to me that Cathal mac in 1120and 1167/8but he dismissed them as ~artificial revivals"; Finguine is the more likely candidate because secular dynasts, he did not comment, however, on the fact that inA.F.AI 894 (rede whosc names are given without patronymics in A.U. in this A.D. 899) Diarmait mac Cerbaill, king of Ossory is said to have period, tend to be figures who hold the highest political offices celehrated &mach Tailten. The Ossory dynasty had been closely and whose careers arc well-documented. In the same year that associated with the Clann Cholmain kings ofTara in the previous Cathal mac Aedo's death is recorded, for example, another A.U. generation: Diarmait's aunt, Flann ingen Dungaile, had been entry reads ddl itir Aed Allan 7 Cathal DC, Tfr dd Glas (Ameeting married to Mael Sechnaill and was commemorated as rigan rig between Aed Allan [king of Cenel nEogainJ and Cathal at Temrn (queen of the king of Tara) before she died in A.V. 890. Terryglass). In this case, it is undoubtedly Cathal mac Finguine The period in which Diarmait is said to have celebrated 6enach whose actions are being recorded. Tail/en coincides with an cntry in Chron. Scot. 898 recording Binchy did not discuss the possibility, raised by John warfare between Flann Sinna, son of ~'1aelSechnaill and king of O'Donovan,that the alliance ofClann Cholmain and the powerful Tara, and his son, Mael Ruanaid. The weakness in Clann Connacht king, Muirgius mac Tommaltaig, who mounted an 42 Rfocht na Midhe The local context of Denaeh Tailten. 43 expedition "as far as Tir-in-Ocnaigh" (land of the ocnach) inA. U. ambiguous in import, cover a lon~ chronological time-span and I 808, might have been intending- to attack Denaeh TaiLten.76 Their could he seen as indicating that &mach Tailten was a gathering enemy on that occasion was Aed mac Neill ofthe Cenci nEogain, of island-wide importance under the aegis of the king of Tara, who is identified in A.U. 811 as being a man who might be Binchy was clearly justified in opposing an anachronistic expected to celebrate Denneh Tailten in this period, and who nationalism which could, at its most extreme, be interpreted as burned the border-territories of Mide in revenge for the abortive depicting:6enach TaWen as the parliament in embryoofa modern attack. l\1uirgius is perhaps the hest documented of the early nation-state.llo On the other hand, we have a clear seventh. Connachta kings and the context in which this raid may have century statement, in Muirchu's life of Patrick, that Tara was taken place is possibly illustrated in the fact that two of his !'Ions seen as caput Scottorum (the head of of were killed by the Luigne in 810. (Peoples of this name arc the Irish), that it was ruled by an imperator (emperor) who was known both from the area of modern Meath - the barony orLune descended from Niall Noigiallach and that his kingdom - and from Sligo. where they gave their name to the barony of encompassed huius pene insolae (almost the entire island).~l1In a Leyney.) world where over-kingship depended heavily on symbolicacts of MOlitsurprising'ofall, Binchy's article of 1958made no mention submission, as well as on military assistance and extortion of of the Old Irish poem on the Airgialla in which the Vi Neill over. revenue,Il2 it is perfectly plausible that provincial kings may lord of Tara and Teltown is said kl preside ovcr the warnors of have attended 6enach railien on occasion. The evolutionar;y Ireland, the king of Munster being' in the extreme south of the model of early Irish kingship, which has held sway since the banqueting hall, the king of Leinster beside him, and the king'of 1960s, has recently been subjected to important criticisms3 and the Connachta behind.77An edition of this poem had been pub- it may be that it is now time to look again at the "fictional" lished some seven years earlier by Maidn O'Daly who credited sovereignty of the carly kings of Tara. Binchy with having made many valuable suggestions prior to Recent work by Colman Etchingham has stressed that what publication. This odd omission may perhaps be explained by the survives in the Irish annals provides us with only a partial and fact that Binchy saw the disturbances recorded in the annals as patchy account of specific areasM and it is a striking fact that so the most important evidence for the presence or otherwise of many of the relatively short list of annal references to 6enach other provincial kings.7" At the !'ame time, his statement that Tailten deal with failures to hold the assembly. One of these, in his examination of the evidence for6enach Tailten reinforced his A.U. 873 states that failure kl hold the 6enach without goodand previous helief in a fictional sovereignty of the Tara king ovcr sufficient cause - sine causa iusta et digna - was something other provincial monarchs,79would seem to indicate that he was which has not been heard of since ancient times, One should note predisposed to minimise any evidence to the contrary. that the annalist is complaining about the lack of an explanation One final point on this issue can be made. In addition to the rather than the lack of an 6enach; after all, the cancellation monuments associated with the VanOUlIprovincial kings, the engendered by the activities ofTaliaght, some sixty years, before penultimate verse of Cuan's carly eleventh-century poem refers has already been cited. to the absence of seven kings who might have been expected to Ciuin Ua Lothchain's eleventh--eentury poem states that five attend. He names the various kings, though without patronymics, hundred denaig had been held between the 6enach of Patrick and two non-UiNcill kings may be amongst them: Cathal (possibly until the udub-6enach" or B1ack«nach of Donnchad. This has Catha I mac Conchobuir, king of Connacht) and Dondchad been identified by his modern editor, Edward Gwynn, as being (possibly Dondchad Mriel.na-mbO, king of the Vi Cheinselaig). the fair disrupted in A.U. 927 and in this he was followed by The common occurrencc of both these personal names, their lack Daniel Binchy.HIiThis is a modern inference though a very of patronymics and the lack of detail in either annals or reasonable one; the annal entry refers to a disturbance while geneaiob-riesfor many of the subordinate Vi Neill leaders from Donnchad was presiding at the 6enach but the annalist does not this period, makes it imp0!olsibleto be certain about either of use the phrase dub.6enach. It is important to note, 8S Gwynn these suggestions hut the possibility is there. pointed out, that this 927 date presumes that the figure of five These various references, scanty though they are and onen hundred 6enaig is something of an approximation and that Cuan 44 Rioeht nn Mid/u' The local context of 6fmach Tailtm 45 docs not make any reference to the years when the annalists Dindshenchas on 6enach Carmuin: recorded the absence of a fair. On the other hand, the poet's identification ora seventy-nine year gap, between the dub-6enach For holding it the Leinstermcn (were promised) corn and and Mael Seehnaill's revival of the festivitY,Il6 corresponds milk and freedom from control of an)' (other) province in reasonably well with the annalistic evidence. The celebration of Ireland; that they should have men, royal heroes; tender &>nQch Tailten by Macl Scchnaill is recorded in Chronicoll women: goodcheer in every several house, every fruit like a Scottorum under the year 1005 (recte 1007) which leaves a g:ap show (1): and nets full (offish) from waters. But ifit was not of eighty years. Given the different ways in which one might held, they should have decay and early gre)'ness and young mark year's end in the Middle Ages, this seems a reasonable kings.fl8 approximation. Propaganda might state that all four provincial kings w:re pre~cnt The forty kings who are identified by euan as those who on a regular basis at 6enach Tailten and stron~ !ara kings m~ght celebrated 6ennig TaWe" are all, bar one, said to he descendants have been in a position to enforce this, but pohtlcally weak kings of Niall Noigiallach. The exception is the legendary Connacht could face opposition from such relatively minor groups as,the king, Ailill (Molt),The forty kings are subdivided into the various , as happened in AU. 827, or even from.the SIl nAedo Vi Neill : members ofthe Cenel Locgaire, Cenci Cairpre, SIaine themselves, as in A.U. 717, Those Tara kmgs who were Sil nAedo Shiine, Clann Cholmain, Cenel nEogain and Cenel under threat from more junior candidates within the Vi Neill Conaill. As Gwynn indicated in his edition, this list can be dynasties or from strong provincial kings, such .as Cathal mac broadly correlated with the known Vi Neill kings ofTara.~17Since Finguine of Munster or Muirgius m.acTommal~alg of Connacht, the poem is a praise-poem in favour of MaeIScchnaill, himself an may have found it difficult on occasIOnto exercise the necessary Vi Neill king of Tara, and of his actions in reviving the festival, control over the Sil nAedoSiaine kings, or to demand the presence this is not particularly surprising". The fact that the local Sil oftheir more powerful subordinates from elsewhere on the island. nAedo Siaine king-s arc not given prominence is equally Similarly, it was only powerful Tara kings, such as Donnch~d unproblematic<'ll,given Mael Sechnaill's dynastic ancel'ltry<'lmong mac Domnaill, whocouldsuccessfullychallenge the localauthonty the Clann Cholmain who were long-st.'lndingrivals oftheir casteen of the Patrician church as represented by Donaghpatrick. neighbours. As propaganda, rather than factual history, CUlln's The area of the Blackwater valley, from Kells to Navan, is one need was to produce plausible generalisations which would suit of the best documented regions in early medieval Ireland, Our his patron, rather than a precise account of the known details sources depict a region which appears dominated by the most concerning a festivity which he states had not been celebrated by prestigious of the Sil nAedo Slaine forts; one whose r,amparts - a Tara king for some eighty year!!. ma!!sively substantial at the present day - were said to have It might be that holding 6fmach Tailtl'n on an annual basis been blessed by the saint himself. In its immediate vicinity was a was an aspiration rather than an automatic reality for the early church claimed to have been founded by a progenitor ofthe royal Tara kings, As an assembly apparently held under the immediate house, whose dimensions resembled that ofSolomon's temple.,In ae~s of the most powerful Sil nAedo Slaine king of the day, close proximity to these two settlements was an area which possibly in association with the leader of the eccesiastical site of appears to have been demarcated by ancestral burial mounds Donaghpatrick, it was crucially important as a symbol of the and prehistoric stone monuments and it is here that th~ Vi Neill high-king's control over the fertile lands of the eastern midlands. kings of Tara were wont to hold their 6enach-assembhes, S.uch If, as I have ar~ed above, one of the primary purposes of the assemblies represented a communal treat proffered by hlgh- 6fmach was to redistribute agricultural renders to one's subordin- kings in years when they effectively dominated Brega and every ates, the presence of the Vi Neill overlord would become even year where possible,They symbolisedthe Tara ~ings' overl~r~s~ip more important. Disturbances, interruptions or cancellations of the fertile lands of the east midlands, Dunng the festlVltles, illustrated a Tara kin~s weakness; holding a successful gathering, visitors from afar would be guaranteed immunity from attack in contrast, could bolster a new king or one weakened by defeats and over-kings from other parts of Ireland would accept the elsewhere. This, after all, is what is implied in the prose hospitality ofthe lord ofTara, thus acknowledging his suzerainty. 46 Wocht na Midhe The local Context of 6enach Tailten 47 6f'narh Tailten is thus cmcial to the history of the high.king~hip 3rd editinn (Duhlin 1949), p.130; M. MacNeill. Th,f"'11001 oft...llhlllJ.WJ (Orlnrd 196Z), p.313, In Ihilthcy have been followed by Micheal Herity, 'Mol" and moundl at royal of Ireland but, paradoxically, I would argue, its importance lies ailea in I•..••land. in R.S.At. In .• axiii fl9931, pp 127.51, PP 142-3 and Leo Swan, in the limited nature of an over.king's control in an area in which T"/t"",,,: A" a"eltnl Iu.",bly 11.1"i" C.•••"'ly M"",h (Archaeology I•••lllld Heritage regional power was concentrated in local hands. Guide Nn.3, Nov. 19981.O'Donovan'a ••tymalOfO'"f Oristown: R"ik 6rlh"ulh~ from e"rli ••r '''",t'Oll1h,r I. rmte1elrlycorrooora!-ed bytne A.D, 15-4{).o11form OVERESTON t 1\~I,,,,./r, "'0". po••••Miofll. p, 11-41orby A.D. 1663ORISTOWNEII"q. unairlh••••UII me"n both 'front part' and 'the ellt". MaK mllrel; w&oa vital inKredient in the Tllra kingahip. The fON'd ,""wn on that DlI.A p. 2-41,-46-69,p.365: 6-4.77. OC<:1I9ion.pawlled much ofthil paper, 11. It iMpo••.~ihle that Ihi" walll 80n of Bre.aalllnd llrand •••n ofFln"nechta Fl",!aeh, Mth 2. Forearly IItt....tlltion. nfthe name, ••••••f)u11O""ryo{lhe JrI.h Ln"l:u"l('. ed. E,G. Quin "fwhom died in AU. 6%, Jr 110,thia wnuld make him. rival deacendant af Aed S"ine muhlin 19'131,- he••••after ciled al WI. _ T p. 29:25.-49; A,D, 148f!...9:TALLEN thmull:h the lattO'r'llIOn Dunchad, IA"o/,,"'a H,b"'''im, x (19-41),p,SU; A,D. 1MO-I: TALLYN tlill'''/H'flrlUi ",,,,,,,./i •• 12. Byrne and F•••""il,"Two livel", p, 1-4.Bymeon ••••IUKIt""tedthlt. min recorded in 1J()"~•• rn~.,. 1,~4(/.J54t fro", ",a""",,,I". In Ih, l'"bI~ Rrrord Offrll'" Gailpnlta, wal a hrolher of the GnrmKal mac Elldaig reI Cn"",ba; Iking nf Knowth) ••••"••••II""a ••lltI•••r,,"' ••""f"'rtarl""': LaJ;:"",,,, <''' of Odha ",ith Nllva" il ro.-...ct. (,..,.. E. 11"111",O" ••.•••alliCOll C-.I,I,eu"" /ororu", tI fnbuu", Hi""'rnl'" " Smlinr (Dublin 1910~ pp 556-71. this wnuld aK•..••••with the r,la/,( •• It>III, a"''';jU'''~' of th, cou"l.y af MMlh roll",,/..J ,1"ri"llllt, l'rf>I(rr.'. ofl"" orri""" •••••••r•....,ill 18.16,I'd. M. O'Flan"lj"an (n•.••y 1927). p, 418l. K''''l(raphical dilltriblltiOIl or GnnnKI1'. family, a" identified by Hyrne lind Francis. It 3, M. O'D.ly,'A poem nn tho AiTJ(\IIUa'in l':nu xviU9aZl, pp 179-1lH,p. 179 t I. would, however. mcan ill"oorinl;th•• Ie1Itimonyof the Tripartite Lire that Mliel Odar 4 K. Multhrone, 'Die Ahfa".un~U'it und U1,.,rliererunj( d"r Vita Tripartita", in z.e.p., wa. a lIOnof Aed Slliine, xvi 119271,pp 1.901.KH. Jaeksoll, "Th" dal ••or Ihe Tripartile Lire of St, Patrick' in 13. J. ColKan Tri". Th"umnl ••rll"'. ed. P. 6 Riain (•••..print Blackmck 1997 nf onltinll 7,C.I'., xli 1191161.PP 5-<11';;G. Mac Eoin, "'!'he dlltinll: of Middle hillh tl'llta" in Dri,. edit;"" pubh ••hed Louvaill 1&171.p 1M, n,,1e 9; I"q. Nl"",II, Hib ""p"rl I, Meath Amd. P,..,.,.• IIViii UAA2), pp 109-38; F.J. Byrne lind P. Franeill. "Two 1iv~" nf 51. Cllr.1. I 7 (AD. 16251",hich refen tn the milnor nf Newcutle in Crevin aJ. NeW1lttln. PlltTIC~:V'la S""""da and Vila Q ••art,,' in R.S.A.I J"., euiv (1994), pp 5-117, pp 6.7, New8ton" ill II ttlwnland in th•• pari.h nf Drumrondra ((;"" •••.••1alpha""'licol i"d"l/o The ep,!lOdellI d,!ICu." he •.••••••mlklh ••l'I"l/ra;.,: Ih, Ir'pal1il"I'f' 0{/',lIriell, ed. K. Iht 1",,,,,I,,,,d. a"d tow".,p"ru~ •••""d baro", ••~o{l ••••la"d. Baltimore 1986. p. 738). A Mukh,." ••••IDuhlin 19391,pp -43--4'1lind (with Enllli.h tranalatinnl Th, In,,,,rfil,l.f ••of numb<'r or the plll'('nam ••" I""""illted with thO'minor in th•• Inq"",linna can be l'al" ••II, wllh <>I1I,r&"'um""I •• ed, W. Stoke" lLondon IHH7), pp 64-75, identified in th" vicinityofNeW!'tnne on t•••••OS 6' tnwnland indu of Co, M•..ath, Sheet 5. AD. 1302: chun:h d•• DONPATRICK (CaI"",lar 0{ d•••..""'t",. re/"tl"g 10 lre/""d. 111. 130"2.7, I'd. HR Sw•.••lm"n and G.F.llandcoek (London 18.'161,p. 260); AD. 11';40.1: H .• ""lIl'ha~na •..••1"" inuiJor,,1'l Huidrr;IJn<:>I<"'I~D"" C"",ed. R.I. B••••t.ndO. Bergin DONAPATRYK (Ii.,,,,,/I Ir. ",a". pa"~"IO"a,pp, 112-3); A.D. 165-4.6: /Dublin 19291- he•••ar\erciled •• I•.V. - p. 127: 4052--4056; Fifl[falR(l."h""nd al~r UONOUGHPATRICK (TI>" C",d S•••••.•••y A.D. 1654.56. Ccu"ly at M<'I,a S"l'm ,,,I/o V"lllnll'lm CI'''',,,I,,,,,,,,, ed, A, ColunK' and L. Turrado (7th variant spelhnK oF('.-onlingis g;vea III Conae, ahnwinll:the ume modlficatlon of 111/ttl editinll, Madrid 1975).3 R<.>g62 (11WI6;21. hardll (whith can equally ",,,II be Ipelte in fmallyUable ••in Old lrilh orth(lfotT9phy); 7. L. Bieler. 7''''' PoITll'w" I,ll. i" Ih••1Jn<:>I<'" ArmllRh (Dublin 1979), p. 13219.10, pp Carp •••JI""ta/"ft,,,r ••m H'Mrnior, ed. M.A. O'Brien /Dublin 19621.p. 554. 166-17111. 16, Fllire Or"R""" (',ili~:Ih~ ",ol1yrol

64 F",hlJl'lJro",•• Dnm!l~'h(ll".l'd, M.L. Sj"•.~led1.,R~. C~ll., xliii! 19261, pp 1.123. pp 12.3. Th,. translation i. that ofSjoe.tedt. tranalated from lhe French. 6.'•. 1U>1ly,Fnrm"'f(. 1'.31M. Binch)', C","l'u" p. 4113;12.19~ p,2230:17.2O; BillChy, en/Ia aabla •.", p. 3:71.76. I am II:nl •.r,,1 to ColmAn Etehirll:ham for the •.dl"l'Cnrc tL>n,.../hll N,,,,•••I T"'~h. 66. Gwynn, f)",rlJrrnrh". III. p.U:30 .••.H 67. Kelly.F"rm"'f(, p. 99, p. 3(',0,pp 4~.6J; Gwynn,/hnd.hrlldlll.lIf. pp 2.25. 6H. Ad"m",in', j,{ •. "'Columba ed. M.O. Andcnoon (Oxford 1991), pp 184.11\6 ~ 1113: Vi/a S Rr'K,d"r ed. Bollandi.t. in Artn S""rlorllm : "~hrunrii I 1'.122f V:36; S. Connolly, "Vita Prima Brill'itae: lIackll'round and H,.torie"l Value" in Il.S.Al.Jn .•cxix 09119). pp 1,.49. p. 23 ~ 39 fi9, HInch)', Corp"', p. 171lH:1_7:Kelly. "'lIr"",,~, p.•~3A~ 3; T.B,t'. 1I.1',n.•tl'rl, p.64:23.~7; TIJf"""''''''' 10:""••'1' inl •./I. p,30910HI2_7~(),."nrh Tmit ••" in /Jit l.l''''#~' p. 1204; S""n. e""",,,,,, ed. K. Meyer (Duhlin 19121.1'.32~3115.Set' D.A. Binchy. "The Fair "fTailliu lind lhe Fca~t "fTara" in 1':••••, oviii 1195!!).PI' 113.311,1',124, 70 Binchy. Cdlll G"b/"ell, 1',102. 71. i./1. 1', 1334206-14; Gwynn.l"n,/.h ••"r"(u ill. 1'.111214_7. 72, See aoove. fn. 69, 73. Binehy.4'he Fair'. PI' 117.fI. 74 Binehy,4'he Fair", p. 121.2. 71> O'llrien, C-49, PI' 247--8. R!,. G"'ynn. o."d.hmrhn'rv. p. 4111;Fhnchy, 4'h ••Fa •••• 1'.120. 86. Gwynn. Dt"d.h~neh(J' IV. p. 160: 1119.90. R7. Gwynn. n."d.h""r"",rv, 1', 1!>8:177.88;PI' 418.9; Byrne, Iri.h It,nl{'. PI' 271>-6, 88 Stnk ••••.'Renn ••• Dind.h",nr"n'", PI' 311.3141 III.