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Home , Cessair, Conall Cernach, Conand (mythology), Conchobar mac Nessa, Cumhall, Danu (Irish goddess)

IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS

By McPhee

[Text of an address to the Sydney Unitarian on 27 September 2020.]

The mythology of pre-Christian was preserved in an . known as Béaloideas. With the arrival of , the first manuscripts were written in the monasteries, preserving many of these tales. Though the Christian influence is also seen in these manuscripts, this literature represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of . Although many of the manuscripts have not sur- vived and much more material was probably never committed to writing, there is enough remaining to enable the identification of distinct, if overlapping, cycles:

1. The – prehistorical 2. The Cycle – c. 1st Century CE 3. The Cycle – c. 3rd Century CE 4. The Historical Cycle – 5th Century CE onward

There are also a number of extant mythological texts that do not fit into any of the cycles, and many recorded folk tales that continued as the oral tradition ran parallel to the manuscript tradition which, while not strictly mythological, feature personages from one or more of these four cycles.

The Lebor Gabála Érenn (literally ‘The Book of the Takings of Ireland’), known in English as The Book of Invasions, is a collection of poems and prose narratives in the intended to be a and the Irish from the creation of the world to the . There are a number of versions, the earliest of which was compiled by an anonymous writer in the . What I find incredible is that the last arrivals – the Irish – must have acquired the stories about the previous invaders from the whom they conquered and subsequently assimilated.

The book tells of Ireland being settled by seven groups, five of which were human:

1. and her followers 2. Formorians (monsters) 3. Partholonians 4. Nemedians 5. 6. Tuatha Dé Danann (semi-divine) 7. ()

The opening chapter, written by the monks and probably intended to make the Irish feel connected to the larger Christian community, explains that all mankind is descended from through the sons of . One son, , is the forebear of all Europeans; his son, , is the forebear of the Gaels and the of Central Eurasia; and his grandson, Fénius Farsaid, is the forebear of the Gaels. Fénius, a Scythian prince, is described as one of 72 chieftains who built the , and his son, Nel, married , the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh. Their son, Goídel Glas, developed the Gaelic (also called Goidelic) language and his offspring left at the same time as the Exodus to settle in . After some time, they left that region and spent 440 years traveling westward until they arrived in what is now Spain.

The next chapter relates how the first people arrived in Ireland, led by Noah’s granddaughter, Cessair. In an endeavour to escape the coming Flood, they sailed west in three ships, only one of which survived to land at Bantry Bay in Co. . On that ship were Cessair, her father, her brother, her future husband, and forty-nine other women. The land welcomed them – new rivers and lakes burst forth and Cessair and her people cleared away a new plain to live on. However, two of the men died and then the Flood overwhelmed the rest of them – only Cessair’s husband, Fintan mac Bóchra, survived by becoming a salmon and, after the waters receded, an eagle and a hawk. In those forms, he surveyed the entire island and, returning to human form (still with the ability to change his form when needed), lived for 5500 years to advise the later arrivals.

Strangely, given that none of them survived, the names of the women represent the various ethnicities of , with the implication that they were the mothers of all those peoples.

A hundred years later, the Formorians arrived and established a fortification on , off the coast of Co. . They were beings, described in different stories as hostile monsters from under the sea and the earth, sea raiders (probably a reference to the ), and giants with one eye, one arm and one leg. Yet, other stories describe them as humanoid and darkly beautiful, even interbreeding with the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Another 200 years passed before a second group of humans arrived, led by Partholón, who was descended from Noah’s grandson, Magog. They sailed to Ireland from the Mediterranean to find that the island had only one open plain, three lakes and nine rivers. Partholón’s people battled the for dominion of Ireland and, when they won, seven new lakes burst from the ground. Fintan mac Bhóchra made himself known to them and helped them establish an agrarian society. They cleared three plains and, as given by the names of some of the men, started cattle husbandry, ploughing, cooking and brewing, also dividing the island in four parts. They prospered for a time and their numbers grew to 9000 before they all died from a plague. Again, there was one survivor, Tuan mac Chairill, who also lived for centuries in various forms until the coming of Christianity.

A mere 30 years later, a third group of people arrived led by , who was also descended from Magog. Somehow, they set out from the in 44 ships but, again, only one managed to reach Ireland. These Nemedians cleared twelve plains and build two royal forts, and four lakes burst from the ground. They won four battles against the Fomorians and Nemed made them build a beautiful fortress for him, after which he had all the craftsmen killed so they could never build its equal for anyone else.

After Nemed and many others died from a plague, the Nemedians were oppressed by the Fomorians, led by mac Fhebair and Morc mac Dheled. Every year, they had to give the Formorians two-thirds of all their production, including their children. After four generations, the Nemedians rebelled and attacked Conand’s tower with 60,000 warriors, defeating him. Morc then attacked and the sea (which the Formorians controlled) rose up and overwhelmed the Nemedians. One ship with 30 men escaped, some of whom went to the magical lands of the north, others to Britain (which was uninhabited at that time) and still others to .

Those who went to Greece were enslaved and made to carry bags of soil and clay, for which reason they were called the Fir Bolg, meaning ‘men of the sacks’. They kept their spirits up for 230 years by telling stories of their homeland, until they managed to escape and return to Ireland. Led by their five chieftains, they divided Ireland into five provinces, and the provincial kings elected one of their number to be the High King of the island. Fintan Mac Bhóchra watched all of this happening and helped them fight off the Fomorians. A succession of nine High Kings ruled over Ireland for the next 37 years.

The Nemedians who went to the north of the world became the supernaturally gifted Tuatha Dé Danann (people of the ), who represent the main pagan of Ireland. They sailed to Ireland in 300 ships concealed by a dark mist and landed on (Iron Mountain) in Co. Leitrim. The Fir Bolg met them and learned that the two peoples were related, though the former were short, dark and hairy, with crude weapons, and the latter were tall, golden and beautiful, with advanced and brightly shining armaments. The Tuatha proposed an equal division of the island but the Fir Bolg rejected this, so they fought for four days on the Plains of Magh Tuireadh (Moytura) and the newcomers won. The Fir Bolg were given the western region of but, in this First Battle of Moytura, the king of the Tuatha, Nuada, lost his right arm and therefore had to pass the kingship to Breas, who had a Formorian father and a Tuatha mother.

It was hoped that Breas would unite the two races but, instead, he favoured the Formorians and oppressed the Tuatha. He was deposed and Nuada, with his arm replaced by one of silver, regained the kingship. Breas applealed to the Formorians for support and was joined by of the Evil Eye, who raised a huge army. Dreadful battles followed, culminating in the Second Battle of Moytura, in which Balor killed Nuada but was killed in turn by his grandson (another hybrid), Lámhfada (Lugh of the Long Arm). With the Formorians vanquished, Lugh became king and the Tuatha enjoyed 150 years of unbroken rule in their lands.

The story now returns to the Gaels in the north of Iberia, where an early leader, Breogán, founded a city called and built a high tower. His son, Íth, spied Ireland from the top of that tower and sailed to the island with a group of men, landing at Inis Eoghain in Co. Donegal. The High King of the Tuatha had recently died and his three sons were quarrelling over which of them should succeed him, so they asked Íth for his advice. He just said that they should follow their own laws and he praised the land all about him – so well that the Tuatha grew nervous, thinking he was looking with the eye of a conqueror, and they killed him. (The tower behind Breogán’s statue is actually the Roman-built , which was a lighthouse at the time and was restored and extended upwards in 1790.)

The rest of Íth’s party returned to Iberia with his body, after which some of the Gaels set sail with a great force to avenge his death and take Ireland. They are referred to as the sons of Míl (Íth’s nephew, who died during the voyage) or Milesians. After they landed, they defeated a combined force of Tuatha and Fomorians in the Battle of Taltiu in Co. Meath and proceeded to Tara, the capital of the High Kings. There, they met the three contending kings, who asked for a three-day truce during which the Gaels must stay a distance of nine waves from land.

The Gaels agreed, but then the Tuatha conjured up a great wind that prevented them from sailing back to land. However, Míl’s son, Amergin, a and a , calmed the wind by reciting a verse and the surviving ships returned to the land. The two groups agreed to divide Ireland between them, with the Gaels taking the world above while the Tuatha took the world below and entered the sídhe () mounds, where they remain to this day. Fintan Mac Bóchra threw his lot in with the new people, advising the Milesians on the traditions of the land and how to keep them best.

We move now to the , whose stories are set in the early centuries of the Christian era. The oldest surviving manuscripts date from the 12th to the 15th Centuries but the language makes it clear that they were based on earlier writings from the 8th Century. Again, the monks who wrote them attempted to relate these stories to events in the Christian world, to the point that they were displaced from the centuries in which they actually happened. Unlike the early historical tradition, in which Ireland is united under High Kings, the Ulster Cycle depicts a country divided into local and provincial kingdoms that are often at war with each other. The civilisation described is a pastoral one ruled by a warrior aristocracy; wealth is reckoned in cattle; and warfare mainly takes the form of cattle raids or single combats between champions. Thus, the stories in the Ulster Cycle have the following features:

1. They all take place during the reign of King of (Ulster); 2. The central figure is his superhuman nephew, Cú Chulainn; 3. The main story is about a war between the kingdoms of Ulster and Connaught known as the Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Chúailnge).

Conchobar mac Nessa is so named because his mother, , was the princess of Ulster; his father was either the druid Cathbhadh or the (relatively powerless) High King Fachtna Fáthach. He was born on the same day as Christ, a sign that he would be a great king and have everlasting fame. By the time he was seven, Ness married , the king of Ulster, on condition that her son could be king for a year so that his children could be in the line of succession. Fergus thought this would be a mere formality but Conchobar, advised by his mother, ruled so well that, by the end of the year, the Ulster nobility decided that he should be king permanently.

By this time, Fachtna Fáthach had been overthrown and killed in battle by Eochu Feidlech, the king of Connacht, who then became the High King. Fergus made an alliance with him and they attacked Ulster. After a series of bloody battles, Conchobar came to terms with them, one of which was that he could marry Eochu’s daughter, Medhbh (Meave). In fact, he married a number of her sisters, as well, and they bore him at least six sons and one daughter. However, Medhbh left him and – as we shall see – became the queen of Connacht.

During this time, a boy named Sétanta was born to Conchobar’s sister, , and the aforementioned Lugh Lámhfada, who had become a after he died. He was raised by , Amergin, and his wife, but he went to Emhain Mhaca, the capital of Ulster (now City) as a boy and came to Conchobar’s attention when he beat the local team single-handed. He was invited to a feast at the home of Culann, the smith, but his guard dog attacked him and he had to kill it. Culann was devastated by the loss of his hound, so Sétanta promised to guard his house until a new dog was old enough to do the job. The druid, Cathbhad then announced that the boy’s name henceforth would be Cú Chulainn (Culann's hound).

As he grew older, Cú Chulainn was so beautiful that the Ulstermen worried about their wives and daughters, so they sought a wife for him. However, he only wanted to marry , the daughter of Forgall Monach, who lived in Co. . Forgall was opposed to the match and suggest that Cú Chulainn should train in arms with the renowned warrior-woman, Scáthach, who lived in Dún Scáith (Fortress of Shadows) on the Isle of Skye, hoping the ordeal would be fatal. She taught him all the arts of war, along with Ferdiadh, who became his best friend and foster brother.

However, Scáthach had to face a battle with , her rival and, by one account, twin sister. Cú Chulainn joined the fray, subduing Aoife, but he spared her life on the conditions that the women cease their enmity and Aoife bear him a son. He returned from Alba (present-day ) fully trained but Forgall still wouldn’t let him marry Emer, so he stormed his fortress, stole his treasure and abducted Emer.

Now comes the most famous story in the Ulster Cycle: the Táin Bó Chúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley). After she left Conchobar, Medhbh’s father made her the queen of Connacht, after which she apparently had a number of short-lived husbands, finishing with the chief of her bodyguard, Ailill mac Máta. They had seven sons and a daughter but, one day, Medhbh discovered that her husband’s wealth exceeded hers by one powerful stud bull. She then sought possession of a bull owned by one of Conchobar’s vassals and, when he refused to sell it, she led a huge army against Ulster to take it by force.

The men of Ulster were disabled by a curse that caused them to suffer labour pains for months, so it was left to Cú Chulainn – now seventeen – to defend the kingdom. He did this by waging guerrilla warfare against Medhbh’s army and then challenging her soldiers to single combat at a ford, defeating one champion after another over a period of months. Eventually, the men of Ulster recovered and the first to join the battle was the youth corps, who were all slaughtered. Cú Chulainn then launched a savage assault on the Connacht camp and avenged the youths sixfold. He returned to hold the ford until Medhbh prevailed on his friend, Ferdiadh, to fight him. After a duel of three days, Cú Chulainn killed his friend and was wounded in the process. Finally, the army of Ulster arrived and, after a climactic battle, the invaders had to retreat. Medhbh did succeed in capturing the Ulster bull, but it killed Ailill’s bull and wandered off, mortally wounded.

There are many other stories affecting Cú Chulainn, the best known of which is how he died. Queen Medhbh had conspired with Lugaid Roí, Erc mac Chairpri and some other sons of men he had killed to draw him out to his death. Lugaid had three magical made and it was prophesied that a king would fall by each of them. With the first, he killed Cú Chulainn's charioteer, (king of charioteers); the second kills his lead horse (king of horses); and the third hit Cú Chulainn, mortally wounding him. He tied himself to a standing stone to die on his feet, facing his enemies. Due to his ferocity even when so near death, it was only when a raven landed on his shoulder that his foes believed he was dead. Lugaid approached and cut off his head, but as he did so the ‘-light’ burned around Cú Chulainn and his sword fell from his grasp, cutting Lugaid’s hand off. The light disappeared only after his sword hand was cut from his body.

Cú Chulainn and his best friend, , had sworn that each would avenge the other’s death, so the latter pursued Lugaid and caught up with him. As Lugaid has lost a hand, Conall fought him with one hand tucked into his belt, but he only beat him after his horse took a bite out of Lugaid’s side. He also killed Erc and took his head back to Tara.

Lastly, the Fenian Cycle is a body of prose and verse centring on the exploits of the mythical hero, Fionn mac Chumhaill, and his warrior band, the (Guardians). It is also called the Ossianic Cycle after its narrator, , who was Fionn’s son. The source documents date from the 7th to the 14th Centuries, though there are also some later elements. The stories I want to focus on today are:

1. Fionn mac Chumhaill’s Birth and Boyhood 2. Fionn and 3. Oisín in Tír na nÓg

Fionn’ father was mac Trénmhoir of the Uí Thairsig tribe that lived in ; his mother was Muincháem (Muirne of the Fair Neck), daughter of mac Nuadat. Cumhall was the leader of an earlier band of Fianna and he abducted Muirne after her father refused him her hand, so Tadhg appealed to the High King, Conn Cétchathach (Conn of the Hundred Battles), who outlawed Cumhall. The Battle of Cnucha was fought between Conn’s and Cumhall’s forces, and Cumhall was killed by , who became the leader of the Fianna for ten years. Muirne was already pregnant and her father wanted his people to burn her, but Conn put her under the protection of Cumhall’s sister, Bodhmall, and her husband, Fiacal mac Chonchinn. She gave birth to a son, whom she called Deimne (meaning ‘certainty’). He was brought up in the forest of Sliabh Bladhma and taught the arts of war and hunting. He then met the poet, Finn Éces (Finnegas), near the and studied under him. Finnegas had spent seven years trying to catch the that lived in a pool of the Boyne, for it was prophesied the poet would eat this salmon and “nothing would remain unknown to him”. Eventually, he caught it and told the boy to cook it for him, but while doing so he burned his thumb and instinctively put it in his mouth. This imbued him with the salmon’s wisdom and, when Éces saw that he had gained wisdom, he let the youngster eat the whole fish and gave him the new name, Fionn (‘the fair one’), because his hair had turned prematurely white.

As he grew older he entered the service of a number of local kings but each one, when he recognised Fionn as Cumhall’s son, told him to leave, fearing they would be unable to protect him from his enemies. He then volunteered when the High King at Tara asked for someone to protect the capital from the attack of Áillen, the fire-breathing member of the Tuatha Dé Danann who came to wreak destruction on Tara every year, lulling its men to sleep with his music and then burning the city and its treasures. Fionn defeated Áillen with the help of a spear that warded off the music, after which his heritage was recognised and he was given command of the Fianna. Goll mac Morna stepped aside and became a loyal follower.

Fionn met his most famous wife, Sadhbh, when he was out hunting. She had been turned into a deer by a druid, Fear Doirich (Dark Man), whom she had refused to marry. Fionn’s two hounds recognised her as human and Fionn brought her home. She changed back into a woman the moment she set foot on Fionn’s land, so she and Fionn married and she was soon pregnant. When Fionn was away defending his country, Fear Doirich returned and changed her back into a deer, whereupon she vanished. Fionn spent years searching for her to no avail. However, his hounds found her son, Oisín, in the form of a fawn; he transformed into a child and went on to be one of the greatest of the Fianna. (I should add that Oisín actually means ‘fawn’.)

I’ll close with my very favourite story of Oisín in Tír na nÓg. Unlike all these previous, heroes, I have found no stories about his youth or anything else he did, except that he became the leader of the Fianna when his father disappeared. (He is said to have never died and still sleeps in a cave.) Tír na nÓg (Land of Youth) is depicted as an island paradise off the west coast of Ireland, which is a supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance and joy. Its inhabitants are described as members of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who engage in poetry, music and entertainment.

There are tales of various Irish mythical heroes who visit Tír na nÓg by entering ancient burial mounds or caves, by journeying through a mist, by going under water, or by traveling across the sea in an enchanted boat or on a magic horse that can ride across the water. The way across the sea is called (Plain of Honey), a golden path made by the sun on the ocean.

The way to become the king of Tír na nÓg was to win a race up a hill and sit on the throne on top of it, which was an annual event. The long-standing king, Manannán mac , had been told by a druid that he would only be defeated by the husband of his daughter, Chinn Óir (Niamh of the Golden Hair), so he turned her head into that of a pig to prevent her from marrying. However, the spell would be broken if any man married her, so Niamh rode the magic horse to Ireland and met up with the Fianna. Oisín immediately fell in love with her, despite her disfigurement, and she told him her situation. They were married; the spell was broken; and the pair rode the horse to Tír na nÓg.

Oisín duly became king and they had three children in the course of three years. After that time, he wanted to visit Ireland and Niamh reluctantly gave him the magic horse, enjoining him not to set foot on the land. However, when he arrived, he found that 300 years had passed! – he then fell off the horse and immediately became a very old man. By this time, St. Patrick had arrived and Oisín was placed in his care. He refused to become a Christian and asked to be buried on Sliabh gCuillinn in Co. Armagh.

[For those who are reading this, I have done my best to render names and place-names in a format that people conversant with Modern Irish would be able to pronounce.]