Honour and Early Irish Society: a Study of the Táin Bó Cúalnge
David Noel Wilson, B.A. Hon., Grad. Dip. Data Processing, Grad. Dip. History.
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts (with Advanced Seminars component) in the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne.
July, 2004
© David N. Wilson 1 Abstract
David Noel Wilson, Honour and Early Irish Society: a Study of the Táin Bó Cúalnge.
This is a study of an early Irish heroic tale, the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of the Cooley). It examines the role and function of honour, both within the tale and within the society that produced the text. Its demonstrates how the pursuit of honour has influenced both the theme and structure of the Táin .
Questions about honour and about the resolution of conflicting obligations form the subject matter of many of the heroic tales. The rewards and punishments of honour and shame are the primary mechanism of social control in societies without organised instruments of social coercion, such as a police force: these societies can be defined as being ‘honour-based’. Early Ireland was an honour- based society. This study proposes that, in honour-based societies, to act honourably was to act with ‘appropriate and balanced reciprocity’. Applying this understanding to the analysis of the Táin suggests a new approach to the reading the tale. This approach explains how the seemingly repetitive accounts of Cú Chulainn in single combat, which some scholars have found wearisome, serve to maximise his honour as a warrior in the eyes of the audience of the tale. Each episode shows how Cú Chulainn responds appropriately to the honour or affront offered to him by his adversary. The approach also helps to explain the dishonour of Medb and the ambiguous status of Fergus’ honour. It is further argued that many commentators have misunderstood the true target of the Táin’s depiction of Medb. By presenting this paragon of misrule as a woman, the redactors have been able to present a critique of leadership without the risk of offending any of the incumbent kings, who were the real target of this satire on leadership.
The study also describes the historical and political background of the two complete recensions of the Táin and suggests how this background may have contributed to the differences between the two works. The redactor of the Book of Leinster version of the Táin , Áed Úa Crimthainn, was directly affected by the events of the twelfth century which led to the Norman control of Leinster. Áed lived to see the Norman expansion into much of Ireland which resulted in unsympathetic Norman control of many of the monastic institutions that had previously preserved the Irish literary tradition. These events may explain why his recension of the Táin had a more pessimistic ending to the tale, than did the earlier recension. His recension also had a greater emphasis of Cú Chulainn as an ideal hero, yet suggested that wars were not institutions to be accepted and glorified, but were the result of vanity and greed.
© David N. Wilson 2 This is to certify that (i) the thesis comprises only my original work except where indicated in the preface, (ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, (iii) the thesis is 20,000-22,000 words in length, exclusive of footnotes, appendices, and bibliography.
David Noel Wilson
© David N. Wilson this work is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced without the written permission of the Author.
Revision 1.01 2006-01-22 Small typographical and grammar corrections.
David N. Wilson email [email protected]
© David N. Wilson 3 Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the support given to me by several people. Dr. Ann Trindade who and introduced me to the field of early Irish studies and whose inspiration encouraged this project. Dr. Dianne Hall who supervised the final stages of this work and ensured that it stayed on track. Anne Clarke who kindly helped with proof reading. Finally and especially my wife, Christine MacLeod, without whose support this thesis could never have been completed.
© David N. Wilson 4 Contents Introduction ...... 7 Chapter 1. Early Ireland and its Society...... 9 Description...... 9 Debates in the Study of Early Irish Society and Culture ...... 11 Chapter 2. Honour, Status and Law ...... 14 Honour-price...... 15 Critical approaches to honour...... 16 Chapter 3. Introduction to the Táin ...... 19 The Ulster Cycle and the Táin ...... 19 The Text and its Recensions...... 20 Cultural-Historical Background of the Táin ...... 24 Critical Approaches to the Táin ...... 28 Chapter 4. Analysis of the Táin...... 31 Cú Chulainn’s Single Combats: The Balance of Honour...... 31 Conclusion...... 47 Bibliography...... 49 Index of Tables Table 1. Cú Chulainn’s Response to Warriors 32
© David N. Wilson 5 Abbreviations
Táin LL Táin Bó Cúalnge from the Book of Leinster. Translated and edited by Cecile O’Rahilly. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1970. Táin I Táin Bó Cúalnge Recension 1. Translated and edited by Cecile O’Rahilly. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976. Use of the word ‘Táin’ otherwise refers to the story. References to these two texts will be cited within the text of the thesis. All other references will be footnoted.
© David N. Wilson 6 Introduction This is a study of the early Irish heroic tale, the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of the Cooley). It focus on the role and function of honour, both within the tale and within the society that produced the text. The following episodes, which also introduce the three main characters of the Táin, show something of the preoccupation with honour in this tale and its problematic nature. The first episode occurs after the young Cú Chulainn overheard a druid proclaiming an omen that a boy who should take up arms on that day would be splendid and famous but would be short-lived and transient. ( Táin LL 164) Straight away, Cú Chulainn went to his uncle, the king of Ulster, to ask for arms. He explained: It is a wonderful thing if I am but one day and one night in the world provided that my fame and my deeds live after me. ( Táin LL 164) Cú Chulainn has made the same choice as Achilles — to seek immortal fame even at the cost of a short life. The second is from the final battle between the Men of Ireland and the Ulstermen. Fergus had formerly been king of Ulster, but had been forced into exile, and had become a leader of the Men of Ireland. In the midst of the battle, Cú Chulainn encountered Fergus and reminded him of their prior agreement: you promised that you would flee from me when I should be wounded, bloody and pierced with stabs in the battle of the Táin, for I fled before you in your own battle of the Táin. Fergus heard that, and he turned and took three mighty, heroic strides, and when he turned all the men of Ireland turned and were routed westward over the hill. ( Táin LL 269) With his ‘heroic strides’, Fergus has, in fact, betrayed Medb and the Men of Ireland. Later, when the defeated forces were fleeing from the battle, Fergus blamed Medb, his queen and lover, for the disaster, sidestepping his own role in the defeat: ‘This day was indeed a fitting one for those who were led by a woman’ said Fergus. [lacuna] . . . ‘This host has been plundered and despoiled today. As when a mare goes before her band of foals into unknown territory, with none to lead or counsel them, so this host has perished today’. ( Táin LL 270) These episodes illustrate some of the complex themes in the Táin : those of fame, honour, shame and conflicting loyalties. Questions about honour and the resolution of conflicting obligations form the subject matter of many of the heroic tales. Early Irish society expected its members to display an appropriate and balanced reciprocity in their public actions. The adroit handling of conflict was a key test of a person’s honour status. This thesis will argue that the pursuit of honour has influenced both the theme and structure of the Táin. Cú Chulainn chose fame and honour above all else: all his actions were directed towards increasing his honour. We need to understand how honour was evaluated in early Ireland in order to appreciate fully how Cú Chulainn achieves his objective. In each of his many episodes of single combat, Cú Chulainn responds in a finely-balanced way to the honour or affront offered by his adversary. In contrast to Cú Chulainn’s success in this respect, the conflicts faced by Medb and Fergus were less easily resolved. The approach taken in this thesis leads to a deeper understanding of the characters of these two people. Many proposals have been made about the purpose of the Táin . None of these have been convincingly argued. I shall argue for a new understanding of the propaganda or moral purpose of the Táin : that it attacks the faults of Irish kings, but uses Medb, a woman, as a cover for this attack.
© David N. Wilson 7 The Táin belongs to the Ulster Cycle of tales, one of several cycles of early Irish prose tales. It is the longest and most significant tale in the cycle. Two complete recensions of the Táin have survived: Recension I (henceforth referred to as Táin 1 ) from the late eleventh century, and a late twelfth century recension in the Book of Leinster ( Táin LL ), which is longer and more elaborate.1 An outline of the structure of the thesis is as follows. Chapter 1 begins with a description of the economic, social and political structure of early Ireland. It will then consider some of the scholarly debates concerning Ireland and its literary heritage. In Chapter 2, the concept of honour is defined and discussed. It is argued that early Ireland was an honour-based society, and comparisons with other honour-based cultures are made. The function of honour-price in early Irish society and law is explained and also the relationship between honour and status. Chapter 3 looks at Táin and the Ulster cycle of tales. The cultural and political background of the two recensions of the Táin is examined as are the critical debates in Táin scholarship. The results are used to explain the differences between the two recensions of the Táin . Then, in Chapter 4, some episodes from Táin LL are analysed using the concepts of honour and conflicting obligation developed in Chapter 2. This leads to new conclusions about the characters of Medb and Fergus and to a new explanation for of the purpose of Táin LL . The conclusion sums up the arguments of this thesis.
1 The Ulster Cycle and the Táin recensions are discussed and their differences explained in Chapter 3.
© David N. Wilson 8 Chapter 1. Early Ireland and its Society
Description Early Ireland was a rural society organised around small agricultural settlements. 2 There were no significant towns. The population was small, probably not more than half a million people. The principal unit of social organisation was the tuath , which was similar in concept to a ‘tribe’ and based largely on family descent, or the fiction of such descent. 3 The tuaths were small independent kingdoms, containing from several hundred to several thousand people. Each had its own king and nobility and controlled its own legal and economic functions. 4 In these communities, personal loyalties were owed to clan and king. The people outside the kingdom were allies (few) or enemies (many): all were competitors for cattle, land, wealth and honour. The early Irish did not use money, and trade was limited. There were no market centres, so trade was organised only in seasonal fairs within tribal areas. Early Irish society was highly structured. The main classes were royalty, nobility, commons — which included farmers and those without land — and slaves. There was also a professional class which included craftsmen, druids and the filid, who where judges, poets, and historians. The filid acted as councillors to kings, and were conservators of the social order and interpreters of tradition. 5 Within the classes, there were defined grades, based on status and wealth. 6 The early Irish had a well- defined system of law, which has been preserved in the law-tracts. An important element of this system was the idea of honour-price, which was largely determined by a person’s class and grade. The honour-price of the victim determined the legal compensation payable for insult or injury or murder. 7 Political structures in early Ireland were fluid and unstable, not least because they were based on ‘voluntary’ associations of clients and patrons. Nobles had farmers as clients. Strong farmers could have weaker farmers as clients. The kings of tuaths formed client relationships with stronger ‘kings-of-kings’, and these kings-of-kings formed client relationships with high-kings. According to the law-tracts, these patron-client relationships were voluntary and based on contractual obligations for the mutual exchange of services. In practice, coercion was common. However if a potential new patron could protect his new clients from the wrath of the old patron, the clients could, and did, shift allegiances. 8 Farmers used arable land for grain and stock, and shared major items of equipment such as ploughs, mills and kilns (for drying grain). The law-tracts describe the ideal farm as having equal numbers of cattle, sheep and pigs. 9 The prescription of equal numbers of farm animals, belies the central importance of cattle in the Irish economy. Cows were the principle unit of value and
2 I shall follow the convention that defines ‘early Irish’ as the period between the advent of Christianity and the rise of the new dynasties, and the Norman Invasion in the mid-twelfth century. The ‘Viking age’ is taken to refer to the ninth and tenth centuries. 3 I am aware of the arguments against referring to early Irish society as tribal, such as those given by Eóin Mac Néill, Early Irish Laws and Institutions (Dublin : Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 1934), 1. However, by my use of the term I am not implying that entire populations were directly descended from a single person. 4 Lisa M. Bitel, Isle of the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990), 2. 5 Proinsias Mac Cana, The Learned Tales of Medieval Ireland (Dublin: Institute for Advance Studies, 1980), 18. 6 From the evidence of the law tracts. See Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988). 7 Honour-price is explained in Chapter 2. 8 Nerys Patterson, Cattle Lords & Clansmen: The Social Structure of Early Ireland (London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994), 150-180, also Thomas M. Charles-Edwards, “A Contract Between King and People in the Early Medieval Ireland? Críth Gablach on Kingship,” Peritia 8 (1994): 107-19. 9 Economic activity and farming practices are described in Patterson, Cattle Lords & Clansmen , 62-88. The law tract that provides a description of farming prerequisites is found in Críth Gablach , ed. and trans. D. A. Binchy (Dublin: Stationary Office, 1941).
© David N. Wilson 9 exchange. They were the basis of client relationships. Patrons lent cows to clients for a fee. Lucas observed that in ancient Irish society cows were not just a kind of domestic animal but that they were of such overweening importance that they almost held status as members of society. Virtually everyone in that society was preoccupied with cows. 10 Stealing cattle was the quickest way of acquiring wealth and of providing cattle to clients. Cattle raiding was endemic in early Ireland and the cattle-raiding abilities of kings were praised. 11 Newly appointed kings were expected to lead an inaugural cattle raid, the crech ríg, or royal foray, in which the new king could demonstrate his suitability for office and acquire not only an heroic reputation but also wealth in cattle with which to play the generous lord. A typical example of such an exploit is recorded in the Annals of Ulster for the year 1083: Domnall ua Lochlainn assumed the kingship of Cenél Eógain. He carried out a king’s raid [royal foray] on the Conaille and carried off a great prey of cattle and gave stipends [tuarastal , or royal gifts indicating the giver’s supremacy] from that to the men of Farnmag. 12 Leaders were also expected to be effective at protecting their own territory from cattle raiders. Throughout the early Irish period, competition between tribal groups was fierce. The general pattern was that tribes grew rapidly until they reached a size at which they split into separate sub- tribes. The sub-tribes came to see each other as enemies and engaged in conflict. This allowed any nearby tribe, that was larger or better organised, to expand into the territory of the once united but now fractured and squabbling tribes. 13 However, from about the seventh century onwards, some dynastic groups managed to hold together. These groups were able to force other kingdoms to become client kingdoms, thus creating larger more unified territories. The Uí Néill dynasties of Connacht and Ulster and the Éoganacht tribes of Munster were two of the most important of these. 14 When Christian missionaries arrived in Ireland, they did not come with imperial support, as happened in most of Europe. With no means of coercion, missionaries had to make terms with the existing Irish tribal structures. This process of institutional development differed from that in other areas of Britain and Europe. The first monasteries were tribally based and the founding abbots were often related to the king. This encouraged the early Irish practice of hereditary control of church institutions by the nobility, or, as reformers later charged, ‘lay’ control of the church. This arrangement allowed the monasteries to develop into more general cultural institutions, supporting both clerical and filid cultural practices. In Europe, the church used the old Roman administrative boundaries and, once settled within a diocese, the bishop claimed the whole territory. 15 By contrast, Ireland had no fixed administrative boundaries. The Irish monasteries and churches spread in a complex network across the country, from founding institutions to daughter institutions, each with its own flexible area of influence, in a system called paruchia. The new monastic institutions built churches and established schools, bringing literacy to Ireland. The newly-literate Irish scholars used their recently-acquired writing skills to preserve their
10 A. T. Lucas, Cattle in Ancient Ireland (Kilkenny: Boethius Press, 1989), 3. 11 Cattle raiding abilities were praised well into medieval times. Obituaries often mentioned raiding prowess. Examples can be found in the early Irish annals such as Annals of Ulster: To A.D. 1131 , ed. Séan Mac Airt and Gearóid Mac Niocaill (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1983) and in Lucas, Cattle in Ancient Ireland , 130. 12 Annals of Ulster: To A.D. 1131 , 517. Explanatory inserts are from Donncha Ó Corráin, Ireland Before the Normans (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1977), 37. Also see Lucas, Cattle in Ancient Ireland for a discussion of cattle raids recorded in the annals. 13 Bitel puts it succinctly — the genealogical records ‘tell a thousand stories of vanquished princes and lost kingdoms. Entire kingdoms perished as others flourished.’ Bitel, Isle of the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland , 2. 14 Ibid. 15 See Colmán Etchingham, Church Organisation in Ireland A.D. 650 to 1000 (Leinster: Laigin, 1999), 105-25; James, F. Kenney, The Sources for Early Ireland: Ecclesiastical: An Introduction and a Guide (New York: Octagon, 1966), 746-7; Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland: 400-1200 (London: Longman, 1995), 147-49.
© David N. Wilson 10 tribal oral traditions, and to outdo other tribes in cultural competition. They produced literature extolling the virtues of their saints, ancestors, kings and warrior heroes. Even the saints’ lives were competitive, in that they often promoted one saint and put down another.16 This wealth of early Irish literary texts has confronted scholars with many problems of interpretation and debates have arisen over questions of dating, historicity and purpose.
Debates in the Study of Early Irish Society and Culture There have been several schools of thought concerning the interpretation of early Irish texts. Earlier scholarship has viewed them as coming, almost unmodified, from pre-Christian Ireland. However, recent scholarship dealing with these texts has tended to consider them as contemporary documents, produced by people pursuing their own interests and appealing to the contemporary concerns of the audience. 17 This is the approach taken in this thesis. Most scholars now agree that the early Irish legal, historical and literary texts are the result of a layering of different influences which has developed over a period of several hundred years. However, debates continue over whether heroic tales are historical, mythological or historical fictions, and about the relative importance of these elements. To the degree to which the tales are considered historical, there is the question of when the events occurred and when the texts were written. 18 There is also the question of whether the stories have ‘messages’ and, if so, for whom they were intended. Scholars have expressed a wide range of opinions on these issues. Some argue that the tales preserve traditions dating back to the early Indo-European origins of the Celts; others consider these texts to be twelfth century literary creations, albeit with ancient mythological elements. Among those who consider the tales to be historical, there is question of the degree of influence of classical models. 19 One school of thought, influential during the second half of the twentieth century, has been characterised as ‘nativist’. 20 This school minimised the influence of Christianity and literacy on early Irish literature. For example, the law texts were taken not as referring to the medieval Irish society that wrote them down but to the society of the distant past. Similarly, the heroic tales were understood to have been transmitted virtually unchanged from the distant past. Such views leave the early Irish medieval society strangely silent, voiceless and un-knowable. 21 A further debate concerns the extent of Christian and classical influences on early Irish literature. This issue is significant because when we consider the purpose or propaganda intent of a text produced by church-trained authors, we need to consider the extent to which it may have served
16 For example, one of the themes of the “Life of Ruadán” is to demonstrate that God had granted Ruadan powers or authority denied to the rival saint Brendan. C. Plummer, trans., “Life of Ruadán” in Bethada Náem nErenn , vol. 2 (Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1968), 300-22. 17 For example, two recent surveys on the Táin are Hildegard L. C. Tristram, “What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ?” in Ulidia , ed. J. P. Mallory (Belfast: December Publications, 1994) 11-21 and J. P. Mallory, ed. Aspects of the Táin (Belfast: The University Press, 1992). 18 James Carney, “The History of Early Irish Literature: The State of Research,” in Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Celtic Studies , ed. Geróid Mac Eoin (Dublin, Institute for Advanced Studies, 1983), 114-7. 19 These points are considered in detail in Chapter 3. 20 The term ‘nativist’ was coined by James Carney in, Studies in Irish Literature and History (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1979), 276. Other nativist critics to follow Carney include Kim McCone, Pagan past and Christian present in Early Irish Literature , (Maynooth: An Sagart, 1990), Patterson, Cattle Lords & Clansmen and Ruairí Ó hUiginn, “The Background and Development of the Táin Bó Cúailnge” in Mallory, Aspects of the Táin . McCone also mentions the scholars Myles Dillon, D. A. Binchy, Kenneth Jackson, Proinsias Mac Cana and Séan Coileáin as being supporters of the nativist trend. McCone, Pagan past and Christian present in Early Irish Literature , 2. 21 I refer to mostly pre-nativist (nineteenth and early twentieth century) attitudes to the Irish law-tracts. Some scholars, in the desire to make the laws into Indo-European relics, claimed that they were ‘fossils’ having had no relevance to medieval Irish society, which effectively left that society with no law at all. This created a convenient legal terra nullius for English colonial interests. Patterson explains this in detail in Cattle Lords & Clansmen , 6-10.
© David N. Wilson 11 what Ó Corráin’ calls ‘clerico-political ends’. 22 Those involved in this debate argue about the degree to which ancient, pre-Christian traditions have been preserved and about the influence of contemporary composition of biblical and classical sources. 23 The debate includes questions of the influence of Christianity upon the heroic tales. 24 Most of the surviving texts were written in, and preserved by, church institutions. It is now generally agreed that the ancient (pre-Christian) Irish tales were adapted to make them acceptable to Christians. There is debate about the extent to which this happened, but it is clear that almost all references to pagan religious practices were removed. 25 References to the old gods have been modified, to refer instead to spirits of the fairy mounds or to mortals. The Christian church did not deny the existence of the spirit worlds believed in by the pagan Celts, or by other newly converted peoples. The church classified these spirit beings as demons, beings that all good Christians should shun and avoid, though there was no theological impediment to mentioning them in the traditional stories. The church reached a compromise with the proponents of traditional learning (the filid ). Tromdámg Guaire ( The Great Visitation to Guaire ) tells of this compromise by portraying a dramatic dispute between the filid and the kings, in which St. Colum Cille intervened and resolved. The tale is likely to be mythical as the resolution of disputes between the filid and the church was probably achieved over an extended period rather than through such a dramatic event. 26 The process of Christian adaptation of the texts also affected the writing down of traditional law: the interests of the church were added, church people were granted high status (abbots were granted the honour-price of a king) and church property was given special protection. 27 This it not to suggest that Church interests were illegitimately inserted into the pre-Christian traditional law. However, over a period of several hundred years, those in control of the writing process could gradually shift opinion on contentious issues in the direction favoured by the church. The interpretation of the law tracts has also been disputed. This debate is significant to the argument of this thesis, since it relies on the law-tracts for information about honour-price. So whether or not these concepts of honour-price were contemporary with authorship of the Táin is important. Some scholars have argued that the law-tracts preserved the ancient law because, in their view, the scribes of the law texts were ‘fossilizers’ of the pre-Christian oral legal tradition, a tradition which these writers consider was probably ‘moribund and barely understood’. 28 Against this older viewpoint, Patterson and MacLeod have provided considerable and persuasive evidence that the law- tracts were still current and reflected contemporary society, times, and concerns. 29 Patterson’s work 22 Donnchadh Ó Corráin, “Some Legal Aspects of the Pillowtalk in the Táin Bó Cúalnge ” (paper given at the Freiburg Colloquium on the Táin Bó Cúalnge , 1990) quoted in Tristram ‘What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ?”, 19. 23 Carney holds the view that there was a strong influence of Classical epic on the written Irish tales. He notes that Mac Cana opposes this view, considering that the similarities are fortuitous owing to the fact that heroic traditions had many common elements. Carney, “The History of Early Irish Literature: The State of Research”, 128. 24 Clearly the status of Christian influence on saints’ lives and other religious texts is not in doubt. Attitudes towards the treatment of more traditional texts, such as heroic tales, ranges from considering the monastic redactors to have been ‘remarkably liberal and sympathetic’, the view taken by Proinsias Mac Cana in “Conservation and innovation in early Irish literature,” in Études celtiques , 13 (1972-73): 71 to T. F. O’Rahilly’s view that they were ‘insidiously subversive’ and that ‘By humanizing and mortalizing the divinities of the pagan Ireland, they hoped to eradicate the pagan beliefs that still lingered on among many of their countrymen.’ T. F. O’Rahilly, Early Irish history and mythology (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946), 261. Both examples quoted by Kim McCone, Pagan past and Christian present in Early Irish Literature , 7. 25 Pagan references in the Táin are discussed in Chapter 3. 26 J. E. Caerwyn Williams and Patrick K. Ford, The Irish literary tradition (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1992), 26-27. This adaptation is also tellingly illustrated in the tale Acallam Na Senorach in The Colloquy of the Old Men: Acallam Na Senorach , trans. Maurice Harmon, pref. Seán Ó Coileáin (Dublin: Academica Press, 2001). The story of the conflict between kings and poets which was resolved by the intervention of St. Colum Cille (St. Columba) is not being mentioned in Adomnán’s Life of St. Columba even though some details of the assembly at Druin Cetta were recorded. This supports the view that the story is a myth. Adomnán of Iona, Life of St. Columba. trans. Richard Sharpe (London: Penguin Books, 1995), 312-5. See also John Carey, King of Mysteries; Early Irish Religious Writings (Dublin: Four Court Press, 2000). 27 The effects of this filtering on the Táin are discussed in Chapter 3. 28 Patterson, Cattle-Lords and Clansmen , 145. 29 Neil McLeod, “Interpreting Early Irish Law; Status and Currency,” Part I in Zeitschrift Celtische Philologie 41 (1986): 46-65 and Part II in Zeitschrift Celtische Philologie 42 (1987): 41-115, also Patterson, Cattle Lords &
© David N. Wilson 12 demonstrates how much social and cultural information can be derived from these sources. 30 This thesis extends this approach to the Heroic tales, by arguing that they also reflected the society, times, and concerns of the people for whom they were written. To summarise this discussion, recent trends in scholarship of early Irish texts have tended to move away from the nativist approach towards the view that the texts could be considered as contemporary documents, produced by people pursuing their own interests and appealing to the contemporary concerns of the audience. 31 In any case, for the heroic tales to have been successful, the characters and their actions would have had to be understandable, and their conflicts and dilemmas sufficiently plausible to elicit sympathetic reactions. As Redfield explains, ‘fiction, while not bound by the laws of nature, is bound by the law of culture, otherwise it is unintelligible.’ 32 The next chapter considers the question of honour and status in early Irish society.
Clansmen. 30 Ibid., passim. 31 For example as shown in two recent surveys on the Táin . Tristram “What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ?”, 11- 21, and Mallory, Aspects of the Táin . 32 James M. Redfield, Nature and Culture in the Iliad: The Tragedy of Hector (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1975), 72.
© David N. Wilson 13 Chapter 2. Honour, Status and Law As already mentioned, honour-price was an important element in the early Irish system of law. A person’s honour-price depended partly on his or her social position, but also on the esteem or honour accorded to that person by the society. This chapter considers how honour worked in early Irish society. Honour is a complex concept. In its social setting, honour is the high respect, esteem or reverence accorded to worth or rank. As such it is received, gained, held or enjoyed by its recipients. The valuations of rank and worth are derived by processes of community consensus, informed by communities’ laws and traditions. The recipient of honour gains renown, fame, reputation and a ‘good name’, which produce feelings of well-being and pride. The opposite of honour is dishonour and disgrace, which produce feelings of shame and unworthiness. All societies have ways of expressing respect and of allocating status. These facilitate two social functions: one is the marking out and the preservation of hierarchies of status, the other is the control, or at least the moderation, of behaviour through the public recognition of proper behaviour (and special social contributions) and the condemnation of social transgressions. In societies without organised instruments of social coercion, such as a police force, the rewards and punishments of honour and shame are the primary mechanism of social control exercised by the community. Societies of this type are often referred to as ‘honour-based’. In such societies, when the honour-based control mechanisms fail, there are limited options available. The offender could be outlawed or exiled, or those injured could be left to pursue revenge, which could lead to a vendetta. 33 As this was the situation in early Ireland, it can be considered to be an honour-based society. Most studies of honour in the early Irish context have focused on honour-price as it is portrayed in the law-tracts. Only a few scholars who have paid much attention to the study of honour in the literary sources. Charles-Edwards has written about honour in the heroic tales. 34 He argues that in early Irish and Welsh societies, honour and shame were not just opinions held about people but were social ranks, or status levels, which were publicly declared. 35 He defines honour as the respect due to those whose conduct upheld the duties of their status. He explains how status was linked to economic and client relationships, with special status being given to grades such as churchmen, poets or craftsmen. 36 Miller included some early Irish heroic material in his work on honour and shame, and Patterson has skilfully used the heroic tales to elucidate the principles of honour-price in the law- tracts. 37 The early Irish law was called the brehon law. It has been preserved in many manuscripts. The major compilation of law-tracts is the Senchas Már (great tradition).38 Another important law-
33 Miller has described this situation in the Icelandic context. There are many similarities with early Irish society. William Ian Miller, Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law and Society in Saga Iceland (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990). 34 Thomas M. Charles-Edwards, “Honour and Status in some Irish and Welsh Prose Tales,” Ériu 34 (1978): 123-38, and also idem, Early Christian Ireland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 136. 35 Charles-Edwards, “Honour and Status in some Irish and Welsh Prose Tales,” 123-38. In this study he used examples from the Welsh Mabinogi and Irish tales to elucidate the process of public shaming and the social position of the shamed. 36 Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland , 136. 37 William Ian Miller, Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law and Society in Saga Iceland (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1990) and idem, Humiliation, And other Essays on Honour, Social Discomfort, and Violence (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993). Nerys Patterson, Cattle Lords and Clansmen: The Social Structure of Early Ireland (London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994). 38 The major modern work covering early Irish law and social institutions is Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988). Kelly mentions that pioneering critical scholarship on the law tracts was undertaken by Eóin Mac Néill and R. Thurneysen, followed by D. A. Binchy who became the leading modern translator and interpreter of the Irish law-tracts. Binchy wrote or edited numerous books and articles on early Irish Law. His most important work is his diplomatic edition of the entire Irish legal MSS. D. A. Binchy, ed. Corpus Iuris Hibernici Corpus iuris hibernici: ad fidem codicum manuscriptorum recognovit (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1978). Near the end of his career he summed up his view on Irish law and history in D. A. Binchy,
© David N. Wilson 14 tract, the Críth Gablach , gives information about some of the more subtle elements of early Irish social structure. 39 The law-tracts provide useful information about early Irish social structure, and also about the means of conflict management. The early Irish idea of ‘honour’ is expressed by the term of enech which means both ‘face’ and ‘honour’. The close relationship between these two ideas is shown in the early Irish texts where shame is said to disfigure a person both literally and figuratively. When shamed, an Irish warrior was advised to redeem himself: ‘let him remove the shame of his checks by arms in battle against other territories.’ 40 It was said that when an Irish poet satirised a victim, three blisters ( ferb or bolg ) would appear on the victim's cheek and he would die of shame. 41 The law-tracts mention a ‘contempt or satire-blistered face’. 42 Enech was also a legal term linked with conformity to appropriate social or martial norms and to truthfulness in general. 43 Closely related terms include: óg n-enech for honour- price; eneclann, which literally meant ‘face-cleaning’; 44 enech-gris , ‘a fine for injuring or raising a blush on the face,’; and enech-ruice , ‘a face-reddening or blushing caused by some act or scandal which brought shame on a family’. Failure to rebut defamatory satire, or the bearing of false witness, or the evasion of sureties, were said to entail cacc fora enech ‘excrement on his face’. 45
Honour-price As previously explained, Irish society was segmented into four major classes: royalty, nobles, commons and slaves. Within each class, except for the slaves, there were grades of status. Honour- price was the principle by which a persons status was indicated on a ‘monetary’ scale. Honour-price represented the ‘worth’ of the individual and was used to determine several legal issues. These included: the value that was owed to the relations of someone who was killed; the maximum amount owed to people in compensation for any offence against them, be it a physical injury or an insult; the maximum value of the guarantee that a person could promise for the fulfilment of a contract. 46 The law-tracts also provide details of actions that may cause a person to be reduced in, or to lose entirely, his or her honour price. For example, a king without a retinue, or doing manual work, would have his honour-price reduced to that of a commoner. 47 The honour-price did not merely represent the social grade of the person. It also included an assessment by the community that the person’s behaviour was appropriate in the full social context, including the legal, social, political and military spheres. The fact that honour-price included this aspect of social consensus allowed it to function as an instrument of social control. 48 McLeod describes how it did this by involving a large circle of relations in honour-price payments and blood- fines. 49 If an individual could not pay the honour-price awarded against him or her, the individual’s
“Irish History and Irish Law,” part I, Studia Hibernica 15 (1975): 7-31 and part II, 16, (1976): 7-45. 39 Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988), 337. 40 P. O’Leary, “A Foreseeing Driver of an Old Chariot: Regal Moderation in early Irish Literature,”, Cambrian Medieval Studies 11 (1986): 5. He is quoting from Audacht Morainn , and it is the advice Morann gives to Feradack. 41 An example is when the poet Athirne and his two sons (also poets) saw Luaine and threatened to satirize her after she refused to sleep with them: ‘The damsel refused to lie with them. So then they make three satires on her which left three blotches on her cheeks, to wit, Shame and Blemish and Disgrace. Thereafter the damsel died of shame.’ W. Stokes trans., “The wooing of Luaine and death of Athirne,” Revue Celtique 24 (1903): 273-85. 42 Neil McLeod, “Interpreting Early Irish Law; Status and Currency,” part 2, Zeitschrift Celtische Philologie 42 (1987), 41-115. 43 Kim McCone, Pagan past and Christian present in Early Irish Literature (Maynooth: An Sagart, 1990), 124. 44 Patterson, Cattle Lords and Clansmen , 181. 45 McCone, Pagan past and Christian present in Early Irish Literature , 124 46 See Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland , 124-144,Patterson, Cattle Lords and Clansmen , 181-91 and Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law , 125-7, 129-34, 167-73. 47 The Críth Gablach refers to the ‘four discoveries’ which give a king the honour-price of a commoner. Thomas M. Charles-Edwards, “ Críth Gablach and the law of status,” Peritia 5 (1986), 57-63. 48 See Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland , 124-44. 49 Neil McLeod “Parallel and paradox: Compensation in the legal systems of Celtic Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England,” Studia Celtica 16-17 (1981-82): 36-9; idem “Interpreting Irish Laws: Status and Currency,” part 1, Zeitschrift Celtische Philologie 41 (1986): 46-65; idem, “Interpreting Early Irish Law; Status and Currency,” part 2.
© David N. Wilson 15 relations were required to pay. A family member who killed several people or one high-status person could impoverish the entire extended family through compensation payments. If the required compensation was not paid, members of the aggrieved family were entitled to extract revenge, which could allow them to murder members of the non-paying family. The system of honour-price thus gave families strong incentives to control their unruly members. 50 Heroic tales are specifically concerned with warrior honour, and warrior honour codes. They do not deal with law and the complexities of legal actions as disputes are usually resolved on the field of combat. Consequently, law and honour-price are hardly mentioned. One of the few instances is when Cú Chulainn was warned that if a warrior is without his weapons, he has no right to his honour-price, but in that case he is entitled only to the legal due of one who does not bear arms. ( Táin 1 179) Honour, however, is well represented in heroic tales with many references to honour, face, fame and renown. The contemporary audience would have understood how these ideas were related to their society.
Critical approaches to honour We have seen how honour and honour-price were important aspects of early Irish life, and that this importance was reflected in the treatment of honour in literary texts, and in the treatment of honour-price in the law texts. Honour in early Irish society has not received the attention that it has received in the study of ancient Greek and Roman society. 51 Accordingly, this examination of critical approaches to honour starts by considering ancient Roman society, which provides a useful comparison with early Irish society and is much better documented. Barton’s recent study of honour in ancient Rome provides a fascinating insight into life in an honour-based society. 52 She has used literary sources and private letters to investigate how individuals felt and thought about their society and their social position. Such analysis is rarely possible in the ancient world since, in general, few private documents have survived. Roman society differs from that of early Ireland. It was pre-Christian, centralised and urban, whereas early medieval Irish society was Christian, decentralised and rural. However, as both were honour-based societies, the concerns and pressures that Roman individuals felt in regard to honour provide some useful insights. Central cultural mechanisms, such as honour codes and status systems, can be remarkably persistent and can coexist with seemingly contradictory religious principles. Irish honour culture survived into the medieval era through several centuries of Christian influence, while Roman honour culture survived into renaissance Italy. 53 Barton shows that in these honour-based societies, social life was problematic and a constant source of anxiety. One could have wealth and social position, yet a slip of the tongue or the misjudgement of a social situation could cause dishonour and ruin. Roman honour, especially that of the Republic, was built on a very different set of assumptions from our own: on fluid notions of balancing, on reciprocities and compensations. Within the restless Roman dynamics, no one’s position was fixed
50 See Neil McLeod, “The Blood-feud in medieval Ireland” in Between Intrusions: Britain and Ireland between the Romans and the Normans , Sydney Series in Celtic Studies 7 (Sydney: The Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2004), 144-33. 51 Two comprehensive works on honour in ancient Greek texts are Douglas L. Cairns, Aid s: The Psychology and Ethic of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greek Literature (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993) and N. R. E Fisher, Hybris A Study in the Values of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greece (Warminster: Aris and Philips, 1992). For honour in Ancient Rome, see Carlin A. Barton, Roman Honor: The Fire in the Bones (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001). 52 Carlin A. Barton, Roman Honor . 53 Another well-documented example is the persistence in Mediterranean societies of what is called the “Mediterranean honour code”. J. G. Peristiany, ed., Honour and shame: the values of Mediterranean society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966).
© David N. Wilson 16 except that of the enslaved and the defeated, and even they, in their own spheres, often strove to live by the reciprocities of honour. 54 Honour required dealing with others in ways which satisfied the community’s expectation of appropriate reciprocity, returning in manner, word and deed both the good and the bad. 55 Honourable people strove to achieve this ideal, even though it could not always be met. Barton sees the pursuit of honour as a restless and constant striving in a fluid social matrix. 56 The ideals were clear, but the practice was not. If Barton is right that anxiety over conflicting obligations was such an important social issue, we should expect to see this reflected in early Irish literature. O’Leary has observed that: Clearly the redactors of the prose tales were fascinated by the narrative, thematic, and ethical possibilities suggested by situations in which a man (or woman) is confronted with balanced and conflicting claims or obligations and compelled, in the absence of entirely satisfactory precedents, to make a personal choice either consonant with the heroic value system, or even transcending it. 57 Two ideas established by Barton and O’Leary formed the basis of the argument of this thesis. The first is that honour is gained and preserved through the performance of socially recognised appropriate reciprocity. The second is the argument that the Irish prose tales contain stories of conflicting claims and obligations which reflect the difficulty experienced by individuals in an honour-based society in achieving appropriate reciprocity and honour, because these individuals were always torn between conflicting obligations. These ideas are developed further in Chapter 4. O’ Leary has another insight that helps us understand the Táin . He considers the question of heroic ethics: why it is that many heroes are shown achieving their own ends through deception and trickery. His explanation is that, for the warrior, honour always went to the winner. Whatever had to be done to win was right and no hypocrisy was involved as it was understood that warriors played to win. Although they proclaimed ethical standards, they did not always uphold them. 58 In one tale, Cú Chulainn claimed that he did not to kill women ( Táin 1 236). Yet, on an other occasion, he killed 150 women. 59 Charles-Edwards also discusses the question of ethics. He describes how early Irish nobles were torn between two moralities, the heroic and the prudent. 60 He suggests that the heroic is exemplified by ‘the paragon of Irish heroes, Cú Chulainn’. What made Cú Chulainn famous — possessed of so honourable a face — was not just that, as a warrior, his capacities and performance went far beyond the measure required of any Irish noble; it was also his carelessness of the consequences of his pursuit of fame. There was no calculation by which he reckoned that so much more fame would compensate for so much less life; all calculation was swept aside. The refusal to put
54 Barton, Roman Honor , 270. 55 Ibid. 56 Ibid. 57 Philip O’Leary, “Choice and Consequence in Irish Heroic Literature,” Cambrian Mediaeval Studies 27 (Summer 1994): 49. O’Leary gives many examples from the sagas of conflicting claims or obligations. These include when Cú Chulainn fought his foster-brother Fer Diad and when he fought and killed his own son. In both these cases Cú Chulainn did not let personal attachment interfere with his obligation to fight when challenged. In other cases he does make exceptions. 58 Such conduct is discussed in Philip O’Leary, “Magnanimous Conduct in Irish Heroic Literature,” Eigse 25 (1991): 28- 44. 59 The tale is Aided Derbforgaill. Cú Chulainn killed the women as punishment for the disfigurement and murder of Derbforgaill. R. I. Best, O. Bergin and M. A. O'Brien, eds., “Aided Derbforgaill” in The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbóla (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1957). 60 An example of the value of prudence is the story The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel. It tells a tale in which Cormac was an exemplary king in a prosperous kingdom. However, when he gave a single biased legal judgement, he set in motion a series of events that led to the ruin of his kingdom and his death. In Eleanor Knott, ed. Togail bruiden Da Derga (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1936).
© David N. Wilson 17 anything into balance against the supreme and all-engrossing pursuit of fame was intrinsic to his heroism. He was an ascetic among martial nobility.61 Whilst Charles-Edwards has recognized the lack of balance between fame and the other aspects of Cú Chulainn’s life, he has overstated Cú Chulainn’s single-mindedness. The Táin LL also presents some milder aspects of Cú Chulainn, which will be discussed below. Charles-Edwards has not paid enough attention to the processes by which Cú Chulainn achieved and maintained his honour. These processes are the focus of this thesis. Chapter 4 examines several episodes from the Táin which show that Cú Chulainn, in each of his many individual combats, was not reckless but strove to improve his honour by balancing his actions against the status and behaviour of his opponent. The next chapter introduces the Táin and presents the cultural and historical background to its production.
61 Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland , 142.
© David N. Wilson 18 Chapter 3. Introduction to the Táin
The Ulster Cycle and the Táin The Ulster Cycle is one of several cycles of early Irish heroic tales. 62 It relates the doings of the hero warriors of the people of Ulster, the Ulaid, particularly Cú Chulainn, their king Conchobor, and Fergus, an exiled former king. At the beginning of the seventh century, the Uliad were still a predominant force in northern Ireland. The Annals of Ulster record some of their conflicts with their principal enemies, the Cruthin ( Cruithni ). 63 However, by the mid seventh century, Uliad power was waning and their territory had contracted with the rise of rival dynasties such as the Uí Niall. 64 The Táin is the longest and most important of the tales in the Ulster Cycle and is recognised as the finest of the early Irish heroic sagas. It tells of a raid on the province of Ulster initiated by Medb, Queen of Crúachu, with Fergus as lieutenant, leading the forces of the other four provinces of Ireland, the ‘Men of Ireland’, in a foray to capture the giant bull of Cúalnge. For much of the tale, the Ulaid were suffering from a ‘debility’ and Ulster was defended single-handedly by its hero Cú Chulainn.65 The Táin is a tale of conflicting obligations, and of the struggle to preserve one’s honour in difficult circumstances. The story is set in a distant heroic past. Divinities and the people of the síd (of the fairy mounds or the other-world) participate in the story, the heroes are sometimes (though inconsistently) of gigantic stature and there are giant beasts, such as the bull of Cúalnge, on whom “fifty youths used to play games every evening on his back”. ( Táin LL 174) The story is partly a creation myth, as it includes events which form the land and give names to its features. The story of Táin , as is common with traditional epics, is made up of many discrete episodes which are more or less self-contained. Given that the original audience would have known the major characters and contexts, the sub-stories could have been, and probably were, recited or read separately. A large part of the Táin is made up of episodes of single combat between the Ulster hero, Cú Chulainn, and warriors from the enemy cattle raiders. Cú Chulainn always prevails. Some scholars have had a negative impression of these episodes. Greene comments that ‘the long series of single combats becomes wearisome’; 66 Carney suggests that a decline in the narrative quality of the story sets in with the first of these episodes of single combat.67 However, I argue that the point of these episodes is not only to portray Cú Chulainn’s exemplary martial skill, but also to enhance his honour, sometimes in subtle ways. When read in this light, it is evident that the author is doing more than just retelling episodes of the same type. How these episodes differ and the process by which Cú Chulainn’s honour is increased is discussed further in Chapter 4. In contrast to the positive picture of Cú Chulainn, the picture of Medb is negative. She is not merely defeated and shamed, she is shown to be dis-honourable and infamous. Fergus is generally 62 Others include the Historical, Finian and Mythological cycles of tales. Other categories of tales include adventures, voyages and visions. For a comprehensive treatment see J. E. Caerwyn Williams and Patrick K. Ford, The Irish Literary Tradition (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1992) and Myles Dillon, Early Irish Literature (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1948). 63 For example in the year 668, Annals of Ulster: To A.D. 1131 , ed. Séan Mac Airt and Gearóid Mac Niocaill (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1983). “The battle of Fetas between the Ulaid and the Cruithin, in which Cathusach son of Luirgéne fell”. 64 Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland: 400-1200 (London: Longman, 1995), 48-52. 65 An explanation of the Ulaid’s debility is given in the tale ‘The Labor Pains of the Uliad & The Twins of Macha’. An translation is in Jeffrey Gantz, ed. and trans. Early Irish Myths and Sagas (London: Penguin, 1981), 127-9. In that tale, the pregnant Macha was compelled to race against the Kings horses, after her husband boasted of her speed. When the Ulaid refused to allow her to wait until she had given birth, she cursed them so that the men of the Ulaid would suffer labour pains for five days and four nights every year, for nine generations thereafter. The Irish source is ‘Noíden Ulad & Emuin Machae’, 125b42-126a30 in The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbóla , ed. R. I. Best, Osborne Bergin and M. A. O'Brien (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1954-67). 66 David Greene, “Early Irish Literature” in Early Irish Society , ed. Myles Dillon (Dublin: Mercer Press, 1968), 32. 67 James Carney, Studies in Irish Literature and History (Dublin: Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, 1955), 32. The issue is also discussed in Patricia Kelly, “The Táin As Literature” in J. P. Mallory, ed., Aspects of the Táin (Belfast: The University Press, 1992), 94.
© David N. Wilson 19 treated favourably, though he faces many conflicting obligations which he does not always resolve well.
The Text and its Recensions The Táin is preserved in two complete versions .68 The first, Táin 1, was written around 1100 C.E. It is recorded in the oldest surviving manuscript of Irish prose tales, the Lebor na hUidre . The author was Muire mac Céilechar who died about 1106. Little is know about him or the circumstances of the composition of the work. Variant episodes from other sources are included in the text of Táin 1, making it clear that the author chose to record the extent of the tradition, rather than to organise the material into a fully coherent structure. The second version, Táin LL , is preserved in The Book of Leinster, written between c1151 and c1201 by Áed Úa Crimthainn who seems to have been the Chief Historian to the King of Leinster. 69 He may have been the last abbot, or coarb, of Tír Dá Glas (Terryglass) in Tipperary. 70 Táin LL is more elaborate than Táin 1 and contains more episodes. It is generally assumed that Áed, in writing Táin LL, had before him a version of the Táin such as Táin 1. He excluded a good deal of the matter found in Táin 1, including variant episodes, thus producing a more unified story. 71 Both version of the Táin have been translated and edited by Cecile O’Rahilly. Details of the manuscript tradition can be found in her introductions to these editions. 72 In addition to the two complete recensions, some early poetic references to the Táin can be found in poems that are believed to date from the seventh century; one of these is preserved in a manuscript dated around 750 C.E. 73 There was a period of more than fifty years between the writing of Táin 1 and Táin LL, a period which saw the cultural and political upheaval of the Norman invasion. O’Rahilly has described the differences between the two recensions in the introduction to the Táin LL. Most of these differences are minor, but several are significant for this thesis. The most significant difference between the recensions occurs at the very beginning. Táin 1 starts with the cattle raid already decided upon: A great army was mustered by the Connachtmen, that is, by Ailill and Medb, and word went from them to the three other provinces. (Táin 1 125) The absence of any reasons in Táin 1 for undertaking the raid suggests a matter-of-fact acceptance of cattle raiding. By contrast, Táin LL includes a prologue, the ‘Pillow Talk’ episode, which proposes an explanation for the cattle raid. ( Táin LL 137-139) It tells us that the cattle raid was motivated by Medb’s desire to surpass her husband’s wealth. In this case, rather than just accepting or glorifying cattle raiding, the author seems to be suggesting that the practice was motivated by base motives such as vanity and greed. This episode is discussed in Chapter 4. Another difference is that Táin LL omits episodes that may be to Cú Chulainn’s discredit. Two examples are the killing by Cú Chulainn of Órlám’s charioteer and the wailing of the mother after Cú Chulainn had killed her three sons. In the second case, the redactor removes the pathos of the wailing mother, which is portrayed in Táin 1 :
68 There are also fragments of earlier and later texts. These are described in the Introduction to the Táin Bó Cúalnge from the Book of Leinster , ed. Cecile O’Rahilly (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1970), xvi-xxxvi. 69 See the Introduction to The Book of Leinster . 70 Gwynn tells us that Áed was the last abbot of Tír Dá Glas (Terryglass) in Tipperary. Aubrey Gwynn, The Irish Church in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1992), 271. 71 O’Rahilly, Táin Bó Cúalnge from the Book of Leinster, xxxiii. 72 See the Introduction to O’Rahilly, Táin Bó Cúalnge from the Book of Leinster and the Introduction to Cecile O’Rahilly, Táin Bó Cúalnge Recension 1 (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). 73 See Garret Olmsted, “The Earliest Narrative Version of the Táin : Seventh-century poetic references to the Táin bó Cúailnge ” Emania 10 (1992): 5-17.
© David N. Wilson 20 Then he heard the cry of their mother, Nechta Scéne, bewailing them . . .Cú Chulainn said to the charioteer: ‘You promised us a good drive, and we need it now because of the fight and because of the pursuit behind us.’’( Táin 1 146) replacing it by: Then they went into the stronghold and pillaged the fort and fired it so that its buildings were level with its outer walls. They turned about on their way to Slíab Fúait and took with them the three heads of the sons of Nechta. ( Táin LL 169) The intended effect of this change is to present Cú Chulainn as a more idealised martial figure. However, the story implies the complete destruction, and presumed slaughter, of an enemy fortification. The redactor has got rid of the wailing mother by killing her and all concerned. A further difference is that Táin LL casts Medb in a particularly negative light. 74 O’Rahilly notes that a major theme of the redactor was to depict ‘Medb in all her pride and arrogance’. 75 Kelly suggests that it was the ‘central purpose of the Táin to depict Medb in a thoroughly unflattering light’. 76 Táin LL portrays Medb not only as lacking almost every attribute of military leadership, other than personal courage, but as being a negative example of leadership. One example of her poor leadership is when she proposed to kill all the Gailioin, the best troops in her army. Fergus argued her out of this idea and provided a solution. In Táin 1 , Medb provides some justification for her plan: that the Gailioin would claim credit for the victory to come or that ‘They will overpower us when we have come back and seize our land’ (Táin 1 , 129). However in Táin LL , no justification is offered and her plan appears as wrong-headedness and military incompetence. Finally, when they were fleeing after the defeat of the cattle raid, Medb was caught by Cú Chulainn when she was forced to stop to relieve herself. ( Táin LL 169-70) This is not mentioned in Táin 1. Its effect in Táin LL is to demonstrate that women are physically unfit for military, or any other form of leadership, and it portrays Medb in a particularly humiliating light. Both versions of the Táin end with the strange anticlimax of the battle between the two great bulls, Ailill’s and that of the Ulstermen. The latter was victorious. In Táin 1, after the fight, the bull of the Ulstermen wanders off and dies. Then: Ailill and Medb made peace with the Ulstermen and Cú Chulainn. For seven years after that no one was killed between them in Ireland. Finnabair remained with Cú Chulainn and the men of Connacht returned to their own land, while the Ulstermen went in triumph to Emain Macha. ( Táin 1 238) A seven year peace between previously warring parties was perhaps the best outcome the author could imagine. Táin LL ends more pessimistically. After its victory over Ailill’s bull, the bull of the Ulstermen returned to Ulster, attacking the women and children (the innocents), then died of a broken heart. 77 Of the many interpretations of this scene, Kelly’s is the most convincing. She sees the two bulls as symbols of fertility and material wealth, and suggests: The last scene can be read as a powerful image of the futility of martial victory achieved at the expense of fecundity. 78 There is no mention of a period of peace, which emphasises the ‘futility of martial victory’ even further. Nothing has been gained by either side in the conflict, not even a temporary halt to the destruction.
74 Doris Edel discusses whether the Táin is misogynist in “Myth versus Reality: Queen Medb of Connacht and her critics, ancient and modern,” in The Celtic West and Europe: Studies in Celtic Literature and the Early Irish Church (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001), 165-7. 75 Táin LL, iv. 76 Kelly “The Táin As Literature,” 78. 77 ‘Then the Donn Cúailnge attacked the women and boys and children of the territory of Cúailnge and inflicted great slaughter on them. After that he turned his back to the hill and his heart broke like a nut in his breast.’ Táin LL 272. 78 Kelly, “The Táin As Literature”, 95.
© David N. Wilson 21 The Genre of Heroic Tales The Táin is an example of an heroic tale. Heroic literature is a literary genre with its own rules. Such literature does not directly reflect the reality of the society that produced it. However, as Redfield has observed, stories have to conform sufficiently to social reality in order to be intelligible to their audiences. 79 Heroic tales have a limited focus and the Irish tales are no different. Many aspects of social life are left out. The tales are concerned with warriors, kings and their attendants; other groups play little part. Nor do the stories say much about the economy and trade, family and social life, or women and children. There are even some aspects of a warrior’s attributes and duties that are rarely mentioned or celebrated in heroic tales. The enemy’s slaughters, burnings, and killings of women and children are recorded but rarely those of ‘our’ heroes, though it is unlikely that such actions were confined to the enemy side. Cú Chulainn is described as having, among other attributes, the skill of ‘laying waste’ and of ‘plundering across the borders’. ( Táin LL 152) Little is said about these skills in the Táin , though there are a couple of minor exceptions. 80 Heroic literature usually confines itself to heroic actions, so that it is illuminating to examine the few mentions of dishonourable behaviour. An example occurs in the Táin when Fergus was angered by Dubthach’s suggestion that the Men of Ireland should stop the succession of man-to-man combats and ambush Cú Chulainn. Fergus reproaches Dubthach with behaviour unbefitting a warrior: ‘If this is Dubthach Dóeltenga, he draws back in the rear of the host. He has done nothing good since he slaughtered the womenfolk. ‘He performed an infamous and terrible deed of violence — the slaying of mac Conchobuir. Nor was fairer another deed that was heard of him — the slaying of Cairbre mac Fedlimthe. ‘It is not for the lordship of Ulster that the son of Lugaid mac Casruba contends. This is how he treats men: those he cannot kill he sets at loggerheads. . . . ‘The unvalorous son of Lugaid will not do any brave or generous deed.’ ( Táin LL 205-6) An interesting point is that Fergus complained that Dubthach had committed these actions even though he had not been contending for lordship. This suggests that Dubthach’s actions might have been justified if he had been, implying the recognition that the ordinary conventions of behaviour and honour did not apply in the ruthless struggle for lordship. The warrior code seems clear enough in the literature, but it does not reflect the full social reality. I argue that the tales were intended not merely as entertainment, but as instruments for the transmission of cultural values. They formed part of the culture’s method of passing on values and attitudes. Art can direct life: Cú Chulainn was content to have “but one day and one night in the world provided that my fame and my deeds live after me”. ( Táin LL 164) However, his deeds can live on only in story, poem or song. Cú Chulainn was representing his culture’s view of fame and renown, albeit in an extreme manner. The cultural impact of the tales was to report and to shape behaviour. Did the medieval Irish kings, nobility and warriors behave as if they accepted the values and attitudes of the heroic epic? It seems that they did. In early and medieval Ireland the kings were expected to lead their troops from the front, and many died in battle. From the many possible examples in the annals, Simms gives us this particularly apt example of the solo charge of Aeodh Ó Cochobhair in 1256: He was within hailing-distance in front of the armies as they approached the forces of the Ui Briuin; and he uttered his high-king’s war-cry and his champion’s shout in the midst of the fight, and never stopped on the charge and onset until the ranks of the Ui Briuin were scattered. 81
79 James M. Redfield. Nature and Culture in the Iliad: The Tragedy of Hector (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1975), 72. 80 One is when Cú Chulainn and his charioteer, Ibar, pillaged and fired the stronghold of the sons of Nechta on the very first day that Cú Chulainn take up arms. We can assume that this ‘pillaging’ meant the killing of all the inhabitants of the enemy stronghold. Táin LL 146. Another example is Cú Chulainn killing of the Amazons. Táin LL 174.
© David N. Wilson 22 Simms writes that the same ‘suicidal eagerness’ is referred to repeatedly in bardic poems. Hill, in the introduction to his Celtic Warfare, expresses this view of the Gaelic warrior: he was an individual warrior motivated not so much by the ends of combat as the means. To fight the good fight, win or lose, was often more important to him than to stain his honour by fighting in the distasteful fashion of his well supplied, but socially inferior, adversary. 82 The attitudes and behaviour of the tales continued to be played out in the battle field. Military historians have described the ‘Celtic charge’ as a major tactic or feature of Irish and Scottish warfare which continued until the eighteenth century. 83 We know that Irish heroic literature distorted reality. In discussing the praise poetry written by Irish bards after the Norman invasion, Simms pointed out that although the bardic poets adopted the foreign terminology necessary for the lord’s accoutrement (such as spurs, or feilm or helmet) they were usually reluctant to deal with modern techniques of warfare, such as siege catapults and guns, although we know from the annals that these devices were widely used during that period. Simms concludes that ‘the picture of an Irish noble’s life style in peace and war is based on literary models and deliberately archaized, with only selected features from contemporary life being admitted’. 84 This conclusion about bardic poetry could also be applied to epic tales. In this examination of the heroic genre, it has been argued that the tales of this genre reflected elements of the society’s attitudes, but did not produce an accurate picture of that society. The following section examines the role of the internal audience of the tales, and how it functioned as observer and judge of honourable conduct.
The Internal Audience in the Táin O'Leary has made some interesting observations about the audience of the early Irish tales. He explains that there are two levels of audience. The first is the internal audience in the tale. The second is the contemporary audience for the story, the audience that the author had in mind when the text was written. O’Leary says of the relationship between hero and the internal audience: At the heart of the problem is, of course, the relentlessly competitive, intensely public nature of the code by which the heroes of the early literature attempt to live. At virtually every key moment in that literature explicit reference is made to a vigilant and judgmental audience intent on assessing a person’s actions by the most rigorous standards, but with little knowledge of — and less interest in — his or her motivation. 85 The audience here is within the story but is also part of the story: it is the audience for the acts performed ‘before warriors, before troops, before hundreds’. 86 The other audience is the contemporary audience of the story. O'Leary explains that this audience seems to have been interested in the psychological and ethical problems faced by the characters in their attempts to balance their personal honour and their social obligations. To be honourable, to be seen to be doing the ‘right thing’, inevitably required the constant juggling of conflicting priorities. Conflicts had to be resolved between obligations due to immediate family, extended kin, local community, wider community, political loyalties, to clients or patrons, to lords and kings. This interest in ethical problems may reflect the increased social sophistication which has developed by the time that the
81 Katharine Simms, “Images of Warfare in Bardic Poetry,” Celtica 21 (1990): 609, quoting The Annals of Connacht, ed. A. M. Freeman (Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies, 1944), 177. 82 James Hill, Celtic Warfare: 1595-1763 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1986), 4. 83 Ibid. 84 Simms, “Images of Warfare in Bardic Poetry”, 612. 85 Philip O’Leary, “Choice and Consequence in Irish Heroic Literature,” Cambrian Mediaeval Studies 27 (Summer 1994): 49. 86 ‘I have come, a wild boar of the herd, before warriors, before troops, before hundreds, to thrust you beneath the waters of the pool.’ Cú Chulainn to Fer Diad before their battle. Táin LL 219.
© David N. Wilson 23 stories were written down. Yet, in spite of their liking of stories with ethical dilemmas, the contemporary audience still expected their heroes to abide by the standards of the warrior code. 87 The function of the internal audience is to witness the acts performed by the main characters. The heroic tales generally do not feature the musings of people when they are alone. Most of the action is in the public sphere and has an audience. However there are several examples in the Táin of episodes involving two people and no witnesses. One is the scene of the Pillow Talk between Medb and Ailill, in which their private argument, arising from their competitiveness and greed, led eventually to the disastrous cattle raid. Another is Fergus’ agreement with Cú Chulainn to betray the Men of Ireland. ( Táin LL 208) The action was in public view but the conversation was private. O’Leary notes that this incident is a ‘rare-transcendence’ of Cú Chulainn’s total dedication to the pursuit of honour, made in this case out of regard for Fergus who was his foster-father .88 It could occur, however, only because their conversation was not heard. Scenes where there was no internal audience often allowed dishonourable activities, such as deceit or greed, to be played out. There were exceptions to this. One example is the scene of the fight between Cú Chulainn and Etarcumul, where the lack of an audience meant that Etarcumul did not gain the honour that an audience may have granted him. The reason for the importance, and indeed the need, for the internal audience in the tales was to provide the contemporary audience with stories that had psychological realism and authenticity. The characters lived under the constant surveillance of their neighbours and community, and their every action was judged and assessed, in the same way as the audience, living in small villages, felt their own actions to be similarly judged and assessed. Heroic tales had several functions. They provided lessons about how to deal with conflict, through example of successful or unsuccessful attempts at resolution; they provided assurance to the audience that others, even heroes and gods suffered from conflicts that are difficult, or impossible to resolve; they assured the audience members that they were not alone in common struggles and dilemmas; they provided entertainment. Stories of conflicting personal obligations and strife were, and still are, endlessly fascinating because they cut to the core of our social being.
Cultural-Historical Background of the Táin This section examines some of the intellectual, political and cultural changes that may have influenced the production of the two ‘complete’ recensions of the Táin. The late eleventh century, the time of the writing of the Táin 1, saw the beginnings of centralising church reform, initially under Irish control, and the increase in the power and influence ofmajor clans, such as the Uí Néill. These trends continued through the twelfth century. However, by the time of the completion of Book of Leinster, c1200 C.E., the Norman invasion of Ireland was well advanced and Norman lords controlled large parts of Ireland, particularly in the east and the south. 89 From the beginning of Christianity in Ireland, church institutions were founded within and by the Irish kingdoms and were staffed and controlled by the local nobility. Control of monastic institutions helped validate their legitimacy and to maintain and strengthen their culture in competition with that of other kingdoms. 90 As has been mentioned, these locally-controlled monasteries developed into general cultural institutions with interests in both traditional and Christian learning. The question of how literacy and the traditional culture came together has been debated. Some scholars argued that the traditional and Christian ‘schools’ remained separate and were in competition. 91 There were undoubtedly instances of this. Yet, there is good reason to believe that the 87 O’Leary, “Choice and Consequence in Irish Heroic Literature,” 49. 88 Philip O’Leary discuss such conduct in “Magnanimous Conduct in Irish Heroic Literature,” Eigse 25 (1991): 39. 89 Henry Goddard Orpen, Ireland under the Normans: 1169-1216 (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1911), passim. 90 McCone provides evidence of the integration of church and state in Kim McCone, Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature (Maynooth: An Sagart, 1990), 26. 91 For a discussion of this topic see Williams and Ford, The Irish Literary Tradition , 106. They list H. M. & N. K. Chadwick, and Mac Neill as supporters of an independent filid tradition and James Carney and Robin Flower as
© David N. Wilson 24 two institutions had, in effect, been merged into the monastic institutions which then engaged in both Christian and traditional literary production. 92 A lot of traditional literature survives from early Ireland; this could have written down only by monastically trained scholars. This dual function of the monasteries was a major factor in the continuation of traditional learning in Ireland to a degree unparalleled in Europe. Mac Cana suggests that the early medieval Irish writers did not make a distinction between traditional and Latin learning. Rather, they tended to view it as ‘a seamless garment’ that blurred the boundaries between Latin learning and jurisprudence, poetry and history. 93 In the obituaries of abbots and bishops, many were described as ‘ sapiens ’ and as being eminent in such intellectual and literary areas as genealogy, traditional Irish poetry and legends, as well as history. 94 However, the position of those engaged in teaching and practice of traditional learning was dependent on Church tolerance of their activities. It seems that this tolerance came under threat during the twelfth century. There were two factors causing this. One was the debate about the organisation of the Irish church, a debate which had been going on for some time; the other was the Norman invasion. Ó Cróinín considers that a debate had been under way in the early Irish church since the seventh century between two parties or tendencies. On one side were the Romani , who wished to see the Irish church governed on European lines, with centralised control, while on the other side were the Hibernenses , who supported the paruchiae system in which the local nobility controlled appointments to their local monasteries. 95 By contrast, Sharpe argues that the amount of disputation suggests that the early Irish church started with no effective organisation. The dispute within the church was, therefore, over what form of organisation should be applied, rather than a later attempt by the Romani to take over the structure the earlier Hibernenses, as argued by some .96 Be that as it may, the significance of church reform for this discussion is that the Romani were much less tolerant of the mixture of traditional and Christian learning that had existed within the Irish religious institutions under the Hibernenses , and their influence was increasing during the first half of the twelfth century. Armagh had become the major centre for this Romanising trend. It was the centre of the largest of the paruchia , that of St. Patrick, and had ambitions to become the prime church in Ireland. In this endeavour it had the assistance of the Uí Néill kings. By the eighth and ninth centuries, the Armagh church and the Uí Néill kings were working in tandem, each boosting the pretensions of the other. 97 Both were eager to centralise power and control in Armagh. Church centralisation assisted the Uí Néill kings because it reduced the influence and wealth of the minor kings by removing their power to appoint their own people to senior positions in local monastic institutions. A similar set of political considerations meant that the O’Brian dynasty in the south was also supporting church centralisation in their area. 98
emphasising clerical authorship. 92 For example, Proinsias Mac Cana argues that ‘much of the teaching and practice of the druids was maintained without interruption by the filid ’ and that there was ‘a well-organized class of learned men, independent of the church, who controlled and maintained the ideology and structure of native kingship. In the ninth century this class was known as the filid . They were a fellowship of learned poets’. See McCone, Pagan Past and Christian Present , 20-3 quoting from “ Regnum and sacerdotium : not an Irish tradition,” Proceedings of the British Academy 65 (1979): 455. 93 McCone, Pagan Past and Christian Present , 24. 94 Ibid. 95 Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland , 150. 96 Richard Sharpe, “Some problems concerning the organisation of the church in early Medieval Ireland,” Peritia 3 (1984): 241. 97 Donncha Ó Corráin, “The early Irish Church: some aspects of Organisation,” Irish Antiquity: essays and studies presented to Professor, M. J. O’Kelly , ed. D. Ó Corráin (Cork: Tower Books, 1981), 237-8, quoted in McCone, Pagan Past and Christian Present , 244. His view is also supported by N. B. Aitchison, Armagh and the Royal Centres in Early Medieval Ireland: Monuments, Cosmology, and the Past (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer, 1994), 204. 98 Ó Corráin, “The early Irish Church, 237-8, quoted in McCone, Pagan Past and Christian Present , 244
© David N. Wilson 25 One of those who worked to bring the Irish church into line with the European churches was Cellach Mac Aodh (1105-29 C.E.), known as St. Celsus, last in line of the hereditary Bishops of Armagh. One of his principal concerns was to remove what he saw as an ‘abuse’ of the church: the control of the church of Armagh by laymen in the persons of the local kings or chieftains, rather than by a central church authority. 99 A result of his activity was that Armagh was made the metropolitan church of Ireland by the church in Rome. The process of Romanisation was assisted by the importation of monastic orders from Europe and Britain. For example, during Cellach’s incumbency, the priory of Saints Peter and Paul at Armagh was re-founded and handed over to the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. Yet the ‘abuse’ that Cellach was reforming was the organizational basis of the Hibernenses c hurches and consequently the political support for traditional culture within the monastic institutions. A centralised administration might expect monasteries to redirect their cultural production from the support of local kings and tribal affiliations to the support of the High Kings and their cultural institutions and their propaganda purposes. Such a change of attitude within the culture of the Irish church would pose a threat to the filid. The Irish church reformers were not simply acting on their own initiative as there were pressures from outside Ireland to make the Irish church conform to European norms. From the early twelfth century onwards, the Norman-controlled churches in Britain began to take an interest in reforming the Irish church. As the Normans took over Irish territory, they often replaced native Irish abbots with Normans who may have discouraged Irish learning within their institutions. 100 As Irish learning became excluded from the monastic institutions, the main refuge for its scholars was the Irish noble houses. This, in time, led to a decline in the quality of Irish cultural production. 101 The redactor of the Táin LL , Áed Úa Crimthainn, was personally affected by the events which brought the Normans into Ireland. 102 His king, Diarmait Mac Murchada, had made enemies of too many of his neighbouring kings. These kings joined forces and expelled Diarmait from his Leinster kingdom and from Ireland in 1166. 103 While Diarmait was in exile in Wales and England he recruited Norman support to regain his kingdom. He achieved his goal in 1170 but died soon after. His daughter had married the Norman, Richard de Clare ‘Strongbow’, Earl of Pembroke, who subsequently inherited the kingdom and became King of Leinster. 104 Strongbow then assisted other Normans to take over Irish territory. Áed recorded the expulsion of Diarmait from Leinster in a marginal note in the Book of Leinster : ‘O King of Heaven, dreadful is the deed that has been perpetuated today (ie. The kalands of August), namely, Diarmait son of Donnchad Mac Murchada, King of Leinster and the foreigners (i.e., Dublin, Danes) has been banished over the sea by the men of Ireland. Alas, alas, O Lord what shall I do.’ 105 Áed was having a bad time. His monastery of Tír Dá Glas had been burnt down two years previously, in 1164, presumably in one of the conflicts between Diarmait and his neighbours. 106 There is no
99 See David Hugh Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints , 3 rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 92-3, also James F. Kenny, The Sources for Early Ireland: Ecclesiastical: An Introduction and a Guide (New York: Octagon, 1966), 353, 762, 746-7. 100 This attitude softened in subsequent generations when Norman-Irish intermarriage resulted in greater cultural tolerance. However, Irish cultural production was greatly weakened and never recovered to the pre-Norman levels. 101 Gerard Murphy, Saga and Myth in Ancient Ireland (Dublin: Smurfit Print, 1971), 72. Also Gerard Murphy and Eleanor Knott, Early Irish Literature (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967), 60-2. Also David Greene, ed., An Anthology of Irish Literature (New York: New York University Press, 1954), xxii-xxv. 102 See the Introduction to the Book of Leinster, ed. Best et al., xvi-ii. Little is known of the redactor of Táin I other than his name, Muire mac Céilechar, and that he died around 1106. See the Introduction to Táin I , ed. O’Rahilly. 103 Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland , 287-9. 104 Pembroke inherited the throne through his marriage to Diarmait’s daughter, though this was not a traditional pattern of Irish inheritance. Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland , 287-9. 105 Book of Leinster , ed. Best et al., xvii. 106 Tír Dá Glas, like many early Irish monasteries had a history of being burnt. It was burnt in 806 and in 845 by the Norsemen, again in 1112 and finally in 1164. Aubrey Gwynn and Neville R. Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses Ireland: With an Appendix to Early Sites (London: Longman, 1970), 45. The relevant entry in the Annals of the Four
© David N. Wilson 26 further record of Tír Dá Glas so it would seem that the political turmoil and the arrival of the Normans soon afterwards meant that it was not rebuilt. 107 We can only speculate about the effects that these events, followed by the arrival of the Normans soon afterwards, may have had on Áed and on his treatment of the Táin in the Book of Leinster. Nevertheless, it is clear that Irish traditional culture was under threat from church reforms, both those instigated by the Irish and those imposed by the Normans through their growing political control over Irish territory. These circumstances may account for line in the poem Immacallam in dá Thúarad in the Book of Leinster which contains a prophecy of evils to come: poets ( filid ) will be childless so that there will be no poets at all, only bards. 108 This suggests that the processes which would reduce the filid to the lesser role of bards in noble Irish houses were foreseeable or already under way by the time that the Book of Leinster was completed. As chief historian to a king, Áed would have performed some of the functions of a fili. Yet he clearly had a classical training. He wrote a Latin colophon to the Táin LL : But I who have written this story [ historia ], or rather this fable [ fabula ], give no credence to the various incidents related in it. For some things are the deceptions of demons, others poetic figments [ figmenta poetica ] ; some are probable, others improbable; whilst still others are intended for the delectation [ delectationem ] of foolish men. ( Táin LL 272) Ó Néill argues that Áed’s colophon shows his complex reaction to the story of the Táin. He clearly had considerable respect for Irish learning as indicated by his work in compiling the Book of Leinster , and the impressive work he had performed in the creation of his version of the Táin . Ó Néill suggests that Áed could have justified the work, in terms of contemporary scholarship, as being in the acceptable genre of historia, in the same way that he and others regarded the Togal Troi, a work based on the Trojan war and also in the Book of Leinster, as history. Áed’s complaints about the Táin in his colophon could arise as much from the viewpoint of classical rhetoric as from theology. 109 Other influences may have been personal piety, or the desire to protect himself from clerical attacks. Áed’s rhetorical critique, though not his final evaluation, was similar to that of an English scribe from about the same time, who added a note to the copy of Navigatio Brendani on which he was working: ‘[this work] is fabulous; it is not true, nor [even] probable . . . these fabulous tales aught to be consigned to the fire.’ 110 It is evident that Áed was reflecting the critical trends of the times. The three most significant changes Áed has made to the Táin LL are: the addition of the Pillow Talk episode as an introduction; the presentation of Medb in an even more disparaging manner than that of the earlier recension; the removal of some the more negative or ambiguous elements of Cú Chulainn’s actions. In terms of the situation at the time, these changes may have acted to increase the acceptability of the Táin to European influenced readers. They lifted the Táin further out of the
Masters does not give details of the burning. The Four Masters Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland: From the Earliest of times to the year 1616 , 3 rd ed. vol. 2, trans. John Donovan (Dublin: Hodges, Smith, and Co., 1856; reprint, Dublin: Edmund Burke, 1990), 1153. 107 Ibid. 108 From the poem Immacallam in dá Thúarad , translated as “The Colloquy of Two Sages” by Gerard Murphy and Eleanor Knott, Early Irish Literature , 61. The original Irish version is in The Book of Leinster , vol. 4, ed. Best et al., 831. The poem is putatively dated to the 10 th century but it would be in the tradition of Irish redactors to update the prophecies. 109 O’Néill provides his own more literal translation of the colophon, which begins ‘But I who have copied this historia , or more accurately, this fabula , do not give credence to the certain things in this historia or fabula .’ This version better reflects the author’s concern over the classification of the text. Pádraig Ó Néill, “The Latin Colophon to the ‘ Táin Bó Cúailnge ’ in the Book Of Leinster : A Critical View of Old Irish Literature," Celtica 23 (1999): 269. This topic of medieval literary theory is treated in Erich Poppe, “Reconstructing Medieval Irish Literary Theory: The lesson of Airec Menman Uraird maic Coise,” Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 37 (1999): 35-46. Poppe addressed the notion of delectatio and the medieval attitudes to entertainment on page 37. 110 Ó Néill “The Latin Colophon to the ‘ Táin Bó Cúailnge ’, 274.
© David N. Wilson 27 traditional genre of cattle raid tales. These changes also worked to present Cú Chulainn as an ideal hero, one who could prevail over great odds and be an inspiration in troubled times; a hero who was so eager to do whatever was for his homeland’s advantage that he was prepared to accept some potential loss of honour. 111 Chapter 1 dealt with debates and problems in the study of early Irish society and culture. The next section examines how these concerns relate to the interpretation of the Táin .
Critical Approaches to the Táin Most of the scholarly attention to the Táin has been concerned with dating the story and any historical components in it, and with establishing its pagan origins. The dating of the actual texts has not been in question. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some scholars argued for very early origins for the story of the Táin . One group, influenced by scholars in the fields of philology and mythology, was interested in the ancient origins of Celtic or Indo-European cultures. 112 They viewed the Táin as preserving traditions which dated back many centuries BCE, a view which depended on the assumption that Irish traditions had remained unchanged for centuries. This view is now considered untenable. 113 Other scholars viewed the Táin as an historical document. Some relied on the dating of the Annals of the Four Masters , a seventeenth century synthesis of the annals of Ireland then available, which situated the events of the Táin in the first century BCE. 114 It is now accepted that the compilers of annals attempted to harmonise traditional Irish stories with biblical stories. Through this process, they included significant amounts of mythological material into in to the annals, especially for the pre-Christian and early Christian periods. 115 This makes purely historical interpretations of the Táin based on the annals rather uncertain. The general trend of scholarship over the last fifty years has moved away from attempts to find the supposed ancient oral traditions underlying the tale. It is now understood that the development of the tale was a cumulative process in which each rewriting resulted in a further layering of mythological and historical elements together with historical fictions; these were made to suit the writer and the intended audience. It is generally accepted that, in this
111 This refers to the episode where Cú Chulainn agreed to retreat from combat with Fergus (and accept the loss of face from fleeing) if Fergus would agree to retreat from him in the final battle of the Táin . Táin LL 208. 112 An important member of this group was R. A. Thurneysen, a philologist who was interested in identifying and dating the Urtext of the Táin in an attempt to uncover or recover the ancient oral source of the Táin . Whilst aspects of this project are no longer pursued, his dating of texts is still influential. Thurneysen placed the origins of the Táin in the Old Irish period, between the first and the eighth centuries. Many scholars, including O’Rahilly, editor of Tain 1 and Táin LL , still follow Thurneysen’s model, albeit with modifications. R. Thurneysen, Die irischen Helden — und Königsage bis zum siebzehnten Jahrhundert , (Halle: Verlag von Max Niemeyer, 1921). Another influential scholar was E. Windisch, who was interested in mythology and the parallels and possible connections between early Irish and Sanskrit literature. E. Windisch, Die altirische Heldensage Táin bó Cúalnge: nach dem Buch von Leinster (Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1905). 113 As discussed in Chapter 2. Also Patterson, Cattle Lords and Clansmen , 6-10. 114 The Four Masters Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland , trans. John Donovan. Gerard Murphy views the Táin as an historical document. Gerard Murphy, Saga and Myth in Ancient Ireland (Dublin: Smurfit Print, 1971), 36. Other scholars, including Kenneth Jackson, have followed this view. David Greene accepted that the Táin contained genuine historical material but cautioned about regarding it as reflecting the remote past. David Greene, “ Táin Bó Cúalnge ” in Irish Sagas , ed. Myles Dillon (Dublin: Mercer Press, 1968), 96.Lisa Bitel considers that early Irish tales describe a late Iron Age society. Lisa M. Bitel, Isle of the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990), 1. See also Hildegard L. C. Tristram, “What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge?”, in Ulidia: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, Belfast and Emain Macha, 8-12 April 1994, ed. J. P. Mallory (Belfast: December Publications, 1994) 11-21. 115 The clearest example of this harmonisation is the tale of death of Conchobor. Conchobar dies of anger with minutes of the death of Christ, because the druids, by magical means, were able to inform him of the death. This ‘event’ then allowed the annalists to place other events of the Ulster cycle within Christian chronology. ‘The Death of Conchobor’ in The Death Tales of the Ulster Heroes , ed. and trans. Kuno Meyer (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, R. I. A. Todd Lecture Series, 1909), 156-7.
© David N. Wilson 28 process, the author introduced contemporary messages, or angled the tale towards contemporary interests. 116 There is a wide range of opinions about what historical events and issues may underlie incidents in the Táin . The following are some examples: Carney considers that the Táin reflects the fifth century conflict between the powers of Tara and Kells. 117 Bruford thinks it was produced in the seventh century by a cleric in Armagh, to gain favour from the Uí Néill kings by honouring a particular part of Ulster. 118 Ó Riain argues that the Táin was a political allegory relating to the appointment of Nuadu of Loch Uama to the abbacy of Armagh in 809 or 810. 119 Radner argues that the Táin was written as political propaganda to support the dynastic ambitions of the Uí Néill kings, though without specifying a date. 120 Aitchinson places the Táin in the eight century and suggests that it originated either from the monastic centre of Drium Snechtai (Drumsnat in Co. Monaghan) or of Armagh. He considers the text to have a political purpose, the desire of the Airgialla to secure their independence, and a religious purpose, the support of the Céli Dí Christian reform movement. 121 All these opinions have some merit but none is compelling. Indeed, they may all correctly identify influences that make up the historical layering of the Táin . Each redactor of the Táin would have changed or remoulded the tale to suit his own ends and to appeal to his own audience. These changes will have left their imprint on the Táin .122 However, in this study I am concerned with the two main recensions of the Táin , and the treatment of honour in the tale. Issues of the earlier historical roots do not particularly concern this thesis. Aitchinson and Radner have raised some other interesting points. Aitchinson argues that the tales in Ulster Cycle were produced from outside Ulster. Part of his argument concerns the placement of the Ulster royal court on the mound of Emain Macha, a site that had long been vacant, with the implication that Ulster’s power had long since vanished. Aitchinson suggests that this was done to mock the pride and pretensions of the Uliad, and to transfer their prestige to the monastic settlement of Armagh. He quotes some examples from ninth century poetry, such as In Armagh is the Kingdom; long since has Emain been forsaken. 123 to support this contention. Radner considers that the tales show the Ulaid as heroic but doomed, largely because of defective kingship and the malignant influences of the old gods. She argues that the stories imply that the problems of kingship and gods were corrected by the advent of Christianity and the supposedly more competent Uí Néill kings. 124 There have been several surveys of Táin scholarship. Carney produced an overview in 1979 .125 More recently, Tristram has written an overview of the history of interpretation of the Táin . Rather disappointingly, her article ends with the conclusion:
116 Discussed in Tristram “What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ?”. 117 James Carney, “The History of Early Irish Literature: The State of Research,” in Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Celtic Studies, 1983 , ed. Gearóid Mac Eoin (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1983), 119. 118 Alan Bruford quoted in Tristram “What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ?”, 19. 119 Pádraig Ó Riain quoted in Tristram “What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ?”, 19. 120 Joan N. Radner, “Fury Destroys the World': Historical Strategy in Ireland’s Ulster Epic” Mankind Quarterly 23/1 (1982): 41-60. 121 N. B. Aitchinson. “The Ulster Cycle: heroic image and historical ‘reality’”, Journal of Medieval History History 13 (1987): 109. He quotes from “ Félire Óengusso” in A Golden Treasury of Irish Poetry: A.D. 600 to 1200 , trans. D. Greene and F. O’Connor (London: Macmillian, 1967), 65. 122 A point made by Ó hUiginn in his conclusion. Ruairí Ó hUiginn, “The Background and Development of the Táin Bó Cúailnge ” in Mallory, ed. Aspects of the Táin , 62. 123 Aitchinson. “The Ulster Cycle: heroic image and historical ‘reality’”, 109; the quotation is from ‘Genair Patric’, ed. W. Stokes and J. Strachan, in Thesaurus palaeohibernicus: a collection of Old-Irish glosses scholia prose and verses (Cambridge: The University Press, 1901-3), 317. 124 Radner, “Fury Destroys the World', 41-60. 125 Carney, “The History of Early Irish Literature”, 113-30.
© David N. Wilson 29 To come back to the title of this paper: What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ? To which I give a the plain answer. There are as many purposes of the Táin as there are Táin scholars and their respective cognitive interests.126 However, the three contributors to the collection of essays Aspects of the Táin, Mallory, Kelly and Ó hUiginn, do come to more definite and compelling conclusions. 127 Mallory’s contribution deals with the archaeology of the Táin . He examines the text for references to material objects that may provide evidence that could be used to date elements of the composition. One such piece of the evidence is that the swords used by the warriors in the Táin are not the short stabbing swords (38-48 cm) actually used in the Iron Age, but rather the longer and heavier slashing swords introduced by the Anglo-Saxons or the Vikings. For example, we are told: And Fergus grasped the Caladglog [his sword] in both hands and swung it back behind him so that its point touched the ground. ( Táin LL 267) Fergus could not have performed this feat with a short Iron Age sword. Mallory concludes that the material culture of the Táin is later than the Iron Age period that is supposedly depicted. He suggests that, even if it originated earlier, the narrative has been ‘fleshed out’ with the material culture of the early medieval period, probably from the seventh century onwards. 128 Ó hUiginn’s argues that the Táin was composed over a period of centuries and preserves some elements from pre-Christian oral traditions, though we cannot now determine what these were. He suggests that the popularity of the Táin outside the old Ulster territory was probably because in its earlier, pre-Christian form, it was a tale of world creation. However, when Christian learning arrived in Ireland and the Ulster Cycle was written down, classical and biblical models were used to extend the subject matter and style. In addition, each redaction of the Táin would have further modified the story to suit the tastes and purposes of the writers and their times. As an example, he detects evidence that the tale was reworked in the ninth century in Louth and given a local flavour. 129 He considers that the Táin displays a pacifist stance and that the redactors did not whole-heartedly approve of the war. 130 Such a stance is in keeping with the hypothesis of clerical authorship. 131 Patricia Kelly investigates literary aspects of the Táin, being concerned with issues of genre and meaning rather than of historicity or dating.132 She identifies two major themes in the Táin . The first is the presentation of Cú Chulainn as living out his heroic ambitions, and thus representing the ideal of a heroic warrior. The second is that Medb is discredited and dishonoured. In her conclusion she says that the Táin is ultimately concerned with the theme of kingship, though she does not expand on this. In Chapter 4 I shall argue that this is the case, through my analysis of the character of Medb. The next chapter will examine some episodes from the Táin .
126 Tristram “What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ?”, 21. 127 Mallory. ed., Aspects of the Táin, passim. 128 J. P. Mallory, “The World of Cú Chulainn: The Archaeology of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ” in Mallory, ed. Aspects of the Táin, 151-3. 129 Ó hUiginn. “The Background and Development of the Táin Bó Cúailnge ”, 62. 130 Ibid. 131 A question not in dispute with Táin LL , as we know a little about its author. However less is known about the author of the earlier recension. 132 Kelly “The Táin As Literature”, 69-95.
© David N. Wilson 30 Chapter 4. Analysis of the Táin In this section I shall analyse the treatment of honour in several episodes from Táin LL. The episodes chosen involve the three main characters: Cú Chulainn, Fergus and Medb and show some of their significant actions and interactions. The pictures given by the text of these three characters are very different. Cú Chulainn is portrayed as a super-human warrior. According to other tales of his birth, he was a demi-god, having the sun god Lug as his father. 133 In Táin 1, his father introduced himself as ‘Lug mac Ethlend, from the fairy mounds’. ( Táin 1 183) Táin LL does not mention Cú Chulainn’s demi-god status and his special powers were to ascribed to ‘a dark form of wizardry’, but he retained his super-human powers. ( Táin LL 203) He emerged from the conflict as the consummate hero with his honour enhanced. Medb was Queen of Crúachu and the leader of the cattle raid. Táin LL suggests that her actions were motivated by her greed and competitiveness. She is shown as being a poor leader and ends up disgraced and humiliated. Fergus was a former king of Ulster, now in exile and attached to the court of Medb and her lover. In the cattle raid against his old kingdom, he was faced with a conflict of loyalty between his former and his adopted kingdoms, and also with kinship obligations to men on both sides. The honour code gave him little guidance for resolving these conflicts. He muddled through the competing obligations and came out of the conflict compromised, but perhaps not too badly off. The contemporary audience might have sympathised with him and his dilemmas.
Cú Chulainns Single Combats: The Balance of Honour Many of the episodes in the Táin LL are accounts of Cú Chulainn in single combat with warriors sent against him by Queen Medb. In these episodes, Cú Chulainn always produced an apt response to the honour or affront offered to him by his adversary. I argue that part of the appeal of these stories to the contemporary audience of the Táin lay in the way in which Cú Chulainn always maximised his honour through appropriate reciprocity. In each episode of combat, Cú Chulainn finely matched his demeanor and actions to the opponent and the situation. He faced powerful warriors, weak and middling warriors, scorn and ridicule, deceit and treachery. He was faced with having to fight friends, his foster-father, and a beloved foster-brother. He sustained terrible wounds. Cú Chulainn demonstrates how the ideal warrior dealt with all of these, so that his honour and fame could be preserved or enhanced. His responses are summarised in the following table.
133 H. R. Ellis Davidson, Myths and Legends in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic religions (Syracuse: University Press, 1988), 124-5.
© David N. Wilson 31 Type of warrior Cú Chulainn’s response Examples confronting Cú (From the Táin LL with page references ) Chulainn Competent, ordinary a. He quickly dispatched them without effort or a. Two Sons of Nera mac Nuatiar fuss. meic Tacáin (153), Órlám , (172), The three Meic Árach (172),Lethan (173), A hundred warriors (175), A group of 20 b. He quickly dispatched warriors, who are (187), Ferchú and his band of 12 (208) placed in the tale to explain place names. b. Fer Taidle, sons of Búachaill, Lúasce, Bó Bulge, Muirthemne (187) Boastful He killed him with ‘a little spear’. Buidemac Báin Blai (188) Boastful and inferior Cú at first refused to acknowledge them or fight or contemptible them, but later killed them in a appropriate contemptuous manner e.g. a. Redg the satirist (188) a. with a weapon through the mouth. b. Cúr mac Da Lóth (189-90) b. with a toy ball c. Nath Crantail (185-7) & Etarcumul c. severs opponent into several pieces. (181-5) Boastful and magical Finds a way to defeat their magic. The sons of Nechta, (168-9) A warrior Cú a. He fought but did not kill. a. Láiríne mac Nóis (192-3) Chulainn does not b. He made a bargain by which means he b. Fergus (208&296) wish to fight for avoided having to fight. personal or affective c. He killed the warrior ‘accidentally’. c. Fer Báeth (191) reasons d. He attempted to discourage the warrior from d. Etarcumul (181-5) fighting. Powerful and He defeated him after a tough battle. He granted Lóch Mór Mo Febis (194) honourable warrior honourable requests either during or at the end of Fer Diad (212) the battle. A messenger or He did not harm such persons. Mac Roth (179) charioteer Órlám’s charioteer (172) Table 1. Cú Chulainn’ s Response to Warriors The following sections will examine some episodes of single combat; these episodes are shown in the table above in bold type. The episodes selected are ones which are the most illustrative of points of honour, and illustrate a range of situations. I have not included Cú Chulainn’s combat with his foster- brother Fer Diad, even though that episode makes up a significant proportion of the tale, because it involves a number of other issues and does not provide any additional points of honour that are not found in the episodes I have selected.
The fight with Órlám When the invaders were advancing into Ulster territory, Cú Chulainn came across the charioteer of Órlám, son of Ailill and Medb, who was repairing his chariot and did not recognise him. The charioteer was terrified when Cú Chulainn revealed his identity. Cú Chulainn said ‘I shall not slay you, lad, for I do not wound charioteers or messengers or men unarmed’. ( Táin LL 172) This is a classic statement of the warrior honour code: that warriors contend only with men of equal status and worth. 134 It was a style of honourable behaviour that was difficult to preserve in actuality, though the pretence was made. Cú Chulainn told the charioteer to warn his master Órlám but then raced ahead of him and struck off Órlám’s head, which he then displayed to the Men of Ireland in triumph and as a warning. Yet it was not considered honourable for a warrior to kill someone without warning. Cú Chulainn’s warning to the charioteer was both an honourable formality, in that the warning was issued, and a joke (or a legalistic fiction), in that the charioteer had no hope of delivering the warning. It seems that an enemy warrior attacking Ulster deserved no more than the legal fiction of a warning. This is an
134 Philip O’Leary discusses such tricky conduct in “Magnanimous Conduct in Irish Heroic Literature.” Eigse 25 (1991): 28-44.
© David N. Wilson 32 instance of the type of behaviour discussed by O’Leary, where apparently dishonourable behaviour was regarded as still being within the bounds of warrior honour if it was successful. 135 In the terms of the schema proposed in the table above, Órlám was an ordinary warrior of the type whom Cú Chulainn dispatched quickly and without fuss. The ‘play’ with Órlám’s charioteer had an element of humour with a grim cat-and-mouse quality. As Órlám was Medb and Ailill’s son, the story implies that one of their progeny was barely competent as a warrior.
The fight with Etarcumul The episode of the fight with Etarcumul gives an interesting insight into how questions of responsibility and duty were understood in early Irish society. In this episode, Fergus was sent by Medb to talk to Cú Chulainn. A foster son of Medb and Ailill, a brash young warrior named Etarcumul told Fergus that he would accompany him. Fergus advised him not to come, but Etarcumul ignored this advice. Etarcumul remained behind after Fergus had left and taunted Cú Chulainn. Cú Chulainn refused to fight him as Etarcumul was under Fergus’ protection, but accepted a challenge for the next day. However Etarcumul was so eager for the fight that he returned almost immediately and demanded to fight. Cú Chulainn tried to dissuade him by demonstrating his skill with weapons, but to no avail. He then cut Etarcumul into three pieces with his sword. Fergus returned, furious, believing that Cú Chulainn had violated his protection of Etarcumul, but was satisfied by Cú Chulainn’s explanation that Etarcumul had started the fight. Fergus took Etarcumul’s remains back to Medb. Several aspects of honour and duty are portrayed in this episode. When Etarcumul explained to Fergus that he was going with him ‘to see the form and appearance of Cú Chulainn and to gaze upon him’, Fergus responded ‘If you were to follow my counsel,’ said Fergus, ‘you would not come at all.’ ‘Why so?’ ‘Because of your haughtiness and arrogance, and also because of the fierceness and valour and the savageness of the lad against whom you go, for I think that there will be strife between you before ye part.’ ‘Will you not be able to make intervention between us ?’ said Etarcumul. ‘I shall,’ said Fergus, ‘if only you yourself will not seek contention and strife.’ ‘I shall never seek that.’ ( Táin LL 181-2) Fergus clearly saw that trouble would come from the meeting. Yet it appears that he did not have the authority to prevent Etarcumul from accompanying him. He could merely advise Etarcumul not to come. Etarcumul seems to have been under Fergus’s protection when he left the camp, as both Cú Chulainn and Medb refer to this. It is not clear whether Fergus was obliged to offer protection to Etarcumul or whether he could have refused. Other episodes in the Táin suggest that protection had to be asked for explicitly, which Etarcumul had not done. 136 However his taunt about Fergus’ ability to protect him would seem to have been aimed at provoking Fergus into offering him protection. Fergus may have been understandably reluctant to do this. Yet he may have lost face if he had appeared to be unable, or perhaps unwilling, to offer protection. In early Irish law, ‘protection’ did not refer primarily to physical protection by force of arms. Rather, it was a guarantee that anyone who injured or killed a person under protection would have to answer to the guarantor, and would be liable not only to pay a fine based upon the honour-price of the victim, but also to pay a fine for the offence to the guarantor, usually a person of high status and high honour-price. If the guarantor was obliged to take revenge, this would be backed up by the
135 Ibid. 28. 136 When Cú Chulainn as a boy arrived in Emain Macha, he incurred the wrath of the youths because he did not ask for their protection. ‘Well, boys’ said Follomain mac Conchobuir, ‘attack yon fellow, all of you, and let him meet death at my hands, for it is tabu for you that a youth should join your game without ensuring his protection from you. Attack him all together, for we know that he is the son of an Ulster chieftain, and let them not make it a habit to join your games without putting themselves under your protection and safeguard.’ Táin LL 159.
© David N. Wilson 33 guarantor’s greater resources. 137 Etarcumul taunted ‘Will you not be able to make intervention between us?’ to which Fergus replied ‘I shall . . . if only you yourself will not seek contention and strife’. Fergus here was stating his legal obligation of ‘protection’: he would be obliged to act only in the case of unprovoked attacks on someone under his protection. Fergus was making it clear that he would not intervene in any trouble that Etarcumul might cause. Etarcumul may not have understood these distinctions. His reply ‘I shall never seek that’ seems to show a lack of self-knowledge or of honesty. ( Táin LL 181-2) Fergus may seem to have been negligent in leaving Etarcumul with Cú Chulainn as he could surely have guessed what would happen. However, it is likely that Fergus was no more able to make Etarcumul leave with him than he had been to prevent him from coming with him. Fergus had no duty of supervision of Etarcumul: he may have been a youth, but he had taken up arms and was thus a warrior and free to engage in reckless behaviour or frolics of his own (in the legal sense). Fergus’ guarantee did not cover the consequences of such behaviour. However, he could expect Cú Chulainn not to initiate an attack on Etarcumul while the latter was under his protection. After Fergus had left, Etarcumul taunted Cú Chulainn: I think you are fine indeed. You are a comely, splendid, handsome youth with brilliant, numerous, various feats of arms. But as for reckoning you among goodly heroes or warriors or champions or sledge-hammers of smiting, we do not do so nor count you at all. ( Táin LL 183) Cú Chulainn reacted with forbearance to these taunts, but accepted Etarcumul’s challenge to fight the next day, when would be no longer under Fergus’ protection. In this Cú Chulainn showed both restraint and judgement. By contrast, Etarcumul, on his way home, boasted to his charioteer about the forthcoming fight with Cú Chulainn, then asked his charioteer whether it might be better for him to fight that day instead. The charioteer replied ‘It is my conviction’ said the driver, ‘that though doing it tomorrow means no victory, yet still less is to be gained by doing it tonight, for the destruction is nearer tonight .138 Etarcumul’s boasting of the challenge to his charioteer, who is a ‘low’ person and not a warrior, shows a lack of discretion and deportment. 139 Asking the charioteer for advice about when to fight was inappropriate, for the same reason. Had Etarcumul being able to wait for next day, the fight would have been before an audience and therefore of benefit to his reputation, or to his posthumous reputation if he lost. His decision showed his grievous lack of judgement as a warrior. In the event, when Etarcumul turned up before the scheduled time in order to have his fight, Cú Chulainn attempted to demonstrate his superiority with weapons by cutting off Etarcumul’s clothes and hair with single sweeps of his sword. 140 There was no audience of warriors for this display. Etarcumul could have backed down without a public loss of face. We should consider Medb’s part in this episode. When Fergus returned with the body of Etarcumul, she commented:
137 Neil McLeod describes protection in the different context of a dispute involving legal damages, but the principles are the same as the general case described here. Neil McLeod, “The Blood-feud in Medieval Ireland,” in Between Intrusions: Britain and Ireland between the Romans and the Normans: Papers from the 2003 Melbourne Conference , Sydney Series in Celtic Studies 7 (Sydney: The Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2004), 144-33. Fergus Kelly discusses violation of protection in his A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988), 140-1. 138 My italics. I have used the Stowe alternate reading provided by the editor for this text. The other reading is ‘that though doing it tomorrow means no victory, yet still less is to be gained by doing it tonight, for the fight is nearer ’. Táin LL 182. 139 As foster-son to a King and Queen, Etarcumul was a noble, the charioteer was a commoner. 140 Cú Chulainn says ‘I did not welcome him [Etarcumul] because of the guarantee of my foster-father under which he came out of the camp.’ So it is possible Etarcumul was under Fergus’ protection until he returned to the camp. Táin LL 183.
© David N. Wilson 34 ‘We thought indeed’ said Medb, ‘that great was the ardour and wrath of this young hound when he went forth from the camp in the morning.’ ( Táin LL 185) Could she not have guessed what might happen? Medb had a duty of care for her foster-son. By allowing Etarcumul to go off in such a mood, Medb has shown that she was deficient as a mother. In fact, she took no better care of her daughter, Finnabair, than she did of Etarcumul. 141 The contrast with Fergus’ relationship with his foster-son, Cú Chulainn, is deliberately stark. Medb’s comment also suggests that she may have been expecting Etarcumul to provoke a situation in which Fergus would have been obliged to fight Cú Chulainn. This suspicion is reinforced by her subsequent remark: ‘We thought that the guarantee under which he went, the guarantee of Fergus, was not that of a coward’. ( Táin LL 185) She seems to be suggesting that Etarcumul was killed because Fergus was not brave enough to protect him. To this Fergus responded: ‘What has crazed the peasant-woman?’ said Fergus. ‘Is it right for the common cur [Etarcumul] to seek out the bloodhound whom the warriors of the four great provinces of Ireland dare not approach or withstand? Even I myself would be glad to escape whole from him’. ( Táin LL 185) Medb accepted this answer and nothing further was said on the matter. Later, Medb made another attempt to pit Fergus against Cú Chulainn, which supports the idea that this may also have been her intention in this episode. ( Táin LL 208) I suggest that Etarcumul is portrayed in this manner to exemplify ‘rashness’, a socially disruptive vice. Rashness was an excess of the virtue of courage, its deficiency being cowardice. 142 The rashness of young warriors probably was a vice that the clerical redactors of the Táin found particularly distasteful, but they would not have been alone in finding this behaviour annoying. Rash young men with weapons cause trouble in all societies. In this episode, we see a complex web of obligations and honour being played out. Cú Chulainn has balanced these with precision. Fergus, as was often the case, has become entangled by problems that were largely outside of his control. He does not seem to have had much foresight or much ability to fend off disasters, though his basic decency and sense of honour redeem him.
The fight with Redg Having come to the conclusion that Cú Chulainn’s fighting prowess came from his special javelin, Ailill and Medb gave Redg, Medb’s satirist, the task of getting Cú Chulainn to relinquish it. Redg asked for the javelin but Cú Chulainn refused to surrender it. Redg threatened to use to the power of his satire to deprive Cú Chulainn of his honour. Then Cú Chulainn casts the javelin after him and it lighted on the hollow at the back of his [Redg’s] head and passed through his mouth out on to the ground . ( Táin LL 188) Satirists were held to have the power not only to bring social disgrace on their victims, but also to inflict physical disfigurement. 143 The circulation of a humorous or biting satire could destroy a person’s honour, honour-price and social standing. If the satire was inappropriate, the offended person could take legal action or, as in this case, personal revenge. Cú Chulainn’s revenge is again
141 Finnabair has two different fates in Táin 1 owing to inconsistencies in the story. In one case, Medb has offered Finnabair in marriage to many kings in order to gain their support. When one started to boast that he would marry Finnabair, many other kings claimed she had been promised to them also. They started fighting and hundreds of men were killed. When Finnabair, heard that so many men had been killed on account of her, she died of shame. Nevertheless, at the end of the story she went to live with Cú Chulainn (Táin 1 215, 238 ). Táin LL has only the version in which she died of shame. Táin LL 243. 142 Based on Aristotle’s analysis of the virtues. See the table of virtues and vices in Aristotle Ethics, trans. J. A. K. Thomson (London: Penguin, 1976), 104. 143 Satire and disfigurement was discussed in Chapter 2
© David N. Wilson 35 balanced and appropriate. Redg threatened wounding words, and Cú Chulainn wounded him through the mouth. Redg responded: ‘quickly did we get this treasure’ and with this his soul parted from his body on the ford. ( Táin LL 188) Being a skilled satirist he was still able to produce a swift and apt retort before he died.
The fight with Cúr The Men of Ireland needed someone to fight Cú Chulainn but, as Cú Chulainn had already killed many warriors in these fights, volunteers from the best warriors were no longer forthcoming. The Men of Ireland then selected the unpopular Cúr mac Da Lóth for the task: For such was Cúr that it was not pleasant to be his bedfellow or to be intimate with him, and they said that if it were Cúr that fell, it would mean a lightening of oppression for the host and if it were Cú Chulainn, it would be still better. ( Táin LL 189 -90) It seems that Cúr was not only unpleasant but also not very intelligent. At first he did not want to fight a ‘stripling’ (Cú Chulainn was still not an adult), but was easily persuaded that, on the contrary, it would be fine thing for him to defeat Cú Chulainn. Cú Chulainn was going about his martial arts training when Cúr arrived for the fight. Although Cúr spent ‘a third of the day’ behind his shield trying to wound Cú Chulainn, Cú Chulainn paid no attention and Cúr’s efforts caused no interruption to his training. This continued until Láeg, Cú Chulainn’s charioteer, who had probably grown tired of this game, urged Cú Chulainn to ‘answer Cúr’. At that moment Cú Chulainn was juggling eight balls in the air and, while doing so, cast another ball through the head of Cúr. Again there is a balancing of honour here. The Men of Ireland had sent a disreputable opponent against him. Cú Chulainn treated him with disdain, refusing even to acknowledge Cúr’s presence until Láeg drew his attention to it. Cú Chulainn then killed him with the casual throw of a toy. This was an apt and balanced response that resulted in an inglorious death for an unpleasant person. 144
The fight with Láiríne mac Nóis Later, when volunteers were still lacking from among the best warriors, Medb and Ailill tried a more subtle scheme. One of their more skilled and respected warriors was Lugaid mac Nóis, who was also a foster-brother of Cú Chulainn. They thought to induce Lugaid to fight Cú Chulainn by putting him in a position where he would be obliged to avenge his brother’s death. To this end, Medb and Ailill sought out Láiríne, Lugaid’s brother, plied him with drink and and offered him Medb’s daughter, Finnabair. Lugaid went to Cú Chulainn and explained Medb’s plot: They are urging a brother of mine to come and fight with you, a foolish youth, rough, uncouth, but strong and stubborn, and he is sent to fight you so that when he falls by you, I may [under the duty of honour] go and avenge his death on you, but I shall never do so. ( Táin LL 192) The next morning, when Láiríne went to fight Cú Chulainn, the mighty warriors of the camp did not think it worth their while to watch Láiríne fight, but the women and boys and girls attended to scoff and jeer at his fight. ( Táin LL 192) Cú Chulainn squeezed and pummelled Láiríne, then threw him back to the entrance of his brother’s tent. Láiríne never recovered and died not long after. He was the only one of Cú Chulainn’s opponents who was not killed outright. ( Táin LL 193).
144 Unconventional missiles are used in other tales. In one tale, Medb is killed with a piece of hard cheese flung from a sling. “Aided Medbe”, ed. V. Hull, Speculum 16 (1941), 177.
© David N. Wilson 36 Again Cú Chulainn has preserved his honour with a balanced and apt response. He foiled Medb and Ailill’s dishonourable scheme to provoke his foster-brother, Lugaid, into fighting him by not actually killing Láiríne. Had he killed him, Lugaid may have been honour bound to take revenge. Láiríne was not a creditable warrior, so Cú Chulainn did not fight him as a warrior, but beat him up, as a gang of peasants might have done. Láiríne was justly punished for his effrontery in tackling a true warrior.
The fight with Lóch Mór Mo Febis This is an episode in which two warriors treat each other with professional respect. Ailill and Medb had asked the warrior, Lóch Mór Mo Febis, to fight Cú Chulainn. He was not offered inducements, unlike many of the other warriors sent by Medb, but fought out of duty. When he first saw Cú Chulainn, he declined to fight him, considering it inappropriate to fight a ‘youthful beardless stripling’. To overcome this problem, Medb asked her women to ask Cú Chulainn to make himself appear older by putting on ‘a false beard of blackberry juice’. Cú Chulainn did so and Lóch agreed to the fight. Cú Chulainn did not take offence at Lóch’s not wanting to fight ‘a beardless youth’ since he respected the fact that Lóch was standing on an important point of warrior honour. Lóch is described as a mighty warrior. The fight was tough and Cú Chulainn was wounded. Cú Chulainn was obliged to use his most powerful weapon, a spear called ga bulga, which fatally wounded Lóch. Lóch then asked a favour of Cú Chulainn: ‘ No favour of quarter do I ask nor do I make a cowardly request.’ said Lóch. ‘Retreat a step from me so that I may fall facing the east and not towards the west and the men of Ireland, lest one of them say I fled in rout before you, for I have fallen by the ga bulga.’ ‘I shall retreat,’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘for it is a warrior’s request you make.’ ( Táin LL 194) Cú Chulainn granted Lóch honour in death, lest it be seen as disgrace to Lóch that he had died in retreat by falling backwards. Lóch is clearly making a fine distinction, but he gains Cú Chulainn’s respect for making it. This is an important point. Many of the episodes in the tale involve similar fine distinctions, some of which may be lost on a modern audience. This theme of a warrior’s concern over his position in death occurs in many heroic tales. A well known example is in the Song of Roland when Roland, mortally wounded, set himself to die facing Spain and the enemy. 145 Similarly, when Cú Chulainn himself was mortally wounded, he tied himself to a standing stone so that he could continue to stand in front of the enemy and fight to the end. 146 Lóch earned Cú Chulainn’s respect by insisting that it should not look as if he were fighting a warrior who was too young, according to his standards of propriety. At the end of the fight, Cú Chulainn gracefully granted Lóch his request that he be allowed to die with the maximum of dignity and benefit to his posthumous reputation, even though it might appear to onlookers that Cú Chulainn had retreated a step and thereby suffered some dishonour. In terms of the theme of balanced reciprocity, these two warriors treated each other with grace and dignity, even though they fought a duel to the death. In this analysis of a selection of Cú Chulainn’s episodes of single combat, I have shown that Cú Chulainn has dealt with each of his opponents in a manner that was both appropriate and serving to increase his honour. When the episodes are viewed this way, we can see that the author has carefully constructed his picture of Cú Chulainn and his seeking of honour in difficult circumstances. With this understanding, the episodes are neither wearisome nor repetitive. The following section examines the encounters between Cú Chulainn and Fergus and the ways in which these affect their honour.
145 “Now Roland feels his time is at an end; On the steep hill-side, towards Spain he has turned his head”. The Song Of Roland , trans. Dorothy L. Sayers (London: Penguin Books, 1970), 142. 146 John Carey, trans., “The Death of Cú Chulainn as related in the Book of Leinster,” in The Celtic Heroic Age, ed. J. Koch and J. Carey (Dublin: Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, 1906), 130.
© David N. Wilson 37 Fergus and his honour In early Ireland, it was common for noble youths to be fostered in other noble houses. Cú Chulainn and Fergus were foster-son and foster-father from such a relationship and as such had a duty of care for each other. Foster relationships could be as close or even closer than those of child and parent. 147 As Cú Chulainn and Fergus were now on opposite sides of the conflict, their problem was to balance duty, honour and affective regard. Fergus had a position in the court of Medb and Ailill, in return for which he was obliged to serve them faithfully. As Medb explained: It were indeed fitting for you to give us your aid unstintingly in fighting today, for you were banished from your territory and your land and with us you got territory and land and estate and much kindness was shown to you. ( Táin LL 266) Medb must have known about Fergus’ relationship to Cú Chulainn, yet this did not prevent her from asking him to fight in single combat against Cú Chulainn. Fergus demurred: ‘It would not be fitting for me’ said Fergus. ‘to encounter a young and beardless lad, my own fosterling’. ( Táin LL 207) But Medb insisted, and he was unable to refuse. This is the turning point in the story of the cattle raid. By refusing to make allowances for Fergus’ parental affections, Medb had placed Fergus in an impossible situation. Fergus resolved this by bringing defeat upon Medb and the Men of Ireland. When Fergus met Cú Chulainn for the combat, he explained that he could not bear weapons against his foster-son. He suggested that Cú Chulainn should be seen to flee from him. Cú Chulainn was reluctant to do this. Fergus then proposed a deal: if Cú Chulainn would flee from him now, he would flee from Cú Chulainn: in the [final] battle of the Táin, and when I alone shall flee, then all the men of Ireland will flee. ( Táin LL 208) That is, Fergus was proposing to betray the Men of Ireland at a crucial point in forthcoming battle. Cú Chulainn agreed to this proposal. Then: So eager was Cú Chulainn to do whatever was for Ulster weal that his chariot was brought before him and he fled in rout from the men of Ireland. ( Táin LL 208) Fergus declined to pursue Cú Chulainn, saying that he had done more than any other had done and that he would not fight Cú Chulainn again until all the other Men of Ireland had their turn ( Táin LL 208). This was a legitimate point of honour and the Men of Ireland could hardly argue against it. In terms of balance and reciprocity, we might question whether Fergus had given too much away in making this deal with Cú Chulainn. Fergus said that he could not bear weapons against his foster-son. Cú Chulainn may have been no more willing to fight him. His earlier arrangement with Lugaid suggests that this may well have been the case. Under this arrangement, he had not been required to offer much. He risked losing honour by being seen to retreat from a fight, something that was not generally condoned by the warrior honour code, as can be seen from the examples of Lóch and Dubthach considered earlier. Yet some acknowledgement of Cú Chulainn’s loss of honour would have been required from the other warriors for that loss to have any effect. Which of them would have dared to tell Cú Chulainn to his face that he had lost honour? Furthermore, the arrangement gave Cú Chulainn a significant future gain, in that it assured Ulster of victory. Fergus, on the other hand, risked a grave loss of honour if his perfidy were to become known. In the event, the tale allowed him to minimise the consequences of his betrayal by shifting the blame to Medb.
147 Fosterage seems to have been a common practice in Early Irish noble families. The higher the ranking of a person, the more foster children he or she may have. Colin Ireland discusses fosterage in “The Ambiguous Attitude toward Fosterage in Early Irish Literature.” The Journal of Indo-European Studies, Monograph Series. Studies in Honor of Jaan Puhvel Part One: Ancient Languages and Philology Monograph No. 20 Edited by Dorothy Disterheft, Martin Huld and John Greppin. (Washington, DC: The Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997), 91-6.
© David N. Wilson 38 The fight with Cú Chulainn was not the only occasion on which Medb failed to allow for Fergus’ conflicts of loyalties and honour. At the start of the cattle raid, Medb had put Fergus in command of the army in order to make use of his local knowledge of Ulster. Yet from the beginning his actions tended to be to protect the Uliad. Medb was aware of this but did nothing about it, a further example of her defective leadership. When the final battle between the two opposing armies was about to commence, Medb reminded Fergus of his obligations to her. Fergus agreed and asked upon whom he should ply his sword, Medb answered: On the hosts that surround you on all sides. . . . Let none receive mercy or quarter from you except a true friend. ( Táin LL 266) This statement acknowledged for the first time that Fergus would be fighting his former comrades and fellow Ulstermen. It contrasts with her lack of compassion on the previous occasion when she directed Fergus to engage in single combat with Cú Chulainn, a demand that led to Fergus’ betrayal of the Men of Ireland. When the battle began, Fergus attacked the Ulstermen until he encountered their king, Conchobor. When Fergus asked him who he was, Conchobor responded with insulting taunts. Then: Fergus grasped the Caladglog [his sword] in both hands and swung it back behind him so that its point touched the ground, and his intent was to strike three terrible and warlike blows on the Ulstermen so that their dead might outnumber their living. ( Táin LL 267) However, before any blow could be struck, Conchobor’s son Cormac Cond Longas, who was in exile with Fergus, rushed in pleading: Do not slay and destroy the Ulsterman with your mighty blows, but take thought for their honour on this day of battle today’. ‘Begone from me, lad’ said Fergus ‘for I shall not live if I strike not my three mighty, warlike blows upon the Ulstermen today so that their [dead outnumber their living].’ 148 ‘Turn your hand level’ said Cormac Cond Longas, ‘and strike off the tops of the hills over the heads of the hosts and that will appease your anger’. ‘Tell Conchobor to come then into his battle-position’. Conchobor came to his place in the battle. Now that sword, the sword of Fergus, was the sword of Leite from the elf-mounds. When one wished to strike with it, it was as big as a rainbow in the air.—Then Fergus turned his hand level above the heads of the hosts and cut off the tops of the three hills which are still there in the marshy plain as evidence. ( Táin LL 268) This is another example of a legalistic ruse. Cormac’s suggestion that he should strike the hills (a host of hills) that surrounded them allowed Fergus to fulfil the letter, though not the intent and spirit, of his promise to Medb. This did not necessarily reflect badly on Fergus, as a ruse was considered consistent with warrior honour if it succeeded. 149 Yet Cormac’s plea to Fergus was an appeal to patriotism and tribal loyalties, which was expected to operate on Fergus’ loyalty to the Ulstermen even though he had been dishonoured and exiled by them. It is hard to see this as being consistent with warrior honour. It seems, rather, that patriotism had succeeded over honour. This may be one of the moral lessons of the tale. Fergus’ actions also function to support another aspect of the tale, that of the creation myth, by explaining the origin of the flat-topped hills in the area of the battle. Before the final battle, the Ulstermen restrained Cú Chulainn because they considered him too wounded to take part. However, on hearing the fight between Fergus and Conchobor and the blows against the hills, Cú Chulainn broke his bonds and joined the battle and attacked the Men of Ireland. When he came to Fergus he reminded him of their agreement:
148 The text reads ‘the living outnumber their dead’. This is surely a typographical error. The phrase ‘dead outnumber their living’ was used a few lines previously and this phrase makes more sense here. 149 O’Leary, “Magnanimous Conduct in Irish Heroic Literature.”, 28-44.
© David N. Wilson 39 you promised that you would flee from me when I should be wounded, bloody and pierced with stabs in the battle of the Táin, for I fled before you in your own battle of the Táin. Fergus heard that, and be turned and took three mighty, heroic strides, and when he turned, all the men of Ireland turned and were routed westwards over the hill. ( Táin LL 269) The Men Of Ireland were routed, pursued and slaughtered. Note how Fergus’ betrayal of the Men of Ireland is described. Fergus is said to have taken ‘three mighty, heroic strides’. What he did was run away before the foe. This is surely an attempt to place an heroic gloss on an act of betrayal. How does Fergus’ honour stand after the end of the battle? He has kept his promise to his foster-son, Cú Chulainn, but he has betrayed his obligations to Medb, his leader, and has intentionally caused the rout of the Men of Ireland. Although Medb had said ‘Let none receive mercy or quarter from you except a true friend,’ Fergus spared the enemy leader Conchobor, who was hardly a true friend since he had grievously assaulted Fergus’ honour. In his case, Fergus had a duty of honour to take revenge. Furthermore, before the battle, Fergus had made an oath: I would cut them down so that the trunks of men would be piled high on the trunks of men and arms of men piled high on arms of men and the crowns of men's heads piled on the crowns of men's heads. ( Táin LL 266) Yet he did not fulfil this promise. Cormac’s pleas regarding the honour of Ulster were pleas to the emotions rather than to any Irish concept of honour. Yet these pleas were decisive. Cormac’s suggestion that he should strike the hills provided Fergus with another outlet for his sword of cosmic power. This magical plot-element may be intended to distract the hearer of the story from considering the unreasonableness of Cormac’s pleas to Fergus and the assault on the principles of warrior honour that had just occurred. It the end, Fergus’ promise to Cú Chulainn, his foster-son, was ultimately more important than his obligations to Medb and the Men of Ireland.150 Fergus was an Ulster hero but a problematic one. His role in other tales was no less problematic. In Exile of the Sons of Uisliu , Fergus, then King of Ulster, had offered surety to some people against whom Conchobor had a grudge. However, Conchobor invited Fergus to a feast and Fergus through his ritual obligation, his gessa, was obliged to attend. 151 While Fergus was at the feast, Conchobor had his guests killed. The failure of Fergus’ surety was an irredeemable loss of honour for a king. Ultimately it caused the loss of his kingdom and his exile from Ulster. This is another case where he was caught between conflicting obligations. Even the tale of Fergus’ death left him with little honour. Ailill was finally driven to jealousy when he saw Fergus and Medb engaged in sexual activity while swimming. Ailill asked a blind poet to cast his spear at ‘the stag and the hind in the water’ and Fergus was killed. 152 In comparison to Fergus, Cú Chulainn’s honour is at its maximum. He had persevered against great odds and had even overcome his wounds to join in the final battle, thus ensuring the victory of the Ulstermen. Yet in victory he was gracious, granting Medb protection to allow her to return home.
The Pillow Talk As mentioned above, one major difference between Tain LL and Táin 1 is the episode of the Pillow Talk in Tain LL . It provides a explanation for the cattle raid — Táin I starts with the raid already organised — and it presents Medb with particular personal characteristics. It also provides an insight into some questions of marriage laws and honour-price.
150 William Sayers has a different view of the episode between Fergus and Conchobor, but it is one that I do not find convincing. See William Sayers, “Fergus and the Cosmogonic Sword,” History of Religions 25 (1985): 30-56. 151 Kim McCone, describes the operation of geisi or taboos in Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature (Maynooth: An Sagart, 1990), 136-7. 152 Kuno Meyer, ed., “Aided Fergus mac Roich,” in The Death Tales of the Ulster Heroes, Todd Lecture series 14 (Ulster: Royal Irish Academy, 1906), 32-5.
© David N. Wilson 40 In the episode of the Pillow Talk, Medb and Ailill were arguing about who had bought the most wealth into the marriage. When they compared their possessions, they found that they were equal except that Ailill had a giant bull with magical powers. The only other bull like it in Ireland was owned by the Ulstermen and was called Donn Cúalnge. Medb’s desire to obtain this bull gave rise to the cattle raid. The episode suggests that the cattle raid was neither a noble enterprise nor a considered strategy of state, but was brought about by greed, pride and competitiveness, driven by Medb’s desire to prove herself better than her husband. 153 Medb and Ailill also discussed their marriage contract and honour-price. Medb told Ailill that he was a kept man, a fir for bantinchur, and, as such, did not ‘own’ his own honour-price. She said that: I gave you a contract and a bride-price as befits a woman, namely, the raiment of twelve men, a chariot worth thrice seven cumala , the breadth of your face in red gold, the weight of your left arm in white bronze. Whoever brings shame and annoyance and confusion on you, you have no claim for compensation or for honour-price for it except what claim I have,’ said Medb, ‘for you are a man dependent on a woman's marriage- portion’. ‘Not so was I’ said Ailill. ( Táin LL 138) In order to appreciate this discussion we need to review some aspects of early Irish marriage law and honour-price. A women’s honour-price was usually dependent on that of her guardian, her father or her husband. 154 However, her status in a marriage was also determined by the proportion of wealth she that brought into the marriage. Patterson explains that the most respectable form of marriage was one where the wife and husband were of equal rank and wealth. This was the normal form of marriage for the nobility ( air túise ). The wives of these ranks were called cémuinter meaning ‘first- householder’ or ‘chief-householder’, though the term could also be applied to the husband. In such marriages, the woman contributed a third or a half of the marriage property. In cases where the man was supported by the property of the woman, the relationship was termed lánamnas fir for bantinchur. 155 Medb claimed that she gave Ailill a Coibche, a ‘bride-price’. Patterson defines this as an ‘indirect bridal dower’. The Coibche was paid by the intended husband to the father of the bride after they had agreed upon the marriage. The payment secured public recognition that the women’s kin had agreed to the relationship. The Coibche was payable for any of the socially approved unions, even transitory ones. 156 The Pillow Talk episode suggests that the Coibche could be given to the man if he was going to be supported by the woman’s property. This suggests that the weaker party required an unambiguous symbol of public recognition of the marriage agreement. Also, as the owner of the supposedly larger property, Medb was also claiming rights to any compensation for assaults on Ailill’s honour, because Ailill did not support his honour-price in his own right with his own wealth. There are several odd things about this argument. Any payment of a Coibche would have been a publicly witnessed payment to Ailill’s kin, so there should have been little doubt about whether the payment had been made. Ailill did not specifically deny the payment of a Coibche , but made a general denial “Not so was I”, and changed the subject to the status of his family. Yet in the comparison of their wealth which followed, they were shown to have equal wealth in all respects except for Ailill’s possession of the bull. It is not clear, then, who was telling the truth about the marriage. Nevertheless, this example does show that the marriage contract helped to determine the honour-price of a married man or woman, along with status and wealth, and honourable or dishonourable conduct. 157
153 Nerys Thomas Patterson, Cattle-Lords and Clansmen: The Social Structure of Early Ireland , second edition (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994), 292-3. 154 Thomas M. Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 128. For a analysis of the literary treatment of women and honour see P. O'Leary, “The Honour of Women in Early Irish Literature”, Ériu 38 (1987): 264-74. 155 Patterson, Cattle-Lords and Clansmen , 297. 156 Ibid. 157 Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988), 18-9.
© David N. Wilson 41 Even though Ailill has demonstrated that he had greater wealth than Medb, it is clear that he was the subordinate partner in the relationship. Medb set the terms of the marriage, including: If the man with whom I should be were jealous, neither would it be fitting, for I was never without one lover quickly succeeding another [lit. without a man in the shadow of another]. ( Táin LL 138) Ailill acquiesced in Medb’s affair with Fergus. Medb commanded the cattle raid. Yet the early seventh century poetic version of the Táin clearly shows Medb as being dependent on Ailill’s wealth: (Being) in a an area in a wilderness of bad measure, bad were the situations of her clients. She sought the readiness of her armies expectant of wealth from Ailill, firmly demanding gifts of aid. He sent forth the great consent of a great warrior 158 If the twelfth century audience was aware of this tradition, they would have regarded Medb’s claims of superiority over Ailill as being even more perverse. In terms of honour considered as appropriate reciprocity, Medb is shown as behaving inappropriately for a queen and a wife. Rather than being in a state of balanced reciprocity with her husband, she was competitive. Ailill is show to be an ineffective husband, who was not capable of controlling the excesses of his wife. Medb is shown as being motivated by greed and status and probably not above stretching the truth. These were probably not grave sins in early Irish society, and may have been excused if they were pursued with grace. However, Medb shows neither grace nor propriety. As Patterson suggests, this episode has the flavour of a peasant domestic brawl. Yet the contemporary audience would have been well aware that conflict among kings and queens was often of a more serious or lethal nature. 159
Medb and her Honour Medb’s honour is not problematic. She was systematically dishonoured. Kelly suggests that a central purpose of the Táin was to discredit Medb by what she describes as a ‘tour-de-force of verisimilitude’. 160 Every aspect of her character and abilities as queen and as a military leader is maligned. Yet the Irish annals provide no instances of a female political or military leader. 161 If the story contained a warning or moral, to whom was it directed? Scholars have made various suggestions to explain why Medb has been treated in this way. O’Connor suggests it may have been ‘rancorous anti-feminist irony’ arising from Christian monastic misogyny. 162 Other suggestions have included a warning not to let women gain political power; a debate over inheritance and marriage laws; an attack on one particular woman; a critique on kingship. 163 Yet another opinion is that the pre-
158 The quote is from Olmsted’s translation of the poem Conailla Medb Míchuru . Garret Olmsted, “The Earliest Narrative Version of the Táin : Seventh-century poetic references to the Táin bó Cúailnge ”, Emania 10 (1992): 6. 159 Patterson, Cattle-Lords and Clansmen , 292-293. 160 Patricia Kelly, “The Táin As Literature”, in Aspects of the Táin, ed. J. P. Mallory (Belfast: The University Press, 1992), 77. 161 Donncha Ó Corráin, “Women in early Irish Society: the historical dimension,” in Women in Irish Society , eds. Margaret MacCurtain and Donncha Ó Corráin (Westport, Conn: Greenwood, 1978), 10; Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law , 69. 162 O’Connor’s views were held to be extreme by O’Leary though he did concede that distrust of women was a significant theme. Frank O’Connor, The Backward Look (London: Macmillan, 1967), 32-4, and P. O’Leary, “The Honour of Women in Early Irish Literature,” Ériu 38 (1987): 43-4. Doris Edel summarises the debate on whether the Táin is misogynist in “Myth versus Reality: Queen Medb of Connacht and her critics, ancient and modern”, in The Celtic West and Europe, Studies in Celtic Literature and the Early Irish Church (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001), 165-7. 163 Donnchadh Ó Corráin, “Some Legal Aspects of the Pillowtalk in the Táin Bó Cúalnge ,” paper presented at the Freiburg Colloquium on the Táin Bó Cúalnge , 1990, quoted in Hildegard L. C. Tristram “What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge?” in ed. J. P. Mallory. Ulidia (Belfast: December Publications, 1994), 19. Eamon Greenwood, “Aspects of the Evolution of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ”, dissertation (1993), quoted in Tristram, “What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ”, 18-19. Kelly, “The Táin As Literature,” 87.
© David N. Wilson 42 Christian myths on which the Táin was based would have portrayed Medb as a sovereignty goddess. 164 The Christian redactors of the tale, following their usual practice of converting the old gods and goddess into humans, then converted Medb into a strong willed and independent women. Thomas O’Rahilly notes of Medb that she is no longer a goddess but a masterful woman, with the inevitable result that her character has sadly degenerated, so much so that at times she is no better than a strong- willed virago with unconcealed leanings towards a multiplicity of husbands and paramours. 165 Kelly suggests that O’Rahilly’s view of Medb’s degeneracy was shared by her literary creator, hinting perhaps at a long continuity of opinion regarding the need to keep women under control, for fear of the degeneracy which would inevitably result from any independence.166 Yet, I think that it was not the purpose of the tale to be anti-woman. Although the redactors of the tale may have played upon the theme of misogyny, their real intention was to present Medb as the antithesis of kingship — the wrong sex, unlucky, with bad judgement, greedy, disloyal and dishonourable — in order to criticise bad kingship. 167 Depicting a man as a bad king would have invited invidious comparisons with actual kings, past or present. By presenting this incompetent leader as a woman, the redactors have avoided such comparisons. The arrangement allowed them to say things about kingship that could not otherwise safely be said. There are several episodes concerning Medb and honour in the text. As mentioned before, disgraceful behaviour in a warrior was not, in itself, dishonourable. The warrior ethic required warriors to be victorious: this could require behaviour that might otherwise considered reprehensible. 168 Medb’s offers of her daughter as an inducement to entice warriors to fight Cú Chulainn were not offences against the warrior ethic, though they may have been offences against other social codes, and against family and community obligations. Ethical expectations were flexible and dependent upon circumstances. In Táin LL , when Medb suggested the killing of the exceptional troop of the Gailióin, she gave no sensible justification. In Táin 1 , she gave the excuse that ‘There is no advantage in their coming. The army’s triumph will be credited to them’. ( Táin 1 129) This attitude was not dishonourable in principle; the same considerations compelled Cú Chulainn to prevent Conall from accompanying him when he took up arms ( Táin LL 166) and the decision of Cú Chulainn’s friend/father not to assist him: ‘I shall not stay indeed’ said the warrior, ‘for though a man do many valourous and heroic deeds in your company, not he but you will have the fame or the reputation of them. ( Táin LL 199) By comparison, Medb’s proposed action was disproportionate and extreme. Whereas in the examples above, assistance was refused from individuals in the interests of honour, Medb was willing to put hundreds to death for the same reason. The author may be making a veiled critique of political and military leaders who were willing to sacrifice other peoples’ lives to promote their own honour. If this were the case, the point might be that if it is considered ‘reasonable’ to send troops to almost certain death in battle in order to satisfy the honour of the leader, there is little difference in simply killing them for the same purpose. 164 There are many works on the topic of sovereignty goddesses. Some useful works include: Charles Bowen, “Great Bladdered Medb: Mythology and Invention in the Táin Bó Cuailnge, ” Eire 10 (1975): 14-34; Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin, “Women in Early Irish Myths and Sagas,” in Images of the Irish Women:The Crane Bag book of Irish studies , v ol. 4 no. 1 (Dublin: Blackwater Press, 1980), 525-32; Ann Dooley, “The Invention of Women in the Táin ”, in Ulidia (Belfast: December Publications, 1994): 123-34; Bart Jaski “Sacral kinship”, in Early Irish Kingship and Succession (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000), 57-88; P. Mac Cana, “Women in Irish mythology,” in Images of the Irish Women:The Crane Bag book of Irish studies Vol.. 4 No. 1 (Dublin: Blackwater Press, 1980), 520-4. 165 Thomas F. O’Rahilly, “On the origin of the names Érainn and Ériu,” Ériu 14 (1946): 15-6. 166 Kelly, “The Táin As Literature”, 78. 167 Ibid., 87. Kelly suggests this argument but does not elaborate upon it. 168 O’Leary discusses such conduct in “Magnanimous Conduct in Irish Heroic Literature,” 28-9.
© David N. Wilson 43 Medb’s iniquities extended to her failure to keep agreements. For example, she agreed to Cú Chulainn’s demands of single combat, but then arranged ambushes to kill him. ( Táin LL 205, 209) Fergus raged against Dubthach for proposing such an ambush ( Táin LL 204-5) but did not protest as forcefully to Medb. Medb also suggested actions that did break the warriors’ honour code of fair play, Brister fír fer fair . For example, in Táin I , Medb says ‘Let the terms of fair play be broken against him’ ( Táin 1 177). In Táin LL , there are repeated laments, from Cú Chulainn, his father Sualtaim, or from the narrator, that the Men of Ireland did not grant Cú Chulainn fair play. ( Táin LL 196, 209, 246, 247) 169 Medb’s final disgrace is much greater in Táin LL than in Táin 1 . In Táin 1 , when Fergus and Medb were fleeing the battle, Medb was overtaken by the pursuing Cú Chulainn. Medb begged for her life and Cú Chulainn offered her his protection for her safe return to her homeland. By contrast Táin LL has: Then Medb covered the retreat of the men of Ireland . . . Then her issue of blood came upon Medb and she said: ‘Fergus, cover the retreat of the men of Ireland that I may pass my water’. ‘By my conscience’ said Fergus, ‘It is ill-timed and it is not right to do so’. ‘Yet I cannot but do so’ said Medb, ‘for I shall not live unless I do’. Fergus came then and covered the retreat of the men of Ireland. Medb passed her water and it made three great trenches in each of which a household can fit. Hence the place is called Fúal Medba [Medb’s foul place]. Cú Chulainn came upon her thus engaged but he did not wound her for he used not to strike her from behind. ‘Grant me a favour today, Cú Chulainn’ said Medb. ‘What favour do you ask?’ said Cú Chulainn. ‘That this army may be under your protection and safeguard till they have gone westwards past Áth Mór’. ‘I grant it’ said Cú Chulainn. Cú Chulainn came around the men of Ireland and covered the retreat on one side of them to protect them. (Táin LL 270) The Irish text is not clear but menstruation was probably intended. 170 The general agreement is that the purpose of this passage was to emphasise that a woman’s physical constitution made her unsuitable for military (and perhaps any) leadership, as well as to impose a particular humiliation upon Medb. 171 Nevertheless, though Medb was humiliated for having the physical attributes of an ordinary woman, the redactor has surprisingly added a cosmogonic dimension of Medb’s power to form the land, possibly hinting at her power as a goddess. Or the redactor may have been following the example of The Death of Derbforgaill, in which great bladder capacity was equated with superior sexual attributes. 172 The purpose could be to emphasise Medb’s wanton sexuality and the power of woman’s sexuality to cause disruption amongst the affairs of men. This was a common theme of medieval monastic writers. However, Greenwood suggests that the redactor, Áed, may have been making a reference to the political affairs that had affected his own life, in particular the exiling of his employer Diarmuid, King of Leinster. One of events that led to Diarmuid’s neighbours uniting against him was his abduction of Derbforgail, wife of the king of Breifne. Greenwood argues that the character Derbforgail/Medb is that of the detrimental sovereignty of Leinster, implying that the sexuality of Derbforgail/Medb had caused the exiling of Diarmuid. 173 However, the differences between the pictures of Medb in Táin 1 and Táin LL are hardly great enough to support this hypothesis.
169 Kelly, “The Táin As Literature”, 79. 170 This point is discussed by Bowen. The Irish terms are literally ‘urine of blood’, used once, and ‘to pass urine’, used three times. Bowen, “Great Bladdered Medb, 33. 171 Doris Edel discusses whether the Táin is misogynist in “Myth versus Reality: Queen Medb of Connacht and her critics, ancient and modern” in The Celtic West and Europe, Studies in Celtic Literature and the Early Irish Church . (Dublin: Four Courts press, 2001), 165-7. 172 “Aided Derbforgaill” in the Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbóla, ed, R. I. Best, O. Bergin and M. A. O'Brien (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1957). 173 See Greenwood, “Aspects of the Evolution of the Táin Bó Cúalnge ”, 19.
© David N. Wilson 44 As the defeated army were on their way home: Then Fergus began to survey the host as they went westwards from Áth Mór. ‘This day was indeed a fitting one for those who were led by a women’ said Fergus. [lacuna] . . . ‘This host has been plundered and despoiled today. As when a mare goes before her band of foals into unknown territory, with none to lead or counsel them, so this host has perished today’. ( Táin LL 270) However, Táin 1 has: Now when they were finally routed Medb said to Fergus: ‘Men and lesser men(?) meet here today, Fergus.’ ‘That is what usually happens,’ said Fergus, ‘to a herd of horses led by a mare. Their substance is taken and carried off and guarded as they follow a woman who has misled them.’ ( Táin 1 236-7) In the Táin 1 version, Fergus suggested that he and the Men of Ireland had come to grief because they had been misled (led astray) by a woman, possibly reinforcing the idea of female sexuality ‘causing’ men to go wrong. Táin LL puts a different slant on it by emphasising that the disaster had occurred because the mare led others into unknown territory, that is, the mare was in the place of the stallion. Since Fergus’ name means something like ‘Manly Force, son of Great Stallion’, there is the implication that things would have turned out better if the ‘Stallion’ had been in charge. 174 Fergus’ record hardly supports this. Blaming Medb for the disaster shifts the blame from Fergus himself. Yet the story of the battle suggests that the ‘vengeful two-handed stroke at Conchobor’ that Fergus had been preparing may well have killed Conchobor and won the battle. Thus the Men of Ireland were betrayed by Fergus at two points. One was the arrangement between Fergus and Cú Chulainn that Fergus would retreat from Cú Chulainn in the final battle; this ultimately caused their rout. The second was when Fergus gave in to emotional persuasion and failed carry out his attempt to kill Conchobor even though both the honour code and his position with the Men of Ireland required him to make this attempt. Fergus, therefore, gave victory away. Was the host ‘plundered and despoiled’ because they were led by a woman or because a man betrayed them? In groups that are frequently at war, as the Irish tribes were, loyalty to one’s associates was a serious matter. The contemporary audience may have seen that issue more clearly than we do. Modern scholars have not commented upon this blame-shifting. They consider that Fergus’ honour was ‘redeemed in the end’. 175 But has Fergus’ honour been redeemed because he caused the defeat of the aggressors, or because he assisted the victory of ‘our’ heroes? Is honour always partisan? We have to conclude that it is. Honour is a community standard and communities decide how it is bestowed on an individual. In Fergus’ case, he has supported Ulster’s hero and ensured the defeat of Ulster’s enemies. However, Fergus was a leader of the Men of Ireland, who were attacking Ulster. Nor was he welcomed back by the Ulstermen; he remained with Medb. In what sense, then, was his honour ‘redeemed’? Yet in the tales of the Ulster Cycle, Ulster stands in some ways for a much wider community. Fergus upheld some of the standards of this wider community, in spite of his all-too-human failings. He is portrayed as a tragic figure, confronted with situations of conflicting obligations from which he cannot escape without some loss of honour. Yet he is also a sympathetic and human character, with typical human weaknesses. He was led astray by the tricks of his opponents, by his lusts and by beautiful women. Like most people, he was not clever or prescient enough to foresee and avoid disasters. His failings made him a figure of fun at times. In most things he had a sense of honour and fair play and was affronted by those who did not. Yet, although he possessed a sword of immense power, Fergus caused very little death or destruction. When confronted with stark choices between loyalty to his homeland or to his adopted Queen and country, his love for his foster-son prevailed. He made human choices, but the world conspired to prevent him from achieving ultimate success and an equilibrium of honour. The early Irish audience could sympathise with him.
174 Bowen, “Great Bladdered Medb”, 28. The point is also made by Kelly “The Táin As Literature”, 79. 175 Kelly, “The Táin As Literature”, 81.
© David N. Wilson 45 © David N. Wilson 46 Conclusion It has been shown that the concepts of face and honour were central to the early Irish social identity and social structure, and that early Irish society could be considered as honour-based. Honour was determined by community consensus. A person’s status and honour-price — a legal construct which determined the value to which that person could guarantee a contract, and also the compensation to be paid for death or injury — was maintained only whilst that person was regarded by the community as properly fulfilling his or her social obligations. Based on Barton’s work on ancient Roman society, I suggested that acting honourably required a person to act with ‘appropriate and balanced reciprocity’. In real life, this entailed dealing with the conflicts of obligations that inevitably arose. I argued that this concern with honour and its complexities is reflected in the early Irish literature. O’Leary had observed how, in the early Irish tales, people facing conflicts of obligations were compelled to make their choices against a community standard, the heroic value system. I have examined how this process is represented in the text of the Táin . This analysis provides new insights into the way in which the main characters, and their actions and interactions, are portrayed in the Táin . I argue that Cú Chulainn’s episodes of single combat, which can seem wearisome to the modern reader, would have been understood by the early Irish audience as showing a man striving to attain honour through ‘appropriate and balanced reciprocity’ in each of his encounters. The audience would have been interested in his responses to the challenges. I argue that his actions, such as his throwing a spear through the mouth of a satirist or a juggling ball through the head of a contemptible person, would have been seen as appropriate and nicely judged responses. Yet not all episodes follow the patterns of the honour code. In the case of Cú Chulainn’s retreat from Fergus, Cú Chulainn was willing to accept a possible loss of honour for the sake of a benefit to Ulster. It is possible, however, that the redactors have inserted ethical and patriotic elements into the tale. In considering the portrait of Medb , I argue that many commentators have misunderstood the true intention of the redactors of the Táin . By presenting this paragon of misrule as a woman, the redactors have avoided the possibility of any direct comparisons between Medb’s style of leadership and that of any of the contemporary kings. Had the leader of the Men of Ireland been portrayed as a man, people may have asked whether the actions of this vain, selfish, greedy, and manipulative king represented a style of kingship present in Ireland and, if so, who best fitted the description. Such questions would have been uncomfortable for the Irish nobility. Furthermore, given the Irish sensitivity to satire, raising such questions would not have been to the benefit to the redactors. By making the leader a woman, the redactors have avoided any such invidious comparisons. A leader based on the traditional sovereignty goddess theme thus provided a convenient and acceptable alternative. The drawing of connections between historical events and ancient literary production can only be tentative at best, and I make no greater claims here. In the discussion of the cultural and historical background to the two recensions of the Táin we have seen that the practitioners of traditional Irish Culture had come under increasingly hostile pressure, both from internal church reform and from the increasing control by the Normans of Irish monasteries. The redactor of the Táin LL , Áed Úa Crimthainn, was a man schooled in Christian, Classical and Latin rhetorical traditions. He was directly affected by the conflicts between his employer, Diarmait King of Leinster, and neighbouring kings, by the burning down of his family’s monastery and by Diarmait’s expulsion from Ireland, which led eventually to the Norman control of Leinster. Áed lived to see the Norman expansion over much of Ireland and unsympathetic Norman control over many of the monastic institutions that had formerly preserved the Irish literary tradition. I have suggested ways in which this situation may have accounted for differences between the Táin 1 and the Táin LL . These differences include Táin LL ’s more pessimistic conclusion, its emphasis on Cú Chulainn as an ideal hero, and the suggestion, given by the Pillow Talk episode, that cattle raids and wars were not institutions to be accepted and glorified but resulted from inappropriate vanities and greed. In Táin 1 , the conflict was followed by a
© David N. Wilson 47 seven-year peace. By not including this in Táin LL , Áed disallowed the idea that peace follows war. I would agree with Ó hUiginn that Áed’s Táin may reflect a clerical anti-war stance, yet he was sufficiently a man of his time to be impressed by bravery, skill, self-sacrifice and acts of human decency. Áed’s inclusion in the Book of Leinster of the apocalyptic poem Immacallam in dá Thúarad with its prophecy that “poets ( filid ) will be be childless so that there will be no poets at all, only bards” supports the argument that he and other practitioners of traditional learning were becoming pessimistic about the future of that learning. In his Latin colophon to the Táin , Áed speculates whether the Táin should be considered as historia or fabula . His clerical background would have prescribed fabula . Yet he worked on the Book of Leinster for about fifty years, a long time in anyone’s life. Although he says that he gave no credence to the incidents related in the story, I cannot help suspecting that he himself may have been one of the “foolish men” for whom his masterpiece has been a delight.
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© David N. Wilson 55
Minerva Access is the Institutional Repository of The University of Melbourne
Author/s: Wilson, David Noel
Title: Honour and early Irish society: a study of the Táin Bó Cúalnge
Date: 2004
Citation: Wilson, D. N. (2004). Honour and early Irish society: a study of the Táin Bó Cúalnge. Masters Coursework thesis, Department of History, Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne.
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