A Checklist of Common Characters in the Ulster Cycle
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The Role of Cú Chulainn in Old and Middle Irish Narrative Literature with Particular Reference to Tales Belonging to the Ulster Cycle
The role of Cú Chulainn in Old and Middle Irish narrative literature with particular reference to tales belonging to the Ulster Cycle. Mary Leenane, B.A. 2 Volumes Vol. 1 Ph.D. Degree NUI Maynooth School of Celtic Studies Faculty of Arts, Celtic Studies and Philosophy Head of School: An tOllamh Ruairí Ó hUiginn Supervisor: An tOllamh Ruairí Ó hUiginn June 2014 Table of Contents Volume 1 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter I: General Introduction…………………………………………………2 I.1. Ulster Cycle material………………………………………………………...…2 I.2. Modern scholarship…………………………………………………………...11 I.3. Methodologies………………………………………………………………...14 I.4. International heroic biography………………………………………………..17 Chapter II: Sources……………………………………………………………...23 II.1. Category A: Texts in which Cú Chulainn plays a significant role…………...23 II.2. Category B: Texts in which Cú Chulainn plays a more limited role………...41 II.3. Category C: Texts in which Cú Chulainn makes a very minor appearance or where reference is made to him…………………………………………………...45 II.4. Category D: The tales in which Cú Chulainn does not feature………………50 Chapter III: Cú Chulainn’s heroic biography…………………………………53 III.1. Cú Chulainn’s conception and birth………………………………………...54 III.1.1. De Vries’ schema………………...……………………………………………………54 III.1.2. Relevant research to date…………………………………………………………...…55 III.1.3. Discussion and analysis…………………………………………………………...…..58 III.2. Cú Chulainn’s youth………………………………………………………...68 III.2.1 De Vries’ schema………………………………………………………………………68 III.2.2 Relevant research to date………………………………………………………………69 III.2.3 Discussion and analysis………………………………………………………………..78 III.3. Cú Chulainn’s wins a maiden……………………………………………….90 III.3.1 De Vries’ schema………………………………………………………………………90 III.3.2 Relevant research to date………………………………………………………………91 III.3.3 Discussion and analysis………………………………………………………………..95 III.3.4 Further comment……………………………………………………………………...108 III.4. -
Luigne Breg and the Origins of the Uí Néill. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature, Vol.117C, Pp.65-99
Gleeson P. (2017) Luigne Breg and the Origins of the Uí Néill. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature, vol.117C, pp.65-99. Copyright: This is the author’s accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by the Royal Irish Academy, 2017. Link to article: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3318/priac.2017.117.04 Date deposited: 07/04/2017 Newcastle University ePrints - eprint.ncl.ac.uk Luigne Breg and the origins of the Uí Néill By Patrick Gleeson, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University Email: [email protected] Phone: (+44) 01912086490 Abstract: This paper explores the enigmatic kingdom of Luigne Breg, and through that prism the origins and nature of the Uí Néill. Its principle aim is to engage with recent revisionist accounts of the various dynasties within the Uí Néill; these necessitate a radical reappraisal of our understanding of their origins and genesis as a dynastic confederacy, as well as the geo-political landsape of the central midlands. Consequently, this paper argues that there is a pressing need to address such issues via more focused analyses of local kingdoms and political landscapes. Holistic understandings of polities like Luigne Breg are fundamental to framing new analyses of the genesis of the Uí Néill based upon interdisciplinary assessments of landscape, archaeology and documentary sources. In the latter part of the paper, an attempt is made to to initiate a wider discussion regarding the nature of kingdoms and collective identities in early medieval Ireland in relation to other other regions of northwestern Europe. -
The Death-Tales of the Ulster Heroes
ffVJU*S )UjfáZt ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY TODD LECTURE SERIES VOLUME XIV KUNO MEYER, Ph.D. THE DEATH-TALES OF THE ULSTER HEROES DUBLIN HODGES, FIGGIS, & CO. LTD. LONDON: WILLIAMS & NORGATE 1906 (Reprinted 1937) cJ&íc+u. Ity* rs** "** ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY TODD LECTURE SERIES VOLUME XIV. KUNO MEYER THE DEATH-TALES OF THE ULSTER HEROES DUBLIN HODGES, FIGGIS, & CO., Ltd, LONDON : WILLIAMS & NORGATE 1906 °* s^ B ^N Made and Printed by the Replika Process in Great Britain by PERCY LUND, HUMPHRIES &f CO. LTD. 1 2 Bedford Square, London, W.C. i and at Bradford CONTENTS PAGE Peeface, ....... v-vii I. The Death of Conchobar, 2 II. The Death of Lóegaire Búadach . 22 III. The Death of Celtchar mac Uthechaib, 24 IV. The Death of Fergus mac Róich, . 32 V. The Death of Cet mac Magach, 36 Notes, ........ 48 Index Nominum, . ... 46 Index Locorum, . 47 Glossary, ....... 48 PREFACE It is a remarkable accident that, except in one instance, so very- few copies of the death-tales of the chief warriors attached to King Conchobar's court at Emain Macha should have come down to us. Indeed, if it were not for one comparatively late manu- script now preserved outside Ireland, in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, we should have to rely for our knowledge of most of these stories almost entirely on Keating's History of Ireland. Under these circumstances it has seemed to me that I could hardly render a better service to Irish studies than to preserve these stories, by transcribing and publishing them, from the accidents and the natural decay to which they are exposed as long as they exist in a single manuscript copy only. -
Definitive Version Thesis Kruithof FAYE.Pdf
War is (not) a board-game The function of medieval Irish board games and their players Bachelor’s thesis Kruithof, F.A.Y.E. Word count: 8188 16-10-2018 Supervisor: Petrovskaia, N. Celtic Languages and Culture Utrecht University List of content Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 2 List of abbreviations .................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4 Previous research.................................................................................................................... 5 Theoretical framework ........................................................................................................... 7 Approach and sources ............................................................................................................ 9 Chapter One: Players in the Ulster Cycle: Opponents ............................................................. 11 Eochaid Airem and Midir of Brí Leith ................................................................................. 11 Manannán mac Lir and Fand ................................................................................................ 12 Cú Chulainn and Láeg mac Riangabra ................................................................................. 13 Conchobar, -
Táin Bó Cúailgne Comprehension Questions 4
Táin Bó Cúailgne Comprehension Questions 4 Q-1 • Cú Chulainn suffers utter exhaustion and significant injuries as a result of his four-day combat against his foster-brother, Fer Diad. Who places in the streams and rivers that flow through Cú Chulainn’s home territory of Muirthemne the “herbs and healing plants” used in an attempt to restore the young warrior to health? Q-2 • In a gesture of support for the injured Cú Chulainn, the Ulster warrior Cethern mac Fintain attacks Medb’s camp. What kind of armor does he wear? Severely injured as a result of his offensive, Cethern joins the convalescing Cú Chulainn, who asks his charioteer, Láeg, to obtain physicians from among the “men of Ireland” to cure Cathern. How does Cathern interact with the 15 physicians who — having, with great reluctance, responded to Cú Chulainn’s demand (conveyed by Láeg) — conclude that Cathern can’t be cured? Q-3 • At Cú Chulainn’s request, Láeg obtains the services of Fíngan, a “seer-physician,” who examines several of Cathern’s wounds individually. From Cathern’s descriptions of who inflicted a given wound, Cú Chulainn is able to identify the attacker or attackers by name — for example, two of Medb and Ailill’s sons (known as the Maines): Maine Máithremail and Maine Aithremail. From which foreign country did two other warriors, inflictors of wounds, come? With which of his sons did Ailill attack Cethern, and what does that individual’s name mean? Q-4 • Of the two options for healing that Fíngan proposes to Cethern, which one does the injured warrior choose? Why, having engaged in the chosen cure, does Cathern fix the “board of his chariot” to his person? Q-5 • What does one of the Maines (Maine Andóe) do when — after having been healed — Cethern approaches the encampment of the men of Ireland? Why does he take that action? After Cethern’s death, his father, Fintan, attempts to avenge his honor by means of an action remembered as Fintan’s tooth fight. -
The Phylogenealogy of R-L21: Four and a Half Millennia of Expansion and Redistribution
The phylogenealogy of R-L21: four and a half millennia of expansion and redistribution Joe Flood* * Dr Flood is a mathematician, economist and data analyst. He was a Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO and has been a Fellow at a number of universities including Macquarie University, University of Canberra, Flinders University, University of Glasgow, University of Uppsala and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He was a foundation Associate Director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. He has been administrator of the Cornwall Y-DNA Geographic Project and several surname projects at FTDNA since 2007. He would like to give credit to the many ‘citizen scientists’ who made this paper possible by constructing the detailed R1b haplotree over the past few years, especially Alex Williamson. 1 ABSTRACT: Phylogenealogy is the study of lines of descent of groups of men using the procedures of genetic genealogy, which include genetics, surname studies, history and social analysis. This paper uses spatial and temporal variation in the subclade distribution of the dominant Irish/British haplogroup R1b-L21 to describe population changes in Britain and Ireland over a period of 4500 years from the early Bronze Age until the present. The main focus is on the initial spread of L21-bearing populations from south-west Britain as part of the Beaker Atlantic culture, and on a major redistribution of the haplogroup that took place in Ireland and Scotland from about 100 BC. The distributional evidence for a British origin for L21 around 2500 BC is compelling. Most likely the mutation originated in the large Beaker colony in south-west Britain, where many old lineages still survive. -
The Wooing of Emer and Other Stories
The Ulster Cycle: The Wooing of Emer and other stories by Patrick Brown The fullest version of The Wooing of Emer is found in the Book of Leinster (c.1160) in a text dating from the tenth or eleventh century. An earlier, fragmentary version is found in several manuscripts, including Lebor na hUidre (the Book of the Dun Cow, c.1106). This retelling is based on both versions. Cú Chulainn’s Shield is an anecdote found in the manuscript H.3.17. This is my own translation, with thanks to Breandán Dalton, Dennis King, and especially David Stifter for their help and suggestions. The Death of Aífe’s Only Son is found in the Yellow Book of Lecan, compiled about 1390, but the language of the story dates from the ninth or tenth century. The Death of Derbforgaill is found in the Book of Leinster. The Elopement of Emer comes from the late 14th Century Stowe MS No 992. The Training of Cú Chulainn is a late, alternative version of Cú Chulainn’s travels and training. It is found in no less than eleven different manuscripts, the earliest being Egerton 106, dated to 1715. The Ulster Cycle: The Wooing of Emer and other stories © Patrick Brown 2002/2008 The Wooing of Emer A great and famous king, Conchobor son of Fachtna Fathach, once ruled in Emain Macha, and his reign was one of peace and prosperity and abundance and order. His house, the Red Branch, built in the likeness of the Tech Midchuarta in Tara, was very impressive, with nine compartments from the fire to the wall, separated by thirty-foot-high bronze partitions. -
The Heroic Biography of Cu Chulainn
THE HEROIC BIOGRAPHY OF CU CHULAINN. By Lisa Gibney B.A. NUl MAYNOOTH Ollicoil ni ft£ir«ann Mi ftuid FOR M.A IN MEDIEVAL IRISH HISTORY AND SOURCES, NUI MAYNOOTH, THE DEPARTMENT OF MEDIEVAL IRISH STUDIES, JULY 2004. DEPARTMENT HEAD: MCCONE, K SUPERVISOR: NI BHROLCHAIN,M 60094838 THE HEROIC BIOGRAPHY OF CU CHULAINN. By Lisa Gibney B.A. SPECIAL THANKS TO: Ann Gibney, Claire King, Mary Lenanne, Roisin Morley, Muireann Ni Bhrolchain, Mary Coolen and her team at the Drumcondra Physiotherapy Clinic. CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2 2. Heroic Biography 8 3. Conception and Birth: Compert Con Culainn 18 4. Youth and Life Endangered: Macgnimrada 23 Con Culainn 5. Acquires a wife: Tochmarc Emere 32 6. Visit to Otherworld, Exile and Return: 35 Tochmarc Emere and Serglige Con Culainn 7. Death and Invulnerability: Brislech Mor Maige 42 Muirthemne 8. Conclusion 46 9. Bibliogrpahy 47 i INTRODUCTION Early Irish literature is romantic, idealised, stylised and gruesome. It shows a tension between reality and fantasy ’which seem to me to be usually an irresolvable dichotomy. The stories set themselves in pre-history. It presents these texts as a “window on the iron age”2. The writers may have been Christians distancing themselves from past heathen ways. This backward glance maybe taken from the literature tradition in Latin transferred from the continent and read by Irish scholars. Where the authors “undertake to inform the audience concerning the pagan past, characterizing it as remote, alien and deluded”3 or were they diligent scholars trying to preserve the past. This question is still debateable. The stories manage to be set in both the past and the present, both historical Ireland with astonishingly accuracy and the mythical otherworld. -
The Hostages of the Northmen and the Place Names Can Indicate Traditions That Are Not Related to Hostages
Part V: Place Names Place names can provide information about hostages that can- not be obtained from other sources. In his study of sacred place names in the provinces around Lake Mälaren in present Sweden, Vikstrand points out that these names reflect ‘a social representa- tiveness’ that have grown out of everyday language.1 As a source, they can therefore represent social groups other than those found in the skaldic poetry which were directed to rulers in the milieu of the hird, and thus primarily give knowledge of performances of the elite. There are difficulties with analysis of place names, because sev- eral aspects of them must be considered. Place names are names of places, but Vikstrand points out that in the term ‘place’ you can distinguish three components: a geographical locality, a name, and a content that gives meaning to it.2 The relationship between these components is complicated and it is not always the given geographical location is the right one. For example, local people can ascribe place names an importance that they did not had dur- ing the time the researcher investigates. In this part, the point of departure will be a few place names from mainly eastern Scandinavia and neighboring areas. These are examples of historical provinces in present Sweden, Finland, and Estonia that can provide information about hostages; a com- parison is made with an example from Ireland. In western Scandinavia, corresponding place names with ‘hos- tage’ as component do not appear. There are some problems with these place names: they may be mentioned in just one source, the place names are not contemporary, the etymology can be ambiguous, How to cite this book chapter: Olsson, S. -
Nationalist Adaptations of the Cuchulain Myth Martha J
University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations Spring 2019 The aW rped One: Nationalist Adaptations of the Cuchulain Myth Martha J. Lee Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Lee, M. J.(2019). The Warped One: Nationalist Adaptations of the Cuchulain Myth. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/5278 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Warped One: Nationalist Adaptations of the Cuchulain Myth By Martha J. Lee Bachelor of Business Administration University of Georgia, 1995 Master of Arts Georgia Southern University, 2003 ________________________________________________________ Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2019 Accepted by: Ed Madden, Major Professor Scott Gwara, Committee Member Thomas Rice, Committee Member Yvonne Ivory, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Martha J. Lee, 2019 All Rights Reserved ii DEDICATION This dissertation and degree belong as much or more to my family as to me. They sacrificed so much while I traveled and studied; they supported me, loved and believed in me, fed me, and made sure I had the time and energy to complete the work. My cousins Monk and Carolyn Phifer gave me a home as well as love and support, so that I could complete my course work in Columbia. -
Honour and Early Irish Society: a Study of the Táin Bó Cúalnge
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. -
1 Ireland's Four Cycles of Myth and Legend Irish Mythology Has Been
Ireland's Four Cycles of Myth and Legend u u Irish mythology has been classified or taxonomized into four cycles (collections, sets) • From the oldest tales to the most recent, they are: the Mythological Cycle; the Ulster (or Red Branch) Cycle; the Fenian (or Ossianic) Cycle; and the Historical (or Kings') Cycle u u The Mythological Cycle is dominated by origin myths called pseudohistories • These tales narrate a series of foreign invasions of Ireland, with each new wave of invader-settlers marginalizing the formerly dominant group u The oldest group, the Fomorians, resemble the Greek Titans: semi-divine beings associated with the chaos that preceded the civilizing gods u The penultimate aggressor group, the Tuatha Dé Danann (people of the goddess Danu), suffered defeat at the hands of the Milesians or Gaels, who entered Ireland from northern Spain • Legendarily, some surviving members of the Tuatha Dé Danann became the fairies or "little people," occupying aerial or subterranean (underground) zones on the island of Ireland but with a different temporality • The Irish author C.S. Lewis uses this idea in his Narnia series, where the portal into Narnia—a place outside "regular' time—is a wardrobe u Might the Milesians have, in fact, come from Spain? • A March 2000 article in the esteemed science journal Nature revealed that 98% of Connacht (west-of-Ireland) men and 89% of Basque (northeast-of- Spain) men carry the ancestral (or hunter-gatherer) European DNA signature, which passes from father to son • By contrast with the high Irish and