In this post, Christian author Mark Fisher summarizes the Tale of the Tain, which begins the Ulster Cycle, a series of Celtic mythological tales that begin and end in Cruachain. We’ve been looking at ancient Celtic centers, of which Cruachain was the capital of ancient Connacht.

The Palace of Cruachain

Of the history of Cruachain and what went on there, we know little. The mythical Tale of the Tain, or Táin Bó Fraích, gives us a tantalizing view of what Cruachain might have looked like. The tale begins and ends in the palace of Cruachain, a great round building with wooden pillars supporting a second story. Inside is a maze of rooms paneled in red yew. The royal hall and bedroom occupy the house’s center.

The Tale of the Táin

As summarized from How the Irish Saved Civilization, by Thomas Cahill, here is the gist of the conversation between Ailill and Medb (Maeve) as the Táin opens:

Medb of Connacht

King Ailill, who was once Queen Medb’s chief bodyguard, is lying in bed with her.The bedroom is “guarded by screens of copper with bars of silver and gold birds on the screen, and precious jewels in the birds’ heads for eyes.”

Foolishly, Ailill remarks that Medb is now better off than when he married her.

Medb replies she was already wealthy before she married him. She reminds him her father was high king of Ireland and that she was the “highest and haughtiest” of his daughters. “I outdid them in grace and giving and battle and warlike combat,” she says, then proceeds to brag about the fifteen hundred soldiers under her royal command and the number of her household servants. “My father gave me a whole province of Ireland, this province ruled from Cruachan, which is why I am called ‘Medb of Cruachan’.” She then recounts the number of suitors who wooed her and how only Ailill met her qualifications—“the absence of meanness and jealousy and fear.”

Ailill joins the fray by bringing up his royal lineage and that, “I never heard, in all Ireland, of a province run by a woman except this one, which is why I came and took the kingship there.”

The argument between them heats up, and they begin comparing their fortunes, but cannot agree on whose is greater. They decide to take an inventory. This they proceed to do, counting and comparing the number of buckets, tubs, jugs, finger-rings, bracelets, thumb-rings, and cloths of purple—blue, black, green and yellow. When each found the other’s possessions to be equal to theirs, they moved to the fields, where they compared and counted their herds of sheep. These, too, were equal, even matching two great rams of comparable worth from each flock.

From the far pastures, they brought in their horses and stallions and great herds of pigs. But these too were fairly matched, even finding a great boar in each herd of comparable worth. Finally, they began to compare their vast herds of cattle. But here, to her great dismay, Medb could find no match for Ailill’s great bull Finnbennach, the White-Horned.

Upset over losing this encounter, Medb sends her messenger to Daire, the King of Ulster, in whose possession is the Donn Cuailnge, the great Brown Bull, the only beast in all Ireland known to be of equal worth to Finnbennach. “Ask Daire to lend me Donn Cuailnge for a year,” she says to the messenger. “At the end of the year he can have fifty yearling heifers in payment for the loan, and the Brown Bull of Cualigne back. And you can offer him this too … if Daire himself comes with the bull, I’ll give him a portion of the Plain of Aí equal to his own lands, and a chariot worth thrice seven bondmaids, and my own friendly thighs on top of that.”

Daire accepts, but afterward, the messengers get drunk with their hosts and foolishly claim they would have taken the bull anyway. This causes Daire to rescind the offer he’d just made. This, in turn, leads Medb to start the great cattle raid on Ulster that the rest of the story recounts.

If you read my last post, you already know how promiscuous and unfaithful was Medb. And if it suited her ends, she, like most of the Irish kings, thought nothing of murder. Here, also we find pride and revenge. There’s enough palace intrigue, treachery, and guile here to fuel a host of Shakespearean plots.

Mark is the author of The Bonfires of Beltane, a novel of Christian historical fiction set in ancient, Celtic Ireland at the time of St. Patrick. To learn more about his book, click on the link above.

Sources for this post were How the Irish Saved Civilization, by Thomas Cahill and Wikipedia.

February 19, 2017/by Mark E. Fisher

Celtic centers, Cruachain, Irish history, medieval era

Ancient Celtic Centers — Cruachain of Connacht

In this post, Christian author Mark Fisher continues his series on ancient Celtic centers with Cruachain, the ancient seat of the kings of Connacht in northwest Ireland. We’ll also look at the mythological Cath Bóinde, the tale of Medb, the warrior queen.

Artist’s Conception of Rathcrogan

Today, the plain of Rathcroghan holds an astounding 240 archaeological sites and monuments. They range in age from 4,000 BC to AD 400. Including burial mounds, ringforts, and a cave, they testify to a site of huge importance to Connacht’s Celtic history.

Thirty feet high and 94 yards in diameter, the Rathcroghan mound was probably the location of the palace of the ancient kings. Surveying shows that the fort was built on top of two concentric stone rings from an earlier time. Mythology describes the Cruachain palace as a great round building with wooden pillars supporting a second story. Inside was a maze of rooms paneled in red yew. The royal hall and bedroom occupied the house’s center.

The Cave of Oweynagat, Gateway to the Otherworld?

Oweynegat, Entrance to the Otherworld?

Also interesting is the nearby cave of Oweynagat that the Celts believed was a gateway to the Otherworld. In the distant past, its entrance lay inside an earthen mound. Later on, a 60-yard underground passageway was built to the cave opening. Celtic mythology says that on Samhain eve, Otherworld creatures emerged from Oweynagat to ravage the countryside. The Ellen Trechen, a three-headed monster, once laid waste the surrounding region until the poet and hero, Amergin of Ulster killed it. Later from the cave also came small red birds and herds of pigs with powers to wither everything they touched. The pigs were hunted down by the mythical figures Ailill and Medb.

The Cath Bóinde — The Tale of Medb, the Warrior Queen

Of the history of Cruachain and what went on there, we know little. But the mythological tale of The Cath Bóinde does tell us much about Medb (Maeve), whose exploits centered around Cruachain as Connacht’s ancient capital.

Medb’s father, Eochaid Feidlich, was reputedly the High King of Ireland. When Eochaid married her to Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, she became unhappy with the marriage. After bearing him a son, Medb left him. Her father then gave her sister, Eithne, to Conchobar. But after Medb’s sister became pregnant, Medb murdered her.

Her father then dethroned Tinni mac Conri, the king of Connacht, and installed Medb in his place in the palace of Cruachain. But Medb and Tinni soon became lovers, and she gave back to Tinni some of his power.

Meanwhile, the kings and queens of Ireland’s provinces gathered at Tara. There Medb’s first husband Conchobar raped her. This resulted in a war between Connacht and Ulster. As the Connacht army retreated, Eochaid Dala (a different Eochaid) excelled in battle and saved it from destruction. This Eochaid then became Medb’s next husband and king of Connacht. She claimed her qualifications for a husband were “an absence of meanness, jealousy, and fear.” But Eochaid wasn’t enough, and Medb’s promiscuous ways quickly returned. She soon took Ailill mac Máta, her chief bodyguard, as her next lover. When Eochaid discovered the liaison, he challenged Ailill to single combat, but Eochaid lost. The result? Ailill married Medb and became the king of Connacht with Medb as his queen.

Sordid affairs, indeed.

Next week, we’ll learn more about Cruachain by looking at the Tale of the Táin, where Queen Medb challenges Ailill to compare her wealth with his, leading to the great cattle raid on Ulster.

Mark is the author of The Bonfires of Beltane, a novel of Christian historical fiction set in ancient, Celtic Ireland at the time of St. Patrick. To learn more about his book, click on the link.

Sources for this post were various Wikipedia articles.

February 12, 2017/by Mark E. Fisher