Cú Chulainn
Cú Chulainn (
Born Sétanta, he gained his better-known name as a child, after killing
Cú Chulainn's wife is
Name
His birth name Sétanta may be linked to a Celtic tribe, the Setantii, who dwelt on the west coast of Celtic Britain.[9] His later name Cú Chulainn, is usually translated "Culann's hound", and was explained in the tale whereby he stood in for Culann's guard dog. Although cú literally means "hound", it was also a common figurative term for a warrior in early Irish literature, thus can also mean "Culann's warrior".[9] Folklorist Dáithí Ó hÓgáin speculated that the second part of the name could come from an old Irish word for a chariot, cul, thus meaning "chariot-warrior".[9]
Legends
Birth
There are a number of versions of the story of Cú Chulainn's
In the later and better-known version of Compert Con Culainn, Deichtine is Conchobar's sister, and disappears from
The nobles of Ulster argue over which of them is to be his foster father, until the wise Morann decides he should be fostered by several of them: Conchobar himself;
In another version, the child is named Sédana, and the name is given to him by Ceat mac Mágach. Ceat takes Sédana into fosterage and gives him to his own foster parents, Srían and Gabur, to nurse; they are the parents of Láeg, Cú Chulainn's charioteer, and so the pair grow up together from infancy.[13]
The County Louth town of Dundalk has the motto Mé do rug Cú Chulainn cróga (Irish) "I gave birth to brave Cú Chulainn".[14] While the County of Louth named after the village of Louth is in turn named after Cú Chulainn's father the God Lugh.
Childhood
The stories of Cú Chulainn's childhood are told in a flashback sequence in Táin Bó Cúailnge. As a small child, living in his parents' house on Muirthemne Plain, he begs to be allowed to join the boy-troop at Emain Macha. However, he sets off on his own, and when he arrives at Emain he runs onto the playing field without first asking for the boys' protection, being unaware of the custom. The boys take this as a challenge and attack him, but he has a ríastrad (transformative battle frenzy) and beats them single-handed. Conchobar puts a stop to the fight and clears up the misunderstanding, but no sooner has Sétanta put himself under the boys' protection than he chases after them, demanding they put themselves under his protection.[15]
Culann the smith invites Conchobar to a feast at his house. Before going, Conchobar goes to the playing field to watch the boys play hurling. He is so impressed by Sétanta's performance that he asks him to join him at the feast. Sétanta has a game to finish, but promises to follow the king later. But when Culann asks if anyone will be arriving late to the feast, Conchobar forgets about Sétanta, and Culann lets loose his ferocious hound to protect his house. When Sétanta arrives, the enormous hound attacks him, but he kills it in self defence, in one version by smashing it against a standing stone, and in another by driving a sliotar (hurling ball) down its throat with his hurley. Culann is devastated by the loss of his hound, so Sétanta promises he will rear him a replacement, and until it is old enough to do the job, he himself will guard Culann's house. The druid Cathbad announces that his name henceforth will be Cú Chulainn—"Culann's Hound".[16]
One day at Emain Macha, Cú Chulainn overhears Cathbad teaching his pupils. One asks him what that day is auspicious for, and Cathbad replies that any warrior who takes arms that day will have everlasting fame. Cú Chulainn, though only seven years old, goes to Conchobar and asks for arms. None of the weapons given to him withstand his strength, until Conchobar gives him his own weapons. But when Cathbad sees this he grieves, because he had not finished his prophecy—the warrior who took arms that day would be famous, but his life would be short. Soon afterwards, in response to a similar prophecy by Cathbad, Cú Chulainn demands a chariot from Conchobar, and only the king's own chariot withstands him. He sets off on a foray and kills the three sons of
Emer and Cú Chulainn's training
In Cú Chulainn's youth he is so beautiful the Ulstermen worry that, without a wife of his own, he will steal their wives and ruin their daughters. They search all over Ireland for a suitable wife for him, but he will have none but
, but when he hears that Emer loves Cú Chulainn, Lugaid refuses her hand.Scáthach teaches Cú Chulainn all the arts of war, including the use of the
Leaving Aífe pregnant, Cú Chulainn returns from Scotland fully trained, but Forgall still refuses to let him marry Emer. Cú Chulainn storms Forgall's fortress, killing twenty-four of Forgall's men, abducts Emer and steals Forgall's treasure. Forgall himself falls from the ramparts to his death. Conchobar has the "right of the first night" over all marriages of his subjects. He is afraid of Cú Chulainn's reaction if he exercises it in this case, but is equally afraid of losing his authority if he does not. Cathbad suggests a solution: Conchobar sleeps with Emer on the night of the wedding, but Cathbad sleeps between them.[22]
Killing his son
Eight years later,
Lugaid and Derbforgaill
During his time abroad, Cú Chulainn had rescued Derbforgaill, a Scandinavian princess, from being sacrificed to the Fomorians. She falls in love with him, and she and her handmaid come to Ireland in search of him in the form of a pair of swans. Cú Chulainn, not realising who she is, shoots her down with his sling, and then saves her life by sucking the stone from her side. Having tasted her blood, he cannot marry her, and gives her to his foster-son Lugaid Riab nDerg. Lugaid goes on to become High King of Ireland, but the Lia Fáil (stone of destiny) fails to cry out when he stands on it, so Cú Chulainn splits it in two with his sword.[25] When Derbforgaill is mutilated by the women of Ulster out of jealousy for her sexual desirability and dies of her wounds, Lugaid dies of grief, and Cú Chulainn avenges them by demolishing the house the women are inside, killing 150 of them.[26]
The Cattle Raid of Cooley
At the age of seventeen, Cú Chulainn single-handedly defends Ulster from the army of
Before one combat a beautiful young woman comes to him, claiming to be the daughter of a king, and offers him her love, but he refuses her. The woman reveals herself as the
After one particularly arduous combat, Cú Chulainn lies severely wounded but is visited by Lug, who tells him he is his father and heals his wounds. When Cú Chulainn wakes up and sees that the boy-troop of Emain Macha have attacked the Connacht army and been slaughtered, he has his most spectacular ríastrad yet:
The first warp-spasm seized Cúchulainn, and made him into a monstrous thing, hideous and shapeless, unheard of. His shanks and his joints, every knuckle and angle and organ from head to foot, shook like a tree in the flood or a reed in the stream. His body made a furious twist inside his skin, so that his feet and shins switched to the rear and his heels and calves switched to the front... On his head the temple-sinews stretched to the nape of his neck, each mighty, immense, measureless knob as big as the head of a month-old child... he sucked one eye so deep into his head that a wild crane couldn't probe it onto his cheek out of the depths of his skull; the other eye fell out along his cheek. His mouth weirdly distorted: his cheek peeled back from his jaws until the gullet appeared, his lungs and his liver flapped in his mouth and throat, his lower jaw struck the upper a lion-killing blow, and fiery flakes large as a ram's fleece reached his mouth from his throat... The hair of his head twisted like the tangle of a red thornbush stuck in a gap; if a royal apple tree with all its kingly fruit were shaken above him, scarce an apple would reach the ground but each would be spiked on a bristle of his hair as it stood up on his scalp with rage.
— Thomas Kinsella (translator), The Táin, Oxford University Press, 1969, pp. 150–153
He attacks the army and kills hundreds, building walls of corpses.
When his foster father Fergus mac Róich, now in exile in Medb's court, is sent to face him Cú Chulainn agrees to yield, so long as Fergus agrees to return the favour the next time they meet. Finally, he fights a gruelling three-day duel with his best friend and foster brother, Ferdiad, at a ford that was named Áth Fhir Diadh (Ardee, County Louth) after him.
The Ulstermen eventually rouse, one by one at first, and finally en masse. The final battle begins. Cú Chulainn stays on the sidelines, recuperating from his wounds, until he sees Fergus advancing. He enters the fray and confronts Fergus, who keeps his side of the bargain and yields to him, pulling his forces off the field. Connacht's other allies panic and Medb is forced to retreat. At this inopportune moment she gets her period, and although Fergus forms a guard around her, Cú Chulainn breaks through as she is dealing with it and has her at his mercy. However, he spares her because he does not think it right to kill women, and guards her retreat back to Connacht as far as Athlone.[27][28][29]
Bricriu's Feast
The troublemaker
The Death of Cú Roí
Cú Roí, again in disguise, joins the Ulstermen on a raid on
Emer's only jealousy
Cú Chulainn has many lovers, but Emer's only jealousy comes when he falls in love with Fand, wife of Manannán mac Lir. Manannán has left her and she has been attacked by three Fomorians who want to control the Irish Sea. Cú Chulainn agrees to help defend her as long as she marries him. She agrees reluctantly, but they fall in love when they meet. Manannán knows their relationship is doomed because Cú Chulainn is mortal and Fand is a fairy; Cú Chulainn's presence would destroy the fairies. Emer, meanwhile, tries to kill her rival, but when she sees the strength of Fand's love for Cú Chulainn she decides to give him up to her. Fand, touched by Emer's magnanimity, decides to return to her own husband. Manannán shakes his cloak between Cú Chulainn and Fand, ensuring the two will never meet again, and Cú Chulainn and Emer drink a potion to wipe the whole affair from their memories.[32]
Death
(Irish: Aided Con Culainn, also known as Brislech Mór Maige Muirthemne). Medb conspires with
Appearance
Cú Chulainn's appearance is occasionally remarked on in the texts. He is usually described as small, youthful and beardless. He is often described as dark: in The Wooing of Emer and Bricriu's Feast he is "a dark, sad man, comeliest of the men of Erin",[36] in The Intoxication of the Ulstermen he is a "little, black-browed man",[37] and in The Phantom Chariot of Cú Chulainn "[h]is hair was thick and black, and smooth as though a cow had licked it... in his head his eyes gleamed swift and grey";[38] yet the prophetess Fedelm in the Táin Bó Cúailnge describes him as blond.[39] The most elaborate description of his appearance comes later in the Táin:
And certainly the youth Cúchulainn mac Sualdaim was handsome as he came to show his form to the armies. You would think he had three distinct heads of hair—brown at the base, blood-red in the middle, and a crown of golden yellow. This hair was settled strikingly into three coils on the cleft at the back of his head. Each long loose-flowing strand hung down in shining splendour over his shoulders, deep-gold and beautiful and fine as a thread of gold. A hundred neat red-gold curls shone darkly on his neck, and his head was covered with a hundred crimson threads matted with gems. He had four dimples in each cheek—yellow, green, crimson and blue—and seven bright pupils, eye-jewels, in each kingly eye. Each foot had seven toes and each hand seven fingers, the nails with the grip of a hawk's claw or a gryphon's clench.
— Thomas Kinsella (translator), The Táin, Oxford University Press, 1969, pp. 156–158
Later stories
Siabur-Charpat Con Culaind
The Siabur-Charpat Con Culaind (or "Demonic Chariot of Cu Chulaind") tells the story of when Saint Patrick was trying to convert King Lóegaire to Christianity.[40][41]
In the tale St. Patrick visited King Loegaire, attempting to convert him to the Christian faith. The king agreed but on a condition: that the saint call up Cu Chulainn from the dead, bringing him to the king's presence. St. Patrick agreed, and then the hero appeared, complete with chariot, and his two horse Liath Macha and Dub-Sainglend, together with his charioteer Loeg. The saint asks if the king is convinced – he replies that the appearance was so short he was not yet sure. The saint responds that God is so powerful that the king would see the hero again.[40]
The ghostly hero returns, and this time salutes and addresses the saint, he then turns to the king, confirms it is Cu Chulainn he sees and not some demon, and implores him to believe in the saint and his god. A dialogue between king and ghostly hero takes place, in which the old hero recounts his life, including a poetic telling of his heroic deeds, ending with a request to Patrick to allow him too into heaven – the king is convinced. At the end of this the saint declares that Cu Chulainn is welcome in heaven.[40]
The date of the tale is not certain.
A Legend of Knockmany
Cú Chulainn was later reimagined as an evil giant at odds with Fionn mac Cumhaill (or Finn McCool).[42]
Unrecorded before the 19th century, the earliest known version was "A Legend of Knockmany" in the 1845 Tales and Sketches ... of the Irish Peasantry by William Carleton.[43][44] Variants were published in Patrick Kennedy's Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts (1866), and republished and brought to a larger audience by W. B. Yeats in Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888), followed by numerous adaptions and variant, many uncredited.[44] The work was included in later collections of 'folk tales' by other editors such as Joseph Jacobs in his Celtic Fairy Tales (1891).
In this tale, Cú Chullain's power was contained in his middle finger. Wishing to defeat Finn, he came to Finn's house, but Finn disguised himself as a baby while his wife Oona baked cakes, some with griddle irons inside, some without. When Cú Chulainn could not bite through his cake (which had an iron in it) but the baby could (Finn's cake had no iron), in amazement Cú Chulainn felt to see how sharp the baby's teeth were, allowing Finn to bite his middle finger off and deprive Cú Chulainn of both his strength and size.[42][43]
Indo-European parallels
Cú Chulainn shows striking similarities to the legendary
Additional Indo-European typological parallels include Lithuanian Velnias, who like Cú Chulainn is the protector of cattle, and Romulus, who is associated with a canine in his youth and is surrounded by a youthful band of warriors (the maccrad in the case of Cú Chulainn).[47]
Cultural depictions
Images
The image of Cú Chulainn is often invoked by
More recently, some Ulster loyalists have attempted to appropriate Cú Chulainn, depicting him as an ancient "defender of Ulster" from Irish enemies to the south. This is based on Ian Adamson's widely rejected theory that Cú Chulainn was a Cruthin hero and that they were a non-Celtic people who were at war with the Gaels.[54] He is depicted in a loyalist mural on Highfield Drive, and was formerly depicted in another on the Newtownards Road, Belfast.[55]
A statue of Cú Chulainn carrying the body of Fer Diad stands in Ardee, County Louth, traditionally the site of their combat in the Táin Bó Cúailnge.[56] A sculpture by Martin Heron, entitled "For the Love of Emer", depicting Cú Chulainn balancing on a tilting 20-foot pole, representing the feat of balancing on the butt of a spear he learned from Scáthach, was installed in Armagh in 2010.[57]
Literature
See also
- Setanta College, a sport college, named after Cu Chulainn's given name, due to his legendary hurling prowess.
Notes
References
- ^ "Cuchulain". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
- ^ "Cuchulain". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
- ^ Cowley Young, Blanche (1959). How the Manx Cat Lost Its Tail and Other Manx Folk Stories. New York: McKay. pp. 17–18. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
- ^ Ward, Alan (2011). The Myths of the Gods: Structures in Irish Mythology. p.13
- ^ Evans-Wentz, Walter (1911). The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, p.369
- ^ Hull, Eleanor (1898), The Cuchullin Saga in Irish Literature
- ^ Edmund Crosby Quiggin (1911). "Cuchulinn". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.) Encyclopædia Britannica. 7. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 608.
- ^ Literally "the act of contorting, a distortion" (Dictionary of the Irish Language, Compact Edition, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 1990, p. 507)
- ^ a b c Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí (1991). Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition. Prentice Hall. pp. 131–136.
- A.G. van Hamel(ed.), Compert Con Culainn and Other Stories, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1978, pp. 3–8.
- ^ Tom Peete Cross & Clark Harris Slover (eds.), Ancient Irish Tales, Henry Holt & Company, 1936 (reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1996), pp. 134–136
- ISBN 0-19-281090-1, pp. 23–25
- JSTOR 30007841.
- ^ "Dundalk". 20 March 2009. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ Kinsella 1969, pp. 76–78.
- ^ Kinsella 1969, pp. 82–84; Cecile O'Rahilly (ed. & trans.), Táin Bó Cúalnge from the Book of Leinster, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1967, pp. 159–163
- ^ Kinsella 1969, pp. 84–92
- ^ "Scáthach." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 3 Jun. 2014. <https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/526802/Scathach>.
- ^ Whitley Stokes, 'The Training of Cúchulainn', Revue Celtique, 29 (1908), 109–52;
- ^ P. L. Henry, Celtica, 21 (1990), 191–207.
- ISBN 0304704237.
- Revue Celtique11, 1890, pp. 433–57
- ^ Kuno Meyer (ed. & trans.), "The death of Connla", Ériu 1, 1904, pp. 113–121
- ^ Connell Monette, The Medieval Hero: Christian and Muslim Traditions. (Saarsbruck: 2008), pp. 91–121.
- ^ Lebor Gabála Érenn §57 Archived 15 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Carl Marstrander (ed. & trans.), "The Deaths of Lugaid and Derbforgaill", Ériu 5, 1911, pp. 201–218
- ^ Kinsella 1969, pp. 52–253
- ^ Cecile O'Rahilly (ed. & trans.), Táin Bó Cúalnge from the Book of Leinster, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1967
- ^ Cecile O'Rahilly (ed. & trans.), Táin Bó Cúailnge Recension 1, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976
- ^ Jeffrey Gantz (trans.), Early Irish Myths & Sagas, Penguin, 1981, pp. 219–255
- R. I. Best(ed. & trans.), "The Tragic Death of Cúrói mac Dári", Ériu 2, 1905, pp. 18–35
- ^ A. H. Leahy (trans.), Historic Romances of Ireland Vol. 1, 1905, pp. 51–85
- ^ a b James MacKillop, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 104
- ^ Chronicon Scotorum: Annal CS43
- Whitley Stokes(ed. trans.), "Cuchulainn's death, abridged from the Book of Leinster", Revue Celtique 3, 1877, pp. 175–185
- ^ Cross & Slover 1936, p. 156, 265
- ^ Cross & Slover 1936, p. 227
- ^ Cross & Slover 1936, p. 348
- ^ Kinsella 1969, p. 61
- ^ JSTOR 25506590
- ^ "Síaburcharpat Conculaind", Corpus of Electronic Texts (CELT)
- ^ ISBN 9780073257693. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
- ^ a b Carleton, William (1845), "A Legend of Knockmany", Tales and sketches, illustrating the character, usages, traditions, sports and pastimes of the Irish peasantry, Dublin, J. Dufly, pp. 97–112
- ^ a b MacKillop, James, Myths and Legends of the Celts, pp. 231–2
- ^ M. Connell: The Medieval Hero: Christian and Muslim Traditions. Ed. Dr. Müller. 2008. p. 227
- ^ A. Häusler, Indogermanische Altertumskunde, pp.406-407, In: H. Beck, D. Geuenich, H. Steuer, Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 15, 2000, pp. 402–408)
- ISBN 978-3-85124-173-0.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 9780141902760.
- ^ Murphy, Colin. "Reconstructing the Easter Rising." Politico, Politico.ie, 2017, http://politico.ie/archive/reconstructing-easter-rising. Accessed 8 September 2017.
- ^ "Talking Statues Dublin : CÚ CHULAINN". www.talkingstatuesdublin.ie. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ a b Mc Inerney, Martin (October 2010). Medals of the Irish Defence Forces (PDF) (1st ed.). Irish Defence Forces. pp. 26, 93. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- ^ Photos of murals on Ardoyne Avenue Archived 27 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine and Falcarragh Road Archived 27 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Rolston, Bill. Contemporary Murals in Northern Ireland - Republican Tradition". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ Nic Craith, Máiréad (2002). Plural Identities, Singular Narratives: The Case of Northern Ireland. Berghahn Books. pp. 93–96.
- ^ Photographs of the Newtownards Road mural and the Highfield Drive mural Archived 27 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Ardee Louth - Ardee Co. Louth - Ardee Ireland". www.lookaroundireland.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ "For the Love of Emer" by Martin Heron Archived 23 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, armagh.co.uk
- ^ Hirsch, Edward (25 January 2004). "I have long been haunted by ..." The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-271-02596-4.
- ^ "BBC - Northern Ireland Cu Chulainn - Homepage". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
Sources
- A.G. van Hamel (1933). Compert Con Culainn and Other Stories. Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series 3. Dublin: DIAS. pp. 1–8.
- )
- Revue Celtique. 11: 433–57. CELT link.
- A.G. van Hamel (1933). Compert Con Culainn and Other Stories. Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series 3. Dublin: DIAS.; tr. Kuno Meyer (1888). "The Wooing of Emer". Archaeological Review. 1: 68–75, 150–5, 231–5, 298–307.
- Serglige Con Culainn, ed. Myles Dillon (1953). Serglige Con Culainn. Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series 14. Dublin: DIAS.; tr. Jeffrey Gantz (1981). Early Irish Myths and Sagas. London: Penguin. pp. 155–78.
Modern literature
- Sutcliff, Rosemary (1992). The Hound of Ulster. London: Red Fox.
Further reading
- Bruford, Alan (1994). "Cú Chulainn - An Ill-Made Hero?". In Hildegard L. C. Tristram (ed.). Text und Zeittiefe. ScriptOralia 58. Tubingen: Gunter Narr. pp. 185–215.
- Carey, John (1999). "Cú Chulainn as Ailing Hero". In Ronald Black, William Gillies; Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh (eds.). Celtic Connections: Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of Celtic Studies, Vol. 1. East Linton: Tuckwell. pp. 190–8.
- Gray, Elizabeth A. (1989–90). "Lug and Cú Chulainn: King and Warrior". Studia Celtica. 24/25: 38–52.
- Jaski, Bart (1999). "Cú Chulainn, gormac and dalta of the Ulstermen'". Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies. 37: 1–31.
- Nagy, Joseph Falaky (1984). "Heroic Destinies in the Macgnímrada of Finn and Cú Chulainn". Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie. 40: 23–39.
Texts in translation
- The Birth of Cú Chulainn
- Tidings of Conchobar son of Ness
- The Boyhood Deeds of Cú Chulainn
- The Wooing of Emer
- The Death of Aífe's Only Son
- The Cattle Raid of Regamna
- Bricriu's Feast
- The Cattle Raid of Cooley: Recension 1, Recension 2
- The Battle of Ross na Ríg
- The Death of Cú Roí
- The Sick-Bed of Cuchulain
- The Pursuit of Gruaidh Ghriansholus
- The Death of Cú Chulainn
- The Phantom Chariot of Cú Chulainn
Retellings
- S2CID 3996709
- Hull, Eleanor (1904), The Boys' Cúchullain
External links
- Media related to Cúchulainn at Wikimedia Commons