WORKSHOP

BATTLE OF MAIGH TUIREADH

Ireland was ruled for thirty-seven years by the Fir Bolg, and they prospered. One night, however, their king Eochaidh Mac Eirc had a dream in which he saw a great flock of birds coming from the ocean, and his poet explained to him that this was a fleet of ships carrying a thousand magical heroes. Soon such a fleet arrived, and the warriors came ashore, burned their ships, and encamped on a mountain in Connacht. The Fir Bolg sent the greatest of their own warriors, called Sreang, to parley with them, and the strangers said that they were relatives of theirs, called Tuatha Dé Danann. They had come from the northern world, and their king was Nuadhu. They proposed that Ireland should be shared by the two peoples, but the assembly of the Fir Bolg at Tara refused this. The result was a great battle fought at Maigh Tuireadh (‘the plain of the pillars’) near Cong in County Mayo. King Eochaidh of the Fir Bolg was slain, but Sreang with a sword-stroke severed the right arm of Nuadhu. The tide of battle went against the Fir Bolg, and Nuadhu agreed a treaty with Sreang which allowed the west of Ireland to the Fir Bolg, while the Tuatha Dé took the rest.

The Tuatha Dé were a magnificent people, with skilled artists and tradesmen, and many wizards to plan their future for them. However, it was not long before they were troubled by a group of pirates called the Fomhóire, who commenced raiding the country. Since Nuadhu was blemished, it was considered unlucky for him to rule, and the Tuatha Dé sought to achieve harmony with the Fomhóire by appointing as their ruler Breas, a warrior whose father was of the Fomhóire and whose mother was of the Tuatha Dé. After seven years in power, Breas proved himself so selfish and high-handed that the people were alienated from him. Moreover, the Fomhóire began to impose heavy taxes and, groaning under the oppression, the Tuatha Dé decided to rebel. They deposed Breas, and in retaliation the Fomhóire sent a huge fleet of ships to attack Ireland, led by their fierce chief Balar, who had an evil eye in his forehead. This eye destroyed all on which it looked.

The great physician of the Tuatha Dé, Dian Céacht replaced Nuadhu’s severed limb with a mobile silver arm, and Nuadhu reassumed the kingship. He held a great assembly and banquet at Tara, at which preparations were made for the inevitable trial of strength with the Fomhóire. During the proceedings, a handsome young stranger arrived and demanded entry. This was Lugh, whose father Cian was of the Tuatha Dé but whose mother Eithne was a daughter of Balar. Lugh was admitted because he was the master of all arts and, impressed by his stupendous skills, Nuadhu decided to make him commander of the forces for thirteen days. Lugh then delegated functions to the warriors, and to all the various craftsmen and magicians. For his part, the old father-figure of the Tuatha Dé, called ‘the Daghdha’, enlisted the help of the magical mother-goddess, the Mór-Ríoghain, and then went to the Fomhóire camp to try to forestall hostilities, but he was mocked and humiliated there.

Again the battle-site was a place called Maigh Tuireadh, but this was the great rock-filled plain east of Lough Arrow in County Leitrim. The two great armies advanced across the plain and met each other with a great shock. There was a great tumult of banging shields and of shouting men, and the slaughter was atrocious on both sides. In the hand-to-hand fighting, warriors were tripping over bodies and slipping and falling in the torrent of blood.  Shoving aside his bodyguards, Lugh rushed to the forefront of the Tuatha Dé, and began to dance in a circle on one leg, while he chanted a magical spell. The special cover was being removed from the eye of Balar, and that tyrant was ready to turn his withering glance on the Tuatha Dé.  Lugh immediately threw a stone from his sling and drove the eye to the back of Balar’s head, so that it was looking on the Fomhóire host. The Fomhóire were weakened, and they took to flight towards the sea.

The Daghdha recovered all the cattle which the Fomhóire had seized as tribute in Ireland, and the Mór-Ríoghain announced the great victory on hill-tops in all parts of the country.

Conaire Mor

Discuss in our Forum

Conaire Mor was a mythical King of Tara. His parents were King Eterscele and the beautiful Mess Buachalla. His mother was a princess who had been abandoned by her parents and her name meant ‘the herdsman’s fosterling’. Mess Buachalla had been reared in secrecy by a herdsman. However,  when the king heard of her presence he recalled a druids prophecy that a women of unknown race would bear him a son. King Eterscele immediately sent for the young girl.  But that night a bird descended into the cottage where she was hidden. The bird magically laid aside the bird skin to reveal a handsome youth who made love to her and told her that the king would take her by force and that she would be with child and would bear a son whose name would be Conaire. He also told her that Conaire would not be able to kill birds.

The king duly married Mess Buachalla, who then gave birth to Conaire. He was brought up the son of King Eterscele. Conaire possessed three special gifts, the gift of hearing, the gift of foresight and the gift of judgement. He also had three foster-brothers to whom he was close, he gave each of them one of his special gifts.

Then King Eterscele died. So it was then necessary to elect a new king and in those times this was done by means of a bull feast (tarbfheis), a divination ritual which involved a seer (wise man) sleeping on a bull hide in the belief that he would dream of the person who would become king.  If the seer were to tell a lie about what he had seen and was this lie was revealed, he would be killed on the spot.  The seer’s dream was of a naked man coming along the road to Tara at daybreak carrying a stone in his sling.

Meanwhile, Conaire was called to attend this ritual. So he set out on his journey to the election ritual at Tara. Along the way he spotted three huge birds and pursued them as far as the sea near Áth Cliath (Dublin).  There the birds cast off their skins and transformed into humans. They told Conaire that he was forbidden to kill birds, they also told him that he was going to be king. They also told him that during his reign as king that there was to be a number of restrictions/geasa placed upon him that he wasn’t allowed to break. These restrictions included that there was to be no plunder during his reign and that he should not settle a quarrel between two of his people. There were six further geasa that he was not allowed break.

Conaire then carried on the rest of his journey, naked. His fosterers met him on the road and clothed him and took him to Tara. He was installed as King. The motto he adopted was ‘to enquire of wise men that I might be wise’. Conaire’s reign was a period of prosperity, happiness and peace in Ireland. These were good times and were so for a long period of time.

However as the years went by Conaire’s foster brothers began to rob, plunder and murder. Each year, a farmer from whom they robbed would go to Conaire to intervene. He refused to act and told the farmer to speak to the brothers directly. Eventually and under pressure, Conaire did act but by banishing his brothers to Scotland and England, where they continued to plunder. In doing so he he broke one of the geasa, The right and fair judgement was to have put the brothers to death as happened to other plunderers.

As time passed Conaire broke more of the geasa. And slowly but surely things started to fall apart. The prosperity started to disappear. Finally, when traveling on the road called Slighe Chualann (going south from Dublin) he was overtaken by darkness so he decided to visit the hostel of De Dearga, one of his friends. When he travelled towards the hostel he saw three red men riding in front of him. This too was one of the geasa, that ‘he was not to follow three men into the house of red (De Dearga’s hostel). He attempted to persuade the three men to let him go into the hostel first. They reused.  And so Conaire was resigned to breaking another geasa and now to his fate. He followed the men into the hostel and at the door there was a horrible, ugly women who told him that ‘neither skin nor flesh of you will escape this house you have entered, except what the birds take in their claws’.

At the same time, the three foster brothers who were banished to the Scotland and Britain returned to Ireland with an army of marauding Britons who were marching towards the hostel. They made a surprise attack, but Conaire was able to kill hundreds of his brother’s men even before he reached his weapons and hundreds more when he was armed. The raiders set fire to the hostel three times, but each time the fire was put out. The druids then put a magic thirst on Conaire and because the water had all been used up in quenching the fire, there was nothing to drink. Conaire grew weak and was slain by two of his foe.

His severed head spoke a verse in praise of his champion, Mac Cecht, who had fought fiercely at his side. Mac Cecht went in pursuit of the enemy and it is said that while nine men fell with Conaire, only five raiders out of five thousand escape. Mac Cecht buried his king in Tara and the tragic story of Conaire came to an end.

DISCUSS CONAIRE MOR IN OUR FORUM