45. NATIONALISM AND ANCIENT TALES OF HEROISM IN IRELAND
INTRODUCTION
The Tales of the Elders of Ireland (Acallam na Senórach or “Fenian Cycle”) is the earliest written “history” of Ireland, produced in the twelfth century in the region of Ireland still ruled by native kings. It combines myth, legend, and heroic tales about the warriors of the Fían—the followers and progeny of the legendary hero Finn mac Cumaill (Finn Mac Cool)—to produce a cultural foundation for Irish identity and nationalism. Tales such as these were transmitted for centuries orally by professional bards attached to the courts of Irish kings and chieftains. They also formed the core of Irish popular history and heritage and continue to be referenced by poets and novelists to this day, along with another foundational collection of early texts, the Táin Bó Cúailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley, also known as the “Ulster Cycle”), which introduced the great Irish hero Cú Chulainn.
The Fenian cycle combined not only a pre-Christian consciousness but also incorporated tales of St. Patrick, who according to legend converted the Irish to Christianity. This linked a fundamentally mythic story to a historically contextualized one.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
The names of the great mythic heroes of the past, while unfamiliar to most of us in the modern age, would have been utterly familiar to the common person in Ireland who had heard these tales passed down for generations. Like all legendary histories, the combination of reality—such as the use of cattle as currency—and fantasy—the inclusion of supernatural elements—would have seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.
Document 1: Extracts from the Tales of the Elders of Ireland
Prologue
After the battles of Commar, Gabair, and Ollarba, the Fían was destroyed. The survivors scattered, in small bands, across Ireland and, by the time our story begins, only two of the nobles of this ancient Fían were still alive: Oisín, the son of Finn mac Cumaill “the son of Cumall,” and Caílte, the son of Crundchú, son of Rónán. … Sixteen of the Fían warriors travelled with them across the wooded and flower-covered slopes of the Fews. By evening they had reached the Bright Herb Gardens, now called Louth, and sat down there, at the setting of the sun, in great sorrow and despair.
Caílte then said to Oisín, “Well, good Oisín, where shall we go, before day’s end, to find some hospitality for the night?” “That I do not know,” said Oisín, “since, of the elders of Fían, the old companions of Finn mac Cumaill, only the three of us remain; you, Caílte, and I, and the Lady and Guardian Cáma, who watched over Finn from his boyhood until the very day of his death.” “We can certainly expect hospitality from her tonight,” said Caílte. . .
Cáma gave them lodging for the night and asked them who they might be. When they told her their names she shed long and bitter tears. Each asked the other about the many years that had passed since their last meeting; afterwards the Fían went to the guest hall she provided. The Lady Cáma, the old guardian of Finn mac Cumaill, had the freshest of foods brought to them, with the oldest of wines. … Weak and infirm though she was, she spoke with them of the Fían and of Finn mac Cumaill, … Caílte then said, “Just as painful for us as these memories is the fact that the eighteen of us, the only survivors of that great and noble fellowship, must now part with one another.” Oisín replied, “I swear there will be little fight or strength left in me when the others have gone.” And though they were manly warriors, they, together with Lady Cáma, wept deeply and disconsolately. They received their fill of food and drink there, and stayed on for three days and nights. As they took leave of Cáma, Oisín recited the following lines:
“Cáma is weary today, she is at the end of her journey;
Childless, heirless, old age is upon her.”
They went outside onto the grassy lawn to take counsel and decided that they must now part, one from the other, and their parting was at the parting of the soul from its body. Oisín went on to the Síd of the Breast of Cleitech, where his mother, Blaí, daughter of Derg Díanscothach “the Quick of Speech,” lived. Caílte went to the Estuary of Bec the Exile, now the site of the monastery of Drogheda. It had been named after Bec the Exile who died there. He was the son of Airist, King of the Romans. He had come to conquer Ireland, but a great wave drowned him at that place. From the estuary Caílte went on to the Pool of Fíacc, on the bright-flowing Boyne, then southwards across the Old Plain of Brega [a part of county Meath] to the Fortress of the Red Ridge, where Patrick, son of Capurn, then happened to be.
Chapter VII
They went to the fortress and the boy lodged Patrick and his people in Coscrach’s splendid dwelling where they were well attended to. Meanwhile Caílte went along the south side of the fortress to the Rock of the Weapons, the great stone on which the Fían used to sharpen their weapons every year. Standing there on top of the rock he wept flowing tears of great sadness, remembering the great people that often stood on that rock with him in earlier times. Before long he saw a warrior approaching wearing a purple cloak with a pin of gold in it. … Quite unexpectedly the warrior sat at the end of the rock near him. “What is your name, warrior?” asked Caílte. “Coscrach na Cét is my name,” he said “and I think I know who you are.” … “It seems to me … that you are Caílte, son of Rónán.” “Truly I am,” said Caílte. “I am happy to meet with you,” said Coscrach, “whenever it is time to reap the crop a very fierce and wild stag comes, and destroys and devastates everything so that we have no benefit of it. Dear Caílte, by the truth of your valour and prowess,” said Coscrach na Cét, “give help and assistance to me in warding off that stag.”
. . . Caílte asked Coscrach whether messengers might be found to travel to the fair Meadow of the Parish in the province of Munster and to Oakgrove of the Kin-Slaying. “My seven hunting-nets are in that place, and they cover seven cantreds of cliff and cataract, of river and level plain.”
The messengers went after the nets and brought them back to Caílte and Coscrach. Caílte organized the hunt and placed a host of men and a multitude of hounds facing the direction from which he expected the stag to come, arranging his nets over the cliffs and streams and estuaries of the land. The great stag came towards them as it had every year. Caílte watched it approaching the Ford of the Stag on the Slaney. He took his spear In Coscarach “The Victorious” and cast it at the stag that was caught in his net. The shaft of the spear went though him the length of a warrior’s arm. “You seem to have bloodied the stag,” said Coscrach, “and what better name for the ford than the Ford of Bloodying of the Stag?” This is the name of the ford ever since. They carried the chine of the stag to the Broad Ridge, now called the Red Ridge of the Herd. …
Coscrach and Caílte went to meet with Saint Patrick, and Coscrach, with his seven sons and seven daughters, put his head in Patrick's lap and paid homage to him. He received two benefits that evening: Patrick saved his soul and Caílte protected his wealth and his grain by killing the troublesome stag that was destroying it. They spent that night in drinking and pleasure and in the morning all of the host, together with Patrick, went out from the fortress onto the lawn.
Coscrach na Cét asked Caílte, “Why is this mighty stone here on the lawn called the Rock of the Weapons?” “This is the rock,” said Caílte, “on which the Fían used to sharpen their weapons each year on the day of Samhain and the edges that they put on them did not dull in battle, in skirmish, or in fighting. On that rock was the best token of peace that existed in Ireland and Scotland in the reigns of Conn and Art and Cormac and Cairbre Lifechair, the ribbed arm-ring containing eight score ounces of red gold. There was a hole in this rock in which the arm-ring was placed, and such was the excellence of the rule of these kings that no one dared to steal it. Such was the excellence of the knowledge of their druids that no one dared to move it, given the authority of the kings. … We, the remnants of the Fían,” said Caílte, “came as far as this place and I turned the stone over and put the top half of it against the ground as you now see it.” … All that were there went to the rock but were unable to move it. Caílte came, put his two forearms about it and drew it from the earl. Thus it was, with the gold arm-ring in the hole that had been underneath. Caílte took the arm-ring and divided it in two, giving half to Patrick and half to the people of the region. The Meadow of the Arm-ring is still the name of that meadow and the Stone of the Weapons the name of that rock. …
“May you have victory and blessing, dear Caílte,” said Patrick, “the story and the eknowledge you have told us are good.”
Source: Tales of the Elders of Ireland (Acallam na Senórach). Translation and Introduction by Ann Dooley and Harry Roe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. 3–4, 124–126.
AFTERMATH
The “memory” of Ireland’s heroic past was very important to the Irish who were experiencing conquest and occupation by the Anglo-Normans in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The writing down of these tales beginning in the twelfth century and their transmittal through many stages of Irish language were in part an exercise of national pride and in part an attempt to preserve the stories for posterity and future generations.
ASK YOURSELF
Why would it be important to Irish people to connect their legendary heroes to early Christian religious figures such as St. Patrick?
In the “Prologue” the timeframe is at the end of the era, where the Fían are destroyed and they are at the end of their lives. The tales that follow are in the form of memory. Why would this structure be appealing to an Irish audience?
What are the implications and significance of the removal of the arm-ring and the moving of the Stone of Weapons? What would an Irish audience understand that significance to be?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
Magical or mystical artifacts, such as swords, stones, and jewelry, are common tropes in medieval literature, from this tale of the Stone of Weapons and the golden arm-ring, to King Arthur’s sword Excalibur being drawn out of a stone (or an anvil in the original tales). In both circumstances, the objects regulate war and peace. Consider this relationship between mystical objects and the conducting of war or peace in the medieval imagination.
Compare this selection to the excerpt on the death of Conchobhar.
Place this tale in relation to other legendary tales of heroes at their ends. Consider how these stories would be useful in inculcating certain social and cultural values in a population.
Further Information
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. University College Cork. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/
Donahue, Annie. “The Acallam na Senórach: A Medieval Instruction Manual.” Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 24/25 (2004/2005): 206–215.
Nagy, Joseph Falaky. “Fenian Heroes and Their Rites of Passage.” Béaloideas 54/55 (1986/1987): 161–182.