Notes
Note N230
Index
Art mac Cuinn ("son of Conn"), also known as Art Óenfer (literally "one man", used in the sense of "lone", "solitary", or "only son"),[1] was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland.
According to legend, he was not Conn's only son: he had a brother called Connla, who fell in love with a fairy woman, and went with her to Mag Mell, never to be seen again. After that, Art was alone and gained his nickname[2] (Geoffrey Keating says he had two brothers, Connla and Crionna, who were killed by their uncle Eochaid Finn).[3] Another fairy woman, Bé Chuille, who had been banished to Ireland by the Tuatha Dé Danann, fell in love with Art, but, when she learned his father Conn was still alive and a widower, agreed to marry him instead, on the condition that Art be banished from Tara for a year. The injustice caused famine in Ireland, until Art forced by Bé Chuille to leave as a forfeit in a game of fidchell.[4]
Art succeeded to the High Kingship after his brother-in-law Conaire Cóem, was killed by Nemed, son of Sroibcenn, in the battle of Gruitine. He ruled for twenty or thirty years. During his reign Conaire's sons took revenge against Nemed and his allies, the sons of Ailill Aulom, in the Battle of Cennfebrat in Munster. Ailill's foster-son Lugaid mac Con was wounded in the thigh in the battle, and was exiled from Ireland. He made an alliance with Benne Brit, son of the king of Britain, raised an army of foreigners, and returned to Ireland. He defeated and killed Art in the Battle of Maigh Mucruimhe in Connacht.[5] According to legend, Art was given hospitality by Olc Acha, a local smith, the night before the battle. It had been prophesied that a great dignity would come from Olc's line, and he gave Art his daughter Achtan to sleep with. Art's son Cormac was conceived that night.[6] However, according to Keating, Achtan was Art's official mistress, to whom he paid a dowry of cattle; his wife, and the mother of his other children, was Medb Lethderg.[7]
The Lebor Gabála Érenn synchronises Art's reign with that of the Roman emperor Commodus (180-192).[8] The chronology of Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 143-173, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 165-195.
References
^ Dictionary of the Irish Language, Compact Edition, Royal Irish Academy, 1990, pp. 299-300, 485
^ "The Adventures of Connla the Fair", Cross & Slover 1936, pp. 488-490
^ Geoffrey Keating, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn 1.41
^ "The Adventures of Art son of Conn", Cross & Slover 1936, pp. 491-502
^ Annals of the Four Masters M165-195
^ "The Battle of Mag Mucrama" (translator unknown)
^ Geoffrey Keating, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn 1.43
^ R. A. Stewart Macalister (ed. & trans.), Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of the Taking of Ireland Part V, Irish Texts Society, 1956, p. 335
Notes
Note N229
Index
Conn Cétchathach ("of the Hundred Battles", pron. /k?n 'ke?dx??ax), son of Fedlimid Rechtmar, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland, and the ancestor of the Connachta, and, through his descendant Niall Noígiallach, the Uí Néill dynasties.
Literary tradition
The Annals of the Four Masters says that five roads to Tara, which had never been seen before were discovered on the night of Conn's birth.[1] According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, he took power after killing his predecessor Cathair Mór.[2] In other sources his predecessor is Dáire Doimthech.[3] The Lia Fáil, the coronation stone at Tara which was said to roar when the rightful king stood on it, roared under Conn for the first time since Cúchulainn split it with his sword when it failed to roar for Lugaid Riab nDerg.[4] In the saga Baile in Scáil ("The Phantom's Ecstatic Vision"), Conn treads on the stone by accident while walking the ramparts of Tara, implying that the stone had been lost and half-buried since Cúchulainn's time. A druid explains the meaning of the stone, and says the number of cries the stone made is the number of kings who will follow Conn, but he is not the man to name them. A magical mist arises, and a horseman approaches who throws three spears towards Conn, then asks him and the druid to follow him to his house, which stands on a plain by a golden tree. They enter, and are welcomed by a woman in a gold crown. First they see a silver vat, bound with gold hoops, full of red ale, and a golden cup and serving spoon. Then they see a phantom, a tall beautiful man, on a throne, who introduces himself as Lugh. The woman is the sovereignty of Ireland, and she serves Conn a meal consisting of an ox's rib 24 feet (7.3 m) long, and a boar's rib. When she serves drinks, she asks "To whom shall this cup be given?", and Lugh recites a poem which tells Conn how many years he will reign, and the names of the kings who will follow him. Then they enter Lugh's shadow, and the house disappears, but the cup and serving spoon remain.[5][6] An earlier text, Baile Chuinn Cétchathaigh (The Ecstatic Vision of Conn of the Hundred Battles") gives a poetic list of kings, many of which are recognisable from the traditional List of High Kings of Ireland, but without narrative context.[7]
Reign
Conn had a long reign - twenty, twenty-five, thirty-five or even fifty years according to different versions of the Lebor Gabála - but spent much of it at war with Mug Nuadat, king of Munster. Ireland was divided in two between them - Conn controlling the north, or Leth Cuinn ("Conn's Half"), and Mug controlling the south, or Leth Moga ("Mug's Half"), with the border lying between Galway in the west and Dublin in the east. Mug was able to gain such power because his druid predicted a famine, which he prepared for by storing grain, and producing an early version of the confectionery Nougat[8]. Conn eventually killed Mug in his bed, the morning before their armies were due to meet in the Battle of Mag Lena.[9]
Legend has it that the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill was born in Conn's time. His father, Cumhall, a warrior in Conn's service, was a suitor of Muirne, daughter of the druid Tadg mac Nuadat, but Tadg refused his suit, so Cumhall abducted her. Conn went to war against him, and Cumhall was killed by Goll mac Morna in the Battle of Cnucha. But Muirne was already pregnant, and Tadg rejected her, ordering her to be burned. She fled to Conn, and Conn put her under the protection of Cumhall's brother-in-law Fiacal mac Conchinn. It was in Fiacal's house that she gave birth to a son, Deimne, who was later renamed Fionn.[10] When he was ten, Fionn came to Tara put himself into Conn's service. He learned that every year at Samhain, the monster Aillen would put everyone at Tara to sleep with his music, and burn down the palace with his fiery breath. Fionn killed Aillen, having kept himself awake by pressing the head of his spear to his forehead, and warded off Aillen's flame with his magical cloak, and Conn made him head of the fianna in place of Goll.[11]
Family
Conn had two sons, Connla and Art. Connla fell in love with a fairy woman from Mag Mell, and went with her to her otherworld home in her crystal boat, leaving Art alone. After that Art was known as Óenfer - the "lone" or "solitary".[12]
After Conn's wife Eithne Táebfada, daughter of Cathair Mór, died, another fairy woman, Bé Chuille, was banished by the Tuatha Dé Danann to Ireland. She had fallen in love with Art from a distance and sought him out in her currach, but when she met Conn and learned he was without a wife, agreed to marry him instead, on the condition that Art be banished from Tara for a year. The men of Ireland thought this unjust, and Ireland was barren during that year. The druids discovered that this was Bé Chuille's fault, and declared that the famine could be ended by the sacrifice of the son of a sinless couple in front of Tara. Conn went in search of this boy in Bé Chuille's currach. He landed on a strange island of apple-trees. The queen of the island had a young son, the result of her only sexual union. Conn told her that Ireland would be saved if the boy bathed in the water of Ireland, and she agreed. He took him back to Ireland, but when the druids demanded his death, he, Art and Fionn mac Cumhaill swore to protect him. Just then, a woman driving a cow carrying two bags approached, and the cow was sacrificed instead of the boy. The bags were opened: one contained a bird with one leg, the other a bird with twelve legs. The two birds fought, and the one-legged bird won. The woman said the twelve-legged bird represented the druids, and the one-legged bird the boy, and revealed herself as his mother. She told Conn that the famine would end if he would put Bé Chuille away, but he refused. Bé Chuille was later banished from Tara as the result of a series of challenges she and Art made each other over a game of fidchell.[13]
Death
Conn was eventually killed by Tipraite Tírech, king of the Ulaid. The Lebor Gabála and the Annals say Tipraite defeated him in battle in Túath Amrois. Keating says Tipraite sent fifty warriors dressed as women from Emain Macha to kill him at Tara. His son-in-law Conaire Cóem succeeded him as High King, and Conn's son Art would later succeed him. The Lebor Gabála synchronises Conn's reign with that of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180). The chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 116-136, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 122-157.
References
^ Annals of the Four Masters M122-M157
^ R. A. Stewart Macalister (ed. & trans.), Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of the Taking of Ireland Part V, Irish Texts Society, 1956, p. 331-333
^ Scéla Mosauluim
^ Lebor Gabála Érenn §57
^ "Baile in Scáil: the Phantom's Frenzy", Miles Dillon (ed. & trans), The Cycle of the Kings, Oxford University Press, 1946
^ Cycles of the Kings Web Project: Baile in Scáil
^ Cycles of the Kings Web Project: Baile Chuinn Cétchathaigh
^ John O'Brien, Bria - An Irish History Of Food, Irish Texts Society, 1965, p. 66-67
^ Geoffrey Keating, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn 1.40
^ "The Cause of the Battle of Cnucha", Tom Peete Cross & Clark Harris Slover (eds.), Ancient Irish Tales, Henry Holt & Co, 1936, pp. 357-359
^ Standish James O'Grady (trans.), The Colloquy with the Ancients, In Parentheses Publications, pp. 46-48
^ "The Adventures of Connla the Fair", Cross & Slover 1936, pp. 488-490
^ "The Adventures of Art son of Conn", Cross & Slover 1936, pp. 491-502
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