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verse beg. Teidm mor isin bliadain sin

  • Annals of Tigernach, Mythological Cycle
Entry in the Annals of Tigernach s.a. 1084, which tells of a great plague killing a fourth of the population in Ireland and attributes the event to a supernatural cause. Gilla Lugán, who used to visit ‘the fairy mound’ (sith) every year during Samain, learned of it in two ways: Óengus Óc, son of the Dagda, told him that the plague was caused by three battalions of demons from the northern islands of the world. Gilla Lugán himself witnessed one such battalion at Maistiu as it ruined Leinster, and his son had seen the demons, too. The sith referred to may be the Brug na Bóinne (Newgrange).(1)n. 1 John Carey, A single ray of the sun: religious speculation in early Ireland (1999): 21 note 32.(2)n. 2 John Waddell, ‘Continuity, cult and contest’ in Landscapes of cult and kingship... (2011): 204. An alternative suggestion is Ferta Escláim, referred to in a poem of the Dindshenchas Érenn as a place where “good men used to cast questions”.(3)n. 3 John Waddell, ‘Continuity, cult and contest’ in Landscapes of cult and kingship... (2011): 204.
First words (verse)
  • Teidm mor isin bliadain sin
Context(s)The (textual) context(s) to which the present text belongs or in which it is cited in part or in whole.

Classification

Annals of Tigernach
Annals of Tigernach
id. 1235
Mythological CycleMythological Cycle
...

Sources

Notes

1.
John Carey, A single ray of the sun: religious speculation in early Ireland (1999): 21 note 32.
2.
John Waddell, ‘Continuity, cult and contest’ in Landscapes of cult and kingship... (2011): 204.
3.
John Waddell, ‘Continuity, cult and contest’ in Landscapes of cult and kingship... (2011): 204.

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] [tr.] Stokes, Whitley [ed. and tr.], “The Annals of Tigernach [part 2]”, Revue Celtique 17 (1896): 6–33, 119–263, 337–420.  

‘Second fragment, AD 143–361’ (from Rawl. B 488, ff. 4-6), pp. 6-33 -- ‘Third fragment, AD 489–766’ (from Rawl. B 488 [not 482 as indicated], ff. 7-14), pp. 119–263 -- ‘The fourth fragment, AD 973–AD 1088’ (in fact, two fragments from Rawl. B 488), pp. 337–356 (fragment of f. 15), 356-420 (part of the next fragment, ff. 16–19ra).

CELT – Edition from pp. 120-263, 337-420: <link> Internet Archive – offprint: <link>
416
[ed.] [tr.] Waddell, John, “Continuity, cult and contest”, in: Roseanne Schot, Conor Newman, and Edel Bhreathnach (eds), Landscapes of cult and kingship, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2011. 192–212.  
The degree to which pagan traditions influenced early medieval Irish literature has been the subject of some debate. The phrase a window on the Iron Age once encapsulated a view that epic tales in particular depicted a real prehistoric past. The general rejection of this thesis has accentuated a perception of a wide gulf between pagan and Christian Ireland. Archaeology now offers considerable evidence for continuity in funerary ritual, art and monument usage between pagan pre-Christian times and the early Medieval era. This is especially evident at archaeological complexes such as Teltown (Tailtiu), Rathcroghan (Cruachain) and Tara and in a number of literary references to pagan prophetic or divinatory practices at prehistoric burial mounds in Medieval times. The process of the Christianization of Ireland is often seen as an instance of religious syncreticism, a fusion of the old and the new, but the ready acceptance of a syncretic model obscures how complex, prolonged and contested this process may have been. {source: NUI Galway)
202–203

Secondary sources (select)

Waddell, John, “Continuity, cult and contest”, in: Roseanne Schot, Conor Newman, and Edel Bhreathnach (eds), Landscapes of cult and kingship, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2011. 192–212.  
The degree to which pagan traditions influenced early medieval Irish literature has been the subject of some debate. The phrase a window on the Iron Age once encapsulated a view that epic tales in particular depicted a real prehistoric past. The general rejection of this thesis has accentuated a perception of a wide gulf between pagan and Christian Ireland. Archaeology now offers considerable evidence for continuity in funerary ritual, art and monument usage between pagan pre-Christian times and the early Medieval era. This is especially evident at archaeological complexes such as Teltown (Tailtiu), Rathcroghan (Cruachain) and Tara and in a number of literary references to pagan prophetic or divinatory practices at prehistoric burial mounds in Medieval times. The process of the Christianization of Ireland is often seen as an instance of religious syncreticism, a fusion of the old and the new, but the ready acceptance of a syncretic model obscures how complex, prolonged and contested this process may have been. {source: NUI Galway)
203–204
Ó Corráin, Donnchadh, “Ireland c.800: aspects of society”, in: Dáibhí Ó Cróinín (ed.), A new history of Ireland, vol. 1: Prehistoric and early Ireland, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 549–608.
582
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April 2012, last updated: January 2024
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