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Cath Maige Mucrama ‘The battle of Mag Mucrama’

  • Old Irish, Middle Irish
  • prose
  • Cycles of the Kings
Manuscripts
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1339 (H 2. 18) = Book of Leinster [s. xii2]
pp. 288a–292a
Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS G 7 [s. xvi]
cols 29–40
A copy unknown to Stokes when he edited the text. It is incomplete due to the loss of a leaf.
Other
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS D ii 2 (1222) [s. xvi (?)]
Extract on the dinnshenchas of Áine Clíach = Cnocc Aíne (Knockany).
Language
  • Old Irish Middle Irish
  • late Old Irish, or early Middle Irish
Date
9th century (O Daly)
Form
prose (primary)
verse (secondary)
Textual relationships
Cf. the modern version related in Cath Mhaighe Mochruimhe; Scéla Moshauluim ocus Maic Con ocus Luigdech
Related: Dinnshenchas of Áne ChlíachDinnshenchas of Áne Chlíach

An episode in Cath Maige Mucrama which tells of Ailill Ólomm's hostility towards two inhabitants of the síd-mound Áne Chlíach and of the blemish and curse he incurred on account of this. It gives an explanation of Ailill's nickname as well as the name of the hill.

Cath CrinnaCath Crinna

Late Middle Irish account of the battle of Crinna, in which Cormac mac Airt is said to have defeated the Ulstermen with the aid of Tadg son of Cían. The saga offers an origin legend of the Cíannacht Breg, explaining how it came to settle near Tara but did not attain the kingship of Tara.

Cath Mhaighe MochruimheCath Mhaighe Mochruimhe

Modernised version of Cath Maige Mucrama.

Letter from Find, bishop of Kildare, to Áed Úa Crimthainn, abbot of TerryglassLetter from Find, bishop of Kildare, to Áed Úa Crimthainn, abbot of TerryglassThe text recognised by R. I. Best as “the earliest epistolary composition ... in the Irish language” is a scribal note to the text of Cath Maige Mucrama in the 12th-century Book of Leinster, where it occupies the bottom margin of the first page containing that tale. The correspondence is between two of its scribes or compilers: it is written or dictated by Find, bishop of Kildare, and addressed to Áed Úa Crimthainn, abbot and coarb of Terryglass. The letter adheres to the formal requirements of ars dictaminis (the rhetorical art of letter-writing), including such elements as an address, salutation, petition and valediction. Find asks for the writing of the tale (scél) to be completed and also requests the ‘poem-book (dúanaire) of Mac Lonáin’, probably referring to the poet Flann mac Lónáin (d. 891x918), “so that we may study the meanings (cíalla) of the poems that are in it”. William O'Sullivan has concluded that the hand continuing the tale of Cath Maige Mucrama on the next page of the manuscript (p. 289 = f. 207r) is a different one from that of p. 288 and so that one of Áed’s scribes must have taken over as requested.Dinnshenchas of MedraigeDinnshenchas of Medraige

Prose and verse dinnshenchas of Medraige, which gives an account of the battle of Mag Mucrama.

Sanas Cormaic/RincneSanas Cormaic/Rincne

Entry for ‘rincne’ in Sanas Cormaic, with an anecdote about Ferchess, Mac Con and Finn úa Báiscni.

Associated items
Dinnshenchas of Áne ChlíachDinnshenchas of Áne Chlíach

An episode in Cath Maige Mucrama which tells of Ailill Ólomm's hostility towards two inhabitants of the síd-mound Áne Chlíach and of the blemish and curse he incurred on account of this. It gives an explanation of Ailill's nickname as well as the name of the hill.

Classification

Cycles of the Kings
Cycles of the Kings
id. 80

Subjects

Battle of Mag MucramaBattle of Mag Mucrama
...
Ailill Ólomm
Ailill Ólomm
(time-frame ass. with Irish legendary history)
king of Munster; reputed ancestor of the Éoganacht and Dál Cais; a prominent figure in various king-tales, such as those revolving around the Battle of Mag Mucrama.
See more Sadb ingen Chuinn
Sadb ingen Chuinn
(time-frame ass. with Ailill Ólomm, Lugaid Mac Con, Conn Cétchathach)
daughter of Conn Cétchathach and wife of Ailill Ólomm, king of Munster.
See more Éogan MórÉogan Mór
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
See more Lugaid Mac Con
Lugaid Mac Con
Often simply Mac Con, a legendary high-king of Ireland from a people based in Munster; said to have defeated Éogan Mór and Art mac Cuinn in the battle of Mucrama after a return from exile following the battle of Cenn Abrat.
See more Lugaid LágaeLugaid Lágae
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
See more Ferchess mac Commáin
Ferchess mac Commáin
No short description available
See more Do Déra
Do Déra
(time-frame ass. with Art mac Cuinn, Lugaid Mac Con)
Jester or fool (drúth) belonging to Lugaid Mac Con in the early Irish tale Cath Maige Mucrama, according to which he stood in for him in the battle of Cenn Abrat and was slain in his stead. He is said to have been of the Dáirine.
See more Éogabul mac DurgabuilÉogabul mac Durgabuil
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
See more Fer FíFer Fí
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
See more

Sources

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.] OʼDonovan, Tom, Irish sagas online, Online: University College Cork, 2013–present. URL: <http://iso.ucc.ie>.
O’Daly’s edition (incl. variants from NLI MS G 7) in parallel with McCone’s and Ó Fiannachta’s Modern Irish translation and Stokes’s English translation.
[ed.] [tr.] OʼDaly, Máirín [ed. and tr.], Cath Maige Mucrama: The battle of Mag Mucrama, Irish Texts Society, 50, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1975.
88–93
[ed.] [tr.] Stokes, Whitley [ed. and tr.], “The Battle of Mag Mucrime”, Revue Celtique 13 (1892): 426–474.
Internet Archive: <link>
LL version.
[corr.] Stokes, Whitley, “The Battle of Mag Mucrime”, Revue Celtique 14 (1893): 95–96.
Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
Addenda and corrigenda
[ed.] OʼGrady, Standish Hayes, Silva Gadelica (I–XXXI): a collection of tales in Irish, vol. 1: Irish text, London: Williams & Norgate, 1892.
Digitale-sammlungen.de: <link> Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive – originally from Google Books: <link>, <link> CELT – various: <link>, <link>, <link>, <link>, <link>, <link>
310–318 LL version.
[tr.] OʼGrady, Standish Hayes, Silva Gadelica (I–XXXI): a collection of tales in Irish, vol. 2: translation and notes, London: Williams & Norgate, 1892.
Digitale-sammlungen.de: <link> Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
347–359
[tr.] McCone, Kim R. [tr.], and Pádraig Ó Fiannachta [tr.], Scéalaíocht ár sinsear, Dán agus Tallann, 3, Maynooth: An Sagart, 1992.  
A collection of early Irish tales in a Modern Irish translation.
24–33 Translation into Modern Irish.

Secondary sources (select)

Ó Cathasaigh, Tomás, The heroic biography of Cormac mac Airt, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1977.
Ó Cathasaigh, Tomás, “The theme of lommrad in Cath Maige Mucrama”, Éigse 18:2 (1981): 211–224.
web page identifiers
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
October 2010, last updated: August 2024
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