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Fingal Rónáin (also Aided Maelḟothartaig meic Rónáin) ‘Rónán’s act of kinslaying’

  • Late Old Irish, Early Middle Irish
  • prose
  • Cycles of the Kings
First words (prose)
  • Rí amra ro boí for Laignib .i. Rónán mac Aeda
Manuscripts
Language
  • Late Old Irish Early Middle Irish

  • Late Old Irish.(2)n. 2 “The absence of rhetorics and the length of the poems point to a comparatively late work; on the other hand, the language, consistent throughout, points to the end of the OIr. period, and the story [...] is given in the LL saga-list. All these considerations would suggest a date early in the tenth century”. David Greene, Fingal Rónáin and other stories (1955): 2. On the verse Greene and O'Connor remark that it “appears to belong to the Old Irish period, [but] there are some rhymes (fo-roígéne: fogéba: cúaine: úairi) that point to a later date”.

Date
Early 10th century (Greene)(3)n. 3 See Greene, op. cit. or late 9th century (Greene and O'Connor).(4)n. 4 “composed probably towards the end of the ninth century”. David Greene • Frank O'Connor, A golden treasury of Irish poetry, A.D. 600 to 1200 (1967): 93.
Form
prose (primary)
verse (secondary)
Textual relationships
In Irish tale list A, where it occurs among other aideda, the text is referred to under the title Aided Maelḟothartaig meic Rónáin. The story of Rónán's kinslaying is also the subject of a genealogical note which occurs in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 502, 124b, and in a passage in Brussels MS 4641, p. 18.(1)n. 1 David Greene, Fingal Rónáin and other stories (1955): 2–3; both texts are edited on 11–12.

Classification

Cycles of the Kings
Cycles of the Kings
id. 80

...

Subjects

Cycle of Rónán king of LeinsterCycles of the Kings
Cycle of Rónán king of Leinster
id. 47962
Rónán mac Áeda [Fingal Rónáin]Rónán mac Áeda ... Fingal Rónáin
(supp. fl. 6th/7th century)
King of Leinster in the early Irish tale Fingal Rónáin, which tells how he had his son put to death for alleged sexual assaults on the king’s young wife (the son’s stepmother). It has been suggested that he was ultimately based on Rónán mac Colmáin, king of Leinster from the Uí Dúnlainge (e.g. by David Greene), or alternatively, on Rónán mac Áeda of the Uí Máil, bishop and brother of the king of Leinster.
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Sources

Notes

1.
David Greene, Fingal Rónáin and other stories (1955): 2–3; both texts are edited on 11–12.
2.
“The absence of rhetorics and the length of the poems point to a comparatively late work; on the other hand, the language, consistent throughout, points to the end of the OIr. period, and the story [...] is given in the LL saga-list. All these considerations would suggest a date early in the tenth century”. David Greene, Fingal Rónáin and other stories (1955): 2.
3.
See Greene, op. cit.
4.
“composed probably towards the end of the ninth century”. David Greene • Frank O'Connor, A golden treasury of Irish poetry, A.D. 600 to 1200 (1967): 93.

Primary sources

[ed.] Greene, David [ed.], Fingal Rónáin and other stories, Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series, 16, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1955.
CELT – Fingal Rónáin (ed.): <link> TITUS – Fingal Rónáin (ed.): <link> CELT – Orgain Denna Ríg (ed.): <link> CELT – Esnada tige Buchet (ed.): <link> CELT – Orgguin trí mac Diarmata meic Cerbaill (ed.): <link>
[ed.] [tr.] Meyer, Kuno [ed. and tr.], “Fingal Rónáin”, Revue Celtique 13 (1892): 368–397. Corrigenda in Revue Celtique 17 (1896): 319.
CELT – translation (pp. 372–396): <link> Internet Archive: <link>
Edited from LL and variants from TCD 1337.
[ed.] [tr.] Greene, David, and Frank OʼConnor [Michael O'Donovan], A golden treasury of Irish poetry, A.D. 600 to 1200, London: Macmillan, 1967.
Edition, with English translation, of the poetic dialogue beginning 'Is úar gaeth' ("The wind is cold").
[tr.] Thurneysen, Rudolf [tr.], “Ronans Sohnesmord”, in: Rudolf Thurneysen [tr.], Sagen aus dem alten Irland, Berlin, 1901. 105–114.
CELT: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
Translation based on LL.
[tr.] Carey, John [tr.], “[Various contributions]”, in: John T. Koch, and John Carey (eds), The Celtic Heroic Age. Literary sources for ancient Celtic Europe and early Ireland & Wales, 4th ed., 1, Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2003. [Various].

Secondary sources (select)

Hollo, Kaarina, “Fingal Rónáin: The medieval Irish text as argumentative space”, in: John Carey, Máire Herbert, and Kevin Murray (eds), Cín Chille Cúile: texts, saints and places. Essays in honour of Pádraig Ó Riain, 9, Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2004. 141–149.
Boll, Sheila, “Seduction, vengeance and frustration in Fingal Rónáin: the role of foster-kin in structuring the narrative”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 47 (Summer, 2004): 1–16.
Poppe, Erich, “Deception and self-deception in Fingal Rónáin”, Ériu 47 (1996): 137–151.
Ó Cathasaigh, Tomás, “The rhetoric of Fingal Rónáin”, Celtica 17 (1985): 123–144.
Ó Cathasaigh, Tomás, “Varia III: The trial of Mael Ḟothartaig”, Ériu 36 (1985): 177–180.
Charles-Edwards, T. M., “Honour and status in some Irish and Welsh prose tales”, Ériu 29 (1978): 123–141.
Dillon, Myles, The cycles of the kings, London: Oxford University Press, 1946.
42ff.
web page identifiers
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
October 2010, last updated: June 2023
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