Bibliography
Bisagni, Jacopo, “Tarbḟlaith : une influence classique dans Audacht Morainn ?”, Études Celtiques 41 (2015): 145–191.
- journal article
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Article
“Tarbḟlaith : une influence classique dans Audacht Morainn ?”
Periodical
Études Celtiques 41 (2015)
Études Celtiques 41 (2015).
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 41, 2015: <link>
Volume
41
Pages
145–191
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Abstract (cited)
[FR] Le speculum principum vieil-irlandais connu sous le nom d’Audacht Morainn (AM), écrit probablement vers l’an 700, présente une classification de quatre «types» de souverain : parmi ceux-ci, nous trouvons le tarbḟlaith, «chef-taureau», c’est-à-dire un prince violent qui règne dans un contexte de guerre permanente. L’analyse des différentes recensions d’AM suggère que la section concernant le tarbḟlaith constituerait en réalité un ajout relativement tardif (peut-être du IXe siècle ?) à une classification tripartite originelle. À la lumière de la suggestion récente de Brent Miles, selon laquelle les développements narratifs du motif du taureau dans la Táin Bó Cúailnge représenteraient – du moins partiellement – une imitation délibérée de certains modèles classiques, nous pouvons envisager la possibilité que le composé tarbḟlaith ait une origine similaire : en particulier, ce terme vieil-irlandais pourrait être un calque du groupement latin dux taurus, une épithète attribuée dans la Thébaïde de Stace au prince thébain exilé Polynice. Il est possible que le poème de Stace et le commentaire à la Thébaïde compilé par Lactantius Placidus aient été connus dans l’Irlande du haut Moyen Âge : ces textes auraient donc pu fournir aux literati ecclésiastiques irlandais des exempla négatifs concernant la royauté, exactement comme certains passages de la quatrième églogue de Virgile pourraient avoir contribué à la formation du concept du fír flathemon, «la justice du souverain», que nous trouvons dans l’AM. Il n’est d’ailleurs pas surprenant que la Thébaïde ait pu jouer un rôle dans la définition de l’idéologie royale irlandaise médiévale, notamment si l’on considère la présence de l’expression rex iniquus dans l’œuvre de Stace – une formule que l’on trouve aussi dans le traité hiberno-latin De duodecim abusivis saeculi, présentant des analogies avec l’AM –, ainsi que l’importance du thème de l’inceste dans les histoires concernant les fils d’Oedipe et dans le cadre narratif qui sous-tend l’allocution de Morann à Feradach Find Fechtnach dans l’AM.
[EN] Tarbḟlaith : a Classical influence in Audacht Morainn ?The Old Irish speculum principum known as Audacht Morainn (AM), probably written around AD 700, presents a classification of four ‘types’ of ruler : among these, we find the tarbḟlaith, ‘bull-ruler’, i. e. a violent prince who rules in a context of perpetual warfare. The analysis of the various recensions of AM suggests that the section concerning the tarbḟlaith may in fact represent a relatively late (ninth-century ?) addition to an original tripartite classification. In light of Brent Miles’s recent suggestion that the narrative developments of the bull motif in Táin Bó Cúailnge may represent – at least partially – a deliberate imitation of Classical models, we can now take into account the possibility that the compound tarbḟlaith may have a similar origin : in particular, this Old Irish term could be a calque on the Latin collocation dux taurus, an epithet attributed to the exiled Theban prince Polynices in Statius’s Thebaid. Statius’s poem and the commentary to the Thebaid by Lactantius Placidus may well have been known in Early Medieval Ireland : these texts could thus have provided the Irish ecclesiastical literati with negative exempla of kingship, just like some passages from Virgil’s fourth Eclogue may have contributed to the shaping of the concept of fír flathemon, ‘the justice of the ruler’, which we find in AM. After all, that the Thebaid may have played a role in the definition of the Medieval Irish ideology of kingship should not be particularly surprising, especially if we consider the presence of the phrase rex iniquus in Statius’s work – a phrase also found in the Hiberno-Latin tract De duodecim abusivis saeculi, presenting several similarities with AM – as well as the prominence of the incest motif in both the stories concerning Oedipus’s sons and the narrative background underlying Morann’s address to Feradach Find Fechtnach in AM.
[EN] Tarbḟlaith : a Classical influence in Audacht Morainn ?The Old Irish speculum principum known as Audacht Morainn (AM), probably written around AD 700, presents a classification of four ‘types’ of ruler : among these, we find the tarbḟlaith, ‘bull-ruler’, i. e. a violent prince who rules in a context of perpetual warfare. The analysis of the various recensions of AM suggests that the section concerning the tarbḟlaith may in fact represent a relatively late (ninth-century ?) addition to an original tripartite classification. In light of Brent Miles’s recent suggestion that the narrative developments of the bull motif in Táin Bó Cúailnge may represent – at least partially – a deliberate imitation of Classical models, we can now take into account the possibility that the compound tarbḟlaith may have a similar origin : in particular, this Old Irish term could be a calque on the Latin collocation dux taurus, an epithet attributed to the exiled Theban prince Polynices in Statius’s Thebaid. Statius’s poem and the commentary to the Thebaid by Lactantius Placidus may well have been known in Early Medieval Ireland : these texts could thus have provided the Irish ecclesiastical literati with negative exempla of kingship, just like some passages from Virgil’s fourth Eclogue may have contributed to the shaping of the concept of fír flathemon, ‘the justice of the ruler’, which we find in AM. After all, that the Thebaid may have played a role in the definition of the Medieval Irish ideology of kingship should not be particularly surprising, especially if we consider the presence of the phrase rex iniquus in Statius’s work – a phrase also found in the Hiberno-Latin tract De duodecim abusivis saeculi, presenting several similarities with AM – as well as the prominence of the incest motif in both the stories concerning Oedipus’s sons and the narrative background underlying Morann’s address to Feradach Find Fechtnach in AM.
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