Texts

Aided Cheit maic Mágach ‘The death of Cet mac Magach’

Middle Irish, Early Modern Irish
prose
Ulster Cycle, Aideda

A tale of the Ulster Cycle, set after the death of Conchobar.

Summary

Conall Cernach pursues Cet mac Mágach, after a raid by the latter on Ulster, to Bréifne in Connacht, and, after being chided for cowardice by his charioteer, fights him at Áth Ceit. The fight leaves Cet dead and Conall seriously wounded. Bélchú of Bréifne comes across the incapacitated Conall, who tries to goad him into finishing him off, but Bélchú decides to nurse him back to health, then fight him. He soon regrets this decision, and sends his three sons to kill Conall as he sleeps, but Conall forces Bélchú to take his place in the bed, and the sons kill their father instead. Conall kills the sons and takes all four heads back to Ulster.

Manuscripts

Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Adv. MS 72.1.40 [s. xv-xvi]

f. 4r–4v

part 1

Version A.

Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 G 21 (917) [s. xviii-xix]

p. 140

Version B.

Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 B 21 (184) [1824]

p. 174

Version B.

Language

Middle Irish Early Modern Irish
Version A: Middle Irish (?); Version B: Early Modern Irish.

Form

prose (primary)

Textual relationships

It appears in [[Medieval Irish tale lists

|tale-lists]] as Orgain Bélchon Bréifne and Togail Bruidne Bélchon Bréifne, and is alluded to in the poem Fianna bátar i nEmain, attributed to Cináed ua hArtacáin, which suggests there was once a version where Conall's death was plotted at a feast by Bélchú. Version B is more or less identical to the version in Geoffrey Keating's Foras feasa ar Éirinn (I 34).

For the story of the death of Conchobor, see Aided Chonchobair.

Classification

Ulster Cycle
Ulster Cycle

id. 1797

AidedaAideda
...

Subjects

Cet mac Mágach

Cet mac Mágach

(time-frame ass. with Ulster Cycle)

Warrior in the Ulster Cycle of tales; hero of Connacht; in some texts, brother of Findchóem and uncle of Conall Cernach.

See more Conall Cernach

Conall Cernach

(time-frame ass. with Ulster Cycle)

Warrior of the Ulaid in the Ulster Cycle; son of Amergin and Findchóem. In Irish genealogies, he is presented as an ancestor of the kings of the Dál nAraidi and the Uí Echach Coba.

See more Bélchú Bréifne

Bélchú Bréifne

(time-frame ass. with Ulster Cycle)

Hostel-keeper of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of tales.

BréifneBréifne

Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

See more Áth CeitÁth Ceit

Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.