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| Date = "very likely, from the late ninth century or very early tenth" (Ó Corráin);<ref name=OC53>Ó Corráin 1985: 53</ref> | | Date = "very likely, from the late ninth century or very early tenth" (Ó Corráin);<ref name=OC53>Ó Corráin 1985: 53</ref> | ||
| Provenance = Munster | | Provenance = Munster | ||
| Description = [[ | | Description = [[Aetiology::Origin tale]] of the [[Éoganachta]]. It first relates how the sons of their eponymous ancestor Éogan arrived and settled in Ireland, how Éogan (the father or one of his sons) saved the population from starvation, and how Éogan's son was chosen to be king. Their peaceful ascendancy is then contrasted with an origin tale of the [[Dál Cuinn]] (called children of the "second Míl Espáine"), who are said to have ruled Ireland by the sword. In the north of the island, they alternately shared the kingship with the [[Cruthin]] until Conn Cétchathach defeated them in a series of battles. The situation was reversed when Fiachu Araide, from whom sprang the Dál Araide, expelled Conn's grandson Cormac mac Airt from Tara. Cormac fled to Munster, where he became a vassal of Fiachu Muillethan, Éogan's great-grandson, in return for his assistance against Fiachu Araide. Fiachu Muillethan defeated the latter in battle. Cormac was thereby restored to the kingship and granted the lands settled by the Ciannachta to Fiachu Muillethan, who passed them on to Connla mac Taidg. | ||
| Sources = [[Draws on::Genesis]] 41, the tale of Pharaoh's dream used as a model; the author was also familiar with a version of the legend relating to Míl Espáine.<ref name=OC53 /> | | Sources = [[Draws on::Genesis]] 41, the tale of Pharaoh's dream used as a model; the author was also familiar with a version of the legend relating to Míl Espáine.<ref name=OC53 /> | ||
| Keywords = | | Keywords = | ||
Revision as of 15:16, 21 January 2011
Description
Notes
Sources
Editions and translations
Byrne, F. J., Irish kings and high-kings, 2nd ed., Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001.
199–200 (translation of a single passage).
Secondary sources
Ó Corráin, Donnchadh, “Irish origin legends and genealogy: recurrent aetiologies”, in: Tore Nyberg, Iørn Piø, and P. M. Sørenen (eds), History and heroic tale: a symposium, Odense: Odense University Press, 1985. 51–96.
