Hildegard L. C.
Tristram b. 6 September 1941–d. 29 October 2020
Works authored
Works edited
Contributions to journals
The Old Irish “Cattle-Raid of Cooley” (Táin Bó Cuailnge or The Táin in short) is the centre piece of a cycle of heroic prose tales about an ethnic strife between the Ulaid, i.e. the kingship of Ulster in the North of the island, and the other kingships of Ireland under the leadership of the Connachta, i.e. the kingship of Connacht in the West of the country. The symbolic bone of contention is the Brown Bull of Cooley. This bull belongs to the Ulaid, but the queen of the Connachta desires it for herself. The outcome of the raiding expedition to capture the bull leads to a stalemate situation, which lasts for seven years before the dispute between the Ulaid and the other kingships flairs up again.
Although the tale is set in the pre-Christian Ireland, the first two written records date only from the 12c. So far, the research on the Táin has focused on reconstructing both the oral and written prehistory of this tale. Scholars have been particularly concerned with, or have speculated about the putative origin of the tale (“the backward look”).
The present study undertakes a “forward look” into the 800 years of the manuscript transmission of the tale till the years of 1870 and 1880 when the Royal Irish Academy published facsimile editions of the two 12c manuscripts (LU and LL). The editions contain the earliest textual evidence of the written Táin and represent photolithographic reproductions made from Seosamh cs manual transcripts. He and his son were the last of a long series of Irish scholar scribes who penned, preserved, and transmitted the ancient lore of the Irish from the High Middle Ages to the end of the 19c.
The Old Irish “Cattle-Raid of Cooley” (Táin Bó Cuailnge or The Táin in short) is the centre piece of a cycle of heroic prose tales about an ethnic strife between the Ulaid, i.e. the kingship of Ulster in the North of the island, and the other kingships of Ireland under the leadership of the Connachta, i.e. the kingship of Connacht in the West of the country. The symbolic bone of contention is the Brown Bull of Cooley. This bull belongs to the Ulaid, but the queen of the Connachta desires it for herself. The outcome of the raiding expedition to capture the bull leads to a stalemate situation, which lasts for seven years before the dispute between the Ulaid and the other kingships flairs up again.
Although the tale is set in the pre-Christian Ireland, the first two written records date only from the 12c. So far, the research on the Táin has focused on reconstructing both the oral and written prehistory of this tale. Scholars have been particularly concerned with, or have speculated about the putative origin of the tale (“the backward look”).
The present study undertakes a “forward look” into the 800 years of the manuscript transmission of the tale till the years of 1870 and 1880 when the Royal Irish Academy published facsimile editions of the two 12c manuscripts (LU and LL). The editions contain the earliest textual evidence of the written Táin and represent photolithographic reproductions made from Seosamh cs manual transcripts. He and his son were the last of a long series of Irish scholar scribes who penned, preserved, and transmitted the ancient lore of the Irish from the High Middle Ages to the end of the 19c.
D’après l’auteur, une telle vue est surannée et relève d’un positivisme simplificateur et d’une nostalgie romantique (peut-être même politique), hérités du XIXe siècle. Les recherches archéologiques (et historiques) récentes nous mettent en garde contre ces idées traditionnelles et nous apprennent que les traits pertinents de la «Razzia des vaches de Cuailnge» et d’autres textes de la Branche Rouge sont en vérité beaucoup plus récents. L’analyse de la première version de la Táin permet de supposer une date qui ne remonte pas avant le Xe/XIe siècle pour la composition de la structure actuelle.
L’auteur appelle à une collaboration plus étroite entre linguistes et archéologues pour l’étude de cette épopée moyen-irlandaise.
[EN] The Cattle-raid of Cuailnge and the archeologists.
For a long time this venerable Old-Irish text has been considered as parallel to the great European epics, and as being a key-text for the national identification. It was even thought possible to read it as «a window on the Iron Age» (according to Kenneth Jackson’s well-known saying), with a flash-back of more than one thousand years. La Tène culture would therefore be reflected in the customs and social habits of the Ulstermen and other Irish tribes, a late and lucky survival in the most western and most conservative island of the territory once occupied by Celts, an island untouched by Roman culture.
Such a view, according to the author, is now obsolete, and relies on positivist simplification and on romantic (perhaps even political) passion, inherited from the last century. Recent archeological (and historical) researches caution us against these traditional ideas and teach us that the significant features of the «Cattle-raid of Cuailnge» and of other texts of the Red Branch are in fact much more recent. An analysis of the older version of the Táin would allow to posit a date not earlier than the Xth/XIth c. for its composition with the present structure.
The author makes an appeal for more collaboration between archaeologists and linguists in the study concerning this Middle Irish epic.
D’après l’auteur, une telle vue est surannée et relève d’un positivisme simplificateur et d’une nostalgie romantique (peut-être même politique), hérités du XIXe siècle. Les recherches archéologiques (et historiques) récentes nous mettent en garde contre ces idées traditionnelles et nous apprennent que les traits pertinents de la «Razzia des vaches de Cuailnge» et d’autres textes de la Branche Rouge sont en vérité beaucoup plus récents. L’analyse de la première version de la Táin permet de supposer une date qui ne remonte pas avant le Xe/XIe siècle pour la composition de la structure actuelle.
L’auteur appelle à une collaboration plus étroite entre linguistes et archéologues pour l’étude de cette épopée moyen-irlandaise.
[EN] The Cattle-raid of Cuailnge and the archeologists.
For a long time this venerable Old-Irish text has been considered as parallel to the great European epics, and as being a key-text for the national identification. It was even thought possible to read it as «a window on the Iron Age» (according to Kenneth Jackson’s well-known saying), with a flash-back of more than one thousand years. La Tène culture would therefore be reflected in the customs and social habits of the Ulstermen and other Irish tribes, a late and lucky survival in the most western and most conservative island of the territory once occupied by Celts, an island untouched by Roman culture.
Such a view, according to the author, is now obsolete, and relies on positivist simplification and on romantic (perhaps even political) passion, inherited from the last century. Recent archeological (and historical) researches caution us against these traditional ideas and teach us that the significant features of the «Cattle-raid of Cuailnge» and of other texts of the Red Branch are in fact much more recent. An analysis of the older version of the Táin would allow to posit a date not earlier than the Xth/XIth c. for its composition with the present structure.
The author makes an appeal for more collaboration between archaeologists and linguists in the study concerning this Middle Irish epic.