The ''Cath Maige Mucrama'' (in English the Battle of Mag Mucrama) is an early

Middle Irish language Middle Irish, also called Middle Gaelic (, , ), is the Goidelic language which was spoken in Ireland, most of Scotland and the Isle of Man from AD; it is therefore a contemporary of Late Old English and Early Middle English. The modern Goideli ...

tale which forms part of the

Cycles of the Kings The Cycles of the Kings or Kings' Cycles, sometimes called the Historical Cycle, are a body of Old and Middle Irish literature. They comprise legends about historical and semi-historical kings of Ireland (such as ''Buile Shuibhne'', "The Madne ...

Content

The cast includes several major figures from Irish pseudo-history,

Ailill Aulom Ailill Ollamh (or Oilill Olum) in Irish traditional history was the son of Mug Nuadat and was a king of the southern half of Ireland, placed in the 3rd century by early modern Irish genealogy. Sadb ingen Chuinn, daughter of Conn of the Hundred B ...

, his son

Éogan Mór In Irish traditional history Éogan (or Eoghan Mór—a name also used by his grandfather, Mug Nuadat), eldest son of Ailill Ollamh, was a 2nd or 3rd century AD king of Munster. He ruled for either fifteen or seventeen years, though fifteen i ...

and his step- and foster-son

Mac Con Lugaid Mac Con, often known simply as Mac Con, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. He belonged to the Corcu Loígde, and thus to the Dáirine. His father was Macnia mac Lugdach, and his mothe ...

, along with the

King of Tara The term Kingship of Tara () was a title of authority in ancient Ireland - the title is closely associated with the archaeological complex at the Hill of Tara. The position was considered to be of eminent authority in medieval Irish literature ...

Art mac Cuinn. Mag Mucrama, the plain of the counting of the pigs, was in

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

, in the region of

Athenry Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th-century street-plan. The town is also well known by virt ...

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

. A tradition or

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

, in Irish '' dindshenchas'', has it that the plain was named for the magical pigs which infested it until banished by Queen

Medb Medb (), later spelled Meadhbh (), Méabh(a) () and Méibh (), and often anglicised as Maeve ( ), is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Her husband in the core stories of the cycle is Ailill mac Máta, although she had ...

of Connacht.Wiley, "Cath Maige Mucrama". Mac Con, exiled from Ireland, returns with the aid of the king of Britain, along with an army of Britons and Saxons, and conquers Ireland as far as Connacht where Éogan, with the help of Art mac Cuinn, plans to fight. The night before the battle Éogan and Art sleep with their hosts' daughters, conceiving the sons who will succeed them, Fiachu Muillethan in Éogan's case and

Cormac mac Airt Cormac mac Airt, also known as Cormac ua Cuinn (grandson of Conn) or Cormac Ulfada (long beard), was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. He is probably the most famous of the ancient High Kings ...

in Art's. Both Éogan and Art, as is foreseen, die in the battle at Mag Mucrama, and Mac Con becomes king of Tara.MacKillop, ''Dictionary'', "Cath Maige Mucrama"; Wiley, "Cath Maige Mucrama". Mac Con takes Cormac mac Airt as his foster son, and rules for seven years. He then pronounces a false judgement, showing that he is unfit to rule, while Cormac gives a right judgment, showing that he is the stuff of kings. Disasters ensue—"no grass came through the earth, nor leaf on tree, nor grain in corn" says the story—and Mac Con is deposed and Cormac is made king in his place. Mac Con travels to Ailill's court, where his foster mother warns him that he is in peril. When Ailill embraces Mac Con he bites him with his poison tooth, wounding Mac Con, who flees but is killed by one of Ailill's warriors.

Contexts

The earliest surviving manuscript containing the tale is in the '' Book of Leinster'', dated to the middle 12th century. The most recent translator dates the tale in that form to the 9th century. The purpose of the tale is presumed by some to have been political, to explain, and to justify, how it came about that the descendants of Art, that is the

Connachta The Connachta are a group of medieval Irish dynasty, dynasties who claimed descent from the legendary High King of Ireland, High King Conn of the Hundred Battles, Conn Cétchathach (Conn of the Hundred Battles). The modern western Provinces of ...

, and of Éogan, the

Eóganachta The Eóganachta (Modern , ) were an Irish dynasty centred on Rock of Cashel, Cashel which dominated southern Ireland (namely the Kingdom of Munster) from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of De ...

, occupied the leading political positions in Ireland—the Connachta and their offshoot the

Uí Néill The Uí Néill (; meaning "descendants of Niall") are Irish dynasties that claim descent from Niall Noígíallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages), a historical King of Tara who is believed to have died around c. 405. They are generally divided ...

provided the

High King of Ireland High King of Ireland ( ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and was later sometimes assigned anachronously or to leg ...

and the

King of Connacht The Kings of Connacht were rulers of the ''cóiced'' (variously translated as portion, fifth, province) of Connacht, which lies west of the River Shannon, Ireland. However, the name only became applied to it in the early medieval era, being named ...

, the Eóganachta the

King of Munster The kings of Munster () ruled the Kingdom of Munster in Ireland from its establishment during the Irish Iron Age until the High Middle Ages. According to Gaelic traditional history, laid out in works such as the ''Book of Invasions'', the earli ...

—when their ancestral figures had been defeated by Mac Con, whose own descendants the

Corcu Loígde The Corcu Loígde (Corcu Lóegde, Corco Luigde, Corca Laoighdhe, Laidhe), meaning Gens of the Calf Goddess, also called the Síl Lugdach meic Itha, were a kingdom centred in West County Cork who descended from the proto-historical rulers of M ...

were no longer a force after the 7th century. As such it forms part of the common origin legends of the Uí Néill and the Eóganachta. Mac Con belonged to the ancient

Dáirine The Dáirine (Dárine, Dáirfine, Dáirfhine, Dárfine, Dárinne, Dairinne), later known dynastically as the Corcu Loígde and associated, were the proto-historical rulers of Munster before the rise of the Eóganachta in the 7th century AD. They ...

, who were cousins of the

Ulaid (Old Irish, ) or (Irish language, Modern Irish, ) was a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic Provinces of Ireland, over-kingdom in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages made up of a confederation of dynastic groups. Alternative names include , which ...

. The ancestors of the Eóganachta are known as the Deirgtine.

Editions, translations, and adaptions

The Battle of Mag Mucrama has been translated by Whitley Stokes ("The Battle of Mag Mucrime", ''Revue Celtique'', 13, 1892), by Standish O'Grady (included in ''Silva Gaedelica'', 2 volumes, 1892) and by M. O'Daly in ''Cath Maige Mucrama: The Battle of Mag Mucrama'' (1975). A modernization into modern Irish was published by

Peadar Ua Laoghaire Father Peadar Ua Laoghaire or Peadar Ó Laoghaire (, first name locally ; 30 April 1839 – 21 March 1920), also anglicized as Peter O'Leary, was an Irish writer and Catholic priest, who is regarded today as one of the founders of modern literat ...

in 1917 as ''Lughaidh Mac Con''.Lughaidh Mac Con (1917)
at archive.org

Annalistic references

John O'Donovan queried its supposed location in the Ordnance Survey Books for

. As late as the 11th century, it was still used as a locative term, as demonstrated by this obit in the

Annals of Inisfallen The ''Annals of Inisfallen'' () are a chronicle of the medieval history of Ireland. Overview There are more than 2,500 entries spanning the years between 433 and 1450. The manuscript is thought to have been compiled in 1092, as the chronic ...

: * ''AI1044.6 Repose of Maenach Muccruma in Achad Deó.''

Notes

References

* * * * {{refend

External links

Translated text
of ''The Battle of Mag Mucrama'' at ancienttexts.org Cycles of the Kings Texts in Irish