Mór Muman or Mór Mumain (modern spelling: Mór Mhumhan) is a figure from

early Irish literature Early Irish literature is one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe, though inscriptions utilising Irish and Latin are found on Ogham stones dating from the 4th century, indicating simultaneous usage of both languages by this per ...

who is said to have been a

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...

and daughter of king

Áed Bennán Aodh ( , , ; sga, Áed) is an Irish and Scottish Gaelic male given name, originally meaning "fire".The modern word ''aodh'' meaning 'inflammation' or as a phrase with the Irish word for 'itch' (''tochas''), giving ''aodh thochais'', 'burning i ...

. Her name means "the Great Mother" and the province of

(''An Mhumhain'') is named after her.Olmsted, Garrett. ''The gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans''.

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

, 1994. pp.162, 206, 270 She is believed to be an euhemerised

mother goddess A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or the natural world, ...

and

sovereignty goddess Sovereignty goddess is a scholarly term, almost exclusively used in Celtic studies (although parallels for the idea have been claimed in other traditions, usually under the label '' hieros gamos''). The term denotes a goddess who, personifying a t ...

of the province, particularly of the

Eóganachta The Eóganachta or Eoghanachta () were an Irish dynasty centred on 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 Desmond, ...

.MacKillop, "Mór Muman". Mór Muman "personifies the land of Munster" and "the sovereignty of the region".Lysaght, Patricia, "Traditions of the Banshee", in Miranda Green & Sandra Billington (ed.), ''The Concept of the Goddess''. Psychology Press, 1996. p.158 She is also known as Mugain and may be the same figure as

Anu , image=Detail, upper part, Kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125-1104 BCE. British Museum.jpg , caption=Symbols of various deities, including Anu (bottom right corner) on a kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125–1104 BCE , ...

and

the Morrígan The Morrígan or Mórrígan, also known as Morrígu, is a figure from Irish mythology. The name is Mór-Ríoghain in Modern Irish, and it has been translated as "great queen" or "phantom queen". The Morrígan is mainly associated with war and ...

Traditions

The Irish-language tale ''Mór Muman 7 Aided Cuanach meic Ailchine'' ("Mór Muman and the death of Cuanu mac Ailchine") is found in the ''

Book of Leinster The Book of Leinster ( mga, Lebor Laignech , LL) is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled c. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18 (cat. 1339). It was formerly known as the ''Lebor na Nuachongbála'' "Book ...

''. It is suggested that it dates from the 10th century or earlier.Wiley. According to this tale, Mór was placed under an enchantment and went mad. She wandered

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

for two years before she came to Cashel and the court of King

Fíngen mac Áedo Duib Fíngen mac Áedo Duib (Modern Irish: ''Finghin mac Aodha Dhuibh'', IPA: �fʲɪɲʝənʲmˠəkˈiːəɣəvʲ (died 618) was a King of Munster from the Eóganacht Chaisil branch of the Eoganachta. He was the great-grandson of Feidlimid mac Óengus ...

. Fingen eventually slept with her, and her memory returned. In the morning, Fingen gave her the queen's robe and brooch, and put aside his current queen, daughter of the king of the Deisi, and put Mór in her place as she was of better blood. The ''

Metrical Dindshenchas ''Dindsenchas'' or ''Dindshenchas'' (modern spellings: ''Dinnseanchas'' or ''Dinnsheanchas'' or ''Dınnṡeanċas''), meaning "lore of places" (the modern Irish word ''dinnseanchas'' means " topography"), is a class of onomastic text in early I ...

'' say of Fingen and Mór:

Best of the women of Inis Fail
is Mór daughter of Áed Bennan.
Better is Fingen than any hero
that drives about Femen.

When Fingen died, the story says, Mór Muman married

Cathal mac Finguine Cathal mac Finguine (died 742) was an Irish King of Munster or Cashel, and effectively High King of Ireland as well. He belonged to the Eóganacht Glendamnach sept of the dominant Eóganachta kin-group whose members dominated Munster from the 7 ...

. Unfortunately, the collector of this tale mistook this Cathal for his great-grandfather, Cathal mac Áedo. A similar tale is told of Mis, who gave her name to the

Slieve Mish Mountains , translation = ossiblymountains of Mis , language = Irish , photo=File:Fenit Marina Ireland.JPG , photo_caption= Slieve Mish Mountains from across the Tralee Bay in the village of Fenit , country=Republic of Ireland , location = Kerr ...

and who may be the same figure as Mór.Monaghan, Patricia. ''The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore''. Infobase Publishing, 2004. p.336 Mis is said to have gone mad and to have lived as a wild woman in the mountains. She recovers after befriending and sleeping with a harper named Dubh Rois. These tales may be based on the common motif of the

loathly lady The loathly lady ( cy, dynes gas, Motif D732 in Stith Thompson's motif index), is a tale type commonly used in medieval literature, most famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's '' The Wife of Bath's Tale''. The motif is that of a woman who appears una ...

, whereby the goddess of sovereignty appears as a hag until kissed by the rightful king, whereupon she becomes a beautiful young woman. In another tale, Mór and her husband Lear land in Ireland at the

Dingle Peninsula The Dingle Peninsula ( ga, Corca Dhuibhne; anglicised as Corkaguiny, the name of the corresponding barony) is the northernmost of the major peninsulas in County Kerry. It ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point ...

and make their home at

Dunmore Head Dunmore Head () is a promontory in the westernmost part of the Dingle Peninsula, located in the barony of Corca Dhuibhne in southwest County Kerry, Ireland. The headland, together with parts of Mount Eagle's northern slopes is formed from st ...

(''Dún Mór'', meaning "Dún" the Irish for fort and "Mór" the Irish for Big, possibly meaning "Mór's hillfort"). One day, Mór climbs to the top of Mount Eagle to see the land in which she dwells. However, she is 'taken short' and squats to relieve herself. The

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. At the foot of the mountain is a place called Tivoria or ''Tigh Mhóire'' ("Mór's house").Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition''. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. p.305 As a divinity, Mór Muman is believed to be identical with Mugain, and to include features of

Medb Medb (), later spelled Meadhbh (), Méibh () and Méabh (), 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 seve ...

and

. She is sometimes referred to simply as Mumain, making her association with the land of Munster (Irish, ''Mumu'') explicit. The death of Mór Muman ingen Áedo Bennáin is recorded by the ''

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín ...

'' under the year 632 and by the ''

Annals of Tigernach The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (abbr. AT, ga, Annála Tiarnaigh) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish. Many of the pre-historic entries come from the 12th-cen ...

'' for 636. Mór's sister, Ruithchern, is also thought to represent the sovereignty goddess. She was the protagonist of the lost story ''Aithed Ruithcherne la Cuanu mac Cailchin'' (The killing of Ruithchern by Cuanu mac Ailchine).

Notes

References

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Traditions

See also

Notes

References

Further reading