Conchobar mac Nessa

“ Conall Cernach, 138, 329, 403, 430, 432, 439, 454, 471-2, 483-5, 503, 512-3, 536, 539, 562-3, 594, 602. Conall Corc, 309. Conchobar mac Nessa, 133, 135-44, 324, 326, 330, 335, 337, 343, 345-6, 363, 379, 431, 434, 444-5, 449, 452-3, 459, 502, 511, 576, 609, 627, 630, 638-9, 646-7, 668, 678. ”

“ The cycle opens with the birth of {128} Conchobar, son of Cathbad and of Nessa, daughter of one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, though in an older rescension of the tale he is Nessa's son by the god Lug. During Conchobar's reign over Ulster Cúchulainn was born. He was son of Dechtire, either by Sualtaim, or by her brother Conchobar, or by the god Lug, of whom he may also be a reincarnation.453 Like other heroes of saga, he possesses great strength and skill at a tender age, and, setting out for Conchobar's court, overpowers the king's "boy corps," and then becomes their chief. ”

“ Tindi fell in the conflict, and everyone said, “Good is the deed"; and the Druid said, “Mac Ceacht shall be his name for ever”; hence “Mac Eacht” [21] adhered to him.
Conchobar won the battle on the Boyne over Eochaid Feidleach; and Sraibgend mac Niuil and his son fell there, sustaining the battle. Eochaid Dala took up the yoke of battle across Meath, over the green-streamed Shannon, and brought Meadb and Connacht safe with him through dint of fighting, so that he was not dared from the Boyne to the Shannon. ”

“ Thus the belief in mortal descent from the gods among the Celts may have involved the theory of a divine avatar. The god became father of a mortal by a woman, and part of himself passed over to the child, who was thus the god himself.
Conchobar was also a rebirth of a god, but he was named from the river whence his mother had drawn water containing the worms which she swallowed. This may point to a lost version in which he was the son of a river-god by Nessa. This was quite in accordance with Celtic belief, as is shown by such names as Dubrogenos, from dubron, "water," and genos, "born of" ”

“ So it has to be discounted very considerably in so far as regards the poet's private character; and I think you will, as we proceed, see that it does not belong to history, but that Conchobar and Aitherne are Irish reflexes of Mâth and Gwydion, when the latter (pp. 243-6) got possession by stealth or cunning of certain animals from Hades.
Having premised this much, one may proceed to make an abstract of Aitherne's story. [32] He first made for the northern part of Connaught, where nothing is recorded of him. He then proceeded to the court of a king called Echaid mac Luchtai, near the Shannon. ”

“ He is, in short, to be regarded as holding, in the Ultonian cycle, a place analogous to that of Nuada and Llûᵭ in the cycles to which they belong.
The Mac Óc and Merlin.
In respect of his partially acknowledged divinity, Conchobar differs from Cormac mac Airt, who is treated throughout as a mere man. The next to be mentioned is Aengus, [83] who, on the other hand, is never treated as a historical character: he is described as son of the god called Dagda the Great, and the goddess Boann, [84] from whom the river Boyne takes its name. ”

“ From the worship of Cromm Cruaich—’twas no luck for them.
“For I have learnt,
Except one-fourth of the keen Gaels
Not a man alive—lasting the snare!
Escaped without death in his mouth.”
—Dr. Kuno Meyer’s translation of the Dinnsenchus of Mag Slecht.
187. Nutt: Voyage of Bran, p. 164.
188. See chap. XI—“The Gods in Exile”.
189. Pronounced Maive.
190. The story of the Tragical Death of King Conchobar, translated by Eugene O’Curry from the Book of Leinster, will be found in the appendix to his MS. Materials of Irish History, and (more accessible) in Miss Hull’s Cuchullin Saga. ”

“ Then it was that Conchobar King of Ulster said, "We have not found this way between Dun-da-Benn and Dun Delgan (Cu Chulainn's stronghold) ."
"We pledge our word truly," said Bricriu; "but it is more dignified for us to whisper than for another to cry out loud. It seems to us that it is not in the territory of Ulster that we are at all."
"We give our word," said Sencha mac Ailill, "that it is not in the territory of Ulster at all we are." ”

“ Concobar Mac Nessa was not only King of Ulster and captain of the Red Branch, but was also the head and chief of a great school. In this school the boys did not injure their eyesight and impair their health by poring over books; nor were compelled to learn what they could not understand; nor were instructed by persons whom they did not wish to resemble. They were taught to hurl spears at a mark; to train war-horses and guide war-chariots; to lay on with the sword and defend themselves with sword and shield; to cast the hand-stone of the warrior—a great art in those days ”

“ The men of Ireland bade Eochaid bring Meadb to the gathering. Eochaid sent Searbluath, his female messenger, to Cruachan for Meadb. Meadb goes on the morrow to Tara, and the fair-races were run by them for a fortnight and a month. Thereafter the men of Ireland disperse. Conchobar stayed after the others in the fair, watching Meadb, and, as Meadb happened to go to the Boyne to bathe, Conchobar met her there, overcame her, and violated her. When that tale was told in Tara, the kings of Ireland rose forth from Tara, and Tindi mac Conrach and Eochaid Dala with them. ”

“ Gladly would I welcome them back!”
“We ourselves,” replied the Ultonians, “would have counselled this long ago had we dared, O King!”
“Then I will send one of my three best champions to fetch them,” said Conchobar. “Either Conall the Victorious, or Cuchulainn, the son of Sualtam, or Fergus, the son of Roy; and I will find out which of those three loves me best.”
First he called Conall to him secretly.
“What would you do, O Conall,” he asked, “if you were sent to fetch the sons of Usnach, and they were killed here, in spite of your safe-conduct?” ”

“ Not daring to refuse, he presented it in a way that proved instantly fatal to the recipient; but even so, it hastened Cúchulainn's fall. Now Conchobar chose as his emissary to pick quarrels with his neighbours the poet Aitherne, who is represented as notoriously the most unreasonable and avaricious of men; but it is to be remembered that his story, treated, of course, as a narration of facts, comes to us from the Book of Leinster, written by the scribes of the hereditary foes of Ulster. ”

“ The Ulstermen then rose up about Conchobar; and he sent messengers throughout the province, to muster the people of the province to Fintan's banquet. Conchobar himself went, with the company of the Craeb Ruad (Red Branch) around him, to Dun-da-Benn, to the house of Fintan son of Niall Niamglonnach.
The Ulstermen arrived at the festival assembly, so that there was not a man from a village in Ulster that did not come there. The way in which they came was, each noble with his lady; each king with his queen; each musician with his accompaniments; each hunter with his huntress. ”

“ They were married, and Nessa’s father [Pg 11] gave them a bride-gift of land, called afterwards Rath Cathfa, in the country of the Picts in Crí Ross. In time a son was born to those two, namely, Conachúr mac Nessa, for it was by his mother’s name he was known, and it was for him that Cathfa made the poem beginning:
Welcome to the stranger that has come here.
There are some who say, however, that Fachtna the Mighty had been the leman of Nessa, and that it was he was the father of Conachúr instead of Cathfa. ”

“ At one extremity of the vast hall, upon a raised seat, sat their young king, Concobar Mac Nessa, slender, handsome, and upright. A canopy of bronze, round as the bent sling of the Sun-god, the long-handed, far-shooting son of Ethlend, [Footnote: This was the god Lu Lam-fada, i.e., Lu, the Long-Handed. The rainbow was his sling. Remember that the rod sling, familiar enough now to Irish boys, was the weapon of the ancient Irish, and not the sling which is made of two cords.] encircled his head. At his right hand lay a staff of silver. ”

“ Conchobar asks; "is it that thou mightst see mortal terror there?" Then Cuchulain lifts him out of the ditch. The six strong men of Ulster that were with us could not have lifted him out more bravely. "Get thee before us to yonder house," says Conchobar, 1"to make me a fire there." He kindles a great fire for him. "Good now," quoth Conchobar,1 "if one would bring me a roast pig, I would live." "I will go fetch it," says Cuchulain. Thereupon he sallies out, when he sees a man at a cooking-pit in the heart of the wood. ”

“ Thereupon a runner of his body-guard was summoned to Conchobar, Findchad Ferbenduma ('he of the copper Horn') to wit, son of Fraech Lethan ('the Broad') , and Conchobar bade him go assemble and muster the men of Ulster. And in like manner, in the drunkenness of sleep and of his 'Pains,' Conchobar enumerated to him their quick and their dead, and he uttered these words:—
"Arise, O Findchad! ”

“ In the 1st century of the Christian era, when Conchobhar or Conor Mac Nessa was king of Ulster, a crisis was reached, the result of which was that no man was allowed to act as Brehon until he had studied the full law course, which occupied twenty years, and had passed a rigorous public examination. ”

“ His wife, the fair-haired Emer, daughter of Forgall Monach, the sixth best woman that Erin contained, said that he should go and speak with his guardian Conchobar.
"Harnessed are the horses, and yoked is the chariot," said Loeg; "wait not for the evil hour, that thou mayest not be hindered of thy valor. Jump into it when thou likest."
Cu Chulainn took his warlike apparel around him; and he leaped into his chariot, and proceeded on by the most direct road, and shortest way to Emain Macha. And Sencha mac Ailill came to bid welcome to Cu Chulainn on the green of Emain Macha. ”

“ Then spake Conchobar to Sencha son of Ailill: "Come, O Sencha my master," said Conchobar; "stay the men of Ulster, and let them not go to the battle till there come the strength of a good omen and favourable portent, till the sun mounts to the roof-tree of heaven and sunshine fills the glens and lowlands and hills and watch-towers of Erin." ”

“ Fergus Mac Roich in his tent was next to Ailill; Cormac Condlongas Mac Conchobair beside him; Conall Cernach by him; Fiacha Mac Fir-Febe, the son of Conchobar's daughter, by him. Medb, daughter of Eochaid Fedlech, was on Ailill's other side; next to her, Findabair, daughter of Ailill and Medb. That was besides servants and attendants.
Medb came, after looking at the host, and she said it were folly for the rest to go on the hosting, if the cantred of the Leinstermen went.
'Why do you blame the men?' said Ailill.
'We do not blame them,' said Medb; 'splendid are the warriors. ”

“ Conchobar called his warriors and druids into council, to see if they could find some means of putting off war until they were ready to meet it. He did not wish Cuchulainn to go out single-handed a second time against all the rest of Ireland, for he knew that, if the champion perished, the prosperity of Ulster would fall with him for ever. So, when Cuchulainn came to Emain Macha, the king set all the ladies, singers, and poets of the court to keep his thoughts from war until the men of Ulster had recovered from their weakness. ”

“ Both Cét and Mesgegra belonged to the mythological party of darkness and death, and here we have them helping to produce an Ultonian parallel to Cormac losing one of his eyes, and Nuada one of his hands, especially as the ball was in Conchobar's head for years before it caused his death, and partly disabled him all that time, as he had to abstain from all violent exercise or excitement. But the early history of Conchobar is still more interesting, as it contains one of the Goidelic versions of the story which in its Greek form relates how Cronus was driven from power by his son Zeus. ”

“ Scarcely are the guests seated, when the dialogues begin:
"That pig looks good," says Conchobar.
"Truly, yes," replies Ailill; "but, Conchobar, how shall he be carved?"
"What more simple in this hall, where sit the glorious heroes of Erin?" cried, from his couch, Bricriu, son of Carbad. "To each his share, according to his fights and deeds. But ere the shares are distributed, more than one rap on the nose will have been given and received."
"So be it," said Ailill.
"'Tis fair," said Conchobar. "We have with us the warriors who defended our frontiers." ”

“ Conchobar was doubtless not a man; his sister Dechtere, the mother of Cúchulainn, is called a goddess; [81] and the scribe of an old story in the Book of the Dun is obliged, in spite of his Euhemerism, to remark in passing that Conchobar was a día talmaide, [82] or terrestrial god, of the Ultonians of his time. ”

“ Of these last, those who claim the first place are Ailill and Medb, the king and queen of Connaught, who have been mentioned on previous occasions, as has also their famous expedition, called the Táin, to Ulster, and especially to the Plain of Murthemne, or the district which was in Cúchulainn's special charge. Ailill may briefly be treated as one of the representatives of darkness, while his queen, who had been Conchobar's wife, belongs to the ambiguous goddesses of dawn and dusk found allied at one time with light and at another with darkness. ”

“ Yet, as our poet has re-created Conchobar, he is a human soul driven this way and that in a running fight with passion; pitiable in his hopeless love for Deirdre, comprehensible in his wrath against Naisi, sinister and terrifying in his revenge. And underneath the overt drama lies a profounder irony; for while he is plotting in his heart the enormous treachery, Lebarcham tells of the young god who was betrayed by his friends, and he says:
Hush, woman, for my heart is broken. ”