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Editions

• S. H. O'Grady (ed. & tr.), Silva Gadelica (London 1892) I: 72-82, II: 76-88.
• D. Wiley (ed. & tr.), An Edition of Aided Diarmata meic Cerbaill from the Book of Uí Maine.  Unpublished Ph.D. Diss. (Harvard 2000).
• A new edition and translation of this text by D. Wiley are forthcoming.

Manuscripts

• R.I.A., D ii L (The Book of Uí Maine), f. 133r-134r (old foliation)
• T.C.D., H. 2. 16 (The Yellow Book of Lecan), cols. 869c-d, 870-875
• T.C.D., H. 1. 10, f. 170 ff.
• B.L., Egerton 1782, f. 37 ff.
• N.L.I., G 61, pp. 123-140.
• ? N.L.I., G 175
• Coláiste Naomh Mel, ML 10, 87 ff.
• See 'Notes' below

Date

• Twelfth century

Characters

• Díarmait mac Cerbaill (544-565), king of Tara from the Southern Uí Néill.
• Cíarán mac int Saír, saint and founder of Clonmacnoise.  He died some time in the mid-sixth century, but the exact date is not certain.
• Mugain (alias Mumain), Díarmait's wife
• Curnán mac Áedo mac Echach Tirmcarna (d. 559), son of the king of Connacht. The genealogies connect him and his father with the Uí Briúin Aí, but scholars have questioned this.
• Colum Cille (alias Columba) (d. 597), pilgrim saint from Cenél Conaill (a branch of the Northern Uí Néill) who established an ecclesiastical foundation on Iona.
• Áed Baclám, Díarmait's steward
• Áed Guaire, a noble from Cenél Féchín in the territory of the Uí Maine of Connacht.
• Bishop Senach (d. 588), presumably the Senach who was the bishop of Cluain Iraird.
• Ruadán of Lorrha (d. c. 584), an important Munster saint who also had a cult in Germany.
• Brénainn of Birr (d. c. 565), founder of the monastery of Birr.
• Fergus and Domnall (both d. 566), the two sons of Muirchertach mac Erca.  They belong to Cenél nÉogain, a branch of the Northern Uí Néill.  According to a number of sources, they succeeded Díarmait as joint-kings of Tara but only lasted a year.
• Becc mac Dé (d. c. 553), Díarmait's seer.  Some sources regard him as a saint.
• Áed Dub mac Suibne (d. 588), foster son of Díarmait and later king of Dál nAraidi
• Tuathal Máelgarb (d. 544), king of Tara from Cenél Coirpri
• The following are mentioned but play no real part in the narrative:
  • Suibne mac Colmáin (d. 600), Díarmait's grandson by his son Colmán Mór, the eponymous ancestor of Clann Cholmáin Móir.
  • Áed Sláine (d. 604), Díarmait's son and the eponymous ancestor of Síl nÁedo Sláine.
  • Ainmire mac Sétna (d. 569), king of Cenél Conaill
  • Nindid mac Duach, from the Cenél Duach subsept of Cenél Conaill, was the cousin of Sétna
  • Áed mac Echach Tirmcharna (d.577), father of Curnán mac Áedo

Notes

• This texts belongs to the Cycle of Díarmait mac Cerbaill and is famous for its account of the king's threefold death.
• Like the Aided Díarmata (2), Aided Díarmata (AD) is a collection of originally independent stories about the king.  They were brought together, likely some time in the twelfth century, in an effort to present a narrative history of Díarmait's reign from his accession to his violent death at Ráith Becc in Ulster.  Some of these stories, particularly the episode involving the cursing of Tara, survive independently in some MSS.  I have not listed these MSS in the section above because I have yet to go through all of them and determine their relationship to AD.  However, they will be included in my forthcoming edition of this text.

Summary

After being exiled by Tuathal Máelgarb, Díarmait is with his fleet on Snám dá Én on the same day that St. Cíarán mac int Saír lights a fire at Druim Tiprat.  Díarmait’s druids tell him that fire will never be extinguished.  Irritated, Díarmait vows to extinguish it himself, and approaches the site just as Cíarán is being to build his first church (Eclais Becc).  The cleric invites him to help plant the first post and to allow his hand, the cleric’s hand, to be above Diarmait’s.  If the exile agrees, Cíarán promises, Díarmait will become king.  Though skeptical, Díarmait agrees and helps the saint erect the first post of Eclais Becc.  Soon after that, Máel Mór, one of Díarmait’s foster brothers, murders Tuathal, and Díarmait is made king.

Some time later, Díarmait sends word to Cíarán to attend the Óenach Tailten at Beltaine.  The two meet beforehand at Cnoc Bracáin, and Díarmait donates the whole area to the saint.  Afterwards, Díarmait has an enemy of his, a man named Flann Finn, who lives on that land, murdered.  In the course of their conflict, Flann dies the threefold death of burning, wounding, and drowning.  When Cíarán gets wind of this, he curses Díarmait to die the same threefold death.

After that, a drought comes upon the land and the people at the Óenach Tailten beg Cíarán for help.  He prays for rain and his prayer is answered.  Then, before the whole assembly, Díarmait submits to Cíarán and pledges him his service and that of his descendants in perpetuity.

During this same gathering, a woman accuses her husband of committing adultery, and though the man denies it, the woman says she will not believe him unless he swears an oath under Cíarán’s hand.  This the man does, but his oath is false, and as a result, a running sore takes shape on his neck on the very spot where the saint placed his hand during the oath, and soon the man’s head falls off.  However, the man does not die.  He lives for the next seven years at Clonmacnoise and even fathers a child in his headless state—the child who is to be the ancestor of the Síl nAidna Sogain or the Síl nUa Méith.  After these two miracles, Díarmait rules in peace for many years.  (See Echtra Ambacuc.)

Once day during the feast of Tara, Díarmait’s grandson, Suibne mac Colmáín Móir, arrives, but as he does so, the child in womb of Mumain (Díarmait’s wife) screams.  Becc mac Dé, Díarmait’s seer, says that it is an omen—the unborn child, Áed Sláíne, will grow up and kill Suibne, and so will begin a period of kinslaying among the Southern Uí Néíll. 

Becc mac Dé is the greatest prophet of his time.  He has the ability to answer three different questions from three different people with the same response.  He is the one who tells Díarmait that Áed Dub, the king’s foster son, will be responsible for his death.  And at that time, Díarmait will be at the house of Banbán in Ulster, and he will be wearing a tunic woven from flax grown from a single seed, he will be eating bacon from a pig that had not been farrowed, he will be drinking ale brewed from a single grain, and the ridge-pole of his own house will fall on his head.  After hearing this odd prophecy, Díarmait has Áed Dub exiled.

After that, Díarmait rules with an iron fist till one day his steward, Áed Baclám, and his herald travel to Connacht.  They demand that each house they visit be breached so that Díarmait’s spear can be carried through crosswise.  It is an oppressive demand, but no one dares deny them for fear of Díarmait.  Soon, they come to the house of Áed Guaire in the lands of the Uí Maine Connacht.  Unlike the others, Áed is enraged by their demand and kills the king’s herald.  He immediately flees to Bishop Senach for sanctuary, who transfers him to St. Ruadán, who sends him to Scotland.  But when Díarmait sends men after him, Áed returns to Ireland, and Ruadán hides him in the ground at Poll Ruadáin.  The king, however, gets wind of this, and after some false starts, he drags Áed off to Tara to await execution.

Enraged at the violation of his sanctuary, Ruadán gets Brénainn of Birr, and the two of them go to Tara to demand Áed’s release.  They ring bells and chant maledictory psalms against the king, and that night, twelve of the king’s foster sons die, but are later restored to life by the saints.  Díarmait refuses to release his prisoner, and so the two sides fast against one another for an entire year.  This state of affairs prevails until the clerics trick Díarmait into breaking his fast, while they fast against him unawares.  That night, Díarmait has a dream that presages his downfall.  When he awakes in the morning, he is furious at Ruadán, and the two men exchange a litany of imprecations that culminates in the cursing of Tara, the consequence of which is that no king will ever inhabit the site again.  Diarmait releases Áed in exchange for some magic horses, which soon return to the sea, and the clerics and the king are finally at peace.

Some time later, Díarmait has a dream, which Becc mac Dé interprets as presaging the end of his rule and the formation of a permanent rift between secular and ecclesiastical society.  As a result, both Church and State will suffer.

During the Feast of Tara, Curnán mac Áedo, the son of the king of Connacht, kills a person (unnamed in the text) and puts himself under the protection of Fergus and Domnall, the two sons of Muirchertach mac Erca, who in turn place him under the protection of St. Colum Cille.  Nevertheless, Díarmait puts Curnán to death, and the Connacht revolt.

In an effort to bring them to heel, Díarmait leads troops to Cúil Sibrinne, which is near Cúil Dreimne.  Meanwhile, Colum Cille gathers the combined forces of the Northern Uí Néill and the Connachta to oppose him.  Despite the erection of a 'druidic barrier' (airbe druad), Díarmait is soundly defeated, while Colum Cille's forces lose but a single soldier.

Some time after the battle, Díarmait asks Becc for more information on his death, and the seer chants a verse prophecy recounting the events that will lead up the king’s death.  Still in doubt, Díarmait calls for his druids to confirm Becc’s words, and the seer, angry that the king does not believe him, leaves court.  Outside, he meets Colum Cille, confesses his faith, and dies.  After that, Díarmait’s druids confirm the prophecy of his impending threefold death.

Some time later, Díarmait goes on a royal circuit righthandwise around Ireland.  When he comes to Ulster, Banbán invites him to his house for a feast.  Mumain warns Díarmait against attending, but the king goes anyway, and Banbán promises Díarmait he can sleep with his daughter to spite the queen.  After sleeping with her at Ráith Becc, the girl presents Díarmait with the prophesied cloak and tunic, and he is served the prophesied food and drink.  Just then, the king notices that the upper part of Banbán’s house is older than the lower part.  When asked, Banbán explains that he found the ridge-pole which he used in the construction of the house out on the sea one day while he was finishing.  (See Comlond Díarmata fri Ruadán.)  At that moment, Díarmait realizes that Becc’s prophecy has come true.  He tries to escape, but is met at the door by Áed Dub who runs him through with a spear.  Díarmait stumbles back into the house as it is set on fire.  Dying, he climbs into a vat of ale to escape the flames and expires as the ridge-pole of the house falls on his head.  When the drama is over, his remains are taken to Clonmacnoise where they are interred.