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Díarmata meic Cerbaill (2) "The Violent Death of Díarmait mac Cerbaill (2)" Editions
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Summary [Scél air Ruadhán Lothra Naemh 7 air Dhiarmuid mac Cearbhuill] After recovering from a year-long illness, Áed Baclám goes to Díarmait mac Cerbaill, king of Tara, and asks how the administration of his rule has been. When Díarmait tells him that there has been no violation of his peace, Áed offers to test that assertion. He says he will carry Díarmait’s spear crosswise through the doorway of every enclosure in Ireland to see if he meets any resistance. Áed ventures into Connacht till he comes to the fort of Áed Guaire. After carrying Díarmait’s spear through gate of the ramparts, Áed Baclám demands that the doorway of Áed Guaire’s house be widened so that he may carry the spear inside there as well. Áed Guaire becomes enraged and chops off Áed Baclám’s head. Díarmait soon learns of the killing and sends troops to ravage Áed Guaire’s land, but not before the Connachtman could flee to Bishop Senach for sanctuary. The bishop tries and fails to transfer him into the custody of St. Ruadán of Lorrha, so Áed Guaire flees to Britain where he remains in exile for a year. But when Díarmait sends men across the sea to look for him, Áed returns to Ireland and is hidden by Ruadán in a hole in the ground called Poll Ruadáin. In time, Díarmait comes to Poll Ruadáin in search of the fugitive and after some false starts succeeds in dragging him in chains from the Ruadán’s sanctuary. Áed is then conveyed to Tara to await execution. Furious that his right to offer sanctuary has been violated by the king, Ruadán gathers Brénainn of Birr and the twelve apostles of Ireland and goes to Tara. As a group, the clerics fast against the king in an effort to effect Áed’s release, but Díarmait fasts as well. That night, the sons of the twelve champions of Tara die (presumably as a result of the clerics’ fast), but Ruadán restores them to life. Thereafter, Díarmait and the clerics continue to fast against one another for a year. Then, Brénainn mac Findloga, who is at sea in search of the Land of Promise (see Navigatio Brendani), receives an angelic visitation telling him of the struggle of his clerical brethren against the king of Tara. Brénainn brings his ship to shore at Dún Rosarach and then heads towards to Tara. When Díarmait gets wind of the younger Brénainn’s arrival, he immediately tells the assembled clerics that he will accept ‘fifty blue-eyed horses with golden bridles’ as ransom for the release of Áed Guaire. Brénainn hears of the proposal en route to Tara and turns fifty seals into the requested horses and presents them to the king upon his arrival. Díarmait, however, will not accept the horses without a year’s guarantee, so the clerics stand surety for them during that time. However, (presumably at the end of the year), the horses return to the sea, transforming back into seals, taking their riders with them to their deaths. Enraged, Díarmait bars the gates of Tara and forbids entrance to the clerics. That night, the younger Brénainn comes up with a ruse to end their stalemate. He tells the clerics to pretend to eat, so that the king will think that they have ended their fast. Díarmait falls for the trick and takes food himself, while the clerics fast against him in secret. That night, Mugain, Díarmait’s wife, has a dream presaging the end of her husband’s kingship, and when she tells him about it in the morning, Díarmait is furious and lashes out against the clerics. He and Ruadán then exchange a litany of imprecations that culminates in the saint's cursing of Tara. As a result, no king will dwell at Tara ever again. [Scél air Bhreasal mac Diarmada 7 air Bhecán] In preparing a feast for his father Díarmait, Bressal lacks nothing save “a cow with fat livers” (bó co n-aeib n-ítha). He finds out that one is in the possession of the nun Luchair, who lives at Cell Egnaig near Kells, but when she refuses to sell him the cow, he steals it and prepares the feast. However, when the feast is at its height, Luchair appears and tells Díarmait of his son’s crime. The king is furious that Bressal committed such an outrage in violation of his law and orders that he be put to death. Soon after the execution, Díarmait begins to feel guilty about the sentence he imposed on his son, and he goes to Colum Cille for help. The saint tells him to go to Becán of the Ulaid, who dwells on an unnamed island. When Díarmait and Colum Cille reach the island, Becán calls Díarmait a parricide and tells him to get “beneath the earth,” and at that moment Díarmait sinks into the ground up to his knees. Colum Cille, however, intervenes and asks Becán to raise Bressal from the dead. Becán prays three times, each time bringing fifty men named Bressal out of Hell. Díarmait’s son is raised in the last group. [Scél air Cholaim Chille 7 air Dhiarmait mac Cearbhuill] 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. [Bás Dhiarmada mic Cearrbuill] One day during a feast, Becc mac Dé, the king’s seer, warns Díarmait that Áed Dub (his foster son) will bring about his demise in the house of Banbán and Bainbsech. At that time, Díarmait will be wearing a tunic ‘woven from flax grown from a single seed and a cloak made from the wool of a single sheep’. He will be eating bacon from a pig that was not farrowed and he will be drinking ‘ale brewed from a single grain’. After hearing this prophecy, Díarmait banishes Áed from Ireland. Some time later, Díarmait sees a man approaching him. The man, who later turns out to be Banbán, invites the king to a feast at Ráith Becc in Ulster. Despite Mugain’s warning not to go, Díarmait accepts the invitation. At the subsequent feast, Banbán’s daughter gives Díarmait the prophesied tunic and cloak, while he is served the prophesied food. Then, Díarmait notes that the upper part of Banbán’s house is older than the lower part. When he asks his host to explain the contradiction, Banbán says that he found the ridge-pole floating in the sea and used it in the construction of his house. At that moment, Díarmait realizes he is going to die. He tells Banbán that that ridge-pole is the very one he cast into the sea for he was told that he would die under the ridge-pole of his own house. (See Comlond Díarmata fri Ruadán.) Díarmait tries to effect a quick exit, but is stopped at the door by Áed Dub. Banbán’s house is set on fire, and trapped inside, Díarmait dies.
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| Copyright 2004 Dan M. Wiley. Last updated 08/05/05 | |