Kings Home
Updates
The Sagas
The Kings
The Dynasties
Copyright
Information
Early Irish
Literature Links
D. Wiley Homepage
Hastings College
Contact
|
*Cairpre Cindchait 7
na hAithechthuatha
*"Cairpre Cindchait and the Aithechthuatha"
Edition
- W.A. Craigie (ed), ‘Cairpre Cindchait and the Athach Tuatha’, RC 20
(1899) 335-339.
Manuscripts
Date
- Despite a couple archaisms, the language is that of the early modern
period.
Characters
- Cairpre Cindchait mac Dubthaigh, leader of the aithechthuatha and
usurping king of Ireland. According to this text, he belongs to the Fir
Domnann.
- The following characters are mentioned in the text, but play little,
if any, role in the narrative:
- The kings of Ireland before the revolt:
-
Fiacha Findalad mac Feradaig Findfechtnaig, one of
the three kings of Ireland before Cairpre’s revolt. Fiacha is an
ancestor in the Dál Cuinn line.
-
Fraech (alias Fiacc) mac Fidaig, one of the three
kings of Ireland before Cairpre’s revolt. Fraech is an ancestor of the
Éoganachta.
-
Bresal mac Feirb, one of the three kings of Ireland
before Cairpre’s revolt. Bresal is an ancestor of Dál nAraidi.
- The foreign kings
-
Luath mac Dereine, king of the Picts of Scotland
and the father of the wife of Fiacha, who is not named in this text due
to a scribal error (see p. 338). In
Bruiden Maic Dareo, she is called
Side Luath.
-
Gortnidd, king of the British and the father of
Cruibe, who is the wife of Fraech / Fiacc.
-
Coindidil, king of the Saxons and the father of
Áine, who is the wife of Bres.
- The restoration kings
-
Feradach Findfechtnach, the son of Fiacha and Side
Luath and the
ruler of the middle third of Ireland and an ancestor of Dál Cuinn.
-
Corp Uluim, the son of Fraech / Fiacc and Cruibe
and the ruler of the southern third of Ireland and an ancestor of the
Éoganachta.
-
Tipraide Tírech, the son of Bres and Áine and the
ruler of the northern third of Ireland and an ancestor of Dál nAraidi.
-
Leaders of the Aithechthuatha: Caipre. Munach, and
Buan.
Notes
- A story Argain Cairpri Cind Caitt for saerchlannaib hÉrenn is
mentioned in both tale lists. It is not clear how much, if any, of
its content is reflected in Bruiden
Maic Dareo or Cairpre
Cindchait ocus na hAithechthuatha.
-
According to Thomas O’Rahilly, there are four versions of this myth (Féil-sgríbhinn
Éoin Mhic Néill 105), a poem and three prose accounts:
- (1)
A poem
beginning Sóerchlanda Érenn uile (ed. Thurneysen, ZCP 11 p. 56
ff), which forms part of Bruiden
Maic Dareo
- (2)
Book of
Ballymote, Book of Lecan, and Book of Lismore (T. O. Raithbheartaigh,
Genealogical Tracts I (1932) 108ff.)
- (3) Edinburgh MS.
XXVIII (ed. without translation by Craigie in RC 20), the version
discussed here.
- (4) The Book of Fermoy and H.3.18 (ed. Thurneysen in ZCP 11 p. 59ff;
ed. & tr. by T. O. Raithbheartaigh, Genealogical Tracts I (1932)
122 ff.)
- Éon
Mac Néill published a translation of Bruiden Maic Dareo
in ‘The Revolt of the Vassals’ The
New Ireland Review 26 (1906) 96-106.
- These stories on how the
Aithechthuatha or 'subject peoples' killed the Sóerchlanda
Éirenn or 'free peoples of Ireland' and how the latter regained their
hegemony is an important myth in Irish tradition. It provides the
narrative background for the famous wisdom text Audacht Morainn.
Summary
Cairpre Cindchait was a wicked and greedy ruler who seized the kingship of
Ireland. He got his epithet Cend-chait because he had a cat’s
snout and fur (srub cait fair 7 findfadh cait fair) and he belonged
to the Fir Domnann (go madh da bunadhas fher Domnand do-son).
After this introductory information on Cairpre, three separate genealogies
are given for him, one in verse and one that connects him with Erndolb mac
rí Lochlainn, who ‘went with Labraid Loingsech mac Ailella Áine to Bruiden
Tuama Tenbha’, where Cobthach Cóel was killed [In the saga Orgain Denna
Ríg, we learn that Tuaim Tenba is the old name of Dind Ríg]. From
Erndolb, the saga says, descend the Aithechthuatha Érenn, and a list of 44
of them is given in four columns.
Next, the saga explains how Cairpre seized the kingship from the Sóerchlanda
Éirenn or 'free peoples of Ireland'. Tired of being oppressed, the
leaders of the Aithechthuatha, Munach, Buan, and Cairpre, decided to kill
their overlords.
They spent
three years preparing a great feast for their masters to be held at
Cruachain (in this version of the story). When the feast was ready,
nobles came from all over and ate and drank for nine days, but once
everyone was ‘gloriously drunk’ (measc medharchain), Cairpre and
his men slew them all, including the three kings Fiacha, Fraech, and Bres.
The only people to escape were their three pregnant wives who fled home to
their respective fathers.
At the court of Luath in Scotland, Fiacha’s wife gave
birth to Feradach Findfechtnach; at the court of Gortnidd, king of the
British, Fraech / Fiacc’s wife gave birth to Corp Uluim; and at the court
of Coindidil, king of the Saxons, Bres’ wife gave birth to Tipraite Tírech.
Meanwhile, Cairpre became king of Ireland, but the
land and the sea refused to yield its produce. The people of Ireland
suffered so much from the ensuing famine that in time they sent envoys to
Scotland where Feradach, Corp, and Tipraite (now adults) were staying and
asked them to return to Ireland and take the kingships of their fathers.
In return, the envoys swore that the Aithechthuatha would serve them, and
they named ‘the sky and the earth and the sun’ etc. as their sureties.
The three men agreed, and so Feradach took the kingship of the middle part
of Ireland, Corp the southern part, and Tibraite the eastern part. What
happened to Cairpre is not recorded in this version of the story.
|