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Comram
na Clóenferta (aka Mortlaid ban Temra)
"The Triumph of the Sloping Mound" (aka "The Death of the Women of
Tara")
Edition
- B. Ó
Cuív (ed & tr), 'Comram na Cloenfherta', Celtica 11 (1976) 168-179.
Manuscript
- Rawlinson B. 502, f. 73v (Oxford)
Date
- "Linguistically the text is not susceptible of accurate
dating" (Ó
Cuív 169), probably some time in the Middle Irish period.
Characters
- Tuathal Techtmar, king of Tara and legendary (if not
mythical) ancestor of
Dál Cuinn (prehistoric Connachta and Uí Néill)
- Eochu Ánchenn, king of Leinster from the Leinster
Domnainn
- Cormac mac Airt, great-great grandson of Tuathal and king
of Tara
- Cairpre Liphechair, son of Cormac and subsequent king of
Tara
- Dúnlang, king of Leinster. In the tract known
as the Bórama, he is
identified as Dúnlaing mac Énna Níad, the
eponymous ancestor of the Uí Dúnlainge
- Óengus Fer Gaebuaibthech, champion of the
Déisi
Notes
- This text is more of a summary than a fully developed saga. It is part of a cycle of narratives dealing with the
bóraime, a
huge fine imposed by Tuathal Techtmar on the Laigin and levied by
subsequent Dál Cuinn and Uí Néill kings of Tara.
- It is also a bit of dindsenchas
(placename lore) about the archaeological formation at Tara known as the clóenferta.
- The slaughter of the maidens at Tara is also referred to in
the Annals of Tigernach s.a. 222, in the Rennes Dindsenchas §35,
in the poem Échta Lagen for
Leth Cuinn in LL, and in a poem by Orthanach ua
Cáelláma (d. 839) edited in Éigse 10 pp. 177ff.
Summary
Eochu
Áinchenn marries Dáirine, daughter of
Tuathal, but is not pleased with her and so marries her sister Fithir,
after he
tells Tuathal that Dáirine died. When
the sisters see one another, they both die of shame.
Tuathal levies the bóraime
Laigen as an éraic
for the death of
his daughters--150 cows, 150 pigs, and 150 cloaks.
The bóraime
is levied by
the subsequent kings up till the time of Cormac mac Airt and
Dúnlang, king of
Leinster. When Cormac invades Leinster
to seize the tribute, Dúnlang outflanks him, goes to Tara, and
kills over 3,000 maidens (presumably at the Clóenferta).
Some time later, Óengus Fer Gaebuaibthech blinds
Cormac, and Cairpre, Cormac’s son, takes over the kingship, winning a
number of
battles in Munster. Also at this time, the Déisi begin
their migration from Brega into Leinster.
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