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Editions

• R. I. Best & M. A. O'Brien (eds), The Book of Leinster (Dublin 1967) Vol. V. 1204.
• J. Fraser (ed. & tr.), 'The Miracle of Ciaran's Hand', Ériu vi (1912) 159-60.
• P. Grosjean (ed. & tr.) 'Textes Hagiographiques Irlandais: le Miracle du Décapité', Études Celtique 2 (1937) 269-72.  (Introduction and translation into French)
• S. H. O'Grady, (ed. & tr.) Silva Gadelica. 2 vols. (London 1892). I: 416; II: 453.

Manuscripts

• The Book of Leinster, 274a9
• Bodleian Library, Rawlinson B 512, f. 140
• Dublin, Franciscan Convent MS A 9 (3), p. 32b
• R.I.A., Liber Flavus Fergusiorum, (two copies) I, fo. 10; I, fo. 37.
• Edinburgh National Library xxvi, fo. 2
• B.L., Egerton 92, fo. 17.
• See 'Notes' for references to the story in other texts

Date

• Early Middle Irish period

Characters

• Díarmait mac Cerbaill (544-565), king of Tara from the Southern Uí Néill.
• Cíarán mac int Staír (d. c. 544), saint and founder of Clonmacnoise
• Ambacuc, a perjurer

Notes

• This short tale is not really part of the Cycles of the Kings.  However, a shorter version of it is incorporated into Aided Díarmata meic Cerbaill (1), so I have decided to post it for comparative purposes.
• As far as I know, the story is untitled in manuscript.  It was dubbed Echtra Ambacuc by O'Grady, but is often known in English as 'The Miracle of St. Ciarán's Hand.'
• Versions of this story are incoroporated into Aided Diarmata meic Cerbaill (1), while references to it abound in Irish sources: Metrical Dindsenchas IV 156; The Irish Nennius (ed. Todd) 206; De Mirabilibus Hiberniae ll. 110-12;  Keating's Foras Feasa III 52; Annals of Tigernach s.a. 538; Annals of the Four Master s.a. 538; and Annals of Inisfallen s.a. 544.
• The name of the protagonist, variously spelled Ambacuc or Abacuc, is thought to be a form of Habacuc, the name of one of the minor Hebrew prophets (Grosjean 270).  Grosjean believes the name is significant: 'Nous pensons que c'est une allusion au verset 35 du chapitre 14 de Daniel: Apprehendit eum (Habacuc) angelus Domini ut in vertice eius et portavit eum capillo capitis sui' (270).
• Readers familiar with Freudian criticism will enjoy this text immensely.

Summary

[LL text by Best & O'Brien]: 

During the first Óenach Tailten held by Díarmait mac Cerbaill after becoming king, an unnamed woman begins to accuse her husband, Ambacuc, of committing adultery.  After he denies the sin, the woman says she will believe him provided that he takes an oath ‘by the hand of Cíarán’ (fo láim Chiaráin).  Ambacuc complies, swearing that he is innocent of the charge, but his oath is false.

Consequently, a swelling abscess takes shape on his neck on the very spot where St. Cíarán had place his hand, and Ambacuc’s head soon falls off.  Despite this handicap, Ambacuc does not die.  He continues to walk around at the Óenach and is afterwards conveyed to Clonmacnoise to be looked after for a long as he should live.  In fact, he lives for seven years after Cíarán’s death.

One day, a woman is brought to him and he has sex with her and she bears a son who becomes the progenitor of the Sogain of Mide.  But after having sex with the woman, Ambacuc dies.  He is buried at Immaire Comgaill, the place where Comgall’s cross is today.  Ambacuc's fate is one of the many wonders of the Óenach Tailten.