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Gein
Branduib meic Echach ocus Áedáin meic Gabráin
"The Birth of Brandub mac Echach and Áedán mac
Gabráin"
Editions
- K. Meyer (ed & tr), 'Gein Branduib maic Echach 7
Aedáin maic Gabráin', ZCP 2 (1899) 134-137.
- R. I. Best (ed & tr), 'The Birth of Brandub son of
Eochaid and of Aedan son of Gabran', Medieval
Studies in Memory of Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis (Paris 1927)
381-390.
Manuscripts
- Rawlinson B 502 (fol. 47a)
- Rawlinson B 512 (fol. 1)--acephalous
- The Yellow Book of Lecan (p. 128a)
Date
- Eleventh Century (Ní Mhaonaigh 189 in Ó
Riain festschrift)
Characters
- Áedán mac Gabráin (d. 606), king of
Albu (Scotland) from Dál Ríata.
- Brandub mac Echach (d. 605), king of Leinster from
Uí Cheinnselaig (southern Leinster dynasty)
- Eochaid / Eochu, father of Áedán and
Brandub. In the YBL, he is styled the son of Énnae
Ceinnselach (the eponymous ancestor of Uí Cheinnselaig), but
historical sources as well as the Rawlinson version of the story make
him the son of Muiredach mac Óengusa and, therefore, the
great-great grandson of Énnae Ceinnselach.
- Gabrán mac Domongairt (d. 560), father of
Áedán mac Gabráin
- Feidelm, wife of Eochaid and the mother (in this story) of
Brandub and Áedán
Notes
- This narrative is part of the Cycles of Áedán
mac Gabráin and Brandub mac Echach.
- There is also a versified account of these events preserved
in Rawlinson B 502 (fol. 86a7). See M. A. O'Brien (ed & tr),
'A Middle Irish Poem on the Birth of Āedān mac Gabrān and Brandub mac
Echach', Ériu XVI
(1952) 157-170.
- This curious narrative has no basis in fact. The story
reflects the relationship between Leinster and Scotland in the tenth and
eleventh centuries (see B.T. Hudson, Kings of Celtic Scotland
(Westport CT 1994) 111).
Summary
(Meyer’s text from Rawlinson B 502)
Expelled from Leinster by his brother Fáelán mac
Muiredaig, Eochu goes to Scotland to stay with Gabrán mac
Domongairt. While there, Eochu’s wife, Feidelm, gives birth to
twin boys on the same night that Gabrán’s wife (unnamed) gives
birth to twin girls. Gabrán’s wife is upset that she has
yet to bear a son, so she asks Feidelm to trade her one of the boys for
one of her girls and some jewelry. Feidelm agrees, but before she
hands the child over, she puts a little grain of gold (gráinne óir) under
his shoulderblade.
At the baptism, the presiding druid recognizes that the boys are twins
and the girls are twins, but he tells the women not to fear. He
then names the boys Áed (sic for Áedán) and
Brandub. The boys are reared together until Eochu returns home to
Leinster with his family. (There is no mention of how the feud
with Fáelán is resolved.) In due time,
Áedán becomes king of Scotland and Brandub king of
Leinster.
At some point thereafter, Áedán invades Ireland in an
attempt to seize the high-kingship. When he comes to Leinster to
get hostages from Brandub, he is met by Feidelm, who asks for a truce
on behalf of Brandub on account of their shared kinship. She then
tells Áedán that she is his mother and Brandub is her
brother. By way of proof, she tells him about the grain of gold
that she placed under his shoulderblade. The grain is cut out and
Áedán believes her. Then he and Brandub confirm
their kinship and remain on good terms for the remainder of their lives.
Others say that while Áedán
was in Leinster, he sent for his mother, who came and confirmed
Feidelm's story.
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