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Editions

• K. Meyer (ed), ‘The Laud Genealogies and Tribal Histories’, ZCP 8 (1911) 291-388 (text on 317 ff.)

• M.A. O’Brien (ed & tr), ‘The Oldest Account of the Raid of the Three Collas’, Ulster Journal of Archaeology 3 (1939) 170-7.

• M.A. O’Brien (ed), Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae (Dublin 1976) 147 ff.

• A. O’Sullivan (ed), The Book of Leinster. Vol. VI (Dublin 1983) 1454-7.
  

Manuscripts

• Bodleian Library, Laud 610

• Rawlinson B 502

• The Book of Leinster

• The Book of Lecan

• The Book of Ballymote
  

Date

• Lost exemplar of Laud 610 likely dates to Old Irish period, but later forms are found in the text.
  

Characters

• Conlae Uais, Conlae Menn, and Conlae Fochri (collectively known as the three Collas): the cousins of Muiredach Tírech and the ancestors of the nine or so peoples that make up the Aírgialla federation.  According to this text, the three Collas were the sons of Eochu Domplén, the son of Cairpre Lifechair mac Cormaic meic Airt.
  

• Muiredach Tírech, king of Tara from Dál Cuinn (prehistoric ancestors of the Connachta and the Uí Néill).  Muiredach is the son of Fíachu Sraipthene.

• Fíachu Sraipthene, the son of Cairpre Liphechair and the brother of Eochu Domplén as well as the king of Tara from Dál Cuinn.
  

Notes

• This story survives in the genealogical tracts and is the origin legend of Airgialla.  It describes the raid of the three Collas in Ulster that resulted in the destruction of Emain Macha. 

• In other words, this story is an important political myth that explains how the three main peoples of Airgialla came into being and how the Ulaid lost possession of the western part of their province.

• The myth also explains the close relationship between Airgialla and the Uí Néill in the historical period (Airgialla was subject to the Uí Néill throughout most of the period) by making the three Collas and their descendants a collateral branch of Dál Cuinn, but one excluded from the kingship of Tara.

• The name ‘the three Collas’ (na trí Collai) comes from a later pronunciation of Conlae where the cluster –nl- assimilated to -ll-.  Essentially, it means ‘the three men named Conlae’.
  

Summary

Fíachu Sraipthene and Eochu Domplén were the sons of Caipre Liphechair, the son of Cormac mac Airt.  Fíachu was the king of Ireland.  He had a son named Muiredach Tírech, who led a campaign into Munster where he took hostages on his father’s behalf.  This feat impressed the men of Ireland and led them to believe that Muiredach would be the next king.

However, the three Collas, the sons of Eochu Domplén, Muiredach’s paternal uncle, were not happy about this because they too wanted the kingship.  They decided to kill Fíachu in the hopes that the old king’s followers would flock to them before Muiredach returned from the south.

Fíachu’s druid, Dubchommar, learned of their plan and told the king he had two choices—to win the battle against his nephews with Dubcommar’s help or to allow himself to be killed.  If Fíachu chose to defeat the three Collas, none of his descendants would become king.  However, if he chose to lose the battle, his descendants, including Muiredach, would hold on to the kingship.  Fíachu chose the latter option and was slain at the battle of Dubchommar by the three Collas.

After the battle, the three Collas fled to Scotland and Muiredach became king.  During their three years abroad, the brothers came to regret killing their uncle, and they eventually decided to return to Ireland and present themselves to Muiredach.  It seems that they could no longer live with the burden of knowing they had committed kin-slaying.  Muiredach, however, refused to take that burden from them by killing them in atonement for his father.  Instead, he welcomed his cousins and they all lived together in peace for some time.

Years later, however, the Collas had had many children, and so Muiredach began to worry that there might be fights over land, so he suggested that the three Collas strike out on their own and win sword land (tír claidib) for themselves in Ulster.  The three Collas headed to Connacht and then into Ulster and fought seven battles there.  They defeated the Ulaid and took as sword land the territory now known as Airgialla.