Dit artikel bespreekt hoe Conall Cernach, één van de belangrijkste krijgers uit Ulster in de Ulster Cyclus, wordt neergezet in het Middelierse verhaal Cath Airtig. Het artikel betoogt dat het verhaal een kritische blik heeft op het heroïsche ideaal van de middeleeuws Ierse literatuur. Het verhaal doet dit door Conall neer te zetten als een tragische figuur die het voor middeleeuws Ierse helden kenmerkende, nietsontziende streven naar glorie zó heeft geïnternaliseerd dat zijn angst dat ouderdom en smart zijn vaardigheden als krijger kunnen beïnvloeden, zijn hele identiteit aan het wankelen brengt. Conalls vrees dat ouderdom zijn status zou kunnen verminderen, brengt hem ertoe zichzelf als waardeloos te beschouwen, waardoor hij niet in staat is te accepteren dat hij nog steeds geliefd is en gewaardeerd wordt door zijn volk, of dat hij ondanks zijn leeftijd nog altijd de grootste held van Ulster is.
The chief hero of the Ulster cycle, Cú Chulainn, dies young and glorious at the height of his power, leaving him suspended in a state of immortal heroic glory, like an ancient insect trapped in shining amber.[1] While many medieval Irish heroes share such a ‘timely’ death, passing away as young men or adults where they are left in a similar frozen moment, Cú Chulainn’s foster-brother, cousin, and rival hero Conall Cernach does not. Conall survives a lifetime of heroics long enough to become an elderly man, where the tragic reality of a lifetime of violence catches up to him. Wracked with grief for his lost companions, Conall grapples with the frightening realities of an aging body and struggles with feelings of inadequacy related to his age.
Discussing old age in a body of literature where notable characters frequently live far beyond a standard human lifetime, such as Sírna Sáeglach or Fintan mac Bóchra, requires some brief reconsideration of terminology. While old age is often imagined as a point in a human lifespan, when dealing with these larger-than-life characters, becoming elderly and the various effects thereof is better understood to only be loosely related to a character’s numeric age. Because of this inconsistency, characters should be considered elderly based on their characterization in a text rather than by a strict adherence to expected human lifetimes.
While this characterization of Conall as an elderly hero appears in several texts, such as Aided Ailella 7 Chonaill Chernaig (‘Death of Ailill and Conall Cernach’) and the metrical dindshenchas of Mag Luirg, this paper will focus on the Middle Irish version of Cath Airtig (‘Battle of Airtech’, henceforth CA) found in Dublin, Trinity College MS 1337 (H 3.18), which contains the short wisdom text Tecosc Cuscraid (‘Instruction to Cúscraid’, henceforth TC).[2] When read in the broader context of the themes of old age and associated grief in medieval Irish literature, CA can be interpreted as a critique of the heroic lifestyle of the Ulster Cycle, which it accomplishes by highlighting the tragic effects that a lifetime of violence has on the mind and body of Conall Cernach. While Conall ultimately proves himself a capable hero despite his old age, he is nevertheless overwhelmed by fear and feelings of inadequacy, showing the tragic consequences that Conall’s lifetime as a hero has had on his mind.
Context
The image of the ailing hero is not unique to Conall. In the Finn Cycle, Finn mac Cumaill, Oisín, and Caílte all grapple with similar feelings of sorrow, age, and inadequacy. In Aided Finn (‘Death of Finn’), Finn dies when he tries to prove himself still physically capable to his warriors who have noticed his advancing age and begin to abandon him by leaping over the river Boyne, and throughout Acallam na Sénorach (‘Colloquy of the Ancients’) and Duanaire Finn, Caílte and Oisín mourn and cry for the loss of their companions and way of life now that they are the last survivors of their warrior band.[3] Beyond the immediate heroic context, old age as a source of grief or tragedy appears elsewhere in the medieval Irish corpus. Perhaps the best-known example being the Old Woman of Beare from ‘The Lament of the Old Woman of Beare’, who mourns her loss of youth and her shifting social position has several similarities with Conall’s lament in this tale.[4] However, the same theme is relatively uncommon in the Ulster Cycle. While aged warriors appear, such as Cathern in Táin Bó Cúailnge (‘Cattle raid of Cooley’), they are predominantly secondary characters who show up only briefly. Meanwhile, Conall Cernach in CA provides an in-depth monologue concerning the nature of aging, grief, and the sadness of an elderly warrior, which is closer to the more in-depth explorations of these topics in the Finn Cycle.[5]
CA itself has attracted little attention in the century since Best’s publication of the edition and translation. Initially discussed by Rudolf Thurneysen in Heldensage, the most detailed analysis of the text I am aware of is Edel Bhreathnach’s ‘Tales of Connacht: Cath Airtig, Táin Bó Flidhais, Cath Leitreach Ruibhe, and Cath Cumair’, which discusses the relationship between these tales and convincingly argues that they were concerned with establishing a history of Connacht.[6] TC has been addressed more frequently in wider discussions of medieval Irish wisdom literature, but as these readings have been concerned with advice offered in the second half of the text, Conall’s self-loathing in the first portion of TC has received little attention.[7] CA and TC may have been composed in different contexts; Bhreathnach suggests that the text of TC is older than that of CA.[8] However, the two texts are compiled together as one in TDC MS 1337, so I will be reading them as a single unit (as they are presented in the manuscript).[9]
An aging body
Taking place late in the vague timeline of the Ulster Cycle, after the death of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, and his successor Cormac Cond Longas (related in Aided Chonchobair, ‘Death of Conchobar’ and Bruiden Da Choca, ‘Da Coca’s Hostel’ respectively), CA open with the Ulstermen at an assembly offering Conall Cernach the kingship of Ulster. Conall rejects the offer, ”ar dochuaid ar mo luth & ar mo lamhchairi” (‘for it has surpassed my vigour and my skill of hand’), suggesting Cúscraid Mend Macha as an alternative, which the Ulstermen accept.[10] As this portion of CA serves to connect the tale with the wisdom text TC, this introduction does not appear in the version of CA found in the Book of Lecan.
Navan Fort, Co. Armagh. Image by Giuseppe Milo (Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Navan_Fort_Armagh_Northern_Ireland_(71052277).jpeg)
Conall disqualifies himself for the kingship of Ulster by drawing attention to how his age has begun affecting his body, and thereby has decreased his ability to fulfil what Conall believes are the important duties of kingship. Conall cites his deficiency in lúth and lamchaire as his disqualifying characteristics, which Best translates as ‘vigor’ and ‘skill of hand’.[11] While entirely appropriate translations, capturing the flourishing dramatic prose of heroes such as Conall, the figurative nature of Best’s translations obfuscates the image of Conall’s aging body provided by more literal readings. Lúth has the sense of movement and motion, being the verbal noun of luïd (‘moves’) and can be used in compounds to suggest sexual capacity as seen in luthlige (‘vigorous lying’) in Immram Brain meic Febail (‘Voyage of Bran son of Febail’).[12] Lamchaire, taken as a compound of lám (‘hand’ or ‘arm’) and cor (‘putting’ or ‘throwing’), is particularly broad expressing everything from placing, setting up, throwing, preforming, or discarding something physically.[13] Conall’s turn of phrase may also be related to the term lúth 7 lámach, which pairs lúth with lámach (‘skill with weapons’, ‘hurling’), which appears in various forms in Acallam na Sénorach and the Annals of Connacht to describe martial ability.[14] With these alternative readings to Best’s heroic tone for Conall’s line, we can see the deeper implications of the text as not just heroic prose but also an account of mobility issues. These are potentially connected to impotence, as well as reduced manual dexterity, strength, or more abstractly, martial function. In the wake of his advancing age, Conall believes that he is no longer physically fit or as capable as he was in his past.
Conall further explains why his aging body should disqualify him from kingship: he connects kingship with martial prowess by characterizing the king as a guardian of their people or territory from external predation. Conall proposes Cúscraid as his alternative as Cúscraid “imdorægæ caill & mag remib i llo & ind oidchi ind áth eislind ind agaid for namhot, ar it ilorda in gach airm ietside” (‘will go round wood and plain before you by day and night in the gap of danger against your enemies, for they are numerous in every place’), fulfilling this martial duty of kingship.[15] It appears that his concerns regarding his lúth and lamchaire are what disqualify him, believing that as his body is affected by his old age, he is less capable of fulfilling these martial obligations of kingship, and is therefore less valuable to society than Cúscraid. These are the same martial obligations that Conall is expected to fulfil as a warrior, his current position in society. As such, his belief that he is unable to be king because he is incapable of fulfilling these obligations suggests that he also believes himself unworthy of the position of warrior, tying into his later lament in the text about his inability to physically perform the warrior’s role.
This negative depiction of aging bodies appears elsewhere in CA, where Conall complains about his physical weakness. These weaknesses he presents can be juxtaposed with his past strength and great accomplishments. His complaint that ”ni follscaid feithe mo chuirp / ce itcloathar gnimh n-ard n-amhræ” (‘the veins of my body do not kindle / though it hear of a high wondrous deed’) evokes scenes of heroic boasting where warriors recount their great deeds, as seen in Fled Bricrenn (‘Bricriu’s Feast’) and Scéla Mucce Meic Da Thó (‘Stories of Mac Da Thó’s Pig’).[16] His reference to being as weak as a woman giving birth – “ni fil mo niachus (.i. mo nert) dar aindir liuin seolæ” (‘my prowess does not exceed that of a woman in travail’) – echoes the debility of the Ulstermen who are stuck low with birth pangs at inopportune times, which saw Ulster ravaged during Táin Bó Cúailgne (‘Cattle raid of Cooley’), and which Emer presents in Fled Bricrenn as a shameful limitation on the Ulster warriors from which her own husband, Cú Chulainn, is immune.[17] He laments that ”am dithracht am dimain d’eis sarglond sar Emnæ” (‘I am powerless, I am useless after the great deeds of noble Emain’), a broad and vague reference seemingly invoking the accomplishments of the Ulster heroes throughout the corpus.[18] Conall is afraid that his age is affecting his capacity to fulfil his role within society, and therefore, he has concluded that he is worthless, saying that ”am dillid dimain dootair” (‘I am useless, unprofitable, sickly’).[19]
Conall’s reference to his body being wounded as one of the bases of his despair fits with the observations made by William Sayers and Kim McCone in the context of tales such as Fled Bricrenn and Scéla Mucce Meic Da Thó. Both scholars argue that such wounds could serve as visual reminders of a warrior’s previous failures, and a source of anxiety may be found in lingering wounds that impact a warrior’s ability to perform their martial function.[20] However, while Conall appears to consider his wounds a negative trait, referencing them alongside other more explicitly negative characteristics, elsewhere in the Ulster Cycle, wounds are a distinctly positive feature of heroes. In Togail Bruidne Da Derga (‘Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel’), Conall Cernach displays his wounded arms as evidence of his participation in the siege of the hostel to his father Amergin, dismissing his father’s accusations of cowardice by telling him that “nídat bána mo chréchda ém, a senlaích” (‘my wounds are not white, thou old hero’), possibly insulting his father by insinuating that he only has scars rather than recent wounds.[21] In Fled Bricrenn, Emer describes Cú Chulainn’s wounded, bloody body with erotic overtones, attracted to her husband’s wounds as signs of his participation in combat.[22] Wounds therefore have a plurality of meanings and interpretations, and communicate a range of information, depending on their location, age, and severity. They may be signs of a hero’s valor, as much as of shameful defeat. Here, in the context of Conall’s lament on his age and growing infirmity, the emphasis on physical damage may reflect the reality that wounds that an individual was able to cope with in their youth can become chronic issues as time passes, and that what might have once been signs of status or glory have become lingering sources of pain or debility.[23]
Conall’s fears and anxieties regarding his old age and how it intersects with his status as a warrior are helpfully explained when he tells Cúscraid that he wishes “[co tom-ratad] irt eter mo comchoicle / cona rudind mo gnimæ eter sirriti glaislaithe / i n-urd fiansæ macruidhe” (‘that death [had been given to me] in the midst of my comrades / that I should not incarnadine my deeds among raw striplings / in the order of youthful championship’).[24] While these three lines are challenging to interpret, we can see that Conall is concerned that his gníma (‘deeds’) will cause him to ‘blush’ or ‘turn red’ (ruidid) before young or inexperienced troops.[25] These are described as siriti (‘imp’ or ‘whipper-snapper’), a term used frequently to describe Cú Chulainn, seemingly noting his youth compared to the speaker, and glasláth (‘recruits’ or ‘young untrained soldiers’).[26] He is afraid that, when compared to these young warriors, even though they are inexperienced, he might lose his status or position within the urd (‘order’, ‘degree’, ‘rank’) of young warriors.[27] Conall is afraid that he will humiliate himself, and lose the respect and social status he has within the warrior subculture. He wishes that he had died alongside his friends, rather than have been left an old man, doubting his abilities as a warrior on account of his increased age.
A warrior's grief
Such a wish ties into the broader theme of isolation and grief related to Conall’s old age, expressed by the initial six lines of TC where he laments the death of his uncle and king, Conchobar mac Nessa:
'Great sorrow has consumed me,
a mist of heavy grief wastes me away
for the loss of my mighty sovran
the diadem of a renowned prince,
Conchobar of the comely face,
famous king of famous Emain.’[29]
Conall concludes the initial portion of TC, focused on his grief and debility, by explaining that he is bereft: “d’éis aindreind ard Ulad / conid ed atomrollscai” (‘after the fierce one of Ard Ulid / and that is what has consumed me’).[30] While we are never given any explanation as to why Conall is so wracked with grief by the death of Conchobar, a closer examination of the wider literary tradition surrounding Conchobar’s death shows that while not directly responsible for the death of Conchobar, Conall is involved throughout. Conchobar (Conall’s uncle) is killed by Cet mac Mágach (also Conall’s uncle) with the calcified brain of Mess Gegrai, Conall’s prize trophy that he collected in Talland Étair (‘Siege of Howth’); in Aided Chonchobair (‘Death of Conchobar’), it was when Conall had brought it forth to boast of his status that it was stolen by Cet.[31] Conall also avenges the death of Conchobar, killing Cet in Aided Cheit mac Mágach (‘Death of Cet mac Mágach’).[32] Conall’s grief is referenced in Aided Ailella 7 Chonaill Chernaig: where we are told: Do-rorchair immorro lupra ⁊ trūaigi fo deoigh for Con(n)all Cernach, īar marbad a c[h]umalta .i. Conchobair ⁊ Con Culand, co(n) torchair cumha ⁊ trōige ⁊ claime mōr fair-sium, con(n)ā rabi nert ’na c[h]osaib do imthecht. (‘However, weakness and misery befell Conall Cernach in the end, after his foster-brothers were killed, namely Conchobar and Cú Chulainn, so that great grief and misery and infirmity befell him, so that there was no strength in his feet to move’).[33]
With this broader literary context in mind, Conall’s grief can be interpreted as having two main components, that of shame and that of isolation. He is ashamed because he has failed to protect Conchobar, both in his position as one of the chief warriors of Ulster, and because of the indirect role he plays in bringing about the king’s death by creating the weapon used to kill him. This is the same failure which his father accused him of in Togail Bruidne Da Derga: abandoning his king by fleeing the battlefield early and thereby failing his role as a warrior.[34] While Conall is able to successfully defend himself from his father’s accusations in Togail Bruidne Da Derga on account of the wounds he had suffered, with Conchobar, Conall has no such defense. The death of Conchobar may be considered a notable failure in Conall’s heroic resume, a source of shame that has led Conall to believe himself defunct as a warrior. When looking at the broader context of TC, particularly his wish that he had died alongside his companions, Conall’s grief also draws on the sense of isolation. As the last of his generation of Ulster heroes, even while Conall is surrounded by the people of Ulster, he has been isolated from his peers and exists as a relic of an age now past, a situation similar to the one lamented by Oisín and Caílte as they mourn the passing of the Fían throughout the Finn Cycle.
Insidious doubt
However, while Conall is overwhelmed by grief for his lost companions and wracked with feelings of inadequacy compared to the young warriors brought on by his old age, CA challenges Conall’s perspective. During the eponymous battle, Conall is identified as one of the airig chatha (‘war lords’) of Ulster, appearing alongside a new generation of Ulster heroes, the sons of Conchobar, Fiac son of Fergus, Fergus son of Eirrge Echbel, and Sothach son of Sencha.[35] While Conall believed himself unfit for kingship on account of not being able to fulfil the martial obligations of kingship, while arguing that Cúscraid could, Conall kills Ailill Ardagach and Scannal, two of the sons of Magach, a Connacht warrior band, as well as Ailill of Breifne and Loingsech of Loch Ri.[36] Conall kills twice as many Connacht heroes as Cúscraid, who he believed himself inferior to, and four times as many as the other young Ulster heroes, who he was afraid he would embarrass himself before.[37] CA argues that Conall’s self-assessment is incorrect, showing that he is still valued by his society as he is given a place of prominence as one of the war lords of Ulster. CA shows Conall to be a superior warrior (by pure metrics of violence) than Cúscraid and his young rivals, directly challenging Conall’s lament in the earlier portion of the text.
Conall’s fears and anxieties concerning his old age and the debilitating effects of his grief are all shown to be factually incorrect, with CA clearly representing Conall as the supreme warrior of Ulster. While in its likely original form divorced from CA, TC’s representation of Conall is distinctly negative, showing an elderly warrior who has passed his prime, the inclusion of TC in CA recontextualizes this from a statement of fact to ungrounded anxiety. The tale is not one of the sorrowful effects of old age on a once-great warrior grappling with the physical ravages of old age, but on the psychological effect of his heroic life.
Conclusion
As alluded by Conall when he describes the urd of young warriors, and appearing elsewhere throughout the corpus, heroes in medieval Irish literature compete against each other for status and recognition so that they might be deemed a superior hero. One of the fundamental metrics by which this is measured is their ability as a warrior. Conall’s lifetime in the self-obsessed pursuit of heroic glory has left him convinced that he only has value on account of his ability as a warrior. He fears that his old age and his grief for his fallen friends has compromised this ability, and therefore, left him certain that he is dillid dimain dootair (‘useless, unprofitable, sickly’).[38]
From Conall’s perspective, old age is a tragedy that threatens to invalidate his lifetime of heroism: as the last survivor of an age of heroes, he has been left alone and abandoned by his companions who are mummified in memory as flawless young champions by dying young. Having so deeply internalized the heroic pursuit of glory, the potential loss of his identity as a warrior has destroyed his self worth and left him convinced that he is worthless. But CA problematizes his perspective, portraying Conall as a valued member of society. While his old age might change his role in society, it has not robbed him of his status or ability as a hero. Conall is blinded, not by cataracts, but by the self-obsession inherent in the heroic lifestyle of medieval Irish literature, leaving him terrified that he might be weakened by age and grief.
The heroes of medieval Irish literature, with their bombastic words and extraordinary deeds, are often taken at face value, but the texts, like CA, portray a more complex and nuanced understanding of these characters. While CA is particularly overt in directly challenging the stated facts as represented by a hero, other tales in the medieval heroic cycles similarly challenge the actions of the characters and question the heroic system. Similar readings may be made of other texts, such as Táin Bó Cúailnge, scrutinizing the tale’s contrast of heroic glory and young men weeping as the heroic ethos forces them to kill their friends. CA invites us to this potential avenue of fruitful new scholarship, to scrutinize heroes and see where they are questioned by their own texts.
Notes
Bibliography
- Best, R. I. (ed. and trans.), ‘The battle of Airtech’, Ériu 8 (1916) 170-190.
- Bhreathnach, Edel, ‘Tales of Connacht: Cath Airtig, Táin bó Flidhais, Cath Leitreach Ruibhe, and Cath Cumair’, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 45 (2003) 21-42.
- Dobbs, Margaret E. (ed. and trans.), ‘Cath Cumair’, Revue Celtique 43 (1926) 277-343.
- eDIL 2019: An electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language, based on the Contributions to a Dictionary of the Irish Language (Dublin 1913-1976) (www.dil.ie 2019). Accessed 31/07/22.
- Findon, Joanne. A woman’s words: Emer and female speech in the Ulster Cycle (Toronto 1997).
- Fomin, Maxim, ‘Bríatharthecosc Con Culainn in the context of Early Irish wisdom-literature’, Ulidia 2 (2009): 140-172.
- Freeman, Martin A (ed. and trans.), Annála Connacht, A.D. 1224-1544: The annals of Connacht, A.D. 1224-1544 (Dublin 1944).
- Green, David and Frank O’Connor (ed. and trans.), A golden treasury of Irish poetry, A.D. 600 to 1200 (London 1967) 48-55.
- Gwynn, E. J. (ed. and trans.), The metrical dindsenchas, vol. 3 (Dublin 1913).
- Henderson, George (ed. and trans.), Fled Bricrend, (London 1899).
- Kimpton, Bettina (ed. and trans.), The Death of Cú Chulainn: a critical edition of the earliest version of Brislech Mór Maige Muirthemni (Maynooth 2009).
- Koch, John T. and John Carey (trans.), The Celtic heroic age: literary sources for ancient Celtic Europe & early Ireland & Wales, fourth edition (Aberystwyth 2003).
- Kuehns, Julia Sophie, The pre-19th-century manuscript tradition and textual transmission of the Early Modern Irish tale Oidheadh Con Culainn: a preliminary study, Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Glasgow (2009).
- MacNeill, Eoin and Gerard Murphy (ed. and trans.), Duanaire Finn: the book of the lays of Fionn, vol. 2 (London 1908).
- MacNeill, Eoin and Gerard Murphy (ed. and trans.), Duanaire Finn: the book of the lays of Fionn, vol. 3 (London 1933).
- McCone, Kim, ‘Mocking the afflicted: morals and missing body-parts’, Scéla Muicce meic Da Thó and Waltharius’ Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 68 (2021) 197-248.
- Mac Mathúna, Séamus (ed. and trans.), Immram Brain: Bran’s journey to the land of the women (Tübingen 1985).
- Meyer, Kuno (ed. and trans.), ‘The death of Finn mac Cumaill’, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 1 (1897) 462–465.
- Nuijten, Anouk, Critical editions of Aided Ailella 7 Chonaill Chernaig and Aided Cheit maic Mágach with translations, textual notes, and commentary, Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge (2021).
- Ó Dónaill, Caoimhín (ed. and trans.), Talland Étair. (Maynooth 2005).
- O’Connor, Ralph, The destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel: kingship & narrative artistry in a Medieval Irish saga (Oxford 2013).
- O’Rahilly, Cecile (ed. and trans.), Táin Bó Cúailnge: recension I (Dublin 1976).
- Parsons, Geraldine, ‘Acallam na Senórach as prosimetrum’, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 24/25 (2004/2005) 86-100.
- Punzi, Leonardo, et al., ‘Post-traumatic arthritis: overview on pathogenic mechanisms and role of inflammation’, RMD Open 2 (2016) 1-9.
- Sayers, William, ‘The laconic scar in Early Irish Literature’, Wounds and wound repair in medieval culture, (Leiden 2015) 473-495.
- Stokes, Whitley (ed. and trans.), ‘Acallam na Senórach’, Irische Texte mit Wörterbuch vol. 4:1 (Leipzig 1900)
- Stokes, Whitley (ed. and trans.), ‘The destruction of Dá Derga’s Hostel’, Revue Celtique 22 (1901) 9-61, 165-215, 282-329, 390-437.
- Thurneysen, Rudolf, Die irische Helden- und Königsage bis zum siebzehnten Jahrhundert (Halle 1921).
