Texts

Goire Conaill Chernaig (i Crúachain) ⁊ Aided Ailella ⁊ Conaill Chernaig ‘The cherishing of Conall Cernach (in Crúachan) and the deaths of Ailill and Conall Cernach’

  • Early Modern Irish
  • prose
  • Ulster Cycle
Manuscripts

Two manuscript versions are known:

ff. 175b–176b pp. 474a (line 9)–476b
Meyer’s edition begins with p. 475b.
Language
  • Early Modern Irish
Date
13th century? The two versions “were evidently rewritten from older materials at a later stage (13th century?), a fact apparent both from the language and from the general tenor of the narrative. Still there is no reason to assume that the older version differed materially in its contents from these later ones” (Meyer).
Form
prose (primary)
Textual relationships
The same story is told in the verse dinnshenchas of Mag Luirg. An earlier version of the tale is perhaps suggested by the title ‘Aided Conaill’ in [[Medieval Irish tale lists |tale list A]].

Classification

Ulster Cycle
Ulster Cycle
id. 1797

Subjects

Ailill mac Máta
Ailill mac Máta
(time-frame ass. with Ulster Cycle)
king of Connacht, husband of Medb of Connacht

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Conall Cernach
Conall Cernach
(time-frame ass. with Ulster Cycle)
Warrior of the Ulaid in the Ulster Cycle; son of Amergin and Findchóem. In Irish genealogies, he is presented as an ancestor of the kings of the Dál nAraidi and the Uí Echach Coba.

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Medb Chrúachna
Medb of Crúachan
(time-frame ass. with Ulster Cycle)
Queen of the Connachta, co-ruler with her husband Ailill mac Máta, in the Ulster Cycle. She is said to have a daughter, Findabair, and seven sons known as the seven Maines. Her lover is Fergus mac Róich.

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Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] [tr.] Meyer, Kuno [ed. and tr.], “Goire Conaill Chernaig i Crúachain ocus Aided Ailella ocus Conaill Chernaig”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 1 (1897): 102–111, 503.
CELT – edition, with preamble: <link> CELT – translation, with preamble: <link> Internet Archive: <link>, <link>
Edited from the Edinburgh MS, with variants from TCD MS 1319 in footnotes.
[ed.] Abbott, T. K., and E. J. Gwynn, Catalogue of the Irish manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co, 1921.
Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
Five readings from TCD MS 1319 that are illegible in the Edinburgh MS (left blank by Meyer). direct link
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen, Patrick Brown
Page created
April 2011, last updated: January 2024