Texts

Tochmarc Moméra ‘The wooing of Moméra’

  • prose
  • Cycles of the Kings, Tochmarca
Story in which Éogan Mór is invited to Spain and marries the daughter of the King of Spain. Afterwards he returns to contend for the kingship in Ireland and his first son, Ailill Aulom, is born to him.
Title
Tochmarc Moméra
‘The wooing of Moméra’
The title Tochmarc Moméra (ingine ríg Espáine) is known from two sources: (1) the conclusion of the tale (Conad Tochmarc Moméra ingeine rig Espane...), although the Spanish princess is never given a name before this; and (2) a passage in a genealogical tract (LL p. 319b), where the tale, or a version of it, is referred to (‘amal ro-scribsamar i Tochmarc Momera ingine rig Espaine’, a comment made in reference to the name Éogan Taídlech).
Form
prose (primary)
verse (secondary)

Prose. There are two verse quatrains only.

Textual relationships
Cf. Cath Maighe Léna, Do bunad imthechta Éoganachta, Cóir anmann §§ 36-39 (in Stokes' edition)
Related: Cath Maighe LénaCath Maighe LénaCóir anmannCóir anmannDo bunad imthechta ÉoganachtaDo bunad imthechta ÉoganachtaOrigin legend of the Éoganachta and the Dál Cuinn.

Classification

Cycles of the Kings
Cycles of the Kings
id. 80
TochmarcaTochmarca
...

Subjects

Mug Núadat [alias Éogan Taídlech]
Mug Núadat (al. Éogan Taídlech)
(time-frame ass. with Conn Cétchathach)
legendary king of Munster; father of Ailill Ólomm and grandfather of Éogan Mór; ancestor of the Éoganacht. His main rival in the sources is Conn Cétchathach, with whom he comes to an arrangement: to divide Ireland into a northern half (Leth Cuinn) and a southern half (Leth Moga).

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Ailill Ólomm
Ailill Ólomm
(time-frame ass. with Irish legendary history)
king of Munster; reputed ancestor of the Éoganacht and Dál Cais; a prominent figure in various king-tales, such as those revolving around the Battle of Mag Mucrama.

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Moméra [alias Bera]
Moméra ... alias Bera
(time-frame ass. with Ailill Ólomm, Mug Núadat ... alias Éogan Taídlech)
in Munster origin legends, a daughter of (Éber) the king of Spain, who became the wife of Mug Núadat (alias Éogan Taídlech) and the mother of Ailill Ólomm. Her name is given as Bera in Cath Maighe Léna and a long recension of Cóir anmann.

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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.] OʼCurry, Eugene [ed. and tr.], Cath Mhuighe Léana or The Battle of Magh Leana, together with Tochmarc Moméra or the Courtship of Moméra, Publications of the Celtic Society, 4, Dublin: Celtic Society, 1855.
Internet Archive: <link> Digitale-sammlungen.de: <link> Digitale-sammlungen.de: View in Mirador
152–167

Secondary sources (select)

Arbuthnot, Sharon, Cóir anmann: a late Middle Irish treatise on personal names, vol. 1: Part 1, Irish Texts Society, 59, London: Irish Texts Society, 2005.  

Contents: Introduction (pp 1-75, in 7 chapters); Editorial method (76); Diplomatic texts [BB and NLI MS G 2] and translation (79ff); App. I. Concordances of entries (200ff); App. II. Genealogical tables (222ff); Bibliography (234ff); Index of personal names (242ff).

65–66 Examines the relationship to derivative versions of portions of the narrative, such as the salmon wool episode, in Cóir anmann (third recension) and Cath Maighe Léna.
Jackson, Kenneth Hurlstone [ed.], Cath Maighe Léna, Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series, 9, Dublin: Stationery Office, 1938.
CELT – edition: <link>
[‘Introduction’]
OʼRahilly, T. F., Early Irish history and mythology, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946.
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
October 2010, last updated: January 2024