Coire Sois, The Cauldron of Knowledge: A Companion to Early Irish Saga

15. Táin Bó Cúailnge and Early Irish Law

15 Táin Bó Cúailnge and Early Irish Law ( 2 0 0 5 ) Táin Bó Cúailnge ‘The Cattle-Raid of Cooley’ tells of the invasion of Ulster by a great army assembled by Ailill and Medb of Connacht. The army is sometimes referred to as“the men of Ireland”: of its eighteen divisions, nine were from Connacht, seven from Munster, and one from Leinster. The remaining division was composed of Ulster exiles, under the leadership of Fergus mac Róich, who had left the province following a dispute with their king, Conchobor mac Nessa. When the invaders set out, on the Monday after Samain (November 1), the men of Ulster are disabled by a debility that will last until the beginning of February.The young Cú Chulainn,whose relationship with the Ulstermen is through his mother, is immune from the debility, and much of the tale is devoted to his heroic defence of the province . The invaders wreak terrible destruction upon Ulster but they fail of their primary purpose, which is to secure the Brown Bull of Cooley. And 219 220 THE ULSTER CYCLE Cú Chulainn continues to keep them sufficiently at bay until the Ulstermen rise from their torpor and Conchobor leads them to victory in a great battle. The language of the Táin is rich in legal vocabulary. And this is by no means confined to any one stratum in the tradition. The Táin, as Thomas Kinsella has put it, is“the work of many hands.”1 It has a long history, much of it no longer recoverable. There are two main recensions.2 The first of them is a compilation of material, some of it from the ninth century or earlier ,and some at least as late as the eleventh; the second recension dates from the twelfth century. Legal language occurs prominently in both of these recensions ; it is already very much to the fore in one of the precursors of the Táin, a poem attributed to the seventh-century author Luccreth Moccu Chíara, and which, as James Carney has said, “gives us a side-glimpse into the emotional and political background to Táin Bó Cúailnge.”3 The legal dimension is foregrounded in the opening sequence of the poem, and we are alerted to it in the first line, Conailla Medb míchura, “Medb enjoined evil contracts.”4 A striking example of the use in the Táin of legal terminology will serve to introduce my topic.As the invasion proceeds, Medb is greatly perturbed by the number of her warriors that are slain by Cú Chulainn and she decides upon a plan to bring about his defeat.5 She arranges with him that they should meet the next day to parley, insisting that he come unarmed to the meeting, since (as she claimed) she would be coming alone, save for her women attendants. Her real intentions are otherwise: she proposes to instruct some of her best warriors to attack Cú Chulainn even as she makes “mock peace” with him. Cú Chulainn, however, takes her at her word and agrees to do as she has asked. Happily for Cú Chulainn, his failure to divine Medb’s duplicity is not shared by his charioteer, Lóeg: “Ced ón, cinnas as áil duit-siu techt i ndáil Medba i mbárach, a Chú Chulainn?” or Láeg. “Amal conniacht Medb dano,” ol Cú Chulaind. “At móra glonna Medbi,” ol in t-ara.“Atágur lám ar cúl aci.” “Cinnas as dénta dún samlaid?” for sé. “Do chlaideb fót choim,” ol in t-ara,“arnachat fagthar i mbáegul, ár ní dlig láech a enecland dia mbé i n-écmais a arm. Conid cáin midlaig no ndlig fón samail sin.” “Déntar amlaid íarom,” ol Cú Chulaind. ——— “How do you intend to go and meet Medb tomorrow?” asked Láeg. “As Medb asked me,” said Cú Chulainn. “Many are Medb’s treacherous deeds,” said the charioteer.“I fear that she has help behind the scenes.” “What should we do then?” said he. “Gird your sword at your waist so that you may not be taken unawares . For if a warrior is without his weapons, he has no right to his honour-price, but in that case he is entitled only to the legal due of one who does...