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

29. The Oldest Story of the Laigin

29 The Oldest Story of the Laigin Observations on Orgain Denna Ríg ( 2 0 0 2 ) The early Irish saga Orgain Denna Ríg ‘The Destruction of Dind Ríg’(henceforth ODR),1 tells how, in prehistoric times, Labraid of Leinster killed Cobthach Cóel, king of Brega, at Dind Ríg (near Leighlinbridge in County Carlow ) in revenge for the slaying of Labraid’s father and grandfather. It is the origin-legend of the Laigin (Leinstermen): in the twelfth-century manuscript Rawlinson B 502 it is the first item in the Scélshenchas Lagen, “the narrative historical lore of Leinster,” and is described there as cetna scel Lagen 7 tuus a ngliad,“the oldest story of the Laigin and the beginning of their fights.”Cobthach Cóel and Labraid are remote ancestors respectively of the Uí Néill and the Laigin, and ODR narrates the origin and early stages of a feud between them which was to last for many centuries and which is a dominant theme in the abundant early literature of Leinster. The account 422 in Lebor Gabála Érenn of the events which led to the slaying of Cobthach at Dind Ríg is accompanied by the observation Is ó shein ille atá cocad eter Leth Cuind 7 Laigniu,“it is from that time until now that there is warfare between Conn’s Half and Leinster” (LL, line 2794). Various events which marked this feud are related in verse as well as prose. Rawlinson B 502 contains a series of poems under the title Laídshenchas Laigen, “the historical lore of Leinster in verse,” which is the subject of a recent study by Edel Bhreathnach (2000). Poems of this kind also occur in the Book of Leinster: one of them begins with the words Échta Lagen for Leth Cuinn, “The exploits of Leinster against Conn’s Half” (LL, lines 6980–7099), an incipit which reflects a Leinster view of the feud. Échta Lagen for Leth Cuinn, which refers to the Laigin as clanna Labrada Longsich ‘Labraid Longsech’s descendants’(line 6983), begins with Labraid’s slaying of Cobthach i mBrudin Tuamma Tenbath ‘in the bruiden of Tuaim Tenbath’ and, as Mac Cana (1980a, 28) has pointed out, seems in its original form to have ended with the victory of the Laigin over the invading Uí Néill at the Battle of Allen in 722. In Rawlinson B 502 we are told that Bruiden Tuamma Tenbad was another name for ODR (Greene 1955,17),and in a poem attributed to Ferchertne, and which is included in the saga, Tuaim Tenbath is said to have been the earlier name for Dind Ríg (lines 454–55). In Cath Almaine, the saga dealing with the Battle of Allen, the Uí Néill are entertained on the night before the battle by the royal fool Úa Maigleine, who “proceeds to tell them of the battles and contests of Leth Cuinn and the Laigin, from the Destruction of Tuaim Tenbath, that is of Dind Ríg, in which Cobthach Cáel of Brega was slain, up to that time” (rogab-saide oc innisin chath ocus chomrama Leithe Cuinn ocus Laigen ó Thogail Tuama Tenbath , .i. Denna Ríg, in romarbad Cobthach Cáel-breg conice in n-aimsir-sin; Ó Riain 1978, lines 66–69). This tale, and the events depicted in it, was of crucial significance to the way in which the Laigin saw their early history. ODR is found in three manuscripts, Rawlinson B 502 (R, twelfth century ), the Book of Leinster (L, also twelfth century), and YBL (Y, in the part of the manuscript written by Giolla Íosa Mac Fhir Bhisigh about the year 1392). Stokes (1901b) made L the basis of his edition, since it is “slightly fuller”than the others.Greene (1955) followed suit,presumably for the same reason, but he adopted a number of readings from R. His editorial policy was to follow one manuscript (in this case L),“departing from it only when there was another reading which was more archaic or gave better sense” 29. The Oldest Story of the Laigin 423 424 THE CYCLES OF THE KINGS (1955, v). He observed that “the three manuscripts point to a common source, although R often diverges verbally from LY in a way which is explicable only by assuming oral transmission” (1955, 16). Tomás Ó Concheanainn (1986), on the other hand, suggests that R is...