Pictish Mystic · Lore · Red Branch
Conchobar mac Nessa: King of the Red Branch
Every Samhain the whole of Ulster had to come to one king's hall, and any man who stayed away lost his mind. This is Conchobar mac Nessa, king of the Red Branch.
His mother Ness was a king's daughter who turned warrior after the druid Cathbad slew her twelve foster-fathers. Cathbad caught her bathing alone, stood between her and her weapons, and she became his wife. One telling places their home at Ráth Cathbaid, "in the country of the Picts", the Cruithin of Ulster, beside the river Conchobar that gave the boy his name. When he was seven, Ness agreed to marry Fergus mac Róich, the king, on one condition: her son must be king for a year. She spent that year pouring gold on the champions of Ulster, and when it ended they voted to keep the boy. "What Fergus sold, let it part from him."
From Emain Macha Conchobar ruled 365 warriors, one for every day of the year, and each fed the household for a night. His court had three houses: one for the kings, the Red Branch for the heads and spoils of the slain, and the Téite Brecc, the Speckled House, where every sword and shield was kept, because the Ulstermen were so quick to take insult that they could not be trusted armed at the feast. A silver rod with three golden apples hung over the king, and when he shook it the whole hall went silent enough to hear a needle drop. For three days before Samhain and three days after, all Ulster feasted in his house.
His end came from a trophy. Conall Cernach had slain Mesgegra, king of Leinster, and turned his brain into a hard ball with lime. The Connacht champion Cet mac Mágach stole it and slung it into Conchobar's head. His physicians dared not cut it out. They stitched the wound and told him he would live as long as he never gave way to rage. For seven years he lived quietly, until he heard how Christ had been put to death, and his fury burst the ball from his skull. The king of the Red Branch died of his own anger.
These are legends from medieval manuscripts, not recorded history.
First shared on X @dalriada36963 and TikTok @johnshaw333.
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