Pictish Mystic · Lore · Book of Invasions
The Fir Bolg: the Fourth Taking of Ireland
Lebor Gabála Érenn, "the Book of the Taking of Ireland", is a medieval history put together by monastic scholars, here told from Macalister's translation. After Nemed's people were drowned and scattered, this is the fourth taking. This is myth and medieval learning, not recorded history.
Slaves in Greece
Semeon, one of Nemed's people, went to the lands of the Greeks. His children grew to thousands, and the Greeks made slaves of them. They had to carry clay up rough, rocky mountains until the mountains became flowery plains.
Boats of Bags
Weary of their slavery, five thousand of them fled. They made ships of their bags, or, as the Quire of Druim Snechta says, stole the boats of the king of Greece. They came back to Ireland, their land of origin, two hundred and thirty years after Nemed.
The Five Sons of Dela
They had five chiefs, the five sons of Dela: Gann, Genann, Rudraige, Sengann and Slanga. Their wives were Anust, Liber, Cnucha, Fuat and Etar.
Three Landings in One Week
They split into three and took Ireland in one week. Slanga landed at Inber Slaine on a Saturday, the first of August, with a thousand men. Gann and Sengann landed at Inber Dubglaisi on the Tuesday with two thousand. Genann and Rudraige landed at Inber Domnann on the Friday with two thousand more.
Three Names, One People
The Gailioin were named from their many javelins and the Fir Bolg from their bags. The Fir Domnann are linked with Inber Domnann, where they landed, though the book also says their name came from deepening the earth. The book says they were one taking and one princedom, all called Fir Bolg.
Ireland in Five
The brothers shared out the land. Slanga took the Fifth from Inber Colptha to the Meeting of the Three Waters. Gann and Sengann held the two Fifths of Munster. Genann ruled the Fifth later held by Medb and Ailill, and Rudraige the Fifth of Conchobar. A poem has the points of the five provinces meeting at Uisnech.
The First Kings of Ireland
The book says no one was called king "of Ireland" until the Fir Bolg came. Nine of their kings ruled for thirty-seven years. Slanga reigned one year and was the first of them to die in Ireland. Rudraige died in Brug Bratruad, and Gann and Genann died of plague in Fremaind. Sengann fell to Rindail, Rindail to Fodbgen, and Fodbgen to Eochu son of Erc in Mag Muirthemne.
Points and Knots
A poem in the book says no weapon in Ireland had a point until Rindail's time, only "rushing-sticks". In Fodbgen's time knots first came in the trees, for the woods of Ireland had been smooth and straight until then.
Eochu Son of Erc
Eochu was king for ten years. There was no rain in his time, only dew, and no year without harvest. Falsehood was driven out of Ireland, and the law of justice was carried out for the first time. His wife was Tailtiu, daughter of the king of Spain.
The End of Their Lordship
Thirty years after Genann and Rudraige, the Tuatha Dé Danann came. Eochu fell at the hands of the three sons of Nemed son of Badra, Cessarb, Luam and Luachra, and the book calls him the first king of Ireland to get his death-wound in Ireland. The Tuatha took the lordship from the Fir Bolg, and that story is the next chapter.
These are legends from medieval manuscripts, not recorded history.
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