Pictish Mystic · Lore · Red Branch
Medb's Men, or, the Battle of the Boyne
In the Ulster Cycle, Eochaid Feidleach was High King of Ireland, and the old text says he was called Feidleach because he was “righteous towards all”. Fachtna Fathach, father of Conchobar of Ulster, had fallen by Eochaid in the battle of Lettir-ruad in the Corann, so Eochaid gave his daughters to Conchobar as his eric, his blood-price, together with the kingship of Ulster. Medb of Cruachan was among them, so that Conchobar was Medb's first husband.
But Medb forsook Conchobar through pride of mind, and went to Tara, where the High King was; and the tale says that the first cause of the stirring up of the Cattle-raid of Cuailngne was Medb's desertion of Conchobar against his will. Tindi son of Conra Cas was then king of Connacht, but Eochaid Feidleach drove him into the deserts of Connacht and set Medb up in the royal seat of Cruachan. The fairs of Ireland came to be held in Cruachan with Medb, and the sons of the kings of Ireland gathered there to see if they might make war on Conchobar's province.
Eochaid Feidleach held the festival of Tara with the provinces of Ireland about him, and the men of Ireland bade him bring Medb to the gathering. He sent his messenger Searbluath to Cruachan, and Medb came to Tara on the morrow; the fair-races were run for a fortnight and a month. Then the kings of Ireland rose forth from Tara, Tindi son of Conra and Eochaid Dála with them, and “the banners of the king of Ireland are raised to attack the king of Ulster.”
Tindi challenged Conchobar to fight, and Conchobar accepted. Monodar Mór, Tindi's own brother, who happened to be with Conchobar at that time, was asked to check him. They had a champion's fight, and Tindi fell. Everyone said, “Good is the deed,” and the druid said, “Mac Ceacht shall be his name for ever”; and so the name clung to him.
Conchobar won the battle on the Boyne over Eochaid Feidleach. But Eochaid Dála took up the yoke of battle across Meath, over the green-streamed Shannon, and brought Medb and Connacht safe with him through dint of fighting. Afterwards he was made king of Connacht with Medb's consent, on condition that he marry her and have neither jealousy, fear, nor niggardliness, for it was geis to her to marry a man with those three qualities.
Young Ailill son of Mata came to Cruachan as a child to be reared by Medb, his kinswoman. He grew up to be a great warrior, “a battle-sustaining tower against Conchobar”, defending Medb's province and becoming chief of her household, and Medb loved him for his virtues and preferred him to Eochaid Dála. Eochaid grew jealous and challenged Ailill to fight for the kingdom and his wife; he fell in that conflict by Ailill, through the wiles of Medb. So Ailill became king of Connacht with Medb's consent, and he was king when the cattle-raid against the Ultonians began.
To Ailill, Medb bore the Maines. Maine was not their first name. One day, preparing for the battle of Findchorad against Conchobar, Medb asked her druid, “By whom of my children shall Conchobar fall?” “It is by Maine he shall fall,” said the druid. So she called each of her sons Maine, in the hope that Conchobar might fall by him. Medb thought the druid meant Conchobar son of Fachtna Fathach. It was not he, the tale says, but another Conchobar, son of the king of Scotland, from across the water, who fell by Maine Andoe, son of Ailill and Medb.
These are legends from medieval manuscripts, not recorded history.
Story told by John. Source: "Medb's Men, or, The Battle of the Boyne" (Cath Boinde, Book of Lecan 351b–353a), translated by Joseph O'Neill (Ériu 2, pp. 173–185), on Mary Jones's Celtic Literature Collective.
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