An Chraobh Airgid

Person

Cathbad

Cathbhadh · Old Irish Cathbad

The druid of Emain Macha, who named Cú Chulainn.

Open it on the full site There every name opens, and a web shows who is kin to whom.

The druid of King Conchobar’s court at Emain Macha, and in the Táin the king’s own father. Recension I says he taught a hundred pupils at a time; the Book of Leinster makes it eight. He foretold that whoever took arms on a certain day would be famous and short-lived, and he gave the boy Sétanta the name Cú Chulainn. In the tale of the sons of Uisliu he names the child Deirdre and foretells the ruin she will bring.

Kin and bonds

In the tales

  • The Boyhood Deeds of Cú Chulainn A small boy walks alone to Emain Macha, kills a smith’s hound and takes its place, and on a day of prophecy chooses fame over a long life.
  • The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu Deirdre was reared in secret to be the king’s wife. Then one winter she saw a raven drinking blood on the snow, and chose another man.
  • The Cattle Raid of Cooley An argument in bed over who is richer ends in a war for a brown bull, and one young man holding a ford against all Ireland.

See also

  • Cú Chulainn The Hound of Culann: the great hero of the Ulster tales.
  • Deirdre The girl who screamed before she was born, and chose her own love over a king.
  • Emain Macha Navan Fort. Royal seat of the Ulstermen, named for Macha’s twins.

Sources

Medieval manuscript. Written down by Irish scholars between the eighth and seventeenth centuries.

Each tale above lists the sources it is retold from. Every source the site draws on is listed on the full site.