An Chraobh Airgid

Person

Coirpre

Coirpre mac Étaíne

Poet of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who made the first satire in Ireland.

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Coirpre son of Étaín came to the house of King Bres as a guest, and was given a dark hut with no fire and no bed, and three small dry cakes. In the morning he made a satire on the king, and from that hour nothing was on Bres but decay: it was the first satire made in Ireland. Before the war with the Fomorians he promised to satirise them and shame them, so that by the spell of his art they would not stand against warriors. Stokes’s translation calls him Corpre.

In the tales

  • The Second Battle of Mag Tuired A beautiful king who gives nothing, a stranger with every art, an eye no army can face, and a harp that plays sorrow, laughter and sleep.

See also

  • Bres The beautiful king of the Tuatha Dé who gave nothing, son of a Fomorian king.
  • The Fomorians Old enemies of the gods. In folklore, giants.

Sources

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

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