An Chraobh Airgid

Person

Medb

Méabh · Old Irish Medb

Say it: mayv

Queen of Connacht, who went to war for the Brown Bull of Cúailnge.

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

She ruled Connacht from Ráth Cruachan with her husband Ailill. In the Táin she says her father was Eochaid Feidlech, high king of Ireland, and that she would have no husband but one “without avarice, without jealousy, without fear” (Joseph Dunn, 1914). When she and Ailill counted their wealth, they were equal in everything but his white-horned bull, which had left her herd for his, and so she went after the Brown Bull of Cúailnge. In The Dream of Aengus she and Ailill help the Dagda win Caer for his son, and that is why Aengus comes to their side in the Táin.

Kin and bonds

In the tales

  • The Dream of Aengus For a year a girl plays to Aengus in his sleep. When he finds her, she is one of thrice fifty girls on silver chains, and every other year she is a swan.
  • 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.
  • Bricriu’s Feast Bricriu of the Poison Tongue throws a feast, promises the champion’s portion to three heroes at once, and sits at his window to watch.
  • The Debility of the Ulstermen A woman walks into a lonely man’s house and stays, so long as he never speaks of her at the assembly. Then he boasts she can outrun the king’s horses.
  • 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.
  • The Adventure of Nera On Samhain night a man goes out in the dark to tie a withe round a hanged man’s foot, and follows the host of the sídhe into the cave of Cruachan.

See also

  • The Brown Bull of Cúailnge The great bull of Cooley, for whom Medb went to war.
  • Caer Ibormeith The girl Aengus saw in his sleep: a swan one year, a woman the next.
  • Conall Cernach One of the three great champions of Ulster.
  • The Crown of Brión A diadem of gold kept in a well in the síd of Cruachan: one of the three wonders of Ireland.
  • Cú Chulainn The Hound of Culann: the great hero of the Ulster tales.
  • Cúailnge The Cooley peninsula. The home of the Brown Bull, between Carlingford Lough and Dundalk Bay.
  • Fedelm The prophetess of Connacht who saw Medb’s host crimson with blood.
  • Ferdiad Cú Chulainn’s foster-brother, who fought him for four days at the ford.
  • Fergus mac Róich The Ulster hero whose guarantee was broken, and who went over to Connacht.
  • Finnbennach The White-horned: the bull of Ailill’s herd, who would not belong to a woman.
  • Lóegaire Búadach Lóegaire the Triumphant, eldest of the three champions of Ulster.
  • Nera The man who followed the sídhe into the cave of Cruachan.
  • Ráth Cruachan Rathcroghan and Oweynagat. Queen Medb’s royal seat, and a cave called the gate of hell.
  • The Woman of Síd Cruachan Nera’s wife in the síd of Cruachan, who showed him how to save his people.

Sources

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

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