An Chraobh Airgid

God or goddess

Nuada of the Silver Hand

Nuada Airgeadlámh · Old Irish Nuadu Argatlám

King of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who lost a hand in battle and was given one of silver.

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

In Cath Maige Tuired, Sreng son of Sengann strikes off his hand in battle, and Dian Cécht the physician makes him one of silver; later Miach heals the hand itself, and after the reign of Bres, Nuada is king again. The Fate of the Children of Tuireann opens with its own story of the healing, then shows him paying the Fomorians their tax at Uisneach and, at Tara, refusing Lugh men to fight them. His sword was one of the four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Kin and bonds

In the tales

  • The Fate of the Children of Tuireann Three brothers stone Lugh’s father to death. His price sounds small: three apples, a pigskin, a spear, a hound’s whelp, and three shouts on a hill.
  • The Coming of the Tuatha Dé Danann They burned their ships on the shore, and for three days a druid’s mist hid them. Then they sent word to the people who held Ireland: half the land, or a battle.
  • 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.
  • Dian Cécht Physician of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who made Nuada’s hand of silver.
  • The Fomorians Old enemies of the gods. In folklore, giants.
  • Lugh The god of many skills.
  • Mag Tuired Cunga Moytura, by Cong. The plain by Cong where the Tuatha Dé fought the Fir Bolg.
  • Miach The physician who gave Nuada back his own hand, and was killed for it.
  • The Sword of Nuada The sword no one escaped.
  • Teamhair The Hill of Tara. Seat of the high kings, and of the stone that cried out.
  • Tuatha Dé Danann The old gods of Ireland.
  • Uisneach The Hill of Uisneach. The navel of Ireland, where the five fifths meet.

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.