David Noel Wilson, B.A. Hon., Grad. Dip. Data Processing, Grad. Dip. History.

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1 David Noel Wilson, B.A. Hon., Grad. Dip. Data Processing, Grad. Dip. History. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts (with Advanced Seminars component) in the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne. July, 2004 David N. Wilson 1

2 Abstract David Noel Wilson, Honour and Early Irish Society: a Study of the Táin Bó Cúalnge. This is a study of an early Irish heroic tale, the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of the Cooley). It examines the role and function of honour, both within the tale and within the society that produced the text. Its demonstrates how the pursuit of honour has influenced both the theme and structure of the Táin. Questions about honour and about the resolution of conflicting obligations form the subject matter of many of the heroic tales. The rewards and punishments of honour and shame are the primary mechanism of social control in societies without organised instruments of social coercion, such as a police force: these societies can be defined as being honour-based. Early Ireland was an honourbased society. This study proposes that, in honour-based societies, to act honourably was to act with appropriate and balanced reciprocity. Applying this understanding to the analysis of the Táin suggests a new approach to the reading the tale. This approach explains how the seemingly repetitive accounts of Cú Chulainn in single combat, which some scholars have found wearisome, serve to maximise his honour as a warrior in the eyes of the audience of the tale. Each episode shows how Cú Chulainn responds appropriately to the honour or affront offered to him by his adversary. The approach also helps to explain the dishonour of Medb and the ambiguous status of Fergus honour. It is further argued that many commentators have misunderstood the true target of the Táin s depiction of Medb. By presenting this paragon of misrule as a woman, the redactors have been able to present a critique of leadership without the risk of offending any of the incumbent kings, who were the real target of this satire on leadership. The study also describes the historical and political background of the two complete recensions of the Táin and suggests how this background may have contributed to the differences between the two works. The redactor of the Book of Leinster version of the Táin, Áed Úa Crimthainn, was directly affected by the events of the twelfth century which led to the Norman control of Leinster. Áed lived to see the Norman expansion into much of Ireland which resulted in unsympathetic Norman control of many of the monastic institutions that had previously preserved the Irish literary tradition. These events may explain why his recension of the Táin had a more pessimistic ending to the tale, than did the earlier recension. His recension also had a greater emphasis of Cú Chulainn as an ideal hero, yet suggested that wars were not institutions to be accepted and glorified, but were the result of vanity and greed. David N. Wilson 2

3 This is to certify that (i) the thesis comprises only my original work except where indicated in the preface, (ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, (iii) the thesis is 20,000-22,000 words in length, exclusive of footnotes, appendices, and bibliography. David Noel Wilson David N. Wilson this work is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced without the written permission of the Author. Revision Small typographical and grammar corrections. David N. Wilson David N. Wilson 3

4 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the support given to me by several people. Dr. Ann Trindade who and introduced me to the field of early Irish studies and whose inspiration encouraged this project. Dr. Dianne Hall who supervised the final stages of this work and ensured that it stayed on track. Anne Clarke who kindly helped with proof reading. Finally and especially my wife, Christine MacLeod, without whose support this thesis could never have been completed. David N. Wilson 4

5 Introduction...7 Chapter 1. Early Ireland and its Society...9 Description...9 Debates in the Study of Early Irish Society and Culture...11 Chapter 2. Honour, Status and Law...14 Honour-price...15 Critical approaches to honour...16 Chapter 3. Introduction to the Táin...19 The Ulster Cycle and the Táin...19 The Text and its Recensions...20 Cultural-Historical Background of the Táin...24 Critical Approaches to the Táin...28 Chapter 4. Analysis of the Táin...31 Cú Chulainn s Single Combats: The Balance of Honour...31 Conclusion...47 Bibliography...49 Table 1. Cú Chulainn s Response to Warriors 32 David N. Wilson 5

6 Abbreviations Táin LL Táin I Táin Bó Cúalnge from the Book of Leinster. Translated and edited by Cecile O Rahilly. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Táin Bó Cúalnge Recension 1. Translated and edited by Cecile O Rahilly. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Use of the word Táin otherwise refers to the story. References to these two texts will be cited within the text of the thesis. All other references will be footnoted. David N. Wilson 6

7 This is a study of the early Irish heroic tale, the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of the Cooley). It focus on the role and function of honour, both within the tale and within the society that produced the text. The following episodes, which also introduce the three main characters of the Táin, show something of the preoccupation with honour in this tale and its problematic nature. that The first episode occurs after the young Cú Chulainn overheard a druid proclaiming an omen a boy who should take up arms on that day would be splendid and famous but would be short-lived and transient. (Táin LL 164) Straight away, Cú Chulainn went to his uncle, the king of Ulster, to ask for arms. He explained: It is a wonderful thing if I am but one day and one night in the world provided that my fame and my deeds live after me. (Táin LL 164) Cú Chulainn has made the same choice as Achilles to seek immortal fame even at the cost of a short life. The second is from the final battle between the Men of Ireland and the Ulstermen. Fergus had formerly been king of Ulster, but had been forced into exile, and had become a leader of the Men of Ireland. In the midst of the battle, Cú Chulainn encountered Fergus and reminded him of their prior agreement: you promised that you would flee from me when I should be wounded, bloody and pierced with stabs in the battle of the Táin, for I fled before you in your own battle of the Táin. Fergus heard that, and he turned and took three mighty, heroic strides, and when he turned all the men of Ireland turned and were routed westward over the hill. (Táin LL 269) With his heroic strides, Fergus has, in fact, betrayed Medb and the Men of Ireland. Later, when the defeated forces were fleeing from the battle, Fergus blamed Medb, his queen and lover, for the disaster, sidestepping his own role in the defeat: This day was indeed a fitting one for those who were led by a woman said Fergus. [lacuna]... This host has been plundered and despoiled today. As when a mare goes before her band of foals into unknown territory, with none to lead or counsel them, so this host has perished today. (Táin LL 270) These episodes illustrate some of the complex themes in the Táin: those of fame, honour, shame and conflicting loyalties. Questions about honour and the resolution of conflicting obligations form the subject matter of many of the heroic tales. Early Irish society expected its members to display an appropriate and balanced reciprocity in their public actions. The adroit handling of conflict was a key test of a person s honour status. This thesis will argue that the pursuit of honour has influenced both the theme and structure of the Táin. Cú Chulainn chose fame and honour above all else: all his actions were directed towards increasing his honour. We need to understand how honour was evaluated in early Ireland in order to appreciate fully how Cú Chulainn achieves his objective. In each of his many episodes of single combat, Cú Chulainn responds in a finely-balanced way to the honour or affront offered by his adversary. In contrast to Cú Chulainn s success in this respect, the conflicts faced by Medb and Fergus were less easily resolved. The approach taken in this thesis leads to a deeper understanding of the characters of these two people. Many proposals have been made about the purpose of the Táin. None of these have been convincingly argued. I shall argue for a new understanding of the propaganda or moral purpose of the Táin: that it attacks the faults of Irish kings, but uses Medb, a woman, as a cover for this attack. David N. Wilson 7

8 The Táin belongs to the Ulster Cycle of tales, one of several cycles of early Irish prose tales. It is the longest and most significant tale in the cycle. Two complete recensions of the Táin have survived: Recension I (henceforth referred to as Táin 1) from the late eleventh century, and a late twelfth century recension in the Book of Leinster (Táin LL), which is longer and more elaborate. 1 An outline of the structure of the thesis is as follows. Chapter 1 begins with a description of the economic, social and political structure of early Ireland. It will then consider some of the scholarly debates concerning Ireland and its literary heritage. In Chapter 2, the concept of honour is defined and discussed. It is argued that early Ireland was an honour-based society, and comparisons with other honour-based cultures are made. The function of honour-price in early Irish society and law is explained and also the relationship between honour and status. Chapter 3 looks at Táin and the Ulster cycle of tales. The cultural and political background of the two recensions of the Táin is examined as are the critical debates in Táin scholarship. The results are used to explain the differences between the two recensions of the Táin. Then, in Chapter 4, some episodes from Táin LL are analysed using the concepts of honour and conflicting obligation developed in Chapter 2. This leads to new conclusions about the characters of Medb and Fergus and to a new explanation for of the purpose of Táin LL. The conclusion sums up the arguments of this thesis. 1 The Ulster Cycle and the Táin recensions are discussed and their differences explained in Chapter 3. David N. Wilson 8

9 Early Ireland was a rural society organised around small agricultural settlements. 2 There were no significant towns. The population was small, probably not more than half a million people. The principal unit of social organisation was the tuath, which was similar in concept to a tribe and based largely on family descent, or the fiction of such descent. 3 The tuaths were small independent kingdoms, containing from several hundred to several thousand people. Each had its own king and nobility and controlled its own legal and economic functions. 4 In these communities, personal loyalties were owed to clan and king. The people outside the kingdom were allies (few) or enemies (many): all were competitors for cattle, land, wealth and honour. The early Irish did not use money, and trade was limited. There were no market centres, so trade was organised only in seasonal fairs within tribal areas. Early Irish society was highly structured. The main classes were royalty, nobility, commons which included farmers and those without land and slaves. There was also a professional class which included craftsmen, druids and the filid, who where judges, poets, and historians. The filid acted as councillors to kings, and were conservators of the social order and interpreters of tradition. 5 Within the classes, there were defined grades, based on status and wealth. 6 The early Irish had a welldefined system of law, which has been preserved in the law-tracts. An important element of this system was the idea of honour-price, which was largely determined by a person s class and grade. The honour-price of the victim determined the legal compensation payable for insult or injury or murder. 7 Political structures in early Ireland were fluid and unstable, not least because they were based on voluntary associations of clients and patrons. Nobles had farmers as clients. Strong farmers could have weaker farmers as clients. The kings of tuaths formed client relationships with stronger kings-of-kings, and these kings-of-kings formed client relationships with high-kings. According to the law-tracts, these patron-client relationships were voluntary and based on contractual obligations for the mutual exchange of services. In practice, coercion was common. However if a potential new patron could protect his new clients from the wrath of the old patron, the clients could, and did, shift allegiances. 8 Farmers used arable land for grain and stock, and shared major items of equipment such as ploughs, mills and kilns (for drying grain). The law-tracts describe the ideal farm as having equal numbers of cattle, sheep and pigs. 9 The prescription of equal numbers of farm animals, belies the central importance of cattle in the Irish economy. Cows were the principle unit of value and 2 I shall follow the convention that defines early Irish as the period between the advent of Christianity and the rise of the new dynasties, and the Norman Invasion in the mid-twelfth century. The Viking age is taken to refer to the ninth and tenth centuries. 3 I am aware of the arguments against referring to early Irish society as tribal, such as those given by Eóin Mac Néill, Early Irish Laws and Institutions (Dublin : Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 1934), 1. However, by my use of the term I am not implying that entire populations were directly descended from a single person. 4 Lisa M. Bitel, Isle of the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990), 2. 5 Proinsias Mac Cana, The Learned Tales of Medieval Ireland (Dublin: Institute for Advance Studies, 1980), From the evidence of the law tracts. See Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988). 7 Honour-price is explained in Chapter 2. 8 Nerys Patterson, Cattle Lords & Clansmen: The Social Structure of Early Ireland (London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994), , also Thomas M. Charles-Edwards, A Contract Between King and People in the Early Medieval Ireland? Críth Gablach on Kingship, Peritia 8 (1994): Economic activity and farming practices are described in Patterson, Cattle Lords & Clansmen, The law tract that provides a description of farming prerequisites is found in Críth Gablach, ed. and trans. D. A. Binchy (Dublin: Stationary Office, 1941). David N. Wilson 9

10 exchange. They were the basis of client relationships. Patrons lent cows to clients for a fee. Lucas observed that in ancient Irish society cows were not just a kind of domestic animal but that they were of such overweening importance that they almost held status as members of society. Virtually everyone in that society was preoccupied with cows. Stealing cattle was the quickest way of acquiring wealth and of providing cattle to clients. Cattle raiding was endemic in early Ireland and the cattle-raiding abilities of kings were praised. 11 Newly appointed kings were expected to lead an inaugural cattle raid, the crech ríg, or royal foray, in which the new king could demonstrate his suitability for office and acquire not only an heroic reputation but also wealth in cattle with which to play the generous lord. A typical example of such an exploit is recorded in the Annals of Ulster for the year 1083: Domnall ua Lochlainn assumed the kingship of Cenél Eógain. He carried out a king s raid [royal foray] on the Conaille and carried off a great prey of cattle and gave stipends [tuarastal, or royal gifts indicating the giver s supremacy] from that to the men of Farnmag. Leaders were also expected to be effective at protecting their own territory from cattle raiders. Throughout the early Irish period, competition between tribal groups was fierce. The general pattern was that tribes grew rapidly until they reached a size at which they split into separate subtribes. The sub-tribes came to see each other as enemies and engaged in conflict. This allowed any nearby tribe, that was larger or better organised, to expand into the territory of the once united but now fractured and squabbling tribes. 13 However, from about the seventh century onwards, some dynastic groups managed to hold together. These groups were able to force other kingdoms to become client kingdoms, thus creating larger more unified territories. The Uí Néill dynasties of Connacht and Ulster and the Éoganacht tribes of Munster were two of the most important of these. 14 When Christian missionaries arrived in Ireland, they did not come with imperial support, as happened in most of Europe. With no means of coercion, missionaries had to make terms with the existing Irish tribal structures. This process of institutional development differed from that in other areas of Britain and Europe. The first monasteries were tribally based and the founding abbots were often related to the king. This encouraged the early Irish practice of hereditary control of church institutions by the nobility, or, as reformers later charged, lay control of the church. This arrangement allowed the monasteries to develop into more general cultural institutions, supporting both clerical and filid cultural practices. In Europe, the church used the old Roman administrative boundaries and, once settled within a diocese, the bishop claimed the whole territory. 15 By contrast, Ireland had no fixed administrative boundaries. The Irish monasteries and churches spread in a complex network across the country, from founding institutions to daughter institutions, each with its own flexible area of influence, in a system called paruchia. The new monastic institutions built churches and established schools, bringing literacy to Ireland. The newly-literate Irish scholars used their recently-acquired writing skills to preserve their 10 A. T. Lucas, Cattle in Ancient Ireland (Kilkenny: Boethius Press, 1989), Cattle raiding abilities were praised well into medieval times. Obituaries often mentioned raiding prowess. Examples can be found in the early Irish annals such as Annals of Ulster: To A.D. 1131, ed. Séan Mac Airt and Gearóid Mac Niocaill (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1983) and in Lucas, Cattle in Ancient Ireland, Annals of Ulster: To A.D. 1131, 517. Explanatory inserts are from Donncha Ó Corráin, Ireland Before the Normans (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1977), 37. Also see Lucas, Cattle in Ancient Ireland for a discussion of cattle raids recorded in the annals. 13 Bitel puts it succinctly the genealogical records tell a thousand stories of vanquished princes and lost kingdoms. Entire kingdoms perished as others flourished. Bitel, Isle of the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland, Ibid. 15 See Colmán Etchingham, Church Organisation in Ireland A.D. 650 to 1000 (Leinster: Laigin, 1999), ; James, F. Kenney, The Sources for Early Ireland: Ecclesiastical: An Introduction and a Guide (New York: Octagon, 1966), 746-7; Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland: (London: Longman, 1995), David N. Wilson 10

11 tribal oral traditions, and to outdo other tribes in cultural competition. They produced literature extolling the virtues of their saints, ancestors, kings and warrior heroes. Even the saints lives were competitive, in that they often promoted one saint and put down another. 16 This wealth of early Irish literary texts has confronted scholars with many problems of interpretation and debates have arisen over questions of dating, historicity and purpose. There have been several schools of thought concerning the interpretation of early Irish texts. Earlier scholarship has viewed them as coming, almost unmodified, from pre-christian Ireland. However, recent scholarship dealing with these texts has tended to consider them as contemporary documents, produced by people pursuing their own interests and appealing to the contemporary concerns of the audience. 17 This is the approach taken in this thesis. Most scholars now agree that the early Irish legal, historical and literary texts are the result of a layering of different influences which has developed over a period of several hundred years. However, debates continue over whether heroic tales are historical, mythological or historical fictions, and about the relative importance of these elements. To the degree to which the tales are considered historical, there is the question of when the events occurred and when the texts were written. 18 There is also the question of whether the stories have messages and, if so, for whom they were intended. Scholars have expressed a wide range of opinions on these issues. Some argue that the tales preserve traditions dating back to the early Indo-European origins of the Celts; others consider these texts to be twelfth century literary creations, albeit with ancient mythological elements. Among those who consider the tales to be historical, there is question of the degree of influence of classical models. 19 One school of thought, influential during the second half of the twentieth century, has been characterised as nativist. 20 This school minimised the influence of Christianity and literacy on early Irish literature. For example, the law texts were taken not as referring to the medieval Irish society that wrote them down but to the society of the distant past. Similarly, the heroic tales were understood to have been transmitted virtually unchanged from the distant past. Such views leave the early Irish medieval society strangely silent, voiceless and un-knowable. 21 A further debate concerns the extent of Christian and classical influences on early Irish literature. This issue is significant because when we consider the purpose or propaganda intent of a text produced by church-trained authors, we need to consider the extent to which it may have served 16 For example, one of the themes of the Life of Ruadán is to demonstrate that God had granted Ruadan powers or authority denied to the rival saint Brendan. C. Plummer, trans., Life of Ruadán in Bethada Náem nerenn, vol. 2 (Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1968), For example, two recent surveys on the Táin are Hildegard L. C. Tristram, What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge? in Ulidia, ed. J. P. Mallory (Belfast: December Publications, 1994) and J. P. Mallory, ed. Aspects of the Táin (Belfast: The University Press, 1992). 18 James Carney, The History of Early Irish Literature: The State of Research, in Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Celtic Studies, ed. Geróid Mac Eoin (Dublin, Institute for Advanced Studies, 1983), These points are considered in detail in Chapter The term nativist was coined by James Carney in, Studies in Irish Literature and History (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1979), 276. Other nativist critics to follow Carney include Kim McCone, Pagan past and Christian present in Early Irish Literature, (Maynooth: An Sagart, 1990), Patterson, Cattle Lords & Clansmen and Ruairí Ó huiginn, The Background and Development of the Táin Bó Cúailnge in Mallory, Aspects of the Táin. McCone also mentions the scholars Myles Dillon, D. A. Binchy, Kenneth Jackson, Proinsias Mac Cana and Séan Coileáin as being supporters of the nativist trend. McCone, Pagan past and Christian present in Early Irish Literature, I refer to mostly pre-nativist (nineteenth and early twentieth century) attitudes to the Irish law-tracts. Some scholars, in the desire to make the laws into Indo-European relics, claimed that they were fossils having had no relevance to medieval Irish society, which effectively left that society with no law at all. This created a convenient legal terra nullius for English colonial interests. Patterson explains this in detail in Cattle Lords & Clansmen, David N. Wilson 11

12 what Ó Corráin calls clerico-political ends. 22 Those involved in this debate argue about the degree to which ancient, pre-christian traditions have been preserved and about the influence of contemporary composition of biblical and classical sources. 23 The debate includes questions of the influence of Christianity upon the heroic tales. 24 Most of the surviving texts were written in, and preserved by, church institutions. It is now generally agreed that the ancient (pre-christian) Irish tales were adapted to make them acceptable to Christians. There is debate about the extent to which this happened, but it is clear that almost all references to pagan religious practices were removed. 25 References to the old gods have been modified, to refer instead to spirits of the fairy mounds or to mortals. The Christian church did not deny the existence of the spirit worlds believed in by the pagan Celts, or by other newly converted peoples. The church classified these spirit beings as demons, beings that all good Christians should shun and avoid, though there was no theological impediment to mentioning them in the traditional stories. The church reached a compromise with the proponents of traditional learning (the filid). Tromdámg Guaire (The Great Visitation to Guaire) tells of this compromise by portraying a dramatic dispute between the filid and the kings, in which St. Colum Cille intervened and resolved. The tale is likely to be mythical as the resolution of disputes between the filid and the church was probably achieved over an extended period rather than through such a dramatic event. 26 The process of Christian adaptation of the texts also affected the writing down of traditional law: the interests of the church were added, church people were granted high status (abbots were granted the honour-price of a king) and church property was given special protection. 27 This it not to suggest that Church interests were illegitimately inserted into the pre-christian traditional law. However, over a period of several hundred years, those in control of the writing process could gradually shift opinion on contentious issues in the direction favoured by the church. The interpretation of the law tracts has also been disputed. This debate is significant to the argument of this thesis, since it relies on the law-tracts for information about honour-price. So whether or not these concepts of honour-price were contemporary with authorship of the Táin is important. Some scholars have argued that the law-tracts preserved the ancient law because, in their view, the scribes of the law texts were fossilizers of the pre-christian oral legal tradition, a tradition which these writers consider was probably moribund and barely understood. 28 Against this older viewpoint, Patterson and MacLeod have provided considerable and persuasive evidence that the lawtracts were still current and reflected contemporary society, times, and concerns. 29 Patterson s work 22 Donnchadh Ó Corráin, Some Legal Aspects of the Pillowtalk in the Táin Bó Cúalnge (paper given at the Freiburg Colloquium on the Táin Bó Cúalnge, 1990) quoted in Tristram What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge?, Carney holds the view that there was a strong influence of Classical epic on the written Irish tales. He notes that Mac Cana opposes this view, considering that the similarities are fortuitous owing to the fact that heroic traditions had many common elements. Carney, The History of Early Irish Literature: The State of Research, Clearly the status of Christian influence on saints lives and other religious texts is not in doubt. Attitudes towards the treatment of more traditional texts, such as heroic tales, ranges from considering the monastic redactors to have been remarkably liberal and sympathetic, the view taken by Proinsias Mac Cana in Conservation and innovation in early Irish literature, in Études celtiques, 13 ( ): 71 to T. F. O Rahilly s view that they were insidiously subversive and that By humanizing and mortalizing the divinities of the pagan Ireland, they hoped to eradicate the pagan beliefs that still lingered on among many of their countrymen. T. F. O Rahilly, Early Irish history and mythology (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946), 261. Both examples quoted by Kim McCone, Pagan past and Christian present in Early Irish Literature, Pagan references in the Táin are discussed in Chapter J. E. Caerwyn Williams and Patrick K. Ford, The Irish literary tradition (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1992), This adaptation is also tellingly illustrated in the tale Acallam Na Senorach in The Colloquy of the Old Men: Acallam Na Senorach, trans. Maurice Harmon, pref. Seán Ó Coileáin (Dublin: Academica Press, 2001). The story of the conflict between kings and poets which was resolved by the intervention of St. Colum Cille (St. Columba) is not being mentioned in Adomnán s Life of St. Columba even though some details of the assembly at Druin Cetta were recorded. This supports the view that the story is a myth. Adomnán of Iona, Life of St. Columba. trans. Richard Sharpe (London: Penguin Books, 1995), See also John Carey, King of Mysteries; Early Irish Religious Writings (Dublin: Four Court Press, 2000). 27 The effects of this filtering on the Táin are discussed in Chapter Patterson, Cattle-Lords and Clansmen, Neil McLeod, Interpreting Early Irish Law; Status and Currency, Part I in Zeitschrift Celtische Philologie 41 (1986): and Part II in Zeitschrift Celtische Philologie 42 (1987): , also Patterson, Cattle Lords & David N. Wilson 12

13 demonstrates how much social and cultural information can be derived from these sources. 30 This thesis extends this approach to the Heroic tales, by arguing that they also reflected the society, times, and concerns of the people for whom they were written. To summarise this discussion, recent trends in scholarship of early Irish texts have tended to move away from the nativist approach towards the view that the texts could be considered as contemporary documents, produced by people pursuing their own interests and appealing to the contemporary concerns of the audience. 31 In any case, for the heroic tales to have been successful, the characters and their actions would have had to be understandable, and their conflicts and dilemmas sufficiently plausible to elicit sympathetic reactions. As Redfield explains, fiction, while not bound by the laws of nature, is bound by the law of culture, otherwise it is unintelligible. 32 The next chapter considers the question of honour and status in early Irish society. Clansmen. 30 Ibid., passim. 31 For example as shown in two recent surveys on the Táin. Tristram What is the Purpose of the Táin Bó Cúalnge?, 11-21, and Mallory, Aspects of the Táin. 32 James M. Redfield, Nature and Culture in the Iliad: The Tragedy of Hector (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1975), 72. David N. Wilson 13

14 As already mentioned, honour-price was an important element in the early Irish system of law. A person s honour-price depended partly on his or her social position, but also on the esteem or honour accorded to that person by the society. This chapter considers how honour worked in early Irish society. Honour is a complex concept. In its social setting, honour is the high respect, esteem or reverence accorded to worth or rank. As such it is received, gained, held or enjoyed by its recipients. The valuations of rank and worth are derived by processes of community consensus, informed by communities laws and traditions. The recipient of honour gains renown, fame, reputation and a good name, which produce feelings of well-being and pride. The opposite of honour is dishonour and disgrace, which produce feelings of shame and unworthiness. All societies have ways of expressing respect and of allocating status. These facilitate two social functions: one is the marking out and the preservation of hierarchies of status, the other is the control, or at least the moderation, of behaviour through the public recognition of proper behaviour (and special social contributions) and the condemnation of social transgressions. In societies without organised instruments of social coercion, such as a police force, the rewards and punishments of honour and shame are the primary mechanism of social control exercised by the community. Societies of this type are often referred to as honour-based. In such societies, when the honour-based control mechanisms fail, there are limited options available. The offender could be outlawed or exiled, or those injured could be left to pursue revenge, which could lead to a vendetta. 33 As this was the situation in early Ireland, it can be considered to be an honour-based society. Most studies of honour in the early Irish context have focused on honour-price as it is portrayed in the law-tracts. Only a few scholars who have paid much attention to the study of honour in the literary sources. Charles-Edwards has written about honour in the heroic tales. 34 He argues that in early Irish and Welsh societies, honour and shame were not just opinions held about people but were social ranks, or status levels, which were publicly declared. 35 He defines honour as the respect due to those whose conduct upheld the duties of their status. He explains how status was linked to economic and client relationships, with special status being given to grades such as churchmen, poets or craftsmen. 36 Miller included some early Irish heroic material in his work on honour and shame, and Patterson has skilfully used the heroic tales to elucidate the principles of honour-price in the lawtracts. 37 The early Irish law was called the brehon law. It has been preserved in many manuscripts. The major compilation of law-tracts is the Senchas Már (great tradition). 38 Another important law- 33 Miller has described this situation in the Icelandic context. There are many similarities with early Irish society. William Ian Miller, Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law and Society in Saga Iceland (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990). 34 Thomas M. Charles-Edwards, Honour and Status in some Irish and Welsh Prose Tales, Ériu 34 (1978): , and also idem, Early Christian Ireland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), Charles-Edwards, Honour and Status in some Irish and Welsh Prose Tales, In this study he used examples from the Welsh Mabinogi and Irish tales to elucidate the process of public shaming and the social position of the shamed. 36 Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, William Ian Miller, Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law and Society in Saga Iceland (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1990) and idem, Humiliation, And other Essays on Honour, Social Discomfort, and Violence (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993). Nerys Patterson, Cattle Lords and Clansmen: The Social Structure of Early Ireland (London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994). 38 The major modern work covering early Irish law and social institutions is Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988). Kelly mentions that pioneering critical scholarship on the law tracts was undertaken by Eóin Mac Néill and R. Thurneysen, followed by D. A. Binchy who became the leading modern translator and interpreter of the Irish law-tracts. Binchy wrote or edited numerous books and articles on early Irish Law. His most important work is his diplomatic edition of the entire Irish legal MSS. D. A. Binchy, ed. Corpus Iuris Hibernici Corpus iuris hibernici: ad fidem codicum manuscriptorum recognovit (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1978). Near the end of his career he summed up his view on Irish law and history in D. A. Binchy, David N. Wilson 14

15 tract, the Críth Gablach, gives information about some of the more subtle elements of early Irish social structure. 39 The law-tracts provide useful information about early Irish social structure, and also about the means of conflict management. The early Irish idea of honour is expressed by the term of enech which means both face and honour. The close relationship between these two ideas is shown in the early Irish texts where shame is said to disfigure a person both literally and figuratively. When shamed, an Irish warrior was advised to redeem himself: let him remove the shame of his checks by arms in battle against other territories. 40 It was said that when an Irish poet satirised a victim, three blisters (ferb or bolg) would appear on the victim's cheek and he would die of shame. 41 The law-tracts mention a contempt or satire-blistered face. 42 Enech was also a legal term linked with conformity to appropriate social or martial norms and to truthfulness in general. 43 Closely related terms include: óg n-enech for honourprice; eneclann, which literally meant face-cleaning ; 44 enech-gris, a fine for injuring or raising a blush on the face, ; and enech-ruice, a face-reddening or blushing caused by some act or scandal which brought shame on a family. Failure to rebut defamatory satire, or the bearing of false witness, or the evasion of sureties, were said to entail cacc fora enech excrement on his face. 45 As previously explained, Irish society was segmented into four major classes: royalty, nobles, commons and slaves. Within each class, except for the slaves, there were grades of status. Honourprice was the principle by which a persons status was indicated on a monetary scale. Honour-price represented the worth of the individual and was used to determine several legal issues. These included: the value that was owed to the relations of someone who was killed; the maximum amount owed to people in compensation for any offence against them, be it a physical injury or an insult; the maximum value of the guarantee that a person could promise for the fulfilment of a contract. 46 The law-tracts also provide details of actions that may cause a person to be reduced in, or to lose entirely, his or her honour price. For example, a king without a retinue, or doing manual work, would have his honour-price reduced to that of a commoner. 47 The honour-price did not merely represent the social grade of the person. It also included an assessment by the community that the person s behaviour was appropriate in the full social context, including the legal, social, political and military spheres. The fact that honour-price included this aspect of social consensus allowed it to function as an instrument of social control. 48 McLeod describes how it did this by involving a large circle of relations in honour-price payments and bloodfines. 49 If an individual could not pay the honour-price awarded against him or her, the individual s Irish History and Irish Law, part I, Studia Hibernica 15 (1975): 7-31 and part II, 16, (1976): Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988), P. O Leary, A Foreseeing Driver of an Old Chariot: Regal Moderation in early Irish Literature,, Cambrian Medieval Studies 11 (1986): 5. He is quoting from Audacht Morainn, and it is the advice Morann gives to Feradack. 41 An example is when the poet Athirne and his two sons (also poets) saw Luaine and threatened to satirize her after she refused to sleep with them: The damsel refused to lie with them. So then they make three satires on her which left three blotches on her cheeks, to wit, Shame and Blemish and Disgrace. Thereafter the damsel died of shame. W. Stokes trans., The wooing of Luaine and death of Athirne, Revue Celtique 24 (1903): Neil McLeod, Interpreting Early Irish Law; Status and Currency, part 2, Zeitschrift Celtische Philologie 42 (1987), Kim McCone, Pagan past and Christian present in Early Irish Literature (Maynooth: An Sagart, 1990), Patterson, Cattle Lords and Clansmen, McCone, Pagan past and Christian present in Early Irish Literature, See Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, ,Patterson, Cattle Lords and Clansmen, and Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law, 125-7, , The Críth Gablach refers to the four discoveries which give a king the honour-price of a commoner. Thomas M. Charles-Edwards, Críth Gablach and the law of status, Peritia 5 (1986), See Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, Neil McLeod Parallel and paradox: Compensation in the legal systems of Celtic Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England, Studia Celtica ( ): 36-9; idem Interpreting Irish Laws: Status and Currency, part 1, Zeitschrift Celtische Philologie 41 (1986): 46-65; idem, Interpreting Early Irish Law; Status and Currency, part 2. David N. Wilson 15

16 relations were required to pay. A family member who killed several people or one high-status person could impoverish the entire extended family through compensation payments. If the required compensation was not paid, members of the aggrieved family were entitled to extract revenge, which could allow them to murder members of the non-paying family. The system of honour-price thus gave families strong incentives to control their unruly members. 50 Heroic tales are specifically concerned with warrior honour, and warrior honour codes. They do not deal with law and the complexities of legal actions as disputes are usually resolved on the field of combat. Consequently, law and honour-price are hardly mentioned. One of the few instances is when Cú Chulainn was warned that if a warrior is without his weapons, he has no right to his honour-price, but in that case he is entitled only to the legal due of one who does not bear arms. (Táin 1 179) Honour, however, is well represented in heroic tales with many references to honour, face, fame and renown. The contemporary audience would have understood how these ideas were related to their society. We have seen how honour and honour-price were important aspects of early Irish life, and that this importance was reflected in the treatment of honour in literary texts, and in the treatment of honour-price in the law texts. Honour in early Irish society has not received the attention that it has received in the study of ancient Greek and Roman society. 51 Accordingly, this examination of critical approaches to honour starts by considering ancient Roman society, which provides a useful comparison with early Irish society and is much better documented. Barton s recent study of honour in ancient Rome provides a fascinating insight into life in an honour-based society. 52 She has used literary sources and private letters to investigate how individuals felt and thought about their society and their social position. Such analysis is rarely possible in the ancient world since, in general, few private documents have survived. Roman society differs from that of early Ireland. It was pre-christian, centralised and urban, whereas early medieval Irish society was Christian, decentralised and rural. However, as both were honour-based societies, the concerns and pressures that Roman individuals felt in regard to honour provide some useful insights. Central cultural mechanisms, such as honour codes and status systems, can be remarkably persistent and can coexist with seemingly contradictory religious principles. Irish honour culture survived into the medieval era through several centuries of Christian influence, while Roman honour culture survived into renaissance Italy. 53 Barton shows that in these honour-based societies, social life was problematic and a constant source of anxiety. One could have wealth and social position, yet a slip of the tongue or the misjudgement of a social situation could cause dishonour and ruin. Roman honour, especially that of the Republic, was built on a very different set of assumptions from our own: on fluid notions of balancing, on reciprocities and compensations. Within the restless Roman dynamics, no one s position was fixed 50 See Neil McLeod, The Blood-feud in medieval Ireland in Between Intrusions: Britain and Ireland between the Romans and the Normans, Sydney Series in Celtic Studies 7 (Sydney: The Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2004), Two comprehensive works on honour in ancient Greek texts are Douglas L. Cairns, Aid s: The Psychology and Ethic of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greek Literature (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993) and N. R. E Fisher, Hybris A Study in the Values of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greece (Warminster: Aris and Philips, 1992). For honour in Ancient Rome, see Carlin A. Barton, Roman Honor: The Fire in the Bones (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001). 52 Carlin A. Barton, Roman Honor. 53 Another well-documented example is the persistence in Mediterranean societies of what is called the Mediterranean honour code. J. G. Peristiany, ed., Honour and shame: the values of Mediterranean society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966). David N. Wilson 16

17 except that of the enslaved and the defeated, and even they, in their own spheres, often strove to live by the reciprocities of honour. 54 Honour required dealing with others in ways which satisfied the community s expectation of appropriate reciprocity, returning in manner, word and deed both the good and the bad. 55 Honourable people strove to achieve this ideal, even though it could not always be met. Barton sees the pursuit of honour as a restless and constant striving in a fluid social matrix. 56 The ideals were clear, but the practice was not. If Barton is right that anxiety over conflicting obligations was such an important social issue, we should expect to see this reflected in early Irish literature. O Leary has observed that: Clearly the redactors of the prose tales were fascinated by the narrative, thematic, and ethical possibilities suggested by situations in which a man (or woman) is confronted with balanced and conflicting claims or obligations and compelled, in the absence of entirely satisfactory precedents, to make a personal choice either consonant with the heroic value system, or even transcending it. Two ideas established by Barton and O Leary formed the basis of the argument of this thesis. The first is that honour is gained and preserved through the performance of socially recognised appropriate reciprocity. The second is the argument that the Irish prose tales contain stories of conflicting claims and obligations which reflect the difficulty experienced by individuals in an honour-based society in achieving appropriate reciprocity and honour, because these individuals were always torn between conflicting obligations. These ideas are developed further in Chapter 4. O Leary has another insight that helps us understand the Táin. He considers the question of heroic ethics: why it is that many heroes are shown achieving their own ends through deception and trickery. His explanation is that, for the warrior, honour always went to the winner. Whatever had to be done to win was right and no hypocrisy was involved as it was understood that warriors played to win. Although they proclaimed ethical standards, they did not always uphold them. 58 In one tale, Cú Chulainn claimed that he did not to kill women (Táin 1 236). Yet, on an other occasion, he killed 150 women. 59 Charles-Edwards also discusses the question of ethics. He describes how early Irish nobles were torn between two moralities, the heroic and the prudent. 60 He suggests that the heroic is exemplified by the paragon of Irish heroes, Cú Chulainn. What made Cú Chulainn famous possessed of so honourable a face was not just that, as a warrior, his capacities and performance went far beyond the measure required of any Irish noble; it was also his carelessness of the consequences of his pursuit of fame. There was no calculation by which he reckoned that so much more fame would compensate for so much less life; all calculation was swept aside. The refusal to put 54 Barton, Roman Honor, Ibid. 56 Ibid. 57 Philip O Leary, Choice and Consequence in Irish Heroic Literature, Cambrian Mediaeval Studies 27 (Summer 1994): 49. O Leary gives many examples from the sagas of conflicting claims or obligations. These include when Cú Chulainn fought his foster-brother Fer Diad and when he fought and killed his own son. In both these cases Cú Chulainn did not let personal attachment interfere with his obligation to fight when challenged. In other cases he does make exceptions. 58 Such conduct is discussed in Philip O Leary, Magnanimous Conduct in Irish Heroic Literature, Eigse 25 (1991): The tale is Aided Derbforgaill. Cú Chulainn killed the women as punishment for the disfigurement and murder of Derbforgaill. R. I. Best, O. Bergin and M. A. O'Brien, eds., Aided Derbforgaill in The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbóla (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1957). 60 An example of the value of prudence is the story The Destruction of Da Derga s Hostel. It tells a tale in which Cormac was an exemplary king in a prosperous kingdom. However, when he gave a single biased legal judgement, he set in motion a series of events that led to the ruin of his kingdom and his death. In Eleanor Knott, ed. Togail bruiden Da Derga (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1936). David N. Wilson 17

18 anything into balance against the supreme and all-engrossing pursuit of fame was intrinsic to his heroism. He was an ascetic among martial nobility. 61 Whilst Charles-Edwards has recognized the lack of balance between fame and the other aspects of Cú Chulainn s life, he has overstated Cú Chulainn s single-mindedness. The Táin LL also presents some milder aspects of Cú Chulainn, which will be discussed below. Charles-Edwards has not paid enough attention to the processes by which Cú Chulainn achieved and maintained his honour. These processes are the focus of this thesis. Chapter 4 examines several episodes from the Táin which show that Cú Chulainn, in each of his many individual combats, was not reckless but strove to improve his honour by balancing his actions against the status and behaviour of his opponent. The next chapter introduces the Táin and presents the cultural and historical background to its production. 61 Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, 142. David N. Wilson 18