The ''Curadmír'', modern Curadhmhír (Champion's Portion) was an ancient custom referred to in
early Irish literature
Early Irish literature is one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe, though inscriptions utilising Irish and Latin are found on Ogham stones dating from the 4th century, indicating simultaneous usage of both languages by this per ...
, whereby the warrior acknowledged as the bravest present at a feast was given precedence and awarded the choicest cut of meat. This was often disputed violently. The custom appears most often in the legends of the
Ulster Cycle
The Ulster Cycle ( ga, an Rúraíocht), formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the Ulaid. It is set far in the past, in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly coun ...
. It is parallelled by historical customs of the ancient
Celt
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
s of continental Europe, as recorded by classical writers.
The Story of Mac Dá Tho's Pig
The Ulster Cycle saga ''
Scéla Mucce Meic Dá Thó'' ("The Story of Mac Dá Tho's Pig") features a dispute over the Champion's Portion between warriors of Ulster and Connacht who are guests at a feast in Leinster. They dispute it by boasting of their previous heroic deeds, and eventually the Connacht hero
Cet mac Mágach
Cet mac Mágach is a Connacht warrior in the Ulster Cycle of Irish Mythology. He had a rivalry with the Ulster warrior Conall Cernach.
In some myths, he is said to be the brother of Conall's mother, making him Conall's uncle.
At a feast at the ...
is acknowledged as the bravest man present. Just as he is about to carve the pig, the Ulster hero
Conall Cernach
Conall Cernach (modern spelling: Conall Cearnach) is a hero of the Ulaid in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He had a crooked neck and is said to have always slept with the head of a Connachta, Connachtman under his knee. His epithet is normal ...
arrives, and his boasts force Cet to give way to him. But he claims that Conall would have had to give way to his brother Anlúan had he been there. Conall responds by tossing Cet Anlúan's freshly severed head. Conall carves the pig, but gives the Connachtmen such a small portion that battle breaks out between them.
Fled Bricrenn
Another Ulster Cycle saga which involves the ''Curadmír'' is ''
Fled Bricrenn
''Fled Bricrenn'' (Old Irish "Bricriu's Feast") is a story from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Bricriu, an inveterate troublemaker, invites the nobles of the Ulaid to a feast at his new ''bruiden'' (hostel, banquet hall) at Dún Rudraige ( ...
'' ("Bricriu's Feast"). The notorious troublemaker
Bricriu
Bricriu (also Briccriu, Bricne) is a hospitaller (''briugu''), troublemaker and poet in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.
''Fled Bricrenn''
The story of ''Fled Bricrenn'' ("The Feast of Bricriu") tells how he once held a lavish feast for Conch ...
invites the Ulstermen to a feast. Before it starts he visits three heroes,
Cúchulainn, Conall Cernach and
Lóegaire Búadach
In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, Lóegaire Búadach (Lóegaire the Victorious) is a hapless Ulster warrior who mainly functions as comic relief. When he, Cúchulainn and Conall Cernach contend for the champion's portion at Briccriu's feas ...
, privately, and advises each of them to claim the Champion's Portion, which at this feast includes not only a roast boar but also a cauldron of wine and a hundred cakes of wheat baked in honey. All three stand up to claim it, and fighting nearly breaks out. To avoid violence the Champion's Portion is shared out among the Ulstermen, and
Ailill
Ailill (Ailell, Oilioll) is a male name in Old Irish. It is a prominent name in Irish mythology, as for Ailill mac Máta, King of Connacht and husband of Queen Medb, on whom Shakespeare based the Fairy Queen Mab. Ailill was a popular given name in ...
and
Medb
Medb (), later spelled Meadhbh (), Méibh () and Méabh (), and often anglicised as Maeve ( ), is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Her husband in the core stories of the cycle is Ailill mac Máta, although she had seve ...
, king and queen of Connacht, and then
Cú Roí
Cú Roí mac Dáire (Cú Ruí, Cú Raoi) is a king of Munster in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He is usually portrayed as a warrior with superhuman abilities and a master of disguise possessed of magical powers. His name probably means "ho ...
of Munster, are asked to judge the dispute. A series of tests of skill and courage are set, and after each of them Cúchulainn is judged to have won, but Conall and Lóegaire refuse to accept the judgement, and the Champion's Portion goes unawarded. Then, when the three heroes are at
Emain Macha
Navan Fort ( sga, Emain Macha ; ga, Eamhain Mhacha, label=Modern Irish ) is an ancient ceremonial monument near Armagh, Northern Ireland. According to tradition it was one of the great royal sites of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland and the cap ...
, they are visited by a giant churl who challenges them each in turn to behead him, and then allow him to behead them the following day. Lóegaire, Conall and Cúchulainn all behead the churl, who picks up his head and leaves, but Lóegaire and Conall are nowhere to be found when he returns the following day. Only Cúchulainn keeps his side of the bargain. He stretches out his neck for the axe, but the churl spares him in recognition of his courage and honour. He reveals himself as Cú Roí, and announces that the Champion's Portion is indisputably Cúchulainn's.
Classical references
Athenaeus
Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...
, quoting the lost work of the 1st/2nd century BC Greek historian and geographer
Posidonius
Posidonius (; grc-gre, wikt:Ποσειδώνιος, Ποσειδώνιος , "of Poseidon") "of Apamea (Syria), Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greeks, Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geog ...
, says that it was formerly the custom among the Celts for the hind quarter of pork to be claimed by the bravest man, and disputes over who this was would be settled by single combat to the death.
Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...
also says that the Celts gave the best joints of meat to the most distinguished men.
In fiction
* In the ''
2000 AD'' comic book
Slaine the King, two warriors from Slaine's tribe fight over the hero's portion. Gwalchazad the Ram eventually stabs Dundan Skullsmasher with his knife.
* A less violent quarrel over the hero's portion is featured in
Asterix in Belgium
''Asterix in Belgium'' (french: Astérix chez les Belges, lit=Asterix among the Belgians/Belgae) is the twenty-fourth volume of the Asterix comic book series, by René Goscinny (story) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations).
It is noted as the last A ...
. The two Belgian chiefs threaten to settle their differences with fists, until an equally large portion of meat is brought out.
[Asterix in Belgium]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curadmir
Ulster Cycle
Early Irish literature
Gaelic culture