Mór Muman or Mór Mumain (modern spelling: Mór Mhumhan) is a figure from
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 p ...
who is said to have been a
queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
of Munster and daughter of king Áed Bennán. Her name means "the Great Mother" and the province of Munster (''An Mhumhain'') is named after her.Olmsted, Garrett. ''The gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans''. University of Innsbruck, 1994. pp.162, 206, 270 She is believed to be an
euhemerised
Euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that historical accounts become myths as they are exagge ...
sovereignty goddess
Sovereignty goddess is a scholarly term, almost exclusively used in Celtic studies (although parallels for the idea have been claimed in other traditions, usually under the label '' hieros gamos''). The term denotes a goddess who, personifying a t ...
of the province, particularly of the
Eóganachta
The Eóganachta or Eoghanachta () were an Irish dynasty centred on Cashel which dominated southern Ireland (namely the Kingdom of Munster) from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of Desmond, an ...
.MacKillop, "Mór Muman". Mór Muman "personifies the land of Munster" and "the sovereignty of the region".Lysaght, Patricia, "Traditions of the Banshee", in Miranda Green & Sandra Billington (ed.), ''The Concept of the Goddess''. Psychology Press, 1996. p.158 She is also known as Mugain and may be the same figure as Anu and the Morrígan.
Traditions
The Irish-language tale ''Mór Muman 7 Aided Cuanach meic Ailchine'' ("Mór Muman and the death of Cuanu mac Ailchine") is found in the ''
Book of Leinster
The Book of Leinster ( mga, Lebor Laignech , LL) is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled c. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18 (cat. 1339). It was formerly known as the ''Lebor na Nuachongbála'' "Book ...
''. It is suggested that it dates from the 10th century or earlier.Wiley. According to this tale, Mór was placed under an enchantment and went mad. She wandered
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
for two years before she came to Cashel and the court of King Fíngen mac Áedo Duib. Fingen eventually slept with her, and her memory returned. In the morning, Fingen gave her the queen's robe and brooch, and put aside his current queen, daughter of the king of the Deisi, and put Mór in her place as she was of better blood. The ''
Metrical Dindshenchas
''Dindsenchas'' or ''Dindshenchas'' (modern spellings: ''Dinnseanchas'' or ''Dinnsheanchas'' or ''Dınnṡeanċas''), meaning "lore of places" (the Irish language, modern Irish word ''dinnseanchas'' means "topography"), is a class of onomastic tex ...
'' say of Fingen and Mór:
Best of the women of Inis Fail is Mór daughter of Áed Bennan. Better is Fingen than any hero that drives about Femen.
When Fingen died, the story says, Mór Muman married
Cathal mac Finguine
Cathal mac Finguine (died 742) was an Irish King of Munster or Cashel, and effectively High King of Ireland as well. He belonged to the Eóganacht Glendamnach sept of the dominant Eóganachta kin-group whose members dominated Munster from the ...
. Unfortunately, the collector of this tale mistook this Cathal for his great-grandfather, Cathal mac Áedo.
A similar tale is told of Mis, who gave her name to the
Slieve Mish Mountains
, translation = ossiblymountains of Mis
, language = Irish
, photo=File:Fenit Marina Ireland.JPG
, photo_caption= Slieve Mish Mountains from across the Tralee Bay in the village of Fenit
, country=Republic of Ireland
, location = Kerry ...
and who may be the same figure as Mór.Monaghan, Patricia. ''The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore''. Infobase Publishing, 2004. p.336 Mis is said to have gone mad and to have lived as a wild woman in the mountains. She recovers after befriending and sleeping with a harper named Dubh Rois. These tales may be based on the common motif of the
loathly lady
The loathly lady ( cy, dynes gas, Motif D732 in Stith Thompson's motif index), is a tale type commonly used in medieval literature, most famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's '' The Wife of Bath's Tale''. The motif is that of a woman who appears unatt ...
, whereby the goddess of sovereignty appears as a hag until kissed by the rightful king, whereupon she becomes a beautiful young woman.
In another tale, Mór and her husband Lear land in Ireland at the
Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula ( ga, Corca Dhuibhne; anglicised as Corkaguiny, the name of the corresponding barony) is the northernmost of the major peninsulas in County Kerry. It ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point ...
and make their home at Dunmore Head (''Dún Mór'', meaning "Dún" the Irish for fort and "Mór" the Irish for Big, possibly meaning "Mór's hillfort"). One day, Mór climbs to the top of Mount Eagle to see the land in which she dwells. However, she is 'taken short' and squats to relieve herself. The
ravine
A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. At the foot of the mountain is a place called Tivoria or ''Tigh Mhóire'' ("Mór's house").Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition''. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. p.305
As a divinity, Mór Muman is believed to be identical with Mugain, and to include features of Medb and the Morrígan. She is sometimes referred to simply as Mumain, making her association with the land of Munster (Irish, ''Mumu'') explicit.
The death of Mór Muman ingen Áedo Bennáin is recorded by the '' Annals of Ulster'' under the year 632 and by the ''
Annals of Tigernach
The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (abbr. AT, ga, Annála Tiarnaigh) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish.
Many of the pre-historic entries come from the 12th-centur ...
'' for 636.
Mór's sister, Ruithchern, is also thought to represent the sovereignty goddess. She was the protagonist of the lost story ''Aithed Ruithcherne la Cuanu mac Cailchin'' (The killing of Ruithchern by Cuanu mac Ailchine).