Leabharcham was a wise old woman of

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 ...

in 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 ...

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally passed down orally in the prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later written down in the early medieval era by C ...

. She was charged by the

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Conchobar mac Nessa Conchobar mac Nessa (son of Ness) is the king of Ulster in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He rules from Emain Macha (Navan Fort, near Armagh). He is usually said to be the son of the High King Fachtna Fáthach, although in some stories hi ...

with nursing

Deirdre Deirdre ( , Irish: ; sga, Derdriu ) is the foremost tragic heroine in Irish legend and probably its best-known figure in modern times. She is known by the epithet "Deirdre of the Sorrows" (). Her story is part of the Ulster Cycle, the best-know ...

seclusion Seclusion is the act of secluding (i.e. isolating from society), the state of being secluded, or a place that facilitates it (a secluded place). A person, couple, or larger group may go to a secluded place for privacy or peace and quiet. The se ...

until the girl was old enough to be his bride, after it was prophesied at Deirdre's birth: "The infant shall be fairest among the women of Ireland and shall wed a king but because of her shall death and ruin come upon the province of

." When the time came for Deirdre to wed the king, Leabharcham, having raised and educated the beautiful maiden, dutifully returned her surrogate daughter to Conchobar's

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

at Emain Macha (now

Navan Fort 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 ...

county Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

). There the old

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

unwittingly helped fulfill the

druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

Cathbad Cathbad () or Cathbhadh (modern spelling) is the chief druid in the court of King Conchobar mac Nessa in the Ulster Cycle of Irish Mythology. He features in both accounts of Conchobar's birth, in one of which he is the king's father. In the first ...

's prophecy by providing Deirdre with information about

Naoise In Irish mythology, Naisi,"Deirdre and Naisi". In: Thomas, Edward. ''Celtic stories''. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1911. pp. 48-60. Noíse or Noisiu (modern spelling: Naoise ) was the nephew of King Conchobar mac Nessa of Ulster, and a son of U ...

, being asked by the prospective queen to identify a handsome young warrior, "his hair like the raven's wing, his cheek the hue of blood and skin as white as snow". With Naoise, a hunter and singer at Conchobar's court, and his two brothers, Deirdre escaped to

Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scottish people, Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed i ...

(Scotland). Years later, when the young lovers were tricked into returning to Ulster, the king sent for Leabharcham to discover whether or not Deirdre was still the fairest woman in Ireland. Leabharcham, in an effort to protect Deirdre, and discourage the bitter old king from taking vengeance against Naoise, reported back to Conchobar that she had lost all of her beauty. Only after the king sent a second spy did battle break out, ending tragically with the death of Naoise and his brothers and the king's seizure of Deirdre, who died of a broken heart soon afterward. Also spelled ''Lebharcham'', and sometimes

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

as ''Levarcham'' or ''Lavarcham'', her name is derived from Irish '' leabhar'' "book" and ''

cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script *** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script *Cham Albania ...

'' "crooked". The name is sometimes interpreted to mean "dishonest book" (perhaps due to the lie Leabharcham told the king about Deirdre's beauty having faded), though the second element can be found in descriptive

byname An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

s in reference to posture. She appears as "Lavarcham" in Synge's 1910 play ''

Deirdre of the Sorrows ''Deirdre of the Sorrows'' is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge in 1909. The play, based on Irish mythology, in particular the myths concerning Deirdre, Naoise, and Conchobar, was unfinished at the author's death o ...

''. Her character delivers the last line of the play: "Deirdre is dead, and Naisi is dead; and if the oaks and stars could die for sorrow, it's a dark sky and a hard and naked earth we'd have this night in Emain."Consolatio
Lavarcham's last words

Notes

References

External links

Play by J. M. Synge {{Celtic mythology (Ulster) Fictional nannies Ulster Cycle