In the
Ulster Cycle
The Ulster Cycle (), 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 counties Armagh, Do ...
of
Irish mythology
Irish mythology is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally Oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era. In the History of Ireland (795–1169), early medieval era, myths were ...
Donn Cúailnge, the Brown Bull of
Cooley, was an extremely fertile stud bull over whom the
Táin Bó Cúailnge
(Modern ; "the driving-off of the cows of Cooley"), commonly known as ''The Táin'' or less commonly as ''The Cattle Raid of Cooley'', is an epic from Irish mythology. It is often called "the Irish ''Iliad''", although like most other earl ...
(Cattle Raid of Cooley) was fought.
Prologue
A ninth century ''rémscéla'' or foretale recounts how the tale came to be. In the 6th century, the poet
Senchán Torpéist gathered the poets of Ireland together to see if any of them knew the story of the ''Táin Bó Cúailnge'', but they all only knew parts of it. His son Muirgen came to the grave of
Fergus mac Róich
Fergus mac Róich/Róigh (literally "Virility, manliness, son of great stallion") is an Irish hero and a character in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Formerly the king of Ulaid, Ulster, he is tricked out of the kingship and betrayed by Conc ...
and spoke a poem, and Fergus' ghost appeared to him and related the events of the ''Táin'' as they happened.
Legend
He was originally a man named Friuch, a pig-keeper, who worked for
Bodb Dearg
In Irish mythology, Bodb Derg (Old Irish, ) or Bodhbh Dearg (Middle Irish and Modern Irish, ) was a son of Eochaid Garb or the Dagda,"The Children of Lir". P.W. Joyce (translator). 1879. ''Old Irish Romances.'' C. Kegan Paul & Co. and the Dagda ...
, king of the Munster ''sidh''. He fell out with Rucht, who was a pig-keeper for Ochall Ochne, king of the Connaught ''sidh''. The two fought, transforming into various animal and human forms, ultimately becoming two worms which were swallowed by two cows and reborn as two bulls, Donn Cuailnge and
Finnbhennach ("White-horned"). Donn belonged to
Dáire mac Fiachna, a cattle-lord of
Ulster
Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
; Finnbhennach was born into the herds of queen
Medb
Medb (), later spelled Meadhbh (), Méabh(a) () and Méibh (), 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 ...
of
Connacht
Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...
, but considered belonging to a woman beneath him and joined the herds of her husband,
Ailill.
[
The Mórrígan had a heifer which she took to Cooley to be bulled by Donn. The result was a bull-calf which fought Finnbhennach and narrowly lost. After seeing that, Medb was determined to see Finnbhennach fight the bull-calf's sire.
When Medb discovered that owning Finnbhennach made Ailill richer than her, she resolved to even the account by possessing Donn Cuailnge. She sent messengers to Dáire with an extremely generous offer of land and treasure, and if necessary sexual favours, if he would loan the bull to her for a year. Dáire agreed. However the messengers got drunk, and one boasted that if he hadn't agreed Medb would have taken the bull by force. When Dáire heard that he backed out of the deal.][
The men of Ulster were intent on fighting Medb's army but were disabled by the curse of Cruinniuc's wife, Macha. The only person fit to defend Ulster was seventeen-year-old Cúchulainn, but he let the army take Ulster by surprise while off on a tryst instead of watching the border. Medb ultimately tracked Donn Cuailnge down, and the bull gored the first Connaught herdsman who attempted to capture him. He then stampeded with fifty heifers through the camp, killing fifty warriors before charging off into the countryside.][MacKillop, James. "Táin Bó Cúailnge", ''Myths and Legends of the Celts'', Penguin UK, 2006]
Cúchulainn met Medb's army on the mount of Slieve Foy and invoked the right of single combat at a ford, defeating a series of champions in a standoff lasting months.[ While Cúchulainn was thus engaged, Buide mac Báin found Donn Cuailnge and drove him and twenty-four cows to Connaught. Cúchulainn killed Buide mac Báin and his twenty-four followers, but in the carnage Donn Cuailnge again ran off.][
Eventually, after a pitched battle with the Ulster forces, Medb's armies were forced to retreat, but they managed to bring Donn Cuailnge back to Cruachan. He and Finnbhennach fought, and after a long and grueling battle Donn killed his rival. Mortally wounded himself, he wandered around Ireland inspiring placenames before returning to Cooley to die.][
]Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
, in his ''Gallic Wars
The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, and Switzerland). Gauls, Gallic, Germanic peoples, Germanic, and Celtic Britons, Brittonic trib ...
'', refers to a Gaulish
Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...
ally called Valerius Donnotaurus, an interesting Celt
The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...
ic parallel to the ''Donn Tarbh'' of Cooley."Donn Cuailnge", Oxford Index
/ref>
Versions
The oldest recension of the tale is found in the ''Lebor na hUidre'' ("The Book of the Dun Cow"). This was in large part copied in the ''Lebor Buide Lecáin'', ("The Yellow Book of Lecan"), which was completed around 1390.[Murphy, Maureen O'Rourke, and Mackillop, James. "Old Irish Prose", ''An Irish Literature Reader'', Syracuse University Press, 2006]
References
External links
*
{{Celtic mythology (Ulster)
Ulster Cycle
Irish legendary creatures
Characters in Táin Bó Cúailnge
Mythological bulls