The central epic of the Ulster Cycle in Irish literature, telling how Queen Medb of Connacht invades Ulster to seize the great bull Donn Cuailnge, and how the youth Cu Chulainn, alone among the Ulstermen while the rest lie under a curse of weakness, holds the invading army at a ford in single combats, including his tragic duel with his foster brother Ferdiad.
Facts
History
Historical NoteThe earliest surviving manuscript witness is the Book of the Dun Cow, copied around 1100 AD, though linguistic evidence in the text points to oral composition considerably earlier, likely by the eighth century. 1 Historical NoteThe Tain's own opening, in which Medb and Ailill compare their wealth in bed and the raid is set in motion because Ailill owns one bull more than Medb, is sometimes transmitted separately from the main narrative as a remscela, or fore-tale, one of a recognized set of short pieces attached to the Tain in some manuscript groupings. 1 Meaning
Central MotifA lone hero's defense of his people at a ford against an invading army seeking a prized bull 1 Text
Source TextTain Bo Cuailnge, preserved principally in the Book of the Dun Cow and the Book of Leinster 1 Scholarship and Forensics
Scholarly NoteCelticists read the epic's own frame, in which the recovery of the lost text is narrated as a legend involving the poet Senchan Torpeist, as evidence of how seriously medieval Irish scribes treated the Tain's own transmission as worth mythologizing. 1 Controversy
Point in DisputeScholars are divided on how far the surviving manuscripts represent a single continuous pre-Christian tradition against how far Christian monastic scribes reshaped or invented material in the process of writing it down. 1 Sources
Primary SourceThe Book of the Dun Cow and the Book of Leinster are the two principal medieval manuscript witnesses, both held in the Royal Irish Academy. 1 Connections
Associated With
Belongs to Tradition
Source Celtic Culture: A Historical EncyclopediaJohn T. Koch (ed.)
Related To
Sources
1. Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia
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