870
AN GAOḊAL.
O'Curry's Lectures.
ON THE
MANUSCRIPT MATERIAL OF ANCIENT IRISH HIS¬
TORY.
Lecture II.
Of the Cuilmenn. — Of the Tain bo Chuailgne, —
Of Cormac Mac Airt. — Of the Book of Acaill.
(Continued)
In the first lecture (to pass to the next of our
oldest lost books), we partly considered the history
of that very ancient record, now lost, known as the
Saltair of Tara. It was stated that its composition
is referred to the period of the reign of Cormac
Mac Art (Cormac Mac Airt, or son of Art), and
that this king was actually supposed to have been
its author.
To give full value to all the evidence we possess
as to the nature of this record, the time at which it
was said to have been composed, and its reputed
author, it will be necessary for us to enter into a
brief historical account of the period, and to give
some particulars about this celebrated prince ; from
which I conceive it will be fully evident, that to
attribute the composition of the Saltair to the time
of Cormac, or even to state that he was its author,
would be to make no extravagant assumption.
The character and career of Cormac Mac Art, as
agovernor, a warrior, a philosopher and a judge
deeply versed in the laws which he was called on
to administer, have, if not from his own time, at
least from a very remote period, formed a fruitful
subject for panegyric to the poet, the historian, and
the legislator.
Our oldest and most accredited annals record his
victories and military glories; our historians dwell
with rapture on his honor, his justice, and the na¬
tive dignity of his character. Our writers of histor¬
ical romance make him the hero of many a tale of
curious adventure, and our poets find in his person¬
al accomplishments, and in the regal splendor of
his reign, inexhaustible themes for their choicest
numbers.
The poet Maelmura, of Othna, who died A. D.
844, styles him Cormac Ceolach, or the Musical, in
allusion to his refined and happy mind and dispos¬
ition. Cinaeth (or Kenneth) O'Hartigan (who died
A. D. 973) gives a glowing description of the mag¬
nificence of Cormac and of his palace at Tara. And
Cuan O'Lochain, quoted in the former lecture, and
who died A. D. 1024, is no less eloquent on the
subject of Cormac's mental and personal qualities
and the glories of his reign. He also in his poem
which has been already quoted, describes the con¬
dition and disposition of the ruins of the principal
edifices at Tara, as they existed in his time, for
even at this early period (1024) the royal Tara was
but a ruin. Flann, of Saint Buithe's Monastry, who
died A. D. 1056 (the greatest, perhaps, of the
scholars, historians and poets of his time), is equal¬
ly fluent in praise of Cormac, as a king, a warrior,
a scholar and a judge.
Cormac's father, Art, chief monarch of Erinn,
was killed in the battle of Magh Mucruimhe, i.e.
the Plain of Mucruimh (pron. Mucrivy), about A.
D. 195, by Mac Con, who was the son of his sister.
This Mac Con was a Munster prince, who had been
banished out of Erinn by Oilill Oluim, king of
Munster. After which passing into Britain and
Scotland, he returned in a few years at the head
of a large army of foreign adventurers, command¬
ed chiefly by Benne Brit, son of the king of Brit¬
ain. They sailed round the south coast of Ireland,
and landed in the Bay of Galway, and, being join¬
ed there by some of Mac Con's Irish adherents,
they overran and ravaged the country of West
Connaught. Art, the monarch immediately mustered
all the forces that he could command and marched in
to Connacht where he was joined by Mac Con's seven
(or six) step-brothers, the sons of Oilill Olum, with
the forces of Munster. A battle ensued, as stated
above, on the Plain of Mucruimhe (between Athen¬
ree and Galway), in which Art was killed, leaving
behind him an only son, Cormac, usually disting¬
uished as Cormac Mac Airt, i.e. Cormac the son of
Art.
On the death of his uncle Art, Mac Con assum¬
ed the monarchy of Erinn, to the prejudice of the
young prince Cormac, who was still in his boyhood
and who was forced to lie concealed for the time
among his mother's friends in Connacht.
Mac Con's usurpation, and his severe rule, dis¬
posed his subjects after some time to wish for his
removal, and to that end young Cormac, at the
solicitation of some powerful friends of his father,
appeared suddenly at Tara, where his person had
by this time ceased to be known. One day, we
are told he entered the judgment hall of the palace
at the moment that a case of royal privilege was
brought before the king, Mac Con for adjudicat¬
ion. For the king in ancient Erinn was, in east¬
ern fashion, believed to be gilted with peculiar
wisdom as a judge among his people, and it was a
part of his duty, as well as one of the chief priv¬
leges of his prerogative, to give judgment in any
cases of difficulty brought before him, even though
the litigants might be among the meanest of his
subjects, and the subject of litigation of the small¬
est value. The case is this related; Certain
sheep, the property of a certain widow residing
near Tara, had strayed into the queen's private
lawn, and eaten of its grass: they were captured
by some of the household officers, and the case
was brought before the king for judgement. The
king, on hearing the case condemned the sheep to
be forfeited. Young Cormac, however, hearing
this sentence, exclaimed that it was unjust, and de¬
clared that the sheep had eaten but the fleece of the
land, the most that they ought to forfeit should be
their own fleeces. This view of the law appeared
so wise and reasonable to the people around, that
a murmur of approbation ran through the hall.
Mac Con started from his seat an exclaimed,
"That is the judge of a king," and immediately
recognizing the youthful prince, ordered him to be
seized, but Cormac succeeded in effecting his es¬
cape. The people, then having recognized their
rightful chief, revolted against the morarch, upon
which Mac Con was driven into Munster, and Cor¬
mac assumed government of Tara. And thus com¬
menced one of the most brillant and important
reigns in Irish history.
The following description of Cormac, from the
Book of Ballymote (142 b. b.), gives a very vivid
picture of the person, manners and acts of this
monarch, which it gives however on the authority
of the older Book of Uachongbhail, and, even
though the language is often high-colored, it is
but a picturescue clothing for actual facts, as we
know from other sources
A noble and most illustrious king assumed the
sovereignty and rule of Erinn, namely, Cormac,
the grandson of Conn of the Hundred Battles. The
