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Volume XXII

July, 1925

Number 3

THE HISTORICAL SETTING OF THE LEGEND OF
SNEDGUS AND MAC RIAGLA1

BY WILLIAM FLINT THRALL.

The few scholars who have made studies of the original character or of the development of the legend of Snedgus and Mac Riagla, one of the least known but not least interesting of the early Irish sea-voyage tales known as imrama, are not agreed upon the initial problem of the historical setting of the original form of the story. Does the apparently personal participation of Colum cille of Iona (ob. 597) mean a sixth-century setting? Or were the events originally conceived as taking place near the middle of the seventh century after the death of High King Domnall mac Aed mac Ainmire, as the weight of textual evidence seems to indicate, in spite of the fact that the King Donnchad of the legend can not be identified among the historical sons of Domnall? Or is Domnall to be identified with the eighth-century high king Domnall, who did have a son Donnchad, himself a powerful high king of Ireland?

The existing forms of the legend include:

1. Imrum Snedghusa ocus Mic Riagla, “The voyage of Snedgus and Mac Riagla," Yellow Book of Lecan (YBL), cols. 391-395, a complete, though brief, account in prose with interspersed sections in verse paralleling the prose. Since the stanzas of the poetry form a complete poetic unit and seem linguistically older than the

1I am indebted to Professor John M. Manly for assistance in establishing a point of view toward one aspect of this study and to Professor Tom Peete Cross for numerous courtesies and invaluable hints. Neither of these scholars, however, is responsible for the argumentative position assumed in the paper.

prose, they are regarded as a separate version. Following Thurneysen I shall call these two forms Prose A and Poem. The prose seems in part at least to be based upon the verse.1a

2. A later, longer version appears in three variant forms: a) Eachtra Cleirech Choluim cille, "The Otherworld Adventures of the Clerics of Colum cille," YBL, cols. 707-717. There is a break in column 714, the remaining part, written in a larger hand, being less detailed in style, apparently following some representative of the Prose A version, and closing with the same section of Poem as appears in Prose A. It is unique in its inclusion of a long passage from Fís Adamnáin, "The Vision of Adamnan." Following Thurneysen, I call this Prose B. b) Merugud Cleirech Choluim Chille. "The Wanderings of Colum cille's Clerics," Book of Fermoy, 86a (old folio 58) and BM Add. Ms. 30, 512, fo. 1a, 1 ff. This version closely resembles Prose B except that it lacks the vision material, is provided with verse sections (not from Poem), and has a different concluding section. I shall refer to this as Merugud or M. c) Sechran clerech C. C., "The Wan

1a Poem is printed, with translation, by Professor Rudolf Thurneysen in Zwei Versionen der mittelirischen Legende von Snedgus und Mac Riagla (Halle, 1904), pp. 1-26. Prose A, without the poetry, was edited with translation by Whitley Stokes, Revue Celtique (R. C.), IX (1888), 14-25. Thurneysen included a translation of Prose A in Sagen aus dem alten Irland (1901), pp. 126-130. Summaries of the complete document are given by O'Curry, Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History (Ms. Mat.), Dublin, 1873, pp. 333-334 and by Zimmer in Keltische Beiträge II, Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum (ZDA), xxxIII (1889), 212-215. The dependence of Prose A on Poem has been noted by O'Curry, Thurneysen, and Zimmer (op. cit.), and by Kuno Meyer, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie (ZCP), XI, 148.

Prose B is edited and translated by Stokes, R. C., XXVI (1905), 130167 and by Thurneysen, Zwei. Vers., pp. 31-50 (vision material omitted). It should be noted that all the texts in Zwei. Vers. were based on the unsatisfactory facsimile of YBL (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 1896); cf. Kuno Meyer, ZCP, 1 (1896-97), 493 ff. On the texts in Zwei Vers., cf. R. C., XXVI, 130; ZCP, v, 418-21; vi, 234-235.

Text of M, from the BM Ms. printed by Tómas Ó Máille in Miscellany Presented to Kuno Meyer (Halle, 1912), 307-26. 6 Máille gives linguistic data to show that M is older than Prose B. I am indebted to Séamas 6 Duibhlearga, B. A., University College, Dublin, for assistance in securing a dependable translation of M, especially of some of the difficult variant readings from the Book of Fermoy.

derings of the Clerics of Colum cille," is embodied in Manus O'Donnell's Betha Colaim Chille, "The Life of Colum cille," compiled in the sixteenth century. O'Donnell's Betha is preserved in a Bodleian manuscript, Rawl. B 514. This form I shall refer to as Sechran or S.*

Following is a summary of the tale, based upon Stokes's edition of Prose A (section numbers after Zimmer). The footnotes record important differences in the other versions:

Sec. 1. After the death of Domnall son of Aed son of Ainmire and after the taking of Ireland by Maelcoba's sons, the two sons of Domnall, Donnchad and Fiacha, became kings over Tir Connell and the Men of Ross, respectively. The Men of Ross, who had never before been subject to a king, were sorely oppressed under Fiacha, who allowed them neither weapon nor colored raiment." At the close of the first year of his reign, Fiacha held an assembly at Boyne-Mouth and demanded of the Men of Ross still more service. They replied, "We can not do more." He said, “Let each and all of you put your spittle on my palm." It was found to be half-spittle and half blood. "Your service is not proper yet, for all the spittle is not blood. Cast the hills into the hollows that they may be (level) land. Plant trees in the plains that they may be forests. A deer passed the assembly. All the king's men pursued it, leaving their chief, Fiacha, at the mercy of the men of Ross, who killed him with his

Text and translation of the Betha, including S (Sec. 355, pp. 382-401) are printed by A. O'Kelleher and G. Schoepperle in University of Illinois Bulletin, Vol. xv, No. 48 (July, 1918).

...

Poem (St. 2): 66 Domnall's death." Prose B, M, S.: Donnchad succeeded Domnall as king of Erin. Fiacha was given dominion over the Men of Ross and the Mugdorn Maigen; it was their custom to kill their own sovereign.

in the beginning of the reign of Donnchad after Rest lacking.

The reference to the wearing of colored raiment may be an allusion to the use of colored raiment to indicate social rank, one color in the clothes of slaves, two in the clothes of soldiers, etc. See Four Masters (FM) at year 3664 (ed. John O'Donovan, Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, Dublin, 1856, 7 vols.). Cf. P. W. Joyce, Social History (London, 1903), ш, 192. • Poem: Lacking. Prose B, M, S: The assembly was held at the beginning of Fiacha's rule. The subjects submissively performed the great tasks Fiacha assigned them. Prose B: "And after the weariness of toil they would put the gore and blood of their hearts over their lips." M: And through the mightiness of the task it was spitting of blood that they used to spit out." Note that the presentation of the blood-spittle incident in all these versions is briefer and less dramatic than in Prose A.

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own weapon. Fiacha's brother Donnchad came and took prisoner all the men of Ross and put them into one house to be burned alive. But Donnchad decided not to burn the men of Ross without consulting his anmchara, "soul-friend" (confessor), Colum cille, to whom he sent messengers." Snedgus and Mac Riagla, the messengers, came from Colum cille with this counsel to Donnchad: cast sixty couples of the men of Ross on the sea that God may pass his judgment on them.10 The men of Ross were set upon the sea in small boats and men went to watch them that they should not return.11. The two clerics set out on their return to Iona to Colum cille. As they were in their coracle they bethought themselves of going of their own account into the outer ocean on a pilgrimage, even as the

'Poem: Lacking. Prose B, M, S: The passing of the deer seems to be the result of an intrigue formed by the native crown princes, Diarmait Olmar and Ailill.

Poem: Lacking. Prose B, M, S: the proposal to burn the prisoners alive is lacking (cf. the effort to burn alive Cuchullin and his companions in an iron house in Mesca Ulad, "The Intoxication of the Ultonians," W. M. Hennessey, Royal Irish Academy, Todd Lecture Series, Vol. I, Part 1, Dublin, 1889, pp. 40 ff.; the Orgainn Dind rig, ed., Whitley Stokes, ZDA, III, 1899-1901, 1-14 [Sec. 26], and further parallels there noted by Stokes). Immediately after the slaying of Fiacha the men of Ross are said to have placed themselves under the safeguard of Ronan the Fair and Maine mac Niall.

"Poem: Lacking. Prose B, M, S: Donnchad marched with a great army to violate the sanctuary of the protectors Ronan and Maine. Donnchad agreed to the proposal of the protectors that the matter be referred to Colum cille for decision.

10 Poem: Lacking though the names of the voyaging clerics appear in St. 1. Prose B, M, S: The outcasts are never to come to Ireland again, and their land is to be given to God and Patrick. The messengers are unnamed in S and appear in M as 66 Sneaghus" and "Mac Niaghus."

It was a recognized right of the anmchara to send penitents on a pilgrimage, Ancient Laws of Ireland (ed., Hancock and others, Dublin, 18651901, 6 vols.), II, 131. Cf. John T. McNeill, The Celtic Penitentials (Univ. of Chicago dissertation), Paris, 1923, pp. 134-136. McNeill thinks the heroes of Imram Curaig Hua Corra, "The Voyage of the boat of the Húi Corra," (Stokes, R. C., XIV, 1893, pp. 22-63), who are represented as making a voluntary pilgrimage into the ocean after performing the penance prescribed by St. Finnian, were really penitents sent out on pilgrimage by their anmchara. On punishment by being set adrift see further Manly Anniversary Studies in Language and Literature (Chicago, 1923), p. 277, n. 1.

11 Poem: Lacking. Prose B: Snedgus and Mac Riagla themselves went as witnesses and returned to Donnchad after accompanying the sixty couples a long way into the lap of the sea."

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