A Prelude to War is a work of fiction. As such, I have used some poetic license, for which impropriety I beg the indulgence of the scholars of Irish mythology. My use of artifice is born of two necessities: to fill the gaps where the legends are lacking and to make the story into a novel rather than a short story or a novella. The following notes explain the logic behind the choices I made while writing.
WRITTEN RECORDS
I extensively researched pre-Christian Ireland before I wrote A Prelude to War. Of course, any research of the time is problematic because there are no written records of Ireland from the first century before the common era (BCE) in which I have set the story.
It seems likely that in Irish Celtic tribes, history was entrusted to the druids and kept as a verbal tradition the Celts passed down from druid to druid. Therefore, history was lost when the arrival of Christianity in Ireland destroyed not only the pagan ways but also the druids themselves. The tales and legends that now exist around the Milesians were written by monks many centuries after their alleged occurrence, around either the eighth or the twelfth century after the birth of Christ (CE), depending on whom you read.
My research focused on the period from about fifty BCE to the birth of Christ because it is one of the periods in which Cú Chulainn was thought to have lived. Choosing that period also lends a certain romanticism to the tale, in that Caesar conquered the Gauls, a contemporary Celtic people, and invaded Alba, pre-Roman Britain (later synonymous with Scotland only) twice during the same period.
THE ROMANS
That leads nicely into my introduction to the Romans. Experts thought for a long time that they never made it as far as Ireland, but there are the remains of a Roman fort north of Dublin, which puts that theory to bed. I have taken the liberty of introducing a fear of invasion into my story to add tension. I do not know if such fear existed, but it is highly likely. It is not long after the story of Cú Chulainn when Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, the Roman Governor of Britain, invaded Ynys Môn (Mona, or Anglesey) to destroy the druids, allowing Queen Boudica to revolt in the absence of his legions.
TIMELINES
Timelines throughout the Irish legends could be more accurate. In the Ulster cycle, the storytellers break many boundaries regarding possible periods in which the legends might have occurred. Either the people of the age were immortal, or there was much stretching going on by the monks when they committed the legends to paper. For example, Connavar Mac Nessa was supposedly already king of Ulster when Connery died in thirty-three BCE, and his head was meant to explode when the news of the death of Christ arrived in thirty-three CE. According to legend, Eochu Feidlech gave his daughters to Mac Nessa in payment for the death of his father, but Eochu died in either eighty-two or one hundred-thirty-one BCE, which would make Connavar at the very least a hundred and fifteen years old when he died. Longevity is quite a modern trait, and I do not accept that a man lived for that length of time around the birth of Christ.
According to some, after the death of Connery The Great, there was an interregnum of five years before Lugaid assumed the throne. Lugaid was meant to reign for twenty or twenty-three years, depending on the scholar you read. I have been purposefully vague about the timelines in my rendition because they would do very little but confuse the story.
The gap between the reigns of Connery and Lugaid could have been none or five years, depending on the version. I have adapted it as a six-year gap to allow for the three-yearly Assembly of Kings to fit the storyline. Rather than fill that space with something of nothing, I chose it to be the period during which Cú Chulainn underwent his training on the Isle of Skye (The Shadowy Isle). That is pure literary license on my part, and I apologize to any scholars among the readers.
CHARIOTS
A lack of consensus from the scholars I read struck me rather forcefully while I was researching. For example, some believe that chariots were extensively used in Ireland and were even presented to young warriors when they came of age. However, there is very little archaeological evidence to support the theory. Although archaeologists think that the Irish built some of the highways using Roman technology, most were inaccessible to wheeled modes of transport. I suspect that might be the reason why the remains of chariots are conspicuous by their absence in archaeological Ireland. Those who favor the theory that the Ancient Irish used chariots extensively claim there is no evidence because they were made of wood and have long since crumbled into dust. I am skeptical of that theory because many parts would have been iron.
I am a storyteller, not a historian or an archaeologist. From an artistic viewpoint, a lack of chariots is far more straightforward in terms of the flow of the tale. It is easier to park a horse outside a hostel, after all. Hence, I have the protagonists mounted on horses.
MANE MILSCOTHACH
Further to the sketchiness of timelines, in my version of events, Mane Milscothach, a son of Medb and Ailill, was executed for betraying the High King. Mane Honey-Tongued was one of Medb’s eight sons. She called them all Mane because of a prophecy and distinguished them by different suffixes. The ain (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) mentions the Honey-Tongued as one of the chieftains who made up Medb’s army with his three thousand warriors. However, Mane was also at the battle of Da Derga’s hostel and fought on the invaders’ side. That presents incongruencies, also around timelines. Suppose Milscothach had invaded with the Britons and Connery’s three foster brothers. In that case, I doubt he would have been present during the Cattle Raid, Medb’s premise for invading Ulster, unless the raid occurred before Connery was High King, which seems unlikely. One theory has Connery’s death to be around thirty-three BCE and the Cattle Raid of Cooley to have happened around the turn of the century. There are theories that Cooley came first, but if that was the case, why is there no mention of Cú Chulainn at the battle of Da Derga’s hostel?
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THE BATTLE OF DRUIMM CRIAICH
According to legend, the three findemna—the sons of Eochu Fiedlech—tried to overthrow their father at the Battle of Druimm Criaich. The night before the battle, Clothra, afraid they would die without heirs, seduced them, conceiving the future High King Lugaid Riab nDerg. They died the next day, and their father, seeing their severed heads, swore that no son should be allowed to succeed his father as High King. Despite the idea of incest being abhorrent to the ancient Irish, their legends are full of heroes conceived by incest.
FURBAIDE AND LUGAID
Depending on which version of the Milesian legends you read, Furbaide either kills Medb with a sling or kills Clothra, and Lugaid kills him in revenge. I have chosen the latter of the two versions for my rendition. The legends also have Furbaide being born by cesarean after Medb drowned Ethne, which, for my story, is problematic on two counts, not the least of which is its believability. However, other than it being a little fantastical, it would mean that Furbaide would be far too young to fit into the timeline of the legend in any logical sense.
LANGUAGE
There is an anomaly in the legends surrounding Cú Chulainn: how did he and Dervla communicate? Cú Chulainn was an Irishman who spoke ancient Gaelic, and Dervla was a Dane who supposedly spoke a Teutonic language. There is no mention in the legends about how they communicated, and I have chosen to adopt that approach. Experts in ancient languages believe a common proto-Celtic language spanned much of Northern Europe. Still, they do not think the area of influence stretched to Denmark. I leave it up to the reader to decide whether they spoke the same language or if one of them learned the language of the other.
FIRST NIGHT
Contemporary historians believe that the right of first night, or primae noctis, is an invention of medieval historians. It is, however, referenced as a right that King Connavar exercised on the night of Cú Chulainn’s marriage to Emer. Kathvar was supposed to have slept between them to ensure that Cú Chulainn was not offended by the king’s actions. I have introduced it under poetic license in the sub-plot of Naoise and Deirdre. As far as the legends go, Connavar made no such demands. Deirdre was a target for the king’s lust, and she did elope with Naoise, so my poetic license is just a slight divergence that I hope the scholars can forgive.
BATTLE NUMBERS
According to the legends, Medb’s chieftains and the kings fielded around three thousand warriors. This number would have made Medb’s army about fifty-four thousand strong. I must admit to being a little skeptical of that number. I have divided it by ten and have them fielding three hundred each. Although not in line with the legends, it does make Medb’s (or Fergus’s) task of managing them more manageable.
If the army had been fifty-four thousand strong when the van reached Granard, the tail would still be in Crúachain waiting to ride.
CONALL AND CÚ CHULAINN
Some scholars have Conall Cernach as a foster brother of Cú Chulainn, while others have him as a foster father. I have chosen to believe the latter. Although no scholar, I cannot reconcile Cú Chulainn’s absence from the battle of Da Derga’s hostel, which predates The Cattle Raid of Cooley. Rosemary Sutcliff explained it with Cú Chulainn being away on the Isle of Skye, training with Scathach. However, I still think there would have been some mention of his absence in The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel had that been the case.
DUBLIN
Many of my beta readers complained that references to Átha Clíath were inaccurate because they felt that the Vikings founded Dublin almost a thousand years after the alleged events. The first Viking settlement was initially thought to have been around CE 841. However, there was an ecclesiastical settlement predating that. According to records, the Vikings founded Dublin in CE 988, hence the millennium celebrations in 1988, but the area where the city now stands is known to have been settled in prehistoric times. The mythological texts constantly reference Átha Clíath, including in The Destruction of da Derga’s Hostel and The Cattle Raid of Cooley, two primary sources for A Prelude to War.
Specialists now think that the Dublin founded by the Vikings and the Átha Clíath of the legends, although in the same general vicinity, are distinct settlements. Dublin means “black pool” and is thought to refer to the tidal pool where the Liffey meets the Poddle. Átha Clíath means “ford of hurdles” and is believed to be further inland, possibly around the location of Usher’s Island. Wherever the truth lies, for my rendition of the tale, Átha Clíath is a small settlement on the south bank of the river near Euston Station.
DRUIDS
Another area where I impinged on scholarly propriety is in my treatment of the druids. We know little about them, but they pop up frequently in Celtic Mythology. Some of what we know comes from Caesar’s Gallic Wars, which describes the druids as a powerful political force. I might be guilty of Amergein’s trait of embellishing their role in the tale, but it seems a fair assumption that they had some large part to play in the events of the time.
MY TAKE
I might be in the minority, but I believe that facts are the basis of the events described in the legends about Cú Chulainn, Conall, Lugaid, Medb, and Connavar Mac Nessa. Just because there is no written evidence does not mean the events never happened. I firmly believe all legends have a foundation in truth, however slim it might be. For the Irish legends, more so than most. They are set in a time when records were written and the Romans conquered their way through Europe. That is only just over two thousand years, making the Irish legends more touchable than the classical legends of Rome and Greece.
Micheál Cladáin