Electronic edition compiled by Beatrix Färber, Fangzhe Terek Qiu
Funded by University College, Cork, School of History
1. First draft.
Extent of text: 2568 words
Distributed by CELT online at University College, Cork, Ireland.
Text ID Number: G302003
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The electronic text represents the edited text. Meyer's introduction is integrated. Names are capitalized in line with CELT practice. In Meyer's edition, the acute accent and macron are used to mark long vowels. Both are retained. Meyer's corrections are marked corr sic="" resp="KM". Text supplied by him is marked sup resp="KM"; editorial expansions are marked ex. Editorial footnotes are integrated into the electronic edition.
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This text uses the P element to represent the paragraph.
Created: Date range: 800–1100 (poem 9th century; prose later).
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Fangzhe Terek Qiu (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Students of the CURIA Project (ed.)
Students of the CURIA Project (data capture)
The following version of the Orgain Néill Noígíallaig or The Slaying of Niall of the Nine Hostages is here published and translated for the first time from the Bodleian MS. Rawlinson B 502, 47a1–47a2. Other versions representing a slightly different redaction of the same tale are to be found in the Yellow Book of Lecan, p. 126b (L), and in the Book of Ballymote, p. 134b (B). I quote their variants wherever they throw light on our text.
According to the Annals, Niall, the eponymus of the Húi Néill, was King of Ireland from A.D. 379–405. It is probable that the account given in our tale of his expedition to Alba contains a reminiscence of Irish invasions of Great Britain at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century. O'Donovan, indeed ( AFM p. 127, note 2) has no hesitation in identifying Niall with the Irish leader against whose attacks Stilicho had to defend himself; and perhaps the statement of the Annals that Niall was slain ‘oc muir n-Icht’, ‘by the sea of Wight,’ i.e. the English Channel, is based upon fact. Similarly, the antiquary Cinaed úa Artacáin, who died in 975, says in his poem on the grave of Niall: Niall mac Echach assa lecht / luid fa shecht clar trethan tricc, / roreraig comarbus Cuind / co ngáet ós muing mara Icht. Niall, son of Eochu, whose is this grave, went seven times across the swift sea, / He ruled Conn's heritage until he was slain upon the crest of the sea of Wight.’’
Book of Leinster, p. 154a
None of the three versions of our tale retains this old tradition; they are based on a number of different traditions in which later conditions are reflected. It is true, the mention of Roman hostages may perhaps be traced to an original account in which Niall's conflicts with the Romans in Britain were described, but in Britain itself our versions substitute the Saxons for the Romans. Similarly, the curious reference to the Picts — ‘among the bards of the Pictfolk,’ paragraph 1.9. — may contain a reminiscence of the time when the Irish were the allies of the Picts in their raids against Romans and Britons. But all three versions contain startling anachronisms. Thus, the Rawlinson version makes the exiled Echu proceed to Erc, son of Munremor, in Scotland. This was the ancestor of the Dalriadic kings of Scotland, who according to the Annals died in A. D. 474. In the Book of Ballymote his son Loarn, the Loernus of Adamnan, the eponymus of the Lornes, takes his place, while in the Yellow Book the anachronism is still greater, for it substitutes Gabran, the son of Domongart, who died in A. D. 560.
With regard to Niall's epithet ‘of the Nine Hostages,’ it is interesting to observe that the account given in the body of the tale does not tally with that of the verse quoted, which latter is no doubt the older and in all probability the true one.
Though the Rawlinson version is hardly earlier than the eleventh century, the poem on Niall's death with which it ends may be safely ascribed to the beginning of the ninth, as I have shown in the Festschrift für Whitley Stokes, p. 2, where the whole poem is edited from the fuller copy in the Yellow Book.
- Lia láma láich rofes
fochres isin sailchedna27
Eochu mac Énna rolá
for Laidcenn mac Bairceda.
Ó ráncatar tra Sléibi Elpa, aba mór ar a cind .i. Liguir Slébi hElpa. Atróiset Luiguir co ndesetar impi. A mbátar ann co faccatar óenócclach cuccu. Bratt corccra cóicdíabuil33 imme. Dí sleig cóicrinna ina lámaib. Cúarscíath bilech co mbúaile óir fair. Colgc ndét for a chris. A folt hi sním dar a aiss. ‘Fochen don læch nádgénamar!’34 ‘Is ed doroachtmar’, ol sé. ‘Cid 'moa tóracht?’, ar Níall. ‘Dot acallaim35 ó Rómánchaib’, ar sé. ‘Ocus al-lá sa hi cinn cóicthigeis doticfat a ngéill. Messe lat hi frithgille co tísat’.Atberat araile is co tech Eircc36 maic Echach Muinremuir37 ríg Alban ro dálait38 a ngéill & is ann ro marbad som etar barddu Cruithentúaithe39 ic forcmaise a deilbe dóib. Nó comtis ingena Franc no thothlaiged a deilb di forcmaisiu.40Dothæt didu Hercc a dochum n-airechta.41 ‘Rag-sa lat’, ar Eochu, ‘do deicsin mo bráthar inna rígsuidiu ar bélaib fer ndomuin’. Ó ráncatar, ‘Is é suut’, ar Ercc.42 Ro bæ [gap: illegible/extent: two letters]43 glenn eturru. Nostrochlann44 saigit asind fidbaicc45 cen fis do Ercc, co torchair do oenaurchur. La sodain doslécat Frainc46 fóna Góedelu
- Mac Echach, ard n-orddan
Níall nár, núall as gargam,
gabais ríge rémenn
Hérenn ocus Alban.- Ethais gíall cach cóicid
fó thír nÉrenn ardda.
tuc fri réir cen terbba
cethri géill a hAlba.- Conid dé bæ dó-som
hi toraib fían frithach
fri ríad na ríg rathach
Níall Nóigiallach nithach.
(.i. Cairenn Casdub ingen Sacheill Bailb di Saxanaib a máthair-seom Néill.) Asbert a muimme:
- In tan no théigmis do dáil
la mac nEchach Muigmedáin,
buididir bad sobairge
folt bid for cind maic Cairne.
Atberat som immorro50 is ed ruc Torna cumaid51 Néill.52 La Laigniu immorro53 dorochair in fer sa.54Inde dicitur:
- A deóit gela, a beóil deirg,
nád con-tursaig fó chomfeirg,
a delb amail théthein tra
tairced Hérind óclachda.- Dath a grúaidi in cach mí
díamtar cóire cosmailsi,
sían, crú læig (líth cen on),
foirccle caille cétamun.- Amail éisce, amail gréin,
amail tenndáil taitnem Néill,
amail draic di thuind cen táir
Níall mac Echach Muigmedáin.- Is ceól sírectach in se
gol cach cind la Cíarraige,
cummaid chumaid forn 'nar taig
do díth Néill húi Muiredaig.- Ba mór subai, ba mór sáim
bith hi cóemthecht do daltáin,
ic mac Echach nirb ardis
do dáil in tan no théigmis.
Aided Néill maic Echach & Laidcind maic Baircheda do láim Echach maic Énnæ Censelaig in sin.
- Níall mac Echach, ardd do báig,55
Héiriu ocus Albu fó thráig,
triasngæt saiget Saxan snéid
ó Eochaid mac Énnai áin.