Cuchulain The Hound of Ulster.pdf

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Cuchulain: The Hound of Ulster

Cuchulain was the Hound of Ulster – ancient Ireland’s greatest warrior. He was the nephew of King

Conchobar of Ulster, one of the most powerful clan rulers in all Ireland. Cuchulain’s mother, Dechtire, was

the king’s sister, and it is recorded that Cuchulain’s father was not a mortal man but Lugh of the Long

Hand – a powerful Celtic god. Cuchulain was brought up by his uncle the king, with the help and support

of his wisest and most able counsellors; he soon became a child warrior to be feared, and his fame spread

throughout the land. Cuchulain’s name derived from an incident of his youth – as a small boy he

accidentally slew the ferocious watchdog of the smith Culan and took the dog’s place for a period of

penance.

As Cuchulain’s fame spread, and came of age, he became widely respected for his feats in battle and

peacetime diplomacy. He won the right to wed the beautiful Emer, by completing him a series of tasks and

trials that would have been impossible to a normal warrior. The pair married in Armagh, the capital of

Ulster, and lived under the protection of King Conchobar. Cuchulain also outsmarted the attempts of

Bricriu of the Bitter Tongue to conjure a civil war between the foremost warriors of Ulster, and proved

himself to be the most courageous warrior in all Ireland by facing a series of magical opponents.

Not surprisingly, Cuchulain was finally named as the Champion of Ulster. The warriors and nobles of

Ulster accepted this decision with delight. Even Cuchulain’s rivals for the title swore to abide by it, having

been shamed by cowardice in front of their fellow kinsmen. With his desire to be Champion of all Ireland

satiated, Cuchulain served his kinfolk well. He guarded the southern passes into Ulster, falling upon

invading or raiding enemies with vigour, routing all before him and allowing the people of Ulster to live in

peace; on one occasion, he defeated an army of eighteen tuatha (warbands) from Queen Maeve’s kingdom

numbering over fifty thousand raiders.

Many of Cuchulain’s deeds as the Champion of Ulster were against Maeve. In battle against her warriors,

Cuchulain was known to launch himself into a battle frenzy:

‘He became a fearsome and multiform creature such as never was known before. Every particle of him

quivered like a bulrush in a running stream … The beats of his heart sounded like the roars of a lion’

(Rolleston: pages 209-210)

And his blood boiled, forming a smoky mist shimmering around him. In such a frenzy, Cuchulain was

recorded as having killed a hundred men single handedly. Cuchulain also fought against the mighty Loch,

Son of Mofebis; in this duel, Cuchulain had to stain himself a beard with berry juice, so that his enemy

would not accuse him of being a mere boy and refusing to fight. As they fought, the female sorceress

Morrigan came against Cuchulain in several shape changing forms, yet he beat both her and Loch. Further

victories were had against Maeve’s allies, including the skilled Calatin and his twenty seven sons.

Cuchulain also travelled to Fairy Land, and adventured out on many mystical quests, facing many human

and monstrous foes. Amongst the strangest of these were a party of demons who resembled waves of the

sea. Cuchulain’s downfall came through his honesty and respect of the Laws of Ireland. In battle against

the children of Calatin, Cuchulain was confronted by a number of bards. A true hero could never refuse a

bard’s request, and the bards demanded of Cuchulain his spear, with which they slew his chariot horses.

Again the bards demanded his spear, and they:

‘threw the spear, and it went through and through Cuchulain’s body, and he knew he had got his deadly

wound; and his bowels came out on the cushions of the chariot,’

(Lady Gregory: page 255)

Knowing that death was near, Cuchulain dragged himself to a lake and quenched the thirst brought upon

him by near death. As he lay dying, his head was cut off by his enemies, as was his sword hand.

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Cuchulain’s body was taken to Tara, where he was buried under a great mound. Cuchulain, Hound of

Ulster, was no more.

But was Cuchulain real? The Gaelic bard and warrior Ossian referred to Cuchulain as Cuthullin in the third

century AD; Ossian’s work was translated between 1760 and 1763 by Scotsman James Macpherson, but

later authors have claimed that Macpherson’s work was mostly created by himself. Perhaps the single most

important author to bring Cuchulain to modern audiences was Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory, who

devoted much of her time after the death of her husband in 1891 to the study of Irish folklore and

mythology. Many intriguing episodes, probably separate myths in their own right, have been incorporated

into the Irish myth cycle and Cuchulain’s legend in particular.

Ireland did not commit its history into writing until the early medieval period. If Ossian really did make

note of Cuchulain in the third century AD, we know that his historical place must fall at or before this date.

However, I think it is more likely that Cuchulain’s supposed place in history falls far earlier in the Celtic

Iron Age; Conchobar, Cuchulain’s uncle and guardian, was said to have died on the day of Christ’s

crucifixion, although this reference seemingly follows the attempts of later storytellers to Christianise

pagan figures. The Celts from whom Cuchulain descended probably settled in or traded in Ireland in the

third century BC as part of the La Tene cultural movement.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of later Iron Age Celtic is the highly structured way in which society

operated. Different strata of society had their own well defined place, and laws were laid down to allow the

Celts to live peaceable lives, aside from small scale raiding and minor feuds. The role that a warrior like

Cuchulain would play in such a society was as the defender of the people and champion of the king. Such a

warrior would hold a high rank in society, and be expected to represent his people in battle – either in a

personal duel or as a leading figure on the battlefield. Battle in Ireland in the Iron Age was endemic. Much

of what we know of Celtic battles comes from classical writers such as Julius Caesar and Tacitus. Such

writers portrayed the Celts in barbaric splendour, in a less than subtle display of propaganda against the

enemies of Rome. A warrior elite existed comprising of minor nobles, relations of the chieftain, and others

whose skills had been well demonstrated in battle.

The legends surrounding Cuchulain makes it clear that one of the warrior elite’s main pastimes – aside

from fighting one another for prestige and reputation – was raiding rival clans. The Irish economy was

dependent upon gold and cattle, and raiders targeted these. The splendid, vivid image of the Celt at war left

by classical writers presents a violent and unforgiving image. Proudly parading, sometimes appearing to

fight naked, and making a huge noise with both war horns and battle cries, a Celtic warband would have

had quite an effect on the majority of opponents. A lower class clansmen would have arrayed himself on

the battlefield armed with a shield, a spear (possibly supplemented by javelins) and perhaps a sword. Bare

from the chest up (or clad in a tunic in the temperate climates of Ireland), and usually wearing trousers on

his lower half, such a warrior would have relied on his individual fighting skills for survival, as opposed to

any well-rehearsed cohesive tactics involving his fellow clan members.

Such warriors, en masse, formed up into roughly linear formations, and upon a given signal (or sometimes

before they were supposed to), charged headlong at their enemies. Such a charge could break a foe at first

contact. Thus, a battle involving Cuchulain’s Celts could be won or lost in the first five minutes.

Young, unproven warriors fought as skirmishers ahead of, or to the side of, the main battle line. Javelins,

slingshot, and arrows would all have been directed at the enemy, in an attempt to disorder them. Richer

warriors fought in a similar way to ordinary warriors (with spears, swords and shield) yet with more

protection, and more practised weapon handling skills. Helmets and mail may have been reserved for the

nobility and upper class warbands. The famous Battersea Shield and Waterloo Bridge helmet dredged from

the river Thames in London show Celtic military craftsmanship at its best. Another helmet from Romania

had a huge, flying bronze bird on its crest; many other less ostentatious headgear is also known of –

including ‘jockey’ helmets (as the name suggests, similar in style to a reversed jockey’s helmet), and

conical helmets with top knobs on them. Body armour may have comprised occasionally of bronze, iron or

leather breast plates, and in the later Celtic period at least, chainmail, which was almost certainly a Celtic

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invention in itself; as noted above, only the richer warriors would have been able to afford such armour –

Pausanias telling us that the vast majority of Celts had no protection apart from their large shields. The

shields that the Celts used were often described as being colourful, and long or oblong in design; most

measured about three and a half feet long by two feet wide at the middle.

The legends surrounding Cuchulain frequently mention chariots. The social standing of those using the

chariots – and their drivers – is clearly implied. The driver was very much the chauffeur to the aristocratic

warrior; although the social standing of the driver is not explicitly outlined in Irish myth, enough is implied

to suggest that the driver was of a lower class than his passenger, yet still highly considered in society. The

warrior transported by chariot is always a professional warrior in Irish myth, and the level of martial skill

displayed from the account of Julius Caesar supports this idea:

‘At first they ride along the whole line and hurl javelins; the terror inspired by the horses and the noise of

the wheels generally throw the enemy ranks into confusion. Then when they have worked their way

between the lines of their own cavalry, they jump down from the chariots and fight on foot. Meanwhile the

drivers withdraw a little from the field and place the chariots so that their masters, if hard pressed by the

enemy, have an easy retreat to their ranks.’

(quoted in Ritchie & Ritchie: page 32)

Perhaps one of the most surprising elements of Irish myth to the modern reader is the assertion that women

were sometimes accomplished warriors. Strabo, the Classical writer, recorded another sensational quirk of

the Celts: headtaking. Cuchulain himself drove back to Ulster from a raid into Connaught with the heads of

his enemies dangling from his chariot car.

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