Fenian Cycle

Fenian Cycle, Fionn Cycle, Finn Cycle, Fianna Cycle, Finnian Tales, Fian Tales, Féinne Cycle, Feinné Cycle, Ossianic Cycle, Fianaigecht. A large body of verse and prose romances centring on the exploits of the mythic hero Fionn mac Cumhaill and his warriors, the Fianna Éireann, a kind of freelance militia, constituting one of four major cycles of early Irish tradition, along with the Mythological and Ulster Cycles and the Cycle of the Kings. The Fenian is the most popular, extensive, and long-lived of the four, appearing first in 8th-century texts, and flourishing in both written and oral traditions in Ireland as well as in the oral traditions of Gaelic Scotland and the Isle of Man.

Although Fionn mac Cumhaill, his family, and followers were once thought to be historical, they are now understood to have their roots in pre-Christian religion. Many other elements in the narratives, however, such as the training of hunters and warriors, the service of armed men under various kings, and the conflict between old ways and the values of the new religion, Christianity, do reflect historical experience. Fenian stories have been recorded from all parts of Ireland and Gaelic Scotland, but internal references imply that episodes occur most often in Leinster and Munster. Fionn and his family, the Clan Baíscne, are most often seen in conflict with the Clan Morna, identified with Connacht. From about the 11th century, texts attributed much of the action of the Fenian Cycle to the 3rd-century reign of Cormac mac Airt and his son Cairbre Lifechair. Fionn, his son Oisín, grandson Oscar, and leading members of the Fianna, such as Caílte the great runner, and the handsome Diarmait ua Duibne, are usually portrayed as living away from the centres of power, often at the isolated Hill of Allen in Co. Kildare. This is because Fenian stories were perpetuated by a separate caste of storytellers from those who told narratives from the Ulster Cycle; this separateness also explains why several episodes and narratives from the Fenian Cycle run parallel with those in the Ulster.

Although enormously popular with Irish and Scottish Gaelic common people over many centuries, the Fenian Cycle has been less esteemed by critics and informed modern readers; Seán Ó Faoláin once called it ‘the sow's ear’ of Irish literature. Many stories have a breathless, Boys' Own Paper sense of adolescent adventure. Some of this quality was borrowed by James Macpherson in his bogus ‘translations’, The Poems of Ossian (1760–3), concatenated texts of Scottish Fenian ballads passed off as a lost epic. Gerard Murphy (1953) points out, however, that Fenian stories from oral tradition are more exaggerated and cruder than those from the more restrained manuscript tradition. In their fullness, however, Fenian narratives depict a wide range of tone and emotion. Especially popular were stories of the bruiden type, in which the heroes are magically entrapped in an enchanted castle or cave and cannot escape. Many Fenian stories describe Fionn and his heroes repulsing challengers and invaders, some of whom hail from distant lands, ‘Spain’, ‘Greece’, etc., and some who may be identified with various Scandinavians. This attributed service in the defence of Ireland explains the 19th-and 20th-century association of the word ‘Fenian’ with Irish nationalism. As early as the 12th-century Acallam na Senórach [Colloquy of the Elders], Oisín is portrayed as having survived the death of Fionn by several centuries, and now contends with St Patrick about the values of pre-Christian society, stressing bravery, generosity, and freedom of the older order. The tone is both polemical and elegiac. In such narratives, the action of earlier generations is retold from Oisían's point of view, causing the entire Cycle to be called ‘Ossianic’, employing Macpherson's rendering of the name.

Important personages frequently mentioned in the Fenian Cycle, along with Fionn, his son Oisín, grandson Oscar, and his followers, the Fianna Éireann, include: Aacute;bartach, Aacute;eda (2), Aicher, Aacute;ine (2), Baillgel, Barrán, Bébinn (2), Cairbre Lifechair, Cethern, Cochrann, Conán mac Lia, Conán mac Morna, Conarán, Cormac mac Airt, Crimthann, Crónánach, Cuilenn, Cúldub, Cumhall mac Trénmóir, Dáire (4), Dáire Derg, Dáire Donn, Diarmait ua Duibne, Doirend, Eithne (1), Erc (3), Eacute;taín (3), Iuchra (2), Liath Luachra, Mongfhind (2) (Mong Bán), Muirenn Muncháem, Nuadu Airgetlám, Nuadu Necht, Tadg mac Nuadat, and Uirne.

See also ACALLAM NA SENÓRACH [The Colloquy of the Elders]; BRUIDHEAN CHAORTHAINN [The House of the Quicken Trees]; BRUIDHEAN BHEAG NA HALMHAINE [The Little Brawl of the Hill of Allen]; CATH FIONNTRÁGHA [The Battle of Ventry]; CATH GABHRA [The Battle of Gabhair/Gowra]; DUANAIRE FINN [The Poem-Book of Fionn]; EACHTRA AN AMADÁIN MHÓIR [The Adventure of the Great Fool]; EACHTRA BHODAIGH AN CHÓTA LACHTNA [The Adventure of the Churl in the Grey Coat]; FEIS TIGHE CHONÁIN [The Feast at Conán's House]; FOTHA CATHA CHNUCHA [The Cause of the Battle of Cnucha]; MACGNÍMARTHA FINN [The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn]; TÓRAIGHEACHT DHIARMADA AGUS GHRÁINNE [The Pursuit of Diarmait and Gráinne]; TÓRAIGHEACHT AN GHIOLLA DHEACAIR [The Pursuit of the Hard Gilly/Difficult Servant].

Bibliography

Collections: John Campbell (ed.), Leabhar na Féinne: Heroic Gaelic Ballads (London, 1872);
James MacDougall (ed.), The Fians, etc., Waifs and Strays in Celtic Tradition, iv (London, 1891);
Kuno Meyer (ed.), Fianaigecht (Dublin, 1910);
Duanaire Finn: The Book of the Lays of Finn, i, ed. Eóin MacNeill (London, 1908);
ii, ed. Gerard Murphy (London, 1933);
iii, ed. Gerard Murphy (Dublin, 1953);
Neil Ross (ed.), Heroic Poetry from the Book of the Dean of Lismore (Edinburgh, 1939).
Studies: Bo Almqvist, Séamas Ó Catháin, and Pádraig Ó Héalaí (eds.), Fiannaíocht: Essays on the Fenian Tradition of Ireland and Scotland (Dublin, 1987);
James MacKillop , Fionn mac Cumhaill: Celtic Myth in English Literature (Syracuse, NY, 1986);
Gerard Murphy , ‘Introduction’, Duanaire Finn III (Dublin, 1953), pp. x-cxxii;
Joseph Falaky Nagy , The Wisdom of the Outlaw (Berkeley, Calif., 1985);
Cormac Ó Cadhlaigh , An Fhinnuidheacht (Dublin, 1938);
Dáithí Ó hÓgáin , Fionn Mac Cumhaill (Dublin, 1988).