Ulster Cycle

Ulster Cycle, formerly the Red Branch Cycle. A large body of prose and verse romances as well as the only Irish prose epic, Táin Bó Cuailnge [Cattle Raid of Cooley], centring on the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster. One of the four major cycles of Irish literature, along with the Mythological and Fenian Cycles and the Cycle of Kings. In most Ulster Cycle stories, Conchobar mac Nessa is king, reigning at his capital, Emain Macha. Cúchulainn is the supreme hero, Deirdre a peerless tragic lover. Often compared with the Arthurian legends, the Ulster Cycle portrays a proud, even haughty people often at war with their neighbours, especially those in Connacht. Set a century before the time of Christ, the Ulster stories posit an older world than any known in other European vernaculars. Ulster stories, both in Irish and in frequent English translation and adaptation, enjoy the greatest prestige of the four Irish cycles, often mixing beauty with sorrow in both romance and epic.

The name Red Branch Cycle, favoured by 19th-century translators and romantic nationalists, is an English rendering of Cráebruad, the name for one of Conchobar's three residences, so called for the large red roof beam or ‘branch’ visible in the interior. This phrasing was supported by a reading of Clanna Rudraige, the name which the Ulaid, for whom Ulster was named, applied to themselves; Rudraige was thought to contain the element ruad [red]. The confusion existed only in the minds of commentators of the last three centuries. In early Ireland literature was not consciously divided into cycles, but instead was classed by tale type, such as the Aided: a story of a sorrowful death, or a Tochmarc: the story of a wooing. Thus not every story set in Ulster is a part of the Cycle, e.g. Buile Shuibhne [The Frenzy of Sweeney] in the Cycle of Kings.

Narrative materials in the Ulster Cycle were transcribed as early as the 8th century, continued to be a part of living literature until the 18th, and extended to Scotland and the Isle of Man. Transmission was mostly through the pens of learned scribes rather than oral tradition. Although all recording of Ulster stories has taken place after the introduction of Christianity, their setting is always perceived to be a century before the birth of Christ. A certain bowdlerization and sanitizing must be assumed, but the prevailing religion of the stories includes sun worship and the veneration of natural objects. The belief in magic is ever-present, and pre-Christian divinities interfere in the affairs of mortal men and women. The society portrayed holds slaves without censure from the narrator and engages in frequent and brutal warfare, often for the possession of cattle. Physical evidence of the Ulaid's past glory would have been present to text redactors and copyists, as the ruins of Emain Macha still stood, as indeed they do to the present.

The prestige of the Ulster Cycle within Irish tradition does not rely on wealth or numbers. Ulster was historically less affluent than regions further south, e.g. the Boyne valley, Brega, or the Liffey valley, and stories from the Fenian Cycle were more widely known. Neither do the narratives present an idealized portrait of a life without pain or misery; literary Ulster may be pastoral but it lacks idyllic sentiment. Instead there is a grandeur of epic literature, of life lived to the fullest in extremes of bravery and love. Esteem for the Ulster Cycle passed into English during the 19th century, when nationalists searched ancient literature for heroes to replace those imposed on Irish children by English-run schools. The warriors of Emain Macha, who routinely decapitated slain enemies, came to be known as the ‘Red Branch knights’ in the poetry of Thomas Moore (1779–1852). Standish James O'Grady (1846–1928) extrapolated an even more heroic history, which in turn fostered widespread adaptation in English of Ulster stories during the generation of Lady Gregory, William Butler Yeats, and John Millington Synge.

Important personages frequently mentioned in the Ulster Cycle, along with the hero Cúchulainn, the king Conchobar mac Nessa, and the tragic lover Deirdre, include: Achall, Áed Ruad, Amairgin(2) (mac Eit), Baile, Bec mac Dé, Bélchú, Blaí Briugu, Bláithíne, Briccriu, Cairbre Cuanach, Cairbre Nia Fer, Cathbad, Celtchar, Cet mac Mágach, Cethern mac Fintain, Conall Cernach, Condere mac Echach, Cormac mac Airt, Crunniuc, Cú Roí, Culann, Cúscraid, Dáire mac Fiachna, Dubthach Dóeltenga, Ébliu, Fedelm Noíchrothach, Fedlimid mac Daill, Fergus mac Leti, Fergus mac Róich, Fiachu mac Fir Febhe, Follomain mac Conchobair, Fráech, Friuch, Furbaide Ferbend, Garb mac Stairn, Goll mac Carbada, Lóegaire Búadach, Lugaid mac Con Roí, Lugaid Riab nDerg, Macha, Maine, Medb, Mórrígan, Mugain (2),Nera, Scáthach, Sencha mac Ailella, *Uathach.

See also AIDED FERGUSA [The Violent Death of Fergus]; AIDED ÓENFHIR AÍFE [The Tragic Death of Aífe's Only Son]; ECHTRA NERAI [The Adventure of Nera]; FLED BRICRENN [Briccriu's Feast]; Longas mac nUislenn [The Exile of the Sons of Uisnech] or the Deirdre story; MESCA ULAD [The Intoxication of the Ulstermen]; SCÉLA MUCCE MEIC DA THÓ [The Story of Mac Da Thó's Pig]; SERGLIGE CON CULAINN AGUS ÓENÉT EMIRE [The Wasting Sickness of Cúchulainn and The Only Jealousy of Emer]; TÁIN BÓ CUAILNGE [Cattle Raid of Cooley]; TOGAIL BRUIDNE DA DERGA [The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel].

Bibliography

Studies: Alan Bruford , ‘The Ulster Cycle’, in Gaelic Folktales and Mediaeval Romances (Dublin, 1969), 93–105;
Kenneth H. Jackson , The Oldest Irish Tradition (Cambridge, 1964);
Rudolf Thurneysen , Die irische Helden- und Königsage (Halle, 1922).