Cormac mac Airt

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Cormac mac Airt. Also known as Cormac Ulf[h]ada [Ir., long beard] and Cormac Ua Cuinn (acknowledging Conn Cétchathach, his grandfather). A legendary early king of Ireland at Tara, perhaps the most famous of all early kings, and the first cited as having his seat at Tara. In the Annals he is described as reigning for forty years, with interruptions, AD 227–66. Cormac was thought to be so wise and just that during his reign calves were born after only three months' gestation, every ridge produced a sackful of wheat, the rivers abounded with salmon, and there were not enough vessels to hold the milk from the cows. Most of the episodes in the Fenian Cycle occur during Cormac's reign, and Fionn mac Cumhaill is sometimes described as being a part of his soldiery. In a sense, Fionn could be described as being a part of Cormac's cycle, especially as several non-Fenian stories centre on Cormac, including the magical and enticing Echtrae Cormaic [The Adventure of Cormac]. Convinced that Cormac was unhistorical, T. F. O'Rahilly (1946) argued that he was an idealization of the first Goidelic king of Tara. None the less, several important families of medieval Ireland, notably the Uí Néill, claimed descent from Cormac.

Cormac was described as the grandson of the illustrious Conn Cétchathach [Ir., of the Hundred Battles]. Conn's son Art mac Cuinn fathers Cormac upon one Étaín, the daughter of a smith, before the battle of Mag Mucrama, in which Art is killed. Following Art's instructions, Étaín travels to Connacht in her pregnancy so that the infant may be fostered by Art's friend there. But as she is near term, Étaín delivers Cormac in a brushwood along the way, during a thunderstorm. Shortly after his birth Cormac is spirited away by a wolf, who suckles him in its lair. The motif of the death of both parents is also found in Cormac's Munster contemporary, Fiachu Muillethan. Eventually, Cormac is fostered by Lugaid mac Con, whom he replaces in the kingship by the power of his better judgement. But it is said of him that he will remain a lad until he has slept with Medb (Maeve) Lethderg [half-red or red side; not to be confused with Medb of Connacht]. Medb, whose name appears to mean ‘intoxicating’ [cf. W meddw, drunk; Eng. mead], is described as having been the ‘wife’ of nine Irish kings, including Conn's father and Conn's son Art. She is a more specific instance of the Sovereignty of Ireland figure seen in many stories; see FEIS TEMRO [feast of Tara]; BANAIS RÍGHE [marriage of kingship]. Esnada Tige Buchet [The Melodies of Buchet's House] tells how Cormac begets Cairbre Lifechair upon Eithne Tháebfhota, the daughter of Cathaír Mór.

In perhaps the best-known story about him, Echtrae Cormaic [The Adventure of Cormac], the young king accepts a magical sleep-inducing bough from a warrior who is later revealed to be Manannán mac Lir. In return for the magical bough, the mysterious warrior makes demands on Cormac, including the surrender of his wife, which the king cannot accept. When Cormac pursues the warrior he finds himself in a castle, where the warrior presents him with a wondrous golden cup that can be split apart with lies and put together again only with truths.

In the Fenian stories Cormac is represented as having a fairly close relationship with the central figure of the cycle, Fionn mac Cumhaill. Cormac accepts Fionn's hospitality at feasting. In some versions he is Fionn's father-in-law, the married daughter being either Ailbe Gruadbrecc or Gráinne. Gráinne's betrothal to Fionn is very much to Cormac's approval, but later, when she flees from Fionn with Diarmait, Cormac shows restrained sympathy for the young lovers. The relationship between Cormac's son and successor, Cairbre Lifechair, and the Fenians is much poorer.

Cormac's power is sufficiently great to establish his half-brother Nia as king of Connacht. But it is not sufficient to retain Cormac's kingship once he is disfigured. The episode is provoked when Cormac's nephew or son, Cellach, rapes a maiden from the Déisi. Seeking revenge, Angus (4), the Déisi chieftain, spears Cellach and puts out Cormac's eye with the butt. Cormac is then obliged to abdicate in favour of Cairbre. Among the Dál nAraide of northern Ireland, the story was told that their eponym, Fiachu Araide, had driven Cormac from Tara, but that Fiachu Muillethan of Munster had helped to restore him.

Later stories, interpolated by Christian commentators but widely popular in oral tradition, portray Cormac as somehow prescient about Christian values. In one story Cormac refuses to be buried on pagan ground. Cormac appears to be the basis of James Macpherson's character named Cormac (see CORMAC (2)) in Ossian (1760).

Bibliography

See Tomás Ó Cathasaigh , The Heroic Biography of Cormac mac Airt (Dublin, 1977);
Vernam Hull (ed.), ‘Echtra Cormaic mac Airt, ‘ The Adventure of Cormac mac Airt’’, PMLA 64 (1949), 871–83.
Andrew J. Offutt used the heroic persona to create eight volumes of popular adventure fiction, the Cormac Mac Art series (New York, 1979–86).

Cormac mac Airt was a legendary king of Ireland, and the epitome of the royal figure, especially in the ‘histories’ of his descendants, the Connachta. His rule in Tara is placed at c. ad 227–66 and the stories concerning him are extremely eclectic, e.g. orphaned before birth, nurtured by wolves, adopted Christianity before his death. He has been treated as emblematic of the Leinster domination of Tara but was later adopted into the tradition of the Connachta. The tales of the legendary Fionn mac Cumhaill were set within Cormac's reign. His reputed burial place was Rossnaree, Co. Meath.

J. P. Mallory