Cobthach Cóel Breg

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Cobthach Cóel Breg ("Cobthach, the lean of Brega") was the name of a legendary Irish high king . His predecessors as the Hochkönig were his father Úgaine Mor and his brother Lóegaire Lorc, successor to his nephew Labraid Moen . According to the Annála Ríoghdhachta Éireann ("Annals of the Four Masters") he ruled from 592 to 542 BC. According to the Foras feasa ar Éirinn ("Knowledge base about Ireland") from 409 to 379, after the Lebor Gabála Érenn ("The Book of the Lands of Ireland") from 357 to 307.

Orgain Denna Ríg

The story Orgain Denna Ríg ("The Murder of Dinn Ríg") tells how Cobthach comes to power and loses it again.

It is said that he hated his brother Lóegaire Lorc so much that he ate nothing out of anger and was therefore nicknamed Cóel ("the skinny one"). To become king, he poisoned his brother and also his father Úgaine Mor and usurped the royal dignity. As another version reports, Cobthach comes up with a particularly cruel ruse: he pretends to be dead, lets himself be laid out - with a razor in his hand - and when his brother leans over him in mourning, he cuts his throat.

Cobthach forces his nephew Labraid Moen, the son of Lóegaire Lorcs, whose popularity in the country he fears, to eat the hearts of the two murdered people and a mouse and chases him into exile in Leinster . From there he also drives him out despite a promise to the contrary. In Munster , he wins the support of King Scoriath and with his help recaptures the castle of his father, Dinn Ríg (in County Carlow ). Cobthach is now lured into a trap by Labraid's mother and her court jesters, who both consciously want to sacrifice themselves for Labraid. They persuade him to follow them into an iron house, into which he follows them unsuspectingly, since both of them also go in with him. Then Labraid lets the walls heat up so that everyone inside has to die. This cruel revenge earned him the nickname Lore ("the grim one") - whether he knew about his mother's sacrifice is not reported.

See also

literature

Web links

  • Article Labraid Loingsech in the English language Wikipedia
  • Beverley Ballin Smith, Simon Taylor, Gareth Williams (Eds.): West Over Sea: Studies in Scandinavian Sea-borne Expansion and Settlement Before 1300: a Festschrift in Honor of Dr. Barbara E. Crawford (=  The Northern World . Band 31 ). BRILL, Leiden 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-15893-1 (English, limited preview in Google book search).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 466.