Compert Conchobuir

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Compert Conchobuir , also Compert Chonchobuir [ 'kombʴeRt' xonxovurʴ ] ("Conchobar's conception"), is the name of two medieval Irish sagas that tell of the conception of King Conchobar mac Nessa . Within the Old and Central Irish Ulster cycle, they belong to the remscéla , the pre-narratives of the great heroic epic Táin Bó Cuailnge (“The cattle robbery of Cooley ”).

In both sagas, Nessa (also Nes or Nesa) is the mother and the druid Cathbad is the father of Conchobar. Otherwise they tell a fundamentally different story. Judging by the language, the older version has been preserved in several manuscripts, including copies in Leabhar Bhaile an Mhóta ("The Book of Ballymote") and in Leabhar Buidhe Lecain ("The Yellow Book of Lecan"). In this legend, Nessa sits outside Emain Macha , surrounded by her court ladies. The druid Cathbad happened to pass by there. She asks him what the hour brings luck. Cathbad replies that a king who is now to be received by a queen will achieve eternal glory in Ireland. Since there is no other man in sight, Nessa simply takes Cathbad into her bedroom. This is how Conchobar is conceived, with whom Nessa is three years and three months pregnant.

The second version of the legend is also handed down in the Book of Ballymote and the Yellow Book of Lecan. She tells the story in much greater detail: Here Cathbad is at the head of a fian , a wandering gang. With her he kills the twelve fathers of Asa, the daughter of King Eochu Sálbuide. As a revenge, Asa ("the gentle one") also puts himself at the head of a fian and is henceforth Ni-Asa ("not gentle") or Nesa for short. With a ruse, Cathbad succeeds in overpowering Nesa. She buys her life by becoming his wife. Some time later she fetched water for her husband on the Conchobar River. Because there are two worms in the water, Cathbad forces Nesa to drink it with the worms himself. This will make her pregnant. Later she went into labor on a trip. Cathbad, in his capacity as a seer, prophesies that the child would become a famous king if Nesa could postpone the birth until night, because Jesus Christ was born that same night . She succeeds, and so Conchobar, who is named after the river and who holds a worm in his hands when he is born, becomes the most famous king of Ulster .

See also

expenditure

Translations

  • In: Rudolf Thurneysen : Legends from old Ireland . Berlin 1901 (German).
  • Ch.-J. Guyonvarc'h: La Naissance de Conchobar . In: Ogam 11, 1959, pp. 56-65, 335-336 and Ogam 12, 1960, pp. 235-240 (French).

literature

  • Rudolf Thurneysen: The Irish hero and king legend . Max Niemeyer, Halle 1921 (reprinted by Olms, Hildesheim / New York 1980), pp. 273–276.
  • Bernhard Maier : Compert Chonchobuir . In: Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 , pp. 83f.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Book of Ballymote 260 a 6; Yellow Book of Lecan 180 a 36; other manuscripts: Oxford, Rawl. B. 512 fol. 100 v, b; Dublin, Trinity College H. 3. 18, p. 48 b. In addition Thurneysen, Helden- und Königsage , p. 273.
  2. ↑ Yellow Book of Lecan 179 b; Book of Ballymote 259b; with small changes also in the British Museum, Egerton 1782 fol 77 BC. In addition Thurneysen, Helden- und Königsage , p. 274.