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Mesca Ulad

 
Celtic Mythology: Mesca Ulad
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Irish title for the Ulster Cycle narrative preserved in the 12th-century Book of Leinster and elsewhere usually known in English as ‘The Intoxication of the Ulstermen’. The narrator does not follow a definite plot but instead gives free rein to lengthy passages of description and runs of personal and place-names, as would have been the stock-in-trade of medieval storytellers. Set at Samain, a time of wild revelry, turbulence, and disorder, Mesca Ulad shows the Ulster warriors in less than heroic form. After receiving two invitations to go feasting, the Ulstermen decide to resolve their dilemma by going to both. They spend the first part of the night in the far north, at Dún Dá Bhenn, in what is today Co. Derry. They then set out to cross Ulster to the east to spend the rest of the night at Cúchulainn's fortress in Dún Delgan [Dundalk, Co. Louth], when they lose their way. The most vivid passages portray drunken charioteers bounding southward towards Kerry. Once the Ulstermen arrive, they are initially given hospitality by the Munstermen, their traditional enemies. But there is a trap: the Munstermen have prepared an iron house set within wooden walls, under which piles of faggots have been turned into bonfires. The text, while fragmentary, allows that the Ulstermen did not perish.

Bibliography

  • William H. Hennessy, Mesca Ulad (Dublin, 1889)
  • J. Carmichael Watson, Mesca Ulad (Dublin, 1983)
  • Uáitéar Mac Gearailt, “‘The Edinburgh Text of Mesca Ulad’”, Ériu, 37 (1986), 133–80
  • T. P. Cross and C. H. Slover (eds.), Ancient Irish Tales (New York, 1936), 215–38
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Mesca Ulad (English: The Intoxication of the Ulaid; the Ulstermen) is a narrative from the Ulster Cycle preserved in the 12th century manuscripts the Book of Leinster and in the Lebor na hUidre. The title Mesca Ulad occurs only in the Book of Leinster version.

Manuscript sources

  • Book of Leinster (LL): p 261b-268b (RIA). Second part missing. Middle Irish version.
  • Lebor na hUidre (LU): p 19a-20b (TCD). First part missing. Old Irish version.
  • G4 or Yellow Book of Lecan (YBL): col. 959-972 (National Library of Ireland).
  • Ed. XL or Adv. 72.1.40: p 49-68 (National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh)

Editions and translations

  • Hennessy, William M. (ed. and tr.). Mesca Ulad: or, the Intoxication of the Ultonians. Todd Lecture Series 1. Dublin, 1889. Based on LU and LL. The translation is reprinted in: Eleanor Hull (ed.), The Cuchullin Saga in Irish literature. London, 1898; and in Ancient Irish tales, ed. T.P. Cross and C.H. Slover. New York, 1936. 215-38.
  • Watson, J. Carmichael (ed.). Mesca Ulad. Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series 13. Dublin, 1941 (reprinted in 1983). Based on LU and LL, with variants from YBL and Ed. XL. Edition available from CELT.
  • Mac Gearailt, Uaitéar (ed.). "The Edinburgh Text of Mesca Ulad." Ériu 37 (1986): 133-80. Based on Ed. XL.
  • Watson, J. Carmichael (tr.). "Mesca Ulad". Scottish Gaelic Studies 5 (1938): 1-34 (LL, LU text). (English)
  • Koch, John T. (tr.). In The Celtic Heroic Age, ed. John T. Koch and John Carey. 3d ed. Andover, 2000. 106-27. Provisional translation based on Watson's edition.
  • Gantz, Jeffrey (tr.). "The Intoxication of the Ulaid." In: Early Irish Myths and Sagas. Harmondsworth, 1981. 188-217. (English)
  • Guyonvarc'h, C.-J.( tr.). "L'ivresse des Ulates." Ogam 12 (1960): 487-506; 13 (1961): 343-60 [also in Celticum 2 (1962) 1-38] (French).

Secondary literature

  • Carey, John. "Vernacular Irish Learning: Three Notes." Éigse 24 (1990): 37-44.
  • de Paor, Áine. "The common authorship of some Book of Leinster texts [III. Mesca Ulad]." Ériu 9 (1923): 118-46.
  • Ó Concheanainn, Tomás. "The manuscript tradition of Mesca Ulad." Celtica 19 (1987): 13-30.
  • Sayers, William. "Three charioteering gifts in Táin Bó Cúailnge and Mesca Ulad: immorchor deland, foscul díriuch, léim dar boilg." Ériu 32 (1981): 163-7.
  • Sayers, William. "Portraits of the Ulster Hero Conall Cernach: A Case for Waardenburg's Syndrome?" Emania 20 (2006): 75-80.
  • Thurneysen, Rudolf. Zu irischen Handschriften und Litteraturdenkmälern. Zweite Serie. Abhandlungen der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 14.3. Berlin, 1913. See no. 17 for Mesca Ulad.
  • Watson, J. Carmichael. "Mesca Ulad: the redactor's contribution to the later version." Ériu 13 (1940): 95-112.
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Celtic Mythology. A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Copyright © James MacKillop 1998, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
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