Ailill
Also spelled: Ailill mac Máta, Ailell
Ailill mac Mata
Medb's husband and king of Connacht, who matches her goods for goods, jokes about her bedfellows, and runs the camp's schemes against Cúchulainn.
Traits
| Title | King of Connacht, in succession to his mother |
|---|---|
| Allegiance | Connacht |
| Mother | Mata Muiresc, Mágach's daughter, in his own account |
| Father | Rus Ruad, in Medb's words; Mágach, in the next chapter, where he is one of Mágach's seven sons. The text does not reconcile these |
| Brothers | Dóchae mac Mágach |
| Spouse | Medb |
| Children | Finnabair, Orlám |
| Foster-brothers | The two sons of Bethc mac Báin |
| Charioteer | Cuillius |
| Appearance | A huge man with a gold crown and a gold-hilted sword, as Cethern saw him |
| Fate | Survives the last battle and makes peace with Ulster and Cúchulainn |
Overview
The man in the bed
Ailill is the husband in the first scene. He and Medb lie down in Cruachan and she tells him what she was when he married her. He answers that he has two kings for brothers, Coirpre in Temair and Finn over Leinster, and let them rule because they were older. He took the kingship in Connacht, he says, in succession to his mother Mata Muiresc, Mágach's daughter, because he never heard of a province run by a woman except this one. Medb calls him a kept man and "Rus Ruad's other son". The next chapter calls him one of Mágach's seven sons. The text does not choose between them.
Their goods match to the last ram. One thing does not match. The bull Finnbennach, who had been a calf of one of Medb's cows, would not be led by a woman and went over to Ailill's herd. Dáire's steward says the hosts of Ailill and Medb, and Fergus's cunning, would have taken the Donn Cuailnge without leave.
The march
His tent is pitched first, with Fergus's next to it. When Medb says to kill the Galeóin, he calls it a woman's thinking and a wicked thing to say. He is also the one who has Medb and Fergus watched. His charioteer Cuillius finds them sleeping together at Cluithre and takes Fergus's sword. Ailill says that is fair enough, that she is justified, that she does it to keep Fergus's help on the Táin, and the two of them grin. He then has Fergus in to play fidchell and starts laughing at him. They trade verses across the board, and Ailill asks why he is so wild without his weapon.
Cúchulainn shoots a bird off Ailill's neck. Ailill tells his sons, the Maine, that the man cannot be far off, and one of them has his head shattered as he rises. Ailill swears to cut in two any man who scoffs at Cúchulainn again.
His plans
Ailill is the camp's planner. At Ochaine he offers Cúchulainn part of Ai Plain as large as Murtheimne, the best chariot at Ai, and service under a better lord. He agrees it is easier to lose one man a day than a hundred a night. When Maine is killed at the Cronn and Lugaid is talking with Cúchulainn, Ailill wants his few men moved to the favoured tents. Fergus offers, through Lugaid, to take Ailill and his three thousand in among his own men, with an ox, a salt pig and a barrel of wine.
When champions run out he gives the rule himself: wine for the man, Finnabair at his right hand, and she is his if he brings the head of the Warped One. He tells Lugaid Cúchulainn can have her if he leaves the armies alone, and sends the camp fool Tamun in a king's crown to betroth her. Cúchulainn knows the fool by his speech, kills him with a sling-stone, and cuts off the girl's two long tresses. Ailill sends three times fifty warriors against the boy-troop of Ulster, and Follamain swears to take Ailill's head and gold crown. He sends a hundred warriors with Finnabair in front to trap Rochad. Ailill and his son Maine Cotagaib Uli are, as Cúchulainn names them, the two huge men with gold crowns who wound Cethern.
At the ford and the last battle
When Ferdia drives off past the tent, Medb tells Ailill the man will not come back on his own feet. Ailill says they have done well with the marriage agreement if he kills Cúchulainn, and that it is all the same to them if both die. Still, he says, it might be better if Ferdia escaped.
At Slemain Midi he asks Fergus the name of each company Mac Roth describes. He and Medb reproach Fergus with all they did for him in exile, and Ailill tells his charioteer to bring the sword, and swears that if its bloom has faded since the day he gave it over, not all Ireland will save the man from him. Fergus takes it, and tells Ailill it would be a shame if he were to fall on the field. Medb holds nine chariot-fighters back to pluck him from the fray if the army is beaten. In the end he and Medb make peace with Ulster and Cúchulainn, and for seven years none of their people is killed in Ireland.
You’ll get no one unless you use trickery.
Connections
Related characters
- Cormac Connlongas (leader of the Ulster exiles whom Ailill summons)
- Cúchulainn (enemy, who kills his pet bird and his scoffing son and is offered land to change sides)
- Cuillius (charioteer, sent to spy on Medb and Fergus)
- Dóchae mac Mágach (brother, who stops the army jeering at Ilech)
- Ferdia (wants him to fight, though it might be better if he escaped)
- Fergus mac Roich (has him watched with Medb, steals his sword, and laughs at him over the fidchell board)
- Finnabair (daughter, held out as the prize for killing Cúchulainn)
- Finnbennach (the bull in his herd that Medb cannot match)
- Follamain (boy who swears to take his head and crown, and is killed by his foster-brothers)
- Lugaid mac Nois (go-between with Cúchulainn)
- Mac Roth (messenger, sent by Ailill to look for the Ulster companies)
- Medb (wife, whose goods he matches in bed and whose plans he goes along with)
- Orlám (son, whose charioteer Cúchulainn meets cutting shafts)
- Rochad mac Faithemain (caught by Ailill's trick with Finnabair and later called his son-in-law)
Connected to
- Buide mac Báin (His men are Ailill's)
- Cethern son of Fintan (his crown is used as bait)
- Conchobor (agrees the truce until sunrise with him)
- Diarmait (told through Maine to set the cattle free)
- Donn Cuailnge (king whose white-horned bull is the one thing Medb's herd cannot match)
- Ferchu Loingsech (Harried him and Medb from the day they took the kingship)
- Fintan (saves Crimthann; Fintan promises him friendship)
- Láréne mac Nois (Promised her to him for the head of the Warped One)
- Maine Cotagaib Uli (father, who attacks Cethern with him)
- Redg (The king whose satirist he was)
- Tamun (Ordered him made up to look like himself)
Places
- Ai Plain
- Ath Buide
- Ath Firdia (The ford Ferdia drives to while Ailill talks with Medb in the tent)
- Ath Gabla
- Ath Tolam Sét
- Bernas Bó Ulad
- Connacht (His kingdom, taken in succession to his mother)
- Crích Rois
- Cruachan (The fort in Connacht where he and Medb lie in bed and count their goods)
- Cuailnge
- Cuib
- Delga
- Dún Sobairche
- Emain Macha
- Fid Dúin
- Finnabair Chuailnge (Where he takes half the army by the Midluachair road)
- Focherd
- Gáirech and Irgairech
- Glenn Domain
- Leinster
- Lia Toll
- Mag Clochair
- Mag Muceda
- Midluachair road
- Munster
- Murtheimne Plain
- Ochaine
- Slemain Midi (Where he asks Fergus to name each Ulster company)
- Tailtiu
- Támlachtai Orláim
Appears in chapters
- Exile of the Sons of Uisliu
- Cúchulainn's Courtship of Emer, and his Training in Arms
- The Quarrel of the Two Pig-keepers, and how the Bulls were Begotten
- Chapter I: The Pillow Talk
- Chapter II: The Táin Bó Cuailnge Begins
- Chapter III: The Army Encounters Cúchulainn
- Chapter IV: Cúchulainn's Boyhood Deeds
- Chapter V: ‘Death death!’
- Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille
- Chapter VII: Single Combat
- Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan
- Chapter IX: The Pact is Broken: The Great Carnage
- Chapter X: Combat with Fergus and Others
- Chapter XI: Combat of Ferdia and Cúchulainn
- Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs
- Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance
- Chapter XIV: The Last Battle
Appears in
- Ailill has Mac Roth take Cúchulainn an offer of a part of Ai Plain equal to the plain of Murtheimne. At Ai Plain. In Chapter VII: Single Combat.
- Buide mac Báin leads Ailill's men and the bull past Cúchulainn, and Cúchulainn goes to the ford after them. At Ath Buide. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- Mac Roth tells Ailill and Fergus that his eye travelled from Ferdia's Ford to Slemain Midi and found men and horses instead of hills and slopes. At Ath Firdia. In Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance.
- Medb and Ailill hear the ogam read out: one man threw the fork with one hand, and nobody may pass until one of them, not Fergus, does the same. At Ath Gabla. In Chapter III: The Army Encounters Cúchulainn.
- Redg, Ailill's satirist, is sent to get Cúchulainn's javelin, and Cúchulainn refuses him. At Ath Tolam Sét. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- Medb splits the armies, sending Ailill by the Midluachair road and going with Fergus over the mountain, where they cut a gap for the cattle. At Bernas Bó Ulad. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- The Ulster exiles go to Connacht, to Ailill and Medb, because they know these two will protect them. At Connacht. In Exile of the Sons of Uisliu.
- Ailill and Medb lay out their wealth in Cruachan fort, and Medb finds nothing in her herds to match Ailill's bull Finnbennach. At Connacht. In Chapter I: The Pillow Talk.
- Ailill and Medb assemble a great army in Connacht and send word to the other three provinces, and the troops of Ailill's brothers and of Cormac Connlongas come to Cruachan. At Connacht. In Chapter II: The Táin Bó Cuailnge Begins.
- Ailill, Medb and Fergus take counsel and send Mac Roth to see whether the men of Ulster have reached the plain. At Connacht. In Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance.
- Ailill and Medb make peace with Ulster and Cúchulainn, and the Connachtmen go back to their own country. At Connacht. In Chapter XIV: The Last Battle.
- Cethern drives his sword through a pillar-stone at Lia Toll, where the Connacht camp has set Ailill's crown on top. At Crích Rois. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Medb and Ailill lay out the royal bed in Cruachan fort and have the pillow talk that starts the quarrel over who is richer. At Cruachan. In Chapter I: The Pillow Talk.
- Medb tells Ailill that her father gave her a whole province of Ireland, ruled from Cruachan, which is why she is called Medb of Cruachan. At Cruachan. In Chapter I: The Pillow Talk.
- Ailill and Medb muster the army here, and Cormac Connlongas marches in with his three companies, so that four provinces of Ireland gather at Cruachan Ai. At Cruachan. In Chapter II: The Táin Bó Cuailnge Begins.
- The army sets out southeast from Cruachan on the Monday after Samain. At Cruachan. In Chapter II: The Táin Bó Cuailnge Begins.
- On the first stage of the march the army goes from Cruachan to Cúil Silinne. At Cruachan. In Chapter III: The Army Encounters Cúchulainn.
- Ailill tells the men to say the wine is the last of what was taken from Cruachan, and to offer Finnabair to anyone who will bring the head of the Warped One. At Cruachan. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- Ferdia fears the shame he would bring on himself at Cruachan before Ailill and Medb if he parted from Cúchulainn without a fight. At Cruachan. In Chapter XI: Combat of Ferdia and Cúchulainn.
- Ailill, hearing Cúchulainn mocked, orders the army to travel day and night until they reach Cuailnge, since the man will kill two thirds of the army if he goes on like this. At Cuailnge. In Chapter V: ‘Death death!’.
- Cúchulainn catches Buide mac Báin with sixty of Ailill's men and the bull among fifteen heifers, and kills Buide with a short spear at the ford now called Ath Buide. At Cuib. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- Ailill's satirist Redg demands Cúchulainn's javelin and Cúchulainn throws it through his head, so that the place is called Ath Tolam Sét, the Ford of the Overwhelming Gift; the copper point comes to rest at Umarrith. At Cuib. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- Mac Roth sets out for Delga with Ailill and Medb's offer, because Fergus thinks Cúchulainn can be found there. At Delga. In Chapter VII: Single Combat.
- Sualdam tells the men of Ulster that Ailill and Fergus have harried their people as far as Dún Sobairche. At Dún Sobairche. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Ailill and Medb make peace with Ulster and Cúchulainn, and the men of Ulster go back to Emain Macha full of their triumph. At Emain Macha. In Chapter XIV: The Last Battle.
- Ailill proposes going through the neck of Fid Dúin, so that the army need not pass the challenge at Iraird Cuillenn. At Fid Dúin. In Chapter III: The Army Encounters Cúchulainn.
- In the other version, when the spoils are all back at Finnabair, Medb divides the army: Ailill takes half by the Midluachair road, and she goes with Fergus by way of Bernas Bó Ulad. At Finnabair Chuailnge. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- Ailill and Medb and the troop that drove the bull meet again at Focherd after Medb's fortnight in Cuib, and the cowherd Forgaimen is trampled into the earth when he tries to take the bull away. At Focherd. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- Ailill has Fergus's sword brought and chants to him to lay Ireland low but spare them at Gáirech. At Gáirech and Irgairech. In Chapter XIV: The Last Battle.
- Ailill's sons keep watch over the armies in Glenn Domain when the seven kings of Munster come to take vengeance on them. At Glenn Domain. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Medb, Ailill and Fergus rise up against the Munster kings in Glenn Domain, and seven hundred men die slaughtering each other. At Glenn Domain. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Ailill says his brother Finn rules over Leinster. At Leinster. In Chapter I: The Pillow Talk.
- Ailill sends three times fifty warriors against the Ulster boy-troop, and they all fall at one another's hands at Lia Toll. At Lia Toll. In Chapter IX: The Pact is Broken: The Great Carnage.
- Cethern drives his sword through a pillar-stone with Ailill's crown on top of it, and the stone takes its name from that. At Lia Toll. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Cúroi mac Dáiri and Munremur mac Gerrcinn throw great stones at each other, and the stones fall over the camps of Fergus and Ailill. At Mag Clochair. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Ailill leads the army to Mag Muceda, where Cúchulainn has cut down an oak tree across their path and cut an ogam message into it. At Mag Muceda. In Chapter V: ‘Death death!’.
- Medb sends Ailill with half the armies by the Midluachair road, while she goes with Fergus by another way. At Midluachair road. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- Ailill offered Láréne mac Nois, brother of Lugaid king of Munster, their daughter if he brought them the head of the Warped One. At Munster. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- After Fergus went off with his troop, the men of Munster went away as well and left Medb and Ailill to the battle. At Munster. In Chapter XIV: The Last Battle.
- Ailill offers Cúchulainn a part of Ai Plain equal to the whole plain of Murtheimne, or his native plain back with compensation, if he will take service under Ailill. At Murtheimne Plain. In Chapter VII: Single Combat.
- Ailill, seeing the army melting away, sends Mac Roth to offer Cúchulainn land, a chariot and bondmaids if he will take service under him. At Ochaine. In Chapter VII: Single Combat.
- Mac Roth goes up to the Ulster encampment on the smooth plain of Slemain Midi and brings back news to Ailill, Medb and Fergus. At Slemain Midi. In Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance.
- Munremur mac Gerrcinn and Cúroi mac Dáiri throw great stones at each other over the camps of Fergus and Ailill, and make a pact to stop. At Tailtiu. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Cúchulainn kills Orlám, a son of Ailill and Medb, on the hill and sends the charioteer back to the camp with the head on his back. At Támlachtai Orláim. In Chapter V: ‘Death death!’.