Medb
Also spelled: Maeve, Queen Maeve, Medhbh, Meadhbh, Maedb
Medb of Cruachan
The queen of Connacht who goes to war with Ireland's four provinces to match her husband's bull, and loses the fight and her dignity to Cúchulainn.
Traits
| Title | Medb of Cruachan, queen of Connacht |
|---|---|
| Allegiance | Connacht |
| Father | Eochaid Feidlech, high king of Ireland |
| Sisters | Derbriu, Ethne, Ele, Clothru and Muguin |
| Spouse | Ailill |
| Daughter | Finnabair |
| Sons | The seven Maine, in one passage; "our own two sons" in another |
| Household | Fifteen hundred paid soldiers, all exiles' sons, and as many freeborn men, with ten more men for each |
| Appearance | Tall, fair, long-faced, with soft features, yellow hair and two gold birds on her shoulders |
| Fate | Spared by Cúchulainn while relieving herself behind her shield-shelter; makes peace with Ulster |
Overview
How she came to the bed
Medb is the daughter of Eochaid Feidlech, the high king of Ireland, and the highest and haughtiest of his six daughters. She says she outdid the rest in grace, giving, battle and warlike combat. Her father gave her a whole province, the one ruled from Cruachan, which is why she is called Medb of Cruachan. Finn of Leinster, Coirpre Niafer of Temair, Conchobor of Ulster and Eochaid Bee all came to woo her and she would not go. She asked of a husband the absence of meanness, jealousy and fear. A jealous man would not do, she says, because she never had one man without another waiting in his shadow. Ailill was the man she wanted, and she calls him a kept man.
The war over a bull
In bed in Cruachan she and Ailill count their goods to see who has more. Everything comes out equal except the bull Finnbennach, who had been a calf of one of her cows and refused to be led by a woman. Her spirits drop as though she hadn't a single penny. She sends Mac Roth to find a match in Ireland, and offers Dáire mac Fiachna fifty heifers for the loan of the Donn Cuailnge, with her own friendly thighs on top. When Dáire refuses she says there is no need to polish the knobs and knots in this: the bull will be taken.
She raises the four provinces. Before they set out she asks the poet Fedelm what she sees, and Fedelm says three times that she sees it crimson. Each time Medb tells her it cannot be so, and the fourth time she tells her to speak the truth. On the first stage of the march she looks over the camp, finds the three thousand Galeóin too good at making camp, and says "Kill them." Ailill calls that a woman's thinking.
On the march
Fergus is with her through most of it. Ailill sends his charioteer Cuillius to watch the two of them, and Cuillius finds them sleeping together at Cluithre and takes Fergus's sword out of its sheath. Medb does not understand that the sword has vanished. Ailill takes it as a sign that she is doing it to keep Fergus's help.
Cúchulainn takes it personally. He beheads her hound Baiscne, shoots her squirrel off her neck, and swears to put a sling-stone through her head. She never goes about unless half her army holds a barrel-shaped shelter of shields over her. He kills her bondmaid Lochu in mistake for her.
She offers her daughter to every man who will go against him: Nadcranntail, Ferbaeth, Láréne and others. She sends Traigthrén with a false offer of peace and fourteen of her followers to a meeting at Focherd, who throw their javelins together and are killed. She sends a hundred more and calls the slaughter a crime. For Ferdia she sends poets and satirists, then lays out her gifts in her tent, thighs included, and tells him what Cúchulainn is supposed to have said. The text says she knew well how to stir up strife.
The end
At Slemain Midi she holds nine chariot-fighters back to snatch Ailill out of the fray if the army is beaten, or kill Conchobor if it wins. She drives all before her three times until a wall of javelins turns her back. Behind the battle she sends the Brown Bull off to Cruachan by a roundabout road, as she had sworn. Then she gets her gush of blood, asks Fergus to hold the shelter of shields, and digs three channels each big enough to take a household. Cúchulainn finds her like that and holds his hand, because he is not a killer of women. She tells Fergus they have had shame and shambles. He says they followed the rump of a misguiding woman, and that it is the usual thing for a herd led by a mare to be strayed and destroyed. She and Ailill make peace with Ulster and Cúchulainn.
I never had one man without another waiting in his shadow.
Connections
Related characters
- Ailill (husband, who counts goods with her in bed and sets traps with her in the camp)
- Cethern son of Fintan (wounded him on the march, as he tells it)
- Conchobor (one of the kings who came to woo her)
- Cúchulainn (enemy, who kills her squirrel and her bondmaid and spares her in the end)
- Dáire mac Fiachna (owner of the Donn Cuailnge, who refuses her)
- Donn Cuailnge (the bull she goes to war for)
- Fedelm (seer who tells her the army will be red)
- Ferbaeth (wins him with the promise of Finnabair)
- Ferdia (talked into the fight at the ford with gifts and a report of what Cúchulainn said)
- Fergus mac Roich (lover on the march, and the man whose sword goes missing)
- Finnabair (daughter, used as the prize for anyone who will fight Cúchulainn)
- Finnbennach (bull born to her cow, who went over to Ailill's herd rather than be led by a woman)
- Lochu (bondmaid killed by Cúchulainn in mistake for her)
- Mac Roth (chief messenger, sent to Dáire for the Donn Cuailnge)
- Nadcranntail (promised Finnabair if he goes against Cúchulainn)
- Eochaid Feidlech (father)
Connected to
- Baiscne (owner of the hound)
- Celtchar mac Uthidir (took fifty women from his wife Finnmór at Dún Sobairche)
- Cuillius (found sleeping with Fergus)
- Cúr mac Daláth (Sent for him and wanted him to kill Cúchulainn)
- Cúroi mac Dáiri (names him as Cúchulainn's possible match)
- Diarmait (told through Maine to set the cattle free)
- Etarcomol (foster-mother, who calls it brutal treatment of a dog)
- Ferchu Loingsech (Harried her and Ailill from the day they took the kingship)
- Forgaimen (Her troop drove the herd over him)
- Fraech mac Fidaig (sends him to clear away Cúchulainn)
- Lóch mac Mofemis (Goaded him into the fight)
- Lóthar (the herdsman who reports to her)
- Maine Cotagaib Uli (mother, who names him among her sons)
- Menn mac Sálchada (twelve of her men fall to him)
- Orlám (mother)
- Rochad mac Faithemain (Finnabair's mother, who told her to sleep with him)
- Traigthrén (Sent him with a false offer of peace)
- Ualu (sends her followers across the river and he tries it)
Places
- Ai Plain (The land she offers Dáire and Ferdia)
- Ath Firdia
- Ath Fuait
- Ath Gabla
- Ath Grencha
- Ath Luain (Where Cúchulainn stops watching her army go west)
- Bernas Bó Cuailnge
- Bernas Bó Ulad
- Cét Chuile
- Connacht
- Cruachan (Her fort and the seat of her province; where she and Ailill count their goods)
- Cuailnge
- Cuib
- Delga
- Dubchoire
- Dún Lethglaise
- Dún Sobairche
- Emain Macha
- Fid Dúin
- Finnabair Chuailnge (Where the armies divide to search for the bull)
- Focherd (Where her fourteen followers rise against Cúchulainn at the false meeting)
- Fornocht
- Fuiliarnn
- Glenn Domain
- Glenn Firbaith
- Glenn Gatlach
- Leinster
- Midluachair road
- Munster
- Murtheimne Plain
- River Cronn
- Slemain Midi
- Sliab Cuinciu
- Támlachtai Orláim
- Temair
- Fual Medba (Medb's Foul Place, named from the end of the last battle)
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
- Medb tells Mac Roth to offer Dáire mac Fiachna a portion of the Plain of Ai if Dáire himself brings the bull. At Ai Plain. In Chapter I: The Pillow Talk.
- Medb sends twenty-nine men against Cúchulainn in the swamp of Fuiliarnn on the near side of Ferdia's Ford: Gaile Dána, his twenty-seven sons and his sister's son Glas mac Delga. At Ath Firdia. In Chapter X: Combat with Fergus and Others.
- Medb sends Fraech mac Fidaig out to challenge Cúchulainn, and he goes to Ath Fuait with nine others. At Ath Fuait. In Chapter V: ‘Death death!’.
- 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.
- Medb sends a warrior out each night to surprise Cúchulainn, and over a week he kills every one of them at the ford. At Ath Grencha. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- After Medb has relieved herself and Cúchulainn has spared her, he watches the men of Ireland all the way westward until they pass Ath Luain, and stops there. At Ath Luain. In Chapter XIV: The Last Battle.
- Medb calls the army back at the source of the river Cronn and has them cross the summit itself, which takes three days and three nights, tearing up the earth before them. At Bernas Bó Cuailnge. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- 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.
- Medb sends one hundred of her own followers against Cúchulainn, and he kills them all at the ford of Cét Chuile. At Cét Chuile. In Chapter IX: The Pact is Broken: The Great Carnage.
- 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.
- 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.
- Mac Roth comes back from Dáire's house with the news that the bull will not be given, and Medb says it will be taken by force. 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.
- Medb offers Ferdia the right to stay forever in Cruachan, with his wine supplied, and Ferdia answers that she is master on the mounds of Cruachan. At Cruachan. In Chapter XI: Combat of Ferdia and Cúchulainn.
- 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.
- Cethern describes the armed woman who came against him first, and Cúchulainn tells him that was Medb of Cruachan. At Cruachan. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- After the battle Medb sends the Brown Bull of Cuailnge toward Cruachan by a roundabout road with fifty heifers and eight messengers. At Cruachan. In Chapter XIV: The Last Battle.
- Mac Roth tells Medb that the best bull in Ireland is in Dáire mac Fiachna's house in Cuailnge, goes there, and is made welcome. At Cuailnge. In Chapter I: The Pillow Talk.
- Cúchulainn, at Sliab Cuinciu, shoots two stones at Lochu, mistaking her for Medb, and kills her at Réid Locha in Cuailnge. At Cuailnge. In Chapter V: ‘Death death!’.
- The armies burn and plunder Cuailnge, gather its women, children and cattle at Finnabair, and fail to find the bull anywhere in the province. At Cuailnge. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- Medb's army crosses the mountain at Bernas Bó Cuailnge, camps at Glenn Dáilimda, and leaves Cuailnge for Conaille after the rivers rise against them. At Cuailnge. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- Cúchulainn says that from the first day he left Cuailnge to come against Medb she has had carnage and renown from the warriors he has slain. At Cuailnge. In Chapter XI: Combat of Ferdia and Cúchulainn.
- Medb takes a third of her force into Cuib to search for the bull, planning to lay waste the lands of the Ulstermen and the Picts along the Midluachair road as far as Dún Sobairche, and Cúchulainn follows her. At Cuib. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- Medb turns back after a fortnight, and wherever she rested her horsewhip in Cuib the place is called Bile Medba, Medb's Whip. 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.
- Fergus makes Medb's followers stop fighting Cúchulainn foul, and Cúchulainn fights single combats until they reach Delga, then pelts them from there so that nothing living dares pass southward between Delga and the sea. At Delga. In Chapter IX: The Pact is Broken: The Great Carnage.
- Lóthar, Medb's herdsman, tells her that the bull is in Dubchoire, the Black Cauldron, in Glenn Gat of the Osiers. At Dubchoire. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- Medb orders the army to catch the bull there with shackles of osiers. At Dubchoire. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- Medb said that Celtchar mac Uthidir was still in Dún Lethglaise with a third of Ulster's forces. At Dún Lethglaise. In Chapter II: The Táin Bó Cuailnge Begins.
- Medb plans to lay waste the lands of the Ulstermen and the Picts along the Midluachair road northward as far as Dún Sobairche. At Dún Sobairche. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- Medb takes fifty women from Finnmór, the wife of Celtchar mac Uthidir, at the capture of Dún Sobairche. At Dún Sobairche. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- Medb says Conchobor is suffering his pangs in Emain with the rest of the Ulster warriors, as her messengers have told her. At Emain Macha. In Chapter II: The Táin Bó Cuailnge Begins.
- 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.
- Other books say that the forest was cut down after the prophetess Fedelm told Medb that she could not see the army in it. At Fid Dúin. In Chapter III: The Army Encounters Cúchulainn.
- Medb tells them they have not done well enough, since the bull is not with them, and the herdsman Lóthar is called and says the bull has gone to Dubchoire in Glenn Gat of the Osiers. At Finnabair Chuailnge. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- 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.
- Medb fixes a meeting at the hill Ard Aighnech, called Focherd today, and sets a trap there of fourteen of her best followers; Cúchulainn guards himself from fourteen javelins and kills all fourteen. At Focherd. In Chapter IX: The Pact is Broken: The Great Carnage.
- The army leaves for Fornocht, the Naked Place, and Cúchulainn kills Medb's young hound Baiscne with a sling-stone. At Fornocht. In Chapter V: ‘Death death!’.
- Medb sends Gaile Dána, his twenty-seven sons and Glas mac Delga against Cúchulainn in the swamp, and Fergus has to agree to it. At Fuiliarnn. In Chapter X: Combat with Fergus and Others.
- 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.
- Ferbaeth tells Cúchulainn that he has promised Medb, and Cúchulainn leaves him in a fury. At Glenn Firbaith. In Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan.
- Medb's army catches the bull in Glenn Gat with shackles of osiers and drives it toward Finnabair. At Glenn Gatlach. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- Finn, king of Leinster, came to woo Medb, and she turned him down. At Leinster. In Chapter I: The Pillow Talk.
- 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.
- Medb plans to lay waste the lands along the Midluachair road northward as far as Dún Sobairche. At Midluachair road. 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.
- Fergus tells Medb that Cúchulainn was reared by his father and mother in their oaken house on Murtheimne Plain. At Murtheimne Plain. In Chapter IV: Cúchulainn's Boyhood Deeds.
- Medb offers Ferdia a portion of Ai Plain equal to the Plain of Murtheimne among her gifts. At Murtheimne Plain. In Chapter XI: Combat of Ferdia and Cúchulainn.
- The army goes up along the Cronn to its source and crosses between the spring and the mountain-top, tearing out the gap Bernas Bó Cuailnge. At River Cronn. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- 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.
- Cúchulainn swears at Sliab Cuinciu that whenever he catches sight of Medb he will hurl a sling-stone at her head. At Sliab Cuinciu. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- From Cuinciu Cúchulainn shoots two stones at Lochu, one of Medb's bondmaids, whom he takes for Medb, and kills her on the plain of Réid Locha in Cuailnge. At Sliab Cuinciu. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille.
- 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!’.
- Medb says Coirpre Niafer, king of Temair, came to woo her, and she turned him down. At Temair. In Chapter I: The Pillow Talk.