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Emain Macha

Also spelled: Emain

Conchobor's fort and the seat of Ulster, named the Twins of Macha, where the boy-troop plays, the Craebruad stands, and the Ulstermen rise from their pangs to march.

Overview

Emain Macha is Conchobor's fort and the centre of Ulster. Kinsella's note gives the name as Emain Macha, and the text says what it means: the Twins of Macha. Macha, the wife of Crunniuc, was dragged to a fair and made to race the king's horses while she was heavily with child. She won, and gave birth to twins at the end of the field. She screamed that all who heard it would suffer the same pangs for five days and four nights in their times of greatest difficulty, for nine generations. The place took her name and her twins' from this.

It is a place of houses. The text's Emain has the Craebruad, the Red Branch, where Conchobor and the chiefs sit, a green where the sons of Uisliu are cut down, and ramparts where the women watch. Boys play on the playing-field east of it, three times fifty at a time, and the champions exercise on spearcords the length of the house.

Most of what the Táin says about Emain is told by Fergus. He remembers it as the place that drove him out. He lists the boy-troop, the king watching them, and Cúchulainn arriving among them with a toy shield and a toy javelin. The same boy later cannot sleep there unless his head and his feet lie at the same level, and the man who wakes him has his forehead driven into his brain.

The men of Ulster are at Emain when the Táin is raised against them, and they are in their pangs. Medb says her messengers have told her so. When the pangs end, Sualdam comes to Emain with word of his son and raises his cry from the slope, from the fort and from the Mound of the Hostages. Nobody answers, because in Ulster no man speaks before Conchobor and Conchobor will not speak before the three druids. The men of Ulster gather round Emain from east, north and west, and they set out southward, first to Iraird Cuilenn. After the battle they return to Emain Macha full of their triumph.

Events here

  1. Macha gives birth to twins beside the royal chariot and curses the men of Ulster with her pangs, and the place is called Emain Macha, the Twins of Macha. In The Pangs of Ulster. Involves: Macha, Crunniuc mac Agnomain.
  2. Nes sits outside Emain with her royal women when the druid Cathbad passes, and he tells her the hour is lucky for begetting a king on a queen. In How Conchobor was Begotten, and how he took the Kingship of Ulster. Involves: Nes, Cathbad.
  3. The sons of Uisliu are cut down on the green at Emain by Eogan mac Durthacht, and Fergus afterwards burns Emain. In Exile of the Sons of Uisliu. Involves: Noisiu, Eogan mac Durthacht, Fergus mac Roich, Conchobor, Derdriu.
  4. A flock of birds ruins the plain around Emain and Conchobor, Deichtine and the Ulster warriors chase them away in nine chariots. In How Cúchulainn was Begotten. Involves: Conchobor, Deichtine, Conall Cernach, Laegaire Buadach, Bricriu.
  5. The Ulstermen quarrel over who should rear the infant Sétanta, and Morann gives judgment at Emain that Conchobor should have him, with Sencha, Blai Briuga, Fergus, Amargin and Conall Cernach to help. In How Cúchulainn was Begotten. Involves: Conchobor, Finnchaem, Morann, Sencha mac Ailella, Blai Briuga, Fergus mac Roich, Amargin, Conall Cernach, Cúchulainn.
  6. The Ulstermen drink from the vat Ol nguala while the chariot-warriors practise on spearcords, and the women's love for Cúchulainn makes them look for him a wife. In Cúchulainn's Courtship of Emer, and his Training in Arms. Involves: Conall Cernach, Fergus mac Roich, Laegaire Buadach, Celtchar mac Uthidir, Dubthach, Cúchulainn, Conchobor.
  7. Forgall Monach comes to Emain disguised in Gaulish clothes and flatters Cúchulainn into leaving for Alba, hoping he will never come back. In Cúchulainn's Courtship of Emer, and his Training in Arms. Involves: Forgall Monach, Cúchulainn, Conchobor.
  8. Cúchulainn brings Emer to Emain, where Bricriu says she must sleep with Conchobor, and Cúchulainn is sent off for the herds of Sliab Fuait and drives them onto the green. In Cúchulainn's Courtship of Emer, and his Training in Arms. Involves: Cúchulainn, Emer, Bricriu, Conchobor, Cathbad.
  9. Fergus tells Medb's court that three times fifty boys are always playing in Emain and that Conchobor spends a third of his day watching them. In Chapter IV: Cúchulainn's Boyhood Deeds. Involves: Fergus mac Roich, Conchobor.
  10. Cúchulainn arrives among the boy-troop, cannot sleep in Emain until Conchobor sets him a bed between two stones, and later hides under Conchobor's bed cushion after beating the boys. In Chapter IV: Cúchulainn's Boyhood Deeds. Involves: Cúchulainn, Conchobor, Fergus mac Roich.
  11. Cúchulainn returns to Emain with Nechta Scéne's sons' heads, a stag and a flock of swans, and the women led by Mugain strip their breasts at him until he hides his face. In Chapter IV: Cúchulainn's Boyhood Deeds. Involves: Cúchulainn, Mugain, Conchobor.
  12. Medb says Conchobor is suffering his pangs in Emain with the rest of the Ulster warriors, as her messengers have told her. In Chapter II: The Táin Bó Cuailnge Begins. Involves: Medb, Conchobor, Fedelm.
  13. Fergus, promising not to strike his own people, speaks of the struggle in Emain. In Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille. Involves: Fergus mac Roich.
  14. Cúchulainn swells with fury against Nadcranntail as he did when he faced the boy-troop in Emain. In Chapter VII: Single Combat. Involves: Cúchulainn.
  15. A third of the boy-troop, led by Follamain, comes down from Emain Macha carrying hurling-sticks to help Cúchulainn, and is destroyed by the army at Lia Toll. In Chapter IX: The Pact is Broken: The Great Carnage. Involves: Follamain, Cúchulainn.
  16. Aengus son of Aenlam Gaibe turns the whole army aside, and some say the army would have fallen at his hands before it came under the sword at Emain Macha. In Chapter X: Combat with Fergus and Others. Involves: Aengus son of Aenlám Gaibe.
  17. Ferdia's charioteer calls Cúchulainn the Hound of Emain Macha, and Laeg later tells the fainting Cúchulainn to rise up, slaughter-hound of Emain. In Chapter XI: Combat of Ferdia and Cúchulainn. Involves: Cúchulainn, Laeg mac Riangabra, Ferdia.
  18. Munremur mac Gerrcinn, who had come from Emain Macha to help Cúchulainn, makes a pact with Cúroi and goes back to Emain Macha. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs. Involves: Munremur mac Gerrcinn, Cúroi mac Dáiri, Cúchulainn.
  19. Sualdam runs to Emain and cries three times over the Ulstermen, from the slope of the enclosure, beside the fort and on the Mound of the Hostages, then falls on his shield and his head is cut off. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs. Involves: Sualdam, Conchobor.
  20. Conchobor wakens, Finnchad Fer Benn summons the chieftains, and they gather around Emain and march south to Iraird Cuilenn. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs. Involves: Conchobor, Finnchad Fer Benn.
  21. Ailill and Medb make peace with Ulster and Cúchulainn, and the men of Ulster go back to Emain Macha full of their triumph. In Chapter XIV: The Last Battle. Involves: Ailill, Medb, Cúchulainn.

Men murdered, women stolen, cattle plundered!

Sualdam to the men of Ulster, in “Sualdam's cry at Emain” (Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs)