Conn of the Hundred Battles (Lebor Gabála Érenn)

Conn Ceadchatbach (of the Hundred Battles), King of Ireland, d. 157 in Ireland, He became king of Ireland, 123 in Tara, Ireland, cause of death was slaying by Tibraite Tireach, son of Mal.

Father: Feidhlmidh Reachtmhar, d. ca. 119, He became king of Ireland, ca. 111 in Tara, Ireland

According to legend, the five roads to Tara (Slighe Asail, Slighe Miodhluachra, Slighe Cualann, Slighe Mor, and Slighe Dala) appeared at Conn's birth. Conn killed Cathaeir Mor to become king and reigned for twenty years. During Conn's rule Fionn mac Cumhail ended the Burning of Tara and became captain of the Fianna at the age of seventeen.

Conn (or Conall) got his nickname by killing one hundred other kings as revenge for the death of his foster brother, Cuchulain.

Children:

•Lughoidh, d. 195 in Ireland, became king 166 in Ireland

•Moen, m. Imchad

•Saraid, m. Conaire Caem, King of Ireland

•Art Eanfhear "The Melancholy", King of Ireland, d. 195, became king 166 in Ireland, cause of death was the battle of Magh Mucruimhe.

Sources: Ancient Kings of Ireland - Google

             www.familysearch.org.

NOTE: Death date given differs between 157 given in article about Ancient Kings of Ireland and 145, given by www.familysearch.org files.

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110 High King of Ireland

Conn Ceadcathach (or Conn of the Hundred Battles)

123 A.D.

Son of Feidhlimidh Reachtmhar (108). This Conn was so called from hundreds of battles by him fought and won: viz., sixty battles against Cahir Mór, King of Leinster and the 109th Monarch of Ireland, whom he slew and succeeded in the Monarchy; one hundred battles against the Ulsterians; and one hundred more in Munster against Owen Mór (or Mogha Nua-Dhad), their King, who, notwithstanding, forced the said Conn to an equal division of the Kingdom with him. He had two brothers - 1. Eochaidh Fionn-Fohart, 2. Fiacha Suidhe, who, to make way for themselves, murdered two of their brother's sons named Conla Ruadh and Crionna; but they were by the third son Art Eanfhear banished, first into Leinster, and then into Munster, where they lived near Cashel. They were seated at Deici Teamhrach (now the barony of Desee in Meath), whence they were expelled by the Monarch Cormac Ulfhada, son of Art; and, after various wanderings, they went to Munster where Oilioll Olum, who was married to Sadhbh, daughter of Conn of the Hundred Battles, gave them a large district of the present county of Waterford, a part of which is still called Na-Deiseacha, or the baronies of Desies. They were also given the country comprised in the present baronies of Clonmel, Upper-Third, and Middle-Third, in the co. Tipperary, which they held till the Anglo-Norman Invasion. From Eochaidh Fionn-Fohart decended O'Nowlan or Nolan of Fowerty (or Foharta), in Lease (or Leix), and Saint Bridget; and from Fiacha Suidhe are O'Dolan, O'Brick of Dunbrick, and O'Faelan of Dun Faelan, near Cashel. Conn of the Hundred Battles had also three daughters: 1. Sadhbh (or Sabina), who m. first, MacNiadh, after whose death she m. Oilioll Olum, King of Munster. 2. Maoin; and 3. Sarah (or Sarad), m. to Conan MacMogha Laine. Conn reigned 35 years; but was at length barbarously slain by Tiobraidhe Tireach, son of Mal, son of Rochruidhe, King of Ulster. This murder was committed in Tara when Conn chanced to be alone and unattended by his guards; the assassins were fifty ruffians, disguised as women, whom the King of Ulster employed for the purpose.

Source: The High Kings of Ireland - W.I. Explorer - Google (31.5.2010) S.Bain

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Conn Cétchathach ("of the Hundred Battles", pron. /kɒn 'keːdxəθax), son of Fedlimid Rechtmar, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland, and the ancestor of the Connachta, and, through his descendant Niall Noígiallach, the Uí Néill dynasties.

Literary tradition

The Annals of the Four Masters says that five roads to Tara, which had never been seen before were discovered on the night of Conn's birth.[1] According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, he took power after killing his predecessor Cathair Mór.[2] The Lia Fáil, the coronation stone at Tara which was said to roar when the rightful king stood on it, roared under Conn for the first time since Cúchulainn split it with his sword when it failed to roar for Lugaid Riab nDerg.[3] In the saga Baile in Scáil ("The Phantom's Ecstatic Vision"), Conn treads on the stone by accident while walking the ramparts of Tara, implying that the stone had been lost and half-buried since Cúchulainn's time. A druid explains the meaning of the stone, and says the number of cries the stone made is the number of kings who will follow Conn, but he is not the man to name them. A magical mist arises, and a horseman approaches who throws three spears towards Conn, then asks him and the druid to follow him to his house, which stands on a plain by a golden tree. They enter, and are welcomed by a woman in a gold crown. First they see a silver vat, bound with gold hoops, full of red ale, and a golden cup and serving spoon. Then they see a phantom, a tall beautiful man, on a throne, who introduces himself as Lugh. The woman is the sovereignty of Ireland, and she serves Conn a meal consisting of an ox's rib 24 feet (7.3 m) long, and a boar's rib. When she serves drinks, she asks "To whom shall this cup be given?", and Lugh recites a poem which tells Conn how many years he will reign, and the names of the kings who will follow him. Then they enter Lugh's shadow, and the house disappears, but the cup and serving spoon remain.[4][5] An earlier text, Baile Chuinn Cétchathaigh (The Ecstatic Vision of Conn of the Hundred Battles") gives a poetic list of kings, many of which are recognisable from the traditional List of High Kings of Ireland, but without narrative context.[6]

Reign

Conn had a long reign - twenty, twenty-five, thirty-five or even fifty years according to different versions of the Lebor Gabála - but spent much of it at war with Mug Nuadat, king of Munster. Ireland was divided in two between them - Conn controlling the north, or Leth Cuinn ("Conn's Half"), and Mug controlling the south, or Leth Moga ("Mug's Half"), with the border lying between Galway in the west and Dublin in the east. Mug was able to gain such power because his druid predicted a famine, which he prepared for by storing grain, and producing an early version of the confectionery Nougat[7]. Conn eventually killed Mug in his bed, the morning before their armies were due to meet in the Battle of Mag Lena.[8]

Legend has it that the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill was born in Conn's time. His father, Cumhall, a warrior in Conn's service, was a suitor of Muirne, daughter of the druid Tadg mac Nuadat, but Tadg refused his suit, so Cumhall abducted her. Conn went to war against him, and Cumhall was killed by Goll mac Morna in the Battle of Cnucha. But Muirne was already pregnant, and Tadg rejected her, ordering her to be burned. She fled to Conn, and Conn put her under the protection of Cumhall's brother-in-law Fiacal mac Conchinn. It was in Fiacal's house that she gave birth to a son, Deimne, who was later renamed Fionn.[9] When he was ten, Fionn came to Tara put himself into Conn's service. He learned that every year at Samhain, the monster Aillen would put everyone at Tara to sleep with his music, and burn down the palace with his fiery breath. Fionn killed Aillen, having kept himself awake by pressing the head of his spear to his forehead, and warded off Aillen's flame with his magical cloak, and Conn made him head of the fianna in place of Goll.[10]

Family

Conn had two sons, Connla and Art. Connla fell in love with a fairy woman from Mag Mell, and went with her to her otherworld home in her crystal boat, leaving Art alone. After that Art was known as Óenfer - the "lone" or "solitary".[11]

After Conn's wife Eithne Táebfada, daughter of Cathair Mór, died, another fairy woman, Bé Chuille, was banished by the Tuatha Dé Danann to Ireland. She had fallen in love with Art from a distance and sought him out in her currach, but when she met Conn and learned he was without a wife, agreed to marry him instead, on the condition that Art be banished from Tara for a year. The men of Ireland thought this unjust, and Ireland was barren during that year. The druids discovered that this was Bé Chuille's fault, and declared that the famine could be ended by the sacrifice of the son of a sinless couple in front of Tara. Conn went in search of this boy in Bé Chuille's currach. He landed on a strange island of apple-trees. The queen of the island had a young son, the result of her only sexual union. Conn told her that Ireland would be saved if the boy bathed in the water of Ireland, and she agreed. He took him back to Ireland, but when the druids demanded his death, he, Art and Fionn mac Cumhaill swore to protect him. Just then, a woman driving a cow carrying two bags approached, and the cow was sacrificed instead of the boy. The bags were opened: one contained a bird with one leg, the other a bird with twelve legs. The two birds fought, and the one-legged bird won. The woman said the twelve-legged bird represented the druids, and the one-legged bird the boy, and revealed herself as his mother. She told Conn that the famine would end if he would put Bé Chuille away, but he refused. Bé Chuille was later banished from Tara as the result of a series of challenges she and Art made each other over a game of fidchell.[12]

Death

Conn was eventually killed by Tipraite Tírech, king of the Ulaid. The Lebor Gabála and the Annals say Tipraite defeated him in battle in Túath Amrois. Keating says Tipraite sent fifty warriors dressed as women from Emain Macha to kill him at Tara. His son-in-law Conaire Cóem succeeded him as High King, and Conn's son Art would later succeed him. The Lebor Gabála synchronises Conn's reign with that of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180). The chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 116-136, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 122-157.

References

  1. ^ Annals of the Four Masters M122-M157

  2. ^ R. A. Stewart Macalister (ed. & trans.), Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of the Taking of Ireland Part V, Irish Texts Society, 1956, p. 331-333

  3. ^ Lebor Gabála Érenn §57

  4. ^ "Baile in Scáil: the Phantom's Frenzy", Miles Dillon (ed. & trans), The Cycle of the Kings, Oxford University Press, 1946

  5. ^ Cycles of the Kings Web Project: Baile in Scáil

  6. ^ Cycles of the Kings Web Project: Baile Chuinn Cétchathaigh

  7. ^ John O'Brien, Bria - An Irish History Of Food, Irish Texts Society, 1965, p. 66-67

  8. ^ Geoffrey Keating, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn 1.40

  9. ^ "The Cause of the Battle of Cnucha", Tom Peete Cross & Clark Harris Slover (eds.), Ancient Irish Tales, Henry Holt & Co, 1936, pp. 357-359

 10. ^ Standish James O'Grady (trans.), The Colloquy with the Ancients, In Parentheses Publications, pp. 46-48

 11. ^ "The Adventures of Connla the Fair", Cross & Slover 1936, pp. 488-490

 12. ^ "The Adventures of Art son of Conn", Cross & Slover 1936, pp. 491-502

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conn_of_the_Hundred_Battles

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Conn of the Hundred Battles

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According to legend, the five roads to Tara (Slighe Asail, Slighe Miodhluachra, Slighe Cualann, Slighe Mor, and Slighe Dala) appeared at Conn's birth. Conn killed Cathaeir Mor to become king and reigned for twenty years. During Conn's rule Fionn mac Cumhail ended the Burning of Tara and became captain of the Fianna at the age of seventeen.

Conn (or Conall) got his nickname by killing one hundred other kings as revenge for the death of his foster brother, Cuchulain.

http://www.geocities.com/missourimule_2000/ancientkingsofireland.ht...

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110 E Conn of the Hundred Battles

100.

(Conn Ceadchathach MacFeideilmid, 'of the Hundred Battles')

123–157 Joyce: 177 Conn Ceadcatha, Conn Ceadcathach; ("Conn of the Hundred Fights"), Conn Cétchathach mc Feidelmid, Con Read Cead Chathach, Conn Ceadchatach, Conn Cedeathach (the Hundred fighter), Conn Ked-Cathach; Conn Ceadchathach MacFeideilmid)

Son of Feidhlimidh Reachtmhar #108 and Una, daughter of the king of Lochloinn. Married to Eithne. Conn and Eoghan Mor, also called Mogha Nuadhad, fought a great battle at Maynooth in 123 AD and split Ireland in half. "Resulting from this battle, Mogha forced Conn to divide Ireland with him into two equal parts by the boundary of Esker Riada, a long ridge of hills from Dublin to Galway, the south part he termed his and called it after his own name, Leath Mogha, or 'Mogha's Half of Ireland'. The northern part was called Leath Cuinn, or Conn's Half." "Conn also gave his daughter, Sadbh, in marriage to Oiloll Olum, Son of Eoghan Mor." Descent from the Great Kings of Ireland. "Conn’s life and reign were ended by his assassination at Tara. Fifty robbers hired by the king of Ulster, came to Tara, dressed as women, and treacherously despatched the Monarch." A History of the Irish Race. Another version of his death is: Slain by Tibraite (Tiobraide) Tireach, son of Mal #107, son of Rochraidhe [Tipraiti Tírech la mc Máil m. Rochride ¶696], King of Ulster, at Tuath Amrois. Father of Art #112.

Conn of the Hundred Battles

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Conn Cétchathach ("of the Hundred Battles"), son of Fedlimid Rechtmar, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland, and the ancestor of the Connachta, and, through his descendant Niall Noígiallach, the Uí Néill dynasties.

The Annals of the Four Masters says that five roads to Tara, which had never been seen before were discovered on the night of Conn's birth.[1] According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, he took power after killing his predecessor Cathair Mór.[2] The Lia Fáil, the coronation stone at Tara which was said to roar when the rightful king stood on it, roared under Conn for the first time since Cúchulainn split it with his sword when it failed to roar for Lugaid Riab nDerg.[3] In the saga Baile in Scáil ("The Phantom's Ecstatic Vision"), Conn treads on the stone by accident while walking the ramparts of Tara, implying that the stone had been lost and half-buried since Cúchulainn's time. A druid explains the meaning of the stone, and says the number of cries the stone made is the number of kings who will follow Conn, but he is not the man to name them. A magical mist arises, and a horseman approaches who throws three spears towards Conn, then asks him and the druid to follow him to his house, which stands on a plain by a golden tree. They enter, and are welcomed by a woman in a gold crown. First they see a silver vat, bound with gold hoops, full of red ale, and a golden cup and serving spoon. Then they see a phantom, a tall beautiful man, on a throne, who introduces himself as Lugh. The woman is the sovereignty of Ireland, and she serves Conn a meal consisting of an ox's rib 24 feet (7.3 m) long, and a boar's rib. When she serves drinks, she asks "To whom shall this cup be given?", and Lugh recites a poem which tells Conn how many years he will reign, and the names of the kings who will follow him. Then they enter Lugh's shadow, and the house disappears, but the cup and serving spoon remain.[4][5] An earlier text, Baile Chuinn Cétchathaigh (The Ecstatic Vision of Conn of the Hundred Battles") gives a poetic list of kings, many of which are recognisable from the traditional List of High Kings of Ireland, but without narrative context.[6]

Conn had a long reign - twenty, twenty-five, thirty-five or even fifty years according to different versions of the Lebor Gabála - but spent much of it at war with Mug Nuadat, king of Munster. Ireland was divided in two between them - Conn controlling the north, or Leth Cuinn ("Conn's Half"), and Mug controlling the south, or Leth Moga ("Mug's Half"), with the border lying between Galway in the west and Dublin in the east. Mug was able to gain such power because his druid predicted a famine, which he prepared for by storing grain. Conn eventually killed Mug in his bed, the morning before their armies were due to meet in the Battle of Mag Lena.[7]

Legend has it that the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill was born in Conn's time. His father, Cumhall, a warrior in Conn's service, was a suitor of Muirne, daughter of the druid Tadg mac Nuadat, but Tadg refused his suit, so Cumhall abducted her. Conn went to war against him, and Cumhall was killed by Goll mac Morna in the Battle of Cnucha. But Muirne was already pregnant, and Tadg rejected her, ordering her to be burned. She fled to Conn, and Conn put her under the protection of Cumhall's brother-in-law Fiacal mac Conchinn. It was in Fiacal's house that she gave birth to a son, Deimne, who was later renamed Fionn.[8] When he was ten, Fionn came to Tara put himself into Conn's service. He learned that every year at Samhain, the monster Aillen would put everyone at Tara to sleep with his music, and burn down the palace with his fiery breath. Finn killed Aillen, having kept himself awake by pressing the head of his spear to his forehead, and warded off Aillen's flame with his magical cloak, and Conn made him head of the fianna in place of Goll.[9]

Conn had two sons, Connla and Art. Connla fell in love with a fairy woman from Mag Mell, and went with her to her otherworld home in her crystal boat, leaving Art alone. After that Art was known as Óenfer - the "lone" or "solitary".[10]

After Conn's wife Eithne Táebfada, daughter of Cathair Mór, died, another fairy woman, Bé Chuille, was banished by the Tuatha Dé Danann to Ireland. She had fallen in love with Art from a distance and sought him out in her currach, but when she met Conn and learned he was without a wife, agreed to marry him instead, on the condition that Art be banished from Tara for a year. The men of Ireland thought this unjust, and Ireland was barren during that year. The druids discovered that this was Bé Chuille's fault, and declared that the famine could be ended by the sacrifice of the son of a sinless couple in front of Tara. Conn went in search of this boy in Bé Chuille's currach. He landed on a strange island of apple-trees. The queen of the island had a young son, the result of her only sexual union. Conn told her that Ireland would be saved if the boy bathed in the water of Ireland, and she agreed. He took him back to Ireland, but when the druids demanded his death, he, Art and Fionn mac Cumhaill swore to protect him. Just then, a woman driving a cow carrying two bags approached, and the cow was sacrificed instead of the boy. The bags were opened: one contained a bird with one leg, the other a bird with twelve legs. The two birds fought, and the one-legged bird won. The woman said the twelve-legged bird represented the druids, and the one-legged bird the boy, and revealed herself as his mother. She told Conn that the famine would end if he would put Bé Chuille away, but he refused. Bé Chuille was later banished from Tara as the result of a series of challenges she and Art made each other over a game of fidchell.[11]

Conn was eventually killed by Tipraite Tírech, king of the Ulaid. The Lebor Gabála and the Annals say Tipraite defeated him in battle in Túath Amrois. Keating says Tipraite sent fifty warriors dressed as women from Emain Macha to kill him at Tara. His son-in-law Conaire Cóem succeeded him as High King, and Conn's son Art would later succeed him. The Lebor Gabála synchronises Conn's reign with that of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180). The chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 116-136, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 122-157.

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NOTE: www.familysearch.org states Landabana, princess of Leinster daughter of Crimtham , King of Leinster, as her wife.

It also appears like that:

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ID: I11041

Name: Landabana , Princess of Leinster 1

Sex: F

Birth: ABT 175

Death: UNKNOWN

Reference Number: 11041

Father: Crimtham , King of Leinster b: ABT 150

Marriage 1 Conn CETCHATHACH b: ABT 175 in Dal Riata, Ireland

Children

Sarah , Princess of Leinster b: ABT 200 in Dal Riata, Ireland

ART b: ABT 201

Sources:

Title: Meadows-White Families GenCircles - Barb Selletti - bselletti@hotmail.com

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Title: King of Ireland

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Also known as Conn of the Hundred Battles

This Conn was so called from hundreds of battles by him fought and won : viz., sixty battles against Cahir Mór, King of Leinster and the 109th Monarch of Ireland, whom he slew and succeeded in the Monarchy; one bundred battles against the Ulsterians ; and one hundred more in Munster against Owen Mór (or Mogha Nua-Dhad), their King, who, notwithstanding, forced the said Conn to an equal division of the Kingdom with him. He had two brothers — 1. Eochaidh Fionn-Fohart, 2. Fiacha Suidhe, who, to make way for themselves, murdered two of their brother's sons named Conla Ruadh and Crionna; but they were by the third son Art Eanfhear banished, first into Leinster, and then into Munster, where they lived near Cashel. They were seated at Deici Teamhrach (now the barony of Desee in Meath), whence they were expelled by the Monarch Cormac Ulfhada, son of Art; and, after various wanderings, they went to Munster where Oilioll Olum, who was married to Sadhbh, daughter of Conn of the Hundred Battles, gave them a large district of the present county of Waterford, a part of which is still called Na-Deiseacha, or the baronies of Desies. They were also given the country comprised in the present baronies of Clonmel, Upper-Third, and Middle-Third, in the co. Tipperary, which they held till the Anglo-Norman Invasion. From Eochaidh Fionn-Fohart decended O'NowIan or Nolan of Fowerty (or Foharta), in Lease (or Leix), and Saint Bridget ; and from Fiacha Suidhe are O'Dolan, O'Brick of Dunbrick, and O'Faelan of Dun Faelan, near Cashel. Conn of the Hundred Battles had also three daughters: 1. Sadhbh, who m. first, MacNiadh, after whose death she m. Oilioll Olum, King of Munster. (See No. 84 on the "Line of Heber"); 2.Maoin; and 3.Sarah (or Sarad), m. to Conan MacMogha Laine. — (See No. 81 infra).

Conn reigned 35 years; but was at length barbarously slain by Tiobraidhe Tireach, son of Mal, son of Rochruidhe, King of Ulster. This murder was committed in Tara, A.D. 157, when Conn chanced to be alone and unattended by his guards; the assassins were fifty ruffians, disguised as women, whom the King of Ulster employed for the purpose.

Conn of the Hundred Fights : This name in Irish is "Conn Cead-Cathach," a designation given to that hero of antiquity, in a Poem by O'Gnive, the bard of O'Neill, which is quoted in the " Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland," page 423:

"Conn of the Hundred Fights, sleep in thy grass-grown tomb, and upbraid not cur defeats with thy victories."

To that amcient hero and warrior, Moore pays a graceful tribute of respect in the songs "How oft has the Banshee cried," given in the Irish Mdodies.

According to the popular belief, the "Banshee" or guardian spirit Of the House of Conn of the Hundred Fights, above mentioned, night after night, in the Castle of Dungannon, upbraided the famous Hugh O'Neill, for having accepted the Earldom of Tir-owen, conferred on him by Queen Elizabeth, A.D. 1587. "Hence," writes O'Callaghan, "the Earl did afterwards assume the name of O'Neill, and therewith he was so elevated that he would often boast, that he would rather be O'Neill of Ulster than King of Spain." On his submission, however, A. D. 1603, his title and estates were confirmed to him by King James the First. —O'CALLAGRAN.

It is worthy of remark, that, while Conn of the Hundred Battles lived in the second century, we read in the Tripartite Life St. Patrick, that this Pagan Monarch "prophesied" the introduction of Christianity into Ireland!

Part III, Chapter IV of Irish Pedigrees, by John O'Hart, published 1892, pages 351-9, 664-8 and 708-9.

Spouses

Landabaria

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conn_C%C3%A9tchathach

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Conn Cétchathach ("of the Hundred Battles", pron. [k%C9%92n ˈkeːdxəθax]), son of Fedlimid Rechtmar, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland, and the ancestor of the Connachta, and, through his descendant Niall Noígiallach, the Uí Néill dynasties, such as Clan Donald, a modern Scottish clan.

Contents [hide]

1 Literary tradition

2 Reign

3 Family

4 Death

5 Family tree

6 References

[edit]Literary tradition

The Annals of the Four Masters says that five roads to Tara, which had never been seen before were discovered on the night of Conn's birth.[1] According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, he took power after killing his predecessor Cathair Mór.[2] In other sources his predecessor is Dáire Doimthech.[3] The Lia Fáil, the coronation stone at Tara which was said to roar when the rightful king stood on it, roared under Conn for the first time since Cúchulainn split it with his sword when it failed to roar for Lugaid Riab nDerg.[4] In the saga Baile in Scáil ("The Phantom's Ecstatic Vision"), Conn treads on the stone by accident while walking the ramparts of Tara, implying that the stone had been lost and half-buried since Cúchulainn's time. A druid explains the meaning of the stone, and says the number of cries the stone made is the number of kings who will follow Conn, but he is not the man to name them. A magical mist arises, and a horseman approaches who throws three spears towards Conn, then asks him and the druid to follow him to his house, which stands on a plain by a golden tree. They enter, and are welcomed by a woman in a gold crown. First they see a silver vat, bound with gold hoops, full of red ale, and a golden cup and serving spoon. Then they see a phantom, a tall beautiful man, on a throne, who introduces himself as Lugh. The woman is the sovereignty of Ireland, and she serves Conn a meal consisting of an ox's rib 24 feet (7.3 m) long, and a boar's rib. When she serves drinks, she asks "To whom shall this cup be given?", and Lugh recites a poem which tells Conn how many years he will reign, and the names of the kings who will follow him. Then they enter Lugh's shadow, and the house disappears, but the cup and serving spoon remain.[5][6] An earlier text, Baile Chuinn Cétchathaigh (The Ecstatic Vision of Conn of the Hundred Battles") gives a poetic list of kings, many of which are recognisable from the traditional List of High Kings of Ireland, but without narrative context.[7]

[edit]Reign

Conn had a long reign - twenty, twenty-five, thirty-five or even fifty years according to different versions of the Lebor Gabála–but spent much of it at war with Mug Nuadat, king of Munster. Ireland was divided in two between them–Conn controlling the north, or Leth Cuinn ("Conn's Half"), and Mug controlling the south, or Leth Moga ("Mug's Half"), with the border lying between Galway in the west and Dublin in the east. Mug was able to gain such power because his druid predicted a famine, which he prepared for by storing grain, and producing an early version of the confectionery Nougat[8]. Conn eventually killed Mug in his bed, the morning before their armies were due to meet in the Battle of Mag Lena.[9]

Legend has it that the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill was born in Conn's time. His father, Cumhall, a warrior in Conn's service, was a suitor of Muirne, daughter of the druid Tadg mac Nuadat, but Tadg refused his suit, so Cumhall abducted her. Conn went to war against him, and Cumhall was killed by Goll mac Morna in the Battle of Cnucha. But Muirne was already pregnant, and Tadg rejected her, ordering her to be burned. She fled to Conn, and Conn put her under the protection of Cumhall's brother-in-law Fiacal mac Conchinn. It was in Fiacal's house that she gave birth to a son, Deimne, who was later renamed Fionn.[10] When he was ten, Fionn came to Tara put himself into Conn's service. He learned that every year at Samhain, the monster Aillen would put everyone at Tara to sleep with his music, and burn down the palace with his fiery breath. Fionn killed Aillen, having kept himself awake by pressing the head of his spear to his forehead, and warded off Aillen's flame with his magical cloak, and Conn made him head of the fianna in place of Goll.[11]

[edit]Family

Conn had two sons, Connla and Art. Connla fell in love with a fairy woman from Mag Mell, and went with her to her otherworld home in her crystal boat, leaving Art alone. After that Art was known as Óenfer - the "lone" or "solitary".[12]

After Conn's wife Eithne Táebfada, daughter of Cathair Mór, died, another fairy woman, Bé Chuille, was banished by the Tuatha Dé Danann to Ireland. She had fallen in love with Art from a distance and sought him out in her currach, but when she met Conn and learned he was without a wife, agreed to marry him instead, on the condition that Art be banished from Tara for a year. The men of Ireland thought this unjust, and Ireland was barren during that year. The druids discovered that this was Bé Chuille's fault, and declared that the famine could be ended by the sacrifice of the son of a sinless couple in front of Tara. Conn went in search of this boy in Bé Chuille's currach. He landed on a strange island of apple-trees. The queen of the island had a young son, the result of her only sexual union. Conn told her that Ireland would be saved if the boy bathed in the water of Ireland, and she agreed. He took him back to Ireland, but when the druids demanded his death, he, Art and Fionn mac Cumhaill swore to protect him. Just then, a woman driving a cow carrying two bags approached, and the cow was sacrificed instead of the boy. The bags were opened: one contained a bird with one leg, the other a bird with twelve legs. The two birds fought, and the one-legged bird won. The woman said the twelve-legged bird represented the druids, and the one-legged bird the boy, and revealed herself as his mother. She told Conn that the famine would end if he would put Bé Chuille away, but he refused. Bé Chuille was later banished from Tara as the result of a series of challenges she and Art made each other over a game of fidchell.[13]

[edit]Death

Conn was eventually killed by Tipraite Tírech, king of the Ulaid. The Lebor Gabála and the Annals say Tipraite defeated him in battle in Túath Amrois. Keating says Tipraite sent fifty warriors dressed as women from Emain Macha to kill him at Tara. His son-in-law Conaire Cóem succeeded him as High King, and Conn's son Art would later succeed him. The Lebor Gabála synchronises Conn's reign with that of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180). The chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 116-136, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 122-157.

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From http://www.rpi.edu/~holmes/Hobbies/Genealogy/ps11/ps11_012.htm

Also known as Conn of the Hundred Battles

This Conn was so called from hundreds of battles by him fought and won : viz., sixty battles against Cahir Mór, King of Leinster and the 109th Monarch of Ireland, whom he slew and succeeded in the Monarchy; one bundred battles against the Ulsterians ; and one hundred more in Munster against Owen Mór (or Mogha Nua-Dhad), their King, who, notwithstanding, forced the said Conn to an equal division of the Kingdom with him. He had two brothers — 1. Eochaidh Fionn-Fohart, 2. Fiacha Suidhe, who, to make way for themselves, murdered two of their brother's sons named Conla Ruadh and Crionna; but they were by the third son Art Eanfhear banished, first into Leinster, and then into Munster, where they lived near Cashel. They were seated at Deici Teamhrach (now the barony of Desee in Meath), whence they were expelled by the Monarch Cormac Ulfhada, son of Art; and, after various wanderings, they went to Munster where Oilioll Olum, who was married to Sadhbh, daughter of Conn of the Hundred Battles, gave them a large district of the present county of Waterford, a part of which is still called Na-Deiseacha, or the baronies of Desies. They were also given the country comprised in the present baronies of Clonmel, Upper-Third, and Middle-Third, in the co. Tipperary, which they held till the Anglo-Norman Invasion. From Eochaidh Fionn-Fohart decended O'NowIan or Nolan of Fowerty (or Foharta), in Lease (or Leix), and Saint Bridget ; and from Fiacha Suidhe are O'Dolan, O'Brick of Dunbrick, and O'Faelan of Dun Faelan, near Cashel. Conn of the Hundred Battles had also three daughters: 1. Sadhbh, who m. first, MacNiadh, after whose death she m. Oilioll Olum, King of Munster. (See No. 84 on the "Line of Heber"); 2.Maoin; and 3.Sarah (or Sarad), m. to Conan MacMogha Laine. — (See No. 81 infra).

Conn reigned 35 years; but was at length barbarously slain by Tiobraidhe Tireach, son of Mal, son of Rochruidhe, King of Ulster. This murder was committed in Tara, A.D. 157, when Conn chanced to be alone and unattended by his guards; the assassins were fifty ruffians, disguised as women, whom the King of Ulster employed for the purpose.

Conn of the Hundred Fights : This name in Irish is "Conn Cead-Cathach," a designation given to that hero of antiquity, in a Poem by O'Gnive, the bard of O'Neill, which is quoted in the " Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland," page 423:

"Conn of the Hundred Fights, sleep in thy grass-grown tomb, and upbraid not cur defeats with thy victories."

To that amcient hero and warrior, Moore pays a graceful tribute of respect in the songs "How oft has the Banshee cried," given in the Irish Mdodies.

According to the popular belief, the "Banshee" or guardian spirit Of the House of Conn of the Hundred Fights, above mentioned, night after night, in the Castle of Dungannon, upbraided the famous Hugh O'Neill, for having accepted the Earldom of Tir-owen, conferred on him by Queen Elizabeth, A.D. 1587. "Hence," writes O'Callaghan, "the Earl did afterwards assume the name of O'Neill, and therewith he was so elevated that he would often boast, that he would rather be O'Neill of Ulster than King of Spain." On his submission, however, A. D. 1603, his title and estates were confirmed to him by King James the First. —O'CALLAGRAN.

It is worthy of remark, that, while Conn of the Hundred Battles lived in the second century, we read in the Tripartite Life St. Patrick, that this Pagan Monarch "prophesied" the introduction of Christianity into Ireland!

Part III, Chapter IV of Irish Pedigrees, by John O'Hart, published 1892, pages 351-9, 664-8 and 708-9.

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Conn of the Hundred Battles

Based on merged profiles,

Died circa 157 or 195 in Tara, Ireland -SPF

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1. Birth: ABT 100 in Deisi Muman, Ireland 1
2. Death: ABT 157 in Killed at Tara, Ireland 1
3. Note:

   Conn of the Hundred Battles

   From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

   Conn Cétchathach (Conn of the Hundred Battles) was a legendary High King of Ireland. He was the ancestor of the Connachta, and, through his descendant Niall Noígiallach, the Ui Néill dynasties. His father was either Fedlimid Rechtmar or Óenlám Gaba, and his mother is sometimes given as Medb Lethderg. His son was Art mac Cuinn. Some stories of the Fenian Cycle are set in his time.

   He gained the throne by overthrowing Mal, who had killed his father. He earned his epithet Cétchathach in his wars with the Dál nAraide.

   His rival for the kingship of Ireland was the king of Munster, Éogan Mór, also known as Mug Nuadat, who beat him in ten battles and took half of Ireland from his control. Mug was able to gain such power because his druid predicted a famine, which he prepared for by storing grain. Ireland is sometimes seen as divided between Leth Cuinn, Conn's Half, in the north, and Leth Moga, Mug's Half, in the south. Conn treacherously killed Mug in his bed early one morning.

   Mal's son Tibride Tirech killed Conn at Tara, having sent fifty warrior dressed as women against him from Emain Macha.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Conn Cétchathach ("of the Hundred Battles", pron. [k%C9%92n ˈkeːdxəθax]), son of Fedlimid Rechtmar, was, according to medieval Irish legendary and annalistic sources, a High King of Ireland, and the ancestor of the Connachta, and, through his descendant Niall Noígiallach, the Uí Néill dynasties, which dominated Ireland in the early Middle Ages, and their descendants.

Literary tradition Early life and accession

The Annals of the Four Masters says that five roads to Tara, which had never been seen before, were discovered on the night of Conn's birth.[1] According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, he took power after killing his predecessor Cathair Mór.[2] In other sources his predecessor is Dáire Doimthech.[3] The Lia Fáil, the coronation stone at Tara which was said to roar when the rightful king stood on it, roared under Conn for the first time since Cúchulainn split it with his sword when it failed to roar for Lugaid Riab nDerg.[4] In the saga Baile in Scáil ("The Phantom's Ecstatic Vision"), Conn treads on the stone by accident while walking the ramparts of Tara, implying that the stone had been lost and half-buried since Cúchulainn's time. A druid explains the meaning of the stone, and says the number of cries the stone made is the number of kings who will follow Conn, but he is not the man to name them. A magical mist arises, and a horseman approaches who throws three spears towards Conn, then asks him and the druid to follow him to his house, which stands on a plain by a golden tree. They enter, and are welcomed by a woman in a gold crown. First they see a silver vat, bound with gold hoops, full of red ale, and a golden cup and serving spoon. Then they see a phantom, a tall beautiful man, on a throne, who introduces himself as Lugh. The woman is the sovereignty of Ireland, and she serves Conn a meal consisting of an ox's rib 24 feet (7.3 m) long, and a boar's rib. When she serves drinks, she asks "To whom shall this cup be given?", and Lugh recites a poem which tells Conn how many years he will reign, and the names of the kings who will follow him. Then they enter Lugh's shadow, and the house disappears, but the cup and serving spoon remain.[5][6] An earlier text, Baile Chuinn Cétchathaigh (The Ecstatic Vision of Conn of the Hundred Battles") gives a poetic list of kings, many of which are recognisable from the traditional List of High Kings of Ireland, but without narrative context.[7] Reign See also: Leath Cuinn and Leath Moga

Conn had a long reign – twenty, twenty-five, thirty-five or even fifty years according to different versions of the Lebor Gabála, spending much of it at war with Mug Nuadat, king of Munster.

According to the medieval text Cath Maige Leana ("the battle of Mag Leana"), Mug Nuadat's father, Mug Neit son of Deirgtine, had expelled the kings of Munster, Conaire Coem and Mac Niad mac Lugdach. The two kings fled to Conn, and married his daughters, Saraid and Sadb respectively. Mug Neit made war on Conn, but was defeated and killed after two battles in County Offaly. Mug Nuadat led his father's forces in retreat through Munster, fighting Conn to a standstill before escaping by sea to Beare Island (in Irish, Oiléan Béarra, now called Bere Island), and thence to Spain. Conn restored Conaire and Mac Niad to their kingdoms and withdrew.

Nine years later, Mug Nuadat, who had married the daughter of the king of Spain, landed with an army near Bantry Bay and forced Conaire and Mac Niad to submit to his overlordship. With the kings of Ulster and Leinster, he marched north to Mag nAi and forced Conn to make a treaty with him, dividing Ireland between them: Conn controlling the north, or Leth Cuinn ("Conn's half"), and Mug Nuadat the south, or Leth Moga ("Mug's half"), with the border lying between Galway in the west and Dublin in the east.

After fifteen years of peace Mug Nuadat broke the treaty and declared war, along with the kings of Ulster and Leinster. He led his army to Mag Leana, near Tullamore, County Offaly. Conn retreated to Connacht, gathered his forces, and retook Meath from the king of Ulster. He then marched south to Mag Leana and destroyed Mug Nuadat's army in a surprise night attack on his camp. Mug Nuadat was killed in the fighting, and Conn became king of all of Ireland.[8]

Geoffrey Keating tells the story differently. In his account Mug Nuadat obtains an army from the king of Leinster and expels the kings of Munster, here Lugaid Allathach, Dáire Dornmhor and Aonghus. Aonghus flees to Conn, who gives him an army with which to reclaim his kingdom, but Mug Nuadat defeats this and a further nine attempts by Conn to drive him out of Munster, forcing Conn to divide Ireland with him. When hostilities break out again, Conn and Mug Nuadat's armies gather for battle at Mag Leana, but Conn kills Mug Nuadat in his bed in an early morning attack.[9]

According to a medieval source, the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill was born in Conn's time. His father, Cumhall, a warrior in Conn's service, was a suitor of Muirne, daughter of the druid Tadg mac Nuadat, but Tadg refused his suit, so Cumhall abducted her. Conn went to war against him, and Cumhall was killed by Goll mac Morna in the Battle of Cnucha. But Muirne was already pregnant, and Tadg rejected her, ordering her to be burned. She fled to Conn, and Conn put her under the protection of Cumhall's brother-in-law Fiacal mac Conchinn. It was in Fiacal's house that she gave birth to a son, Deimne, who was later renamed Fionn.[10] When he was ten, Fionn came to Tara put himself into Conn's service. He learned that every year at Samhain, the monster Aillen would put everyone at Tara to sleep with his music, and burn down the palace with his fiery breath. Fionn killed Aillen, having kept himself awake by pressing the head of his spear to his forehead, and warded off Aillen's flame with his magical cloak, and Conn made him head of the fianna in place of Goll.[11] Family

Conn had two sons, Connla and Art. Connla fell in love with a fairy woman from Mag Mell, and went with her to her otherworld home in her crystal boat, leaving Art alone. After that Art was known as Óenfer – the "lone" or "solitary".[12]

After Conn's wife Eithne Táebfada, daughter of Cathair Mór, died, another fairy woman, Bé Chuille, was banished by the Tuatha Dé Danann to Ireland. She had fallen in love with Art from a distance and sought him out in her currach, but when she met Conn and learned he was without a wife, agreed to marry him instead, on the condition that Art be banished from Tara for a year. The men of Ireland thought this unjust, and Ireland was barren during that year. The druids discovered that this was Bé Chuille's fault, and declared that the famine could be ended by the sacrifice of the son of a sinless couple in front of Tara. Conn went in search of this boy in Bé Chuille's currach. He landed on a strange island of apple-trees. The queen of the island had a young son, the result of her only sexual union. Conn told her that Ireland would be saved if the boy bathed in the water of Ireland, and she agreed. He took him back to Ireland, but when the druids demanded his death, he, Art and Fionn mac Cumhaill swore to protect him. Just then, a woman driving a cow carrying two bags approached, and the cow was sacrificed instead of the boy. The bags were opened: one contained a bird with one leg, the other a bird with twelve legs. The two birds fought, and the one-legged bird won. The woman said the twelve-legged bird represented the druids, and the one-legged bird the boy, and revealed herself as his mother. She told Conn that the famine would end if he would put Bé Chuille away, but he refused. Bé Chuille was later banished from Tara as the result of a series of challenges she and Art made each other over a game of fidchell.[13] Death

Conn was eventually killed by Tipraite Tírech, king of the Ulaid. The Lebor Gabála and the Annals say Tipraite defeated him in battle in Túath Amrois. Keating says Tipraite sent fifty warriors dressed as women from Emain Macha to kill him at Tara. His son-in-law Conaire Cóem succeeded him as High King, and Conn's son Art would later succeed him. The Lebor Gabála synchronises Conn's reign with that of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (161–180). The chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 116–136, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 122–157.