Emer
Encyclopedia
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
Éimhear, or, erroneously, Eimhear or Éimear, daughter of Forgall Monach
Forgall Monach
Forgall Monach or Manach is a character in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He lives at Luglochta Loga in Lusk, County Dublin....
, is the wife of the hero Cú Chulainn
Cú Chulainn
Cú Chulainn or Cúchulainn , and sometimes known in English as Cuhullin , is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore...
in the Ulster Cycle
Ulster Cycle
The Ulster Cycle , formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, one of the four great cycles of Irish mythology, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly counties Armagh, Down and...
of Irish mythology
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
.
Tochmarc Emire "The Wooing of Emer"
The UlstermenUlaid
The Ulaid or Ulaidh were a people of early Ireland who gave their name to the modern province of Ulster...
searched all over Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
for a suitable wife for Cú Chulainn, but he would have none but Emer. He visited her at Forgall's house at Lusk, County Dublin
Lusk, County Dublin
Lusk is a village in Ireland located north of Dublin city centre. The name "Lusk" is said to date back to St. MacCullin, who founded a church there c.450. Oral tradition suggests MacCullin may have either lived in or been buried in a cave and that the name "Lusk" derives from an old Gaelic word...
, and wooed her by trading cryptic riddles with her. Emer would accept Cú Chulainn as a husband, but only when his deeds justified it.
However, Forgall was opposed to the match. He came to Ulster in disguise and suggested that Cú Chulainn should train in arms with the renowned warrior-woman Scáthach
Scáthach
Scáthach is a figure in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. She is a legendary Scottish warrior woman and martial arts teacher who trains the legendary Ulster hero Cú Chulainn in the arts of combat...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, hoping the ordeal would be too much for him and he would be killed. Cú Chulainn took up the challenge. He learned all the arts of war from Scáthach, and while he was there slept with her rival Aoife, or Aífe
Aífe
Aífe is a character from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. She appears in the sagas Tochmarc Emire and Aided Óenfhir Aífe . In Tochmarc Emire she lives east of a land called Alpi, usually understood to mean Alba , where she is at war with a rival warrior-woman, Scáthach...
, leaving her pregnant.
In the meantime, Forgall offered Emer to Lugaid mac Noís, a king of Munster
Munster
Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...
. However, when he heard that Emer loved Cú Chulainn, Lugaid refused her hand.
Cú Chulainn returned from Scotland fully trained, but Forgall still refused to let him marry Emer. Cú Chulainn stormed Forgall's fortress, killing twenty-four of Forgall's men, abducted Emer and stole Forgall's treasure. Forgall himself fell from the ramparts to his death. An ally of Forgall's, Scenn Menn, tried to stop the fleeing couple, but Cú Chulainn killed him in single combat at a ford. Having proved his prowess, Emer now agreed to marry him. The name Emer comes from life of the Cú
Conchobar mac Nessa
Conchobar mac Nessa
Conchobar mac Nessa was the king of Ulster in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He ruled from Emain Macha .-Birth:...
, the king of Ulster, had the "right of the first night
Droit de seigneur
Droit du seigneur is an alleged legal right allowing the lord of a medieval estate to take the virginity of his serfs' maiden daughters. There is no historical evidence that such a right ever existed.-Terminology:...
" over all marriages of his subjects. He was afraid of Cú Chulainn's reaction if he exercised it in this case, but would lose his authority if he didn't. A solution was found - Conchobar would sleep with Emer on the night of the wedding, but Cathbad
Cathbad
Cathbad or Cathbhadh is the chief druid in the court of Conchobar mac Nessa in the Ulster Cycle of Irish Mythology.In his younger days he was a warrior, leading a landless band of twenty-seven men. Once he led a raid on the house where the Ulster princess Ness was brought up, killing all twelve...
the druid
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
would sleep between them.
Emer's only jealousy
Though Cú Chulainn had many lovers, Emer's only jealousy came when he was entranced into love with FandFand
Fand is an early Irish sea goddess, later described as a "Queen of the Fairies". Her name is variously translated as "Pearl of Beauty" or "A Tear"...
, wife of Manannán mac Lir
Manannán mac Lir
Manannán mac Lir is a sea deity in Irish mythology. He is the son of the obscure Lir . He is often seen as a psychopomp, and has strong affiliations with the Otherworld, the weather and the mists between the worlds...
, the king of the great sea, as recounted in the narrative Serglige Con Culainn
Serglige Con Culainn
Serglige Con Culainn , also known as Oenét Emire is a narrative from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. It originated in the 10th and 11th centuries, and survives in the Book of the Dun Cow, which combines two earlier versions. It tells of a curse of illness inflicted upon the hero Cú Chulainn...
("The Wasting Sickness of Cú Chulainn"). She decided to kill her rival, but when she saw the strength of Fand's love for Cú Chulainn she decided to give him up to her. Fand, touched by Emer's magnanimity
Magnanimity
Magnanimity is the virtue of being great of mind and heart. It encompasses, usually, a refusal to be petty, a willingness to face danger, and actions for noble purposes. Its antithesis is pusillanimity...
, decided to return to her own husband. Manannán shook his cloak between Cú Chulainn and Fand, ensuring the two would never meet again, and Cú Chulainn and Emer drank a potion to wipe the whole affair from their memories.
Other stories
When Aífe's son ConnlaConnla
Connla or Conlaoch is a character in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, the son of the Ulster champion Cú Chulainn and the Scottish warrior woman Aífe. He was raised alone by his mother in Scotland...
came to Ireland in search of his father, Emer realised who he was and tried to persuade Cú Chulainn not to kill him, but to no avail.
Emer was said to possess the six gifts of womanhood: beauty, a gentle voice, sweet words, wisdom, skill at needlework and chastity.
Literature
Emer is the subject of William Butler YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
' play, The Only Jealousy of Emer. This play is one of his five famous Cú Chulainn pieces and is written with heavy stylistic influences from the Japanese Noh
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
theatre. The story is taken with some liberty from Lady Augusta Gregory's saga-story of the same name in her collection, Cuchulain of Muirthemne (1902). Jealousy premiered in 1922 in Amsterdam under the direction of Albert van Dalsum with masks created by the sculptor Hildo Krop
Hildo Krop
Hildebrand Lucien Krop was a prolific Dutch sculptor and furniture designer, widely known as the city sculptor of Amsterdam, where his work is well-represented.-Life:...
. It did not play on the Irish stage until May 1926, when it was staged by the Dublin Drama League at the Abbey Theatre
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...
.
Emer is mentioned in Angela's Ashes
Angela's Ashes
Angela's Ashes is a 1996 memoir by the Irish-American author Frank McCourt. The memoir consists of various anecdotes and stories of Frank McCourt's impoverished childhood and early adulthood in Brooklyn, New York and Limerick, Ireland, as well as McCourt's struggles with poverty, his father's...
by Frank McCourt
Frank McCourt
Francis "Frank" McCourt was an Irish-American teacher and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, best known as the author of Angela’s Ashes, an award-winning, tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood....
as "The Greatest Pisser" in how she came to win Cuchulain's hand for marriage. Emer is also referenced as part of Táin based imagery in Máirtín Ó Cadhain
Máirtín Ó Cadhain
Máirtín Ó Cadhain was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century.-Career:Born in Connemara, he became a schoolteacher but was dismissed due to his IRA membership. In the 1930s he served as an IRA recruiting officer, enlisting fellow writer Brendan Behan...
'sThe Withering Branch.
Other references
The LÉ Emer (P21)LÉ Emer (P21)
LÉ Emer is a ship in the Irish Naval Service. The ship is named after Emer the principal wife of Cúchulainn and the daughter of a chieftain from Rush, County Dublin....
, a ship in the Irish Naval Service
Irish Naval Service
The Naval Service is the navy of Ireland and is one of the three standing branches of the Irish Defence Forces. Its main base is in Haulbowline, County Cork....
, is named after her.