Preserved in both verse and prose as early as the eight century, the Ulster Cycle may be considered somewhat of a misnomer, given that a considerable amount of the action takes place outside of Ulster in the surrounding provinces, especially Connacht, where the powerful Queen Meadhbh and her King, Ailill, reside at the enigmatic Rath Cruachán.
The core of the cycle stems far back into pre-Christian times when wars between both Connacht tribes and the Ulaid were a constant occurrence. The Connacht tribes eventually succeeded in pushing the Ulaid back to the far east of the province in the 5th century and the Ulaid, remembering the glory days of their history, developed a lore which became what we now know as the Ulster Cycle. It is centred around Emhain Macha (modern day Navan Fort) where the fierce King Conchubar Mac Neassa holds power. From here he rules over Ulster with the Craobh Rua (Red Branch Nights) in an area just west of modern Armagh city. The Ulster Cycle portrays a world older than that of any other vernacular found in European literature, it is staunchly pagan in both imagery and action showing us a war hardened, heroic people constantly engaging in vicious and bloody battles where death is met with a typically pagan indifference.
Most of the conflicts revolve around cattle raids, the most distinguished of these and arguably the greatest piece of classical Irish literature conceived, is the famous prose epic 'Táin Bó Cuailnge'. It is accepted that the initial composition of the Táin (of which there are two main versions one being preserved in the Book of the Dun Cow and the other in The Book of Leinster) dates back to the 7th and 8th centuries. In one such tale, during the reign of King Guaire the hospitable, a great Bardic assembly was held where after the death of Dallán Forgall, the great poet Seanchán Torpéist is appointed as the new head Ollamh.
He requests that the Tain be recited to him at the assembly, however none of the poets present are able to recite the tale. This leads to one of the monks of Seanchán, St Ciarán of Colnmacnoise, travelling to the grave of the deceased Ulster warrior, Fergus Mac Roich, who, upon being resurrected from the grave, recites the tale in its entirety. St Ciarán is said to have copied the tale down from Fergus‘ own words on the hide of a dark cow hence the manuscripts name.
Although this tale seems fanciful, modern analysis has concluded that the story of the finding of the Táin suggests that up until the 7th century, these tales of Ulster were largely confined to the aristocracy of the Ulaid region and that during the 7th century began to circulate around the country leading to a fascination with the style which only retreated years later with the national interest in the Fenian Cycle.
The Tain as we know it seems to have only been constructed around the sixth or seventh century, however some of the motifs and imagery preserved in the epic are obviously echo's of much older belief systems. It is possible that the Táin a is recollection of the practice by the Ulaid where they hid their cattle in the mountainous district of Cualgine when being raided by neighbouring tribes [Ó‘hÓgain]. The Tain is the subject of one of these raids and of a great war between the armies of Queen Meadhbh of Connacht, and King Conchobar of Ulster. 
to the warriors of Conchubar being incapacitated by a curse put upon them by the goddess Macha, the Ulster hero Cúchulainn must hold off the advancing armies of Meadhbh until the curse is lifted after a period of five days and four nights. Cúchulainn who is probably the most famous figure in Irish legend apart from Finn, was possibly incorporated into the Ulster cycle with the influx of the Setanti tribe from Britain. Setanti being very close to the original name for Cuchulainn, Setanta.
He may have replaced an earlier figure as the main heroic young warrior of the Ulaid, Fiacc, who was a son of Fergus Mac Roich, whose position in the literature seems to have been replaced by Cuchulainn around the seventh century when the Setanti became influential. The battle on the ford between Cuchulainn and his life long friend Ferdiad is a late entry into the Tain but is a prime example of the notions of chivalry among the Irish warrior culture and the dialogue between the two that leads to the death of Ferdiad is among the most enthralling in world literature.
There are many other significant tales attributed to the cycle such as ‘Fled Bricrend’ where Cuchulainn once again proves his superiority among the Ulster warriors at the feast of Bricriu Nemthenga, a mischievous and poisonous son of the high druid Cathbad. In this tale Cuchuláinn presents his head, on a point of honour, to be decapitated to Cú Roi where the other competitors had fled proving the validity of his claim to the champions portion, the first cut of meat at the feast which was reserved to the foremost champion present. The ninth century ‘Loinges Mac Uislenn’ (The exile of the sons of Uisnech) is also of immense value. In this we meet Deirdre for the first time, fated to bring sorrow upon Ireland, she flees the country with Naoise and his two brothers after being betrothed to King Conchubar and the subsequent fallout from Conchubar’s cruel vengeance divides the province and exiles many Ulster warriors to the ranks of the Connacht armies.
The Ulster cycle seems to represent the pagan attitude to political and secular life in that battle is craved as much as the glory that comes from it, death is met without complaint and fear has little or no significance. It contains three of greatest female personalities of in the literature, Meadhbh. Deirdre and Emer, and paints a vivid picture of Ireland in a time of war, headhunting and chariot riding that many have compared with the classical Greek literature.
© 2007 Seanchán Mac Conraoi