The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel
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The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel or Togail Bruidne Dá Derga is an Old Irish language epic. It recounts the birth, life, and death of Conaire Mor, a legendary High King of Ireland, who is killed at Da Derga's hostel by his enemies when he breaks his geases. It is considered one of the finest Irish sagas of the early period, equal or superior to the better known Táin Bó Cúailnge.[1]
It has been argued that Geoffrey Chaucer's The House of Fame borrows features from the Togail Bruidne Da Derga.[2] The tone of the work has been compared with Greek tragedy.[3]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Carney, p. 483; West, p. 413, quotes Rudolf Thurneysen as ranking the Togail after the Tain.
- ^ McTurk, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Byrne, pp. 59–64.
[edit] References
- Byrne, Francis John, Irish Kings and High-Kings. Batsford, London, 1973. ISBN 0-7134-5882-8
- Carney, James Patrick, "Language and Literature to 1169" in Dáibhí Ó Cróinín (ed.), A New History of Ireland, volume 1: Prehistoric and Early Ireland. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005. ISBN 0-19-821737-4
- McTurk, Rory W., Chaucer and the Norse and Celtic Worlds. Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005. ISBN 0-7546-0391-1
- West, Máire, "The genesis of Togail Bruidne da Derga: a reappraisal of the `two-source' theory" in Celtica 23 (Essays in honour of James Patrick Carney). DIAS, Dublin, 1999. ISBN 1-85500-190-X (etext)
[edit] External links
- Translation (by Whitley Stokes) at the Online Medieval Source Book.
- Old Irish edition at University College Cork's CELT project.
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