Manannán mac Lir

Names

Manannán is given several names, bynames, epithets and surnames or patronymics. His name is spelt Manandán in Old Irish, Manannán in Modern Irish, Manannàn in Scottish Gaelic and Mannan in Manx Gaelic.

Some of the names equated with Manannán include:

Oirbsiu, Oirbsen or Orbsen (see § Merchant Orbsen below)

Duartaine Ó Duartaine

Cathal Ó Cein (Cathal means 'great warrior')

Gilla de ('Boyservant')

Gilla Decair ('Troublesome Boyservant')

Etymology

According to some, his name is derived from the Isle of Man with the -an suffix indicating 'one who is from' the named place. The island's name itself may come from a Celtic word for 'mountain' or 'rise', as the Isle of Man rises from the sea on the horizon. Alternatively, it may come from an earlier Proto-Indo-European root for 'water' or 'wetness'. In medieval Irish tradition, it appears that Manannán came to be considered eponymous to the island (rather than vice versa).

Surname and Epithets

The most common epithets for Manannán reinforce his association with war and the sea. Mac Lir means 'son of the Sea' or 'son of Ler', a sea god whose name means 'Sea'.

It has been suggested that his mythological father Ler's role as sea god was taken over by Manannán. Manannán's other surname mac Alloit or mac Alloid means 'son of the Soil/Land', so that Manannán is effectively son of the sea and land.

In Irish mythology

Manannán appears in all of the cycles of Irish mythology, although he only plays a prominent role in a limited number of tales.

In the Ulster Cycle: Tochmarc Étaíne ('The Wooing of Étaín'), Serglige Con Culainn ('The Wasting Sickness of Cúchulainn' or 'The Sickbed of Cúchulainn'), Tochmarc Luaine ('The Wooing of Luan')

In the Cycles of the Kings: Immram Brain maic Febail ('The Voyage of Bran son of Febal'), Echtra Cormaic maic Airt ('The Adventure of Cormac mac Airt'), Compert Mongáin ('The Birth of Mongán')

In the Mythological Cycle: Lebor Gabála Érenn ('The Book of Invasions'), First Recension; Altram Tige Dá Medar ('The Nourishment of the Houses of Two Milk-vessels')

other Old Irish texts: Sanas Cormaic ('Cormac's Glossary')

In the Ulster Cycle tale "The Wasting Sickness of Cúchulainn", Manannán's wife, Fand, has an ill-fated affair with the warrior Cúchulainn. When Fand sees that Cúchulainn's jealous wife, Emer, is worthy of him (and accompanied by a troop of armed women), she decides to return to Manannán, who then shakes his cloak (brat[t]) of forgetfulness between Fand and Cúchulainn which causes them to not be able to remember each other.

Characteristics

Manannán rode his chariot over the sea, meeting with Bran and his crew sailing by ship, in the tale "The Voyage of Bran son of Febal", considered an early work. In this story, he told Bran that the sea was not actually water to him but rather "a happy plain with profusion of flowers." He goes on to tell Bran about how he is heading to Ireland to have relations with Caintigern who would go on to bear Mongán.

In late sources, Manannán visits the land of the living. His movement is compared to the wind, a hawk or swallow and sometimes takes the form of a thundering wheel rolling across the landscape, such as in the "Pursuit of the Gilla Decair", a 16th-century comic tale. There is also the local lore that Manannán moved like a wheel turning on his three legs, a tradition widespread on the Isle of Man, but also found in some eastern counties of Leinster according to John O'Donovan, though this folklore was unfamiliar to Whitley Stokes.

Manannán is lord and guardian of the Blessed Isles, Emhain Abhlach ('Isle of Apple-trees', cognate with the Avalon of the Welsh Arthurian cycle) and Mag Mell or Magh Meall ('Plain of Delights'). Manannán sings a verse describing his sea as Mag Mell, in "The Voyage of Bran", stating that the steeds on the plain cannot be seen, thus alluding to his concealment of his dwelling using the shroud of invisibility (féth fíada). Emhain Abhlach was the place of origin of the Silver Branch brought to Bran.

Manannán is also said to dwell in the Land of Promise (Tír Tairngire), as in the tale "The Adventure of Cormac mac Airt".

An over-king's role for Manannán among the Tuatha Dé Danann is described in the narrative Altram Tige Dá Medar ('The Nourishment of the Houses of Two Milk-vessels') in the 14th to the 15th century manuscript, the Book of Fermoy. Máire MacNeill gave a summary of the work.

After the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by Érimón of the Milesians (humans), Bodb Derg was chosen as king of the Tuatha Dé Danann and Manannán as co-king or perhaps the king's overseer. In one passage Manannán declares he has assumed over-kingship above the petty kings of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Familial relations

Manannán's father is the sea-god Ler ('Sea; Ocean'; Lir is the genitive form), whose role he seems to take over. As Oirbsen, his father is named as Elloth, son of Elatha. In the Altram Tige Dá Medar, Manannán calls himself the foster-son of the Dagda.

According to Táin Bó Cúailnge ('The Cattle-raid of Cooley'), his wife is the beautiful goddess Fand ('Pearl of Beauty' or 'A Tear' – later remembered as a "fairy queen", though earlier mentions point to her also being a sea deity). Other sources say his wife was the goddess Áine, though she is at other times said to be his daughter. Manannán had a daughter, whose name was Niamh of the Golden Hair. It is also probable that another daughter was Clíodhna, but early sources do not treat her consistently. Either way, she is a young woman from Manannán's lands, whose epithet is "of the Fair Hair". Manannán also had a yellow-haired daughter given also the name Curcog (meaning 'Beehive' or 'Bushy-tuft') who was given up to be fostered by Aengus.

Manannán is also given sons named Eachdond Mór and Gaidiar, who raped Becuma Cneisgel.

Another daughter of Manannán was said to be Saint Athrachta; according to oral legend, she tried to build a causeway across Lough Gara by carrying large stones in her petticoat but was prevented by modesty. In another legend of Athractha, she was said to live at the bottom of Lough Gara and only emerged every seven years to visit her sister Cé. Athractha cured a woman, and once a dragon with the roar of a lion emerged from the sludge and was vanquished by the Holy Virgin. There is also folklore that Cé (or Céibh) the daughter of Manannan lost her beauty and wits due to an incantation, but recovered her beauty after Oisín provided her hospices after others all shunned her.

In "The Voyage of Bran", Manannán prophesied to Bran that a great warrior would be descended from him. Thus Mongán mac Fiachnai becomes a late addition to the mac Lir family tree. The historical Mongán was a son of Fiachnae mac Báetáin, born towards the end of the 6th century. According to legend, Fiachnae came home with a victory from a war in what is today Scotland because of a bargain made with Manannán (either by him, or by his wife) to let Manannán have a child by his wife. This child, Mongán, was supposedly taken to the Otherworld when he was very young, to be raised there by Manannán. The 8th-century saga Compert Mongáin tells recounts the deeds of a legendary son, In the Dinsenchas, Manannán is also described as the father of Ibel, after whose death Manannán cast draughts of grief from his heart that became Loch Ruidi, Loch Cuan and Loch Dacaech.

Folklore

County Monaghan

There are many oral folktales about conflicts between Manannán and St. Patrick in County Monaghan. In many of them Manannán invites St. Patrick to his castle for a feast; however, Patrick is warned by a butler or servant not to eat the food because it is poisoned. In retaliation for the crime, Patrick turns Manannán into a giant eel or salmon, and in some stories he is placed in a bottle and sent to the bottom of a lake to guard his iron treasure chest (or barrel) until the end of time. The treasure is chained to a team of white horses, and the chain can be seen at the top of the lake. In one story from County Monaghan, Manannán's castle was built with mortar from the blood of slaughtered animals, which allowed it to resist weathering for centuries. When the top of the castle toppled over, the bottom part sank into the ground, but the ruins could still be seen owing to the power of Manannán. In some stories, Manann was said to ride a flying white steed and could transform himself into a dove and could be heard crying every seven years.

In another story, Manann was a druid who challenged St. Patrick over whose god was more powerful. Manann covered the land in darkness, but St. Patrick placed his crozier in the ground, prayed to God and dispelled the darkness. At the spot where St. Patrick placed his crozier, a well called Tobar Lasar sprang from the ground.

In another story, villagers searching for Manann's treasure attempt to drain his lake, but just before they complete their task, a man on a white steed appears before them to send them on an errand. When they return a large rock is placed in the spot where they were digging, and no chisel or hammer can break it. In a variant of this story, all the men's horses are killed, and the work they had completed to dig the channel was filled with silt.

In another story, Manann was said to live in a castle and own a fabulous cow and calf that gave milk to everyone in the parish who wanted it. Some of the older people were jealous of the cow's abundance, and an old Protestant woman went to milk the cow into a sieve. When the cow saw what has happening, it was enraged and she and her calf ran to Dunany Point in County Louth, where they were turned to stone.

County Mayo

In County Mayo, a pot of treasure was supposed to be buried in Manann's wood, and this treasure was guarded by a serpent.

In a variant to the story about the formation of Lough Cullin and Lough Conn, Manann was said to have a huntsman named Cullen who had two hunting dogs. The dogs chased after a ferocious boar, and when they overtook the boar, the boar turned and killed the dogs in Lough Conn. Cullen was then drowned at Lough Cullin.

County Donegal

In a folktale from Donegal, St. Colum Cille broke his golden chalice and sent a servant to the mainland to have it repaired. While returning to the mainland in his currach, the servant met a stranger in a currach (later identified as Manannán), who blew his breath on the chalice, which then became whole again. Manannán then asked for a response from Colum Cille, who relayed that there would be no forgiveness for the man responsible for such works. When Manannán heard this, he said he would provide no more help to the Irish until they are "as weak as water", and then retired to the gray waves in the Highlands of Scotland. In a variant of this story, Manann was said to live in a castle near a lake, and at night, he would draw the lake around the castle like a moat, but each morning he would return the lake to its proper place. A boy gathering water from a well ran into Manann and accidentally broke his Delft pitcher. Manann offered to put the Dellft pitcher back together using witchcraft if the boy would ask Colum Cille what sort of people go to hell. Colum Cille told the boy that people such as Manann go to hell, and when he returned to report this to Manann, Manann was so enraged that he packed up his gold in a barrel and enchanted both the gold and himself. A diver from Dublin later went down into the lake and found Manann's barrel of gold with a monstrous serpent chained to it. Men from the village then tried to drain the lake, but the morning after drilling the drain, they found it all closed up with grass growing over it.

Manann was king of the faeries and coveted a beautiful meadow in Carndonagh owned by Neill na hAirde (in some versions another faery king). Manann bought the land from Neill with pearls from the ocean and built a beautiful castle there. Neill's wife grew jealous, and she compelled her husband to go to war over the castle. Neill's army was defeated Manann's, but in retribution, Neill (or in a variant, Manann) rode out to Bar Mouth; there he removed three enchanted rods that held back the ocean. The castle and land were subsequently submerged, but the gardens and castle can still be seen beneath the waves in Straghbregagh.

According to Donegal folklore, Manannán is said to be buried in the Tonn Banks off the coast of Inishowen, which form part of a Triad called the Three Waves of Erin. When Cú Chulainn struck his shield, the three waves of Erin echoed the sound and roared across the ocean. Manannán's spirit is believed to ride the storms that occur when ships are wrecked. The three legs of Manannán "paradoxically" make up the heraldic arms of Man and are said to represent the "storm-god careering over land and sea with whirling motion".

Merchant Orbsen

The 9th century Sanas Cormaic ('Cormac's Glossary') euhemerizes Manannán as "a famous merchant" of the Isle of Man and the best sailor in western Europe, who knew by "studying the heavens" when the weather would be good and bad. O'Donovan's annotation remarks that this merchant went by another name, Orbsen, son of Allot, and it is stated thus in Roderick O'Flaherty's Ogygia (1685).

However, the Yellow Book of Lecan (written c. 1400) separates these figures, stating there were four individuals called Manandán who lived at different times. They were: Manandán mac Alloit, a "druid of the Tuath Dé Danann" whose "proper name was Oirbsen"; Manandán mac Lir, a great sailor, merchant and druid; Manandán mac Cirp, king of the Isles and Mann; and Manandán mac Atgnai, who took in the sons of Uisnech and sailed to Ireland to avenge their deaths.

Tradition has it that Orbsen engaged in the Battle of Moycullen in Co. Galway, and fell on the brink of Lake Orbsen; the lake, named after him, is the present-day Lough Corrib. The conflict in which Manannan mac Alloid was slain by Ullinn was recorded in verse by 11th century poet Flann Mainistrech. There is a great stone pillar erected in the field of Moycullin, possibly marking the battle location.

Oirbsen is also mentioned in the Lebor Gabala Erenn, where it gives his genealogy as follows: Galia s. Oirbsen s. Elloth s. Elada s. Delbaeth s. Net.

It goes on to state: "Orbsen was the name of Manannan at first, and from him is named Loch Orbsen in Connachta. When Manannan was being buried, it is then the lake burst over the land, [through the burial]."

O'Neill's Horse Race

There is a folk tale that an English horse racer challenges one of the O'Neills to a horse race. Manannán wants to defend the character of the Irish and knows that none of O'Neill's horses stands a chance against the Englishman's, so he appears in the form of a beggar and challenges the Englishman to a race that he himself runs from Shane's Castle to Dublin. By his enchantments, he wins the race and defends the pride of Ireland and the O'Neill clan. The tale bears some resemblance to the horse race of Macha and also the Roman tradition in which Neptune Equester oversaw horse races.

O'Donnell's Kern

In the story "O'Donnell's Kern", Manannan appears as a kern or serving man at the courts of various historical personages from 16th Century Ireland. As a kern, Manannan is repeatedly described as wearing thinly striped clothing and leather brogues (shoes) soaking with water, having ears and half his sword protruding from his mantle and carrying three scorched holly javelins (elsewhere described as a single javelin) in his right hand. In this guise, he again appears as a trickster, walking into his hosts' homes uninvited and undetected by the guardsmen.

At Black Hugh O'Donnell's home in Ballyshannon, Manannan challenges the court musicians to a competition, and with a harp plays music so sweetly melodious that it can put anyone to sleep – including the suffering and dying. O'Donnell declares he has never heard such beautiful music and offers the kern new clothing; the kern refuses O'Donnell's gift and also refuses to stay in his court (indicating he must go to Cnoc Aine the next day), so O'Donnell has his men surround the kern to prevent his departure. Manannan again plays music, but this time the strain causes O'Donnell's men to hack each other to pieces with axes. When he leaves O'Donnell, Manannan extracts a fine of twenty cattle and land, and in exchange, rubs a magic herb on the gums of O'Donnell's slaughtered men that revives them to life.

At the kern's next stop near Limerick, Shane Mac an Iarla invites the kern into his home, having heard of Manannan's reputation with reading and music, to which Manannan declares he is not impotent. However, when Shane brings the kern an instrument and a book, the kern is unable to read or play until Shane lampoons him. When Shane asks Manannan whether he has visited Desmond before, he declares that he was there with the Fianna, several millennia earlier.

Next, the kern travels to Leinster to visit MacEochaidh, who is incapacitated with a broken leg and blood poisoning. When asked about his art, the kern declares that he is a healer and tells MacEochaidh that if he will put his stingy, churlish behavior past him he would be healed. Manannan then dresses MacEochaidh's leg with a healing herb, who immediately recovers from his affliction. MacEochaidh then throws a feast for Manannan and offers him his buxom daughter along with three hundred each of cattle, horses, sheep and hogs. Before he can receive his reward, however, the kern flees MacEochaidh's house to his next destination.

The Pursuit of the Gilla Decair and His Horse

As the Gilla Decair, a name also referenced in "O'Donnell's Kern", Manannán appears in the Fenian story "The Pursuit of the Gilla Decair and his Horse". In this tale the Fianna encounter the Gilla on Samhain while pursuing the hunt through the forests of Ballachgowan in Munster. The Gilla is described as a gigantic, virile ruffian with black limbs, devilish, misshapen and ugly, leading a gaunt horse with grey hindquarters and thin legs with an iron chain. Additionally, the Gilla is dressed as a warrior with a convex, black shield hanging from his back, a wide grooved sword at his left thigh, two long javelins at his shoulder and a limp mantle about him, all reminiscent of Manannan's description in "O'Donnell's Kern". After greeting Finn with a lay that begins, "May the gods bless thee, Finn, O man of affable discourse ...", the Gilla tells Finn that he is a Fomorian who visits the kings of Christendom to earn a wage, and that his name was given because of the great personal sacrifices he makes on behalf of his retainers. The Gilla then asks Finn if he will hire him as a horseman, to which Finn assents, and then asks to release his horse to graze with those of the Fianna. When Finn grants his permission, the Gilla unbridles his horse to graze with the others and proceeds to mutilate and kill all the horses of the Fianna.

After seeking the Fianna's counsel, Finn tells Conán mac Morna to mount the Gilla's horse and ride him to death, but though he tries violently to make the horse move, he won't budge. Thirteen other Fianna then mount the horse in an attempt to weigh the horse down as much as the Gilla, but still the horse refuses to budge. The Gilla then tells Finn and the Fianna that were he to serve the rest of his term under Finn's contemptuous frivolity, he would be pitied and mocked, so he tells them that he will be parting and leaves the Fianna with such a fierce, thundering rapidity that it is compared to the speed of a swallow and noise of a March wind over a mountain. As soon as the Gilla's horse loses sight of his master, he speeds off after him with fourteen of the Fianna on his back. Finn and the remaining Fianna then track the Gilla and his horse until they arrive at the sea, where another of the Fianna grabs the horse's tail as it alights over the water with the fifteen men.

Finn then travels to Ben-Adar, where the Tuatha Dé Danann promised the children of the Gael that should they ever need to leave Ireland, they would encounter a ship outfit for them. As the Fianna approach the sea, Finn encounters a pair of men, described as "bulkiest of heroes, most powerful of fighting men, hardiest of champions". Both men bear shields with lions, leopards and griffins, "terrible" swords, crimson cloaks with gold fibulae, gold sandals and gold bands on their heads. They bow to Finn and tell him they are the sons of the King of India, who have the ability to create ships with three fells of the axe and can carry the ships over land and sea. One of the brothers tells Finn that his name is Feradach.

In Manx mythology

Manx folklore

According to the local lore of the Isle of Man, Manannán was the island's first ruler.

First ruler

A document called the "Supposed True Chronicle of Man" (16th century) asserts that Manannan was the first "ruler of Mann", was "as paynim (pagan), and kept, by necromancy, the Land of Man under mists", and imposed as tax a bundle of green rushes, which was due every Midsummer Eve at a place called Warfield (the present-day South Barrule). More or less the same thing is stated in verse within "The Traditionary Ballad" aka "Manannan beg va Mac y Leirr" (1504), whose third quatrain ran:

The poem thus identified the king of the island as one Manannan-beg-mac-y-Lheirr, 'little Manannan, son of the Sea' (or, 'son of Leir'). Manannan was later banished by Saint Patrick according to the poem.

As to the Manx offering rushes to Manannán, there is evidence these wild plants—which typically grow in wetlands—were sacred to him.

Illusory magic

According to tradition, Manannan once held Peel Castle and caused a single man guarding its battlements to appear as a force of a thousand, thus succeeding in driving out his enemies. Manx storyteller Sophia Morrison repeats this story except reducing the amplification to hundredfold men and referring to the rampart "a great stone fort on Peel Island". She also appends a story that Manannan once crafted makeshift boats out of sedges, creating an illusion of a larger fleet, causing the Viking invaders to flee in terror from the bay of Peel Island.

Toponymy

There are places named after Manannán in Ireland, the Isle of Man and Scotland. In Ireland, most of them are on the coast or contain water features. They include Mannin Lake (Loch Mhanainn) in County Mayo, Mannin Bay (Cuan Mhanainn) in County Galway, Mannin Island (Manainn) in County Cork, Cashelmanannan (Caiseal Mhanannáin, 'Manannán's Ringfort') and Sheevannan (Sí Mhanannáin, 'Manannán's Fairy-mound') in County Roscommon, Derrymannin (Doire Mhanainn, 'Manann's Oak') in County Mayo, and Carrickmannon (Carraig Mhanainn, 'Manannán's Rock') in County Down. Also in Ireland, Lough Corrib takes its name from Manannán's alternate name Oirbsiu or Oirbsen. The placenames Clackmannan (Clach Mhanainn) and Slamannan (Sliabh Mhanainn) in Scotland may also refer to Manannàn.