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At the time of Christ there reigned over Ulster, residing at Eamhain Macha
, a king noted in ancient song and story; Conor MacNessa.
He was the
grandson of Róry Mór, a powerful Ulster ruler who had become monarch of
Ireland, and who was the founder of the Rudrician line of Ulster kings.
The
memory of Conor Mac Nessa is imperishably preserved in the tale of the Sons of
Usnach and in the greater tale of the Táin Bó Cuailgne.
His first wife was the
Amazonian Medhb (Maeve), a daughter of Eochaid the Árd-Rígh (High King) of
Ireland.
Conor separated from her and she then became Queen of Connaught.
He found his happiness with her sister, Eithne, whom he took as his second
wife, and who proved to be all that was indicated by her name; Eithne,
which means
"sweet kernel of a nut". He was a patron of poetry and the arts, and a
practical man who is said to have struck from learning the oppressive shackles
of tradition
that hitherto had cramped and bound it. Until his reign, the
learned professions, both for sake of monopoly and of effect upon the
multitude, used an archaic language
that only the initiated could understand,
which awed the mass of the people and kept them in ignorance. Conor ordered
that the professions
should not henceforth remain
in the hereditary possession
of the ancient learned families, but should be thrown open to all, irrespective
of family or rank. Conor’s reverence for poets was such that
he saved them from
expulsion, when once they were threatened with death or exile, because having
grown to such vast numbers, and to have become lazy, covetous and tyrannical,
they had become an almost unbearable burden upon the multitude. Conor gathered
twelve hundred poets, it is said, into his dominion, and protected them there
for seven years, till the anger of the people had abated, and they could
scatter themselves over Ireland once more.
Conor died by a brain ball that sunk into his skull -- fired by the hand of Cet
MacMagach, the Connaught champion, whom he had pursued after a Connaught cattle
raid.
The legend attached to Conor’s death is rather curious. The ball
fired by Cet did not kill him immediately. It sank into his skull, and his
doctor, Faith Liag,
would not remove it, since this could cause instant
death. With care, however, Conor might live long, carrying it within his
head. Henceforth, however,
he must be moderate in all things, avoiding violent
emotion, which was difficult in those days for a king to achieve. Under his doctor's wise care
he lived for seven years, but one day,
his court was thrown into consternation
by finding daylight suddenly turned into blackest night, the heavens rent by
lightning, and the world rocked by thunder,
portending some dread cataclysm.
Conor asked his wise men for explanation of the fearful happening. The druids
and wise men told him that there had been, in the East, a singular man, more
noble of character,
more lofty of mind, and more beautiful of soul, than the
world had ever before known, or would ever know again...He was the noblest and
most beautiful, most loving of men,
and now the heavens and the earth were
thrown into agony because on this day the tyrannical Romans, jealous of His power
over the people, had nailed Him high on a cross,
between two crucified
thieves, and had left the Divine Man to die a fearful death. Conor was so fired
to rage at this thought that he snatched his sword and tried to fiercely hew
down
a grove of trees. Under the strain of the fierce passion that gripped him, the
brain ball burst from the king's head, and he fell dead on the ground.
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