Ireland’s Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth

609 Pages·2016·36.03 MB·English

by  Mark Williams

IRELAND’S IMMORTALS

I R E L A N D ’ S
I M M O R TA L S
A HISTORY OF THE
GODS OF IRISH MYTH
M A R K
W I L L I A M S
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2016 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press
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In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press
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All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Williams, M. A. (Mark Andrew), 1980– , author.
Title: Ireland’s immortals : a history of the gods of Irish myth / Mark Williams.
Description: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015045004 | ISBN 9780691157313 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: | LCSH: Mythology, Celtic—Ireland. | Ireland—Religion—History.
Classification: LCC BL980.I7 W54 2016 | DDC 299/.16113–dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2015045004
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Linux Libertine
and Albertus MT Std
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
FOR JUSTINE
siur ⁊ anmcharae

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Abbreviations xi
Preface xiii
Guide to Pronunciation xxi
PART ONE
1 Hidden Beginnings: From Cult to Conversion 3
2 Earthly Gods: Pagan Deities, Christian Meanings 30
3 Divine Culture: Exemplary Gods and the Mythological Cycle 72
4 New Mythologies: Pseudohistory and the Lore of Poets 128
5 Vulnerability and Grace: The Finn Cycle 194
6 Damaged Gods: The Late Middle Ages 248
PART TWO
7 The Imagination of the Country: Towards a National Pantheon 277
8 Danaan Mysteries: Occult Nationalism and the Divine Forms 310
9 Highland Divinities: The Celtic Revival in Scotland 361
1 0 Coherence and Canon: The Fairy Faith and the East 406
1 1 Gods of the Gap: A World Mythology 434
1 2 Artgods 489
Acknowledgements 503
Glossary of Technical Terms 507
Conspectus of Medieval Sources 511
Works Cited 517
Index 557
vii

ILLUSTR ATIONS
FIGURES
1.1 Y ew- wood figure from Ralaghan, Co. Cavan, late Bronze
Age, c.1000 BC 6
1.2 Th e ‘Tandragee Idol’, carved stone image from
c.1000 BC, Armagh 8
2.1 C airn T, Carbane East hilltop, Loughcrew, Co. Meath,
3500–3300 BC 33
2.2 Th ree- faced stone head found at Corleck Hill, Co. Cavan,
first or second century AD 35
2.3 B ruig na Bóinne: the developed passage tomb of
Newgrange, c.3000 BC 36
4.1 Th e timeline of Irish prehistory in ‘The Book of Invasions’ 132
4.2 Th e invaders in ‘The Book of Invasions’ 133
4.3 S uggested view of the ‘Pantheon of Skill’ 161
4.4 Th e Paps Mountains, Co. Kerry 187
5.1 S lievenamon, Co. Tipperary 212
8.1 G eorge Russell, ‘Æ’ (1867–1935), c.1890 311
8.2 J . H. Bacon, A.R.A., Lêr and the Swans (1905) 325
8.3 George Russell, The Stolen Child 330
8.4 George Russell, A Spirit or Sidhe in a Landscape 331
8.5 George Russell, A Landscape with a Couple, and a Spirit
with a Lute 355
9.1 W illiam Sharp, ‘Fiona Macleod’ (1855–1905) 371
9.2 John Duncan, Fairy Enthroned; date uncertain 395
9.3 John Duncan, The Riders of the Sidhe (1911) 396
9.4 John Duncan, Aoife (c.1914) 398
9.5 John Duncan, Semele (before 1921) 400
9.6 John Duncan, Beira (1917) 403
11.1 D alua, the ‘Faery Fool’, in Rutland Boughton’s The
Immortal Hour 437
ix