3 - Cú Chulainn Unbound

Summary

Abstract

A scholar of drama and dance, Ron J. Popenhagen advances our understanding of the somatic basis of the medieval Irish hero Cú Chulainn's heroism—that is, the remarkably exposed and shifting state(s) of his body as evident in saga literature when it describes his performance in battle. “Performance” is indeed the key word, for, as Popenhagen observes, Cú Chulainn like other heroes of the medieval Irish Sea milieu, triumphs by virtue not only of the remarkable feats of which he and/or his body are capable, but also of his theatrical presentation of himself.

Keywords: Cú Chulainn, warrior, Táin, ríastrad, theatricality, gesture

In the centuries bracketed by the Roman incursions into Britain and the Viking invasions of Ireland and the Scottish isles, Cú Chulainn is the most noted Irish warrior. His exploits exemplify the heroic Irish warrior of the early medieval era. Cú Chulainn is a fearless fighter of unprecedented agility—a leaping, dodging, lunging competitor capable of calculated, high-speed assault. His kinetic energy and superior weapon-casting style of combat distinguish him from all more conventional warriors of the first millennium CE in Europe. While popular narrative traditions—and often medieval iconography—represent warriors as armored, helmeted bulky figure, Cú Chulainn in the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) battles body-unbound. In “Irish warfare before 1100,” T.M. Charles-Edwards states that “even nobles went into battle without helmets or mail-shirts.”

The employment of metallic gear in early medieval Ireland was atypical. This was likely a culturally based choice rather than an economic or technological one. As J.P.Mallory concludes in his contribution to Aspects of the Táin, the narrative of the Táin is consistent with warfare in the centuries prior to the eighth century of the Common Era. Twenty-first-century archeology suggests that by the last centuries of the first millennium, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales had the technical capacity to encase and hide the warrior body in metal. The Staffordshire hoard and burial-mound digs in Woodbridge, East Anglia, have provided helmet and armor fragments that date from the sixth and seventh centuries. To date, these pieces are the earliest objects that confirm the use of metal armor by residents of Britain.