Labhraidh Loingseach: Difference between revisions

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==Exile and return==
According to the ''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]'', Labraid was exiled overseas, and after thirty years made peace with Cobthach and was given the province of Leinster.<ref name="lge">R. A. Stewart Macalister (ed. & trans.), ''Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of the Taking of Ireland Part V'', Irish Texts Society, 1956, p. 275-277</ref> Various versions of the story of Labraid's exile are told. In one, a prose tale in the ''[[Book of Leinster]]'', Cobthach held an assembly in [[Hill of Tara|Tara]], and asked who the most generous man in Ireland is. His poet, Ferchertne, and harper, Craiftine, immediately answered "Labraid", so Cobthach exiled the three of them from his court. They took refuge with Scoriath, king of the Fir Morca in [[Munster]]. Scoriath has a daughter, Moriath, who falls in love with Labraid, but her mother always sleeps with one eye open to keep an eye on her. Craiftine plays a slumber-strain on his harp to put her completely to sleep, and Labraid spends the night with Moriath. When her mother wakes up she realises what has happened, Labraid confesses and the pair are married. With the help of Scoriath's army and Craiftine's harp, Labraid invades Leinster, and makes peace with Cobthach.<ref name="ddr" />
 
[[Geoffrey Keating]] tells a different story. After spending some time with Scoriath in Munster, Labraid goes to the continent, where he gains great fame as the leader of the bodyguard of the king of France, who is related to Labraid's grandmother, Cessair Chrothach (who was the daughter of a king of the [[Franks]] according to the ''Lebor Gabála''). Moriath, hearing of his great deeds, falls in love with him from a distance. She writes a love song for him, and sends Craiftine to Gaul to sing it to him. Labraid is delighted with the song, and decides to return to Ireland and reclaim his territory. The king of France equips him with ships and 2,200 men. His followers are known as ''Laigin'' after the broad blue-grey iron spearheads (''láigne'') they use.<ref name="ffe" /> [[T. F. O'Rahilly]] attempted to explain the confusion over the location of Labraid's exile by suggesting that the name ''Fir Morca'', a people located in Munster in the ''Book of Leinster'' account, was a corruption of [[Armorica]] in north-west France.<ref name="tfor" />