King in Exile in Airne Fíngein (‘Fíngen's Vigil’): power and pursuit in Early Irish literature

Abstract

The early Irish prose tale Airne Fíngein and the relevant material from the dindshenchas and other prose tales discussed represent both the origin and the loss of king’s sovereignty as deeply dependent on some source of supernatural knowledge. The status of any distinguished (or extraordinary) character in Early Irish literature, to a great extent, depends upon supernatural and otherworldly beings in the image of the pre-Christian past drawn by authors of the early Christian period. This article revisits the concepts of kingship and periphery in early Irish literature on the basis of a particular fragment from Airne Fíngein where connection between status and supernatural can be perceived and analysed.