The ulster cycle: heroic image and historical reality

Abstract

This paper considers the social and historical context of the composition and transmission of one of the principal bodies of early Irish epic literature and the validity of its use as a source of information about social organisation and material culture. The discussion is in four parts. The first offers a critical evaluation of the argument that this literature is derived from orally composed and transmitted epics which originated in the Iron Age. The second exposes the weakness of arguments concerning the form and existence of an `oral tradition', and attempts to demonstrate that the form of these tales is more consistent with literary composition. The third part considers the social and historical context of composition, while the fourth suggests the ideological significance which this literature may have had. It is concluded that these sources are neither the literary transcriptions of Iron Age oral traditions, nor do they offer a `window' on Iron Age society. Instead, the study of the processes behind the composition and transmission of this literature represents a remarkable potential addition to our knowledge of secular and religious affairs in northeastern Ireland during the second half of the first millennium A. D.