Ni Bhrolchain, Muireann (1994) Re Tóin Mná: In Pursuit of Troublesome Women. Ulidia: Proceedings of the first international conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales. pp. 115-122. ISSN 0951706861

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Abstract

A woman's social position in early Ireland was clearly delineated within a patriarchal society which allowed divorce, bigamy, multiple serial marriages and eventually tolerated the position of the banchomarba "female-heiress" under the influence of the Church. The pre-Christian culture and religion venerated a plethora of goddesses presiding over functions such as war, fertility and the arts in the person of an overtly promiscuous, sexual deity, notorious as the sovereignty goddess whose marriage to the king and her bestowal of a drink ensured his kingship. Her displeasure at a monarch's behaviour could result in his eventual or immediate demise (O'Rahilly 1943, 7; Breathnach 1982, 243; McCone 1990, 138; Wagner 1981, 22)

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Re Tóin Mná; Troublesome Women;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > School of Celtic Studies > Early Irish (Sean Ghaeilge)
Item ID:	4643
Depositing User:	Muireann Ni Bhrolchain
Date Deposited:	06 Dec 2013 11:07
Journal or Publication Title:	Ulidia: Proceedings of the first international conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales
Refereed:	Yes
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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