In the Ulster Cycle narrative corpus Medb appears as daughter of a High King (Eochaid Feidlech in some accounts) and as the ruling queen of Connacht based at Cruachan (Rathcroghan). Medieval textual tradition situates her within the mytho-historical world of the cycles, where she functions as a sovereignty-woman: a supernatural or semi-supernatural female figure who personifies the land and confers or legitimates kingship, and in some medieval and modern scholarly treatments is identified or closely associated with Medb Lethderg of Tara.
Medb is sparsely described in surviving texts beyond marked epithets; one medieval description calls her a "fair haired wolf queen" and claims her form was so beautiful it "robbed men of two-thirds of their valour". Other sources supply little in the way of consistent physical detail; the "wolf queen" phrase and the effect on men's valour appear in saga-derived summaries and may be metaphorical or symbolic rather than literal.
Medb's primary powers are political, symbolic, and performative: she raises and commands armies, negotiates marriages and alliances, enforces parity with her consort, and exercises sexual and political autonomy. As a sovereignty-personification she embodies the ritual capacity to confer kingship (linked in scholarship to mead-drinking inauguration rites). Saga narratives attribute to her a quasi-supernatural influence over men's courage (the claim that her beauty diminishes men's valour) but do not supply systematic magical abilities; her vulnerabilities in the tales are primarily political and martial (defeat, betrayal, and, in some accounts, a violent death).
Weaknesses
- conditionpolitical defeat and betrayal
- othernarrative mortality (violent death recorded in saga tradition, e.g., Aided Meidbe)
Wards
- otherno attested apotropaic wards or charms specifically directed against Medb in the supplied sources
Abandinus
Abandinus is a locally attested Romano‑Celtic theonym known from a single inscribed bronze feather (votive object) dedicated at Godmanchester (the Roman fort Durovigutum) in Cambridgeshire. Scholars interpret him as a local god or male spirit tied to a specific place and possibly associated with a nearby spring or stream; this association is tentative and based on etymological readings of the name.
Abarta (Ábartach)
Abarta (also Ábartach) is a figure of Irish myth who, in surviving accounts, tricks Fionn mac Cumhaill's warriors by giving them a supernatural grey horse that bears them into the Otherworld. Sources variably identify him as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann or as a Fomorian; after the incident he is compelled to release the captured warriors and is refused entry to the Fianna.
Abcán (Abhcán)
Abcán (modern spelling Abhcán) is a named dwarf poet and musician of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish myth. He appears in a small number of narratives as a musician whose art has soporific power and as the ferryman who brings the goddess Ruad from the Otherworld to the human world.
Abhean
Abhean is a named poet of the Tuatha Dé Danann in medieval Irish literature, described as a poet in particular of Lugh and recorded as having been killed by Óengus before Midir in a poem by Fland Mainistreach preserved in the Lebor Gabála Érenn.
Abnoba
Abnoba is a Gaulish theonym and toponym attested in Roman-era sources and inscriptions: a localized deity associated with woods, springs and the sources of rivers (notably the Danube) and simultaneously the name applied to a mountain or mountain range in the Black Forest/Baar/Odenwald region. Roman altars equate her with Diana, reflecting syncretic cult practice in frontier provinces.
Accolon
Accolon is a mortal knight of the Arthurian court, presented in the Post-Vulgate Merlin tradition and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as Morgan le Fay's paramour and instrument in a plot to supplant King Arthur; his tale centers on enchanted weapons (Excalibur and its scabbard), love-manipulation, and a tragic duel with Arthur.
Achall
Achall is an eponymous mortal woman in the Ulster Cycle of early Irish literature whose grief-induced death is given as the origin of the hill-name Achall (identified with the modern Hill of Skryne). She appears as a genealogical and etiological figure tied to Tara and later legendary events at the hill, rather than as a recurring supernatural agent.
Achtland
Achtland is a figure from Irish tradition who, according to the surviving account, was a mortal woman famed for rejecting mortal suitors who married a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and crossed into the síde to become immortal as his wife.
Adar Llwch Gwin
Legendary large, intelligent birds from Welsh tradition said to understand human speech and obey their master's commands; best known for tearing their master Drudwas ap Tryffin to pieces when bound by a literal order in an Arthurian battle narrative. The term later came to be applied to raptors and metaphorically to brave men in medieval Welsh poetry.
Adar Rhiannon
Adar Rhiannon ('birds of Rhiannon') are a set of three magical birds in medieval Welsh narrative (the Mabinogi) whose song can 'wake the dead and lull the living to sleep.' They appear as otherworldly song‑beings tied to the figure Rhiannon and function within tales as providers of enchanted music that sustains and consoles characters.
Aderyn y Corff
Aderyn y Corff (literally 'bird of the corpse') is a bird-like death-porter in Welsh folklore said to call outside the door of a person about to die. Described as an avian portent that may lack feathers or wings and as existing on another plane when not manifesting, it is treated in Welsh ghost lore and sometimes naturalized as a screech owl in modern accounts.
Adhene
A class of Manx fairies (Cloan ny moyrn) described in Isle of Man tradition as a social people of beings said to be "fallen angels cast from heaven but too good for hell," who interact with human livelihoods and families, sometimes benevolent but often mischievous.
Community Record
- [1]Medb (Wikipedia). Wikipedia, "Medb"wiki
- [2]Medb Lethderg (Wikipedia). Wikipedia, "Medb Lethderg"wiki
- [3]Medb (ancienttexts.org / Mary Jones). ancienttexts.org, "Medb" (translated/edited material)literary
- [4]Medb (maryjones.us JCE edition). Mary Jones' Celtic Texts edition, "Medb"literary
- [5]Táin Bó Cúailnge (Book of Leinster). Táin Bó Cúailnge, Book of Leinster recension (CELT edition)literary
- [6]Táin Bó Cúalnge Recension 1 (CELT). Táin Bó Cúalnge, Recension I (CELT edition)literary
- [7]The Violent Death of Medb (ancienttexts.org). Aided Meidbe (The Violent Death of Medb) (translated/edited)literary
- [8]Profile Eilís O'Connell (archive.org). Archive profile (contextual modern source referenced in notes)other
- [9]The Battle of Ross na Ríg (Wikisource). Wikisource, "The Battle of Ross na Ríg" (related saga material)literary