Art mac Cuinn
Irish king
Art mac Cuinn ("son of Conn"), also known as Art Óenfer (literally "one man", used in the sense of "lone", "solitary", or "only son"), was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland.
Siblings
According to the legend, Echtra Condla, he was not Conn's only son: he had a brother called Connla, who fell in love with a fairy woman, and went with her to Mag Mell, never to be seen again. After that, Art was alone and gained his nickname, Art Óenfer. Geoffrey Keating says he had two brothers, Connla and Crionna, who were killed by their uncle Eochaid Finn.
Biography
Another fairy woman, Bé Chuille/Bechuma, who had been banished to Ireland by the Tuatha Dé Danann, fell in love with Art, but, when she learned his father Conn was still alive and a widower, agreed to marry him instead, on the condition that Art be banished from Tara for a year. The injustice caused famine in Ireland, until Art forced Bé Chuille to leave as a forfeit in a game of fidchell. In another variant of the myth, Bé Chuille places a geis on Art, after he loses at a game of fidchell; under which he must leave Ireland never to return until he can find and rescue the maiden Delbchaem ("Fair Shape"). Art travels to the Land of Wonder, facing untold dangers and is forced to kill Delbchaem's mother a fearsome and supernatural figure, who has been foretold by druids that she would be killed by a suitor of her daughter. When Art and Delbchaem return to Tara, Delbchaem banishes Bé Chuille from the land, returning fertility to the region.
Art succeeded to the High Kingship after his brother-in-law Conaire Cóem was killed by Nemed, son of Sroibcenn, in the battle of Gruitine.
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This entry incorporates text from “Art mac Cuinn” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.