Lugaid Riab nDerg ("the red-striped"), son of the three findemna, triplet sons of Eochu Feidlech, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland.

[edit] Conception

He was conceived of incest. The night before the three findemna, Bres, Nár and Lothar, made war for the High Kingship against their father in the Battle of Druimm Criaich, their sister Clothru, concerned that her brothers could die without heirs, seduced all three of them, and a son, Lugaid, was conceived.^[1] His epithet came from two red stripes around his neck and waist, dividing him into three: above the neck he resembled Nár; from the neck to the waist he resembled Bres; and from the waist down he resembled Lothar.^[2] Incest features further in Lugaid's story: he slept with Clothru himself, conceiving Crimthann Nia Náir.^[3]

[edit] Rise to power

The Lebor Gabála Érenn says he came to power after a five year interregnum following the death of Conaire Mór (six years according to the Annals of the Four Masters).^[4] His foster-father, the Ulster hero Cúchulainn, split the Lia Fáil, the coronation stone at Tara which roared when the rightful king stood or sat on it, with his sword when it failed to roar under Lugaid. It never roared again except under Conn of the Hundred Battles.^[5]

[edit] Marriage

His wife was Derbforgaill, a daughter of the king of Lochlann (Scandinavia), who had fallen in love with Cúchulainn from afar and come to Ireland with a handmaiden in the form of a pair of swans, linked by a golden chain, to seek him out. Cúchulainn and Lugaid were at Loch Cuan (Strangford Lough) and saw them fly past. Cúchulainn, at Lugaid's urging, shot a slingstone which hit Derbforgaill, penetrating her womb, and the two women fell on the beach in human form. Cúchulainn saved Derbforgaill's life by sucking the stone from her side, and she declared her love for him, but because he had sucked her side he could not marry her - evidently he had violated some geis or taboo. Instead he gave her to Lugaid. They married, and she bore him children.

[edit] Deaths of Derbforgaill and Lugaid

One day in deep winter, the men of Ulster made pillars of snow, and the women competed to see who could urinate the deepest into the pillar and prove herself the most desirable to men. Derbforgaill's urine reached the ground, and the other women, out of jealousy, attacked and mutilated her, gouging out her eyes and cutting off her nose, ears, and hair. Lugaid noticed that the snow on the roof of her house had not melted, and realised she was close to death. He and Cúchulainn rushed to the house, but Derbforgaill died shortly after they arrived, and Lugaid died of grief. Cúchulainn avenged them by demolishing the house the women were inside, killing 150 of them.^[6]

[edit] Lugaid's reign

He had ruled for twenty, twenty-five or twenty-six years. The Lebor Gabála synchronises his reign with that of the Roman emperor Claudius (AD 41-54). The chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éireann dates his reign to 33-13 BC,^[7] that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 33-9 BC.

[edit] References