252 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 



splendid court at their palace of Cruachan, and he proved the most com- 

 plaisant of spouses. Conor mac Fachtna was the son of Ness, the very 

 lovely daughter of Eochy Salbuidhe ; who was left, a young and a very 

 charming widow, with an only son. 



Fergus mac Roigh was at that time king of Ulladh, a very self- 

 indulgent and luxurious man. The fair widow attracted his attention, 

 and he solicited her to become his queen, but she refused to yield to 

 his desires, unless he would abdicate his throne, in favour of her son 

 Conor, for one year, and let him rule over Ulladh. To this the love- 

 sick king consented; but Ness made such good use of her time, by 

 making her son keep up an unusually splendid court, conciliating the 

 chiefs in every way, and giving such liberal largesses of money, that, 

 at the year's end, the whole population refused to hear of his resigning, 

 and Conor became de facto king. Fergus, after a vain struggle, had to 

 submit, and subsided into a minor position, whilst Conor, having, in a 

 fit of drunkenness, invaded his own mother's bed, became by her father 

 to Cormae called Conloingeas. At that time, the knights of the Red 

 Branch were the most famous order of chivalry in Ireland, and Fergus 

 and Cormae were both members of it. Conor persevered in his dissi- 

 pated career, when by his treacherous slaughter of the sons of TJisneach, 

 notwithstanding Fergus's safe-conduct, he had disgusted that powerful 

 body, the most important of its knights withdrew from his court ; and 

 amongst them, Fergus and Cormae, who were fast friends, retired with 

 a choice body of attendants, to the court of Medbh, where they where 

 hospitably entertained, and Fergus became the paramour of the 

 amorous and martial queen, and had by her several sons, who 

 became progenitors of some of the most powerful chieftains of 

 Erin. A strong jealousj T , however, seems to have subsisted be- 

 tween the Connaught troops and the Ulidian contingent, who were 

 the personal retainers of Fergus and Cormae; and though they went 

 with them and fought with them in the Tain Bo Cuailgne, yet, 

 more than once, there was difficulty in preventing a rupture between 

 them. 



The Irish word bpuijean (pronounced Breen) is in general applied 

 to & Fairy Palace, they call the Queen of the Fairies, becmpiosan na 

 bpuisne, but is also frequently applied to any very splendid residence. 

 It is the diminutive of the Irish bpug, which etymologists refer to the 

 same styrpe as the Saxon Burgh, &c. 



The Irish Breen was an house of right royal hospitality — open to 

 all comers, never refusing fitting food and shelter, and its inmates were 

 under the protection of the Red Hand from all assailants. Thpy had 

 considerable lands attached to them, and their possessors ranked 

 amongst the high nobility of the land. Of these Royal Breens, there 

 were six in Ireland, according to the annexed poem of Forgall Manach, 

 the Brugaidh of Lusc, Co. Dublin, father of the Lady Emer, wife of 

 the great hero Cuchulin: — 



