Ирланд аңызындағы Моңфинд: Әңгімелер мен мифтер

Mongfind (label=[[Irish language, literally "fair/white hair") is a figure from Irish legend. She is said to have been the wife, of apparent Munster origins, of the legendary High King Eochaid Mugmedón and mother of his eldest three sons, Brión, Ailill and Fiachrae, ancestors of the historical Connachta. She was Eochaid's first wife; his second wife, Cairenn, gave birth to Niall of the Nine Hostages. Several tales depict Mongfind as an adversary of Niall. Mongfind is also said to have been the sister of Crimthann mac Fidaig, King of Munster and the next High King of Ireland, whom she is said to have killed with poison in a bid to make her son king. She drank the poisoned drink to convince Crimthann, and died soon after at Samhain. According to Cormac's Glossary, she was a goddess the pagan Irish worshipped on Samhain. This was also called the Féile Moingfhinne i. e. "Festival of Mongfind". or Ard na Ríoghraidhe ("Height of the Kingfolk") in County Limerick is associated with a tale linked to Mongfind. "Anocht Oíche Shamhna Moingfhinne banda" is children's rhyme from County Waterford which translates as "Tonight is the eve of Samhain of Mongfhionn the goddess". Variant spellings of her name include Mongfhind, Mongfinn, Mongfhinn and Mongfionn. Mongfind and her brother, children of Fidach and grandchildren of Dáire Cerbba in most sources, are sometimes said to belong to an early or peripheral branch of the Eóganachta. However, this is unlikely, as the evidence suggests that, if historical, they belong to a distinct people associated with other kingdoms, possibly the Dáirine, who may be referred to as their people in an obscure poem in Old Irish by Flann mac Lonáin (d. 896). In the Banshenchas she is called "Mongfind of the Érnai" (Érainn), and given a later son Sidach following the Connachta. Dáire Cerbba is stated in Rawlinson B 502 to have been born in Mag Breg (Brega), Mide, much of which probably remained Érainn territory at the time of his supposed floruit. It is difficult to distinguish the Dáirine from the Érainn in the surviving corpus.

An interesting alternate version of the story of Mongfind and her sons exists in a saint's life from the Book of Lismore. In this she is associated with sites belonging to her relatives the Uí Fidgenti, later inherited by the Uí Fidgenti, who were probably Érainn or Dáirine themselves. This has the effect of putting more distance between Mongfind and the Eóganachta. But as no Mongfind is recorded as the wife of any Ulster king, it is likely the Munster storytellers forgot her legendary role as the fracturer of the Uí Néill from the Connachta but could still recall associated localities in Munster. She is placed in the alternate version encamped at Cnoc Samhna (Knocksouna) i. e. Ard na Ríoghraidhe, From the perspective of the early Eóganachta, Crimthann mac Fidaig, named in various sources as "King of Ireland and Alba", was hostile to his supposed cousin or nephew Conall Corc, who went on a journey to Pictland and there was married to the daughter of the Pictish king. The descendants of this marriage were the Eóganacht Locha Léin and were hostile to the Inner Circle ruling at Cashel. It appears to have been in this political climate that the "original" Irish queen/goddess Mongfind became associated with the Picts. A major remaining difficulty is how the historical Conall Corc and Crimthann mac Fidaig may originally have been related to each other. Possibly it was through marriage. Unfortunately the traditions of the Connachta provide no clues and nowhere associate the Mongfind known to them with Conall Corc, and likewise she is unassociated by name with her supposed brother or even with the Eóganachta in the Munster tales, with only the notoriously unreliable genealogies providing these links for scholars. In one and perhaps the oldest version of Mongfind's pedigree the Uí Liatháin are close kin, who are broadly associated with Crimthann mac Fidaig in other sources. Theirs is said in several early tales to have been a sister kingdom to the Uí Fidgenti mentioned above, which the genealogies confirm, but modern scholarship dismisses the two as 8th century add ons to the Eóganachta pedigree, which may have implications for the ancestry of Mongfind and Crimthann. Additionally, the descent of the Eóganacht Locha Léin from Conall Corc has also been questioned. Only the Eóganacht Raithlind had a generally close relationship with the Inner Circle, and although they are sometimes associated with the Eóganacht Locha Léin, they were also not said to be products of the marriage of Conall Corc to the Pictish princess "Mongfind". Notably, the other wife of Conall Corc was Aimend of the Corcu Loígde, who may also have been a goddess in origin. Unlike Mongfind, Aimend is directly stated to have been his wife in all sources.