Description:
The Death of Muirchertach mac Erca The archaic account of the death of Muirchertach mac Erca is one of the most eloquent testimonies in Irish mythology and pseudo-history to the ambiguous and obscure relationship between declining paganism and triumphant Christianity. Composed in keeping with the oldest techniques of Celtic oral narrative — explanatory sections in prose alternating with long passages in verse that constitute the heart of the story — this text, following a very long process of transmission by manuscript, presents three symbolic characters : the saint, who embodies all the intransigence of Celtic Christianity ; the king of Tara, senile and worn out by the exercise of power, who suffers a triple sacrifical death : he is killed by his enemies, burned alive in afire in his palace and drowned in a vat of wine or beer; the woman of the afterworld, transformed into a creature of temptation and sin. The plot is evangelical in its simplicity: the woman uses magic to tempt the king, who succumbs and meets a tragic death; the saint, not without difficulty, is ultimately victorious and, as a sign of his total triumph, sends everyone to Paradise.