Brian Boru by Morgan Llywelyn

Author:Morgan Llywelyn [Morgan Llywelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847174697
Publisher: The O'Brien Press
Published: 2012-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Christmas at Kincora

As Mac Liag had promised, Christmas at Kincora in the Year of Our Lord 994 was indeed a splendid occasion. Ducholi was a daughter of the King of Connacht. She knew that a king must display his wealth to impress his people with his ability to take care of them.

‘The bards praise a king’s hospitality first among his qualities,’ Ducholi kept reminding the servants. ‘My husband’s victories in battle mean that many new tribes now send him tribute. He likes to claim that every back in Munster now wears a new cloak. I should like to be able to claim that, at this feast, we stretched every belly to bursting!’

The servants did their best.

Brian’s cooks prepared a new dish in honour of their king. This Dalcassian stew simmered in huge iron cauldrons until its fragrance made everyone’s mouth water. It contained many of the foods available to noble households in Ireland in that time. Mutton, duck, bacon, venison, sausage, barley, wild onions and root vegetables were cooked together, then flavoured with dried herbs, imported cinnamon, and the dregs of red wine. The Dalcassian recipe would be served for many years after in Thomond, with shellfish and cresses added during the summer, and those who tasted it remembered the name of Brian Boru.

Years later, Prince Cahal of Delvin Mor told his many grandchildren, ‘I was there at Kincora, when we drank from silver cups.’

‘Tell us!’ the children would demand. They never tired of hearing the tale.

Cahal’s eyes would grow misty with remembering. ‘The great feasting hall at Kincora was built of timber, with a roof as high as the treetops. Brian Boru sat on a raised platform facing the main doorway, with his nobles around him according to their rank. Those of us who could command more than a hundred men in time of battle sat closest to the king. Farthest away were cattle lords who only held land to the value of fourteen cumals, which means fourteen servant woman. Such men sat in the shadows and the draughts but they ate as much as the rest of us. And drank more,’ Cahal would add with a laugh.

‘And what did the great king look like?’ the children wanted to know.

‘Ah, Brian was in his prime in those days! There were the first streaks of silver in his coppery hair, but he had the eyes of a boy. Not a boy … an eagle! He was a head taller than the tallest of us, and no man in Munster could match him with sword or axe. His voice was deep and seldom used, for he listened much more than he talked. I used to watch him across the feasting table, and wonder how many thoughts were flashing through his mind at the one time.’

‘Were you his special friend?’

Cahal smiled. ‘Every man thought he was Brian Boru’s special friend. He had that gift. He never betrayed a friendship, or gave any man cause to regret trusting him. Though we came from many tribes, somehow Brian Boru made us all Dalcassians.

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