The Brown Bull of Cooley and Matriliny in Celtic Ireland

Miriam Robbins Dexter (USA)

Abstract

This article explores several interrelated topics: the underlying matrilineal (or matri-patrilineal) traditions of the Irish, reflected in the avunculate, the fostering by maternal kin which constitutes a subtext in the Táin; the bestowal of the Dumézilian first and second functions through a female line; women’s autonomous status—sexual and otherwise—and inheritance of property, reflected in the Pillow Talk of the Táin, along with Old Irish laws regarding female inheritance; and the caricature of female figures such as Queen Medb in the Táin, which reflects the need of the early Christian scholars who created the Táin to attack that very female power which was threatening to them.

The Irish are unique among the Indo-European peoples. In other Indo-European realms, autonomy was a concomitant of chastity and even virginity. In Ireland, however, perhaps because of matrilinear, or at least matri- patrilinear inheritance patterns which underlie the structure of their society, and the relative female autonomy which such social structures embrace, Irish goddesses and heroines have great power, and surprisingly, are not subjected to a sexual double standard. Furthermore, as we shall see, if one applies Georges Dumézil’s tripartite schema, one finds that Irish female figures stand behind both Dumézil’s first function, as representatives of sovereignty; and his second function, as representatives of, and educators in, warrior ability. It is the goddess of sovereignty—Flaith on the divine level, and Queen Medb on the epic level—through whom a man may attain kingship. There are warrior goddesses such as Badb and the Morrígan, but it is the epic warrior Scáthach who is not only a great warrior in her own right but who is the primary educator of the hero Cú Chulainn. So matriliny underlies both the first and second functional levels.