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                                                    RAINBOW FARMS    AUSTRALIA                                              

            

                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                     10 BC -  00.BC

9 BC *77.Lewy Sriabh - n Dearg the Celtic Gaelic Milesian Heremonian Ui Cobhthaigh 98th King of Tara / Erinn, who was married to Dervorgilla / Dearbhorgaill the daughter of the King of Denmark / Lochlann, was to  meet his end by falling on his own sword due to the immense sorrow he was experiencing over her demise.

9 BC - 8 BC Conor / Conchobar Abradruad was to be the Celtic Gaelic Milesian Heremonian Ui Laoghaire Ui Lughaidh 99th King of Tara / Erinn.

8 BC By the time Cu Chulann, from the Red Branch Knights of Ulster, was to reach 17 years of age he had been fully educated and given his own personal spear, shield,  javelin and sword, and was also to establish his personal fortress at Dundalk in Co. Louth in the north - east of Northern Leinster, which held a commanding position over the Ulster Gap, and he would continue his training at Eighter in Co. Cavan in Southern Ulster where he was to be well known for the usual Celtic aristocratic warrior temperament, as when he came under the immediate pressure of battle conditions he could become very hot tempered and furious in his overall manner.   

       76.Maeve / Medb the Heberian Queen of Connacht and her spouse the younger Ailill came into dispute over who had the most individual wealth, of which their cattle were always to be the greater part, as unbeknown to 76.Maeve one of her bull calves, who was truly outstanding, had joined in with Ailill’s herd instead, and in the meantime had drunk from the Well of Uaran Garad in Sreng's Fifth / Connacht and had grown into a beautiful specimen and became famous throughout Ireland as Ailill's White Horned Bull / Finn Bheannach. Not to be outdone 76.Maeve ordered her chief courier, Mac Roth to advise her where she too could secure such an outstanding bull for herself in Ireland that would be more then equal to Ailill's White Horned Bull and he was to advise her that Daire, the son of Fachtna, who had his territory in Cooley / Cualgne in the Ulster Province had the most outstanding bull there at this time, known as the Brown Bull of Cooley / Donn Chulaigne, so she instructed him to go and get him as a loan for one year, and promise Daire that she would return him with 50 heifers. She also told him to inform his owner that if he objected to lending the bull then he could come with the bull himself and she would give him as much territory as he now had in Ulster at Magh Ai (The Plain of Roscommon) situated in the Connacht Province plus a chariot worth thrice seven cumals, 63 cows and her friendship. Mac Roth went to see Daire mac Fachtna who readily agreed to accept such generous terms, but then one of the 9 couriers who had accompanied Mac Roth ran off at the mouth and stated that he had better agree or else, and Daire on hearing this became indignant and decided to change his mind, Mac Roth returned to Connacht and advised 76.Maeve of what had happened, and so she decided instead to use physical force on Daire to bring it all about and although Fidelma the prophetess had  told her that her future expedition against Ulster to obtain the Brown Bull of Cooley would be a disaster, she was determined to go ahead anyway. Together with all of her sons and the 7 sons of Maghach, she called on the Septs from the Munster Province and the Leinster Province to support her quest in Ulster by telling them that this would be a good opportunity to bring repercussions back on Ulster for all of their old transgressions against those two Provinces and also by this time there were in addition other men from Ulster in her service who had also gone into exile for the previous treachery that 64.Conor mac Nessa the Gaelic Milesian Irian King of Ulster had committed against the 3 sons of Uisneach.

        76.Maeve now had 1500 warriors in all who were put under the leadership of 64.Fergus mac Roigh and 64.Conor mac Nessa's other son, 65.Cormac Conloingeas who had also abandoned his father for what he had done, and they then assembled their forces at Cruachan in Co. Roscommon in the east of the Connacht Province under the overall leadership of 73.Maeve herself and moving onto Athlone they crossed over the River Shannon and marched eastward through Midhe / Meath / Northern Leinster towards Kells near the border of Co. Louth in the north - east of Northern Leinster where they set up their camp, and she was to also be accompanied by her husband, Ailill and their daughter, Finnabair - of the Fair Brow. During the feasting that followed, 76.Maeve was to try and create a further incentive among her followers when she secretly promised the hand of her daughter, Finnabair in marriage to all of her Champions individually to carry out her wishes. 64.Fergus mac Roich feeling for what might happen to his own people in the Ulster Province had previously sent a message to warn them that they were coming, but 64.Conor mac Nessa the Irian King of Ulster and his Red Branch Warriors at Emania at this time were not quite with it, as they were suffering from some type of disabling malaise. This meant that the initial defence of Ulster was now to be left only to Cu Chulann who was meant to block their path to give them time to recover, as he was personally set up at the Ulster Pass in Co. Louth, as he alone, was not suffering from this particular malaise, and officially he was now acting as 64.Conor mac Nessa's Champion at the border and also by chance this was where the Brown Bull of Cooley, who 76.Maeve was desperately seeking, was at pasture. When 76.Maeve's combined forces approached him to allow them to go on by, Cu Chulann demanded single combat under the Irish Celtic Code of Practice / Fir Comhlainn, and that they were not to advance any further until they had individually overcome him personally. 76.Maeve inquired from the men of Ulster, who were among her followers, who this young brave warrior was, and they advised her of his previous outstanding youthful exploits so she decided to offer the 17 year old Cu Chulann honours in her territory in Connacht if he stopped supporting 64.Conor mac Nessa's cause, but he refused, and she then sent him further messages along the same lines until Cu Chulann was to finally warn her not to send any more. To test him out she then agreed with Cu Chulann that he was to go up against one of her own Champions each day at the ford on the border until the advent of the beginning of Spring, to see if he could physically manage to continue to survive the ongoing ordeal of the various single conflicts of one on one. In his first combat he slew her Champion, Loch, with his special spear, known as the Gae Bolg, that had 30 barbs, and then began entering into a series of other single combats against her individual Champions in which he continued to be victorious on every occasion until he was finally wounded, and while he slept to recover his strength a boy troop from out of Emain Macha, who were Cu Chulann's companions, came, who fought  also, until they were all killed.

        76,Maeve then asked 64.Fergus mac Roigh to personally fight Cu Chulann, who told her that he would not fight his own foster - son, but she persisted, so he went to see him, but did not take his sword with him, and Cu Chulann told him it was not safe to come against him without his sword, and 64.Fergus mac Roigh told him that it did not matter as he would not use it anyway against him and instead asked Cu Chulann to pretend to fight him and then run away, but he said he could not do that, so 64.Fergus mac Roigh continued to try and verbally convince him to do it, by saying that if he did, he too would do the same in the future, and they then agreed to do it, and 64.Fergus mac Roich then returned to 76.Maeve and told her to stop asking him to fight Chu Culann. She then decided to send her wizard Calatin, and his 27 sons and grandsons, to take on Chu Culann, and when 64.Fergus mac Roigh learnt of this he sent Fiacha who was also an Ulster exile, to see what was to occur and report back to him, but on arriving there Fiacha decided also to assist Cu Chulann himself and they defeated all of these opponents too. 76.Maeve in desperation now sent for Ferdia / Ferdiad the Iberian Champion of the Domnu, who had been a fellow companion and pupil of Cu Chulann while he was overseas with Scathach, and as he too did not want to fight Cu Chulann, he went reluctantly to Cu Chulann who advised him to go back, as he did not want to injure him, but he said he could not as he really had no choice in the matter. They fought all day until Sunset and then retired to their camp where they not only shared their food, but also their healing herbs on their wounds, and on the the second day it was more of the same, and also on the third day when they decided to finally separate from each other, and on the fourth day Cu Chulann was to slay Ferdia in mortal combat with his special spear the Gae Bolg, and although Cu Chulann by this time was feeling physically exhausted and badly wounded he still felt great remorse at the death of his friend Ferdia, so he decided to carry his lifeless body back to the other side of the stream to make out that he had made it across.

     76.Maeve continued to send further individual warriors against him until she finally sent her particular individual Champions, still promising her daughter, Finnabair to the one who would be able to kill Cu Chullann, and although Sualtam his father, now came to try assist him against them, instead he was to send him back to 64.Conor mac Nessa at Emain Macha in the Ulster Province, to advise him that he could no longer personally hold out on his own, so Sualtam mounted Cu Chullann's war horse "The Grey of Macha" and returned to Emain Macha and called out for further assistance to support Cu Chulann. Cathbad the Druid admonished him for waking 64.Conor mac Nessa, and Sualtam in a rage jerked the mouth of "The Grey of Macha" who reared up and struck his shield, which then struck his neck and decapitated his head. "The Grey of Macha" then raced flat out back into 64.Conor mac Nessa's fort, who was now wide awake and he decided to send for reinforcements from all over Ulster and a great battle was to then occur among the proponents and Cu Chulann on hearing the melee of the fighting called on 64.Fergus mac Roigh to honour his previous pledge to run off, and he did as he requested, taking his personal warriors also with him. By this time 76.Maeve had run out of patience, and decided that she could wait no longer for a final decision against Cu Chulann and so she sent some of her followers to search out the whereabouts of the Brown Bull of Cooley and drive him and 50 heifers back into her camp, while she proceeded on with her retinue into Ulster anyway, burning and ravaging the countryside right up to 64.Conor mac Nessa's palace at Emania and on finding out that she had finally gained possession of the Brown Bull of Cooley she set out with her retinue to return down into the Midlands / Midhe / Meath in Northern Leinster where she set up her camp at Clarecastle / Clartha in Co. Westmeath in the south - west before making her way back to the west across the River Shannon into her own territory in Sreng's Fifth / Connacht Province. 64.Conor mac Nessa and his Irian Red Branch Ulster warriors now also followed her there and took every opportunity to attack 76.Maeve’s forces from behind until they finally surrounded her camp in the Midlands where she was defeated, but in the meantime the cause of all of this, the Brown Bull of Cooley, had been taken on to Connacht where he came into conflict with Ailill's White Horned Bull and killed him, and he then returned back to Cooley / Cualgne on his own volition where his heart was to burst while charging a rock and he too also died.

    Athairne who was the main poet of 64.Conor mac Nessa the Irian King of Ulster had tremendous power in the Ulster Province. which was only exceeded by that of 64.Conor mac Nessa the Irian King of Ulster himself, as was demonstrated when he demanded one of the eyes of Eochy mac Luchta the Ithian King of Southern Munster who he thought would offer him a ransom for it instead, but Eochy had simply plucked it out of its socket and handed it over to him, and with such a blemish Eochy was also to lose his hold on the Ithian Kingship. Realising how powerful the authority of the individual poets / filidh had grown in Ulster, 64.Conor mac Nessa decided to break their monopoly that they had over legal language and knowledge, which upset them no end when he especially demanded that they also use plain language for all to understand the procedures and this opened the profession up to all freemen creating actual lawyers / brehons instead. 63.Conor mac Nessa feeling himself and the Ulster Province was now all powerful turned his attention towards the Leinster Province, and towards this agenda he sent Athairne, his main poet, down south to agitate Mesgedra the King of Leinster, who had his palace at Naas in Co. Kildare in Southern Leinster, hoping that Athairne's avaricious nature would create trouble with Mesgedra the King and he could use this as an excuse to intervene there to express his overall authority further in Ireland. After being there for a year, Athairne decided to make his move and get what he could out of Mesgedra and then return to the Ulster Province, so he arranged an audience with Mesgedra demanding a poet's fee of 300 head of cattle, to which Mesgedra agreed, so he then demanded 600 sheep to which he also agreed, and pushing his luck further he also asked for 20 ounces of gold together with silks and he agreed to this also. Finally by then, feeling well in control of the situation he also demanded 45 Leinster virgins as he well knew that this last demand would completely upset the Leinstermen in the Assembly there who soon responded to this suggestion and were in an uproar, although in reality once again he was hoping that they would pay him a ransom instead of all of this booty, especially for the 45 young women. Realising that he had by now gone too far Athairne sent a messenger back up to Ulster to convince 64.Conor mac Nessa to come down with his Red Branch Warriors to protect him and the booty when he would eventually reach the Leinster / Ulster border with his tribute.

      The next day Athairne gathered up all of his booty and left to go to Slighe Cualann where he intended to cross over the River Liffey and head out from there north to Emania, but on arriving at the first crossing he found that the River Liffey was in flood and the ford there could not be crossed, and seeing nearby there was a small settlement, he soon went about destroying it to gain the materials he needed, and cut bundles of hazel rods and from them constructed large hurdles out of wattle to try and get the stock across to the other side, and after he succeeded in this endeavour he then camped there, and this particular crossing then became known as Baile Atha Cliath / The Ford of the Hurdles. The next day after travelling a few miles further to the north he met up with some of the Red Branch Warriors from Ulster near the border, just as Mesgedra's Leinster warriors came at them from behind and drove them all back across the neck of land that separated Ben Eadair / Howth from the Plain of Sorrows near Cluain Tarbh where 64.Conor mac Nessa's Red Branch warriors had already constructed a fort on the off chance that they would need to take refuge behind it. Mesgedra then began besieging this fort for several days, during which time the Ulster Warriors sent several messengers north to obtain further assistance, and although they still had the cattle, the gold and the booty, the 45 young women had already been rescued by Mesgedra during the first attack. In the meantime 64.Conor mac Nessa in his hurry to assist Athairne, had left 68.Conall Cernach - of the VIctories the leader of the Red Branch Warriors to guard Ulster, and on reaching the battle scene he immediately went on the attack against the Leinstermen and many on both sides were ultimately killed.

      During the conflicts Mesgedra was to lose one of his hands, and as a consequence his Leinster warriors were driven off and he then fled southwards, by - passing Baile Atha Cliath, and instead made for the old ford near Clane, as it was nearer to his palace at Naas, and on reaching Clane he sought sanctuary in the Sacred Grove / nincadh nearby, but 64.Conall Cernach and his Knights of the Red Branch Wrriors of Ulster warriors were by now also personally in pursuit of Mesgedra and 68.Conall Cernach called on him to come out and fight one on one, to which Mesgedra replied that he now only had the one hand. 68.Conall Cernach then had some of his Ulster warriors bind one of his arms and he called on Mesgedra once again to come out and Mesgedra immediately drew his sword and came out going face to face with 68.Conall Cernach, and during the volatile conflict that followed Mesgedra's sword cut through the binding on 68.Conall Cernach's arm, so they halted proceedings and 68.Conall Cearnach had his hand re - bound and the same thing happened again, but this time he did not hesitate and rushed forward and mortally wounded Mesgedra, who as he was dying cursed all of the Ulstermen. 68.Conor Cernach cut off Mesgedra's head placing it in his chariot and tied Mesgedra's chariot behind his and started to head back north towards Ulster where he eventually came upon Mesgedra's wife. Queen Buan, who at this time was heading home with her chariots and hand maidens. after visiting Tara, 68.Conall Cernach picked up Mesgedra's head by his hair and held it up for her to see, and she went into shock, but still managed to ask 68.Conall Cernach to allow her to lament / caoine  Mesgedra's passing before she moved on to return to Naas, and on viewing his total remains, all at once, along with her hand maidens she let out a great wail that was so intense that she fell backwards and lay dead on the road. 68.Conall Cernach then interred her body there at Clane near the River Liffey, but before he also interred Mesgedra's head he took out his brain, which he was to eventually mix with lime to make a tathlum / brain ball, which was mixed with blood and mud to create a solid deadly missile. The Ulstermen then burnt and plundered Southern Leinster taking women, cattle, gold and slaves, and later on when 68.Conall Cernach and his Red Branch Warriors arrived back at Emain Macha he placed his trophy, the prepared brain ball of Mesgedra, in the Speckled Hall in the armoury of the Knights of the Red Branch.

     64.Conor mac Nessa had originally been married to the fiery 76.Maeve who later became the Queen of Connacht, and he had since put aside and taken up with her sister, 76.Eithne who was of a different nature altogether, gentle and sweet, but she had since died, and he then married Luaine, and after the conflict with the Leinster Province there was peace for years during which time the Ulster Province was to once again prosper,

      Cet mac Margach - the Wolf of Connacht Province crossed over into the Ulster Province in disguise and came to Emain Macha where he saw 2 children playing with the brain ball of Mesgedra and when they threw it from one to the other he caught it instead and hid it and carried it with him in anticipation of using it against one of the great Ulster Red Branch Warriors themselves and he and his followers then became involved in a cattle raid there and 65.Conor mac Nessa and his Red Branch Warriors came out to clash with them in battle just as both were to receive further reinforcements, with the River Brosna flowing in between them, while the women in the Connacht Province watched on from the west bank cleaning and sharpening the weapons of the Connacht warriors in preparation. It had been the Celtic custom that an Irish King, who had married the Earth, to outwardly display himself to those women who were looking on if they requested it and this they did, and 64.Conor mac Nessa could not refuse as he was the King of Ulster and to do this he walked towards them in his cloak, while fearing nothing on his side of the river, while the women of Connacht assembled on their side of the river, In the meantime Cet Margach had hid in the bushes near the women of Connacht with the tathlum stone ready and waiting, and this meant that 64.Connor mac Nessa himself was now also directly opposite to him, so Cet Magagh leapt out with Mesgedra's brain - ball and let it fly and it struck 64.Conor mac Nessa on the temple imbedding itself firmy in his skull and completely flattening him, and his Ulster followers rushed over and picked him up and immedeiately fled the scene, The men of Connacht then crossed over the river and attacked the fleeing Ulstermen, slaying many of them, as what is now known as Cath Ath Nuachat / The Battle of the Ford of the Slingshot , and when the fleeing Ulstermen reached Emain Macha, Fingen their Chief Physician discovered that the brain - ball was half buried in 64.Conor mac Nessa's skull, and although it was not fatal as yet, he was scared to remove it as it seemed that it would be better to leave it were it was, or it could be fatal.

     Athairne who had been the main poet in Ulster Province along with his sons had by now completely run away with their own importance, and they had gone too far when they propositioned and harassed 64.Conor mac Nessa's young, Queen Luaine, who became so upset over their physical abuse of her that she too died of distress and grief within a day, and because of this 64.Conor mac Nessa had his Red Branch Warriors kill the whole family of Athairne and destroy their fort.

8 BC - 9AD. *78.Criffan / Crimthann Niadh - Nar was to be the Celtic Gaelic Milesian Heremonian Ui Cobhthaigh 100th King of Tara / Erinn, who was the son of *77.Lewy Sriabh - n Dearg the previous 98th King of Tara / Erinnand after such a short time as the ruler of Erinn he was to die of complications from a fall from his horse. Previously he and *Conaire Mor 1st the previous 97th King of Tara / Erinn had carried out expeditions to Albion / Briton and Gaul (France and part of Spain) and had assisted the Celtic Scythian Gaelic Picts and Britons against the invading Romans. *78.Criffan Niadh - Nar had also brought back from Briton a highly ornamented, gilded war chariot, gold - hilted swords, a table studded with 300 brilliant gems and a pair of greyhounds coupled together with a splendid silver chain worth 100 cumal. (1 cumal = a maidservant), or 300 cows.

 

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