Labraid Loingsech (), also known as Labraid Lorc, son of Ailill Áine, son of Lóegaire Lorc, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. He was an ancestor of the Laigin, who gave their name to the province of Leinster. An early dynastic poem calls him "a god among the gods", suggesting he may once have been an ancestor-deity of the Laigin.
Childhood
According to tradition, his grandfather, Lóegaire Lorc, had been High King, but was treacherously killed by his brother Cobthach Cóel Breg. Cobthach also paid someone to poison Lóegaire's son, Ailill Áine, who had taken the kingship of Leinster, and forced Ailill's young son to eat a portion of his father and grandfather's hearts, and to swallow a mouse. Struck dumb by the trauma, the boy became known as Móen Ollom, "the mute scholar". Later, he was hit on the shin during a game of hurling, and cried out "I am hurt!" From then on he was called Labraid, "he speaks".
Exile and return
According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, Labraid was exiled overseas, and after thirty years made peace with Cobthach and was given the province of Leinster. Various versions of the story of Labraid's exile are told. In one, a prose tale in the Book of Leinster, Cobthach held an assembly in Tara, and asked who the most generous man in Ireland is. His poet, Ferchertne, and harper, Craiftine, immediately answered "Labraid", so Cobthach exiled the three of them from his court. They took refuge with Scoriath, king of the Fir Morca in Munster. Scoriath had a daughter, Moriath, who fell in love with Labraid, but her mother always slept with one eye open to keep an eye on her. Craiftine played a slumber-strain on his harp to put her completely to sleep, and Labraid spent the night with Moriath. When her mother woke up, she realised what has happened, Labraid confessed and the pair are married. With the help of Scoriath's army and Craiftine's harp, Labraid invades Leinster, and made peace with Cobthach. The afflicted king sent word to St Brigid, who came to him and told him to sit in a chair and place his head in her lap. When she rubbed his ears, they immediately became short again. Although the Leinster king is not named, the details of the story share common themes with the story of Labraid Lorc.
The Czech poem Král Lávra (King Lavra) by Karel Havlíček Borovský is inspired by this legend.
Reign
He ruled for ten, nineteen or thirty years, depending on the source consulted, and took vengeance on Cobthach's children, before being killed by Cobthach's son Meilge Molbthach. The Lebor Gabála dates Cobthach's death and Labraid's accession to Christmas Eve, 307 BC, and also synchronises his reign to that of Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–222 BC). The chronology of Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 379–369 BC, the Annals of the Four Masters to 542–523 BC.
See also
- Midas