The Kings Cycle is a category of literature in the Irish language which is comprised of a wide range of works in both prose and poetry which share a focus on the exploits of the historical and mythical kings of Ireland. The works (approximately 140 in number) vary in date; works in this cycle were written in Old, Middle, and Early Modern Irish, and their stories are set at various points between the fifth and the eleventh century
CE
. The narratives focus primarily on prominent rather than lesser kings, and there are numerous dynastic story‐cycles within the wider Kings Cycle grouping. The works frequently display a mix of myth and history, and historical and unhistorical figures appear alongside each other. The composite nature of this cycle presents various types of story, including: origin‐legends, pseudo‐historical works, legal narratives, and adventure stories.
The
Song of Dermot and the Earl
is a Hiberno‐French
chanson de geste
which was composed in Ireland and survives only in a later thirteenth‐century medieval copy, London, Lambeth Palace Library, Carew MS 596. The
Song
is a key historical source for the history of Ireland in the twelfth century, and presents a heroic narrative recounting the story of the 1169 English invasion of Ireland at the behest of the Irish lord, Diarmait MacMurchada, in an attempt to regain his lost kingdom of Leinster and seeks to justify the invasion and conquest of Ireland from the English perspective.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.