#tecosca cormaic

[forfeda-project]

"O grandson of Conn, O Cormac," said Carbre, "what were your habits when you were a lad?" "Not hard to tell," said Cormac. "I was a listener in woods, I was a gazer at stars, I was blind where secrets were concerned, I was silent in a wilderness…

~ Tecosca Cormaic

Tecosca Cormaic, or the Instructions of Cormac Mac Airt, is an Old Irish wisdom text where the legendary high king Cormac provides judgements and advice to his son Carbre on how to be a good man and a wise king. Upon being asked about his conduct as a young man, Cormac recounts, among other things, time spent in the woods and wilds of Ireland, saying "it is through these habits that the young become old and kingly warriors."

This piece is built around my favorite line from the Tecosca, and features far more knotwork than I ever want to draw again (but probaly will). Wanted to illustrate this quote for a while, so I'm very pleased with how it's turned out.

[medievalisttattoos]

Margie Housley (@margiehousley)

This was my third tattoo, but one that has all sorts of medieval love associated with it. The first time I heard this passage read aloud, it was by the esteemed Fergus Kelly, and my friend Jason leaned over to me and whispered “you need to get that as a tattoo!“—which had been my exact thought. This is a small section of the early Irish Tecosca Cormaic [The Instructions of King Cormaic Mac Airt], in which the king gives advice and information to his son on a variety of matters. The translation of this passage, courtesy of Kuno Meyer:

They should be dreaded like fire They should be feared like wild beasts They are waves that drown you They are fire that burns you They are two-edged weapons that cut you

“They,” in this case, are “women,” from a list of 160-some-odd “faults” of women. Of course, these are the sorts of attributes I aspire to in my life. As a feminist scholar who works on early medieval literature, I am often stuck doing a balancing act between modern (re)readings and interpretations of “original” readings, and this text is a perfect example of the wonderful tensions that I find in that space.

(I tweet about academia, medieval studies, mental health, feminism, and food @margiehousley.)