Medb married Ailill mac Máta because he alone met her three conditions — generous, fearless, and without jealousy. Their pillow-talk quarrel over which of them possessed the greater wealth launched the Táin Bó Cúailnge. Their daughter Finnabair was offered as prize to any champion willing to face Cú Chulainn.
Medb is the daughter of Eochu Feidlech, High King of Ireland, who gave her the province of Connacht to rule in her own right.
Fergus mac Róich became Queen Medb's lover during the Táin Bó Cúailnge, and she rewarded his exile from Ulster with her bed and the command of Connacht's armies — though she also used their liaison to manipulate him throughout the cattle raid.
Medb was once married to Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, but left him in fury and carried her hatred of him and his province through decades of war. The Táin Bó Cúailnge is as much her vengeance against Ulster as it is a cattle raid.
Medb launched the cattle raid of Cooley to seize the brown bull, and Cú Chulainn alone held the ford against her entire army, slaying her champions one by one until she was forced to retreat — a humiliation she never forgave, scheming until she at last contrived his death.
Medb spent years after the Táin plotting Cú Chulainn's death, gathering the children of warriors he had slain and training them in sorcery and combat until Lugaid mac Con Roí cast the spear that struck down the hero as he stood bound to a standing stone, too proud to fall even in death.
Medb rules Connacht from her fortress at Cruachan, a queen who holds sovereignty in her own right and demands that no husband ever be her superior in wealth, courage, or generosity.
Medb's pillow-talk quarrel with Ailill revealed that his white-horned bull Finnbhennach had no equal in her herds. She resolved to seize the Donn Cúailnge, the only bull in Ireland to match it, and raised the armies of four provinces to take him from Ulster by force.
Medb goaded Ferdia into fighting Cú Chulainn at the ford with mockery, promises of her daughter Finnabair's hand, and accusations of cowardice — shaming him until he could not refuse the combat that would cost him his life.
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