Sreng- Celtic HeroHero"Champion of the Fir Bolg"
Also known as: Sreng mac Sengainn
Description
Heavy broad-bladed spears in hand, the Fir Bolg champion strode out to meet the Tuatha Dé Danann's envoy on the plain before Moytura, and when words gave way to war, his single stroke sheared the arm from King Nuada at the shoulder, a blow whose consequences outlasted the battle itself.
Mythology & Lore
The Embassy Before Battle
When the Tuatha Dé Danann arrived in Ireland and demanded half the island from the Fir Bolg, both peoples sent champions to parley before committing to war. The Fir Bolg chose Sreng, their mightiest warrior, while the Tuatha Dé Danann sent Bres. The two met on the plain that would become the battlefield, and their encounter centered on a comparison of weapons. Sreng carried the heavy, broad-bladed spears characteristic of the Fir Bolg, thick and blunt-pointed, made for crushing force. Bres bore the lighter, sharper, finely-pointed spears of his people. Each warrior examined the other's arms, and Bres proposed that the two peoples divide Ireland between them rather than fight.
Sreng carried this offer back to the Fir Bolg king Eochaid mac Eirc, but the Fir Bolg rejected it. They had held Ireland and would not yield half to newcomers. The embassy failed, and both sides prepared for battle on the plain of Mag Tuired in what would become the First Battle of Moytura.
The Blow at Moytura
The battle raged for four days. On the final day Sreng faced Nuada, king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, in single combat. With a mighty stroke of his sword, Sreng sheared through Nuada's shield and severed his arm at the shoulder. The wound was catastrophic not only for Nuada's body but for his kingship, for the Tuatha Dé Danann held that no blemished man could rule. Though his people won the battle, Nuada lost his throne, opening the way for Bres the half-Fomorian to take the kingship, a disastrous reign that would ultimately provoke the Second Battle of Moytura.
The Fir Bolg lost the battle but were not destroyed. In the aftermath, the Tuatha Dé Danann offered the defeated people their choice of one province of Ireland. Led by Sreng, the surviving Fir Bolg chose Connacht, where they settled. Sreng thus served his people both as their greatest warrior in defeat and as the leader who secured their survival, guiding them to a homeland within the land they could no longer rule in full.
Relationships
- Enemy of