Cathbad

Cathbad (Old Irish pronunciation: [ˈkaθvað]) or Cathbhadh (modern spelling) is a druid name. Characters named Cathbad feature prominently in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology as well as in Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series of novels.

Cathbad is the chief druid in the court of King Conchobar mac Nessa, in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He also features in both accounts of Conchobar's birth, one of which details him as the King's father. In the first, Nessa, daughter of Eochaid Sálbuide, the then king of Ulster, asks the druid what it is an auspicious time for (as he had the ability to foretell the future). Cathbad replies, "for begetting a king on a queen". There were no other men around, so Nessa takes Cathbad to bed and conceives a son.

In the second version, Cathbad, who is a leader of a band of fianna (landless warriors) as well as a druid, attacks Nessa's foster-father's house, killing all 12 of them. Because the culprit cannot be identified, Eochaid is powerless to do anything about it, so Nessa forms her own band of 27 fianna to track him down. However, one day, when she goes off on her own to bathe, Cathbad comes upon her alone and unarmed, and demands her as his wife. She has no choice but to agree. However, in this version, Nessa's child is the son of Nessa's lover High King Fachtna Fáthach, as oppressed to Cathbad's. Regardless though, Nessa goes into labour, and Cathbad tells her if she can manage not to give birth until the following day, her son will be a great king and have everlasting fame. Nessa sits on a flagstone by the river Conchobar and the following morning gives birth. The baby falls into the river, but Cathbad lifts him out, names him Conchobar after the river, and brings him up as his own son.

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