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Persona Story Edain was born on the Eve of St. Aidan’s Day (Jan 30), 1347 at Tullymongan Castle outside the town of Cavan, in Breifne.  Her father was Cuconnaught Ua Raghailligh, one of the minor Lord-Kings of Ireland, and her mother was Dearbhail ingen Donnell, a maidservant to Cuconnaught’s wife.  Edain was baptized on St. Aidan’s Day by her father and legally recognized.  Edain’s mother died a week after her birth, and she was given to Cuconnaught’s sister (recently delivered of a stillborn child) to nurse.   When she was six, Edain’s father thought to use her as a way of making a political overture to the Lord of the Isles, Iain (John) MacDonald.  Edain’s maternal grandfather was a Scottish gallowglass and MacDonald; after the death of his Irish wife he had returned to western Scotland and eventually took room a room with his niece and her husband.  Edain’s father made arrangements with him--and by extension, Lord John--to have her fostered to him.  Edain, her aunt (who had been widowed during this time and had taken vows as a lay sister), and a maidservant traveled with Cuconnaught’s brother, Philip, to Scotland, along with their first year’s living allowance (not a small sum, and immediately noticed by the somewhat poorer relations—and Lord John).   A year after her arrival, Edain’s grandfather died from a consumption of the lungs.  Lord John “magnanimously” offered to serve as her foster father, while allowing her to continue to live with her MacDonald cousins.  Edain’s father was quite agreeable, as this really had been his hope all along.  He was quite interested in striking up a relationship with the Scottish MacDonalds, who were excellent mercenaries, and their Irish kin, the Donnells, who controlled large parts of Ireland not far north of his position.    Edain’s aunt served as her tutor, as it was not uncommon in Ireland for women to be taught to read and write.  She learned Gaelic, her native language (and still the native language of that part of Scotland), and enough Latin to understand her the daily prayers.  She also learned some basic math, as noble women were often expected to maintain household books, or at least be able to understand them enough to review them and make sure they weren’t being cheated by a greedy overseer.  Her family were all deeply religious and she grew up very devout in her faith.  She returned home several times during her fosterage and often sent letters home to her father, whom she deeply loved, and who always returned the same to her (even if they were more brief than her own).    When she was 13, her father indicated to Lord John that he was interested in seeing her married well, and did he, as her foster father, have any suggestions?  (Hint, hint.)  Lord John responded that his eldest son--likewise illegitimate, but recognized--was unmarried.  He had been created a knight and had gained some modest lands and wealth for himself fighting for the English in France.  In fact, he was currently abroad, fighting with the Teutonic Knights in a crusade against pagans in Eastern Europe.    After a couple of years of hashing out the details, wrangling over the dowry and dower, and a few letters to Sir Stuart letting him know he was to be married and what he was to get out of it, Edain was married, at the age of 15 (year 1362), to Sir Stuart by proxy in the home of Lord John.  As soon as the weather was fair, Lord John put her on one of his numerous ships, bound for trade in France.  She took with her her aunt and new maidservant (her old one had married a Scottish man and preferred to stay behind); Lord John also provided her with a priest who had been attached to his household for many years and who was both deeply loyal to Lord John and somewhat educated.  Out of the entire party, he was the only one who could actually speak some French (which he began teaching Edain on the voyage there).  Also accompanying them was boy of 10 years--a distant relation to Lord John--to be a page and fosterling in Sir Stuart’s household.    They made their way down the coast of Scotland and Wales, always staying safely within sight of land, then rounded Cornwall and came into port in Dover to take on provisions and wait for fair weather to cross the Channel.  Edain was so terrified of the English people that she would not leave the ship, even though it was docked there for several days.  They had good weather to cross the Channel and landed in English-occupied France the next day.  They then took an overland route to Sir Stuart’s manor house on his French lands in the Bordeaux region.    Edain busied herself setting up her new household, under the watchful eye of both her aunt and the priest.  She struggled to learn French, which was all anyone outside the household spoke, including the resident English lords.  She sent timid, but girlishly romantic letters to her husband--whom she had still not met--and frequent letters to her father, discussing the minutiae of her new life as a wife in charge of foreign estates.  Her father responded briefly, but with good advice and words of encouragement.    The great alliance between the Raghaillighs and MacDonalds, however, was not to come about.  A few months after Edain was married and had left for France, her father, feeling his advancing years, retired, turning his kingship over to his brother, Philip.  Cuconnaught, ever devout, entered the monastery at Lough Oughter, which his own father had founded, to quietly contemplate his remaining years.  He enjoyed the rule so much, he took full vows two years later.  He died two years after that, in 1366, at an advanced age.    Philip, meanwhile, made many enemies within the clan and an internal civil war broke out.  He was deposed, imprisoned, then released when his faction won and reinstated as king.  He then lead the Raghaillighs into multiple wars with other nearby clans.  John of the Isles was able to gain nothing from them after Cuconnaught stepped down; turned towards their own internal problems, they did not care to further the political alliances that John and Cuconnaught had laid the groundwork for through Edain and Stuart’s marriage.    Meanwhile, in France, Sir Stuart had come home and was found to be a good husband.  Edain soon after began her lifelong struggle against the sin of vanity, as she was ever-so-fond of the beautiful French cotehardies that her husband would bring back for her as spoils of war.  And her priest eventually gave up trying to cajole her into wearing more modest head coverings; she loved the bejeweled cauls that were so fashionable at the time, as well as putting her long hair in elaborate braids, which were not fully covered by thin silk veils.  She also cleverly remade looted fabrics and embroideries for her husband, who likewise grew rather fond of high fashion.  And when he had returned from Eastern Europe, he had brought his new wife back a small piece of embroidery made with tiny glass beads, which was rather popular in Bohemia and points further east, and which delighted her to no end.  When he was able to get beads of any kind for her, she sewed them onto their clothing and into embroideries that she made for their private chapel.    They now make their home in Warwickshire, England, having lost their Bordeaux lands when the French massed a re-conquest of that area of France.  Having grown up a bit and seen more of the world, Edain is not quite as distrustful as the English as she used to be.  But, other than that, life goes on much as it did before--albeit it with less French silk and less good French wine.

 

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Lady Edain ingen Raghailligh ben MacDonald

SCA Resume Current Shire Office(s): Webminister Deputy Chatelaine Past Shire Office(s): A&S Officer, Shire of Delvingrim 2005 Service and Leadership Kingdom-Level Awards Award of Arms, Spring Coronation 2010 Shire-Level Awards and Misc. Awards Shire A&S Champion, Loch Cairn, 2010 A&S Champion, Meridian Not-So-Grand 2008