Heroes of the Gael: A History of Fionn and the Fianna

The evolution of the Fenian tradition of story and song, traced over 1,400 years

Stories about Fionn macCumhaill (also known as Finn McCool) and his roving warrior band, the Fianna, have engaged audiences for more than a millennium. Fionn and the Fianna—Gaeldom’s defenders during a legendary third-century golden age—are the heroes of the most prolific body of narrative in the Gaelic tradition, spanning 1,400 years of oral and written transmission, from the earliest extant records to the pres...