The Mythology
According to an ancient tale recorded in the annals of the Fenian Cycle of Early Irish Literature, Cruitne was the beautiful daughter of the chieftain Lochan the Smith who fell in love with the youthful warrior Fionn McCumhail, much to the disgust of her father who disapproved as the famous Fenian mercenary warrior Goll MacMorna wanted the head of Fionn on a plate for a great insult to him and his people.
They became lovers but never married as Finn was afraid that Cruitne would be killed in his place if they were man and wife. That’s his excuse anyway… 🙂
Cruitne was also regarded as the Progenitor of the Tuatha Cruitne, or the Cruthin, the Picts of Scotland and Antrim.
The name Pictii is Roman Latin and means ‘the Painted People’. The name alludes to the Pictish habit of using woad, soot and red or black berries to paint themselves and strike fear into their enemies as they ambush them in the dark forests of Caledonia/Alba =Scotland.
Many now believe these same Painted Warriors reputedly ambushed the entire Roman 9th Legion and destroyed it completely, as it vanishes from recorded history after it supposedly crossed Hadrian’s Wall.
This mythical goddess Cruitne had seven eponymous children who gave the ancient provinces of Scotland their names.
While the race takes its name from the feminine, the goddess, there is also a quasi-historical Pictish King with the name Cruitne who, it is believed reigned much later, somewhere around 450 BC.
The Cruthin
My late friend Ian Adamson, former Independent Unionist MP for the Shankill area claims in his wonderful and well researched book, ‘The Cruthin’, that this race is the original ‘Ancient Kindred/AitchenThatha’ of yore and that they are also entitled to claim their right to inhabit their own areas of Northern Ireland and speak their ancient language.
This effort was a crusade for Ian Adamson and he spent his life trying to give his own Unionist people their own creation myth and foster the use of Gaelic and Scots Gallic as their right.
I was honoured that Ian commissioned my artwork of the Ulidian/Ulster hero, CuChulainn, to grace the cover of his landmark work but of course there was controversy and attacks from all sides.
The Saga of the Bewley's Stain Glass Window
This is the only photo I have that shows the Cruitne stained glass window, as originally designed and made for a new three-story cafe in Dublin, Bewleys of Mary Street, in 1993.
The stain glass window was commissioned by Patrick Campbell, owner of Bewley’s and his wife, Veronica, who loved my work.
If I correctly remember this choice of the Goddess Cruitne was her idea, not my own. We worked easily together and I ran everything past her first as the concept developed and Veronica and Paddy were nothing but supportive and enthusiastic.
Veronica was very specific. She loved this particular work of mine, the painting of the goddess Cruitne, that had featured in my book ‘ERINSAGA’, and Veronica was quite taken by it.
Cruitne was a little known and obscure deity who gave her name to the Crutnic race, an Aithechenthuatha (ancient kindred) or Pictish tribe, that coexisted peacefully at that time with their Gaelic counterparts -and kinsmen at that time, in the north of the island of Ireland.
I was asked to adapt this work for a new venture by the Bewley’s restaurant chain which I loved for the sheer synchronicity of it with my then famous grandfather, cartoonist and publisher, Thomas Fitzpatrick, who had Bewley’s Cafe on Grafton Street as one of his advertising sponsors back in the 1890s and onwards.
I worked very closely with Alex Tomlin of Irish Stained Glass in Dublin to produce this beautiful new work, one that I am still immensely proud of to this day.
If you look at the first set of photos of my window you will notice the huge outer minimalist border on both sides and a larger area of Celtic motifs below the central image. All gone for good I guess, in the reconstructed Grafton Street window.
Thought Lost
When Bewley’s of Mary Street closed down this magnificent, two-story, stained glass window was disassembled and put in storage for about 15 years. To be honest I presumed it was dumped and destroyed when Bewley’s closed down their Mary Street branch so I was delighted to see it was still safe and ready to be restored for the refurbished Bewley’s Café on Grafton Street, all thanks to Paddy Campbell the owner.
Today it stands boldly and proudly in the refurbished Bewley’s of Grafton street, albeit a little reduced, with the entire exterior open area Celtic border removed and the base truncated to fit the much smaller space in the Grafton street branch.
It is far from the work I created but at least it still exists. I always presumed they just dumped but I underestimated the Campbells, both were well educated in the arts and Paddy himself is a superb and very underrated sculptor.
The Bewley's of Grafton Street Window
The Bewleys Cruitne window on Grafton Street, Dublin, as it appears today.
To be honest, if you had never set eyes on the first iteration of the much larger Cruitne window then this works just fine and looks very impressive. It may not be perfect for the artist in me but I love it and I’m damn proud of it.
Check it out when you’re in Dublin and around Grafton Street.
For The Record
There is also a side story for this window of Cruitne and I hope this letter from me to the editor of the Irish Times explains it.
The veracity of my mythological take on the goddess Crutine raised the hackles of a prominent critic for the Irish Times newspaper and he criticized my take on the subject and the veracity of my interpretation of the mythology.
This is my reply.
It should be taken with a grain of salt too 🙂
THE NEW PRESIDENT OF IRELAND ASKS AN AWKWARD QUESTION
Women’s rights campaigner, feminist and human rights lawyer, Mary Robinson, was and is, one of the greatest women of our time and of recent Irish history, so when she was elected President of Ireland by popular vote I was delighted. The president was in Bewley’s for the launch of my design and artwork for a Queen Medb Commemorative set for the Irish Central Bank.
The president, her advisor and her bodyguard were in deep discussion over at the window and I was called over by the advisor whose name I cannot remember and asked about the plaque beside the window explaining the image of the goddess.
‘The President was curious about the Gaelic inscription mentioned on the plaque?’
It read: (AT) AAT TOIMTIN IMMAR TONA ASAIL; CENN OC CACH CRUITIN(E)
I baulked… I remember feeling like a kid whose candy stash had just been discovered and I had to think fast.
“It is in an ancient form of Gaelic and not translatable, I’m afraid,’ I explained rather bashfully,’ but the name of Cruitne is easily discernible and readable’, I answered, knowing well he could read it anyway being a very scholarly type.
He looked at me intently through his glasses and said, in a kind of reprimanding manner,
‘Correct, but it is in an archaic form of ancient Irish and I’m curious where this standing stone and the inscription are. I do notice it, the inscription, is bordering on the obscene’.
Oooops, almost walked into it as I knew damn well what it said but I feigned ignorance and just waffled.
Now to come almost clean about this inscription I have to admit I deliberately wanted to create a veil of mystery around this new window so I mischievously used the most obscure and ancient version of old Irish for this one and I decided to keep quiet about its meaning as it could be viewed as slightly insulting, which is exactly what I intended anyway in response to the letter questioning the veracity of my usage of the name Cruitne and it’s meaning.
As for the meaning of the inscription I will leave that to a future genius to actually translate. Just don’t tell yer ma what it means ☺
My research was pretty spot on but you cannot please everyone, I suppose.
Cruitne is one of the magnificent metallic prints and the cover image of my new portfolio Ancient Ireland Land of Legend Portfolio Two.
