Curadmír

The Curadmír, modern Curadhmhír (Champion's Portion)[1] was an ancient custom referred to in early Irish literature, whereby the warrior acknowledged as the bravest present at a feast was given precedence and awarded the choicest cut of meat.

Before it starts he visits three heroes, Cúchulainn, Conall Cernach and Lóegaire Búadach, privately, and advises each of them to claim the Champion's Portion, which at this feast includes not only a roast boar but also a cauldron of wine and a hundred cakes of wheat baked in honey.

To avoid violence the Champion's Portion is shared out among the Ulstermen, and Ailill and Medb, king and queen of Connacht, and then Cú Roí of Munster, are asked to judge the dispute.

A series of tests of skill and courage are set, and after each of them Cúchulainn is judged to have won, but Conall and Lóegaire refuse to accept the judgement, and the Champion's Portion goes unawarded.

[3] Athenaeus, quoting the lost work of the 1st/2nd century BC Greek historian and geographer Posidonius, says that it was formerly the custom among the Celts for the hind quarter of pork to be claimed by the bravest man, and disputes over who this was would be settled by single combat to the death.