Cenn Fáelad mac Ailella (alias Cennfaeladh) (died 679) was an early medieval

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

scholar renowned for having his

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

markedly improve and possibly becoming

eidetic Eidetic memory ( ; more commonly called photographic memory or total recall) is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''pho ...

after suffering a head wound in battle.

Ancestry

He was a member of the

Cenél nEógain Cenél is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Cenél Conaill, the name of the "kindred" or descendants of Conall Gulban, son of Niall Noígiallach defined by oral and recorded history *Cenél nEógain (in English, Cenel Eogan) is ...

, being a grandson of King

Báetán mac Muirchertaig Báetán mac Muirchertaig (died 572), also Baetán Bríge, was an Irish king who is included in some lists as a High King of Ireland. He was the son of Muirchertach mac Muiredaig (died 534), also considered a high king. He was a member of the C ...

(King of Cenél nEógain), a great-great-great-great grandson of

Niall Noígiallach Niall ''Noígíallach'' (; Old Irish "having nine hostages"), or Niall of the Nine Hostages, was a legendary, semi-historical Irish king who was the ancestor of the Uí Néill dynasties that dominated Ireland from the 6th to the 10th centuries. ...

, and a first cousin once removed of

Aldfrith of Northumbria Aldfrith (Early Modern Irish: ''Flann Fína mac Ossu''; Latin: ''Aldfrid'', ''Aldfridus''; died 14 December 704 or 705) was king of Northumbria from 685 until his death. He is described by early writers such as Bede, Alcuin and Stephen of Ripon ...

via his first cousin, Fina. His father Ailill mac Báetán was murdered in

Templeport Templeport () is a civil parish in the barony of Tullyhaw, County Cavan, Ireland. The chief towns in the parish are Bawnboy and Ballymagauran. The large Roman Catholic parish of Templeport containing 42,172 statute acres was split up in the 18t ...

in modern-day

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is base ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, according to the Annals of Ulster: "U620.1. The slaying in

Magh Slécht Magh Slécht (sometimes Anglicised as Moyslaught) is the name of a historic plain in Ireland. It comprises an area of about three square miles (8 km2) situated in the south-eastern part of the Parish of Templeport, Barony (Ireland), Barony ...

in the territory of Connacht of the kindred of Báetán, i.e. of Ailill son of Báetán and of Mael Dúin son of Fergus son of Báetán; and the death of Fiachra son of Ciarán son of Ainmire son of Sétna." According to John Healy, Cenn Fáelad's sister Sabina was the mother of Saint

Cuthbert of Lindisfarne Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of ...

Cath Magh Rath

Cenn Fáelad fought at the crucial

Battle of Moira The Battle of Moira, also known as the Battle of Magh Rath, was fought in the summer of 637 by the High King of Ireland, Domnall mac Áedo, Domnall II, against his foster son Congal Cáech, King of Ulaid, supported by his ally Domnall Brecc, Kin ...

or Magh Rath (

Moira, County Down Moira () is a village and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is in the northwest of the county, near the borders with counties Antrim and Armagh. The M1 motorway and Belfast–Dublin railway line are nearby. The population was 4, ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

) in 636. During the battle he received a life-threatening head wound, and was afterwards carried to the abbey of

Tomregan Tomregan ( ga, Tuaim Dreagain, ) is a civil parish in the ancient barony of Tullyhaw. The parish straddles the international border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The largest population centre in the parish is Ballyconn ...

, County Cavan to be healed in the house of its abbot, Saint

Bricín Saint Bricín (c. 590–650; also known as Bricin, Briccine, DaBreccoc, Da-Breccocus) was an Irish abbot of Tuaim Dreccon in Breifne (modern Tomregan, County Cavan), a monastery that flourished in the 7th century. Túaim Dreccon The history ...

. That this abbey was situated beside

where his father had been slain 16 years earlier may not be a coincidence. His family possibly had land there. This house was situated "where the three streets meet between the houses of the three professors. And there were three schools in the place; a school of Latin learning, a school of Irish law and a school of Irish poetry. And everything that he would hear of the recitations of the three schools every day he would have by heart every night." This merging of Latin learning, native Irish law and vernacular poetry, ensured Cenn Fáelad's place in Irish legal tradition in his own time and beyond. He is quoted in the ''Bretha Nemed Toisech'' in the section dealing with the Church, thus demonstrating the compatibility of ecclesiastical learning with native learning.

The Scholar

Tradition states that as a result of a head wound, Cenn Fáelad's "brain of forgetting was knocked out of him." The effect of this trauma led him to create "a pattern of poetry to these matters and he wrote them on slates and tablets and set them in a

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...

book." The ''Suidigud Tellaig Temra'' recounts that because of his vast store of lore, when

Diarmait mac Cerbaill Diarmait mac Cerbaill (died ) was King of Tara or High King of Ireland. According to traditions, he was the last High King to follow the pagan rituals of inauguration, the ''ban-feis'' or marriage to goddess of the land. While many later stor ...

wished to establish the original boundaries of Tara, he had recourse to Cenn Fáelad. But even his knowledge did not go back that far in time, and he gathers all the wisest men of Ireland. When they, in turn, cannot provide an answer, he they consult

Fintan mac Bóchra In Irish mythology Fintan mac Bóchra (modern spelling: Fionntán), known as "the Wise", was a seer who accompanied Noah's granddaughter Cessair to Ireland before the deluge. Bóchra may be his mother, or may be a poetic reference to the sea. He ...

, one of the original settlers, miraculously still alive. His verses were all composed in

quatrains A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Greec ...

of numbered syllables with regular rhyme, and moderate use of alliteration, in contrast to a more archaic form that was still practised in the south of Ireland at the time (i.e.,

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

and

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

). Most or all of his historical verse relate to his own dynasty, the Cenél nEógain. He was the first poet quoted in the

Irish annals A number of Irish annals, of which the earliest was the Chronicle of Ireland, were compiled up to and shortly after the end of the 17th century. Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days. Over t ...

, being referred to as ''

sapiens Sapiens, a Latin word meaning "one who knows", may refer to: People * Berengarius Sapiens, a designation for Berengar the Wise, count of Toulouse (814-835) and duke of Septimania (832-835) * Cato the Elder (234 BC–149 BC), known by the cognomen ...

,'' a technical term denoting a head teacher or professor in a monastic school (though not necessarily a monk himself). Later manuscripts of legal and grammatical texts were attributed to him, though the earliest of them seem to date from about fifty years after his death.

Robin Flower Robin Ernest William Flower (16 October 1881 – 16 January 1946) was an English poet and scholar, a Celticist, Anglo-Saxonist and translator from the Irish language. He is commonly known in Ireland as "Bláithín" (Little Flower). Life He wa ...

stated "How far these are really his may be a matter of controversy, but there can be little real doubt that the writings by him existed in the period when the vernacular learning was being eagerly cultivated." A copy of one of the works attributed to him exists in

Trinity College, Dublin Ms 1317 Trinity College Dublin MS 1317 .2.15B'' is an autograph manuscript by Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (murdered 1671). The most succinct description of the manuscript is by Irish historian, William O'Sullivan: t is''"the most personal of Dubhaltach' ...

, written by the grandfather of

Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (), also known as Dubhaltach Óg mac Giolla Íosa Mór mac Dubhaltach Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh, Duald Mac Firbis, Dudly Ferbisie, and Dualdus Firbissius ( fl. 1643 – January 1671) was an Irish scribe, translator, histori ...

. Edward O'Reilly gives a full account of his works in his 'Irish Writers', LXIV sq.; d. anno 678.

Ancestry

Cath Magh Rath

The Scholar

References

Further reading