Flann mac Lonáin (died 896) was an Irish poet.

Background and career

Flann mac Lonáin was a famed and at times controversial poet. He was the

Chief Ollam of Ireland Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

He seems to have been born in the east

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/west

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region. Distinguished both in his lifetime and after, his compositions were studied and used as exemplars in medieval metrical tracts.

Annalistic verse

The

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Deluge, dated as 2,24 ...

contains two verses of a

lament A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about somethin ...

he composed upon the death of ''Treasach, son of Becan, chief of Ui Bairche Maighe, hoas slain by Aedh, son of Ilguine'' in 884: ''Of him Flann, son of Lonan, said:'' * ''A heavy mist upon the province of Breasal/since they slew at the fortaliced Liphe/Heavy the groans of Assal/for grief at the loss of Treasach.'' * ''Wearied my mind, moist my countenance/since Treasach lies in death./The moan of Oenach Lifi all/and of Leinster to the sea, is the son of Becan.'' Upon the death of Ceallach mac Flannaghan, King of

Brega Brega , also known as ''Mersa Brega'' or ''Marsa al-Brega'' ( ar, مرسى البريقة , i.e. "Brega Seaport"), is a complex of several smaller towns, industry installations and education establishments situated in Libya on the Gulf of Sidra, ...

in 890, he composed the following: * ''Illustrious the careers/of the three sons of Flann/who coursed over Odhbha/Congalach of Colt/Ceallach of Cearna/and Cinaedh of Cnodhbha.'' * ''Though Ceallach slew/an outlaw, pity/he should fall in the battle's onset;/Alas!/his danger was certain;/ that he would not spend/the life of a historian.''

Death

He died violently at Waterford Harbour. The Annals of the Four Masters state that: M891.14 Flann mac Lonáin, Uirghil Shil Scota primh-fhileGaoidheal uile, file as deach baí i n-Erinn ina aimsir, do mharbhadhla macaibh Cuirbhuidhe, do Uibh Fothaith iat-sen, h-in-duinetaidhe h-ic Loch Dá Caochi n-Deisibh Mumhán. M891.14 Flann, son of Lonan, the Virgil of the race of Scota, chief poet of all the Gaeidhil, the best poet that was in Ireland in his time, was secretly murdered by the sons of Corrbuidhe (who were of the Ui Fothaith), at Loch Dachaech, in Deisi Mumhan. The

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, ...

state that: * 896 AD ''Flann son of Lónán grandson of Guaire, was slain by the Déisi of Mumu.'' while the

Annals of Innisfallen Annals ( la, annāles, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction between anna ...

notes; * ''The slaying of Flann son of Lonán, king of the poets of Ireland, by the Uí Fhothaid Tíre.'' while the

Chronicon Scotorum ''Chronicon Scotorum'', also known as ''Chronicum Scotorum'', is a medieval Irish chronicle. Overview According to Nollaig Ó Muraíle, it is "a collection of annals belonging to the ' Clonmacnoise group', covering the period from prehistoric tim ...

more fulsomely records that; *''Flann son of Lónán, the

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

of the Irish i.e. the chief poet of the Irish, was slain by the Uí Cuirrbuidh i.e. by the Uí Fothaid, at Loch dá Caoch in the

Déisi The ''Déisi'' were a socially powerful class of peoples from Ireland that settled in Wales and western England between the ancient and early medieval period. The various peoples listed under the heading ''déis'' shared the same status in Gaeli ...

of Mumu.'' In his posthumously-published work, ''The Irish Tradition'' (1946),

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 ...

wrote at some length of him and the legends surrounding his life. Flann is mentioned in the oldest surviving personal letter from Ireland, which dates from the mid 12th century and was addressed to

Áed Ua Crimthainn Áed Ua Crimthainn (''fl.'' 12th century), also called Áed mac Crimthainn, was abbot and coarb of Terryglass (), near Lough Derg in County Tipperary, Ireland. He was the principal scribe of the Book of Leinster ( mga, Lebar na Núachongbhála) ...

, compiler of the

Book of Leinster The Book of Leinster ( mga, Lebor Laignech , LL) is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled c. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18 (cat. 1339). It was formerly known as the ''Lebor na Nuachongbála'' "Book ...

, by Find,

Bishop of Kildare The Bishop of Kildare was an episcopal title which took its name after the town of Kildare in County Kildare, Ireland. The title is no longer in use by any of the main Christian churches having been united with other bishoprics. In the Roman Cat ...

, who wrote: "Let the poem book of Mac Lonáin be brought to me so that we may study the meanings of the poems that are in it, ''et vale in Christo''.O'Sullivan, William, 'Notes on the scripts and make-up of the Book of Leinster', in ''Celtica'' 7 (1966) pp. 1-31

Notes

References

* ''Oxford Concise Companion to Irish Literature,'' Robert Welsh, 1996. * * ''The Irish Tradition'',

, 1946. * (See also:‘Flann Mac Lonain in Repentant Mood’ and ‘Eulogy on Ecnechan son of Dálach Kingof Tír Conaill †906 by Fland mc Lonain ollam Connacht ‘Ard do scela a meic nacuach’ Ed. J. G. O’Keeffe, ''Ir. Texts'' 1 (1931) 22–24, 54–62., A Story of Flannmac Lonáin, transcribed by O. J. Bergin. ''Anecdota from Irish Manuscripts'', Vol.1, p. 45) http://www.ucc.ie/academic/smg/CDI/PDFs_textarchive/IrishTexts1.pdf http://www.ucc.ie/academic/smg/CDI/PDFs_textarchive/AnecdotaIpt2.pdf * Ubink, Jeanette,
Poems attributed to Flann mac Lonáin: including a critical edition of Maiccni Echach ard a nglé
''.

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

. 2015.

External links

* https://archive.org/stream/historyandantiq01fahegoog/historyandantiq01fahegoog_djvu.txt {{DEFAULTSORT:Flann mac Lonain 896 deaths Medieval Irish poets People from County Clare People from County Tipperary People from County Galway 9th-century Irish writers Year of birth unknown 9th-century Irish poets Irish male poets Irish-language writers