Aed mac Conchbair Mac Aodhagáin (1330–1359) was an Irish

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...

Mac Aodhagáin Mac Aodhagáin ( English: ''Egan'' or ''Keegan''), is an Irish Gaelic clan of Brehons who were hereditary lawyers - firstly to the Ó Conchobhair Kings of Connacht, and later to the Burkes of Clanricarde. The earliest surviving Irish law ma ...

was a member of a bardic family who originated from Park, in north

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

. He was a

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

and based in Dún Daighre, (Duniry),

, and was an

ollamh An or ollamh (; anglicised as ollave or ollav), plural ollomain, in early Irish literature, was a master in a particular trade or skill. Bard Generally, ''ollam'' referred to a professional poet or bard of literature and history, and a membe ...

in law for the

Clanricarde Clanricarde ( ), also known as Mac William Uachtar (Upper Mac William) or the Galway Burkes, were a fully Gaelicised branch of the Hiberno-Norman House of Burgh who were important landowners in Ireland from the 13th to the 20th centuries. Terr ...

. His genealogy was Aed mac Conchbair mac Gilla na Naem mic Duinn Sleibhe Mac Aodhagáin . He is notable for, along with

John Clyn John Clyn, O.F.M. (), of the Friars Minor, Kilkenny, was a 14th-century Irish friar and chronicler who lived at the time of the Black Death. Background Clyn was probably born in Leinster some years prior to 1300, possibly at Baile a Clinn ...

(

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1332–1349), one of the few Irish chroniclers to leave a personal note of the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

. A marginal note in the book states:

''"One thousand three hundred and fifty years from the birth of
Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...
to this night and this is the second year since the coming of the plague to
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. I have written this in the twentieth year of my age. I am Aed mac Conchbair Mac Aodhagáin and whoever reads it let him offer a prayer for my soul. This is
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
night. On this night I place myself under the protection of the king of
Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
and
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
, beseeching that he will bring me and my friends safe through this plague and restore us once more to joy and gladness. Aed mac Conchbair Mac Aodhagáin who wrote this in the year of the great plague."''

Beneath the above note is a second, dated a year later, Christmas night 1351:

''"It is just a year tonight since I wroter the lines on the margin below and if it be God's will, may I reach the anniversary of this night many times, amen."''

He is believed to have attended the great poetic festival held in 1351:

''"at Christmas by William, the son of Donough Muimhneach O'Kelly, to the learned of Ireland, travellers, the poor and the indigent, and they were all served to their satisfaction, both good and bad, noble and ignoble, so that they were all thankful to him and his son, Melaghlin."''

Aed died in 1359, and was noted as ''"the best of the

Brehon Brehon (, ) is a term for a historical arbitration, mediative, and judicial role in Gaelic culture. Brehons were part of the system of Early Irish law, which was also simply called " Brehon law". Brehons were judges, close in importance to the ...

s of Ireland."''

External links

* http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100005C/

References

* ''The Book of Uí Maine'', otherwise called 'The book of the O'Kellys', R.A.S. Mac Alister (ed.), Dublin, 1942. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Aodhagain, Aed Mac Conchbair People from County Galway 1330 births 1359 deaths 14th-century Irish writers 14th-century Irish poets Irish male poets Irish-language writers

See also

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References