Cú Chonnacht Ó Cianáin, d. 1615, was a rymer or chronicler to Rory Maguire. He was apparently the first man racked in Ireland, the instrument being used most severely upon him during an interrogation into a bungled insurrection in early summer 1615. On 31 July of that year, he and five others were condemned to death in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

, and he is believed to have been hanged shortly afterwards. He is also described as a

yeoman Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of Serfdom, servants in an Peerage of England, English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in Kingdom of England, mid-1 ...

of Moygh, a place somewhere between

Ballymoney Ballymoney ( , meaning 'townland of the moor') is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated ...

and the Bann,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

. He was a brother of Tadhg Og Ó Cianáin. The

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

Ó Cianáin Ó Cianáin was the name of a Gaels, Gaelic-Irish people, Irish Brehon family. They were originally erenaghs of the parish of Cleenish, Lough Erne, but who had served for several centuries as historians to McGuire (disambiguation), Mag Uidir of Fer ...

is now generally rendered as Keenan.

Sources

* ''The Learned Family of Ó Cianáin/Keenan'',

Nollaig Ó Muraíle Nollaig Ó Muraíle is an Irish scholar. He published an edition of Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh's ''Leabhar na nGenealach'' in 2004. He was admitted to the Royal Irish Academy in 2009. Life and career A native of Knock, County Mayo, Ó Muraíle ...

, in Clougher Record, pp. 387–436, 2005. * ''Turas na dTaoiseach nUltach as Éirinn from Ráth Maoláin to Rome: Tadhg O Cianáin’s contemporary narrative of the so-called ‘Flight of the Earls, 1607-8'', Nollaig Ó Muraíle(editor), Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:O Cianain, Cu Chonnacht 1615 deaths 17th-century Irish writers 17th-century Irish male writers 16th-century Irish male writers 16th-century Irish historians People from County Antrim Year of birth unknown