Eochaidh Ó hÉoghusa, or O'Hussey in English, (1567–1617) was a well-known Irish
bardic
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 an ...
poet.
Life
A native of
Ulster
Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
, born probably in (Ballyhoo/Ballyhose), in what is now
County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland.
The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...
,
Ó hÉoghusa was employed for much of his life by the Mág Uidhir (
Maguire
The Maguire ( ) family is an Irish clans, Irish clan based in County Fermanagh. The name derives from the Goidelic languages, Gaelic , which is "son of Odhar" meaning 'Wikt:sallow, sallow' or 'pale-faced'.
According to legend, this relates to the ...
) chiefs of
Fermanagh
Historically, Fermanagh (), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of alleged Laigin or ...
.
He received land during the Plantation of Ulster in 1610.
Among his most well-known works are several poems included in the
Leabhar Branach, a literary compendium of mostly Gaelic poets of
Leinster
Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland.
The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...
,
dedicated to the
O'Byrne chiefs of
Wicklow
Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had ...
who "by their success in maintaining the independence and integrity of their mountainous territory against great odds until the final collapse, they were in a position to attract poets of repute from distant parts of Ireland."
Not only did he compose praises for the Maguires, but wrote a poem in 1603 ('Mór theasda dh'obair Óivid..') celebrating the enthronement of
James VI in Scotland,
and in his obituary, the poet was lauded as a man "esteemed by the Gael and the Foreigner".
Selected works
Some of his compositions include:
*
*
*
*
*
*
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See also
*
Filí
The fili (or ''filè'') (), plural filid, filidh (or filès), was a member of an elite class of poets in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland, and later Scotland in the Middle Ages, Scotland, up until the English Renaissance, Renaissance. The filid were b ...
, the elite bardic poet class of
Gaelic Ireland
Gaelic Ireland () was the Gaelic political and social order, and associated culture, that existed in Ireland from the late Prehistory of Ireland, prehistoric era until the 17th century. It comprised the whole island before Anglo-Norman invasi ...
*
Aodh Mág Uidhir, Lord of Fermanagh, and a patron of Ó hÉoghusa
References
Further reading
* ''Filíocht Ghrá na Gaeilge/Love Poems in Irish'' (eag/ed.) Ciarán Mac Murchaidh, 2008;
* ''
An Leabhar Mòr/The Great Book of Gaelic'', ed.
Theo Dorgan and Malcolm Maclean, 2008.
External links
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts*
{{DEFAULTSORT:O Heoghusa, Eochaidh
1567 births
1617 deaths
16th-century Irish-language poets
17th-century Irish-language poets
People of Elizabethan Ireland
Writers from County Fermanagh