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 boat ...
He seems to have been born in the east
Clare/west
Tipperary 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'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...
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 something ...
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'' ( , i.e. "Brega Seaport"), is a complex of several smaller towns, industry installations and education establishments situated in Libya on the Gulf of Sidra, the most southerly point of ...
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'' () are annals of History of Ireland, 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 Luin� ...
state that:
* 896 AD ''Flann son of Lónán grandson of Guaire, was slain by the Déisi of Mumu.''
while the
Annals of Innisfallen
The ''Annals of Inisfallen'' () are a chronicle of the medieval history of Ireland.
Overview
There are more than 2,500 entries spanning the years between 433 and 1450. The manuscript is thought to have been compiled in 1092, as the chronic ...
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 ...
more fulsomely records that;
*''Flann son of Lónán, the
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
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 social class in Ireland between the ancient and early medieval period. The various peoples listed under the heading ''déis'' shared a similar status in Gaelic Ireland, and had little or no actual kinship, though they were ...
of
Mumu.''
In his posthumously-published work, ''The Irish Tradition'' (1946),
Robin Flower 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, compiler of the
Book of Leinster
The Book of Leinster ( , LL) is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled and now kept in Trinity College Dublin. It was formerly known as the ''Lebor na Nuachongbála'' ("Book of Nuachongbáil"), a monastic site known today as Oughaval.
In 2023 ...
, by Find,
Bishop of Kildare, 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'',
Robin Flower, 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; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of 39,769 students, a ...
. 2015.
External links
* https://archive.org/stream/historyandantiq01fahegoog/historyandantiq01fahegoog_djvu.txt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flann mac Lonain
896 deaths
Writers from County Clare
Writers from County Tipperary
Writers from County Galway
9th-century Irish writers
Year of birth unknown
9th-century Irish poets
Irish male poets
Irish-language writers