The Ollamh Érenn () or Chief Ollam of Ireland was a professional title 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 ...
.
Background
An (literally 'most great') was a poet or
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 ...
of literature and history. Each chief or had its own . The head ollam of a province such as
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 ...
would have been the head of all the ollams in that province, and would have been a social equal of the provincial king.
Overall the provincial ollams was the (, , ) who held the official post of Chief-Ollamh of Ireland or "".
Generally within a
Gaelic region or Kingdom, one particular (the most powerful one), would provide an and
Overking (Ruiri) for the entire region. An example is in , overall power was hotly contested and at times swapped between the ruling territory rival dynasties or
Sept of the and .
The Poetic Courts
According to
Daniel Corkery, in 18th century
Munster
Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...
, a custom similar to the
Welsh Eisteddfod continued long after the destruction of the
Irish clan system. In what was also both
mimicry
In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. In the simples ...
and satire of the English-dominated legal and court system, the Ollamh Érenn of a district would preside over sessions of a ''Cúirt'', or Poetic Court. A Munster ''Cúirt'' would begin with "
bailiff
A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary.
Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...
s" delivering often humorously worded "
warrants" which summoned local
Irish-language poets to a Bardic competition with the Ollamh acting as the "judge". In many cases, two
Irish-language poets at the ''Cúirt'' would engage in
Flyting; a mixture of
debate poetry and the improvised trading of insults in verse. Also according to Corkery, much of the serious, improvised, and
comic poetry in the
Irish-language composed for sessions of the Munster Poetic Courts was written down by the Court "Recorders" and still survives. At the beginning of his term, the Chief Poet of a district, similarly to an Irish clan chief, would receive a
Staff of Office
A staff of office is a staff, the carrying of which often denotes an official's position, a social rank or a degree of social prestige.
Apart from the #Eccleasiastical use, ecclesiastical and #Ceremonial, ceremonial usages mentioned below, ther ...
(), which would later be handed down to his successor. This tradition continued at least until 1792.
[Daniel Corkery (1926), ''The Hidden Ireland: A Study of Gaelic Munster in the Eighteenth Century'', page 270.]
Social status
The social status of the Ard-Ollamh was equal to the
High King of Ireland
High King of Ireland ( ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and was later sometimes assigned anachronously or to leg ...
. He had his own palace and a large retinue of about thirty ollamhs together with their servants. The sumptuary laws allowed him to wear six colours in his clothes, the same as the king. The ollamh had a gold bell-branch held above him, the anruth had a silver bell-branch and the other poets had a bronze bell-branch. The post was partly hereditary, as Uraicecht na Ríar ("The Primer of the Stipulations", ed. Liam Breatnach, DIAS 1987) states that a poet can only attain ollamh-rank if he stems from a family of poets (that is, if his father and grandfather had been poets). Originally the Ollamh was appointed by the king but by the 6th century AD, it had become an elected post which was voted for by the other ollamhs.
In Gaelic-Irish literature
An old Irish tale "
Immacallam in dá Thuarad" ("The Colloquy of the Two Sages")
gives an idea of the type of lofty speech of the chief ollamh.
Another old tale called "
Tromdámh Guaire" ("The Heavy Company of Guaire")
or "Imtheacht na Tromdhaimhe" ("The Proceedings of the Great Bardic Institution")
gives a vivid description of the Chief Ollam with his entourage visiting the
Irish clan chiefs.
In
Lebor Gabala Erenn, an Ollamh is mentioned, named . It relates ''", fierce in
valour, Marked out the Scholar's Rampart, The first mighty king with grace, Who convened the
Festival of Tara. Fifty years, it was tuneful fame, was he in the
High Kingship over Ireland so that from him, with lucky freedom, received its name. He died a natural death within its capital."''
Duties and fees
The Irish chiefs and kings were supposed to give food and gifts to these wandering bands of ollamhs which proved a great burden to them. If they refused they were satirised. The Synod or
Convention of Drumceat in 584 AD was called to pass new laws to keep control of the ollams.
Geoffrey Keating's History of Ireland states that St
Columba
Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...
or Columcille interceded on their behalf as follows:
''"'I do not wish to keep the ,' said the king, 'so unjust are their demands and so numerous are they. For there are usually thirty in the train of an , and fifteen in that of an , and so on for the other grades of the down to the lowest.' Each of them used to have a separate train of attendants according to his degree, so that nearly the third of the men of Ireland followed the bardic profession. Columcille said to the king that it was right to set aside many of the filés, as they were so numerous. But he advised him to maintain a as his own chief ollamh after the example of the kings who went before him, and that each provincial king should have an ollamh, and, moreover, that each lord of a cantred or district in Ireland should have an ollamh, and Columcille proposed this plan and Aodh assented to it; From this regulation, which was made by
Aodh, son of Ainmire, and Columcille, it followed that the king of Ireland and every provincial king and every lord of a cantred had a special ollamh, and that each of these ollamhs had free land from his own lord, and, moreover, the lands and worldly possessions of each of these ollamhs enjoyed general exemption and sanctuary from the men of Ireland. It was also ordained that a common estate should be set apart for the s where they could give public instruction after the manner of a University, such as and , in , where they gave free instruction in the sciences to the men of Ireland, as many as desired to become learned in and in the other sciences that were in vogue in Ireland at that time. The of Ireland at that time was Eochaidh Eigeas, son of Oilill, son of Earc, and it was he who was called
Dallán Forgaill, and he sent out s and set them over the provinces of Ireland, namely, Aodh Eigeas over the district of Breagh and over Meath, Urmhaol chief eigeas over the two provinces of Munster, Sanchan, son of Cuairfheartach, over the province of Connaught, and Fear Firb, son of Muireadhach, son of Mongan, in the ollamhship of Ulster; and, moreover, an ollamh in every cantred in Ireland under these high ollamhs, and they were to have free land from their territorial chiefs, as well as sanctuary, as we have said; and each of them was to get certain rewards for their poems and compositions."''
List of Chief Ollamhs
Prehistoric era
*
Amergin Glúingel
*
Lugh
Lugh or Lug (; ) is a figure in Irish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a group of supernatural beings, Lugh is portrayed as a warrior, a king, a master craftsman and a saviour.Olmsted, Garrett. ''The Gods of the Celts and the I ...
Lámhfhada
*
Adna mac Uthidir, c. 1st century A.D.
Early Medieval poets
*
Torna Éices
Torna, nicknamed Éices or Éces ("the poet, sage"), was a legendary Irish poet of the 5th century, noted as "the last great bard of Pagan Ireland." He is not to be confused with Torna Éigeas, the 17th-century bard who figures in the ''Contention ...
, fl. c. 400
*
Dubhthach moccu Lughair, c. 432
*
Dallán Forgaill, Chief Ollamh from c.590 to c.640
*
Senchán Torpéist, Chief Ollamh from c.640 to c.649
*
Máel Muire Othain, died 887
*
Flann mac Lonáin, 896
*
Torpaid mac Taicthech, died 913
*
Óengus mac Óengusa, died 930
*
Bard Boinne, died 931
*
Uallach ingen Muinecháin, died 934
*
Cormacan Eigeas, died 946
*
Cinaedh Ua hArtagain, died 975
*
Eochaidh Ua Floinn, died 984
*
Urard Mac Coise, died 990
High Medieval era
*
Clothna mac Aenghusa, died 1008
*
Muircheartach mac Cu Ceartach Mac Liag, died 1015
*
Cúán úa Lothcháin, died 1024
*
Cú Mara mac Mac Liac, died 1030
*
Mac Beathaidh mac Ainmire, died 1041
*
Ceaunfaeladh ua Cuill, died 1048
*
Flaithem Mac Mael Gaimrid, died 1058
*
Cellach húa Rúanada, died 1079
*
Mael Isa ua Máilgiric, died 1088
*
Cú Collchaille Ua Baígilláin, died
1119
*
Cú Connacht Ua Dálaigh, died
1139
*
Gillamaire Ua Conallta, died
1166
*
Tadhg Ua Dálaigh, died
1181
*
Máel Íosa Ua Dálaigh, died
1185
Late Medieval poets
*
Giolla Ernain Ó Martain, died 1218
*
Gofraidh Fionn Ó Dálaigh, died 1387
*
Cearbhall mac Lochlainn Ó Dálaigh, died 1405
*
Sean mac Fergail Óicc Ó hUiccinn, died 1490
*Paidin Ó Maol Chonaire, died 1506
*Seán mac Torna Ó Maol Chonaire, fl. mid-16th century.
References
External links
Saint Dallán Forgaill (c.560 -c.640), alias Eochaid Éices
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ollamh Erenn
Irish poetry
Medieval history of Ireland
Irish literature
Irish-language literature