Cú Chonnacht Ó Fialáin (fl. before 1480) was a Gaelic Irish poet.
Ó Fialáin was a member of a family associated with Boho, County Fermanagh (see Bhotha Mhuintir Uí Fhialáin). John Ó Fialáin is stated in the Annals of Ulster as being the professor in poetry for the sons of Phillip Mág Uidhir upon his death in 1483.
Cú Chonnacht is primarily known for his poem, Beith ré dán dlighidh ollam ("An ollam is entitled to practice his craft"), a petition to his patron, Tomás Óg Mág Uidhir, king of Fermanagh, who reigned 1430-1471 (dying in 1480). This poem was later included in the important Irish literary compilation of 1631, the Book of O'Conor Donn (Irish: Leabhar Uí Chonchubhair Dhoinn; 'donn' or 'dhoinn' to distinguish the brown O'Conor family from the O'Conor Roe, the 'red' clan), collected on the Continent, at Ostend.
References
- McManus, Damian (2016). "Cormac mac Airt in classical Irish poetry: Young in age but old in wisdom, and not entirely flawless - On the reception of Cormac's heroic biography in Irish classical poetry". In Boyd, Matthieu (ed.). Ollam: Studies in Gaelic and related traditions in honor of Tomás Ó Cathasaigh. Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 132. ISBN 9781611478358.
- O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). "Maguire (Mág Uidhir), Tomás Óg". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. doi:10.3318/dib.005375.v1. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
Further reading
- A Bardic Miscellany: Five Hundred Bardic poems from manuscripts in Irish and British libraries, edited by Damian McManus and Eoghan Ó Raghallaigh, Trinity Irish Studies, Dublin, 2010.
- Caball, Marc (2018). "Language, Print and Literature in Irish, 1550–1630 - Poets and Patrons". In Ohlmeyer, Jane (ed.). The Cambridge history of Ireland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 411–433. doi:10.1017/9781316338773.019. ISBN 9781316338773.