Texts

verse beg. Maiccni Echach ard a nglé

  • Middle Irish
  • verse
  • Early Irish poetry
Middle Irish poem (12 qq) attributed to Flann mac Lonáin on the struggle for dominance among Eochaid Mugmedón’s sons.
First words (verse)
  • Maiccni Echach ard a nglé
Author
Ascribed to: Flann mac Lonáin
Flann mac Lonáin
(d. 891 x 918)
early Irish poet; called ‘the Virgil of the Irish’ (Firgil Gáedel) and ‘King of the Poets of Ireland’ respectively.

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The attribution to Flann mac Lonáin occurs in the Book of Leinster copy. The version in Aided Chrimthainn is attributed simply to the senchaid ‘historian, scholar’.
Language
  • Middle Irish
Form
verse (primary)
Length
Number of stanzas: 12
Textual relationships
Related: Inis Dornglais ro gab CrimthannInis Dornglais ro gab Crimthann

A brief prose passage found in the Book of Leinster, which summarises events in the power struggles between Brían, Fíachra and Ailill, sons of Eochaid Mugmédon, including the poisoning of Crimthann mac Fidaig, king of Ireland, by his sister Mongfhind. The text highlights some of the place-names in that story. Because the manuscript page is worn at the right edge, the text is now partly illegible.

Classification

Early Irish poetryEarly Irish poetry
...

Early Irish poetryEarly Irish poetry
...

Subjects

Eochaid Mugmedón
Eochaid Mugmedón
(supp. fl. late 4th century)
legendary Irish king; important ancestor figure in Irish tradition as the father of Níall Noígíallach (a quo the Uí Néill), and of Ailill, Brión/Brían and Fíachra.

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Níall Noígíallach
Níall Noígíallach
(supp. fl. 4th/5th century)
high-king of Ireland in early and medieval Irish tradition

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Ailill mac Echach Muigmedóin
Ailill mac Echach Muigmedóin
(supp. fl. 4th/5th century)
In Irish tradition, a son of Eochaid Mugmedón and ancestor of the Uí Ailella, a branch of the Connachta.

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Fíachra mac Echach Muigmedóin
Fíachra mac Echach Muigmedóin
(supp. fl. 4th/5th century)
son of Eochaid Mugmedón and Mongfhind; father of Nath Í; ancestor figure of the Uí Fíachrach of Connacht.

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Brión mac Echach Muigmedóin
Brión mac Echach Muigmedóin
(supp. fl. 4th/5th century)
In Irish tradition, a son of Eochaid Mugmedón, a half-brother to Níall Noígíallach, and eponymous ancestor of the Uí Briúin, a branch of the Connachta.

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Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[dipl. ed.] Best, Richard Irvine, and M. A. OʼBrien, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 3, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1957. xxi + pp. 471-760.
CELT – pp. 471-638 and 663: <link>
637–638 Diplomatic edition from the text in LL. direct link
[ed.] OʼGrady, Standish Hayes, Silva Gadelica (I–XXXI): a collection of tales in Irish, vol. 1: Irish text, London: Williams & Norgate, 1892.
Digitale-sammlungen.de: <link> Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive – originally from Google Books: <link>, <link> CELT – various: <link>, <link>, <link>, <link>, <link>, <link>
334–335 Version in Aided Chrimthainn. In the English translation of the text in vol. 2, O'Grady translates only the first line of the poem.
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
August 2011, last updated: January 2024