In religious terms, the most important Cruthnian
saint was Comgall, founder of Bangor and friend of
Colum Cille. His foundation at Bangor lay on the
borderlands between the Ulaid and the Cruthni.
ALEX WOOLF
References and Further Reading
Mallory, J. P., and T. E. MacNeill. The Archaeology of Ulster.
Belfast: The Institute of Irish Studies, 1991, pp. 176–178.
O’Rahilly, T. F. Early Irish History and Mythology. Dublin:
D.I.A.S., 1946, pp. 341–352.
See alsoÁedán mac Gabráin; Colum Cille;
Connachta; Leinster; Mide; Túatha
CÚÁN ÚA LOTHCHÁIN
Cúán úa Lothcháin (d. 1024) was a professional poet
inextricably linked to Tara and its rulers, in particular
Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, who predeceased him
by two years. Indeed Pádraig Ó Riain has argued that
it is to Cúán we owe the literary revival of Tara as a
symbolic seat of kingship designed to advance the
standing of his northern employer in the face of stiff
opposition from the latter’s Munster contemporary,
Brian Boru. This is seen most clearly perhaps in his
dinnshenchas poem on Temair toga na tulach/foatá
Ériu indradach(Tara noblest of hills, under which is
Ireland of the battles) and in his description of Tailtiu,
a site closely associated with Tara. The latter, written
in support of Máel Sechnaill, who in a conscious dec-
laration of power celebrated the famous óenach(gath-
ering) there in 1006 after a gap of almost eighty years,
endorses the monarch as oen-milid na hEorapa(the
sole champion of Europe), ordan íarthair domuin
duind(the glory of the noble western world), and, most
significantly, as the rightful king of Tara whose rule
bestowed peace and plenty on his subjects. Máel Sech-
naill is also directly addressed in a dinnshenchaspoem
on the Boyne which may be by our poet; a second
version of the river’s origin is recounted in another
composition that Cúán almost certainly wrote, though
the surviving ascription is only partly legible. More-
over, he employed the tragic story of Eochaid Feidlech
and his three sons to underline the legitimacy of Máel
Sechnaill’s rule in his poem on Druim Criaich, near
Tara. In other compositions he ventured outside his
favored territory, addressing such far-flung places as
the River Shannon and Carn Furbaide (Granard, Co.
Longford). Nonetheless, Tara remained his chief focus,
being accorded pride of place in one recension of
Dinnshenchas Érenn(The Place-Name Lore of Ireland),
which Cúán may have authored, according to Tomás
Ó Concheanainn.
Promotion of Tara is also a feature of his other
work. Thus, his tract on royal prohibitions concerns
itself with the king of Tara in the first instance. Sim-
ilarly, the narrative poem Temair Breg, baile na fían
(Tara of Brega, homestead of the champions), which
may have been written by him, furnishes Níall
Noígíallach (Níall of the Nine Hostages) and his
descendants, of whom Máel Sechnail was one, with
a patent for the all-important kingship of Tara, serv-
ing as the poetic counterpart to the corresponding
prose version, Echtra mac nEchach Mugmedóin(The
Adventure of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedón).
Moreover, such was his fame that he was later cited
as an authority by his patron’s rivals, Brian Boru’s
twelfth-century descendants claiming his imprimatur
for their long-held right to the kingship of Cashel.
On him were also fathered a number of poems,
including one on the three famous trees of Ireland,
whose author describes himself as Cúán ó Caeindruim
(from Cáendruim). In reality, it was from Tethba in
Mide that Cúán hailed, and it was here too that he
was murdered by local inhabitants in 1024. Our poet
had the last word, however, as the annalist recounted:
Brenait a n-aenuair in lucht ro marb. Firt filed innsein
(The party that killed him became putrid within the
hour. That was a poet’s miracle).
MÁIRE NÍ MHAONAIGHReferences and Further Reading
Dillon, Myles, ed. and trans. “The Taboos of the Kings of
Ireland.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy54 C
(1951–1952): 1–36.
Gwynn, Edward, ed. and trans. The Metrical Dindshenchas.
5vols., Todd Lecture Series, 8–12, 8: 14–27; 10: 26–33,
292–297; 11: 30–35, 42–57, 146–162. Dublin: Royal Irish
Academy, 1903–1935.
Joynt, Maud, ed. and trans. “Echtra mac Echdach Mugmedóin.”
Ériu4 (1908–1910): 91–111.
Mac Airt, Seán, and Gearóid Mac Niocaill, eds. and trans. The
Annals of Ulster (To A.D. 1131), Part I:Text and Translation.
Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1983, pp.
462–463.
Meyer, Kuno, ed. “Mitteilungen aus Irischen Handschriften.”
Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie5 (1905): 21–23.
Ó Concheanainn, Tomás. “A Pious Redactor of Dinnshenchas
Érenn.” Ériu33 (1982): 85–98.
Ó Riain, Pádraig. “The Psalter of Cashel: A Provisional List of
Contents.” Éigse: A Journal of Irish Studies 23 (1989):
107–130.
See alsoDinnshenchas; Metrics; TaraCUMIN, JOHN (d. 1212)
John Cumin, archbishop of Dublin, was born probably
in the 1130s into a minor Somerset family. He spent
his early years in this county before entering into royal
service at a young age. By the 1160s he had becomeCRUTHNI