MAC CON MIDHE, GIOLLA BRIGHDE
(C. 1210–C. 1272)
Born in or near Ardstraw, County Tyrone, he is some-
times confused with an earlier poet, Giolla Brighde
Albanach. Giolla Brighde Mac Con Midhe was hered-
itary poet to the O’Gormleys, who inhabited the area
east of the Foyle between Derry and Strabane. The
place, “Lerga Mic an Midhe” (< lerga Mhic Con
Midhe “hillside pasture of Mac Con Midhe”), cited in
a seventeenth-century tract as being near Strabane,
probably contains the name of the poet’s kindred.
Although only one poem by Giolla Brighde for an
O’Gormley survives, we have numerous poems by
him for various chieftains of the O’Donnells: Domnall
Mór (d. 1241) and his sons (d. 1247), Gofraid (d.
1258), Domnall Óg (d. 1282) and Aodh. Giolla
Brighde also composed poems for Pádraig Ua hAnluain,
lord of Orior (d. 1243), Áed Ua Conchobair, king of
Connacht (d. 1247) and Roalbh Mac Mathgamna of
Oriel (fl. 1270). He is perhaps best known for his
poem “Aoidhe mo chroidhe ceann Briain” (“Brian’s
head is the care of my heart”) for Brian Ua Néill and
his allies who died fighting the Anglo-Normans in
1260 at the disastrous battle of Downpatrick. In this
lament of over sixty quatrains, Giolla Brighde poi-
gnantly observes how unequal was the battle, since
the Irish wore thin cloth but the Anglo-Normans steel
armour:
Leatrom ro chuirsead an cath
Goill agus Gaoidhil Teamhrach:
léinte caolshróill fá Chloinn gCuinn
is Goill ’na n-aonbróin iaruinn.
[Unequal combat did they join,
the Foreigners and the Irish of Tara:
there were shirts of thin satin about the Sons of
Conn
and the Foreigners were a single phalanx of iron.]Giolla Brighde also composed some fine religious
poetry, most notably the poem “Déan oram trócaire, a
Thríonnóid” (“Have mercy on me, O Trinity”), in
which he begs God to grant him children in place of
those who have died. “A theachtaire thig ón Róimh”
(“O messenger who comes from Rome”) is a well-
known poem ascribed to Giolla Brighde, which defends
poets and poetry against attacks by the church:
Dá mbáití an dán, a dhaoine,
gan seanchas, gan seanlaoidhe,
gobráth acht athair gach fhir
rachaidh cách gan a chluinsin.
[If poetry were suppressed, O people,
so there was neither history nor ancient lays,
every man for ever would die unheard of
except for the name of his father.]The vocabulary and style of this poem are somewhat
different from the rest of Giolla Brighde’s work, and
he may possibly not have been the author.
Giolla Brighde’s death is mentioned in a poem by
Brian Ruadh Mac Con Midhe (
+1452), “Lenfat mo
cheart ar Cloinn Dálaigh” (“I will claim my right from
the sons of Dálach”). The poem tells how Domnall Óg
Ua Domnaill, to whom Giolla Brighde had addressed
several poems, plundered the O’Gormleys. The latter
made no attempt at resistance because they were bury-
ing Giolla Brighde. On hearing why they had not with-
stood him, Ua Domnaill returned all the booty he had
taken out of respect for the dead poet.
NICHOLAS WILLIAMSReferences and Further Reading
Williams, Nicholas. The Poems of Giolla Brighde Mac Con
Midhe. Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1980.MAC DOMNAILL (MACDONNELL)
The Irish dynasty of Mac Domnaill or MacDonnells
(with the exception of the minor lineage of the same
name in Monaghan and Fermanagh) were descended
from the great Scottish house of MacDonald of the
Isles, the ultimately dominant branch of the descen-
dants of Somerled (d. 1164) of Argyll, who established
his power in the Western Highlands and Islands at the
expense of the Scandinavian kings of Man and the
Isles. Although their later genealogical traditions were
confused, it is clear from the earlier sources that all
the Irish galloglass lineages were descended from
Alexander (d. 1299?), elder brother of Óengus Óg
(d. c. 1330) who was ancestor of the later Lords of the
Isles (and of the Macdonnells of the Glens, see below).
Alexander’s sons and grandsons were serving as
galloglass in Ulster from the 1340s at least, and in
1366 Alexander’s son Ragnall, defeated in his struggle
for the lordship of the Isles against his cousin John of
Islay, came to Ireland and was immediately engaged
as a mercenary in the fratricidal struggles of the Uí
Néill (O’Neills). By 1373, “MacDounayll, captain of
the Scots dwelling in Ulster” was already a major
figure in the Ulster political scene. This might have
been Ragnall’s son John maol(“the bald”) who sub-
mitted to Richard II along with Ua Néill in 1395,
styling himself “captain of his nation and constable of
the Irish of Ulster.” In his letter to the king he com-
plains of his kinsman, Domnall (Donald, lord of the
Isles), who had driven him from his own land into
Ireland. Modern historians have confused this John
maolwith Domnall’s brother John mór(see below).
Johnmaolwas the ancestor of the later house of Mac
Domnaill gallóglach, constables to Ua Néill, who heldMAC DOMNAILL (MACDONNELL)