of Écnechán mac Dálaig who died five years after
Flann to Early Modern Irish eulogies of the Dál Cais
were attributed to him. Of the historical figure him-
self, however, little is known; indeed Colm Ó
Lochlainn accorded him phantom status. Whatever his
precise guise, he appears to have been primarily asso-
ciated with the North Munster territory to which the
Uí Briain laid claim, as indicated by passing remarks
in a poem put into his mouth addressing a giant,
Fidbadach mac Feda Rúscaig, allegedly Óengus, son
of the Dagda, in disguise. He is also said to be the
posthumous author of a dinnshenchas poem on Slíab
nEchtga (the Aughty mountains, County Clare) in
which he describes himself as file féig (a keen poet).
Nonetheless, the prose tale preceding this poem in one
manuscript terms him ollam (chief poet) of Connacht
and his genealogy in the paternal line similarly links
him with the famous sixth-century king of that terri-
tory, Guaire Aidne. As far as his poetic talent is con-
cerned, however, the same genealogy attributes it in
no uncertain terms to his northern mother, Laitheóc
Láidhech, claiming ar dúthchus a máthar do
dhechaidh sidhe re héicsi (it was because of his
mother’s inheritance that he took up poetry). His career
was short-lived; he was murdered in the territory of
the Déisi, according to the Annals of the Four Masters,
which describes him as Uirghil shil Scota (the Virgil
of the Irish race) on his death.
MÁIRE NÍ MHAONAIGH
References and Further Reading
Bergin, O. J. “A Story of Flann mac Lonáin.” In Anecdota from
Irish Manuscripts, 5 vols., edited by O. J. Bergin, R. I. Best,
Kuno Meyer, and J. G. O’Keeffe. Halle: Max Niemeyer,
1907 −1913.
Gwynn, Edward, ed. and trans. The Metrical Dindshenchas, 5 vols.
Todd Lecture Series. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1903−1935.
Meyer, Kuno, ed. “Mitteilungen aus irischen Handschriften.”
Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 8 (1910): 109−110.
Ó Donnchadha, Tadhg. An Leabhar Muimhneach maraon le
Suim Aguisíní. Dublin: Oifig Díolta Foillseacháin Rialtais,
n.d.
O’Donovan, John, ed. and trans. Annála Ríoghachta Éireann:
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters
From the Earliest Period to the Year 1619. (2nd ed.), 7 vols.
Dublin: Hodges, Smith, and Co., 1856.
Ó Lochlainn, Colm. “Poets on the Battle of Clontarf.” Éigse: A
Journal of Irish Studies 3 (1941−1942); 208−18; 4 (1943−
1944): 33−47.
See also Áes Dána; Dinnshenchas; Metrics;
Poetry, Irish
FLANN MAINISTRECH
Flann Mainistrech, son of Echthigern, acquired his epi-
thet “monastic” from his association with the monastery
of Monasterboice, County Louth, to whose famous
school he was attached. His ties with the place were
enhanced by the fact that his dynasty, Cíannachta
Breg, had for long been associated with it. Indeed a
number of his immediate ancestors served as church
officials there, as did his son, Echthigern, who died
as airchinnech Mainistrech (superior of Monaster-
boice) in 1067, a mere eleven years after his father.
Both within his own family and in the wider world at
large, however, Flann is set apart by his immense
learning, as the relatively large corpus of his extant
work amply attests.Historical Scholarship
Much of this oeuvre can be described as historical
scholarship for which he was accorded the title in
senchaid (the historian) by admiring contemporaries.
That a northern focus can be detected in some of his
compositions is not surprising, best exemplified per-
haps in the collection of seven poems on Uí Néill
dynasties attributed to him in the Book of Leinster. Five
of these deal with Cenél nÉogain, four of which may
in fact be part of a continuous poem, as Eoin Mac Néill
has claimed on the basis of their common meter, link-
ing alliteration, and dúnad (closure) in which the final
word of the last unit echoes the opening word of the
first. Nonetheless, each of the self-contained sections
has its own specific emphasis. Beginning with an
explanation of the name of the family’s main citadel,
Ailech, Flann follows this with a versified list of its
most famous kings.
Thematically related stanzas in a different meter
intervene before the poet reverts to snédbairdne to
recount his subject’s notable victories and finally to
glorify other significant exploits after which he signs
himself Flann fer légind ó Mainistir (Flann, scholar,
from Monasterboice). Regnal lists of the neighboring
dynasties of Mide and Brega complete the series,
which is paralleled by a companion set of seven inter-
connected works dealing with world kingship con-
tained in a variety of manuscripts. Together, “the two
treatises jointly form a metrical counterpart of the
Annalistic prose material,” in Seán Mac Airt’s words,
and he relates their composition to Flann’s teaching at
Monasterboice. If so, his curriculum was heavily influ-
enced by the Eusebian view of world history found in
contemporary chronicles that must have furnished the
poet with his most important source material. Thus, in
line with this, Flann describes a succession of dynasties
in turnAssyrian, Mede, Persian, Greek, Macedonian,
Babylonian, and Romanin accordance with his
stated aim deigríg domuin do thuirim (to enumerate the
good kings of the world), a task that he acknowledgedFLANN MAC LONÁIN (d. 896)