FORAS FEASA AR ÉIRINNas ní soraid, ní snéid-shuilig (not easy, not readily
contrived). Part of the difficulty certainly involved met-
rical constraints, which Flann skilfully surmounted by
recourse to eloquent chevilles. The result was a taut
long list of considerable breadth, though supplying
little more than the length of the reigns of various
monarchs. Relative rather than absolute chronology
underlies his two important metrical lists of pre-Christian
and Christian kings of Tara in which his main preoc-
cupation lay in recounting the manner of their deaths.
The ambitious scope of this linked pair of poems,
encompassing legendary rulers from Eochaid Feidlech
to Nath Í and historical monarchs down to Máel
Sechnaill mac Domnaill (d. 1022), respectively, mark
it out as the earliest national king list, as Peter Smith
has noted. In actual fact, however, Flann skilfully elab-
orated and advanced the work of learned predecessors,
propelled by the intellectual currents of his own time.
Among those termed “synthetic historians” by Mac
Néill, his work can be read in terms of the gradual
formulation of a doctrine of all-Ireland history to fit
an established Christian framework. Indeed Flann’s
importance in this regard can be seen in the incorpo-
ration of a number of his poems into the eleventh-
century national origin legend, Lebor Gabála Érenn
(The Book of the Taking of Ireland, commonly known
as The Book of Invasions).
Other Learned Activities
If Flann’s extensive historical scholarship was appre-
ciated by his contemporaries and their immediate
descendants, so too were his other academic activities.
These included considerable manuscript work to judge
from a colophon in Lebor na hUidre claiming that
our poet, together with a colleague, gathered texts
from a selection of choice codices in Armagh and
Monasterboice, including the now lost Lebor Buide
(Yellow Book) and In Lebor Gerr (The Short Book)
whose theft and removal overseas were lamented by
the twelfth-century interpolator. Specifically men-
tioned is Senchas na Relec (Burial Ground Lore), of
which Aided Nath Í (The Death-tale of Nath Í) is
deemed to form part. We may note that the poetic
version of Genemain Áeda Sláine (The Birth-tale of
Áed Sláine), which in conjunction with its prose telling
follows Senchas na Relec in the same manuscript, is
also attributed to Flann. Moreover, he is said to have
composed it do chumnigud in gnima sin ocus día thai-
scid hi cumni do chách (to commemorate that event
[Áed’s miraculous birth] and to keep it in remem-
brance for everyone), an aim that may conceivably
underlie his compilatory work. In fact, Áed’s Uí
Néill pedigree may also have attracted Flann, whose
authorship is supported by a similar attribution in the
Book of Leinster. That his subsequent fame made him
an attractive advocate for Áed’s Brega descendants,
however, should be borne in mind. He is also cited
in one version of Aided Chonchobuir (The Death-tale
of Conchobar [mac Nessa]) as author of two stanzas,
one of which unsurprisingly comments on an ances-
tor of his own dynasty, Tadc son of Cían. His con-
nection with a poetic rendering of De Excidio Troiae
(On the Destruction of Troy) is more difficult to
assess. Nonetheless, his mastery of Irish and Latin
coupled with his obvious intellectual range suggest
that he would have had both the skill and the oppor-
tunity to rework the original composition by Dares
Phrygius, or, alternatively, an existing vernacular
prose adaptation. Be that as it may, a sufficient quan-
tity of scholarship has survived of which his author-
ship is not in doubt to justify the accolade he was
accorded on his death in 1056: airdfer leighinn ocus
sui senchusa Erenn (eminent scholar and master of
the historical lore of Ireland).
MÁIRE NÍ MHAONAIGHReferences and Further Reading
Best, R. I., and Osborn Bergin, ed. Lebor na Huidre: Book of
the Dun Cow. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1929.
Best, R. I., Osborn Bergin, M. A. O’Brien, and Anne O’Sullivan,
eds. The Book of Leinster, Formerly Lebar na Núachongbála.
6 vols. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1954−
1983.
Dobbs, Margaret E. “The Pedigree and Family of Flann Main-
istrech.” Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society
5:3 (1923): 149−153.
Mac Airt, Seán, ed. and trans. “Middle Irish Poems on World-
Kingship.” Études celtiques 6 (1953−1954): 255−280; 7
(1955−1956): 18−41; 8 (1958−1959): 98−119, 284−97.
Mac Néill, Eoin, ed. “Poems by Flann Mainistrech on the
Dynasties of Ailech, Mide and Brega.” Archivum Hiberni-
cum 2 (1913): 37−99.
Smith, Peter J. “Early Irish Historical Verse: The Evolution of
a Genre.” In Ireland and Europe in the Early Middle Ages,
Texts and Transmission: Irland und Europa im früheren
Mittelalter: Texte und Überlieferung, edited by Próinséas
Ní Chatháin and Michael Richter. Dublin: Four Courts
Press, 2002.See also Áes Dána; Ailech; Classical Literature,
Influence of; Education; Invasion Myth; Lebor na
hUidre; Leinster, Book of; Mide; Poetry, Irish;
Uí NéillFORAS FEASA AR ÉIRINN
Fo r as Feasa ar Éirinn (The Foundation for the History
of Ireland) is by definition a monumental task set for
himself by one who had the means, the training, and the
education to do so. Of aristocratic Anglo-Norman stock,
the author, Seathrún Céitinn (Geoffrey Keating), was