Dáire Cerbba

Dáire Cerbba (Cerba, Cearba, Cearb) was an Irish dynast of uncertain origins, named in many early and late sources as the grandfather of the semi-mythological Mongfind and Crimthann mac Fidaig, and the most frequently named early ancestor of the historical Uí Liatháin and Uí Fidgenti. All of these are historically and mythologically associated with the province of Munster, but according to the early manuscript Rawlinson B 502, Dáire Cerbba was born in Brega, County Meath, and got his epithet from a location there.^[1] This is otherwise unexplained. He may or may not have been a relative of Conall Corc, the founder of the Eóganachta dynasty.

He is often confused or paired with Maine Munchaín, who may be his father or twin brother, depending on the source, or this is an alias and the two people are the same. Both are listed in the surviving genealogies as sons of Ailill Flann Bec, grandfather of Conall Corc, but the arrangement changes from source to source.

Mongfind is simply called the daughter of Dáire (Cerbba?), not of Fidach, in the Book of Lismore, and there Dáire's father is called Findchad, while Crimthand Mór is not mentioned at all.^[2] Thus the alternative exists they were not originally brother and sister.

Though he supposedly flourished in the 4th century AD, Dáire Cerbba is mentioned as an ancestor of the O'Donovan family, specifically the dynast Donnell II O'Donovan, Lord of Clan Cathail, in as late as the early 17th century, in song, by the bardic poet Tadhg Olltach Ó an Cháinte.^[3]

Modern descendants of Dáire Cerbba may or may not include the O'Connells of Derrynane,^[4][5] Daniel Charles, Count O'Connell having explicitely declared this to the heralds of Louis XVI of France. Also was Michael Collins, descending from the Ó Coileáin of Uí Chonaill Gabra,^[6][7] once the most powerful sept of the Uí Fidgenti.

King of Medón Mairtine

In a strange passage in the notably peculiar Munster epic Forbhais Droma Dámhgháire, Dáire Cerbba (Ceirbe) is said to have been king of Medón Mairtine, known to historians as the ancient capital of the Mairtine, a once prominent Érainn people. In fact the passage gives it the alternative names of "... Ardchluain na Féne and Mucfhalach Mac Dáire Ceirbe. This Ceirbe was king of Meáin Mairtine. This area is called Emly today..."^[8] However it does not specifically state that Dáire belonged to the Mairtine themselves, and perhaps of importance is the fact that this site was historically occupied by the Eóganachta, for whom it was their chief church, namely Emly, which the author of FDD obviously recognizes. The Mairtine themselves belong only to prehistory and legend, but may be in part ancestral to the later Déisi Tuisceart and famous Dál gCais.

See also

• Dáire
• Kingdom of Mide

Notes

1. ^ ¶1211]... Dáre Cerbba uero ideo hóc nuncupatus est quia natus est i m-Methus Cerbba i m-Bregaib.
2. ^ Stokes 1890, pp. 239-40
3. ^ Ua Súilleabháin and Donnelly
4. ^ O'Hart, pp. 183-5
5. ^ Cusack, p. 6 ff
6. ^ Coogan, pp. 5-6
7. ^ O'Hart
8. ^ Ó Duinn, pp. 38-9

References

• Byrne, Francis John, Irish Kings and High-Kings. Four Courts Press. 2nd revised edition, 2001.
• Charles-Edwards, T.M., Early Christian Ireland. Cambridge. 2000.
• Coogan, Tim Pat, Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland. Palgrave Macmillan. 2002.
• Cusack, Sister Mary Francis, Life of Daniel O'Connell, the Liberator : His Times - Political, Social, and Religious. New York: D. & J. Sadlier & Co. 1872.
• Geoffrey Keating, with David Comyn and Patrick S. Dinneen (trans.), The History of Ireland by Geoffrey Keating. 4 Vols. London: David Nutt for the Irish Texts Society. 1902-14.
• Meyer, Kuno (ed.), "The Laud Genealogies and Tribal Histories", in Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie 8. Halle/Saale, Max Niemeyer. 1912. Pages 291-338.
• Ó Corráin, Donnchadh (ed.), Genealogies from Rawlinson B 502. University College Cork: Corpus of Electronic Texts. 1997.
• O'Donovan, John (ed. and tr.), Annala Rioghachta Eireann. Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616. 7 vols. Royal Irish Academy. Dublin. 1848-51. 2nd edition, 1856.
• Ó Duinn, Seán (ed. & trans.), Forbhais Droma Dámhgháire: The Siege of Knocklong. Cork: Mercier Press. 1992.
• O'Hart, John, Irish Pedigrees. Dublin. 5th edition, 1892.
• O'Rahilly, Thomas F., Early Irish History and Mythology. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. 1946.
• Stokes, Whitley (ed. and tr.), Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore. Oxford. 1890.
• Ua Súilleabháin, Seán and Seán Donnelly (eds. and trans.), and Tadhg Olltach Ó an Cháinte, "Music has ended: The Death of a Harper", in Celtica 22. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. 1991. Pages 165-75. PDF