Donnchadh Mór Ó Dálaigh

Donnchadh Mór Ó Dálaigh was a celebrated Irish poet who died in 1244. Mor is the Irish word for "great".

Family background

Donnchadh Mór was a member of the famed Ó Dálaigh family of poets. Donnchadh Mór was the second of six brothers, one of whom was Muireadhach Albanach, also a poet. Authorities O'Reilly and O'Curry considered that he was Abbot of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon,^[1] Ireland where he is believed to have been buried.

Reputation

He was styled the 'Irish Ovid' due to the quality of his verse.^{[citation needed]} The annals of Clonmacnois descbribe him as "Chief in Ireland for poetry".

Finvarra

Donnchadh Mór settled at Finnyvara (or Finavara) in the Burren region of County Clare, Ireland. Today a hexagonal bick-built columnar monument stands outside Finavara on the coast by Pouldoody Bay as a monument to him, opposite the supposed ruined poetry school of the Ó Dálaigh's. The Ó Dálaighs occupied a rock seat nearby termed the 'Brehon's Chair' used for open air courts in ancient times and they may be buried in the mound below the monument.

O'Donovan in a note to the Annals of the Four Masters states that according to tradition preserved in the north of the County Clare he was the head of the O'Dalys of Finnyvara in the north of Burrin where they still point out the site of his house and his monument. The Ó Dálaigh's of Finnyvara were hereditary poets to the Ó Lochlainn's of Burren.

Poems

Donnchadh Mór is known to have written about 30 poems. Donnchadh Mór's poems were listed in The History of the O'Dalys by Edmund Emmet O'Daly, published in 1937 by the Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor Company of New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Selected poems

• Buime trír máthair mhic Dé
• Cúig cáis as mhó le Moire
• Dia do bheatha-sa, a Mhuire
• Do-ní duine dia dá mhaoin
• Éisd rem fhaoisidin, a Íosa
• Fuaras mian, ón, fuaras mian
• Garbh éirghe iodhan bhrátha
• Marthain duit, a chroch an Choimdheadh
• Námha m'anma an chalann chriadh
• Rugadh báire ar an mbochtacht

See also

• Cú Connacht Ua Dálaigh, died 1139.
• Ragnall Ua Dálaigh, died 1161.
• Gilla na Trínóite Ua Dálaigh, died 1166.
• Tadhg Ua Dálaigh, died 1181.
• Aonghus Ó Dálaigh, fl. c. 1200.

Family Tree I

In the introduction to The Tribes of Ireland by Aonghus Ruadh na nAor Ó Dálaigh, the editors give the following family tree.

 Adhamh, a quo Corca Adhamh of County Westmeath
 |
 |
 Corc
 |
 |
 Fachtna
 |
 |
 Dalach, a quo Ua Dálaigh
 |
 |
 Gilla Coimhdheadh
 |
 |
 Tadhg ua Dálaigh
 |
 |
 Muireadhach Ua Dálaigh
 |
 |
 Dalach Ua Dálaigh
 |
 |
 Cú Connacht Ua Dálaigh, died 1139.
 |
 |
 Tadhg Doichleach Ua Dálaigh, died 1181.
 |
 |
 Aonghus Ó Dálaigh, the common ancestor of all the O'Dalys extant
 |
 |______________________________________________________________________________________________________
 |                   |                       |                        |                |              |
 |                   |                       |                        |                |              |
 Cearbhall Fionn  Donnchadh Mór   Cormac na Casbhairne   Muireadhach Albanach  Gilla na Naemh  Tadhg
 |                   |                                                            (issue)             |
 |                   |                                                                                |
 |                   |                                                                                |
Ua Dálaigh Fionn   Ua Dálaigh                                                                    Ua Dálaigh
of Duhallow        of Finvarra                                                                    of Breifne
Co. Cork.          Co. Clare
                   and Dunsandle
                   Co. Galway

Family Tree II

  Donnchadh Mór mac Aonghus meic Tadhg Doichleach Ó Dálaigh of Finvarra, died 1244.
  |
  |
  Aonghus
  |
  |
  Donnchadh Ruadh
  |
  |
  Aonghus Ruadh, died 1350.
  |
  |___________________________________
  |                                  |
  |                                  |
  Tadhg, d. 1367.                    Lochlainn, died 1367.
  |                                  |
  |                                  |
  Fearghal, chief poet               Donn
  of Corcomroe, fl. 1420.            |
                                     |
                                     Doighre
                                     |
                                     |
                                     Donn
                                     |
                                     |
                                     Mael Sechlainn
                                     |
                                     |
                                     John
                                     |
                                     |
                                     Tadhg
                                     |
                                     |
                                     Diarmuid
                                     |
                                     |
                                     Aedh of Finnvarra.

External links

• http://www.ucc.ie/celt/itbardic.html#dmod

References

1. ^  "Donogh Mór O'Daly". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 

Persondata
Name	O Dalaigh, Donnchadh Mor
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death	1244
Place of death