# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacBruaidedh, Maoilin

Maoilín Óg Mac Bruaideadha in the ODNB.
​MACBRUAIDEDH, MAOILIN (d. 1602), Irish historian and poet, commonly called Maoilin the younger, belonged to a family of hereditary historians who were for several generations ollavs (i.e. chief chroniclers or professional authors) of the O'Briens and of allied families in Hy Bracain and Hy Fearmaic in Thomond, co. Clare. Earlier members of the family who became famous are:
Maoilin MacBruaidedh (d. 1582), ollav to O'Brien, son of Conchobhair, son of Diarmait, son of John. He was succeeded as ollav, on his death in 1582, by Gillabrighde MacBruaidedh, his kinsman.
Diarmait MacBruaidedh (d. 1563), brother of Maoilin the elder, ollav of O'Grady and O'Gorman, who was succeeded by his nephew Maoilin Og.
Domhnall MacBruaidedh (fl. 1570), son of Daire, poet, author of a poem of forty-two verses, ‘Cia as sine cairt ar chrich Neill’ (‘Whose is the oldest Charter in O'Neill's territory’), addressed to James Fitzgerald, son of Maurice Macaniarla, about 1567. He also wrote a poem (in Egerton 120 Brit. Mus. MS.) on the coming of age of John, son of McWilliam Burke, ‘A mhic gur meala tarma’ (‘My son is willing to bear arms’) (E. O'Curry, Lectures on Manuscript Materials of Irish History, p. 423).
Maoilin the younger was born at Ballybrodin, in the parish of Dysart O'Dea, co. Clare, and was son of the Maoilin mentioned above. He was ollav to the chiefs of the O'Gradys and the O'Gormans. He wrote a poem of 276 verses on the O'Gormans, ‘Deoradh sonna sliocht Cathaoir’ (‘Pilgrims here are Cathair's Race’). This was composed on the inauguration of Domhnall O'Gorman as chief. In another poem, ‘Cuirfiod cumainn ar clann tail’ (‘I will put an obligation on Clan Tail’), he traces, in 404 verses, the descent of the O'Briens from the first Earl of Thomond, Morogh O'Brien, to Milesius. In a third poem, ‘Tug damh taire inse na laoidh’ (‘Give ear to me, O Ennis!’), he relates the history of the O'Briens up to 1588. A fourth, ‘Lamh dearg Eirin uibh Eathach’ (‘The Red Hand of Erin, the Descendants of Eochaidh’), is in praise of Art MacAonghusa, a northern chief. He also wrote ‘Aithin mise a mheg Cochlain’ (‘Know me, O MacCoghlan!’), a poem on the chief of Dealbhna, King's County, who was Hugh O'Neill's [q. v.] correspondent in 1590; ‘O ceathrar gluaisiod Gaoidhil’ (‘From four men descend the Gaels’); and ‘Coir shul le sheasamh Gaoidhil’ (‘It is right to hope for the settlement of the Irish’), of 176 verses. When Aedh Ruada O'Donnell ravaged Thomond in 1599, he carried off the cattle of this poet; but when Maoilin pleaded the exemption of literature from the laws of war, O'Donnell returned the cows. The poet then recited a verse of four lines accepting O'Donnell's severities as a just revenge for the destruction, four hundred years before, of Oilech by O'Brien, and yet so artfully worded that, while O'Donnell might take it as approval, the earl of Thomond could not deny that it might be interpreted as a bald statement of fact. The verse is given in the ‘Annala Riogheachta Eireann,’ under the year 1599, and in Lughaidh O'Clery's ‘Life of O'Donnell,’ p. 196. He was especially skilful in an Irish metre called dan direch—which is of extreme difficulty, since it requires: (1) stanzas of four lines, each pair of which must make complete sense; (2) two words in each line beginning with the same consonant or with a vowel; (3) the last two words of the line beginning with a vowel or the same consonant; (4) vowel and consonantal assonance; (5) the last word in the second and fourth line of each stanza to exceed the corresponding word in the first and third line by one syllable; (6) a certain correspondence of vowels in the lines; (7) an equal number of syllables in the words which correspond in assonance in the several lines. He died 31 Dec. 1602, and was succeeded in his office by Tadhg MacBruaidedh [q. v.]
[Annala Rioghachta Eireann, ed. J. O'Donovan, vi. 232, gives an Irish list of six poems by Maoilin Og; Egerton 112 and 118, manuscripts in the British Museum, contain his poems on Art MacAonghusa and on O'Gorman in 1596; E. O'Reilly in Transactions of Iberno-Celtic Society, Dublin, 1820; Lughaidh O'Clery's Life of Aedh Ruadh O'Donnell, ed. D. Murphy, Dublin, 1893.]
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