Mac Liacc, Muirchertach

Mac Liacc, Muirchertach (d. 1016), was described in the Annals of Ulster on his death as ardollam Érenn (chief poet of Ireland). In later tradition he is primarily associated with Brian Bórama (qv) whose literary biography he is credited with composing, along with poetic works on various aspects of his background and career. These include versified genealogies of his Dál Cais dynasty, the mournful elegy ‘Anoir tánic tuitim Briain’ (Brian's downfall came from the east), and ‘A Chinn Choraidh, caidi Brian’, lamenting the neglected state of Brian's Clare citadel, which has been rendered into English by James Clarence Mangan (qv) as ‘O, where, Kincora, is Brian the great?’ Frequently associated with Erard (qv) (d. 990) son of Cos, said to be chief poet of Brian's main rival, Máel-Sechnaill (qv) son of Domnall, in one particular work he engages him in dramatic dialogue. What these compositions have in common is that their varied late dates link them with the polished poetic persona Mac Liacc has become rather than with a historical personage of that name about whom we know next to nothing. The latter may have been the author of a dinnshenchas (place-name lore) text explaining the origin of Carn Conaill in south Co. Galway, in which he describes himself, metaphorically, according to Edward John Gwynn (qv), as Mac Liacc Linni na nÉces (of ‘Linn na nÉces’, literally ‘the pool of the poets’). His son Cú Mara, who is also described as a poet on his death in 1030, was of the same ‘pool’. The eleventh-century Mac Liacc bears scant resemblance, however, to the later literary legend bearing his name.