The Origins of Clann Chruitín: Chronicler-Poets of the Learned Gaelic Tradition1
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McInerney Clann-14 1/7/14 10:25 AM Page 1 The origins of Clann Chruitín: chronicler-poets of the learned Gaelic tradition1 Mac oile do Fhraoch chéadhna Cárthann cuana chruith dhéadla Luke McInerney Níor dhearmadach tar chach línn 2 Ó d-tángadar, Clann Chruitín guages such as Latin, Greek, and English8 and, in some [Another son of the same Froach instances, Ogham learning.9 What made them distinct from Cárthann of the bold-looking band other scholastic groups in European culture was the fact Was not forgotten above all by us that they were organised into professional kindreds who He from whom derived Clann Chruitín] transmitted this learning and skill by hereditary means. Another distinction to be drawn between the Gaelic learned Níor mhór dá mhianach sa tír Do lean riaghail Mhic Cruitín class and their contemporary counterparts is the primacy Níor cham an seanachas saor of poetry and its intertwined connection to other branches Am na bhfeanachas bhfíorchloan3 of learning such as history, law, tale recitation and place- name lore (dinnsheanchas). Together these formed a [There were few of his mettle in the country coherent body of learning or ‘native lore’ (seanchas) which who followed Mac Cruitín’s rule dominated the intellectual outlook of the Gaelic learned He didn’t distort the noble historical lore class in the medieval period. The assemblage of native lore (in) the time of truly perverse laws] and learning into a framework that provided the basis for Elegy on the death of Aindrias Mac Cruitín, the study of poetry (filidheacht), and which was inter- by Aodh Buí Mac Cruitín preted by a learned caste of practitioners known as the filí or bardic poets, represented the master-form of learning in lann Chruitín were among the most notable learned medieval Gaelic society.10 Ckindreds in Co. Clare in the late medieval period. They The study of poetry in specialist ‘bardic’ schools (filidh- featured among the aos dána, the Gaelic learned class who eacht na sgol) constituted the intellectual and pedagogical 4 11 specialised in, as the annals assert, ‘senchas 7 le seinm’. framework upon which native learning was fused. It was Holding hereditary lands in west Co. Clare on the margins also the preferred medium of public communication among of the Atlantic coast, they attained the status of ollamh- those trained professionals who came to dominate intel- nacht in history (seanchas) and music (seinm) from the lectual activity in late medieval Ireland. A number of fourteenth century. Remarkably, learned members of Clann hereditary professional kindreds such as Clann Chruitín Chruitín continued to be associated with literary activity of were settled in Co. Clare during the medieval period. Some the native tradition until the mid-nineteenth century when drew their origin from the ecclesiastical grades of the Séamas Mac Cruitín, self-described as ‘the last relic of the monastic Irish church such as the airchinnigh (erenaghs) hereditary bards of Thomond’,5 died. and comharbaí (coarbs) who held termon lands.12 The Uí The family’s claim as literati is probably best illustrated Ghráda of Tuamgraney serve as an example of this as their in the eighteenth century when two notable Gaelic poets, ancestor, Ceannfaladh Ó Gráda, was coarb of Tuamgraney Aodh Buí Mac Cruitín (c.1680-1755)6 and Aindrias Mac at the time of his death in 1184.13 Cruitín (c.1650-1738), produced a range of genealogical, Other learned families emerged as discarded branches poetical and historical works. Attached to their local of ruling lineages who adopted a professional role to Uí Lochlainn and the Uí Bhriain patrons, the compositions safeguard their status. This is confirmed by Franciscan and writings of these poets have received attention by Antonius Bruodinus who wrote that the professional class modern scholars.7 In these two learned personages the tended to share the same ancestry as their noble patrons.14 vigour of the learned Gaelic tradition can best be identified The Meic Fhlannchadha brehons, for example, claimed a at a time when that tradition was quickly fading as an common descent from the Meic Conmara.15 It has also been anachronistic remnant of a former era. suggested that Clann Bhruaideadha, a lineage of poet- Recent commentary on the learned class in medieval chroniclers, shared links with the Uí Dheaghaidh and that and early modern Gaelic lordships has sought to focus on their remote ancestors briefly held the kingship of Corcom- the lifeways of these hereditary literati such as their social roe in the ninth century16 only developing their learned status and landholding. This paper continues that investi- status at a later period.17 gation and takes as its focus the origins of Clann Chruitín The hereditary lands of Clann Chruitín were located in of Corcomroe. the Uí Chonchobhair and Uí Lochlainn lordship of Corcom- roe. We read in a set of annals, possibly compiled at the Early Origins Augustinian house of Kilshanny, the death notice of ‘Eagd The learned class of medieval Ireland represented a Mac Crutyn’ (Aodh Mac Cruitín) in 1354.18 The annals mandarin class of educated men skilled in verse, history appear to represent a necrology of patrons of the abbey and and law. These men were often learned in several lan- local notables and this entry is the earliest recording of a 1 McInerney Clann-14 1/7/14 10:25 AM Page 2 ‘Mac Cruitín’. It may in fact suggest that Clann Chruitín math of the twelfth-century reform of the monastic church had a link to Kilshanny as either Augustinian canons or that relegated native learning to the secular schools of the even airchinnigh settled on church land. Subsequent ann- hereditary families.31 alistic recordings show that learned Meic Cruitín attained Judging from the annals and other sources such as the the prized position of ‘ollamh Tuadhmumhan’ and ‘ollamh Papal Registers and the Registra Supplicationum32 members Uí Bhriain’ at an earlier period than members of the Meic of Clann Chruitín were not active in supplying clerics to Bhruaideadha and Meic Fhlannchadha learned families.19 local benefices unlike other learned lineages.33 Few if any of the name may be found in lists of clergy in the post- Clann Chruitín genealogies Reformation period, and they do not appear to be settled on References to Clann Chruitín are absent in the main gen- termon (tearmann) lands either as comharbaí or airchin- ealogical tracts dealing with Thomond. Their Corcomroe nigh or, for that matter, as keepers of religious reliquaries ancestry generally excluded them from the more extensive or manuscripts such as the Meic Bhruaideadha of Tear- (and later) genealogies detailing the cascading branches of mann Chaimín in Moynoe.34 the ruling Dál gCais.20 However, in the genealogies that Clann Chruitín are absent from the great Meic Craith refer to the lineages of Corcomroe, it is noted that the pro- compilation of the mid-fourteenth century, Caithréim genitor of Clann Chruitín was also the eponymous ancestor Thoirdhealbhaigh (‘The Triumphs of Turlough’), where of the dynastic families of Corcomroe; the Uí Lochlainn only the chief propagandists of the Uí Bhriain, Clann and Uí Chonchobhair. Cruitín, the fifth in descent from Chraith, feature as a learned family. Such a situation may Carrthann mac Fraoch, is recorded in the genealogies as a reflect professional rivalry as much as jealously-guarded ‘file’ (poet) and his lineage is regarded as lineal ancestors privilege. It also suggests that in the fourteenth century it of the Uí Lochlainn and Uí Chonchobhair.21 was Clann Chraith who were the leading poets and chron- As is usual in many genealogical tracts, the origin of iclers of Thomond, a role not surpassed until the sixteenth learned families is attested in a learned forebear who century by Clann Bhruaideadha.35 founded a professional lineage. We read in the genealogies that the progenitor of the Uí Nialláin physicians was Maoil- Status and patronage shechlainn .i. an liaigh Léimeannach (Maolshechlainn the In view of this, where exactly Clann Chruitín situated in physician of Leamaneh)22 who appears to have had a flor- the hierarchy of learned lineages is rather uncertain. From uit of c.1300. The advantage of adopting learned status and what may be gleaned from the annals, Clann Chruitín removing one’s lineage from the political competition of a achieved the appellation ‘ollamh Tuadhmumhan’ from lordship is that professional lineages were often exempted 1376.36 However, only one reference, which is contained from rents and military services and were not restricted in in the Annals of Ulster, specifically enumerates them as terms of movement between lordships, sharing many of ‘ollamh Uí Bhriain re senchus’. 37 While they attained prom- the privileges granted to the church and clerical grades.23 inence in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth-centuries It is perhaps significant that the progenitor of Clann as holding the ollamhnacht in seanchas (history) and seinm Chruitín, according to the genealogies, was ‘Cruitín file’ (music), their status was generally limited to providing (i.e. Cruitín ‘the poet’), the etymology of whose name literary services to Corcomroe families and, by the six- derives from the word cruit, or harp.24 Judging from the teenth-century, leading Corkavaskin families. The absence genealogies it seems likely that he had a floruit of the ninth of poems composed for the Uí Bhriain in the medieval century. This progenitor of Clann Chruitín appears to have period supports this view. been associated with two highly valued skills of the Gaelic The flourish of annalistic references to learned members learned class; namely poetry and music. It was not un- of Clann Chruitín occurs only over an eighty year period. known for learned kindreds to specialise in several learned Their claim as ollamhain Tuadhmhumhan, a position that arts, and the hereditary professionals such as poets, histor- placed them in the front rank of learned families, dates ian and musicians, as well as master craftsmen who attained from this period.