Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/256

 and that he retired for his later years into the monastic clan of St. Buite. He had two sons, of whom Echtighern, the elder, became airchennach of Monasterboice, died 1067 (ib. ii. 890), and left two sons, Eoghan, who died in 1117, and Feargna, who became a priest, and died in 1122. His second son, Feidhlimidh, died in 1104, and was also famous as an historian. The third son mentioned in some accounts is due to a clerical error. The local writings of Flann refer mainly to the northern half of Ireland. He calls Brian Boroimhe [see ] ‘sun of the hills of West Munster,’ but chiefly celebrates the achievements of the descendants of Nial Naighiallach, and nowhere extols the Dal Cais, so that he is to be regarded as a northern writer. His writings are interesting as the genuine productions of an Irish historian of the eleventh century. They have never been critically examined, and the lists given by O'Reilly, who enumerates fourteen (Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Society for 1820, p. 75), and by O'Curry (Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, ii. 149), who mentions nineteen, require revision. His poem on the kings of Tara (Books of Leinster, facs. 132 b, line 6) ends with Maelsechlainn, who died in 1021; that on the Cinel Eoghain ends with an O'Neill who died in 1036. Flann himself died on 17 Nov. 1056 (A. R. I. ii. 870). The beautiful stone cross of Muiredach, still standing in the enclosure of Monasterboice, was there in the time of Flann, and it is probable that he was also familiar with the loftier carved cross and with the curious leaning round tower. The earliest extant manuscript text of any of his writings comes within fifty years of his death, and is a poem on King Aedh Sláine in ‘Lebar na h-Uidhre’ (fol. 53 a, line 3), beginning ‘Muguin ingen choncruid mac Duach don desmumhain’ (Muguin, daughter of Conchruid, son of Duach, of South Munster), and relating how, through the prayers of a saint, the queen, till then childless, first gave birth to a salmon, then to a lamb, and last of all to the famous king, Aedh Sláine. ‘The Book of Leinster,’ a manuscript of the latter part of the twelfth century, contains eleven poems of his, viz. (1) f. 27 b, 54, on a famous assembly of poets; (2) f. 131 b, 34, on the kings of Tara to the death of Dathi; (3) 132 b, 6, on the kings of Tara from Loeghaire to Moelsechlainn; (4) 145 b, 19, a later text of the poem on Aedh Sláine; (5) 181 a, 1, on the fortress of Ailech (co. Donegal); (6) 181 b, 11, on Ailech; (7) 182 a, 24, on the deeds of the seed of Eoghain; (8) 182 b, 12, on sixty victories of the clan Eoghain; (9) 183 b, 17, on clan Eoghain; (10) 184 b, 20, on kings of Meath; (11) 185 b, 1, the names of the kings of the race of Aedh Sláine. ‘The Book of Ballymote,’ a manuscript of the beginning of the fifteenth century, contains (f. 11) a copy of ‘Leabhar comaimsirech du Flainn’ (i.e. Flann's Book of Synchronisms), a tale of the kings of the outer world and of Ireland in prose and verse. ‘The Book of Lecan,’ written in 1416, contains (, Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, p. 142) a poem on the household of St. Patrick. Part of the same poem is quoted in the ‘Annals’ (A. R. I. i. 130).

[O'Reilly, Transactions of Iberno-Celtic Society for 1820, Dublin; Curry's Cath Muighe Leana (Celtic Society), Dublin, 1855; Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Dublin, 1873; Petrie's Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, Dublin, 1845; Dunraven's Notes on Irish Architecture, London, 1877; Royal Irish Academy, Facsimiles of Lebar na h-Uidhre, Book of Leinster; Book of Ballymote.] 

FLANNAN, and  of  Cill-da-Lua, now Killaloe (fl. 7th cent.), was son of Torrdelbach (called also Theodoric), son of Cathal, king of Munster. Torrdelbach ruled the territory of Ui Torrdelbaigh, nearly co-extensive with the present diocese of Killaloe. He was a very pious and charitable king. Flannan was sent at an early age to St. Blathmac, ‘who surpassed all the saints.’ Blathmac trained him in sacred literature and taught him ‘to plough, sow, reap, grind, sift, and bake with his own hands for the monks.’ He was next sent to Molua, who was reckoned among the greatest saints in Ireland, and is mentioned by St. Bernard as the ‘founder of a hundred monasteries.’ Molua is said to have resigned his bishopric in consequence of his engagements in England and Scotland, and to have appointed Flannan as his successor. But Molua or Lua, the founder of Killaloe, died, according to the ‘Annals of the Four Masters,’ in 588, or 592 in Bishop Reeves's ‘Adamnan.’ The date of his death proves that the alleged transaction with Flannan is impossible. It was probably meant to account for Flannan's being the patron saint of Killaloe, though not the founder.

Flannan, now appointed to a bishopric, wished to visit Rome and receive holy orders from Pope John; and, according to Ware, he was consecrated at Rome by Pope John IV in 639, who, however, was not pope until 640. His parents and friends had strenuously objected to the journey; St. Bracan, probably St. Berchan of Cluain Sosta or Clonsast in the King's County, who flourished, according to O'Curry, in 690, had vainly endeavoured to dissuade Flannan from his purpose, but