Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/89

MacFirbis  and Genealogical Boughs of every Plantation of Ireland'). The original manuscript is in the collection of the Earl of Roden, and there is a copy, made in 1836 by Eugene O'Curry, in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. The book gives an account of all the existing Irish clans, of their saints and kings, as well as of the mythical Tuatha de Danaan and Firbolg, who were believed to have preceded the Gaedhel in Ireland. In the same year he wrote two poems on 'O'Seachnasaigh of Gort' (, Lectures, p. 123). In 1655 Sir James Ware [q. v.] brought MacFirbis to Dublin to do literary work for him, and lie continued to translate and transcribe Irish manuscripts till Ware's death in December 1666. He then left Castle Street, Dublin, returned to Lackan, and lived, as so many Irish gentlemen then did, as a poor landless sojourner in a cottage on the former estate of his family. Much of what he wrote in Ware's house has since disappeared, but there remain translations (1) of the 'Annals of Ulster' (in British Museum); (2) of the 'Annals of Inisfallen;' (3) of 'Annals' from 1443 to 1468 (printed by Irish Archæological Society, 1846, edited by J. O'Donovan); (4) of the 'Registry of Cionmacnoise' (in British Museum, printed by Kilkenny Archæological Society, 1857). These are all in English, with occasional brief notes in Irish explaining the translation. Thus to the statement ' Dermot the second of Moylurg died,' he adds the word 'tanaiste,' to explain that this Dermot was the heir and not the successor. At the same period he wrote ' An Account of Extinct Irish Bishopricks ' and 'A List of Irish Bishops,' both in English (holograph manuscripts in British Museum, Clarendon 68). In Irish he wrote during the same period, in 1656, an unfinished composition, 'Ughdair na h-Erend' ('The Authors of Erin, with an Account of their Authorship and their Paternity'). The ma- nuscript is in the Bodleian Library (Rawlinson 480). The authors are those who treat of 'Senchas' (history), 'Dligh' (law), 'Liaighais' (physic), with the aesdana or poets, but the account does not get beyond those mythical authors whom every Irish literary man knew by name, and ends with Naente nae Brethach, whose death is computed to have taken place two centuries before the Christian era. In 1666 he prepared an abridged edition of his genealogical treatise. It was probably in this period that he transcribed the Irisn chronicle known as 'Chronicum Scotorum,' edited by W. M. Hennessy in the Rolls Series in 1866. The date of a collection of glossaries in his hand, in the library of Trinity College, Dublin (II. 2, 15), is not known. It includes copies of Cormac's 'Glossary' [see, 836-908] and of O'Davoren's. In 1670 he began a journey to Dublin. It was probably to be performed on foot, and his reputation as a learned man would open every Irish door on the way to him. One evening he rested in a small shop in Dunfiin, co. Sligo. A Mr. Crofton came into the shop flushed with drink, and attempted to kiss the girl in charge. She tried to stop him by saying that the old gentleman in the next room would see him, when he took a knife which lay on the counter, and rushing up to MacFirbis stabbed him to the heart. MacFirbis was a tall man, with brown hair, of dignified aspect. He was the last of the hereditary sennachies of Ireland, and in moderate prosperity and extreme adversity, in youth, and till old age, was constantly devoted to the preservation of Irish literature and history. He wrote a clear Irish hand, with large, well-formed letters, not all joined together, slightly sloping, and looking as if rapidly written. His English hand is also clear, with now and then a reminiscence of the Irish character in the letters.

 MACFLYNN, FLORENCE or FLANN (d. 1256), archbishop of Tuam, also called Fiacha O'Flyn, was chancellor of Tuam and sub-deacon to the pope when he was elected archbishop about May 1250; the royal assent was given on 27 May, and seisin was granted on 25 July, but MacFlynn appears to have had to go to Rome, and he was not consecrated till 25 Dec. 1250. In the following year, like his predecessors, he endeavoured to obtain possession of the see of Ennachdune or Annaghdown in Galway; his opponent, Concord, was at first supported by the king, but MacFlynn eventually obtained confirmation (, i. 3131, ii. 274). He held a synod at Tuam in 1251. His episcopate was marked by some quarrels with Thomas, the bishop-elect of Achonry in 1251, and Thomas, bishop of Cionmacnoise in 1255 (ib. i. 3156, ii. 456). In 1255 he made a journey to England to lay a statement of grievances before the king on behalf of the Irish church : 