Page:Irish minstrelsy, vol 2 - Hardiman.djvu/357

Rh early in the fifth century, and a particular account of his life and works will be found in O'Flaherty's Ogygia, and in Bishop Nicholson's Irish Historical Library. In his time, the Irish Monarchy having become vacant, Corc, king of Munster, of the race of Heber, eldest son of Milesius, and Nial, descended from Herimon the youngest son, contended for the throne, each claiming it, under various pretences, as his hereditary right. Our bard, who was then the chief Druid, Doctor, or Ard-ollamh of the kingdom, and who had been preceptor, (or, as he himself seems to insinuate, foster father) to both princes, endeavoured to reconcile their differences. Three poems of his composition, commemorative of these contending chiefs, are extant. In the first, he delivers certain precepts to his pupil Nial; the second exhibits him in the character of a mediator between the royal rivals, in which office it seems he was successful, vide Mac Curtin's Antiquities, p. 122; and the third poem, here translated, describes, in feeling terms, the friendship which they bore for our bard, and his lamentation for their death. These poems, which are preserved in manuscripts of considerable antiquity, gave rise, about the close of the sixteenth century, to a memorable poetical contest between the bards of the North and South of Ireland, well known as the ,—"The contention of the bards of the Northern and Southern divisions of Ireland"—Controversia Hibernica, Ultoniam inter at Momoniam, de nobilitate Regum utriusque Provinciæ orta. This contest was commenced by Teige Mac Daire a famous bard of Thomond, who sought to exalt the Southern princes, and particularly the O'Briens, over the Northern descendants of Nial; while Louis O'Clery and other bards of Leath Cuin ably supported the pretensions of the latter. The several poems produced on both sides have been collected under the above title, and, independently of their value as literary compositions, they contain allusions to historical facts, of which there is reason to believe no other proofs are now remaining. The Iomarba is,