- Flann Mainistrech
Flann Mainistrech (died
25 November 1056 ) was an Irish poet and historian.Flann was the son Echthigern mac Óengusso, who had been
lector at the monastery ofMonasterboice (modernCounty Louth ), in Irish "Mainistir Buite", whence Flann's byname, meaning "of Monasterboice". He belonged to the Cianacht Breg, a kindred which by the turn of the first millennium controlled Monasterboice, providing itsabbot s and other notables. Flann himself was also lector there.Flann's works appear to have been written beginning in the years following the
battle of Clontarf , whenMáel Sechnaill mac Domnaill of theUí Néill resumed his reign asHigh King of Ireland . Some of Flann's surviving historical poems deal withClann Cholmáin , to which Máel Sechnaill belonged, such as "Mide maigen clainne Cuind" and "Mugain ingen Choncraid chain", while "Síl nÁedo Sláine na sleg" deals with the neighbouring Uí Néill kindred ofSíl nÁedo Sláine , who ruled over Ciannacht Breg.A number of Flann's poems appear in the "
Lebor Gabála Érenn "—the "Book of Invasions"—and his works on theTuatha Dé Danann were influential. Flann's synchronisms, lists of Irish and Scottish kings arranged to show contemporaries, are important sources for the early history ofScotland .Eoin MacNeill considered Flann the first of the synthetic historians; this synthesis of biblical history and foreign world chronicles withIrish annals , myths and genealogical records was to be much emulated by subsequent writers.Flann died on
25 November 1056 , the date supplied by the "Annals of Tigernach ". The "Annals of Ulster " call him "eminent lector and master of the historical lore of Ireland".References
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