Gilla Mo Dutu Úa Caiside

Gilla Mo Dutu Úa Caiside (fl. 1147) was a Gaelic Irish poet.

Biography

Closely associated with Tighearnán Ua Ruairc, King of Bréifne, he was attached to the monastery of Daminis, and possibly to the church of Ard Brecáin, apparently been a cleric.

His two famous compositions are Éri óg inis na náem and the Banshenchas.

The Ó Caiside family later became – from the 14th century – prominent in Fermanagh, and many of them became hereditary doctors to the Maguire chieftains.

His known compositions are:

• Éri óg inis na náem
• The Banshenchas (Ádam óenathair na ndóene)
• Eight poems in the lives of St. Mo Laisse and M'Áedóc
  • Ca lion mionn ag Maodhócc
  • Cert Maodhócc ar shluagh Mhancach
  • Comhroinn Maodhócc, fa mór modh
  • Eittirbretha Maodhócc min
  • Uasal an mac, mac Setna
  • Cia is fearr cairt ar dháil mláisi
  • Cia thairngir mlaisi ria theacht
  • Molaisi eolach na heagna
• Cuibdea comanmann na rig
• Sé rígh déag Eoghain anall

References

• The Prose Banshenchas, unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, UCG, 1980.
• The Manuscript Tradition of the Banshenchas, Éiru 33 (1982) 109-35
• An Bansheanchas, Léachtaí Cholm Cille xii: Na mná sa litríocht, eag. P. Ó Fiannachta (Maigh Nuad, 1982), 5-29.
• Gilla Mo Dutu Úa Caiside, by Kevin Murray, in Cín Chille Cúile, ed. J. Carey, M. Herbert and K. Murray (Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2004), 150-162.