Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/O'Duinn, Gillananaemh
O'DUINN, GILLANANAEMH (1102–1160), Irish historian, was born in 1102, and belonged to a tribe which possessed, from the eleventh century to the reign of James I, the district now called Dooregan, from their tribe-name of Ui Riaccain,and the Irish word duthaidh, inheritance. They were one of the septs of the old Irish kingdom of Ui Failghe, now Offaly; the present barony of Tinahinch, Queen's County, includes their territory, where many of them still remain under the anglicised names of Dunn, O'Dunn, and Doyne. Gillananaemh became chief poet of the king of Leinster, and composed historical poems of the same character as those of Flann [q. v.] and of Gillacoemhin. Five poems undoubtedly his are extant: (1) Of 328 verses, beginning 'Aibhinn sin Eire ard: a chrich mac Miledh morgarg' ('Oh! pleasant noble Ireland: land of the sons of valiant Milesius'). This celebrates the Milesian conquest; and a copy made in 1712 by the welt-known scribe John MacSolaidh is extant, as well as one in the Cambridge University Library of earlier date. (2) Of 280 verses on the kings of Leinster, beginning 'Coigeadh Laighean na leacht an riogh' ('Fifth of Ireland, Leinster of the tombs of the kings'). There is a copy in the 'Book of Ballymote,' a manuscript of the fifteenth century (fol. 55, col. 4, line 8). (3) Of 128 verses on the tribes descended from Colla Meann, Colla Uais, and Colla Dachrioch, the three sons of Cairbre Liffeachair, king of Ireland. It begins 'Airghialla a hEamhain Macha' ('Oh ! men of Oriel, from the Navan fort'). A copy made in 1708 by James Maguire was in the collection of Edward O'Reilly [q. v.] (4) Of 296 verses on the kings of Connaught, beginning 'Findaidh seanchaidhe fir Fan' ('Witness the historians of the men of Ireland'), There is a copy in the Cambridge University Library. (5) Of 296 verses on the kings of Connaught, beginning, 'Cruacha Conacht rath co raith' ('Rathcroghan, prosperous earthwork'), There is a copy in the 'Book of Ballymote' (fol. 56, col. 1, line 18). The libraries of the Royal Irish Academy and of Trinity College, Dublin, contain in their Irish manuscript collections further copies of these poems, and of others written by him. He died on the island of Lough Kee, co. Longford, called Inisclothran, on 17 Dec. 1160.
[Book of Billymote. Facs. Dublin, 1887, MS. Reeves, 388, in Cambridge Univ. Library; E. O'Reilly in Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Soc. vol. i. Dublin, 1820; local information from Michael Dunn of Mountrath, Queen's County, in 1860; O'Donovan's Note in Annals of the Four Masters. iv. 957.]