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, being 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• The Prose Banshenchas, unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, UCG, 1980.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.