Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacCoisse, Erard
MACCOISSE, ERARD, or URARD (d. 1023), Irish chronicler, was brought up at the court of King Muircheartach, ‘of the leather cloaks’ (919–41), and became tutor to his son Domnall, afterwards king of Ireland. He was subsequently poet to Maelsechlainn or Malachy II (d 1022). Five poems and one prose composition, all in the Irish language, are attributed to him. The first is a poem of twenty-seven stanzas in praise of Malachy II and the principal Irish chieftains of his time. It was written after the death of Brian Boroimhe [see Brian], who is mentioned in it. The second, of fifty-two stanzas, is in the form of a dialogue between himself and MacLiag, chief poet to King Brian, each praising the chieftains of his own side and enumerating the favours received from them. The third, of twenty-six stanzas, is addressed to a host and benefactor of his, Maelruanaidh, chief of Magh Luirg, in the present barony of Boyle, and second son of Tadg of the Tower, king of Connaught. The fourth piece, of twenty-two stanzas, presents considerable difficulties. It purports to relate to a Fergal O'Ruairc, assumed to have been killed at the battle of Clontarf. There are only two persons of the name mentioned in Irish history, one of whom, known as sen-Fergal, or the earlier Fergal, died in 964: the other, Fergalog, or the later, in 1157; but as the battle of Clontarf took place in 1014, the poem cannot apply to either of them. Dr. O'Donovan comes to the conclusion that this poem was originally composed as an elegy on Malachy, and at a later period was altered and interpolated, the name of Fergal being substituted throughout for that of Malachy by a partisan of the O'Ruaircs after they had purchased a tomb at Clonmacnois, and wished to represent their connection with that famous burial-place as of earlier date.
MacCoisse's prose tale relates to an attack on the poet's house at Clara in the King's County adjoining Westmeath, when the O'Neills carried off his furniture and cattle and destroyed his house. After the outrage the poet presented himself at the palace of Ailech, near Derry, and being graciously received by King Domnall, offered to recite a new tale entitled ‘The Plunder of the Castle of Mael-milscothach,’ or ‘Mael of the honeyed words,’ in which MacCoisse told the story of the plunder of his house in a Rabelaisian style and under assumed names. The poet finally informed the king that he himself was the person wronged, and that it was the king's followers who had done the deed. Flann, head of the school of Clonmacnois, was then called on by the king to assess the damages, and he ordered full restitution to be made, together with a fine of fourteen cumals, equivalent to forty-two cows, and also ‘the breadth of his face in gold.’ A strange legend of MacCoisse is told in the Irish ‘Nennius.’ He is there said to have restored to her friends a woman who while very ill was spirited away by demons and changed into a swan.
MacCoisse's date presents some difficulties. According to the ‘Four Masters’ he died at Clonmacnois in 1023, but the ‘Annals of Tigernach,’ under 990, record that ‘Urard MacCoisse, chief poet of the Irish, died (mortuus est) in penitence at Clonmacnois.’ O'Reilly in his work on Irish writers regarded these entries as referring to different persons; but O'Curry and O'Donovan treat them as both relating to the poet of the eleventh century. On this assumption Dr. O'Donovan proposed to amend the entry in Tigernach by reading moratus est; but, apart from the fact that there are no examples of such an entry, the expression used in the ‘Chronicon Scotorum,’ another version of the ‘Annals,’ is moritur, to which the proposed amendment will not apply. O'Reilly's theory appears the worthier of adoption. Dr. O'Donovan and O'Curry seem not to have been aware that there was another poet of the name, the author of the extremely curious poem on the geography of the world preserved in the ‘Book of Leinster.’ He held the office of prelector in the school of Ross Ailither, now Ross Carbery in the county of Cork, and when the school was destroyed by the Danes, as recorded in the ‘Annals of Inisfallen,’ in 972, he was taken prisoner and carried off by them to Scattery Island in the Shannon, but was ransomed by Brian, afterwards king of Ireland. The ‘Annals of Inisfallen’ are considerably antedated, and these events must have occurred very near 990, when the earlier MacCoisse, on the ruin of the school of Ross, may have retired to Clonmacnois and died there. His christian name is not given, and it is quite possible he also may have been called Erard, as this name, meaning ‘noble,’ and also spelt Urard and Iorard, was of frequent occurrence.
[O'Curry's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, 1873, ii. 127–35; Journal Kilkenny Archæological Society, new ser. i. 341–56, Dublin, 1858; Annals of Four Masters, at A.D. 1023; Chronicon Scotorum, Rolls Ser., p. 233; Book of Leinster (facsimile), pp. 135, 136; Irish Nennius, Irish Archæological Association, Dublin, 1848, pp. 210, 211; MS. 23. L. 34, Royal Irish Academy; Rawlinson B. 512, ff. 109–14.]