Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macliac, Muircheartach
MACLIAC, MUIRCHEARTACH (d. 1015), Irish poet, was a native of Connaught, and became chief poet to Brian Boroimhe [q. v.] He was son of Cuceartach, also called Maelceartach. A quatrain, quoted by the O'Clerys (Annals, ii. 786) as the first he composed, refers to himself, 'Muircheartach beg mac Maoilcertaigh baoi ag iongaire na mbo' ('Little Muircheartach, son of Maelceartach, was herding cows'). It is related of him that, like some of the Irish saints, he carried a bell. He accompanied Brian to the battle of Clontarf in 1014, and a lament for the king, 'A Chinncoradh, caidi Brian,' ('Oh! Eincora, where is Brian?'), of which many manuscript copies exist, and which is printed in Harcuman s 'Irish Minstrelsy,' ii. 197, was considered by so good a scholar as Nicholas O'Gara to be genuine, and was inserted in the collection made by him in 1650. The oldest existing manuscript of a poem attributed to Mac Liac is in the 'Book of Leinster,' a twelfth-century manuscript (fol. 152, col. a, line 6). The verses, which occupy a whole column of the manuscript, are found in a sort of corpus poetarum, extending through sixty-six columns (fol. 129-54), and including the works of such well-known authors as Gillaccemuim (A.D. 1050), the translator of Nennius, Flann Mainistrech. (d. 1056) [q. v.], Maelmura Othna (d. 886) [q. v.] and Kineth O'Hartigan (d. 975) [q. v.] The last sixteen lines of the corpus are attributed to the heroic Ossin; but there seems no reason for doubting the authenticity of those poems which bear the names of authors not two centuries old at the date of the actual transcription of the manuscript. The last couplet but one is 'Rochabra in comdui can cheis mac liac linne nan eices' ('The Lord succoured without sorrow Mac Liac of the line of the learned'). The poem is a legend of Cam Conaill. Several other poems, of which less ancient copies exist, are attributed to Mac Liac, but require careful investigation before their authorship can be satisfactorily determined. They are described by O'Curry (Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, ii. 120) and by O'Reilly (Chronological Account of Irish Writers, p. 70). Macliac died in 1015. He had a son, Cumara, who died in 1030, and a son of Cumara was slain by Tadhg O'Maelruanaidh in 1048.
[Annala Rioghachta Eireann, ed. J. O'Donovan, vol. ii.; Book of Leinster, facsimile published by Royal Irish Academy.]