Giolla Brighde Mac Con Midhe was hereditary Ollamh to the Cenél nEógain. The Ceart Uí Néill, a late medieval document dealing with the rights and territories of the Uí Néill in Ulster, places the Mac Con Midhe family in the area of Ardstraw. Prior to moving to Ardstraw, the Mac Con Midhes were known as Cinel Suibhne of Siol Ronain, the other half being Cinel Neachtain, the Ó Maolconaires, Ollamhs to the O'Connor Donn. Siol Ronain were located in County Westmeath near the ancient capital established by Conn of the Hundred Battles at the Hill of Uisneach, and were closely associated with Clonmacnoise. In 911 with the midlands under tremendous pressure from the Vikings, the O'Maolchonaires were given land by the Ó Conchobhairs and crossed the Shannon into Roscommon, and the Mac Con Midhes headed North with the Ó Néills. His mother was of the Cenél Conaill, so he addressed poems to the Ó Domhnaills as well as the Ó Néills. His closest patrons, however, were the Ó Gormlahaidhs of Ardstraw. Mac Con Midhe married and had children, all of whom died at an early age. The childlessness of himself and his wife led him to compose Deán oram trócaire, a Thríonnóid, an anguished plea to God and the saints to grant them just one child. There is speculation that there was another poet of the same name who lived earlier in the 13th century
Compositions and fame
Diarmaid Ó Diobhlin has written of him as follows:
Giolla Brighde was highly regarded by his contemporaries and there are allusions to his poems in the works of later bards and in the bardic tracts... Like much of the bardic poetry that has come down to us, Giolla Brighde's verse is stately, precise and controlled and clearly the product of a very sophisticated personality...
He composed poems for several notable Irish kings and chieftains, including:
Besides panegyrics, he composed a number of religious verses. Outstanding among them is Deán oram trócaire, a Thríonnóid in which he pleads for the Holy Trinity to grant him and his wife just one child, as all of their previous children have died. A theachtaire tig ón Róimh, which defends poets and poetry against attacks by the church, is ascribed to him. However, there is some doubt that he was its author. Giolla Brighde's death is mentioned in the poem Lenfat mo cheart ar Cloinn Dálaigh, which states King Domnall Og plundered the Ó Gormshleaghaighs while they were burying Giolla Brighide. When Domnaill Óg was told why they had not fought against him, he returned all that he had plundered as a mark of respect for the poet, who had addressed several poems to him. His poems have been preserved in a wide variety of manuscripts from the 15th to the 19th centuries.
