Giolla Brighde Mac Con Midhe

Giolla Brighde Mac Con Midhe (c. 1210 – c. 1272) was an Irish poet.

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 (MacNamee) 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 Wesmeath 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 Chonaill, 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

Diarmaid Ó Diobhlin (2000) 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 (Have mercy on me, O Trinity) 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.

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