Daibhidh Ó Duibhgheannáin

Dáibhídh Ó Duibhgeannáin (fl. 1651–1696)

Dáibhídh mac Matthew Glas Ó Duibhgeannáin, or Dáibhídh Bacach ("lame David") as he sometimes called himself, was an active scribe, compiler and poet between the years 1651 and 1696. In the earliest of his known works, Royal Irish Academy Ms. 24.P.9., he writes on page 238: "sguirim go ttrasada ar Loch Mesg dam a ttigh Thaidgh Oig Ui Fhlaibhertaigh 1 die Aprilis 1651, Dauid Duigenan qui scripsit/I stop now, and I on Loch Mask in the house of Tadhg Og O Flaherty, April 1st, 1651, David Duigenan who wrote this." A later entry specifies the place as Oileán Ruadh, or Red Island.

There is a slight chance that he may have been the (or an) intermediary responsible for presenting Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh with "Volume C" of the original four volumes of the autograph of the Annals of the Four Masters, covering the period AM 2242 to AD 1171. Peregrine O'Duignan, one of the four main responsible for compiling the book, was a kinsman of Dáibhídh's. However, an idea proposed by the writer of this article that Dáibhídh was MacFhirbhisigh's mysterious amanuensis cannot be sustained, as a comparison of their handwriting bears no resemblance to each other.

Over the course of his life he transcribed such works as "Suibhne Gelt/The Frenzy of Sweeney", "The Adventures of the Two Idiot Saints", "The Battle of Magh Rath", and "The Banquet of Dun na Gedh.". He is believed to have lived his final years in Shancough, Tirerrill, Co. Sligo, where he lived with his wife, a Mac Con Midhe. Dáibhídh died in 1696.

See also

• List of Irish historians
• Clan O Duibhgeannain

Sources

• The Learned Family of O Duigenan, Fr. Paul Walsh, "Irish Ecceslastical Record", 1921
• The Celebrated Antiquary: Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh - His Lineage, Life and Learning, Nollaig Ó Muraíle, Maynooth, 1996.
• Scríobhaithe Lámhscríbhinní Gaeilge I nGaillimh 1700-1900, William Mahon, in "Galway:History and Society", 1996