Piaras Feiritéar

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The ruins of Castle Sybil at Ferriter's Cove, where Piaras Feiritéar was born.

Piaras Feiritéar (Irish pronunciation: [ˈpʲiəɾˠəsˠ fʲɛɾʲəˈtʲeːɾˠ]; 1600? – 1653), or Pierce Ferriter, was an Irish poet.

Feiritéar was the Hiberno-Norman lord of Ballyferriter in the Dingle Peninsula. Although best known for his poetry, it was his role as a leader of the nascent Irish Confederacy that led to his execution in 1653.

Culture[]

Feiritéar was a harpist as well as a poet and was known for his blend of laments, eulogies and satires of the Irish tradition with love-lyrics of European influence.[1] His best known work, Leig díot t’airm, a mhacoimh mná ("Lay aside thy arms, maiden"), is a poem about a beautiful woman. It is believed that he may have written poetry in English, but none of this has survived.[citation needed] Some critics have argued that his Irish poetry shows the influence of the English Elizabethans.[citation needed]

Politics[]

A leader during the Confederate Ireland wars, Feiritéar was wounded during an attack by Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads on the Feiritéar stronghold of Tralee Castle in 1641. The Clan forces held the castle until the fall of Ross Castle in Killarney to the Cromwellians in June 1653. Granted safe passage by Cromwellian commander Brigadier Nelson, Feiritéar travelled to arrange surrender terms. Instead, he was seized at Castlemaine and hanged alongside others, including his brother-in-law, the Dominican priest Tadhg Ó Muircheartaigh, on Cnocán na gCaorach in Killarney on 15 October 1653.[2]

Legacy[]

Memorial to the "Four Kerry Poets" (Piaras Feiritéar, Seafradh Ó Donnchadha, Aogán Ó Rathaille, and Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin) in Muckross Abbey, Killarney.

Piaras Feiritéar remains something of a folk hero for the Irish-speaking people of the Dingle Peninsula, particularly in his native Ard na Caithne, where the ruins of his family's castle can still be seen, and his poetry lives on in the oral tradition.[3] In 1934, Pádraig Ó Duinnín edited a book entitled Dánta Phiarais Feiritéir: maille le réamh-rádh agus nótaí which contained 23 of Piaras's surviving poems. In the book, Ó Duinnín devotes a chapter to the influence of Feiritéar's poetry and life on the folklore of the area. In 2001, the poet and writer Máire Mhac an tSaoi published an award-winning novel A Bhean Óg Ón... about the relationship between Piaras and Meg Russell, for whom he wrote much of his love poetry.

In The Western Island Robin Flower relates a story told to him by Tomás Ó Criomhthain in which he claimed that Piaras had a castle on Great Blasket Island that he used to evade the authorities.

There is a memorial to Piaras Feiritéar in Muckross Abbey in Killarney, alongside three other Kerry poets from the Early Modern period. A monument of a spéirbhean (a beautiful woman, symbolizing Ireland) with the names of all four poets carved into it can be seen in Killarney town itself.

References[]

  1. ^ Colum, Pádraic. A Treasury of Irish Folklore. Kilkenny Press, New York, 1989.
  2. ^ Piaras Feiritéar, Ainm.ie
  3. ^ Piaras Feiritéar, Ainm.ie
  • Musical instruments in Ireland 9th 14th centuries: A review of the organological evidence, Ann Buckley, pp. 13–57, Irish Musical Studies i, Blackrock, County Dublin, 1990
  • Music and musicians in medieval Irish society, Ann Buckley, pp. 165–190, Early Music xxviii, no.2, May 2000
  • Music in Prehistoric and Medieval Ireland, Ann Buckley, pp. 744–813, in A New History of Ireland, volume one, Oxford, 2005

External links[]

See also[]

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