Murach an fear seo, ar thug Sir Arthur Chichester ‘notable villain’ air, b’fhéidir nach dtiocfadh slán cuid luachmhar dár n-oidhreacht liteartha. Tá cuntais air: ag Pól Breathnach in Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Deireadh Fómhair 1927 (‘The Books of Captain Sorley MacDonnell’) agus in Irish Book Lover, Iúil-Lúnasa 1934 (‘Captain Sorley MacDonnell and his books’): in The wild geese of the Antrim MacDonnells, 1996 le Hector McDonnell (‘Captain Sorley and his books’): ag Séamus Ó Ceallaigh in Gleanings from Ulster history ..., 1951. Chuir sé ‘Agallamh na Senórach’, dánta fiannaíochta agus dánta eile á gcóipeáil in dhá lámhscríbhinn san Ísiltír, in Ostend agus Lováin, sa bhliain 1626–27: ‘Duanaire Finn’, agus ‘Leabhar Uí Chonchubhair Dhuinn’, mar is fearr aithne air de bhrí go raibh sé tamall i seilbh Chathail Uí Conchubhair . An bheirt scríobhaí, Niall Gruamdha Ó Catháin agus Aodh Ó Dochartaigh, a rinne ‘Duanaire Finn’ a chóipeáil agus críochnaíodh an obair in imeacht 365 lá.

Ba gharmhac é leis an taoiseach cáiliúil Somhairle Buí Mac Domhnaill (c.1505–90), agus bhí gaol aige le príomhtheaghlaigh Uladh dá réir sin; ba iníon le Conn Ó Néill, céad Iarla Thír Eoghain, a sheanmháthair. Ba é Sir Séamus Mac Domhnaill, comharba Shomhairle Bhuí mar thaoiseach ar Dhomhnallaigh an Rúta agus Ghlinnte Aontroma, a athair. Ba í Máire, iníon Aodha, mac Fhéilim Uí Néill Chlann Aodha Bhuí, a mháthair; i ndiaidh bhás Sir Séamuis dúradh nach raibh siad pósta go dleathach. Bhí naonúr mac acu. Creideadh gurbh é an rialtas faoi deara marú Sir Séamuis le nimh i 1601. A dheartháir, Raghnall, a bhí ina dhiaidh sin ina Iarla Aontroma, a tháinig i gcomharbacht air. Bhí mic Sir Séamuis míshásta leis sin agus le Plandáil Uladh agus bhí baint acu le comhcheilg in aghaidh an rialtais i 1615. Tréimhse aneachtrúil ina shaol, a bhfuil litreacha agus cáipéisí mar fhianaise ag Breathnach air, ba ea an dá bhliain ina dhiaidh sin: bhí baint aige le héirí amach in Albain, bhí an tóir air i nGlinnte Aontroma, ghoid sé long ó Shasanach agus d’éirigh leis Dunkirk a bhaint amach. Ní raibh deireadh lena thrioblóidí go fóill ach faoi Mhárta 1622 bhí sé ina chaptaen ar mhuscaedóirí i reisimint Éireannach arm na Spáinne i bhFlóndras: bhí Brian Mac Giolla Coinnigh ina shéiplíneach ag a dhíorma. Tá cuntas ar na heachtraí sin ag T.M. Healy in The Planter’s Progress, 1921. Ghlac sé páirt sa Chogadh Tríocha Bliain. Thabhaigh sé cáil mhíleata dó féin sa Bhoihéim, agus go háirithe i gcath a troideadh ag geataí Phrág féin i 1624. 1632 an dáta deireanach a thagraítear dó. Deir Breathnach: ‘It seems to me most probable that he fell fighting somewhere here in the Low Countries, and this would account for his Poem-book ... remaining here with the Irish Friars .... This gallant officer, the patron of our country’s belles lettres, adds variety and charm in his gay Spanish uniform to the brown-clad figures of Ward, Fleming, Colgan, and the rest.’ Bhí mac Shomhairle, Séamus, ina leascheann feadhna ag a chol seisir, Alasdar mac Colla Chiotaigh Mac Domhnaill; ní raibh an mac seo i gCath Chnoc na nOs agus d’imigh ar deoraíocht c.1648.

Dhealródh ón aguisín seo le Brendan Jennings in Duanaire Finn, Cuid III, 1953 gurbh i gColáiste San Antaine i Lováin a cuireadh Somhairle: ‘When the Franciscan College of St. Antony, in Louvain, was being restored in 1926, it was necessary, in order to lay down a pipe for the central heating, to remove a small slab bearing a crest – but no name or date. Under this slab, the workmen uncovered the complete skeleton of a man, which they reverently left untouched. The slab was much worn, as it lay directly under two steps leading from the sacristy to the cloister: so for its better preservation, I had it moved a slight distance away from the steps, so that passers-by could avoid walking on it. But it still covers the remains. The crest excited my curiosity, and for years I tried every possible means to identify it. I was at last rewarded: for about two years ago, when giving the manuscript volume of Duanaire Finn to a reader in the Library at Merchant’s Quay. I noticed to my great delight that the crest on the cover of the manuscript was the same as that on the grave at Louvain. I think it is safe to conclude that the small slab in the cloister of St. Antony’s covers the remains of Captain Sorley, especially in view of the fact that Duanaire Finn passed into the possession of St. Antony’s apparently straight from Sorley’.

In Irish Book Lover sa bhliain 1919 (‘Scissors and Paste’) dúradh: ‘It was from the desire of a certain Captain Somhairle or Sorley MacDonnell... to collect the Ossianic poems to which he had listened as a boy in the glens of Antrim that we owe the fine set of poems known as the ‘Duanaire Finn’... a collection which surpasses in poetic merit the better-known Scottish “Book of the Dean of Lismore”.’ Deir Séamus Ó Ceallaigh: ‘But we need never hope to get behind the whole story; those purposive literary stirrings in the Low Countries; the comings and goings on land; the ships that would tarry on the sea with their precious freights of books or transcripts, keeping the house in Louvain in constant anxiety. Captain Somhairle must have been near the heart of it all. It was a fortunate time that he chose to set out in search of a Holy Grail of his own. For this “notable villain” had the piety to collect and conserve for his countrymen three literary treasures that are beyond price. We can imagine Somhairle spurred on by the appeal of his task and dazzled by the splendour of the horizon to which he had turned his eyes. One can only bewail the contrast between the conviction of this soldier of fortune, who might well have conceived he was under no debt to his native land, and the almost complete indifference to their singular literary inheritance which has been forced upon our people since Somhairle’s day.’

Fuarthas ‘Duanaire Finn’ i gcillín an Athar Seán Mac Colgáin ag am a bháis i 1658. Thuairimígh Jennings go raibh fiacha cúpla céad flóirín ag Coláiste San Antaine ar Shomhairle; b’fhéidir gur pháirtiocaíocht ba ea ‘Duanaire Finn’. Ag pointe éigin tar éis 1792 tugadh go Coláiste San Isadóir sa Róimh é agus in 1872 aistríodh go dtí Mainistir na bhFroinsiasach ar Ché na gCeannaithe. Baile Átha Cliath, é. D’fhoilsigh Cumann na Scríbheann nGaedhilge in dhá chuid é faoin teideal Duanaire Finn: the Book of the Lays of Fionn: Eoin Mac Néill a chuir an chéad chuid in eagar 1908 agus Gearóid Ó Murchadha a chuir eagar ar an dara cuid 1933.

Diarmuid Breathnach

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