Tá a bhfuil ar eolas i dtaobh an fhile seo, maille le péire dá dánta, le fáil in Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing IV, 2002 sa chaibidil ‘Courts and Coteries II’ in eagar ag Máirín Ní Dhonnchadha; tá an t-eolas sin bunaithe ar na cúig chaoineadh léi atá ar marthain; tá sé i gceist go gcuirfidh Liam P. Ó Murchú eagar orthu. Níl a fhios fiú gur ‘Dubh’ ba shloinne di. Is iad na daoine a chaoin sí: Donnchadh Ó Briain, 4ú hIarla Thuamhumhan (d’éag 1624); a dheirfiúrsan Máire; Toirdhealbhach Ruadh Mac Mathghamhna (fear céile Mháire, d’éag 1629), Cluain Idir Dhá Lá, Co. an Chláir; Diarmaid Ó Briain, Barún Inse Chuinn a d’éag 1624. Deir Ní Dhonnchadha: ‘It seems she was an intimate of this group, perhaps a relation, by blood or marriage. She is an intriguing case: a woman poet, who wrote long elegies which in substance resemble the work of professional bardic poets, while written in an accentual metre associated with non-professional poets. . . . There are nineteenth-century representations of her as a witch or charmer, associated with west County Clare, who pits her powers against famous mná sí of Munster . . .. One account gives her full name as “Caitileen Dubh Keating”. Such accounts credit her with a daughter, also with supernatural powers, named “Caitilín Óg’’.’ Tá ‘Deascán ó Chúige Mumhan: Clíona agus iníon Chaitlín Dubh’ ag Brian Ó Cuív in Béaloideas 22, 1953 [1954].

Diarmuid Breathnach

Máire Ní Mhurchú