Blathmac mac Con Brettan

Blathmac mac Con Brettan [ 'blaθvak mak kon' bʼrʼetan ] was an Irish monk and poet ( fili ) who worked around 760 AD. His father was Cú Brettan mac Congussa († 740), probably a king of Ind Airthir, a part of the Airgíalla Federation . The story of his father and the battle death of Blathmac's brother Donn Bó are told in the legend Cath Almaine ("The Battle of Alman").

Blathmac was taught in a monastery school and was influenced there by the ascetic Céli Dé movement. Only two poems or meditations by Blathmac on the mother of Jesus Christ have survived in a manuscript from the 17th century ( Tan cucam a Mhuire and Oh Mhaire ). In them the poet wants to clarify the story of the Passion to the readers with contemporary ideas of Irish society in the 8th century. They are now in the possession of the National Library of Ireland .

Blathmac's poems are an important aid to understanding Irish culture in the early Middle Ages .

literature

• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 , p. 45.

Web links

• Brian Lambkin: Blathmac and the Céili Dé: a reappraisal. Celtica 23, 1999. (accessed August 1, 2013; PDF; 189 kB)