Cenn Fáelad mac Ailella
Cenn Fáelad mac Ailella (German "Head of the [were] wolves?"; † 679), also Cennʄáelad , was an Irish scholar who became known through the only recorded brain operation in early Irish history. He was a descendant of the famous King Niall Noigiallach, from whom the Uí Néill derive their family tree. According to John F. Healy (1926–2012), his sister Sabina is said to have been the mother of St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne .
Cenn Fáelad fought in the battle of Mag Ráth ( Cath Maige Rátha ; 636 or 637). He received a severe head wound and was taken to Tomregan Abbey (now in County Cavan ) to be healed by the Abbot Saint Bricrin (590–650). That Cenn's father Ailill mac Báetán was murdered 16 years earlier at the nearby Mag Slécht, as recorded in the Annals of Ulster ( Annala Uladh ), is probably a coincidence. Cenn is cared for in the monastery for a year, then he is well again. But as a result of an operation that had to remove the shattered piece of skull and part of the brain - supposedly the part responsible for forgetting - his mental faculties, especially memory, become almost infallible.
As a scholar, Cenn Fáelad is said to have written the first book of Auraicept na nÉces ("Guide for the learned poet") and becomes one of the most famous poets in Ireland. He is said to have worked as a teacher of Latin, Irish law and poetry in the Irish language in a monastery school without becoming a monk himself. Many of the works ascribed to him, however, were created long after his death. He is the first poet to be named in the Ulster annals .
literature
- Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 631.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roisin McLaughlin: Fenius Farsaid and the alphabet. The Royal Irish Academy, 2009.