Maol Ruanaidh Cam Ó Cearbhaill
Maol Ruanaidh Cam Ó Cearbhaill, otherwise An Giolla Caoch and Cam Ó Cearbhaill, sometimes anglicised as Cam O'Kayrwill (died 10 June 1329) was a notable Irish harpist and player of the tiompan, murdered with many others at the Braganstown Massacre. OriginÓ Cearbhaill appears to have been descended from the Ó Cearbhaill of Airgíalla, a kingdom which once covered Monaghan and Louth. He performed upon the tiompan, and conducted a school teaching the instrument. In his lifetime he appears to have been an especially esteemed musician, one of his obituaries calling him "supreme in his art, mighty in precedence and excellence". Friar John Clyn (c.1286–c.1349), who later composed a chronicle called The Annals of Ireland, had such particular praise for him that Clyn's editor, Bernadette Williams, believes that the two were known to each other, possibly friends. Ó Cearbhaill also seems to have known John de Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth, a member of a well-known Anglo-Irish family which had long been instrumental in the defense of the English control of Ireland. Bermingham had been granted the Earldom of Louth for defeating Prince Edward Bruce at the Battle of Faughart in 1318. He lived in the same part of Ireland as Ó Cearbhaill and would have been regarded as a good patron for him to cultivate. Braganstown MassacreÓ Cearbhaill was one of over one hundred and sixty people killed at the Braganstown Massacre on Saturday, 10 June 1329. The killers were local people of Louth who objected to being ruled by an outsider (Bermingham was from Uí Failghe). John Clyn states that "His entire earldom conspired against him, being unwilling that he should rule over them. They took counsel as one, and gathered in a great mass of armed men. Not sparing one of his 'familia', they killed him with his two brothers and around nine of his 'cognomine' and with one hundred and sixty and more." However, Clyn reserved his grief for Ó Cearbhaill, writing that:
Bernadette Williams translates this as:
See alsoReferences
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