Séafraidh Ó Donnchadha
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County Kerry, Kingdom of Ireland
| Ó Donnchadha an Ghleanna | |
|---|---|
| Reign | 1643 – 1678 |
| Predecessor | Tadhg Ó Donnchadha an Ghleanna |
| Successor | Domhnall Ó Donnchadha an Ghleanna |
| Born | c. 1620 County Kerry, Kingdom of Ireland |
| Died | c. 1678 County Kerry, Kingdom of Ireland |
| Burial | Muckross Abbey, County Kerry |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Séafraidh Ó Donnchadha an Ghleanna anglicised as Geoffrey O’Donoghue of the Glens (c.1620–1678), was a seventeenth century Irish clan chief and Irish language poet. He was one of the Four Kerry Poets, a collective name given to four 17th and 18th century poets from County Kerry.[1]
He was the son of Tadhg Ó Donnchadha an Ghleanna, who was the chief of lands centered around Glenflesk which contained 20 ploughlands.[2] His mother was Eibhlín, daughter of Tadhg Óg Ó Cruadhlaoich.[3] The family seat was Killaha Castle which was built in the 15th century.[4] It overlooked the Flesk valley and the river below.[4] It was a five-storey tower-house that commanded the approaches to the Glen.[4] There was a cellar, part of which acted as a dungeon, with another area containing the family burial vault.[4] The castle, long derelict, still stands, with the N22 road between Killarney and Cork now adjacent to it.[4]
Rebellion, accession to chieftaincy, and destruction of castle
The poet together with his father and two brothers were amongst the Irish rebels who from 14 February 1642 laid siege to Tralee Castle.[3] The English settlers fled for safety into Tralee Castle. The siege lasted about 6 months. The settlers surrendered and the rebels captured the castle around 20 August 1642.[5]
Later, the poet acceded to the chieftaincy around 1643 following his father's death.[3] The poet's house was described as “a safe haven for persecuted bards”.[6] A grateful poet left a vivid picture of life in Killaha Castle during the days of the Revolution when the poet extended an open-hearted welcome to his brother bards:[7]
The house of Geoffrey - short seems the night to hundreds; House of accomplishments, in which songs are sung to harps; House of festivity and hospitality, in which wines are drunk; House of bestowing, in which bards are rewarded substantially; Stronghold of the clergy, where Latin is fluently read; Stronghold, where the maidens embroider silken robes; Stronghold, liberal in dispensing gems to sons of princes; Stronghold of gifts unceasingly given to guests, Mansion of heroes, unsubdued by wicked threats; Mansion of wonders, of the valiant man who stored not jewels; Mansion of verses freely running to honour nobles; Mansion of airiness is the Gaelic dwelling, roomy and delightful.
In 1652 Kilaha Castle was hit with newly employed cannon by General Ludlow’s army during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The castle was partially destroyed.[4]
With the Castle ruined “[t]he Glen became the home of Tories, Robbers, and Rapparees, Persons of the Romish Religion, out in arms and upon their keeping. It was these tories that made it secure to carry on the crime of school teaching in Killarney. A few extracts from the correspondence with Dublin Castle, of some Kerry magistrates and others, gives some idea of the part played by Glenflesk and its Chieftain, in the social struggle; whose centre was Killarney, and in whose vortex the years of our poet's manhood were passed.”[8]
