Dallan Forgail

Forgail, Dallan, or the "Blind," a famous bard, a native of Connaught, who flourished in the 6th century. Harris's Ware says he was styled "the arch-master or supreme professor of the antiquities of Ireland. . . He wrote in Irish several works, which (as Colgan says) were couched in so ancient an idiom, that in latter ages, few, though tolerably skilled in the language and antiquities of Ireland, could well understand." He was the author of an elegy on St. Columcille. According to Eugene O'Curry he took a prominent part in the convocation of bards at Dromceat in 574, and died and was buried on Iniskeel, in Gweebarra Bay, Donegal, about 594. Numerous references to him will be found in O'Curry's works.

Sources

261. O'Curry, Eugene: Ancient Irish Manners and Customs: Edited by W. K. Sullivan, Ph.D. 3 vols. London, 1873.

339. Ware, Sir James, Works: Walter Harris. 2 vols. Dublin, 1764.