Waterford, by the sons of Currbuidhe, of the Deisi. Two poems, of which later copies only exist, are probably by him. 1. On the defeat of Flann Sionna, king of Ireland in 879, by Lorcan, the grandfather of Brian Boroimhe [q. v.] 2. A panegyric on Lorcan, king of unster. In an ancient fragment of 'Annals,' recently printed by O'Grady from Egerton MS. 1782, a manuscript of the fifteenth century, it is stated his gains as a poet were large, so that 'Lonan's son won back in payment of his art a store no less than Guaire had squandered abroad.' The 'Four Masters' describe him as ' Virgil of the race of Scota, chief poet of the Gael, the best poet that was in Ireland in his time.'
[Book of Leinster, Boy. Irish Acad, facsimile, fo1. 150 b, line 26; Annals of Ulster, ed. W. M. Hennesey, i. 413; Annala Rioghachta Eireann, ed. J. O'Donovan, i. 548; E. O'Reilly in Transactions of Iberno-Celtic Soc. 1820; S. H. O'Grady's Silva Gadelica, i. 400, ii. 436, London, 1892.]
MACMAHON, HEBER, EVER, or EMER, usually latinised as Emerus Mattheus (1600–1650), bishop of Clogher and general in Ulster, was born in 1600 in the barony of Farney in co. Monaghan. His father was Tirlogh, brother of Sir Patrick Mac Art Moyle MacMahon, and his mother was Eva O'Neill. Hugh Oge MacMahon [q.v.], who conspired with Lord Maguire [see Maguire, Connor or Cornelius] in 1641, was his first cousin once removed. Tirlogh, who had often fought against Queen Elizabeth, was not included in the attainder of 1618; but the changes which followed the 'flight of the Earls' reduced him to poverty, and he lived obscurely near Killybegs in co. Donegal. He is said to have intended his son for the Spanish service; but the mother's views prevailed, and Heber's education was entrusted to a Franciscan of Donegal. About the end of 1617 he entered the Irish College at Douay, and afterwards went to Louvain, where he studied under Hugh MacCaghwell [q. v.] He was ordained priest at Louvain in 1625, John Colgan [q.v.] being among those present (Meehan, chap, ix.) After this he returned to Ireland and worked for many years in his native diocese of Clogher. Writing to Rome on 8 July 1641, Archbishop O'Reilly strongly recommends him for the vacant see of Down and Connor, describing him as 'over 40, a secular priest, now for many years Vicar-General in the diocese of Clogher, born in the province of Armagh, popular with the people of Down and Connor, and extremely well fitted (optime aptus) to govern that see' (Spicilegium Ossoriense, i. 254). He was accordingly appointed on 10 Feb. 1642, but was not consecrated until after his translation to Clogher on 2 June 1643. Clarendon, who gives no dates, and is confirmed by no other writer, but who may have learned the facts from Ormonde, says that MacMahon, several years before he, became a bishop, came to Sir George Radcliffe in Dublin, confessed treasonable practices on his knees, and desired the long's pardon. He adds that he gave valuable information about foreign plots during the rest of Strafford's government, and that he refused a public pardon because that might destroy his usefulness. It is more certain that he was an active conspirator both before and after the breaking out of the rebellion in October 1641, and that he was from the first specially trusted by Owen Roe O'Neill (Contemp. Hist. i. 398, 504). As bishop of Down and Connor he attended the provincial synod of Kells in March 1642, the general congregation of the clergy at Kilkenny in May, and the supreme council there afterwards (Spicilegium Ossoriense, i. 262, 272, 276, ii. 8). He was not officially known as bishop or Clogher before 1644.
The supreme council of the confederate, catholics reported to Rome that MacMahon was from the first one of their most useful members, and they urged his translation. Down, they said, was in the power of the protestants; it was devastated, and it was far from the centre, whereas MacMahon's power and popularity were great in his native diocese (ib. 1. 281). The French agent, Dumolin, describes MacMahon as 'a northern man, that is one of those who desire war, and the devotion of Ireland to Spain : the chiefs of this party are men of desperate fortune ' (Confederation and War, vii. 294). The papal emissary, Scarampi, landed in July 1648 with help for the confederates, and the clergy, among whom MacMahon took the lead, adhered to him in opposing the truce concluded with Ormonde in September. Scarampi was overshadowed by the nuncio Rinuccini, who reached Ireland in October 1645, and whose secret instructions ordered him to pay MacMahon particular attention (Rinuccini, p. liii). The nuncio distrusted Owen Roe, but was fain to accept him as champion in the field; and Glamorgan sided with them against the majority of the supreme council. In March 1646 Ormonde, in spite of the clerical party, concluded his treaty with the council, by which all matters of religion were left to the king's decision. Speaking generally, the confederacy was controlled by lawyers, who were for getting the best terms possible from the English court, having regard to all existing laws, while the clergy insisted on the
