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Piaras Feiritéar (Irish pronunciation:[ˈpʲiəɾˠəsˠfʲɛɾʲəˈtʲeːɾˠ]; 1600 – 1653),[1] orPierce Ferriter, was anIrish clanChief, andpoet. Although best known for his many works ofBardic poetry in theIrish language, Feiritéar is also a widely reveredfolk hero in theDingle Peninsula for his role as a leader of the nascentIrish Confederacy, which led to his 1653summary execution atKillarney for resisting theCromwellian conquest of Ireland.
Feiritéar was the lastChief of the Name of the completelyGaelicizedNormanClan Feiritéar andLord ofBallyferriter inCorca Dhuibhne.
Feiritéar was a harpist as well as an extremely sophisticatedmultilingual poet in theIrish language. He was known for his blend of laments, eulogies and satires in the Bardic tradition and for composinglove poetry with much wider European influences.[2] His best known work,Leig díot t’airm, a mhacoimh mná ("Lay aside thy arms, maiden"), is a poem about a beautiful woman. It is believed that he may have written poetry in English, but none of this has survived.[citation needed] Some critics have argued that his Irish poetry shows the influence of the EnglishElizabethans.[citation needed]
A leader during the Confederate Ireland wars, Feiritéar was wounded during an attack byOliver Cromwell'sRoundheads onClan Feiritéar's stronghold ofTralee Castle in 1641. Feiritéar and hisClansmen held the castle until the fall ofRoss Castle inKillarney to the Cromwellians in June 1653. Granted safe passage by Cromwellian commander Brigadier Nelson, Feiritéar travelled to arrange surrender terms. Instead, he was seized atCastlemaine and hanged alongside others, including his brother-in-law,Dominicanfriar Tadhg Ó Muircheartaigh, on Cnocán na gCaorach in Killarney on 15 October 1653.[3]
Piaras Feiritéar remains afolk hero for the Irish-speaking people of theDingle Peninsula, particularly in his nativeArd na Caithne, where the ruins of his family's castle can still be seen, and his poetry still lives as theoral literature.[3]
Writing in 1926,Daniel Corkery revealed that Piaras Feiritéar's 1653 execution helped give birth to theAisling tradition withinIrish poetry, in which aspéirbhean (a beautiful and queenly woman from theOtherworld, symbolizing Ireland) laments her state and, in later versions, prophesies a better future.[4] In 1653, an anonymous County KerryBard composed a lament in verse over Feiritéar's death. The lament, which begins,Do chonnac aisling are maidin an lar ghil ("I saw a vision on the morning of the bright day"). The vision was thePre-Christian goddessErin bewailing the death of a man who had overthrown hundreds.[5]
InThe Western IslandRobin Flower relates a story told bySeanchaiTomás Ó Criomhthain, who alleged that Piaras had a stronghold uponGreat Blasket Island that he used to evade the English.
In 1934,Pádraig Ó Duinnín edited a book entitledDánta Phiarais Feiritéir: maille le réamh-rádh agus nótaí which contained 23 of Piaras's surviving poems. In the book, Ó Duinnín devotes a chapter to the influence of Feiritéar's poetry and life on the folklore of the area.
In 2001,Munster Irish poet and writerMáire Mhac an tSaoi published an award-winning novelA Bhean Óg Ón... about the relationship between Piaras and Meg Russell, for whom he wrote much of hislove poetry in theIrish language.
There is a memorial to Piaras Feiritéar and three other Kerry poets from the Early Modern period,Séafraidh Ó Donnchadha an Ghleanna,[6]Aodhagan Ó Rathaille andEoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin in the form of a sculpture of aspéirbhean (a dream woman, symbol of Ireland) with the names of all four poets carved into it in Killarney town.
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