A well-known late-Gaelic era poet, Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn was a member of a family of professional poets from north Connacht. He was called dall because he was blind. His mother's name is unknown. His father was Mathghamhain mac Maolmhuire, a direct descendant of Tadg Óg Ó hUiginn. His brother, Maol Muire Ó hUiginn, Archbishop of Tuam, died in 1590. Tadhg had lands at Doughrarane in Achonry, and Coolrecuil in Kilmactigue, among other parcels in County Sligo and served as a juror. Eleanor Knott, the twentieth-century editor and translator of his works for the Irish Texts Society, suggested that these were lands originally granted to his ancestors by the O'Conor Sligo family, who were patrons of the family.
Poetry
Ó hUiginn evidently enjoyed high status in his lifetime, reflected in the lords to whom he addressed some of his poems. They included Cú Chonnacht Mag Uidhir, Patrick Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Aodh Mac Seáin Ó Broin, Aodh Mag Uidhir, Cormac Ó hEadhra, Brían na Múrtha Ó Ruairc, Conn Ó Dónaill, Aodh Ó Dónaill, Turlough Luineach O'Neill, John Burke, Myler Burke. Further indication of his status among contemporaries and in the decades after is the sizable number of his compositions that are found in the Book of O'Conor Don and in the Ó Gadhra manuscript, compiled in Ostend in 1631 and Brussels/Lille c. 1659 respectively. A constant theme of his work is a very distinct sense of Irish nationalism, acutely aware of the political situation in late 16th-century Ireland. Irish sovereignty under threat from England features in several, along with restructuring invasion stories found in Lebor Gabala Erenn for the Norman-Irish, who were now heavily Gaelicised.
Death
An inquisition held at Ballymote in 1593 recorded that Tadhg Dall had died at Coolrecuil on the last day of March 1591. A chancery inquisition of 1617 provided further details, stating that members of the Ó hEadhra family of Cashel Carragh, Kilmacteige, were attained in 1591 for "murdering one Teige Dall O Higgen his wife and childe in the year one thousandfive hundred ninetee and one or thereabouts". Tadhg Dall apparently composed a satirical poem about six robbers, all members of the Ó hEadhra family, who retaliated by cutting out his tongue before murdering him.
Descendants
Tadgh Dall had a daughter, Máire. His son, Tadg Óg Ó hÚigínn, who was nine years old when his father was killed by members of the Ó hEadhra sept, inherited his father's lands at Dooghorne in Achonry. Tadg Óg's grandson, Pól Ó hUiginn was a scholar and Protestant preacher.
Family tree
Tadhg, d. 1315 | | ? | | Tadhg, d. 1391 = Áine | _______________|_________ | | | | Fearghal Ruadh Tadg Óg Ó hUiginn | | |
| | | Brian Óge | | Maolhmuire | |___________________________ | | | | Mathghamhain Gilla Coluim, d. 1587. | ______________________|_____________________________ | | | | | | Tadgh Dall, d. 1591 Maol Muire, d. 1590. Tomultach Óg? | |________________________________ | | | | Tadg Óg Ó hUiginn, b. 1582. Máire | | ? | | Pol, 1628? - 1724
