Muircheartach Óg Ó Cíonga

Muircheartach Óg Ó Cíonga, (aka Murtagh King) Old Testament translator and Irish scribe, c. 1562-c.1639.

Overview

Ó Cíonga was a member of an Irish bardic family, who were residents of the barony of Kilcoursey, County Offaly, known as Fox's Country. They were poets, scribes, and drafted legal documents for their patrons, mainly the families of Fox and Mageoghegan.

Muircheartach first apparent appearances are as Murtagh O Kinge of Kilcolly and Murtho O King of Fox's County in fiants of the 1590s. In the 1610s he was an agent and receiver^{[disambiguation needed ]} to Lord Lambert's land's neart Athlone, County Westmeath (he appeared as a witness for dowager Lady Lambert in the 1630s). He appears to have been among the native grantees who received land in the plantation of his locality around the year 1620.

Association with William Bedell

Ó Cíonga was employed from 1627 by William Bedell, (later Bishop of Kilmore, to teach Irish to himself and students at Trinity College, Dublin. Under Bedell's influence, Ó Cíonga converted and was ordained a priest on 23 September 1633. This provided him with an income while he translated the Old Testament and Apocrypha into Irish, been selected as an acknowledged master of the language, post in prose and verse. It was published in 1685 under the title Leabhuir na Seintiomna ar na ttarruing go Gaidhlig trechiram & dhithracht an Doctuir Uilliam Bedel/The Books of the Old Testament translated into Irish by the care and diligence of Doctor William Bedel.

By the end of his life, serious questions had arisen concerning Ó Cíonga's fitness to be a Church of Ireland minister. He was accused of attending Catholic mass with his family, inappropriately administering baptism and holy communion. Bedell defended him, concerned that attacks on Ó Cíonga's character would detract from the reputation of the translation. He was alive in December 1638 but died shortly after, survived by his wife, Margery, and their children. Mrs. King was supported by James Ussher, Bishop Anthony Martin of Meath and Sir James Ware in a land dispute with William Bayly, who in 1638 had seized a benefice of Ó Cionga's.

References

• Dictionary of Irish Biography, volume five, pp. 209–210, Cambridge, 2009.