UA DUINNÍN, Athair Pádraig. Dánta Phiaráis Feritiéir. Maille le Beathaidh an Fhilidh is Foclóir.

Baile Átha Cliath: Chonnradh na Gaedhilge, 1903. Crown octavo. pp. iv, [1], 138. Full maroon morocco, titled in gilt, badge of Chonnradh na Gaedhilge in gilt on upper cover. Ex libris Dalgan Park with stamps. All edges gilt. A fine copy.
Piaras Feiritéar (c.1600–1653), also known as Pierce Ferriter, was an Irish clan chief, poet, and folk hero of the Dingle Peninsula, remembered both for his distinguished Irish-language verse and for his resistance to the Cromwellian conquest. The last Chief of the Name of the fully Gaelicised Norman clan Feiritéar, he was lord of Ballyferriter in Corca Dhuibhne and a prominent leader within the emerging Irish Confederacy. A skilled harpist and highly accomplished poet, Feiritéar wrote in the bardic tradition, producing laments, eulogies, satires, and refined love poetry that shows an unusually broad European sensibility; his best-known poem, Leig díot t’airm, a mhacoimh mná (“Lay aside thy arms, maiden”), remains one of the most celebrated love poems in Irish. Though some critics have suggested Elizabethan influence and possible English-language compositions, only his Irish poetry survives.
Feiritéar’s political life ended violently during the Confederate wars. Wounded in fighting at Tralee Castle, he continued resistance until the fall of Ross Castle in 1653; although promised safe passage, he was seized and hanged at Killarney on 15 October 1653, alongside his brother-in-law, the Dominican friar Thaddeus Moriarty (Tadhg Ó Muircheartaigh). Their execution secured his place in folklore and literary history, particularly in Kerry, where he became a symbol of heroic loss and cultural continuity. Daniel Corkery later argued that Feiritéar’s death helped inspire the aisling tradition in Irish poetry, and a contemporary lament cast Ireland herself as a grieving spéirbhean. His legacy has endured through oral tradition and this scholarly edition by Pádraig Ó Duinnín Dánta Phiarais Feiritéir (1903), modern literary re-imaginings, and public memorials in Kerry, confirming his status as one of the defining figures of early modern Irish poetry.

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