During the Williamite Wars he served in a Spanish cavalry regiment of King James II and the local MacCarthy or MacCartney lords in Desmond.
The bulk of Mac Curtain's work remains untranslated,[5][6] but it is noted that he dedicated his prose to other members of the Gaelic intelligentsia who survived the Williamite persecutions.
[7] He went on to collect local legends which would be woven into James Macpherson's magnum opus, translated and compiling the famous works of Oisín in the early 18th century.
[9] His grandson John MacCurtain (Sean an Duna) appears to have continued that family ties to the bardic school, serving as a patron in the late 18th century.
[10] Conduct, I beseech thee, O Father and King of Heaven, Home across the main our cavalcade of strong heroes, In Justice and valour and vigour without loss of health, And scatter without much respite the army beyond the sea.