Maelsuthan Ua Cerbhail

He was lord of the Eóganacht Locha Léin,[2] advisor to High King Brian Boru, and an important scholar often credited for beginning the Annals of Innisfallen.

[3] Maelsuthan's academic reputation was considerable, earning him accolades like "chief doctor of the Western world in his time" and "sage of Ireland.

"[4] Maelsuthan was a chief of the Eoghanacht of Loch Lein, a branch of a powerful southern Irish dynasty that settled around the Lakes of Killarney.

[13] A poem by Maelsuthan is found in Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, as follows- "Columcille said to the king that it was right to set aside many of the filés, as they were so numerous.

The three ask the Archangel Michael what will become of Maelsuthan's life and soul, and the angel replies that he will live for three and a half years and is damned for the sins of promiscuity, interpreting the holy scripture too loosely, and abandoning the Altus (an Irish hymn).

He had abandoned the Altus when his recitations of the hymn failed to save his son Maelpatrick from a deadly disease,[22] but he promises to say the prayer seven times a night.