A prolific scribe and poet, roughly twenty manuscripts by Aindrias Mac Cruitín survive today, and at least twice as many poems. The family of Mac Cruitín were hereditary historians of Thomond, in north-west Munster, but by Aindrias's time this professional status, though a matter of great pride, was but a memory. He received a classical education in his native Moyglas (near Miltown-Malbay, Co. Clare), and devoted his life to learning, as a poet, scholar and teacher. He died in poverty in 1738.
